So we took a little bit of a break from the series through Revelation last week, and we get to dive right back into it this week. And so like we always do, and I'm always reminded we got some people just maybe that are new and don't know how we do things. If you did not grab an outline or a timeline of Revelation and kind of what's going, just slip up your hand. Or if you're a regular and you forgot one as well, you can slip up your hand. We got guys in the front and the back that would love to get one in your hands.
And this is just a way for you to stay engaged with us, okay? It'll just be a way for you to stay engaged because as we look to scripture sometimes, as we look to scripture. I know, and we're tired. We've all had a long day, and you come in here and you're just exhausted. And probably the last thing that you want to talk about is the six trumpets that we're going to look at here tonight.
And so I get it.
So, this outline is a way to help you stay engaged as we look through this here this evening. I want to show you our timeline here up on the screen just to kind of refresh us and where we are. And if you have one in your Bible, you can kind of keep us. This is our framework.
So, depending on, and I'm trying as we move through this, I want to give you every bit of evidence for why I see things this way in Revelation. I want to give you the Bible, not just what I think or what I was told or whatever. I want to show you some biblical proof of why we think this is the timeline, if you would, for eschatology and for the end times. And so, we know that after Jesus. Jesus resurrected, he showed himself to many different people, the apostles, you know, over 500 people, all this kind of stuff, for about 40 days.
After that 40-day period, he ascends back up into heaven. And then he told the apostles to wait until the comforter would come. We know that that comforter was the Holy Spirit of God that would indwell believers. That happened in Acts chapter number two on the day of Pentecost, okay? When the mighty rushing wind swept through the church there and the Spirit of God indwelt believers, that would be when we would say the church began.
And at that point, the church age began. And that's what Revelation chapter 1 through 3 is all about.
So, when you looked at that, and we studied each church individually, and that's the church age, that is where we're living in here tonight. And so we're in the church age.
So that's why I have it circled on our timeline because that's what we're in today.
So the next event. That I believe is on our timeline yet to happen is the rapture of the church. That is the caught up, if you would, of the church people. And that's the next event. And by the way, if you're wondering, we did a whole sermon on the rapture, and we gave you a lot of what we would call biblical proofs for why I believe the rapture will happen before the seven-year tribulation.
And so I'd encourage you, if you have questions about that or when that's going to be, I know a lot of people in the news thought it was going to happen in the last couple of weeks. Hopefully, you didn't fall for that. But honestly, you kind of in the back of your mind, when you see that, you're kind of wondering, like, hey, I hope it is this week. And but the scripture tells us we don't know when that is. And so it's going to be in a moment.
And it could be tonight. And so I would love for it to be tonight, but it could be at any time. There is nothing left, I think, for that to happen. And so it could happen at any moment. The rapture is Revelation chapter 4 and 5.
After the church age, we get a glimpse of the heavens. What's happening in heaven? And so, John, you know, he's taken up in spirit into heaven, and he looks and he's seeing all these different things about heaven. And then in chapter six, We get back down to earth and we get a glimpse of what's happening on earth, which is what we are in now, the seven, not now, but in our study, the seven-year tribulation period. It's Revelation 6 through 18 is where we are.
And so just a couple of things. You're going to see that in this, in chapter 6 through 18, God's judgment is depicted in three different ways in these chapters.
Okay. The first one, and it's on your notes, I believe. His judgment is depicted with the seven seals. Uh that are broken.
Okay, so that's the first wave of the judgment that we will see. The second. Judgment is found in the seven trumpets that will be blown. That's what we're going to look at tonight. And then the third way that his judgment is depicted is the seven vials or bowls.
that are going to be poured uh out.
Now, we've kind of already looked, and this is a little bit of a review before we dive into the message tonight, but what we've learned so far in our study was the seals. And in chapter number six. We saw the seals opened. We got through one through six of the seals that were that were broken. And seal number one, just a little bit of a recap so that you know these things are happening during the tribulation.
So, if you want to know how bad it is, this is what we saw. In seal number one, you're going to see deception. That's the Antichrist, and we looked at that. Seal number two is war. Still number three is famine and an economic collapse.
Seal number four is death. Seal number five. is persecution of believers. We learn many will die. And then seal number six.
Is natural Disasters. Natural disasters. And as we looked at that, basically, the message that we're seeing is this. Get right. Or get left.
Right. And what we've seen is really that, because when you look at these judgments, it's not anything any of us will want to deal with. And that's why if you're saved in here, you're not going to have to worry about it. And praise God for that. But there's a lot of people that reject God.
And if he was to come back right now, and the church would be raptured up. Right? 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. There's a lot of people that would endure these terrible times. These terrible times of judgment.
And I know that when we talk about this judgment, because trust me, as I'm studying it, I feel it. And I know you guys feel it listening to this. It sounds very. You know, doom and gloom. It sounds very harsh, if you would, but I'm telling you, and I just want to continue to reiterate this as we look at the judgment of God depicted in these different ways in chapters 6 through 18, that you have to understand this portion of the book of Revelation is like medicine.
If you would, if I can call it that. Medicine is painful when it's going down, but it's what we need to hear. It's what we need.
So, when you take in what we're going to look at tonight here in chapters 8 and 9, you're going to, I'm just going to tell you, you're going to feel it. It's going to be painful, but it's what we need to hear. And it's what our world needs to hear. And here's what I want you to know: that in chapter number seven. In chapter number seven, so chapter six was the seals begin to be broken.
And then in chapter seven, we had like this. Interesting interruption. It's almost what we called the message was mercy in the midst of chaos. You have all this chaotic judgment happening. And then in the middle of that, you had God's mercy in that he would seal 144,000 Jews, right?
And then there was a great multitude of Gentiles that would accept Christ during the tribulation, and they would be martyred for their faith.
So in the midst of this, you would find that God's mercy is still on display. God's rescue plan and his act of redemption is still at play, even in the midst of the tribulation period.
So if you're in here and you're thinking, you know, like, I have a friend, and if they don't accept Christ, they're going to be left behind.
Well, yes, if the rapture was to happen, yes, they would be left during the tribulation, but there will still be people that will accept Christ during the tribulation period.
So it doesn't mean that somebody's left is without hope, but what I like to think about it is this: is like for me, I want myself and I want everybody on the first flight out of here. And we need to make sure as many people as possible are on the first flight and that they don't wait and delay until Christ comes back at his second coming. And so we need to understand. That in this, I know the question is always this: how could a loving God allow this? You ever been asked that, or you ever thought about that, or you've seen that on the news?
That question was like, how do I reconcile this? Here's what we have to understand: love, God's love, is oftentimes expressed in judgment, injustice. We all want a just God. When we see acts of injustice, it frustrates us, it makes us angry. And what we have to understand is God is just, and if he is going to be holy and just, he has to punish sin.
He has to punish wrongdoing. And so, love, his love is still expressed even in injustice. And so, tonight, we're going to look at Revelation chapters 8 and 9. And I know what some of you are thinking. You've been around me long enough to know how in the world he can hardly get through one chapter in the amount of time I'm given on a Wednesday.
And so, how are we going to get it? We're going to do this, but it fits both of them just to be together so that we can look at this together.
So, I want to pray and then we'll dive right into it. Father, Lord, I love you. And God, I'm grateful for the opportunity that I can share tonight what you're teaching me in my own time with you. And Lord, I pray, Father, that you would motivate us, that you would speak to us. And God, that you would just give us a passion for the lost in our community.
so that we can get more and more people on this first flight out. God, we got to share the good news of the gospel because what we see here, Father, we don't want this to happen to our loved ones. We don't want it to happen to our friends. We don't want it to happen to our neighbors and our community. And, Father, I pray, Lord, that you would give us the passion to go out and share the gospel.
But tonight, as we look to your word, I'm reminded that the power is not in me, the power is in the word that we hold. And God, I'm asking that the Holy Spirit of God meet with us. And speak through us. And God, do something special in our hearts here tonight. Lord, we love you, for it's in your name we pray, and all God's people said.
Amen and amen. Revelation 8 verse 1 says this. And when he had opened, The seventh seal.
So if you remember chapter six, we looked at the first six seals. I gave you kind of what each seal represented. And then there was that moment in chapter seven that it was God's mercy on display.
So we were waiting for the seventh seal.
So we come back to the seventh seal here at the beginning of chapter number eight. And it says, And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence. In heaven. About the space. Yeah.
An hour.
So what you see here is that the seventh seal is being opened here in verse number one. And what the seventh seal expresses, or what you see here, is that there is, it's on your notes, silence. And Heavens. What what What's so interesting about this Is that There was a A lot of of boisterous Noise. going on all around heaven before this.
Like, what we've already learned is up to this point around heaven, all the angels and creatures are falling on their faces worshiping God. And in chapter 7, verses 11 and 12, you'll see that they're around the throne and they're saying things like: Amen, blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might be unto our God forever. And ever, amen. And in the midst of this noise, in the midst of this like worship service. There's a holy hush.
A silence. As Jesus is about to dispatch Seven angels to blow these seven trumpets Unleashing another set of judgment on the earth. It's gone in heaven from a joyful celebration of worship. around the throne to just complete, complete silence. And I think what you see here in this seventh seal being opened with this silence in heaven is that the judgment.
That is about to be unleashed. is so awful. That it leaves heaven completely silent.
Sombre I mean, none of us really like just complete silence. It makes us feel uncomfortable. You can't imagine what this is really like. And as this seventh seal is open, there's complete hush in heaven, a somber hush as the seven angels are about to blow these seven trumpets, which leads us to the first six trumpets that are going to be found here in Revelation chapter 8 through chapter 9. And so if you look with me at verse 2 of Revelation 8.
It says this, and I saw, I'm going to read seven verses and then give you some thoughts as we dive into the seven trumpets. And I saw the seven angels. which stood before God. And to them were given seven trumpets.
Now you remember. God's judgment in chapter 6 through 18 is going to be depicted in three ways. The first way is the seven seals that will be broken. We just completed the seven, if you would. And now the second wave of judgment we're about to look at is with the seven trumpets.
The third one is the seven vials that will be poured out.
So we're looking at this second depiction of God's judgment here, which were these seven trumpets that will be blown. Verse 3: And another angel came. and stood at the altar, having a golden censer And there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand. And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth.
And there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake. And the seven angels, which had the seven trumpets, prepared themselves to sound.
So.
So this just before The seven trumpets are blown. And in verse number three, just a couple of things. You see the well, in verse two, you see seven angels. They're going to blow the seven trumpets. But then in verse number three, you see really an eight angel.
There's another angel that comes out, and he's kind of operating in this priestly role here. And depending on what you read and who you read by or who you listen to, and this is why I'm always telling you, like kind of where we stand and where I believe certain things. Because if you just pick up a book, if you go somewhere and just pick up a book on Revelation, it could be coming from a completely different angle than the direction or where we're coming from. And so I want to kind of be as specific as we can be to some of these things. There's some people that believe that this eighth angel here in verse number three is Jesus.
Okay. It's not Jesus. And here's why, and here's why I believe this. This third angel is not Jesus, and here's why, is because in the Greek word, this phrase, or another angel. You always have to go back to the original language because that really helps us understand what in the Greek and Hebrew happening here when John wrote this.
Another angel is the Greek phrase allos. And here's what that literally means. of the same kind. And it's important that you understand that. And so, because as this eighth angel comes, we just saw these seven angels are about to blow these trumpets, an eighth angel of the same kind.
This is another angel, okay? And so, this isn't Jesus Christ, so make sure you understand that if you see it. And what happens is this other angel kind of operates in this priestly realm, which is interesting because it's like you have this temple-like experience happening. In heaven. And you had like these trumpets are about to be blown from these angels in heaven.
And here's what I just wanted to show you. And we did a series of, it's been a couple years ago, I guess now, on the tabernacle. And if you remember in Exodus chapter number 25, on two different occasions in Exodus 25, when God gave Moses the instructions of the tabernacle, two different times, you get this idea that he was giving him a look into heaven. Literally, almost seeing a blueprint of the temple in heaven. Here and the reason why I want you to know that is there there's a temple in heaven And I don't understand all of what that means or what that looks like or whatever, but there's a throne, and what you see here is the golden censer and incense and all this kind of stuff.
You have that here. And so you see that it's almost like this heavenly tabernacle, and God gives. And what's interesting about this, and this is so special about God, because from the beginning, I want you to know your main purpose is this. It's very simplistic, it's not hard. Your main purpose in life is to have a relationship with your heavenly Father.
That's the very reason we were created in the first place. Mankind was created so that they can walk and talk with God. But sin ruined everything. And when sin came into the world. A holy God couldn't have a relationship with a sinful person.
And so, what happened was from the very beginning, God. Set out his redemptive plan. to purchase us back so that we could actually have a relationship with them. And so in his plan, in his perfect plan, Um Started with the Tabernacle in the Old Testament. That was where God would dwell with him.
So God gave Moses this heavenly view of what the tabernacle or whatever it looks like up there, and he told him, here's what, I'm going to let you see a little bit of this, and I want you to build this down here so that I have a place to dwell with you. That's your purpose, to have a relationship with God. That's what Israel wanted, but it wasn't enough for them. And so you see that, and then it would also be in Solomon's temple, which the instructions were given to David, and then Solomon would eventually build the temple, which was very similar, and that was the place that God would dwell. And then, after that, the reason we don't have to go to temples today is because Jesus Christ came in the flesh.
And what did he do? He dwelt among us. He tabernacled among us because that's the reason we were created so that we could have a relationship with him. And what you see here is this heavenly kind of temple, if you would. With the same elements.
And the incense that is being burned is the prayers of. Of the saints. Here's what I want you to know: if you ever feel like a prayer of yours is not being heard or not being answered, always go back to the book of Revelation. Because there's several times what you see is our prayers. From the saints, from all the saints, that's what it says here, are going up to God.
In other words, every prayer you've ever prayed. Yeah. is preserved in heaven. It's preserved. In heaven.
But As prayer is going up. Judgment. is about to come. come down. As these angels position themselves with these seven judgments.
Now, as we look at these, I want you to know that the first five. Mirror The plagues in Egypt.
Okay. So, if you remember the 10 plagues in Egypt, what you're going to find in these first five trumpets. is you're going to see things like Hail? Fire Blood A poisoning of the sea and water, which was like the Nile and all that. Darkness.
and even locust.
So, you're going to see these are going to kind of mirror, if you would, the plagues that are in Egypt. And so, here we go with the seven trumpets. Let's dive right into it. Trumpet number one. Is found in Revelation 8, verse 7.
Let's read it together. Here we go. The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth. And the third part of trees was burnt up. And all green grass was burnt up.
Now, you got to remember this: that as we look at these trumpets, this is the tribulation period. These are the things happening on earth.
So, along with the terrible events of the six seals that were broken, right, with all the terrible things, now we are going into a whole nother set of judgment that God is pouring onto the earth, if you would. And these angels are blowing these trumpets, and each trumpet is a signal for the judgment that you find here.
So, in trumpet number one, it's on your notes. Here's basically what trumpet number one is going to look like: what we find here in verse 7: one-third. of the trees are going to be burnt up. And then we see that all of the green grass. will be burnt up.
And then, what you're going to see is that there is fire mingled with. with blood. And you're thinking, what exactly does that mean? Here's what that is depicting: how I receive this. Is that I think many are gonna die.
Many are going to die during this judgment. And if you think about it, Like, think about it this way. A third of the trees. And all of the green grass. It's gonna be burnt up.
You know what that tells me? Like, think about livestock. Like How are they going to graze? What are they going to eat? Right.
When you think about cattle and different things like that. And so, what you're gonna see here in this first set of, or this first trumpet, is. You know, the livestock, they're going to, many of them are going to die. I mean, I don't see any way around that. Which is going to also lead into Death of people and starvation and different things like that.
And I'll tell you this, and I'm not saying this to be funny or whatever, but like, I do think scripture talks in our culture. We really have a hard time sometimes worshiping creation more than the creator. And here's what I want you to know. The environmentalist are gonna have a real hard time right here. I'm not trying to be funny.
All I'm saying is they're going to have, think about, you know, and maybe some of them know Christ and they can, you know, come with us in the first call up to heaven, right? But if they're left behind and they are a big-time environmentalist and they're all about the environment and stuff, and I'm not saying we shouldn't be if, you know, recycle all those things is good, you know. And so I think it's a great thing. But here's what I'm going to tell you: the tree hugger type of mentality is going to have a very different and a hard time in this. And here's what I want you to understand: is this.
This is why we can't get too attached to what you see here. Because it's all going to go away. It's all gonna burn up. And so it's like, why in the world would we ever worship something that is temporary? Creation is awesome.
But what's happened with mankind is we worship creation more than the Creator. And that's the problem. And so, what you see here is all this stuff's going to be burned up, which leads us to trumpet number two in Revelation 8. Verse Eight, nine.
So let's read that. Here's what it says. And the second angel.
So the first angel sounded the first trumpet in verse 7. The second angel sounds it in verse 8. And as it were, a great mountain burning with fire. was cast into the sea. And the third part of the sea became blood.
And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea and had life died. And the third part of the ships. or destroyed.
So trumpet number two. On your notes, here's what we find. One third. of the sea. became blood.
One-third of sea life. We'll die. And one-third of the ships will be destroyed. It's amazing when you look at that. And when you think about this, it's like: okay, your seeds become blood.
You know, sea creatures are going to die.
Okay. And then you see that one-third of the ships will be destroyed. It's interesting because the first thought I had was: I wonder how many ships are at sea at any given time.
So if you search for that, and so I found the number. At any given time, there's about 50,000 to 60,000 ships. At sea. And what's going to happen during the tribulation period as the second angel sounds this trumpet is that a third of the sea is going to become blood. And then a bunch of the sea creatures are going to die, a third of them.
And then a lot of these ships are going to even be destroyed. Yeah, I mean just Practically speaking, imagine the smell. Across the world. Because of this. Sea creatures dying blood in the seas.
As God's judgment is poured out. But then you also see here a great mountain. Burning with fire was thrown into the sea.
Now, you got to think, what in the world is that? Like, what is that? A lot of people, and I think it makes sense. And so, I mean, I'm not going to die on this hill, but a lot of people think that this is probably an asteroid that's going to hit the earth or something like that. And so we don't know, but that's what a lot of people think.
And so they're smarter than I am.
So I'll just go with that, I guess. But I have no idea what that's going to look like. But what you're going to see is that happen. Trump at number three. It's in verses 10.
And 11. If you're still with me, say amen. And the third angel, verse 10, sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven. Burning as it were a lamp. And it fell upon the third of the rivers and upon the fountains of waters.
and the name of the star is called Wormwood. and the third part of the waters became wormwood, and many men died of the waters because they were made bitter.
Okay. So, what you find here is a great star, okay? And here's what I will tell you just in my study on this or whatever. We don't really know what that's gonna look like either. And so there's a lot of speculation that it could be another asteroid, a comet, or something like that is gonna inflict the Earth.
And so you see that that's gonna be hurled at the Earth in judgment. And what you find here with trumpet number three. is that a third of fresh water becomes bitter. A third of freshwater is going to become bitter.
So, what's interesting is trumpet number two affected salt water, but here in trumpet number three, It affects freshwater. And You see that the water is going to become Or the name of the star is going to be called Wormwood, and the water is going to turn bitter. Um Wormwood is like a bitter plant. plant. This is the only use.
Here in the New Testament. The phrase was, or the word was used eight times in the Old Testament. always depicting of poison or of something very bitter. And so a third of fresh water will become this.
Something that you could get deathly sick from. And that's what's going to happen. Ironically, what's interesting is you would know this story in Exodus 15. If you remember the children of Israel, they were without water for like, I think it was three days. And they were without water for three days, and uh, so they're you know complaining and that kind of thing, and How quickly they had forgotten that their God, the one that they get to serve, God's chosen people, had just split a sea.
Surely he could help them with this, right? And they're complaining and everything. And finally, God gives them instructions. And uh what do they do? They take a Piece of wood, a tree.
They throw it into the water and it becomes clean. And so I thought that was super ironic. And so they went from bitter to clean fresh water with that. But what you find here is that all the water, the fresh water, a third of it, is going to become become bitter. Trump number four.
As we move through this. And I hope it's okay. I'm not taking a ton of time on each one of them. It's pretty self-explanatory for the most part. But in verse 12, you see the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten.
And the third part of the moon And the third part of the stars.
So as the third part of them was darkened. and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise. I beheld and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice. Whoa, whoa, whoa. By the way, this is a bad woe.
It's not like, whoa, whoa. It's not like that. This is a terrible woe.
So he says, Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitors of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels. Which are yet to sound.
So you come to this trumpet number four, and what you find here in trumpet number four is that all sources of light. are darkened. All sources of light. are darkened. Here's what I'll tell you.
Um The best commentary on the Bible. Is the Bible? Everybody agree to that? There's a lot of good books you can read, but the absolute best commentary you could ever find about the Bible is the Bible.
Okay. And you see a lot of this.
So in Luke. In Luke chapter number 21, Jesus himself said when he was talking about what is to come. He said, There will be signs in the sun. moon and stars. This is a fulfillment of that.
And so, what Jesus was talking about is this: that the day and night cycle. will be will be messed up. The sun being dimmed by a third. And think about it. If that was to happen, what's the first thing you think about?
That it's you know, the sun not shining for a third part of the day. It's gonna get colder. There's no way around that. The earth's going to get colder because the sun's not shining as much. There's more darkness during your day, and the whole day-night cycle is going to be messed up.
Now, in verse 13, I'm not going to spend a whole lot of time on this because I want to continue to get through all of this tonight. In verse 13, I beheld and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven. I just wanted to speak to this just because. You know, we use here, we use the King James here. And so if you use a different version or you read from a different version, I wanted to speak to one thing about this verse because you might be asking this question.
In some translations, it will say an eagle.
So, in verse number thirteen, the only two translations that say angel. is the King James and the new King James.
Okay. And the only reason that that is is because they're translated so I'm not going to get into this. This is not a translation type of thing. But I want you to understand because if you're holding a translation that said, Eagle, and you're kind of like, wait. You know, he just said, angel, which one's right?
Well, the the scriptures that we hold are translated. From the Greek. And there were Greek manuscripts that helped us get into the translations that we have.
Okay. And so the Apostle Paul, when he received the Word of God, I'm just going to tell you, this is going to upset some of you, he did not receive the Word of God in the King James English Version, okay?
So, you have to understand that when we study scripture, there's an original Greek and Hebrew that all of this, what we hold today, came from. And there were different Greek New Testaments. And so some of these, the King James and New King James, was translated from a Greek manuscript called the Texas Receptus. And a lot of the other translations were translated from some different Alexandrian texts and stuff like that. They're still Greek, and they say, you know, that 95 to 100, it's pretty close to what we have and stuff.
But I wanted to mention that because if you did use a different version and you saw a different word, I wanted you to understand. And here's what I'll tell you. Why is there a difference? It's because there's different Greek texts that show a different Greek word here. And so the Greek word that a lot of them use I wrote it down.
Um is the Greek word um Where did I write that down? It was a different Greek word that they use in that, and it translates the word eagle. And then what we have is a different Greek word that translates angel.
So you say, what can this mean, or whatever? Here's what I'm going to tell you in Revelation chapter 4. We see angels, and here's what's interesting. One of the angels has a face like an eagle. And both of these Greek words are very close and they can be used interchangeably.
And so I think both are correct and it can work, okay? Because I think there's an angel with the face of an eagle. And I think that's what you have here.
So I wanted to speak to that in case you kind of had questions or you're reading and just curious about it, okay? But let's move on to trumpet number five. And so we get into chapter 9. In this trumpet, number five, here's what it says. And the fifth, I'm going to read verses 1 through 12 because this one gives us a long runway in the fifth trumpet.
And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth, and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit, And there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace, and and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. There came out of the smoke locust upon the earth, and unto them was given power. as the scorpions of the earth have power. And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree, but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.
And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months, and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion. When he striketh a man. If you're confused, we're coming back to all this in a second. You're like, what in the world's happening? Um And in those days, verse 6, shall men seek death and shall not find it and shall desire to die and death shall flee from them.
And the shapes of the locust were like unto horses prepared into battle, and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men. And they had hair, as the hair of women, And their teeth were as the teeth of lions. And they had breastplates as it were breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle, and they had tails like unto scorpions, There were stings in their tails, and their power was to hurt men five months. Mad a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit. whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollion.
So here's what you find here: trumpet number five. The big idea that you find here is this: mankind will be tortured by demons. For five months.
Okay. Now, looking back at those verses. Um notice the word in verse 1. the word star.
So it says, I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth. And this is not a star like We would see up in the sky if we go outside tonight. Like, it's not astrology and things like that. And here's why. Is because you see in the last phrase.
Verse 1 and to him. And to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. And then in verse 2, and he, that's the star. In other words, here's what I'm telling you: the star is a being.
So, the question that we have to ask ourselves here. is who is the star? Who is this star that's referenced here? And here's what I'm going to tell you, and I'm going to give you the reasons why. This star is a reference to Satan himself.
So you see that a star falls from. From heaven. Luke chapter 10, Jesus, you know what he said? He said I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning. In Isaiah chapter 14, Verse 12, it says this.
How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer? Right? The name Lucifer means carrier of light. literally means light bearer. You could translate the name Lucifer.
To Morning Star. And so, what you have here in Revelation chapter 9 is a reference to Satan himself. He's here portrayed as a star, and Satan here was given the key to the bottomless pit. This is also translated, the bottomless pit is translated the abyss. Um the word here is mentioned seven uh times uh in this in the um Uh book of Revelation.
And once in Luke chapter 8... And once in Romans.
So it's mentioned seven times. In this book, Revelation. And, you know, the scripture talks a lot about, you know, you can read about it, how Satan was cast from heaven. And a lot of his angels. In fact, Revelation chapter 12 talks about the fallen angels, and they were cast down.
And what happened in that moment? is that many entered into the Spirit realm. And that's why we have demonic Oppression. That's why we have demonic oppression that exists in our world because there is a spiritual realm that exists in our world in different capacities where these fallen demons are tormenting people on earth. And I know what you're thinking, like, man, this is not fun to talk about.
I understand it, but I'm telling you, it's real. It exists. It exists around our world. But then there's a portion of these fallen angels that were kicked out of heaven. It's almost like you have the worst of the worst, if you would.
There's a portion of them that were thrown into what Scripture calls. The abyss. The bottomless pit. What we find here. And you see that a portion of them that were cast from heaven are fallen into this.
And This is what many believe is the deepest part of... of hell. And so the word here, abyss, it's used. What's interesting is this. You would know this story: Luke chapter number 8.
When Jesus goes across the Sea of Galilee and he meets the maniac of Gadara. The man comes up to him, and his name was Legion, which means many. He was possessed by many demons. And you know what the demons begged Jesus not to do? Do not throw us into the abyss.
In other words, these demons are like, man. We don't want to be thrown there. In other words, there's this place reserved for the worst of the worst. And even then, it's almost like you get this sense that these demons who are terrible, right? They're saying, we don't want to go there, though.
There's a place reserved for them. And that's the bottomless pit that we're seeing here in Revelation chapter number nine. And so, what you find here, I think I have a couple of verses on this that I wanted to show you. 2 Peter 2, verse 4. Yeah, it says, For if God spared not the angels that sinned.
But cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto death. Judgment. So there's a group of angels that are not, or a group of fallen angels that are not in the spirit realm. They're reserved and bound in this bottomless pit. Jude, verse 6, chapter 1, because there's only one chapter.
Verse 6 says this: And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains. Unto darkness Unto the judgment of the great day.
So, what you have here is these fallen angels that are reserved there. That Satan, like a star, is given the key, and during this. During this trumpet that is blowing. These demons are going to be released. They're going to be released.
And they're going to come in the form of locust. They can't harm the green grass or trees, which is ironically what locusts would typically do. But they're going to come. And here's also what they can't do. They can't touch the.
Those that are sealed. Those that are sealed, the 144,000 that we talked about and that we looked at, they can't touch them, but they can't even kill. They can only torment people for five months. And it's going to feel, the torment's going to be so bad that it's going to feel, as Scripture says here, like a scorpion. Venomous, they're all venomous, by the way, that is going to just continue to attack you for these five months without killing you.
Like a scorpion. That's what the torment is going to be like. And what's sad about this and what's terrible is it's going to get so bad. The torment from these fallen angels are going to they're going to people will long to die because it's going to be so bad. But death would just pass them by.
They're just going to have to live with it. As judgment continues to pour out, the sting of the demonic oppression will be so severe that people will wish to die. But can't.
Now, you see that their description is like the locust. I wanted to show you a picture of it. I totally forgot to send that to David to put on the screens. But here's what I'll tell you: it's a nasty picture because here's what I'll tell you, just real quick: 7 through 10, here's what you find. These locusts, like their demons, are going to be released from this bottomless pit.
They're shaped like a horse. They have gold crowns on their head. They have the face of a man, but they hair like a woman. They have teeth like a lion. They have a breastplate of iron.
The wings, when they flap, sound like the sound of a herd of horses going into battle. And then they have tails like scorpions. And they have a king. In verse 11. The king's name.
is Adadon and Apollyon. Both meaning destroyer. They're king Satan. The king is the the star. The fallen star.
And so that's who they serve.
So all these demons are still serving. This Satan, okay? Trump at number six. We got to hurry because I want to finish this on time. Verse 13, and the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, saying to the sixth angel, which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.
The four angels were loosed. which were prepared for an hour and a day and a month and a year for to slay a third part of men. And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand. And I heard the number of them. And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth and brimstone, and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions, and out of their mouths issued fire, smoke, and brimstone.
By these three was the third part of men killed by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone which issued out of their mouths. For their power is in their mouth and in their tails, for their tails were like unto serpents. Add heads and within they do hurt.
So real quick, trumpet number six. What you see, the big idea here is that a third of mankind. is killed by by demons. The angels that are bound here are fallen angels, these demons that are being released.
So you have the demons in the abyss, the bottomless pit. They're released in trumpet number five. And then here in trumpet number six, you have these demons that were in the river Euphrates.
Now, what's interesting is the river Euphrates was one of the four rivers mentioned in the Garden of Eden. This was also they ran through Babylon. This is modern day Iraq. And this river, there's going to be during this time, trumpet number six, there's going to be this. These angels, these fallen angels that are going to be released.
Revelation chapter 18, verse 2 says this. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon, the greatest fallen. is fallen and has become the habitation Devils.
So, what you find here is that's what they're going to be released here. And, you know, we're not going to spend a whole lot of time on trumpet number six. I just want you to see here because this is really. Wild to me. We're right now getting close to believe 8 billion people on the planet.
As we've come through so far through the tribulation, look at the amount of people that we've lost.
So first of all, you have the rapture of the church.
Okay. You have a fourth of the population was killed. And the fourth seal. That was broken. You had the death of some believers, the martyrs.
That was the fifth seal. And then what you find here is death throughout these trumpets, but a third here in this sixth trumpet, a third will be. will be killed. You do the math. I mean, I know we can't really tell how much that is.
That's a lot. That's a lot. The population's gonna be drastically different. Most of it's going to be gone. Here, verse 16 is 200 million.
That it's referencing here, the army that came and that kind of thing. And so, this is demonic beings, if you would. And I want to just close with the last two verses here. If you look with me in Revelation 9, verse 20. and twenty one.
And the rest of the men which hadn't been killed by these plagues. repented not. What would it take? Isn't that amazing? They they refused.
Even though they've seen The population get completely changed and many wiped out. Blood in the seas. No grass. All these terrible things being tormented, demonic oppression, just running wild. on earth.
And yet the ones that were left repented not of the works of their hands. that they should not worship devils. and idols of gold, and silver and brass and stone and of wood. which neither can see nor Or here in our walk. Neither repented they of their murders.
Nor of their sorceries. By the way, the word sorceries is the word, I can't remember the Greek word, but it's where we get the word pharmaceutical. Can't remember the Greek word off the top of my head, but what I'm saying is that word is literally talking about drugs. It's not talking about witchcraft here in its original language. And so I wanted to make note of that.
Nor of their fornication, sexual immorality, nor of their thefts. The rest were not that were not tormented by these demonic oppressed people. Refuse to. Repent. You say, what is repent?
The word repent is mentioned twelve times in the book of Revelation. That's more times than any other book. The only two books that come close is Mark and Luke in the Gospels. But here it's mentioned in Revelation more than any other book. Because this is the very heart.
of God for his people. For us. For the world. God desires that all come. Tom two.
repentance. But unfortunately some refuse.
Some Refuse to turn. Say, what is repentance? It's a turning, it's a mental shift. For you to turn. It doesn't mean that it's not a work.
All the work's been done, but repentance, as you believe and trust in Jesus, is a mental shift, if you would, where you turn from a life of sin, you turn from a life of idolatry, you turn from a life of selfishness. And you turn To God. And here's what I want you to know. I don't know every single one of your stories. And quite frankly, I don't care if you've been around our church forever, but if you have questions about all of this and this scares you and you're worried about it, here's what I want you to know.
And this is true of our whole world, it's true of your neighbors, it's true of your children, it's true of your grandchildren, it's true of your friends, it's true of the people you work with. Here's the truth. There is no greater time than the present. to repent. There's no greater time than the present time to repent.
And what I'm telling you is, that is the message. That is the answer, and that's what we have to be preaching. It is repentance. It is turning to God. It is a belief in what He did as the only way for salvation.
And let me tell you this: as we watch our world go absolutely nuts. And it's going to get worse. You think it's nuts now? It's going to get even nuttier, okay? And here's what I want you to know, as you watch this unfold before our very eyes and you see things and you look at this.
Here's what I want you to know: don't ever get caught up in the political ramification and stuff like that. Here's what I want you to know: you can engage in politics and do your thing, but here's what I want you to know. Washington is not the hope of the world. It never has been. The hope of the world is found in a relationship with Jesus Christ.
And what we are called to do is to go out of here into our world and be salt and light. To the world that we are caught up in. And that means that we take the truth of scripture. You want to know what the problem with the world is? Because I've engaged recently with just people in our world and stuff like this.
And, you know, Facebook is a way that you can engage. And it's actually sparked a lot of good conversation in my own world. I've had people reach out to me privately that don't believe anything like I believe. And they're like, hey, I saw your post. It kind of made me a little angry and everything.
I just want to talk to you. And I'm like, hey, here's my cell phone number. Let's talk. Because this is an opportunity for us to take the truth. The problem with the world, I'll solve it to you right here.
Here's the problem. is we have lost sense of what absolute truth is for our life. And absolute truth has to be found in this because here's where our world gets it wrong: their absolute truth is found in how they feel. Hey, whatever feels good to you, that's fine with you. And that's where we get right from wrong from.
That's where we get truth and all this stuff. And when you look at it and you're like, this doesn't make any sense, that's exactly right. Because what feels good to you might not feel good to me. And if our feelings drive what we view as truth, Then we're going to get what we got. And that's the whole problem with society.
And what God has said is, He's given us His whole written word, and He says, This is absolute truth. You don't like it? I get it. There's parts of this that, I mean, when it says, Love your enemies, I'm like, really? Yeah.
But guess who's not the standard of truth? Not what I think, it's what he thinks. And what we have to understand is, we got to take this. Entire community. Because that's the answer.
And we got to tell the world the truth in love. Don't forget that part. You got to talk it and speak it and share it and speak up and speak out about the truth. In a way that is loving. Because I'm telling you this: if the world doesn't turn, there's coming a day where we're going to be caught up.
And people that you love. are going to be left. And they're going to have to endure. everything we're saying. Mm-hmm.
