Jeff Miller

February 10, 2019

Coming Soon!

Coming Soon! Judgment, Phase 2: The Trumpets, Part 2 (Revelation 9)

Jeff Miller

February 10, 2019

Coming Soon!

Intro / Review:

THE FIFTH AND SIXTH TRUMPETS: DEMONS ATTACK! (Rev 9:1-21)

THE 5TH TRUMPET: Demons Bring Suffering! (Rev 9:1-12)

THE 6th TRUMPET: Demons Bring DEATH! (Rev 9:13-19)

THE MOST HORRIFYING PART: SIN is still preffered over GOD! (Rev 9:20-21)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

01:03-01:07
Open up your Bibles with me please to the book of Revelation, chapter 9.
01:08-01:11
We're in the middle of a series called "Coming Soon." What's coming soon?
01:11-01:14
Well, the end of the world is coming soon, according to Jesus Christ.
01:15-01:23
The judgment really began in chapter 6 with the seal judgments, and it continued in chapter 8 with the trumpet judgments.
01:24-01:27
A quick review from last week while you're turning to chapter 9.
01:28-01:41
In chapter 8, we saw with the trumpet judgments, a third of the vegetation was burned up, "A third of the sea creatures and the ships were destroyed, and a third of the fresh water became poisoned, which resulted in human death.
01:41-01:48
A third of the sun, moon, and stars were darkened." We saw an angel flew overhead to proclaim the worst is yet to come.
01:48-01:53
In chapter 9, we're going to be looking at the 5th and the 6th trumpets.
01:53-01:58
Now, at this point in Revelation, judgment goes from bad to horrifying.
01:58-02:03
Because at this point, demons are permitted by God to attack the human race.
02:04-02:16
And you can trace this throughout Scripture, throughout history, that Satan and his demons have always been out to get God's people, and God has always used them, and His sovereignty and His power, to do His will.
02:16-02:19
That's exactly what we see in Revelation 9.
02:19-02:24
These demons are let loose to attack, and God is using them to bring His judgment.
02:24-02:32
The first four trumpets focused on the physical world, but now the fifth trumpet brings the spiritual world into the physical world.
02:32-02:34
Quite honestly, this is the stuff of nightmares.
02:35-02:37
The fifth and sixth trumpets - demons attack.
02:37-02:38
Let's talk about the fifth trumpet.
02:39-02:40
Demons bring suffering.
02:42-02:42
Look at verse 1.
02:43-02:59
John says, "And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit." We saw last week that John saw some heavenly bodies fall to the earth.
02:59-03:01
And this one is different.
03:02-03:03
This isn't an object.
03:04-03:08
He describes it with the pronoun "he." This is an angel.
03:09-03:11
Specifically, this is Satan.
03:11-03:12
How do we know this is Satan?
03:12-03:17
Well, Isaiah 14.12 describes Satan as fallen from heaven.
03:18-03:22
Jesus used the same terminology to describe Satan in Luke 10.
03:22-03:33
Verse 18, "He's fallen." And notice in the text, John says, "I saw a star falling." He didn't say, "I saw a star falling." I saw a star fallen, referring to Satan.
03:34-03:39
You see Jesus here gives Satan the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit.
03:39-03:42
You're like, "What in the world is the bottomless pit?
03:43-03:46
What is that?" And actually, this is throughout the Bible.
03:46-03:48
It occurs seven times in the book of Revelation.
03:49-03:50
It's a prison for demons.
03:51-03:55
Peter talks about it in 1 Peter 3, 2 Peter 2.
03:55-03:59
These demons in this prison, these are the worst of the worst.
03:59-04:02
Jude actually talks about them in Jude 6.
04:03-04:09
Apparently there's this prison where God sends the worst of the worst demons.
04:10-04:13
In Luke 8, do you remember when Jesus encountered the guy that was full of demons?
04:14-04:17
"What's your name?" and he says, "Legion." Do you remember that story?
04:18-04:19
Well, this is interesting.
04:19-04:23
When the demons confronted Jesus Christ, look what they said.
04:23-04:33
It says, "And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss." Remember, Jesus sent them into the pigs instead, then they were like, you know, did the polar plunge or whatever.
04:34-04:38
But they begged Jesus because they knew about this prison, right?
04:38-04:43
And when they encountered Jesus, they were like, "No, no, please don't send us there.
04:43-04:47
Please don't send us to this prison." Like, it's like Alcatraz for demons.
04:48-04:51
So Jesus gives the keys to Satan.
04:51-04:52
Where is the door?
04:53-04:54
This is really horrifying.
04:54-04:56
Because apparently the door is on earth somewhere.
04:57-04:58
How do you know that?
04:58-04:59
Well, look at the text.
04:59-05:03
This star fallen from heaven to earth.
05:03-05:08
And we're going to see when he opens it up, the smoke fills the earth.
05:08-05:11
So apparently, this door is somewhere on the earth.
05:11-05:17
Some people believe that the abyss, This prison is actually located in the center of the earth.
05:18-05:21
There's a whole lot of reasons for that I'm not going to get into today.
05:22-05:29
When we look at the description of those incarcerated there, it's kind of a creepy thought to think that right under our feet, the Lord has demons imprisoned.
05:30-05:47
And the day is going to come that He's going to toss the key to Satan and say, "Have at it." Imagine what it would be like today if every prison, every violent offender, every murderer, every rapist, the door of their prison cell opens up and they're let loose back into society.
05:47-05:49
You can imagine how horrific that would be.
05:49-05:56
That gives you a picture of what's coming with these incarcerated demons about to be let loose on the earth.
05:56-05:57
Look at v. 2.
05:58-06:07
It says, "Satan opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft arose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace.
06:07-06:11
And the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft.
06:11-06:23
Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given power like the power of scorpions of the earth." These are demons - you're going to see that in a second, it's crystal clear.
06:23-06:27
These are demons that have the appearance and characteristics of locusts.
06:27-06:29
These aren't actual locusts.
06:29-06:35
John's using this description for them because they swarm, they're innumerable, they cause misery and destruction.
06:35-06:38
He's obviously trying to compare them to something.
06:39-06:42
because they're like locusts and they're like scorpions at the same time.
06:42-06:53
Verse 4, "They were told not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green plant, or any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.
06:53-06:56
They were allowed to torment them for five months, but not to kill them.
06:57-07:04
And their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings someone." And in those days, people will seek death and will not find it.
07:04-07:08
They will long to die, but death will flee from them.
07:09-07:13
So these demons are let loose, and they were not permitted to attack God's people.
07:14-07:17
Now, the sealed probably includes all saved.
07:18-07:19
Not just the 144,000.
07:19-07:23
It's just hard to imagine that God would allow these demons to attack new believers.
07:24-07:26
Notice it says they weren't allowed to touch the grass.
07:26-07:29
You're like, wait a second, I thought all the grass was burnt up last week.
07:29-07:30
Well, maybe it grew back.
07:31-07:34
Some grass is seasonal, grows different times of the year.
07:34-07:37
But my best understanding is it grew back.
07:37-07:38
There's a time lapse here.
07:39-07:44
God put a restriction on them.
07:45-07:52
He said, "You can attack them and you can afflict them five months." The Bible says in those days, people were going to wish they could die.
07:52-07:54
Has anybody here ever been stung by a scorpion?
07:55-07:55
Nobody?
07:55-07:57
Okay, I thought maybe somebody could get up and give testimony.
07:58-07:59
I have not.
07:59-08:08
But if you've ever been sick, afflicted, in a physical state, like, "I just wish I could die." That's a description of what happens with these demons.
08:08-08:12
But if you've ever been stung by a scorpion, "Oh, I just wish I could die." God's not going to let them.
08:13-08:14
You will not die.
08:14-08:17
Why? Why would God let them suffer?
08:17-08:19
I believe God's still giving them time to repent.
08:20-08:21
You're not going to check out that quick.
08:21-08:22
I want you to think about eternity.
08:24-08:25
I think this is an act of grace by God.
08:26-08:37
And I want you to notice, we're going to look at the description here in a second, but in this passage, John uses the word "like" or "appearance" something like ten times when he's describing these demons.
08:37-08:45
As we've said so many times, going through Revelation, he doesn't try to explain things as much as he's describing things.
08:46-08:52
So we're just sort of looking over John's shoulder here, and he's like, here's what they looked like.
08:53-08:53
Crazy.
08:54-08:55
Look at v. 7-10.
08:56-09:00
It says, "In appearance, the locusts were like horses prepared for battle.
09:01-09:04
On their heads were what looked like crowns of gold.
09:04-09:06
Their faces were like human faces.
09:07-09:12
Their hair like women's hair, and their teeth like lion's teeth.
09:12-09:20
They have breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the noise of their wings is like the noise of many chariots with horses rushing into battle.
09:21-09:28
They have tails and stings like scorpions, and their power to hurt people for five months is in their tails.
09:28-09:29
I'll stop there.
09:30-09:32
You can maybe do what I did this past week.
09:33-09:33
Get on Google.
09:34-09:41
I just Googled Revelation 9 and looked at some images of some artists trying to depict this description of these demons.
09:42-09:43
They're horrific.
09:43-09:47
Some people say, "Well, you know..." Maybe you've heard this.
09:47-09:57
Some people are like, "You know, I think what John actually saw here was like attack helicopters." And because he didn't know what they were, he was just kind of using this imagery.
09:58-10:04
And I would say, if that's true, if that's true, John is the worst charades player ever.
10:05-10:08
It's like one word and three syllables.
10:09-10:12
Okay, hair, hair like a woman, hair like a woman.
10:12-10:15
Yeah, yeah, a human face, right, right, right.
10:16-10:18
Oh, a crown, lion's teeth.
10:18-10:18
What is it?
10:18-10:19
It was helicopter.
10:20-10:24
This is obviously describing a monstrous thing.
10:25-10:26
It's a demon.
10:26-10:29
And this is what the world has to look forward to.
10:30-10:35
These images show that they're horrifying, They're lethal and they're invulnerable.
10:36-10:40
Verse 11, it says, "They have as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit.
10:41-10:46
His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon." Some people think this king is Satan.
10:47-10:50
John's like, "No, I gave you two names for him.
10:50-10:53
It's not Satan." So who is this king?
10:53-10:55
He must be some sort of a high-ranking demon.
10:56-10:57
Somebody that the other demons know.
10:58-11:00
But he's sort of leading the charge.
11:00-11:03
So they arrive, they afflict, And what happens to them?
11:03-11:06
I don't know. Your Bible says the same thing that my Bible says.
11:06-11:07
I don't know what happens to them.
11:07-11:08
I did a lot of reading this week.
11:08-11:14
Some people think that God allowed them to fulfill their purpose and God was like, boom, back to prison with you.
11:14-11:17
The Bible doesn't say, and that's really not the point.
11:17-11:22
The point is, John's saying, this is what God's going to do as an act of judgment on the earth.
11:22-11:25
He's going to let the demons out of prison, and they're going to bring suffering.
11:25-11:27
Next, let's look at the sixth trumpet.
11:27-11:29
Demons bring death.
11:29-11:30
Demons bring death.
11:31-11:34
of another demon attack, but it goes from painful to lethal.
11:34-11:35
Look at v. 13.
11:35-11:51
It says, "Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar before God saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, 'Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.'" The voice is probably Jesus.
11:52-11:53
Not identified.
11:53-11:57
But John sees the altar again where the prayers of the saints arose.
11:58-12:00
And here we have more demons.
12:01-12:06
The Bible identifies them as angels, but God's angels are nowhere in the Bible described to be bound.
12:06-12:09
So they must be fallen angels - demons who are bound.
12:10-12:11
How do you bind a demon?
12:11-12:12
I don't know, but I'm sure God has that figured out.
12:14-12:21
So it says, "Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates." Euphrates is the longest and most important river in the Middle East.
12:21-12:23
It's the eastern boundary of the Promised Land.
12:23-12:26
And here he's referring to four specific demons.
12:26-12:32
He calls them "the four angels." very specific. Look at verse 15.
12:33-12:40
"To the four angels who had been prepared for the hour, the day, the month, and the year were released to kill a third of mankind.
12:41-12:47
The number of mounted troops was twice ten thousand times ten thousand." I heard their number.
12:48-12:51
Previously, man was looking for death and couldn't die.
12:51-12:53
Now, they can't escape it.
12:54-12:56
The theme of one third continues.
12:57-13:00
This time, a third of mankind killed.
13:00-13:04
I mean, can you wrap your brains around how horrific that's going to be?
13:04-13:05
I mean, look at the church.
13:05-13:06
Three sections here.
13:06-13:09
It's just like everybody here in this section - gone.
13:09-13:10
Dead.
13:10-13:15
So, in chapter 6, verse 8, 25% of the population was killed.
13:16-13:25
So if you add this third to the previous quarter, and we're not including the martyred believers, at this point in Revelation, more than half of the earth's population is dead.
13:26-13:27
He gives the exact number of these demons.
13:28-13:29
What's the phrase here?
13:30-13:30
Twice?
13:31-13:32
10,000 times 10,000.
13:32-13:33
How many is that?
13:34-13:36
That is 200 million.
13:36-13:43
John says, "I heard their number." You know, sometimes we throw around the phrase, "Hell on earth," and it's always an overstatement.
13:43-13:45
Here, it's going to seem literal.
13:46-13:47
Let's look at the description of these.
13:47-13:50
"And this is how I saw the horses in my vision and those who rode them.
13:51-14:03
They were breastplates the color of fire and of sapphire and of sulfur "The heads of the horses were like lion's heads, and fire and smoke and sulfur came out of their mouths.
14:03-14:10
By these three plagues, a third of mankind was killed by the fire and smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouths.
14:10-14:12
The power of the horses is in their mouths.
14:13-14:23
And then their tails, their tails are like serpents with heads, and by means of them, they wound." Again, just look up some Google images.
14:23-14:27
You'll see some very interesting artist depictions of these things.
14:27-14:38
These riders had breastplates of red and dark blue and yellow, and obviously, these aren't actual horses, but another attempt from John to describe what he's seeing.
14:39-14:46
These horses come out and they kill a third of the mankind with fire and smoke and sulfur, plus damaging from their tails.
14:46-14:49
And like the previous demons, they just sort of vanish from the text.
14:49-14:50
What happened to them? I don't know.
14:51-14:53
and allowed them to serve their purpose and they're done.
14:53-14:56
So at this point, we're like at the midpoint of the tribulation.
14:57-15:07
And if you can sort of put yourself in this scene and think, I mean, can you even imagine what it would be like watching family members and neighbors slaughtered by demons?
15:07-15:17
You would think, well, surely, surely at this point, these people who have been afflicted and affected by this, surely at this point, they're going to repent.
15:18-15:24
They're going to see these demons, There is a spiritual world, and I've been so wrong!
15:25-15:31
And I'm going to fall on my face, and I'm going to cry out for mercy for God, because I've been so foolish.
15:31-15:34
You would think at this point, mass revival, right?
15:35-15:43
Well, actually, despite the description of the demons and all the affliction they bring, they are not the most horrifying part of this text.
15:44-15:45
Here's the most horrifying part of the text.
15:46-15:49
Sin is still preferred over God.
15:50-15:52
This is the thing that's absolutely chilling.
15:52-16:07
That these people have witnessed the anguish of these demons attacking the people screaming out in agony for five months, "Oh God, I just wish I could die!" And then they watch a third of mankind killed by another type of demon.
16:07-16:10
But amazingly, some people will still not repent.
16:11-16:11
Look at verse 20.
16:12-16:15
This is the most mind-blowing part of the whole passage.
16:15-16:44
The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues did not repent of the works of their hands, nor give up worshiping demons, the idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts." Do you see how twisted and evil we are as people?
16:45-16:48
It says that there are people that are going to be worshiping these demons.
16:49-16:56
They're going to see the misery that's brought, and you're going to have a group of people on the earth that are going to worship these demons.
16:57-17:00
It's absolutely mind-blowing that people will still not repent.
17:00-17:05
They become so hardened that they become unreachable.
17:05-17:09
And this isn't just a message for the end times. This is a message for today.
17:09-17:11
I'd like to remind you of Hebrews 3-4.
17:12-17:14
quoting Psalm 95.
17:15-17:25
It says today, "If you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts." In Hebrews 3 and 4, God says that four times.
17:25-17:27
Again, quoting Psalm 95.
17:27-17:31
I would suggest to you, if God says something once, we should really listen, right?
17:32-17:34
If God says something twice, oh, He must be trying to get our attention.
17:35-17:35
Four times!
17:36-17:37
Four times!
17:37-18:00
This is the most urgent message that the Lord wants to give us as a church, as a people to say, "Listen, if you haven't given your life to Jesus Christ, and you know the Gospel, and you know the Holy Spirit is calling you to turn from your sin today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts." When you persist in choosing sin over God, you harden your heart.
18:00-18:04
And your heart gets so hard that the Gospel isn't able to reach you.
18:04-18:09
And if you persist on rejecting God long enough, again, this is scarier than any demon.
18:10-18:16
If you persist on rejecting God long enough, you put yourself past the point of no return.
18:16-18:22
You can make yourself unable to be saved, because you harden your heart to the point that you'll never let God in.
18:22-18:25
That's a whole 'nother study.
18:26-18:28
The Bible is crystal clear about that.
18:28-18:34
Today, today, every time you say no to God, it gets easier to say no to God.
18:35-18:36
And eventually, that's all you know.
18:37-18:38
That's all you know, saying no to God.
18:38-18:43
and saying yes to whatever self-centered sin you prefer.
18:43-18:47
My hard-heartedness is so, so destructive.
18:48-18:56
That's why God cries out to us through His Word and says, "Today, do not harden your hearts." Let's talk about the sins preferred over God.
18:57-18:58
Look at the list here in the text.
18:58-18:59
First of all, idol worship.
19:00-19:01
Idol worship, what's an idol?
19:02-19:07
Well, when your affection, adoration, your life purpose is found in something other than Jesus Christ, whatever that is.
19:07-19:11
It can be another person, it can be an object, it can be money, it can be your job, whatever.
19:12-19:16
Anything that has the top place in your life that is not Jesus Christ, that is an idol.
19:17-19:22
Murders, the world at this point is going to be in absolute chaos and violence is going to be escalated.
19:23-19:27
Interestingly, it says, "Or they're sorceries," verse 21.
19:27-19:28
Or they're sorceries.
19:29-19:30
Why is that interesting?
19:30-19:35
Because this Greek word for sorceries is where we get the English word pharmacy, pharmakeo.
19:36-19:39
What's the connection between sorcery and pharmacy?
19:40-19:47
Drugs have been used and are used today and will continue to be used to get closer to the gods.
19:47-19:50
There is a satanic connection to drugs.
19:50-19:55
And the stronghold that they have on people is supernatural in nature.
19:56-20:03
I'm not going to ask you to raise your hand, but if you know an addict here today, if you're sitting here and you know an addict, you know exactly what I'm talking about.
20:04-20:10
The bondage of addiction will seduce someone all the way to death.
20:10-20:17
And you can imagine in these days, witnessing all of these demon attacks, more and more people are going to be using drugs as an escape.
20:18-20:28
Next is sexual immorality. The Greek word is where we get the word "pornography." It's sexual sin of all kinds, by the way, whether it's adultery, homosexuality, rape.
20:29-20:31
We already get a preview of that today.
20:31-20:36
People are so messed up when it comes to sexuality and marriage and God's intention.
20:36-20:39
And these days it's going to be even more restrained than it is today.
20:40-20:42
Last it says they're thefts. They're thefts.
20:43-20:48
In the face of the judgments coming on the earth, people are going to be stealing everything they need or want.
20:48-20:51
Some of us remember... how many remember seeing the images...
20:51-20:53
This always stuck in my head. Hurricane Katrina.
20:54-20:55
Remember seeing the images of the looting?
20:56-20:58
I remember I was watching on TV and I was just completely dumbfounded.
20:58-21:02
There was a guy coming out of a store. He had like ten boxes of Nike shoes.
21:03-21:08
And it was just like, "Why are you doing that? Why not?" Everything is just ripe for the taking.
21:08-21:10
And that's what's going to happen in these days.
21:11-21:13
It's going to be worldwide in scope.
21:13-21:14
This message is for somebody here.
21:15-21:20
When you persist in sin, you're going to get to the point that the people in this text are going to get to.
21:21-21:25
The thought of repentance, the thought of turning to God, isn't going to be on your radar at all.
21:26-21:30
You have hardened yourself beyond any hope of receiving God's love in Jesus Christ.
21:30-21:32
And now that's not God's fault. That's your fault.
21:32-21:34
Let me ask you, is that the future you want for yourself?
21:35-21:37
Is that how you see life turning out for you?
21:38-21:46
That's why the Bible says today, if you hear His voice right now, if the Holy Spirit is getting your attention at all, then you have to receive Jesus Christ today.
21:47-21:51
Because if you say no today, tomorrow He may be calling you and you just won't hear Him.
21:52-21:54
Tomorrow He may be calling you and you won't even care.
21:54-21:55
So what's it going to be?
21:56-22:00
Sin offers you guilt and destruction, and eventually hell.
22:01-22:08
Whereas God, through Jesus Christ, has offered forgiveness, He's offered restoration, and He's offered eternal life.
22:08-22:08
What's it going to be?
22:09-22:11
Please bow your heads and pray with me, please.
22:11-22:19
Our Father in Heaven, as we finish looking at this passage, it is something that certainly captures the imagination, to put it mildly.
22:19-22:32
to see the description of these horrific demon attacks, to imagine what John saw that he's describing, people begging for death, and then people being unable to avoid death.
22:32-22:39
The scariest thing of all, people staring hell down in the face, refusing to repent.
22:40-23:13
Father, I pray today if there's anyone sitting in this room, I pray God if there's anyone listening to this podcast later, God, I know you get this out all over the world, I pray, God, that Your Holy Spirit would be so loud and so clear in drawing people to the salvation that You've offered in Your Son, that people would look at the horrors that are coming and get on their faces and recognize that the sin that they've held on to isn't even worth talking about compared to the glorious things that You've offered instead.
23:13-23:16
We thank You, Father, for Jesus Christ, for His death and His resurrection.
23:17-23:25
And I pray that through these horrific sights and descriptions, you would truly grant repentance before it's too late.
23:25-23:27
We pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read Revelation 9

GROUP

1 - What was your big take-away from this passage / message?

2 - Why would someone who lived through the demon attacks still refuse to repent and turn to God (v20)? What does this say about the power and influence of sin?

3 - How do you know when someone is hard-hearted to the point of being unable to be reached with the Gospel (v20-21)? How can you suspect someone is heading there? What do you do in that case?

4 - The Greek word for sorceries (v21) is where we get the word “pharmaceuticals”. What is the connection between drugs and idolatry / evil spirits?

BREAKOUT

Pray for someone you know who is an addict, that the Lord would bring deliverance.

Jeff Miller

February 3, 2019

Coming Soon!

Coming Soon! Judgment, Phase 2: The Trumpets, Part 1

Jeff Miller

February 3, 2019

Coming Soon!

Intro / Review:

The First Four Trumpets: (Super)Natural Disasters.(Rev 8:6-13)

The 1ST Trumpet: VEGETATION burned (Rev 8:7)

The 2ND Trumpet: Water to BLOOD (Rev 8:8-9)

The 3RD Trumpet: Water to POISON (Rev 8:10-11)

The 4TH Trumpet: Lights are DIMMED (Rev 8:12-13)

  
    God's Judgment is a Controlled Action, Not an Emotional Reaction.
 
God's Judgment is Fueled by our PRAYERS (Rev 8:3-5)
     
 God's Judgment is DELIBERATE and PRECISE. (Rev 8:7-12)
 
God's Judgment is Preceded by WARNING (Rev 8:13)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

01:04-01:08
Open up your Bibles with me please to Revelation 8.
01:10-01:18
Revelation 8, we are going through the book of Revelation, verse by verse.
01:21-01:31
And to get you caught up while we are turning there, the title of our series is "Coming Soon." The end of the world.
01:33-01:44
John, the apostle in chapters 4 and 5 in Revelation, was taken to heaven, and he was taken forward in time, and John saw God sitting on his throne.
01:44-01:50
And he saw in God's right hand the title deed to the earth.
01:52-01:58
And the question was posed, Who's worthy to take the scroll and break its seals?
01:58-02:04
In other words, the question was, who's worthy to reclaim the earth back?
02:04-02:05
Back from who?
02:05-02:07
Back from Satan.
02:07-02:08
Back from sin.
02:09-02:10
Back from evil.
02:11-02:15
Back from the fallenness in which we live.
02:17-02:26
The Bible says that Jesus Christ, the Lamb, stepped forward and He took the scroll because He and He alone is worthy and reclaim the earth back from the enemy.
02:26-02:28
And thunderous worship resulted.
02:30-02:44
In chapter 6, the Lamb opens the scroll, and every time He breaks one of the seals, it unleashes a manifestation of God's judgment on the earth.
02:45-02:47
That's what we saw in Revelation 6.
02:48-02:59
Peace turns into war, which brought famine, which eventually 25% of the earth's population was killed - will be killed.
03:01-03:04
We read it in the past tense, but these are future events.
03:06-03:14
People who come to Christ during the tribulation but will be killed for their faith cry out to God to avenge them.
03:16-03:17
And He tells them to wait on His timing.
03:18-03:21
And at the end of chapter 6, we saw the whole earth is shaken.
03:22-03:23
Worldwide earthquake.
03:23-03:28
God grabs the globe and shakes it like a baby would shake a rattle.
03:31-03:32
The sky is darkened.
03:33-03:35
Meteors pummel the earth.
03:37-03:41
And at this point, the unsaved realize that these are judgments from God.
03:43-03:49
And they cry out at the end of chapter 6, they cry out, "The day of the wrath of the Lamb has come!
03:49-03:53
Who can stand?" That's what chapter 7 is.
03:53-04:00
Chapter 7 is an interjection answering that question, "Who can stand?" Who can stand when God's judgment comes down on the earth?
04:01-04:18
And the answer is this, God is going to seal 144,000 Jews, and He's going to use them for global evangelism because John also saw people from every tribe, nation, tongue, all over the globe standing before the Lord, worshiping Him.
04:21-04:34
These judgments that we're looking at in Revelation are going to get increasingly more astonishing with everyone released.
04:34-04:42
I heard people comment when we went through Revelation 6, they said, "You could have heard a pin drop in here." And I'm looking at people's faces when we were just going through the text.
04:43-04:54
I saw faces. People were just like, "Wow, that's what's coming?" I would say it's about to get a lot worse.
04:56-05:05
Now, we've seen the six seals broken and there's really no description of the judgment coming from the seventh seal.
05:07-05:15
But the seven trumpets - we're going to look at four of them today - the seven trumpet judgments seem to come forth from the seventh seal.
05:17-05:19
We'll see that again with the bowl judgments.
05:19-05:24
No seventh trumpet, but the seven bowls seem to come from the seventh trumpet.
05:25-05:28
So we had a short respite from the judgments.
05:29-05:31
That's what chapter 7 was all about.
05:31-05:38
A little break, a little pause in the action, but now it's back to the business of God's wrath.
05:39-05:40
Look at verse 1.
05:40-05:49
It says, "When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
05:51-05:54
Keep in mind at this point, the noise that John would have heard.
05:54-05:59
Remember, he was describing the worship, and the worship was loud.
05:59-06:07
He heard angels and elders and redeemed people from all over the world stand.
06:07-06:08
He said, "I couldn't even count them.
06:08-06:13
There were so many people crying out in worship!" And it was so loud.
06:14-06:19
And now, silence.
06:21-06:24
The lamb breaks that last seal.
06:53-06:55
For a half hour, that was it.
06:58-06:58
For a half hour.
07:01-07:06
In fact, this is the only time in the book of Revelation you see any silence.
07:07-07:08
What's going on here?
07:09-07:22
I think as humans, and the redeemed, and the angels, I think as they witnessed the first six seals being opened, coming on the earth.
07:24-07:35
As horrifying as the sixth one was, I think what's happening here is I think when He broke that seventh seal, I think everyone was just in complete awe of what was about to happen.
07:35-07:38
He breaks that seal and it's just...
07:47-07:52
All of heaven is just awestruck at what God is about to do.
07:53-07:54
Look at verse 2.
07:55-08:06
He says, "Then I saw the seven angels who stood before God, and seven trumpets were given to them." Trumpets are mentioned often in Scripture.
08:06-08:07
They're used in various ways.
08:07-08:11
In fact, rapture, 1 Thessalonians 4.16, a trumpet is blown.
08:12-08:16
A trumpet was blown to call the Israelite tribes to camp.
08:16-08:18
and just so many different ways trumpets are used.
08:18-08:23
But here, these trumpets that we'll see in Revelation 8 and 9 are associated with God's judgment.
08:25-08:28
So these angels, these seven angels, it says they stood before God.
08:29-08:33
Apparently had some special place of position in heaven.
08:34-08:43
It says they were given seven trumpets and they were waiting for the opportunity to blow those trumpets.
08:45-08:58
Verse 3 says, "And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of the saints on the golden altar before the throne.
09:00-09:13
And the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints rose before God from the hand of the angel." So this angel comes and he stands at the heavenly altar of incense.
09:14-09:21
This angel is sort of in a priestly role, in that he's presenting the prayers of God's people before God.
09:21-09:23
We're going to talk about him in a minute.
09:25-09:27
Look at verse 5.
09:29-09:33
It says, "Then..." You get this picture? He presents the prayers of the people to God.
09:33-09:41
Verse 5, "Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth.
09:41-09:46
and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.
09:49-09:50
So the silence is broken.
09:53-10:01
This censer, this instrument that was just used to offer the prayers of God's people to God is now turned into a weapon.
10:03-10:08
As it's filled with fire, and He throws it to the earth.
10:10-10:15
During that half hour of silence, if there was any thought, like, maybe God's done.
10:16-10:21
Maybe that sixth seal was just it.
10:21-10:23
And maybe God is done now.
10:23-10:26
If there was any thought of that, that's quickly corrected.
10:27-10:41
Because this censer filled with fire thrown to the earth results - you see it in your text - thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and another massive earthquake as we saw in chapter 6.
10:42-10:52
So in your outline, that was the kick-off of the first four trumpets.
10:54-10:56
Supernatural disasters.
10:59-11:01
Supernatural disasters.
11:03-11:11
Verse 6, "Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets compared to blow them." Write this down.
11:11-11:15
The first trumpet - vegetation burned.
11:18-11:21
You're going to see again, the judgments are going to get worse and worse and worse.
11:22-11:23
Here's the first one.
11:23-11:24
Vegetation burned.
11:24-11:25
Look at verse 7.
11:25-11:31
"The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire mixed with blood.
11:32-11:42
And these were thrown upon the earth, and a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all of the green grass was burned up.
11:45-11:46
Mark that down, a third.
11:46-11:47
You're going to see that a lot in this chapter.
11:48-11:48
A third.
11:50-11:52
But this is absolutely terrifying.
11:54-11:57
Nothing compares to this.
11:58-11:59
So what's going on here?
11:59-12:12
My best understanding of this is that earthquake that we had just read about triggered volcanic activity, resulting in these other things.
12:13-12:18
The reason I say that, did you see it says, "Hail and fire mixed with blood." Like what's the blood?
12:19-12:20
Whose blood?
12:21-12:22
The Bible doesn't say.
12:24-12:33
I personally believe that those people who were killed during the sixth seal, remember rocks, mountains fall on us, hide us from the wrath of the Lamb.
12:33-12:37
and the people who were killed during the sixth seal, I believe this is their blood.
12:38-12:51
I believe that somehow, their blood mixed with the water vapor, and with all of this volcanic activity, it became hail raining down.
12:53-12:54
Again, the text doesn't say.
12:54-12:59
I'm just trying to imagine, based on what the text does say, where this blood might have come from.
12:59-13:00
I don't know.
13:02-13:12
How horrifying would it be to look out your window and see that your property is being destroyed by hail and fire and blood.
13:15-13:25
The result, we do know for sure, is a third of the earth and a third of the trees and all of the green grass are burned up.
13:27-13:29
I mean, think of the fallout from this.
13:31-13:32
the destruction of the crops.
13:34-13:35
What that would do to food supply.
13:35-13:37
What that would do to prices of food.
13:39-13:40
Death of animals.
13:40-13:42
Think of wood for construction.
13:44-13:45
It's going to get worse.
13:45-13:46
Look at the second trumpet.
13:47-13:48
Draw this down. Water to blood.
13:49-13:51
So we have vegetation burned.
13:51-13:52
Secondly, water to blood.
13:54-14:05
Verses 8 and 9 says, "The second angel blew his trumpet and something like a great mountain burning with fire, was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood.
14:06-14:10
A third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.
14:13-14:13
Water to blood.
14:13-14:25
He said he saw something like a great mountain, a giant meteor, an asteroid, but it was on fire, possibly burning up from entering into Earth's atmosphere.
14:27-14:28
He says it was launched into the sea.
14:28-14:30
We don't know which sea.
14:30-14:33
he didn't specify, but again that's not really the point.
14:35-14:40
The point isn't geographically where it landed, the point is the fallout that resulted.
14:42-14:45
Waters are turned to blood, killing a third of the sea life.
14:47-14:50
Like, well what's the big deal there, I don't even like to go to the ocean.
14:50-14:53
Well, it's a big deal because sea life serves as the bottom of the food chain.
14:56-14:59
This will probably cause a major food chain reaction.
15:00-15:03
It also says that a third of the ships were destroyed.
15:04-15:09
Is this from the waves that resulted from this object hitting the sea?
15:09-15:17
I don't know, but somehow, this also destroyed the ships resulting in an economic chain reaction.
15:20-15:21
That's the second trumpet.
15:23-15:24
It's not over yet.
15:25-15:37
Verse 10, "The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water.
15:37-15:39
The name of the star is Wormwood.
15:40-15:58
A third of the waters became Wormwood, and many people died from the water because it had been made bitter." And the third trumpet, jot this down, "water to poison." the previous projectile from the second trumpet, it seemed to remain intact when it hit the sea.
15:58-15:59
Did you see that?
15:59-16:14
But this fiery object, apparently when it was coming down from the sky, it seemed to disintegrate and spread out because it was hitting areas of water all over the earth.
16:16-16:17
It has the name Wormwood.
16:20-16:21
Who named it? I don't know.
16:21-16:23
How did y'all know its name?
16:23-16:23
I don't know.
16:24-16:30
I'd really like to remind you as we go through Revelation, John's not explaining as much as he's describing.
16:32-16:33
Right?
16:33-16:35
And we're just sort of standing beside him.
16:35-16:40
We're sort of looking over his shoulder at what he's describing.
16:41-16:42
So what is wormwood?
16:42-16:43
Well, wormwood is a shrub.
16:45-16:47
It was used to make a toxic liqueur.
16:49-16:50
It's actually outlawed in a lot of countries.
16:51-16:54
It's mentioned in the Old Testament several times.
16:55-16:57
Sometimes associated with water.
16:58-16:59
But it's a poison.
17:01-17:06
Just as the second trumpet hit the seas, this affects the fresh water.
17:06-17:11
It says a third of the rivers and springs, and that would include wells.
17:12-17:13
My best understanding.
17:15-17:16
Poisoned.
17:18-17:22
While it's almost certain that the previous three trumpets resulted in human death.
17:23-17:25
This one is the first one that specifically mentions it.
17:27-17:28
Water to poison.
17:29-17:32
Look at the fourth angel.
17:33-17:51
Verse 12, "Blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of their light might be darkened, and a third of the day might be kept from shining, and likewise, the third of the night.
17:53-18:00
So the fourth trumpet, "Lights are dimmed." So the focus goes from what's happening on the earth to now what's happening in the skies.
18:03-18:10
And after this past week we had, do I really have to sell anybody on the problems of a drastic temperature drop?
18:12-18:13
Do I have to explain that?
18:15-18:17
And honestly, that was nothing compared to what's coming.
18:19-18:20
a radical change in the weather.
18:22-18:31
And this certainly speaks to God's awesomeness that He can reach over to the thermostat on His wall and turn the temperature of the universe down 33%.
18:32-18:33
That's what He's going to do here.
18:34-18:35
Just going to turn it all down.
18:36-18:37
Just going to turn it down.
18:39-18:42
It's kind of funny, you know, because everybody talks about global warming, right?
18:43-18:44
Global warming, global warming.
18:45-18:47
People aren't going to be talking about global warming here.
18:48-18:52
There's probably going to be a few people that are going to blame this on global warming somehow.
18:53-18:54
Right? True or false?
18:56-18:59
Yeah, it's 33% colder because of global warming.
19:01-19:04
People at this point should be worrying about global cooling.
19:07-19:14
This is temporary because later, we're going to see when we get to chapter 16, later the Lord reaches over to the thermostat and turns the heat back up.
19:15-19:16
Way up.
19:17-19:20
and I'll show you who's in control of what's happening here.
19:22-19:23
Look at verse 13.
19:24-19:31
"Then I looked and I heard an eagle crying with a loud voice as it flew directly overhead.
19:33-19:47
'Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth at the blast of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow.'" Some of your Bibles say it's an eagle.
19:47-19:50
And some of your Bibles say it's an angel.
19:52-19:52
So which is it?
19:54-19:55
Is it possibly both?
19:57-20:02
Do you remember the fourth living creature had the appearance of an eagle in flight?
20:04-20:05
I'm not sure.
20:07-20:11
But again, I'm not so hung up on the messenger as I am the message.
20:14-20:17
going to be heard by everyone and he's going to be seen by everyone in church.
20:17-20:42
You're gonna mark this because this is significant. Because if there's anybody at this point that is still foolish enough to think these are all just crazy natural disasters, despite everything else that they've seen and heard, that there's going to, I promise you, there's going to be some people at this time this is just very weird, you know, ecological conditions and and there's nothing to worry about.
20:46-20:48
That ship has sailed.
20:48-21:04
Because this angel is going to very clearly announce, "Listen, this is the Lord." He says, "Woe, woe, woe!" "Woe" is an expression for judgment and destruction.
21:04-21:05
Those who dwell on the earth.
21:06-21:08
That phrase comes up over and over and over in Revelation.
21:09-21:10
You're going to see it. Those who dwell on the earth.
21:10-21:13
It always refers to unbelievers. Every time.
21:15-21:16
People who don't know the Lord.
21:17-21:24
And this angel, eagle, heavenly messenger, he gives a woe for each trumpet that's about to sound.
21:24-21:27
It's going to get worse.
21:27-21:28
Could you imagine hearing that?
21:29-21:43
As bad as things are that we've read in chapter 8, with the waters affected, the vegetation burned up, people dying, and now it's gotten so crazy cold.
21:45-21:59
God sends a messenger to say, "It's about to get bad." Well, you know, Revelation teaches us so much about heaven, so much about the church.
21:59-22:01
We saw in chapters 2 and 3.
22:03-22:06
And obviously, Revelation teaches us about God's judgment.
22:09-22:13
We witness God's judgment through going through a passage like this.
22:14-22:23
And again, we're looking over John's shoulder as he's sort of describing to us what he saw and what he heard.
22:25-22:36
But when we slow down, and I mean really take time to stop and look and think about What's happening here in the text?
22:36-22:37
Really slow down.
22:40-22:46
Chapter 8 in Revelation teaches us something very important about the judgment of God.
22:48-22:59
And that is this, on your outline, God's judgment is a controlled action, not an emotional reaction.
23:02-23:04
That's what we learn in Revelation 8.
23:06-23:09
God's judgment is a controlled action.
23:10-23:12
Not an emotional reaction.
23:15-23:16
And here's what I mean by that.
23:17-23:22
Because parents, we often get this so wrong.
23:23-23:30
But when we discipline our children, and I'm guilty of this, instead of saying, look, here's the parameters.
23:31-23:35
If you do wrong, here is the discipline that's going to result.
23:35-23:37
And we sort of lay it out, and we follow it.
23:37-23:38
That's how we're supposed to discipline.
23:39-23:46
But I'll be honest with you, wrongly, sinfully, don't discipline like that.
23:48-23:52
A lot of times what I do, and if you're honest, I imagine you've done this before.
23:54-24:06
We ignore our children's behavior, their bad behavior, until it gets to the point that we are so annoyed by it, that we strike them in anger.
24:08-24:11
Or we scream at them.
24:12-24:18
Or we do something like, we take their Nintendo and we break it over our knee and throw it in the garbage.
24:20-24:22
Anybody ever had a reaction like that?
24:23-24:23
You don't have to raise your hand.
24:26-24:31
But instead of disciplining properly, We just get to the boiling point.
24:32-24:34
And we're like, that's it!
24:35-24:35
I've had enough!
24:38-24:43
Now, even when it's the right thing to discipline the kids, problem is we do it wrongly.
24:44-24:45
We do it emotionally.
24:45-24:51
We're not reacting to the wrong that's been done.
24:51-25:01
We are overreacting to our annoyance, to our anger, and shame on us to our inconvenience.
25:05-25:06
And this is the point.
25:07-25:08
God doesn't judge like that.
25:10-25:27
And you can't see these events of Revelation as God like, "You know what? I've had enough." And He starts cussing and swearing and throwing tables and smashing Nintendos and backhanding people in some crazed rage.
25:30-25:31
God's not throwing a fit.
25:31-25:32
He's not flying off the handle.
25:33-25:42
And that's something Revelation 8 teaches us very clearly is all of this is completely under His perfect control.
25:44-25:47
So there's three proofs of this from 8.
25:47-25:48
I want you to jot these down.
25:50-25:54
The first one is this, God's judgment is fueled by our prayers.
25:57-26:03
We saw in verses 3-5, remember the angel was offering the prayers and the incense before God.
26:05-26:09
And then after he offered the prayers, he took that censer and filled it with fire and threw it to the earth.
26:11-26:13
We've already talked about this.
26:13-26:50
There's some extremely close connection between the prayers of God's people wrath. We saw it in chapter 6 verses 9 through 11. The fifth seal, the tribulation martyrs were crying out, "How long before you judge and avenge?" Now that's a prayer that's going to happen in the future, right? The fifth seal, tribulation, "How long, how long before you judge and avenge?" But church, do you We realize we have a lot of the same types of prayers happening now.
26:53-27:06
Every time there's a Muslim terrorist attack, and as a church we get together and we've done this, we get together and we pray, "God, how long are your people going to be killed by followers of a false god?
27:07-27:12
How long are you going to let that happen, God?" Human trafficking.
27:13-27:23
We pray, "God, how long are children and defenseless people going to be exploited and used?" What about abortion?
27:26-27:42
Unless you've been completely unplugged the last couple of weeks, you've known the state of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the Reproductive Health Act, which legalizes abortion through all nine months of pregnancy.
27:45-27:49
And it's paid for by taxpayers.
27:53-27:58
And the announcement of this passing was followed by people cheering.
27:59-28:01
Free abortion on demand!
28:01-28:02
We can do it!
28:02-28:02
Yes, we can.
28:05-28:07
And we look at that, that's sick!
28:08-28:09
That is sick!
28:09-28:12
That people are celebrating this?
28:14-28:17
People are cheering and singing over something like this?
28:19-28:20
What's the matter with you?
28:22-28:33
And we cry out, we're like, "God, how long are you going to sit in heaven and watch as babies are being slaughtered while people cheer in the street?
28:36-28:38
How long is this going to happen, God?
28:40-28:40
How long?
28:44-29:04
You know, when Jesus taught us to pray, first we address God, our Father in Heaven, then we praise Him for His holiness, "Hallowed be Your name." But do you remember the Lord's Prayer?
29:04-29:07
What's the very first petition Jesus taught us to pray?
29:08-29:10
Go ahead and shout it out if you think you know it.
29:11-29:13
Your kingdom come, right?
29:14-29:15
Your kingdom come.
29:17-29:18
That's something Jesus taught us to pray.
29:18-29:20
Again, top of the list, right?
29:21-29:29
When you pray and when you ask God for things, the first thing you should ask God is for His kingdom to come, right?
29:30-29:32
Now that's a prayer for something.
29:33-29:35
God may your kingdom come.
29:37-29:41
But that's also a prayer against many things.
29:42-29:44
That's a prayer against false religion.
29:46-29:47
That's a prayer against abortion.
29:48-29:50
That's a prayer against corruption.
29:50-29:53
That's a prayer against domestic violence.
29:53-29:55
That's a prayer against pornography.
29:58-30:04
That's a prayer against all of these things that would exalt themselves against the righteous kingdom of Jesus Christ.
30:07-30:09
But I'll be honest with you, church.
30:11-30:13
It's easy to get discouraged in prayer.
30:15-30:18
Because we pray in faith, and we pray believing.
30:20-30:24
But there's times that I've asked myself, are we even praying realistically?
30:26-30:27
Are we?
30:29-30:30
I'm just being honest.
30:32-30:38
I remember one time at my old church, somebody was like, "We need to pray for peace on earth." And I'm like, "Why? It's not going to happen.
30:40-30:41
Isn't that a dumb thing to say?
30:42-30:43
Why pray for that? It's not going to happen.
30:43-30:53
The Bible says it's not going to happen." And like, look, dumb or not, I'm just being honest.
30:56-31:00
Why pray for peace on earth if God promises there's not going to be until Jesus Christ sets up His kingdom?
31:02-31:06
In other words, if we know the world's going to be evil, why pray against any of these things?
31:06-31:07
Why pray against abortion, right?
31:07-31:09
We live in a fallen world; that's probably the stuff that's gonna happen.
31:10-31:10
Why pray against it?
31:11-31:12
Why pray against human trafficking?
31:12-31:15
We live in a fallen world; that's just the way it's gonna be.
31:15-31:16
Why pray against it?
31:16-31:17
Why pray against any of these things?
31:19-31:21
Why should we pray against any of these things?
31:23-31:24
Here's why.
31:26-31:27
Here's why.
31:30-31:38
The prayers of God's people are fueling the fire of God's judgment.
31:41-31:51
Every time you pray, and you'll never look at prayer the same way again if you really take verses 3 and 5 here and internalize them.
31:52-31:53
Look at them again.
31:56-32:09
Another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer He was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints in the golden altar before the throne, and the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints rose before God from the hand of the angel.
32:12-32:16
Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth.
32:17-32:31
And there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake." Somehow, there is a direct connection between your prayers and God's judgment.
32:34-32:47
So every time you pray against evil, against wickedness, every time you pray for peace, for righteousness, and you're tempted to think, "Why am I even praying for that?" Because it's probably not going to happen.
32:48-33:04
You need to look at this text and you need to think, these prayers, every time I pray this, I'm throwing... it's like God has this giant gun, giant cannon and every time I pray I'm throwing another handful of gunpowder into that cannon.
33:05-33:09
Every time I pray I'm throwing another round of ammunition into this cannon.
33:09-33:19
Every time I pray I'm throwing another stick of dynamite into this weapon and at the perfect time God's going to pull the trigger and He's going to take the shot.
33:21-33:31
Because there is some connection between the prayers of God's people and the righteous judgment of God.
33:33-33:34
So keep praying.
33:35-33:37
Fill that censer up.
33:37-33:40
Fill that censer up with fire because the day is going to come.
33:42-33:42
It matters.
33:43-33:46
And I am so blessed to be a part of a church that prays this morning.
33:47-33:53
I was with a whole bunch of people in the error room, praying before service, and I stopped and prayed with them.
33:53-33:59
And then as I was walking back to my office, there was another group from the hospitality team praying in the meeting room.
33:59-34:01
It's like everywhere you go, there's just a bunch of people praying.
34:01-34:01
Awesome!
34:03-34:04
That's the kind of church I want to be a part of.
34:07-34:09
God's judgment is fueled by our prayers.
34:10-34:13
Secondly, God's judgment is deliberate and precise.
34:13-34:16
Again, how do we know God's not just flying off the handle?
34:16-34:20
Well, our prayers are fueling this, our prayers are fueling this.
34:20-34:22
Secondly, God's judgment is deliberate and precise.
34:23-34:25
We saw that over and over and over and over.
34:25-34:27
One third, one third, one third, one third.
34:28-34:29
Why one third? Why one third?
34:29-34:32
Why is only God like 33% of these things?
34:32-34:33
Here's why.
34:34-34:37
It shows that God's being deliberate and intentional.
34:40-34:46
Far from flying off the handle, God's assault is going to be exact and calculated.
34:48-34:50
At this point, God's like just this much.
34:53-34:55
Not a hair less, not a hair more.
34:55-34:56
It's going to be a third.
34:58-34:59
His judgment is deliberate and precise.
34:59-35:05
And then finally, God's judgment is always preceded by a warning.
35:07-35:22
Again, this is how we know God's judgment a controlled action, not an emotional reaction, because once again, verse 13, that angel/eagle/heavenly messenger gives another warning.
35:23-35:26
Don't get caught up in the messenger, again, get caught up in the message.
35:26-35:32
Once again, God in His incredible grace and mercy is still reaching out to the unsaved.
35:35-35:39
And God's warnings are never merely an announcement.
35:40-35:41
It's not just a reminder.
35:41-35:44
Oh, by the way, I'm judging, just in case you forgot.
35:46-35:47
That's not what it is.
35:48-35:51
God's warnings are a call to return to Him.
35:52-35:53
That's what God's warnings are about.
35:56-35:57
God has such a track record of this.
35:58-36:06
The earth was so bad in the days of Noah, God says, "I'm going to wipe them all out and start over with you." It took Noah 120 years to build the ark, and what was he doing while he was building?
36:07-36:09
He was preaching the gospel.
36:10-36:13
Get on the ark. Get saved. God's going to judge the earth.
36:13-36:15
You need to get on. You need to get on.
36:17-36:23
Noah's message was, "You can escape the coming judgment." Same with Sodom and Gomorrah, Genesis 19.
36:23-36:27
What's the message? "You can escape the coming judgment." Same with Jonah.
36:28-36:30
Nineveh is going to be destroyed. What's the message?
36:31-36:36
"You can escape the coming judgment." We read this in Nahum.
36:36-36:40
Nineveh, again, what's the point of bringing the warning of judgment?
36:40-36:42
You can escape the coming judgment.
36:42-36:46
Jesus Christ Himself spoke about hell twice as much as He spoke about heaven.
36:47-36:47
Why?
36:49-37:03
Because Jesus' message every time He announced judgment was to say this, "You can escape the coming judgment." And as we go through Revelation, you see this is so much more than a description of God's wrath.
37:03-37:21
This is a gracious invitation to say, "You can escape God's judgment." Because forgiveness of sin and new life are available today in Jesus Christ.
37:23-37:25
See, that's the underlying tone here.
37:27-37:31
And that's what you have to see behind every warning in God's Word.
37:31-37:37
God is saying, "Yes, this is what's coming, but I don't want that for you." And we covered this last week.
37:37-37:40
God must judge, but He would rather say.
37:42-37:55
And I'd like to remind you that if you're a Christian, if you're a born-again believer in Jesus Christ, this world is the only taste of hell you will ever experience.
37:58-38:00
But the opposite is true as well.
38:00-38:11
You know, if you will not turn and receive Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sin, this world is the only taste of heaven you're ever going to experience.
38:13-38:20
So right now in heaven, there are seven angels standing before the throne of God.
38:21-38:26
And they're waiting for the trumpets to be handed out.
38:28-38:29
and they're going to blow them.
38:32-38:33
But it's not too late today.
38:35-38:39
I'd like you to bow your heads with me, please, as our worship team makes their way forward.
38:41-38:43
Father, once again we turn to Your Word.
38:46-38:58
Father, we thank You that You are not unleashing Your judgments on the earth You look like some crazed, exasperated father who's just had enough.
39:01-39:10
But Father, Your judgments are so specific and exact and precise and measured.
39:14-39:19
Father, first of all, I pray for those here today who don't know You.
39:21-39:26
Father, I don't know what they're waiting for, but I know that they can't wait forever.
39:27-39:43
If there's somebody here today, Father, who needs to come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, I pray today's the day You wouldn't let them leave this place until they did business with You.
39:44-39:48
Until they received that gift of eternal life that You've so graciously provided.
39:54-40:02
Father, before we worship in song again, I do want to pray one more time, "Your kingdom come." Father, You know my foolishness.
40:02-40:07
There have been times, whether it's foolishness or discouragement or maybe some weird mixture of the two.
40:08-40:22
There's been times that I've wondered if it really matters, praying against the evils that we see in the world, just knowing that the world's full of lost and wicked, nasty, horrible people.
40:24-40:31
Father, another look at your word tells us that these prayers absolutely matter.
40:33-40:41
And these prayers are offered before you as a sweet aroma, and somehow these prayers are directly connected to your judgment.
40:44-40:50
The righteous making all things correct that is yet to come.
40:51-40:57
So Father, with my brothers and sisters here, we offer more prayers.
41:00-41:10
for your kingdom to come, God, for your righteousness to reign, God, for things to be as you've always intended them to be.
41:12-41:13
Your kingdom come.
41:15-41:18
In Jesus' name, Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read Revelation 8

GROUP

What was your big “take-away” from this passage / message? Which trumpet stood out to you and why?
What’s the significance of the judgments and “1/3”? Why didn’t God let these trumpets affect 100% of their respective regions?
What does Rev 8:3-5 tell you about your prayers? How should these verses affect the way you pray?
What purpose does the angel/eagle in Rev 8:13 serve? What does this tell you about God and His judgment?

BREAKOUT

Pray for unsaved family and friends. Pray specifically for an opportunity for you to invite them to HBC and/or share the Gospel with them.

Jeff Miller

January 27, 2019

Coming Soon!

Coming Soon! Saved, Sealed, and Delivered.

Jeff Miller

January 27, 2019

Coming Soon!

Intro / Review:

Who Can Stand When God's Judgment Comes Down?

144,000 ISRAELITES (Rev 7:1-8)
Countless MARTYRS. (Rev 7:9-17)

The Comfort in Judgment:

God SAVES. (Rev 7:10-14)
Ezekiel 18:32 - For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord God; so turn, and live.
God SEALS. (Rev 7:2-3)
2 Corinthians 1:22 - ...and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.
God PROMISES. (Rev 7:15-17)
Isaiah 65:17 - For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind.
So We WORSHIP. (Rev 7:12)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

01:07-01:10
Open up to Revelation 7 with me, please.
01:11-01:20
Just to get us all caught up, especially missing last week, where we are at Harvest Bible Shop, we are going through the book of Revelation verse by verse.
01:20-01:26
And we started in chapter 1 where we saw the apostle John, who was exiled on the island of Patmos for preaching the gospel.
01:26-01:33
Jesus Christ showed up in all His majestic glory and told John He wanted him to write.
01:33-01:37
Write down the things that you see, the things that are, and the things that will take place after this.
01:38-01:40
That's sort of the outline for Revelation.
01:40-01:43
The things that John saw was the glorified Christ.
01:43-01:45
The things that are was sort of the state of the church.
01:46-01:48
That was Revelation 2 and 3.
01:48-01:51
Jesus had messages for seven churches in Asia Minor.
01:52-01:58
And like the other letters to churches in the Bible, they're really messages for all churches of all time, right?
01:58-02:03
So after the messages to the churches, John in Revelation 4 is taken to heaven.
02:03-02:13
John sees the throne and describes the One seated on the throne and what's happening around the throne and the worship that is going towards the throne.
02:14-02:24
In Revelation 5, we saw the One on the throne, God Himself holding a scroll, which is the title deed to the earth.
02:24-02:35
And the question was posed, "Who is worthy to take the scroll and open its seals?" And the question is more than just who's worthy to unroll a piece of paper.
02:36-02:45
The question is, who's worthy to claim the earth back from Satan, back from sin, back from evil and wickedness?
02:45-02:47
Who's worthy to take it back?
02:47-02:49
Who owns this anyways?
02:50-02:55
And Jesus Christ, the Lamb, steps forward and He takes the scroll to thunderous worship.
02:56-03:05
And two weeks ago when we were in chapter 6, we saw the Lamb opens the scroll, Jesus opens the scroll, and every time He breaks the seal, it unleashes judgment on the earth.
03:06-03:07
Revelation 6 is when it got real.
03:08-03:17
Because peace turned into war, which brought famine, and 25% of the earth's population is going to be killed.
03:17-03:24
People who come to Christ during the tribulation, but are killed for their faith, cry out to God to avenge them.
03:25-03:39
God tells them to wait on His timing, and then at the end of chapter 6, The whole earth is shaken, the sky is darkened, meteors pummel the earth, and at this point, the unsaved on the earth realize these aren't just natural disasters.
03:39-03:42
At this point, they realize this is God.
03:42-03:47
This is the Creator whom we've rejected bringing judgment on the earth.
03:47-03:52
Well, that sixth seal must have left John reeling.
03:52-03:53
Could you imagine?
03:53-04:02
I mean, it's heavy just to read it, but could you imagine John actually seeing things take place, He was probably shaken to His core.
04:02-04:06
And if this is what's going to happen, who can stand?
04:06-04:07
And really, that's the question, right?
04:07-04:09
Look at the end of chapter 6.
04:09-04:13
You remember the unsaved crying out for the mountains and the rocks.
04:13-04:21
Verse 16, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who is seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb." Do you see that?
04:21-04:23
Instead of crying out to God, "Oh, forgive me!
04:24-04:25
Have mercy on me!
04:25-04:26
I'm sorry, God!
04:26-04:30
Please forgive me!" Instead of crying out to God, they cry out to the rocks.
04:31-04:35
"Cover us! Hide us!" As if death is some sort of escape.
04:35-04:36
But look at this last verse.
04:36-04:41
This is important because this verse, I believe, is the reason we have Revelation chapter 7.
04:42-04:48
Because the question is this, "For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?" That's the question. Who can stand?
04:48-05:03
God is pouring out His judgment on the earth, and the question is, "Who's going to be able to stand when the Almighty has had enough?" I see that question at the end of chapter 6, and I wonder if that sort of echoed in John's head.
05:03-05:05
Who can stand? Who can stand?
05:07-05:18
Revelation 7 takes John to two more places to see two more visions to answer that question for him, and to answer that question for us.
05:18-05:19
Who can stand?
05:20-05:22
Who can stand when God's judgment comes down?
05:23-05:32
Chapter 7 in Revelation is a reminder despite these awesome judgment events, people will come to Christ during the tribulation like never before?
05:32-05:34
I get asked that question all the time.
05:34-05:40
"Pastor Jeff, what if the church is raptured out and my unsaved relative is still on the earth?
05:40-05:48
Is there a chance that that person is going to come to Christ?" And the answer is, during the tribulation, there are more people coming to Christ than any other point in history.
05:49-05:50
And we're going to see that today.
05:51-05:54
So yes, countless people come to Christ.
05:54-06:01
And some live through the tribulation, but most of those people who come to Christ are going to be killed for their faith.
06:01-06:14
So chapter 7 is sort of a parenthetical chapter breaking from the action, so to speak, and it answers the question on your outline, "Who can stand when God's judgment comes down?" That's the question, right?
06:15-06:16
The wrath of the Lamb has come.
06:16-06:18
Who can stand? Who can stand?
06:18-06:25
Chapter 7 answers the question, "Who can stand?" There's two groups we're going to look at that can stand.
06:26-06:29
The first one, Jot this down, 144,000 Israelites.
06:29-06:31
Israelites, like how do you spell that?
06:32-06:34
Capital J-E-W-S, all right?
06:35-06:36
Let's look at verse one.
06:36-06:51
"After this, I saw four angels standing "at the four corners of the earth, "holding back the four winds of the earth "that no wind might blow on earth or sea "or against any tree." Four corners, what are the four corners?
06:51-06:53
like, "Oh, the Bible's so archaic.
06:54-06:57
Didn't they know that the earth isn't a square?" Yeah, you know what?
06:58-07:00
God knew that, by the way.
07:00-07:01
He knew that before we did.
07:02-07:09
And actually the Greek literally is four quarters, is how that literally translates.
07:09-07:15
In other words, north, south, east, and west, there was an angel position.
07:15-07:21
And they said, "Stop the winds." They had some sort of ability that God gave them.
07:21-07:24
God authorized for them over creation.
07:24-07:25
Stop the wind.
07:25-07:28
Because we're taking a break in the judgment events.
07:29-07:36
It's almost like God - to put it in a concept well understood - it's almost like God pulled out the remote control and just hit pause on everything, right?
07:37-07:38
Let's just stop here for a second.
07:38-07:40
Stop the judgment for a second.
07:40-07:41
Look at v. 2.
07:41-07:46
"Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun..." Which direction is that?
07:47-07:47
East.
07:48-07:50
"...with the seal of the living God.
07:50-08:16
And He called out with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, saying, "Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads." And I heard the number of the sealed - 144,000 sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel.
08:16-08:19
So this angel from the east had a seal.
08:19-08:23
They had God's seal. What is that?
08:23-08:27
Well, in those days, a king would have a signet ring.
08:27-08:32
And that signet ring had the mark of that king.
08:32-08:39
So when the king was sending an official document, you just put a little wax on it, and you put your ring on it, and that was a sign of authenticity.
08:39-08:46
That says "ownership." That says, "This belongs to the king." And apparently, God has one of those.
08:47-08:55
God has one to mark ownership of these specific Jewish people that come to Jesus Christ during the tribulation.
08:56-09:07
So the judgments that are about to come - we're going to get to those next week - the judgments that are about to come are delayed because God wants to seal 144,000 Jews.
09:08-09:10
So why are the judgments delayed for this?
09:10-09:11
I don't know.
09:12-09:16
Is it to give them time to understand their faith?
09:17-09:24
Is it to give them time to study God's Word and grow in their knowledge of what the Bible says?
09:24-09:28
Is it to give them time to prepare for the task that's ahead?
09:28-09:38
You're like, "What task? What do these 144,000 do?" Well, these 144,000 Jews are the first fruits of the redemption of Israel.
09:38-09:40
We see that in chapter 14, verse 4.
09:41-09:43
We're going to be talking about this group of people again.
09:43-09:53
I believe these 144,000 people are going to be the witnesses and the evangelists and the preachers proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ during the tribulation.
09:54-09:55
I believe that's their purpose.
09:55-09:58
And again, we're going to talk about that because they come up again.
09:59-10:02
We'll see that in 14.1-5.
10:02-10:04
Who are these 144,000?
10:04-10:06
Well, look at 4-8.
10:06-10:11
Wherever you saw verse 4, they're sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel.
10:12-10:15
12,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed.
10:15-10:17
12,000 from the tribe of Ruben.
10:17-10:19
12,000 from the tribe of Gad.
10:20-10:22
12,000 from the tribe of Asher.
10:22-10:24
12,000 from the tribe of Naphtali.
10:24-10:26
12,000 from the tribe of Manasseh.
10:26-10:27
12,000 from the tribe of Simeon.
10:28-10:29
12,000 from the tribe of Levi.
10:30-10:31
12,000 from the tribe of Issachar.
10:32-10:33
12,000 from the tribe of Zebulun.
10:34-10:35
12,000 from the tribe of Joseph.
10:36-10:39
12,000 from the tribe of Benjamin were sealed.
10:39-10:42
This is obviously intended to be taken literally.
10:43-10:49
And I say that because I do a lot of reading and trying to understand what God's Word is communicating.
10:49-10:56
And there's a lot of people that say, "This 144,000 people mentioned here refers to the church.
10:56-11:02
This is the church during the tribulation." And I just got to tell you, I don't see that in the text.
11:02-11:07
What is it in the text that indicates that this has anything to do with the church?
11:07-11:26
God says, "These are people from the tribe of Israel, and by the way, I'm going to label the tribes that they're from." And He gives us a list of the tribes that they're from, the Jewish tribes, and then after the fact, they're like, "I wonder what God meant by that, it must be church people." I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, but come on.
11:27-11:32
I mean, what else did God need to say to communicate these were Jewish people, other than what He had already said?
11:32-11:35
So I don't believe that this refers to the church.
11:35-11:36
We had a whole sermon about that.
11:37-11:39
I believe the church is gone at this point.
11:39-11:41
The word "church" isn't even in here.
11:41-11:43
So I believe these are Israelites.
11:44-11:50
And you know, Jehovah's Witnesses say that only 144,000 people go to heaven.
11:50-11:51
Did you know that?
11:51-12:02
The Jehovah's Witnesses teach that 144,000 people go to heaven, everybody else stays on the earth, and nobody goes to hell, according to Jehovah's Witness doctrine.
12:02-12:09
and their hope in all of their door-knocking is to earn their place as one of the 144,000.
12:09-12:11
That's why they do that.
12:11-12:24
"Hopefully I have enough good works, do enough good things that God sees me." It's like, "All right, now you're one of the 144,000." Do I need to explain to you why there's no exegetical reason in the text to believe that?
12:24-12:30
I mean, the idea that only 144,000 people go to heaven, it's baffling.
12:30-12:33
But there's no biblical reason to believe that.
12:34-12:35
God's Word is clear.
12:35-12:43
If you're reading the Bible straightforwardly, these are very specific Jews, sealed for a very specific task.
12:43-12:49
You're like, "Wait, wait, wait. Why are there 144,000 of them?" Right? You're wondering that, aren't you?
12:49-12:54
"Why are there 144,000?" I don't know. I'm just going to be honest with you. I don't know.
12:54-13:03
And I tried to find a reason, but there's just no convincing reason that I found that gives any significance to the numbers.
13:03-13:08
So I just wrote down in my notes, we'd ask why if there were four of them, right?
13:09-13:17
We'd ask why if there were 144 of them, and there's 144,000, and we're like, "I wonder why there's that many." I don't know. But I do know this.
13:17-13:21
God has a reason for everything, even if we don't know what that reason is, right?
13:22-13:23
I don't think God was arbitrary.
13:24-13:29
Like, "Eh, just pick a number." He's very specific. God does everything perfectly deliberately.
13:29-13:33
And even if we don't understand why, God says, "Here's my plan.
13:34-13:35
Mass evangelism during the Tribulation.
13:36-13:40
I'm going to pick 12,000 from each of these tribes of Israel to do it." We're going to see them again in chapter 14.
13:40-13:43
So apparently the people in this group are invincible.
13:44-13:45
They're unable to be killed during the Tribulation.
13:46-13:47
So those are the 144,000 Israelites.
13:47-13:49
Who can stand when God's judgment comes down?
13:49-13:51
Secondly, countless martyrs.
13:52-13:53
Countless martyrs.
13:53-13:55
Let's pick up verse 9.
13:55-13:56
We have another shift.
13:56-14:03
John sees these 144,000 sealed God's mark on their forehead, holding the winds back.
14:03-14:04
You got the whole picture there?
14:05-14:08
Now John is taken again back to heaven.
14:08-14:46
After this, "I looked and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation from all tribes and peoples and languages standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands and crying out with a loud voice, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb!" And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, "Amen!
14:47-14:56
Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever!
14:57-14:59
Amen!" Sounds familiar, doesn't it?
15:00-15:10
Just like chapters 4 and 5, we see the angels and we see the elders and we see the four four living creatures who are four special angels around the throne worshiping.
15:11-15:15
But here we have the addition of a multitude of people.
15:15-15:16
Did you see that?
15:16-15:20
From every nation, all tribes and peoples and languages.
15:21-15:21
Awesome!
15:22-15:26
You're like, "Who are these people?" That's a really good question.
15:26-15:28
Look at the text. Verse 13.
15:28-15:36
"Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, 'Who are these clothed in white robes, "From where have they come?" The elder asked John.
15:37-15:40
Not because the elder didn't know, because he wanted to tell John.
15:41-15:45
Basically, he was saying, "Hey, do you know who these people are?" That's that question.
15:46-15:55
Verse 14, "I said to him, 'Sir, you know.' And he said to me, 'Look at this. These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation.
15:56-16:06
They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.'" So this elder tells John that these are people who are saved They're coming to tribulation, but then they're killed for their faith.
16:07-16:10
Interestingly, the phrase "coming out of" - did you see that in verse 14?
16:10-16:16
These are the ones "coming out of." That Greek phrase denotes a prolonged process.
16:16-16:23
In other words, this is a group of people that keeps growing and growing and growing throughout the tribulation.
16:23-16:33
People from everywhere - every tribe, every nation, every ethnic background, every place on earth are coming to Christ.
16:34-16:37
I believe as a direct result of the people that were just mentioned - the 144,000 Jews.
16:38-16:42
And these people come to Christ at the evangelism of these 144,000.
16:42-16:48
These people come to Christ and they're killed during the tribulation, and now they're standing before God, praising Him.
16:49-16:51
These are the same people we saw in chapter 6, verse 9.
16:51-16:54
Remember the people under the altar praying for vengeance?
16:55-16:56
But they're not under the altar now.
16:56-17:01
Now they're standing before the throne, but many more people have been added.
17:01-17:02
What's the point?
17:03-17:05
who can stand when God's judgment comes down.
17:05-17:15
God's got 144,000 that He sealed, and those people are going to bring countless people all over the world to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
17:16-17:21
Look at v. 15, "Therefore, they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple.
17:22-17:25
And He who sits on the throne will shelter them with His presence.
17:25-17:29
They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more.
17:29-17:36
The sun shall not strike them, "For any scorching heat, for the Lamb in the midst of the throne, He will be their shepherd." Think about that.
17:37-17:42
"For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd." The Lamb is the shepherd.
17:42-17:43
Isn't that awesome?
17:43-17:55
"And He will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes." These people suffered so much during the tribulation, and now their suffering is over forever.
17:56-17:57
So, what did we learn today?
17:58-18:04
We've learned that despite the judgment being poured out on the earth, people are going to come to Christ during the tribulation.
18:05-18:08
But this chapter is so much more than information.
18:09-18:16
You see, it would be a fail on my part if you left here today, like, "That was interesting." This is more than just information.
18:17-18:19
Like, "Well, what is the point?" Here's the point.
18:20-18:26
We're going through Revelation verse by verse, and honestly, two weeks ago is really when the judgment portion started.
18:26-18:31
If you were here a couple weeks ago just reading through the text, you could have heard a pin drop in here.
18:31-18:37
Because if you've ever read Revelation, you know it's pretty horrifying and awesome things that are happening.
18:38-18:42
And spoiler alert, it's going to get exponentially worse from here.
18:43-18:45
So what's the point? The point is this.
18:45-19:00
Seeing and reading and hearing judgment, judgment, judgment, judgment, "And then God did this, and then God judged this way, and then the Lamb judged this way." Over and over.
19:01-19:04
It can be so heavy on your soul.
19:04-19:05
It just can.
19:05-19:20
And this is the point of chapter 7 that we, church, we need reminded as John did when he was witnessing all of this, we need reminded that there is comfort even in the face of judgment.
19:20-19:22
There's comfort for God's people, to be clear.
19:23-19:25
There's comfort for God's people even in the face of judgment.
19:25-19:27
And that's why I want to close this message today.
19:28-19:30
Because chapter 7 is so much more than information.
19:31-19:38
It's comfort for the heavy soul reading about these awesome judgment events that God is bringing on the earth.
19:38-19:39
Here's the comfort in judgment.
19:39-19:42
Letter A. Comfort in judgment is God saves.
19:42-19:43
God saves.
19:44-19:48
You're like, "You mean we didn't have church last week, Pastor Jeff, and that's the best you came up with?
19:49-19:52
I mean, it sounds like you kind of talk about that every week.
19:52-20:09
And I would reply with, "Let the familiarity of the message dull its impact." Because as we're going through Revelation, I want you to keep in mind that all of these events take place with God pouring out His final judgment on the earth.
20:09-20:15
This is something that God has had circled on His calendar for a very long time.
20:16-20:21
That the day is going to come that the Lamb is going to take the scroll, and it's over!
20:22-20:23
God has been ready for this.
20:24-20:35
And at this point in Revelation, at this point in human history, you might think, somebody might think at this point, God would say, "You know what? To hell with all of them!
20:35-20:37
I've had enough! I've had enough!
20:38-20:43
I'm just going to ping this whole thing straight to hell." You would think that. You would think that.
20:43-21:00
But instead, don't miss this, instead, what we see is God taking special measures to make sure that His gospel goes out and everyone has the opportunity to be saved even while the earth is being judged.
21:01-21:02
Isn't that awesome?
21:03-21:04
Who's with me? Come on!
21:04-21:07
This is what God has said about Himself, church.
21:07-21:10
Ezekiel 18.32, do we have that? Thank you.
21:10-21:15
God says, "I have no pleasure in the death of anyone," declares the Lord God.
21:16-21:16
So turn and live.
21:17-21:33
"I have no pleasure in the death of anyone." Let's be honest, for us in our flesh sometimes, we'll hear about some terrorist or somebody does this crime to other people, and we're like, "I hope that person burns in hell." Who's been guilty of saying something like that or thinking that?
21:33-21:34
Come on, don't leave me up here.
21:34-21:35
I have.
21:35-22:51
And I want you to know, for those of us who have thought that, that that is not the heart God. This is our God. God must judge, but He would rather save. And if you have been living your life far from God and you think, "Yeah, I guess someday I'm gonna get what's coming to me," I want to tell you something. God would rather save you than judge you. God loves you. And God has done everything in Jesus Christ to purchase your redemption. Everything. Do you know what you have to do? You have to believe and accept in the work that God's already done. There's not a checklist, there's not a hoops to jump through. God has done all the work and says I love you, I want you to receive the gift of eternal life, I want you to receive the gift of forgiveness and sin in Jesus Christ. So why wouldn't you come to Him today if you haven't yet received Him? Why wouldn't you? What's your compelling reason that you wouldn't run to a God who loves you and has run to you? Because right now, or you're listening to this on the podcast down the road, whether it's this week or in five years from now after this message is given, or whatever, if you're listening to this message during the tribulation, God would rather save you than judge you.
22:51-22:52
That's comfort and judgment.
22:53-22:58
Secondly, God seals. God saves. God seals.
22:59-23:03
When God's seal is on you, that's a mark of ownership.
23:04-23:06
That means nothing can take your salvation.
23:06-23:15
Brothers and sisters in Christ, I think sometimes we think, yes, salvation is a gift of God, but we get in our head that we have to perform in order to keep it.
23:15-23:16
And that's not true.
23:17-23:22
You are saved by grace, and you are sustained and preserved by grace.
23:22-23:27
You can't hold on to your salvation any more than you could have earned it in the first place.
23:27-23:30
God not only saves you, He seals you.
23:30-23:34
And you're like, "I know, Pastor Jeff, but you're talking about future events here.
23:34-23:36
These people were sealed on their forehead.
23:36-23:40
I don't know about you, Pastor Jeff, but I don't have a mark on my forehead.
23:40-23:42
Actually, I do have a mark on my forehead right here.
23:42-23:43
Actually, I'm not pointing it out.
23:45-23:47
I don't have a seal of God.
23:48-23:48
Yes, you do.
23:49-23:52
If you're a born-again believer, you do have God's seal.
23:52-23:53
And no, it's not on your forehead.
23:54-23:55
He's in your heart.
23:55-23:56
Look at 2 Corinthians 1:22.
23:57-24:02
It says that God has also - look at this - put His seal on us.
24:02-24:06
Yes, God seals His people, but that's not just an end times thing.
24:07-24:11
He has put a seal on us and given us His Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.
24:11-24:13
God's Holy Spirit in you is His seal.
24:14-24:17
God has stamped His fingerprint on you.
24:17-24:25
He's put His signet ring on you to say, "You belong to Me." But it's not just a mark, it is actually Himself, His presence, His Holy Spirit.
24:26-24:35
So not only does that mean God's presence is in you, and not only does that mean He and He empowers you, God's Spirit within you also means your salvation is eternally secure.
24:35-24:38
But I can say with certainty, I know that I'm going to heaven.
24:39-24:42
And it's not arrogant for me to say that because it's not up to me.
24:43-24:47
I know I'm going to heaven because of how awesome my God is and what He's done for me.
24:48-24:51
And He's given me His Spirit as a guarantee, as a seal.
24:51-24:52
That's the comfort in judgment.
24:53-24:55
Not only does God save His people, but God seals His people.
24:56-24:58
Third comfort is found in God's promises.
24:59-25:04
I could preach a whole series of sermons on these things.
25:04-25:05
We're not going to do that.
25:06-25:13
But I want you to see quickly that these promises are not just for these people who come to Christ and die during the tribulation.
25:14-25:15
These promises aren't just for them.
25:16-25:29
And I know that because all of these promises here in chapter 7, verses 15 through 17, all of these promises are repeated in Revelation 21 and 22 for all people redeemed in Christ.
25:30-25:32
So these promises aren't unique just for this group of people.
25:32-25:34
They're repeated for everybody.
25:34-25:36
I want to say so much about it, but I'm not going to.
25:36-25:41
I just want to say, can I give you three awesome things about these promises?
25:41-25:43
Three awesome promises that are comfort for God's people.
25:43-25:44
Can I do that?
25:45-25:47
All right. Here they are, straight from the text.
25:47-25:49
The first one is presence. God's presence.
25:49-25:50
God's presence. That's the first promise.
25:51-25:53
That is, by the way, that's the greatest joy in heaven.
25:53-25:58
People talk about it. In heaven I'm going to get to see, you know, I was really close with my aunt who passed away.
25:58-26:06
or I was really close with my grandmother who passed away and I can't wait to see them, or a child that passed away and I can't wait to be reunited with them.
26:06-26:10
And yeah, there's joy in that, not denying that, absolutely.
26:10-26:14
But the greatest joy in heaven is going to be being in the presence of God.
26:14-26:15
That's the joy of heaven.
26:16-26:22
Never again will you ever feel like, "God, where are you?" Never again will you feel like, "God, I just wish I was closer to you.
26:22-26:35
God, I just wish I felt your presence in a more tangible way." We'll never say that because the Bible says that God, verse 15, will shelter us with His presence.
26:36-26:38
Second promise is satisfaction.
26:39-26:40
Never hunger or thirst again.
26:41-26:42
Never hunger or thirst again.
26:43-26:44
Did you see that, verse 16?
26:45-26:50
Every day in heaven is feeling completely 100% fulfilled and satisfied.
26:51-27:29
Nobody's kicking around heaven going, "Yeah, this place is all right, but it would be better if..." from the earth that I had that I really missed that would make this place." Nobody's saying that in heaven. Everybody's walking around heaven going, "This is awesome! I have more than everything I'll ever need!" Like, "Is there something I can get for you?" "No, I don't need a thing! I have everything." And I tried so hard this week to think about what that must be like or how I could illustrate that or explain it and I just can't because there's There's nothing on earth that we can compare that to.
27:30-27:31
But in heaven, you are satisfied.
27:32-27:36
And I think that's connected to the previous promise of being in the presence of God.
27:37-27:41
One more promise is, I got to say this, is consolation.
27:41-27:42
It's consolation.
27:42-27:54
It says, last verse, "God will wipe away every tear from their eyes." Every tear brought about from pain, from rejection, from disappointment, from discouragement.
27:55-27:57
and your pain brought about when you've had to watch a loved one die.
27:58-28:05
All of the sum total of pain and hurts, and God just wipes it away.
28:06-28:15
I've had people say, "You know, Pastor Jeff, I know there's no crying in heaven, but don't you think that people will think back to life on earth?
28:16-28:23
Maybe sins that happened, or things that have been done to them, or maybe things that they've done to other people that have been wrong and hurtful?
28:24-28:32
"Don't you think that in heaven I might look back at my life on the earth and be sad sometimes?" And biblically the answer to that is no.
28:33-28:46
Because Isaiah 65.17 says, "For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind." Like, how in the world does that work?
28:46-28:48
How can the former things not come into mind?
28:49-28:58
And the only way I can explain that is an illustration that I know is going to make sense to this church in general, but it's like when a woman gives birth to a baby.
28:58-29:01
The labor pains are terrible. I mean, so I've heard.
29:02-29:11
And I know even sparking up this tree is like, "Where do you have room to talk about that, Pastor John?" I'm just saying, I know ladies, okay? And this is what they've told me.
29:12-29:19
The labor pains are horrific, but the labor pains are forgotten in the joy of the presence of that baby.
29:19-29:20
That's something my mom always said.
29:20-29:23
She said the labor pains were the worst, but they're also the most forgettable.
29:23-29:34
Because as soon as you're in the presence of that baby, you're like, "What pain? What hurts?" I believe that's how it is in heaven, in the presence of Christ.
29:34-29:39
You are in such joy of being in the presence of your Creator and your Savior.
29:39-29:46
The joy of that presence has made the pain of the earth just completely pushed out of your mind.
29:47-29:51
God saves, God seals, God promises, so we worship.

Small Group Discussion
Read Revelation 7

GROUP

What was your big take-away from Revelation 7? What stood out to you?
Who are the 144,000 (Rev 7:1-8)? Who makes up the “multitude” (Rev 7:9-17)? How are you able to identify them? <Note to leaders: their identity, when drawn from other sources besides the Bible itself, leads to crazy and weird beliefs. This is not a throw-away question, this is an “interpret the Bible with the Bible” question.>
Why do you think the Holy Spirit took a “break from the action” that started in chapter 6 to insert this content of Rev 7? Why this parenthetical interlude?
How do these promises of heaven encourage you personally (Rev 7:15-17)? How do they motivate you to share the Gospel / invite to church? How do they affect the way you think of loved ones who have died in Christ?

BREAKOUT

Pray for each other.

Jeff Miller

January 15, 2019

Coming Soon!

Judgment, Phase 1: The Seals.

Jeff Miller

January 15, 2019

Coming Soon!

  
    Intro / Review:

The first seal: PEACE (Rev 6:1-2)
     
The second seal: WAR. (Rev 6:3-4)
     
The third seal: FAMINE (Rev 6:5-6)
     
The fourth seal: DEATH. (Rev 6:7-8)
     
The fifth seal: PRAYERS (Rev 6:9-11)
     
The sixth seal: FEAR. (Rev 6:12-17)

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

01:03-01:05
Open up your Bibles to Revelation 6.
01:06-01:12
We are back in our series called "Coming Soon." We're going verse by verse through the book of Revelation.
01:13-01:25
To get us all caught up from where we left off back in December, in Revelation 1, we see that John was exiled on the island of Patmos, sort of like prison, because of preaching the gospel.
01:26-01:33
And while he was there, Jesus Christ showed up in all His majestic glory and said, "John, I want you to write some things down." That's chapter 1.
01:33-01:37
Chapters 2 and 3, 7 letters to 7 churches.
01:37-01:41
And really, 7 letters to all churches for all time.
01:41-01:44
But 7 letters to 7 specific churches in Asia Minor.
01:45-01:48
Jesus was addressing some issues that were going on in the churches.
01:48-01:58
Then we get to Revelation chapter 4, and the Apostle John is taken forward in time and up to heaven to see what's coming next.
01:58-02:01
And in chapter 4, in heaven, John saw the throne.
02:02-02:05
What's going on on the throne and around the throne and towards the throne.
02:05-02:11
And everything in chapter 4 is about God on the throne, the worship of the one on the throne.
02:11-02:14
Then our last message in Revelation was chapter 5.
02:15-02:18
On the throne, God had the title deed to the earth.
02:18-02:25
And the question was posed, who is worthy to open that scroll and to break its seals?
02:26-02:34
In other words, who is able to reclaim the earth back from Satan, back from sin, back from evil?
02:34-02:37
Who is able to reclaim the earth?
02:37-02:44
Well, the Lamb, Jesus Christ, steps forward, and He takes the scroll, and thunderous worship results.
02:45-02:54
Recall when He breaks the seals, every time a seal is broken on this scroll, it manifests an act of judgment from the Lamb.
02:54-03:02
Now, when he's opening the scroll, it's not like these seals breaking are seconds apart or minutes apart.
03:02-03:13
We're going to see that these judgments that are manifested every time a seal is broken, these judgments encompass the entire seven-year period of the tribulation leading up to his return.
03:14-03:16
We'll get to in chapter 19, spoiler alert.
03:16-03:18
But there are seven seals.
03:18-03:22
This is important to get down because you're going to see this throughout Revelation.
03:23-03:29
There are seven seals, but the seventh seal contains seven more judgments.
03:29-03:31
Those are the trumpet judgments.
03:32-03:37
And then the seventh trumpet judgment contains seven bowl judgments.
03:38-03:40
We're going to see that as we go through Revelation.
03:40-03:44
The first four seals take place during the first half of the Tribulation.
03:45-03:46
It's seven years, so half of that is.
03:47-03:48
Three and a half years, thank you, seeing who's listening.
03:49-04:06
The fifth seal broken stretches from the first half of the Tribulation to the second, and the sixth and seventh seal, including the trumpets and the bowls, take place during the Great Tribulation, which is the second half of the seven-year period, which is another... how long? Three and a half years.
04:06-04:07
All right, mathematicians!
04:08-04:14
So the Lamb takes the scroll, He breaks the seals, and He ushers in the end.
04:15-04:21
Now, our last couple of messages in Revelation, we've been in heaven, and the scene is going to shift back to the earth.
04:21-04:24
And as we're looking through this, I'm going to go through this quickly.
04:24-04:26
We're going to be doing all of chapter six today.
04:26-04:35
And I want to remind you that the message is available online if you'd like to give it another listen, because I'm going to be giving some Old Testament verses to help us understand what's going on here.
04:35-04:37
But we're going to be going through it quickly.
04:37-04:47
But as we go through this, I also want to remind you that in Revelation, John doesn't explain what's happening as much as he is describing what's happening.
04:47-04:48
Does that make sense?
04:49-04:56
John's not sitting there writing it down saying, this is a complete exhaustive explanation of what I see.
04:57-04:59
He's communicating what he sees.
04:59-05:00
And you're going to see that throughout.
05:00-05:01
We've already seen it.
05:02-05:07
It's like this, and it looked like this, and had the appearance of that.
05:08-05:11
John's just taking it in, and he's describing what's happening.
05:11-05:18
And our understanding of what's happening comes from many Old Testament passages describing these very events.
05:18-05:22
You see, you go through the Old Testament prophets, this stuff in Revelation is not new.
05:23-05:30
These things were prophesied long before and now it's just all coming together and being played out. Does that make sense?
05:30-05:34
They're coming soon. Judgment, phase one, the seals. Let's look at the seals.
05:34-05:36
The first seal, number one, the first seal was peace.
05:36-05:39
And I would say, parenthetically, false peace.
05:40-05:49
Again, when the Lamb opens the scroll and breaks the seals, Every time a seal is broken, it manifests judgment or some sort of a force on the earth.
05:49-05:54
And the first force that's associated with the seal is peace.
05:54-05:57
Look at Revelation 6, verses 1 through 2.
05:57-06:31
Now John says, "Now I watched when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, 'Come!' And I looked, and behold, a white horse and its rider had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering and to conquer." The question is, "Okay, who's on the horse?" Well, some commentators, theologians, scholars, some say, "Well, that's the Antichrist." Because the Antichrist is this world leader who is yet coming.
06:32-06:34
He might be on the earth now, for all we know.
06:34-06:39
but he's going to be a major player in these events in Revelation.
06:40-06:43
He's sort of Satan's answer to Jesus Christ.
06:43-06:58
Well, some say, "Well, he is... this rider on the horse is the Antichrist." And some others would say, "Well, no, no, no. The rider on the horse is obviously Jesus Christ because he's on a white horse and has a crown and conquering." So who's on the horse here? The answer is it's neither of those.
06:58-07:01
It's not the Antichrist and it's not Jesus Christ.
07:01-07:04
And there's two reasons that I don't believe it's either one of them.
07:04-07:13
and number one, both the Antichrist and Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Lamb, both of them are explicitly identified when they're mentioned in Revelation.
07:13-07:34
When they come up in the text, John very clearly identifies them, which this character here is not so explicitly identified. But the second reason that I don't believe it's either Jesus Christ or the Antichrist is because you're going to see here in a second when we get to seal number two, seal number three, See seal number four.
07:35-07:44
There are other horsemen, there are other horses, other riders, and those other ones are not connected to representing another player in Revelation.
07:45-07:51
It's like this horseman is Jesus, and this horseman is the Antichrist, and this horseman is the false prophet, and this horseman is...
07:52-07:53
You don't see that at all.
07:54-07:57
All four of these horsemen represent an aspect of judgment.
07:57-08:08
As far as I can see from the text, John saw the horsemen, but there's no evidence that the people earth who were experiencing the judgment and the wrath that they were bringing.
08:08-08:13
There's no evidence that they actually saw the horsemen, only the judgment that they brought.
08:13-08:17
So this rider, the text says he had a bow, but he didn't have any arrows.
08:18-08:20
He had an instrument of war, but there was no fighting.
08:21-08:26
And it says that the crown, which in the Greek is the victor's crown, it was just given to him.
08:26-08:29
Again, here's a guy that conquered, but there was no bloodshed.
08:29-08:36
And what this is talking about here, we'll see clearly in a second, this is peace on earth.
08:36-08:38
You're like, "Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, hang on, hang on.
08:38-08:44
I thought Revelation was about, like, dark, scary judgment from God." And you're like, "This is what He's leading with?
08:45-08:47
This is what God's leading with? Peace on earth?
08:48-08:54
This is temporary, and it's false." But you see, the world desperately desires peace.
08:55-09:02
And the Antichrist is going to use that desire, And the Antichrist is going to convince the world, "I can give you peace. I can bring it.
09:03-09:05
You want peace on earth? You want peace in the Middle East?
09:05-09:10
You want the end of fighting? I can deliver that." The Antichrist is going to deceive Israel.
09:11-09:12
Daniel 9.27, jot that down.
09:13-09:15
And eventually betray Israel.
09:15-09:18
Jesus talked about that in Matthew 24, I believe.
09:19-09:20
This is a false peace.
09:21-09:30
And all throughout the Old Testament, the Bible gives warnings for people that are declaring and proclaiming peace when there's no peace. New Testament as well, 1 Thessalonians 5.3.
09:31-09:35
So this wicked world leader is going to come on the scene and he's going to promise peace.
09:35-09:39
And for a time it almost seems like he's delivering what he promised.
09:39-09:55
You're like, "Wait a second, this seems a little far-fetched, Pastor Jeff. Can that really happen?" Can that really happen? I would say, "Read your history books." Remember Hitler? Hitler didn't show up and say, "Hey everybody, I'm going to try to exterminate an entire race of people." He didn't do that.
09:55-09:58
He showed up promising what? Peace!
09:58-10:01
And that's sort of a prelude to the Antichrist.
10:01-10:03
He's going to show up promising peace.
10:04-10:08
And that's going to set the stage for the devastation that comes, because look at the second one.
10:08-10:11
The second seal is war, verses 3 and 4.
10:12-10:21
"And when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature..." These living creatures, remember, these are the angels that John sort of reintroduced us to back in chapter 4.
10:21-10:29
"When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, "Come!" And out came another horse, bright red.
10:30-10:38
Its rider was permitted to, see this, "Take peace from the earth, so the people should slay one another." And he was given a great sword.
10:39-10:44
So this rider had a sword, and he took away the false peace that had come on the earth.
10:45-10:52
War and violence are going to break out in a way that we are only scratching the surface of in our day.
10:52-10:56
Now, war, I believe this is so much more than just international war.
10:56-11:01
This is more than just Russia's fighting with whoever, like nation versus...
11:01-11:04
I believe it's more than that. I believe it's that, but I believe it's more than that.
11:05-11:06
I believe this is also racial strife.
11:07-11:09
Seen a lot of that in our day, haven't we? It's going to get worse.
11:09-11:20
This is more than just war. It's racial strife, it's organized crime, it's murdering police, and it's murdering police, it's civil war.
11:20-11:26
all of these things are going to get exponentially worse, and in the last days, that's going to be the norm.
11:27-11:33
Right now, we hear about it on the news, and get snippets of it happening here, happening there.
11:34-11:37
And these days, it's going to constantly, 24/7.
11:38-11:41
There's fighting and war and bloodshed.
11:41-11:42
That's the second seal.
11:42-11:43
Third seal is famine.
11:44-11:45
Look at verse 5.
11:45-11:58
"When He opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, "Come!" And I looked and behold, a black horse, and its rider had a pair of scales in his hand.
11:59-12:00
This rider had a pair of scales.
12:00-12:03
He had power over trade and commerce.
12:04-12:05
That's what that is identifying.
12:06-12:14
With all of this war and fighting and bloodshed that is happening, one of the natural results of war is famine.
12:14-12:27
And this ultimate war is going to result and the ultimate famine, and the scales represent the rationing and the inflation that is going to take place during these days.
12:28-12:30
That's made so clear. Look at verse 6.
12:30-12:38
"And I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures..." Whose voice do you think that is? That's God's voice, right?
12:39-12:52
"...in the midst of the four living creatures, saying, 'A quart of wheat for Daenerys, and three quarts of barley for Daenerys, and do not harm the oil and wine." Like, what's that quote all about?
12:52-12:54
To just sum it up, these are famine conditions.
12:55-12:57
A denarius was about a day's wage.
12:58-13:04
And the point here is, without doing all the math and explaining all the measurements and all this stuff, you can look all this up, but the point of this is this.
13:05-13:12
Resources are going to be so scarce that it's an entire day's wage just to feed one person, which is rough if you're just one person, right?
13:12-13:16
'Cause you got other bills, you got other things, but what if you have a spouse?
13:17-13:19
What if you are caring for another family member in your home?
13:20-13:21
What if you have children?
13:21-13:22
These are famine conditions.
13:23-13:26
A day's wage for one person's food, it's getting worse.
13:26-13:29
Look at the fourth seal, death, verses 7 and 8.
13:29-13:41
"When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, 'Come!' And I looked, and behold, a pale horse, and its rider's name was Death.
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and Hades followed him, and they were given authority over a fourth of the earth to kill with sword, and with famine, and with pestilence, and by wild beasts of the earth." First of all, it says this is a pale horse.
13:57-14:05
That word for "pale" in the Greek is where we get the word "chlorophyll." It's green, a sickly green, like zombie flesh green.
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It's the color of a decomposing corpse.
14:08-14:12
Death is brought about by four weapons, wielded by death and Hades following.
14:13-14:18
Four weapons, you see it, first of all, sword, secondly, famine, third it says pestilence.
14:18-14:22
Interestingly, in the Greek, the word pestilence is literally just translated death.
14:22-14:33
And I believe that these three things, the sword, the famine, the pestilence, the death, they're encompassing the result of the first three taking their full effect on the earth.
14:33-14:34
But this is interesting.
14:35-14:38
It says, "And by wild beasts of the earth," What are the wild beasts?
14:38-14:39
What are the wild beasts?
14:40-14:40
Could it be rats?
14:41-14:43
Rats are known carriers of disease.
14:43-14:45
Think of the 14th century black death.
14:45-14:46
This was interesting.
14:46-14:52
You know, the word for a wild beast in the Greek translates to the exact same word used in Acts 28.
14:52-14:56
When, remember when Paul was bitten by the snake, the venomous snake, it's the same word.
14:57-15:02
And some would say, maybe there's a plague of venomous snakes that are part of this.
15:02-15:10
I don't know, but I do know wild beasts, along with these other weapons are going to kill 25% of the Earth's population.
15:11-15:13
Wrap your brains around that for a second, if you can.
15:14-15:18
25% of the Earth's population is going to be killed at this point.
15:18-15:20
Do you know how many people there are on the Earth today?
15:20-15:23
7.7 billion on the Earth today.
15:24-15:27
So 25% of that is 1.925 billion.
15:28-15:32
Almost 2 billion people are going to be killed at this point.
15:32-15:34
Can you wrap your brains around that?
15:34-15:35
Let's put it into perspective.
15:36-15:37
Let's put it into perspective.
15:37-15:42
Let's say if you said each name of the person that was killed.
15:42-15:45
You have a list of everybody that's killed, OK?
15:45-15:50
You have this list, everybody's name, and you're just going to say their names out loud.
15:50-15:54
And we're going to be very generous and say it takes you one second for each name because you're a fast talker.
15:55-15:58
And you're just going to say the names out loud, OK?
15:58-15:58
You with me?
15:59-16:00
But you never stop.
16:00-16:03
You do it morning, noon, and night on repeat.
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You don't sleep, you don't eat, you don't do anything.
16:06-16:13
Let's say that's all you do is you stand and read the names on the list day and night, day and night.
16:13-16:16
Do you know how long it would take you to read this many names?
16:17-16:19
62 years, nonstop.
16:19-16:22
That should give us some perspective of the devastation that's happening here.
16:23-16:24
The fifth seal is prayers.
16:24-16:25
Look at verses nine through 11.
16:26-16:35
When he opened the fifth seal, "I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the Word of God and for the witness they had borne.
16:35-16:55
They cried out with a loud voice, "Oh, sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" And they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.
16:55-17:03
The force at play here, interestingly, big shift here between the fourth and the fifth seal, the force at play here, the prayers of God's people.
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Specifically, your Bible says the prayers of God's people who were killed, who were murdered during the tribulation.
17:10-17:17
These are people who come to Christ during the tribulation and are killed for it during the first half of the tribulation.
17:18-17:23
And this answers one of the most common questions that I get about Revelation.
17:23-17:30
People ask me all the time, "Will people get saved during the tribulation?" And the answer is absolutely yes.
17:31-17:33
And here's proof right here.
17:33-17:43
The question usually comes from someone thinking, "You know, I have unsaved family and friends that I've been witnessing to, and I want them to come to know Christ, and I've invited them to church, and they just don't seem interested.
17:43-17:50
And is it going to be too late if we're gone and they live through the tribulation?" People will get saved during the tribulation.
17:50-17:57
But looking at this seal again, John says, "He saw under the altar." What altar? Well, he doesn't specify.
17:57-18:08
Some say, "Well, due to the bloodshed of the saints, this is probably the heavenly version of the altar of burnt offering from the Old Testament." That's Leviticus 4, 17 and 18.
18:08-18:13
And some say, "No, no, no. Due to the connection to prayer, it's the altar of burnt offering.
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I'm sorry, the altar of incense, the altar of incense from Exodus 40 and verse 5." I don't know. John just says, "I saw an altar." I don't know what the altar is, but I do know one thing absolutely crystal clear from this passage.
18:27-18:29
is that God moves in response to their prayers.
18:30-18:34
The Bible says He gave them white robes of righteousness and then invites them to rest for a while.
18:35-18:38
God says it's not yet time because more people need to die.
18:38-18:41
Like, what? What? Did you see that?
18:41-18:51
Verse 11, that God told them to rest a little longer until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who are to be killed as they themselves had been.
18:52-18:53
Doesn't that bother you a little bit?
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Sometimes we see great evil and wickedness and heartache and disaster and tragedy, and we think, "God, why don't you do something about this?" "God, you can. I know you can." But my question is, "Why won't you?" "Why don't you... You obviously see what's going on and you can do something about it, so tell me why you're not doing something about it right now." But do you understand?
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That was the exact question that they were asking him under the altar.
19:18-19:20
These people that have been killed, did you see that?
19:20-19:21
They're not being irreverent.
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They're saying, "God, how long are you going to let this continue?
19:24-19:54
You're a God of holiness and righteousness, and your earth is being run by nasty, wicked, sinful people. How much longer are you going to allow this to happen? God, you're holy and you're righteous. How long are you going to let this happen?" See, God knows the number of those who will be killed. And on one hand, yeah, it does seem kind of chilling. But on the other hand, there's a sense of comfort at the level of control in which the Lord operates.
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Every detail in the universe is under His absolute complete control.
19:59-20:00
You realize that?
20:01-20:05
Every molecule in the universe under His complete control.
20:06-20:13
Every nanosecond that passes, passes under His sovereign control.
20:14-20:24
that has ever happened, everything that's happening right now, and everything that is going to happen, all of it happens for one reason.
20:25-20:26
It's because He allows it.
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And I want to add, even in your life today, just honestly, there's sometimes I feel, I feel that things are happening in my life.
20:36-20:46
Like, "God, why aren't you doing something about this? Do you know? Do you see?" I mean, "Why haven't you shown up? Why aren't you doing something?" And sometimes we start to wonder, right?
20:46-20:50
This is a great comfort to know, look, yeah, God knows.
20:50-20:54
And he says, "It's part of the plan." And it might not make sense now, but it will someday.
20:55-20:57
God lovingly replies to these people.
20:57-21:01
He says, "You were killed because of your faith." I know.
21:01-21:04
And I knew, he says, "Others are going to be too.
21:04-21:10
Rest, because at the perfect time, I'm going to finish this." Not a second before, and not a second late.
21:10-21:13
And then finally, let's talk about the sixth seal.
21:14-21:15
We're just going to call this one fear.
21:16-21:17
You're going to see it very clearly in the text.
21:17-21:24
This one also is a little different, because in the first five seals, there were other characters involved.
21:24-21:34
Like we saw angels, we saw horsemen, we saw death and Hades, we saw praying saints, we saw other characters involved.
21:34-21:38
But when you get to the sixth seal, It is God Himself.
21:38-21:45
No other person involved, used in any way, it's God Himself.
21:45-21:48
The first five seals have largely been ignored.
21:49-21:58
I'm sure there was some panic, and I'm sure there was a lot of, "We're going to adjust and get through this, and kumbaya," but without acknowledging God.
21:58-22:04
And you're going to see with this seal, finally, sinners have to acknowledge God.
22:05-22:27
you're going to see with this seal, it's so horrific that sinful people said, "What's happening has to be the judgment of God." Look at verse 12. John says, "When he opened the sixth seal, I looked and behold, there was a great earthquake and the sun became black as sackcloth and the full moon became like blood." This is the mother of all earthquakes. This is the first time in history an earthquake shook the entire planet.
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Joel talks about this in Joel chapter 2, verses 30 and 31. This darkness. How does that happen? The best understanding is that this global earthquake triggers volcanic activity on a global scale and perhaps it is the the ash from all the volcanic activity that blocks the Sun, gives the moon its blood appearance. I don't know. Again, John's describing, he's not explaining.
22:57-23:04
Verse 13 says, "And the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale.
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In the Greek, the word stars refers to any heavenly body other than the sun and the moon.
23:11-23:15
So these are probably asteroids or meteors pummeling the earth.
23:16-23:16
Boom!
23:17-23:17
Boom!
23:17-23:19
Just pounding the earth.
23:20-23:30
Verse 14, "The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place." The sky rolled up like a scroll.
23:31-23:31
What was that like?
23:32-23:34
John's describing, he's not explaining.
23:34-23:47
I have to wonder as I'm sort of imagining this in my head, with all that volcanic ash, maybe there was the wind pushing that and it had this appearance like it was the sky literally rolling up.
23:47-23:47
I don't know.
23:48-23:49
He's describing, not explaining.
23:50-23:53
He does say that every mountain and island was removed from its place.
23:54-23:57
The landscape of the whole earth shifted.
23:58-23:59
The whole earth is shaken.
24:00-24:03
The whole face of the earth is completely rearranged.
24:03-24:17
Verse 15, "Then the kings of the earth, and the great ones, and the generals, and the rich, and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free..." Stop there. That's seven categories.
24:17-24:19
Seven comes up a lot in Revelation, doesn't it?
24:19-24:22
Basically, he's saying all of society, everyone.
24:22-24:28
The president, the beggar, the blue-collar guy, the white-collar guy.
24:29-24:59
Whatever, everyone in every station and class of life, everyone, says these, everyone, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who is seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, And who can stand with the sixth seal?
25:00-25:01
Everyone seeks refuge.
25:01-25:06
Go in caves, go in the rubble of the rocks from the mountain that just collapsed.
25:06-25:08
Go underground, go anywhere.
25:08-25:09
We've got to get away.
25:09-25:13
Can you even wrap your brain around how horrifying this must be?
25:14-25:20
The Lord parenthetically here is saying, "Do I have your attention now?" There's a lot of astonishing things in Revelation chapter 6.
25:21-25:26
I want you to notice the absolute most astonishing thing was right here at the end.
25:26-25:31
This is the one that's hardest to believe, hardest to think about, hardest to wrap your brain around.
25:31-25:39
The most astonishing thing in Revelation chapter 6 is that despite everything that's happening, people will not repent and turn to God.
25:39-25:40
See that?
25:40-25:41
Oh, they cried out, didn't they?
25:42-25:42
They cried out.
25:42-25:43
Who did they cry out to?
25:43-25:45
The rocks, right?
25:45-25:54
Instead of crying out to God for mercy and forgiveness, they cry out for the rocks to fall on them.
25:55-26:33
you saw here in the text very clearly. You see, in this moment, in this moment, they get it. They get it. They realize that they can't dismiss this as a natural disaster. They can't dismiss this as mere coincidence. In this moment, they realize, you see it very clearly, this is the wrath of God. This is the wrath of the Lamb. And they realize those Bible people, those people that came to Christ during the Tribulation and were telling them, "Hey, I see what's going on I understand now. You need to turn to Christ because all of this stuff is His wrath." And they dismissed them. They killed them.
26:33-26:35
At this point, the lights come on like, "Wait, wait, wait.
26:36-26:39
These people were on to something. This is what's happening.
26:40-26:50
This is the wrath of the Lamb that they were talking about." But again, instead of crying out for mercy and forgiveness, they cry out for the rocks to fall on them.
26:50-26:51
And look at this delusion.
26:52-26:56
It's as if death is going to have them escape the wrath of the Lamb.
26:57-26:57
Death is an escape.
26:58-27:05
That is the same irrational thinking as someone who commits suicide or has seriously considered it.
27:06-27:08
Please hear me, I'm not making light of that.
27:08-27:11
I can't think of anything more serious than that.
27:11-27:16
I'm not trying to downplay it or trivialize it or make it a caricature.
27:17-27:31
But let's be honest, when someone gets to that point, the mindset is, "Death is an escape. Life is hard. I'll escape through death." And that's the same mindset that's happening with these people here.
27:31-27:36
"Death will be escape." And the reality is, death is not an escape.
27:36-27:38
Death is not an escape.
27:39-27:42
But this certainly shows you something about the hearts of these people, doesn't it?
27:42-27:47
As we close the sermon, I do want to remind you that you're going to face Jesus Christ someday.
27:47-27:49
So really the only question is, how would you like to face Him?
27:50-27:52
Really there's two options you have.
27:52-27:56
You can face the grace of the Lamb, or you can face the wrath of the Lamb.
27:56-28:06
By the way, all of this in Revelation chapter 6, this is the tamest part of God's judgment, believe it or not, because it's about to get a lot worse.
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Is that what you want to face?
28:08-28:15
Resist the One who is coming in wrath to destroy everyone who's rejected their Creator and Savior.
28:15-28:16
Is that the One you want to face?
28:16-28:21
Or today, you can face the grace of the Lamb.
28:22-28:22
He loves you.
28:23-28:26
Jesus Christ wants to see you saved.
28:26-28:30
He takes no delight in this, these judgments.
28:30-28:32
The Bible says God does not take delight in the death of the wicked.
28:32-28:34
He loves you and He wants to see you saved.
28:35-28:40
He died and rose from the dead so that you can have forgiveness, so that you can have eternal life.
28:41-28:46
He did everything to prove that He loves you and He provided the way to save you.
28:47-28:52
That's the kind of God He is, which you don't have forever, because these events, they're coming.
28:53-28:53
They're coming.
28:53-29:07
Are you going to be one of the ones who reject Christ now, maybe alive during these events, and you become so hard-hearted to this point, you're going to cry out for the rocks to kill you rather than face the wrath of the Lamb.
29:07-29:07
So what's it going to be?
29:08-29:11
You want the grace of the Lamb or do you want the wrath of the Lamb?
29:11-29:12
You don't have forever.
29:12-29:16
Why can't today be the day that you encounter the grace of the Lamb?
29:17-29:17
Why can't that be today?
29:18-29:20
Why can't today be the day that you just say, "You know what?
29:20-29:21
I'm done pretending.
29:21-29:23
I'm done living for myself.
29:23-29:25
I'm done thinking about it.
29:25-29:26
I'm done.
29:26-29:31
Today is the day that I'm going to receive the gift of eternal life in Jesus Christ.
29:31-29:35
Will you bow your heads with me please as the worship team makes their way forward.
29:35-29:36
Bow your heads please.
29:37-29:38
Close your eyes.
29:38-29:45
For a minute I want to speak specifically to someone here who has not received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
29:45-29:47
Person that wants to do that today.
29:48-29:51
Your person that maybe doesn't know how that even happened.
29:52-29:56
First of all, you need to pray, acknowledging and confessing your sin before God.
29:56-29:59
To say something like, "God, I realize that I need You.
30:00-30:02
I am a sinful person by nature.
30:03-30:09
I know I'm not what You want me to be, God, and it's my fault." You need to get to that place where you realize you need a Savior.
30:09-30:11
You need to cry out for His mercy.
30:11-30:21
Say, "God, though I'm a sinner, I cry out to You today, God, and I thank You for Your for your love and for your mercy that you've demonstrated in Jesus Christ.
30:22-30:33
You need to receive by faith the gift of eternal life by praying something like, "Jesus, thank You for dying for my sins, for raising so that I can have eternal life.
30:34-30:37
And Father in Heaven, I want to receive the gift of eternal life today.
30:38-30:45
Father in Heaven, I want to acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, and I want to allow Him, His rightful place, to be the Lord of my life.
30:45-30:48
Today, Father, I turn from my sin I turn to you.
30:49-30:51
There's somebody here that needs to pray that prayer today.
30:51-30:55
You can face the grace of the Lamb today, or you can face the wrath of the Lamb tomorrow.
30:56-31:01
Father, may Your Holy Spirit grab every heart here, especially the heart here that doesn't know You.
31:02-31:04
Let Your kindness bring them to repentance today.
31:04-31:07
I pray these things in Jesus' name, Amen.

Small Group Discussion
Read Revelation 6

GROUP

What was your big “takeaway” from Revelation 6?
Which of the seals especially stood out to you? Why?
If these lost people (Rev 6:15-17) recognize these events as being the wrath of the Almighty, why will they not repent? What does this say about hard-heartedness?

BREAKOUT

Pray for an unsaved family member / friend / coworker - BY NAME - that they would come to know the “grace of the Lamb”. How can you help share the Gospel with that person?

Jeff Miller

December 16, 2018

Coming Soon!

In Heaven: The Worthy One

Jeff Miller

December 16, 2018

Coming Soon!

Intro / Review:

Who is Worthy?

The Worthy One is Sought one. (Rev 5:2-4)

1 John 5:19 - We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

2 Corinthians 4:4 – In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

The Worthy One is Found. (Rev 5:5-7)
The Worthy One is Worshipped. (Rev 5:8-14)

Review: Ps 148:7-10 | Ps 150:6 | Psalm 68:1-4

Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!

00:40-00:46
Open up your Bibles with me, please, to Revelation 5.
00:48-01:01
The title of today's message is "Coming Soon in Heaven, the Worthy One." While you're turning there, I'm going to give you a pop quiz.
01:01-01:03
You ready? You ready?
01:04-01:07
One question. Here it is.
01:08-01:11
You're going to tell me what these three events have in common.
01:13-01:18
1517, Martin Luther posted a document on a door at Wittenberg.
01:20-01:26
1871, Patrick and Catherine O'Leary's cow kicked over a lantern.
01:27-01:32
1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo.
01:34-01:35
Those three events, what do they have in common?
01:37-01:46
You're like, "Um, I had nothing to do with any of those?" Here's what they had in common.
01:49-02:00
One event kicked off a huge series of events, right?
02:01-02:07
In 1517, when Martin Luther posted that document on the door at Wittenberg, that changed church history forever.
02:09-02:23
That cow, Catherine O'Leary's cow, that kicked over a lantern, started the Chicago Fire that burned down 2,112 acres and 17,500 buildings.
02:27-02:34
And the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand brought the entire world to war.
02:37-02:39
That's what we're going to look at in this text.
02:39-02:50
That's why this is one of the most important passages in the entire book of Revelation, because what you're going to see here is one little event that takes place in this passage.
02:50-03:01
One event is going to have the largest implication of any event that has ever occurred, or ever will occur, in the history of the earth, and that is not an exaggeration.
03:02-03:09
This one event in this passage will ultimately be the biggest event in history.
03:11-03:24
We're going through Revelation verse by verse, and last week we saw after Jesus gave John these messages for the churches, Jesus invited John to heaven.
03:24-03:30
And not just to heaven, but also forward in time to heaven.
03:30-03:46
Jesus said, "I'm going to show you what's going to take place after this." And in Revelation 4, John, again taken forward in time to heaven to see what's coming, he saw the throne in heaven.
03:46-03:49
He saw the One who was seated on the throne.
03:49-04:01
He saw what was going on and who was around the throne in heaven, and He saw the worship that was being directed towards the One that was seated on the throne in heaven.
04:03-04:21
Revelation 5, look at verse 1, "Then I saw in the right hand of Him who was seated on the throne a scroll, written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals.
04:23-04:32
God Himself, seated on the throne, is holding in His right hand, the Bible says, a scroll, or a deed.
04:35-04:47
Now inside there was writing, outside there was writing, On one of these deeds, inside would have all the details of the deed, and the outside would have the summary of what was on the inside.
04:49-04:54
This is important, you can't miss this, because this is the beginning of the end here, folks.
04:56-05:01
This deed is the title deed of the earth.
05:03-05:06
You know how you have a title to your car, right?
05:07-05:13
It's a piece of paper that says, "This car belongs to me." Maybe the bank has it, but you know what I mean.
05:14-05:15
It belongs to me.
05:15-05:17
Or maybe you have a deed to your home.
05:18-05:24
It's a document that says, "This property belongs to me." Well that's what this document is.
05:24-05:27
It is a title deed to the entire earth.
05:28-05:30
Who owns the earth?
05:32-05:37
It says that this document was sealed seven times on the edge.
05:37-05:44
And just to sort of give you an illustration, it would be like if it was rolled, and then a seal was put here.
05:44-05:46
Then it's rolled again, and a seal is put here.
05:46-05:48
And it's rolled again, and a seal is put here.
05:48-05:55
That way, when you unrolled it, you had to break one of those seals every time you unrolled it.
05:55-06:01
And this one was sealed seven times after each portion of text.
06:02-06:04
We're going to get to that in a second, the significance of that.
06:04-06:09
But there's a question that comes up that has to be answered.
06:09-06:10
Look at verse 2.
06:12-06:29
John says, "And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, 'Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?'" That's the question. That's your outline today. Who is worthy?
06:30-06:39
Who's worthy to open this?" Understanding that opening this meant more than just unrolling a piece of paper.
06:40-06:45
The question is, who is worthy to reclaim the earth?
06:47-06:48
Who's worthy to cash it in?
06:50-07:01
You see, that completed the transaction, is when you showed up on your property with the deed and unrolled it, and said, "Look, this is mine." The question is, who's worthy to do that for the earth?
07:03-07:06
So write this down. Number one, the worthy one is sought.
07:06-07:08
The worthy one is sought.
07:10-07:13
Again, verse 2, this strong angel.
07:14-07:17
I imagine they're all probably pretty strong compared to me.
07:18-07:37
I'm proclaiming with a loud voice, "Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?" Who is worthy to take the scroll and therefore take the earth back from the enemy?
07:38-07:45
Who is able to defeat Satan once and for all and reclaim the earth from him?
07:46-07:50
The question is, who has the right to do such a thing?
07:50-07:53
Who has the character? Who has the power?
07:54-08:02
Who has the authority to take the earth back from Satan?" You're like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, hang on a second, Pastor Jeff.
08:02-08:04
It sounds like you said it a couple times, and I just want to be clear.
08:05-08:10
It sounds like what you're saying is Satan is in possession of the earth.
08:11-08:22
And I want you to understand there is a sense in which he absolutely is in possession of the earth." Look at a couple of verses here with me. 1 John 5:19, John wrote this earlier.
08:23-08:26
He says the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
08:26-08:31
In that sense, the earth is Satan's.
08:32-08:33
In that sense.
08:34-08:35
Again, 2 Corinthians 4.
08:37-08:40
Look at what Paul, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, calls the enemy, the devil.
08:41-08:45
He says in their case, "the God of this world." He's talking about Satan.
08:46-08:47
Satan is called the God of this world.
08:47-08:50
Little g God, but he's called the God of this world.
08:52-08:52
Why?
08:54-08:56
This is going to be an easy sell.
08:57-09:03
He's called the God of this world because sin is so pervasive and destructive.
09:04-09:06
Do I need to convince anyone here?
09:06-09:12
Sin is pervasive and destruction, and that's exactly how Satan wants it.
09:12-09:16
Because it undermines God, it attacks what God loves.
09:18-09:21
How did Jesus describe Satan in John 10.10?
09:21-09:25
He says He does three things. He steals, He kills, and He destroys.
09:25-09:26
Does that sound familiar?
09:28-09:30
Have you turned on the news lately?
09:30-09:33
Do you see what man is doing unto man?
09:35-09:38
Stealing, killing, and destroying.
09:39-09:39
Why?
09:41-09:45
Because Satan is the God of this world, because of the dominance of sin.
09:46-09:51
"Steal, kill, and destroy." That's a perfect summary of what we see.
09:53-09:54
Like, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, though.
09:55-09:57
This is God's earth, isn't it?
09:58-10:02
I thought the earth is the Lord and the fullness therein, Psalm 24, 1.
10:04-10:06
It is. But it's sort of like this.
10:07-10:12
It's sort of like a man owns a piece of property, and he has the deed.
10:12-10:16
He bought the property, he has the deed, he has the ownership, and he goes away for a while.
10:16-10:22
And while he's gone, a pack of criminals are squatting on his property.
10:23-10:29
And then he comes back to claim his property, and he sees all these criminals there, and he's like, "This ain't gonna work.
10:31-10:40
They have no right to be here, because this belongs to me." And you see, that's sort of the scene that's happening here in Revelation.
10:42-10:57
This is God's earth, He created it, but Satan and his dominion, every Christ-rejecter, every spiritual criminal, so to speak, is squatting, claiming ownership to what belongs to God.
10:59-11:00
So who's worthy to take it back?
11:02-11:06
Who is worthy to take this back from Satan?
11:07-11:13
Notice he says, "Who's worthy to break the seals?" This is important. Just put this in the back of your memory here.
11:14-11:16
We're going to talk about this next time we get back to Revelation.
11:18-11:35
But every time a seal is broken on this scroll - we're going to see this in Revelation 6 - every time a seal is broken as the scroll is unrolled, each broken seal brings a manifestation of God's judgment upon the earth.
11:37-11:47
In other words, as the scroll is unrolled, Each time one of the seven seals are broken, an act of judgment from God comes on the earth.
11:49-11:50
Again, you'll see that in chapter 6.
11:51-11:52
Look at verse 3.
11:54-11:59
John says, "So the question is, who's worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?" That's the question on the table, right? Who's worthy?
11:59-12:01
Who's worthy to do this? Who's worthy to take it back?
12:01-12:02
Who's worthy?
12:02-12:16
Verse 3, "And no one in heaven, or on earth, or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it." No one was found worthy anywhere.
12:18-12:20
Don't we have somebody in heaven that can take this back?
12:22-12:23
No one was found. How about the earth?
12:25-12:26
John says no one was found there.
12:28-12:30
How about under the earth? Did you look under the earth?
12:31-12:33
Did you look under the earth?
12:34-12:56
You might find somebody there." And John says, "No, there wasn't even found somebody under the earth." No angel, no Old Testament hero, no Moses, no Abraham, no Noah, no New Testament apostle, no famous church leader, no one.
12:58-13:01
Who is worthy to take the earth back from Satan?
13:02-13:04
John says, "We looked." No one.
13:06-13:07
Look at verse 4.
13:08-13:16
John says, "And I began to weep loudly." Because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to look into it.
13:19-13:20
Why did John weep?
13:20-13:26
By the way, this is the only passage in the entire Bible that says there's weeping in heaven, and it happened one time here.
13:27-13:30
But when John was in heaven, why was he weeping?
13:30-13:42
In the Spirit, I believe John saw in a deeper way the devastation the curse of sin has had on the earth.
13:42-13:43
It has had on everyone.
13:44-13:45
I mean, we see it.
13:46-13:54
We turn on the news, get on the internet, you can see the destruction that sin has caused on the earth.
13:55-14:04
And I believe John, from his perspective in heaven here, I think he saw the whole picture of how ravaged the earth was with sin.
14:05-14:09
The way evil has destroyed everything beautiful God has created.
14:11-14:13
I think John saw that.
14:14-14:15
Satan's having his way.
14:16-14:20
Sin has ruined everything. Sin continues to ruin everything.
14:20-14:26
And sin is always going to ruin everything as long as sin is around.
14:27-14:31
And now this scroll, this deed is presented.
14:31-14:33
It's in the right hand of the one on the throne.
14:34-14:35
And John knew exactly what that meant.
14:38-14:39
Who can reclaim it?
14:40-14:41
And no one was found.
14:41-14:45
So, John wept.
14:46-14:48
And I believe that He wept for us all.
14:50-14:56
He wanted to see sin and sin and death ultimately destroyed, don't you?
14:58-14:58
Don't you?
15:01-15:07
Think of all that sin has caused on the earth, can you?
15:08-15:11
Can you think of all of the devastation that sin has brought?
15:11-15:14
I want you to think about sin that man commits to man.
15:14-15:19
And when I say "human kind," think of sin that we do as people to each other.
15:21-15:27
Think of all of the results of the curse.
15:28-15:31
The fact that the whole world is under the curse of sin.
15:31-15:32
Think of all the results of that.
15:34-15:35
Think of every abused child.
15:38-15:39
Think of every murdered baby.
15:42-15:43
Think of every sexual assault.
15:46-15:48
Think of everyone who has suffered and died with cancer.
15:50-15:52
Think of every family that's had to deal with autism.
15:54-16:00
Every bit of pain, every bit of heartbreak, every bit of disappointment.
16:02-16:04
And John in heaven taking all this in.
16:06-16:09
Who's worthy to open this scroll when no one was found?
16:09-16:13
and at this point John's weeping. He's saying, "Can't anybody fix this?
16:15-16:19
Can't anybody take the earth back from the one who's destroying it?
16:19-16:22
Is this it? This is it? This is the way it's always going to be?
16:22-16:39
Nothing but pain and abuse and death? This is how it's going to be?" And he wept. "How can it end like this?" No one found worthy means that this is an absolutely hopeless situation.
16:42-16:47
It looks like evil won. And that's that.
16:49-16:50
Your love.
16:52-17:04
Now, but number two, write this down, "The worthy one is found." "The worthy one is found." Verse 5, "And one of the elders said to me, 'Weep no more!
17:05-17:18
Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.'" Notice it was an elder that speaks to John, not an angel.
17:20-17:23
This elder would have known what all of this meant.
17:23-17:25
He also knew who was stepping up.
17:26-17:28
The Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David.
17:29-17:35
Those are two very specific Old Testament terms referring to the Messiah, Jesus Christ.
17:37-17:42
And this elder says, "Hey, hey. The lion? He conquered.
17:45-18:01
He conquered, so he can reclaim." And at this point, I'm just trying to put myself in John's shoes here, that this elder's like, "The lion? The lion can do it." Yes! Send out the lion!
18:03-18:04
I want to see the lion come out.
18:05-18:06
Bring out the lion.
18:06-18:09
I mean, who has a chance against the lion?
18:10-18:11
Right? Really, who has a chance?
18:11-18:12
The answer is nobody.
18:12-18:13
Who has a chance? Bring out the lion.
18:14-18:15
Right? Let's get the lion.
18:15-18:17
Let's get the lion. Look at verse 6.
18:18-18:43
"And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, sent out into all the earth." Instead of a lion, John saw a lamb.
18:45-18:47
Interestingly, in the Greek, it's not just any lamb.
18:47-18:48
The Greek is very specific.
18:48-18:49
It's little lamb.
18:50-18:51
He saw a little lamb.
18:52-19:01
So not only that, we're expecting the fiercest creature on the planet, and instead we get the meekest.
19:03-19:05
A little lamb. And not just a little lamb.
19:07-19:10
You see, John said that he was standing as though it had been slain.
19:12-19:14
His scars must have been visible in some way.
19:15-19:19
He had death wounds, but he was very much alive.
19:22-19:23
I was going to say I wasn't expecting that.
19:23-19:24
I thought you were letting the lion out.
19:26-19:28
But understand what's going on here.
19:28-19:36
You see, this conquering king first became the suffering serpent.
19:38-19:40
Don't miss this, because this is...
19:41-19:43
Here's the significance, and it's huge.
19:44-19:51
It was Jesus, as the Lamb of God, He paid our redemption.
19:52-19:58
So it is Jesus as the Lamb of God that must reclaim the scroll.
20:00-20:01
It says He had seven horns.
20:02-20:04
Horns, that's used throughout the Old Testament.
20:04-20:05
It's a symbol of power.
20:07-20:09
An animal's horns is the animal's power.
20:10-20:11
Think of a bull or think of a ram.
20:13-20:14
Power. He had seven.
20:14-20:15
Seven is the number of perfection.
20:15-20:16
We see that throughout Revelation.
20:17-20:19
What this is saying is this lamb had perfect power.
20:21-20:26
Oh, he was a little lamb, and he looked like he was slain, but his power was perfect.
20:28-20:29
He had seven eyes.
20:29-20:31
We've talked about that a couple times already.
20:31-20:32
A seven perfection.
20:34-20:36
Specifically, this is the Holy Spirit.
20:36-20:39
He was perfectly indwelt by God's Holy Spirit.
20:39-20:43
And this is actually a direct reference to Zechariah 3 and 4.
20:43-20:49
I'm not going to go there today, but it's a fulfillment of some of the language used there.
20:51-20:53
Verse 7, this is the big moment.
20:54-21:02
Verse 7 is the document on the door at Wittenberg, Cal kicking the lantern, assassination of the archduke.
21:02-21:04
This is that moment right here, verse 7.
21:06-21:08
"And he went..." the lamb.
21:08-21:18
He went and took the scroll from the right hand of Him who was seated on the throne.
21:20-21:23
This is the act that ends it all.
21:25-21:28
This is the beginning of the end.
21:30-21:35
This is the kick-off to a completely one-sided game.
21:38-21:45
Yes, yes, yes. Christ is exalted. He has the name that is above all names.
21:45-21:52
Absolutely true. Jesus Christ is reigning on the earth through His people.
21:53-21:55
But not yet. Obviously not yet.
21:56-22:00
Is Jesus Christ reigning over all of the earth? Right?
22:00-22:01
Otherwise there would be no sin.
22:03-22:06
Reigning through His people, but not over all the earth.
22:06-22:17
with this act right here, the moment the Lamb takes the scroll from the one seated on the throne, this is the beginning of the end.
22:17-22:23
This is going to usher in when He truly rules over all of His creation.
22:25-22:32
The victory of the cross of Jesus Christ cannot be overstated.
22:35-22:46
When we talk about victory in Jesus, I want you to understand that it's bigger than we can understand.
22:48-22:49
Look at verse 5 again.
22:52-23:02
Very specifically, it says, "The Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered..." He's talking about Jesus' death and resurrection.
23:03-23:12
Look at this phrase though, "so that he can open the scroll." Don't miss the significance of this.
23:13-23:20
In other words, because God became a man, which we'll be celebrating next week, spoiler alert.
23:20-23:29
Because God became a man, because that man, Jesus Christ, died on the cross, and because Jesus Christ rose from the dead victorious.
23:32-23:34
The Bible says, first of all, we are forgiven.
23:36-23:36
And that's awesome.
23:38-23:43
For anybody who would receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, if you haven't done that today, today's the day.
23:44-23:45
I don't know what you're waiting for.
23:46-23:46
Today's the day.
23:47-23:49
I don't know if you have another plan, but there isn't one.
23:51-23:51
Today's the day.
23:52-23:59
But because Jesus Christ conquered, if you receive Him, your sins are forgiven.
23:59-24:02
God will completely wipe your record clean.
24:02-24:05
You are forgiven. I will remember your sins no more.
24:07-24:10
Totally cleansed. That is awesome, but that's not all.
24:12-24:15
Because Jesus Christ conquered, He gives us also the gift of eternal life.
24:17-24:22
He doesn't just say, "I'm not going to punish you." He says, "I'm going to give you eternal life.
24:23-24:27
You will live with Me eternally." That's awesomer.
24:29-24:30
And I'm sure that's not a word.
24:31-24:32
That's awesomer.
24:33-24:34
But that's not all.
24:35-24:40
Because Jesus Christ conquered, not only are we forgiven, not only do we have eternal life, He transforms us.
24:42-24:44
I'm not the person that I used to be.
24:44-24:46
He's completely changed me.
24:47-24:53
And when you receive Christ, we were talking to a man this morning about this very thing, when you receive Christ, He changes you.
24:54-24:56
And that is awesome-er!
24:57-24:58
But that's not all.
24:59-25:01
Sounds like a really bad infomercial, but this is all true.
25:02-25:03
But that's not all.
25:03-25:11
Because Jesus Christ conquered this salvation, this forgiveness, this eternal life, this transformation is available for any and all who would believe.
25:12-25:13
It doesn't matter who you are.
25:13-25:15
It doesn't matter what you've done.
25:15-25:18
It doesn't matter how bad you've been or how good you think you've been, but you haven't.
25:19-25:21
It doesn't matter what you have or what you don't have.
25:23-25:25
It's available to everyone.
25:25-25:27
And that is awesome-er.
25:28-25:29
But that's not all.
25:31-25:35
Because, listen to this, this is where it gets real.
25:36-25:47
Because Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose from the dead and conquered that victory, made him worthy to redeem the entire earth back from Satan.
25:49-25:50
And that is awesomest.
25:53-25:54
So where do we go from here?
25:54-25:56
Number three, the worthy one is worshipped.
25:56-25:58
You totally saw that coming!
26:00-26:03
As soon as Jesus takes the scroll, it's over!
26:03-26:06
It's over! Satan is as good as defeated.
26:06-26:08
The curse is as good as reversed.
26:08-26:09
It's over!
26:11-26:13
And all of heaven knows it!
26:13-26:14
It's over!
26:15-26:16
So it's time to worship.
26:17-26:18
Look at verse 8.
26:20-26:37
"And when He had taken the scroll, four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb, each holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints." Four angels, 24 elders, we saw them last week.
26:37-26:44
They once again, they fall down, boom, on their face in awe and worship of the lamb.
26:46-26:48
Musical instruments are involved now.
26:48-26:49
We got harps involved.
26:49-26:51
It also says that they have bowls of incense.
26:52-26:54
These represent the prayers of the saints.
26:54-26:58
Psalm 141. Luke 1. 9-10.
27:00-27:01
Don't gloss over this.
27:02-27:08
In these bowls, the prayers of the saints, every so far unanswered prayer.
27:10-27:15
I'm not going to ask you to raise your hand because I promise you every person in this room would put their hand up.
27:16-27:22
How many of us have prayed and prayed and prayed about something and felt like God didn't hear?
27:24-27:26
Or felt like God didn't care?
27:27-27:31
Or felt like maybe He forgot?
27:34-27:36
We all have these prayers, don't we?
27:37-27:39
Maybe you've been praying for healing for someone.
27:40-27:42
Maybe you've been praying for strength and encouragement.
27:43-27:44
Maybe you've been praying for provision.
27:45-27:49
Maybe you've been praying for God's presence in a deeper way in your life.
27:49-27:59
Maybe you've just been praying, "God, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done." And I want you to know, every single prayer that has been lifted up in Jesus' name, not one of them has been for God.
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And I want to encourage you, keep crying out to God with your prayers because they are securely stored.
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They're in these bowls.
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He's holding on to them.
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And one day, even if it's not on the earth, one day, every prayer in Jesus' name is going to be answered.
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One day.
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You might not see it here, but you'll see it there.
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Look at verse 9, it says, "And they sang a new song, saying, 'Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open the seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth." They sang a new song.
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Why is this a new song?
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Because there's never been a song like this song.
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There has never been a song like this song.
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Like, what do you mean?
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I was trying to think of a way to illustrate this, and I really think this will resonate with if not all of most of us. I'm a big Penguins fan and if you are then you're like me. When the Penguins win a regular season game you cheer don't you? Yeah.
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What about when the Penguins win a playoff game? Don't you just cheer a little bit more? Well do you remember when they won the Stanley Cup like all all those times they won the Stanley Cup.
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When they won the Cup, that prompts the highest level of cheering, doesn't it?
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Because they hit the ultimate.
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It doesn't get any bigger than this.
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They are the champions.
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And if you'll pardon the analogy, it's like that with praise.
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Because we praise God every time a prayer is answered, don't we?
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We praise God every time a soul is saved, but this praise in Revelation 5 is the Stanley Cup version of praise because Jesus is about to step out and claim the ultimate victory.
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Does that make sense?
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The praise is higher than it's ever been because the fulfillment of the victory is finally here.
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Verse 11, "And I looked and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, 'Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.'" Now there are five hymns in chapters 4 and 5.
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And what you have to see, if you kind of take a panorama view of it, the praise is building and building and building and building and building.
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In chapter 4, verse 8, we saw this all started with four angels singing.
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It's like a quartet, right?
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Then the 24 elders join in in verse 10.
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Okay, getting a little bigger, got choir now!
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In chapter 5, verse 8, here come the harps.
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Now we're getting the music involved, the musical instruments involved.
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Here, we have myriads upon myriads, thousands upon thousands.
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What he was saying was, "I couldn't count them.
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I couldn't possibly count them.
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I couldn't even ballpark a guess of how many they were.
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There were hundreds of thousands, millions, who knows, but the entire heaven was full of angels lifting up their voices." You're like, "Wow, it doesn't get any bigger than that." Yeah, it does. Look at verse 13.
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And I heard every creature in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, "To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing, and honor, and glory, and might forever and ever." Every creature everywhere.
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What do you mean "creature"?
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What do you mean creature? I mean, we've seen angels, right?
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And we've seen people worshipping. What do you mean by creature?
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And I'm going to tell you what I believe that means, and you're going to laugh.
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And then I'm going to show you what the Bible says, and you're going to feel bad for laughing.
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And then you're going to apologize and offer to take me to lunch.
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That's how the scenario played out in my mind.
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When it says creatures, I believe he's talking about animals.
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Pastor Jeff hit the eggnog early. No.
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No, look at Psalm 148.
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"Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures in all deeps." Look at the end.
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"Beasts and all livestock, creeping things and flying birds." Who's called to praise the Lord?
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What does the Bible say who's called to praise the Lord?
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Doesn't it look like?
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Doesn't it look like the Bible says the animals are going to be praising the Lord?
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And you're like, "What's that sound like or look like, Pastor? I have no idea.
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Neither of my dogs are saved, but the Bible says it's going to happen.
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I don't know what that's like. I can't wait to find out.
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You know the very last verse in Psalms, you know what it is?
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The very last verse, Psalm 150, last verse in Psalms.
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"Let everything that has breath praise the Lord." Praise the Lord.
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So when it says creatures, I believe somehow, And those are just a couple examples.
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Because of what the Psalms say, I believe that somehow even the animal kingdom is rising to praise to their Creator too.
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Verse 14, "And the four living creatures said, 'Amen,' and the elders fell down and worshipped." It's time for Jesus to reclaim what is rightfully His.
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You see, the Lion has conquered as the Lamb on the cross.
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Now it's time for the Lamb to conquer as the Lion on the earth.
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He's coming back.
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He's about to take the scroll and right every wrong on the earth.
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He's about to pour out His wrath on His enemies and finally fulfill every promise to God's people.
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I want you to stand as the worship team makes their way forward.
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In just a minute we're going to lift up your voices.
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Did you notice verse 12, it says, "They were saying with a loud voice." It's okay to be loud.
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Because that's how the worship is in heaven.
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But let's stand for a prelude of the heavenly chorus we will someday join.
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Look at Psalm 68 verses 1-4.
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Psalm 68 says, "God shall arise.
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His enemies shall be scattered, and those who hate him shall flee before him as smoke is driven away, so you shall drive them away as wax melts before fire, so the wicked shall perish before God.
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But the righteous shall be glad.
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They shall exult before God.
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They shall be jubilant with joy.
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Sing to God.
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Sing praises to His name.
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Lift up a song to Him who rides through the deserts.
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His name is the Lord.
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Exalt before Him." Are you ready?
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Are you ready?
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Let's do it.

Small Group Discussion
Read Revelation 5

GROUP

Explain why John wept (Rev 5:4). Specifically, what evils on earth are YOU wanting to see eliminated?
Why do you think God the Father (on the throne) didn’t just open the scroll? Why did it have to be the Lamb (Jesus)?
What as-of-yet-unanswered prayer of yours will you see - for sure - answered in heaven?

BREAKOUT

Pray for one another!

Coming Soon! Judgment, Phase 2: The Trumpets, Part 2 (Revelation 9)

Intro / Review:

THE FIFTH AND SIXTH TRUMPETS: DEMONS ATTACK! (Rev 9:1-21)

Coming Soon! Judgment, Phase 2: The Trumpets, Part 1

Intro / Review:

The First Four Trumpets: (Super)Natural Disasters.(Rev 8:6-13)

**God's Judgment is a Controlled Action, Not an Emotional Reaction.**

Coming Soon! Saved, Sealed, and Delivered.

Intro / Review:

Who Can Stand When God's Judgment Comes Down?

The Comfort in Judgment:

Judgment, Phase 1: The Seals.

Intro / Review:

In Heaven: The Worthy One

Intro / Review:

Who is Worthy?

Upcoming Small Group Questions CLICK HERE

How much of the Bible have we covered since 2011?

Intro / Review:

THE FIFTH AND SIXTH TRUMPETS: DEMONS ATTACK! (Rev 9:1-21)

Audio Transcript

Intro / Review:

The First Four Trumpets: (Super)Natural Disasters.(Rev 8:6-13)

God's Judgment is a Controlled Action, Not an Emotional Reaction.

Audio Transcript

Intro / Review:

Who Can Stand When God's Judgment Comes Down?

The Comfort in Judgment:

Audio Transcript

Intro / Review:

Audio Transcript

Intro / Review:

Who is Worthy?

Audio Transcript

**God's Judgment is a Controlled Action, Not an Emotional Reaction.**