Study of Revelation and End Times wk 22
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The World has Gone Crazy Revelation wk 22
The World has Gone Crazy Revelation wk 22
We have been looking at the seven-sealed book, where the Lamb of God was opening the seals.
We got to the seventh seal in chapter 8 which brought trumpets and we have looked at the first five trumpets so far.
Tonight we are in week 22 of this study and we will be looking at the second half of chapter 9, and the sixth trumpet.
The first trumpet brought judgment of the land and things that grow.
The second trumpet brought judgment of oceans and things that live in the sea.
The third trumpet brought judgment of the rivers and men who walk on earth.
The fourth trumpet brought with it judgment on the skies and the light that shines from it.
The fifth trumpet allowed the keys to the bottomless pit to be given to Satan, and he opened the bottomless pit which brought an invasion of horrifying demons.
Tonight we will see the sixth trumpet and four angels bound at the River Euphrates, and the army that comes, and the death of a third of the human population.
Look with me at the entire text 9:13-21 and then we will dig into it.
13 Then the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
14 one saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.”
15 And the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released, so that they would kill a third of mankind.
16 The number of the armies of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them.
17 And this is how I saw in the vision the horses and those who sat on them: the riders had breastplates the color of fire and of hyacinth and of brimstone; and the heads of the horses are like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths proceed fire and smoke and brimstone.
18 A third of mankind was killed by these three plagues, by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which proceeded out of their mouths.
19 For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents and have heads, and with them they do harm.
20 The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk;
21 and they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts.
As we look around at our world and the chaos it is in, we must wonder how much more chaotic will it be during the tribulation!
Thankfully, the church will be raptured, and we will not have to experience that torment.
There are five factors from our text that we will see tonight.
I. Th Prayer Factor
I. Th Prayer Factor
13 Then the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
What is the golden altar?
In the tabernacle in heaven, there is a golden altar called the altar of prayer.
In the days when the Israelite priests worshipped in the earthly tabernacle, there was also a golden altar.
If you had been able to go into the earthly tabernacle, the first thing you would have seen was the outer court where a fire burned continually in a brazen altar.
This fire represented the holiness of God and His judgment against sin.
The priests would sacrifice a spotless animal on that altar, which represented the Lord Jesus Christ dying for our sins.
The inner court (the holy of holies) contained the golden altar (the mercy seat).
It had four horns on each corner (the horns speak of power.)
On the Day of Atonement each year, the high priest walked into the holy of holies and sprinkled blood from an animal sacrifice on the golden altar.
This offering represented the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the propitiation of our sins.
When the offering was burned, the high priest then burned incense on the golden altar from morning until evening.
This incense represented our prayers to heaven in the power of the blood.
We see this in Revelation 5:8
8 When He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
We also see it in Psalm 141:2
2 May my prayer be counted as incense before You;
The lifting up of my hands as the evening offering.
Knowing our prayers are like incense before His throne gives us a little more insight into our prayer life.
But do you ever feel like you pray and pray, and yet nothing happens?
Perhaps you think God hasn’t heard your prayer or God heard and said no, others share in how you feel:
9 When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained;
10 and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”
11 And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also.
We are told in Revelation 8:3
3 Another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a golden censer; and much incense was given to him, so that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne.
Are you a saint?
If you are saved then you are a saint.
Your prayer has been heard.
Ron Dunn, who was an outstanding preacher before he went home to heaven, said, that prayer is the Christian’s secret weapon and that it is like an intercontinental ballistic missile.
He went on to give five factors about prayer:
1. Prayer can be fired from any spot.
1. Prayer can be fired from any spot.
Dunn said, sometimes I will take a young person to a certain spot in my office and say, Do you see that spot on the carpet?
You can go to anywhere in the world from that spot.
In the same way you can launch a prayer from any spot on earth.
2. Prayers can travel undetected faster than the speed of light.
2. Prayers can travel undetected faster than the speed of light.
Dunn said, I don’t know where heaven is or how far away it is, but your prayers can reach heaven faster than the speed of light.
3. Prayers hit the target every time.
3. Prayers hit the target every time.
God the Father is always listening to His children, and He hears each and every prayer.
4. Satan has no defense against prayer.
4. Satan has no defense against prayer.
Satan does not have an anti-prayer missile that can prevent your prayer from reaching heaven.
5. Prayers often have a delayed detonation.
5. Prayers often have a delayed detonation.
Prayer delayed is not prayer denied.
God has His own schedule, and if you prayed to God about something, that prayer did not fall to the ground; that prayer is still in heaven.
II. The Power Factor
II. The Power Factor
It is easy to divert our eyes from God and get deceived by Satan’s power.
14 one saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.”
The Euphrates River is both the cradle and the grave of human civilization.
It is the river that divides the East from the West.
We say, East is east and West is west, and never the twain shall meet.
One of these days, in the Great Tribulation, they will meet in a great conflict.
The Euphrates River is mentioned almost at the beginning of Scripture seen in Genesis 2:10
10 Now a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it divided and became four rivers.
One of these four rivers is the Euphrates river, Genesis 2:14
14 The name of the third river is Tigris; it flows east of Assyria. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
In Genesis 10:8-10
8 Now Cush became the father of Nimrod; he became a mighty one on the earth.
9 He was a mighty hunter before the Lord; therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the Lord.”
10 The beginning of his kingdom was Babel and Erech and Accad and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.
Nimrod was an Old Testament picture of the Antichrist, and he led the building of the Tower of Babel, the first world empire, alongside the Euphrates River in Genesis 11:1-9.
Also alongside the Euphrates River is where Saddam Hussein reigned in Iraq.
Dictators like these are only tools in the hands of the prince of Babylon, who is Satan.
In His sovereign wisdom and power, God is restraining four of the most wicked and powerful of all the demonic fallen angels (we could call them the filthy four) who have been given dominion over the four would empires.
When He is ready in the fullness of time, God will give His permission to release them.
And when that happens, and I do not mean this jokingly - all hell will break loose.
To understand a little about these four demonic powers, let’s look at a prayer Daniel offered that God did not answer immediately.
12 Then he said to me, “Do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words.
13 “But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for twenty-one days; then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia.
20 Then he said, “Do you understand why I came to you? But I shall now return to fight against the prince of Persia; so I am going forth, and behold, the prince of Greece is about to come.
Who is the prince of Persia and the prince of Greece?
They certainly were not earthly men who could do battle with an angel.
I believe these two princes are two of the angels that are bound at the Euphrates River.
21 “However, I will tell you what is inscribed in the writing of truth. Yet there is no one who stands firmly with me against these forces except Michael your prince.
Wicked demons rule over world empires.
How do we know this?
Well Paul told us in Ephesians 6:12
12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Have you ever wondered why government officials are unable to negotiate with some of these countries?
It is because they are trying to negotiate with men and not the evil power behind those men’s actions.
Let us never forget that despite the power of these rulers of darkness, there is only so much they can do.
Satan cannot do whatever he wants when he wants,
The Bible says, 1 John 4:4
4 You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.
God allows Satan to do certain things.
Satan wanted to sift Peter as wheat, but he had to get God’s permission.
31 “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat;
32 but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”
Satan wanted to harm Job, but he had to get God’s permission.
6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them.
7 The Lord said to Satan, “From where do you come?” Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “From roaming about on the earth and walking around on it.”
8 The Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil.”
9 Then Satan answered the Lord, “Does Job fear God for nothing?
10 “Have You not made a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.
11 “But put forth Your hand now and touch all that he has; he will surely curse You to Your face.”
12 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power, only do not put forth your hand on him.” So Satan departed from the presence of the Lord.
In some measure Satan is restrained on a leash.
There is not some sort of conflict that has God on one side and Satan on the other, while we wait to see who will win.
Satan is a created being, he may be sinister, but God is sovereign.
Robert Louis Stevenson told a story about a ship on a rocky coastline during a storm.
The sailors beneath the waterline were being tossed and turned.
They knew the dangers and were wondering how they were going to make it.
One of the sailors couldn’t take it any longer, so he left his duty, went up to the pilothouse, pushed open the door, and saw the captain steering the ship.
The captain knew the sailor was worried, and without saying a word, he turned and smiled.
The sailor returned below deck and said, Don’t worry, it’s all right, I have seen the captain, and he smiled at me.
Corrie Ten Boom said, Look at the world, you will be distressed, look within, you will be depressed, look at Christ, you will be at rest.
We must keep our eyes on Him in a world that is so chaotic.