The Sixth Trumpet
Notes
Transcript
Introduction:
If you have your Bibles let me invite you to open with me to the book of Revelation chapter 9.
We turn our attention this morning to the sixth trumpet in this series of seven trumpets
which follow after the pattern of the seven seals that we saw earlier in our study of Revelation.…
and will be followed later by another series of seven bowls.
These three sets of sevens are telling the story of the world through different symbolic imagery.
With each trumpet that is blown, John is seeing a vision of the spiritual reality behind God’s unfolding plan for all of human history.
These trumpets in this second series of seven visions are warning blasts that remind the whole world that one day total judgment is coming.
In the first four trumpets we saw that God’s wrath has been poured out on creation itself:
the dry land
the sea
the rivers
the skies
They are all affected by the wrath of God on sin.
We live in a physical world that is corrupted by the curse of sin so that earth itself is hostile to human life.
Every natural disaster reminds us of the wrath of God against sin.
Every destructive weather pattern is like a trumpet warning that things are not as they should be, and that God’s wrath is coming.
But the world is more than physical.
The is also a spiritual world.
Last week we studied the fifth trumpet, after whichJohn saw a star falling from heaven to earth.
He sees this fallen angel who is called the destroyer
This destroyer take his place as king over a demonic swarm of locusts devouring the earth..
This world is one that evil spirits plague the world like locusts.
Only those who are sealed by the grace of God through faith in Christ are the ones who survive the very real attack of Satan
and his plague of demonic spirits in this world.
the whole story of the Bible could be told as a tale of two kingdoms:
The King of Kings, and Lord of Lords - Jesus the Conqueror who died so that his subjects can be free and live.
And the king of this world, the Lord of Lies - Satan the Destroyer who rules so that is subjects might be enslaved unto death.
This is the spiritual reality of the age we live in…
An age of two spiritual kingdoms waring against one another.
Every evidence in our world of extreme evil, of spiritual darkness, of demonic oppression,
it functions like a trumpet blast of warning…
there is a spiritual war going on… and the question is whether you will be on the conquering side on the last day.
So the first four trumpets speak of the corruption of the physical world
The fifth trumpet speaks of the corruption of the spiritual world.
and now we turn our attention this morning to the sixth trumpet.
Some think that what follows is simply another symbolic vision describing the spiritual war of our age.
Some scholars think that what follows describes the last day where Satan and his anti-christ sort of muster up a final attack.
I am going to take the position this morning that what we see in the sixth trumpet
is a vision of the demonic forces that are behind the societal corruption of the world…
more specifically the very real, physical, gruesome, suffering of warfare on earth in this age between Christ’s first coming and his second.
I think any of these interpretations are legitimate possibilities, and I think the final point of the matter is unchanged regardless..,
but with all of that in mind now…,
Lets read and pray for understanding:
13 Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar before God, 14 saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” 15 So 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. 16 The number of mounted troops was twice ten thousand times ten thousand; I heard their number. 17 And this is how I saw the horses in my vision and those who rode them: they wore breastplates the color of fire and of sapphire and of sulfur, and the heads of the horses were like lions’ heads, and fire and smoke and sulfur came out of their mouths. 18 By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed, by the fire and smoke and sulfur coming 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 with heads, and by means of them they wound.
20 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 and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, 21 nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.
Lets Pray
Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar before God,
The vision begins with a redirection of John’s eyes and ears back to the altar In the throne room.
John hears a voice from the altar, presumably a ministering angel’s voice who is heralding the instruction given by God…,
The significance of this starting point is that what follows comes at the command of the Lord.
The events of this vision, though terrifying as they are, are not outside of God’s control.
The command is given from the throne room.
but what exactly is the command?
I want to argue that what John now sees in symbolic imagery is a visual representation of the wars that ravage humanity in this age.
Truth #1 War is a Trumpet Warning of God’s Wrath Revealed
Truth #1 War is a Trumpet Warning of God’s Wrath Revealed
Let me read and point out the clues along the way:
14 saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” 15 So 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.
The first clue that we have as to war being released upon humanity is the symbolic direction from which this display of God’s wrath comes.
These angels are bound at the great river Euphrates,
The Euphrates River was the northern border of Israel from which their military invaders enter the land throughout the Biblical narrative.
Though there are many examples of this, consider just one.
Listen to how the prophet Isaiah warns of the coming invasion of Assyria by describing their conquering as the rise of the Euphrates river
5 The Lord spoke to me again: 6 “Because this people has refused the waters of Shiloah that flow gently, and rejoice over Rezin and the son of Remaliah, 7 therefore, behold, the Lord is bringing up against them the waters of the River, mighty and many, the king of Assyria and all his glory. And it will rise over all its channels and go over all its banks, 8 and it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass on, reaching even to the neck, and its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel.”
9 Be broken, you peoples, and be shattered;
give ear, all you far countries;
strap on your armor and be shattered;
strap on your armor and be shattered.
10 Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing;
speak a word, but it will not stand,
for God is with us.
“God with us” in that text is about God’s judgment coming through military conquest.
The Assyrians would cross the Euphrates in order to invade Israel…,
and their coming would be like a flood of the river itself.
The Old Testament is full of historical moments,
Where God releases his wrath through the actions of military conquest of enemy forces
and then he turns and uses other armies to carry out judgment on one another.
So John sees a vision of presumably fallen angels,
demonic beings,
being restrained, or held back, and bound at the great river Euphrates until the times and months and years of God’s choosing.
The result of their release is just as the other trumpets of God’s wrath from chapter 8
at the first trumpet - a third of the land is burnt up
at the second trumpet - a third of sea creatures die and a third of the ships sink
at the third trumpet - a third of the rivers turn bitter
at the fourth trumpet - a third of the sun and moon and stars are darkened
and now at this sixth trumpet - a third of mankind is killed
This number is partly why I do not accept that this is the final day of judgment.
the number one-third is symbolic for partial, but not total destruction.
1/3 of humanity is killed,
It means a lot of humanity, but not all of humanity.
And what are they killed by, or rather, how are they killed?
They are killed by an army.
16 The number of mounted troops was twice ten thousand times ten thousand; I heard their number.
John hears that the number of this military action is 200 million.
There has never been a singular army of 200 million.
The point here is that in this vision of military conquest the number is incalculably large.
But its not just the vastness of the army that strikes fear…, its the nature of the army.
Look at verse 17 again.
17 And this is how I saw the horses in my vision and those who rode them: they wore breastplates the color of fire and of sapphire and of sulfur, and the heads of the horses were like lions’ heads, and fire and smoke and sulfur came out of their mouths. 18 By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed, by the fire and smoke and sulfur coming 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 with heads, and by means of them they wound.
Much like the demonic locusts in the last vision, I don’t think that we are meant to glean too much from each description of these demonic looking horseman and their horses.
The point is that these soldiers take a demonic form in the vision.
we have a mixture of language that looks human
and language that looks far more other worldly and demonic.
The reference to the tails like serpents heads is certainly a nod to the demonic nature of these armies.
but I think this army points to the very real and ongoing plague of human warfare on earth that is started and sustained by evil powers seeking to destroy humanity.
I think that this shows that every hostile invasion that leads to massive human death is no doubt an act carried out by human beings under the influence of their own sin
AND being provoked by the influence of The demonic.
And being released by the will of God as an act of releasing his wrath.
This is one of the realities we should expect in this age between Jesus’ first coming and the second.…
As we have referenced before, Jesus tells us to expect this in this age:
5 For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. 6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are but the beginning of the birth pains.
In the 20th century…,
the enlightenment suggested that man no longer needed god for their morality,
and that industrialization and science and learning would lead to a kind of peaceful utopia.…
In the 20th century…,
all our new technology led to an estimated 120 to 150 million people who died as a direct result of organized military warfare.
If you had fought in World War II,
and you saw with your own eyes the horrors of war…
the symbolism from Revelation would not seem so foreign to you.…
The war was itself a picture of Demonic-influenced soldiers wreaking havoc on humanity so much so that their was mass human suffering and death.
If you had been in the trenches… John’s vision would fit the description of your experience.
Not that World War II specifically fulfills the prophecy of the sixth trumpet…,
but rather that war itself fits the description.
War is a gruesome thing.
In it we see the depths of human sin….
The forces of demonic power…
and the effects of the wrath of God on a fallen and broken world.
If you think the wrath of men is gruesome in warfare…
the wrath of God on sin is more severe still.
God will have final and decisive victory over all the evil forces…,
God will in the end usher in true peace as he treads his enemies under his feet.
the wars of today are trumpet warnings to the final war that will end all wars with Christ as the victor.
the wars of today are meant to turn our eyes to the God who is coming to bring them to an end.
Truth #1 War is a Trumpet Warning of God’s Wrath
but its not just that the wars of the world trumpet the wrath of God…,
What is interesting about this passage is that without the restraining hand of God…
these kinds of wars would destroy the earth continuously.
Notice the way in which John sees the vision unfold.
14 saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” 15 So 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.
No matter how you interpret the symbolism of these demonic armies…
Whether you think this is the final day where the anti-Christ is released for a short period of time,
or whether you think this points to ongoing warfare in our world…
one thing is crystal clear.
It is the restraining hand of a sovereign God that keeps them from devouring humanity at any given moment In time.
Truth #2 War is Restrained by the Mercy of God
Truth #2 War is Restrained by the Mercy of God
Let me ask you a question…
To what extent does Satan want to destroy humanity?
How badly do all the evil forces of the world want to bring God’s humans made in the image of God to total ruin?
How sinful can humanity really be if left unchecked?
If Satan wants our utter destruction, and we are by our nature’s beast toward evil…, why has Satan not successfully found a way to destroy the world?
Why has he not found a way to initiate a nuclear war?
Why was hitler stopped in his endeavor toward world domination?
Why couldn’t Stalin succeed In his own endeavors?
What keeps Iran and North Korea at bay right now?
Why hasn’t evil prevailed entirely over the world so that world war consumes us?
The most ultimate answer is that any degree of peace that we enjoy in this world is a result of God’s restraining mercy holding back his own wrath against sin,
and holding back the will of evil forces seeking to devour.
There is a sense in which Satan is bound in this age.
He is on a leash…
he can not unleash all that he would desire to unleash.
I think one of the clearest texts that speaks to God’s merciful and restraining hand on world history comes from 2 Thessalonians.
2 Thessalonians speaks of Christ’s final return coming after a man of lawlessness,
an anti-Christ tries to deceive the nations on a global scale…
Listen to how Paul describes The last day.
Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we ask you, brothers, 2 not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by a spirit or a spoken word, or a letter seeming to be from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. 3 Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, 4 who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God. 5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? 6 And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed in his time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.
Paul speaks of a most ultimate anti-Christ who will come at the end,
but who is always being restrained by the hand of God…,
only to be revealed in the end and killed by the breath of the mouth of Christ Jesus.
Evil is always being restrained.
It would always take more ground if God was not holding it back.
You yourself would be In a far different place than you are right now, if it were not for the restraining hand of God’s mercy.
Praise God
that he constrains the evil will of men in this world as much as he does..,
Praise God for his restraining mercy in my own life…, for God knows what kinds of decisions I would make if it were not for his restraining mercy.
Christians, we above all people should be a grateful people.
We above all people should be
a content people,
a humbled people,
not an entitled people,
or an arrogant people.
God has been patient with us.
He has restrained his wrath against us,
He has restrained the devil’s attacks against us,
he has restrained the drifting of our own evil hearts.
One of the worst expressions of God’s wrath described in Romans is when God gives us over to our own desires which destroy us.
24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,
Self-Destruction is what happens when God releases the evil that is lurking beyond the Euphrates.
It is what happens when he gives us over to our own desires.
#2 War is Restrained by the Mercy of God
But as we have seen even wrath revealed can have a merciful effect on humanity.
The plagues released upon humanity in the six trumpets of Revelation 8 and 9…,
They serve a purpose.
Verses 20-21 summarize both the purpose and the result of the six trumpet plagues that have blasted in this series of visions.
Just as the 10 plagues served as warnings to Pharaoh in the Exodus story that he should repent before final destruction…..,
so do these plagues serve as warnings to all of humanity that they should repent before the final destruction…
The consequences of sin can sometimes serve as a jarring enough force to open our eyes to our need for repentance.
OR they can harden us even further
just like Pharaoh hardened his heart after each plague…, so does humanity as a whole harden their heart in response to each plague.
Look at verses 20-21
20 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 and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, 21 nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.
Truth #3 Wrath Revealed and Restrained Should Lead to Repentance
Truth #3 Wrath Revealed and Restrained Should Lead to Repentance
John notes that even after all this…,
all these warning signs,
all these consequences for the evil works of man and the idolatries of their heart,
Humanity still does not repent
They still do not turn to the one true God and his way of salvation.
they harden their hearts.
Christians…, we are distinct from this.
The tangible difference between those who are sealed by the grace of God through faith in Jesus is not that we are sinless....,
the difference is that we are repentant…,
We see sin for what it is.
We know where it leads.
WE know that the sinful work of our hands
and the idolatry of our hearts is self-destructive…,
It is the idolatries of the world that leads to things like war.
so we repent regularly.
Meaning we turn away from the evil in our hearts.
We turn away from the little idolatries that steal worship from the true God.
There is a very real sense that the plagues of our world drive Christians not farther away from God but deeper in our repentance.
The warfare of our world reminds us that this is not our home
The spiritual evil of our world reminds us that this is not our home
The natural corruption in every natural disaster reminds us that this is not our home.
And so with every trumpet blast in this age we simply deepen our commitment to repentance from the vain things that are being burnt up in this world.
This is why God’s wrath in the world is both restrained at times and released at times But not yet fully.
God is leading his people to repentance.
Hear again the words of Peter reflecting on the end of the world.
8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! 13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
If all this is true, what sort of people should we be?
Let me conclude with a few suggestions..
#1 We Should be a Repentant People
#1 We Should be a Repentant People
This is the proper response to the physical, spiritual, and societal corruption of our world in this age.
As we behold the utter failure of the idolatries of men.
The fruitlessness of sin that leads to death.
With the evidence of the failures of idolatry all around us….
We above all people, should be a people who are always repenting.
What do you need to repent of this morning?
Verses 20-21 describes our sin as either works of our hands or worship of our hearts..
What evil are you doing that needs to be repented of?
What trinkets of gold, silver, bronze, wood, or stone are you worshipping more than God?
Hear the testimony of human history…. Idols fail to deliver us. They fail to satisfy us.
Only the living God saves.
#2 We Should Be a Thankul People
#2 We Should Be a Thankul People
We are benefactors of the mercy of GOD As he restrains evil from totally consuming us Every minute of every day.
There is really only one moment in history where God fully released the depths and heights of his own wrath…
And it was on his Son on the cross of Jesus Christ.
That is where God’s wrath was fully released so that those who believe in Jesus do not have to face that wrath on the final day.
#3 We Should Be an Evangelistic People
#3 We Should Be an Evangelistic People
One day the full and final release of wrath is coming.
A final battle is coming.
A battle that will be one decisively by the conquering King Jesus.
The question is whether you will be on the right side or the wrong side of that battle.
Christian, we know the end of the story.
We also know why the world is so messed up.
We know why natural disasters happen,
why societies are corrupt,
why war happens,
and we know what the solution is.
We know the final act.
Lets proclaim the good news in a world of bad news.
Let’s explain to lost and dying people consumed with their idolatry, that there is a God who saves…,
We should be a repentant people
a thankful people
an evangelistic people.
Lets pray to that end.
