Sermon Tone Analysis

Claim - God brings severe, but controlled and limited, judgement upon the world (including allowing destructive demonic power to be at work) as warnings (trumpets) so that people might repent.

Focus - Be assured and stand firm whatever happens for your prayers for God’s justice will be answered.

Function - To cause us to trust solely in the Lamb and pray for His justice to come.

PRAY

I used to play the trumpet - it wasn’t pleasant to listen to me play.

He’s in control, and he, even when it doesn’t look like it to us, is working all things for His glory.

But when I did, everyone knew about it!

One of the main reasons he is allowing wars, famines, disease to be part fo thsi world

You can’t miss a trumpet playing.

And all through History,

they have been used to warn of something coming!

Even today, trumpeters announce the imminent arrival of the Queen.

Or the imminence of a disaster or enemy.

Joel 2v1 which lends much of the imagery to and 9 reads like this

Joel 2v1 which lends much of the imagery to and 9 reads like this

He wants to warn people so they have a chance to change.

But as we saw in chapter 6,

God is patiently and lovingly delaying his final judgement on all that rebel against him,

so that all the last of His people come into his family.

So that all people have a ‘chance to change’.

And that is the purpose of these trumpets today,

to give those who don’t know God, a chance to change.

And so, the 7 trumpets that we now hear in and 9

do just what you expect a trumpet in all history to do,

they warn us that the final day of judgement is coming, and coming soon.

They

repeat a very similar idea to the seals of chapter 6,

but from a slightly different perspective.

And we’ll consider a reason for this repetition towards the end of the sermon.

The trumpets here have a lot in common with the seals we have already discussed in chapter 6.

There is a similar pattern going on in structure.

The first 4 seals saw the release of 4 horses with their riders

who established the ongoing devestation to cycle across our planet until Jesus returns.

We saw how they symbolised conquest, war, famine and death in our world today.

The first 4 trumpets also represent a continued and sustained turmoil across the earth.

So why are they being repeated now as trumpets?

Well we’ll answer that at the end of the sermon.

1 - repetition in the bible means it is being emphasied - we need to hear it.

For th christian, we need to be encouraged that God is in control of this turmoultous world! for the non-Christian, you need to know that as you look around at the wars, famine, strie and diseas, you are to see and bow down before God almighty, before it’s too late!

2 - I think it stops us falling into the trap of thinking that this vision is specific and tied directly to specific events in history as some are in the habit of doing with Revelation.

So we don’t determin that the 1st horse was Hitler, and the first trumpet was the meteorite that we think wiped out the dinosaurs.

The general idea of what is being described is more general, while the encouragement, the teaching point of these visions are very specific.

So let’s look at chapter 8 and 9 now.

Now, becasue we’ve broken these chapters up to study them,

we’ve lost a little bit of momentum,

which we need back to appreciate chapter 8:

Now, becasue we’ve broken these chapters up to study them, we’ve lost a little bit of momentum, but we need to get that back to comprehend the opening verse o chpater 8.

So conjure up again if you can chapter 6, with these terrifying horse being released across our world,

God is in control, using and ordaining:

wars, conquerors, famines, disease and death, judgement is coming,

Seeming chaos and disorder,

noise and shouts,

screams, tanks, bombs, machinery,

overcrowded hospitals,

food aid deliveries.

The fifth seal of all the martyred saints crying out to God - ‘How long O lord until you bring final justsice upon the world;

How long they cry and cry,

The 6th seal,

An earthquake that shakes and rattels the universe,

terror and fear,

mountains turning over,

everyone wanting death,

but not finding it, rocks tumbling,

And then chapter 7

that great encouragemnt to all those that turst JEsus the lamb,

Our dirty lives, washed white in his blood,

The 24 elders sat around the throne shouting

The great multitude of believers, that no-one could count, shouting:

rev 7

The noise, the chaos,

the shouts of fear and chaos on the earth,

the joyful triumphant and loud cries of praise in the heavens:

LONG PAUSE

softly

What a long, long time half an hour would have been after seeing

those loud visions of judgement and triumphantly bold cries of praise.

Silence,

softly

This is the God Almighty,

The great I AM.

softly

For all mankinds schemes, plans, grand ideas.

For all the power and importance we think we have,

For all the worth we think we are entitled to,

For all our running around, all our noise making,

well there is something aweinspiringly terrifying about absolute silence.

God is in utter and complete control.

His timings and no-one elses.

The silence of His absolute sovereignty is absolutely deafening to humanity.

Habakuk in t OT also speaks of the final judgement on mankind that God will bring,

much of the imagery is picked up in Revelation,

And there is a very telling responce expecetd of humanity

when it finally sees and realises they are to account for their actions before the almighty:

Look up - page NO?

hab 2v6

“ ‘Woe to him who piles up stolen goods

and makes himself wealthy by extortion!

How long must this go on?’

hab 2

Pause