Who Do You Belong To?

Introduction

A few weeks ago, before Christmas, I went out to do some shopping. Even with all of the mask wearing and social distancing there was still a lot of people in the stores. While I was doing my shopping, I noticed a small boy walking around by himself. At first it didn’t really look like there was anything wrong, but the longer I watched him I began to realize that he was acting like he was really worried about something. I started to walk over to ask him if something was wrong, but before I got there he vanished around the end of the isle, and when I looked to see where he’d went, I couldn’t find any trace of him anywhere. ---- About half an hour later, while I was standing in line at the register to check out, I saw him again. This time he was talking to an older lady with a couple of kids who looked to be about the same age as him. Also, this time I was close enough to hear what was being said. The older lady kept telling him, over and over, that he couldn’t go with her because she wasn’t his grandmother! And then it hit me, that boy I’d seen roaming around earlier was actually lost, and he had no clue where the person he’d came to the store with was. He couldn’t find the person he belonged to! Maybe you’ve experienced something like what I’m talking about at some point in your life, and if you have, you’ll know that it’s a scary feeling! ---- That said, I want to ask you the most important question that you could ever be asked, who do you belong to? ---- Let me phrase it like this, who is the keeper of your soul? ---- You see, there are two, and only two, groups of people in this world, those who belong to God, and the kingdom of Christ, and those who belong to Satan and the kingdom of darkness. ---- I want to take the next few minutes and talk to you about why it’s so important for to belong to Christ, and I want to do it from the perspective of the end of human history, or at least the period of time right before the return of Christ. So, if you’ve got your Bible, I’d like to invite you to open it (or turn it on) to Revelation 9:1-12, where we’ll see that God answers the prayers of his people, protecting those who belong to him and punishing those who don’t.

Read Revelation 9:1-12

Prayer

9:1-4 “God Protects Those Who Belong to Christ”

Illustration: (Kids playing in the yard as it gets dark) Kids are funny creatures aren’t they, especially when it comes to what they’re afraid of. I guess mine are no different in that aspect than anyone else’s. When it’s daytime outside they will play in the yard, on the bank, and even in the woods below the house, but when the sun starts to go down and darkness begins to take over their fear factor goes from naught to way up here (use a hand motion). I’ve often stood at the front door and watched this unfold as all three of my kids book it up through the yard, up the steps and then into the living room. ---- Do you know why they do this? ---- It’s because they trust me and my wife; they’ve grown to understand that because they belong to us, we, being their parents, will protect them from those things that scare them the most. Do you realize that if you’re a follower of Jesus today you have a parent who’s just like that because God protects those who belong to Christ?

Explanation: When you read the first six verses of Revelation 9, that’s what you see. Amongst all the language of judgement in these verses, v.4 stands out like a beacon of hope flashing against a storm-tossed sea. Verse 4 says, “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.” Whatever else you want to say about this verse, or for that matter who these people are in it, the one thing you have to say is that it unequivocally teaches that God protects those who belong to him, those who place their faith in Christ!

Argumentation: In the first three verse of Revelation 9 John informs us that what began in chapter 8, because of the prayers of God’s people, carries on into a period of time on this earth, when, excuse me for putting it this way, but all hell will break loose. ---- John saw in his vision, as the fifth trumpet was blown, an angel, “a star fallen from heaven to earth” who “was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit (the abyss)”, that place where both Jude and Peter tell us that the angels who sinned during the time of Noah are kept in chains (Jude 6; 2 Pet. 2:4; Gen. 6:1-4), awaiting the judgement. John doesn’t take the time to name the angel who’s given the key is, but it certainly calls to mind what Jesus said about Satan when the seventy-two witnesses were sent out and then returned. Jesus said, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven” (Lk. 10:18). So, it may well be that the angel mentioned by John here is Satan himself. Either way, in v.2 we’re told that he “opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened ....” “3 Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given power like the power of scorpions …”

Illustration: Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m not a fan of insects. If I ever get one on me, I feel like there’s a thousand crawling all over me for the rest of the day, and it’s that much worse if the insect just happens to be a tick! ---- Several years ago, after one of my friends had served two tours of duty in the Middle East, he told me a little about the insect life there. Number one, he said that some of the bugs were so big they looked like they could carry a man off and eat him for supper! He also told me that one of the most feared insects over there was the locust. Now, if you’ve never seen a locust, they look kind of like a big grasshopper. ---- He said the reason the locust is feared so much is because at certain times during the year there’s the possibility of huge locust swarms, and when these overgrown grasshoppers get together and have a party, they can wipe out mile upon mile of vegetation and crops in a matter of minutes creating famine conditions. ---- Now, if that’s not enough, he also said that the because of the hot dry climate you had to be extra careful at night, not walking anywhere in your barefeet, because scorpions like to come out and hunt for food because at night it cools way down. My friend told me that there are several different types of scorpions, but there’s one in particular you’ve got to watch out for. The large middle eastern brown scorpion can extremely dangerous even for humans! My friend said he, personally, had never experienced a sting, but a couple of the men in his battalion did, and they said the pain was excruciating, lasting for up to three days. To cut to the chase here, these locusts and scorpions are dangerous, and you, if you know what’s good for you, will do whatever you can to stay away from them, and that’s John’s point in using this imagery in Revelation 9!

Explanation: Here, in Rev. 9:3, John gives us a terrifying picture by combining the fear and famine brought on by a plague of swarming locusts, doubtless a reference to what the OT prophet Joel said concerning the coming day of the Lord. John combines that with the severe pain of a poisonous scorpion sting to highlight the point that this, friends, is an event that you don’t want to be part of! In fact, says John in vv.5 and 6, these locusts, which I take to be symbolic of demons, will be allowed to torment unbelievers for a short period of time, “five months (v.5)”, and that torment will be so bad, like that brown middle eastern scorpion, that “people will seek death …, but death will flee from them (v.6).” ---- But guess what, if you belong to God you don’t have to be part of this. Remember, I said v.4 was a beacon of hope in the middle of a storm-tossed sea. Look at what it says, “4 They (that is: the locusts) 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. Why(?), because God protects those who belong to Christ!

Appeal: So, let me ask you that question again, who do you belong to? Friend, if you’re listening to me and you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, if you belong to him as part of his kingdom, then you have this protection! ---- On the other hand, if you’re part of the kingdom of darkness I want to take just a few minutes to show you what you’ve got to look forward to.

9:7-12 “God Punishes Those Who Reject Him”

Illustration: How many of you have a good imagination? ---- Back in the days before TV people used sit down at night and listen to their favorite radio program. Some of you here might be old enough to remember that. When you can’t physically see what’s happening and you’re only able to listen to it you’ve got to have a good imagination! ---- I’m reminded of what happened one Sunday evening in 1938. It was October 30th, to be exact at 8 pm, when radio star Orson Welles came over the air waves to present War of the Worlds for the Columbia Broadcasting Company. ----Welles presented the story of a Martian invasion on planet earth, and it was so realistic that people actually thought it was a real news broadcast. In fact, in some places total mayhem broke out and police had to be called in to control the crowds! All of this was the direct result of people allowing their imaginations to run wild! (If you’ve never listened to it, you can pull the original broadcast up online and listen to it.) ---- Here’s the thing folks, this is what we have to come to grips with; what Orson Welles presented over the radio in 1938 was an extraordinary piece of radio fiction that terrified people across the US, what John says he saw in Rev. 9:7-12 in NOT an old-time radio broadcast, it’s the real thing; the real War of the Worlds! And here’s what I want you to understand, if you’re not a follower of Jesus, this is what you’ve got to look forward to. Why, you ask? It’s because God punishes those who reject him. Let’s take a quick look at what John says.

Explanation: In vv.7-10 we’re given a brief description of the “appearance” of this demonic horde. One of the ways we know that what John says here is symbolic in nature is because he uses the word “like” several times in the space of three short verses, 8x in my English translation (ESV = 8x). “… the locusts were like horses prepared for battle: on their heads were what looked like crowns of gold; their faces were like human faces, 8 their hair like women’s hair, and their teeth like lions’ teeth; 9 they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the noise of their wings was like the noise of many chariots with horses rushing into battle. 10 They have tails and stings like scorpions, and their power to hurt people for five months is in their tails.” ---- Oh, and by the way just for good measure, this unrighteous mob is organized; they have leadership, “the angel from the bottomless pit”, and we’re told who he is in two languages: “Abaddon” in Hebrew and “Apollyon” in Greek (Abaddon means destruction and Apollyon means destroyer).

Argumentation: Do you know that the point of all of that is; the reason John described what he saw the way he did?

---- When the original audience of Revelation received this in the form of a letter from John they didn’t sit down and read it, ---- they heard it, and when you hear something what do you do? You create a picture in your mind of what you’re hearing. The point of this picture John gives in vv.7-10 is to drive you (and you, and you, and you) to your knees and ask God to save you, because that’s the only way you’ll get out of it. Why(?), because God will render judgement and punish those who reject the salvation which comes only through faith in Jesus Christ!

Appeal/Conclusion: So, I ask you one last time before we close out this service, who do you belong to? If you don’t Jesus, now is your opportunity.

Invitation: We’re only going to sing one verse of ­________, and then if nobody comes, we’ll close the service.

Closing Prayer