01/18/2009

THE SOUND OF THE SEVENTH TRUMPET

REVELATION 11:14-19

**In our last two messages in the book of Revelation we examined Three Warnings that were given to Earth Dwellers and we looked at Two Witnesses To the Earth Dwellers.

**Some people believe that these two witnesses will be Enoch and Elijah because of the verse in the Bible that says “It is appointed unto men to die once and after this comes the judgment”!

**Enoch and Elijah never died, they were both supernaturally RAPTURED or TRANSLATED from earth to heaven. I am not sure if these two witnesses are Enoch and Elijah or not and if it were that important for us to know then God probably would have told us their identities.

**Whoever these two witnesses are they make life miserable for the Anti Christ for 3 ½ years. According to Revelation 11:6 these two witnesses “have power to shut up the sky, so that rain will not fall during the days of their prophesying; and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood, and to strike the earth with EVERY plague, as often as they desire”!

**However according to Revelation 11:7 the time will come when they FINISH their TESTIMONY that the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them, and OVERCOME them and KILL them! Their dead bodies will lie in the streets of Jerusalem and the nations will not allow their bodies to be placed in a tomb!

**But after 3 ½ days the breath of life from God will come into them and they will stand on their feet and a loud voice will shout to them COME UP HERE! And they will be raptured into heaven in the plain sight of everyone!

**As soon as these two disciples are raptured up to heaven “a great earthquake” will occur and a tenth part of the city of Jerusalem will die and the rest of the people will be terrified and give glory to God!

**The Bible says in Revelation 11:14 that the second WOE is past and BEHOLD the THIRD woe is coming quickly!

**This refers to what was said in 8:13. Then I looked, and I heard an eagle flying in the mid-heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, Woe, Woe to those who dwell on the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!

**Our message today is titled: The Sound of the Seventh Trumpet and there are three things that I want to call to your attention. First of all I want you to notice:

I.                   THE SHOUT OF PROPHETIC ANTICIPATION

THEN the seventh angel sounded . .  .(11:15)

**There are three things that I find interesting about this SHOUT of prophetic ANTICIPATION. First of all:

A.     The LOUDNESS is RESOUNDING

11:15 And there were LOUD voices…

B.     The LOCATION is REFRESHING

11:15 And there were loud voices IN HEAVEN

**Heaven is going to be a LARGE place, a LOVING place, A LIVE place and it is going to be a LOUD place!

C.    The LESSONS are REVEALING

11:15 saying the kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ!

1.      KINGDOMS come and kingdoms GO

BUT THE

2.      KINGDOM of GOD is FOREVER             

**Why does our text use the word KINGDOM in the singular (saying the KINGDOM of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ)?

**At this time, the Anti-Christ has brought all of the kingdoms under his authority and control. Do you remember when Jesus was compelled to go into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit to be tempted for 40 days and nights by the devil? The devil offered to give Jesus the KINGDOM if He would bow down and worship the devil.

**Jesus knew that if He would remain obedient to do the Father’s will and after His death, burial and resurrection that the day would come when He would return to the earth and the kingdom of this world would become the kingdom of our LORD!

*The SHOUT of prophetic ANTICIPATION leads us to:

II.      THE SCENE OF PERPETUAL ADORATION

A.    The RESPONSE of the SAINTS

v:16 And the twenty-four elders, who sit on their thrones before God,  FELLon their faces and WORSHIPED God, 17 SAYING  We give You thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty . . .

**We have seen the 24 elders on three previous occasions in the book of Revelation (4:4, 10; 5:5-6, 8, 11, 14; 7:11, 13). We will see them again in 14:3 and 19:4).

**Who are the 24 elders? Some people believe they are Angels but this does not seem too likely because of what we read in 5:11 Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many ANGELS around the throne AND the living creatures AND the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, WORTHY IS THE LAMB that was slain . . .

**The 24 elders is the CHURCH that has been RAPTURED to Heaven and they have already been REWARDED prior to this scene in Heaven!

**The elders (the Church) are on their thrones and they have been crowned as victors!

**Now notice the kinds of things we will be doing over and over and over in Heaven. Your Bible says that they did three things. First of all they FELL on their FACES (11:16) AND your Bible says that they WORSHIPED God (11:16) and they said, “We GIVE YOU THANKS, O LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY” (11:16)!

**Notice three things that causes us to fall on our faces and worship God. We will be THANKING God because:

1.      Christ REIGNS SUPREMELY

11:17 because You have taken Your great power and have begun to REIGN!

2.      Christ JUDGES RIGHTEOUSLY

11:18 . . . and the time came for the dead to be judged

3.      Christ REWARDS GRACIOUSLY

11:18 . . . and the time to REWARD Your bond-   servants the prophets and the saints and those who fear Your name, the small and the great . . .

**We have seen the RESPONSE of the SAINTS now I want you to notice:

B.     The REACTION of the SINNERS

11:18 And the nations were enraged . . .

**You know, not much is different today. Whenever the SAINTS begin to FALL down on their FACES and WORSHIP God with LOUD voices of THANKSGIVING, the SINNERS become ENRAGED!

**We have seen the SHOUT of prophetic ANTICIPATION and the SCENE of perpetual ADORATION and now I want you to notice:

III.THE SYMBOL OF PEACEFUL AFFIRMATION

**What can we learn from the book of Revelation that will give us peace in the midst of our own personal storms?

 First of all:

A.    God’s PRESENCE can be SEEN in the storm

11:19 And the temple of God which is in heaven was opened and the Ark of His Covenant APPEARED . . .

**Now remember that two WOES have already passed and the third WOE is about to be experienced. Six trumpets have already sounded and the seventh is being sounded.

**The judgment and wrath of the thrice Holy God is being released all over the world but even in the midst of such a terrible storm GOD’S PRESENCE can still be SEEN!

And the temple of God which is in heaven was opened AND the ARK of HIS COVENANT APPEARED!

**Is anybody going through a personal storm in your life? Does it seem like the hard times are as hard as you have ever known in your life?

**Does it seem like God is nowhere to be found? I have good news for you today! Look for the TEMPLE of GOD and the ARK of His COVENANT (i.e. His PRESENCE)!

**Not only can God’s PRESENCE be SEEN in our storm but:

B.     God’s PROMISES are SURE in the storm

11:19 And the ARK of HIS COVENANT appeared and there were flashes of lighting and sounds and peals of thunder and an earthquake and a great hail-storm

**Notice what John said could be seen when the Temple of God which is in Heaven was opened . . . The Ark of His Covenant APPEARED . . .

**I don’t know about you but whenever I am in a storm, whenever I am in a hard time, I begin looking for God’s Presence in His temple (my body, my life) and I begin looking for God’s PROMISES that I can apply to my storm!

**

If I were to die today and stand before God and He asked me, “why should I let you into My heaven, my answer would be: