Introduction to the Trumpet Judgement's
Notes
Transcript
Intro:
Intro:
we have been going through the book of Revelation.
and if you can remember at this moment we have made our way into the tribulation period. The 7 year period after the church has bee raptured.
chapter 4 starts out with the words “ after these things” ,, which gives us insight as to when John is writing about. After the church has been raptured, there is a series of things that begin to happen.
at the point of the the Rapture of the Church , we see that the clock begins to go, a count down of 7 years. This is what we call the 7 year tribulation.
now we have also talked about that chapter 4-5 gives us insight as to what was happening in heaven at this moment. We get a side bar if you would , getting to see the throne room.
chapter 5 is important because we see a scene where God is holding a scroll with 7 seals on it. This scroll is the deed to the earth, and we see an Angel crying out “ who is worthy to open the seals”
We see Jesus < the Lion of Judah , open who has prevailed to take the scroll and to open the 7 seals.
Transition
now as we got into chapter 6 we begin to see the Wrath of God begin to be poured out over a Christ rejecting world , this begins that Judgement through what is the 7 seals, the 7 trumpets and the 7 bowls of judgement.
In chapter 6 we began to see the opening of the seals. Each seal had a different type of judgement that would come on the earth. In the opening of theses seals we see the rise of the Anitchrist, we see earthquakes and famines .
we see 6 of the 7 seals opened in chapter 6. And then we have this change of direction.
The Parenthetical Passages
Because of the change of directions so quickly , it can make it hard to follow along with what is happening or with what John is talking about.
In order to make it easier for us to follow along, we have to know the pattern that is found in this section of the book of Revelation
What we see is (6) seals opened in chapter 6. Then we see a “Parenthetical” chapter in chp. 7. , which Dave talked about last time we were together, which is basically like the going further in a description like using “parnenthesis”, further explanation before the writer continues in the chronological order.
Then we will get to chapter 8 where we see the 7th seal opened, then we see in chp.8-9 the blowing of the 6 trumpets.
after the (6) trumpets we get to another “Parenthetical Passage” chapters, in Chp. 10 and half way through chp. 11.
in Rev. 11:15-19 we get back to our chronological order in the 7th trumpet blown.
There is 1 possibly two more Parenthetical passages between the blowing of the 7th trumpet in Rev.11-15 to the 7 bowl judgments in chapter 16.
Transition
all that to say that we have see the first 6 seals opened up. Then we saw the Parenthetical Passage in chp. 7, now today we get back to our Chronological order. To see the 7th seal opened, and to see the beginning of the 7 trumpets.
I. Prelude to the Seven Trumpets (v. 1- 6)
A. The Seventh Seal (v.1-2)
Silence in heaven
as we get back to Chronological order of the Judgement of God, we see the opening of the 7th seal.
and we see that the opening of the 7th seal brought a silence in heaven for half hour.
This does’t sound like a long time. But think about the context of where this is taking place. The silence is taking place in Heaven where we have seen in the previous chapters is a place full of Angels and of God’s people declaring praise and worship before the throne of God.
If you have ever been to a concert that has thousands of people or at church even and there is a moment of silence it can be powerful , maybe even awkward after a time, to have that many people all moved to silence for a prolonged period of time.
now this silence in Heaven could be because of the awe , or the thought of the next judgements to come. Maybe like a calm before the storm. Powerful moment as they are all moved in Heaven to silence for the Judgement that is coming in the blowing of the 7 trumpets.
7 Trumpets.
in v. 2 we see that there are 7 angels standing before the throne of God, and these Angels are each given a Trumpet to blow in a specific order.
so the opening of the 7th seal, gives way for the 7 trumpet Judgements to come.
B. The Preparation to Sound the Trumpets (v. 3-6)
Censer of Incense (v.3-4)
We see here that there is another Angel in the throne room, and this Angel had a golden censor in his hand and he stood before the altar.
there are different thoughts on who this Angel is. There are some who consider this another Angel who stood before the throne of God. There are others who consider this Jesus Himself who is taking on the role of our High Priest in Heaven ministering on our behalf as the book of Heb. describes in Heb. 6, Heb.7
Picture of the Throne Room
in order to understand this more clearly we have to look at the Old Testament for clarification.
see we are told that the Tabernacle and the Temple were a picture of the Throne room in heaven .
For if He were on earth, He would not be a priest, since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law; who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, “See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.”
The earthly Tabernacle was a picture of what the throne room in heaven is like.
The Holy Place was the area that was located inside of the tabernacle . and within this Holy Place was a veil that separated the Holy place and the Holy of Holies, where the Ark of the Covenant was located covered by the mercy seat.
this was the place that the High Priest was only allowed to enter once a year on the day of Atonement , in order to offer the sacrifices for the people.
blood from the sacrifice would be placed on the mercy seat.
Outside of the Holy of Holies
was the table of showbread , the lampstand and the golden altar of Incense .
it was from this altar of incense that had the burning coals on it that the priests were to daily , morning and night, offer incense on it. In order that there would be a perpetual or continual offering of incense rising to the Throne of God.
Ex.30:1-8
Day of Antonment
“And Aaron shall bring the bull of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make atonement for himself and for his house, and shall kill the bull as the sin offering which is for himself. Then he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from the altar before the Lord, with his hands full of sweet incense beaten fine, and bring it inside the veil. And he shall put the incense on the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of incense may cover the mercy seat that is on the Testimony, lest he die. He shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the mercy seat on the east side; and before the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times.
It was the Role of the High Priest to take the golden censor and put burning coals from the Altar of Incense in it, then he would take the incense and take it into the holy of Holies on the day of Atonement , and he would pour the incense over the hot coals which would produce smoke or the burning of the incense which would fill the holy of holies.
the incense in the old testament was a picture of the prayers of the people rising up as a sweet aroma to the throne room of God.
Application
What the bible tells us is that Jesus became our High Priest, that He himself was that spotless lamb of God that took the sins of the world away. He paid the price for our sins, He Himself took His own blood shed on the cross and as our High Priest and He put that blood on the mercy seat to bring forgiveness and salvation for you and I.
and not only that , but He has ripped that veil that separated us from the Holy of Holies, where God’s presence is, and He has made a way through Him to enter that Holy of Holies.
Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
and as our High Priest, He has taken our prayers, the incense in the censor and has brought them into the Holy of Holies and has offered them before God’s throne that our prayers would be a sweet aroma before God.
That is such an amazing thing to know.
Things we can Learn
Our Prayers Go Before God.
That Jesus is our mediator, the one we pray to , the one who takes our prayers before the throne of God. 1 Tim. 2:5
2. Our Prayers are Heard By God
Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.
For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
And His ears are open to their prayers;
But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.
God hears our prayers. They go before Him
3. God Answers our Prayers
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will deliver him and honor him.
we have to understand that God both hears our prayers and He answers those prayers that are according to His will
we have to remember that God answers the Prayer according to His will, sometimes things don’t play out the way we wanted them to play out. But it doesn’t mean that God didn’t answer our prayer, it means He will answer it according to His will and according to His timing.
you remember back in.
When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”
- Rev. 5:8 we saw the Golden bowls full of incense that were held by the 24 elders. These bowls held the prayers of the saints, some believe that these are the prayers that have not been answered yet.
these people who died for their faith , who suffered , prayed hard i’m sure and still they suffered. Does that mean that God did not hear the prayer of the people? No it means that God answered the Prayer according to His timing and according to His will. We see that in the 7 seal judgements and the 7 trumpets. God brings judgement to a Christ rejecting world.
the problem is that we live in a sinful world, and have to deal with the effects of a sinful world. We deal with death, pain, evil and wickedness. That is part of living in a sinful world. But God hears us. And one day soon we will be with Him, where there is no more pain, no more suffering, no more tears.
WHAT SHALL WE DO THEN WHILE I’M HERE ON EARTH ?
KEEP PRAYING
And when Aaron lights the lamps at twilight, he shall burn incense on it, a perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations.
the word “perpetual”, speaks of continuing to do something. For Aaron he was to continue to burn incense before the Lord daily night and day, that the incense would rise before God continually.
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
We see that God’s will for us is to find joy, to pray without stopping and to be thankful.
Interesting that you can do all (3) of these things in personal time with God in ...
Prayer
Worship
i have the freedom to come before God’s presence in prayer and worship to meet with Him. And we have the same promise that He gave to His people.
And you shall put it before the veil that is before the ark of the Testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the Testimony, where I will meet with you.
“Aaron shall burn on it sweet incense every morning; when he tends the lamps, he shall burn incense on it.
God’s promise is to meet with you and I when we come before His presence. So that means that when you pray and worship the Lord, in your room, in your car, in your school, with your friends, you are turning that place into the Holy place, where God will meet you.
2. Censor of Judgement (v.5-6)
now we see this angel take the censer and he fills it with fire from the alter or incense, these hot coals and he throws it down to the earth. This is figurative , but this is an unleashing of the 7 trumpets.
what was a half hour of silence of the things to come, now we see that loud noises come with thunder and lightnings and earthquakes.
this is in preparation of what is to come.
II. THE 7 TRUMPETS (V.7- 13)
A. FIRST TRUMPET (V.7)
We see now that the first trumpet sounds and the judgement begins.
John tells us that hail and fire mingled with blood comes down from heaven to the earth .
now we don’t know exactly what John was actually seeing at this moment. You have to remember that John is writing this some 2,000 years ago, and he is describing what he is seeing in the future 2,000 + years later.
how does someone describe a helicopter, or a missile or nueclear war, technology . He would have to describe it with things that are familiar to him.
so what this hail and fire is we don’t know, some have thought of nueclear war, missiles that look like hail and fire coming down from heaven, or meteors and the blood being the the result of what hits the earth.
we see that fire burns a 1/3 of the trees and the grasses,or the vegetation.
B. Second Trumpet (v.8-9)
Here again we see John tell us as best as he can what he is seeing. He sees something that is huge and looks like a mountain falling from heaven into the ocean.
this could possibly be an asteriod.
We have all seen movies of what it could look like to have an asteriod fall on the earth, the damage that it could bring, the damage that it could bring if it fell in the ocean.
the cause of a large asteriod falling in the ocean is that it could cause huge waves, possibly tsunamis which could wipe out boats in the ocean. The large asteriod could destroy and disturb animal life in the ocean.
We are told that 1/3 of the living creatures in the ocean die from this large mass hitting the ocean.
C. Third Trumpet (v. 10-11)
we see now that something like a great star falls from the skies to the earth and it hits 1/3 of the fresh waters, the lakes, rivers and springs. This could possibly be metoers as well or something similar
but the effects of the pollution of the fresh water is that many people die,because of either We sof the lack of water to drink or because of the poisoning of the water
the description of the pollution and the damage this will cause is in the name given to it, “ Wormwood” which is bitter
D. Four Trumpet (v.12-13)
now we see that the four trumpet causes destruction on the sky.
we see that 1/3....
sun, mon and stars- become darkened
the darkening of a third of the light from the sun, the moon and the stars, cause there the day to be shortened in light .
V.13
we see an angel flying through the midst of heaven and he is crying out woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants for the judgement’s still to come.
all of these devastating things that happened on the earth and in the sky are nothing in comparison to what is to come still.