Sermon Tone Analysis

Textual Idea – God revealed to John the torrent of the wrath of God against a wicked and rebellious world that rocks the natural order of creation producing Hell on Earth.

Sermon Idea – Humans on earth today would be wise to respond to the warning message from God Almighty regarding His future judgment of the world, before there is Hell on Earth.

Transition w/ Key Word – Our text presents 3 scenes picturing the awesome wrath of God upon the rebellious world that produces Hell on Earth.

1st Scene – Shock & awe in Heaven – 8:1-6 2nd Scene – Shock & awe upon creation – 8:7-13 3rd Scene – Shock & awe upon humanity – 9:1-19

Introduction – Begin with a small water bottle that we have available every Sunday around here.

Take a tiny packet of salt (like from a napkin, spoon & fork kit) and pour it into the water.

Take a little sip and tell them it’s not good but it’s not terrible, if you were desperate, you could drink it.

Take another package of salt and pour it into the water.

Shake it up.

It’s more cloudy and I know from experience it’s not drinkable.

It’s only good for gargling and spitting it out!

These two packets of salt are like the sin of Adam & Eve the first couple, the water is like the world God created.

Now think of the millions of people who’ve lived on planet earth since creation, all pouring their sinful lives in the world that was once perfect!

The salt affects every drop of the water to the extent that all the formerly pure water becomes salty.

From that time on, every bit of water drawn from that container is salty and no pure water can be drawn.

This is similar to the depraved condition of man.

The first sin was an act, one act that brought sin into the human race.

Since that one act the very bloodstream of the human race has been polluted.

The Bible describes the complete depravity of mankind accurately in Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it?

God’s response to that is found in vs. 10 “I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.”

The Bible tells us that man was created a little lower than the angels.

One thing is clear today, he’s been getting lower ever since.

It is this depraved & sinful condition that has run it’s course through the ages of the human race that God must judge and ultimately destroy.

Background – Now as we pick back up our study through Revelation, we need to remember that at this point, the church, those who’ve repented of their sin & trusted Christ by faith have been removed in what we call the rapture between Rev. 3 & 4. The future Day of the Lord will be the climactic time of judgment that ends man’s day and Satan’s rule on earth.

During that time, God will take back the earth in judgment with great destruction.

The first five seals (false peace, war, famine, death, and vengeance) describe the preliminary judgments leading to the full outpouring of divine wrath during the Day of the Lord.

As horrifying as those preliminary judgments are, they pale before the terrors of the 6th seal, which marks the beginning of the Day of the Lord.

So terrifying are the judgments of the sixth seal that people are finally forced to acknowledge God as the source of the calamities.

At that point they will cry “to the mountains and to the rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?’” (6:16–17).

8:1 - When the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, opens the seventh and last seal on the little scroll that was the title deed to the earth (5:1), the judgments of the Day of the Lord will intensify and expand dramatically.

This final seal contains within it the full sweep of the remaining divine judgments of the time of the Great Tribulation, including the trumpet and bowl judgments.

Transition w/ Key Word – Our text presents 3 scenes picturing the awesome wrath of God upon the rebellious world that produces Hell on Earth.

I. 1st Scene – Shock & awe in Heaven – 8:1-6

Explanation – The 6th seal of this scroll, the title deed of the Universe (5:1) given to the only one worth to open the scroll, the Lord Jesus Christ himself (5:6-7) was opened back in chapter 6:12 with these cosmic disturbances but there was a parenthesis, an interlude identifying those sealed from this awful judgment about to come upon the earth.

144,000 Jewish believers in chapter 7 and the scene in heaven is of worship taking place as a host of people who’ve been rescued are in God’s presence and safe from harm, but they were killed for their faith in Christ as martyrs (6:14).

The people left behind on earth are about to face the consequences of their rejection of God we saw at the end of chapter 6:15-16.

You have this incredible contrast going on – the saints secure in the presence of God in Heaven, and the rebellious people determined to oppose God on earth.

The Lord Jesus Christ breaks open the 7th seal for the host of heaven to see what is written on the scroll and there is a unique response that occurred:

A. Silence in heaven for about a half-hour.

A brief review of the visions John has seen so far, he’s been exposed to a lot of loud noise in Heaven:

4:5 from the throne of God proceeded lightenings, thunderings & voices.

4:8 The 4 living creatures cry out “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty”

4:11 24 elders cry out in praise

5:2 Strong angel proclaims with a loud voice ‘Who is worthy to open the scroll”

5:4 John’s own weeping added to the noise that no one was found worthy to open the scroll.

5:5-7 Once Jesus Christ, the Lamb is declared worthy and He takes the scroll, the title deed of the universe, the Host of Heaven praises and glorifies God!

6:9-10 The opening of the 5th seal unleashed the cry of the martyrs slain for the Word of God and their testimony for Christ asking for vengeance!

What a loud cry from the saints asking how long Lord?

All this noise leading up to 8:1, makes the contrast so shocking.

As the host of Heaven sees the 7th seal and what is about to take place on earth as the fury of God’s judgment is about to be unleashed on earth, the host of Heaven is shocked to silence.

Silence is the only appropriate response to the judgement and wrath of Almighty God.

(Verse slides)

Ps. 76:8 “You caused judgment to be heard from Heaven; the earth feared and was still.”

Habakkuk 2:20 “The Lord is in His holy temple, let all the earth be silent before Him!”

Zephaniah 1:7 “Be silent before the Lord God for the day of the Lord is near.”

Dr. John MacArthur describes what this must have been like for the aged Apostle John: “While eternal heaven has no time, the apostle John who is seeing the vision does.

Each minute of that half hour of silence must have increased the sense of agonizing suspense for John.

Heaven, which had resounded with loud praises from the vast crowd of redeemed people and angels, became deathly still.

The hour of God’s final judgment had come—the hour when the saints will be vindicated, sin punished, Satan vanquished, and Christ exalted.

The greatest event since the Fall is about to take place and all heaven is seen waiting in suspenseful expectancy.”

The 7th seal contains 7 trumpet judgments that sound in rapid succession – so much so that the destruction of the vegetation & pollution of the salt & fresh waters & atmosphere of the first 4 trumpets may well happen simultaneously.

I remember the Gulf war over Iraq under the first President Bush and the media kept talking about the “Shock and Awe” campaign by the bombing of our air wings.

(Slide) There is shock and awe in heaven at this pending judgment as 7 angels prepare to blow 7 trumpets.

Each trumpet will unleash a new series of judgments.

We’re told that John saw an angel with incense – representing the prayers of these tribulation saints 8:3-4.

It mirrors the prayers of the tribulation saints from 6:9-10 asking God how long until He avenges their blood on those who dwell upon the earth?

It seems as 8:5-6 is God’s answer to the prayers of these tribulation saints murdered for their faith in Christ.

It is the answer to the prayers of every saint of God who as ever prayed “thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

It is the answer to the prayer of every child of God who has been asking God to take back from Satan control of this rotten sinful world.

As these angels prepare to sound the trumpets of God’s judgment, the prospect of it, the intensity of the judgment of God and the sheer power about to be displayed takes everyone’s breath away and there is silence in heaven John says for about a ½ hour.

Illustrate – Tell of my experience with our SWAT team role playing the part of a crook at the old hospital.

Sitting there waiting knowing they are coming in but yet the shock and awe was incredible with that flash bang grenade went off and then I find myself laying face down on the floor with my hands handcuffed behind me.

I had a profound awe of these guys and they are just humans.

Argumentation – I love the shock and awe introduced to the Roman soldiers guarding the tomb of Jesus in Matt.28:1-4 which made them become like dead men.

These soldiers were the finest fighting force in the known world and one angel had 4 Roman soldiers pass out in fear.

Can you imagine the stunned silence of heaven as they see what God has planned as the day of the Lord is about to unfold?

No wonder there was shock and awe in heaven!

Application – We need to fear the great and awesome power of God.

Truly our God is an awesome God.

He reigns from heaven above with wisdom, power and love, our God is an awesome God.

Let me encourage you child of God that your prayers to Almighty God are heard and God will answer according to His time and plan not yours.

These martyred saints wanted to know how long they had to wait for Him to avenge their blood.

Believers may become discouraged wondering how long to God takes back what Satan destroyed.

The Day of the Lord is coming soon, wait on the Lord and patiently pray for His will to be done.

There’s shock and awe in heaven but notice scene 2:

II.

2nd Scene – Shock & awe upon creation – 8:7-13

Explanation – Verse 6 tells us the angels prepared to sound their trumpet judgments from the throne of God – the 7th seal are these 7 trumpet judgments.

With staccato rapid fire succession the torrent of the wrath of God is unleashed on the natural order of Creation similar to what was witnessed in chapter 6 with the cosmic disturbances of vs.12-14.

Notice what takes place from the text:

A. Vs. 7 – 1st Trumpet – Rain of hail fire destroying 1/3 of the trees and all grass.

(No need to water the lawn!).

B. Vs. 8-9 – 2nd Trumpet – Mountain of burning fire into the sea 1/3 of sea became blood – consider roughly ¾ of the earth’s surface is ocean, hard to imagine the extent scale of this judgment but the text says 1/3 of sea creatures destroyed and 1/3 of ships destroyed.

Imagine the chaos – every country will be crippled in the ability to ship food and supplies across the oceans.

As of Jan. 1st, 2021 there are about 55,000 commercial cargo, container, tankers, bulk carriers and passenger ships.

1/3 of that number would mean a staggering 18,150 ships of commercial fleets would be destroyed, not to mention all the military naval ships that would be destroyed.

The Anti-Christ and all who worship & follow him will have their hands full!

C. Vs. 10-11 – 3rd Trumpet – falling star named wormwood strikes 1/3 of fresh water rivers and streams.

Much of the population dies from the poison water.

“Wormwood” is some sort of plant but the name means undrinkable.