Discovering Revelation Part 23
Discovering Revelation Part 23
We have been traveling through the Book of Revelation!
Chapter 1: was all about John’s first vision in Heaven seeing Jesus in all His glory! Was a frightful experience for him!
Revelation 1:17-18
17 When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me, saying, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, 18 and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.
• Jesus reveals Himself to John in all His Glory!
Chapters 2&3: Deals specifically with the 7 Churches in Asia Minor!
• John writes 7 letters to these churches dictated by Jesus!
• Jesus issues warnings to 5 of them to straighten up!
• Jesus Commends two of them for being faithful even to the end of their lives!
Chapter 4: Deals initially with the Rapture of the church leaving earth forever to be with Jesus in the air forever to be with the Lord!
• The Bema seat where the church will be judged for the deeds accomplished as Christians to receive a reward or lose rewards based on opportunities taken or missed!
• It then goes into Worship in Heaven looking at the Throne of God and all those who were assembled there!
Chapter 5 is a continuance of Worship in Heaven on steroids we will see an intense beautiful assembly in Heaven with Christ around His Throne!
• So John gives us a look at where we are going so that we can experience just little bit of Heaven on earth! Amen?
Chapter 6 of Revelation!
• What we saw was like a movie trailer in this chapter for the rest of the book of Revelation!
• Chapter 6 essentially is a summary of all that will follow from here on out in our study of Revelation!
• The First Seal—Rider on White Horse Anti-Christ exposed!
• The Second Seal—Rider on a Red Horse, War!
• The Third Seal—Rider on a Black Horse, Famine!
• The Fourth Seal, Rider on a Pale Green Horse! Death and Hades or Hell followed him!
• The Fifth Seal—Martyrs from within the Tribulation period!
• The Sixth Seal—Terror, There is an overwhelming fear with the sixth seal!
Chapter 7 the Lord presents a pause to reflect and prepare for the next round of judgments!
An Interlude. First three verses will give reason for the interlude here!
• We see a 144,000 Jews Saved also an innumerable number of Gentiles during this time!
• “a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues,”
• Then there’s a myriad of in-numerous angels with the others Praising God over and over and over!
• Tremendous Worship taking place in Heaven!
• Then we come to Chapter 8!
Chapter 8
The Seventh Seal—the Trumpets
1 When the Lamb broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
• We leaned that after all the tremendous worship in Heaven here we have silence deafening silence in heaven John says about 30 minutes worth! That’s a long time why?
• Because of the impending judgements God is preparing to send with every trumpet blast!
• The opening of this Seventh Seal Introduces the Seven Trumpets that follow! (Ie Fireworks!)
• Then when saw Another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a golden censer; and much incense was given to him, so that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne.
• “Another Angel” this is not Christ as some people presume!
• Remember the Lord Jesus is no longer positioned as intercessor of the church!
• In Chapter 4-5 remember we saw that shift away from that position when the church was Raptured and He was given the seven-sealed scroll! Amen?
• He is in charge of everything from then on in Revelation!
• Jesus is in Heaven with the Church! Not as an intercessor for us! No!
• This is so cool that you and I will be with Jesus in Heaven.
• Judgment has come! He holds the Book to the seven seals!
• He will direct every activity from His heavenly Throne!
• The Angel here is true is just another Angel! Not Jesus!
• Prayers ascended as incense, and now we have the answer coming down to earth! Judgment! Look out!
• The Tribulation Saints prayed “ Oh God avenge us! “
• The people of the earth have rejected the Gospel message for their sins!
• Now they must bear the judgement for there own sins!
• The Great Tribulation is going to get underway!
• “Thunders” denotes the approach of the coming fierce storm upon the earth!
• The “Voices” reveals this is Gods intended direction and not the purposeless working of natural forces! God is in Charge!
• The “Lightning” follow the thunder. This is not a reversal of natural order.
• And finally the “earthquake” is this old earths response to such intense pressure which is place upon it during the judgment of this Great Tribulation period!
Revelation 8:7-13
7 The first sounded, and there came hail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were thrown to the earth; and a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.
• This is a direct judgment from God Himself!
• This judgment falls on the vegetation! From grass to trees!
• Notice, it is only 1/3! But, don’t you think that would make a huge impact on out earth?
• Fire is the great enemy is the instrument that God uses!
Illustration: 2 years ago Australian Fires video!
• The earth will be destroyed by fire!
• The last time however the earth was destroyed was by what church? The Flood! Thus Rainbows!
• Thus was the first global judgement! Now it is going to be by fire!
• The earth will be purified by fire!
• Think about 1/3 of the earth destroyed by fire!
• Plant life was the first to be created!
Genesis 1:11
Then God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them”; and it was so.
• After order had been established globally with land and oceans.
• God began with the creation of plant life!
• Notice this is a literal judgment this is really what will take place literally it’s not symbolic imagery here! Why do we know this? The seventh plague in Egypt!
Exodus 9:18-26
The Plague of Hail
18 Behold, about this time tomorrow, I will send a very heavy hail, such as has not been seen in Egypt from the day it was founded until now. 19 Now therefore send, bring your livestock and whatever you have in the field to safety. Every man and beast that is found in the field and is not brought home, when the hail comes down on them, will die.”’” 20 The one among the servants of Pharaoh who feared the word of the LORD made his servants and his livestock flee into the houses; 21 but he who paid no regard to the word of the LORD left his servants and his livestock in the field.
22 Now the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky, that hail may fall on all the land of Egypt, on man and on beast and on every plant of the field, throughout the land of Egypt.” 23 Moses stretched out his staff toward the sky, and the LORD sent thunder and hail, and fire ran down to the earth. And the LORD rained hail on the land of Egypt. 24 So there was hail, and fire flashing continually in the midst of the hail, very severe, such as had not been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. 25 The hail struck all that was in the field through all the land of Egypt, both man and beast; the hail also struck every plant of the field and shattered every tree of the field. 26 Only in the land of Goshen, where the sons of Israel were, there was no hail.
• Think about this 100% destruction in Egypt except for the Land of Goshen!
• Goshen means “Drawing Near” you see when we draw near to God He will draw near to us!
• The Lord protects His own! Amen?
• 1/3 of the earth laid waste! Burned! We know it grows back again later in Revelation! Locust!
8 The second angel sounded, and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea; and a third of the sea became blood, 9 and a third of the creatures which were in the sea and had life, died; and a third of the ships were destroyed.
• The Oceans make up an area of 71% of the worlds surface!
• Or most of the worlds surface think about that!
• The sea is affected by the direct judgment of God!
Genesis 1:9-10
Then God said, “Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters He called seas; and God saw that it was good.
• Notice that the plant life and the separation of the land and the sea occurred on the same day!
• Look at the distinction in the language here! Sometimes we lump everything together in Revelation and call it symbolic! It’s not!
• This mountain represents something that is literal and tangible! Babylon in OT
Jeremiah 51:25
“Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain, Who destroys the whole earth,” declares the LORD, “And I will stretch out My hand against you, And roll you down from the crags, And I will make you a burnt out mountain.
• This literal mass falls on a literal sea, 13 becomes literal blood, and 13 of all literal creatures in the literal sea die a literal death!
• Nothing can be plainer than this!
• Also, 1/3 of the literal ships of all literal nations, are literally destroyed!
• John must say what he wants to say! He makes it clear!
• There is a great mass or force that is put into the ocean!
• We do not know what it could be volcanic, meteor! Who knows!
• Well God knows He is the One bringing it!
• There are a couple reasons we don’t know!
• John didn’t tell us! Therefore no one has the real answer!
• I don’t expect to be here to read the Newspaper headlines! Amen?
• Can you imagine what the papers will say the news and how awful things will be?
• What an awful tragedy that is coming on a Christ rejecting world!
• People can make fun of us all they want to today and not believe but to their own detriment!
• This should give us a sorrowful heart!
• It should not only affect our heart but also our feet! Amen?
• We must get the Word of God out!
• It’s our responsibility!
• We cannot keep, this judgment from coming to earth Amen?
• But we all can get the Word out making smaller the population that will be left on earth when Jesus comes back for His Church! Amen?
• I would love to see fewer people that will have to go through this! Amen?
• Hills church must reach people with the good news of Jesus! Amen
• We do this collectively as a church and individual as part of His body!
10 The third angel sounded, and a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of waters.
11 The name of the star is called Wormwood; and a third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the waters, because they were made bitter.
• In the Pacific Ocean is the Mariana Trench the deepest part of the earth! 7 miles deep!
• Also, one of the most remotest place in the earth! Because of the depth!
• Pressure 8 tons per square inch! 16,000 lbs! Psi!
• Believe it or not, plastic pollution has been found there, and some of the animals who live that deep have shown traces of plastic in its system!
• Mankind could have had a head start to this star in this verse polluting all the Waters on our globe!
• In this verse we see that 1/3 of the drinking water will be contaminated on the face of the globe!
• Listen we have a water issues right here in Florida already!
• Why we have a desalination plant, man made lakes, fresh water piped into Tampa from springs near our areas! It’s amazing! Amen!
• Fresh water is essential for man and beast to live! Amen?
• We must be reminded of how fragile our life is without water!
• When the children of Israel,crossed over the Red Sea they came to March!
• The waters were bitter and they could not drink it. Upon complaining to Moses he takes a Hyssop tree throws it in the water and the water become sweet! Miracle! Amen?
• Here we see the sweet waters made bitter by a meteor or star of some sort and 21/2 million Israelites are thirsty! Amen?
• Wormwood is a name used metaphorically in the Old Testament in the following ways!
1. The idolatry of Israel!
Deuteronomy 29:18
so that there will not be among you a man or woman, or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of those nations; that there will not be among you a root bearing poisonous fruit and wormwood.
2. Calamity and Sorrow!
Jeremiah 9:15
therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, “behold, I will feed them, this people, with wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink.
3. False Judgment!
Amos 5:6-7
6 “Seek the LORD that you may live, Or He will break forth like a fire, O house of Joseph,
And it will consume with none to quench it for Bethel, 7 For those who turn justice into wormwood
And cast righteousness down to the earth.”
• This Star whatever it is is a judgment
• Whatever this star is it falls to the earth and contaminates 1/3 of the earth’s fresh water supply!
• The scripture seems to suggest that this is a judgment for mankind for idolatry and injustice!
• Calamity and sorrow are the natural compensations that are coming upon man because of this judgment!
12 The fourth angel sounded, and a third of the sun and a third of the moon and a third of the stars were struck, so that a third of them would be darkened and the day would not shine for a third of it, and the night in the same way.
• Another part of creation that man is dependent on is light and the life of the sun!
• Man is not as dependent on the moon nor stars.
• It was on the fourth day of re-creation that these heavenly bodies appeared!
• They had been there before but on the fourth day the light broke through that they gave off!
• Now we see where the light is put out! At least 1/3 of the light!
• Jesus indicated that in the Great Tribulation there would be signs and wonders in the heavens!
Matthew 24:29
“But immediately after the tribulation of those days THE SUN WILL BE DARKENED, AND THE MOON WILL NOT GIVE ITS LIGHT, AND THE STARS WILL FALL from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
• The intensity of the light has a reduced wattage by 1/3!
• Now that is an energy shortage of major consequences!
• The Old Testament Prophets associated such signs in the heavens with the day of the Lord!
Ezekiel 32:7-8
7 “And when I extinguish you, I will cover the heavens and darken their stars;
I will cover the sun with a cloud And the moon will not give its light. 8 “All the shining lights in the heavens I will darken over you And will set darkness on your land,” Declares the Lord GOD.
• Isaiah 13:9-10, Joel 2:10, and Amos 8:9 also wrote of the Sun going dark.
• Thus all opens the door for the next announcement!
13 Then I looked, and I heard an eagle flying in midheaven, 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!”
• Here we see the 3 (specific) Woe judgements!
• The last three trumpets are separated from the other four!
• Here we see an Eagle talking! Is it a literal eagle? Well God can certainly make a Parrot talk and other animals this will be no problem for Him!
• It is amazing that He uses an Eagle here! To speak of His coming!
Matthew 24:28
Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures (eagles) will gather.
• Jesus speaking of the Battle of Armageddon!
• These Woe’s resemble one threat for each of the remaining trumpets!
• Woe is used throughout scripture as an expression of judgment, destruction, and condemnation!
• God's wrath and judgment will come upon those who dwell on the earth!
• This is descriptive phrase for those who reject the Gospel!
• Even though they will acknowledge that the disasters have come from God Rev. 6:15-17 , they will not repent.
• They will be destroyed because they failed to listen to the warning God addresses to all sinners!
Hebrews 3:7-8
7 Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, “TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, 8 DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME, AS IN THE DAY OF TRIAL IN THE WILDERNESS,
We must be the example of Word of God out and you start by reading it, living it, fleshing it out through your life! It must be a lifestyle for living! Daily! Listen to this in 2 Peter as we finish! Let Peters thoughts resonate through your mind and heart!