So, thank you very much for being with us today.
Now, in Revelation chapter 16, we're getting into the vials of the wrath of God. In chapter
15, the vials were introduced, and in chapter 16, we're going to go through all seven of
the vials of the wrath of God as they're poured out.
Now, in verse number 1, the Bible reads,
And I heard a great voice out of the temple, saying to the seven angels, Go your ways,
and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth. And the first went and poured
out his vial upon the earth, and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which
had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image.
Before I get into the specifics of the seven vials that are poured out, I want to explain
to you a very important concept, and it's something that I'm going to be using throughout
the sermon tonight, and that is the fact that the vials of God's wrath and the trumpets
of God's wrath are going to be happening concurrently, or they're going to be happening at the same
time. A lot of people believe that first all the trumpets happen, and then all the vials
happen, but that is simply not the case. I'm not saying that the trumpets are exactly the
same as the vials. Obviously they're two different things, but what I'm saying is that
if you look at the vials and the trumpets side by side, you can see that they go together
and they fit together, and that they are happening concurrently. That is, during the time that
the first trumpet sounds, the first vial is going to be poured out, and during the time
that the second trumpet sounds, around that time the second vial is also poured out. Now
in order for you to understand this, I want to just quickly give you an overview of the
whole book of Revelation, just very briefly, just so that you'll understand why it is that
the trumpets and the vials overlap. If you start out in Revelation chapter one, you're
in the first century A.D. with John on the Isle of Patmos. Then in chapters two and three,
you have the letters to the seven churches in the first century A.D. Then when you get
into chapter four, you enter the hereafter phase of the book of Revelation, where we
get into the events where John is being shown what will be hereafter. And in chapters four,
five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, we see a chronology rolled out that is roughly
in chronological order that basically goes through the events of the tribulation. Then
after the tribulation, the sun and moon are darkened, and then Jesus Christ returns to
gather up his elect, and then chapter seven, we have that great multitude appearing in
heaven. Then in chapters eight, nine, ten, and eleven, we're seeing the phase where he's
pouring out his wrath, and that is the seven trumpets. Then when the seventh trumpet sounds,
there's a finality there where he says the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms
of our Lord and of his Christ. He shall reign forever and ever, and it's an ending point
right there. So basically the first half of the book of Revelation chapters one through
eleven starts out with the first century A.D., then goes through the tribulation, then goes
through sun and moon being darkened, and Christ's return, and then God pouring out his wrath,
and then Jesus is about to set up his kingdom. Well then in chapter twelve, all of a sudden,
you jump back in time. One through eleven are in chronological order, but when you get
to chapter twelve, all of a sudden you're at the birth of Christ. So then it goes through
the birth of Christ, which is first century A.D., and then it goes through the tribulation
in chapters twelve and thirteen there, and then in chapter fourteen we have Jesus come
in the cloud. He reaps the earth of the elect. Then in chapter fifteen, a great multitude
appears in heaven, and then in chapter sixteen we have him pouring out his wrath with the
seven vials, and then he continues his wrath into chapter seventeen and eighteen with the
destruction of Babylon, and then it all culminates in chapter nineteen with the battle at Armageddon,
which is followed by the millennium, great white throne judgment, new heaven, new earth.
So all that to say this, chapters one through eleven are in chronological order, but then
in chapter twelve everything starts over with the birth of Christ, and we go through the
same story again in chronological order once again. So the book of Revelation is chronological,
but you have to cut it in half, and then it's two different chronologies, and if you put
those two chronologies side by side, you can see that the same things are happening. You
know, basically the rapture is covered twice in the book of Revelation. The tribulation
is covered twice. The wrath of God is covered twice because of these two halves, one through
eleven and twelve through twenty-two. Well, with all that being said, if we put those
chronologies side by side, the seven trumpets correspond with the seven vials. Okay, now
let's look at these and let's compare the two. Let's compare the vials with the trumpets
and see how they fit together. The first thing I want you to note is that with each of these
vials, they're poured out upon something specific. Glance down at your Bible there
in chapter sixteen verse two. Notice it says, the first went and poured out his vial upon
the earth. So the first vials poured out on the earth. Look at verse three. Second angel
poured out his vial upon the sea. Look at verse four. The third angel poured out his
vial upon the rivers. Look at verse eight. The fourth angel poured out his vial upon
the sun. Okay, and on and on. Verse number ten. The fifth angel poured out his vial upon
the seat of the beast. And then it says in verse twelve, the sixth angel poured out his
vial upon the great river Euphrates. And then in verse seventeen, the seventh angel poured
out his vial into the air. So each of the seven vials is poured out upon something specific.
Okay, and you're going to see how those judgments correspond exactly with the trumpet judgments.
And I'm not saying they're the same thing because if they were the same thing, there'd
be no need to have a separate trumpet and a vial. But they're different things that
are happening concurrently. Okay, let's compare. And I want you to put a finger in revelation
eight and a finger in revelation sixteen because we're going to be going back and forth between
the trumpets and vials, seeing the similarities. So let's look at the first vial first of all.
It says the first went and poured out his vial upon the earth and there was a noise,
there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast and
upon them which worshiped his image. So the first vial judgment is that every person who
has taken the mark of the beast gets a noisome and grievous sore on their body. I mean they're
covered in sores. Now look at revelation chapter eight, verse number seven. It says the first
angel sounded and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood and they were cast
upon the earth and the third part of trees was burnt up and all green grass was burnt
up. Now look, these are two completely different judgments, are they not? Not saying they're
the same, two completely different judgments. One of them is causing the men that had the
mark of the beast to receive sores all over their body and I'll tell you what man, that
is worse than anything when you have sores all over your body. Remember in the book of
Job when God allows Satan to attack Job and afflict Job and Job lost all his money, Job
lost all of his children, Job lost everything but if you remember Satan said, you know what,
all that a man hath will he give for his life. He said let me touch his body now and he'll
curse thee to thy face because Satan knew that the worst thing is when you're going
through horrible health problems and so Job was afflicted with these boils all over his
body, these sores all over his body and he's scraping himself because of the itching and
burning and pain from the sores and that's when his wife tells him, you know, does Job,
does thou still retain that integrity? Curse God and die. Well that's the type of a thing
that people are going to go through when the first vial is poured out. They're going to
have horrible sores all over their body. You know what I always think of whenever I read
this chapter is I think of those advertisements that tell you not to use meth. Who knows what
I'm talking about, these billboards that say like, you know, this is how you're going to
end up if you take meth. You know, basically this is how you're going to end up if you
take the mark of the beast. You know, they have like all these sores all over their body.
That's what's going to happen when the first vial is poured out. Now the first trumpet
on the other hand is hail and fire mingled with blood. Basically fire and brimstone are
going to be raining from heaven. So these are two very separate, very different things.
The only similarity in the first vial in the first trumpet is that the first vial is poured
out upon the earth and the first trumpet is fire being cast upon the earth. So the
phrase upon the earth is found in both. Not a real strong correlation, but as we go through
these you'll see much stronger correlations. Look if you would at chapter 16 verse 3. Let's
look at the second vial. The Bible says, and the second angel poured out his vial upon
the sea and it became as the blood of a dead man and every living soul died in the sea.
Now go back to Revelation chapter number 8 verse 8. The Bible reads, and the second
angel sounded and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea and
the third part of the sea became blood and the third part of the creatures which were
in the sea and had life died and the third part of the ships were destroyed. So both
of these judgments are taking place upon the sea. Okay, obviously the trumpet judgment
comes before the second vial judgment because when the second trumpet sounds a great mountain
burning with fire is cast into the sea or that's as if what were happening and then
it says the third part of the sea became blood and the third part of the creatures which
were in the sea and had life died and the third part of the ships were destroyed. When
you get to the second vial it says that the vial was poured out upon the sea and it became
as the blood of a dead man and every living soul died in the sea. So what we see there
I believe is that the second trumpet shows us the beginning stages of turning the sea
into blood and then later on by the time the second vial is poured out the entire sea has
turned to blood. You know it would be kind of hard to just isolate and turn part of the
sea into blood, especially the third part, without it eventually contaminating and killing
everything in the whole sea because all the seas are connected. Okay. There's really no
doubting that events repeat themselves in the book of Revelation. It's pretty obvious
when you see the rapture in 7 and 14 when you see the tribulation laid out in chapter
6 and then you see the tribulation laid out again in chapter 13 and so this all fits if
we put the trumpets and vials side by side that they're both taking place at the same
time just two different aspects of God's wrath. The trumpets of his wrath and the vials of
his wrath. Look at the third vial and the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers
and fountains of waters and they became blood and I heard the angel of the waters say thou
art righteous so Lord which art and wast and shall be because thou has judged thus for
they have shed the blood of saints and prophets and thou has given them blood to drink for
they are worthy and I heard another out of the altar say even so Lord God Almighty true
and righteous are thy judgments. Go to Revelation 8 verse 10 and we'll look at the third trumpet.
So the third vial is poured out upon the rivers and fountains of waters. They're turned into
blood and then the angel is basically praising God for turning the rivers into blood and
saying these people deserve to drink blood because they have shed the blood of saints
and prophets. They are worthy. You know often we can look at God's judgment or God pouring
out his wrath or God's anger or we could even look at the concept of a place like hell and
say well it's just not fair but you know what according to God and his righteousness it
is fair to make people suffer who have done wickedness and these people that have murdered
the saints and the prophets these people that have murdered God's people and persecuted
God's people earlier in the tribulation he's saying they deserve to have blood to drink.
They're worthy and so we ought never stand in judgment of God. We ought to have the attitude
that this angel has that's just praising God for whatever he does because whatever he does
is right and it's not our place to stand in judgment of God and say well God's being a
little bit too harsh here with this third vial. I mean that's just taking it a little
too far. No, God knows what he's doing and people get what they deserve. Look at the
third trumpet. Remember the third vial was poured upon the rivers and fountains of waters?
Look at verse 10 of chapter 8. And the third angel sounded and there fell a great star
from heaven burning as it were a lamp and it fell upon what? The third part of the rivers
and upon the fountains of waters and the name of the stars called wormwood and the third
part of the waters became wormwood and many men died of the waters because they were made
bitter. So right there we see that the first three judgments have lined up perfectly in
the sense that the vial was poured upon the earth. The trumpet judgment had something
to do with something coming upon the earth. The second vial had to do with being poured
out upon the sea. The second trumpet had something to do with the sea. The third vial was poured
out upon the rivers and fountains of waters. The third trumpet sounds and a judgment comes
upon the rivers and fountains of waters. See how they're lining up perfectly? Look at the
fourth vial. It says in chapter 16 verse 8, the fourth angel poured out his vial upon
the sun and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire and men were scorched with great
heat and blasphemed the name of God which had power over these plagues and they repented
not to give him glory. So here we see that the sun becomes very hot and begins to scorch
men with great heat. You say you believe in global warming? I mean this is global warming.
You hear people talk about solar flares and different things. Somehow God is going to
allow the sun to scorch men with great heat. I mean and we're not talking about you know
Phoenix in the summer where it's 120 degrees. You know I don't know exactly what kind of
temperatures this is going to get up to but it's going to get extremely hot and men are
going to be blaspheming God because of the great heat. Instead of repenting, instead
of turning to God and saying you know what we were wrong, we made a mistake, we were
sorry instead they're just going to blaspheme God which has the power over the plagues and
they will not repent to give him glory. Now you say well just turn on the air conditioner.
Well first of all your air conditioner can only keep up with so much. I mean on a really
hot day in Phoenix I'll tell you right now our air conditioner never keeps up. When it
gets really really hot it'll run 24 hours a day and can't really get it necessarily
as cool as we want it. But not only that, keep in mind the judgments that have already
happened. Fire and brimstone raining from heaven, the sea being destroyed, the rivers
and fountains of waters being destroyed. You know if you think that people's power is going
to be on at their house, you got to be kidding. I mean infrastructure and society is going
to have broken down at this point to where there's not going to be any air conditioning
and I don't know how hot it's going to get. I don't know if it's going to be 130, 140
but it's going to be extremely hot and people are going to be in intense pain and cursing
God that they're being scorched. And then obviously it's going to cause forest fires
because even on just a regular hot day, if you're up in the woods and it's a really hot
day, the Smokey the Bear symbol will say you know fire danger extreme. Well imagine the
fire danger when the ambient temperature is you know 130, 140. I don't know how hot it's
going to get. But the hotter it is the more likely it is that fires are going to be breaking
out and bursting and men are going to be scorched with heat and then there's going to be fire
burning that's just going to make things even hotter like especially in a city area where
buildings are burning and so forth. So the fourth vial was poured out upon what? Upon
the sun. So we should expect that the trumpet judgment is going to have something to do
with the sun also right? We'll go over to chapter 8 and let's see. Revelation chapter
8 verse 12. And the fourth angel sounded and the third part of the what? The sun. See how
they line up every single one of them. The third part of the sun was smitten and the
third part of the moon and the third part of the stars so as the third part of them
was darkened and the days show not for a third part of it and the night likewise. And
so I believe that these two things although they're very different things are going to
be happening around the same time in the same sequence. So it makes sense that if the sun
is having issues you know it's darkened for a third part of the day but then also it's
going to be scorching and flaring up on the times that it's visible. Let's look at the
fifth vial. Chapter 16 verse 10. And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of
the beast and his kingdom was full of darkness and they gnawed their tongues for pain and
blasphemed the god of heaven because of their pains and their sores and repented not of
their deeds. So the fifth angel pours out his vial upon what? The seat of the beast.
What does the seat mean? Well seat is often used as a throne or even we use in America
the term the county seat. The county seat is basically the governmental head of where
the county is administered. So the county seat would be like the capital of the county.
You know how countries and states have capitals? Well the county has a capital. It's called
the county seat. The Bible talked about in the church of Pergamos he said I know thy
works and where thou dwellest even where Satan's seat is. Meaning that's where Satan
rules from. That's where his throne is basically. And here it says that the vial is poured out
upon the seat of the beast. Basically it's poured out upon the area that the beast or
the antichrist is ruling from and his kingdom was full of darkness and they gnawed their
tongues for pain. Now this is a very important verse here. And the reason why this verse
is so important is that this verse proves that the antichrist is still in power and
that this world is still considered his kingdom. You say why is that important? Because you
say well Pastor Anderson I'm seeing correlations between the trumpets and vials but I'm just
not convinced yet that the trumpets and vials are happening concurrently. I still think
that all the trumpets are going to happen and then all the vials are going to happen.
But let me say this. When the seventh trumpet sounds what does it say? The kingdoms of this
world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. So if at the seventh trumpet
the kingdoms of this world are become, and that's plural, the kingdoms of this world
are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall reign forever and
ever. Now we're looking at this and what does it say? The kingdom of the beast. So have
the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ when the fifth
vial is poured out? No. And so I'm telling you this isn't just a theory or just wow these
are kind of similar. No, the book of Revelation only makes sense when you realize one through
eleven are in chronological order then you start over in chapter twelve with the birth
of Christ. And look God's not trying to make it complicated. When you see Jesus being born
at the beginning of chapter twelve isn't that a hint that we've gone back in time? I mean
that should be obvious to anyone that we've jumped backward in time. And so when the fifth
vial is being poured out this corresponds to the time period of the fifth trumpet because
they line up side by side the two halves of Revelation. And so we see here that the anti-Christ
is still in power, he still is ruling from his seat and this world is still considered
his kingdom and his kingdom has not yet become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ.
Very clear. Not only that but if you remember when the anti-Christ fully takes power in
Revelation thirteen the Bible says power was given unto him to continue forty and two months
doesn't it? Well think about this in the first half of Daniel's seventieth week the anti-Christ
is taking power you know he's on the road toward gaining power but it's only in the
midst of the week that he takes complete power. That's when he receives the deadly
wound and his deadly wound is healed and then the false prophet says hey we need to make
an image to the beast and that image is set up which is the abomination of desolation.
That takes place halfway through the seven years or halfway through Daniel's seventieth
week and it's at that point that the anti-Christ is ruling over all kingdoms and nations and
people and tongues and it is at that time that he has total power over the entire world.
That's when the mark of the beast is instituted. That's halfway through Daniel's seventieth
week. And then the Bible says power is given unto him to continue forty and two months.
Now that shows that the fifth vial is being poured out within those forty and two months
because he is still in power. He still has his kingdom. So therefore when the Bible says
that power is given unto the beast or the anti-Christ to continue for forty two months
we're talking about basically the second half of Daniel's seventieth week. That's the forty
two months that he'll be in power. And so here we see that his kingdom is full of darkness
and they nod their tongues for pain and blaspheme the God of heaven because of their pains and
their sores. Now look, they still have the sores from the first vial. It's not like okay
the first vial's over, all the sores are gone, now we're on to judging the sea. Okay now
the sea's fixed, let's go on to the rivers. No no no, these judgments are compounding
because you say well that's not that bad, a judgment of darkness. Well darkness can
exacerbate a lot of the other problems. The fires, the poisoned water, the water into
blood, the sores all over their body. The Bible says their blaspheming God because of
their pains and their sores and repented not of their deeds. They're still not changing
their ways. Now let's compare the fifth vial to the fifth trumpet because remember the
fifth vial judgment, even though it kind of alludes back to the fact hey they still have
their sores, they're still in pain, they're still suffering from the other judgments that
have been poured out. They're still being scorched, the water's still messed up. The
main judgment associated with the fifth vial is darkness, is it not? He says that when
the vial was poured out upon the seed of the beast, his kingdom was full of darkness.
That was the judgment. Look at Revelation 9 and let's see if darkness is the issue in
chapter 9. Verse 1, and the fifth angel sounded and I saw a star fall from heaven under the
earth and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. Sometimes a star in the Bible
is referring to an angel and this star that falls from heaven under the earth to whom
is given the key of the bottomless pit in verse 11 is identified as the angel of the
bottomless pit or Abaddon or Apollyon. But look at what it says. The fifth angel sounded
and I saw a star fall from heaven under the earth and to him was given the key of the
bottomless pit and he opened the bottomless pit and there arose a smoke out of the pit
as the smoke of a great furnace and the sun and the air were what? Darkened by reason
of the smoke of the pit. So even though these judgments are two different things, can't
you see how they fit together? When the fifth trumpet sounds and it seems like the trumpet
judgments always come right before the vial. It's like the first trumpet, first vial. Second
trumpet, second vial. Third trumpet, third vial. Fourth trumpet, fourth vial. Fifth trumpet,
fifth vial. That's how it seems to play out because look at this. When the fifth trumpet
sounds, the bottomless pit is opened or hell is opened. Smoke comes out of hell and what
does it do? It darkens the sun in the sky which fits in perfectly with the fifth vial
judgment which is total darkness. And watch what it says. There came out of the smoke
locusts upon the earth and under them was given power as the scorpions of the earth
have power and it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth,
neither any green thing, neither any tree, but only those men which have not the seal
of God in their forts. These are locusts from hell. And to them it was given that they should
not kill them but that they should be tormented five months and their torment was as the torment
of a scorpion when he strike at the man. And in those days shall men seek death and shall
not find it and shall desire to die and death shall flee from it. The Bible is telling us
here that people are going to wish that they were dead. They're just going to be begging
to be dead because they're going to be in so much pain because they're going to be bit
by these locusts that basically have a sting like a scorpion. And it says in verse seven,
the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle and on their heads were
as it were crowns like gold. These are just basically metaphors or illustrations about
what they looked like. On their heads were crowns like gold and their faces were as the
faces of men and they had hair as the hair of women. Notice the words like and as just
explaining that this isn't really what they were but it's just what they looked like.
He says their teeth were as the teeth of lions. And by the way, what does it mean when
it says they had hair as the hair of women? That they used a curling iron? No, it means
that they had long hair because the Bible tells us that it's a shame for a man to have
long hair but that a woman's hair is her glory. So when it says that they had hair like unto
women it's saying that they had long hair is what it's referring to. And then he says
in verse eight, and they had hair as the hair of women, their teeth were as the teeth of
lions and they had breastplates as it were breastplates of iron. And the sound of their
wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle and they had tails
like unto scorpions and there were stings in their tails and their power was to hurt
men five months. And they had a king over them which is the angel of the bottomless
pit whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.
There's a lot I'd like to say about that but I've already covered it in Revelation 9 so
I'm not going to cover it again. There's more detail on that in the sermon on Revelation
9. But what I want to point out though, look back at Revelation 16 again. Now that we know
all about what the fifth trumpet entails, the fifth trumpet is these, first of all the
bottomless pits open, smoke comes out of the pit, blocks the sun, blocks all the light,
darkens the sky, darkens the sun, okay, I mean just total black cloud over the earth.
Then these locusts come out of the pit and they're stinging men with scorpion-like tails
for five months and they wish they were dead, it hurts so bad. Okay, now compare that again
with the fifth vial that mentioned darkness. It says the fifth angel poured out his vial
upon the seed of the beast and his kingdom was full of darkness and look, they nod their
tongues for pain. He doesn't really explain to us exactly why they're in such pain but
if we compare it with the fifth trumpet, we understand where the pain's coming from, don't
we? Because it says that they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their
sores and repented out of their deeds. So sure, they're in pain because of the sores
but also we know from comparing the two angles that they're also in pain because they're
being tormented by these locusts that have scorpion-like tails. Let me ask you this,
if there were unleashed upon the earth locusts of the description that we saw in Revelation
9 that had these breastplates like iron, basically these are insects that have an exoskeleton
that is so strong that basically, you know, have you ever come across as a really tough
bug and you're stomping on it, it just lives, it just continues to live and it just will
not die? I remember when I was a kid, we'd try to drown bees, a bee would be bothering
us and we'd get it with a skimmer and try to drown it, we'd hold it under water for
like 20 minutes and then the thing just comes out and just buzzes and you're like, what
in the world, you know, how do you kill this thing? But sometimes you'll get a bug with
a serious exoskeleton and you're hitting it with the newspaper and just beating it and
it just lives, it just cannot die. Well obviously, you know, those bugs have a pretty good exoskeleton
but he said that these locusts are going to have an exoskeleton like iron, meaning that,
you know, you can try to stomp on them and it's not going to help. I mean, if they, you
know, oh man, get it, you know, and it's not going to help, they're just going to keep
coming. But let me ask you this, if you were faced with those type of creatures, these
iron-like locusts that have these scorpion stings, would you rather do it in the daytime
or in total darkness? I mean, think about it, what if you're in the dark and it's totally
dark. Sun, sky, totally darkened, complete darkness and you're just basically in complete
darkness faced with these locusts. I mean, can you imagine a more hellish outlook? I
mean, it's going to be similar to being in hell. I mean, you're burning and stinging
from all these scorpions and you're in total darkness. I mean, it's really a horrific outlook
when you look at these two things in tandem. Total darkness and you're being tormented
by these locusts with scorpion tails. It's pretty bad. Let's look at the sixth vial.
Verse 12 of chapter 16, and the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates,
and the water thereof was dried up that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.
And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs came out of the mouth of the dragon and out
of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, for they are the spirits
of devils working miracles which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole
world to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. Behold, I come
as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments lest he walk naked and
they see his shame. And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.
So what is the result of the sixth vial being poured out, or what is the sixth vial judgment?
Well, when the sixth vial is poured out, it's poured out upon Euphrates. And the great river
Euphrates is dried up that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared, and then
in addition to the drying up of the river to prepare the way of the kings of the east,
also these three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, the beast,
and the false prophet. Basically one unclean spirit comes out of each of their mouths and
goes out to work miracles and deceive the kings of the earth into coming to this battle,
into coming to the battle of Armageddon, basically rallying them all so that they can all be
destroyed by Jesus Christ at the battle of Armageddon. Basically just getting them all
in one place so that Jesus Christ can just demolish them all and set up his kingdom and
defeat them all in one fell swoop. Boy, there's so much symbolism of this in the Bible. You
know, I was reading the book of Joshua, and this reminded me of the book of Joshua, because
there's actually so many parallels between the book of Joshua and the book of Revelation.
It's really interesting. If you look at the destruction of Jericho, compare it to the
destruction of Babylon. I mean, it's a whole other sermon in and of itself, but if you
remember all the nations at one point, you know, they defeat this city, they defeat that
city, but then all the kings assemble and come and attack them at once, and it allows
Joshua to really just defeat a lot of them in one go. And Joshua, of course, pictures
Jesus. In fact, did you know that the Old Testament Hebrew name Joshua is the exact
same as the New Testament name Jesus? That's why it actually calls Joshua Jesus in Acts
chapter 7. If you look it up in Acts chapter 7, it talks about them coming into the promised
land with Jesus, and it's referring to Joshua, because you know how names change from Old
Testament to New Testament, like Old Testament Elisha becomes Elisias in the New Testament,
Elias, Elias in the New Testament is Elijah, Noah becomes Noe, Hosea becomes Ozy, and on
and on. Well, Joshua becomes Jesus in Acts chapter 7, it actually uses that term. So
there's really a lot of interesting stuff, I mean that's a whole sermon in and of itself,
and I encourage you to study the book of Joshua with Bible prophecy in mind, and there are
a lot of correlations. The trumpets, and I mean we could go on and on. But what I'm saying
here is that with the sixth vial, the waters are dried up, and then also the evil spirits
go out to gather them to this battle. Now let's compare that with the sixth trumpet.
Go to chapter number 9 verse 13. So far everything's lined up pretty well, hasn't it? Well this,
to me, this is a very strong correlation. I mean this one is just undeniable when you
look at the sixth vial and the sixth trumpet. Look at verse number 13 of chapter 9, the
sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar, which
is before God, saying to the sixth angel, which had the trumpet, loose the four angels
which are bound in the great river Euphrates. And the four angels were loosed, which were
prepared for an hour and a day and a month and a year for to slay the third part of men,
and the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand, and I
heard the number of them. And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on
them having breastplates of fire and of jacinth and brimstone, and the heads of the horses
were as the heads of lions, and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.
By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire and by the smoke and by the brimstone,
which issued out of their mouths, for their power is in their mouth and in their tails,
for their tails were like unto serpents and had heads, and with them they do hurt. Now
honestly when I was a child, when I was a young child, actually this is the correlation
that caused me to realize, even before I understood a whole lot about the book of Revelation,
the thing that really showed me the strong, strong correlation between the trumpets and
the vials was the sixth vial and the sixth trumpet. I mean this one just jumped out at
me. Because if you look at the sixth trumpet, the first thing that happens when the sixth
trumpet is blown is that the four angels, which are bound in the great river Euphrates,
are loosed, right? Well and what is the sixth vial? The waters of the river Euphrates are
dried up. So it's very easy to see how these four angels are down in the bottom of the
river Euphrates. They're bound in the river Euphrates and when the sixth angel sounds
they are loosed, doesn't that fit in perfectly with all the water of Euphrates drying up?
That they might be loose, that they might come out. So you can see how these two things
happen in tandem. Now you say who are these four angels that are bound in the great river
Euphrates which were prepared for an hour and a day and a month and a year for to slay
the third part of men? Well go back to Genesis. Go back to Genesis chapter number 3. Believe
it or not this actually goes all the way back to Genesis. And while you're turning to Genesis
3 I'm going to read for you from Genesis chapter 2. The Bible says in verse number 10 of Genesis
chapter 2, and a river went out of Eden to water the garden. We're talking about the
garden of Eden. And from thence it was parted and became into four heads. These are the
four heads of the river that came out of the garden of Eden. And it says, the name of the
first is Pison. That is it which compass at the whole land of Havilah where there is gold
and the gold of that land is good. There is Delium and the onyx stone. And the name of
the second river is Gihon. The same is it that compass at the whole land of Ethiopia.
And the name of the third river is Hiddekel. That is it which goes toward the east of Assyria.
And the fourth river is Euphrates. So God specifically tells us about the river Euphrates
being there at Eden. Now go to chapter 3 and we remember of course that by the time we
get into chapter 3 Adam and Eve have eaten of the forbidden fruit and because they've
eaten of the forbidden fruit they are cast out of the garden of Eden. Let's look at that.
It says in verse 22 of Genesis 3, And the Lord God said, Behold the man has become as
one of us to know good and evil. And now lest he put forth his hand and take also the tree
of life and eat and live forever. Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden
of Eden to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man, watch
this, and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubims and a flaming sword which
turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life. Now if we study this and we see that
there are four rivers, four heads of the river, one of them is Euphrates, he puts these angels
at the east of the garden of Eden. Okay so he puts them in one place of the garden of
Eden. So it's not that if we have the garden of Eden, it's not that there's one all the
way, you know, at the north side of the garden of Eden and all the way at the west side and
one all the way at the east side and one all the way at the south side because it's a very
big area. These four angels are only guarding the way to keep the tree of life. Do you see
that in verse 24? It says that he put cherubims, plural, and a flaming sword which turned every
way to keep the way of the tree of life. So they're basically guarding the tree of life,
are they not? And they're placed specifically, look at verse 24 there, it says he placed
them at the east of the garden of Eden. So they are all placed at the east. So they're
basically placed in one spot where they are located to guard the tree of life. Okay, well
it's plural. Does it say how many? It does not tell us how many. We know it was more
than one because it says cherubims, plural, but it says cherubims and a flaming sword
which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life. Well, when we look at the
term every way, we know that throughout the entire Bible and just throughout mankind's
history, we always think of four directions. You know, because really if we wanted to,
we could have divided it into six directions or eight directions or five directions or
three. Obviously, whenever the Bible talks about directions, we talk about four directions.
What are those directions? East, west, north, south. Those are the four directions. So the
fact that there are cherubims, plural, and a flaming sword which turned every way to
keep the way of the tree of life. If we have basically a cherubim turned each way with
a flaming sword, basically let's pretend that this is the tree of life, okay? Basically
we've got a cherubim turned this way with a flaming sword, and then we've got a cherubim
turned this way with a flaming sword, and then we've got a cherubim turned this way
with a flaming sword, and then we've got a cherubim turned this way with a flaming sword.
Then how many are there? There are four, okay? And it's amazing because these four cherubims
are placed there with a flaming sword, and it says that they are there to keep the way
of the tree of life. And really, there's no scripture or no indication that they're
ever removed. I mean, they're just left there to do that. And we know that that is the part
of the world where the river Euphrates was located. Now, let me ask you this. In chapter
three, are they underwater here? Of course not. No, because they're there with the tree
of life, but they're very near the river Euphrates, are they not? Because the Bible tells us that
the river Euphrates went right through there. Okay, well now, think about the fact that
there's been a worldwide flood, you know, that could move things around. So if they're
still in the same spot, but there's been a flood that could alter things, not completely
change the face of the earth, because there are still very much similarities, of course,
between the way the earth was before and after the flood. I mean, it didn't just completely
change the earth, but it did change the earth, didn't it? I mean, if that kind of water and
that kind of cataclysm takes place, things are going to change. You know, a lot of people
believe that the Grand Canyon was formed during that time. I mean, there's just a lot of things
that could happen with that kind of a fountains of the deep being broken up and that kind
of a worldwide cataclysmic flood. Okay, it's very easy to believe that where the river
Euphrates currently runs today, which is a major, major river, that these four angels
now, God could have worked it out in such a way where they would be hidden from view
and where they would be concealed, okay, and where after the flood to this day, they are
now located at the bottom of the great river Euphrates at some point in the great river
Euphrates. Now, I'm not going down to look for them, you know, I'm just going to leave
them alone. I don't want to mess with that flaming sword, but I believe that they're
down there and I believe that someday, the Bible says they are bound in the great river
Euphrates, someday they will be loosed from the great river Euphrates and they will go
out and lead an army to kill one third of the human population. I mean, this is going
to be a serious army. This is going to be a serious judgment with the sixth trumpet
and the sixth vial. And so it makes perfect sense that when the sixth trumpet talks about
the four angels being loosed to go out and lead this army of two hundred thousand thousand
or two hundred million to go out to slay the third part of men, it makes perfect sense
that would tie in perfectly with the water of the river Euphrates drying up, that they
might be loosed. See how the sixth trumpet and the sixth vial go together, hand in glove?
Okay, let's look at the seventh vial, Revelation chapter 16. And so I believe that the four
angels are the four cherubims of Genesis chapter 3. Otherwise, you'd be asking yourself, whatever
happened to those four cherubims of Genesis 3? There's so much in Revelation that ties
in with Genesis, just like in chapter 12 where there's the struggle between the serpent and
the woman that is prophesied in Genesis 3 and then in Revelation 12 we see that struggle
play out between the serpent and the woman. But look if you would at Revelation 16, 17.
Let's get to the seventh vial. And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air and
there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven from the throne saying, it is done.
Now isn't that a statement of finality? And he says there, it is done. Meaning that the
seven vials have been poured out. God has finished this phase of his wrath. And it says,
and there were voices and thunders and lightnings and there was a great earthquake such as was
not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake and so great. So what have we
seen so far with the events of the seventh vial? We've seen voices, thunders, lightnings,
and a great earthquake, right? And it's such a great earthquake it's unlike anything that's
ever been upon the earth. So mighty an earthquake and so great. And the great city was divided
into three parts. And the cities of the nations fell and great Babylon came in remembrance
before God to give under the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. So part of
the events of the seventh vial is that the judgment against Babylon is initiated. He's
going to go into great detail on the judgment of Babylon in chapter 18. Now how long, does
anybody know, how long does the judgment of Babylon take in Revelation 18? One hour, right?
So the one hour destruction of Babylon, the one hour judgment upon Babylon is going to
take place within the scope of the seventh vial. That's why it's brought up in the context
of the seventh vial being poured out. He says that every island fled away and the mountains
were not found and there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the
weight of a talent and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail for the
plague thereof was exceeding great. So what do we see if we just take all the judgments
of the seventh vial and add them up? We've got voices, thunders, lightnings, earthquake,
and great hail, right? Hail, earthquake, lightning, thunder are the main events there. And the
big thing that they're blaspheming God about, the big thing that's making them suffer is
which aspect? The hail. Now the Bible says that the hail, every stone was about the weight
of a talent. You say how much does that weigh? Well, different cultures and different nationalities
have had different talents throughout history. But if I were to just throw out an approximate
number that will get you in the ballpark of what most nations consider to be about a talent,
you're looking at 60 pounds, okay? So imagine a hail stone that weighs 60 pounds coming
down from heaven. Imagine the damage that that would do because think about this. When
things fall, they reach terminal velocity. When they fall from that high, they're going
to reach what, 9.8 meters per second? Is that right? But anyway, it's going to be coming
down fast. So it's not just that it weighs a lot, but it's coming down fast. A 60 pound,
I mean that's going to just go through the roof of a house. That's going to go through
the roof of the car. That's going to go through just about anything. I mean that's going to
be just slamming down on things. I mean read it. It says that there fell upon men a great
hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent. You're not going to be
able to dodge this. A 60 pound hail stone coming down from the sky, how are you going
to escape that? And if it hits you, you're dead or you're maimed or your car is going
to be gone. I mean your house is going to have a big hole in the roof. I mean this is
going to be a very, very serious judgment, which makes sense if it's the grand finale.
I mean if it's the seventh vial, I mean if this is the last plague, the last of the seven
plagues, it's going to be something big, right? Well it's these giant hail stones that weigh
60 pounds each slamming down. And look, it says they're falling upon men. I mean they're
hitting human beings. And so this is a very, very severe judgment. And the earthquake is
so bad that every island fled away and the mountains were not found. Now let's compare
that with the seventh trumpet, right? Because we see that these things correspond. Just
as there's a finality of it is done with the seventh vial, there's also a finality of the
seventh trumpet. It says in verse number 15 of chapter 11, we're in Revelation 11 to see
the seventh trumpet, and the seventh angel sounded and there were great voices in heaven.
Now wasn't the first thing brought up with the seventh vial voices? It says there were
great voices in heaven saying, the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our
Lord and of his Christ and he shall reign forever and ever. Remember when the fifth
trumpet sounded? It was still the kingdom of the beast. Remember that? Well now with
the seventh vial, now the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord
and of his Christ as opposed to the fifth vial where it was still the kingdom of the
beast. And it says he shall reign forever and ever, talking about the millennial reign
and then of course we will continue to reign after that. And then it says, and the four
and twenty elders which sat before God in their seats fell upon their faces and worshiped
God saying, we give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art and wast and art to come
because thou hast taken to thee thy great power and hast reigned. And the nations were
angry and thy wrath has come and the time of the dead that they should be judged and
that thou shouldst give reward unto thy servants the prophets and to the saints and then that
fear thy name small and great and shouldst destroy them which destroy the earth. Now
this point, he hasn't really gotten into what the judgment is. All we've heard are a lot
of voices saying things, right? Just telling us about the judgments. We're going to get
into what the judgments are of the seventh trumpet in verse 19. But before we do, I want
to just point out the fact that when he says in verse number 18, thy wrath is come, he
says the nations were angry and thy wrath is come, many will point to that term thy
wrath is come and they'll try to compare it to the verse in chapter 6 of Revelation where
it says the great day of thy wrath is come. And they'll try to say, see the seventh trumpet
in the sixth vial, you know, they line up, they're the same thing. Well, you know, you
need to go back and listen to the sermon on Revelation 8 because I put that theory to
bed once and for all. I mean, there's no way in the world that the seals do not come before
the trumpets. All the seals come before all the trumpets and my servant on Revelation
8 proved that conclusively. But what I want to point out is the colossal difference between
thy wrath is come and the great day of thy wrath is come. You see, the great day of thy
wrath is one particular day, the day of the Lord, which is prophesied all throughout the
Old Testament, all throughout the New Testament. It's a very pivotal day where the sun and
moon are darkened, the day of God's great wrath, the day of the Lord, the day of his
wrath. That day is one specific day. And so in Revelation 6 when they say the great day
of his wrath is come and you shall be able to stand, they're talking about that very
specific day of the day of the Lord. But is that the only day of God's wrath? No, because
he pours out his wrath over the course of several years, does he not? So the great day
of his wrath or the day of the Lord initiates his wrath. That is the special day of his
wrath. But doesn't his wrath continue after that? Because what about all the trumpets
and all the vials that come after that that are ongoing? I mean the fifth trumpet alone
takes five months and I believe that all of the trumpets and vials take a similar amount
of time. And it's obvious when you read what they entail that they are ongoing judgments
that take a period of time. And so there is a period of God's wrath that spans many
years and months, okay? So basically look at it this way. If we were to put it out on
a timeline, we have this period God's wrath, the wrath of God, and it covers all the trumpets
and vials. It covers all of these horrific judgments that he's going to pour out. But
at the very beginning of that period of the wrath is the great day of his wrath, the day
of the Lord. So the day of the Lord is the first day of him pouring out his wrath. But
it's not the only day of him pouring out his wrath. It's significant because it's what
starts his wrath. So in Revelation 6 we're saying the great day of his wrath is come
because we're on that exact day. But when he says in chapter 16 thy wrath is come, basically
he's referring to all of the wrath, not just the day of his wrath. Because look, if God
wanted to, couldn't he have said the great day of thy wrath is come in chapter 16? But
that wouldn't make any sense because it had already come years and years before. But does
it make sense to say thy wrath is come? Absolutely, because we're covering all of his wrath saying
it is come. And of course the verb is come, I talked about it more when we were earlier
in the book of Revelation about when it said the day of the Lord is come. Is come means
that it's past tense but that it just happened. So in chapter 6 the great day of his wrath
had just come, had just happened. Well in chapter 16 his wrath has now come in its totality
just now at this point. So don't let somebody try to say oh see this says the day of his
wrath doesn't come until 16. No, chapter 16 does not say the day of his wrath, it just
says thy wrath has come. And we know that his wrath is poured out over a long period.
When we look at the events of the vials and when we look at the events of the trumpets,
they are both ongoing. So I just wanted to make that point quickly. Look at verse 18,
the nations were angry and thy wrath has come in the time of the dead that they should be
judged and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets and to the
saints and them that fear thy name small and great. Now I don't understand how anybody
could say that the judgment seat of Christ is going to take place years and years before
this. He says here that this is when the time has come for the saints to be rewarded
and to receive their reward. This is when Jesus is going to set up his throne on this
earth and we will be called before the judgment seat of Christ and we will be given authority
and we will be given reward and you know he'll say be thou over ten cities or be thou over
five cities or whatever and that will be our reward. Okay so now let's look at the judgment
of the seventh trumpet. Quickly review, what was the judgment of the seventh vial? It was
voices, thunderings, lightnings, an earthquake and hail. Okay but the hail was sixty pounders.
It was a very serious hail. Let's see if the seventh trumpet matches up with the seventh
vial, shall we? Because in chapter 16 verse 18 it said there were voices, thunders, lightnings
and a great earthquake and then in chapter 21 it said there was a great hail. Okay now
look at verse 19 of chapter 11. And the temple of God was opened in heaven and there were
seen in his temple the ark of his testament and there were lightnings, voices, thunderings,
an earthquake and great hail. Now look, it's the exact same thing. I mean there's no difference.
Voices, lightnings, thunderings, earthquake, great hail. Voices, lightnings, thunderings,
earthquakes and great hail. Now is it crazy to believe that these are both the same event?
I mean it's the same thing. I mean it's both. The only difference in these two things is
that the order is reversed between the lightnings and the voices or the thunders and the lightnings
but all five items are there. Now if that were the only piece of evidence then okay
maybe it is, maybe it isn't. But when you look at how all seven of them line up perfectly
and when you look at how all seven of these judgments mesh together perfectly, the seven
trumpets and the seven vials and when you look at the fact that with the seventh trumpet
all the kingdoms of the world become the kingdoms of Jesus Christ but with the fifth vial it's
still the kingdom of the beast. Look God tells us everything for a reason. You think God
just happened to accidentally tell us oh by the way it's the kingdom of the beast, it's
the seed of the beast. He could have just said well the fifth vial I'm going to pour
out darkness upon the face of the earth but he chose to mention the fact that it was the
kingdom of the beast because he wants us to understand that it is impossible that the
vials would follow the trumpets. The vials cannot follow the trumpets because at the
seventh trumpet the kingdoms have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ and
at the fifth vial they are not yet because it is still the kingdom of the beast. But
if you get it right and put them side by side, trumpets and vials going off you know
first trumpet first vial, second trumpet second vial and again people say you're saying that
the trumpets and vials are exactly the same. No I'm not. They're different. Different judgments
but they're happening at the same time. They go first trumpet first vial, second trumpet
second vial, third trumpet third vial, fourth trumpet fourth vial, fifth trumpet fifth vial,
sixth trumpet sixth vial and I think by the time you get to the seventh trumpet and the
seventh vial they are identical. I mean there is no difference. Show me a difference between
lightnings thunders voices and earthquake and great hail. It's the same judgment. So
basically these things these two things converge boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom
boom boom and that's how it goes. And so let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father
we thank you so much for your word and these are horrific judgments that we're reading
about with your wrath. Thank you that Jesus Christ has spared us from the wrath to come.
Thank you that we're not appointed unto wrath but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus
Christ. But also thank you for judging the wicked people of this world. Thank you that
we don't have to get all mad and angry and take vengeance. You know you've told us vengeance
belongeth unto you that you will repay. So we don't have to get all upset when we see
the wicked prosper or when evil men do us dirty. We can know that they will get what's
coming to them someday. No question about that as we read this chapter and in Jesus
name we pray. Amen.
It's
early this Tuesday morning the 11th of September 2001. On September 11 2001 the world changed.
The land of the free has now become the land of the enslaved. The people of our once glorious
United States have traded their liberty for security. But has it all happened by design?
December 7 1941 a date which will live in infamy. The United States of America was suddenly
and deliberately attacked. Many questions linger about the events of that day. That
day of infamy. One thing we know for certain the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor set in
motion a course of events that would eventually lead us to a one world government. In the
aftermath of World War II the United Nations was created and the path for a one world government
accelerated. Each war brings us one step closer to what the Bible calls the end of
the world. Checkpoints are being set up everywhere. The police state is tightening its grip on
the people of the United States and to those who understand biblical prophecy what comes
next will not be a surprise. At some time in the future the King James Bible states
that everyone on the planet will be required to take a mark in order to buy or sell. As
our current economic system collapses and as technology expands cash is becoming a thing
of the past. The reality of a cashless society is not far off. In fact it's already being
implemented. Despite denial by many religious leaders evil men are working around the clock
to bring in a new world order. We can see the end rapidly approaching and the stage
being set for the emergence of the Antichrist. We can hear the voices of those who are subverting
our U.S. Constitution and promoting this global government system. And with all this right
around the corner this film is more important than ever. Satan is working behind the scenes
to set up a one world government and a one world religion in preparation for the Antichrist.
He has also deceived modern evangelical Christians into believing that they will be removed from
this earth before the great tribulation takes place. This doctrine known as the pre-tribulation
rapture teaches that Christ may return at any moment and that there will be no signs
of his coming. As a result of this deception most Christians are completely unprepared
what the Bible has warned us is coming. Although the scriptures clearly state in Matthew 24
and elsewhere that the rapture will take place after the tribulation. Big name preachers,
liberal colleges and popular films such as Left Behind have taught the masses to expect
that the rapture may occur at any moment. But Left Behind is a work of fiction. Christians
today are not being warned about the events they will face in the great tribulation. To
learn the truth about the rapture we must look within the pages of the Bible itself.