When he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about space of an half
hour.
And I saw the seven angels were stood before God, and to them were given seven trumpets.
And another angel came and stood at the altar having a golden censer, and there was given
unto him much incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the
golden altar which was before the throne.
And the smoke of the incense which came with the prayers of the saints ascended up before
God out of the angel's hand.
The angel took the censer and filled it with fire of the altar and cast it into the earth,
and there were voices and thunderings and lightnings and an earthquake, and the seven
angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.
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 the trees was burned up, and all the green
grass was burnt up.
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.
And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven burning as it were
a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers and upon the fountains of waters.
And the name of the star is called Wormwood, and the third part of the waters became Woodward,
and many men died of the waters because they were made bitter.
And the fourth angel sounded, and 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 day shone not for the third part of
it, and the night likewise.
And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice,
"Woe, woe, woe!" to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the
trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound.
Let's pray.
Dear Lord God, just thank you for everything you've blessed our church with, Lord, and
just thank you for keeping us all safe here, Lord.
We just pray that you bless this service.
Please be in the midst of us as we hear the preaching of your word, Lord, and just please
feel Pastor Mahir with your Holy Spirit as he preaches unto us, Lord, and just give us
ears to hear the message that he's prepared tonight, Lord.
We pray this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Okay.
We're in Revelation chapter eight this evening and tonight we're continuing our series with
lessons from the seven in Revelation, just covering different instances in the book of
Revelation where the number seven is mentioned.
And last week we talked about the seven seals and we went through the significance of the
beginning of sorrows, the four horsemen of the apocalypse, the seven seals dealing with
great tribulation, beginning of sorrows, that which the antichrist imposes upon God's people,
making war with them.
And then of course we know that through chapter seven we find the rapture taking place, the
multitude in heaven, which no man could number.
And that's obviously referring to the rapture.
So that takes place after the sixth seal.
Jesus Christ returns, raptures all believers, and then you have them in heaven in chapter
seven.
So chapter eight is where we have essentially the wrath of God that's going to be poured
out upon the world.
And so for her to look at this through a timeline perspective, it would be the first three and
a half years is where we find the four horsemen of the apocalypse, the seven seals, the persecution
of God's people, things of that nature.
The last three and a half years is dealing with God pouring out his wrath, judging the
earth through what's known as the seven trumpets and seven bulls, no, the seven vials, okay?
If you see, if you have bulls in your Bible, then you have a wrong Bible version, okay?
It's supposed to be vials, not bulls, right?
And so these are seven trumpets, seven vials, and I'm going to go through the significance
and kind of explain through these judgments what the Bible is referring to.
Now let me start off a couple of things here regarding just by way of introduction regarding
the seven trumpets and seven vials.
Let me say that both of these judgments, which are seven, are actually happening simultaneously.
And the reason we know that is because they are different in nature regarding trumpet
one, vial one, trumpet two, vial two, but they have a lot of similarities and you can
see how one is kind of giving way for the other.
So they're not the same judgment.
They're two separate judgments that are happening concurrently.
So just keep that in mind.
Now the second thing I want to mention regarding the seven trumpets and seven vials is that
the reason God is calling these trumpets is because it's in my personal opinion that
he's actually declaring war on the world.
And how is he doing it through?
Through a trumpet.
Typically in the Old Testament, you have a trumpet being blown.
We obviously know that's also significant of the rapture, but it also indicates war.
War is taking place.
God is waging war through these plagues, through these judgments, through these seven trumpets.
The vials on the other hand are essentially implying that these are the imprecatory prayers
of the saints.
If you think of a vial, maybe like a perfume bottle, so to speak, and it's filled with
liquid, right?
Well, the liquid, so to speak, symbolically speaking, is actually the prayers of the saints
that are being poured upon the earth in the form of judgment, believe it or not.
Now let's prove that.
Go to Revelation chapter five.
Hold your place there.
In Revelation eight, we'll go over that in just a bit, but look at Revelation chapter
five and verse number eight, it says here in verse number eight, and when he had taken
the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the lamb, having every
one of them harps and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of the saints.
So we see that these vials possess the prayers of the saints.
And what do we see the saints asking for under the altar in Revelation chapter six?
How long, O Lord, holy and just, does thou not judge and avenge our blood on them which
dwell on the earth.
So they're asking for God to judge the world for being persecuted and being killed for
their faith.
This is what the Bible is referring to, that odor, the content that's found within those
vials.
Okay.
Now go to Revelation chapter 15, Revelation chapter 15.
And by the way, in Revelation chapter eight, we see that when the incense is being mixed
with the prayers of the saints, right?
These are prayers that we are praying today.
These are prayers of what people would refer to as the tribulation saints, those who are
praying for God to pour his vengeance upon the earth.
You know, God is listening to those in precatory prayers this morning.
We talked about prayer and we talked about the importance of imprecatory prayers.
Well, we see how important it is, especially when it in regards to end times, God wants
us to pray those prayers according to Luke chapter 18, because in fact, they're going
to fill up those vials that will eventually be poured out into this world as judgment
for their wickedness and for the persecution of God's people.
Look at Revelation chapter 15.
Let me also show you the significance of pouring the vials.
It says in Revelation 15 verse 5, "And after that I looked and behold, the temple of the
tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was open.
And the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues clothed in pure and
white linen and having their breasts girded with golden girdles.
And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels, seven golden vials full of the wrath
of God who liveth forever and ever.
So in Revelation chapter five, you have the beast possessing these vials that are filled
with the odors, which are the prayers of the saints.
In Revelation chapter 15, we see that one of the four, or excuse me, we see that one
of the four beasts gives unto the seven angels these vials, which are also referred to as
the wrath of God.
Now who are they given it to?
Well it says in verse number six that he gives it to seven angels that are clothed and pure
in white linen.
Now I don't have time to develop this, but when it talks about the pure and white linen,
it's referring to the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
Okay?
So the pure and white linen is symbolically representing the salvation of this person.
You say, wait a minute, I thought angels can't be saved.
You know, I thought angels are angelic celestial beings.
Well, these seven angels aren't the celestial beings that we would typically think about.
These seven angels are actually referring to people, okay?
Because what does angel mean?
Angel is a messenger, right, of God.
You know, when we go out and preach the gospel, we're essentially messengers, angels of God,
so to speak, going forth, preaching the gospel to every creature.
Now obviously, that's not something that we should go around saying like, hey, I'm from
First Works Baptist Church, I'm an angel from First Works Baptist Church, just want to give
you this invitation or something.
This is just essentially showing us that angel simply means a messenger, okay?
Now I do believe that the seven angels that are blowing the trumpets are the celestial
angels, because when you read the book of Revelation, they do some pretty supernatural
things that would essentially coincide with being those celestial beings.
But these seven angels that are pouring out the vials, on the other hand, are prophets,
are brethren, they're saved people, and I'm going to prove it to you, he says they're
clothed in pure and white linen, having their breasts girded with golden girdles, essentially
the same attire that Jesus Christ has in Revelation chapter one, okay?
Now go to Revelation 21 if you would, Revelation 21.
So in Revelation chapter five, we see that the four beasts have these vials that are
the odors, which are the prayers of the saints.
In Revelation chapter 15, it says that they give these vials to the seven angels that
are filled with the wrath of God.
So what do we see here?
The vials are the prayers of the saints mixed with the wrath of God.
Really are prayers that are being essentially translated into judgments that God is going
to pour upon this earth.
Look at Revelation 21 with that thought in mind, verse nine, it says, and there came
unto me one of the seven angels, which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues
and talked with me saying, come hither, I will show thee the bride, the lamb's wife.
So I want you to keep in mind here that this angel is coming to John in this vision and
he's saying, I'm going to show you a series of things.
Of course, he first mentions the bride, but all of 21, he's describing, you know, the
new Jerusalem.
He's given them the different measurements of the new Jerusalem.
He's showing him all of these future events that are going to take place.
He's given the authority to kind of present to him what's going to happen, right?
That's what Revelation 21 is talking about is the new heaven and new earth.
Now go to chapter 22, if you would, chapter 22.
So in chapter 21, we see that one of the seven angels, which had the vials, comes to John
to reveal these things.
So chapter 22 is still referring to that same angel.
Look at verse number eight of Revelation 22, it says that I, John, saw these things and
heard them.
And when I heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel, which
showed me these things.
Verse nine, then saith he unto me, see thou do it not.
What does he not want him to do?
Before his feet.
Why?
He says, for I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren, the prophets, and of them
which keep the sayings of this book, worship God.
So this is showing us conclusively that the person who is revealing these things unto
John is the same individual who's responsible for pouring out one of those vials.
Now here's the cool thing about it.
That could be you.
That could be me.
I pray to God that it would be me, but there's only seven openings, you know?
So there's, you know, basically this is showing us that, you know, he's not just allocating
the judgments of the world to these celestial beings.
He's given the privilege to the believers to participate in that as well.
You know, it's kind of like what first Corinthians chapter five says that we shall judge the
world and that's definitely true in the millennial reign, but you could also apply it to this
instance where there's seven angels who are brethren, fellow servants of the prophets
who are keeping the same to the book, who are given the privilege to have these vials.
It's like you got one job, man.
Don't mess it up.
You know, don't pour this anywhere else.
Just pour it on the earth.
You know, but they're literally going through and we're going to see it and they're just
pouring that and we'll see the type of judgments that they pour.
But obviously that is a major privilege and you know, the Bible doesn't really tell us
exactly what you have to do to get the job.
You know, just like we don't know what the 21 elders, the 24 elders excuse me, are doing
to get the job of the elders, but all we can do is just serve God, be zealous for him,
win souls to Christ, keep the commandments of God, just do the best that we can with
what we have and we'll see what happens.
You know, who knows?
You might wake up in heaven and say, Hey, you're the lucky winner.
You're going to be one of the seven who is destroying the earth.
Okay.
And so I think that's cool.
I think it's very neat that God is allowing that.
So let's get into, go back to Revelation chapter eight, if you would, Revelation chapter
eight.
So again, these trumpets and vials are being administered concurrently.
They're being administered by celestial beings, the trumpets, but they're also being administered
by prophets, the brethren, Christians, save people.
These are the individuals who get to participate in these actions.
The trumpet signifies war.
The vials are represented by the prayers of the saints, these imprecatory prayers that
are coupled with God's wrath.
So let's look at the first four trumpets here first in Revelation chapter eight.
So the first trumpet here is going to affect the earth.
And this is hail and fire mingled with blood.
We looked a little bit into this in on Thursday and revelation and excuse me, in Isaiah 34,
but look at verse six says the seven angels, which had the seven trumpets, prepare themselves
to sound and 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 the trees was burnt up and all green grass was burnt up.
So what we see here, we see that the first trumpet carries with it hail, fire, mingled
with blood whereby the third part of the trees are burnt up and all green grass.
Okay.
Now I find this interesting because later on we're going to see that the third part
of the marine life is destroyed.
But then when the other vials administrated, it just takes care of the rest of the marine
life.
So it's just like one trumpet takes care of one third of the marine life.
And then the vial just kind of finishes the job.
Okay.
So I'm going to read to you from Revelation 16.
You can turn there if you'd like, but Revelation 16 has all seven vials already laid out in
one chapter, whereas the seven trumpets are kind of laid out in various chapters.
Okay.
So Revelation 16 verse one, we're going to, I'm going to, I'm going to read to you the
first vial says that 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 worship his
image.
So the first trumpet is declared.
The third part of the trees are burnt up all green grass.
When the first vial is poured out, you have a noisome and grievous sore.
Now what does noisome mean?
Well noisome is basically something that smells very offensively.
So think about this, men are having these sores on their body and it's aside from the
fact that they're extremely painful, they also smell, okay, it's just putrid, they smell
and maybe you have some experience of that, I don't know, I've never experienced something
but obviously it doesn't sound very pleasant, okay, and I'm sure no cologne in the world
could ever mask the smell that's being produced by that.
So this noisome, this very offensively smelling, grievous sore is poured upon the men who had
the mark of the beast.
So first trumpet, first vial, a lot of chaos.
Third part of the trees are burned up.
All the green grass is burned up.
The earth is being affected, but men on earth are also being affected given this sore that's
painful and smelly, okay.
Look at Revelation chapter eight.
That's the first trumpet, first vial.
Let's look at the second trumpet affecting the sea.
Revelation chapter eight in verse number eight says, "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 the second trumpet is a great mountain, essentially a meteor of sorts, an asteroid
of sorts, burning with fire, cast into the sea.
It destroys the third part of the marine life, and it actually destroys a lot of the ships
that are in the sea, that are being used for travel, that are being used to transport goods.
These are completely destroyed.
Now when it says that the third part of the sea became blood, think about this.
If it's killing a third part of the marine life and it's making a third part of the ocean's
blood, that's an even worse smell.
So aside from the fact that people are dealing with their own smell from the noisome sores
that they possess that they have, now you have the oceans and we're not even talking
about the rivers yet, just the oceans, the bodies of water in this world that are giving
off this disgusting smell of blood and dead fish.
Now I don't know if you've ever smelled a dead fish before, I've smelled a dead fish,
but there's videos out there of dead whales exploding and how horrible it smells when
they explode.
How many of you guys have ever seen something like that?
Now they say if you ever find a dead whale, don't go near it because it's like a ticking
time bomb and it'll blow up and all this guts will be all over you, but it just smells
horribly.
Well, just think about the third part of the marine life dying at that point.
So you have all these whales, killer whales, blue whales, sperm whales, all these massive
creatures floating up to the top, blowing up, bring out the smell.
I'm trying to give you a picture here because this is what's going to happen.
You're like, pastor, you know, this is the service before Thanksgiving.
I know that's not, you know, Hey, be thankful you're saved.
Amen.
You ain't got to experience any of this.
We're not going to say don't.
This is as close as we're going to get to what's going to take place.
We're reading about it.
So I'm trying to make it as graphic as possible with, you know, all the while being appropriate,
of course.
So we see that the first, the second trumpet, this meteor, this asteroid falls to the ground
to the sea.
Excuse me.
It destroys the marine life, turns the sea into blood.
Ships are destroyed.
Let me read to you about the second vial.
It says in Revelation 16 verse three, "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."
So the second trumpet that sounded kills a third of the marine life.
The second vial that's poured out just finishes the job and just kills all the marine life.
Because at first it says the third part of the marine life dies.
But then the vial, the second vial says that every living soul died in the sea.
It just kind of kills everything off, okay?
No more fishing, no more using it for import exports.
I mean just think about the ships that are out at sea during this time that didn't get
affected by the second trumpet.
Obviously they are experiencing that terrible smell, nauseating smell.
Look at verse 10 if you would.
So the first trumpet affects the earth, the second trumpet affects the sea.
Now we're going to see the effect upon the rivers.
The third trumpet, Revelation chapter 8 and verse number 10 it says, "And the third angel
sounded and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp.
And it fell upon the third part of the rivers and upon the fountains of waters.
And the name of the stars called capital W Wormwood.
And the third part of the waters became Wormwood.
And many men died of the waters because they were made bitter."
Now I believe that what Revelation 8 verse 10 is actually referring to is not a literal
meteor like we see in the second trumpet, but rather it's actually referring to an
angel himself.
And I don't have time in this sermon to develop it, but there's instances in the Bible where
angels are referred to as what?
Stars.
And in fact, fallen angels can often be referred to as what?
Fallen stars, right?
Or excuse me, wandering stars.
And we can get into all that, how the star of Bethlehem, in my opinion, was probably
an actual angel, not a literal star, because it was moving and it led the wise men to go
find Jesus Christ, et cetera.
But in this particular case, I do believe that this is referring to a celestial being
because of the fact that it's called Wormwood, capital W. I mean, it's a pronoun.
It's a name that's given to this particular star that is designated to poison the waters,
destroy the water, and bring bitterness and poison upon the rivers so that no one can
drink from it.
Okay?
So a third part of the rivers are poisoned.
No more reservoirs, no more rivers to drink from, no more sparkling water, none of that.
Okay?
So what is God doing?
He's obviously removing the resources from this world.
In great quantities, men die from drinking the water, and you'd be surprised what people
do when they're completely dehydrated, even if they know that the waters are bitter, they're
going to drink from it because they're thirsty, and unfortunately many of them will die.
I mean, you have instances where people are lost at sea, and they're so thirsty that they
can't take it anymore, and then they just drink the sea water, and it obviously dehydrates
them even more, and ends up killing them in the long run, okay?
And they say that the ocean is the biggest desert in the world, because you're surrounded
by all kinds of water, but none of it can be drunken, okay?
You can't drink any of it.
So we see here that Wormwood, which is this star, this angel, because I don't know if
I'm convinced, though, if that's really an angel.
Well, in Revelation chapter nine, we see another star coming.
And what is that star named?
Apollyon, Abaddon, okay?
And there's no question that if that's an angel or not, he operates as a king of the
locusts from hell to torment men for five months.
So I don't think it's a coincidence.
I think that's there for a reason, showing us that this star in Revelation nine that
falls known as Apollyon and Abaddon is coming right after another star by the name of Wormwood
comes, you know, to destroy the rivers.
You say, you pastor, you really think like God creates these angels to do, I mean, have
you heard the angel of death, right, that he used in Egypt to kill all the firstborn?
I mean, I preach a sermon called, um, I think it was called Apollyon, where I went over
all the instances that I believe Apollyon was involved in throughout biblical history
and how literally God created him to destroy.
And in fact, what's his name?
It's Apollyon, Abaddon, but he's also called the destroyer.
So God created this celestial being not to minister to you, not to bring a message to
you, not to strengthen you.
His whole creation is just to destroy.
Okay.
It's like just to kill things.
He just brings them out to just kill things, kill people, kill things.
That's his job.
That's what he's made for.
And in fact, God's like, you're the destroyer.
Your full time job is to destroy.
And I personally believe that he's not only involved as far as Apollyon is not only involved
throughout biblical history, I think he's just involved in every plague throughout history.
He's probably the one that brought about the black plague and all the plagues that these
famous plagues throughout history.
He's the, God's the one who brought him out during that time to punish that nation for
that particular reason.
And so, you know, Apollyon is pretty, pretty awesome.
Okay.
He's actually one of my favorites.
So, you know, people are like, Oh no, no, I like Michael, the archangel.
I like Gabriel.
You know, I like these other angels.
No, I like Apollyon.
I like Abaddon.
Okay.
I could say a lot about that, but we'll stop there.
Okay.
So the third trumpet is warm wood.
Now let me reach you from Revelation 16 verse four regarding the third vial.
Very much similar to what we see with the third trumpet.
It says in verse four, "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, O Lord, which are and was,
and shalt be, because that was judged thus, for they have shed the blood of saints and
prophets, and I was giving 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.
So again, we see similarities here with these judgments that God is essentially removing
the water sources from the earth to cause men to either drink the waters that are turned
poisonous and bitter to kill them, or just out of desperation, they even drink the waters
that are just filled with blood.
And so that is the third trumpet and third vial.
Think of verse 12, if you would, of Revelation chapter 8.
So the earth is affected, the sea is affected, the rivers are affected.
Now he's going to smite the heavenly bodies.
The fourth trumpet, Revelation 8 verse 12 says, "And the fourth angel sounded and 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 day shone not for a third part of
it and the night likewise."
So the fourth trumpet sounds, smites the heavenly bodies.
Let me read you from Revelation 16 and verse 8 and by the way, Revelation 16 verse 8 regarding
the fourth vial kind of shows us the effect of what happens when these heavenly bodies
are smitten and a third part of their light is removed.
It says in verse 8, "And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun and power
was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
Men were scorched with great heat and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these
plagues, and they repented not to give him glory."
Now, there's a theory out there that this is actually possibly referring to a nuclear
winter.
Okay?
If you've heard of that.
Nuclear winter is a theory used to describe the potential climatic effects of a large
scale nuclear war.
And some of the effects of a nuclear winter is, first and foremost, you have smoke from
the fires that are started by these nuclear weapons, of course, or a large star that falls
to the sky, from the sky to the earth, would spread globally and essentially heat the sky.
And what happens is basically the ultraviolet radiation is enhanced and it actually scorches
men.
So it creates this blanket in the atmosphere that actually ends up burning people because
of the atmosphere.
So that is a legitimate thing, or that is a theory, so to speak, of a nuclear winter.
Not only that, but there's also ozone depletion and cooling, preventing crops and actually
creating darkness, which interestingly enough, we see that the next trumpet in the next vial
actually creates darkness.
Okay.
So it kind of works out with what's going on here.
I look at Revelation chapter eight and verse 13.
So these four trumpets and four vials are pretty bad.
Like if I was living in that time, it'd just be miserable.
Everything smells.
I smell.
I'm in pain.
You know, and you know, there's no water.
I'm dying of dehydration.
You're being scorched with fire.
So aside from your sores and the smell of the sores, now you're being burned by the
atmosphere because of the ultraviolet radiation that's coming through.
Pretty bad.
But it actually doesn't compare to the last three.
And in fact, the last three trumpets and vials are so bad that God calls them the three woes.
Okay.
Not like, whoa, you know, woe means like, whoa, it means like curse because he talks
about a verb relation eight 13 it says, and I beheld and heard an angel flying through
the midst of heaven saying with a loud voice, whoa, whoa, whoa, to the inhabiters of the
earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpets of the three angels, which are yet
to sound.
You know, let me translate that for you.
Do you think that was bad?
That's nothing compared to what's coming next.
That was just like an appetizer judgment.
Okay.
That's just kind of setting the foundation because the next things that we're going to,
the next couple of things we're going to look at, obviously what we just saw with the four
trumpets, the four vials is very supernatural, but the supernatural nature of these next
judgments is just like, it's just turned up seven times.
Okay.
Look at chapter nine, if you would.
So let's look at the first woe referring to the fifth trumpet says in verse number one,
and the fifth angel sounded and I saw star fall from heaven unto the earth.
Just like what we saw with warm wood, right?
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 darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit and there came out of the smoke locust
upon the earth and then to 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
foreheads and to them it was given that they should not kill them but they should be tormented
five months and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion when he striketh a man.
So what is this fifth trumpet?
Well we see smoke that's covering the sky creating a darkness of sorts and we see that
Apollyon will see that his name is mentioned in the coming verses, but we see locusts coming
out of hell.
And instead of mobilizing these locusts to do what they've done in times past, which
is to just eat up the crops, destroy the resources, God basically flips a switch in them and says
go after the men who don't have the seal of God in their foreheads.
Now let me mention something regarding that because the only people at this time who have
the seal of God on their foreheads are the 144,000.
We're not talking about the mark of the beast.
Mark of the beast is a counterfeit to the seal of God who is written in their foreheads.
So the 144,000 are given this seal of God.
And we see according to Revelation chapter nine, the reason that seal is given to them
is so that when these locusts come out, they don't attack them.
Now what does that tell us about the 144,000?
It tells us that if they didn't have that seal, they could be hurt.
You know what that also tells us?
It tells us that these 144,000 have not yet received their glorified bodies.
Because when you get a glorified body, shoot me, bro.
Shoot me.
You know, you, you can, I'll take a missile, I'll take a scorpion.
Nothing's going to happen because this body is 2.0.
You can't kill this, right?
But the reason God is sealing the 144,000 is because they can be hurt, understand?
So this is the 144,000 come down when we go up in the rapture.
And these are the 144,000 of the tribes of Israel, save the tribe of Dan.
And what are they doing?
I believe these are obviously the Bible talks about them being virgins.
They're males.
Sorry, ladies, but you're not involved in this.
Um, that's just what the Bible says.
And so, you know, but they are selected because they're just godly people.
They're godly young men or individuals.
And they, you know, I don't know what they did to earn this, but they're a special,
they're special forces.
Okay.
And here is your first example of a time traveler, right?
This is a legitimate time traveler because they existed because this is not referred
to 144,000 of the current Israel.
Okay.
Because you won't find those tribes existing today.
If the Bible has given us a specific tribe in the New Testament, right, regarding end
times is obviously referring to Old Testament saints when the tribes still existed at that
point.
So these men either they died or they're a raptured of sorts, but they're in heaven and
they still have their bodies from, you know, BC.
And when they come down, then, you know, they're given the seal of God because they probably
still have a work to accomplish the 144,000 to come into this earth to preach the gospel
to everyone.
Okay.
They're probably going to the very remote areas of the world islands where they speak
different languages.
They're essentially like the core in the old testament that were given the privilege to
go to the corners of the field to glean that field.
So they're kind of going and winning people to Christ during this particular time during
the wrath of God.
Okay.
So people are being saved during the wrath of God.
Don't have this attitude.
It's just like, no, they're all damned.
A lot of them are for sure.
But you know what?
People are still being saved.
Okay.
Because the 144,000 not just going there just to kind of see, Oh man, look at that,
you know, look at these locusts, whoa, you know, they're going there to, to accomplish
a work.
Okay.
And obviously we don't, we're not given the details of how their ministry concludes, but
it's in my humble opinion that they possibly die at the end or they just transition straight
into the millennial rain, receive their glorified bodies.
And now their work is accomplished.
They receive the rewards for their, for their labor.
The point that I'm making here is there's a reason why they have a seal of God in their
foreheads is because they could be hurt if they didn't, meaning that they're not glorified
yet.
So God sends this angel and you have, and by the way, these, these locusts are still
in, they're in hell right now.
They're just like waiting.
Like God has these things on standby.
Crazy.
Look what it says in verse six.
It says in those days shall men seek death and shall not find it and shall desire to
die and death shall flee from them.
I'm going to mention a couple of things regarding that just a bit, looking for seven, the shapes
of the locusts were like into horses prepared into battle and on their heads, whereas it
were crowns like gold and their faces were as the faces of men and they had hair as the
hair of a woman, of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.
I mean, you know, it's bad enough that these things hurt, they got to look like that too.
This is a terrifying sight.
I mean, let's just say this, you know, if there's like a woman in the street, okay,
she's got a long hair.
If she comes running at you, it looks kind of freaky, hair flinging all over the place,
right?
Ladies, you know what I'm talking about, right?
Isn't that true?
Wouldn't it be a little crazy if you're just flinging your hair?
It looks kind of creepy, okay?
Don't let me stand up here on an island all by myself.
Man, don't be scared.
Say amen.
Yeah.
All right.
It'll be freaky, okay?
Okay.
So picture that but flying at you, okay?
They're flying at you.
The hair's...
I mean, there's a reason he's putting long hair on these things because they look abominably
terrifying, okay?
So he's giving them this appearance that obviously strikes fear in the hearts of those
who are being stung by it.
It says in verse 10, "And they had tails like the scorpions, and there were stings in their
tails, and their power was to hurt men five months."
So what is the responsibility of these locusts?
Is it to kill men?
No.
It's literally just to torment them for five months.
Now why does it say that men shall seek death and not find it, that they shall desire to
die and that death shall flee from them?
It doesn't mean that these locusts are making them immortal or something like that, okay?
I literally heard preachers of yesterday, yesterday say things like that, or it's just
like man, we'll seek to die, blow their brains out, they can't die, or someone's gonna be
like zombies.
It's like, all right, dude, Phil Kidd, you know, you're out there.
What I believe this is actually talking about is the fact that these scorpions have a paralyzing
effect on their victims.
So their stings would create some sort of paralyzing effect where they can't move.
And they're 100% in pain, but they're incapacitated.
So they're just lying there, just incapacitated, not capable of moving, and then probably finally
when they're able to move again, then they come right back and they sting them, and this
happens for five months.
And so this is a miserable existence.
And I guess there are certain things worse than dying, which is being tormented for five
months by these locusts.
It says in verse 11, "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."
So this is what's happening for five months straight.
Now add more terror to this scenario.
Let me read to you from Revelation 16 regarding the fifth vial, because remember, these are
happening concurrently, simultaneously.
So while the locusts are coming out wreaking havoc upon the world, it says in verse 10
of Revelation 16, "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."
Now, obviously there's a lot of speculation as to what this means regarding the seat of
the beast, but it could just mean that it's referring to his kingdom, which is the world.
Because at this point, the New World Order is the entire world.
The Antichrist is king over the entire world, right?
His seat is the entire world.
But what this is telling us is that when the fifth angel pours out his vial, there's darkness
upon the land.
Picture that, you have these freaky locusts flying around and it's pitch black.
Terrifying.
It's like, I mean, you guys feel me or what?
I mean, I would be terrified of that.
You know, trying to fight off or run from these locusts and pitch black, I mean, that's
absolutely terrifying.
So God is pulling out all the stops here.
And of course it says that they're gnawing their tongues for pain.
Why?
Because they're being tormented by these locusts for five months.
And so that is the first woe and yeah, that is a woe.
When God creates a specific species of creatures that's only dedicated and designated for the
tormenting of men for five months in the end times, that's pretty wild.
That's a woe.
That's a major curse.
But we see that even with this judgment, the Bible says that they repented not of their
deeds.
You know, sometimes we think like, oh man, if this came upon this person, if their finances
were ruined, if their health was taken, if they're just destroyed physically, they would
get right with God.
That is true, but not always because we're going to see a bunch of examples in the end
times where people are tormented for five months and they're just like, I still don't
want to get saved.
Crazy.
Look at Revelation nine, verse 13.
Now we're going to look at the second woe, the sixth trumpet.
It says in verse 13, the sixth angel sounded and 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 says the four angels were
loose, 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 200,000,000.
And I heard the number of them.
So let me explain what's going on here.
The sixth trumpet is the four angels that are being loosed from the great river Euphrates.
And it's of my opinion that this is referring to those four cherubims that were guarding
the tree of life in Genesis chapter three.
These four angels are designated to lead these 200,000,000 horsemen who are going to breathe
out fire, brimstone, and asphyxiate the population with smoke.
Now who are the 200,000,000 horsemen?
It's also my humble belief that it's probably referring to also believers.
And let me just insert this little opinion here regarding this is that this is where
I believe the four horsemen of the apocalypse are getting this from.
Because remember everything that the Antichrist does is a counterfeit of what God does.
And these horsemen are actually mentioned in the book of Zechariah as being red, black,
and grizzled.
And so you have these horsemen and these are the horsemen according to Zechariah that are
sent into all the earth to judge the earth.
So what Zechariah is prophesying of in my opinion is what we see here in Revelation
chapter 9 as these 200 million horsemen and then Satan is like, "Oh, I'm going to jack
that idea.
I'm going to send out four horsemen of the apocalypse, the white, red, black, and gray."
So these 200 million horsemen are sent out, look at verse 17, "And thus I saw the horses
in a vision and then that sat on them having breastplates of fire and of jacent 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 into serpents and had heads and with them they do hurt.
So okay you get five months of these locusts and then all of a sudden they're like and
they just go away.
You know five months is pretty bad it's not that bad you know we survived that.
Okay now come to 200 million horsemen.
That looks like a horse.
Why does it have a head of a lion though?
Oh man that thing's breathing out fire and brimstone.
Oh man that thing's coming right at me.
So the job of these 200 million horsemen is to hunt people down and to kill a third part
of the population.
How?
By burning them, scorching them and look I've seen enough Hollywood movies I wish I could
make a movie out of this.
It was just like this is I could I could see this okay.
You know people are running from these horsemen and they're like well board up the walls
or just get inside a house they want me well you know let's just let me just lock myself
in my vehicle or what did I just break through the window and just blow smoke in there and
just suffocate you right and you know he's like well we just got to make sure that we're
behind the horse yeah but their tails are like serpents and they bite.
So it's just there's no escaping this this this animal.
Now there's people say like well I think this is symbolic okay of what you know I get the
symbolic thing I know people want to like symbolically everything to be symbolic but
sometimes it just is what it is okay and it's almost like you know oh God can't make an
animal or creature that's like that.
He made everything that exists at this moment.
He made the platypus which is a crazy look it's just crazy it just doesn't you know fit
sometimes what we think is an animal you know it's like I can't really figure this thing
out.
He made the octopus made you and so you know it's not outside his capability to create
such a creature for such a time as this okay and again you know people will say well you
know the locust that's symbolic you know that actually represents Titus's army that was
used you know in 70 or whatever and you know this is all symbol this is already fulfilled
pastor that so the Titus's army was sent to torment men for five months last time I checked
Titus's army killed people you know these are not sent to kill they sent a torment men
okay and no Titus is not a Polly on either it's a symbolic representation the locusts
are symbolic the two hundred million horsemen are symbolic representation no I think there
are literal things that take place that are actually in existence at that time you say
why do you believe that well think about this this is the apex of history right this is
where everything comes to like the apex the zenith of history why wouldn't God just bring
out all the cosmic supernatural occurrences at such a time as this you know he's doing
everything he can because obviously there are people who are getting saved during this
time when the Bible says the men repentant out of their deeds I think it's just kind
of generalizing the population is just not receptive because there are a lot of them
are reprobate but there are small pockets of people who are experiencing or seeing these
trumpets and vials and you know what they do get saved because 144,000 are going about
preaching the word of God so you know God why wouldn't God do these I mean did he do supernatural
things in the Old Testament in the land of Egypt plaguing the land of Egypt with ten
plagues and do you know you know stopping the sun do you know parting the Red Sea is
anything too hard for God no I think these are literal things that are taking place okay
says in verse 20 the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues get repented
not of the works of their hands that they should not worship devils and idols of gold
and silver and brass and stone or of wood which neither can see nor hear nor walk neither
repent the day of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their fornication nor of
their thefts so the sixth trumpet is pretty gnarly third part of men are killed not just
in any way but by these 200 million horsemen that are going about destroying men let me
read to you from revelation chapter 16 regarding the sixth vial okay the sixth vial in verse
12 says the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates the same Euphrates
river that's dried up or should I say the same Euphrates river that had the four angels
that led the 200 million horsemen it says the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the
great river Euphrates and the waters thereof were dried up that the way of the kings of
the east might be prepared so what I believe this is referring to is the fact that the
six vials poured out to drive the Euphrates in order to prepare the way of the kings for
the battle of Armageddon so now we're setting the stage for the final curtain the final
battle of this particular era which is the battle of Armageddon here's the proof verse
13 says and I saw three unclean spirits this is revelation 16 I saw three unclean spirits
like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out
of the mouth of the false prophet now you say that's kind of weird why are frogs coming
out of the mouth of the of the beast the false prophet well what this is referring to is
deception okay and in fact it says verse 14 for they are the spirits of devils working
miracles which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole earth to gather
them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty so what is this referring to well
the sixth vial is where the Euphrates River is dried up to prepare for Armageddon but
in order to prepare for it they had to send out a mass deception mass mass delusion because
think about this you know the Antichrist has to convince the kings of the world that they're
going to fight a man coming from heaven right an army that's coming from heaven because
it's not like Jesus just appears he's coming from heaven in Revelation 19 on a white horse
along with all of us on white horses that's terrifying you know what I'm saying so he
has to be able to convince them that they can win otherwise why would they be fighting
so this will require mass deception delusion this is what it's referring to when it talks
about the unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon he's able to
deceive them so that is the sixth vial sixth trumpet second woe look at Revelation 11 if
you would Revelation chapter 11 we're going to look at the third woe seventh trumpet and
seventh vial and we'll we'll conclude here it says in Revelation chapter 11 and verse 14
the second woe is passed and behold the third woe cometh quickly and the seventh angel sounded
and there were great voices in heaven saying the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of
our lord and of his christ he shall reign forever and ever now what i find interesting here is that
it hasn't literally happened yet because we see that these things the fulfillment of the vials
and trumpets has to happen first before the battle of armageddon so why is jesus saying this
because he called those things which are not as though they were he's saying the kingdoms of
this world have become the kingdoms of our lord and of his christ because he's basically saying
i win you know jesus six anti-christ zero and obviously it's about to be seven and anti-christ
zero okay i mean he's shellacking the world right now he's whooping the anti-christ what are they
doing what is the new world order doing at this time no one cares about the ai anymore at this
point they're just like we're at the mercy of this supernatural god that's destroying us so that's
why he's already claiming victory at this point okay says it verse 16 the four and twenty elders
which sat before god on their seats fell upon their faces and worshiped god saying we give thee
thanks oh lord god almighty which art and was that art to come because that was taken to thee thy
great power and has reign it's like you know the presidential election where the polls aren't done
yet but there's there you know the president who obviously is winning it's just like he gives his
victory speech or whatever even though it hasn't been counted yet this is kind of the same thing
where jesus is just like these kingdoms are mine which there's no there was no doubt in anyone's
mind that they were it says in verse 18 and 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 into thy servants
the prophets and to the saints and then that fear thy name small and great should have destroyed
them which destroyed the earth and the temple of god was opened in heaven and there was seen in
this temple the ark of his testament and there were lightnings and voices and thunderings and an
earthquake and great hail now this is insinuating the seventh vial let me read you from revelation
16 and verse 16 it says and he gathered them together until place called in the hebrew tongue
armageddon and the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air and there came a great voice out
of the temple of heaven the temple that was open in revelation 11 from the throne saying it is done
and there were voices and thunders and lightnings like we saw in revelation 11 and there was a great
earthquake such as was not since men were 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 listen to
this and great babalon came into remembrance before god to give unto her the cup of the wine
of the fierceness of his wrath and every island fled away and the mountains were not found and
there fell upon man a great hail out of heaven every stone about the weight of a talent
and men blasphemed god because of the plagues of the hail for the plague thereof was exceeding
great so the the judgments conclude with the seventh vial be poured out and really what that
focuses on is the destruction of babalon okay and if you want to learn more about babalon you can
read revelations 17 and 18 two chapters that are specifically dedicated to the subject of babalon
but babalon is guilty of various crimes and abominations but specifically against the
prophets and so it's the horror of babalon and god's like he's destroying all these nations
these islands are being moved these nations are falling because of the earthquake and god's like
oh yeah babalon you know babalon that sits as a widow and you know she shall see no sorrow
and she's so prideful and arrogant she doesn't think anything is going to happen to her
well babalon is the last essentially the last city to go okay to be destroyed and there we
conclude the seven trumpets and seven vials you say what can i learn from this particular sermon
pastor be grateful you know when the bible says that we've been spared from the wrath to come
i mean it's true okay and obviously we don't even know if this is going to happen in our lifetime
if the tribulation the rapture but regardless if it does or it doesn't we're still spared this
wrath because there's a far greater wrath that awaits people who are not saved and that's hell
right and so this is may you walk away from this sermon realizing that god will judge this earth
one day in such a severe way and even though he judges it so severely so thoroughly so creatively
there's still gonna be people here who just don't want to get right with god so here's the thing
don't get discouraged when someone rejects you at the door when you're preaching the gospel and they
don't want to listen to you don't feel bad god pulls out all the stops in the end times and
there's still people who don't want to get saved god shows some of the most supernatural occurrences
that the world has ever seen you know and by the way let me make one this last point and that is
you know people are like oh the new testament god is way nicer than the old testament god
did you just pay attention to what we just read he kills more people in the end times than probably
everything that took place in the old testament put together most of the stuff that happened in
the old testament aside from the global flood which kills everyone you know and by the way he
floods the world in genesis chapter 6 but then he also floods the world in fire in revelation
chapter 8 so he baptizes it with water initially but then he baptizes it with fire okay the point
that i'm making here is that god has not changed he's the same yesterday today and forevermore
the anger and judgments that he had on mount sinai with the lightnings and the thunders and
the voices those are the same lightning thunders and voices that we see in revelation 16 where the
vials are being poured out and so praise god for his judgments praise god for his righteousness
and don't take a personal if someone rejects you at the door the lord brings out all stops and
they're still rejecting him in the end times amen let's pray father we thank you so much for
your word thank you for these uh seven trumpets and seven vials and i thank you lord that this
is as close as we're going to get to ever seeing something like that and i don't know if you're
ever going to give us a panoramic view of what takes place in the end times when we're in heaven
but even if we don't lord we're thankful that you've spared us from the wrath to come
through our savior jesus christ and i pray lord that you help us to think upon these things
and as we read the seven trumpets and seven vials in the book of revelation
may it create within us a heart of gratitude and a love for the righteousness of god help us lord
to to hate the things that you hate and love the souls that you love lord and i pray you bless us
as we go on our way. We love you. We thank you. We pray this in Jesus name. Amen.