Good evening brethren. Please take your Bibles and turn to Revelation chapter 6.
Turn to Revelation chapter 6 please in your Bibles. And the title for the sermon
tonight is Wrath of Almighty God. Wrath of Almighty God. We are continuing this series
on the end times and we've been talking about the rapture, the coming tribulation,
the rise of the antichrist. But then when the believers are raptured post tribulation,
we believe in a post tribulation, pre-wrath rapture. So after we're raptured, the Lord God
will pour out his wrath upon the world. And if you've been following the series, you know all
about that. But I want you to look at Revelation chapter 6 verse 15. And we want to look at the
length or the timing of God's wrath. You know when it begins and when it ends. Look at Revelation 6
15. And this follows after the sixth seal is opened. This follows after the sun and moon is
being darkened. You can read that for yourself again in the chapter if you like. But in verse
number 15 it says, and the kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men and the chief
captains and the mighty men and every bond man and every free man hid themselves in the dens and in
the rocks of the mountains and said to the rocks and mountains and rocks fallen us and hide us from
the face of him that sitteth on the throne, notice the next words, and from the wrath of the lamb.
Look at verse 17. For the great day of his wrath is come and who shall be able to stand? Notice
that these people that are left behind, they don't go up in the rapture, they're not believers.
You know many of these are those that have taken the mark of the beast, have worshipped the dragon
and the antichrist and they notice now when the Lord comes in his clouds, in his great glory,
they notice that this is the great day of his wrath. The great day of the wrath of the lamb.
So when does God's wrath begin? It begins after the rapture. This is why we're pre-wrath rapture
believers. We believe God will pour out his wrath after the rapture. Now please turn to Revelation
19. Let's get the end of the wrath of God. When does the wrath of God end? In Revelation 19
verse 11. It reads and I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse and he that sat upon him was
called faithful and true and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. So now we're reading the
portion of scripture where Christ comes from heaven on a white horse upon this earth. Now
drop down to verse number 15. It says and out of his mouth, that's out of the mouth of Jesus,
go with a sharp sword that with it he should smite the nations and he shall rule them with
a rod of iron and he treadeth, notice the next words, the winepress of the fierceness and wrath
of almighty God. So you notice when he comes on his white horse he destroys the the Antichrist,
he destroys his armies, the armies of the Antichrist. This is this has been told us that
this is the wrath of almighty God and so God's wrath begins after the rapture and it ends as
Christ comes back on that white horse. It's the end of that wrath because of course when Christ
comes back on the white horse he now sets up his millennial reign. So the wrath of God is over
at that point in time. So the title once again is wrath of almighty God. That's what we get there
in verse number 15. Revelation 19 verse 15 again at the end of it says and he treadeth the winepress
of the fierceness and wrath of almighty God. Once again the title for the sermon tonight is wrath
of almighty God. Starts at the rapture, ends as Christ comes back on the white horse. Now one
thing that as I've been going through this series one thing that I realized that I've not made clear
and I guess I've made it not clear on purpose because it requires you know an explanation. I
want this explanation to be told now in this sermon is the day of the Lord. We saw that the
day of the Lord is the day of God's wrath. It's the day that starts off that kicks off
the pouring out of God's wrath and something else that I've said in my series is that the day of
Christ is the same day as the day of the Lord. Now a lot of people don't realize this but I
want to show this to you. Please go to 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, 2 Thessalonians chapter 2
and verse number 1. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 1. Because one thing I want to make clear
in this sermon is that the day of the Lord and the day of Christ it's called the day for a reason.
You know when we think of a day the first thought that should you know come to our mind
is a standard 24 hour period right? The day of the Lord. But we know the wrath of God is longer
than a day. We know that the wrath of God is from the rapture like I said to the coming of
Christ on the white horse. So what is the day of the Lord? Can we understand this in light of the
wrath of God? What is the day of Christ? Well look at 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 and verse number 1.
Now we beseech you brethren by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together
unto him. Hey that's the rapture. When we gather together unto Christ look at verse number 2.
That ye be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled neither by spirit or by word or by letter as from
us as that the day of Christ is at hand. So what is the day of Christ? It's the day that the rapture
takes place in. It's a standard 24 hour day that very day whatever that day that becomes the day
that Jesus Christ comes and gathers the saints unto him in the rapture. That's the day of Christ.
Now just to confirm this a little further I'll just read to you from Philippians 1 verse 6.
Philippians chapter 1 verse 6 which says being confident of this very thing that here which
have begun a good work in you will perform it until, until when? Until the day of Jesus Christ.
So whenever you read your bible about the day of Jesus Christ or the day of Christ that's talking
about the day a standard day 24 hour period where Christ will come and gather his believers. He will
rapture his believers into heaven into the clouds to be with him. The day of Christ is the day of
the rapture and so of course Christ will do a good work in you from the day you've been saved
to the day that you receive your new resurrected body. Then Lord Jesus doesn't need to do any more
work in you. You know you're complete because you have that new body without the sin nature.
Now you're in 2 Thessalonians. Please go to 1 Thessalonians. Go to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5.
1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse number 1. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse number 1 reads
but of the times and the seasons brethren ye have no need that are right unto you for yourselves
know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night and of course the day of
the Lord you know I've proven this before is the day of God's wrath. This is what the sermon is
about tonight. The day of God's wrath but notice it's also called the day. It's another standard
24 hour period and it is the same standard 24 hour period as the day of Christ. It's the exact
same day. Well why is it called two different things? Well what do we notice? When the Bible
speaks about the rapture, the coming of Christ, this day is referred to as the day of Christ.
It's the day that we are looking forward to being gathered together with Jesus Christ
but when it comes to the non-believing world, when it comes to those that reject the gospel,
the day of the Lord is a day of wrath and we saw that believers are not appointed to wrath. We're
not appointed to God's wrath and so the day of the Lord even though it's the same day it's looking
at it from another angle and it's looking at it from the angle of those that will suffer the wrath
of God. So it's the same 24 hour day, the day of Christ for believers. It sounds better for us to
say the day of Christ being with Christ than the day of the Lord that we know is the day of God's
wrath. We're not appointed to that day but it takes place on the same day. Now let's look at
the graphs that I've shown you and if you look at the first slide, I'll put this on the video
so you can see it. Just as a reminder, we saw that after the rapture, after the sun and moon
is darkened, on that day that the sun and moon is darkened, we are raptured. That's the day of
Christ but on the same day, God begins to pour out his wrath on the day of the Lord. And then
I've shown you the next slide which I've put it into a better time scale so you can see how it all
fits out. You can see that God's wrath is a period that is almost three and a half years.
It's a significant portion of time where God will pour out his wrath on this world. But notice how
I've also put under that, under God's wrath, I've listed day of the Lord. Now that's not 100%
accurate. It is accurate in the sense of me wanting to show you this table, show you this
timeframe but actually if we were to just focus on God's wrath alone, if we were to just remove
all the other distractions that's in this slide and look at God's wrath alone, you'll notice now
that there's a little sliver that I put there in God's wrath at the very beginning.
That is day number one of God's wrath. That is a standard 24-hour period that I'm speaking about
and that first day of God's wrath is known as the day of the Lord or the day of Christ.
That very first day is known as the day of the Lord and the day of Christ. But the next period
of time that leads up to the end of the seven-year period, that entire thing is God's wrath to the
time when Christ comes back riding on a white horse. So I don't want you to misunderstand,
the day of the Lord is God's wrath but the day of the Lord is the first day of God's wrath.
And God's wrath will continue and that's what we're going to be focusing on in this sermon.
Now if we were to take that one standard 24-hour day and just focus in on that day and to see what
that day looks like, it'll be on the next slide what it kind of looks like. And in the next slide
here you know we have a couple of things. We will know we're in that 24-hour day, we're in that
final day. We'll know it when the sun and moon are darkened, when the stars fall from heaven.
We'll know it when it's the celestial darkening and we'll know this must be the sixth seal.
That's when we'll know this very day we're standing, when the sun and moon go dark,
we'll know this is the day of Christ. We'll know this is the day of the Lord. It's the same
day that this takes place and of course after the sun and moon is darkened, the rapture takes
place. The Lord comes in the clouds and gathers his believers unto him. But the day is not
finished. And also you know as I've been going through the slides, we've always stopped at the
sixth seal. We've not looked at the seventh seal yet. And I wanted to wait until we got into the
sermon on God's wrath to explain what the seventh seal is. So after the rapture, the seventh seal is
opened. And the seventh seal is not God's wrath just yet. But it's all taking place in one day.
The seventh seal is half an hour silence in heaven. A half an hour period takes place
of just silence. All the believers of the earth have been raptured and things go quiet for a
moment, just for half an hour. Half an hour later, the first trumpet is blown. And the first trumpet
is what begins God's wrath. This is still the same day, just half an hour later after the
rapture, same day, the first trumpet sounds and this is the day of the Lord. Now of course the
day of Christ which points us to the rapture, the day of the Lord which points us to God's wrath,
all takes place in that standard 24 hour period. I want you to remember that. So the sun and moon
gets darkened. When that happens, we'll know this is the day of Christ. We'll know this is the day
of the Lord and we'll know we can just lift up our heads for our redemption draweth nigh.
Christ is coming. Then when we're in heaven, this half an hour period of silence, then God begins
to pour out his wrath at the first trumpet. Now I've shown you that. Let's go to the scriptures
and make sure that the scriptures are supporting what I've just explained to you. So please take
your bibles and go back to Revelation. Go to Revelation chapter 8 for me. Revelation chapter 8.
And let's have a look at the seventh seal. Revelation chapter 8, the seventh seal,
verse number 1. Revelation 8 verse 1 reads, and when he had opened the seventh seal,
so this is after the sixth seal, this is after the sun and moon are darkened, this is after the
rapture. Remember in Revelation 7 you had a great multitude appear in heaven of every tribe of every
tongue praising the Lord, those that came out of great tribulation. So it's after the tribulation,
after the rapture, and when he had opened the seventh seal, it reads,
there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. So there's the half an hour of
silence. Look at verse number 2. And I saw the seven angels which stood before God and to them
were given seven trumpets. All right. So have the seven trumpets been blown yet? No. Okay. The seven
trumpets aren't given to the seven angels until the seventh seal is opened. And when the seventh
seal is opened, there's half an hour of silence in heaven. Okay. Half an hour period. So it's all
taking place in the same one day, then the seven trumpets are given to the seven angels. And the
seven trumpets, don't forget that the people on the earth said that this day, this is the day of
the wrath of the Lamb. So this is the very same day, the day of the Lord, that begins the wrath
of God. Okay. And so the seven trumpets are the wrath of God. Okay. The seven trumpets and the
seven vials that we read about later in Revelation, and I'll get into that later on, this is all the
wrath of God. Now, before God allows the first angel to blow his trumpet, God prepares for his
wrath. Okay. So notice in Revelation chapter 8, verse number 3, it says, 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. So notice this angel goes to the altar, and from the altar,
he takes like a censer for incense, and in that incense, he gathers together
the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar. Okay. Now, what's happening here is that
before God pours out his wrath, he's taken in one final time, all the prayers of the saints
from the altar. Say, what is that about? Well, I believe this is about all the saints that have
ever lived. Every time they've cried unto the Lord during tribulation, any time they've been
persecuted or they've been put to death, you know, they've had the fears where they've cried unto
the Lord and asked the Lord to defend them, and asked the Lord to bring judgment upon the workers
of iniquity, to bring judgment upon the beast, upon the antichrist, upon these that are persecuting
the people of God. God takes in these final prayers one last time, listens to them, takes
them in, breathes them in, you know, and this works up God. He prepares him to the point where,
you know, his love and kindness and his mercy is over, and now it's time for his wrath to be poured
out on a wicked world. Okay. Say, where do you get that idea from? Well, again, keep your finger
there. Go to Revelation chapter 6. Revelation chapter 6 and verse number 9. Okay, so remember,
the prayers come from the altar that is before the throne of God, and in Revelation chapter 6,
verse 9, the Bible reads, and when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar
the souls of them that were slain for the word of God. So under the altar, the same altar where
he gets the prayers of the saints, we have the souls of the saints that have been slain,
that have been killed for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held. Look at verse 10,
and they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true,
dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
So they're asking, God, how long? How long is it going to be until you take revenge,
when you take vengeance on these people that have killed us? Verse number 11,
And white robes were given unto every one of them, and it was said unto them,
They should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow servants also and their brethren
that should be killed as they were should be fulfilled. So it says, look, you've got to just
rest for a little season. There are others that will be persecuted, that will be put to death
by the Antichrist, okay? So all these prayers that are coming from the souls of men under the altar,
you know, make up this incense, which the Lord takes in and begins pouring out his wrath. You
know, just hearing the cries of help from his children one more time, you know, for him to be so
angered, so filled with wrath, that he starts to pour out these supernatural events onto the earth,
okay? Now, I'll read to you another passage. Actually, look at verse number five,
Revelation six, verse five. Sorry, sorry, Revelation chapter eight and verse five.
Revelation chapter eight and verse five. If you go back there, it says,
And the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and cast it into the earth.
And there were voices and thunderings and lightning and an earthquake.
So notice he takes this censer, he fills it with fire from the altar,
and this fire gets cast down onto the earth. This is prior to, or as this first angel is about to
sound his trumpet. Now, the thought that I go to is in Second Thessalonians chapter one,
I can just read it to you, Second Thessalonians chapter one, verse six, which reads,
Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you.
So it's a righteous thing for God to recompense or take vengeance on those that have caused
tribulation upon you. Verse number seven,
And to you who are troubled, rest with us. And what did he say to the souls that were under
the altar? Rest for a little season, okay? Because God's vengeance is coming, God's wrath is coming.
Rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels.
This is, of course, the rapture, you know, with his angels, he comes, he gathers up his elect.
But then it says in verse number eight,
In flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Okay, so this vengeance, this wrath,
which is about to be poured on the earth, the Bible calls this flaming fire.
And so it makes sense when in Revelation chapter eight, that this incense or this
censer is filled up with the fire of the altar, which were the prayers of the saints,
those that were being troubled, persecuted by a wicked world. And God's hearing those prayers,
being roused in anger in his wrath, and pouring out this fire pouring out this wrath to come.
Back in Revelation chapter eight and verse number six, we now begin
the sanding of the seven trumpets, Revelation chapter eight and verse number six.
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 first part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
This is the first sound of the trumpet. When we looked at the seven seals,
a lot of it, especially the beginning of sorrows, was just natural disasters. Pestilences and
right now the coronavirus. This is just a natural consequence of a sin-cursed world.
But there comes a time when God will step in and supernaturally cause damage on this earth.
Pouring out his wrath. And the first one we see was hail and fire mingled with blood.
And it says one third of the trees are burnt up. I mean, we had major fires, didn't we,
in Australia just a few months ago. But it compares nothing to the fires that would take
place where one third of all the trees will be burnt up. And all the green grass will be burnt
up. Or there won't be any grass left after the first sounding of the trumpet. Now grass will
grow afterwards, of course, but at this point in time all grass will be burnt up and one third of
the trees destroyed. And notice that it also says it's not just hail. So you've got your hail damage,
you've got the damage of fire, but it's also mingled with blood. And so I'm trying to wrap
my head around what this means, but it looks like blood's just literally going to be falling from
heaven. So, you know, one third of the trees, yeah, burnt up, but other places of the world,
just blood, you know, places just filled with blood that's fallen from heaven. I mean, just
think about that. Just think about that sight. Hail, fire, blood, just falling from heaven,
destroying the earth. The wrath of God is beyond, you know. I mean, thank God that we're not here.
Thank God that he takes his believers from here. But again, there will be some witnesses of the
Lord during this time, and they will be protected from the wrath of God. You know, that's outside
of the scope of this sermon, though. But let's go to verse number eight.
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 what I believe is happening here with the second angel sounding is a great mountain. Look,
it's not actually a great mountain. It says, as it were a great mountain. So this is most likely,
and it says with fire. So this is most likely a meteor, you know, something, you know, the size
of a mountain, a meteor, you know, falling onto the earth, you know, coming down, you know,
with that tail as it were, a fire, you know, smashing into the sea. And it causes a third
of the sea to become blood. I mean, think about that. Think about the entire, you know,
the oceans of the world, just a third of it becoming blood. And this makes sense because
a third of the creature, the third part of the creatures, which were in the sea and had life
died. So of course, any marine animal that lives in the ocean, if all of a sudden their environment
turns instead of water to blood, of course, it's going to perish. Of course, it's going to die.
I mean, you can imagine the stink, you know, that's going to be caused around the world
because of the dying of these organisms, of these creatures, you know, in the sea. And then it says,
and the third part of the ships were destroyed. So whatever ships are on the ocean right now,
you know, will be ultimately destroyed because once this meteor hits, you know, it'll create,
you know, tidal waves, it'll create amazing, you know, what's the word I'm looking for?
You know, the waves we're warring, you know, it'll be, the ships just won't be able to handle it.
You know, one third of the ships will be destroyed by the waves or even maybe even sailing on blood.
I don't know what kind of effects that could have on ships. But a third of the ships will be
utterly destroyed on the oceans. Look at verse number 10. And the third angel sounded and there
fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp. So I believe this is another meteor
coming from heaven, a great star. You know, we talk about a star, you know, we talk about like
meteors that are shooting stars. I believe this is what we're seeing, a shooting star, another
meteor falling on the earth, 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 Wormwood. And many men died of the waters because they were made bitter.
So Wormwood, if you if you look up what Wormwood is, we have a plant that we call Wormwood. And
this type of plant is known for its bitterness, okay. And so when you have this, this meteor,
you know, fall again on the earth, you know, parts of it are going to fall in rivers, parts of it on
mountain waters, on fountains of waters. What I think is happening here is as this meteor enters
into the earth's atmosphere, you know, you probably are aware that, you know, it starts
to fall apart, you know, and bits and pieces of a meteor that comes onto the earth, you know,
it falls apart to the point when it actually falls, it's actually a lot smaller than it was
in outer space, because the atmosphere of the earth has ripped apart and pieces of rock have
flown everywhere. So it looks like this meteor, there are pieces of it just flying off it,
and it's falling in different areas, you know, areas that God has ordained on places where
people would generally drink water from, you know, it'll damage, you know, water supply here.
And, you know, not only will the water turn bitter, but it'll be poisonous, it'll be poisonous
from this meteor, and anybody that drinks of those waters will die. So, you know, just amazing,
amazing situation that's going on here with the wrath of God. Look at verse number 12 now, drop
down to verse number 12. 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, you know,
what does it mean that a third of the moon, the stars and the sun were smitten? Well, I believe
the end of verse number 12 explains what that means when it says, and the day shone not for a
third part of it. Okay, so the day. When you think about how many, you know, hours are there in a day,
you know, generally speaking, there's 12 hours, you know, from the time the sun rises to the sun
sets, you know, it's roughly 12 hours. Of course, it depends if you're in your, you know, you know,
your summer months, you know, it depends on the seasons, you know, some months you have more day,
if you're in the winter months, you've got more nights, but generally speaking, as an average,
it's 12 hours of day, 12 hours of nights. Okay, so 12 hours a day. And then it says, and the day
shone not for a third part of it. So what's a third part of 12 hours? If you divide 12 into
three, that's four hours, right? Four hours. And so instead of having daylight for 12 hours
during the day, we're only going to have daylight for eight hours. And the other four hours,
it's just going to be completely dark. Okay, but not just during the day, but during the night,
because again, the effects of this falls upon the moon and the stars. And so during the night,
of course, during the night, you know, the night sky is lightened by the moon, by the stars. You
know, this is why when you look at night, it's not completely dark. You've got some lights coming
from the heavenly objects. But again, four hours of the night, it would be completely pitch black.
Okay, so when you put four hours in four hours, four hours a night, four hours in the day,
you've got eight hours in the day, okay, where it's just completely a third of the entire day
is just going to be completely dark. You won't be able to see your hand in front of your face.
If you've ever gone to a room where it's completely pitch black, you can't see anything in
front of your face. It's kind of scary. Okay. And so these are the effects that's going to have,
you know, during this, I think during the first week of the coronavirus, where we had the not the
first week of the coronavirus, but the first week of the lockdowns, where people were trying
to figure out, you know, who can go out, what are what are central businesses, these kinds of things,
or our area suffered a blackout. Okay. Not just my house, but all the houses in my area suffered
a blackout for kind of how long it was a couple of hours, I think. But I remember when I was driving
home, you know, I had all of my mind, I was thinking about the virus, I was thinking about
what this could potentially mean, what's going to happen. And then I get to my house and everything's
dark. I mean, the street lights aren't working. The stop signs, you know, I mean, the stop lights,
you know, they're off, everything's completely dark, completely dark. And the only light that
I can see are the light of cars driving. And I'm just thinking, man, the virus. Now it's a blackout.
It's like, you know, is this the end of the world? And that's not even that's even compared
to the kind of disaster that we're going to see when God pours out his wrath.
What a time it'll be when there's complete darkness, how much, you know,
man's hearts will fail, you know, because of the great fear during this time.
Look at verse number, if you can now go to Revelation chapter nine,
Revelation chapter nine, and look at verse number one, let's keep going. We've seen the first four
trumpets being blown. Look at Revelation chapter nine, verse one. And the fifth angel sounded,
and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth. And to him was given the key of the bottomless
pit. So now we have another star fall from heaven. But now this star is a hymn. And actually,
we learned that this is an angel. Okay, so sometimes angels are referred to as stars as
well in the Bible. So this star isn't a meteor, but it's an angel. And to him was given the key
of a 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 was darkened by reason of the smoke
of the pits. And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth, and unto them was given
power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. So these locusts are not your average locusts.
These are not your natural locusts that we know about, all the different species of locusts that
are on the earth. No, these are locusts that are locked up in the bottomless pit. Okay, this is
like hell. They're locked up, and you need an angel to come and open up this bottomless pit for
these locusts to come out. These are locusts of hell. Okay, these are locusts that live under the
earth. And so they're released, and they have power like scorpions. Look at verse number four.
And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth. Notice the grass has
come back now. The grass has grown back. Neither any green thing, neither any tree,
but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. So there are believers
that are going to live during this time, that are going to be witnesses after the rapture,
that are on this earth witnessing for Christ. But notice they have a mark upon their head. That's
the name of the Father. And they're going to be protected. They're going to be sealed by God.
They're going to be protected by God's wrath. Okay. And then it says in verse number five,
and to them, to the locusts, 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 striketh a man. And in those days shall men seek death and shall not find it,
and shall desire to die and death shall flee from them. So it's saying here that these locusts are
going to come and they've got stingers like scorpions. And they're going to come and sting
men. They're going to sting everyone that doesn't have the seal of God in their foreheads. This is
everyone that's followed after the antichrist, everyone that's worshipped the dragon. All the
men that are not believers during this time will be attacked by these locusts from hell. Okay.
And the sting is going to be so bad. It's going to go on for so long that people are going to die.
In fact, it's going to go on for five months. We read there in verse number five. This sting
will be going on for five months that people are going to seek to die. People are going to desire
to die because that's how bad the torturous pain is. But it told us here that in verse number six
that death shall flee from them. They're not going to be able to die. Okay. So how does this make
sense? You know, what if someone were to, you know, go on top of a building, you know, and
throw themselves down? You know, could they die? I believe that yes, they could die. Of course,
the natural means that any man could die, they can die normally, right? But I think what's happening
here is that if you look at verse number 10, look at verse number 10, it says here, and they
had tails like unto scorpions, that there were stings in their tails, and their power was to hurt
men five months. Okay. So these locusts have, the venom in their stings is for the purpose of
stinging men. Now, when you look up a normal scorpion, and you find out, you know, obviously,
the scorpion has venom in its sting, in its tail. And the reason it's got it is when the scorpion
is hunting, when it finds its prey, you know, it holds onto the prey with its claws,
and then the stinger comes in, and it injects that venom into the prey, into the little insect
that it's eating, whatever it is. And the purpose it does that is to paralyse the insects,
to paralyse its prey, so then it can eat it. Okay, so what I believe, and of course,
the average scorpion is made to hunt for insects, you know, to hunt its prey. These locusts,
with scorpion tails, they are made, they were created to harm men, to sting men.
So instead of the prey of a scorpion being paralyzed, men, I believe, are going to be
paralyzed by the sting of the venom from these locusts. And that's why they can't die, okay,
because they're paralyzed, you know, they can't go up, climb up, you know, stairs on a building,
and throw themselves down, and perish that way. They're paralyzed, they can't move,
can't function for five entire months during this time where God pulls out this wrath,
you know, this trumpet is blown. Five months of paralyzation where you can do only the minimum,
you know, I suppose, and you can't even kill yourself if that was your desire.
All right, look at verse number 13, drop down to verse number 13 now, Revelation chapter 9 verse 13.
And by the way, before I read verse number 13, notice that this period of time for the
locusts, their judgment is for five months. And so this is why I'm saying the wrath of God
is longer than one day. We have the day of the Lord, the day of Christ, yes, that's the first
day, that's when God starts everything, but the wrath of God has to be longer than five months,
okay. And of course, we know that this is for the rest of the three and a half years to come,
or I should say, sorry, the rest of the seven years, because then Christ will come back on
that white horse. Look at verse number 13. And the six angels sounded, and I heard a voice from
the four horns of the golden altar, which is before God, saying to the six angel which had
the trumpet, loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.
So let's stop there. God is saying there are four angels that are bound in the river Euphrates, okay.
Look at verse number 15. And the four angels were loosed, okay, so they're restricted right now.
For some reason, they are in Euphrates River or under the river, however the Lord has it,
but these four angels are going to be loosed when the six angels sounds his trumpet.
And it says in verse number 15, 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.
So the reason these angels exist is to slay a third of mankind. And now it's time
for them to be loosed. They've been prepared for this. Verse number 16.
And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand, and I heard the
number of them. Okay, so these four angels have these horsemen at their disposal, this great army,
which makes up two hundred thousand thousand. That's two hundred million,
okay, two hundred million of these horsemen.
Verse number 17. 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,
whereas 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. So whatever population is still alive on the earth during
this time, after God's poured out his wrath here, a third of them are going to die from these armies,
from these two hundred million strong army, which is under the command of these four angels.
So I assume each angel has 50 million of these horsemen available to him, and they grow up
throughout the entire world, one third of the population perish by the fire and brimstone,
which come out of the mouth of these horses that have heads like lions, right, mouths like lions.
And then it says in verse number 15,
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 I've heard in previous preaching on the end times,
I've heard other preachers say that these could be tanks. It could be that somehow, you know,
200 million tanks are used under the power, the influence of these four angels to go about,
so it's like another world war that's taking place, and a third of the world is perishing.
I mean it could be, it could be that the Apostle John is writing or seeing these things, and he
sees these tanks, he's never seen, he doesn't know what, you know, what are these things, and the best
way he can describe them is like these horses with his armour, they issue out these fire.
It could be, I suppose, but when I thought, well, you know, how many tanks actually exist
on the earth today? How many tanks have been built throughout, you know, all the different
nations of the earth? You know, could we have something like 200 million out there? And well,
the country that has the most tanks in the world right now is Russia. They've got 13,000 tanks.
The next nation that comes almost equal, but it's actually USA, but North Korea is not far behind,
both USA and North Korea have about 6,000 tanks. Australia has about 60 tanks, okay,
we have about 60 tanks, you know, but when I looked at the entire world, and of course,
you know, a lot of this is based on estimation, but when you look at the entire world, there's
about 90,000 tanks, 90,000, that's very short of 200 million, okay. So, you know, either this is
so far away into the future where, you know, you get to a point where you have this many tanks,
and so it's not something that's going to happen in our lifetime potentially.
The other thought about it is, you know, maybe, you know, as we know, the being of sorrows,
we have this great world war. So of course, during warfare, during a great world war,
you know, the military industrial complex will be manufacturing their weaponry, their tanks,
you know, maybe it's not just tanks, maybe this can also consider, you know, other vehicles of
warfare potentially as well. But so, you know, just in looking at that, looking at the number of 90,000
tanks today versus the 200 million that is mentioned of the horsemen, I think we're – I
don't believe necessarily these are tanks. I think most likely these are other supernatural creatures,
like the locust which came out of the bottomless pit, that these four angels in the Euphrates River
has the power to command these creatures as well that kill one third of the world's population.
But anyway, you know, you might have a different opinion on that. I'd be curious to know what you
think. Now if you can go to Revelation chapter 10, please, go to Revelation chapter 10.
We've looked at the first six trumpets, okay. Now we're going to be looking at the seventh trumpet,
but before we read into the seventh trumpet, I just want you to notice what entails,
what's taking place during this time in Revelation chapter 10 and verse 7, the Bible reads,
but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound,
notice the next words, the mystery of God should be finished, okay. So with the seventh trumpet,
there comes a finished work of God, a finished mystery of God, you know,
a finalization of some sort. And what I believe this is, what's being finished here is the wrath
of God. Let's keep reading. The mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared
to his servants the prophets. Now please go to Revelation 11,
Revelation 11 verse 15, Revelation 11 verse 15, to get to where the seventh trumpet is sounded.
It said here, Revelation 11, 15, and the seventh angel sounded, and there were great voices in
heaven saying, notice what the words, what's being said by these great voices in heaven,
the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ,
and he shall reign forever and ever. Amen. Great words, all right. So with the sounding of the
seventh trumpet, this is where the mystery of God should be finished, and it's finished
because the nations of the world, the kingdoms of this world are given over to Jesus Christ.
And of course we know that Christ afterward will reign for a thousand years, okay. And this is
Revelation 11 that we're reading. Revelation chapter 12, it starts all over again. We start off
with a vision of the woman and the birth of Christ, so we know we've gone back in time,
it goes into the beginning of the three and a half years, and we see things play out all over again.
But I want you to notice the trumpets are the wrath of God, right, and then at the seventh
trumpet there's a finalization. There's a final pouring out of God's wrath, and we know that the
kingdoms are given over to Christ. And as we saw in Revelation 19, he comes, you know, he destroys
the armies of the Antichrist, and then he receives the kingdoms to himself, okay. The millennial reign
of Jesus Christ on this earth, and Christ of course will reign forever and ever, not just
a thousand years, because at the end of the thousand years he gives that kingdom over to his
father, the new heavens and the new earth, and God will reign for, you know, forever and ever
over his people. All right, now I'm not, I don't have time to go through the seven vials today.
You know, my purpose is just to show you what the wrath of God is like and the time frame that it
fits within. But just touching on the seven vials, because I want you to see this as well,
if you can please go to Revelation 15 and verse 1, Revelation 15 and verse number 1,
and of course you can read about the vials in your own time.
But how does it take place? You know, some people believe it's seven trumpets,
then God pours out his seven vials, but no, we saw at the seventh trumpet that the kingdoms
become the kingdoms of Christ. So is God going to pour out his wrath upon the kingdoms of Christ?
No. But we saw that the first trumpet takes place after the rapture, and we know that the
seventh trumpet takes place at the end when Christ comes back to receive the kingdom to himself.
All right, so when it comes to the vials, it actually takes place at the same time
as the seven trumpets, and I'll show you this. Look at Revelation 15 and verse number 1.
Revelation 15 and verse number 1, notice this. And I saw another sign in heaven,
great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them is filled up
the wrath of God. Okay, so what are these plagues that are about to happen,
these seven angels with these vials? It's known as the wrath of God. Look at Revelation 16 now,
go to Revelation 16 and verse number 1, Revelation 16 and verse number 1. It says,
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. So is there any mistake,
you know, can you mistake God's wrath with the vials? It's the same thing. God's wrath
are the vials, but God's wrath are also the trumpets. So let's understand this second
retelling of the events of the end times, which starts in Revelation chapter 12.
Again, we mentioned that it talks about the birth of Christ, and then it goes into the
first three and a half years, the beginning of sorrows during chapter 12. What do we learn after
the beginning of sorrows? In chapter 13, we have the rise of the Antichrist, the great tribulation,
the persecution of God's people. And then in Revelation chapter 14, we saw the rapture,
you know, Jesus Christ coming in a cloud and reaping his harvest. But also, if you look at
Revelation 14 verse 19, look at Revelation 14 and verse 19, what else do we see? It says,
after Christ comes and gathers his harvest, an angel comes and also gathers, it says in verse
number 19, and the angel thrusts in his sickle into the earth and gathered the vine of the earth
and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. So in Revelation 14, we have the rapture,
but we also have the announcement of God's wrath. It's about to be poured out. Then we saw in
chapter 15, verse number one, that God's going to pour out his wrath, these last plagues. And
then we have in Revelation 16, that the seven vials are known as the wrath of God. So it all
plays out perfectly, you know. So this is what is most likely taking place. Trumpet one is blown,
vial one is poured. Trumpet two is blown, vial two. Trumpet three, vial three. Trumpet four,
vial four. Trumpet five, vial five. Trumpet six, vial six. Trumpet seven, vial seven.
Okay, and if this lines up again, we saw trumpet seven talks about the kingdoms of the earth
becoming the kingdom of Christ. Well, let's look at Revelation chapter 16. Look at Revelation 16
with the seventh vial. Revelation 16 and verse number 17. Revelation 16 and verse number 17.
The Bible reads, 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. Remember how the mystery of
God was finished? Well, notice here, it is done. The wrath of God is done here. And verse number
18. 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.
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 unto her the cup of the wine of the
fierceness of his wrath. Okay, so when it comes to the seventh vial, yes, it's in line with
the seventh trumpet, but the seventh vial is specifically about wrath upon this mystery
Babylon the Great. And I haven't got time in this series to go through the Babylon the Great.
Hopefully one day when I go through the book of Revelation, I'll cover all of that. Okay,
so we saw that Revelation 16 has the end of that vial being poured out. And we saw that it was
done. Okay, it's done. Then in chapter 17, and 18, we have the destruction of mystery Babylon
the Great. Okay, which is all about that seventh vial. Then we go to chapter 19, where we have
Christ coming on the white horse, and again, finally destroying the armies of the Antichrist,
throwing the beast and the false prophet into the lake of fire. And then chapter 20,
in Revelation, would begin the millennial reign of Christ. Christ's reign on the earth for a
thousand years. All right, now please turn to John chapter three for me. Let's end on John chapter
three. John chapter three in verse 36. Because, you know, these are events, this wrath of God,
these are events that I would not want any of my loved ones, family, friends to experience. Okay,
and I already mentioned to you that believers will not experience this. Okay, but John chapter
three, and look at verse number 36, the last verse in the chapter. John chapter three verse 36,
it reads, he that believeth on the sun hath everlasting life. Notice the next words,
and he that believeth not the sun shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.
Who's going to experience the wrath of God? Who's going to go through this period of the seven
trumpets and the seven vials? Those that do not believe on the sun, those that do not believe
the gospel, they're going to be the ones that go through the wrath of God. And look, even if you
were to die as a non-believer before these events take place, even if you were to die rejecting
Christ as your saviour, you're going to be thrown in hell. I mean, you're going to experience God's
wrath in fire, in flames of fire, and eventually going to be cast into the lake of fire where you
will be tormented forever and ever. And so brethren, you know, the reason God tells us
about his wrath, we see that God has, you know, his very long suffering, he has great mercy.
You know, it would be fitting for God to destroy the earth. In fact, he destroyed the earth with
a flood in the days of Noah. But God is waiting, God is allowing for his wrath to be built up,
he's giving time for people to believe on Jesus Christ as saviour, so they would not have the
wrath of God abiding on them. Okay. And thank God once we're saved, we will not see God's wrath.
We will not go through this terrible time. We will not suffer God's wrath in hell or the lake of fire.
You know, we'll be caught up in the clouds to be with the Lord forever. And so, you know,
if there's anyone listening to this, and you know, you don't want to experience God's wrath,
I don't want you to experience God's wrath. You know, all you need to do is believe the gospel,
you need to believe on Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who died for your sins, who was buried,
who rose again from the grave. Three days later, if you were to place all your faith and trust
on Jesus Christ, believe that he has given you everlasting life, ask him to save you, he will,
and you will avoid God's wrath. The wrath of God will not be abiding on you. And brethren,
for us that are already saved, praise God, you know, we see the future, we see what's coming,
you know, and I hope this has given you some further understanding of God's wrath. You know,
we have a God of great love, but we also serve a God of great wrath. And thank God that that wrath
is not going to fall upon us. You know, that the curse of law actually fell upon the Lord
Jesus Christ as he was crucified on the tree 2,000 years ago. He took on our sins,
so we don't have to face God's wrath. Thank God for his blessing. Amen.