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["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] ["Pomp and Circumstance"] Good evening, tonight we're in Revelation chapter 8. Revelation 8, the Bible reads, When he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about space of a half hour. And I saw the seven angels which 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 Woodwood, 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 a 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, whoa, whoa, whoa, to the inhabitants 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 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 fill 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. Amen. Okay, we're in Revelation chapter 8 this evening, and tonight we're continuing our series with lessons from the 7 in Revelation, just covering different instances in the book of Revelation where the number 7 is mentioned. And last week we talked about the seven seals. 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 7 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 7. Now chapter 8 is where we have the essentially the wrath of God that's going to be poured out upon the world. And so if we were 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 bowls? No, the seven vials. Okay, if you see if you have bowls in your Bible, then you have a wrong Bible version. Okay, it's supposed to be vials, not bowls. All 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 with a couple 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. Okay, 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. So you think of a vial, maybe like a 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 5. Hold your place there in Revelation 8. We'll go over that in just a bit, but look at Revelation chapter 5 in verse number 8. It says here in verse number 8, 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 6? 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, being killed for their faith. This is what the Bible is referring to, that odor, the content that's found within those vials. Now go to Revelation chapter 15. And by the way, in Revelation chapter 8, 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 imprecatory prayers. This morning we talked about prayer, and we talked about the importance of imprecatory prayers. Well, we see how important it is, especially 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 5, 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 giving it to? Well, it says in verse number six that he gives it to seven angels that are clothed in pure and 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 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 the 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 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, okay? 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 1, okay? Now go to Revelation 21, if you would, Revelation 21. So in Revelation chapter 5, 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. Essentially our 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 9, 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's 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 giving him 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, the new heaven, the 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 8 of Revelation 22. It says, And 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 9, Then saith he unto me, see thou do it not. What does he not want him to do? Worship 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 5 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 sayings of 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 8, if you would. Revelation chapter 8. 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, saved 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 8. 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 on Thursday in Isaiah 34, but look at verse 6. It says the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared 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 vial is administered 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 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 1, I'm going to read to you the first vial. It 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 worshipped 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 is poured out you have a noisome and grievous sore. Now, what does noisome mean? Well, noisome is basically something that smells very offensively, okay. So think about this men are having these sores in their body and it's aside from the fact that they're extremely painful. They also smell Okay, they're just putrid they smell And maybe you have some experience of that. I don't know. I have 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 burnt up all the green grass is burned up The earth is being affected but men on earth are actually are always also excuse me being affected given this sore that's painful and Smelly, okay look at uh revelation chapter eight So 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 the 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 This is if it's killing a third part of the marine life and it's making the 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, okay 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 Okay. Now I don't know if you've ever smelled a dead fish before I smelled dead fish But I mean, you know, there's videos out there of like dead whales exploding and how horrible it smells when they explode How many guys 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, you know 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 uh I know that's not you know, hey be thankful you're saved. Hey, man You don'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 Well, 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 3 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. So it just kind of kills everything off Okay, so no more fishing No more using it for import exports. I mean, it's 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 you know experiencing that 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, okay 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, okay And you know, we can get into all that how the star of bethlehem in my opinion This was probably an actual angel not a literal star because it was moving and it led the y The the the wise men to go find jesus christ, etc 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 those the water and and 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 poison 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 though 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 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 Uh 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 Okay, he's 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 on 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 preached this sermon called 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 him 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 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's 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 a baton. Okay Um, I could say a lot about that, but we'll stop there Okay. So the third trumpet is wormwood. Now. Let me read you from revelation 16 verse 4 regarding the third vial Very much similar to what we see with the third trumpet It says in verse 4 the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters And they became blood and heard the angel of the waters say thou art righteous. Oh lord, which which are and was then shall be Because that was judged thus for they have shed the blood of saints and prophets And that 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 judgment 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 Okay And so that is the third trumpet and third vial look at 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 the 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 The 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. This is 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 uh 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 Right the sky and um 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 You know because of the atmosphere and 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's kind of it kind of works out with what's going on here now look at revelation chapter 8 and verse 13 So these four trumpets and four vials are pretty bad like If I was living in that time, I'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 by the atmosphere Because of the ultraviolet radiation that's coming through It's 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 whoa means like Whoa, it means like curse Because he talks about revelation 13, uh 813. 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 inhabitants 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 you think that was bad That's nothing compared to what's coming next That was just like a an appetizer judgment Okay, that's just kind of setting the foundation Because the next things we're going to the next couple things we're going to look at Obviously what we just saw with the four trumpets is the four vials is very supernatural but the supernatural Uh 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 whoa referring to the fifth trumpet It says in verse number one the fifth angel sounded and I saw a 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 they 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 strikeeth 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, uh in the in the coming verses But we see locust coming out of hell okay 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, okay? Because the only people at this time who have the seal of god on their foreheads are the 144,000 Okay, 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 9 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 gonna 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 You 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 referring to 144,000 of the current israel Okay, because you won't find those tribes existing today If the bible is giving us a specific tribe in the new testament right Regarding end times it's obviously referring to old testament saints when the tribe still existed at that point so these men Uh, 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 haven't worked to accomplish The 144,000 are coming to 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 poor In the old testament they 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 444,000 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 reign 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 It's 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 It's 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 things regarding that just a bit look at verse seven the shapes of the locusts were likened to horses Prepared into battle and on their heads were as 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 gotta look like that, too This is a terrifying sight I mean it Let's just say this, you know, if there's like a woman in in the street, okay She's got 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 look 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. All right It's 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 Disappearance 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 it's 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? They they shall desire to die and the 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 year say things like that or it's just like man We'll seek to die and blow their brains out. They can't die or someone's gonna be like zombies It's like all right, dude, until kid, you know, you're out there This is what I believe this is actually talking about is the fact that these scorpions have a paralyzing effect on their victims So there's things 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 You know, they come right back and they sting them and they're just and this happens for five months Okay and so, uh This is a miserable existence And you know, I guess there are some things worse than dying which is being tormented for five months by these locusts Okay 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 to add more terror to this scenario Let me read 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 key the the the anti-crisis king over the entire world right his seed 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 That's 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 in 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 were 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 they're just like I still don't want to get saved It's crazy look at revelation 9 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 It 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 two hundred thousand thousand 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 loose from the great river euphrates? And it's of my opinion that this is referring to those four chariobims that were guarding the tree of life In genesis chapter three, okay Okay These four angels are designated to lead These 200 million horsemen Who are going to breathe out fire brimstone and asphyxiate the population with smoke? Okay Now who are the 200 million horsemen? It's also my humble belief that it's probably referring to also believers Okay 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 a red black and grizzled Okay And so, uh, you have these horsemen and these are the horsemen according to zechariah that are sentenced to 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 was like, oh i'm gonna jack that idea You know, i'm gonna send out four horsemen of the apocalypse, you know, 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 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 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 And they're like, all right, 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's 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 wouldn't be well, you know, let's just let me just lock myself in my vehicle Oh, what did they just break through the window and just blow smoke in there and just suffocate you, right? And you know, it'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 uh, this uh, 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, just like I can't really figure this thing out. He made the octopus made you So 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 locus 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 symbolic. This is already fulfilled pastor 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're sent to torment men. Okay, and no, uh, titus is not a polyon either It's a symbolic hell it's a symbolic representation the locus are symbolic represent the 200 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 the 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 repented out of their deeds, I think it's just kind of generalizing That 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 are 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 this? I mean didn't he do supernatural things in the old testament? In the land of egypt plaguing the land of egypt with 10 plagues and do you know, you know stopping the sun Doing you know parting the red sea is anything too hard for god No, I think these are literal things that are taking place. Okay It says in verse 20 the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues Yet 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 sixth 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 the 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 gonna 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 understand 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. Whoa Look at revelation, uh 11 if you would revelation chapter 11 We're going to look at the third. Whoa So 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 past and behold a 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 in verse 16 the four and 20 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 reigned It's like, you know the presidential election Where the the polls aren't done yet, but there's there's 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 this 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 has destroyed them which destroyed the earth and the temple of god was opened in heaven And there was seen in his 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 into a 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 babylon 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 men 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 being poured out and really what that focuses on is the destruction of babylon Okay, and if you want to learn more about babylon you can read revelation 17 and 18 Two chapters that are specifically dedicated to the subject of babylon But babylon is guilty of various crimes and abominations but specifically against the prophets And so it's the whore of babylon 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 babylon You know babylon 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 babylon is the last essentially the last city to go Okay to be destroyed and there we conclude the seven trumpets and seven vials You see 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 him 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 forever more 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 it personal if someone rejects you at the door The lord brings out all the 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 seen 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 bless this as we go on our way. We love you We thank you pray this in jesus name. Amen