God's Trumpets
The Book of Revelation (the great comfort) • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 1 viewThere is a sense in which the present age is man’s day; he is free to do what he wants within certain limitations. It is also Satan’s day, during which the “god of this age” (2 Cor. 4:4) has been granted certain liberties within the parameters of God’s purposeful, sovereign tolerance. But God will not permit the present state of affairs to continue forever.
Notes
Transcript
INTRODUCTION
Few spiritual disciplines are more difficult and daunting to cultivate in our lives than the discipline of prayer. One reason is that it is hard work.
Another reason is that we fail to see the immediate benefits. It seems to be wasted time and effort for little return in our lives.
Oswald Chambers “My Utmost for His Highest”
“Prayer does not fit us for the greater work; prayer is the greater work”
When we look at Romans 8 we see what God does with our prayers in the context of future and climactic spiritual warfare.
Revelation 8-9 contains the second great series of judgments: the seven trumpets. Revelation began with a greeting from the Trinity and an incredible vision of the exalted Lord Jesus Christ who walks among His churches.
Chapters 2-3 make up the seven historical churches and encouragement and admonishment for them.
Chapter 4 takes a drastic turn as he is told, “come up here, and I will show you what must take place.
Chapter 5 focuses on God the son as He takes the scrolls from the Father and reminds us that God has the right to do as He pleases with the earth and those who dwell there.
Chapter 6 contains the seal judgments and introduces us to the four horsemen of the Apocalypse.
Chapter 7 is somewhat of an interlude or break from the action, that teaches us that in the midst of the great judgment there is still mercy, God is not through with the Jews, and the tribulation will also be a time of great revival as “a vast multitude… which no one can number will be gathered and washed clean for the coming of the Lamb.”
Now the judgment of God on the planet will continue with the blowing of the trumpets. The seventh seal will be broken which contains the seven trumpets.
God unfolds an Amazing Truth
Our prayers ascend to heaven and unleash the power of God in judgment on evil. They Matter! They work for God’s glory and our good.
1 When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. 2 Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. 3 And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, 4 and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. 5 Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.
1. All Mouths are shut before the King of Glory.
1. All Mouths are shut before the King of Glory.
“When the Lamb broke the seventh seal there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.”
We now have a dramatic pause in the action that makes even more impressive the judgments that are about to fall upon the earth. We find this depicted in several similar places in the Old Testament.
20 But the Lord is in his holy temple;
let all the earth keep silence before him.”
7 Be silent before the Lord God!
For the day of the Lord is near;
the Lord has prepared a sacrifice
and consecrated his guests.
13 Be silent, all flesh, before the Lord, for he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.
Exalting Jesus in Revelation (His Authority Is Awesome to Contemplate (8:1))
John MacArthur summarizes the situation succinctly when he says, “The hour of God’s final judgment had come—the hour when the saints will be vindicated, sin punished, Satan vanquished, and Christ exalted”
*His Authority Silences all Creation
*His Authority Silences all Creation
We see silence used in general reference in scripture to the Wicked being silenced by God.
However, we also see silence used to avoid sinning as with the tongue. Letting our words be few before the throne of God.
“But the Lord is in His holy temple be silent.” “The day of the Lord is near, be silent.” “Be silent.... for he is roused (awakened) from His holy dwelling place.”
The authority of the one who is about to unleash His judgment on His creation causes all of Creation to stand still in silence before the throne of His righteous judgement on the world. The day is coming with there will be no more words to say or excuses to make for not believing and following Jehovah God the one who was, and is, and is to come. The God who saves us from our wretched sinful life and now seals us for the day of His coming.
Now prayer lays hold of the link between His will and it’s accomplishments here on Earth.
How many smells are there? It’s an odd question, but give it some thought. Mentally flip through the pages of your personal smell catalog.
Author Avery Gilbert explores estimates from various scientists, fragrance manufacturers, and chemists who suggest that humans can detect anywhere from 10,000 to 30,000 different smells. Researchers have found that no two people smell things the same way. There’s a scientific reason for it, and it all has to do with your DNA.
There are about 400 genes coding for the receptors in our noses, and there are more than 900,000 variations of those genes. These receptors control the sensors that determine how we smell odors. A given odor will activate a suite of receptors in the nose, creating a specific signal for the brain.
Scripture often speaks of the uniqueness of fragrances. For example, 1) Christians spread the fragrance of Christ to others. Some people will be attracted and others will be repelled (2 Cor. 2:14-16); 2) Our prayers and sacrifice are a pleasing aroma to God (Ex. 29:18).
What do you think you are praying when you pray “your kingdom come, and your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
In essence we are asking God to save us from ourselves and our flawed plans and unwillingness to embrace God’s kingdom desires and His kingdom plans.
So, God’s work has not been fully realized on earth yet. Thy kingdom come is not just an expectant yearning for the coming of Christ int he future, even though this longing is contained in the plea. But Thy Kingdom come also expresses the prayerful desire of Christ’s established Kingdom to be realized here and now.
However, are we not also praying that God’s kingdom would be fulfilled, which, includes His coming and impending judgment on the earth and all who choose not to follow Him into the new kingdom of God that He is establishing.
2. Judgement on Earth Falls from our Prayers to God
2. Judgement on Earth Falls from our Prayers to God
“The culmination of praying your kingdom come and will be done on earth as it is in heaven is now being fully realized in the events that are about to unfold on the earth.”
Prayers on Earth are Gathered in Heaven
David Platt Looking at Warfare praying in Revelation 8-11.
1. Our Battle is fierce! (there are demons who are fighting you and want to destroy you)
2. Our prayers are Effective! (Our cries go up and His Kingdom comes down).
3. Our God is faithful! (He will demonstrate His power, vindicate His people, extend His mercy, and uphold His justice).
Most people fail to see prayer than anything more than talking to God and best and most of the time we spend merely talking at God instead of true warfare praying.
NOTE: Now Look at what the presence of our prayers in Heaven have the power to unleash!
Now we see in the text that there is something sacrificial about genuine prayer. Both the believer and his prayer now enter the presence of God by way of the alter.
For centuries now the saints have prayed for His Kingdom to come, for His will to be done, for His kingdom to come to earth. Those prayers have not, nor will they ever be in vain. These are the prayers that Satan sought to block by his demonic host from getting through to heaven.
Satan has been working his scheme to get you to doubt whether God’s providential plan would even work or if He he is not really coming back for you. However, now the sweetest smell in the throne room and nostrils of God moves him to action and to bring His kingdom with Him.
Richard Trench -
“Prayer is not getting man’s will done in heaven, but getting God’s will done on earth. it is not overcoming God’s reluctance but laying hold of God’s willingness.”
The angel now takes the incense burner filled with fire from the alter and hurls it to the earth. The result is now again rumblings of thunder, flashes of lightening, and earthquake.
Now we are reminded that we do not need to avenge ourselves we leave room for the wrath of God.
19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”
The Day is coming soon when God will make all things right!
Adrian Rodgers
“God’s delays are not God’s Denials.”
6 Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them.
7 The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth. And a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.
*God is Sovereign in His judgment over the Earth.
The first trumpet blown by the angel causes hail and fire, mixed with blood to be thrown to the earth. So, a third of the earth was burned up, and all the grass was burned up.”
We have the picture here of the 7th plague of Egypt of hail and fire. Blood is also symbolic of terrible judgment. We also have the picture of blood sacrifices in the Old Testament to protect the Israelites against the terrible judgement and wrath of God.
Note:
These are just warning shots across the bow to warn people of the full wrath of God that is yet to fall, and in so bringing to bring them to repentance. Tragically most will not repent, as we will see in 9:20-21. These words fulfill what Jesus promised and prophesized in Luke 21:25-28. Jesus tells his followers that there will be signs and patterns of his coming judgment. However, in the day of the Lord, it reaches a crescendo. There will be no mistaking the hand of judgment of the Lord.
Nothing will escape this terrible judgment. The impact of these should rattle our bones in awe of God.
8 The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood. 9 A third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.
*God is Sovereign in His judgement on the Seas.
We are reminded that all of creation has been groaning since Adam and Eve were defeated by Satan in the garden of Eden.
22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.
The response to the prayers of the saints are now actually signs of Satan’s defeat and the prelude to creations redemption. When Christ returns it is not only His sealed children who get a make-over it is the whole of the heavens and the earth.
1/3 of the sea becomes blood. (picture of the first plague on the Egyptians)
1/3 of the living sea creatures are dead.
10 The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. 11 The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the water, because it had been made bitter.
*God is sovereign in His judgement over the Rivers and Springs
The third trumpet blows its blast and “Wormwood” falls from heaven on a third of the rivers and springs.
Many people die from its’ bitter poison. This is also reminiscent of the first Egyptian plague that contaminated the water source and a reversal of the experience of the children of Israel in the wilderness at Marah, where the Lord made bitter the drinkable water.
The word “wormwood” only appears here in the NT but appears eight times in the OT. The earth becomes even more acquainted with bitterness and death than it already is in God’s judgment.
*God is Sovereign in Judgment over the Starry Heavens.
The fourth trumpet blows its blast and a third of the starry heavens are darkened with and accompanying effect of darkness on the earth. The plague looks like the ninth plague in Egypt. It shows us that the day of the Lord will be darkness, no light.
We have a tendency to shake off many of the things in Revelation as merely symbols and not reality. They are symbols but they represent real catastrophic eschatological realities.
Bottom Line, we do not put our hope in created things. All things - even the most secure things like the light of the sun - all things in heaven and on earth are passing away.
Humanity has thumbed their noses at God for far too long saying, “I’ll live my life my way!” The purpose of the first four trumpets of judgement is primarily to disprove the earthly gods and to show that Yaweh alone is on the throne.
By walking back through the Egyptian plagues, God wants to make his omnipotence known to the world and to show the futility of turning against him.
Each of these first four judgments represent a much needed aspect of life in the ancient world and in the modern world today.
The material world has no answer for you.
The food source has no answer for you.
The celestial world has not answer for you.
Earthly things turn on us, and we dare not trust them with our Soul.
3. When God Uses Evil to Judge Evil.
3. When God Uses Evil to Judge Evil.
13 Then I looked, and I heard an eagle crying with a loud voice as it flew directly overhead, “Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, at the blasts of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow!”
Anytime the narrator uses the phrase, “to those who dwell on the earth,” we can assume that he is speaking of those who live in rebellion and unbelief before the true and living and Holy God.
1 And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. 2 He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft. 3 Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given power like the power of scorpions of the earth. 4 They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5 They were allowed to torment them for five months, but not to kill them, and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings someone. 6 And in those days people will seek death and will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them.
7 In appearance the locusts were like horses prepared for battle: on their heads were what looked like crowns of gold; their faces were like human faces, 8 their hair like women’s hair, and their teeth like lions’ teeth; 9 they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the noise of their wings was like the noise of many chariots with horses rushing into battle. 10 They have tails and stings like scorpions, and their power to hurt people for five months is in their tails. 11 They have as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon.
12 The first woe has passed; behold, two woes are still to come.
Martin Luther
“The Devil is still God’s Devil.”
Clearly Satan is both evil and powerful, but he is still under the authority of a sovereign Lord. There is only one sovereign God, and the Devil is not that God.
*Nothing happens unless God Wills it to Happen
*Nothing happens unless God Wills it to Happen
Nothing happens apart from the sovereign determination of God. The important truth is this: Ultimately nothing happens apart from Gods sovereign determination.
When it comes to evil and the wicked, destructive devices of Satan, demons, and even human persons, God is not the author of evil even as He, for His good purpose allows evil to exist in the world.
Habakkuk 1:5-11 is a prophecy in which God relates His intention to raise up Babylon, a “ruthless” and “dreaded” nation, to achieve His purpose. This raises the question, Does God sometimes use evil to accomplish His plans?
Here we see God using evil to turn on itself. God is using evil to judge evil in the world.
While God is not the author of sin, He can and does use sinful men to attain a Heavenly objective. Just as we read in Romans 8:28 that for those who love God all things work together for the good, for those who are called according to His purpose.”
“All things” include both good and evil things. God can use struggles, heartbreaks and tragedies in ways to bring about his glory and our good.
1)God is Sovereign in what He allows.
Watch How God orchestrates everything that takes place.
He tells the angel to blow the trumpet and they do it.
He gives Satan the key to the shaft of the abyss.
He tells the demons what they can do.
He puts limits on the torment they can inflict.
Rev. 9:1-6.
The fifth Angel Blew his trumpet
John saw a star fall from heaven to the earth. “Had fallen” is a perfect tense participle emphasizing a past event that had happened in the past time with continuing results.
This star is unlike the ones mentioned in chapter eight, this star is a personal pronoun. The statement is reminiscent of what Jesus said in Luke 10:18, “I watched Stan fall from heaven like a lightning flash.”
It would appear the best interpretation of this text is to assume that this is Satan and his fall from Heaven.
Satan given the key to the Abyss.
We are going to see as we move towards histories climactic end Satan is allowed to unleash a diabolical freedom on the earth that he was previously denied from doing. The key and therefore, the authority, “to the shaft of the abyss” - a prison house for demons and the dwelling place of the dead - is given to him by God. He opens it and immediately smoke, dark and hot, fills the air and darkness covers the sun. The beast, the antichrist, also will rise from the abyss.
We must remember that eventually the Devil will be imprisoned there for a thousand years following the second coming of Jesus.
Demons as Locust
The demons now emerge from the abyss in the form of locusts flood the earth. Power and authority are given to them like scorpions it is reminiscent of the eighth plague on Egypt and the locust vision of Joel 1-2. Notice the words to them were given reminding us of the fact that they have no authority of their own.
The Limitations given to the Locusts
Not to harm the vegetation.
The grass of the earth.
Any Plant
Finally comes or Tree (the form of plant life is the natural food of the locust.)
2. Instead they are to hurt people who are not sealed.
Again we see God’s setting a stark difference between those whom He has sealed and those who are sealed for destruction.
They can torment but not kill for five months. The life cycle of a locust was approximately May to September, or five moths. This text would also seem to indicate that the torment they will inflict will be physical - stinging and striking like that of a scorpion.
What is certain is that what they do to humanity is beyond what we can humanly imagine, and what they do is only what God allows them to do.
Humans May Suffer and Even Seek Death (9:5–6))
John MacArther
So intense will be the torment inflicted on unbelievers that in those days (the five months of v. 5) men will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, and death flees from them.
All hope is gone; there will be no tomorrow. The earth people have loved and worshiped will have been utterly devastated, the land ravaged by earthquakes, fires, and volcanoes, the sea filled with the putrefying bodies of billions of dead creatures, much of the fresh water supply turned into bitter poison, the atmosphere polluted with gases and showers of heavenly debris.
Then, worst of all, will come foul smoke from the pit of hell as the demons are released to spiritually and physically torment wicked people. The dream of a worldwide utopia under the leadership of Antichrist (the beast of 13:1ff.) will have died. Driven mad by the filth and vileness of the demon infestation, people will seek relief in death—only to find that death has taken a holiday. There will be no escape from the agony inflicted by the demons, no escape from divine judgment. All attempts at suicide, whether by gunshot, poison, drowning or leaping from buildings will fail. (Revelation 1–11, 261–62)
Rev. 9:7-12.
Demons are powerful and love to harm us.
When we speak of spiritual warfare today in the battle that is continually being waged in the heavenly places. If you saw this picture everyday would you change how you equipped for the battle. What picture comes to your mind. Do you see this picture of the vileness of Satan and his army. We know that they are considerable is size and terrifying in appearance.
Horses equipped for battle (are you daily equipping for the battle).
Golden Crowns (points to authority and power).
Faces like men (speaks of intelligence. They are cunning and cruel, wise and wicked).
Hair like a woman’s hair. (perhaps this is a picture of the seductiveness of their strategies, the lure and entice you).
Teeth like lions teeth. (they are fierce and have lethal power to attack).
Chest’s like Iron Breastplates. (tells us that they are virtually invulnerable).
Tails like Scorpions (indicates that they possess a painful sting that causes great agony and great suffering).
The sound of their attack and approach would strike fear into the hearts of anyone who would appose them. It is going to take a supernatural power greater than their own to defeat them.
Abaddon: The Hebrew word appears six times in the Old Testament and is derived from a verb that can mean “to become lost,” “to perish,” or “to destroy, or to kill.”
Apollyon: The Greek word translates to Abaddon in Hebrew. The word carries with it the connotation of “one who destroys.” Something more subtle, however, may have been in John’s use of Apollyon to translate Abaddon. John may have intended a direct attack on the Roman god Apollo and on the reigning emperor Domitian, who thought of himself as Apollo. Worshiper of Apollo had as one of their symbols for him as the locust.
Domitian was also behind the great persecution of Christians which is in the backdrop of this book, is identified as hell and destruction.
The god Shiva in Hinduism is known as “The Destroyer”......
Physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer
He was key in the Manhattan project that created the Atomic bomb which ended world war II. After the dropping of the bomb he declared. “Now I have become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”
Marvels Series ................
You have the “Destroyer of Worlds”.
“The picture of this judgement ends with “the first woe has passed.” There are still two yet to come.
13 Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar before God, 14 saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” 15 So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour, the day, the month, and the year, were released to kill a third of mankind. 16 The number of mounted troops was twice ten thousand times ten thousand; I heard their number. 17 And this is how I saw the horses in my vision and those who rode them: they wore breastplates the color of fire and of sapphire and of sulfur, and the heads of the horses were like lions’ heads, and fire and smoke and sulfur came out of their mouths. 18 By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed, by the fire and smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouths. 19 For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails, for their tails are like serpents with heads, and by means of them they wound.
20 The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, 21 nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.
The Sixth Trumpet
Consider these challenging words from J. Boyd Nicholson:
The gospel is not a tranquilizer for worried weaklings to help them sleep at night. It is not a mass of dead dogmas, deep frozen in some ancient cathedral to be carried as a burden through life and thawed out five minutes before death.
The gospel is not a list of religious rules and regulations to be strung around the soul like a lucky charm in case of accidents. No, the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is a message—and what a message! It is a living message from the living God for living people, just like us
Note: They had been prepared for the hour, day, month and year. This is a precise time in the course of human history. There is also a precise purpose, to kill one third of mankind. If you do the math now up to this point half of the earths population have died as a result of the seals and trumpet judgments.
200 million member army - is it composed of demons and humans?
Some connect army with the kings of the east in 16:12 and identify them with a human army.
Time Magazine noted more than 50 years ago that China claimed to have an army of 200 million (May 21, 1965). It is certainly possible, even reasonable, to believe that demons will work through human instruments in this day. Still the picture in front of us is of a massive number of demons.
Rev. 9:20-21.
*The Utter Depravity of the Human Heart has not Changed
*The Utter Depravity of the Human Heart has not Changed
1). Humans Love their Idols.
1). Humans Love their Idols.
Idolatry is at the Core of the human heart and the worlds existence. The rest of mankind refers to unrepentant unbelievers who did not die from the seal and trumpet judgments.
They refused to worship the God who created them but, they gladly worshiped the god’s of their hands. Romans 1:18-25 Paul writes that His invisible attributes are plain to see so that man is without excuse. They knew God but chose not to honor him as the God of the universe, the chose to worship the created over the creator. “Claiming to be wise they became fools.”
Don’t be a Fool, God will not be mocked, He is returning and bringing His kingdom with Him.
2). Humans Love their Immorality.
2). Humans Love their Immorality.
4 Particular sins that have plagued Humanity throughout history are liste.
Murders
Sorceresses
Sexual Immorality (Note: This includes any sexual activity that occurs outside of the marriage covenant between a man and a woman.)
Thefts (taking what does not belong to you).
“Once the heart is set in its hostility toward God, not even the scourge of death will lead people to repentance.”
CONCLUSION
Where do we go from here?
Satan, demons, and evil are real. Even though they are powerfully real - we must remember that they are on a Divine leash!
GOOD NEWS
God is working, however the Question for all of us to consider today,
ARE WE LISTENING?
ARE WE LISTENING?
Will we repent? Will we worship the God who made us, or will we worship the gods we make?