Revelation's 9

Guest (Male): As we read God's word, His Holy Spirit will change our life. As we listen to the words of the prophetic word, we will be drawn closer to Jesus. As we make a decision by His grace to keep those things that are in it, we will be secure from the powers of the enemy. This is Hope Lives 365 with Pastor Mark Finley. Today's message, Revelation 9. Enjoy and remember you can always catch up with past messages and stay up to date with Hope Lives 365 and Pastor Mark by going to hopelives365.com. And now, Pastor Mark Finley.
Mark Finley: The book of Revelation is the revelation of Jesus Christ. We have been studying Revelation chapter by chapter. We've gone through the first seven chapters. We're on Revelation chapter 8. And if you've missed any of the previous broadcasts, you can go back and pick them up at our website on one place. So you can go back and get our previous broadcasts there. I know you're going to want to have a complete view of the book of Revelation and you want to be studying each of these presentations in harmony with your Bible. You know, there's an old poem that says, "What says the Bible, the blessed Bible to me? The teachings of men so often mislead me. But this my only question be, what says the Bible, the blessed Bible to me?" If you have any questions about what we have been teaching in the book of Revelation, please just go back to your Bible. Read that chapter again through the eyes of scripture, study the chapter, and look at the symbols. Let the Bible explain itself and I'm sure that the Holy Spirit will lead you and guide you as you with honest heart study His word. You know, in John 7, verse 17, it says that if any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine. So understanding truth is a matter of the heart as much as the mind. There are many brilliant people who are deceived when it comes to truth. But if we approach the Bible with an honest heart, God will reveal His truth to us. With that background, let's launch right into Revelation chapter 8. Revelation has 22 chapters and we are about a third of the way through now. Let's go to the seven trumpets, Revelation chapter 8, verse 1. When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. Silence in heaven for about half an hour. Why? Well, all heaven is emptying because Jesus is coming to get His people. The question that is answered in chapter 7 that we studied in our last presentation is raised actually in chapter 6. Remember at the end of chapter 6 in Revelation, it says, "Who will be able to stand?" And many run for the rocks and mountains to fall on them. The answer is Revelation 7: men and women that are totally committed to Christ, men and women that the Bible calls virgins. They didn't compromise themselves with false doctrine. They didn't go whoring after the world. They were not harlots in the biblical sense where they separated themselves from the true lover, Jesus. You remember in James chapter 4, verse 4, it says, "You adulterers and adulteresses, friendship with the world is enmity against God." So these men and women follow the lamb wherever they go. They're totally committed to Christ. They go where Jesus leads. Then it comes back to the seventh seal after we looked at the question in Revelation 6, "Who's going to be able to stand?", the answer in Revelation 7, those that are totally committed to Christ, then it comes back on Revelation 8, verse 1, where it says that there be silence in heaven. The angels are so excited that every angel leaves heaven with Jesus to come to get us. Verse 2: "And I saw the seven angels who stand before God and to them were given seven trumpets. Then another angel stood having a golden censer, and he came and stood at the altar and was given much incense that he should offer it with the prayers of the saints upon the golden altar before the throne." Now it's exciting for me to know that as I kneel before God and as my prayers ascend before God as incense, that Jesus mingles His righteousness with my prayers. Even at times my prayers have selfishness because they come through the corrupt channels of my selfish humanity. Jesus knows all about that and He interprets my prayers like fragrant incense before the throne of God so they smell good to the Father. That's wonderful, isn't it? Jesus takes the needs of my heart. Jesus takes the desires of my mind. He takes all of my earthliness and all of my tainted humanness and He mixes it with the perfume of His grace and the incense of His love and He brings up to the Father so that it is acceptable to Him. Even when you pray with stammering lip and faltering tongue, know that Jesus mixes His incense with that. And you know, in Romans chapter 8, the Bible talks about how the Holy Spirit interprets our prayers to the Father. It says in Romans 8, verse 27, "Now He who searches the hearts knows the mind of the Spirit because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God." And if you go back to verse 26, "Likewise the Spirit helps our weaknesses, for we do not know what we should pray as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered." So the Holy Spirit takes the feebleness of my language and presents it before the throne of God. And Jesus perfumes it with His righteousness. Jesus presents it in the beauty of His own character to the Father. The scripture talks about the fact that Jesus Himself is our great intercessor and this is the picture that's given here in Revelation chapter 8 and verse 2. When we go to Revelation 8, verse 5, it says, "Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire, threw it to the earth, there were noises, thunderings, and lightnings and an earthquake." See, this is the language of judgment. The seven trumpets are God's sevenfold judgments down the seven major ages of church history. In the Bible, trumpets heralded two things. They heralded great gatherings, political or religious, like they heralded the great time of the Day of Atonement. Secondly, trumpets always heralded the approach of disaster or war. They were really trumpets of war, trumpets of judgment. There are seven trumpets that go forth in Revelation chapter 8 and 9. The first trumpet, as I'll show you as we study these, is a trumpet that is a little bit different, but it is the same sequence as the rest. Now, you remember the seven churches that we studied: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea. They show you seven different aspects of spiritual life in every age. The purpose of the seven churches is to show you spiritual life and the internal spiritual qualities of believers. In the seven churches when we studied them, we saw that there were seven literal churches, but we also saw that those seven churches represented epics or periods of time. They showed us the internal spiritual life of every church. The seven seals that we studied next in Revelation 6 and 7 showed us how Christianity made an impact on society. So the whole purpose of the seven seals was to show us how the church impacted society or how society impacted the church. The purpose of the seven trumpets is to show God's judgments on a people who've apostatized from Him. So in the first trumpet, one of the judgments comes upon Jerusalem that turned its back on Christ. Second, you have judgments on Western Rome. You have judgments on apostate Christianity. And as these judgments on apostate Christianity intensify, it's the same sequence. Then in trumpet five, judgments upon the Eastern Roman Empire in the Muslim invasions. And here is where Islam is introduced. Then trumpet six, you have judgments in the days of Islam and that intensify. Then you have judgments upon all humanity. There are seven trumpets in Revelation chapter total. Revelation chapter 8, we have the first four. Revelation chapter 9, we have the last three. So let's look at these trumpets and go through the symbolism of them. We're going to start with Revelation 8, verse 7. The first angel sounded and hail and fire mingled with blood and they were thrown to the earth and a third of the trees were burned up and all the green grass was burned up. So the first trumpet, just in literal language, what we know for sure is this: that there's destruction in that first trumpet. But you say, what's being destroyed? Is there any clue here of where these trumpets start? There are two clues in the starting or where to begin these trumpets. There's a principle in understanding prophecy if you violate it, you get all mixed up. If you go to Daniel's day, there was an image in Daniel 2: the head of gold, breast and arms of silver, thighs of brass, legs of iron, feet of iron and clay. The head of gold always begins in Daniel's day, Babylon. So in sequence prophecy in the Bible, God always begins where the prophet is, where the prophet is living that age. In Daniel, you remember in Daniel 7, you have the lion, the bear, the leopard, the dragon. The lion represents Babylon. And in that day, Daniel's living in the Babylonian empire. When you come to the seven churches, you begin with Ephesus. The church begins in John's day and takes you down to the book of Revelation. You remember the first church is Ephesus. It means "desirable". But they would lose their first love. And so the New Testament church was desirable, faithful to true doctrine, passionate about sharing God's grace, passionate about protecting the truths of the word of God, but they lost their first love. They substituted duty for devotion, doing for being. So Ephesus begins in John's day, but those seven churches go down to Laodicea, the last of the churches. And the word Laodicea means the church of the judgment hour or end time. So from the first century to the last century. So in sequence prophecy, if you're starting here, you always start where the prophet is. Then you go to the next generation, the next generation, the next. By this prophetic law of interpretation, if I have to start in John's day, I have to start on the island of Patmos here with the trumpets. I have to start some place in the late first century. There's another interesting clue. Sometime God gives you clues and it says in verse 7, "The first angel sounded and the hail followed mingled with blood." So that's destruction. They're thrown to the earth and a third of the trees were burned up and the green grass was burned up. I wonder if that means trees burned up. Can anybody think in the Old Testament of what the symbolism of a tree is? Psalms puts it this way in Psalm 1. It says he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of the waters. Often in the Old Testament, God uses fresh green trees as symbols of His people. When Jesus talked about the destruction of Jerusalem, He used the language of this text. If you take your Bible and you go back to the book of Matthew where, and then we look as well, Luke. Because I think Luke is even clearer than Matthew. So let's concentrate on the Luke passage. Let's go to Luke 23, verse 29 to 31. "For indeed the days are coming in which they will say, blessed are the barren, the wombs that have never bore and the breasts that have never nursed." What's Jesus talking about? Jesus is on the way to the cross and just before that in verse 28, the daughters of Jerusalem. He says to them, "Don't weep for me, but weep for yourselves." Why should the daughters of Jerusalem be weeping for themselves? What was going to come upon Jerusalem? The whole city was going to be destroyed. They were going to be burned up when Roman armies came down in 70 AD to destroy the city and they would not leave one green tree in the city. Tens of thousands were going to be killed. Blood would run in the streets. But notice what Jesus says in verses 30 and 31. "Then they will begin to say to the mountains, fall on us, and to the hills cover us. For if they do these things with a green tree or green wood, what will be done to the dry?" This is the prophecy here. He said you're going to crucify me on the cross and I am the tree of righteousness. You are like mini-trees. But if you reject me and put me on the cross, what's going to happen? The Roman soldiers are going to come down and cut down every tree in Jerusalem and destroy you. John predicts this in the blowing of the first trumpet. These are the trumpets of God in the judgments on humanity that the Jewish leaders turn their back on Christ. Now don't misunderstand me. There were thousands and thousands of Jews that came to Jesus and they made up the foundation of the Christian church. So Jesus gives us seven examples of this in the blowing of the trumpets. The first example is example one. God's trumpet blows and the nation and its people that have turned their back on Jesus are destroyed in the destruction of Jerusalem. Who destroyed them? Rome. There are those Christians that hung fast to Christ and the Roman government persecuted them. So Jesus said to Rome, you too will have my judgments. Now let's go to the second trumpet. You'll notice verse 8: "The second angel sounded and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood." Often in the Bible, a mountain represents a kingdom. So now you have a second epic. The kingdom or the mountain that overthrew Jerusalem, that kingdom itself would be destroyed. You have the barbarian tribes coming down. You have this prophecy: the Vandals, the Visigoths, the Ostrogoths and the other barbarian tribes come down on Rome and it's totally destroyed. The Roman empire was destroyed. Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD. Rome rises, it rules for a while, but from 300 AD to 500 AD, the barbarians come down and just as there was a judgment on Jerusalem, when Rome drifted from God, there's a judgment on Rome and Rome falls. Then we come to the third trumpet. Now follow me closely. These trumpets are falling parallel to the churches and the plagues. We are now after the destruction of the Roman empire some place between 3 and 500 AD. Now what happens? What do we call this period? Well, after the destruction of the Roman empire from 3 to 500, we have another long period of time from about 500 AD to about 1200. And what do we call this period? We call it the Dark Ages. Now look at something fascinating in verse 10 of Revelation 8. "The third angel sounded and a great star fell from heaven like a burning torch." Think with me carefully, a great star fell from heaven. In the Bible, what does a star represent? We need to go to Revelation 1:20, last part. "The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand and the seven golden candlesticks." The seven stars are what? The angels. So a star represents what? An angel. Satan was one of the stars of heaven. And you remember his tail drew a third part of the stars of heaven. That's the angels. In Luke 10, verse 18, it says, "I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning." This is a reference to Satan, the third angel sounds and a great star fell from heaven burning like a torch. This is a reference obviously to Satan. He fell previous to this time. He fell before the creation of this world. He was cast out of heaven. But it says this star fell on a third of the rivers and springs of waters. What in the Bible are the springs of water? Take your Bible and turn to Isaiah chapter 12, verse 3. What are the springs of water? See, all of these symbols are explained, they make sense. "Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation." What are the springs of water? The well of salvation. Let's look at some more texts about the springs of water. Look, for example, at Proverbs 13, verse 14. Because Satan is going to do something to the spring of water. "But the law of the wise is a fountain of life to turn one away from the snares of death." So the law of God is like a fountain of life, it's like the spring of water. The word of God is that spring. So what happens during the Dark Ages is Satan introduces a poison into the fountain of life. He poisons the very word of God and he substitutes tradition for the word, human teachings for God's word. So during the Dark Ages, when church and state unite, that is the third trumpet period. He says in Revelation 8, verse 11, the name of the star is Wormwood and a third of the waters became wormwood. What does wormwood mean? Wormwood means punishment for apostasy. That's the root of the word. The root of that is apostasy. The devil comes into the church, church and state unite during the Dark Ages, images come into the church, man-made teachings come into the church. God says that's enough and my judgments are going to fall upon the church. In the first trumpet, judgments fall upon Israel because as a corporate whole they turn their back on God and turn away from God's grace. In the second trumpet, judgments fall upon pagan Rome. Why? Because pagan Rome was a persecutor of God's people. In the third trumpet judgment, trumpets, in the third trumpet judgment, judgments fall upon the apostate church in the Middle Ages. That apostasy intensifies in the Dark Ages as truth is compromised more and more. Let's look at verse 12. "The fourth angel sounded and a third of the sun was struck and a third of the moon and a third of the stars so that a third of them were darkened and a third of the day did not shine and likewise the night." What do you know about Jesus? John 8, verse 12, the Bible says Jesus is the light of the world. The Bible says darkness and gross darkness will cover the people. In the Dark Ages, truth was compromised. And so God allowed His judgments to fall. What is the message of Revelation chapter 8? It is that if you compromise truth, you see there are practical lessons in every chapter. If you compromise truth like Israel did, the judgments of God will fall. If you compromise truth like the Romans did, the judgments of God will fall. If you compromise truth like took place when church and state united in the Middle Ages, the judgments of God will fall. God still sits upon His throne. God still reigns over all. God still is a God of justice and mercy. His mercy reaches out to a race. His love reaches out to them. There's always justice. Justice is an aspect of God's character. The trumpets are blowing. I wonder, can you hear the trumpets blowing? The trumpets that herald a gathering? Trumpets that announce the final judgment? Can you hear the trumpets? God is gathering a people. I hear the sound of the trumpet. The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God. I hear the trumpet of gathering, that trumpet that God's people from north to south, from east to west are going to be gathered together into Him. I hear the trumpets of judgment gathering and the trumpets of war gathering in this world and I want to be ready when that final trumpet blows. What about you? You may be asking, Pastor Mark, how can I be ready for the coming of Jesus? How can I be ready in these last days? Let's let the book of Revelation answer that question. We go back to Revelation chapter 1. In the book of Revelation, God is appealing to us. He's appealing to us strongly to be ready when He comes again. And here in Revelation chapter 1, we read: "Blessed is he," verse 3, "who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep the things that are therein." As we read God's word, His Holy Spirit will change our life. As we listen to the words of the prophetic word, we will be drawn closer to Jesus. As we make a decision by His grace to keep those things that are in it, we will be secure from the powers of the enemy. In Revelation chapter 1, verse 5, the Bible talks about the blood of Jesus Christ cleansing us from all sin. The book of Revelation is a book about Jesus. About His grace, about His mercy, about His goodness, about His compassion. It is a book that shares with us the principles of eternal life. Did you recall in Revelation chapter 7, it talks about a group of people that says, Revelation 7, verse 9 and 10: "After these things I looked and behold a great multitude which nobody could number of all the nations, tribes, peoples and tongues standing before the throne and before the lamb, clothed with white robes with palm branches in their hand and crying with a loud voice saying salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the lamb." Salvation belongs to our God. And remember in Revelation 5, they sang a new song, verse 9: "You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain and you've redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe, every tongue and people and nation. You've made us kings and priests to God. You are worthy to open the seals because you were slain and you've redeemed us by your blood." What does it mean to live in God's kingdom? How can we avoid being struck with the judgments of God? Open your heart to Jesus. Allow Jesus to enter your life. Enable Jesus to fill you with His Holy Spirit. And as you do, tell Him that all you want is what He wants.
Guest (Male): You've been listening to Hope Lives 365 with Pastor Mark Finley. We hope you've enjoyed today's message and remind you that you can find more in our many ministry resources at hopelives365.com. And you can support this ministry by going to hopelives365.com/donate. And now, a final thought from Pastor Mark.
Mark Finley: Open your heart to His saving grace. Open your heart to the wooing of His spirit. Open your heart to the gift of eternal life that He so freely offers. Will you do that right now as we pray? Father in heaven, thank you that as we study about the judgments of God falling upon the disobedient, thank you that we can avoid those judgments by opening our heart to Jesus and living for Him now and through all eternity. Thank you for your blood that covers our sins. Thank you for your grace that pardons our past and empowers our future. Thank you, dear Jesus, for the gift of eternal life that is ours through your grace. In Christ's name, amen.