Events Leading to the Second Coming of Christ

I was contemplating giving today. It was still going to be on the second coming of Jesus Christ, but more of a technical sort of a thing. But the more I got to thinking about it as I was here and listening to the other messages, I felt a need to go a little bit of a different direction. You know, here we are, brethren, on the sixth day of the feast.

Within a few days, we'll be back home again. We'll be back at work. We'll be doing our various activities and so on and so forth. And I think it's important for us to realize that between now and the second coming of Jesus Christ, a lot is going to be taking place. A great deal. There are those that would tell you—not those in the church, but those on the outside—that would tell you that Christ could come at any time.

Well, that's really not true. There are certain things the Bible says are going to happen, need to happen. And they need to happen for mankind's sake, so the mankind learns certain lessons. And God, being the great teacher that he is, wants mankind to learn those lessons. So I thought what we would do today is go through prophecy—not as much death maybe as you would like, but maybe an overview as to what's going to be taking place between now and the time of the return of Jesus Christ.

I think that you can appreciate that. And again, as I made mention in the opening prayer, each and every one of us has to take a good look at ourselves as to where we are. Most of us in this room have been in the church for a fairly long period of time.

And therefore, to whom much is given, much is expected. And God is expecting a great deal from me. I'm sure he's expecting a great deal from you. And we want to ask ourselves how we're doing with all this, especially in light of prophecy.

You know, one of the big reasons God gives us prophecy is not just to foretell future events. But the biggest reason God gives us prophecy is so we look to ourselves and make sure we've got a good relationship with our Father in Heaven. And so we want to make sure we're thinking about that as we go through the Scriptures today. Let's begin by going to Revelation 11. We're going to kind of begin with the ending point.

I'm going to go full circle from this point. But let's take a look at Revelation 11 and verse 15. Here we've got one of the greatest prophecies in all of the Bible. A truly fantastic set of words that God has inspired here. And God has given us every word and placed them in His word just as He has wanted. But Revelation 11 and verse 15.

And then a seventh angel sounded, and there were loud voices in Heaven saying, The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His name. And He shall reign forever and ever. It doesn't get any better than that.

Of all the prophecies of the Bible, this one surely gets our attention, excites us, we look forward to this, and so forth. But again, there are other things that are going to be taking place prior to this point. Let's take a look over at Revelation 6. Revelation 6. Because here we see some of the seals being opened. As you are aware, the book of Revelation is covered by seven seals. That seventh seal divides into seven trumpets.

That seventh seal is also known as the Day of the Lord. The seventh seal that divides into seven trumpets, you've got those trumpets. We always talk about that on the Feast of Trumpets. That seventh trumpet, the last trump, divides into the seven last plagues. So you've got those three sevens. The seven seals, the seven seal divides into seven trumpets. That seventh trumpet divides into the seven last plagues. So here we see some of these seals that are being opened. We're not going to spend a lot of time on the first four.

But just in terms of getting our bearings, Revelation 6, verses 1 and 2, talk about the first seal, which is false religion, false Christ. You can put in your notes also Matthew 24, verses 4 and 5, because that also is relevant, and that's where Matthew 24 mirrors Revelation. Chapter 6, Revelation, verse 1, Now I saw when the lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, Come and see. And I looked, and behold, a white horse. He who sat on it had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.

Now, a lot of people who don't understand prophecy, who have not been given the gift of God's Holy Spirit, they think this is Jesus Christ. But this is not Jesus Christ. This is false religion. And brethren, the reason I even stop here at this point as part of an overview to look at this, is because this is where evil, this is where mayhem, this is where destruction originates with those individuals who are inspired not by God but by the other source, who teach and proclaim the wrong things.

And as a result of false Christianity, then we go to the next seal, seal number two, which is in Revelation chapter 6 here, verses 3 and 4. And in your notes, you might jot down as companion to that, Mark chapter 24 verses 6 and 7. So, verse 3 and 4. When he opened the second seal, I heard a second living creature say, Come and see. And a horse, fiery red, went out, and it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, that people should kill one another, and there was given him a great sword.

So, this second seal is the seal of war. And of course, all these first four seals, we know them as the four horsemen of the apocalypse, these have been taking place all through human history. But as we get closer to the end of the age, each and every one of these is going to intensify.

That first seal, false religion, we are going to have an antichrist. Somebody who's going to walk the planet, people are going to be very charismatic, may do great healings, great miracles, I'm sure he'll do those things. And the Bible talks about, if it were possible, he will deceive even us. Because it will look so enticing. So we will have that, and then, so far as the second seal, warfare. We've always had warfare on this planet. But as we get to the end of the age, we're going to get to the place where great percentages, and we'll look at this in a few minutes, great percentages of people are taken, and killed in war, until we finally come up with World War III, which we'll be talking about in a little bit.

We move down now to chapter, in chapter 6 here, to verse 5 and 6. One of the consequences of war is famine. And so we see this in Revelation 6, verses 5 and 6. Also, in your notes, you might jot down Matthew 24, verse 7. So let's look at verse 5 and 6. When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, Come and see. And so I looked, and behold, a black horse. And he was sat on it, and had a pair of scales in his hand.

And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures, saying, A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not harm the oil or the wine. And so here we're looking at how food is sparsely handed out, because as a result of warfare. You know, too many times we think about warfare, and of those who've not been in it, but we get to think the fact that through warfare, not only is life taken, and people maimed and injured, but also the whole ecosystem is hurt.

The ability to grow crops, the ability to have good water, and so forth. And that's what we're seeing here. So we've got famine here. We move on to verses 7 and 8, which is the fourth seal. This is disease epidemics. That's Revelation 6, verses 7 and 8. And also, Matthew 24, verse 7. So let's look at verse 7 and 8. When he opened the fourth seal, he heard the voice of the four living creatures, saying, Come and see.

So he looked, and behold, a pale horse. And the name of him who sat on it was death in Hades, followed with him. And power is given them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with the sword, with hunger, and with death, and by the beasts of the field.

Brethren, if you keep track in your notes, maybe on a margin or something, and you take a look, like we see in verse 8 here, a fourth of the planet, at this point, perishes. We're going to see a scripture later on in Amos that indicates, so far as Israel's concerned, this may be true for all mankind, that by the time the millennium begins, only one Israelite in ten.

We're talking about our peoples. We're talking the United States, Canada, Britain, Australia, New Zealand. By the time the millennium begins, maybe only one in ten has survived. Truly, wholesale carnage on a scale we have never seen before. And, of course, the Bible says, worst time ever. Now we move on to the fifth seal. I'm going to spend a little more time with the fifth seal. The fifth seal is the Great Tribulation. We see this in Revelation 6, verses 9-11. We also see it in Matthew 24, verses 21-22.

Let's read this, and then we'll begin to comment. We will spend some time on this. Revelation 6, verse 9. When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the Word of God, and for the testimony which they held.

So this is talking about our brothers and sisters in the faith, who have been martyred and years gone by, and centuries and millennia gone by. Verse 10. And they cried with a loud voice, He said, And it was long, O LORD, Holy and true, until you judge and avenge your blood and those who dwell on the earth.

You know, vengeance is God's, and God will repay. We'll get to that a little bit later. These ones who are dying, this is symbolic language here, they're saying, When are you going to return and set things right? Verse 11. Then a white robe was given to each of them, and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants who would be killed as they were was completed.

Brethren, what we're looking at here is a future martyrdom of the saints. What we're looking at is a time of horrendous trouble for the United States, for Canada, for the nations that we call the Israelites nations today, the descendants of the lost tribes, and spiritually, the Church of God. I know that we're going to look at some other scriptures that talk about how God is going to protect His people. But one of the things, brethren, I want us to appreciate and fully understand is that nobody, nobody, not one of us, has a guarantee that we are going to be fully protected.

I'm not doubting God's word one bit. But Jesus Christ was martyred, the original apostles, perhaps with the exception of John, were martyred. Paul was martyred. They certainly were faithful men, true men, good men. It wasn't a matter that they were kind of lay at a scene or something like that. Now, God will protect His people, and you may be protected, but then maybe you or I won't be. And so it's incumbent upon us to be strong spiritually, because we don't know if we're going to be one, so we'll go through this. Some years ago, I gave a two-part series of sermons talking about, are we as tough as Jesus Christ?

We think about Jesus Christ as being how loving He was and merciful, and He certainly was. But Jesus Christ was tough. Satan the devil had a target on His back 24-7, 365. He couldn't take one second off from being perfect. Otherwise, He would not be our Savior. And, brethren, as you and I live during these days, we need to be growing in faith. We need to be strong spiritually. We need to know the Word of God, because there's coming some very, very difficult times and if Christ comes in our day, then the things we're about to read today, we will be experiencing.

And we may well go through what we see here in Revelation 6, verses 9-12. I'm going to take a... Mr. Armstrong, when he wrote about the Book of Revelation, talked about inset chapters. I'm going to pull out of this a little bit in terms of time sequence and talk a little bit more about this great tribulation since it affects us and our being ready.

Let's turn over to Revelation 12. Revelation 12 is what Mr. Armstrong used to call an inset chapter. This chapter catches us up on church history. Revelation 12, verse 12. Therefore, rejoice, O heavens, and you dwell in them, but woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea, for the devil has come down to you having great wrath, because he knows he has a short time. Great wrath. Well, what kind of wrath does he have now? His wrath now is bad enough. But in the future, when he's really upset, when he's really mad, because he knows that there's only so much longer that God's going to give him to torment humankind, he's really going to come after Israel as a nation, as a group of nations, the lost tribes nations, and also the others, and then us as well, spiritually.

Verse 13. Now, when a dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. So here we see persecution of the church being spoken of. The woman represents the people of God at the end of the age, and Satan is going to try to be as destructive toward us as possible. This is why we need to be spiritually tough. We need to understand where our footing is.

We need to make sure we've got a solid foundation, because if our foundation is built on chalk, Satan understands that. He'll take a sledgehammer to our foundation, and we will fall. So we need to be very careful. Now, it's important, brethren, when we're looking at this portion of history that we call the Great Tribulation, that we understand something.

Let's take a look at verse 14. Verse 14 of same chapter, Revelation 12. But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle. That's language very similar to what God said to Israel when he brought Israel out of Egypt. But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness to her place. Now, I don't know, brethren, whether we have a place of safety or not. There are indications we might, but, you know, there are only indications.

But here, this is one of those indications. To her place. A place of safety. But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness to her place. Where she's nourished for a time and times and half a time from the presence of the serpent. So some of God's people will be protected for three and a half times. A time in biblical chronology is one year.

So two times is two years. So you've got three years there than a half a time. So you've got three and a half years. Each year, prophetically, is 360 days. So when you add all that up, 360 and then twice times two, 360, then half of 360, you come to 1260 days. Three and a half years.

That three and a half year period, that is the last three and a half year period before the return of Jesus Christ. It's also known as the time of the Gentiles. So please keep that in mind in terms of what's taking place.

So three and a half years prior to the return of Christ, Satan starts making war upon the physical people and the spiritual people of God. I would like you now to turn over to the book of Joel. Again, we're going to stay on this subject. We're kind of going to cut to the back end of this idea here of our people being subjugated. Joel 3 and verse 1. The minor prophets. Joel 3 and verse 1.

Joel 3, 1, For behold, in those days and at that time, when I bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem, when I bring them back, the book of Joel, the theme of the book of Joel is the day of the Lord. And as I mentioned to you earlier, the day of the Lord are those seven trumpets that spring from the seventh seal. So we're looking at the end of the age. This book deals mostly with the end of the age. And at the end of the age, you've got the captivity of God's people. The captivity of God's people. Not only in the Holy Land, but brethren, by the time the heavenly signs begin. And please hear me. There is no United States of America any longer. We are through as a political entity. We will have been conquered. Our people will have been scattered to the Four Winds. Our population will have been tremendously reduced through warfare and things we're about to read. No longer a United States. No longer a Canada. No longer an England or an Australia or a New Zealand. It's for this reason, brethren, we take up offerings we give of our tithes. It's for this reason we put out a warning message to the world. These are horrendous things we're thinking about and talking about. And these things will take place before the return of Jesus Christ. So we need to be very much aware of that.

You know, it pains me as I drive around the countryside and I look at my fellow Americans realizing, boy, if we don't repent as a nation, as Nineveh repented, if we don't repent as a nation, then there's some really bad times coming for our people, and my family, and your family, and our next-door neighbors, and our coworkers. And hopefully that will energize us for doing the work that God has called us to do. Let's go to Jeremiah 16.

Here's an interesting comment that Jeremiah makes about this time in history. So in terms of time scale here, what we've got is the Great Tribulation has started. The United States has gone down. I think as you see the moral fiber of our nation, as you see the leadership in our nation, you can see why those things are going to be taking place. But notice what Jeremiah says.

You know, after...you know, this is right around the time of the return of Jesus Christ. We're fast forwarding a little bit through all the mayhem here. But notice what Jeremiah says here. Jeremiah 16, verse 14. Jeremiah 16, 14. Therefore, behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that it shall no more be said, the Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt. But the Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north and from the lands where he had driven them.

For I will bring them back into their land, which I gave to their fathers. We think about the Red Sea incident. We think about that. We talk about that during the days of Unleavened Bread. But there is coming a second exodus of God's people, of our United States citizens, and Brits, and Canadians, and Australians, and what have you. There's going to be a second exodus. And this will be even greater, Jeremiah says. Why? Well, the first exodus, God's people came out of one nation. But with this second exodus, in the future, our peoples will be coming from all over the world, where they've been scattered, as slave labor.

As slave labor. You know, that's a comment that you and I don't think much about. Slave slaves. But this afternoon, as you are listening to Mr. Kubik, understand that both of his parents were in the slave labor camp in World War II. Understand that about his background. Let's turn to the book of Ezekiel. Ezekiel chapter 5. Ezekiel chapter 5. As you came into the church, you probably cut your teeth on this, in terms of your knowledge of prophecy.

We don't tend to talk about this as much these days, but it's still very much here in the Scriptures. Ezekiel chapter 5 verse 1. And you, son of man, take a sharp sword, take it as a barbarous razor, and pass it over your head and your beard, and then take the scales to weigh and divide the hair. So here we see something that's important to understand. And verse 1.

This is a warning to the nation of Israel and the people of God's church as well. Shaving the head, a forced shaving of the head, was a sign of disgrace, was a sign of humiliation. You've probably seen documentaries about World War II, as an example, and when our troops would liberate a city in Europe. And so many times you would have various kinds of collaborators in that city who dealt with the enemy against their own people, their own nation, their own cities. And the men would be treated a certain way.

In many cases, the ladies, as collaborators, they were taken to the town square. Their hair was just chopped off. And everyone realized what that woman had done. Of course, men were also worked with much along similar lines. So here we've got something here that we need to appreciate. Verse 2. You shall burn with fire one-third in the midst of the city. When the days of the siege are finished. So there's a tremendous siege coming.

This is talking about when our nation is under attack. And again, I can't go to all the scriptures, brethren, but there's one scripture, and I forgot to write it down here. But there's one scripture that talks about how the call to war will go out and will not be answered. And I've often wondered if that's how this nation goes now. With our vaunted military, when you take a look at the rest of the world's military, you think, well, how could we ever go down?

And yet there's a scripture that talks about the call to war goes out and it's not answered. Is our vaunted computer systems and our military, is it all brought down? We just simply can't respond. Are we so weak and anemic that that takes place? Who knows? But here we see that after a siege, one-third of our people are gone. They're dead. When the siege is finished, you shall take one-third and strike around it with the sword. And one-third you shall scatter in the wind, and I'll draw a sword after them. So two-thirds here of our people are killed.

One-third is scattered throughout the course of the world as slave labor. And what you're seeing here in this particular verse is seals 2, 3, 4, and 5. You're seeing war, famine, disease. You're seeing the Great Tribulation here as a result of seal number one, false christs, false teachings, people not following God's way of life.

Great carnage. But notice something in verse 3. Ezekiel 5, 3. You shall also take a small number of them and bind them in the edge of your garment.

Who's that? Who's that? That's us. That's God's church. People of God. And, brethren, I don't care whether the people of God, I don't care about the organizational name. The people of God. Those who name the name of Jesus Christ. Those who have the Holy Spirit of God. God's people. Some of God's people here are spared. You and I hope that it's us. Right? But then notice verse 4. Then take some of them. Who? God's people.

Then take some of them again and throw them into the midst of the fire and burn them in the fire. From there a fire will go out into all the house of Israel. So some of our people are not protected, as we saw in Revelation 6. Some of our people are not protected. So again, you and I need to be very careful that we are building a solid foundation. We've got a great relationship with our Heavenly Father.

Let's look at Amos chapter 5 for a moment. Amos chapter 5.

Amos chapter 5 and verse 1. Hear this word which I take up against you, a lamentation of the house of Israel.

This is where we get the idea that maybe only 10% of our people make it alive into the millennium as physical human beings.

Ezekiel chapter 6. Again, we're all still in this fifth seal here. We're kind of just looking at different aspects of things, different from different points of view. Ezekiel chapter 6 verse 8.

I have not said in vain that I bring this calamity upon them. Brother, in this section of Ezekiel chapter 6 verses 8 through 10, talk about the work you and I are doing. The reason they're going to remember is because they were receiving plain truth magazines back in the day. Remember, back in our worldwide Church of God days, we were sending out 8 million magazines at a time. And every year we would lose about 4 million subscribers and we would add another 4 million. And we were pumping those out for a long time. There's a lot of information out there. There's a lot of folks out there who know the truth. They may not be acting on it, but they know it. Over the course of my ministry, the 37 years I've been in the ministry, as I've gone to see prospective members, I've seen so many people who know about the Sabbath and the Holy Days and are clean and unclean and what to do with their money.

They know what we know, and yet they have not had the courage to do what you've done. You've had the courage to step out on faith and obey God. They haven't, but they know the truth. Now, there's coming a time at the end of the age where either they're going to listen to the two witnesses or the false prophet. No one's going to be able to sit on any fence at that point. And they'll need to make a decision. And that's what we see in Revelation 7, a great innumerable multitude coming out of the Great Tribulation. So many of those people that you have helped by your tithes and offerings, we're not going to see the fruit of our labors until that point. I mean, the full weight, the full fruit being born until probably that time. When perhaps millions of people will say, you know what? I knew about that Sabbath. I knew about those days. I should have been keeping those. I knew it. I didn't do it. I was too afraid. But now I'm going to do it. I may have to give my life in martyrdom, but now I'm going to do it. Okay, we turn over to Isaiah 11. Isaiah 11. Verse 11. And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people who are left, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Qash, from Elam. So here we are talking about the second Exodus again. And this Exodus is in our time. Verse 12. He will set up a banner for the nations. He will assemble the outcasts of Israel and gather together this burst of Judah, from the four corners of the earth. And brethren, it's so exciting, even though this is a very dark time, it's so exciting to appreciate the fullness and the majesty and the power and the love of God. Let's take a look at that over in the book of Amos chapter 9. You know, as we saw the one-third and the one-third and the one-third of people being killed and through warfare and through disease and what have you, notice how God looks at our people. Because God is a God who loves the individual.

He doesn't look at us as some big mass. He loves us as individuals. Amos 9-9. For surely I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among the nations. Talking about what happens as we are being dispersed. As a grain is sifted in a sieve, yet not the smallest grain shall fall to the ground. God knows where each individual American, Brit, Canadian, Aussie, knows where each individual still alive is. He knows how to bring them back. He knows how to give them their personal Red Sea to get them back. And He will do just that. So to me, that is a tremendous testimony to the great love of our God, as He has to spank us because we won't learn any other way. Okay, so much for that, kind of like an inset talking about the length and the breadth of the Great Tribulation.

Inside of that period of time, inside that last three and a half years, let's go back now to Revelation 6. We're going to see where God begins to intervene in a very big way.

Revelation 6. We see now seal number 6. Seal number 6 are the heavenly signs. We have this in Revelation 6, verses 12-17. And also in Matthew 24, verse 29. So let's take a look here at Revelation 6, verse 12. When I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was great an earthquake. The sun became black, a sackcloth of hair. The moon became like blood. The stars of heaven fell to the earth as a fig tree drops its late figs when shaken by a mighty wind. Then the sky receded as a scroll when it rolled up, and every mountain and every island was moved out of its place.

Brethren, we've experienced that in our day today.

I forget now how many years ago. I think it was 2010. We had that big earthquake tsunami in Japan where the main island was moved 8 feet.

Scientists say the main island was moved 8 feet, and we were knocked off our axis. This earth was knocked off its axis by 4 inches.

Now, this is going to be something even more. God literally, the great teacher that He is, is going to shake up the whole planet, quite literally.

The stars of heaven fell to the earth as a fig tree drops its late figs. The sky receded as a scroll when it rolled up, and every mountain and every island, everyone was moved out of its place. The kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, and so forth, they hid themselves in the caves and the rocks of the mountains and said to the mountains and rocks, fallen us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb.

Hard to be an atheist at this point in time.

Hard to say, I don't believe in Jesus, because right now, as the curtains are being rolled back, they're going to see something that really frightens them.

They're going to see Jesus Christ on that white horse.

And as far as the eye can see, God is going to allow these people to, either side of Jesus Christ, His angelic army, all dressed in white, bright, brilliant white, on their white horses. They're going to see a tremendous army, and that army is going to do something, which we'll get to in a little bit later.

So they have reason to fear.

So that's the sixth seal, the heavenly signs. The heavenly signs occur after the time of the tribulation has begun, but before the day of the Lord.

Now, the day of the Lord is that. In prophecy, a day equals a year.

So we believe the day of the Lord, those seven trumpets, take place within one calendar year. Let's take a look at Revelation 6, verse 17.

Revelation 6, 17.

Let's go over to Isaiah 34 for a moment.

Isaiah 34. Isaiah 34, verse 8.

For it is the day of the Lord's vengeance, the year of recompense for the cause of Zion.

So what we have, brethren, is this. As we understand prophecy, if we understand prophecy correctly, here's what we understand.

That the great tribulation starts three and a half years prior to the return of Jesus Christ.

The last year of that three and a half year period is also an overlap, and that is called the day of the Lord.

So the last year before Christ returns, you've got the great tribulation still going on because Satan has not yet been bound.

And you have God's wrath.

Now think on this. If you are an unrepentant sinner, and if you hate God in his ways, what must it be like on that last year before Jesus Christ returns to realize you're living on a planet that Satan is really teeing off on and that God is rebuking?

God is angry, Satan is angry, and you're underneath all that.

Not a pretty good place for you to be as a sinner who is unrepentant.

Correct? Revelation 8 Here we've got the day of the Lord finally starting.

Revelation 8, verse 1.

And when he opened the seventh seal, remember that seventh seal opens and it's composed of the seven trumpets, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.

What is now going to take place silences even the holy righteous angels, an event that has been anticipated throughout all the history of mankind, and there's silence.

Sometimes the greatest way to make a point is just to shut up and let there be silence.

But notice something else.

Verse 2.

So again, as we saw, the seven seals, as Biden has seven trumpets.

But notice verse 3 through 5.

Then another angel, having a gold sensor, came and stood at the altar.

He has given much incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar, which was before the throne.

And the smoke of the incense and the prayers of the saints ascended before God from the angel's hand.

And the angel took the sensor, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth, and there were noises and thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake.

Brethren, verses 3 through 5.

Represent the prayers of God's people through the ages.

How many times have you prayed in your life, your kingdom come?

How many times have you asked and begged and cried regarding the need for God's kingdom to come?

That's what these three verses are talking about.

Your prayers asking for God's kingdom to come. And God here is showing that He's about to answer those prayers.

That kingdom is about to come.

So now we begin to look at the seven trumpets.

The first four trumpets, brethren.

The first four trumpets strike the earth, causing an ecological catastrophe of global proportions.

Again, God is wanting to work with the people of planet earth. He wants them to repent.

So He's going to work by degree here in hopes that people will repent.

So He's going to strike at where we live, quite literally. He's going to strike at where we live.

Trumpet number one, Revelation chapter 8 and verse 7.

The first angel sounded, and a hail and fire followed 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.

Notice not all, but a third. God is working by degree here in hopes people will repent.

In your notes, you might want to jot down Exodus chapter 9, verses 13 through 35, because this is very similar to the seventh plague God sent to Egypt.

Just as God wanted to liberate His people from Egypt, God now is wanting to liberate all of planet earth from spiritual Egypt, the whole Satan's realm.

Trumpet number two, Revelation chapter 8, verses 8 and 9.

Then a second angel sounded, and something lay a great mountain, burning with fire, and a third of the sea became blood, and a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

So here you see something, a burning mountain.

Is this a meteor? Is this a comet? What is this? Some sort of heavenly body, perhaps, is thrown into the sea.

All these dead fish bloating now, coming to the surface.

What happens when you've got all that sort of carnage in the water decaying?

Great big stink!

My wife and I were out at a restaurant not long ago, and somebody next to us ordered jambalaya.

Man, it was all we could do to sit in our seats.

And that was stuff that wasn't, you know, that was cooked, it was unclean food, but boy, that, I don't know how they got into their mouths and down under their stomachs.

Wow, that was really stench to us.

But when you talk about one-third of these creatures dying in the stench, again, God is a great teacher.

Our sins are a great stench in His nostrils.

And so He's trying to teach us that.

Trumpet number three, Revelation chapter 8, verses 10 and 11.

Then the third angel sounded, and the great star fell from heaven like a torch, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and the springs of water.

And the name of the star is Wormwood, and a third of the waters became Wormwood, and many men died from the water because it was made bitter.

So there in your notes, you might want to jot down Exodus chapter 7, verses 17 through 25, where the Nile was turned to blood, the very first plague on Egypt.

Again, this might have been some sort of a heavenly body crashing into earth.

God is showing people. He's getting everyone's attention.

Trumpet number four, Revelation chapter 8 and verse 12.

Then the fourth angel sounded, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the star, so the third of them were darkened, and the day did not shine, likewise the night.

So, trumpet number four is very much like that ninth plague on Egypt, where the sun, the moon stars are injured.

And again, God is wanting people to realize they are spiritually in the dark.

They're not getting it.

So it's like that ninth plague that we see in Exodus chapter 10, verses 21 through 29.

If you want to put that in your notes as a symbolic understanding.

But brethren, through all of this, through all of this, God is wanting people to repent.

It's one of the underlying stories of the book of Revelation.

Please repent. Our Creator is giving ample opportunity for people to repent.

Let's look at chapter 9, verse 20 and 21. As all these various plagues are being poured out upon mankind, as great quantities of people are dying, notice what it says here in Revelation 9, verse 20.

But the rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons and idols of gold and silver, brass and stone, in which we can either see nor hear nor walk. And they did not repent of their murderers or their sorceries, or their sexual immorality, or their thefts.

Brethren, why are we here at the feast to learn, to grow?

Because these people here in verses 20 and 21, these are the people of your cities.

These are the people you and I are going to be working with.

These people who live on into the millennium, this is what we've got to work with.

Tough human nature. Unrepentant human nature.

Okay, we go back to Revelation 8, verse 13.

Revelation 8, verse 13.

Then I looked, and I heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth because of the remaining blasts of the trumpets of the three angels who are yet to sound.

So, brethren, what we have here are three woes.

Trumpets number five, six, and seven.

Each trumpet being a woe.

Each trumpet representing a phase of World War III.

Each phase representing World War III.

We see the fifth trumpet.

I'll give you a citation in Revelation, chapter 9, verses 1 through 10.

Time is starting to fail me here, so I'm going to go a little quicker.

Revelation, chapter 9, verses 1 through 10.

We have the fifth seal.

And basically what we have here, let's take a look at verse 1 here.

Then the fifth angel, excuse me, fifth angel from fifth trumpet here.

Fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven to the earth, and to him was given the key to the bottomless pit.

And he opened the bottomless pit, and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace.

So the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit.

And out of the smoke of the pit came from the earth, and to them was given a great army.

These locusts came out, and they were given great power.

Now in Scripture, if you were to go back to Joel, which we don't have time, but in Joel, chapter 1, for example, locusts are symbolic of an army.

In Joel, chapter 1, the nation of Judah was going through a horrendous, locust infestation.

But Joel was using that to remind the people at the end of the age there was going to be a great army coming up against God's people.

And so we see a great army coming out of this bottomless pit.

We drop down to verse 11.

And they had, as a king over them, the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, but in Greek, his name is Apollyon.

Well, we're talking about Satan. Satan himself is running this army.

Now, this is the army. We believe this is a European, United European force.

This is the army that has already conquered America.

Remember your world history.

It was in World War I and World War II where America and the Western nations, not so much England, but America came in late to the war.

But when we came in because of our economic power, because of our industrial might, because of the numbers of men we could put into the field, we turned a tide of World War I and World War II.

That's not been lost on the people of Europe.

Before World War III begins, they say, let's take America out first.

And that's exactly what they do.

They don't want America coming in and saving the day.

And so America is gone at this point. By this power.

So, trumpet number five, the first woe, is the first stage of World War III.

We move on to trumpet number six.

This is found in Revelation 9, verse 13.

And the six angels sounded, and I heard a loud voice from the four horns of the golden altar, which was before God, saying to the six angels who had the trumpet release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.

Now, historically, brethren, Euphrates was the easternmost boundary of the Roman Empire.

And when you're looking at directions, you're looking at directions from the nation of Israel and the Holy Land.

And when you're looking at the nations to the east of the Euphrates, where are we looking?

We're looking at nations such as India, China, Russia, and so forth.

So here we see the second major power block left on planet Earth.

The western power block is gone.

You've got Europe, and you've got Asia, the two remaining power blocks.

And they're fighting for control over this planet. They're fighting for control over this planet.

We've talked about how mankind simply will not repent. We've looked at chapter 9 there.

But now let's turn our attention to the last trump, Revelation 11, verse 14.

During the second woe, the Eurasians mount an attack against the Europeans, if we are, again, understanding prophecy correctly.

The Europeans are feeling good. They've knocked America and England and all those countries out of the picture.

But you know, brethren, just because we were knocked out of the picture doesn't mean we don't inflict a tremendous wound on the Europeans.

Maybe we do, maybe we don't. But in any case, the Eurasian people think, well, this is the opportunity we need for world domination.

So they attack the European group.

So here we now have the beginning of the last trump, the trump where Jesus Christ returns, Revelation 11, verse 14.

The second woe was passed, behold, the third woe was coming quickly.

Then the seventh angel sounded, and there was loud voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.

Now, that's where we began the Bible study.

And I said we were going to come full circle to this.

But let's not think that the world is just going to peacefully accept Jesus Christ's return, verse 18.

The nations were angry, and your wrath has come, the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that you should reward those servants and the prophets and the saints and those who fear your name, small and great.

You should destroy those who destroy the earth.

So we're looking at the time of the resurrection, the first resurrection.

We're looking at the time of what the world would call Armageddon, which is a misnomer, because that's not what's taking place.

That's not where it takes place.

As you know from your Bible study, Armageddon is nothing more than a gathering place, 55 miles north of Jerusalem.

The armies are going to be gathered there, and then they're going to come into the environs of Jerusalem itself.

Let's take a look at Revelation 16.

As the seventh seal was divided into the seven trumpets, the seventh trumpet now is divided into the seven last plagues.

And so you've got these happening in relatively quick order.

Don't ask me how long a period this is, because we don't know.

You know, brethren, when it comes to prophecy, we see through a glass darkly.

I think a lot of these things we're talking about, we can discuss them, we have a general idea of what's taking place.

But a lot of this we'll understand very clearly as we look at it in the rearview mirror.

Okay?

That's why I was not going to be giving you the address of the beast today, or his phone number, or what his favorite cereal is.

We don't know those things.

Revelation 16, verse 1.

But I heard a loud voice from the temple, saying to the seven angels, Go and pour out the bowls of the wrath of God on the earth.

And so the first went and poured out his bowl upon the earth, And a foul and lonesome sore came upon the men, Who had the mark of the beast, and those who worshipped his image.

So on planet earth, either you've got the mark of God, the seal of God, or the mark of the beast.

There is no middle ground.

There is no fence-sitting at this point. And so here in this first plague, the people have got boils, which again reminds us of the plague on Egypt, plague number 6, found in Exodus 9.

Let's take a look now at Revelation 16, verse 3.

Then a second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, And it became blood as a dead man, and every living creature in the sea died.

Notice now, brethren, it's not a third.

Where God and Jesus Christ were offering mankind the opportunity of repentance, they were working with them by degree. Now it's full-out spanking, full-out war.

God's given people their chance. They were unrepentant. They didn't want that chance.

And so now God's pulling out all the stops, and every living creature in the sea died.

Now, obviously, brethren, we're looking at a situation where if Christ did not come, Earth would not survive.

With all that's taken place, all the warfare, and we've not even mentioned some of the Scriptures, because of lack of time, talking about a third of the people died here, a fourth of the people died there, and so on and so forth, and now we're looking at where the whole ecology is being ripped away from what it should be.

It's getting to the place where human beings could hardly take a breath of air to breathe.

Revelation 16, verses 4-7.

The third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of water, and they became blood.

And I heard the angel of water saying, You are righteous, O Lord, the one who is and who is to be, because you have judged these things, for they have shed the blood of the saints and the prophets, and you have given them blood to drink, for it is their due.

So once again, God is doing things here to teach people.

You shed the blood of my innocent saints.

What goes around comes around. I want you to get a taste of this, because of what you've done in the past, through the centuries.

Fourth plague, chapter 16, verses 8-9. Then the fourth angel poured his bowl on the sun, and the power was given to him to scorch men with fire.

And men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God, who has power over these plagues.

Notice human nature. They continually don't want to get it.

And they blasphemed the name of God, who has power over these plagues.

And they did not repent and give him glory.

This is the human nature we will be dealing with in the millennium.

And notice this fourth plague deals with the sun.

And over the course of mankind's history, man has worshipped the sun.

God says, you want to worship this thing? I'm going to let it burn you.

You'll be burned by that God. Just as God...you know, when you look at all the plagues that God put upon Egypt, each of those ten plagues were against one of Egypt's gods.

Each of them were, in some cases, against many of Egypt's gods.

And here we're seeing much the same thing.

You want to worship on Sunday? You want to worship the day of the sun?

Well, I don't think you're going to love the sun very much after this.

Verse 10 and 11.

The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom became full of darkness, and they gnawed their tongues because of the pain.

And they blasphemed...notice the thing...they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and they did not repent of their deeds.

So once again, we see where, over and over, people just simply won't do this.

And then last plague, verses 17 through 21.

The seventh angel poured out his bowl in the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple of him, saying, It is done! It is done! They've had their chance! Let's move on!

And there was noises and thunderings and lightnings. There was a great earthquake, such a mighty and great earthquake, as has not occurred since men were on the earth.

You know what you're seeing here in this verse, brethren?

What we're seeing in this verse, and in previous verses where it talked about these sort of happenings on planet earth, is that God is now rearranging the topography of planet earth.

He's wanting to change the mountain ranges. He's wanting to change where islands are, because he wants there to be better airflow throughout the course of the world.

So that this world, as we start the millennium, at the start of the millennium, the world is going to be totally chaotic.

An awful place to be at the very beginning of the millennium.

But after 1,000 years, this earth, the whole of the earth, will become a breadbasket. Why?

Because after 1,000 years, we've got the great white throne judgment, and billions of people all at one time are going to be resurrected.

And we need for this earth to be a tremendous breadbasket.

And you know what's interesting? I was making mention of this in a sermon on trumpets back home in Chicago.

I didn't know this, but I did some research and found out from a couple of sources the variety of this.

But under the Sahara Desert, under the Sahara Desert, is an aquifer that has more fresh water than all of the Great Lakes.

But it's so far down, it's not economically feasible to get at it.

It's so far down. And yet, I'm told, I think maybe it was Mr. Morrison that made mention earlier, that there's more water under the earth than on the surface of the earth. And the surface of the earth is three-quarters water. Now, a lot of that is saltwater.

But God is going to be re-changing the topography, bringing up springs of water. We see that in Isaiah 35, so many wonderful chapters we could have turned to.

But this is what God is doing. He's preparing for the wonderful world tomorrow.

So he's doing double duty. He's spanking mankind and yet preparing for the world tomorrow. Verse 18 of chapter 16, And men blaspheme God because of the plague of the hail, since the plague was exceedingly great. So again, mankind being what he is, that's his response.

Two last Scriptures. I'll take you just a couple of minutes over time. Two last Scriptures. Revelation chapter 19.

I talked about this earlier. Revelation 19 verse 11.

Now this is a different white horse than we saw in Revelation 6. This is Jesus Christ here. He who has sat on was called faithful and true, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. So obviously this is not what we saw in Revelation chapter 6. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns, and he had a name written no one except himself. He was clothed in a robe dipped in blood, Jesus Christ, and his name is called the Word of God.

And the armies in heaven clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed him on white horses.

White horses. So here we see this tremendous army.

The heavens have been rolled away. Human beings look up. They see Jesus Christ. They know. God puts it in their mind. They know what they're looking at. They see his army.

And then we turn now, lastly, to Matthew chapter 24.

Matthew chapter 24. Let's see, where am I at here? Let's start in verse 29. Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened. So we have the Great Tribulation, seal 5 here, being spoken of. The sun will be darkened. The moon will not give its light. This is seal number 6. The stars will fall from heaven. The powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven. Now we saw that in Revelation chapter 6, where the heavens were scrolled away, and they said, Hide us from the face of him. Well, that's what this is talking about here. The sign of the Son of Man. At least, that's what we think we're seeing here. The sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven. Then all the tribes of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man at coming and clouds of heaven with power and glory. He will send his angels to the great sound of a trumpet, the last trump. And they will gather together as a lectern of four winds from one end of heaven to the other.

And, brethren, that's where we enjoy this day. That's where we enjoy the Feast of Tabernacles. Because at this point, Jesus Christ, with that tremendous army, goes around planet earth gathering people like yourselves, gathering those who have died in years gone by. Old Testament and New Testament, folks. As I may mention on opening night, we have certain thoughts that we think about the return of Christ, but think of it from Christ's point of view. All the great prayers of David that are silenced now, I mean, God can remember them perfectly, but David's voice has been silent for a long time. Abraham's voice has been silent for a long time. And when Abraham and David and Deborah and Mary and so forth, they come up, Christ is going to be so excited because now life with his children resumes. Life with his brethren resumes. The joy Jesus Christ will feel at having you as a spirit being at his side is unimaginable for God the Father and Jesus Christ, and certainly for us. Certainly for us, brethren. I said that was the last scripture. I'll just quote one more. John 10-10. Ministers love to quote one more scripture. John 10-10. The thief does not come except to steal and to kill and destroy. That's Satan. But it says, I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly. So brethren, let's you and I rejoice at the fact that there is going to be a second coming, that there is going to be a millennium. These days that we're understanding here, the Feast of Tabernacles, this is going to take place. It's a surety. Let's rejoice in God's truth.