The Feast of Trumpets

Okay, if you can hand out that and hand out I've got for everybody. I appreciate the opening prayer when it was talking about how we're gonna have a class today, because we certainly are gonna have a class today. I made 50 copies. I think we don't have 50 people here, but do yourself a favor. Don't write on what you're about to get. I'm gonna go through that during the course of the sermon.

We'll go through that together. You can fill that in as we go through it. What you've got, what you're gonna be receiving, is a diagram of the book of Revelation. I thought it'd be good for us to go through these basic prophecies, and I can't hit everything that needs to be said. It would take many sermons to do that, but we're gonna go through and have an overview.

Now, if you've always wanted a one piece of paper that goes through and tells you everything you wanted to know about prophecy, this one piece of paper is not it. So just be aware that this is just an overview. Now, realizing how people are, I'm the same way. Let's just take a moment and look at what you've got in front of you, because if I don't do this, I'm gonna lose half of you as I'm going through the message, and you'll be looking back and forth.

So this is side one and side two. Okay? Let's look at side one to begin with. Side one gives an overview of the entire book of Revelation. The book of Revelation is composed of seven seals, and the seals begin at the very beginning of the book and go through the very end of the book.

There are, as Mr. Armstrong said, a number of inset chapters in the book of Revelation, but pretty much this is the heart and core of the book. Okay? We're going to spend some time on side one today, not a great deal of time. Now, as you see, you've got seals one through six, and then a seventh seal is also called the Day of the Lord, and that's when you have the seven trumpets. Okay? That's what we're going to concentrate on today, the seven trumpets. Now, if you turn over to side two.

Side two is a blow-up of what you had on side one. This goes through all the seven trumpets, and we're going to spend time on this. This is where the bulk of our time is going to be on this today. In those boxes on both sides, you can write down scriptures if you would like. I'll go through the scriptures I want to give you today.

This is not going to be an exhaustive listing of scriptures on all these different portions of the explanation, but there are going to be some of the main ones. Okay? So before we get into the chart, and I'll tell you when we can start writing in there and give you the various citations, let me cover some of the basics here to begin with.

Brethren, what we have here today, the Feast of Trumpets introduces, as we heard in the opening prayer, the autumn festivals. The autumn festivals represent the time where God's plan is going to be concluded. In the beginning, the first portion of the Holy Days, the Spring Holy Days, we had the Passover, we had Days of Unleavened Bread and Pentecost. Those, by and large, deal with God's Church. On Passover, we received New Life in Jesus Christ. During Unleavened Bread, we celebrate the fact of how we're going to live that new life in Jesus Christ. And on Pentecost, we come to understand that God has given us His Spirit, the power by which we can live that new life in Jesus Christ.

But today of Trumpets, Harold's a intervention in human history. And my point today is very simple. The Feast of Trumpets is a turning point in human history. It hinges for all of humankind on this day. Now, there's something to be said about Passover being the same sort of a title.

I wouldn't argue if anybody would call Passover a turning point. Certainly with the death of Jesus Christ, Him being our Savior, that is a turning point in human history. But certainly, prophetically, the Feast of Trumpets is very much a turning point in human history. Let's turn over to Revelation chapter 11. Again, we're not going to go into the chart quite yet. But here in Revelation chapter 11 is a scripture that all creation is waiting for.

It's the very best news that mankind can have. Revelation chapter 11 and verse 15. Then the 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 Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever.

Brethren, this is the very best news this world could ever receive. And as you and I watch world news, national news, we're just seeing a foretaste of some of the physical difficulties and challenges that are going to be increased as we head toward the end of the age. We see what happened with hurricanes Harvey and Irma. We see what's happening right now with Maria, with the poor little island there at Puerto Rico, an American protectorate. They had a glancing blow by Irma, but Maria struck it dead-on. Now Puerto Rico, as you may well understand, they try every once in a while for statehood. They've never been made a state, but they are a protectorate of the United States, United States territory.

They were almost, they were already basically in a very bad position economically. That little island is basically broke and beyond broke, basically bankrupt. And now you've got three and a half million people on the island who've got no power, may not have power for weeks, maybe months, according to what people are saying. And so, you know, when we see what happened in Mexico with the earthquake, the tsunami, and all that, when we read verse 15 here, this is the best possible news that mankind can ever have, the best possible news.

And so this is a day that celebrates the return of Jesus Christ at that last Trump. But we're not just celebrating the last Trump today. We're looking at Trumpettes. We're going to be looking at all seven of those Trumpets. Now before we move in to some of those prophecies, again, let's get our spiritual bearings and go over to Leviticus chapter 23. Leviticus chapter 23, by the way, I might make mention I am a bachelor for this current week. My wife is in Minneapolis, St. Paul right now in services. Her uncle died and she went up on Wednesday to be with family.

The funeral is tomorrow, so she's going to be keeping the Holy Day in the Twin Cities. And then on the weekly Sabbath, this coming Sabbath, she'll be in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Mary's got a big family up here in Wisconsin, and so she'll be with them and be coming back on Sunday. And so today as a bachelor, I had to make sure I did my due diligence and I took a photo of my time, sent it to her, and said, what do you think, hon?

Is this going to work today? She said, I think it's going to work. I can't quite tell from the picture, so you ladies out there who are expert in that sort of thing, you can critique me on my tie later if you'd like. But I think it kind of goes with the suit, so who knows? My vision, a lot of times when Mary and I are talking about colors, she'll say that's blue, I'll say it's green, and I don't know if I'm going to say something with my eyes or what, but we see colors a little differently.

I don't believe I'm colorblind, but we do see a colors a little bit differently. What that has to do with trumpets, I don't know. But we'll get back here to Leviticus chapter 23. And here we've got all of God's Holy Days listed here for us.

Verse 24, Leviticus 23, 24, speak to the children of Israel saying, in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a Sabbath rest, a memorial of the blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. You should do no customary work on it. You shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. So we've already done that. We've taken up the offering, and the offering that you're taking up, I appreciate the comments that Mr. Nemitz made. You know, every time you give one penny to the church, you're blowing a trumpet. You're making possible information to get to people who need this information so desperately. You know, I had a phone call just this last week. Somebody wanted to be in services here in Beloit on October the 5th, and they asked, well, are you gonna be there or are you gonna be at the Feast of Tabernacles? So this person knows about the Feast, so we're hoping that that person will come after the Feast. We'll see. In verse 24, we see the date that we're observing today. It's a memorial blowing of trumpets. We'll get to that in just a moment. It's a holy convocation. A convocation is a commanded assembly. It's a summons, just like the weekly Sabbath. It has the same weight, and you know, I'm literally preaching to the choir here, but you have come here today because this is a commanded assembly. There are those who feel they could stay home and just do what they want to do. We're not talking about people who are ill or people who've got transportation problems or that, or the churches is too far away. But, you know, people, there are people who could be in services, not necessarily here in Beloit, but in other locations, and they don't come. On that regard, brethren, I was taking a look at our attendance here in Beloit. When I subtract out the various ones who are shut-ins, who can't make it to services, and I look at the people who can actually get the services, our attendance is spectacular. You know, I think we've got something like 26 people who can actually get the church, and most Sabbaths were in the mid, you know, low to the mid-20s. So that's wonderful in terms of that. So you're doing a really good job with the Holy Complications. Okay, so that's our spiritual bearings. This is what we're doing. God commands it, but we want to do this because God is teaching us something. Now, we saw here in Leviticus about the blowing of trumpets. Let's turn now to Jeremiah chapter 4. Come to an understanding about the blowing of trumpets.

Jeremiah chapter 4.

Verse 19. Jeremiah 4, 19. O my soul, my soul, I am pain in my very heart. My heart makes a noise in me. I cannot hold my peace because you have heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. The sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. Now, we look forward to, and in two weeks we'll be observing the Feast of Tabernacles. All of us, I believe, are going to be in the Wisconsin Dells who are going to the Feast. I don't believe there's anybody in the Beloit Church who's transferring out of the area.

And that's a, you know, a picture is a lovely time that with the Millennium, the world tomorrow, and all those things. But this day, picture is something else. Before we can get to the wonderful Millennium, God's got to take care of some business. And God's going to take care of that business and take care of the world in terms of helping the world see what their need is. Okay. Now, let's take a look at your chart. Side one, we're in the middle of side one. And let's turn over to Revelation chapter 6. By the way, I'm going to send out, tomorrow or shortly, email to all of you with this chart as an attachment.

I know how that goes. By the time you're done taking notes, it's going to be scribbled all over the place. And that's how I take notes. And you may want to just have a fresh copy later on to redo the notes. So I'll be sending you out another copy. So don't despair. You'll get another one of these as email. For those of you who don't have email, just let me know.

I'll make sure that I bring one next time I see you. Which the next time I see you, we'll be at the Feast of Tabernacles. Because the next two Sabbath's, I'm going to be over in Chicago. So we'll see you next at the Feast. But, as a positive, we are having services both in Chicago and Beloit. The Sabbath immediately after the Feast. And I will be here that Sabbath. I'll be here October 14th, right after the Feast. The Feast ends on a Thursday. I'll be here on Sabbath. So, okay. So here in chapter 6 of Revelation, we have more details.

Revelation's main prophetic message is unveiled, as I said, through these various sets of symbols, these seals that were on a scroll fashioned with seven seven successive seals. Jesus Christ Himself breaks these seals, opens a scroll before John's eyes. Revelation chapter 6 verse 1. Now I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a voice, like thunder, come and see.

So the Apostle John is invited to come and see what is taking place here. Okay. Seal number 1. We see seal number 1 in your chart. You see Revelation. There are citations there. Revelation chapter 6 verses 1 and 2. That also corresponds with Matthew chapter 24 verses 4 and 5. So no need to write anything there, unless you would like later on.

But let's take a look at verses 1 and 2 here. Verse 2. We're going to read verse 1. And I looked and behold a white horse, and he who sat him had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer. So what we see here, and notice the color of the horse. It is a white horse. There are those, and I've read plenty of, before I came into the church, I read plenty of prophecies by other people, books on prophecy, and people, too many people feel that this is talking about Jesus Christ.

But it is not talking about Jesus Christ. This is talking about false religion. It's a deceptive power masquerading as Jesus Christ. It would appear outwardly as Christian, but in reality, it's a force of evil. It's a force of destruction. As a matter of fact, when we take a look at the other horsemen of the apocalypse here that we're going to see in just a moment, the reason we have these other horsemen riding is because of seal number one, because of false religion.

As you see in your chart here, side one, first seal, false religion. You've got a couple of citations there. Now, because we're just giving an overview, we need to move on here. Let's look at the second seal starting in verses three and four. When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, come and see, and another horse, fiery red. Notice the color. Fiery red went out, and it was granted to the one who sat in it to take peace from the earth, that people should kill one another, and it was given to him as a great sword. So on your chart, you see Revelation chapter six, verse three and four. You also see Matthew chapter 24 verses six and seven. This second seal, this red horse, is war.

Now, as you're well aware, you are well-schooled in the church. These four seals, these first four seals, have been taking place throughout mankind's history. But as we get closer to the end of the age, these were all intensified in terms of the difficulties that they present to planet earth. The anti-Christ will be appearing on the scene. War to such an extent as we get toward the end of the age, where people's, you know, Christ has to come, otherwise there'd be no flesh left on earth alive. And so that's what you've got there. Okay, we now move over to the third seal. Again, this is an overview, and we're not going to spend a lot of time on this particular portion of the thing. The third seal, we go to Revelation chapter six and verse five. 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, three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not harm the oil and the wine. So this third seal is the consequence of war. Famine. Famine. Here we see at the time when armies are, especially as we go toward the end of the age, and these are all increasing, as armies are having at one another, people can't do their farming. The farming goes by the wayside. Property is damaged. Crops are damaged. Production becomes something that doesn't take place. So there's going to be widespread scarcity of food because of all this. Okay, we move to seal number four.

Revelation chapter 6 verses 7 and 8. When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, Come and see. So I looked and behold a pale horse. The name him who sat on it was death, and Hades followed with him. And power was given to him over a fourth of the earth, the kill with the sword, with hunger and with death, and by the beasts of the field. So here in his fourth seal we see pestilence. We see sickness. We see illness. Notice that it's a pale horse. When people are sick, they look pale. There's a reason God gave these colors to these horses. Okay, so you have a pale horse here.

Also notice verse 8 here. Power is given over the fourth of the earth, the kill with the sword, with hunger, with death, and with the beasts of the field. I mean, because food is so scarce, the beasts are looking for whatever they can get. The wild animals start preying on humankind because of this. And we see 20... it looks like if we understand this, that perhaps as much as 25 percent of the earth's population is killed here. One person in four. One person in four. So very, very difficult times here. Okay, Revelation chapter 6. Let's move on to the fifth seal. Revelation chapter 6 verse 9. When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who have been slain for the Word of God and for the testimony which they held. So this is talking about our brothers and sisters. These are people who've been martyred in times gone by, whether we're talking about Old Testament martyrs or New Testament martyrs, or people even in our age who have been martyred to this point. And they cried with a loud voice saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? Then a white robe was given to each of them, and it was said to them, They should rest a little while longer, till both a number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed. Now it's important to note here, brethren, for those who feel that you're putting your stock in a place of safety, we will find out whether there is such a place when that time comes. I'm open-minded. If that's what God wants, fine. If God wants to take care of us as He did the Israelites in our own homes with the blood over the door post, that's fine. Whatever way God wants to do it, it's fine. But what I do want to make sure I reference here, make sure you are aware, is that there is going to be a future martyrdom of saints. Doesn't mean that because somebody is martyred, they didn't have faith. With the exception of the Apostle John, we understand from tradition he died of old age. But by according to tradition, the other 11 Apostles were all martyred. The Apostle Paul was martyred. These were men of tremendous faith. These were men of tremendous character. So just because you're martyred doesn't mean that there's something wrong with you. But we do need to realize there's coming a time when there will be those who will want to take our life. And you know, you talk about peer pressure, that's the ultimate in peer pressure. That's the ultimate in peer pressure.

So here we see explicitly a discussion about the Church of God having a target on its back. Now in your chart there, you also see where it talks about Matthew, Chapter 24, and some citation there. But I would like you to put a marker here in Revelation. Let's go over to Jeremiah, Chapter 30, and Verse 7. You might add this under the fifth seal, Jeremiah, Chapter 30, and Verse 7.

So you want to add that citation there, maybe below the box. Jeremiah, Chapter 30, and Verse 7.

Okay, Jeremiah 30, Verse 7, where it says, "'Alas, for that day is great, so that none is like it.'" Now you can't have too many of these in history, right? The Great Tribulation is just that. It's the Great Tribulation. The world has never seen such a thing. And it says here in this verse, "'This day is great, so none is like it.'" So we're talking about the Great Trib here. It's a time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved out of it. It's the time of Jacob's trouble. Now who's Jacob? Jacob is Israel. Whose modern day Israel? The United States of America. Britain. Canada. You know that you've read the book. You know who we are. This is talking about a time at this juncture in human history when the United States of America, if we are understanding prophecy, when the United States of America goes down. We cease to exist as a nation. Now there's other prophecies I can give on that. Some other time, go into that in much more detail. But this nation is, you know, on a very slippery slope right now. Can we repent and be like Nineveh? Of course we can. Will we? Time will tell. Time will tell. But according to prophecy, this is a time when our nation goes down, goes under. If you would also turn over to Revelation chapter 12, and you can put that under that fifth seal. If you want to put that citation there, Revelation chapter 12.

I couldn't fit all these in the box, so I'm just going to give these to you. You can put these in however you'd like.

Revelation chapter 12, verse 14. But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, lest she might fly into the wilderness to her place. Now those who talk about a place of safety will always quote this particular verse. It sounds like there is a place of safety, but you know, there's just not enough evidence for us to say so dogmatically as a church. We've speculated on that, and I'll leave it in the realm of speculation. This might indicate that there is.

Where she is nourished for a time, times, and half a time from the presence of the serpent. Now the reason I'm quoting this verse, this verse is very important because it shows that the great tribulation lasts for a time, times, and half a time. Three and a half times. In Bible chronology, a time is one year. So we're talking about the great tribulation lasting the last three and a half years prior to the return of Christ. That three and a half years is also referred to as the time of the gentiles.

Okay, three and a half years.

So important for us to understand that. As we're here in chapter 12 of Revelation, I would like to take a look at something else here. Revelation 12. Verse 12. Therefore, rejoice, O heavens, and you would dwell on them. 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. After all these thousands of years doing damage to mankind, six thousand, he now has three and a half years. And he hates the church. He hates every human being, but with the church even more so. Because right now you are the ones, you are the ones who are God's kids. And he hates God. He hates the plan of God. He hates everything that deals with God. So that's why he's going to come after the church and why he's going to be coming after the nations that have so much spawned the church in this last time.

Verse 13. Now when a dragon saw he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. Persecuted the woman. The woman there is talking about the church. The male child there is talking about Jesus Christ. It was from the Old Testament church in the wilderness that Jesus Christ sprung forth. So we see here that Satan is lashing out at mankind.

And Satan, because he realizes his time is short, he's going to mobilize a deceived humanity. Going back to that first seal, a white horse. Satan is going to mobilize a deceived humanity into a frenzy of hatred toward you and I. A frenzy of hatred toward those who follow the true God. So again, brethren, you and I can't go. If we're alive during this time, we can't go into this time sitting on a fence. We can't go into this time weak. You and I, all of us, and no one gets a free pass here, every one of us has got to be on our A-game. We've got to be close to God. And we only do that through our prayer and study and fasting and meditation. Through our coming to Sabbath services, building bonds with one another. And we build that one brick at a time. One brick at a time. So again, it's very important we understand that this great great tribulation lasts three and a half years, the last three and a half years, prior to Christ coming.

Okay, going back now to our chart. Let's move on to the sixth seal, Revelation chapter six. Let's go back there. Now, as the great tribulation is taking place, this also takes place. It's going to be happening at the same time as the great tribulation.

Revelation chapter six, verse 12, and you see that on your chart there. Also, Matthew 24-29. We're looking at now the heavenly signs. The heavenly signs show that God is now going to intervene. Up to this point, Satan is running rampant on the earth. Now God says, I want to get everybody's attention. I'm going to enter the stage here. And God, being the great teacher that he is, he wants people to appreciate who's really running things. And so he's going to put on a tremendous display of his power here. Verse 12, I looked and when he opened the sixth seal, and behold there was a great earthquake. And the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. This is going to get people's attention. And the stars of heaven fell to the earth as a fig tree drops its late figs when it's shaken by a mighty wind. Then the sky receded as a scroll when it's rolled up, and every mountain and every island was moved out of its place. There was an earthquake that took place a number of years ago over in Japan. And that earthquake moved the island of that one island of Japan four feet out of its place. It knocked the earth off its axis a number of inches. That earthquake is nothing compared to what's happening here. God is literally going to be shaking planet earth like a rag doll to get planet earth's attention. Verse 15, And the kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men and the commanders and the mighty men and every slave and every free man hid themselves in the caves and the rocks of the mountains. So the greatest among us and the less among us of humankind are going to be so frightened by what they see they're going to run and hide. I don't care if you're a medal of honor winner, you're going to run and hide. And they said to the mountains and rocks falling us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. Now later on we're going to come back, or at least by discussion, talking about verse 16 here. Because in Matthew 24 we're going to see where it talks about the sign of the Son of Man. We don't know what that sign is. We, again, speculation here. We have speculated that the sign of the Son of Man spoken of in Matthew 24 is what we see in here in Revelation chapter 6 and verse 16. The sign of the Son of Man is people actually seeing the face of Jesus Christ as he's about to intervene in world events. Now again, that is speculation. We label it so. Verse 17, For the great day of his wrath has come and who is able to stand? The great day of his wrath has come and who is able to stand? So if you see your chart there on side one, you see the seventh seal. Which is the day of the Lord. We're about to enter into that. On side one, there's a lot of different scriptures I gave you. The talk about the day of the Lord, the seven trumpets. But now it's time for us to flip over to side two of our chart. Side two.

Because we're going to be getting into that in just a moment.

Now, I may mention a moment ago that the Great Tribulation lasts the last three and a half years prior to the return of Christ. How does the day of the Lord fit into all this? Well, look at verse 17 here, Revelation chapter 6, verse 17. For the great day of his wrath has come. The great day of his wrath has come.

If you would like, in terms of putting this on your chart, you can put down Numbers chapter 14, verse 34, and Ezekiel chapter 4, verses 4 through 6. If you watch, you can put it right there up on side two, up the very, very top box. Because those talk about the day for a year principle. The day for your principle. That's Numbers 14, 34, and Ezekiel chapter 4, verses 4 through 6.

Okay? So, as we understand it, starting with the fifth seal, the Great Tribulation, from that point to the time Christ comes, that's three and a half years. After, or during the Great Tribulation, but prior to the day of the Lord, we've got those heavenly signs. The day of the Lord is the last year of that three and a half year period. The last year of that three and a half year period. So, what you have, that last year before Christ comes, you still have the Great Tribulation taking place. That's Satan's wrath on mankind. But also, you've got the day of the Lord, which is God's wrath on mankind. Happening at the same time. And as I've said to you in the past, I don't want to be on planet earth as an unconverted person, not close to God, facing both Satan's wrath and God's wrath. That's definitely a no-win situation. We don't want that. So, please be, please make sure that you're, you know, you and I, all of us, are not in that situation.

Okay. Chapter seven is one of those inset chapters. Let's go to chapter eight.

Chapter seven catches us up on some things, but we want to go to chapter eight here. Day of the Lord is finally arriving. Chapter eight, verse one, when he opened his seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about a half an hour. Silence in heaven for a half an hour. All creation has been waiting for this point. It's an ominous time. That's why there's a kind of an awe that takes place here, this silence that takes place. But notice something else, starting here in verse three of chapter eight. Then another angel, having a golden censor, came and stood at the altar, and he was given much incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon a golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints ascended before God from the angel's hand. Then the angel took the censor, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it on the earth. And there were noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake. So what we see here, you know, during after this time of silence, is there's a discussion here about the prayers of the saints. Why? Because you and I have been praying, your kingdom come. And now it's about to come. It's about to be here. There's some things that are going to be taking place as Jesus Christ returns. We're going to go through those. So the prayers of the saints are being answered. The kingdom of God is now on the way. Okay. Now on the way. Again, there's some things, events that have got to take place. So let's take a look at these trumpets. Trumpet number one in your box there inside too. You've got nothing there under trumpet number one. But you can put in your box if you would like. Revelation chapter 8 and verse 7.

Revelation chapter 8 and verse 7. The first angel sounded, and hail and fire followed, a mingle of 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 is a rain of hail and fire mixed.

Does this sound familiar to you?

In that same first box under the first trumpet, you might want to jot down Exodus chapter 9 verses 13 through 35. Exodus chapter 9 verses 13 through 35. Because what we're seeing here with this first trumpet was basically the same thing as the seventh plague God sent on Egypt.

Just as God had to rescue Israel out of physical Egypt, God is now going to be rescuing the saints, as we saw here in chapter 8, with the prayers of the saints, rescuing the saints from spiritual Egypt. Spiritual Egypt. Notice also in verse 7, it talks about a third of the trees were burned up. God, and this is going to be something we're going to see as we go through the the remainder of this message today, and we probably will be going overtime a little bit, or maybe not overtime. Holy days I allow for two hours, so I've got my watch now, so now that I've got my watch, I can go overtime.

But we're going to see a thought here in the next number of minutes, how the God is still wanting mankind to repent. And so as he's only burning up a third of the trees, it's important to understand how do we get a breath of fresh air? We have to have nature out there scrubbing the atmosphere so you and I can get fresh air. If it's all wiped out, we can't breathe, and we're going to die. So God's not going to wipe everything out at quite at this point. Not at this point. Okay, Second Trumpet, Revelation chapter 8, verses 8 and 9, if you want to put that in the box there under the Second Trumpet. Revelation 8, 8 and 9. 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. Notice, a third of the sea and a third of living creatures in the sea died and a third of the ships were destroyed. Again, God doing things here by degree, trying to be merciful. But again, God the ultimate teacher.

I can't imagine, you know, there are times when I'm taking out my garbage and we get one of those big containers there and on rollers you probably got the same thing and there are times I toward the day before I take the garbage out and get the heavy people come collect it, I'll open it up and throw a bag in it. Oh wow! Let's close that. You know, if there's some milk or something that's soured in, let's close it. Can you imagine what this world is going to smell like when one-third of the creatures in the oceans have died? They're bloated, they're stinking, they're rotting? Can you imagine? But again, God being the ultimate teacher, He wants people to realize that our sins, humankind's sins, have been a stench in His nostrils. Our sins have been a stench in His nostrils.

We move on. Revelation, Third Trumpet, in your box you can put Revelation chapter 8 verses 10 and 11. Revelation chapter 8 verses 10 and 11. Then the third angel sounded and a great star fell from heaven burning like a torch and fell on a third of the rivers, again, a third of the rivers, and springs of water. The name of the star is wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood and many men died from the water because it was made bitter.

In your notes, you might also want to put down there Exodus chapter 7. Under the third trumpet, Exodus chapter 7 verses 17 through 25.

That was the very first plague to Egypt where the Nile turned to blood. Where the Nile turned to blood. Wormwood is something that is very bitter and it shows a bitter judgment on mankind. Now, both of these last two trumpets, two and three, we don't know if this is something that's coming out of the heavens. In the second trumpet, it says a great mountain burning with fire. Is this a comet? Is this a meteor? Some people maybe thought that's the case. Is it a volcano that blows up? And all the things from the volcano go spewing out into the atmosphere, into the sea, and so forth. Much the same with trumpet number three. Are we looking at that sort of a thing? A great star. That seems to indicate some sort of a meteor or a comet or something from the heavens that God hurls toward earth to do his bidding. God doesn't need armies of mankind. Can you imagine people were holding their breath after Harvey hit? Can you imagine what would have happened if Irma went through the same area? What if you have a half a dozen of those things sitting in the same area? If God wants to use hurricanes and tornadoes, he's used hornets and other things in the past, God has got all sorts of weapons at his disposal. It doesn't take him a great deal of effort. The Bible talks about how he does things with the breath of his nostrils. That's no work for him because of his tremendous power. Trumpet number four. We see this in Revelation chapter 8 and verse 12. 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. Third of the day did not shine and likewise the night. So here we see the fourth trumpet. The sun and moon and stars are all influenced. Again, in your notes here you might want to put down Exodus chapter 10 under the fourth trumpet. Exodus chapter 10 verses 21 through 29 which was the ninth plague on Egypt. So these first four trumpets have something in common. They target the earth and the sea. If you go back just a page to chapter 7.

Chapter 7 of Revelation verse 2. Then I saw another angel ascending from the east having the seal of the living God and he cried with loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea. So there is something that combines those first four trumpets. God, our creator, is providing ample evidence to mankind that he rules this planet, that he rules the environment, he rules the very things that we eat and drink and breathe. And he was doing all these things and by one-thirds hoping people would repent. Now, along those lines, this is a little bit of a detour, but let's go over to Revelation chapter 9.

We see God's mind here. Why the thirds? Revelation chapter 9. This won't appear on your chart any place. Revelation chapter 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, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can either see nor hear nor walk. And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts. Human nature is a tough nut. A tough nut. And last I looked, everybody in this room still has it.

We all still have our human nature, and we have to realize just what a tough nut we have. You know, we want Jack to stay in the box, right? Not come out. Revelation chapter 16. Something very similar. Revelation chapter 16.

Verses 9 through 11. And men were escorted with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues. And they did not repent and give him glory. Then 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. They blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and they did not repent of their deeds. So again, this is an attitude that we'd want no part of. So we go back now to chapter 8 of Revelation.

We saw that the first four trumpets dealt with the ecology.

We're going to see there's something that binds the next three trumpets, the last three trumpets. Revelation chapter 8 and verse 13. And 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 trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound. So the common thread, and as you take a look at side two of your chart, when you make a look at the fifth, sixth, and seventh trumpets, you see that they are stages of World War III. The fifth trumpet, or the first woe, is phase one. The sixth trumpet, or the second woe, is phase two. And the third woe, the seventh trumpet, is the last phase, phase three of World War III. So, you know, very, very ominous, very, very ominous times. That brings us now to chapter nine. Chapter nine.

Fifth trumpet. Verse one. In your notes, you might want to put down Revelation chapter nine, verses one through ten.

Also, and I'm not going to turn there, it's, you know, some other time we'll go through this, but Revelation chapter 17 verses eight through fourteen. Revelation chapter 17 verses eight through fourteen. That section, Revelation 17, goes through and describes in much more detail this European Union, which is the army we're about to look at here with the fifth trumpet, or the first woe. Now, understand something. It is this army, as we understand prophecy. It is this army. It is this empire. This is the empire that conquered America, in Canada, in Britain, in France, in Australia, in New Zealand, South Africa. That's the power. We are no longer a part of world history at this point. There are two major powers in the world right now. A European power and an Asian power. That's all that's left, and they're going to be fighting now in these various phases for world domination. Okay, chapter nine of Revelation verse one. Then the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven to the earth, and him was given a key to the bottomless pit. If we drop down to verse 11, the Bible interpreting itself, and they had a king over them, the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, but in Greek his name is Apollyon. So what we have here is none other than the great fallen star that we would call Satan the devil. These titles in Hebrew and Greek mean destruction and destroyer. So Satan is himself in charge of this empire, this great European empire. Okay, we go back to verse two of chapter nine. He opened the bottomless pit and smoke a rose 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. So we're looking at a tremendous army now coming out. Then out of the smoke, locusts came upon the earth. In biblical terminology, locusts are symbolic of armies. So an army is coming out of this, is here, the same army that has conquered America. And to them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. They were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth or any green thing or any tree, but only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. So again, God is going to protect His people. Some of His people, some of His people, will be martyred. It's not that God is not trying to protect everybody, but you know, God has His own plan. Everybody has, you know, their course to live as God wants us to live.

Verse five, and they were not given authority to kill them, but to torment them for five months. Now remember, this whole period of time is one year. The Day of the Lord is one year. So five months of this, you've got this European power, as we understand it, the European power, just like what Adolf Hitler did. What did Hitler do? He had conquered Europe. Where did he set his eyes next? He went east, north and east. He went into Russia, Mother Russia. And the same thing is to be happening here. This power here in chapter nine knocked off the United States. There's only one other power for them to knock off so they can have total domination, and that's what they're lusting after. And so they're going after the Asians here. But notice people are, you know, they're not being killed. And so we're wondering if they're using chemical warfare. Are they using biological warfare?

You know, the Europeans aren't stupid. They want Mother Russia and China. They want those bread basket areas. They don't want to contaminate them with nuclear waste. Kill off the people, but leave the infrastructure as much intact as you possibly can. And so perhaps that's what we're seeing here, this being tormented for five months. And again, we see the people are not wanting to repent, and time goes on. So on that fifth trumpet, you've got Revelation chapter 9 verses 1 through 10, Revelation chapter 17 verses 8 through 14. I don't see anything else here in my notes to give you, so we'll just call quits there.

Okay, we move on to trumpet number six. This is the second stage, and you see second woe here, or second phase of World War III. In your notes, you can put down in your box or wherever, you put down Revelation chapter 9. Revelation chapter 9 verses 13 through 21.

Also, I'm not going to turn to this one, these other two, but you could put down Jeremiah chapter 50. Jeremiah 50 verses 9 through 16.

And also Jeremiah chapter 50 verses 40 through 42. So that's Jeremiah 50, 9 through 16, and 40 through 42.

And also Jeremiah chapter 51. Jeremiah 51 verses 7 through 11. So let's get into this second woe here. Now we're talking about the Asian power. Then the six angels sounded. This is Revelation chapter 9 verse 13. Then the six angels sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar, which is before God, saying to the six angel who added the trumpet, released the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates. Now this has historical significance for us. With the Roman Empire, the easternmost boundary of the Roman Empire was the Euphrates River. This book was written at that time. And so we're looking at a power that's further east than that.

And of course we're going to see that, you know, we know from other scriptures, which I can't get into all of them right now, it talks about to the east and to the north, which would be the Asians. Verse 15. So the four angels who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind. Now from what we know to this point, 25 percent of mankind has already been killed. Now a third of what's left is killed. I don't know if my math is correct, but that's at least half the people are now dead. Half the people on planet earth. And Amos, I think it's chapter five, going by memory, that's a difficult thing. But in Amos chapter five, well let's take a look. Don't have time. It talks about perhaps only one person in ten lasting throughout the course of the millennium, or the course of this age, and getting into the millennium. Only one person in ten. 90 percent death ratio on planet earth. So you know, you wonder why it is you go through trials, why you go through bone crunching trials. Well, when we are resurrected, we're going to be working with people who are just shattered human beings. They can go into the great tribulae, they can go into the end of the age, like Father Knows Best married Donna Reed. But by the time they, you know, one tenth of them get to the very end, they're going to be shattered, broken, dysfunctional people. And they're going to need every bit of love and nurturing we can give to them. Verse 16, Revelation 9, 16. Now the number of the army of the horsemen was 200 million.

Where do you see numbers like that? 200 million. And I heard the number of them. And I saw the horses and the vision and those who sat on them had breast plates and so forth. Verse 18. And by these three plagues, a third of mankind was killed by the fire, the smoke, and the brimstone which came out of their mouths. So, you know, here we see, again, a tremendous amount of carnage. The Europeans attack the Asians, the Asians counter-attack the Europeans. There's a death struggle going on for control of planet Earth. Control of planet Earth. Which now moves us to the seventh trumpet. The last Trump. You can see now why Jesus Christ must return with the carnage that's taking place, with the death. You know, there are prophecies in the book of Isaiah that talk about how the Earth is tottering like a drunkard.

It may well be off its axis so terribly that things are being very much upset just in terms of nature and in terms of weather, even apart from what God's doing just by the natural flow of things here. Okay, trumpet number seven. This is the third woe. Return of Jesus Christ. Let's go to Revelation chapter 11.

We started here. We're starting to end up here. Not quite done yet. Revelation chapter 11 verse 14. The second woe was passed, behold the third woe is coming quickly. The seventh angel sounded there with loud voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and is Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever.

So the last Trump, Christ returns, and everybody greets Him with open arms, right? Nope. Verse 18. Revelation chapter 11 verse 18. The nations were angry.

Talk about insanity. All the death, all the killing, and people want to, they want to fight for that way of life. The nations were angry, and your wrath has come, and at the time of the death they should be judged, and you should, that you should reward the servants of the prophets, your servants, the prophets, and the saints, and those who fear your name, small and great, you should destroy those who destroy the earth. Destroy the earth. So what's taking place now? Let's go to Matthew chapter 24.

And, brethren, at this stage I can't give you a time schedule as to, you know, how long each of these things are. Nobody knows that. I don't know it. I've never heard anybody try to explain it.

I don't know that that's really important. The thing that's important is these things aren't going to be happening. But here we've got some good news, some good news here. Matthew 24 verse 29, immediately after the tribulation of those days, seal number five, the sun will be dark and the moon will not give its light. That's seal number six, and the stars will fall from heaven, the powers of heaven will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven. Now, remember we alluded to that earlier. When Jesus Christ is returning, the heavens are rolling, they're being scrolled back, people are actually seeing Jesus Christ. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. Not a secret rapture.

There's a reason why the mighty people want to hide. The heavens are open so the people can see Jesus Christ on his white stallion, and they can see the God allows them to see the armies of Jesus Christ as far as the eye can see. Now, one of these angels can take out any army, but have all these angels on white horses being led by Jesus Christ. It is a truly an interesting sign of truly a spectacular sight. Verse 31, and he will send his angels with great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to the other. Brethren, think on this for a moment. Think on this for a moment.

You know how much you look forward to the kingdom of God.

You know how much you look forward to having conversation with God, asking all the billions of questions you always wanted to ask him.

But let's look at this from God's perspective. Let's look at this from Jesus Christ's perspective. Can you imagine the tremendous joy that Jesus Christ is experiencing? Oh, hey, there's Abraham, and there's Moses, and there's David. Now, God and Jesus Christ can remember their prayers crystal clear. But those voices, those prayers, have been silenced for a long time. Now they're living again. Now they're being reunited with God the Father and Jesus Christ. Can you imagine the joy that God and Christ have when the saints are being resurrected, and all those voices that were stilled by death are no longer stilled by death? To me, it's just a fantastic thing to be thinking about.

Okay, we're still not quite done. Let's go Revelation chapter 16. Told you I'd take you over time. Revelation chapter 16. This will just make you more hungry for dinner.

As you see on your chart on side two, the seventh trumpet is divided into seven last plagues. And those boxes are really small, so I don't know if you're going to be able to write anything in there or not.

But let's take a look at the last plagues here.

God is showing with these last plagues, mankind is going to reap what he has sown. Mankind is going to reap what he has sown. God has very carefully chosen each of these seven punishments to fit the crime of humanity.

As humanity has hurt the earth, as humanity has hurt one another, as humanity has hurt the people of God, as humanity crucified the Christ. And so God here is just, and he's going to measure out some punishment. Plague number one, Revelation chapter 16 verse two. So the first went and poured out his bowl upon the earth, and a fallen lonesome sore came upon the men who had the mark of the beast and those who worship his image.

So very similar again in Exodus chapter 9 verses 8 through 11. Very similar to the sixth plague on Egypt, Exodus 9 verses 8 through 11. The boils of Egypt.

The mark of the beast. We have traditionally taught that the mark of the beast are those who keep Sunday. People think it doesn't make a difference. It does make a difference. We saw, well we didn't see, but we could, if we looked at chapter 7 of Revelation, we saw where the people of God were marked in their forehead. Of course, we are marked by the Spirit of God. Now the Spirit of the world marks others by what they believe, and what they believe goes counter to what we believe.

We believe in the Sabbath. They believe in Sunday. There's a reason God is going to be attacking the sun. Okay? Plague number two. This is Revelation chapter 16 verse 3. Then a second angel poured out his bowl on the sea and became blood as of a dead man, and every living creature in the sea died. No longer is this now being done by thirds. This is total warfare here.

The seed of blood. Total warfare. An escalation of what was taking place earlier. Third plague, chapter 16 verses 4 through 7. Third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood. They heard the angel of water saying, You are righteous, O Lord, the one who is and who was 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 just due. So here we see the rationale that God has for doing these things. Again, this third plague is very similar to the first plague on Egypt.

Plague number four, Revelation chapter 16 verses 8 and 9. And the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and power was given to him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with gray heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who was power over these plagues, and they did not repent and give him glory. So this is similar to trumpet number four. This fourth plague is similar to trumpet number four, and it's also similar to the ninth plague on Egypt.

Fifth plague, Revelation chapter 16 verses 10 and 11.

Then 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 blasted the God of heaven because of their pains, and their sores, and they didn't repent of their deeds. So again, the fifth plague is similar to again the fourth trumpet and the ninth plague of Egypt. Moving on to the sixth plague, Revelation chapter... this is this is now getting to right where the the tire meets the road here. Revelation chapter 16.

The sixth plague, Revelation chapter 16 verses 12 through 16. Then a sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, so the way the kings from the east may be prepared.

People want to fight Christ at his return. God is now preparing the way for their armies to come to that battle. You want to fight? God says, I will make it easy for you. I'll prepare a way for you. Verse 13. Now I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, the mouth of the beast, the mouth of the false prophet. So you can see from that that there's still a remnant of the European power that's still left.

And we also see something else, how the spirit world is controlling things on planet earth.

Verse 14. For they are the spirits of demons, performing signs which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. In port of verse 14, people talk about the Armageddon. That's not where the battle is going to be. Armageddon is a plane that's 55 miles north of Jerusalem. It's only a gathering area. This is where these armies are coming. The armies are coming to Armageddon. And then they're going to move south into the suburbs of Jerusalem. And the battle is going to take place near Jerusalem. But the battle is not called the battle of Armageddon. It's called the battle of the great day of God Almighty. That is the name, the special name of that battle.

Verse 16, and they gathered them together to the place called in the Hebrew Armageddon. So there we see it's just a gathering place. Just a gathering place.

Seventh plague, chapter 16 verses 17 through 21. The seventh angel poured out his bowl, the last plague, poured his bowl into the air and a loud voice came out of the temple of heaven from the throne saying, It is done! And there were noises and thunderings and lightnings and there was a great earthquake. Such a mighty and great earthquake as has not occurred since men were on the earth. Now the great city was divided into three parts and the cities of the nations fell. And great Babylon was remembered before God to give her the cup of the wine of the fiercest of his wrath. Then every island fled away and the mountains were not found. What is God doing here?

God is not only shaking mankind one very last time. God is preparing for the millennium. God is changing the topography of the world so that this world would have better weather patterns. So this world will become one great breadbasket. So that the end of one thousand years of preparation, the world will be ready for the billions will come up during the last great day. So there's a reason God does here what he does. Verse 21, and great hail from heaven fell upon earth each hailstone the weight of a talent. Now I tried to look this up and figure out what a talent was and there's different ways of reckoning a talent. The best I can give you is that a talent would be anywhere from 75 to 94 pounds. Can you imagine ice balls? You know, we talk about the destruction something comes golf ball size or softball size. Can you imagine hail coming down 75 pounds or 94 pounds just smashing everything to bits? Basically what God is doing here is he's literally leveling the playing field here. And what does it say at the end of verse 21? Men blaspheme God because of the plague of the hail, since that plague was exceedingly great. Exceedingly great.

Last scripture, John chapter 10. Brother, I know we've gone through an awful lot here today. What you would like to do, what I'm hoping you're going to do, is listen to this in the future. As you're listening to it, you can hit the pause button, take notes, start it up again, take a few more notes, pause, and so on and so forth. That's how I listen to sermons. So be aware of that, and I will send out another one of these charts for you so you can maybe clean up your notes if you are all scribbled out there. But here in John chapter 10 verse 10, The thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy. We saw so much of that today in the prophecies we looked at, but we also saw Revelation chapter 11 verse 15 where it says here, referring to it, I have come, Christ as I have come, Christ as come, that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly. So this is the promise of the feast of trumpets, a turning point in human history that there are going to be some really awful times coming, the worst times the world has ever seen. But on the other side of that is the wonderful world tomorrow. On the other side of that is our reward. So let's stay strong. Let's stay faithful.