Feast of Trumpets is a turning point in Human History

On behalf of the congregation, I certainly want to thank all of you who participated in the Operator and Special Music. It was quite lovely. Thank you so very much. We know a lot of work goes into doing that. We appreciate all of your efforts. Brethren, on the back of tables, we have a number of labels. This is for those people who this year cannot attend the Feast of Tabernacles. They have been encouraged by us sending them letters and cards and so forth over the years as we visit sites from around the world. So to help us all do this a lot easier, there are a number of packages back there that have the stickers. So please stop by and pick those up.

Right now, the ushers are giving a handout to all of you, which is going to focus on what I want to speak on today. I'll wait for a moment until they have gone through the congregation. If you don't get one, and there may not be enough, if you don't get one, don't despair. I plan on sending all of you a copy of this. Because what I would like to have you do is, as I go through the sermon today, you can use this handout to take notes on. To the degree you can, some of these little boxes are quite small.

And if you make a mistake, don't worry. Again, you'll be getting something via email. Or if you don't have email, let me know. I'll print some up and get some to you.

We're almost there. Let's wait another moment or so.

If you're looking for a handout that tells you all you ever want to know about prophecy, this is not that handout. Don't have the address or the zip code of the beast or anything like that on the handout. Don't have his phone number. Not that you would want that.

All right, looks like most of you have it. Let me just take a moment to go through what you have there on your lap. You've got side one and side two. Today, I'm going to go briefly through side one. Just kind of give us a flow of the book of Revelation. As you can see, the book of Revelation is composed of seven seals. That seventh seal is what we'll be looking at more distinctly today on side two. On side two, you see where the seventh seal is divided into seven trumpets and that seventh trumpet into the seven last plagues. So I've made kind of a bar chart that may be helpful. I know many times people, you know, have not studied prophecy in a while. We wonder when does this take place or what happens then or what comes first, this or that or the other. And so hopefully this will be a little bit of a help to you. What I would do is, as I'm going through the sermon, you might want to jot notes in some of those little boxes, maybe just scriptures or whatever way you want to use those. Those are for your benefit. And again, I'll send out another copy via email. But in the theme of today's sermon, if you want to take notes, is that the Feast of Trumpets is a turning point in human history. The Feast of Trumpets is a turning point in human history. Feast of Trumpets, as you're well aware, introduces the autumn festivals. It represents the culmination of the present age of man, 6,000 years of human suffering that have come. And by that point, when Christ returns, have gone.

The spring holy days show a personal response to the plan of God. As an example, for Passover, we have a new life in Christ because of His sacrifice, His shed blood. During the days of Unleavened Bread, we learn how to live that new life in Christ. And on Pentecost, we receive power by which we can live that new way of life. But today, the Feast of Trumpets represents something different. It represents a time when God the Father, Jesus Christ, are going to intervene in the affairs of humankind. So let's take a look to begin our journey today over in Revelation 11. We're going to begin here, and we're going to come around the circle, and we're going to end here today. Revelation 11. Revelation 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 his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. And we couldn't get any better news. We couldn't have any better news than that. That this world, with all of its vice, with all of its sin, with Satan being the god of this world, that's going to be coming to an end. And the kingdom of God is going to be commencing. It's going to be starting. We couldn't look for anything better than this. This is good news. And you and I view it as such. But we also understand, you know, you've been in the church a long time. You appreciate the fact that between now and this point, Revelation 11 and 15, the world is going to go through some very troubling times, the worst times mankind has ever seen. And it may well be that you and I live through those times. But let's get our bearings. We heard some of this earlier in the sermon. Let's go over to Leviticus 23 for a moment. Leviticus 23. Get our spiritual bearings here. Leviticus 23 and verse 24.

Speak to the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a Sabbath, a memorial of the blowing of trumpets. And earlier today, we heard a trumpet, a shofar, being blown. A memorial of the blowing of trumpets is a holy convocation. It's a holy assemblage. It's a very special summons from God to worship. You shall do no customary work on it, and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Lord. And of course, we've done that. And that offering that you've given today goes a long, long way in preparing the world, preparing the world for what's coming. Now, some of you may be expecting that I was going to go through the book of Joel today, Joel the second portion. I'll be going through that with you on the weekly Sabbath, this coming Sabbath. And as we go through the book of Joel, you're going to see how people are coming out of the world. And they are coming out, especially those people who are alive, who are Americans, Canadians, Israelites, because of what we're doing with the offering you just gave. They may not be doing anything with the knowledge they've got right now, but there's coming a time when they're in captivity, when there is no longer a United States or a Canada, politically speaking, when Christ returns and there's a second exodus greater than the first exodus. And the Bible says such. We'll go through that on the Sabbath. When these people are individually taking heed to what they have heard by virtue of your offering, giving them literature or an opportunity to listen to a telecast or go to a website, they'll be coming out of the world.

Let's turn now to Jeremiah chapter 4. Jeremiah chapter 4.

So we realize this is a holy day, but it's a special holy day. We do something special. We saw that even before services began today. Jeremiah chapter 4 and verse 19. O my soul, my soul, I am pained at 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 trumpet, the alarm of war. So this day pictures a time of warfare, and we're going to see that it's that way in a number of ways. Mankind being at war, World War III, Jesus Christ returning as a portion of that world war, and so forth. Let's take a look now at your side one of your chart. We'll just kind of go through this briefly. Side one, flow chart of the book of Revelation, where you see at the very top there, side one, then you see the seals. Let's take a look at Revelation chapter 6. Revelation chapter 6.

The whole book of Revelation is encapsulated in these seven seals. The main prophetic portion of the book, I should say, anyway. Revelation chapter 6, verse 1 and 2, also see a citation of Matthew. I'm not going to turn there for lack of time.

There are other places we can go, but we're going to just stay there for a moment.

Here, this white horse represents false religion, false Christs, people who have outwardly an appearance of good Christianity. They've eaten from the tree of good and evil.

Unfortunately, so many of our brothers and sisters who used to attend with us, who don't attend with us, they partook of the tree of good because they thought, well, all these people are so good, and because they're good, their doctrine must be good, and if their doctrine is good, our doctrine is wrong. And so they left our fellowship.

Well, I've not given up hope on them, and neither is God or Jesus Christ, neither of you.

But people can be consumed and deceived by false religion. That's what this first seal is all about. We go to Revelation 6, verse 3 and 4. When he opened the second seal, I saw a second living creature say, Come and see. Another horse, fiery red, went out, and was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, and that people should kill one another, and it was given to him a great sword. So seal number 2 represents war. And on your chart, you see the citation from Revelation and also Matthew, where it represents war.

War has been a consistent theme throughout human history. Back in the Ann Arbor congregation, we've got a gentleman who is a historian, and one of the things he does for the University of Michigan is he catalogs conflicts that have taken place—I forget where his starting point is—but anything over 500 deaths, they try to research and catalog, and they've got a monstrous-sized number of volumes of world history.

There have been so many years—there's only been a few years in world history—where there's not been some sort of conflict, some sort of war, whether it be a very tiny, more of a tribal, or clannish type of war, or even world war. So seal number 2 was war. Seal number 3, Revelation 6, verse 5.

When he opened the third seal, I saw the third living creature say, Come and see. And so I looked and be able to hold a black horse. And he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures say, 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, and that's famine. You've got the scale showing that the food stuff, food is very hard to come by. People having to portion that out. And there on your chart, you see the third seal. You see it's famine. You see both the Revelation and the Matthew citations there. Moving on. Seal number 4, Revelation 6, verses 7 and 8. Again, this is just an overview for this side of the page.

Sometime in the future, I'll go through this side in much more detail. Revelation 6, verse 7. 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. And they even sat on it, with death, and Hades followed with him. And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill the sword with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth.

So what you have here now with this fourth seal is the result of all the other seals. Because people have been misled, and now following the true God, war has taken place, famine is taking place, and now disease and pestilence is taking place. And you see that on your chart, and the various two citations there. Number 5, the fifth seal, Revelation 6. Now we're starting to come, you know, these first four seals have been around forever. They are going to increase in intensity until the time of the return of Jesus Christ, and then at the time of Christ, a great intensity.

But now, starting with this fifth seal, now we're getting to where it really starts to affect us in a very big way. Revelation 6, verse 9. When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar of the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held.

So this is in vision or in symbolism, this is talking about the people of God. In a cry with a loud voice saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, until you judge and avenge your blood on the earth of those who dwell on the earth. Then a white robe is given to each of them, it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who would be killed as they were, was completed.

Now we've taught for a long, long time about a place of safety.

I'm not going to get into that particular subject right here and now.

But I will say, brethren, that if anybody thinks that we all have some sort of a get-out-of-jail-free card when it comes to the anti-martyrdom, we do not. We simply don't. Jesus Christ didn't have such a card. The apostles, maybe with the exception of John, didn't have such a card. These people, in verses 9 through 11, they didn't have that kind of a card, and neither, perhaps, will you or me. You or I.

In your notes there in the sheet under the fifth seal, that's the Great Tribulation. You see citations there. What we have here with the Great Tribulation is Satan lashing out. He's lashing out because he knows he's got a very short time. Put a marker here. Well, we're going to stay in Revelation. Go over to Revelation 12.

Revelation 12, verse 14. But the woman is given two wings of a great eagle as she might fly into the wilderness to her place. Now, here's an indication there we very well might be a place of safety. I think we'll find out about that in the rearview mirror as time goes along. That she might fly into the wilderness to her place where she is nourished for a time. A time is a biblical year, 360 days, and times two more years and a half a time. So what we're looking at is three and a half years. Three and a half years that Satan is going to persecute the church or try to persecute the church. That's going to be the last three and a half years before the return of Jesus Christ. But not only that, put a marker here somewhere in Revelation. Let's go to Jeremiah chapter 30. Jeremiah chapter 30, verse 7 Alas, that day is great, so none is like it, and it's the time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved out of it. Jacob's trouble is the same thing as the great tribulation, and it's going to take place again for that three and a half year period of time.

And so, who's Jacob? Israel is Jacob. Who's Israel? We're Israel. And so, as I said last time, as we were going through the book of Joel, there's coming a time when this nation is going to be no more. And, brethren, that's something that I hate to even articulate. I hate to articulate that. You hate to hear that, but we've got to be prepared for what's coming. We need to sound that warning witness by the work we're doing to prepare our people nationally for that. Okay, we go back to Revelation. Revelation chapter 6 And we want to take a look now starting at verse 12.

I looked 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, and the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree dropped its late faze when it was shaken by a mighty wind. Then the sky receded as a scroll when it rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place.

What we're seeing here, brethren, is what we call the heavenly signs, seal number six. Seal number six is where God begins to intervene. God the Father, Jesus Christ, begin to intervene in world events. It's no longer Satan who's just doing his thing. God the Father and Jesus Christ are now giving everybody's attention. They're moving mountains. They're moving islands. The world is really quite literally being shaken up. These heavenly signs take place after the beginning of the Great Tribulation in terms of their timing. Verse 15, The kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave, every free man hid themselves in the caves and the rocks of the mountains, and sent to the mountains and rocks, fallen us and hide us from the face of him who sits under the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of his wrath has come, and who is able to stand? Now, that brings us to side two of your chart. Side two.

Because the day of the Lord are the seven trumpets that we are honoring today, that we're looking at today. It's not just the Feast of the seventh trumpet. It's not just the Feast of the return of Jesus Christ. It's the return. All of these trumpets are part of the day of the Lord, each and every one of them. Now, as we saw in Revelation 6 and verse 17, it appears that this day of the Lord that encompasses all these seven trumpets is one year. Let's go to Isaiah chapter 34.

Isaiah chapter 34.

Isaiah it appears, you know, we're going to take a look at a verse. There are other verses that give this indication. Isaiah chapter 34 and verse 8. For it is the day of the Lord's vengeance, the year of recompense for the cause of Zion. The day of the Lord's recompense, the year of recompense. So it does look like this period of time is one year. Great tribulation, three and a half years, day of the Lord, one year. Now, what we're looking at again, brethren, is the fact that that last year coincides with the last of the three and a half years, because Satan is not put down until the very end.

And so you've got two and a half years, Satan's wrath, then one more year of Satan's wrath, but also at that same period, that's God's wrath on sinning mankind. Now, I put it to you.

If you were somebody who was not in the church, if you were somebody who didn't have God's Holy Spirit, if you weren't somebody who was a believer, would you want to be alive the last year before Christ returns? And you've got Satan with his wrath, and at the same time, God with his wrath coming down upon your head. I wouldn't want that. I don't think he would want that.

Let's go now to Revelation 8. Revelation 8.

Revelation 8, verse 1, when he opened the seventh seal—we've gone through the first six, now we're at the seventh seal—when he opened the seventh seal, which are these seven trumpets, there was silence in heaven for a half an hour.

I mean, kind of a jaw-dropping time because of what's about to take place. Silence. Respect for what is about to happen.

The angels, God the Father and Jesus Christ, have anticipated this time since Adam and Eve. And now the time has come. The time has come. We drop down to verse 3.

Now why do I pause and read that section of Revelation 8? I read that section because for as long as there have been God's people on this earth, Old Testament, New Testament, they have been praying for the kingdom to come. And now it's just about that time. Time for the kingdom to come. Time for these prayers to be answered. Your prayers. The prayer you probably prayed this morning. Your kingdom come.

So now it's that time. The time of the seventh seal. And as you see on your chart there, the seventh seal is represented by the seven trumpets. Let's take a look now at these seven trumpets. We'll go here in Revelation 8, verse 7. The first angel sounded, and hail and fire followed mingled of blood, and they were thrown to the earth. And a third of the trees were burned up, and the grass was burned up. Now I don't have any scriptural markings in your chart there, so you might want to just put Revelation 8, verse 7 there. You might also want to put Exodus chapter 9, verses 13 through 35, because that was one of the plagues God sent on Egypt.

Hail and fire. It was the seventh plague God sent on Egypt. And notice also in verse 7, where it says, a third of the trees were burned up. One of the things we see, brethren, as we go through the book of Revelation, one of the themes, one of the great themes of the book of Revelation, is how God wants to be merciful to people. He doesn't say God just consumed everything. God is moving by degree right here, because He's hoping people will get the point, get the message, begin to turn around. And of course, brethren, you and I in our lives, as God is doing whatever He's doing in your life or mine, as He's trying to get your attention and my attention, we need to be thinking the same thoughts. I'm not saying every trial we go through is God trying to, you know, do something specific. Not necessarily the case, but sometimes it is the case. And we need to pay attention to that. Trumpet number two, Revelation chapter 8, verses 8 and 9, you can put that in your chart if you'd like. Second angel, son, and there was like a great mountain burning with fire thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea, notice by degree, 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.

Can you imagine the stench of all those dead and bloating fish and what have you, and the sea bloating up to the top, floating up to the top, and all the smell? You know, again, God is a tremendous teacher, and God is wanting the stench of our sins to come into our own nostrils and realize because we are a sinning earth, this is the result. This is the result. As our sins have been a stench in God's nose, He wants those floating carcasses in the sea to be a stench in human beings' noses, so they start getting the point. Trumpet number three, chapter eight, verses 10 and 11. Do you want to mark that on your chart there?

The third angel sounded, and a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and the 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, in that third trumpet area, you might jot down Exodus, chapter 7, verses 17-25.

The very first plague on Egypt, Exodus, chapter 7, verses 17-25, the very first plague, the Nile being turned into blood. Doesn't that tell us something? That the whole world spiritually is a type of Egypt, and we need to repent. The world needs to repent of its sins, repent of being spiritually in Egypt. Now, Wormwood was something that helped make things bitter. It symbolized sorrow and it symbolized bitter judgment.

Trumpet number four, Revelation, chapter 8, 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 stars. So a third of them was darkened, and a third of the day did not shine, and likewise the night. So that's the fourth trumpet, Revelation, chapter 8, and verse 12. You might want to put in your notes Exodus, chapter 10.

Exodus, chapter 10, verses 21-29. The ninth plague of Egypt. Very similar. Very similar. But again, God here is working by degree. Now, if you go back one chapter, chapter 7.

Chapter 7.

I want to make a point here.

Revelation 7, verse 2. Then I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God, and he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea. The earth and the sea. Now, the reason I quote this verse is because the first four trumpet plagues are largely to hurt the earth and the sea. God controls the earth and the sea. He controls mankind. He rules over everything. Again, God is making that point. God is wanting to provide ample evidence that He is in charge and that He, you know, can affect our place where we live. Now, again, as we saw with those plagues, those trumpet plagues, we saw the thirds. Each one of them, God was working by one-third. Again, one of the great themes in this book of Revelation is God wanting people to repent. Let's look at Revelation 9 for a moment. I'm going to take this out of context just a little bit. Revelation 9, not so much out of context, but out of chronology. Revelation 9, verse 20, you know, as human beings are going through all these various things, notice what their attitude is. Revelation 9, 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, stone, and wood, which 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. You go to chapter 16 of Revelation. Same commentary, Revelation chapter 16.

Verse 9, And men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed.

They didn't say, well, you know, you've finally gotten my attention, God. No, they're being scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God, who has the power over these plagues. And they did not repent and give Him glory.

God wants them to repent because that's in their best interest, because He wants to give everybody the abundant life, not the life that they were willing to settle for under Satan the devil.

And they were scorched 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. So you see where human nature is a tough nut. Now, I don't know about you, but I still have my human nature. It's still intact in Randy de los Andros. How about you? What does it tell me about me and you about you? Well, we need God's power. We need God's power. And thankfully, we are converted. You know, we have come to a place where we have accepted Jesus Christ as our personal Savior. We have repented of our sins. We have been baptized, received God's Holy Spirit. And we're asking God, and we're living, trying to live what we see here in the Scriptures. And so much more so as we see the days approaching. So go back now to Revelation 8. We've gone through those first four trumpets. We've got more to cover. Revelation 8, 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 trumpets of the three angels who are about to sound. So these three woes, which are the fifth, the sixth, and the seventh trumpets, and on your chart there, I put World War, World War, Phase One, Phase Two, and Phase Three. We're looking at various stages of the last world war here. Various stages of the last world war. Each stage is called a woe, because so much is happening that is so hurtful to mankind. So Revelation, chapter 9, let's take a look at the fifth trumpet, which is the first woe. Revelation, chapter 9, verse 1. Then the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven to the earth, and him was given the key to the bottomless pit. Can you think of other places where it talks about a star from heaven falling? Who are we referring to with regard to this star? Well, let's take a look at verse 11. And they had a king over them, the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, but in Greek his name was Apollyon. So this star is none other than Satan himself. Satan himself. Now, in your chart under the fifth trumpet, I'm not going to go there sometime in the future, I will, but you might want to jot down Revelation, chapter 17, verses 8 through 14.

Revelation 17, verses 8 through 14, talking more about what's happening here with this fifth angel. Because with this fifth angel, we see a power growing, and we believe, if we understand prophecy correctly, we believe this power is a European power, a power in central Europe that includes probably all of Europe, the United States of Europe, as we've discussed it in times gone by.

Verse 3, Revelation 9, 3, then out of the smoke locusts came upon the earth. We remember from the first installment on Joel, locusts can represent an army. That's exactly what this represents. An army is coming up, given great power. Verse 4, they were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth or any green thing or any tree. Why is that? Why is that? Because so much has happened to the world's ecology, it's hard to even get a breath of fresh air anymore.

You know, if more harm is done to the green things of the earth and to the sea, there's not going to be the mechanism to scrub the atmosphere so you and I, or people, can have what the wherewithal to be able to breathe properly. They were commanded not to, verse 4, 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, those people who don't have God's Holy Spirit in their head, in their in their minds. And they were not given authority to kill them, but to torment them for five months. So again, God working by degree, God wanting them to to repent, but they are tormented for a number of months. People have wondered, is this some sort of biological warfare? Is this some sort of chemical warfare? We don't know. We don't know. But time here is very, very limited. Okay, we move on to the sixth trumpet, which is the second stage of war. Now again, remember, brethren, that we saw just now, the power of Europe. They've already taken America out. As we talked about in the first section of Joel, in both World War I and World War II, the United States threw their weight into the war as after the war had commenced. And after we threw our weight, there was still tough sledding. But it was our ability to manufacture, our ability to have so much in the way of troops that helped turn the tide of both of those wars.

I used to live over in Ann Arbor, and over in Willow Run, it was one of the great B-24 bomber plants. Those bombers had over, I think, 15 million parts. And we were putting out one of those planes every so many hours. It was unbelievable the manufacturing might this country had. That's not lost on the people who lost World War I and World War II. They want to make sure that there's no more of the United States to come and throw their weight around. So this group, they now are wanting world domination. You know, the free world, in one sense, is gone. And now you've got this European group. And now this other group, let's take a look at this other group, is also vying for world power. Revelation 9, starting in 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 angels who had the trumpet, released the four winds who were bound at the great river Euphrates. Now, when this book was written, the Euphrates was the easternmost boundary of the Roman Empire. It was the easternmost boundary of the Roman Empire.

If you go further east, who do you have? What do you have? What nations do you have when you go that direction? So the four angels who had been prepared for the hour and the day and the month and the year were released to kill a third of mankind. What we've already seen were a quarter of mankind had been killed. I think it was the fourth trumpet. Now you have here, or earlier on, and now you have here another third of mankind. So great numbers of people are dying, according to what the scriptures have to say. Now the number of the army, verse 16 of the horsemen, was 200 million. Where do you come up with an army that large? What we're looking at here is a great Eurasian army.

Parts of Russia, China, India, a number of other nations can assemble these kinds of numbers, tremendous numbers. And so this what we see here is a, as we've often discussed this, you've got the European power throwing their weight around, and then this other power, this Asian power, going after the European power, trying to knock them out so that they could be the ones who will rule the world. We go now to Revelation chapter 11.

I want to go back just one moment. In your chart, I've got to head myself a little bit, under the sixth trumpet on your chart there, 2nd Woe, World War Phase II, a couple of interesting scriptures you might put down there that also help bear what I was saying out. Jeremiah chapter 50, verses 9-16, Jeremiah 50, 9-16, and also 40-42. Jeremiah 50, 9-16, and verses 40-42 of Jeremiah 50. Also, Jeremiah 51, verses 7-11. Now we go back to Revelation chapter 11. We want to take a look at the last trump, the last trump, stage 3 of World War III, the third woe. And this is the last trump, which we understand what that means. But there's a lot happening in that last trump. Revelation chapter 11, verse 14, The second woe was passed, behold, the third woe was coming.

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 his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. Now we should be able to say, that's it!

That's the end of it, right? No. No. Jesus Christ is returning. A being of nothing but love. All he wants the best, wants to establish a garden of Eden world around.

And notice verse 18, Revelation 11, 18, The nations were angry, and your wrath has come, and the time of the dead they should be judged, that you should reward your servants and the prophets and saints, those who fear your name, small and great, and should destroy those who destroy the earth. So at Christ's return, there is still war to be made. War to be made.

Now, on a positive note, let's take a look at Matthew 24.

Matthew 24.

Matthew 24, verse 29 through 31. You can put all that under 7th trumpet on your chart, if you'd like. Matthew 24, verses 29 through 31. Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened. So after the tribulation, now you've got the fifth seal, then you get the sixth seal, the sun being darkened, new heavenly signs. So you get a little bit of a chronology here. Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, 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.

Allow me to give you a speculation, and I'm calling it just that. A speculation.

Remember in Revelation where in chapter 6 they said, let the mountains fall on us. We don't want to see the face of Him who's coming.

We've often wondered if that's not what the sign of the Son of Man is. Now that's a speculation, and I want to quickly label it as such. 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. And He will send His angels with the great sound of a trumpet, this last trumpet, and they will gather together as a lectern of four winds from one end of heaven to the other.

Brethren, as we go through Joel on Sabbath, and there's a lot of details I'm not using today for lack of time that I'm going to put into Joel on the Sabbath day. But there comes that time when the heavens are rolled away, and you see Jesus Christ. The world sees Jesus Christ on that white horse, His robes dipped in blood. He's our Savior. And in my mind, I've looked at this and I thought, you know, wow! Because Jesus Christ has His army. These angels on their horses, everything they're wearing is pure white, and their army is as far as a human eye can see in either direction.

You know, one lone horseman might not mean too much to somebody, but when God opens people's eyes, they're able to see Jesus Christ in His army that seem to encompass all of the heavens, and they realize they're riding, I think that's going to get some people's attention.

What they do with it is up to each individual. But again, think on this, as Jesus Christ and His armies are going around the earth as it says here, collecting the saints.

You know, we heard today in a sermon about how wonderful that time's going to be. You know, high fives all around. Can you imagine? You know, we tend to look at this from our perspective, but let's for a moment look at this from God's perspective and Christ's perspective.

Over the years you've been alive and that you've been called and you've been studying the Word of God, as Jesus Christ has watched you pour over the Scriptures, as He's opened your mind to understand the Scriptures, as He's seen you apply those to your life, He's looked upon you as a brother or a sister in the faith, and He's been, if I can use the word, He's been so proud of you, so proud of you, as you have prayed Him, as you've talked to Him. He has enjoyed the conversations back and forth. We talk, He answers our prayers. Two-way conversation.

Jesus Christ doesn't want that just to be something for this age. He wants to have that relationship with us for all time. And so, especially for those who have died, can you imagine what Jesus Christ is going to feel like when Moses comes out of the ground or Deborah or Samuel or whoever? The various people of God who have died, Paul and Peter and Mary, and you name the various ones. And now that relationship can be resumed. Jesus Christ has the ability to remember in great detail all of our prayers, but just to thought how much He's going to enjoy that trip around the globe, collecting His brothers and sisters.

So let's keep that in mind. We're going through a lot of dark and difficult things here, but also let's keep that in mind. Let's go now to Revelation 16.

And yes, I will keep you a little bit over time. Revelation 16.

Just as the seventh seal turned into seven trumpets, and you see that on your chart, the seventh trumpet, in turn, is broken into seven last plagues. And you see that on your bar chart, on your paper there. The seventh trumpet, that time when Jesus Christ returns, the time of the first resurrection, the second coming, it's also the time of these last plagues. Revelation 16. Then I heard a loud voice from the temple, saying to the seven angels, Go and pour out the vials of the wrath of God on the earth. The wrath of God on the earth. Now, people always want to know a time frame for this. I wish I can give it to you. I don't know a time frame in terms of how long all this is going to take. Again, we see through a glass darkly. We'll understand these things, I guess, in the rearview mirror as they've happened. I don't know the timing is, in one sense, that important. What's important is it's going to happen. And we need to make sure we're preparing for that and preparing others for it. Revelation 16. So the first went, this is the first of these plagues, these last plagues, the first went and poured out his bowl upon the earth. Now foul and loathsome store came upon the men who had the mark of the beast and who worshipped his image. So first plague, as you see on your chart, boils or soars. That's the same plague that came upon the Egyptians. And you'll notice, I don't know if you can fit it in there, the box is rather small, but Exodus 9, verses 8-11. And isn't it interesting how many of those plagues of Egypt we're seeing on the end of the age? A good number of them. The human beings misguided to worship, their form of godliness without substance, or godliness without substance, has been the prime cause of the world's ills. And so God is going to afflict them. Just as the Bible talks about how people have spots, talking about their sins, God's going to give them real spots, real sores. Revelation 16.3. Then the second angel poured out his bowl upon the sea and became blood as a dead man. And every living creature in the sea died. Notice a difference. It's no longer a third, is it? It's now every living creature in the sea died. No longer God working by degree. People have not repented. And because they've not repented, God says it's full out. It's a full out spanking on planet earth.

The sea has turned to blood. Again, God being the consummate teacher. The people of the earth over the years have martyred God's sons and daughters, Jesus Christ's brothers and sisters. And now, basically God saying, I'm going to give you blood to drink for what you've done to my people.

Third plague, Revelation 16.4-7. Then the third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood. And I heard the angel of the water saying, You are righteous, O Lord, the one who is and who was and who is to be. Because you've judged these things, for they have shed the blood of the saints and the prophets, and you've given them blood to drink, for it is their due. So the Bible is quite explicit about this.

Verse 7. I heard another angel from the altar saying, another from the altar saying, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are your judgments. So in that box there, you might want to put down Revelation 16.4-7. Again, very similar to the first plague in Egypt.

Fourth plague, 16.8-9. Then the fourth angel poured his bowl on the sun, and the power was given to him to scorch men with fire. And they were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of him who has power over these plagues. And they did not repent and give him glory. Now in Egypt, they were given darkness. Now they're being scorched. They're being scorched.

People want to worship on sun day. And so God, again, is trying to enforce a lesson on people about the sun. They're going to hate the sun when this is taking place. They're not here wanting to worship God, but they're certainly going to hate the sun for what's happening to their bodies. Fifth plague, Revelation 16, 10-11. 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 the God of heaven because of the pain, and their sores. It did not repent. So again, we see this same thing over and over again. And again, very similar plague to what we saw in Egypt. Sixth plague, 16, 12. Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water is dried up so that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. So what we're having now is the stages being set for that great battle at the very end. People want to call it the Battle of Armageddon. It's not the Battle of Armageddon. Armageddon is only a place where the armies congregate. They gather, and then they go south to Jerusalem. We're going to, again, talk more about that on the Sabbath.

Verse 13, Then I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are spirits of demons, who are performing signs, which go out to the kings of the earth, and of their whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. Now that's the name of the battle.

The battle of that great day of God Almighty. That's what the Bible calls it. So, and you see, brethren, the working of the demons here.

You know, they've not gone into retirement. They're alive and well, and they certainly are wrecking havoc upon earth.

Seventh plate. Revelation 16, starting here in verse 17.

Then a seventh angel poured out 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 as a mighty and great earthquake has not occurred since men were on the earth. Remember when we were going through the book of Joel, I told you about the main island of Japan. I was moved, I think, what did I say, eight feet or something like that? Earth was knocked off its axis, I think it was four inches. That's nothing compared to what we're going to see here. Verse 19, that great city was destroyed and was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and the great Babylon was remembered before God to give her the cup of wine or the fierceness of his wrath. And so God is going to take the enemies who took us down. God is going to take all the armies of the earth down. Final Scripture today. Again, more will be given next week, or this coming Sabbath. Let's look at Revelation 19.

Revelation 19, verse 11. Here's that army we talked about a few moments ago.

Revelation 19, verse 11. Now I saw heaven open, and behold a white horse, and he who sat in him was called Faithful and True. Now this is different than what we saw earlier in the book of Revelation, chapter 6. That was false Christ. False religion. This is an individual who is faithful and true, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. This is talking about Jesus Christ. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns. And he had a name written that no one knew except himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. So very explicitly we know who this is. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed him on white horses. Again, getting the attention of the whole world.

And out his mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it he should strike to nations, and he himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and the wrath of Almighty God.

I'm not going to go there for time. We're already over time. But you can write in your notes Revelation 14, talking about that winepress of God and what he's going to do with the nations.

One final scripture I'll just quote to you.

John 10.10. As you and I leave the premises today, as we've gone through and we have a general idea anyway about what's going to be happening at the end of the age, let us remember on this Feast of Trumpets, a time that pictures the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, that pictures the First Resurrection, that pictures the Kingdom of God being established. Let's remember for our sakes a very positive scripture. John 10.10. John 10.10. The thief does not come except to steal, to kill, and to destroy. We saw plenty of that in Revelation. But notice the end of John 10.10. I have come. On trumpets, Christ says, I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly. Brethren, let's enjoy the return of Jesus Christ. Let's enjoy the thought that our Savior is coming to rescue his bride. We are the bride. Those of you gentlemen out there who are married, you very much want to see your wife taken care of. You want to make sure your bride is well taken care of. And if she's hurting, you want to go and rescue your bride. Jesus Christ could do no less. This day represents a time when the bride of Christ is rescued.