The Humbling of Mankind

Thank you very much, Mrs. Evans. That was not only beautiful, but it didn't use, I think, any scriptures that I planned for my sermon. Unlike everyone else that's been up here so far today, apparently. I was going to say, except maybe this guy, but... Aha! One more announcement, a reminder. The feast bags are downstairs for people who cannot attend the feast. This coming Sabbath, October 1st, that's the day after tomorrow, will be the last day to put items in the bags for Prestonsburg. Mr. Dunkel will be taking them down to a protonement. So, that Mr. Dunkel guy. Okay. I mentioned... Some of what I'm going to discuss you might have heard earlier today, but repetition is a good form of emphasis. And I've got one thing I don't think anyone else earlier today had was the nifty story I'm going to have for my introduction. I could be wrong about that, but if so, just don't tell me later. So, I want to begin by describing Galveston Island. It just lies off the coast of Texas near Houston. Galveston is about 30 miles long. It runs parallel to the coast. It varies between about a mile to a mile and a half wide. Now, at the turn of the century, just over 100 years ago, not beginning 2000, but in 1900, the city of Galveston had about 38,000 residents. That made it, at that time, the fourth largest city in Texas. But late in the summer of 1900, it would experience a dramatic event that forever changed its status and future in Texas and the rest of the nation. On the morning of September 8th, it seemed like a normal day. There were broken clouds, scattered showers about. The local newspaper came out that morning, and it carried a story on the third page, a brief story that said there was a tropical storm somewhere out in the Gulf. And below that, there was an issue from the National Weather Service in Washington, D.C., saying that Texas should be placed under a storm warning.

There were no additional details available about those particular items, but there was a story by a local rider. Both of those stories had come off the news wire. The local story said, during the past midnight, the moon had been shining out brightly, and that the sky seemed much less threatening than it had earlier in the evening.

A local employee of the weather bureau, Mr. Isaac Klein, had noted that the barometric pressure was dropping, but it had been coming down steadily, no dramatic change. And there had been no heavy rain falling before one o'clock that afternoon. Now, the people of Galveston had certainly weathered storms before. They'd even experienced what they called overflows, which is when high water would sweep over the beach.

So, nothing out of the ordinary was going on with people that day. This was a Saturday, but most people in 1900 worked six days a week, so they were going about their normal business, not at all alarmed. As the day progressed, though, the tide kept crashing ever further and further up the beach. The wind blew steadily, harder and harder. By 1 p.m., it would reach storm velocity.

Mr. Klein drove his horse-drawn cart around the low-lying areas, warning people that perhaps they should leave. Only a few actually did. And very few would ever leave the island entirely before the bridges that connected it with the mainland would be washed out. Most people along the beach waited until too late to seek shelter in larger buildings downtown up on higher ground. Those people nearest the water were the first to have their houses destroyed. The pounding waves and the rising tide and the ever-faster wind first knocked down that first row of houses, then smashed debris from those houses into those further inland, damaging and often obliterating them. By 5 p.m., the winds reached hurricane velocity. The highest sustained winds were measured at 84 miles per hour, gusting up to 100. And then at 5.15, the anemometer blew away. If you're unfamiliar as I was with what an anemometer was, it's a device used to measure the speed of the wind. And so the wind blew it away, and we'll never know for sure, but Mr. Klein estimated that the wind reached speeds of 120 miles per hour during that storm. Modern meteorologists believe that the 1900 Galveston hurricane slammed ashore as a Category 4 storm. I read some accounts of survivors. One said that he took shelter along with 50 other people and a large house inland. But as they watched, the water rose four feet in a few moments. And then the wind and water began smashing debris from other houses into this house, pulverizing it. Eighteen people were instantly hurled into oblivion. Others were killed by pieces of wood and stone that were being blown through the air at high speeds.

In the eye of the storm passed around 5 p.m. There was a brief lull, followed by even fiercer winds. And then through the small hours of the night before sunrise, the storm gradually subsided. Sunrise on Sunday morning, September 9th, revealed that about 3,000 homes had just been swept out of existence entirely. Somewhere between 6,000 and 8,000 people had lost their lives during the night before. What a tremendous tragedy. It makes the accounts of the hurricane we experienced coming up the east coast a few weeks ago seem fairly small. Even Hurricane Katrina was trivial as far as the death count by comparison.

But you might be wondering now, what exactly do hurricanes have to do with the Feast of Trumpets? If you will, let's turn to Matthew 16. Matthew 16 will begin at the beginning of the chapter.

Now, this is, of course, part of a confrontation Jesus Christ had with the Pharisees who were the religious leaders of the nation at that day. And it says, the Pharisees and the Sadducees came and, testing him, asked that he would show them a sign from heaven. His answer to them was somewhat different. He said, well, listen, you, on its evening, you say it will be fair weather because the sky is red. And in the morning, well, you say, well, the weather today, it will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.

You hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you can't discern the signs of the times. And he went on to say he wasn't going to give them a sign other than the sign of the prophet Jonah. But notice, he said that to the Pharisees, that you can't discern the signs of the times. But he would say something different to his apostles, to his disciples.

Let's turn a few pages more back to Luke 8. Luke 8, and we'll begin in verse 8. Matter of fact, I'm going to begin at the last part of verse 8 because I want to pick up on something he mentioned after giving a detailed prophecy, or parable. He gave the parable of the sower and the seed, and at the end of that, he said something very interesting to his disciples.

So the last part of verse 8, he said, He who has ears to hear, let him hear. And the disciples asked him, saying, what does this parable mean? Now, he would go on to explain the parable, but he said something else to them first. Something that he never said to the Pharisees and Sadducees. In verse 10, he said, To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it's given in parables. That seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.

Now, he went on to explain that parable, but I want us to remember the other things. He said, what made his people different? They had ears to hear. They had the ability to understand the mysteries that no one else did. And there's another place where the Church of God has given that message. And I'm not going to turn there, but in Revelation chapters 2 and 3, the messengers went to the seven churches, and we interpret that as seven church eras. And after each one of those messages, it concluded with the words, He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

He who has ears to hear, that's us. We have something most people don't have. We have ears to hear. We have an understanding of God's way and of what is prophesied to happen to mankind. But knowing this, what will you do? If you know what's coming, what will you do? Let's turn to the Old Testament in Proverbs, chapter 22. Proverbs 22 and verse 3. I'm hoping that the first part of this proverb applies to us and not the second part.

And as I said, because we have ears to hear. Proverbs 22 and verse 3. A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself, but the simple pass on and are punished. The prudent man foresees. In other words, he sees it ahead. He knows what's coming. Now, this doesn't mean that we should hide like the prudent man because the situation is somewhat different. But because we foresee the evil times ahead, we foresee that trouble is coming, we should act accordingly. Metaphorically speaking, a storm is coming. A big storm. But we don't have to be like the people of Galveston in 1900.

We can discern the signs of the times, unlike the Pharisees. So let's consider some of what we do know and think on what we need to do about it. Now, I want to go on and talk about Christ gave somewhat, you could say, a long-range forecast for most of human existence.

That's why weather forecasting can help serve as a good analogy for understanding Bible prophecy. If most of the world is like the people of Galveston in 1900, then we're comparable to the people living on the east coast a month or so ago. We've got satellite images, Doppler radar, or I say the people on the east coast did. From the time Hurricane Irene was a tropical depression forming off the coast of Africa, all through the time it strengthened into a tropical storm, till it became a category one hurricane, then two, three, and then died down, information was available on the television, on the radio, websites, would tell people where the storm is, how strong it is now, where it's going to go next.

The only people likely to die in that storm would be those who had ears but refused to hear. Now, regarding the signs of our times, what do we hear? What do we know is going to come and what do we see around us? Let's turn to the book of 2 Timothy, 2 Timothy chapter 3. Beginning the first verse, we'll see some of what we hear. It says, And he says, Can anybody here deny that that's the state of affairs that seems to be around us?

We see a lot of those things. I noted a lot of un's, the un of the good things, unloving, unholy, unfaithful. Now, it'd be easy for a person to say, Well, yes, but all of those things have been around for a long time. Maybe they're getting worse, but over the years they've gotten better and then they've gotten worse.

How do we know that it means it's the time of the end? How do we know? Well, that same question was asked before. It's Jesus Christ's disciples asked him. As you all know, let's turn to Matthew 24 one more time. Matthew 24 and beginning in verse 3. I might have light with...make light of this, but... I'll mention this. I'm going to flip back and forth between two sections of Scripture quite a bit coming up. So, you might want to either keep your hand here at Matthew 24 or put a marker because we're going to go back and forth.

But let's start Matthew 24 verse 3. This is talking of Jesus Christ. Now, as he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, Tell us, when will these things be? The same question we have. What will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age? What's this going to be? And Christ said the first thing he said, Well, take heed that no one deceives you. Don't be fooled. So, before he gives the answers, make sure you're not deceived because a lot of other things will happen.

Now, as I said, put a marker here and let's go to Revelation chapter 5. Revelation chapter 5 and the beginning of that chapter, we're going to go back and forth here because this occurs considerably later. This is a vision written by one of the men who were there when Christ was speaking on the Mount of Olives, as they addressed this question. And then later, John gave not only the answer that Jesus gave him then, but God revealed to John even more and would give more detailed information.

So, this is part of that vision, but we're going to set this up, and we're going to see a vision of one with a scroll in his hand. Revelation 5, I saw on the right hand of him who sat on the throne, that's referring to God, a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals. This is a written scroll with those wax seals to keep it closed. And I saw a strong angel proclaim with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals? And no one in heaven or on the earth or even under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look at it.

So I wept much, because no one was found worthy to open it and read the scroll or to look at it. One of the elders, though, said to me, Don't weep, behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.

Now, we know the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root and stem of Jesse, or the root of David, was Jesus Christ. And I looked and beheld in the midst of the throne, Well, wait a minute. I'm going to skip ahead here. Yeah, because we described some of what's happened in the throne room. Let's go to Revelation 6. And we'll begin in the first verse here, we'll see as he's about to open these seals.

Revelation 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. And I looked and behold a white horse. And he who sat on it had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering him to conquer. Now we know Jesus Christ is portrayed as coming on a white horse.

And that's what many people in other churches believe that this is representing. Jesus Christ going out in his church, conquering the world. But now we want to hearken back to what Jesus Christ warned his disciples. So again, we're going to come back here soon.

You can keep your hand here or a marker. But if we go back to Matthew, chapter 24, we'll see that this white horse is not portraying Jesus Christ, but those who might pretend to be him. Matthew 24 and verse 5. Jesus said, Many will come in my name, saying, I am the Christ, and will deceive many.

Keep in mind, Christ is shown on a white horse, but later we'll see that he's always shown with a sword, never with a bow. Okay, so Christ explains that. This first horseman and the first one that Christ gave would be false religion, false teachers.

Now let's carry on what else Christ said would come. Verse 6, all these are the be- No, no, that's verse 8. Verse 6, you'll hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you're not troubled. All these things, see that you're not troubled, for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. So this is a normal state of affairs, false religion, wars and rumors of wars. For nation will rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom. There'll be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. We'll see these same predictions back in Revelation 6, if you'll go back there again.

Let's see what happens when some of those other seals are open. It's amazing how well they correspond. Actually, it shouldn't be amazing. It's the same God revealing the same things that will happen in the future. Revelation 6, chapter 6, verse 3, When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, Come and see another red horse. Another horse, fiery red, went out. And it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, and that people should kill one another.

And there was given to him a great sword. Sword often being the sign of war. So here, wars and rumors of wars. The second horseman is red with a sword signifying war. Then he opened the third seal, and the living creature, I heard the living creature say, They come and see, so I beheld, and a black horse. 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 saying, A quart of wheat for a denarius. Three quarts of barley for a denarius. And don't harm the oil and the wine. So this is referring to shortages of food, great famine. If you're reading the Old King James, of course, it's a measurer and a penny. But it's a small amount of food for a large amount of money, relatively. And 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 beheld a pale horse. The name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed with him.

And power was given them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with the sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth. This is referring to pestilence, the pale horse. Disease spreads. And the order is not just accidental. Any time there's a major war, there's going to be disease and there's going to be a famine following. Of course, horsemen, the war comes and it destroys the means of food production.

It often takes away some of the laborers that are necessary. And then disease spreads, because septic systems and proper hygiene is destroyed and food sources get contaminated. And let's quickly read Jesus' comment again, back in Matthew 24, verse 8. I think I might have read this before, but he says, All these are the beginnings of sorrows.

These may be the signs of certain times. Remember, he said, you can't discern the signs of the times. But these aren't necessarily the time of the end. They're the beginning of sorrows. As Mr. Evans said, these things have been going on. They're the state of human existence, although they do seem to be progressing and getting worse over time. I'd like to say Jesus was getting a long-range forecast for the weather of human existence.

And this would go on through centuries, millennia. But if we continue, we start seeing things get a little more specific. Matthew 24, verse 9. Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you. You'll be hated by all nations for my namesake. Then many will be offended and will betray one another and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. Obvious question here is, well, the end of what?

This could refer, and I'm sure for some it will refer, to the end of the world when Christ returns. But for many, those that Christ was speaking to personally, the end often meant the end of their own lives. They had to endure, and many of them were martyred. When they endured to the end, of course, their next waking moment will be in the resurrection at Christ's return.

So once again, this is a long-range forecast. The disciples were killed beginning not long after Christ's resurrection. And it would go on over through the course of human history. Sometimes worse, sometimes better. But, as Mr. Evans again pointed out, we get more specific.

In verse 14, Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, whoever reads, let him understand. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains and give further instruction. When he writes that, I often wonder, did Matthew not understand, or did he not want to spell it out and say, the people who know will know what this means?

And we could go back and forth, but let's go back to Revelation 6. And we'll see that this persecution was also part of the seven seals.

Revelation 6, beginning in verse 9. Remember, we have seven seals on this scroll. The first four were represented by horsemen. Now, the fifth seal is different. No horsemen. When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God, and for the testimony they held. They'd been slain for the word of God, martyrs for believing and living up to the truth. 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 that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed. So we see, comparably, an early martyrdom, some going on, but there's going to be a late martyrdom. One of the signs of the end will be persecution and those dying for the truth. And that could include some in this room. I pray that God will give us strength if any of us must be those for whom they're waiting, but it is predicted it will happen. So the next seal, though, is going to bring us to something that does not occur through many years of history. Martyrdom has gone on and on, but we're going to come to some things that only happen at the end time. Verse 12 of chapter 6. I looked when he opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair. The moon became like blood, 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 like a scroll when it's rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. Pretty dramatic stuff. The sky being rolled back. It's almost like if you see the blue just curled back and you just see the stars and there's nothing there. The moon turned to blood. The sun darkened. Then the kings of the earth and the great men, the rich men and the commanders and the mighty men, every slave and every free man hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains. They said to the mountains and the rocks, fall on us. Hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of his wrath has come. And who is able to stand? This is definitely a sign of the end. It's coming. And let's see, in Jesus Christ did describe this. If you want to go back to Matthew 24, as I said, keep your hand there for a little longer. In verse 29, once again, Christ parallels this exactly. Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light. The stars will fall from heaven. The powers of the heavens will be shaken.

Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven. All the tribes of the earth will mourn. And apparently many of them will hide in rocks and caves and want the rocks to fall on them. Because they'll see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and in glory. And he'll send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet. And they'll gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

When Christ does come, he'll send his angels to gather his people, wherever they are, wherever that place is that we might be or if we're scattered. But I've got a note here. Now we're getting somewhere. Today is the Feast of Trumpets. So far I've been talking about hurricanes and seals and horsemen and tribulation and so on. And I finally got to a trumpet, so now I'm on track.

Yeah, I know, it seems funny to try to be humorous at this point, so... But it's pretty heavy-duty stuff, so it's good to take a breather. But let's carry on Matthew 24 in verse 32. Now learn this parable from the fig tree. When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know summer is near. So you can look, that's one of the signs of the times. So also, when you see these things, then you know that it's near, even at the doors. When you see these things, we are able to see the things.

In 1900, the people of Galveston, they had some signs, but they didn't know what those signs portended. Remember I said they got up in the morning, there's scattered clouds, some showers here and there, you know, in a third-page story in the newspaper saying there was a storm out there somewhere. But what we have are like today's meteorologists with color Doppler radar and satellite images. So when we see these things, we're going to know what's going to follow. So let's continue. If we could say in Matthew 24, Jesus gave a long-range forecast mostly.

He focused on the things that are going to happen for centuries. But in Revelation, he would cover that and then become much more specific. Now let's take a look at what's going to happen when the storm has not only been building, but when it's going to crash ashore. Revelation 8. Revelation 8. I'm moving ahead here because right now we've only opened six of the seven seals.

Now we're going to see something dramatic happens when the seventh seal is opened. Revelation 8, verse 1, When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about a half hour. I just realized there was a little bit of irony there because I said something dramatic was going to happen. And there was silence. But actually, sometimes silence can be very dramatic because after all this, suddenly it stops and it's like that proverbial waiting for the other shoe to drop. And I saw seven angels who stand before God and to them were given seven trumpets. Then another angel having the golden censer came and he stood at the altar.

He was given much incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar, which was before the throne. The smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints ascended before God from the angel's hand. Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it to the earth. There were noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake. And earthquakes can be pretty frightening. Notice earthquake comes up again and again here.

And I don't know how many of you have ever been in a... I've never been in a major earthquake, living out in California for a couple years. Even a small one really unnerves you. The big ones are enough to just ring you out, so to speak. And then, they're in verse 6.

So the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. So just getting ready to sound the trumpets brings this tremendous storm in the earthquake. Now, I wonder, and I speculate on this. We don't know for sure, but it seems obvious that these seals, when they're opened, as I said, it's a long-range stretch. Even some of the things are leading to the end can take several years. It seems once the seventh seal is open and the trumpets start blowing, things are going to happen relatively quickly. And that's where we should have already seen the signs of the times and know what's coming, because there's not going to be a long delay.

We won't look as these things happen and say, oh, it's gone on like this for years and years. No, let's see what happens beginning in verse 7. The first angel sounded, and hail and fire followed, mingled with blood, and they were thrown to the earth.

A third part of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up. I don't raise cattle, but I'm guessing there's some of you that do, and having all the green grass burned up everywhere in the world is serious business. 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. A third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

Now, I wonder, something like a mountain burning with fire, could it be like an asteroid coming into earth, or something like a fire burning like fire could be like a volcano. We don't know, it could just be something miraculous that God does. Also, a third of the sea, that could be one geographic area, the Atlantic Ocean, per se, or perhaps it's a third everywhere.

Maybe it's one layer, the first third deep, and all the sea life in that region has died. I'm speculating here, but just think how vast that is. In verse 10, then the third angel sounded, and a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of that star is wormwood, and a third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the water because it was made bitter.

Imagine one third of all the fresh water on the planet becoming poisonous. Now, I was speculating, or perhaps these things falling from the sky could be, as I said, asteroids or satellites falling out of orbit or something, but keep in mind, if God uses something physical that already exists, it doesn't make it any less miraculous that it happens. And I wonder how many asteroids would have hit this Earth a long time ago if God hadn't prevented it. God will bring these things about when He's ready, and they'll happen very quickly then.

So please keep in mind, if I speculate how something might be, I'm not trying to say, oh, we don't need God to work miracles to bring it about. No, I'm saying it shows how great God's power is. And in verse 13, I looked and 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. And I always think, when God is saying woe, I think I've said this before here, that's not a good thing.

You don't want God to say woe to you, because when God says woe, it's trouble. Continuing in chapter 9, we've had four out of the seven trumpets. Then the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star falling from heaven to the Earth. And to him was given the key to the bottomless pit. A fallen star is often a reference to a spirit being gone bad, a demon. He opened the bottomless pit, and the smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace. So the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit. Then out of that smoke locusts came upon the Earth.

And to them was given power as scorpions of the Earth hath 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. And they were not given authority to kill them. Notice, they can't kill people, but to torment them five months. Their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man.

And those days men will seek death and will not find it. They'll desire to die, and death will flee from them. I'm not even sure how to speculate what that could be, but I know I've seen people in pain such that they said death would be better. And the shape of the locust was like horses prepared for battle. On their heads were crowns of something like gold.

Their faces were like the faces of men, and they had hair like women's hair, and their teeth were like lions' teeth. They had breastplates like breastplates of iron. The sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots, with many horses running to battle. And they had tails like scorpions, and there were stings in their tails. Their power was to hurt men five months. Now, it's been speculated, and it might well be true. Could John have been seeing modern war machines? Things like the modern Apache helicopters, and who knows, things that haven't been developed yet, and tanks, and perhaps hovercraft with advanced weaponry. As I said, it could be, or these could be some types of spirit beings.

Either way, it's something that God is letting loose to cause harm, and to kill a great number of people, and cause terrible pain and suffering. In verse 11 says, They had a king over them, the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, but in Greek has his name Apollyon, which both mean destroyer. One woe is past, behold, two more woes are coming after these.

That's a lot of woe. And then the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar, which is before God, saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, released the four angels who were bound in the great river Euphrates. So those 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.

I think in one of the Bible studies recently, we were discussing how many people would be left alive after all this happens, and we begin the millennium. We're speculating it's going to be a small number. Here's a third killed with just this. And there's a lot of other death and destruction. And I don't like talking about death and destruction, but as I said, we need to read the signs of the times and be aware of what's coming. Now, the number of the army of the horsemen was 200 million. And John says, I heard the number of them. That's huge.

Now, we know in the eastern countries there are armies that big. China and India and Pakistan have very large armies. And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and those who sat on them had breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue, sulfur yellow. And the heads of the horses were like the heads of lions. And out of their mouths came fire and smoke and brimstone. By these three plagues, a third of mankind was killed. By the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which came out of their mouths.

Now, we know that at least these are being...we talk about angels being loosed, probably most likely demons. And given the power, apparently, to deceive political leaders and military. And then these armies coming. And the vast destructive power that man has been developing all these years is going to be set loose. And it's not going to be all that discriminating.

So their power is in their mouth and in their tails, and their tails are like serpents having heads. And with them they do harm. But the rest of them...actually, I don't want to read that yet. Because I want to move forward. Now, we're going to skip Revelation 10 and 11 because these are parenthetical. Meaning, Mr. Armstrong used to say, inset. They stop the story flow or the chronology and deal with other things, some of which occur at the same time. Some happen beforehand, but it's easier dealt with otherwise.

You know, that includes the work of the two witnesses, and they're resurrected at the sign of a great earthquake. And a great earthquake also would coincide with the seventh trumpet. Sometimes I wonder if some of the earthquake might be punctuation marks to help us fit some of these pieces together. And I don't know, but I just wondered. There's this great earthquake when the two witnesses rise again and a great earthquake at the seventh trumpet. Maybe that's the same earthquake. Maybe separate earthquakes.

Please don't say that Frank Dunkel is spouting new doctrine here. I'm just, as I said, speculating that maybe there's some pieces where they overlap and some are like pegs to put it together. But if we go to Revelation 11 and chapter 19, we'll pick up our story flow again. Then the temple of God was opened in heaven and the ark of His covenant was seen. Well, there we go. It's not in a warehouse in Washington, D.C. That joke never gets old for me and it never catches on.

But anyways, let's be serious again. The temple of God was opened in heaven. This is the real temple and the real ark and it's seen and there are lightnings and noises and thunderings and an earthquake and great hail.

Hmm.

Ah, I just realized that I missed something. I meant to go to Revelation 11, verse 15. Because I want to get the fact that we're getting the seventh angel sounding. So let's back up a little bit. I beg your pardon on getting out of my order there. But 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. He shall reign forever and ever. Of course, most of us have heard Handel's Messiah, or at least a part of it, where this is put to music. The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ. I love the seventh angel sounds and we say, that's it. Jesus Christ has taken over rulership of the earth. And after we get to some more parenthetical information, now I want to go to Revelation 15, verse 1. Because at the seventh seal, remember, we had seven seals. The seventh seal was made up of seven trumpets. Now the seventh trumpet sounds and we're going to see that it's made up of seven different components. Revelation 15, verse 1. Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having the seven last plagues. For in them the wrath of God is complete. Now that's a good... it's not good in the fact that it's the wrath of God, but this is going to sum it up and it will be done when these seven last plagues happen.

Skipping down to verse 7. Then one of the four living creatures gave the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God who lives forever. If you're reading the old King James, it says seven golden vials. The reason the new King James, they switched to bowls because the intent is something that can be poured out very quickly. And vials, sometimes it seems like it pours slowly, but this is something like you spill it out and it's out just like that. It happens very quickly. So we're going with bowls here.

And so, as I said, so far we've had seven seals. The seventh seal was made up of seven trumpets. Seven trumpets, but then the seventh trumpet is made up of these seven last plagues. Now we're going to... and I should mention... Here's where I'm going to want to go back to Revelation 9, though. We often focus on God's mercy, and appropriately so. God is patient. God is loving. He's kind. He will forgive us again and again if we repent. So why then all this wrath? Why all these plagues and punishment? Well, the reason can be found a few pages back in Revelation 9 and verse 20. I stopped reading it then because I wanted to make this point here to show we're about to complete God's wrath. And the reason it has to keep going forward is because even after all those great trumpet plagues and verse 20 of chapter 9 it says, 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, or stone and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. And they did not repent of their murders or their sauceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts. People are being punished by God and they just won't repent. And the Bible says, I'm going to have to go further. An analogy I think of, and it's perhaps small by comparison, but sometimes a loving parent will have to punish their child. And sometimes you have to punish pretty hard until the child sees what they're doing wrong and is willing to change. And I'm sure none of you really like to spank your children. You don't want to have to punch that hard. Not punch, punish. Don't be thinking something that's not... Actually, I've rarely... I've never given Connor more than a swat because he's little. That time will come, but not punching. But no parent wants to do that. And God doesn't want to punish that hard, but He's doing this out of necessity. So we'll see, and we'll see eventually, that when Christ returns, there's still going to be people who won't repent with armies gathered to fight against Jesus Christ Himself. Probably because they're deceived at the time and don't realize who He is. But in any event, the seven last plagues that make up the seventh trumpet are going to put an end to any and all resistance to God's rule on earth. So that's going to bring us to Revelation 16. Revelation 16, and let's read through this unpleasant story relatively quickly.

16 in verse 1, I heard a loud voice from the trumpet, saying to the seven angels, Go and pour out the bowls of the wrath of God on the earth. So the first went, poured out his bowl on the earth, and a fowl and a loathsome sore came upon men, who had the mark of the beast and those who worshipped his image. When I read this, it brings to mind things like radiation burns or some terrible skin disease. Verse 3, The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it became as the blood of a dead man, and every living creature in the sea died. Earlier we had a third, now it's every bit of it, the entire sea, every living creature, and that's a lot. Then the third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of the water, and they became blood. All fresh water no longer drinkable. I heard an angel of the water saying, You're righteous, O Lord, the one who is and who was and is to be, because you have judged these things, for they have shed the blood of saints and prophets and you've given them blood to drink, for it is their just due. God is only giving man what man has deserved, but remember God is merciful and is opening away for repentance and redemption afterwards. In verse 8, The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and power was given to him to scorch men with fire. I think that we are shielded a great deal from the sun and its other rays. We have the ozone layer over us, and the earth's magnetic field shields out cosmic rays and ultraviolet and various other types of radiation. If those were damaged or removed, God wouldn't have to do anything more. But of course, God can increase the power of the sun and do terrible things. And it says in verse 9, Men were scorched with great heat. And we see what happens. They blasphemed the name of God, who has power over these plagues, and they did not repent and give him glory. They still won't repent, and so God goes further. 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 blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores. And still, they did not repent of their deeds. And this reminds me, I don't know, maybe this is worse, but in the plagues on ancient Egypt, when God was bringing the Israelites, one of those great plagues was a darkness, not just any darkness, but a darkness that can be felt. You know, just, I don't know, dampness clouding you in, something the light can't get through. This must be that bad or worse. And the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, so that the ways of the kings from the east might be prepared. Kings of the east, once again, China, India, Pakistan, perhaps others.

And I saw three unclean spirits, demonic forces, coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophets. For they are spirits of demons, performing signs which go out to the kings of the earth, and the whole world, they gather them to the battle, and that great day of God almighty. So, God has restrained the demonic world for much of human existence, so that they don't have that much power over us. But at times, God will remove that restraint, as He did in the case of Job, and let them do more. Now, in the course of the sermon, I haven't really talked about the beast and the false prophet, but they have their role in all this, and that's for another time. Right now, I'm looking at the broad-range forecast of events that we know are coming. But it's good to realize all these pieces fit together.

And we know, as I said, the demons are able to deceive political leaders, those with power and authority. And then, oh, and it says, of course, you know, let's go in verse 17. The 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's done. It's all done. And there were noises and thunderings and lightnings, and there was a great earthquake, such a mighty and a great earthquake as had not occurred since men were on the earth. This is the last one of all these earthquakes. Now the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. Cities just being leveled because of the earthquake. And great Babylon was remembered before God to give her the cup of the wine and the fierceness of his wrath. And every island fled away, the mountains were not found. And a great hail from heaven fell upon men, each hailstone about the weight of a talent.

And I've heard some estimates say that's probably hail about the size of a basketball coming down. Think of the destruction along with this earthquake, shaking buildings and crumbling. Hail the size of basketball coming out and smashing things. And it says, Men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, since the plague was exceedingly great.

But this is going to finish it. This is the seventh last plague.

Let's move ahead and get to that end in chapter 19. Revelation 19 and verse 11. Because we've already had the proclamation. It's done. We've heard the kingdoms of earth are becoming the kingdoms of our Lord. And this is one of my favorite sections of Scripture because we've read about the sign of the Son of Man coming. Here's a further description.

His eyes were like a flame of fire. On his head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except himself. And he was clothed with a robe dipped in blood. And his name is called the Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed him on white horses. Now that might include some of the angelic hosts, but every indication is that many of those in the armies will be us. Those who are resurrected and meet Christ in the air and then come to take over command of the world. So we want to be those that are given fine linen, white and clean. Now out of his mouth goes a sharp sword, not a bow, but a sword, that with it he should strike the nations. And he himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. He has on his robe and on his thigh a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

And I like to remind us of something that I learned once. I always thought, yeah, he's got that rod of iron. He's coming in just smashing people and hitting them over the head with that rod of iron. I said, no, remember how a shepherd uses his rod to direct the sheep and often to protect them and drive off predators. That rod is not only to keep the sheep in line, but to defend them. So Christ's ruling with a rod of iron means that he has the strength to protect his flock, not to beat them with it.

There's enough of that going on in the past. Christ will finally rule on earth, and it will be time for mercy, for peace, for justice.

Now, what we've just read, all of this is, again, like the most accurate, detailed weather forecast that the National Hurricane Center could ever hope to produce. It's like one with 3D color images. It shows a specific route map for the storm. It tells how powerful the wind will be, how high the tides, and the strength of the storm surge. By comparison to what we have known, what we can understand, and what we read, the rest of the world are like the people of Galveston in 1900. You're having a third-page story, saying there's some storm and a man coming around on a horse-drawn cart, saying you might want to think about moving inland sometime.

Now, I think, what do people do if they know, and they know that they know, that there is a Category 4 storm coming that's going to hit their town? Well, they take action, don't they? They board up their windows. They move their furniture up to the second floor. Whatever valuables they can, they pack in the car and they get out of town.

Now, those kind of steps won't help in the type of storm we're talking about. So, what do we do? Let's go back to Matthew 24. I took my hand out of there. I don't know if you did, but I want to take a moment. Matthew 24, and we'll be reminded once again. This is so important, I don't mind that we've read it more than once today. Matthew 24, and we'll begin in verse 42. Matter of fact, I'd be a little disappointed if a lot of this didn't get covered more than once. After Christ gives the Olivet prophecy and foretells much of this, He says, Blessed is that servant whom His Master, when He comes, will find so doing.

Now, He's going to go ahead, Christ would go ahead and give the parable of the ten virgins. Five were so doing and they were prepared. Five were...well, they all fell asleep, but five weren't ready for what they needed to do when they woke up.

And He followed that up with again the same warning, Matthew 25 and verse 13. Watch therefore. You know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming. So watch. Be ready. And in my notes, I've got written in big red letters, Wait a minute! Didn't I just say we had the most accurate, detailed weather forecast ever? How can I be saying that we don't know when it's going to happen? Well, let's clarify. This foretelling of the future tells us what will happen.

It tells us in what order it will happen. But there's one big piece of information that is missing. When will the storm break? We know it's going to happen and we know when it does, it's going to have all these parts, but when will it break?

We don't know for sure. That's why people have lost heart in the past. There have been other bad storms that have come up. It's just that people thought we're going to be the end of the world and it turned out not to be. I often consider it the 1930s in the Western world. In the 1930s, we were going through the greatest depression anybody had ever seen. There were weather plagues, drought, and the dust bowl storms blowing out in the West and covering the sky and burying homes. And World War II was beginning to break out. Small wonder that many people, including Herbert W.

Armstrong, believed that it was the end of the world. And then it turned out that it wasn't. It was a really bad storm, but it wasn't the bad storm. Then again in the 1970s, or the late 60s into the 70s, another bad storm blew up and a lot of the elements seemed right, but it turned out to not be as bad a storm. It's important for us to remember a vital part of Christianity is that it's a way of life all the time. Our hurricane preparation must always be in place. Because we know how the storm will track, we know what it will do, but its early signs look a lot like the early indications of other storms that aren't quite as bad.

So it's important for us to think, if we have to always be prepared, what is our preparation? What do we do to always be prepared? Because boarding up your windows won't really help. Not for this kind of storm. Let's go to one of my favorite scriptures on the subject, Micah 6. Micah 6, that's buried in the minor prophets, just after the book of Jonah, if you happen to be good at finding that one. Which I don't know why you would be, but always remember there's Jonah, Micah, and there's another one that ends in Ah.

Oh, Obadiah. But we're going to Micah 6, verse 8. As I said, if we're asking the question, well, what do you do? How do you stay ready? Here's a note, God Himself is addressing this. Micah 6, verse 8, He has shown you, O man, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you? But to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. Three things, do justly, love mercy, walk humbly with your God. This sounds simple, but it's not easy, is it? Sounds simple, not easy.

That sounds like Christianity. And you might ask, still, how exactly do I do these things? This is a little bit vague, so let's get a little bit more specificity. Let's go to the New Testament, once again to Matthew, and we'll go this time to chapter 19. Matthew 19, verse 16. Because I'm not the first person to ask this question, a young man came up to Jesus Christ and asked Him, not how do I prepare for the storm, but he asked Him, how do I make sure I have eternal life?

Which is, in essence, asking the same thing. Matthew 19, verse 16. Now behold, one came and said to Him, good teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? Jesus had to correct one thing. He said, why do you call me good? No one is good but one, that is God. But if you want to enter life, keep the commandments. Now, we've heard that before, and then He said, well, which ones? No, wait a minute. Enter life, keep the commandments, which commandments? There's a whole lot of them. That Old Testament's pretty thick. Jesus specifies some. He says, you shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, honor your father and your mother, love your neighbor as yourself.

You know, He lists several of the Ten Commandments. And the young man said, well, I've been doing this all my life. What am I still lacking? So Jesus said, okay, if you want to become perfect. And there's another part where the Apostle Paul or James talks about going on to perfection.

No, it is Paul. Anyways, I didn't write that scripture down, but if you want to be perfect, in this case, sell what you have and give it to the poor. Then you'll have treasure in heaven and you can come follow Me. And it's interesting, many commentaries, and I believe this is true.

Jesus wasn't just saying, follow Me like be a Christian. He was saying, sell that stuff and get it and then come follow Me. Join My disciples. You might be one of the twelve. But when the young man heard that saying, he didn't sell all he had and followed Jesus. Instead, he went away sorrowful because he had great possessions. He was rich and he couldn't let it go. He wanted to keep on being rich. Now, I want to point this out because it's not the selling everything you have that makes you go on to perfection.

It's being willing to get rid of whatever is coming between you and God. In this case, it was a young man's money. Many of us aren't rich. So it wouldn't be that hard. If you hardly have anything, giving it all up, that's a piece of cake. For most of us, it's going to be something else. Something else that we have to do to go on to perfection. Is it giving more of our time? Is it overcoming a personal fault? Whatever it is, we keep the commandments and then we go on to perfection. We start keeping the spirit of the law, not letting anything become between us and God.

We need to remember that it's living God's way of life that will serve as our storm preparation. That includes obeying God's commands, showing love towards others. And another thing we need to keep in mind is we can't afford to develop the same kind of lackadaisical attitude that some people who live on the coast have. And you see this, I thought of this, you know, soon after Hurricane Irene came through because they always send the newsmen out. And you see lines of cars, people leaving, and then you see some people that say, ah, I'm not going out. The weathermen always exaggerate. This one will probably miss us. Or it won't be that bad. And you know, most of the time they're right. A lot of times it's not as bad. Or the storm hits a few miles away, but it wipes out somebody's home. We can't afford to be that way. We can't say, oh, I'll repent later. You know, Christ isn't returning today because we want to keep in mind, if you're on your way home from services and an 18-wheeler broadsides you, hopefully you've endured to the end because that's the end for you. And I don't mean to say that in a humorous way. I'm just saying, we don't know when our end will be. We need to always be prepared. Because as I say, we know Jesus' forecast is accurate. We know that the storm that's coming is real. And it will be just as bad as predicted. Matthew 24 in the book of Revelation say that we won't know far in advance exactly when Christ will come, but we have to always be ready. Jesus said, blessed are those whom he finds so doing when he comes. That's important.

Now, the Feast of Trumpets is a bittersweet day for Christians. We dread the plagues and the death and destruction that must come on the world, but we eagerly anticipate the coming reign of Jesus Christ. As I said, God doesn't like to punish, but when men won't repent, he's going to do what he has to do to reconcile mankind to himself.

So we anticipate God's rule on earth, not the suffering. And I haven't even mentioned one of the greatest things of all is the resurrection of the saints. And that didn't fit in with my message, but I want to make sure that it were clear that the Feast of Trumpets represents the destruction, the humbling of mankind, but it also represents God's rule on earth and the resurrection of all who have lived who have been devoted to him. That's one of the greatest parts of this day.

We can look forward to that day with dread and anticipation because God's given to his chosen people that gift of understanding. We know what lies ahead. We have the accurate and the detailed forecast and the ability to read it. The only question is, do you have ears to hear? Do you have ears to hear? What will you do with what you know? Let's make sure all of us are ready and looking forward to that time.

Thank you.