Opening of the Seventh Seal

Well, thank you, Mr. Slocum, and our ensemble today. Appreciate that very much.

Today we want to continue in Revelation and hopefully get through Chapter 8. One of the big challenges with understanding the book of Revelation is that it's important to understand the background of a number of biblical concepts and also prior events that were similar. Prior to reading the book, people often sit down, just open the book, flop it open. There's Revelation, and they start reading about these seals and trumpets and vials and, you know, brimstone and fire, and they put it down and think, I can't figure this out, and they become frustrated or give up. Well, that's because they're not studying it in a systematic way. They need to understand the background to the events that occur in the book, both the contemporary background events in the book of Revelation contained in that section of time and also the inset chapters that are covered that bring us back up to speed and give us some background about what's been happening.

Revelation Chapter 8, 9 concern, as I'm sure you're ahead of me already, the seventh trumpet, the seventh seal that's opened, and the seventh seal begins the punishment of God on the earth.

People sometimes question, well, how could a righteous God punish people and kill one-third of the people here and one-third of the people there and all these various things that are happening, men not having enough food to eat, you know, famine and wars and whatever.

It's important that we understand some concepts that go way, way back in the Bible, and before we look at Revelation 8, we need to look at a number of scriptures in the back to understand what is the purpose of these events that are being revealed to us one after the other as this seventh seal is discussed, and those events hit pretty much like one, two, three, four, five, almost like dominoes. I want to begin in Genesis Chapter 4, beginning in verse 8.

We read last time, and when we went through Chapter 6, especially, we talked about the prayers of incense that come up before God, and they remind Him of all of the martyrdom, of the followers of His that have been put to death, have shed blood, have been punished over the centuries, just because they were followers of God, just because they had the laws of God, the testimony of Jesus Christ, as some are described, or they simply love their lives, not unto death, as it mentions in Hebrews Chapter 11. Many of them occurred down through history far more than we have record of. You read a book like Fox's Book of Martyrs and the numbers, the thousands and thousands of people who are noted in there as being thrown to the lions and being killed and cut in half and various things, especially during the persecutions by the Roman emperors in the 200s and 300s A.D. You wonder what are the real numbers? How many were really true Christians? How many were just taggers along or perhaps had some other belief? We really don't know. Only God knows. But the number certainly is much larger than what most of us comprehend.

Genesis Chapter 4 and verse 8 says, Cain talked with Abel his brother, and it came to pass when they were in the field that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. So the first murder, brothers, brother killed brother, apparently out of jealousy because one's sacrifice was accepted by God and the other's was not. The Lord said to Cain, where is Abel your brother?

He said, I don't know. One of the first lies recorded in the Bible that was spoken by a person, the first lie spoken, of course, by Satan the devil when he told Eve that God really didn't want them to have the knowledge that she thought she needed. So Cain rose up and killed his brother. The Lord said to Cain, where is Abel your brother? He said, I don't know. I'm not my brother's keeper.

And he said, what have you done? The voice of your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground.

So there was a blood on the ground. Obviously, he stabbed him or hit him or something to where he bled. And as far as God was concerned, that blood had a voice. That blood was crying out to him.

For what? Well, for justice. Spilled blood of a person in the mind of our Creator cries out for justice. And we'll see that as we go through a couple more scriptures here.

Let's go to Leviticus 17. Leviticus 17, beginning in verse 10, shows us that blood is not like any other thing. Blood is indeed sacred to God, special to God, that it's shedding can be because of murder, as shedding can also be for atonement, to make up for sin or to appeal to God, make an offering for sin, as we review every year at Passover and sometimes reviewing some of the sin offerings in the Old Testament and their purpose for making people understand or come to a consciousness of the seriousness of sin. Leviticus 17 verse 10 says, Whatever man of a house of Israel who dwells among you, who eats any blood, I will set my face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off for among his people. So this is not a light crime. It is very serious. For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls. It is the blood that makes atonement for your soul. Therefore I said to the children of Israel, No one among you shall eat blood, nor shall any stranger who dwells among you eat blood. And we all are familiar with the prehistoric tribes and those in Africa and other places that partake of blood, not knowing any better.

But this verse tells us it's not like any other thing, that God says, I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls. So it has a very special purpose of making up for making possible atonement. And certainly it's something that God says they should not eat or treat lightly, but there's a certain amount of respect for the concept of spilled blood. Now let's go over to Leviticus, I'm sorry, Numbers 35. So blood is very special. God keeps record of spilled blood that is not atoned for or justified. And when people are murdered, when societies somehow legalize murder and condone it and the numbers of dead pile up, it is not a sin that is overlooked or is forgotten, but that blood still cries out to God. It is not just the blood of Abel that cries out to God as being unattoned for or unjustified.

It is also the blood of the billions of innocents who have been murdered ever since the beginning of time, and in our society, sadly, legally so, because of our Supreme Court making some terrible decisions and the laws of the land that have resulted from it.

Leviticus 35, beginning in verse 33, You shall not pollute the land where you are, for blood defiles the land.

What it means is spilled blood, the blood that's the result of murder of one man taking another man's life or a person's life. Blood defiles the land, and no atonement can be made for the land for the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it.

No atonement can be made for the land except the person who committed the crime he made to pay. And there is justice.

Now, when we look at Revelation and the plagues that come on the earth, and we'll describe those in detail in Revelation 8 and 9, we're looking at a land that is defiled.

A land that is defiled because of shed blood and other sins. There's one other sin, by the way, that defiles the land, not just shed blood.

It's interesting that of all the commandments, two of them defile the land when they are violated. The other eight are certainly serious, but they don't defile the land.

But this land is defiled, and in fact the entire earth will be defiled because of the mark of the beast. And because of all the shed blood that is shed by the beast power and by the religious power in line with them, and God will simply say, if the earth has had enough blood, and the memory of that comes up before me, and it's time for those who shed that blood to have theirs shed, so justice can be done. Very important principle here. Let's read it again. No atonement can be made for the land, for the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it. Very important principle as we look at those events that are prophesied for our future. Now let's go back to Leviticus chapter 18. This gives us the second sin that defiles the land. Now, murderers are certainly in here, and we have, back at that time, we had newborn children who were passed through the fire. They were burned alive or first bled to death, and then were given to Molech, whose hands were outstretched. They would build a fire under him, and they would sacrifice their children. Now we don't sacrifice to Molech. We sacrifice to selfishness and convenience and murder unborn children by the millions every year, and certainly by many millions around the world. Leviticus chapter 18, verse 24, says, Do not defile yourselves with any of these things, for by these the nations are defiled, which I am casting out from you. Now, when a land is defiled in God's justice system, the penalty is the people who live there are thrown out. He says in verse 25, For the land is defiled, therefore I visit the punishment of its iniquity upon it, and the land vomits out its inhabitants. So the sins that cause a land to be defiled are listed here in chapter 18 of Leviticus.

And certainly verse 19 mentions, You shall not let any of your descendants pass through the fire to Molech. God says in several places that the babies belong to him. He said, They are my children. When we murder an innocent baby, we're not murdering a feeder or a blob of whatever, or even our own children, because God says that all the children really belong to him. We are murdering a son or a daughter that really belongs to God. The more you are a parent, you realize that you just have God loaning these little critters to you for 17, 18, maybe 20 years, and then they're his. They're responsible to him, not to you anymore. So interesting concept. But the other sin besides the murder of people that defiles the land in their blood is that started here in verse 6.

It's a long list of sexual sins. It includes details about incest, child molestation, between relatives, even between those that are not blood-related but are simply in the same family. God is very concerned about preserving families, and he knows far more than we do about the great damage done by molestation and the abuse of children. Of course, we've had a lot of those things in the news the last few weeks where all these big stars and important people are coming out. We read an interesting article last week that said something along the line of this big surprise.

You know, we had a president who did this, and we covered up for him for eight years, and now he's treated like a rock star. And then we have a society that is boiling in pornography, and we're wondering why some of these things are coming out. It's no big surprise. It's what our nation has done. It's what our court system has allowed, and it's what our leaders have done. And since they've gotten away with it, others are encouraged to get away with it, too. There's a huge amount of damage being done, and every one of these sins listed here in Leviticus, between verses 6 and verse 24 in this chapter, every one of them has very serious consequences now and in this life, plus in the one to come. But adultery, homosexuality, bestiality, all the things that are standard fare for Hollywood entertainment and for being promoted in our schools, in our society, they are all here as sins, along with murder, that defile the land and will result in the inhabitants being put off. Now, I say that because if we look at some of these penalties, some of these curses coming, these seven last plagues, the three woes, the vials, those are ways that God uses to push people off their land and to punish them for defiling their land with these sins. Now let's go to 2 Kings chapter 24, beginning in verse 1. 2 Kings chapter 21, 24, beginning in verse 1. In his days Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came up and Jehoiakim became his vassal for three years. So about the year 6, well, actually about 7, 702, whatever, no, no, about 605 BC. I think Jehoiakim's captivity was 605, 607 BC.

He became a vassal for three years, then he returned and rebelled against him.

The Lord sent raiding bands of Chaldeans and bands of Syrians, bands of Averites, Moabites, and bands of Amorites, and sent them against you to destroy it, according to the word of the Lord, which he had spoken by his servants, the prophets, primarily led by Jeremiah at that time. Notice verse 3, truly the commandment of the Lord, this came upon Judah, to remove them from his sight because of the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done. And it says, "'Vanessa filled the streets of Jerusalem with blood.'" Verse 4, "'And also because of the innocent blood that he had shed, for he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood,' notice this next sentence, "'which the Lord would not pardon.'" So shed blood is not pardonable. It has to be somehow made up for.

Justice has to be done in the eyes of God. So much of what Jerusalem did, in addition to Sabbath-breaking and bringing in idols, was terrible, but when they shed innocent blood, that God said simply, "'which the Lord would not pardon.'" It helps us to understand the conditions that begin in Revelation 8, where this blood that has not yet been pardoned is going to be.

It's going to be requited, and justice is going to be done. That's why at the end of Revelation, chapter 21, it says, "'Just and righteous are your judgments, O God.'" Because it is righteous and right that this blood that's going to be spilled and has been spilled on righteous people or of righteous people ever since the beginning of time is finally requited correctly. Now let's go to Deuteronomy chapter 19, beginning in verse 1. Deuteronomy chapter 19 will begin here in verse 1.

These are all good principles written by the God that will soon send Jesus Christ to the earth and requite and begin the process of removing the penalty of the blood that is now on the ground and is still calling out to him. Deuteronomy 19, beginning in verse 1, "'When the Lord your God has cut off the nations whose land the Lord your God is giving you, and you dispossess them.'" So the people of Israel were going to cut off the nations under Joshua and go into the Promised Land. This is Moses' book he wrote right before he died and before the book of Joshua and all those events begins to take place.

"'You shall separate three cities for yourself in the midst of your land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess.' So in that land there would be three cities that were called cities of refuge. You shall prepare roads for yourself and divide into three parts the territory of your land which the Lord your God is giving you to inherit that any manslayer may flee there.' Now, did not mean he could flee and escape punishment. It meant he could flee there and then have a trial, then have diligent investigation take place as to whether or not he was guilty. And this is the case of the manslayer who flees there, that he may live. Whoever kills his neighbor accidentally, not having hated him in the past, as when a man goes to the woods with his neighbor to cut timber and his hand swings a stroke with the axe to cut down the tree and the head slips from the handle and strikes the neighbor so that he dies." So this is simply an example of an accident that would result in fatality, but there was absolutely no improper behavior or negligence on the side of the person who caused it. He said, "'He shall then flee to one of these cities and live, lest the avenger of blood, while his anger is hot, pursue the manslayer and overtake him, because the way is long and kill him, though he is not deserving of death, since he has not hated his victim in time past. Therefore I command you, saying you shall separate three cities for yourself. Now if the Lord your God enlarges your territory as he swore to your fathers, and gives you into the land which he promised to give to your fathers, and you keep these commands and do them, which I command you today to love the Lord your God and to walk in his ways, then you shall add three more cities for yourself besides these three.' So six cities altogether.

"'Lest innocent blood be shed in the midst of your land, which the Lord your God is giving you, as an inheritance, and thus the guilt of bloodshed be upon you.'" So even here, he once again reminds them about the guilt of bloodshed, that that blood cries out to God, crying out for justice and for vengeance. "'But if anyone hates his neighbor and lies in wait for him, and rises against him, and strikes him mortally so that he dies, and he flees to one of these cities, then the elders of this city shall ascend and bring him from there, and deliver him to the hand of the avenger of blood that he may die.'" So once there is a inquest done and a trial, so to speak, they didn't have a judge with defense attorneys back then.

They simply had a group of Levites and maybe a priest or two in charge of it, and they did a diligent investigation. They did a get-the-facts effort to find out whether or not the man was guilty. It just says, "'Do diligent shall be done.'" But notice it says, verse 13, "'Your eyes shall not pity him, but you shall put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with you.'" So if that person is also shed, also killed, has his blood shed, then the guilt is put away.

The Bible actually says, a man who sheds blood for the first thing, of the first commandment God gave Noah after the ark landed, was a man who sheds blood of another man shall have his blood shed by man. Of course, having your shed blood doesn't mean you cut your finger. It means they die. And so the death penalty, which was not in place before the flood, witnessed the example of Cain. And, of course, what happened is the earth became filled with violence. The death penalty was instituted after the time that the ark landed on Mount Arar.

As best we can tell from this chronology we have here. It's interesting that as societies grow older, and as they grow, you might say, a little more immorally decreped, historians note that one sign of a society in decay is their unwillingness to punish their criminals. That in the early days of most great empires and nations, they have a swift justice system, and those that commit murder are they themselves then removed from the population so they can commit murder no more, and the families have in modern-day terminology closure.

But as societies grow old, and as the Roman Empire did, you know, full of all sorts of various ideas and a decrepit government, and as we have done, as we have now 250 years in our society, we have also, in most cases, lost our will to punish evildoers. And instead, we have people who commit the same crimes over and over, crimes that are overlooked on technicalities, and we all know the sad scenario and how many have been guilty of murder, rape, other terrible things, and they're back out on the street in a short amount of time.

It says, your eye shall not pity him, but you shall put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel that it may go well with you. So it will go well if the evildoers are put away. You know what happens to heinous criminals if they are allowed to continue living is they become somewhat celebrities, and they get groupies that follow after them.

I've been in prisons and seen these massive numbers of fairly attractive girls, it seemed to me like, that were waiting to go in and meet all of these murderers at some of these pretty serious level four prisons like OSP in Salem and Walla Walla, which was the very first prison I ever went to, was Walla Walla Penitentiary in Walla Walla.

It looks like a medieval castle. It's the most unaminated, it's an awful thing if you've ever been in there. And when I was changing my clothes and going through the padding down, I asked the guard, you know, stupidly, you know, how are you doing? He said, oh, we had an inmate killed with a screwdriver a couple hours ago out here in the playground. We're trying to figure out who did it.

It's great. This is where I'm going. Nobody else has a screwdriver, do they? You know, sort of hope not. But at any rate, we have people like Charles Manson and this fellow, this familiar fellow back in my movie, I think his name is back in Pennsylvania, shot a police officer in cold blood. The longer they live, the more they gain status, notoriety, groupies, people demanding they be released, on and on it goes.

And so, as a society, God simply said, your eye shall not pity him. Those who pity and feel sorry for and try to rehab murderers are simply wrong.

Continuing on down farther, let's swap down to verse 21 again. Your eye shall not pity. Life shall be for life. Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. And that is the principle that society should govern themselves on when it comes to their own civil government. In God's eyes, the blood that is unjustified, unrequited, is still waiting for the time. He'll return to the earth and take care of that long list. Now, let's go over to Psalm chapter 9. Psalm chapter 9 is actually a pretty good introduction to Revelation chapters 8 and 9. You look through the Psalms, and there are quite a number that are conversations between God the Father and God the Son, at least 10 of them. And there are quite a number that are also millennial. They talk about not only the millennium, but a few discuss the events before the millennium, or before the return of Christ, in sort of a looking back in the recent past type mode, which is what this psalm is written in.

So Psalm chapter 9, which gives us a good introduction or background to Revelation 8 and 9, is one of these chapters we need to understand before we look into the book of Revelation itself.

Psalm 9, the psalm of David, he says, I will praise you, O Lord, with my whole heart. I will tell you, or tell of all your marvelous works.

So we're talking about praising God with all of his heart, talking about all of his works.

I'll be glad and rejoice in you. I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.

When my enemies turn back, they shall fall and perish in your presence.

Okay, so here we have enemies turning back who are falling in the presence of God's servant.

You have maintained my right and my cause. You sat on the throne, judging in righteousness.

You have rebuked the nations. That hasn't quite happened yet in a big way, but it's going to.

You have destroyed the wicked, and that is certainly going to be happening. You have blotted out their name forever and ever. So there are some who are going to be destroyed, like the false prophet and the beast, that have had their chance. They will have made their decision in full knowledge of God and what God is doing, and they will not have their chance in another resurrection because they already had their chance.

O enemy, destructions are finished forever. You have destroyed cities, and even their memory is perished. There will come a time, and there are other places that talk about this, when after Jesus Christ has been here for a while, that every prayer God's people have prayed will be answered. There will be no more pain, no more suffering, no more tears, no more separation, no more of any of those things that cause the emotional pain because it's all going to be finished, forgotten, and not covered up but made right. It says, The Lord shall endure forever. He has prepared his throne for judgment. He shall judge the world in righteousness. Obviously, when Christ returns. And is there in Mount Zion in Jerusalem.

He shall administer judgment for the peoples in uprightness. The Lord also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. The times of trouble he's probably looking back at before when Christ returned. Or perhaps he's talking about the chaos and the wars of the day of the Lord, the battles of the day of the Lord time when Christ has likely returned, but as the armies are trying to gather to unseat him and the final battle takes place there just north of Jerusalem. So maybe talking about that fairly short period of time. Those who know your name will put their trust in you, for you, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.

So in this time context there will be people who put their trust in God and who God will have not forsaken. Let's drop down a little bit farther because we have this entire chapter about verse 14. I may tell of all your praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion. The daughter of Zion often in prophecy refers to the true church that has gone on down through history. Verse 15. The nations have sunk down in the pit which they have made. So the nations living in sin, rejecting God, will have made themselves like living in a pit. It says, in the net which they hid, their own foot is caught. They were rebelling against God. They gathered their armies at Jerusalem to try to stop him. And of course they're going to be defeated. The Lord is known by the judgment he executes. If Jesus Christ returned to this earth and did not execute judgment, what do you think would happen? Let's say he just returned, went to Jerusalem, set up a little temple, made a throne, and sat there. Nobody would care. They would just say, yeah, kind of some alien came to Jerusalem. Let's get back, go have some pizza. Because if he doesn't execute judgment, there will be no respect. If he does not execute judgment, there would be no one willing to admit they were wrong and now be teachable. So he has to have judgment executed when he returns so he can then rule the earth in the way it needs to be ruled.

So we have this important principle given to us here in Psalm 9, that Jesus Christ is going to return. Verse 19, arise, O Lord, do not let man prevail. In other words, men are coming after the followers of God and the return Jesus Christ himself, very likely. Let the nations be judged in your sight, put them in fear. They need to be put in fear and they need to understand the blood they have shed of innocent people is going to be required of them. That the nations may know themselves to be but men. So the purpose of these plagues and of God's punishment on the earth is given to us somewhat in summary form in this psalm. The nations are going to understand they are men, they are not God because right now they are taught they are God. Let's go over to Isaiah chapter 26, another chapter that's somewhat of an introduction to chapters 8 and 9 in Revelation.

Isaiah 26 will begin in verse 1. There's so much in Isaiah we could read, but I think just reading one chapter here, parts of one chapter, will suffice if you'd like to read more about Isaiah's sort of summary introductory chapters about God's plagues on the earth and his ultimate justice.

There's certainly plenty in this book. Isaiah 26 in verse 1, in that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah. So Jesus Christ is going to be living in Judah, land of Judah where Jerusalem is. We have a strong city. God will appoint salvation for walls and bulwarks. Open the gates that the righteous nation which keeps the truth may enter in.

So a prophecy about opening the gates so the righteous who keep the truth can enter into Jerusalem. You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you, trusts in the Lord forever. So here we have really another setting in the end time. This day will be sung in the land of Judah when Jerusalem is established as a place for righteousness. It says the unrighteous will not be allowed to enter. Here we have the gates being opened that those who keep the truth can enter in. Verse 4, trusted in the Lord forever for in YAH or God the Lord is everlasting strength. He brings down those who dwell on high. Notice those that he brings down, those who are dwelling on the high parts of the earth. And Revelation talks about the beast and the great mourning that goes worldwide because Babylon falls and the many, many millions of people apparently that have lived high and mighty, wealthily on the earth, they're going to be brought down.

The lofty city, he says, he lays it low, he lays it low to the ground, he brings it down to the dust, his foot shall tread it down the feet of the poor and the steps of the needy. And let's drop down to verse 21. For behold, the Lord comes out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. But he always adds this, the earth will also disclose her blood. And what does that mean? That means the earth will pay back. The blood of those who have shed innocent blood will themselves be shed. The earth will disclose her blood and acknowledge how much needs to be requited because it has been so much. So the earth will disclose her blood and will no more cover her slain. People today are slain often and nothing happens. There is no justice, no one is arrested, there's never someone going to jail or put in electric chair, whoever they use to execute people very, very few of those anymore. But even in this nation, one out of three murders, there's never even an arrest made. There's nothing done. I think of those where there is an arrest made, the success rate of conviction is somewhere around 60 percent. So pretty much two out of three murders are unrequited. Two out of three murders, even today in a civilized country with a law system, with a police system, with all sorts of redundant law enforcement agencies, still many, many, many fact that the majority of murders are never brought to justice. Imagine how terrible it is in places like the Third World where there virtually is no justice system, where there is no system where, up penalty for those who do that. And, of course, the number of murders in places like Mexico and throughout all the Southern Hemisphere, it's probably beyond the comprehension of most Americans. But every ounce of unrequited blood, shed innocent blood, is going to be made to be paid for. It's an important illustration over in Luke 11. Let's go over to Luke 11, where Jesus Christ tells that generation, meaning the generation that would then, in 70 A.D., be subjected to a terrible destruction under Titus, the son of Vespasian, who had gone to Rome. But Titus comes back with the army the second time and lays siege to Jerusalem. And according to Josephus, about one million Jews were killed in the battle that followed. Some of the Jews killed each other. Some of them, most were killed by the Romans. But certainly the destruction of that city was one of the great destructions and murders of people, death, loss of life of a great city in all of history. Certainly not too many could have been on the par with Jerusalem in 70 A.D. Jesus Christ told them, Luke 11 and verse 49, Therefore the wisdom of God also said, so this is the wisdom of God speaking, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and persecute, that the blood of all the prophets which was shed from the foundation of the world may be required of this generation. Now notice, these people lived in the 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s A.D. And yet, almost 4,000 years before, or about 4,000 years before, you had Abel being killed by his brother. But the blood of Abel had yet to be required in God's justice system. So the blood of Abel, to the time of the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the temple, this records probably about the year 760 B.C., will be required of this generation. Jesus Christ said, yes, I say to you, it shall be required of this generation.

So that blood that's in the ground that cries out to God, it cries out for justice.

Now what I find interesting about this, let's just talk about numbers. If Josephus is correct, and 1 or 1.1 million Jews died in Jerusalem in 70 A.D. under that destruction of the Romans, I don't see a million people being killed in the Bible. I don't have their names. I mean, we've got, you know, a lot of people being killed for unrighteous reasons, and a lot of people being killed, you know, in unrighteous wars and various things. But the numbers just simply don't add up to a million. Well, we have to take into account the pre-flood world. It became so violent and so evil that God eventually had to just wash it off the earth. And we have no written records of the pre-flood world. All we have is, you know, Noah, a little bit about Enoch, and that Noah has, you know, three sons and three daughters and, you know, his wife, they all got off the ark, all eight souls. That's all we have. And then the statement that every thought of man was evil continually, and the earth was filled with violence. So there must have been a lot of people that were murdered in the pre-flood world if the earth was filled with violence. And, of course, Jesus Christ predicted that, as in the days of Noah, it will be so again in the end time. So if it took from the time of creation to about 750 BC that over a million people, righteous people, had their shed blood and they had to be requited that that blood still called out to God, what about from 750 BC until now? It has to be a far greater number. We might could even add the Holocaust of World War II. We might could add the Armenian Holocaust of World War I, 1918-1919 in Armenia, where about 10 million of those were murdered, just like the Jews were. And when Adolf Hitler asked about when he'd asked about the Evans, he said, no one remembers murders of the Armenians, so I remember the Jews in 50 years. So we have, who knows, how many hundreds of millions, I would guess, maybe more than that, of righteous blood people, people with righteous blood being shed or shed for just murdered, and that blood then is in the ground still trying out to God. So the witness is very, very, very large, and the last generation, the generation to which Christ is going to return, and we find those events in Revelation, the blood of all of those people since about 740 BC is going to be required of that generation, because God is the same. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and that principle has not been abrogated. Now, if you go to chapter 18, in verse, let's start in verse 6 of chapter 18 of Luke, kind of a shocking statement here. The Lord said, hear what the unjust judge said, shall God not avenge his own elect, so God is going to avenge the people that he calls his elect, those whom he called out to, and he made special on his sight, who cry out to him day and night, though he bears long with them. So God bears long with watching people suffer, with watching his own elect being killed, their blood shed. He says, verse 8, I tell you, he will avenge him speedily, so when that vengeance begins to fall, it's going to be like a whirlwind. It's going to come very quickly. Once it's time for that vengeance to take place, it will happen rapidly, as we're going to read in chapter 8 of Revelation. Nevertheless, Christ warned, even though all these terrible things are going to happen on the earth, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?

So his main focus, when he returns to the earth, isn't going to be the punishment and the requiting of all of that blood, the punishing of all the evildoers on the earth. His main focus is, am I going to find people of faith still on the earth? Which shows us that, in importance, he's actually more concerned with us remaining faithful than how many gallons or whatever it might be of shed blood that has to be made up for. So our focus has to be remaining people of faith, that when all these things occur, he will find faith on the earth. And that, in fact, is also the focus of Revelation. As we mentioned last time, there are a number of twos, a number of opposites in the book, the most important one being those who take upon themselves the mark of the beast and those who do not, those who get the victory over the mark of the beast.

Okay, having said that now as background, and we could have spent much more time on it, let's go over to Revelation chapter 8. Revelation chapter 8, and I think in the time left we'll try to get through most of this chapter. We won't be able to go through chapter 9 until next time. But chapter 8, then, we are back to a chronological flow. As we mentioned before, chapter 7 was an inset chapter, and we discussed some of the various ideas and possible fulfillments of that last time. So we won't go through that. But chapter 8 begins when he opens the seventh seal. So we had the sixth seal open, which was the heavenly signs, and it mentions that people understood in chapter 6 and verse 16 that it was the wrath of the lamb that was coming, and they asked for rocks to fall on them. They looked for caves to hide in. And then we had an inset about these 144,000 in chapter 7.

And now we have the seventh seal opened, the last one of that scroll, meaning the entire scroll now can be opened up in all of its contents. It can be made understandable for everyone. So we have this seventh seal, and there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. Now the seventh seal is broken, and this is the last reference to the scroll, because after this there simply are the seven trumpets and then the seven vials. And we also have in the trumpets, we have the three, the last three of them are the woes, but we'll go through that. But the scroll is free to unroll, meaning the rest of the penalties, the rest of these plagues, are now going to take place without interruption. Then it says, there was silence in heaven. The silence seems to represent time to pause, to think, to allow the inhabitants of the earth to reflect on the great earthquake and the heavenly signs that have taken place at the opening of the sixth seal.

Silence is often used as a way of gaining attention of a large group. But there is a parallel to this we need to look at first. Let's go back to Zechariah 2. So if you want to hold your place, I know people say that they don't like it when I say that, but it might make it easier. But hold your place in Revelation 8. Let's go back to Zechariah 2. Because here is an example that will help us to understand the purpose of this delay, this half hour of silence.

They say that the half hour of silence proves there is no chihuahuas in heaven. I'm not sure if that's true or not. But Zechariah 2, I've raised my eyes and looked and behold a man with a measuring line in his hand. That's a clue because Revelation 11 about the two witnesses also starts with a plumb line and the measuring of the temple of God. So there may be several connections time period wise with what is here in Zechariah 2. And I said, where are you going? And he said to me to measure Jerusalem to see what is its width and its length. The temple was to be measured to Revelation 11 and the courtyards left out. In this case, it was all of Jerusalem. There was an angel who talked with me going out. Another angel was coming out to meet him, who said to him, Run, speak to this young man, saying, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls because of the multitude of men and livestock in it. So Jerusalem is going to be rebuilt. It's going to be a place of glory. It's going to be a place of lots of people inhabited with families and with little children and livestock and men. For I says the Lord will be a wall of fire around her, and I'll be the glory in the midst of her. So the one will have to be city walls. Jesus Christ will be their ruling, and he will be a wall of fire around her. Up flee from the land of the north, says the Lord, for I have spread you abroad like four winds of heaven, says the Lord. So he's really talking about bringing back people who have fled from Jerusalem or fled as Israel and all the twelve tribes were taken into captivity. Up Zion escaped you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon. So they dwell with the resurrected Babylon that we talked a great deal about in Revelation, but they're going to be brought back. For this as the Lord of hosts, he sent me after glory to the nations which plunder you. For he who touches you touches the apple of his eye.

Or the very center of his focus. So we have this very special people, the elect. God says, those who plunder you are touching the apple or the very focus of my eye. For surely I will shake my hand against them, talking about Babylon, the resurrected Babylon, the Babylon that enforces the mark of the beast. I will shake my hand against them, and they shall become spoil for their servants. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me. Then he says, Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, again referring to the church in the end time. For behold, I am coming, and I will dwell in your midst, saith the Lord. Many scriptures showing he's going to dwell in Jerusalem with the church, the resurrected beings with him. Many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and they shall become my people. And I will dwell in your midst. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. So all the world will know at some point that God has sent me to you, sent Jesus Christ to the earth. The Lord will take possession of Judah and his inheritance in the Holy Land, and will again choose Jerusalem. God chose Jerusalem once, but it was rejected. After it rejected him, now he will choose it again as the capital of the entire earth. Be silent, all flesh before him, for he is aroused from his holy habitation. So that verse at the end of Zechariah 2 sort of tells us that the first 12 verses have been a picture of what it is going to be like when Christ is returned. But verse 13 kind of says he hasn't returned yet, but he is aroused.

He is aroused. He is now returning. He's making plans for punishing the inhabitants of the earth, and re-establishing his government over all mankind. So verse 13 kind of is a parallel connection with this half hour of silence at the beginning of chapter 8. Be silent, all flesh, for he is aroused. He is coming from his holy habitation, which of course at that point would be from heaven. So the parallel account there provides a context, provides us a little bit more information as to how to understand this verse in Revelation chapter 8.

So let's go back to chapter 8 now, and we will look at the next five verses, verses 2 to 6, that actually are sort of a parenthetical group, that in parentheses between verses 2 and chapter 6 he's telling us something else he saw and something else going on, but it isn't necessarily a continuation of the chronological events quite yet. So let's see what he says. During this time of silence, which may be a time, as we'll see in a few minutes, where the two witnesses are warning the world, they're saying, see those two, see all those heavenly signs and the earthquake and all those things, now God is going to bring penalty after penalty after all these plagues upon you because of what you've done. So some of these things are going on simultaneously, and we kind of have to put them together, given the context that they are given in time-wise. I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and then were given the seven trumpets. Now this is the first time that these seven angels are mentioned as standing before God. They could likely be the same as the seven churches surrounding God or the seven candlesticks in chapter one, but the important thing is these are seven angels, seven beings, who are given trumpets to stand before God. There's some connection that perhaps each one of them blows as a punishment for one of the heirs of the church and those who were put to death and the blood shed during that time. I don't think the Bible necessarily supports that, but it's one conjecture, perhaps. But to these angels, they stand before God and to them were given seven trumpets. They didn't have the trumpets yet, but the trumpets were given to them as they're standing there before God's throne. Then John sees another angel having a golden sensor, and he came and stood at the altar, and he was given much incense that he should offer it with the prayers of the saints before the golden altar, which is before the throne. Now, there's only one altar in the presence of God. If you look at the diagrams of the tabernacle and the temple, the altar where animals were sacrificed was out in the courtyard. It was outside of the holy place or the holy of holies. And so it was not used except for offering animals. But the golden altar, which was a fairly small stand by the dimensions, it looked to be about 18 inches square and about three and a half to four feet high, made of gold with kind of large gold corners coming up.

And that's where it was to be continually burning incense. And that's the altar which stood in front of the throne of — or the — it was right in front of the curtain that faced in the holy of holies. It was in the same antechamber or room, the holy place, where the table of showbread and the menorah of lights was also kept. But the smoke of the incense of that altar represents the prayers of God's people. So here we have another angel that comes. Some commentaries say this very likely was Jesus Christ, I'm not sure, just says another angel. Having a golden sensor, and he came as good of the altar, and he was given much incense. So he has a golden sensor, and the altar — apparently a lot of incense comes off of the altar was given to him — that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar, which was before the throne.

So again, before these penalties begin, sort of as a parenthetical statement, these prayers of God's people, during their time of suffering, and all they have been through for six thousand years, now once again comes up vividly in God's mind, in his memory, just like the blood of Abel that cried from the ground, and the blood of Jerusalem that could not be atoned for in the time of the ancient kings of Israel, time of Zetekiah and Ojahoyekim. So now we have this blood of — or smoke of the incense of these prayers of the saints, representing the prayers of the saints that once again become known to God, and once again brought up into his mind.

So we have these trumpets. We have then verse 4, the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints ascended before God and from the angel's hand. Then the angel took the sensor and filled it with the fire from the altar and threw it to the earth. So we have these coals, these fire-burning coals that represent the prayers of God's people and how much they've been hurting, and now they are thrown towards the earth from heaven by this angel.

And notice there were noises and thunderings and lightnings and an earthquake, so the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. So these seven angels prepared themselves to sound as these prayers are being scattered out across the earth. Now really it shows the importance of the prayers and the healing that will take place. Sometimes we pray very intently about something that we are very, very concerned about, perhaps that is overcoming us with grief or concern, and we think, well, did God hear?

Did God hear our prayers for our children who were suffering or for perhaps other things that have happened? God says He has not forgotten. They are there. And He knows who the cause of that was, and in fact, He is keeping score.

He's keeping a record. As He says, vengeance is mine. You know, God listens to all of His people and all of His petitions all down through time, and all of those things are finally going to be made right at a time much, much farther in the future than most of us probably understood. So we have these prayers being scattered upon the earth. But first I want to go to Revelation 11, because Revelation 11 is an inset chapter.

In fact, 10 and 11 both are. Once we get through chapter 9, our chronology ends for a while, and we have to look at two inset chapters. But we know because of the time period here that these two witnesses are going to have three and a half years to give their message, and at the end of their message, Jesus Christ essentially is returning because they are resurrected and coming up off their feet. But it says in verse 1 of chapter 11, the angel stood, saying, Rise and measure the temple of God the altar and those who worship therein.

And notice it says the time of the Gentiles is now because Jerusalem has been given over to the Gentiles. Probably Daniel chapter 11 and verse 40 is taking place right here, when the beast power comes in from the north like a whirlwind and sets up his ensign or his rulership from Jerusalem and begins to defile the holy place of God. And that will be underfoot, then tread for 42 months. At that point, I will give power to my two witnesses. They will prophesy 1,260 days clothed in sackcloth.

It says, They are the two olive trees and the lampstand standing before the God of the earth. So they are standing there giving messages from God. And notice what their message is. If anyone wants to harm them, fire proceeds from their mouth and destroys their enemies. If anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this manner. These have power to shut heaven so no rain falls on the days of their prophecy.

They have power to pour waters over waters to turn them to blood. That's one of the trumpets to strike the earth with plague as often as they desire. So we have these witnesses apparently are announcing these plagues as they are coming. And they are telling the entire earth, God is going to now do this because you have been disobedient and you are resistant to Him.

And so apparently the two witnesses, this occurs at the same time as these plagues of chapters 8 and chapter 9 because they announce the fire that comes down. They announce the water is being turned to blood. And then, of course, when they finally are killed, the earth celebrates because they think that's going to be the end of the plagues.

But before we return to Revelation 8, let's go back to Exodus chapter 19. Because when God descends on the earth, in the time of the return of Jesus Christ, we just read that some of the signs that are given have happened before. And understanding that they've happened before might just help us understand them the second time.

Exodus chapter 19 and verse 16. This is when the people were standing at the base of Mount Sinai and God comes down, God the Father and Jesus Christ apparently both were there.

There's significant evidence for both that they have sort of a way of announcing their coming.

It says in verse 16, it came to pass on the third day in the morning, there were lightnings and thunderings. Same thing as we read in Revelation when these prayers are scattered down, these coals representing the prayers of God's people are scattered upon the earth. There are thunderings and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and the sound of the trumpet was very loud. So an angel blowing a very loud trumpet so that all the people who were in the camp tremble, so the people on the earth are going to be afraid and going to tremble. And then it says now, verse 18, Mount Sinai was completely in smoke because the Lord descended upon it in fire. It spoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace and the whole mountain quaked greatly. And when the blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder, Moses spoke to God and answered to him. So we have this coming of Jesus Christ or God, God the Father, both of them in Exodus chapter 20 to Mount Sinai, very similar to this announcement that God is coming, that Jesus Christ is returning, in Revelation chapter 8. So let's go back to Revelation 8 and verse 5. It says, there were noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake. Same thing we read in Exodus chapter 19. God's announcement that he is coming is almost identical. So the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound, so they're getting ready to blow. The first angel sounded, verse 7, and hail and fire followed mingled with blood, and they were thrown to the earth. So hail and fire mingled with blood. I think probably the best understanding here is from John's observation. The color of all this fire coming down looked like blood. There wasn't raining blood from the sky. That doesn't make any sense. But there was certainly fire and hail coming down, mingled with a blood or a color burning like blood, and they were thrown to the earth, and a third of the trees burned up, and all green grass was burned up. So we have this first trumpet plague, which is similar to the seventh plague, which struck Egypt. There are some similarities between these seven plagues and the ten that struck Egypt. But of course, this is only seven. That was ten, so they aren't quite exactly the same. But certainly there are some similarities.

In Exodus 9, God told Moses, stretch out your hands towards heaven, that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt, on man, beast, and on every herb throughout the land. So Moses stretched his hand out, God sent thunder and hail, and it came to the ground like fire. There was hail and fire mingled with the hail. And of course, much of the crops in the land of Egypt was destroyed back in that seventh plague in Exodus chapter 9. So we have this first plague that comes on the earth. It doesn't say the result. We don't have any reaction for men. We just have the first plague coming, then the second. I think we can assume that after the first plague hit that the two witnesses somehow get their message out to the earth that this is only the beginning, unless you repent. God is going to do much worse. Verse 8, then 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.

So it's not explicitly stated this came from the sky, so it could be this is a mountain here on the earth that just somehow is lifted up and then is thrown into the sea. Even in Matthew 21, Jesus Christ said, if you have faith and don't doubt that you could say that this mountain be cast into the sea and it will be done. So maybe there's a parallel, perhaps there's not, but it does simply say that a mountain was thrown into the sea, and the third of the sea became blood. Now this is somewhat similar to the first plague on Egypt. The second trumpet plague is somewhat similar to the first one on Egypt. In Exodus 7, Herod and Moses struck the waters, and the waters were turned to blood. I think this is one of the better scenes in the Ten Commandments movie that Cecil B. DeMills did.

Moses was out there, Charles Heston, and he bangs the water with his staff, and it all starts turning to blood. And then Pharaoh tries to take a drink, and even that turns to blood in his little bottle that he had there, a little container of vase. So here we have this turning the blood of the waters of the sea, very similar to the first plague in ancient Egypt. It doesn't give us much in the way of the reaction to Ben. It just simply says it happened. So Moses and Aaron, sort of acting like the two witnesses will, or might say it in reverse, the two witnesses sort of acting like Moses and Aaron did, can announce these plagues and tell the people on the earth this is what's going to happen. Revelation 11, we read that where it says they have power over the waters to turn them to blood, and this occurs here in this second trumpet. So we have then, verse 9, a third of living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. So maybe there is a tsunami, maybe when this mountain hits the water, there's massive waves across the oceans that destroy the ships. It just simply says a third of the creatures in the sea died and probably got washed up on the shore, and the resulting decay and smell would be very, very serious, and one third of the ships were destroyed. Then it says the third angel sounded. So this is the third trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch. So the third one is much like a meteorite, or a huge ball of something that comes from outside. I think it's an indication, obviously, telling the earth that it's coming from God. So a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch. It fell on the third of the rivers and on the springs of water, and the name of the star is Wormwood. I don't know what the word, why they would call it Wormwood. The word actually means bitterness. The word actually means bitterness. I think they would translate it better by simply saying that the word of the star actually means bitterness. And a third of the waters became bitter, or became, as it says in New King James, Wormwood, but really it says men died from the water because it was bitter. So it really does mean bitterness, and what it does then is to cause more human deaths because of this contaminated water in this third plague. 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 that a third of them were darkened. A third of the day it did not shine, and likewise the night.

So in this fourth trumpet, there is a similarity between that and the ninth plague that struck Egypt. But the ninth plague that struck Egypt was three days of solid darkness, so that it was completely dark, there was no light whatsoever. And so here we have just a third of the time the earth was dark, a third of the time when it should have been light, so that, you know, there is a similarity, but it is not, of course, exactly a light. So we have this one third of the night, we have a third of the stars essentially showing mankind that a third would eventually die in the pestilence and in the things that were going to happen. So we have these first four that are very rapid fire in Revelation 8, these first four trumpets that are sounded, and these plagues that hit the earth. And of course, it's turning the earth into a place of a great deal of suffering, a great deal of chaos, and some of the blood that needed to be requited that was yet crying to God from the ground is beginning to hear be justified or made justice being done. I looked and I heard an angel flying through the midst of the heaven saying with a loud voice, woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth because of the remaining blast of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound. Now, what's the significance of what the angel says in verse 13? Why are they called woe, woe, woe is not trumpet five, trumpet six, trumpet seven, because the first four were called trumpets. Now he's saying they are woes, and of course both names apply. Well, the answer is the first four plagues that we have just read about were plagues on creation on the earth, on the sun, on the stars, on the water. From here on out, the plagues are on people. These plagues are going to cause a lot of people to die, and a lot of that blood that has been crying out to God for centuries, thousands of years, is now going to be exacted. So woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, not just the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound. We'll see you in chapter 9 in two weeks.