Seven Seals and Seven Trumpets of Revelation

Well, I'm sure it was mentioned to you this morning that this is the first day of the seventh month in God's calendar. Seven, as I mentioned in one of my letters, is the number of completion for God. And in this month, the seventh month, we have four Holy Days, which picture the completion of God's plan that He had for mankind and for the earth and when He created it. We've been through the first three in the spring Holy Days of Steps of God's plan. Today represents the fourth step in God's plan. The feature of Trump is, and we know we'll talk about this a little bit more, the pictures of time when Jesus Christ will return to earth. He will set up His kingdom. It will last forever and ever and ever. And it will be a relief to God's people when He comes, and it will be a cause for great joy and celebration when Christ returns. The whole creation has been waiting for this time when Jesus Christ would return, and God's will and God's kingdom is on earth. But leading up to this time, we've pictured three, or we've gone through the spring Holy Days, and let's just rehearse again as we come up to this fourth Holy Day, what those steps in God's plan are. Because of Adam and Eve's decision and choice to reject God and to follow their own way and not follow God and follow their ideas rather than living the way of life God prescribed for them, sin entered the world, and with sin comes death. There's only two ways of life, one way that leads to death, one way that leads to life. Adam and Eve chose the way that leads to death, and mankind was subjected to it. Without Jesus Christ, without Him being willing to come to earth and live as a human being, without Him being flesh and blood and living a perfect life, so that He could pay the death penalty for us when He died, God's plan couldn't have been finished. And all of us would have been hopeless, we would have been lost, or wouldn't have been any redeeming of people. It took His life, and He and He alone is the only one who could do it, and He did it for us. And so back in the spring we observed Passover, a time when we commemorate Christ's death and just the magnitude of what that means, that we can't even put into words. The very first step in God's plan for mankind is Jesus Christ came to earth, He lived, He died, and when we observe Passover each year, we take of His blood, we take of His flesh, we wash each other's feet, we picture the life of humility that we need to live, and we picture our commitment to Him and to follow Him through the good times, through the bad times, knowing that He is the only hope and He is the only way to salvation.

When God opens our minds, when we understand that the way of life we've led before, the way of life the world leads, is not going anywhere, but that it leads to death, we make a choice to follow Him. As though as we go into the days of Unleavened Bread, we picture putting away the way that we used to live, putting that behind us, because that was leading nowhere, and we follow the way of life that God prescribed to us.

Every man has to make that decision, if he's going to have what God offers to him. And so we picture that in the days of Unleavened Bread, putting out the old, putting in the new, eating the Unleavened Bread of sincerity and truth, and eating that every day of our lives and allowing God to lead us, guide us, and think, cause us to live in a new way of life. And of course, without, if it was just up to us, if we had to rely on our own strength, we would all fail.

Without God's Holy Spirit, we wouldn't overcome anything. We couldn't even overcome our own sins and faults. And so God had to put His Holy Spirit in us. And that is pictured by the day of Pentecost. When we repent, when we believe, when we're baptized, the Holy Spirit is put in us, and it leads us to understand and gives us the strength and the power to overcome and lead His way of life.

And when we commit to God, when we stay, we commit to Him for eternity, we live that way and let Him grow us and develop us until the day that we die, or until the day that Christ returns.

The time that He returns, which is pictured by this day, the Feast of Trumpets. So let's look at the Feast of Trumpets in a little more detail. Let's go back to Leviticus 23.

And of course, in Leviticus 23, we have all of God's holy times, appointed times listed in this chapter. In Leviticus 23, verse 23, we find this day that you and I are gathered together here to worship God on and to observe as He commands. Leviticus 23 and verse 23.

A memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. And in obedience to Him, we're gathered here together in a holy convocation before Him. You shall do no customary work on it, and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the Eternal. So that's what we're gathered here today, to observe the Feast of Trumpets. And there's very little mentioned about the Feast of Trumpets in ancient Israel.

They were just told, this is the time, a memorial of the blowing of trumpets. And back in ancient Israel, those trumpets had a lot of meaning. You'll remember, even back in Exodus 19, when they stood at the base of Mount Sinai, and God was about to thunder down to them the Ten Commandments, it says that the people trembled when they heard all the noises. They heard the thought of lightning. They heard the thunder and the sound of a great trumpet that got their attention. And they trembled, and eventually they said, you don't let God speak to us, you speak to us, Moses. But by the sound of a trumpet, they heard his voice and all the other noises that were there with it. So as they commemorated, or observed the Feast of Trumpets, the memorial-blowing trumpets, hopefully that was in their mind, that that was God speaking to them at that point. And of course, as they went on in history, Jericho was marked by trumpets. But back in Numbers 10, God commanded them to have trumpets as one of the... one of the sounds or one of the instruments that they would have there in their... in their epitron. Numbers 10. Numbers 10, God commands them to fashion two trumpets. Not just one, but two trumpets. Numbers 10, verse 2, it says, make two trumpets for yourself, make them of hammered work. And then he tells them what they're to be used for. And they have a lot of purposes rather than just musical or just war or just the things that we might associate with it. He says, make them of them hammered work, use them for calling the congregation and for directing the movement of the camps. So when people heard the trumpet, they knew, ah, we need to listen. And they had to discern what was the trumpet for. Is God gathering together the leaders? Is the gathering together all Israel? Israel? Is the camp ready to move forward? What does this trumpet mean? They had to be in tune to what the meaning of the trumpet call was. So those are a couple of things down in verse 9. One of the more familiar ones, we would think of a trumpet. When you go to war in your land against the enemy who oppresses you, you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets. And you will be remembered before the Lord your God, and you will be saved from your enemies. Sound that trumpet. Trumpets have an alarming sound to them. They kept our attention. And for Israel, they could indicate war was at hand. And verse 10, also in the day of your gladness, in your appointed feast, and at the beginning of your month, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings. And they will be a memorial for you before your God, I AM YHWH, your God.

So you can see, when trumpet blew in Israel, it could have a wide variety of meanings. It could be a joyous occasion, it could be war, it could be a matter of God calling His people together. And so when we observe the Feast of Trumpets today, it doesn't have just one meaning. The trumpets have multiple meanings. And overall, this day pictures the return of Jesus Christ, as I said we'll get to here in a few minutes.

But the day of trumpets also pictures the time that leads up to the return of Jesus Christ, because there are a number of things that go on in the world before He returns. And those trumpets are clearly mentioned and addressed in the New Testament as well.

Well, let's go back, as we're here on a day, picturing the turn of Jesus Christ. Let's go back to the book of Revelation and look at the words that are spoken there, because this prophecy was given by Jesus Christ to John, a prophecy for what the world would be like leading up to the return of Jesus Christ. Let's look at how the trumpets and the events leading up to Christ's return would give messages to God's people. Let's begin in Revelation 1, verse 1. We'll read one verse here, just to set the stage of what this book says. It says, the time is near, and it's a lot nearer now than it was when John wrote this back in the 90s A.D. Let's go over to chapter 4. After, in Revelation 1, 2, and 3, John sees Jesus Christ walking among the seven churches. He sees what the conditions of the church will be between that time and the return of Jesus Christ. And in chapter 4, we find the beginning of the prophecy of what would happen after we have the messages to the churches. Chapter 4, verse 1. After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this. As John was there, a voice like a trumpet said, Come, come and I'll show you what it is to be. Chapter 5, verse 1. And I saw on the right hand of him who sat on the throne, a scroll written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open this scroll and to lose its seals? And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look at it. This scroll was the rest of time. This scroll had the answer. This scroll had to be unopened in order for the realization of what God created this earth and created you and me for to happen. And it's John, look, no one. There was no man, no man on earth that was worthy to open that scroll. No one could do it. And it says that John, as he looked at this and thought, it can't be finished. How are we going to finish? What is to become of this? It says, I wept much because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll or to look at it. But one of the elders 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 lose its seven seals. Only Jesus Christ, only the first step in God's plan, only He could do open the scroll that would allow God's plan for mankind, God's plan for this earth to be fulfilled.

He was worthy to take it. And when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. You know, those prayers of all of God's people down through the time, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. All those prayers that have sent it up to God that haven't been answered yet, but certainly will be answered. And as Christ takes the scroll and opens it, all those prayers, because it's about to happen, what the world has been waiting for unwittingly, the return of Jesus Christ, to write everything is about to occur. Verse 9, and they sang a new song, saying, You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its deals. For you were slain, and you have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation. And you have made us kings and priests to our God, and we will reign on the earth. Then I looked, John writes, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures and the elders, and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands, millions and millions and millions, staying with a loud voice. Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessings. Down in the middle of verse 13, Blesthing and honor and glory and power be to Him who spits on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever. Then, verse 14, the four living creatures said, Amen. And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshipped Him who lives forever and ever, and who will establish a kingdom when He returns to this earth that will last forever and ever. And it will be a kingdom of peace, a kingdom of joy, a kingdom of abundance, unlike any kingdom or government that this earth has ever been able to bring. Chapter 6. When I saw the Lamb open, one of the seals, now I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures staying with a voice like thunder come in the sea. And I looked, and behold, a white horse. He who sat on it had a bow, and a crown was given to Him. And He went out conquering and to conquer. The first of the four horsemen, as they're called, of the Apocalypse.

Now Christ is revealing the type of things, what will be going on before He returns. And then this first horseman, we find some things as we look at it that are unique to Him. First of all, we notice that the horse is white. The man who's riding on it, he's got a crown. So he has authority and he has power over people. He also has a bow. And when we see a bow in the Scriptures, it means that he's an aggressor. He's a killer. He's looking to not help people. He's looking to kill people. And he's looking, it says here, to conquer. He went out conquering and to conquer. Now some people will confuse sometimes this white horse in Revelation 6 with the white horse that Jesus Christ returns on in Revelation 19. We know that's not the same horse. But it is interesting to note that the same color is white. Because usually when we think of white, we think of purity. And we think of people who have had their garments washed white by the repentance and the way that God has cleaned them. But this man doesn't sound like Jesus Christ. He has a bow. He has a crown, too. But he's there to conquer and conquer. So what do we do with this? How do we find out what does this mean that God revealed to John that he wrote to us? Well, we know, as Peter says, that Scriptures have no private interpretations. So we look back to Matthew 24, to the time that Jesus Christ, when he was on earth, answered this very same question to the disciples who asked him at that time. We know the book of Revelation was given to reveal to us what would be, what times would be like in the time leading up to Jesus Christ. In Matthew 24, his disciples who were alive at that time asked Christ the very same question. Matthew 24, verse 3, breaking into the middle of the verse, it says, And then Jesus, in his own words, answered and said to them, They'll be saying, either I am Christ, because there will be people who claim that they are the second coming of Christ, or they'll be saying, I represent Christ, or let me tell you what Christ said, I am coming in his name, I believe he is the Savior, O mankind, and this is what he said. But then the message that they give you is far different than the message that Jesus Christ said. Nothing that they said matches what Jesus Christ said and how he lived his life. And so many people will be deceived because people will come and they'll say, I'm of Christ, but then they'll tell something different than Christ. That's why it's so important that the gospel of the kingdom, the true gospel of the kingdom, be preached in all the world as a witness to all nations because only God's church preached in that gospel. Other churches that say, we believe in Jesus Christ, we're led by Jesus Christ, don't preach that gospel. They preach something far different. They're not sitting obeying God's law, observing the Feast of Trumpets today.

They'll tell you that you don't have to do this, even though Jesus Christ observed it, even though his disciples observed it, even though the early New Testament church observed it, even though it's clear through the Scriptures that you obey what God's says and not what men's says. Okay, verse 5. For many will come to my name, saying, I'm the Christ, and they will deceive many. And then he says, you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you're not troubled, for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. Nation will rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. I won't turn back to Matthew 24, but I want you to note four things that Jesus Christ says are the beginning of sorrows. That will match the four horsemen of the apocalypse, if you will. The first one he says is, many will come in my name, saying, they are Christ, or saying that they give his words. False prophets, wrong leaders, people who will deceive you of what the truth is. That will be the first thing that comes, he says. The second thing he says, you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. They'll be everywhere. Kingdom against kingdom, nation against nation, just like we have today. We even have nations, civil wars going on with the nations, since we have tribe against tribe. We have one faction of a religious group battling against another religious group. Kingdom against kingdom, nation against nation. And then he says, the third thing will be famines, starvation on the earth, a lack of food. And then pestilences and earthquakes in various places. All these, Christ says in his words, are the beginning of sorrows. And they started long, long ago. Every single one of these things that he talked about, we look and we see them in the world today. They're there. But as time goes on, they will intensify. The false prophets will become even more, even more deceptive than they are now. Let's go over to verse 23 of Matthew 24. And we'll see what Christ says of this first horseman, or this first situation that will appear on earth, as it progresses down closer to the time that he returns. Verse 23, he says, if anyone says to you, look, here's Christ, or there, don't believe it.

For false Christ and false prophets will rise, and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. Don't believe it. You know what Christ said. You know when he's going to return. And Christ says, see, I've told you beforehand. There's no excuse. If you're listening, if you're paying attention, you won't be deceived. Verse 26, therefore, if they say to you, look, he's in the desert. Don't go out.

Or look, he's in the inner rooms. Don't believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of man be. Everyone will know when Jesus Christ returns, there will be no doubt in anyone's mind that Jesus Christ has returned. They will see it. He's not hidden. He's not coming in secret.

He's not here already. Or as I recently heard, you know, that one religion believes that he's already come in the form of another man. Which kind of boggled my mind. People who just don't read the Bible and believe Christ's words. But this is the end result of right before Christ returns. And while Christ talked about it, it's been prophesied before as well. Let's go back to 1 Thessalonians first, or 2 Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians, the Apostle Paul, talks about this same event. In 2 Thessalonians 2, we'll pick it up in verse 1, he is speaking in the same context.

What happens before the return of Jesus Christ? In 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 1, it says, Now brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, so we see what He's talking about, we ask you not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. He hasn't returned. He will return. But no one to deceive you, he says, by any means, for that day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all, that is called God, or that is worshipped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

A man who is coming at a time where he will position himself as he is God. You listen to me. A man who has great authority, who has a crown on his head, and he goes out on a white horse, looking, perhaps, wanting people to believe that he is Jesus Christ.

But he is a deceiver. He looks the part, perhaps, to people who don't know. He looks the part to people who don't understand, but he doesn't get his power from God. Going on in verse 5, don't you remember, Paul said, that when I was with you, I told you these things, and now you know what's restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. The mystery of lawlessness, and we see it around us today, where people disregard the law of God, and they write their own law.

If I'm not hurting anyone, then I should be able to do whatever I want. We see it around us. We see our nation coming to it. We see even people that aren't in the church coming to it and thinking, yeah, what's wrong with that? The mystery of lawlessness, that we don't need to pay attention to the standards that God has set for us. Verse 8, We better know the truth that they might be saved. Very important as we enter into the rest of our lives, and as the rest of the time before Jesus Christ returns, we better know the truth.

We better know what God says. We better not let ourselves be deceived, because there's no excuse. Christ told us. The Apostle John told us. Here Paul tells us. You knew ahead of time. He was not deceived by anyone that says there of Christ. Back in Daniel, he spoke of the same condition here, of a coming man who, as false prophets intensify, as we come near the return of Jesus Christ.

In Daniel 7, we read about the fourth beast, and you'll remember that Daniel saw the statue that represented the four world ruling kingdoms. The fourth beast was different than all the rest. Let's pick it up in Daniel 7, verse 23.

Thus he said, The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on earth, which shall be different from all other kingdoms, and they will devour the whole earth, trample it, and break it in pieces. The ten horns are ten kings who will arise from this kingdom, and another shall arise after them. He'll be different from the first ones, and he shall subdue three kings.

He will spink pompous words against the Most High. Remember, we read this when we were talking about the spirit of the Antichrist. He will say words against the Most High. He will be pompous. He'll be out there saying things that are diametrically opposite to what Jesus Christ said. He will persecute his things to the Most High, conquering and conquering, using his bow that he has to kill people that don't believe what he believes or professes. And he will intend to change times and law. He won't keep the law of God. He'll say it is, but he'll change it. He won't keep the times. He won't be gathered together before God on the Feast of Trumpets. He'll be gathered at another time of his own making. He will speak to change times and law, and no one has the authority to do that except Jesus Christ, and he never did. It was written back in Genesis 1.14, the appointed times they say, and that God expects his people to keep them right until the time, or as long as heaven and earth exist. He will change times and law, what he doesn't have the authority to do. And back in Revelation 13, right before the time of Christ's return, we see a man who is the epitome of a man who rides on a white horse with a crown on his head and a bow in his hand, seeking to kill, seeking to conquer. In Revelation 13, we have the beast power that arises out of the sea, but in verse 11 of chapter 13, we find another beast coming up out of the earth. Verse 11, and it says, he had two horns like a lamb. He looked like a lamb. He looked like Christ. He said the words. He looked like a lamb. He was sitting on a white horse. Must he not be who we think he is? He looked like a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon. He had the words of Satan, the words that are opposite, the words that are not of Jesus Christ, not preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, not instructing people to live the way of Jesus Christ, but speaking the other way of life that leads to death. And verse 12, he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and he causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. He's got authority. He's sitting there with a crown on his head. Someone's given him the authority. You go out and you tell them to do this.

He's sitting on a white horse. He looks the part, but his words belie him, that he's not of God or God. And he's out there, and it says he performs great signs, verse 13, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those kinds which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. He was granted power. He's got that crown to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. He's got that bow. He's got the authority. He's got the power. And if you don't succumb or yield to him, you'll be killed. And then in the succeeding verses, it talks about the mark of the beast. If you're not killed, you won't be able to engage in commerce at all. And as we talked about last Sabbath, it'll be at that time the only answer is to trust in God. We won't be able to rely on our own resources. We'll have to trust only in God, because he's the only one who can see us through a time such as this.

That first beast, that first horseman that comes through, he wreaks a lot of havoc on the earth. And that horseman's been riding, but as time goes on, he will intensify and intensify. And before Christ's return, we will see the culmination of what that horseman can bring on earth.

Let's go back to Revelation 6.

Revelation 6. One of the seals that Christ has opened is now open, leading to the ultimate purpose of his return. In verse 3, we find the second seal opened.

In verse 3, when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, Come and see. 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.

It's not hard to understand what this horseman is about. He takes peace from the earth. People kill one another. It's the time of war. What was the second thing that Christ said in Matthew 24 when he was answering his disciples in person? He said, Be sure that no one deceives you. False prophets will come in my name, saying, I am Christ. And then there will be wars and rumors of war. There won't be peace on the earth.

Not many of us were alive during World War II.

But ever since then, there's been wars and rumors of wars. As we look at the world around us today, we see wars and rumors of war. They may be an ocean away, but with all the advent of all our modern weaponry, we see war getting closer and closer to us. We hear people saying things that are just kind of unbelievable when you read it.

That it's okay to kill Americans. It's okay to kill Canadians. It's okay to kill Australians. It's okay to kill Britons. It's okay to kill the French. Do it in the name of Allah. It's okay because they're fighting against us.

Wars and rumors of wars. I don't think we have to talk more about that. Before the return of Jesus Christ, we know the war that really will end all wars will take place. And if Jesus Christ didn't return at that time, no flesh would be left alive. Man's modern weapons would totally destroy man from this earth and end life as we know it.

But that's not the purpose of the earth. That's what Satan would like to see. Christ will come and he will save that day from coming. Let's go on to verse 5.

When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, Come and see. So I looked, and behold, a black horse. And he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hands. We may weigh things out on. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius. And don't harm the oil and the wine.

Not a time of absolutely no food, but a time when food is scarce, a famine, where food becomes a very precious commodity, where you would work a whole day just for a quart of wheat, or a whole day's wages just to buy three quarts of barley.

We live in a land where food is relatively inexpensive. We can go out and we can buy basically whatever we want on the wages we make. And it's plentiful. Rarely do we go to a store and can't find what we're looking for. Perhaps in the time of a hurricane, all the supplies, but that's just momentary. We've become accustomed and we know that when we go out to Publix, when we go out to Walmart, or wherever we shop, the shelves are full. Everything we need is going to be there.

But the third horse comes in famine. Remember what Jesus Christ said as you remember from Matthew 24. The beginning of sorrows. There was false prophets. There were wars and rumors of wars. And there were famines, he said. And this third horse comes out on the earth and we've heard of famines. We haven't had it in the United States where we've lived, but we hear about it on the earth. But there's a time coming when food will not be as plentiful as it is today.

There's a time coming when people will pay for anything, or pay any amount of money for food. And they recognize how important it is rather than just being so readily available as it is today. And you know, you look back through history and oftentimes famine. The scarcity of food is the result of war. Back in World War II, you didn't have the supermarkets that we had today. Food was rationed. People had to go out and they could buy only what they were allowed to buy for that week. We haven't lived in a time like that, while some of you may have, but certainly not in the last 50, 60 years. But it was a common thing among wartime. Enemies are always looking to see how they can unsettle and how they can defeat their adversary. And creating a famine in a land was one of the ways that was pretty good to defeat your enemy. Back in Deuteronomy 28, we find that very concept. If a nation has really high walls, as we read here in Deuteronomy 28, and as you've been reading Deuteronomy in preparation for the feast, you may have come across this chapter. You remember that this is the chapter where God lists the blessings for those who obey Him and follow Him, and the cursings that will result if people depart from Him. And here in chapter 28, verse 52, among the things that will happen to people that depart from Him, we find some harrowing words for Israel. 28, verse 52, they shall be seed you at all your gates until your high and fortified walls, in which you trust. They trusted in those high walls back then. We spoke a little bit about that this past Sabbath. Today, maybe we don't have high walls, but we have oceans on both sides of this country, and we trust in that. It's difficult for an enemy to get to us. We trust in our weaponry. We watch the air strikes. Then we probably think, yep, they're going to work. They're going to dismantle things. They shall be seed you at your gates until your high and fortified walls, in which you trust, come down throughout all your land, and they shall be seed you at all your gates, throughout all your land, which the Lord your God has given you.

When a nation be seized another, the purpose of that was to draw them out. When you're in a siege, you can't go out of the city. You have to rely what was in there. They may have had a lot of food stuff, sort of, but eventually, if the siege continues, the people will get hungry, and desperation will set in. That's what happened.

So in the very next verse, when God's talking about the siege, and He talks about the walls that you're trusting in, He says, some really graphic language here, and I'm not going to read through all of it, but in verse 53, He says, "...you shall eat the fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and your daughters, whom the Lord your God has given you, in the siege and in the desperate straits, in which your enemy shall distress you." Because back in those times, they did that. They starved someone out. They made it to point, and that was the way to conquer.

If they couldn't climb the walls, they didn't have the cannons, they didn't have the air, the aircraft to do that back in those days, they would starve them out. Famine! Not because of a lack of rain, but because of a war-induced situation. And as you go through the rest of these verses, you see how God is very graphic. When people don't have food, what they will turn to? Things that we just take for granted today. But if a famine were to come, and people don't have food, we would see what human nature is all about.

In the very last part of verse 57, there, the last few words, he says, "...the desperate straits in which your enemy shall distress you at all your gates." Let's go back to lamentations. A book right after Jeremiah. The nation of Judah departed from God, despite the fact that Jeremiah was there for 40 years, telling them to turn back. Telling them what would happen if they didn't turn back to God. They just kept living their lives the way they were. And eventually, God did send in the Babylonian forces. They did conquer Judah. And it was a harrowing time.

In lamentations 4, let's pick it up in verse 4, let's see some of the things that led up. And what life was like in a war-induced famine situation that Judah found himself in. Mementation 4, verse 4, The tongue of the infant clings to the ruffus of its mouth for thirst. The young children ask for bread, but no one breaks it for them. Those who ate delicacies are desolate in the streets. Those who were brought up in scarlet embraced ash heaps.

Verse 6, The punishment of the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of the sin of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment with no hand to help her. We know Sodom's sins. God burned it right off the face of the earth. And he says, what Judah what you've gone through is worse than Sodom. They were destroyed in the second, but you suffered the consequences of wartime. Verse 8, Now their appearance is blacker than foot. They go unrecognized in the street. Their skin clings to their bones.

It's become as dry as wood. Verse 9, Those blamed by the sword are better off than those who die of hunger. For these pine away stricken for lack of the fruits to the field. A pretty harrowing picture, isn't it? When we put ourselves in that picture. And Christ says the third deal will be famine. Not just fought famines in Africa and places far away. Famine. Perhaps war-induced famine. And our enemies, if we look at our enemies in the world today, they would do anything to conquer us. And if they could restrict our food, if they could restrict the resources that America has, and Britain, and Canada, and Australia, and everything that the caliph mentioned, every people that he mentioned in his little proclamation earlier in the week, one of the ways they can do that is limit our food.

But you say, but it's America. It's America. We have stockpiles that can last forever and ever, right? Who can set a fought against us? How are they going to man both oceans? We have a huge land. How are they going to stop that? And it sure does look impossible if you look at it from a human standpoint. It's a pretty big task. But we know that God can bring anything about. And if we look at the possibilities in the world today, there is one possibility. If we just look at it from a physical sense, because God can bring anything, He doesn't have to have the physical possibilities.

But there is one thing in the world today that could bring that state on the United States. Literally within a week, we could be in a situation that we've read like what we've read here in Lamentations 4. And that one possibility we've talked about before, and it has been talked about by the government, and it's been out there many times, and that's the EMP attack that people have talked about, the electromagnetic pulse attack. There's the possibility of that happening. Let me read to you from an article by a man by the name of Robert Kessler, and he interviewed—I didn't write down Mr.

Nordling's first name, but he's the president and CEO of Imprimist, that specializes in this type of stuff. The name of the article is, An EMP Attack Would Send America Into the Dark Ages. I'll just read a few excerpts there, and then I'm going to update it from something from Forbes. He writes this, because if a nuclear device designed to emit EMP were exploded 250 to 300 miles up over the middle of the nation, it would disable the electronics in the entire United States.

That would disable the entire electric grid. It would disable communications, fuel manufacturing and production, hospitals and medicines, and 911 call centers. Everything else would shut down. Water treatment facilities, food storage facilities—everything would be gone. Financial records would be wiped out. Your investments would be gone. Your medical records and prescriptions would be zapped. Forget about your computer and the Internet.

Forget about heating and air conditioning, supermarkets, telephones and radio and television. Banks and APMs would shut down, credit cards would become useless, and hospital operating rooms would close. While vehicles made before 1970 might still work, they would be useless. That's because gasoline could not be obtained. Newer cars and trucks, disabled by the pulse, would block the roads and highways. In most cases, the damage to chips would be permanent. And because tow trucks won't operate, roads would never be cleared.

The vast majority of Americans would die from starvation or disease or would freeze to death, according to William Graham, who was chairman of the bipartisan Congressional Commission to assess the threat to the United States from the electromagnetic pulse attack. Yet a hearing of the House Committee on Homeland Security on July 29, Graham testified that the government has done virtually nothing to address the effects of such an attack on the civil sector. At the end of 2013, the famous testament, the government has done virtually nothing to guard America against this type of attack. July 31, 2014, just a couple months ago, Forbes magazine, in an article by Peter Kelly Detwiler, he wrote, a single missile with a warhead that actually doesn't have to be all that large, has the potential to take out the United States power grid, destroy our electronics networks, and create an existential crisis like nothing the world has ever witnessed, like nothing that we could even imagine.

And he goes on in the article to say, North Korea has that capability today. They have the power to do what this would do. Iraq, and the weapons we've left behind, has the power to do. And Iran is very close to having the safe capability. It doesn't have to be the biggest nuclear bomb, it just needs to be a nuclear device sitting on top of something else. And one aimed in the right place could render us and put us into a state of famine that we couldn't even imagine.

Possibilities, I'm not saying it's happening, but it's a possibility. It's a possibility. And out of war, oftentimes comes famine. And famine could be, well, famine would be something that would throw our country and the Israelite nations around the world into quite a frenzy. The third horseman talked about famine. Let's go back to Revelation 6. Revelation 6. Three of the seals have been opened. In verse 7, the fourth one is opened. When he opened, Revelation 6, verse 7, when he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, Come and see. So I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades, or the grave, followed with him.

And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth. A lot of people will die as a result of these four horsemen who are riding across the landscape of the earth. This fourth horse is a pale horse. His color seems to have gone out of him, and when we're sick, people will say, Your color doesn't look right. You look pale. Are you feeling okay?

The pale horse pictures pestilence. Remember, as Christ answered the question himself, as he went down the things that were the beginning of sorrows, he said, false prophets, wars and rumors of wars, famines, and then pestilences and earthquakes. The very same thing he said here in Revelation 6, and the time leading up to the time of the trumpets that we'll get here in a minute.

Things that mankind brings upon himself by his own way of life and the choices that he makes. And again, I will spend a lot of time on pestilence. We might think, Ah, we live in America. Every time there's a disease, we come up with some kind of medicine to offset it or to fight it. And yet, we live in a world where we see the clues of just how tenuous these things can be.

It wasn't too awfully long ago that we read about Syria having a stockpile of chemical weapons that was so vast, I think it's talked to many of us when we saw how many chemical weapons they had amassed. Just imagine if a chemical weapon was released on America or Britain or Canada or Australia or any nation. How would we guard against that? And don't think Syria is the only nation that has a chemical stockpile.

And I don't believe for a moment, no matter what they say, that they have destroyed all those chemicals. And just in our own country, within the last couple of months, we heard a report out of the Centers of Disease Control where they found a vial of smallpox or some similar disease that they didn't even know was stored in a remote location.

And if someone had just by accident opened that vial up, it would have spread like wildfire to the people. And every disease is there in our Centers of Disease Control. It's well protected now, but it's there, it's available, and it could be unleashed in any time. Is there pestilence that could happen in America despite all the medicines, despite all the research, despite all the doctors and all the hospitals? It could happen. It could happen. Mankind, when he has a weapon, as you've heard before, has never failed to use it at some time in his existence. So through the first four horsemen here, leading up to the time of Christ's return, we see all the idols of modern-day living dismantled.

We see money no longer valuable. We see food no longer, it could be no longer available. We see medicines and hospitals and 911 calls no longer there. We see our fortresses and our weapons. They're useless. They're useless in the event of an attack that would disable all of the things that we are used to having. All the gods, all the gods, all the idols are gone. And at that time, there's only one God in whom we can trust, only one God in whom we rely.

All the other gods of modern society, totally dismantled, and it's all in the hands of God, all where we should be developing our time and devoting our attention and letting God lead us by His Holy Spirit now.

Let's go on in 6. That's the first four horsemen. The first four things that Christ said were the beginning of sorrows, but there's more seals that have to be unopened. Verse 9, we see the fifth seal. When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the Word of God and for the testimony which they held.

And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? Then a white robe was given to each of them, and it was said to them 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.

Another harrowing time. The prayers of those who have been martyred for the truth, for following God, for following His way, who gave their lives and never yielded to the forces and pressures around them. Go back to Matthew 24 and pick it up in verse 8. We end it in verse 8, and we'll start there. After Christ said in verse 8, All these to the beginning of the sorrows, and we saw Him talk about them and talk about in Revelation.

What we call the four horsemen. In verse 9 He says, Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. A time of great tribulation. Such as not is not fenced as the beginning of the world, nor ever shall be, He says later on, in verses 21 and 22. Tribulation persecution. For God's people, who will not yield to the powers at hand, who will not yield to the beast, who will not yield to the man with the crown and the bow in his hand, that's riding a white horse, saying that He is of God.

And not just for today's people of God, who are called by Him and who follow Him, but also for the people of God, who God set apart, known as the nation of Israel, the twelve tribes. Let's go back to Jeremiah, Jeremiah 30.

I won't turn to Daniel 12, verse 1, but you can mark that down in your notes. Daniel also mentions the time of trouble coming on his people, unlike anything the world has ever seen before. In Jeremiah 30, Jeremiah, who was a prophet to the nation of Judah, but many times he's talking about the end time, and he's speaking to the house of Israel, too, which was separate from the house of Judah. The house of Israel had gone into captivity a hundred-some years before this time. In Jeremiah 30, let's pick it up in verse 1.

Well, some of the tribe of Judah has returned over into that area. The lost tribes of Israel, the other tribes, never have. That's the time that's yet in the future. A time probably at the Feast of Tabernacles, you'll hear talk of Israel returning to the land that God gave them after the return of Jesus Christ that he set up his kingdom. Verse 4, these are the words that the eternal spoke concerning Israel and Judah, all twelve tribes, not just one tribe.

For thus says the Lord, we've heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace. Ask now and see whether a man is ever in labor with child. So why do I see every man with his hands on his loins like a woman in labor, and all faces turn pale? It's a time of trouble for the people of Jacob. He says, for that day is great, none is like it.

It is the time of Jacob's trouble. All twelve tribes of Jacob, all twelve tribes of Israel will feel the effect of it, or the people on whom Jacob's name was placed. It's very good to know who those people are. And if you don't know, we're not going to talk about it today. There's been sermons given on it here before, and there's a booklet and a study that you can read that will talk about where are those nations of Israel today.

Who did Jacob put his name on? It's the time of Jacob's trouble, but he will be saved out of it when Christ returns, and when he saves the world, the earth from destroying itself. A few books over in the book of Joel. Daniel, Hosea, Joel. We see some energetic words in Joel 2. And verse 1, now we see a word that we're celebrating here today on the Feast of Trumpets, of a time that's coming, and a time that's harrowing.

Joel 2, verse 1, A fire devours before them, and behind them a flame burns. The land is like the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness. Nothing will escape them. Verse 6, Before them the people writhe in pain. All faces are drained of color. They run like mighty men. They climb the wall like men of war. Everyone marches in formation, and they do not rank ranked.

Not unlike some of the stories you hear out of Iraq, when the Iraqi soldiers laid down their weapons in the face of a... they hadn't seen before. A time coming when the world will see an enemy. I don't know if it will be that group. Only God knows when, only God knows who. What a time coming. That's harrowing. That's unlike any time before. It's a great tribulation on God's people and on the nations that God has chosen. Let's go down to verse 10. The earthquakes before them, the heavens tremble.

The sun and moon grow dark, and the stars diminish their brightness. So following up on this army that's ferocious, that throws fear into the hearts of men, we see heavenly signs occurring. Now we can go back to Matthew 24. As we see John or Joel's accounts of things that will happen as the day of the Lord approaches. In Matthew 24, in Christ's own words, as He answered the disciples the question of what will things be like before you return, we've gone through many of them.

He talks about the great tribulation in verse 21 and 22. He talks about how the days will be awful. In verse 23, verse 29, He says, Here's the progression. This is what's going to happen. The next thing in order is these heavenly signs. That can't be explained by scientists. That can't be explained by or predicted by them. This is something that's never happened before. This is something that isn't just put on a calendar and an unusual occurrence. This is something that can't be explained. Only God has the answer to this, and only He can make this happen.

Let's go back to Revelation 6, following what Joel was given to prophesy, given what Jesus Christ said. In Revelation 6, we find the next seal opened in verse 12. After the great tribulation, verse 12, I looked, John writes, when he opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake. And the sun became black as the clouds stacked off of hair, and the moon became like blood. The stars of heaven fell to the earth as the fig tree drops its late figs, when it's shaken by a mighty wind.

The sky receded as a scroll when it rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. And men knew this wasn't something that could be explained. The kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man hid themselves in the caves and the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, then 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?

And then in chapter 8, the seventh seal is opened. Verse 1, when he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.

There was awe, as the time that the world has been waiting for is about to occur. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets. Seven trumpets. And another angel.

Another angel, having a golden stencor, came and stood at the altar. He was given much instance that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. Those prayers, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And it's about to happen what all the earth, what the hosts in heaven have been waiting for from the time the earth was created. Verse 6, though the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.

The first angels sounded. Hail and fire followed. And the third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up. God sounding a trumpet. God making his voice known to the earth. God exacting his vengeance on a world that has ignored him and rejected him. The second angel sounded, and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea. And the third of the sea became blood. A third of the living creatures died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

The third angel sounded. His trumpet, a great star, fell from heaven burning like a torch. And it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of the star is Wormwood. And a third of the waters became Wormwood. Many men died from the waters because it was made bitter. The fourth angel sounded. And a third of the sun was struck. A third of the moon and a third of the stars, so that a third of them were darkened. A third of the day didn't shine. And likewise, the night. God displaying His power on an earth. An earth that we may trust in more than God. And He dooms-mannels it. Chapter 9, the fifth angel sounded. And you can read these verses later when you go home. Men are given to or are tormented for five months by a great army. Verse 13, the sixth angel sounded of Revelation 9. And I heard a voice from the four Huns of the Golden Altar, which was before God, saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet. Release the angels. And an army of 200 million is gathered to fight Christ. A harrowing time. And that war will be the war that ends all wars. Six trumpets have sounded, leading up to the return of Jesus Christ. Him sounding the warning to the nations. Him making Himself known. His son about to return to earth and set up a kingdom that will never end. Revelation 11, verse 14. Verse 15, Then the seventh angel sounded, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever. And the twenty-four elders who sat before God on their throne, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, We give you thanks, O Lord God Almighty, the one who is, and who was, and who is to come, because you have taken your great power and reigned. Jesus Christ will return. In those days when the armies of the world gather together outside of Jerusalem, and if they weren't stopped, they would use the weaponry that's been created, and they would blow mankind off the face of the earth. But Jesus Christ will return at that seventh trump. At that time He will return, and He will stop the world as it is today. He will save it from destroying itself, as it says down here in the last part of verse 15. The time has come. Those who fear Your name have fallen great, and you will destroy those who destroy the earth. He returns. He sets up His kingdom that will last forever and ever and ever, and He destroys the armies that are gathered before Him. I won't take the time to read it, but you can mark down and you know Zachariah 14. Practice reading all of Zachariah 14. And it graphically describes how Jesus Christ will dismantle that army that's before Him. 200 million people are no match for Jesus Christ. In Matthew 24, Christ in His own words again says the same thing. Matthew 24 in verse 30. We just read about the heavenly signs. In verse 30, Christ says, Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, and He will send His angels with the great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds from one end of heaven to another.

Alarm in the trumpets. Gathering His people together in the sound of the trumpets. Triumph and gladness in the day of trumpets. In the seventh trumpet, when Jesus Christ returns, Jesus Christ returns to take the kingdoms of this earth and make them His own. And introduced an age of peace and joy and abundance, which is the opposite of what the world has had for 6,000 years. And He won't be alone when He returns. The seventh trumpet is the time that changes everything when Jesus Christ returns, but He won't be alone. Something else very important happens at the time of the seventh trumpet. We read about it over in 1 Corinthians 15. We also read about it in Daniel 12, verse 2, that you can mark down in your notes and look at later. 1 Corinthians 15.

1 Corinthians 15 and verse 15.

We talked about what the purpose of mankind is, what God is working out below here. He wants mankind to be in His kingdom. He wants to give everyone eternal life. But there are things that we have to do. We have to yield to Him. We have to follow the steps that God has said. We have to be led by His Holy Spirit. We must have His Holy Spirit in it. And in verse 15, He says, This I say, brethren, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, verse 51, I told you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet. The trumpet will sound. The dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. Years, decades of following Him, yielding to Him, letting His Holy Spirit work in us, change us, make us the new creation that He wants us to be. And at the time He returns, whether dead or alive at the time He returns, we will be raised and we will be made spirit like Him. Because through a lifetime of yieldedness to Him and understanding what He's called us to, that's what He wants for you and me. To be able to have. Let's go back to 1 Thessalonians. 1 Thessalonians 4. In verses 13 and 14, Paul is writing to the people of Thessalonica. He doesn't want them to be concerned about people that have fallen asleep, that have died. In verse 15, he writes this. 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 15. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede those who are asleep. Some will be alive at the time He returns. Many more will have died before He returns. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. He'll be part of that first resurrection, resurrected to immortality, resurrected to eternal life, resurrected to be kings and priests with Him in the kingdom He is going to establish when He returns to earth. Verse 17. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we will always be with Him, forever and ever, if we live our lives the way that He asked us to live them. If we truly yield to Him, if we truly trust in Him and all those things that we've talked about, the Feast of Trumpets, a magnificent festival, a magnificent step in God's plan, just a few steps away from Him now, establishing His kingdom and the completion of the purpose for which He created mankind and the earth. Jesus Christ will return. The dead in Christ will be resurrected. The kingdom will be established, and at the next holiday we'll talk about the next step that is necessary for Christ to introduce and to establish the kingdom that will bring about the joy and the peace and everything good that He has always wanted mankind to experience. We'll talk more about the next step a week from Sabbath, but in the meantime, ask yourself the question again. Knowing these things, knowing the time is near, as John says, looking at the world around us. What type of people do we need to become as we look at the Feast of Trumpets and we understand God's plan and where this world is headed quickly to the return of Jesus Christ?