The Seven Seals of Revelation

The seven seals of Revelation. Everybody talks about the book of Revelation.

Some people make a church out of the book of Revelation. Some people don't go anywhere else of Revelation. And so today, I wanted to go in because to most of the people in the world, and too many Christians also, the book of Revelation, which is the last book of the Bible, is to most people confusing and troubling because of all the symbolism and how the inset chapters appear at different places in there. And just when you think you have a story flow, there's an inset chapter which gives you other information. So I'd like you to turn with me to Revelation 1 and verse 3. Revelation 1 and verse 3 said, Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written in it for the time is near. Blessed, it says, if you hear these words, I really read these words, and keep them. But let's be honest, the book of Revelation is out there. For most people, it's out there, and for too many people who profess even to be a Christian is out there. Perhaps maybe you have been to a circus or a carnival that has traveled around. And at a big circus, they have this huge tent where all the big top they call it, where you will see different acts perform, and you will see the master introduce different acts. You will see the elephants go through, and you see all these things. But off to the side of these, of a lot of circus and carnivals, there are sideshows on the side. They usually cost extra to go in.

Those things in there are called, actually, sideshows. And they have a lot of sometimes strange things appear there. I don't know if any of you have been. Have most people seen know what a sideshow is? Yes, we have those. Perhaps as you walk down these sideshows and they want you to come in, when I was a child, my parents would take me to the circus and there would be these sideshows, and there were quite a few of them. And at almost 50 years ago, they cost a quarter to go into these sideshows. And I remember them because here was this variety of freak shows, kind of, to go see.

Here was a bearded lady, perhaps, over here that you could go in to see. A two-headed calf, which I can't believe as a child I actually paid and went in and saw a two-headed calf.

But they had all types of these shows, Siamese, Twin Midgets, you name it, they were there for you to come and gawk at, to be amazed at, or to be in a wonderment about. I remember when I was a kid, I went in to see this man that was supposed to be eight foot tall. And I paid my quarter. I don't remember what I went into. I saw the two-headed calf and I saw this supposed to be a giant. And I was always enthralled that when I was very young, at tall, people always wanted to, you know, was watching Wilt Chamberlain play way back then at seven foot. And so here this man, giant, was supposed to be eight foot tall. So I went in to see him and there wasn't, he was a big guy, almost wide like Shaquille O'Neal. But he was very tall, but I couldn't really tell because he was on this stage and he would then talk to you. And so here I was as a little kid about this tall. I must have been seven or eight at the time. And so he actually had me come up on this stage, which was very convenient, being I was this little bitty kid and he was this great big tall, which added to that.

And I remember his hands were very large and he had this huge ring and he took this ring off and he put it around two or three of my fingers just to the audience. And there was a small little group of people gathered around there. But I remember while I was standing there, as I guess he was using me for a prop, I started looking at him up and down.

And I realized that his boots that he had on were about that tall. Now I've seen some of you women wear things that tall. But it was strange back in the late 1960s to see a man wearing, but I also began to realize his hair was great big too. So I began to realize that perhaps he was only seven foot tall, but he had all these things added in as I began to not be so naive at even eight or nine years of age. But perhaps you have been to sideshows and seen weird stuff or freaks, as they're called. Well, the book of Revelation, combined with all the other books of the Bible, is kind of a sideshow. There's a lot of stuff in there. And some of the revelations in the book of Revelation is kind of a freak show, whether you've ever thought about it before.

Like you turn with me to Revelation 4. Revelation 4 and verse 6, we see that John has a vision of what it's like up there, as God granted him this. And in Revelation 4 and verse 6, as he sees what goes on at the throne of God, in verse 6 of chapter 4, he says, before the throne there was a sea of glass. I think that is something like a sea of glass in the original Greek, if I remember right, something like a sea of glass, like crystal. And in the midst of the throne and around the throne were four living creatures, full of eyes in the front and in the back. So as you notice, one of the pictures I gave you there, it's a picture of something you might be seeing of what a artist or somebody put together that I just pulled off the internet, so you could actually get a glimpse of it. And that describes the seraphim, an angel referred to as a seraphim. And so here at the throne of God is this living creature. And it says in verse 7, the first living creature, being there's four in here together, they're all part of this angelic being. And it says, in the first living creature was like a lion. And I think you can see the face of a lion. The second living creature, like a calf.

The third living creature had a face like a man. And the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle. Now, I would definitely pay more than a quarter to go see this freak show, okay?

Because I would like to see what that looks like. But someday we hopefully all will see what that looks like. In verse 8, and the four living creatures, each having six wings. So this is a massive creature, massive being. We're full of eyes around and within, and they do not rest day or night saying, Holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy, holy. Actually, nine times, if you look at the original Greek, holy is brought out, which means eat is very holy. Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. I've questioned in my mind this living creature. Is it the man that speaks?

Or is it one of the animals? I've always thought it's probably the man. But I don't know. I guess I'll have to find out someday. So you see, John got a chance to see that. He also got a chance to see in chapter 5 and verse 11. Chapter 5 and verse 11 said, Then I looked, I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne. So here is the throne of God. The living creatures that we just heard about are there. And the elders, you see there's 24 elders with angelic beings.

And the number of them was 10,000 times 10,000s and thousands of thousands, literally millions of angels. Tens of millions of angels are around that throne. And they're saying with a loud voice, which I'm sure. Today they're playing a football game, University of Miami, over here at the stadium. And they built new additions to the stadium. And I heard a guy describing the other day how they built it and brought people in so that they could hold that sound in the stadium so it would become louder. So when they're playing the game, everybody, ah! Well here, can you imagine tens of millions of angels saying the same thing?

Saying 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 blessing. It must have been a sight to see, a sight to hear.

And to some people it seems very strange. Hopefully it does not to us. Hopefully we have not picked up the Bible and said, wow, let me start at the back and go backwards, because otherwise you're going to be pretty lost in the book of Revelation. A lot of the symbols, a lot of the hidden meaning in Revelation is actually brought out in various places in the Bible all through, all the way from Genesis to 3rd John. And you know, the sad part about it is that the more the world moves away from God, moves away from His Word, and the more people move away from reading this book or even caring about it, the more parents that do not feel it's important for their children to know anything about Scripture, the more we will become brethren, the freaks of this world, because we will live by these words and believe they are the words of God. So today I want to go into the seven seals, because the Bible reveals that there are seven seals, then seven trumpets, and seven trumpet plagues.

And I want us to be able to look at it, not be confused, because there's stuff in there we don't understand, we won't understand until it all is unfolded. I'm amazed at some people that build their whole ministry on prophecy, and they sometimes miss weightier matters of the law. Justice, mercy, and faith is.

Matthew is quoted, Matthew 23, 23.

But people are intrigued by these things. Down in Trinidad and St. Lucia, where we're actually running a Beyond Today, it's amazing I know in Trinidad, when I'd look at the reports I get from when the Beyond Today is on in Trinidad, whenever we run a prophecy show, it's like twice as many people write in, or twice as many people call, and they're just so want you to tell more and more.

I begin to wonder, wow, why this such desire, but yet when we might give something about the Sabbath, we might give something about the Holy Days, we give something about repentance, the numbers are down compared to prophecy.

The seven seals of Revelation bring us together to the Bible as it talks about the past, the present, and the future. I'd like you to go back with me now, if you will, before we go there and look at the seals. I'd like you to go back to Matthew 24, because if you read Revelation 1.1, it actually says that this book is the revelation of Jesus Christ to John, not the revelation of John, but this is the revelation of Jesus Christ given to John.

If you go to Matthew 24, and we won't hit all these, but Matthew 24 and verse 3, the end of Christ's ministry, it says in verse 3, Now as he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age?

People today want to know, when's the world coming to an end? When is Jesus Christ returning? When is the tribulation start? When is the day of the Lord? When is all this going to be? When is the beast power to rise, as the scriptures say? Everybody wants to know. I need to know. Jesus Christ has revealed enough for us to know in here.

But the main thing should still be the main thing, our relationship with God.

All this wouldn't matter. I'm amazed at some people who actually, some books that I get from different fellowships and different groups on revelations and the end times and all these, and they all focus on scaring people, basically. Scaring people to get you to act like, well, that's what mainstream Christianity did for the first 200 years in this country, is they scared you to death that you're going to burn in hell.

And they would paint that picture of you burning and roasting and your family and everything, and they scared you into obedience.

God does not want, in reality, you just obeying Him because you fear Him. Even though it does mention many times, fear the Lord.

In the Old Testament, which the actual Hebrew word actually meant not only to fear but to revere, to hold Him up here.

It's like your parents. So when you're young, young kids may have to fear their parents that they're going to get a whipping. Are they going to be punished?

When you're children grow up, parents don't typically want you fearing them.

They want you to respect them, and hopefully we do.

But we're looking at this, and so the disciples are sitting around going, well, tell us. So in verse 4, And Jesus answered and said to them, Take heed that no one deceive you.

One of the first signs.

And then He says, For many will come in My name, saying, I am the Christ, and will deceive many. Or as another translation says, that Christ is a Christ.

You're going to have many people out there saying that Christ is a Christ.

Who He is.

But will they be obeying Him? The Scriptures say they typically won't.

That's how you tell.

You call Me, Lord, Lord, and don't do what I say! So we see one of the first signs is a false religion.

Deception.

Then it says, And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars.

And see that you are not troubled, for all these things must come to pass. But the end is not yet. We're going to have wars.

We're going to have wars. And we've had wars for the last, what, 3,000, 4,000, 5,000, 6,000 years.

Okay?

But He says in verse 7, For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines, pestilence, and earthquakes in various places.

All these are the beginning of sorrows.

We're going to see that. That's just the beginning.

If you will, I'd like you to turn over with me to Luke.

Luke 21. He covers the same thing, basically.

Luke puts it in a...he uses some variety of words, but shows that basically these are the pattern, are the order in which things will happen.

Luke 21 verse 8. He said, Take heed that ye be not deceived. Okay? For many will come in my name, saying, I am he.

And the time has drawn near, therefore do not go after them.

Don't be deceived.

You hear all this stuff from preachers and everything else. Do they line up with Christ? Do they line up with the Word?

If they don't, don't follow them. As I've said from the day I got here almost five years ago, if I do not teach from this Bible, do not come here.

Because I will be a false prophet.

The Word of God is everything.

It is the foundation. It's the only way.

And we must teach from this Word.

That's why I'll bring up things in the next few weeks. I have no answer to that are questions.

Okay? But you can go and find some preacher that's got an answer to them, but they're not in here.

Verse 9, But when you hear of wars and commotions, and do not be terrified, for these things must come to pass, but the end will not come immediately. He is saying, stop being afraid.

When you have the knowledge of Christ, when you have the knowledge of this book, when you have God as your father, you should walk fearless through this world.

It's when you get away from God, and we all tend to sometimes get away farther than we need to be. That's the time to fear.

Because Satan is looking to draw us away.

Draw us away from that power that is greater than his. Verse 10, Then he said, Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be great earthquakes in various places and famines and pestilence, and there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven.

But before all these things, what? Before all what things?

Signs from heaven.

Okay? Because we're about to see how that all comes together in God's plan.

But before all these things, they may lay hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and rulers for our names' sake. And that did take place for most of the disciples, and it may very well take place in the future for God's ministers and leaders and so forth like that.

But I'd like you to turn to Matthew 25 back again, if you will. Matthew 25, as I try to set the groundwork here today.

Because I want you to understand. Will you understand it all? No. Can you study? Yes.

I only have one of these books, and I recommend it, and I'm going to set it over here. And it's a book of Revelation unveiled. If you do not have it, you may want to order it. It's free. I usually have more copies, but they're gone.

I have mine, and I've actually had this actually worn out, because it does help me to remember.

These things can go through things. Is that necessary? No. But it does help if you're so inclined to decide you want to know almost everything from the book of Revelation.

At one time, I studied it a lot, and I don't do it as much anymore as I did at one time.

Because I like to go back to the weightier matters of the law, which keeps me pretty busy doing that. But I like to go to Matthew 25, and just one verse. Matthew 25, as we went through this a year or so ago, it is the parable of the wise and foolish virgins. And we know there's 10, and 5 were ready, and 5 were not ready. We know about the oil representing God's Holy Spirit.

And so at the end of it, because this came after Matthew 24, which is all of it, prophecy, as he gives this parable, in verse 13 it says, watch.

Therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.

It's interesting because some people have actually said, well, we need to be watching world events.

Oh, man, I've got my little book here. I'm sitting here, and wait a minute, what's happening in Europe? Wait a minute, who's the Prime Minister of England now? Oh, wait a minute, this happened, did this happen? Well, should we know what's going on in the world? Yes, I think that's that's just any wise person is going to know what's going on unless you want to be tied up to the Miami Herald or the Sun Sentinel, and I don't know how much you'll get out of those. Now, what's going on here? But people are so tried to guess which pope is this? Oh, it's number 666. Now, wait a minute, that's what somebody told me 20 years ago about that pope. Oh, no, the next pope is a 666. No, it's not. It's three more popes. Come on.

Is that the way we want to be?

I don't think so. I don't think that's the way God wants us to be, where we spend all of our time on these things, and yet this says watch.

It actually means to be vigilant. That's what the word watch means.

What he was giving this to coincide with these virgins that weren't ready for when Christ returns.

What did he want them to watch? Because that's told for us today.

What does he want us to watch? Does he want us to watch world events? It's a somewhat.

But with this, he's saying watch your spiritual life.

Excuse me, I got my throat today.

Watch. Where are you at? Where are you at in your spiritual life, in your spiritual walk?

That's what you need to watch so you don't end up like the five foolish virgins.

Laid out pretty well. And then I have all these people, and we'll talk about that. I think I'll have a sermon next week on the place of safety. I was actually, because someone had requested it, I actually was going through and I was researching, just looking at it last year, because I did all this research, and I'm going, I didn't give a sermon on this. There's just not enough there. So I'll give a sermon at, on the place of safety. It's so short next week.

But in Matthew, chapter 16, you don't have to turn there. It's around 24, 25, somewhere in there. It actually says that, he who seeks to save his life will what?

And he who loses his life for me will what? Save it.

Pretty good advice. It's good advice for me. I'm not going to be worried about, oh, well, do I have the Petrus shoes or Petrus shoes that I need? Do I have this ticket to the Middle East, because that's where it's all going to happen. I need to be in this definitely place of safety.

Do I need to make sure that I have two years or three and a half years full of food stuff, so that I can survive the tribulation? Now, I am not mocking Scripture, I'm not mocking prophecy, but there needs to be a balance. And we definitely live by this Bible.

We won't be worried about all those things. He tells us, stop worrying. Which then makes people worry. Matthew 24 verse 42 says, Watch therefore, for you do not know the hour the Lord is coming.

And you know how many people try to guess? You know how many they're putting, oh, there's a red heifer over here. Oh, they're doing this. There's the ashes. Oh, wait a minute, they're starting the temple. Oh, wait a minute, the priest is... I don't know.

Salvation is not built upon knowing the day that Jesus Christ returns.

Salvation is knowing who Jesus Christ is and following Him, and letting Him live and reign in us. Then it doesn't matter what day it is, because there's a good chance, as I heard this 30, 40 years ago, that people were... the minister was talking to, half of those people are dead now.

So it doesn't matter what day it is, they just needed to make sure they were ready so that they will be raised from the dead. That Jesus Christ return and meet Him in the air.

Let's go up to verse 44. Therefore, which means... Okay, let's get to the end of this. Therefore, you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming in an hour when you do not expect Him.

That's what we need to be focusing on. Are you ready? So the day I drove traffic 95, and this car went off the exit and just flipped over, just over and over and over and was... you know, you just have to keep driving, because you're in with a bunch of other people. If anyone survived that crash, it would be a miracle. But that could have been me.

Am I ready? Are you ready?

Because He said, you also be ready. That's my job, is to try to help you be ready.

But you know what happened? I'd better be ready.

I've got to make sure of myself, too, that I'm ready.

Let's go back to Revelation. Let's go back to Revelation 1, where we started.

Revelation 1, I want to go back to the first verse we read today.

I don't know what version you have. I have the New King James Version.

When Revelation 1 and verse 3 said, blessed, and boy, we all want to be blessed.

But look what it says. Blessed is He who reads, and those who hear.

So He's actually laid this out that this needs to be taught, that I need to read, and I need to bring it out, and you need to hear. This needs to be preached. It needs to be taught. He said, blessed is He who reads, and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and what does your book say? Keep, obey. That's the original in the original Greek. That's the word.

And it actually means obey.

And obey those things which are written in it for the time is near.

Chapter 1, verse 17. Here's John standing before in Christ. He said in verse 17, and when I saw him, I fell his feet as if I had been. I saw him, I fell his feet as if I were dead. I was almost scared to death.

You ever seen people, I've actually seen them on television, where somebody is scared and they just pass out? Just lose their legs and just pass out. Well, this is kind of what John ran into. He saw the glorification of Christ, and he had seen it on the transfiguration, but there's something here that was just totally overwhelming. And he said, and when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead, but he laid his right hand on me, an interesting right hand, not the left, saying to me, do not be afraid. I am the first and the last, the Alpha, the Omega. I am he who lives and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of the grave and of death. Write these things which you have seen and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this. So he's talking about the past, the present, and the future. But he says, do not be afraid. I must ask you, are you afraid of the future? Are you afraid of it? Oh, I hate to see this because it's going to be worse than it's ever been. You may see one of these shows of what it was like in 1944, Germany or Auschwitz or one of those and say, wow, how could it get much worse? Oh, it's going to get worse, a lot worse. When you think that Genghis Khan, at the time he was, he slaughtered 12% of all mankind on the earth at that time. That's pretty bad. So are you afraid? You need not be. You need not be. And it shouldn't be just because you show up here at church. That's been used before, too. Oh, you're in the right church. No, you don't have to worry because of him. You have a relationship with him. You walk with him. You talk with him. There is no fear. Cast out fear, doesn't know what it says. So I would like to go now to, in Revelation 5, to these seven seals. Now, I want to read in chapter 5. Chapter 5 and verse 1. It said, as he is still up there, and he sees this freak show that we saw in chapter 4, and sees all this stuff that's going on up there that is, would appear strange to us, but it isn't to them. And the good thing is, one of these days, it will not appear strange to us either. That we're going to be so used to seeing the things of our Father, the land of our Father, the space of our Father, all those servants and the angels. I haven't seen ten million of anything at any one time. You'll imagine ten million angels seeing them. So, he sees in chapter 5 and verse 1, And I saw in the right hand of him who set on the throne, which was God, a scroll written inside and on the back sealed with seven seals. Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals? And no one, or no person, entity, being, in heaven or on earth, or under the earth, was able to open the scroll or to look on it. So I wept much because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll or to look at it. And one of the elders said to me, Do not weep, behold the lion of the tribe of Judah. The root of David has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seals. Similar to the scrolls. So this is what was handed to God. This is what was handed.

And wanted to open the scrolls because that's what they had. They didn't have books back then, but they had a scroll.

And these scrolls you would open.

Then you would roll it out and read it. Now some of the scrolls actually had seals inside. So you could only read a partial of it. Then you would have to cut that seal, roll it on out, and read the rest of it. That's kind of what we were looking at. And so here you had this scroll written that had everything about the future on it. And John was saying, Oh, I want to know because he got to see all this. I want to know. It's written on this scroll. I want to know about the future. But he said there were like seven seals. And I just put this up for effect. It had seven different seals because a seal actually would stamp it or whether it's a paraffin or wax or whatever. And they would seal this. And you couldn't open it unless you had the authority to open that seal. But he was saying this scroll had seven seals on it. And he wanted to know those seven seals. What were they? And no one could tell you except the Lamb of God. And that's what we're seeing here in verse 6. And I looked and behold in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders stood a lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, sent out over the earth, which were actually angels of seven spirits. Then he came and took the scroll out of my hand, out of the right hand of him who sat on the throne. And then he, we find out in chapter 6, he opens. He opens the seals. So I like you with me to chapter 6, verse 1. Chapter 6 in verse 1, said, Now when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying, with a voice like thunder, Come and see! It would have gotten my attention. And I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who set upon it had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer the first seal. And in fact, I gave this what? Two, two and a half years ago, we were over in the other place. Had a young man at that time come over to me afterwards and said, Well, you have that first seal all wrong. He said, That first seal is Jesus Christ. I said, Really? Where do you get that? Then he brings all this out. I said, How does that fit in? How does that fit into Matthew 24? How does that fit into Luke 21? It doesn't fit with the story flow. This is not good. This is false deception, the very first thing he talks about. So what we have here is a religion, just like he said. There's going to be many people saying, Christ is a Christ. Follow me. They're going to put all this stuff, but they will deceive many. And it says, If you're not careful, they're what? Deceive you, the very elect. Because they're going to put on Good Dog and Pony Show. They're going to make you think, Oh, wow! Look at this.

This is the first seal, false prophets, a false religion, deception. And it's going to deceive many. And when you know the Bible, and the more you know it, and the more you study it, and the more you live it, and the more God reveals to you, you realize, guess what? Boy, is that real. There's a lot of people deceived. And they don't know they're deceived. Interesting part of the first seals, the actual four, first four are considered the horsemen. Four horsemen of the apocalypse, as these horsemen picture the state of the world, and they've been riding since Christ's time for 2,000 years. The only thing is, they've been riding because there has been false. We're going to see that there's war in the second seal. We're going to see that there's famine, there's pestilence. And we're going to see that these four have been riding for the last 2,000 years. But before Jesus Christ returns, it will intensify to a point that it is like, what is happening? And when you think about a war, think about it. Is there in the Middle East right now, if you lived in Iraq, you lived in Turkey, you lived in Syria, does it...they have war all the time? It's going to be no big deal to them, more of the same. The only thing is, it will take over the entire world. There's going to be war everywhere. You will be affected by this war that is coming just before Jesus Christ's return. So we see Revelation 6 and verse 3, the second seal. And when He opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature sing. So here you had the first living creature and the second living creature. So that picture you have kind of on there, one of those creatures, all those creatures seem to be talking. Come and see. And another horse, fiery red, went out. And it was granted to the one who set on it to take peace from the earth, and that people should kill one another and there should be given to Him a sword. War. It has always gone on, but it will be so intense before Jesus Christ's return. He even makes the point of that on the Olivet Prophecy, that it's so bad that if He did not return, there would be no flesh left alive. Everyone would be killed on the entire planet, and Satan would go, Amen. It's his intent. Yeah, it's interesting. In the last 3400 years that we have records of the entire world, because we didn't have it really before then. But a collection even from 3400 years ago. So for the last 3400 years, there's been 268 years where there's been no war on this planet. Pretty small percent, huh? But how about since 1945, in this world, there's been 26 days of peace? Anybody born in 1945? No? Oh, yeah, yeah, I mean. 26 days of peace. 70 years, or 70 years. There will be no peace. Then we see the third seal that he opened up, in verse 5. When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, Come and see. And I looked and behold a black horse, and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not harm the oil and the wine. This is happening.

But you know usually what happens when war? War happens, you, a lot of times, have famine, because they destroy. Destroy the land, the way you produce land, the way you get it to market. All this stuff is just mixed up. And then again, you have the armies who are actually fighting. It's like in Alexander the Great's time, they came in and said, Guess what? We're fighting here. We're taking everything you get.

Interesting when you put that down, that there is a time coming, and I worked the figures up for a denarius today. And there's going to be famine or lack of food, or scarcity of food so much, that according to this, two loaves of bread, will run anywhere between 80 and 100 dollars.

That's some serious. So it won't take much time for people to run out of money, buying at that price, and then they're going to run out of bread.

And then you're going to be starving to death. It's the third seal. This is going to intensify before Jesus Christ returned. And then the fourth seal. I want you to look at this in chapter 6 and verse 7.

And when he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature, saying, Come and see. And I looked, and behold a pale horse. The word is florescent, it actually means kind of a greenish pale. Look. And the name of him who said on it was death, and the grave followed him. And power was given to... what does it say there? Them. Them. Power was given to all four of those horsemen from the first. Because who starts more wars than anyone else? Religious fanatics people. And then war, once it takes place, it destroys so much stuff that causes famine. And when famine hits, you have pestilence, you have disease, you have plagues, you have all this. And this is all going to take place. And it says, And power was given to them, these four horsemen, over a fourth of the earth, to kill with the sword, hunger, with death, and then for added incentive... what does it say? Ooh. And people are complaining about an alligator eating a handoff occasionally around here. No. These beasts. Because what's going to happen? You're going to have dead bodies laying around. You're going to have people scrounging for anything they can get, and the animals will be wild. And they're going to eat what they want to eat. And so many animals like red meat, not dead meat. It says one-fourth, it's just before Christ returns. It's always happened that there's been war, there's been famine, there's been pestilence. But this is just before He returns. This happens. They... these horsemen are going to kill a quarter of all the people. We have, what, 7.6 billion people now? What's a fourth of that? Almost 2 billion? That'll be killed in the first four seals. We haven't even gotten anywhere. Look at your page! We're not even anywhere near yet. And we've already killed off a quarter of the people on this earth, almost 2 billion people. And we're just right here, brother. We're just right here on the fifth seal.

We still have the trumpets and the trumpet plagues. And that's what the Bible study's going to be on. I want to go over the trumpets because we're going to end here with the seventh trumpet. And we're going to end here with the seventh seal, which opens the seven trumpets. And that's what Bible study will be about. I hope you've studied because I want to make it interactive.

So we can go through these trumpets. So you will at least know the seven seals, the seven trumpets, and it'll be your job to look at the seven trumpet plagues because it's pretty easy to follow after that. Okay, I need to wrap this up as we go to the fifth seal. Verse 9. Verse 9, fifth seal. And when he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar. It's interesting that the living creatures didn't do this, but Jesus Christ opened the fifth seal. And he opened the fifth seal, and I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God, and for the testimony for which they held.

And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, until you judge and avenge your blood on those who dwell on the earth? A white robe was given to each of them, and it was said to them that they should rest. This is symbolic. Oh, look, there are souls up there. That proves it. That proves people go to heaven and see it.

No, it doesn't. Just like the Bible uses symbolic language, allegory, various things, as when Cain killed Abel, what did it say? The blood cried out. The ground, blood in the ground, cried out. Only it didn't cry out. But it's the same thing here. Here, Christ has seen, God has seen, all the martyrs who have been martyred, all those who have died for Christ down through the years, and it's time that it stopped. And all those who died in Christ realized that they're waiting for Him to return, so that they could be resurrected, not those who believe they're going to heaven, but those who truly believe Christ's words and know what He says in 1 Corinthians 15 and Thessalonians.

And a white robe was given to them, and it was said to them that they should rest a while longer until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren would be killed as they were, was completed. There's going to have to be people who die.

They're martyrs. Is it the majority of the people? No. You look down through the past in the history of the church. Has it been the majority of the people martyred? No. But it's been numerous people who have. And you count that cost when you walk up and you represent God. And we should all count the cost.

Was it a Savior who seeks to save His life, will lose it? I mean, you go back to those same saints, and that's where we need to be. The heavenly signs then as we go into the sixth seal. At the fifth seal is where they actually say that the tribulation starts, as you will read about tribulation. And that takes place at the starting of the fifth seal.

And then you see we come to the sixth seal. And the heavenly signs occur after the start of tribulation, but before the day of the Lord begins. Okay? I just want you to understand that. It's pretty simple. Tribulation starts on the fifth seal.

The heavenly signs start at the sixth seal. And the day of the Lord starts after the heavenly signs. Because it actually says that, these words here. So let's go to the sixth seal. Verse 12. I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake. And the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. And the stars of the heaven fell to the earth as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind.

Imagine all that happening. Time and time again. And when the sky actually split apart as a scroll, when it was rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of its place, every mountain, every island, okay? Not just, oh, it's just something that happened over here. Can you imagine being on an island and it's moved out of its place?

Can you imagine living anywhere near a mountain and it's moved out of its place? Because what's going to happen next, it says in verse 15, And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, and the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains. Not real smart if the mountains are being moved out of its place to hide in caves, but you've got to do something.

And why do they do it? And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb. Why? Why? Because they will not repent. The whole thing God has wanted from the very beginning is for people to follow him. He gives you his laws. No one should be ignorant of what's in that book, and he just wants us to follow it. And the world at that time will tell him, and he might just say, they give him the finger.

I don't need you, don't want you. And then when all this happens, instead of repenting and coming, they get even worse as we see. In verse 17, For the great day of his wrath has come, and who is able to stand? So now we have the seventh seal, and the seventh seal will be opened, and when the seventh seal is opened, it consists of the seven trumpets. And that is where the day of the Lord starts. And hopefully you know what's going to take place at the seventh trumpet.

If you don't, a little more study is needed, because it's talked many times what will happen at the seventh trumpet. But at the seventh trumpet is a time we will all look forward to. We will be raised from the grave, we will be changed in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye, or we are in big trouble. Only three options. Because we will have no excuse.

So I hope you will look at this. I hope you will. I realize it's a guide. I am based my salvation on this piece of paper, absolutely not. It may not have a right, maybe something that varies, but this pretty well sticks to what the Scriptures say. And it helps you to see what's going to happen. So you know, you know what's going to happen.

So you're not fearful. It's just like the Miami Dolphins. You look at their season, I don't have to be a prophet to tell you it's not going to be good. Okay? And if I had money on the Miami Dolphins, I might be fearful. But that's not my game. My game is God's book. My game is His truth. And that is where my salvation and my protection and my guidance and my eyes should be focused.

So, hope you will stick around. Enjoy the food. If you can't stick around for the Bible study, enjoy our food anyway. But I'd like you to stay and like you to, as we go through the seven trumpets, which will take roughly an hour afterwards for the Bible study.

And so that way you can, if anyone asks what's going to happen, what's the future, when will the end come? I'll know some people in this room who will have the answers.