Understanding the Book of Revelation, Part 2

Well, it's been a while ago, but I did start a series of sermons on the Book of Revelation. Do you remember that? It's been a couple months ago because we had the Kingdom of God seminars.

We had the Kingdom of God seminars, and also we had the Day of Atonement in between there. So, I think it was back in August when we started this series of sermons. So, we need to make some progress today. So, we are going to continue with the series on understanding the Book of Revelation. This is part two. It's been a busy time since part one. And I think what I'll do in way of introduction is to give you all a pop quiz. See how well you remember the first sermon that I gave. Now, you can rest easy because we won't be collecting the answers.

We won't be grading the papers. In fact, you don't have to write anything down if you don't want to. You can answer these questions in your mind. That way, no one will know. Of course, if you're really doing well, you might want to write them down so you can show everyone.

I'll tell you what. It's a good question. It's a very good question. It is an open book, but you will not have time to open the book. Because what I'm going to do is ask the question, and then I will give you the answer shortly after asking the question. All right, so here's the first question. What phrase could be used for the time period that we are in right now in Bible prophecy?

What phrase could be used for the time period that we are in right now in Bible prophecy? And I will give you a hint. This is a phrase that is actually taken from Matthew 24. Matthew 24. What is the phrase that could be used for the time period that we're in right now? And this is a time period that's been going on for a long time.

And that time period is called the beginning of sorrows. We are still within this period of time, the beginning of sorrows. Matthew 24 talks about that, and we're going to actually go through Matthew 24 in some detail today. Second question. From whom did the book of Revelation first originate? From whom did the book of Revelation first originate? So I'm not talking about the human author. I'm talking about where did the book of Revelation really come from originally?

Okay, the answer is from God the Father. Okay, the book of Revelation tells us it's from was from the Father. Question number three. Who is considered the Revelator of the Book of Revelation? Who is considered the Revelator or the Revealer of the Book of Revelation? The answer is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. Question number four. On what day of the week was the Book of Revelation or the vision recorded in the Book of Revelation written? On what day of the week was the Book of Revelation or the vision that was recorded in the Book of Revelation? When was it written? This is a dumb question.

If you have the... Okay, the answer is we don't know what day of the week it was. The reason I asked that question is because it says in the scripture that it on the Lord's Day. So was it Sunday? If you put Sunday down, then give yourself a big black mark.

That was not good. You might even want to put a mark on your forehead.

Okay, we'll move on. Okay, next question. Number five. Who was the human author of the Book of Revelation? Who is the human author of the Book of Revelation? The Apostle John, of course, was the author. So what is the sequence, then, regarding the Book of Revelation? The sequence is, first of all, from God the Father to Jesus Christ to his angel to John to the Apostle John and then John to all of his end-time servants. So basically, that's the sequence of the Book of Revelation. It originated with God the Father, went to Jesus Christ to his angel to John, and now to all of his end-time servants. Okay, question number six. Explain what the day of the Lord is. Explain what the day of the Lord is. Again, if you put Sunday, another big black mark. It's not Sunday. Instead, it is a time when God will pour out his wrath in judgment of the world's sins. The day of the Lord is a time when God will pour out his judgment, his wrath in judgment on the world's sins. He will directly intervene to judge a sinning world the day of the Lord. So he's going to punish the world for his sins during the day of the Lord. Question number six. Question number seven. According to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 23, the day of the Lord will come as what? That's right. As a thief in the night. 1 Thessalonians 5 23 says the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night. Now, of course, it doesn't need to come as a thief in the night for us because we know better. But for many, his return will come as a thief in the night. In fact, many will rise up to fight Christ, thinking he's the antichrist. Okay, so we've had seven questions, and that's a perfect number. Now, we could stop here, but instead we'll go on. Seven more questions. That's double perfection. Question number eight. Revelation puts many of the earlier prophecies of the Bible into an understandable context, and it reveals a much-needed framework for prophecies that relate to the end of the age. Now, it accomplishes this partly through the use of literary tools or devices. So, name two literary tools or devices that the Book of Revelation uses.

Two literary tools or devices that the Book of Revelation uses in its writings. And the answer would be through the use of symbols, symbols, and figurative language.

And those symbols and figurative language relate directly to some of the Bible's other prophetic writings, such as in the Book of Daniel and other prophets like Joel and Amos and so forth. So, the two literary devices are symbols and figurative language. Question number nine. Revelation contains many fundamental keys to the understanding of end-time prophecy, and another book of the Bible more than any other in the Old Testament helps us understand the Book of Revelation. So, what is that Old Testament book? What is the one Old Testament book above any other that helps us to understand the Book of Revelation?

Ties in more closely. Old Testament book. Okay, that would be the Book of Daniel.

Book of Daniel. Question number 10. What book and chapter in the New Testament? So, I don't want just the book. I want the chapter two. What book and chapter in the New Testament helps us understand the timing of the events written about in the Book of Revelation? That would be Matthew 24. Matthew 24. Question number 11. According to Daniel chapter 12 verse 10, who is to understand the end-time prophecies written about in the books of Daniel and Revelation? Who is to understand the end-time prophecies written about in the books of Daniel and Revelation? That is correct. The wise. The wise are to understand. So, hopefully we are all counted in that number. The wise. God reveals these things to the wise, those who are tuned in with Him.

Question number 12. Is the Book of Revelation a sealed book that no one can understand? It talks about the seals of the Book of Revelation. Is this a sealed book that no one can understand?

Of course, the answer is no. The seals have been taken off. That the wise may understand. So, that sound was not a good sound. I take it.

Okay. Question number 13. Why did the Apostle John become so distraught and begin to cry in the vision described in Revelation 5? I think we covered this last time. In Revelation 5, John begins to cry. He becomes very distraught and begins to cry. What was the cause of his condition? Why did he become saddened? The answer is because at first, it seemed that there was no one worthy enough to take off the seals. So, John wanted to see what was behind these seals. He wanted to know. He wanted to understand.

At first, there was no one worthy to take off the seals. So, that affected him.

Question number 14. Who alone was worthy to take off the seals? That's right. The Son of God, Jesus Christ, the Lamb. He alone was worthy to take off the seals.

So, the main purpose, again, of this sermon is to continue to help us understand the book of Revelation better. Again, it's a very catchy title, Understanding the Book of Revelation. This is part two. And again, I'm sure we'll be inspired and sobered by the events prophesied to happen very quickly and perhaps in the very, very near future. Perhaps many of us will be alive, maybe all of us alive, to see these things begin to come to pass.

Okay, let's go to Revelation chapter 6. We'll launch right into the Bible. Revelation chapter 6.

Beginning in verse 1. Revelation chapter 6 verse 1.

Now, many people believe this is talking about Jesus Christ Himself, because Christ does come on a white horse. Later in the book of Revelation, we'll read that verse. But if we believe that, we will be deceived, because this is not talking about the true Christ. It is talking about a counterfeit Christ, a counterfeit religious system that will deceive many. Verse 3. When He opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, Come and see. Another horse, this time 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. So this is a red horse, and this red horse depicts war. Many are going to die because of this horse, and we know that there has been much religious deception. In fact, for the last 2,000 years, and even before that, the Babylonian mystery religion has been in effect a lot longer than that. But certainly from the time of Christ, there has been many who have come in His name, deceiving many. And certainly there have been wars since Adam and Eve, since Cain killed Abel. There have been a lot of wars, but it's been intensified over the last couple thousand years. Actually, we are now, as I said before, in the beginning of Sorrows. In fact, let's go back to Matthew 24, and we'll keep our finger in Matthew 24 and Revelation 6, because I want us to see the parallels between Matthew 24 and Revelation 6. Let's begin in Matthew 24, verse 3. Now, as He, Jesus Christ, 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 of the end of the age? So the question is, what's going to happen before you come back? What is going to happen at the very end of the age? And Jesus answered and said to them, Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, I am the Christ, and will deceive many. So this is the first seal, or the first horseman of the apocalypse, this one that is a deceitful religious system or being. In some cases, obviously, there's a person at the head, but then it's the entire system. There will be those who will come saying, I am the Christ, they will deceive many.

Verse 6, and you will hear of wars. This is the second horseman of the apocalypse, the red horse. 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. So we've had wars going on for thousands of years. We've had religious deception going on for thousands of years.

Verse 7, For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. And He says, all these are the beginning of sorrows. These are the beginning of sorrows. So if we go back now to Revelation 6, and we take it up where we left off. Remember the second seal was the fiery red horse, depicting war.

And then we have the third seal. We opened, verse 5, we opened the third seal, and 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. So this is a pair of scales that would weigh something. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, a quart of wheat for a denarius. So they're weighing the wheat, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not harm the oil and the wine. Okay, this is talking about scarcity. It's talking about famine, and it's talking about, well, mainly it's talking about famine, which will lead into pestilence.

When we go into the next seal, 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. So the third horse was a black horse, which depicts famine. And then we've got a pale horse, a yellow sickly looking horse. And the name of him who sat on it was death, and Hades followed with him, and power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth.

So generally what happens when you have war, and you have famine, then pestilence is quick on the heels of those two problems, wars and famines. Then you'll have pestilence, and that's what the pale sickly horse is depicting. And it is pretty frightening, really, what we see going on. And even today, all the different strains of viruses and things that are debilitating, we've all heard of people who've had their arms and their legs cut off because they got some kind of an infection.

And we just read in the announcements about a young lady in Germany who has this blood infection. And who knows how difficult, how hard it's going to get. We've had bubonic plague in the past, which killed thousands and thousands of people and practically decimated certain regions of the earth.

And even though medical science has been very effective in many ways, they're not on top of everything. And when everything breaks loose, undoubtedly there will be epidemics, there will be diseases that will be rampant. So that is the fourth horseman of the apocalypse. And so these first four seals are the four horsemen of the apocalypse. Now you may get that in a quiz someday. The four horsemen of the pucker lips. Have you ever heard that? Okay, back in the Worldwide Church of God, I remember someone had written in and had watched one of our programs, and they were wondering about the four horsemen of the pucker lips.

They, you know, Mr. Armstrong or Garner Ted or someone had said the four horsemen of the apocalypse, and they thought it was the four horsemen of the pucker lips. But the four horsemen of the apocalypse are these four horsemen. So we've got the white horse, and that's religious deception. We've got the red horse, which is war, the black horse, which is famine, and the pale horse, the yellow sickly looking horse, which is disease or pestilence.

So if we go back to Matthew chapter 24 again and read a little bit more out of here.

See in verse 7 it says, Nation will rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then they will deliver you up to tribulation. So this is talking about great tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. So if you follow this, we see the four horsemen listed here in Matthew 24. Religious deception, wars, famines, and pestilence, and then we see great tribulation after that. Then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another, and many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved, and this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. So this gospel of the kingdom does need to be preached the entire world, and exactly what that means, God knows. Certainly the gospel of the kingdom has been preached to the whole world on the internet. I mean, it's there.

I don't know that that qualifies. Certainly when the two witnesses come on the scene, it's going to go out to the whole earth. God obviously knows what He expects there. I know that we should continue to do what we can do to preach the gospel, because that is a commission that God's church has in these last days, is to preach the gospel to make disciples of all nations.

Now we might read a little bit further here in chapter 24, verse 15, Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, whoever reads, let him understand, then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his field, let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes. Go to those who are pregnant, and to those who are nursing babies in those days, and pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great tribulations, such as not been since the beginning of the world, until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved, or no flesh would be saved alive. But for the elect's sake, those days will be shortened. God isn't going to allow everyone to be wiped off the face of the earth. Some will survive, some will live. Verse 23, Then if anyone says to you, Look, here is the Christ, or there, do not believe it. For false Christs and false Prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. And when we get further into the book of Revelation, we will read about a great false prophet who is actually one of the beasts that is talked about in the book of Revelation, the leader of the second beast that will go over some time in the near future. There will be a great false prophet who will show great signs and wonders and deceive many, many people. Of course, the elect will not be deceived, because we'll be close to God, and God will give us victory over the beast's power. Verse 25, See, I have told you beforehand, therefore, if they say to you, look, he is in the desert, do not go out, or look, he is in the inner room, do not 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. So Christ's return is going to be obvious, it's going to be evident. If people tell you that Christ has already returned, you needn't believe them, because it says here that that isn't going to be the case. But as lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, everyone can see lightning. They will also see the return of Jesus Christ.

All right, let's go back again to the book of Revelation. Okay, we're now at the fifth seal. So we've covered the four horsemen of the apocalypse, which are the first four seals, and then we get to the fifth seal. When Christ 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.

Remember in Matthew 24, it talked about great tribulation, being the fifth seal, or it corresponds with the fifth seal here. Verse 10, 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. So this again is that figurative language that is used in the book of Revelation. We know that those who are dead know nothing, but in a figurative sense, if they were, you know, if they could communicate, this is what they would be saying. You know, they would be communicating, How long, O Lord, until you judge and avenge our blood? Those who have died.

We know that all the apostles, except for John, at least legend tells us that all of them were martyred. And there were many others who have been martyred at various times throughout history, and they're the ones that are in the grave. It says they'll be waiting until their fellow servants and brethren who will also be killed as they were. So there will be great tribulation in the future. There will be those who will be martyred in the future. And when we get to Revelation 12, we'll certainly talk about that in some detail.

In verse 12 of Revelation 6, I looked when he opened the sixth seal, and behold there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth. Now, we felt an earthquake, at least my wife felt an earthquake. I never felt the earthquake. I guess she felt a couple of them.

I was out in the car driving, I guess, when they happened, and I never actually experienced the actual earthquake. So I have in California, but not here in Oklahoma. And I guess some of you felt the earthquakes here in Arkansas as well, which is a bit unusual. You know, we don't have a lot of earthquakes, but there were many earthquakes in Oklahoma in the last month. And who knows what's going to continue to happen in the days ahead. I mean, we know that there will be a greater frequency of earthquakes. There'll be a greater frequency of these types of things that will occur before Christ returns.

So in the sixth field, there's a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, the moon became like blood. Now this is what we call heavenly signs.

It refers to it as cosmic disturbances here in my Bible as a heading. And the stars of heaven fell to the earth as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. And 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 in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him who sits on the Lamb and from...

I'm sorry, 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. Now it's our belief that the last year of the great tribulation, the great tribulation will last three and a half years, and the last year of those three and a half years will be the day of the Lord, the day of God's wrath. So the sixth seal is that of heavenly signs, and there'll be a large earthquake also associated with that.

It says that every mountain and island will be moved out of its place, so there'll be some tremendous cataclysmic events that will accompany the sixth seal. And of course, the day of the Lord will be a part of that as well.

Now, I guess let's just go on to the next chapter, chapter 7. I probably haven't been looking at my notes, so I probably left out a number of things that I should have been covering along the way. Let's go to Joel chapter 2, which coincides with the sixth seal, that of heavenly signs. Joel chapter 2 verse 31. Joel 2 verse 31.

The sun shall be turned into darkness.

Well, I might... let's read up a few other verses. Verse 28, and it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Your old men shall dream dreams. Your young men shall see visions. And also, on my men servants and my maid servants, I will pour out my spirit in those days. And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood and fire and pillars of smoke. Verse 31. The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. So just before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord, there will be these heavenly signs. And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. So those who will call upon God will be saved, but the truth of the matter is very few are really going to call upon God, compared to those many who will hide. As we read in Revelation 6 verse 16, they will hide in the mountains and rocks and they'll hide from Jesus Christ, from the Lamb, instead of repenting of their sins. They're going to hide or they're going to rise up against Christ. And unfortunately, if they would just repent, according to verse 32, that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, there shall be deliverance. As the Lord has said, among the remnant whom the Lord calls, God is going to deliver His people. So we can have faith and confidence in that. We can know that God is going to see us through all the difficult times that we'll be going through in the book of Revelation. If we place our faith and trust in God and in Jesus Christ, we don't need to fear Satan. We don't need to fear the beast power because that's what Satan is going to use to get the hearts and minds of people. It's going to be fear. People are going to be frightened not to follow the beast. The beast is going to be such an awesome power that's going to rise up and kings are going to give their power to the beast. And it's going to be a worldwide government that's going to put people in shock, really. And people are going to be afraid not to be a part of this system. But the truth is those who fear God will remain faithful to God and they won't fear man. They won't fear what the beast can do to them because they know that God is far more powerful than the beast and that's where they'll put their faith. So Joel 2 adds again support to the heavenly signs that is talked about in Revelation as the sixth seal. Also, I might add that I was reading the book of Revelation Unveiled at Last and Mr. Armstrong wrote the book, the book of Revelation Unveiled at Last. It was first written in 1959 and then reprinted in 1972. And of course, we have our own booklet in United as well. But Mr. Armstrong made the comment that once a condition which Christ predicts sets in, it remains continuous up to his second coming. So once a condition sets in, and basically he was talking about the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the beginning of sorrows, once those things set in, they're going to remain continuous, although they will intensify before Christ returns, but they're going to remain continuous up to his second coming. So we're going to continue to see earthquakes in various places. We're going to see wars, rumors of wars. We're going to see some disease and pestilence going on and famine. But the end is not yet, but those things are the beginning of sorrows, and they will continue up until Christ's return. Only they will intensify.

Also, I might mention at this time, there is a principle of prophetic duality that we should all be aware of. Basically, there's oftentimes a former fulfillment of a prophecy and then a latter fulfillment, an earlier fulfillment and a latter fulfillment. For example, the Bible talks of a first Adam who was Adam and Eve, Eve's husband, but the second Adam is Jesus Christ. It also talks about an old covenant and a new covenant. There were plagues upon Egypt that God poured out upon Egypt when he was leaving the children of Israel out of Egypt. There will be plagues that are going to be poured out upon the earth and upon those who are involved in the sinful ways of the world. Egypt is symbolic of sin, so there'll be plagues poured out upon a sinning world just prior to Christ's return and the establishment of God's government and God's kingdom and an entrance into the Promised Land. So we have an entrance into the Promised Land back in the old days. Of course, they had to wander for 40 years in the wilderness because they weren't faithful. And then we have the Promised Land that's coming, the Millennial reign of Christ. Those who are faithful will enter into this Promised Land.

So there is a principle of prophetic duality that we should be aware of. There's a former fulfillment and a latter fulfillment in many cases regarding prophecies. There was a persecution on God's people back in 70 AD. Of course, there have been other persecutions throughout history on God's people. There will be further persecutions in the future.

Luke 21, verse 36. I think we're all pretty familiar with Luke 21, but now would be a good time to discuss it for a moment. Luke 21, which is a parallel chapter to Matthew 24. I think Mark 13, Luke 21, and Matthew 24 are similar.

Luke 21, verse 36. And again, this scripture gives us hope. Verse 36, Christ says, Watch you therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass. So it would be wise if you haven't been praying always these things, that you'll begin to do that. Pray always that God will count you worthy. It doesn't mean that you're perfect, but it does mean that you're worthy. In other words, you're close to God, and you have a repentant heart, a repentant mind. Watch therefore, and pray always, that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man. So it's talking about standing before the Son at His return. When Christ returns, will you stand before Him? If you've died, will you be resurrected? And will you stand before Him? If you're alive, will you be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye? And will you stand before Him? So we should be praying daily, as it says here, pray always, that you may be counted worthy to escape these things that are coming to pass. These are things that are surely going to come to pass. What we're covering in the book of Revelation is surely going to come to pass. We can count on that. Okay, let's go back to Revelation again. This time, we go to Revelation chapter 7. After these things, I saw four angels sitting at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, on the sea, or on any tree. Then I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God. And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, saying, Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads. So God is not going to allow these things to take place until his servants are sealed. Verse 4, and I heard the number of those who were sealed. 144,000 of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed.

And then it mentions 12,000 from each of the tribes of Judah, Reuben, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Manasseh, Simeon, Levi, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, and Benjamin.

Notice that Manasseh is listed here, and Joseph is listed here. Joseph had two sons. Ephraim and Manasseh. So the one, the reference to Joseph is undoubtedly talking about Manasseh here. I'm sorry, Ephraim, where Manasseh is also listed. But notice there's one tribe that's not listed.

Do you know which tribe is not listed here?

Right, the tribe of Dan is not listed. And unfortunately, we don't have time to go into the reason for that, but you can scout that out if you'd like. There were some things that Dan did, and it's speculated that that's perhaps why the tribe of Dan is not listed. In this particular listing here of the 144,000. Don't worry about it. It happens to all of us at one time or another. Okay, let's go on now to chapter verse nine of chapter seven verse nine.

After these things I looked and behold a great multitude which no one could number. Now this is talking about a different group of people. This is a great multitude. You've got the 144,000 that God is going to sanctify and set apart and seal so that they will not have to go through this tribulation, the day of the Lord and so forth that God's going to pour out on the earth. But there's also going to be a multitude that will come out of the great tribulation. That's what it's talking about here in verse nine. After these things I looked and behold a great multitude which no one can number of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues standing before the throne and before the Lamb, and they were clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. All the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne, and they worshiped God, saying, Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom, thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever, Amen. Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, Who are these who are these arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from? Now, how would you like to be asked that question by a great angel? I think John gives the very best answer he could possibly come up with. I always admired him for this. Verse 14, And I, John, said to him, Sir, you know. I think that's a great answer. When someone asked you a question, sir, you know.

I'm sure he knew a lot more than John knew about this, so that was a good response. Sir, you know. And he said to me, These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. So these are people that are going to go through the great tribulation.

And it says their robes will be washed at that time in the blood of the Lamb. In other words, they'll come to accept Christ as their Savior. They'll come to accept His sacrifice for them. They will repent of their sins. Verse 16, They shall neither hunger any more nor thirst any more, the sun shall not strike them nor any heat. For the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. So these are truly repentant men and women who will come out of this great tribulation.

And they are going to be saved. They're going to be among those who will be in the first resurrection. So we have the 144,000 as well as the great multitude. So the Scripture doesn't explain exactly who we're talking about here. Certainly the 144,000 are those who are among the first fruits who are sanctified and set apart and sealed by God. And those who go through the great tribulation will also have their robes whitened and have repented. They're also going to be in the first resurrection. But as far as going into a lot of detail, we don't have a lot of detail so we can speculate somewhat on exactly who we're talking about here. But we should note it as speculation unless it's really from the Bible and it's clear. But I know this, it certainly would be good to be among one of those two groups, the 144,000 or the great multitude. And the 144,000 would be preferable. Okay, let's go on to chapter 8. When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. Now there's been a lot of speculation on what could cause silence in heaven for half an hour. Someone speculated that there must not be any women in heaven. No, I am not the one that came up with that. That's horrible, isn't it? My wife's shaking her head. Actually, someone gave a sermon the other day in Tulsa that claimed that men talk just about the same as women do. Now he did claim that there were some people that brought the average way up. And I would have to agree that not all women were the same. And I think that's what I would have to agree that not all men talk that much. But there are some men that definitely bring the average up for the rest of us. Okay, all joking aside, the reason there's silence in heaven for half an hour is undoubtedly because of the gravity of what's going on. You know, the somberness, the soberness of what's happening here. Because now we're going into the seventh seal, and there's seven trumpet plagues that are going to be announced. Christ, of course, is returning at the sound of the seventh trumpet. Verse 2, And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets. Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar, which was before the throne. So you might ask yourself, do my prayers really matter?

Well, I think this is proof that your prayers matter a great deal. These are prayers of all the saints, and this angel is there. He's offering up incense with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar, which was before the throne. Some people think their prayers don't get above the ceiling. The truth of the matter is they're going all the way up into heaven, to the throne of God. So continue to pray and believe that God will hear your prayers, because God will hear your prayers, and your prayers make a difference. And many of you know that very well, because you've gone through trials and you've seen evidence. You believe, anyway, you have faith that the prayers of the saints have made a difference for you. In the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel's hand. So again, your prayers are going much higher than an earthly ceiling. They're going up into heaven. Verse 5, Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth, and there were noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake. So the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. Okay, so now we're going to hear the sound of the seven angels who will blow the seven trumpets, which is a part of the seventh seal. So we've gone through all the first six seals, and it would be good to know what they are for next time's quiz, of course. And then the seven trumpet plagues. Okay, the first trumpet plague, verse 7, The first angel sounded, and hail and fire followed, mingled with blood, and they were thrown to the earth. And a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up. So this is going to strike the vegetation, the trees of the earth, the green grass of the earth, which is going to affect the earth in many, many ways. We know that we get oxygen from the trees. There's photosynthesis that contributes, of course, to our ecosphere. And so this is going to have a big effect on the earth when a third of the trees are going to burn up, and the green grass is going to burn up. And then the second trumpet will blow, and the second angel sounded. And these are going to happen quickly, one upon the other one. The second angel sounded in something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea. So this is the only way that John knows how to describe this. It was like a great mountain, burning with fire. Is it some gigantic asteroid? Exactly what is it? It was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood. One third of the sea became blood, and a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. So the second trumpet is going to strike the seas. The first one will strike vegetation, trees and grass. The second will strike the seas. The third trumpet will strike the waters, like the streams and the rivers. The third angel sounded, and a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water.

The name of the star is wormwood. It means bitter. I think it means bitter.

I don't see it in here, but I'm pretty sure it's talking about a bitterness or a poisoning of these waters. So the name of the star is wormwood. It hits the waters, a third of the waters become wormwood or poisoned, bitter, and many men died from the water because it was made bitter. Verse 12, then the fourth angel sounded. So the third angel again sounds, and the waters were struck. The seas were struck before that. So the oceans and the seas are struck, then the streams and the rivers are struck. Then it says the heavens are struck, and the fourth trumpet. The fourth angel sounded. 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 did not shine, and likewise the night. So the moon isn't shining for a third of the night, the sun not shining for a third of the day. And I looked, and I heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound. Woe, woe, woe. These are the great woes. The first woe, the second woe, and the third woe. We'll talk about that in the next time we talk about it, but the fifth trumpet is the first woe. The sixth trumpet would be the second woe, and the seventh trumpet would be the third woe. So in the fourth trumpet, the heavens are struck. I think we're going to stop here, but I do want to go to Zechariah chapter 1 first. Zechariah chapter 1. In Zechariah it talks about Zephaniah. Zephaniah chapter 1 ties in with these trumpet plagues. Zephaniah is right before Haggai. That helps you find it. Okay, Zephaniah chapter 1 verse 14. Zephaniah 1 verse 14. The great day of the Lord is near. It is near and it hastens quickly. The noise of the day of the Lord is bitter. There the mighty men shall cry out. That day is a day of wrath. So we're talking about the day of the Lord. The day is as a year. We believe it's going to last a year here, talking about the day of the Lord. A day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of devastation and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of trumpet and alarm against the fortified cities and against the high towers. I will bring distress upon men and they shall walk like blind men because they have sinned against the Lord. Their blood shall be poured out like dust and their flesh like refuse. Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them. Now, a lot of people are talking about the economy and how we ought to put our money into silver and gold. Well, neither the silver nor the gold is going to deliver them. I mean, you know, you might want to... I don't know, gold's pretty high right now. I wish I'd have bought it back when it was 300 bucks.

I'd feel better about that. Then I'd go buy some physical things that I might benefit from before it all falls apart. Neither the silver nor the gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord's wrath, but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy, for he will make speedy riddance of all those who dwell in the land. So this is a clear reference to what we're talking about in the book of Revelation, the day of the Lord, God's wrath upon a sinning people. God is not happy because he's sick and tired of what we've become. This nation itself has become like Sodom and Gomorrah in many respects. You know, the way we allow just about anything, anything goes. You know, anything is acceptable in today's society. You're accused of hate crimes if you stand up as the Bible does against certain things. You know, the Bible clearly condemns certain things, but we have parades and call people out for these big parades and, you know, they have them all around the country to give credence to a certain lifestyle that, you know, God hates. And so we see the kind of society that we live in, we see that our morals are getting worse and worse.

Things have changed a lot in the last hundred years. I mean, things have changed a lot in the last 40 or 50 years, or, you know, and it's going to change even more as we draw closer to Christ's return. The ancient plagues that were on Egypt are indeed a type of these end-time plagues, these trumpet plagues that we're talking about. Again, Egypt was a sinful nation and God was wanting Israel or Egypt to let his people go, but they were hanging on to the people. They didn't, Pharaoh didn't want to let them go. This earth doesn't want to let us go either. It's going to try to hang on to us. It's going to try to deceive us. And God says, you will let my people go. There will be great tribulation. There will be all kinds of cataclysmic events that are going to take place. God's people need to look to God. We need to be faithful to God. Again, we need to have God's mark on our forehead, not the mark of the beast.

God's people, the Israelites, were spared from some of the plagues, but they weren't spared from all of them. You remember that? Some of the plagues were upon God's people. The survivors of these ancient plagues went on to enter the Promised Land. Joshua and Caleb were the only ones among the older ones that went and spied out the land, but there was a younger generation that was allowed to go in.

They weren't held responsible for Israel's rebellion against God. The survivors of the end-time plagues will go into the kingdom of God. There will be some who will survive. God's not going to allow everyone to get wiped out in these last days, so there will be some who will go into the kingdom of God. Of course, those who are kings and priests along with Jesus Christ will teach and guide and direct those who are survivors into the millennial reign of Christ. So there's a lot to look forward to, but it does get pretty ugly before Christ returns. And the book of Revelation brings that out very vividly. So we will end today's sermon. The book of Revelation is indeed a fascinating prophecy of what will come to pass before, during, and after Christ's return. It is a prophecy that the wise will understand. There is great blessing upon those who do understand. I read that, I think, in the first sermon. It is that just by going through these chapters and these verses in detail, there will be a blessing upon us. So let those who have ears to hear, let them hear. Let those who have eyes to see, let them see. And I know we're going to have potluck and game night tonight, so I look forward to spending several hours with you, with all you people. And I guess we'll just end this sermon and let Mr. Jackson get back up here.