[Applause] [Music] so [Music] [Music] for tonight we're still here in the book of revelation so let's take our bibles and go to revelation chapter eight revelation chapter eight if you're new to our bible study basically this the world is coming to an end so so get right or get left you know that's the way it's gonna work all right that sounds really gloomy doesn't it but you know sometimes you gotta you gotta have reality you know sometimes the medicine doesn't taste very good going down but it's what we need to to hear and that's what we need to know so we're here in revelation chapter eight let me give a quick synopsis of where we are and then we'll pray and uh if we have time lord willing tonight we're going to look at chapters 8 and 9 together but for the sake of quick review and i apologize for those who have already heard this numerous times but i'm always mindful that there are new people to our bible study either watching online or here in person so just to get everybody acclimated this is the timeline we're working with through the whole book of revelation and we've come now to the section on the timeline of the seven year tribulation period which is to come this is future so everything to the left um of the seven year tribulation with the exception of rapturing the church has has happened the rapture of the church is the next thing we're looking forward to it's going to be happening at some point in the future followed by seven years of tribulation on the earth what is that it's when god unleashes a series of judgments in order to get people's attention as the final wake-up call in order for people to be saved there are three basic reasons why god will bring tribulation upon the earth and here they are to wake up unbelievers people who aren't christians to try to help them to get to that place finally of surrender number two to shake up the nation of israel god's not done with the jewish people many jews are coming to faith in jesus as the messiah but it will be an opportunity specifically for the nation of israel to have their eyes opened to jesus as messiah and then number three to make up the kingdom of god because after all of this is done at the end of the book of revelation there's a new heaven and a new earth and the whole kingdom of god will be made up at that point there's not going to be any other opportunities for people to kind of join the club if you will it's going to be made up at that point of those who are believers and those who are not believers have already been separated from god and so these are the reasons why god brings the tribulation and then through chapters 6 through 18 what we find is that god's wrath is revealed through a series of three events and these are successive events so we talked about the opening of the seals there are seven seals that are opened on a scroll jesus christ is going to open the scroll and he's going to read judgments against the earth in a series of seven seals that are broken these wax seals that are broken as the scroll is unraveled that'll be followed by seven trumpets that are blown we'll get into that tonight we'll see how far we get but god is going to dispatch seven angels who will blow uh seven trumpets one trumpet each and in the blowing of a trumpet they will announce more series of judgments that are coming upon the earth and that'll be followed by seven bowls that are poured out again god is going to use angels to pour out bowls and the bowls that are poured out upon the earth will be indications of further judgments that god has against people who are on the earth and so again if if you agree with the timeline that we the church will be raptured then as a believer you don't have to worry about any of these things happening but your hearts should still go out to those who will be left behind those who will still be here on the earth those who will go through this and so we should have obviously a heart for those folks who are going to be left behind god is still going to be actively at work to try to win their hearts and there will be many who will come to faith in jesus during the seven year tribulation period but it will be under excruciatingly painful circumstances and once one becomes a believer then we'll talk later about how each person on the earth will be required to get the mark of the beast the mark of the antichrist and believers will not receive the mark and thus they will be martyred for their faith so you know there's there's this double-edged sword it's like okay well the good part of it is people can still get saved the difficult part of it is if you get saved during the tribulation you're going to be martyred for your faith and so um these are very very difficult chapters and and i get that and so you know particularly for people who are non-believers and you read some of this and it's so intense and it you know god is pouring out his wrath and it just seems to those whose view is solely that god is a god of love uh counterintuitive to that but but we have to remember that love is also expressed in in the form of justice and um and you know in habakkuk said the prophet habakkuk said to god in wrath remember your mercy and god remembers his mercy but you know he he must punish sin and unfaithfulness otherwise he would not be a just god so so it is hard for us in in our ideal of god being well that this seems to be incompatible with god being a god of love you have to understand there are things that um that god necessarily has to do in our lives to finally get our attention and if he were a passive god who was unloving then he really wouldn't care um you know what what kind of pressure you had to undergo in order to finally surrender but because he is loving and does care he'll turn up the heat and he will turn up the pressure because he wants people to finally get to the place that if they if they in their own comfort won't accept him and receive him then perhaps in in their own discomfort they will finally cry out to him and all of us understand this to some degree don't we because you know if you if you've ever been estranged from god and and you and you've been you know kind of you know careless in your walk with him and then some difficulty comes you know you lose your job or a loved one dies or something and then what's what's the natural tendency you start to cry out to god oh god help me you know i need and so he knows how how we're wired he knit us together in our mother's womb and so sometimes we come to god at a place of comfort but oftentimes we come to god in a place of discomfort because those are the things that cause us to be aware of our need for a savior and so that's how we have to really process these chapters so as we get here to chapter eight we're going to see the first of seven trumpets that are blown and that will unleash uh god's wrath upon the earth but before we read chapter eight let's just uh pause first and bathe our study tonight in a word of prayer so let's pray god we come before you tonight thankful for your word these are chapters that you've included for our benefit you have given us a glimpse of things that are to come that we would be ready personally and that we would also have a heart for those that may not be ready so that we would be bold in our faith to help them to become ready that we that we would be more motivated as we see the day approaching to share our faith and to help people understand who jesus is and how and how jesus died on a cross for our sins because we know your heart lord you tell us in your word you want none to perish but all to come to repentance and so lord we understand the way you've had to work in our own hearts many times by turning up the heat in order to get us to finally surrender and that's what you're doing in these chapters these things that are to come will be grievous days upon the earth but but lord in the process many will come to finally trust you others will be angry at you and and lord we understand that's the way human nature often is but we do pray first for our own hearts and then for the hearts of people around us lord that we would come to that place of surrender early in jesus name amen i'm gonna read all of chapter eight and then we'll we'll backtrack and if we have time tonight we'll get into chapter 9 as well because chapters 8 and 9 are about the next series of judgments that come in the form of trumpets and so chapter 8 verse 1 john writing here says when he that is jesus opened the seventh seal there was silence in heaven for about half an hour and i saw the seven angels who stand before god and then 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 and the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints ascended before god from the angel's hand then the angel took the censer 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 the first 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 green grass was burned up and then the second angel sounded and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea and a third of the sea became blood and a third of the living creatures in the sea died and a third of the ships were destroyed then 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 of the springs of water the name of the star is wormwood a third of the waters became wormwood and many men died from the water because it was made bitter and then 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 and a third of the day did not shine and likewise the night 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 all right we'll pause there john the apostle is being shown these things by the lord way into the distant future from where he is you know in the early 1st century he's seeing past even our time about these cataclysmic events that are coming upon the earth the eighth chapter here begins with jesus opening the seventh seal remember these are successive and the seventh seal is announcing the seven trumpets and um it tells us here that jesus when he opens the seventh seal i'm back in verse one of chapter eight that there was silence in heaven for about a half an hour now that if if there ever was a pregnant pause that's one right there i mean you have a lot of worship going on in chapter 7 you know back in chapter 7 verse 11 it says all the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures and fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped god saying amen blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our god forever and ever amen i mean i mean the whole uh the whole of heaven is ringing with the sound of praise from all the angels and the elders and the living creatures and then suddenly their silence for about a half an hour and it is like this holy hush and it's very foreboding as jesus is about to dispatch seven angels who will blow these trumpets to announce another series of judgments against the earth but you have to try to imagine you know for for half an hour silence in heaven it's gone from this boisterous joyful celebration of god around the throne to now complete silence for a half an hour and john says in verse 2 and i saw the seven angels now in the original greek language the direct article v indicates to us that these are particular angels not just any angels that that have been dispatched for this particular purpose he sees seven angels who stand before god and to them were given seven trumpets and he says then another angel now this is an eighth angel and some uh bible scholars believe that this might be jesus others say it's not jesus i'm in the camp that says it's not jesus because the greek word for another angel the greek word is alos meaning of the same kind so this eighth is of the same kind of the seven that preceded the eighth so jesus is not an angel despite what job's witnesses tell you he's not michael the archangel he's superior to any angel this is an angel like the other angels okay so this is not jesus but this angel the reason why some bible scholars say well maybe this is jesus is because he's going to serve here in somewhat of a priestly role now again this doesn't mean it's jesus because even human beings on earth in the in the political system of the mosaic law served in a priestly role where they would connect man to god and god to man now that priestly role has been removed because jesus now is our intercessor he is our high priest and but when you look at the role of this angel even though this angel is going to be functioning in somewhat of a priestly role this angel is another angel alos of the same kind so this this is an inferior angel to jesus as messiah as god and this angel takes a golden censer and he came and he stood at the altar and 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 now please make a note in the margin of your bible in hebrews chapter 8 verse 5 the bible tells us that the earthly temple that was built in jerusalem god gave originally the tabernacle designed to moses and then the construction of the permanent temple uh to david and david's son solomon would build it and hebrews 8 5 says that the temple built in jerusalem was a type of a shadow a picture of the actual temple in heaven and that in heaven there is an actual throne and when you look at the different elements of the temple that once stood in jerusalem since has been destroyed in 70 a.d it actually just is a picture for us of a heavenly design and in heaven just like there was on the earthly temple there's this golden censer there's there's an altar there's incense there's a throne and god is seated on the throne and this angel then is bringing this incense and incense was a picture of the prayers of the saints as the incense rose to heaven this wonderful aromatic thing that it was a reflection of the prayers of the saints that rose to god now who's praying here it doesn't tell us are these those saints who have been martyred during the tribulation are these perhaps even the prayers of the saints over the course of time in history uh it's probably all of that the wonderful thing here is that the prayers of the saints are never forgotten by god they have been preserved and kept and heard by the lord and they are now in this beautiful picture here rising like incense to the throne of god now at the same time that the prayers are going up judgments are about to come down so note that and it says in verse 5 and then the angel took the censer filled it with fire from the altar and threw it to the earth now this is this is the the beginning of the judgments of the series of trumpets coming upon the earth so the aroma of the prayers are going up judgment is about to come down and with that all of these sounds there in verse 5 noises thunderings lightnings and an earthquake and so the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound so here's this picture of in heaven these seven angels positioned with trumpets and they are about ready to each sound their trumpet and pronounce these judgments so what i've done here as we go through these verses i've summarized the different trumpet judgments and so here's the first one and then we'll read through the text again what we're going to find when when the first trumpet is blown by this first angel is that a third of the earth is burnt is burned up a third of the trees are burned up and all the green grass is burned up and when you read as as we'll see here in a moment the phrase mingled with blood it probably indicates that many will die this judgment is similar to one of the plagues in exodus chapter 9 and so again here's what it says starting in verse 7 in your bibles 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 green grass was burned up now listen this is going to have tremendous ecological ramifications um a third of the trees you know all the green grass think about how this it's a domino effect think about how now what's what will livestock graze on there will be no grass to graze on um a third of the trees um completely burned up you know i you you've heard my bent uh that i think the environmental movement has kind of be taken on a life of its own and and some people i think worship the planet more than they do worship god and romans tells us that there's going to be this inversion of that kind of thing in the latter days where people worship creation more than they do the creator and i see some of that happening i hope you you have your eyes open and you're awake to this kind of a thing that's happening in our world now where you know there's all this big you know push for the environment and go green and carbon footprint and i think to myself you have no idea what is about to come upon the earth because it's all going to burn it's all going to burn now that doesn't mean we need to go and you know destroy the planet you know pick up trash and and uh i begrudgingly recycle and stuff like that even though they have now discovered that recycling is more expensive in the long anyway um the issue is here though that god is going to bring terror upon the earth and a third of the trees i mean imagine the tree huggers are going to have a conniption fit it's going to be like there's a third less trees to hug yeah and uh and there's no green grass at all and so this is what is going to happen but you know again the ramifications of of how this will affect livestock is is untold then then the second trumpet sounds the second trumpet between verses 8 and 9 tells us that a third of the sea becomes blood a third of sea life is killed and a third of sea vessels are destroyed and it says in verse 8 then the second angel sounded and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea and a third of the sea became blood and a third of the living creatures in the sea died and a third of the ships were destroyed now you have to remember that john is writing in the first century and often as he writes he describes things using uh similes like or as so you know he's like the second angel sounded and something something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea and so you know it's it's very likely that this is an asteroid uh perhaps that that god is bringing this this asteroid that is ablaze and it impacts uh the planet uh by the way um scientists have um named an asteroid that they believe will impact the earth it's called asteroid 1950 d.a the scientists in the journal science uh have written that there is a one in 300 chance okay that we will be hit by an asteroid march the 16th 28 80. so we're about 800 years away so you know i don't know if it's gonna happen in our lifetime uh but check this out it it is estimated that this asteroid at the time that it may impact the earth and one in 300 chances is a pretty good likelihood it may it's one kilometer wide that's a little more than half a mile for us in america who never converted to the metric system um a little more like 0.62 something like that miles wide and they say that the impact of an asteroid just a half a mile wide upon the earth would be the equivalent of one million tons of tnt one million tons of tnt so we don't know if this is an asteroid or or a comet comet is basically dust particles uh with um ice which melts as it enters earth's atmosphere carbon dioxide uh ammonia methane so how something like that affects the atmosphere and affects in this particular case the sea and sea life sea vessels so the impact is is going to be you know pretty obvious when you when you have a third of sea life dying you have to now imagine the stench and it a third of the seas become blood the stench of blood the stench of sea creatures that have died um and and consider this a lot of people think you know protect the rain forest because the oxygen levels in the earth and stuff okay again fine protect the rain forest but the the rain forest is not what provides most of the oxygen in in our on our planet it's actually plankton in the ocean that oceanic plankton scientists say is responsible for 50 to 80 percent of earth's oxygen so try to imagine when you have a third of the sea destroyed like this because it becomes blood you are reducing earth's oxygen levels by about 20 so this is going to be now so now you're gasping for air you can't breathe as well and every time you draw in a deep breath you're just smelling the stench i mean you have to try to imagine what life on planet earth would be like because this is like hard to even comprehend and it affects a third of the ships being destroyed um commerce on the sea they're they're presently at any one time about 50 000 merchants uh on the sea merchant ships on the sea carrying five to six million containers of goods at any one time in our world and a third of them will be destroyed so this is going to be obviously a very impactful event when trumpet number two is sounded trumpet number three trumpet number three a third of all fresh water becomes bitter and many die and you'll read here with me that the great star burning like a torch may be an asteroid or a comet so we see a similar thing happening with trumpet number three we're going to see the word worm wood it is a bitter plant used literally for medicinal purposes and figuratively as god's judgment upon those who disobey now there's something interesting in this third trumpet i'll point out but let me read again verses 10 and 11. then the third angel sounded and a great star that's again probably a comet or an asteroid 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 a third of the waters became wormwood or literally became bitter and many men died from the water because it was made bitter and so now whereas trumpet number two affected the ocean trumpet number three affects fresh water and so fresh water the source of drinking water is going to be compromised here when this star again a comet or asteroid falls to the earth and makes fresh a third of all fresh water sources become bitter and as a result many die maybe they die because something within the bitterness of the water is poisonous or maybe they just die because the the water now they're not able to drink and so they die of thirst but many many will die at this point now in your bibles the word wormwood that that became a um a very intriguing word uh back in the 80s especially um and so if you've been around since since the 80s you will remember an event that happened in ukraine specifically in chernobyl uh in in 1986 i'll give you the exact date uh april the 26th 1986 there was a power plant nuclear power plant in chernobyl ukraine that had a partial meltdown there was a terrible accident where eight tons of radioactive material escaped into the atmosphere 8 000 people died pretty pretty suddenly and another 200 000 people were affected as a result of the escape of radiation from the nuclear power plant in chernobyl in in the ukraine uh scientists say that as a result of the level of radioactive material that was leaked into the the atmosphere that it'll be 20 000 years before chernobyl will be inhabitable again and so you know people not only lost their lives they had they had to lose their possessions their homes they had to leave the area of chernobyl well in 1986 shortly after that event happened in july the 26th 1986 the new york times ran an article on the front page of the new york times entitled the talk of moscow chernobyl fallout apocalyptic tale and fear and the article i'll just read one paragraph of it this is from the new york times july 26 1986 a prominent russian writer recently produced a tattered old bible and with a pract and what they practiced hand turned to revelation listen he said this is incredible and the third in this quoting from scripture and the third angel sounded and there fell a great star from heaven burning as it were a lamp and it fell upon the third part of the rivers and upon the fountains of waters and the name of the star is called wormwood and the third part of the waters became wormwood and many men died of the waters because they were made bitter in a dictionary reading the article still in a dictionary he showed the ukrainian word for wormwood and in the ukrainian language wormwood is chernobyl and um and so the writer who's showing the new york times this is a professed atheist but yet was hardly alone in pointing out how the apocalyptic reference to the star called chernobyl so it is an interesting thing now what is what does all that mean does that mean that when that nuclear power plant melted and um all this radiation escaped and made that whole place bitter and radioactive and people died that that's a fulfillment of this particular passage i don't think so but i think it probably is a picture it is a picture of what is to come and kind of as a preview here the word is chernobyl meaning wormwood this bitter plant that turned that whole place into a bitter place where the water obviously was affected and people died and it's just a glimpse it's a glimpse so i don't think it's an actual fulfillment but it is a glimpse of what is to come i don't think a coincidental glimpse i think an intentional glimpse of what is to come so the fourth trumpet sounded here's trump at number four all the light sources are darkened by a third and jesus did say when he was speaking of these days to come in luke 21 25 that there will be signs in the sun moon and stars and on earth distress of nations with perplexity so here's what the fourth trumpet says in verses 12 and 13. it says then 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 and a third of the day did not shine and likewise the night so what happens with this fourth trumpet is the day night cycle is going to be disrupted and i looked and i heard an angel now if you if you're reading from some translations it doesn't say angel it says an eagle in fact even in my bible that i'm reading from new king james the word angel has a a footnote and in the footnote it says that some of the original texts read eagle well only in the king james version does it say eagle all the other versions say angel it is not the word agolos it is the word ietos meaning eagle so the new king james and the king james say angel but it is actually a different word aitos eagle how is it possible king james said angel well perhaps he had too much tea that day i don't know but the greek word is iatos meaning eagle now is this a contradiction in scripture here's why it's not a contradiction because um when you glance backward to chapter four in chapter four there's a description of four living creatures around the throne of god and these four living creatures are angels and one of the living creatures in chapter four verse seven it's i'll just read the whole verse the first living creature was like a lion had an appearance like a lion and 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 so one of the four living creatures one of these angels around the throne of god has an appearance that looks like an eagle so actually either word would necessarily work here back in chapter 8 but it is more specifically an eagle who is who is dispatched here flying in the midst and and it can also be translated angel and saying with a loud voice woe woe woe to the inhabitants of the earth because of the remaining blast of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound so in other words the worst is coming and here we have a third of the light sources are uh are all darkened and so there's a there's going to be a reduction in the brilliance of the sun and of course the moon just simply reflects the sun so that would make sense that then the moon will look dimmer and the stars will be dimmed by a third now consider this when the sun is dimmed by a third it will affect the temperature on the earth and now the earth is going to be colder so you have a colder earth with less oxygen a lot of death i mean this is just a very troubling scene when you get here now to trumpets five and six that are found in chapters nine you're going to read a lot of these different terms and i want to explain right up front you're going to see terms like star locusts scorpions abaddon apollyon angels who were bound and a reference to an army and when you put it all together these are all terms that either describe satan or his demonic forces what we're going to see between trumpets five and six that are spelled out here in chapter nine are are that demons are going to be allowed by god because god is sovereign over everything they are going to be allowed by god in trumpet number five to torment people but not to kill him and it will go on for five months and in trumpet number six there's going to be a release of four angels that are bound and that means that these are demons because angels that are still of the good class would not be bound and these that are bound are going to be released and they are allowed to kill a third of mankind so chapter nine is is about let me give you a preview here of what trumpets five and six are uh trumpet number five mankind will be tortured by demons for five months except for the 144 000 jews who have been sealed we talked about them last week and people will long to die but death will elude them we'll talk more about the abyss and abaddon and napoleon and then trumpet number six uh in when trumpet number six is sounded here's what's going to happen a third of mankind will be killed by demons and that'll be an estimated one billion people so there's still a lot of very troubling things to come but rather than go over chapter nine because our time has escaped this i will leave you there with a cliffhanger to come back next week and we will talk about trumpets five and six something good to sleep on tonight right may the lord help us to always lift our heads up and look up because our redemption draws near amen father we thank you for your word even even the difficult parts because we know that you're working out your perfect plans no matter how easy some parts of scripture are to read and how difficult other parts are to read we know you are at work to accomplish your purposes so that as many people as possible might be saved help us lord to continue to put our faith in our trust in you lifting up our heads looking up because we know that our redemption draws near we loving we thank you together in jesus name and everybody said amen and amen you