Book of Revelation - Ch. 8, Vs. 1-13 (08/19/2018)

ultimately be the one that gets the credit and the glory for everything that we do.

Go with us through the rest of the services today. Protect us and keep us. In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen. We are in Revelation chapter 1, chapter 1, chapter 8, verse 1.

And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was a silence in heaven about the space of a half an hour.

Now you might remember back at the end of chapter 6 when the angels stopped the winds.

I think that was the end of chapter 6 or the beginning of chapter 7 -1. And there was silence on earth because there was no wind, there was no, not even a breeze, there was no rain, there were no waves on the ocean.

Everything was still. And somebody made a comment about how eerie it was after 9 -11 when the airplanes were shut down and we didn't hear the background of the airplanes flying across the skies.

It was an eerie time. You could notice, you noticed it by the absence of it.

Well, that's the way it was on earth. It stayed that way for the duration of chapter 7 when the 144 ,000 witnesses were being identified and named and sealed.

Now we are going into chapter 8 and the second, the seventh seal has been opened.

That's the last of the seals. There's been six seals up to now. All six have been opened and many judgments have come to the people.

But there's one seal left. And in that one remaining seal, there's more judgment than in all the previous six seals combined.

And when we get the seventh seal open, you're going to see seven trumpets. We'll cover six of those trumpets today.

And the seventh trumpet will take about three weeks or four because there's more in the seventh trumpet than there is in the first six.

So just keep that in mind as we go. Now what's happened? There's silence in heaven for the space of a half hour.

Diane told me this morning, or actually last night when we went over this together, we have a moment of silence occasionally at schools and public places.

Let's have a moment of silence. We keep silent for a minute. Silence in heaven for half an hour.

That would make quite an impression. In heaven, all sounds stop in anticipation of the wrath that is to be poured out on the earth with the opening of the seventh seal.

The seventh seal has been opened and now we go. There's silence on earth, silence in heaven, and then the

Great Tribulation begins in earnest. Now the first thing

I would like to look at is this word half an hour. There are debates.

I know what my position is, and my position is not all that important, but I'd like to know what you think.

Do you think there's time in heaven? I see some going like this.

I see some going like that. So we know that there is a divergence of opinion.

Now I got another question. Is it God the Father who is in heaven, or is it

God the Son that is in heaven, or is it both of them? Now it's okay.

You're going to say all three and I will deal with that. That's good too, but I'm just talking about these two,

God the Father and God the Son. We often say, well we know God the Son lives, sometimes at least, in time because he lived on earth and he lived for about 35 years, 33 years, and then he was executed.

So he is, at least part of his existence, is in time.

Now he is in heaven. He is the Lamb. He is the one that received the book.

Who did he receive the book from? God the

Father. So God the Father and God the Son are there now at the time of this vision.

Some people say, well you can't have time where God is. I don't know.

I'm not sure about that. My comment was just because God transcends time, and we know he does that.

We know that God is not bound by time. God knows the end from the beginning. God operates when he wants to operate, and when he does it is when he does it.

I don't even think he can say when. I think he does it and it occurs when he ordains for it to occur.

I'm not going to argue that we can't see him, that we can't see him. Yes ma 'am, help me out.

We see God through Jesus' eyes. I heard somebody say that. I think that was

Brother Otis, wasn't it? I don't know whether I heard Brother Otis say that or whether I heard

Brother David tell me that Brother Otis said that, but I have heard that before. I don't argue with any of that.

It may just be a glow that we see. It may just be a halo of light on the throne.

I don't know what it is. We'll know when we get there. That's what I know. There was a voice that we heard, or that...I

think everybody heard that voice, didn't they? Paul on his road to Damascus, there was a light and a sound, and some heard it and some didn't.

It's a tricky thing, and I don't have the answers. That's right.

That was the Father. When he rebuked Peter at the

Mount of Transfiguration, that was the Father, too. He said, this is my son. Hear him.

Don't build a monument for everybody else. Okay, just because God transcends time, that does not necessarily mean that there is no time where God is.

Personally, I think there is time in heaven until an event happens later, eons later.

All in all, I think everything goes back to like it was in the beginning, but we're there with it as part of it.

That's just my personal opinion, and it has no value, no virtue at all. Anyhow, enough of that.

Let's get to something that is more important. And I saw seven angels which stood before God, and to them were given seven trumpets.

Now, these are the angels that we refer to as the trumpet angels. There are seven angels, and there are seven trumpets.

The first four trumpets signaled divine destruction of the ecosystem.

The first four trumpets have to do with God's doing things to the environment, to the world.

The last three signaled demonic destruction of earth dwellers. In fact, at the fifth trumpet, demons will be released to go out into the world and add to it the judgment.

And then we have another angel, came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer, and there was given unto him much incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.

Now, this is from Dr. MacArthur, Dr. John MacArthur, in case somebody doesn't know. There are two perspectives on this angel.

My math brain is saying angle. There are two perspectives on this angel.

And this angel is not one of the seven that we just talked about. This is another angel. In fact, it says another angel.

That's where one of the perspectives comes from. The word another is the

Greek word alos, which means another of the same kind.

So if this angel is like the other seven angels, then this angel cannot possibly be Jesus Christ, because Jesus Christ is not one.

In fact, he's not an angel. Now, there's another perspective, that this angel is preparing to act as a mediator between God and man.

So in light of 1 Timothy 2, verse 5, for there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man

Jesus Christ, then that view, says the angel, has to be

Jesus Christ. So we have two points of view. It's got to be Jesus Christ, can't be

Jesus Christ. The language can't be Jesus Christ.

If he's going to be a mediator between God and man, has to be Jesus Christ. Dr. MacArthur did not give me his view, so I don't know mine.

I'm not sure either. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand.

You remember back in Revelation 5, verse 8, when the lamb had taken the book, and the four beasts and the four and twenty elders fell down before the lamb, every one of them having harps and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of the saints.

So this smoke is the prayers of the saints.

And the angel took the censer and filled it with the fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth, and there were voices and thunderings and lightnings and an earthquake.

All of a sudden, this censer, which was used to hold the prayers of the saints, now is holding the wrath of God.

The same golden censer that carried the prayers of the saints becomes the weapon of judgment.

The same fire that purifies also destroys. The hot coals from the altar cast on the earth symbolizes

God's judgment about to descend on the church's enemies in answer to the prayers, which had just ascended before God.

You remember what those prayers were? In Revelation 6, 9, he says, and when he had opened the fifth seal,

I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held.

And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

Remember what his answer was? Wait a while until everybody that should be slain, as you have been, are slain, that all who were ordained to be slain are slain.

That was back in chapter 6. We're now in chapter 7, and we have the second part of God's answer.

What's the second part of God's answer? When? The answer is now.

And the seven angels, which had the seven trumpets, prepared themselves to sound.

The wait is over. We're no longer waiting for the last saint that needs to be slain to be under the altar to be slain.

The great tribulation is about to begin. The first angel sounded, and there followed hell and fire mixed with blood.

And they were cast upon the earth, and a third part of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass burned up.

Trumpet number one sounds, and there's hell and fire, and a third of the trees are burned up, and all the green grass is burned up.

Selective with the trees, uniform with regard to the grass. All the grass was destroyed.

Some of the trees. Which trees? The third of the trees that the Lord wanted destroyed.

I'm not going to answer that question. If it were based on, oh, no trees in California.

Oh, there are trees. There are huge trees in California. Would that be a third of the oxygen that would be gone?

And the grass too. It's okay if a third of the animals were to die too.

So we're only going to need a third as much. I want to read something from Dr.

John MacArthur regarding this, and I'm going to tell you up front, Dr. MacArthur, in case you don't know, is like one of my great heroes.

And I agree with virtually everything that he says. Virtually everything that he says with regard to theology.

A few things I disagree with, but I'm probably wrong, and he's probably right. When he touches on science,

I have a less uniform agreement with him. And I want to warn you up front that people are going to try to make things that are supernatural appear natural.

And we all fall for that. And even the great

John MacArthur slipped into that in this passage. I'm just going to read it, having said that.

He says, this may certainly describe, or this may describe volcanic eruptions that could certainly result from the earthquake in verse 5.

The steam in the water thrown into the sky by such eruptions could easily condense into hail and fall to the earth along with fiery lava.

So he's getting the fire from the lava and the hail from the steam.

And then he referred to Exodus 9 verses 13 through 26.

Go there, please. Exodus 9, starting at verse 13. And I've got this in here for a really important reason, so bear with me.

Starting at verse 13. I'm going to wait and start because we don't want to get to the important...

Well, I'll wait. I'm not in that big of a hurry. Now, the

Lord is talking to Moses and he's telling Moses what to tell Pharaoh and Pharaoh's people. The Lord is talking to Moses and he's telling

Moses what to say to Pharaoh and what to say to Pharaoh's people. And the

Lord said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh and say unto him,

Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me.

For I will at this time send all my plagues upon thy heart and upon thy servants and upon thy people, that thou mayest know that there is none like me in all of the earth.

For now I will stretch out my hand, that I may smite thee and thy people with pestilence, and thou shalt be cut off from the earth.

Now, he tells Pharaoh, he tells Moses to tell Pharaoh, For in this very deed, for this cause have

I raised thee up, for to show in thee my power and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.

I did that so poorly, I'm going to just explain what he said. He rose

Pharaoh to the power that he rose Pharaoh in order that he may put this curse on Pharaoh so that the world would know to whom the world belonged.

And yet, exaltest thou thyself against my people, that thou will not let them go.

Okay, so what did Pharaoh say? Pharaoh was going to say, no they can't go. Behold, tomorrow, about this time,

I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such hath not been seen in Egypt since the foundation thereof, even until now.

Now, I had a question here and I changed it last night when my brother told me there was a better word than I used.

I'm going to read what I said and I'm going to read what he suggested. Then I say, does

God show grace to the unrighteous? And he said, maybe you ought to change that and say, does

God ever show kindness to the unrighteous? Now, I think we're all in agreement with that last statement that God shows kindness even to the unjust.

It rains on the just and the unjust. If grace is saving grace, he doesn't show that to the unrighteous.

Just to the righteous. And who is righteous? None of us are righteous unless we've been given

Jesus' righteousness. So, here he does show kindness even to the unjust.

So, remember, who is he talking to? Moses is talking to the Egyptians and to the servants of the

Pharaoh and here's what he says. Send therefore now and gather thy cattle and all that thou hast from the field.

For upon every man and beast which shall be found in the field and shall not be brought home, the hell shall come down upon them and they shall die.

So, what information are you given? Bring your cattle in, bring your servants in, and they'll be okay.

Leave them out in the field and they'll all die. And he that feared the word of the

Lord among the servants of the Pharaoh, these are not the Israelites, these are the Pharaoh's servants, made his servants and his cattle flee unto the houses where they would be safe.

And he that regarded not the word of the Lord left his servants and his cattle in the field.

What's going to happen to them? They're all going to die. And the

Lord said unto Moses, Stretch forth thine hand toward heaven that there may be hell in all the land of Egypt upon man and upon beast and upon every herb of the field throughout the land of Egypt.

And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven. And the Lord sent thunder and hail and fire ran along the ground

And the Lord rained hail upon the land of Egypt. So there was hail and fire mingled with hail, very grievous, such as there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.

Now look at verse 25. And hail smote throughout all the land of Egypt that was in the field.

Not in the home, in the field, both man and beast. And hail smote every herb of the field and break every tree in the field.

Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, was there no hail.

Now that's interesting. There's a group of people that are protected from the hail.

Which group is that? Is that the Israelites or the Egyptians? The Israelites. There's not even any hail in their land.

They are kept from the hail altogether. What about the

Egyptians? Did all of them suffer? Only those that failed to believe and do what he said.

No hail in Goshen. Protection from the hail was available to those that did what the

Lord asked them, told them to do. Dr. MacArthur continues,

Dust and gases may so contaminate the falling liquid that it appears blood red.

A third of the trees were burned up. The lava storm will create a blazing fire that devastates one third of the earth's forest.

And I put here, maybe. It may be that this is exactly how it came to be.

But we need to recognize, and this is why I brought this up. We need to recognize that not all of God's work can be explained as some natural process.

A process that none of us have the ability to totally understand. Not me. Not the prophet

John. Not Dr. MacArthur. No one. We only have limited understanding.

Some, and I believe all, of God's works are entirely supernatural.

And I believe we have no understanding at all of any of God's works. If he wanted to do it through dust making the falling liquid water appear red, appear like blood, he could do that.

If he wanted it to be real blood, he could do that. So for the most part,

I'm going to refrain from the temptation to make this a natural science study in which I attempt to explain all events and visions.

So we'll go light on the science and heavy on scripture in our attempt to understand. By the way, if you want an interesting account,

I'm not going to read it. I'm just going to cite it. Joshua 10. If you read the whole passage, the whole chapter of Joshua 10, you will find another example of hell stones cast down, killing just the people they were supposed to kill.

Boulders falling from heaven, landing only on those that the Lord had ordained to be killed.

Reminds me of the arrow that was shot into the air and perchance landed and hit the king right where he was not protected.

And he died. It wasn't by chance. It was controlled not by the laws of nature, but by God himself having it to strike the man that he wanted it to strike.

Okay. I'm not through with that idea yet. Verse 7.

The first angel sounded, and there was hell and fire mixed with blood. And they were cast upon the earth, and a third part of the trees was burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.

And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea, and a third part of the sea became blood.

Now first of all, I will tell you John saw something he couldn't explain. One thing

I know for certain, not a single bit of doubt in my mind, it was not a burning mountain.

You know how I know that? He says it looked like it was a burning mountain.

He didn't say it was a burning mountain. As if it were a great mountain. It was something else.

Most commentators believe that this is a large meteor and it very well may be one.

But whether that is so or not doesn't really matter. What matters is it was under the direct control of God.

That burning mountain, the thing that looked like a burning mountain, was under the direct control of God and landed exactly where He wanted it to land at exactly the time

He wanted it to land. Whatever it was that it was, John saw that it resembled a mountain.

And what happened to the sea? He says a third part of the sea became blood. Many of the same commentators that view this as a large meteor attempt to explain this as referring to an event known as the

Red Tides, which I can't help but say crimson tide for all my Alabama buddies.

The Red Tide. You know the Red Tide is very prevalent right now.

A very large red tide in Florida, maybe the largest they've had in like 20 years, and the beaches all stink because of the dead fish that are washed up.

And this event is caused by billions of dead microorganisms poisoning the water.

That's what they say. Now you know what I believe that stuff is? Blood. I don't believe it's the

Red Tide at all. I believe it's blood. He said as it were a great mountain, and he said the third part of the sea became blood.

He didn't say it looked like it was blood. He said it became blood. Well I have no reason to say that it wasn't blood.

I believe it's actual blood. I believe it is a clear act of God's judgment.

God has already rolled up the heavens and moved every mountain and island, and I'm convinced that God will give no room for speculation that what's happening here can be described as a natural event.

Nothing natural causes it. I don't think it was a meteor that fell into the sea. I don't think it looked like it was blood.

I think it was blood. But that's just me, and I'm going to refer you back to Acts 17 and 11, and you can read that at your leisure.

And what that says in short is don't believe anything that I tell you. Study the Scriptures daily to see if it's so.

Verse 9, And a third part of the creatures which were in the sea and had life died, and a third part of the ships were destroyed.

That's interesting. The blood killed a third, but not all of them. And a third part of the ships were destroyed, but not all of them.

So now we have two devastating judgments on the land and on the sea, which are only the beginning of the final catastrophes that God will unleash on the world.

Now we're getting ready for the third angel to sound. And now all of a sudden it's on a different theme.

The third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp.

And it fell upon a third part of the rivers and upon the fountains of water. And the name of the star is called

Wormwood. And a third part of the waters became Wormwood, and many men died of the waters because they were made bitter.

What is this Wormwood? About four years ago,

I think, we went through this Bible study earlier. And it was fresher on my mind then and certainly fresher on yours.

I want to give you... Let me just give you the information about Wormwood. It's a bitter poisonous substance derived from a root that caused drunkenness and eventually caused death.

In the Old Testament, this word is translated hemlock. And if any of you have studied philosophy and studied

Socrates, this was the poison that they said the Greek philosopher Socrates was forced to drink.

And then I put it in boldface. As an example of the danger of trying to fit all of today's world events into prophecy, consider this.

The Russian word for Wormwood. Anybody happen to know Russian? Anybody happen to know the

Russian word for Wormwood? Chernobyl.

Any of you have heard of Chernobyl? That was the nuclear plant that had the meltdown.

After the failure of the containment structure of the nuclear reactor in Chernobyl and the ensuing release of poisonous radioactive materials, there were conjectures that the meltdown might have been related to the prophecy here.

I mumbled that. There were conjectures that the meltdown might be related to this prophecy that has been talking about right now.

Do you think that's possible? Do you know why I know for certain, 100 % certain it's not?

It's been more than three and a half years ago. In fact, it's been about 20 years ago. About 20 years ago, is that when it was?

A long time ago. It was fresher on my mind then. I'm sorry? 1980 from Chernobyl.

And that happened in 1980, which would be 38 years ago.

So it's certainly greater than the seven -year expanse of the Tribulation. So nothing that happened in this timeframe could be pushed that far back.

It had been over by 1987. So between 1980 and 1987, there was a lot of conjecture about this being a sign of the end times.

But whatever Wormwood is, it poisons one -third of the earth's freshwater and causes numerous deaths.

And now we have the fourth angel. And a third part of the sun was smitten, and a third part of the moon, and a third part of the stars, so that a third of them were darkened, and they shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.

What does that say? The sun is one -third as intense. The moon is one -third as bright.

The stars are one -third as bright. If the sun were one -third as bright, don't you think it would be kind of cool?

The loss of solar heat would cause a radical temperature change. Quite a catastrophic event.

And we could describe all of that in one word. And I think it's just so ironic that the

Lord puts things in the order that He does. And then we follow and put things in the same order and don't even realize how humorous it is.

How many of you have heard of global warming? Raise your hand if you've heard of it. How many of you recognize that it's no longer called global warming, it's now called climate change?

How many of you have heard of nuclear winter? Now, some scholars and some old guys.

When I was this young man in the back, Timothy's age, the big thing was nuclear winter.

The fear was we'd get a nuclear war. Dust would be flown up into the sky. It would cool down, and we'd all freeze to death.

So, nuclear winter. What do we have here? Not nuclear winter, perhaps.

What about just winter? Climate cooling.

Severe climate cooling. Jesus warned us in Luke chapter 21, starting at verse 24.

And Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles until the time of the Gentiles be fulfilled.

And there shall be signs in the sun and in the moon and in the stars and upon the earth, distress of nations with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring, men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

And then they shall see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with great power and great glory. And when those things begin to come to pass, then you shall look up and lift your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh.

The dimming of the sun and the inevitable cooling that accompanies it will not last too long.

It's going to happen during the tribulation period, and before the tribulation period is over, it's going to be over.

I'm going to ask you to scroll forward about six chapters in Revelation to chapter 6, verse 8, and we're going to read about a fourth angel.

And it's unfortunate that we're talking about the fourth angel here. Chapter 16.

Did I say 6? Yeah, I had a...

Yeah. 16. Forward to chapter 16, verse 8.

And it begins the fourth angel, and I said I better stop here and point out that this is not one of the trumpet angels.

This is one angel that occurs after the seventh trumpet angel has sounded its horn.

And I'm going to pick up in verse 1 of chapter 15.

You don't have to go there. And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them is filled up the wrath of God.

That was 15. And now 16 .1 says, And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels.

Again, these are not the same seven angels. This is a different seven. Go your way and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.

These are what we call the vial angels or the bowl angels, depending on the

Bible that you use. The bowl judgments, the vial judgments. These are all part of the seventh trumpet judgment, and this is the fourth bowl of the seventh trumpet angel.

And this angel, the fourth angel of the vials, poured out his vial upon the earth, on the sun, and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire, and the men were scorched with great heat.

Now, what had been global cooling has now been replaced by global heating.

What caused the global cooling? God caused it. What caused the global heating?

God caused it. How long did it last? Not very long.

Less than three and a half years. From the time it was global cooling to the time it was global heating was less than three and a half years.

So what did the men do? What's man's response? And men were scorched with great heat and blasphemed the name of God, which hath the power over the plagues, and they repented not to give him the glory.

The earth's ecology has been destroyed, and the undeniable cause of the destruction is

God himself. But rather than believe and repent, the earth dwellers blaspheme the name of God.

Oh, I've still got a little bit of time. So the most important question

I want to ask today, why don't they believe and repent?

They've just seen a cycle of climactic activity that we've been worried about for years, global warming, climate change, global cooling, nuclear winter, all of those things we've been worried about for years.

They've seen this whole thing cycle in less than three and a half years, and they can't believe.

Why not? Their hearts are hardened, and they can't believe.

They don't believe because they can't believe. Who believes? The ones that can't believe, the ones that are allowed to believe.

If you will go with me to 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 1, this is a passage that most studies in Revelation eventually come around to, but for a different reason that I'm going to come to it.

I'm coming to this passage from a different perspective. This is a proof text for pre -tribulation rapture proponents.

Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together unto him, that ye should not soon be shaken in mind or be troubled, neither by spirit nor by word nor by letter from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.

Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come, except there be a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called

God, or that is worshipped, and so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is

God. And let me say this. When does that happen? That happens when he is revealed as a man in the temple, sitting in the temple of God, showing himself that he is

God. That's at the three and a half year mark. That's when that is. I'm going to go on.

Remember ye not that when I was yet with you, I told you these things, and ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in time.

For the mystery of iniquity already doth work, or doth already work. What is the mystery of iniquity?

The evilness of sin. That sin is prevalent. That sin is prevalent.

Only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.

But whether or not the antichrist is still restrained at this point in time, the mystery of lawlessness is already at work.

The mystery of lawlessness is at work right now. Romans 16.

No, let me just skip that because I'm running short of time. No, I'm not going to.

I'm going to do it anyhow. Let me do Isaiah 5 .20.

Woe be unto them that call evil good and good evil, that put up darkness for light and light for darkness, that put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.

Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, prudent in their own sight.

Evil, wise, hypocrisy, immorality, false religion, they permeate the world now and grow increasingly worse, so that every generation is more evil than the one before it.

2 Timothy 3 .13 says, But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.

But sin's ultimate manifestation is yet to come. When the strain is removed and the antichrist appears, the true character of evil will be manifest.

Now is that awful time. The antichrist has been revealed, and not only will men of lawlessness be revealed, but God will also release demons from being bound in hell to inundate the earth, and so it will become even worse, which we'll get into in the next chapter.

Now we're going to go back to Thessalonians. And then that we could be revealed.

Whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and he shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.

Even him whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish.

Now here is the reason that I wanted to put this in. Because they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be saved, and for this cause

God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie, and that they all might be damned who believe not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

So why don't they believe? Because they can't believe. Because the

Lord won't let them believe. And I heard verse 13 in Revelation.

And I beheld and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice,

Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth. Why three woes?

Well, in heaven when he said, Holy, Holy, Holy, why three holies?

Holy means to be separate, to be different from. And Jesus is different from any other man.

Different from any other man in the sense that no one can be like him. What about woe, woe, woe?

Bad things have happened. Badder things will happen. And even worse things will happen. And what is coming now is in the superlative sense, nothing worse can be even imagined.

By the reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels which are yet to sound.

So let's look at where we've been and where we're going. We've just come through the destruction of the thirds.

First angel. A third of the trees and all the green grass destroyed. Second angel.

A third part of the sea turned to blood. And a third part of the living creatures in the sea died.

And a third part of ships destroyed. Third angel. A third part of the fresh water was made undrinkable.

Fourth angel. A third part of the sun and the moon and the stars were darkened.

Massive destruction. Unthinkable chaos. And yet a new message. What's the new message?

Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpets of the three angels which are yet to sound.

Two more which we will describe next week. And one more which will take several weeks to do.

So all I can say is, in terms of the judgment, the worst is yet to come.

What has happened up until now is just a blink in the intensity of what is to come.

And that's it for me. And I am like two minutes early.

So we've got two minutes for commentary. Questions?

Comments? Yes, sir. I'm going to give you a stock easy answer because God ordained that it would.

To cleanse the church. To cleanse the church and make the church pure. One, and to give time for Israel to, as a nation, repent and come to realization that Christ is the

Messiah. Okay, those are two reasons. I just gave Brother David the time to get his answer in so that I would have a correct answer.

Brother David is not always correct, but he's correct more often than I am. Anything else?

I might say something else. Why do you think we have to know that?

Why do you think Revelation was put into the canon of the Bible? To whom?

Very important to the church. It might be an indicator that there will be some existence of the church during the era of the

Tribulation. Now, I know what Brother David's position is on that. The church will go through most of it, but the church will be protected.

The Lord can protect His and will protect His. Not just the 144 ,000 which are protected from everything, but He can also protect everybody else.

And He will. The worst that will happen to you is what happens to you if you die today. If you die today, what happens to you?

And you're one of His. If you die today, you go to heaven to be with Him forevermore.

If you're in the Tribulation period and you're in the church and you die then, and you're not one of the 144 ,000 protected so that nothing happens to you, what's the worst that can happen to you?

You'll go and live with Him forever. That is great grace. It is grace beyond imagination.

Anything else? Yes. That's right, and so if you were a pre -Tribulation believer, what you know is if the

Tribulation hasn't started yet, it's very, very close. It's my personal belief that there's an

Antichrist out there somewhere just ready to step in if the Tribulation began tomorrow.

Satan doesn't know that. Satan has to be prepared at all seasons to have a man ready. That's why we look back at the history and say, so many people could have been the

Antichrist. We know they weren't because they were more than seven years ago. Hitler could not possibly have been

Antichrist. But he could have been if it had happened in 1939. Anyhow, anything else?

Most gracious Heavenly Father, thank You for this day, and thank You for all our many blessings. Protect us and keep us.

Take us through the service this morning. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Oh, Lord.