Revelation Part 5 with Pastor Josiah Shipley

Good evening, and welcome to Sunday Night Bible Study with Pastor Josiah Shipley of Wynton Baptist Church. We are here for part five of our study of Revelation, and we are now in the seven trumpets of Revelation chapter eight.

So Revelation chapter eight, we are now in the seven trumpets. Let me try to catch some of you guys up. If you haven't been keeping up with this, that's the great thing about YouTube. Go back to Wynton Media Ministry and watch parts one through four.

You can listen to them, you can listen to them on double time if you want, if I don't talk fast enough. Some of the videos are rather short. Some of them are longer, but some of them are really short, so you can catch up pretty quickly on your drive or whatever.

The Order of God's Judgments: Seals, Trumpets, and Bowls

We left off, we finished the seven seals, and I want you to remember, in order of God's judgments, we have seals, trumpets, and bowls, and there's actually seven thunders in between there, but we'll talk about those next time.

And remember, the sixth one is normally drawn out long, maybe an interlude between. The seventh one normally just opens up the next set. So the seventh seal opens up the seven trumpets, which the seventh trumpet opens up the seven bowls.

So it's almost like the seventh seal is the seven trumpets, which then in turn is the seven bowls, is what I mean by that. It just keeps opening up a new round of God's judgment. This is not God boiling over in anger and lashing out uncontrollably.

The Bible speaks time and time again about things at the end, that God has fixed a day to judge the living and the dead. We read in Revelation, I think it was chapter six, that the angels were appointed the time, the hour, the day that they were going to release their judgments of God.

This is going exactly according to God's plan. Remember when brother Jeff on Sunday mornings went through the history of Israel, when Assyria took over, God didn't go, Oh no, he went, check. When Babylon came in and destroyed Jerusalem, destroyed the temple, God went, check.

Alexander the Great conquers the known world, check. Roman empire, check. Oh, now the whole world can read and write in Greek, or at least someone in the community can. That's how I'm going to write my New Testament, check.

The Holy God has never been surprised. Things go exactly to his plan, even when we go try to go against his. What we meant for evil, God meant for good, Genesis 50, 20. So these judgments are God's divine and just judgment.

Remember, if we have a judge, which we have some, if we have judges that don't punish evildoers, that if someone does something wrong, there's no justice. They never gave any sentence. They never gave any, like if the law says these are the consequences for doing this, they never give out those consequences.

They just say, yeah, do whatever you want. We would say that's a bad judge. Well if God never punished sin, he would be a bad judge, but God is a perfect judge. So God is going to punish sin. The question is, is Jesus Christ going to pay for your sin or are you?

These are God's temporal, physical judgments. Hell is his eternal judgment. Now one other thing to keep in mind, I guess, is so far in Revelation, we've been sequential time order. Later on, we're going to see how John is going to write out what's going to happen and then back up and give you more detail and then write out what's going to happen and back up and give you more detail.

But for right now, we're still in order. So seven seals have happened. Now time for the seven trumpets. Here we go. Revelation 8, starting in verse 6. Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them.

The first angel blew his trumpet and there followed hail and fire mixed with blood and these were thrown on the earth and a third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.

A third of the earth, a third of the trees, all the green grass, imagine how much damage that would do to animals, to humans, to humans because of the animals, livestock. Notice how fast, rapid fire these are.

Verse 8, the second angel blew his trumpet and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown in the sea and a third of the sea became blood. A third of the sea became blood. A third of the living creatures in the sea died and a third of ships were destroyed.

Verse 10, the third angel blew his trumpet and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch. It fell on a third of the rivers and the springs of water. The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became Wormwood and many people died from the water because it had been made bitter.

I think, and remember, of course there's symbolism in Revelation, but we're having literal judgments and a first century man, John, is trying to describe what he's saying. I think the second and third trumpets are clearly comets or asteroids or meteors.

It says a flaming star falling from space and landing on earth. Remember, when it says a third of the sea became blood, remember, don't be anachronistic. Don't be like, all right, is that the Caspian Sea or the Black Sea or the Mediterranean Sea?

Remember, the sea in the Bible just speaks of the ocean. Remember, we can say there's four or five oceans, but really there's just one. There's one sea. There's one ocean. Right? Some point I'm trying to make is when it says a third of the sea became blood, we're talking about the whole ocean.

Then when the meteor comes, a third of the fresh water, a third of rivers and springs of water become bitter. We've seen what this can do before. A lot of people will die because a third of all the fresh water will be contaminated.

A third. I want you to think about this, but we have the sea and a third of the creatures there being destroyed. A third. A third of all living creatures in the sea die. Imagine what that would look like.

A third of the sea, the ocean, turns to blood. A third of spring water becomes contaminated and people die from drinking it. I think it's something like 90 of the world. The world's population lives within five miles of a large body of water.

Look at the United States, between the Mississippi River and the coast, 90 of the world's population lives within five miles of a large body of water. The Great Lakes, think of Chicago, Miami, Los Angeles, New York, Memphis, Houston.

That's going to have devastating effects. Trumpet number four, a third of the sea. I'm in verse 12. A third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, a third of the stars, and a third of the light became darkened.

A third of the day became kept from shining, and a third of the night. You know, later on, the sun is going to send scorching heat and burn people. But here it's darkened. Day gets shorter, it's darker, it's way darker at night.

A third of the moon darkened, a third of the stars. It's even darker during the day. The days are shorter. In verse 13, then I looked and heard an eagle crying with a loud voice as it flew directly overhead.

Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth. At the blast of the end of the trumpet said the angels, the three angels, are about to blow. That's the end of chapter eight. People talk about the three woes of Revelation.

The three woes are simply trumpet number five, six, and seven. You got that? We have the first four trumpets. Then we have an eagle flying out and saying, woe, woe, woe. The last three trumpets are called the three woes because they're even more severe.

By the way, in verse 13, if you have a King James Bible or New King James, it may say an angel flew overhead. The word there is not the regular Greek word angelos. It means a flying creature. So, you know, a flying creature.

It's probably better to say a bird, right? Say an eagle or something like that. Some of the words for animals in the Bible are kind of tough to translate, but eagle is probably a better translation here than angel.

The Fifth Trumpet and the Bottomless Pit

All right. Chapter nine. Here is the fifth trumpet, also known as the first woe. The fifth angel blew his trumpet and I saw a star falling from heaven to earth and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit.

The bottomless pit may say abyss in your Bible. Same thing. This is the same abyss we're going to speak of in Revelation 19 and 20. Check this out. This is woe number one, fifth trumpet. He thought that was bad.

He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit. From the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace and the sun and the air were darkened from the smoke of the shaft. Then came from the smoke locusts on the earth and they were given power like the power of scorpions on the earth.

They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree but only those who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. That's the 144 ,000 from before. They were allowed to torment them for five months but not to kill them and the torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings someone.

In those days people will seek death and not find it. They will long to die but death will flee from them. In appearance the locusts were like horses prepared for battle. On their heads were like crowns of gold.

Their faces were like human faces. Their hair was like a woman's hair and their teeth were like a lion's teeth. They had breastplates like breastplates of iron. The noise of their wings was like the noise of many chariots with horses rushing into battle.

They have tails and stings like scorpions and the power to hurt people for five months in their tails. They have a king over them, the angel of the bottomless pit. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon and his Greek name is Apollyon.

It means destroyer or destruction. The first woe has passed. Behold, two woes are still to come. Alright, that stings. Five months but not to kill anybody. Just to torture people for five months. Just to inflict pain, these locusts.

These locusts sound like the locusts from Joel but even more severe. They have a ruler over them, an angel who's directing them whose name is in Hebrew, destruction and in Greek, destroyer. I think it's clear what his job is.

A couple notes here. Revelation 9, 4, you may say how are we going to harm the grass of the earth if it was all burned up in chapter 8? Well, guys, remember. I like to watch all those Discovery Channel shows like Life and Planet Earth and all that stuff.

There is a cycling every year. It happens in lightning storms and so on where large grass fields in savannas or whatever will burn. And when they burn, I know this sounds weird but it kind of acts like a fertilizer for the ground.

All that burned grass is sitting on top of it, right? Almost like a greenhouse. It's like pruning to the extreme. And the grass can grow back not inches but feet in one rainy season. Feet to where the elephants can walk through it again and almost be hidden, the grass is so tall.

Within one year! It's amazing! So, you know, sometimes you'll have unbelievers or people who want there to be a contradiction in the Bible and there's not because it's inerrant or people genuinely asking, which I don't mind at all.

I love that stuff. Alright, well, how can these scorpions be told not to harm the green grass if it always burned up in Chapter 8? Because it grew back. When grass burns, it grows back. We see this all the time.

You know, just think about this. Scorched Earth policy warfare, you know, the Romans did it and the Union Army did it in the South during the war between the states, the Civil War. You've got to not only dig it all up, you've got to salt the ground if you want it to never grow back.

And eventually it still will. But if you salt it, burn it, salt it, then you can leave a permanent scar. But just burning it won't do it. It will grow back. That was the first woe. How about the second woe?

The Sixth Trumpet and the Hardness of Unrepentant Hearts

Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, here's the sixth trumpet, and heard a voice from the four horns of the gold altar before God, saying to the sixth angel at the trumpet, Release the four angels who are bound to the great river Euphrates.

Verse 15, the four angels who have been prepared for the hour, day, month, and year were released to kill a third of mankind. God's judgments are fixed in time. They're going to happen in God's timing.

And nothing we or anyone else can do is going to change that. No election, no purpose of man can thwart God's plan. Now, these angels are given an army of 200 million individuals. 200 million troops. 200 million.

Your Bible may say twice 10 ,000 times 10 ,000. Quick math, 200 million. They're given authority over 25 of the world's population to kill. Now, what 25 of the world's population will look like after all these seals and trumpets is unknown, but that's going to be a lot of people.

25 of the world's population, okay? To kill with an army of 200 million troops. No army like that has ever been seen. Not even close. After... Sorry. Yeah. After these plagues, a third of mankind was killed by fire, smoke, sulfur coming out of their mouths.

Okay? Did I misspeak? A third. I said a fourth. That was earlier. A third of mankind. Forgive me. A third of mankind. Okay? In fact, I think it was a fourth of mankind. Um... Let's see. That must have been back in the seals.

A third of mankind. Forgive me for that. I shouldn't have known that. A third of mankind. Okay. But look at the Reaction Church. Verse 20. The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues did not repent of the works of their hands or give up worshipping demons and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood which cannot see, hear, or walk.

They did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or sexual immorality or theft. Even after all this, they didn't repent. Now, in your brain, feel like, how could that be? Ladies and gentlemen, please understand that right there, verse 20 and 21 of chapter 9, is me and you before conversion.

That's no worse. They knew God and knew His righteousness and they did not repent. The rest of mankind still did not repent. Okay? That is the condition of every fallen man. So then you may say, Josiah, if we really are that bad, then why did I choose Jesus and they didn't?

Ladies and gentlemen, we only love Him because He first loved us. Romans 3 .11 says there's no one even seeking God. So how does anyone ever find Him? They don't. God finds you. Your worship will never be sweeter than realizing that you are just like the folks right here.

Even through God's revealing and revealing and mercy and mercy and get right, get right, get right, you still don't repent. Then God touches your heart and you cry out to Him, Lord. Don't ever forget that that's every one of us before conversion.

And we're still rebellious even after conversion, but at least we have a heart that desires the things of God. Okay, we are on the second woe, also known as the sixth trumpet. We just finished chapter 9.

Next time we gotta do chapter 10. What did I always tell you? The sixth one is long, there's an interlude there, but we're gonna pick up here in chapter 10 next week for part 6, I guess that would be.

This was part 5. If that was fast, I apologize, but it's a pretty straightforward sequential chapter there in 8 and 9. Chapter 10 next week, we have the angel of the little scroll. We might venture into chapter 11 with the two witnesses, but I don't know if we'll make it that far.

Either way, I love you guys very much. As always, keep watching our videos, like them, share them. We don't get anything out of it. It's just to spread the gospel even more. If you haven't already, subscribe to Whitney Media Ministries, but sharing these videos, the YouTube links, sharing them seems to be the best way to get them out there.

We've even had some people come to church because they saw these. We're still trying to figure them out. At any rate, I love you guys very much. I hope this has been official. I saw a few comments, actually, on some of these pre-recorded ones, and I like responding to those, so keep doing that.

I will see you guys next week.