Book of Revelation - Ch. 9, Vs. 1-21 (08/26/2018)

Park Meadows Church

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And then I was informed that he's not coming, so I am three minutes late getting started.

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Who's doing the other service? Alright. We are going to do

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Revelation chapter 9 today. But before we do that, I want to read the very last verse of Revelation 8.

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And is the sound coming through okay now? Okay. Can everybody hear?

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

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

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Three woes. When you see three of anything, that means it's serious. So something serious is about to happen.

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As if what has already happened has not been serious enough. The focus, though, is now ready to change.

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It will no longer be God's direct assault on the earth's ecosystem. It will change.

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Now, what I want to do for just a second is to review what has gone on before. Jesus has opened six of the seven seals already.

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And we had the four horsemen and we had the fifth seal being the saints under the altar and the sixth seal being the great earthquake.

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And then the seventh seal is opened. And rather than being one thing left, there are seven more.

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There are seven angels. And each of the seven angels sound a trumpet one by one.

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And they reveal the following four things that we have already covered over the course of the last couple of weeks.

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The first trumpet. One third of the trees and all the green grass was killed.

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Second trumpet. One third of the sea became blood.

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And one third of the sea life was destroyed. The third trumpet.

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One third of the fresh water became poisonous. And many men died. The fourth trumpet sounded.

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And the heat and light from the heavenly sources was lost.

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And we can infer from that that there was a significant loss of life associated with the global cooling.

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Although the scripture does not explicitly say that. Now a new focus is about to begin.

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It will be a demonic assault on the earth's dwellers. It will be an assault allowed by God, albeit with certain constraints, which we will point out as we go along.

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Let's pray. Most gracious Heavenly Father, thank you for giving us this time and this place to come together and meet and to study your

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Holy Word. Thank you for giving us the Holy Spirit to guide each of us to learn the lesson that you have for us.

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In spite of the adequacy or inadequacy of the teacher. Thank you for giving us your son to come into the world to bear our sins in our stead.

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And to give us his righteousness so we may aspire to a better place.

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Bless us and keep us. Go through this service as well as the next. In Jesus' name we pray.

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Amen. Now we're finally to, well,

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

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We're now to the fifth woe and the fifth trumpet. And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth.

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And to him was given the key to a bottomless pit. Alright, this star is not a meteor.

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It's not a comet. It's not what we call a falling star. It's a personage.

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It's an angel who fell from heaven unto earth. And it's probably

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Satan himself. If you'll look with me for a second to Isaiah chapter 14.

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Starting with verse 12. You will see an event described.

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How thou art fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning. How art thou cut down to the ground which did weaken the nations.

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For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God.

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I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north.

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I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the

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Most High. Has that happened? Has Satan ascended the heights above the clouds and become like the

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Most High? No, and he never will, will he? But he aspired to do that.

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Isaiah didn't say that he would do that. He only said, for thou hast said in thine heart,

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I wish to do it. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

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They that see thee shall look narrowly upon thee, and consider thee saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble and did shake kingdoms?

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Now, second question, is Satan still shaking kingdoms?

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He's shaking kingdoms, absolutely. He'll continue to right up to the establishment of the millennial kingdom.

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Right on up through the present, right on up through the tribulation, to the end of the tribulation, to the establishment of the millennial kingdom, he will continue to shake nations.

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There'll come a time when he shakes them even more than he's shaking them now, if you can imagine. But, he will lose access to heaven in chapter 12.

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We're not quite there yet. He still has some access to heaven, but he will lose it in chapter 12.

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We'll get to that in a second. Another reference to Satan falling from heaven is

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Jesus in Luke chapter 10, verse 18. When he said unto them,

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I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Now, that fall is not the result of the original rebellion where Satan and his angels rebelled against the

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Lord and were cast down to the earth. They were cast down to the earth, but they still had limited access to heaven.

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In Job, for example, Job 1, verse 6, we read,

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Now there was a day when the sons of God, those are the angels, came to present themselves before the

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Lord, and Satan came also among them. And the Lord said unto

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Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.

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So he fell to the earth. He had access to the earth even before he fell to the earth.

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But when he fell, he had limited access. He just didn't come and go as he wished. In Ezekiel, we read that he was in the

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Garden of Eden. The same Satan was in the Garden of Eden, wiser than Daniel and all that.

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That's Ezekiel, was that Isaiah 14? Ezekiel 28, if you want to look that up at some other point, but we don't have enough time to do every reference that we could possibly do.

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So, this fall will be the result of the war in heaven, after which

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Satan no longer has any access to God. That will happen in chapter 12 of Revelation, verse 7.

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And there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not.

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Neither was their place found anymore in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world.

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He was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

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And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation and strength and the kingdom of our

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God, and the power of his Christ. For the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accuseth them before our

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God day and night. So, at this point in chapter 12, Satan will be thrown out of heaven, never to return there again.

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Not to accuse the brethren, not to act as an agent for the

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Lord, not for any purpose. He will never be in heaven again. He'll be bound in a pit.

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He will be cast in the lake of fire, but he will never ever be in heaven again.

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It's this fall that I think is in view here in chapter 9, verse 1.

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I'm going to re -read that. The fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven.

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I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth, and to him was given the key to the bottomless pit.

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When the trumpet sounds, Satan is summonsed, and the key to the bottomless pit is given to him.

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It is given to him at a specific time for a specific purpose that furthers

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God's plans. This fallen angel serves God's purpose even if he doesn't intend to.

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Satan never intends to serve God, but he always winds up doing exactly what

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God wants him to do, exactly when God wants him to do it, because it is

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God and Jesus that are sovereign, not Satan. And he opens the bottomless pit.

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Now, I looked this up in the Blue Letter Bible and had them pronounce it. The word is

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A -B -Y -S -S -O -S. And the best I can do is

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Abuses. That's too hard for me. So I will use the word that most of us would use, the

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Abyss. Anytime I see that word, I will identify the

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Greek word as Abyss. And there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.

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That Abyss right now is serving as a prison for certain demons. If you'll look at Luke 8, just a second,

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Luke 8, verse 30 and 31, Jesus is just getting ready to cast a bunch of demons into a herd of swine.

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And they're going to run off into the sea and drown and then look for another place to live.

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And Jesus asked him, this is the demoniac, and Jesus asked him, saying,

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What is thy name? And he, and this is the demon speaking, not the man, and he said, Legion, because many devils were entered into him.

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And they besought him that he would not command them to go out into the deep.

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Now that word deep is the same Greek word here as is translated in Revelation 9 -2 as the bottomless pit.

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It's the Abyss. The Greek word Abyss is the same word that is translated bottomless pit in Revelation 2.

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A slightly different reference to this same holding place is in 2 Peter 2, chapter 4.

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For if God spared not the angels that sinned but cast them down to hell. Here the word is slightly different.

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It's Tartarus. And it's the deepest Abyss of hell. And delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto the judgment.

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These are more restrained than the former. These are in the

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Abyss and they are in chains. And then we have another slightly more vigorous description in Jude chapter 6.

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And the angels which kept not their first estate but left their own habitation he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of that great day.

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Jude takes this restraint one step further. They're in the Abyss and they are not just in chains.

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They are in everlasting chains. So you have at least 3 categories.

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Demons that are roaming around on the earth. No, we have at least 4 categories, don't we?

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Demons that are roaming around on earth. Demons that are in the Abyss unchained.

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Demons that are in the Abyss chained. And demons that are in the Abyss chained in everlasting chains that will never be removed.

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There's at least these 4 categories. Okay. And he opened the bottomless pit, or the

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Abyss, and there arose smoke out of the pit as the smoke of a great furnace. And the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.

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And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth. And to them was given the power as the scorpions of the earth.

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Now as we go through the next few verses, notice how many times we hear something like or its equivalents.

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These are not ordinary locusts, but rather are demons that are released from the

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Abyss. While it's certainly true that there are demons loose on the earth today, these being released now are apparently even more evil than the ones already free.

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They're the ones that are in the Abyss. They've been given power as scorpions of the earth have power.

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The power of destruction, but not the power of death.

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They will ravage the earth, and within the restraints placed upon them, they will destroy all in their path.

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But even in this time of the expression of God's wrath, He shows some mercy, in that the worst of the worst remain bound.

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We read Jude 6 just a moment ago.

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I won't read it again. So where are these most vile angels?

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They're not with this bunch that are being released. They're still bound in chains in the bottomless pit, waiting for judgment.

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They can be really bad, and you're right, and there can be ones even worse than them.

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They're going to be released one group at a time. The ones that are here now are bad enough.

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And the ones that are going to be released are even worse. And there's another group that's going to be released later that's even worse than those.

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And then there's going to be a bunch that are so bad they'll never be released. They'll be held right there in chains, everlasting chains, until they're cast into the lake of fire.

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They will never see the light of day again. And it is an amazing thing.

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Now as we go through, we're going to come to some controversial things.

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And I'll just tell you what I think, and I will entertain your thoughts, and we can either come to a consensus, or we can not do so.

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We can... Neither way will be an issue with me. I think everybody here is at least as mature as I am in the

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Word, and you have the right and the obligation to search the

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Scripture and come to your own conclusions. And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree, but only those men which have not the seal of God in their forehead.

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Now, what does that say? Up until now, an individual earth -dweller might not have experienced a direct pain.

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There are many that will have, but you could be living on the earth and not experience pain.

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But no longer. Now, every single person not sealed by God that dwells upon the face of the earth will experience the wrath of God in the form of a steam from the scorpion.

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As he continues to judge the earth and reclaims his title deed. Even so, there are two restraints placed on the agents carrying forth

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God's judgment. The first restraint is no green thing, only men.

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The demon's business is not with vegetation, it's not with animals, it's not with the environment, only with men.

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But not all men. Only those who do not have the seal of God on their forehead.

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Believers will be preserved just as God sheltered Israel from the effects of the Egyptian plagues.

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Now, here's what I believe. This is why I said there's some controversy here. Those who have the seal of God include not only the 144

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Jewish witnesses. We read about those a couple of weeks ago. We know who they are.

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There are 144 ,000 members of 12 tribes of Israel.

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None from the tribe of Dan and some from the tribe of Ephraim with under a pseudonym coming in as the tribe of Joseph but not

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Manassas. That's where the 144 ,000 are. But I believe all of the rest of the redeemed as well bear this seal.

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But that's just me thinking. So you keep in mind that that's just me. That's not what the

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Lord said. All he said was only those who do not have the seal of God on their forehead.

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Now, here are two passages that make me believe that there might be others in addition to the 144 ,000 that have the seal of God in their forehead by now.

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Revelation 22 verse 1. We'll get to verse 4 and that will be where the seal comes quickly.

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And he showed me a pure river of water of life clear as crystal proceeding out of the throne of God and of the

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Lamb. And in the midst of the street of it and on either side of the river there was the tree of life which bare twelve manners of fruits and yielded her fruit every month.

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And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. Now, what did that say?

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For the healing of the nations. Not just Israel and therefore not just the 144 ,000.

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Verse 3 And there shall be no more curse but the throne of God and of the

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Lamb shall be in it. And his servants shall serve him and they shall see his face and his name shall be in their foreheads.

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That would be more than 144 ,000 I believe. I don't know. What do you think?

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I think you're probably right. Then we have in 2 Timothy 2 19.

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Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure having this seal. What seal?

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Probably a more inclusive seal than the 144 ,000. The Lord knoweth them that are his.

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The Lord knoweth all of his. The Jews and the Gentiles alike. And let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.

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This seal marks them as personally belonging to God and as such protected from the forces of hell on earth as well as the eternal ravages of hell itself.

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And that's a maybe following that because that's just me. That's the first restraint.

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The first restraint is no green things and only men that do not have the seal of God in their forehead.

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Whether that is just the 144 ,000 or whether it's everybody else.

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Everybody except the 144 ,000 or everybody else. Well there's a second restraint as well.

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This is verse 5. And to them the demons it was given that they should not kill them the earth dwellers.

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So the demons were not allowed to kill the earth dwellers. But that they should be tormented for five months and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion when it strike of a man.

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Now, here's the second restraint. The first phrase of verse 5, they should not kill them,

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I used to think was an example of mercy. But now I think maybe it's not. And I'll tell you why in just a second.

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But the second part of the phrase, the second phrase definitely is that they should be tormented for five months.

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It could have been 6, 12, or 92. But it's only five. The limited time of five months definitely is a restraint on these demons.

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Verse 6, and here's why I think that the first part was not an example of mercy.

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In those days shall men seek death and shall not find it. And they shall desire to die and death shall flee from them.

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This verse is the reason I no longer believe that the first phrase of chapter 5 is an example of mercy.

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To those being tormented, death is preferable to the torment. But death has taken a holiday.

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There will be no escape from the agony inflicted by the demons. No escape from divine judgment.

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All attempts at suicide. Men shall seek death. They'll try to kill themselves.

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Whether by gunshot, poison, drowning, leaping from tall buildings, stepping in front of a moving train, which doesn't happen in Angus anymore because the train has been there for four days.

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I just had to vent. Blocking the road.

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If you hit a train in Angus, you had to hit a motionless train. And maybe because Mr.

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Southern lives out on that road too, maybe that's the reason he didn't get this stuff done in time. That is bad.

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I'm not going to do that anymore. All of those attempts at suicide will fail.

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Death shall flee from them. But that won't last very long either. How long? About five months.

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Okay. Brother Clarence just left to go to work. And the shape of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle.

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And on their heads were, as it were, crowns of gold. And their faces were as the faces of men.

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John can only approximate what he sees. He doesn't have words to describe it. So he resorts to familiar analogies.

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Shapes like horses. Not that they were horses or even that they looked like horses.

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But they reminded John of horses. They were warlike and powerful and defiant.

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Like horses straining at the bit, pawing at the ground in their eagerness to charge forth into battle.

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So these are like very energetic horses straining at the bits to get about their job.

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They were wearing crowns like gold. Those crowns were Stephanoi.

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The victor's crown indicating that the demon host would be invincible, unstoppable, and all -conquering.

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Men will have no weapons that can harm them and no cure for the terrible torment that they inflict.

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That's why they'll seek death and can't find it. That their faces were like the faces of men indicates that they are intelligent, rational beings not actual insects.

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Verse 8. And they had hair as the hair of women and their teeth was as the teeth of lions.

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They were attractive, seductive, something men seek after, yet they hide instruments of destruction.

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They had breastplates as it were breastplates of iron. And the sounds of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.

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They are invincible. Men will have no defense against them. They are invulnerable.

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Breastplates of iron. They're swift. They have wings. They're numerous. They sound like many horses.

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Verse 10. And they had tails like the tails of scorpions and there were stings in their tails and their power was to hurt men for five months.

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It said that already, didn't it? This is the second time it says to hurt men for five months.

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The reiteration that the demons will be permitted to torment people for five months for a limited time stresses

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God's sovereign power over the duration of the assault and is a continuing example of God's mercy.

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Eventually, these demons will return to the abyss with their evil master.

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And I saw an angel come down from heaven having a key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand and he lay hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the devil and Satan and bound him a thousand years and cast him in the bottomless pit and shut him up and set a seal upon him that he should deceive the nations no more until the thousand years were fulfilled and after that he must be loosed for a little season and his demonic angels with him.

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And then he'll send them to the lake of fire and the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever.

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And now we get to verse 11. How many of you were here the

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Sunday that Myron Goldman preached recently?

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And he preached, I think the topic of his sermon was had to do with the way a Christian person should live in this fallen world.

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And he quoted a passage from Proverbs that I'm going to quote again today.

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And that's why you might have noticed when he picked up this proverb my eyes kind of rolled.

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Here's what it says in Revelation. And they had a king over them.

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Now what are these things? Locusts. And they had a king over them which is the angel of the bottomless pit whose name in the

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Hebrew tongue is Abaddon but in the Greek tongue his name half the name

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Apollyon. So Abaddon and Apollyon.

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So who had a king over them? The locusts. The king's name? Abaddon or Apollyon. It means the destroyer.

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Apparently one of Satan, one of the worst of Satan's fallen angels.

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Not one of those in the eternal chains bound in the abyss but worse than those who throughout time have roamed on the earth.

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Now here's what I had already written in my notes which is what made me respond the way I did to Brother Goldman.

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Have you ever wondered why certain verses are in the Bible? You know there are things that you read and you say, what in the world is this all about?

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Consider this one. Proverbs 30 verse 27. The locusts have no king yet they go forth, all of them by bands.

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So what do normal locusts do? They go out in bands even though they don't have a king leading them.

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Now Myron in his sermon a couple weeks ago used this verse dealing with the way believers are to live in the fallen world.

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And I like you, I'm sure, found this a very timely and inspiring message.

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But there might be another reason for Proverbs 30 verse 27. That might have been included just in case.

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Just in case what? Just in case we recognize that these locusts are not normal locusts.

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They're locusts that have a king. Normal locusts don't have one. I mean Proverbs tells us that.

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Here's what else they're not. They're not modern tanks. Something that John could have looked at and not known how to describe it and say, well they're locusts.

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They're not helicopter gunships. They're not any naturally occurring phenomena.

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They're supernatural. They're demons straight from hell. But they will be here only for a short time after which they'll be cast back into hell with their master.

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Verse 12 of Revelations chapter 12. Verse 12 says, Therefore rejoice ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them, woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea for the devil is come down to you having great wrath because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.

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He doesn't have long left. That's the end of the first woe. Okay. What do you think?

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I don't think I want to be here either. That's one of the reasons to pull for a pre -tribulation wrath.

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Or at least a mid -tribulation wrath. Not wrath but rapture.

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The word of rapture. Yes sir. That's what

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I do believe. I believe that the seal of God is not just 144 ,000 but that it's all of his believers that happen to be here whether they are those who have been saved after the rapture through the work of the 144 ,000 or whether they include the ones that are not raptured yet.

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I don't know that but I do know this or I think this. I think that everyone that has the seal will be preserved at least from this.

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Not from dying because many will be beheaded. Not from having pain inflicted on them.

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Just not from these creatures. They'll be protected from these creatures.

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I believe. That's what I wanted your comment about. Okay. Moving right along.

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One woe is past and behold there cometh two more woes hereafter.

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Now you're going to notice that every woe gets worse than the last one. That one was bad enough.

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You've got everybody without the seal of God being stung by the locusts wishing to die and not being able to.

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That will stay with them for five months and that's a bad thing. And now the sixth angel sounds.

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And we have the sixth and the next to the last trumpet. There are going to be how many trumpets?

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There will be seven trumpets. We're now in the sixth trumpet, the next to the last one.

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Come right on in. We're just in the midst. You can just join right in. Delighted to have you.

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I was looking because I teach school and the young gentleman that came in looks like one of my students but I've looked more carefully and I know he's not.

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But I have that trouble all the time. And you are? I'm sorry?

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Payton Duncan. And you are? Okay. Welcome to all of you.

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Just glad to have you here. And you've got a daughter as well? Okay.

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Beautiful young thing. I didn't see her because she was behind one of my heads. We are to the second woe.

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The sixth angel sounding the sixth and the next to the last trumpet. And I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God.

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That's normally a place of mercy. But here the altar is the site from which the call to release the bound demons is made.

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This is not a site of mercy but a site of judgment. Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, loose the four angels which are bound in that great river

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Euphrates. Now you might notice something about these angels. Where are these angels? They're in a river.

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They weren't in the pit. They're not part of the angels that were in a pit. They're worse than them.

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They're worse than the ones that were held in the pit. Except for the ones that are bound forever. These are bad dudes.

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These fallen angels are not the ones referred to in Jude. They're still there bound in chains.

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They're not members of the swarm of locusts. That's already been released. And if you remember, what can the locusts not do?

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The locusts cannot kill anyone. These comprise another segment of Satan's forces which

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God has confined to the abyss and will now free to accomplish his judgment.

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They are the horsemen that we're going to encounter in a moment. They will not have the restraint of the locusts.

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In fact, their mission is to kill. And kill they do. Keep in mind, however, that God's control extends even to the demonic forces.

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They are bound and freed at his command. Alright, so what happens?

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And the four angels were loosened which were prepared for an hour and a day and a month and a year and I gave no time to trying to determine the significance of that if there is any significance.

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There is so many things that you could deal with. Why a year and a month and a day and an hour?

39:23

I don't know. I suspect this. There is a reason for it or he wouldn't have said it.

39:32

I was more captivated by to slay a third part of the men. These fallen angels were confined and held to be released at this exact time for this exact purpose.

39:46

They appear to be the leaders of the following army. That's in chapter 16. And the number of the army of the horsemen were 200 ,000 ,000.

39:55

And I heard the number of them. That's 200 million demonic horsemen.

40:04

200 million. Some see this as a human army that comes from Asia.

40:13

Probably not because that's in conjunction with the seventh trumpet and this is only the sixth one.

40:19

This is better understood to be a demonic force that makes war with the earth's inhabitants and kills one -third of humanity.

40:28

I heard the number of them. Just in case we attempt to interpret this number as symbolic, the Lord instructs

40:34

John to reiterate that he heard the number of the army. And thus

40:42

I saw the horses in the vision and them that sat on them having breastplates of fire and of I was going to look that word up and I got sidetracked.

40:52

Does anyone know how to pronounce that word? J -A -C -I -N -T -H

40:58

Some of you ladies. It's either a spice or a jewel. Nobody knows.

41:05

I'll just spell it. Having breastplates of fire and J -A -C -I -N -T -H and brimstone.

41:14

And the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions and out of their mouth issued smoke and fire and brimstone.

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Demonic horses ridden by demonic riders with heads as the heads of lions breathing fire and brimstone.

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By these three was a third part of the men killed by the fire and by the smoke and by the brimstone which issued out of their mouths.

41:49

I thought that was four. Was I wrong? Did it not say? Four angels were loosed.

42:05

By these three was a third part of the men killed by the fire and by the smoke and by the brimstone which issued out of their mouths.

42:16

Oh! Those three. Thank you.

42:22

Out of the mouth of the four horsemen came fire and brimstone and smoke.

42:30

And those three things killed a third part of the men. Some by smoke, some by fire, and some by brimstone.

42:38

Thank you, Miss Thurston. I would... It just hit me right then that I had a contradiction in numbers.

42:46

But it was a contradiction. It was the things that were numbered, not a contradiction in numbers. It's always me that's wrong.

42:53

It's never the Scripture. One third of the remaining humans were killed by these demonic beings.

43:00

So where are we now? Since in Revelation 6 -8, one fourth of all men were killed by the black horse.

43:12

And in Revelation 8 -11, many men died.

43:19

And in chapter 9 -18, one third of the remaining died.

43:28

By now, we've got more than half the people on the earth have now been killed.

43:41

If that's how many are there now. If that's how many we have then, it'll be three and a half billion. More than one half of the world's population has been killed.

43:50

And how much more than a half depends upon how many the many were. It just said many. It didn't say a number.

43:58

For their power is in their mouths and in their tails, for their tails were like unto serpents, and they had heads.

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The tails of the beast were like serpents, and the serpents had heads.

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And with them they do hurt. Not only can they kill with their mouths, they can also do hurt with their tails.

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And the rest of the men, which were not killed by these plagues, yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood, which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk.

44:39

With all that, they did not repent of their idolatry. Neither repented they of their murders, nor their sorceries, nor their fornication, nor their thefts.

44:50

They didn't repent of their other sins as well. So in spite of all of this, in spite of seeing all this, they do not repent.

44:59

Which is even greater proof that their eyes are blinded, and they can't see what the

45:09

Lord does not let them see. One would think that if they were in a world where they had just spent five months in agony, and then followed that by a period of time when a third of them were taken by the lion, creatures of lions, lion heads, you would have thought that they would have repented, but they didn't.

45:36

Well, that's dreary. It'll get more dreary, but it'll get better later.

45:45

We are at the end of chapter 9, and I'm thankful for that. There's only one more trumpet to go, but it is a doozy.

45:59

Most gracious Heavenly Father, thank you for this day, and thank you for all our many blessings, and thank you for providing for us a protection.

46:06

Whether we are in that time or not, we know that we are sealed with the name of God in our forehead, and we will be protected from the worst of the ravages, and we know that we have a home in Heaven forever that is worth all of the pain that we suffer here on Earth, or even if we go in to the tribulation period.

46:28

In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Anything else anybody wants to comment?