back to indexWed Bible Study - Revelation Lesson 20
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So just a quick review before we get started. 00:00:19.640 |
And I don't know why that picture is of an Asian. 00:00:44.920 |
The rivers and springs, the fresh water turns to blood. 00:00:54.320 |
The fourth one falls in the sun and then torches the people. 00:01:01.080 |
Right, falls on the beast and its kingdom, right? 00:01:13.400 |
So there's a huge earthquake that takes place and it dries up the river Euphrates. 00:01:35.800 |
Heavenly Father, we want to thank you again for sustaining us, for loving us. 00:01:46.680 |
We pray that each word, each passage we study, that it would cause us to be sober, that it's 00:01:52.680 |
not just intriguing things that we are studying, but your ordained history, Father God, that 00:02:00.000 |
So we pray, Father God, that you would continue to mold our hearts and our thoughts and our 00:02:08.680 |
Okay, so the first thing I ask you to do is to compare with the three different judgments. 00:02:14.920 |
So if you look at the general judgments of the three judgments, what's the first one? 00:02:23.040 |
And so each one of the seal is being opened up, and at the beginning of the seal judgments, 00:02:32.640 |
And each one of them representing different judgments of God. 00:02:37.520 |
But the seal judgment primarily is an introduction where the Lamb of God, remember it begins 00:02:42.420 |
with people are crying because there's no one worthy to open up the scroll, and then 00:02:48.840 |
the Lamb of God shows up, and because of his righteousness and sacrifice, that he's able 00:02:56.640 |
And so one by one, the scrolls are being opened up, and that's the judgment. 00:03:00.200 |
So the first seven seal judgments is the initiation of the judgment, right? 00:03:05.340 |
And then we have the second set, the trumpet judgment. 00:03:17.120 |
So when you're in the army, or if you're in the context of battle, or maybe if you 00:03:21.480 |
were wandering in the desert, you don't blow a trumpet before somebody goes to sleep. 00:03:26.080 |
You blow the trumpet to wake people up, right? 00:03:29.280 |
So the trumpet judgments, each one of them is kind of serves as a warning to the world 00:03:40.220 |
So each one of the seven trumpet judgments is kind of a preparation to kind of sober 00:03:45.440 |
people up and saying, "This is coming," so that it wouldn't catch you off guard, at least 00:03:50.400 |
So there's the seven judgments of the trumpets to prepare, and then the final bold judgment, 00:04:00.720 |
They were all wrath of God, but the bold judgments are the final, complete. 00:04:06.400 |
So all of the other things were warning that it was coming, and then finally it has come, 00:04:12.280 |
So remember in the previous passages where there's promises are made that he's no longer 00:04:16.720 |
going to delay, meaning that the final judgment is going to come, the end is coming. 00:04:21.500 |
And so the bold judgment is the beginning of the very, very end, okay? 00:04:26.600 |
So when we were to compare, there are many similarities, and I'm not going to go through 00:04:31.880 |
all of them, but one of the things I hope you noticed between the, specifically between 00:04:36.640 |
the trumpet and the bold judgments, that in each one of the judgments, and I have a chart 00:04:42.080 |
for this later on, but where you see the plagues are thrust upon the earth, sea, fresh waters, 00:04:54.920 |
Okay, I couldn't, because I cut and pasted it, I couldn't make it any bigger. 00:05:00.040 |
So if you notice here the similarities, right? 00:05:04.520 |
Third of the sea life destroyed, all sea life destroyed. 00:05:09.080 |
Third of fresh water poisoned, all water poisoned. 00:05:12.240 |
Third of the sun, moon, stars, scorching sun. 00:05:15.200 |
So if you look at, again, the demonic locusts, the darkness falling upon the demonic world, 00:05:21.520 |
so you'll see very similar things, the Euphrates, the river. 00:05:28.000 |
And so you see a parallel between the judgment of the trumpets and then the judgment of the 00:05:34.240 |
And so that's the similarity, but what are the differences? 00:05:42.120 |
And we're going to highlight some of the differences. 00:05:52.360 |
You're just going to have to figure it out, okay? 00:05:55.200 |
So as you're reading it, you're going to have to do a little bit more work. 00:06:02.640 |
Okay, so as you're reading it, you see the blanks, just fill it in. 00:06:12.040 |
So the trumpet plagues are partial in that it only affects one third of the earth, right? 00:06:19.440 |
So the bold judgment affects is universal, right? 00:06:23.840 |
And that's why, remember I asked you last week, when you look at the, look and compare, 00:06:31.520 |
In fact, it just kind of states in some of the judgments are literally one sentence and 00:06:38.040 |
And so when you look at the length of the passage, it seems like it's not that significant 00:06:44.480 |
until you actually start reading what it says. 00:06:47.840 |
And if you read the content of what it says, the trumpet judgments were actually much longer. 00:06:52.280 |
It lasts, I think, a couple chapters, but here it's not even a full chapter, right? 00:06:56.440 |
They're just smaller sections of it, but in the trumpet judgment, it was a third where 00:07:05.620 |
The trumpet judgments function in part as a warning of repentance. 00:07:11.040 |
And at the end of it, it's almost kind of like, you know, the third is being judged, 00:07:15.800 |
but the two thirds are given opportunity to repent where the bold judgments is final, 00:07:24.360 |
If you remember at the end of chapter 16, he says it is finished, it's complete. 00:07:31.160 |
So the purpose of the bold judgment is just judgment, that God's promise judgment is going 00:07:38.100 |
to come and everything else up to this point, there's an opportunity to repent, right? 00:07:43.640 |
The trumpet judgments affected people indirectly. 00:07:48.420 |
So let's say if, you know, the rivers would turn dark or whatever, as a side effect that 00:07:59.880 |
But the bold judgment, it says the judgment is directly upon people, is targeted toward 00:08:06.120 |
So you can kind of see just in reference how the trumpet and the seal judgments, as severe 00:08:12.700 |
as they were, it was to kind of keep people sober. 00:08:17.080 |
So if you're a Christian, you've been paying attention to all of this stuff. 00:08:19.980 |
And if, again, if we happen to be in the tribulation and we are seeing all of this stuff, it is 00:08:27.360 |
an opportunity to be sober and to repent and bring people to repentance. 00:08:32.980 |
You would assume that when the tribulation starts, and if the church is here, there would 00:08:37.140 |
also be a great revival that breaks out, that the church is going to be purified, there's 00:08:41.140 |
going to be greater sense of evangelism in the midst of all of this, right? 00:08:45.820 |
Which is kind of like what's going on in Iran right now, with the intense persecution happening 00:08:50.960 |
There are constant stories that are coming out that the percentage of Christians, Muslims, 00:08:56.880 |
who are converting to Christianity is greater than they've ever seen it in modern history. 00:09:03.480 |
And so in the context of severe persecution, revival is also breaking out over there in 00:09:09.560 |
And so that's what we would assume is happening, up to the trumpet judgment. 00:09:12.640 |
But when the bowl judgment comes, it's just judgment, right? 00:09:20.820 |
The first bowl judgment, the judgment is directly targeted at the people who have the mark of 00:09:27.160 |
That's where the Asian lady comes in, in that picture, right? 00:09:30.520 |
So it's specifically targeted to those who have compromised and they have received the 00:09:39.400 |
So the first judgment is a direct attack upon them. 00:09:45.440 |
They will be judged with harmful and painful sores. 00:09:49.740 |
For the sake of time, because we have seven judgments, I'm not going to go to these passages, 00:09:53.220 |
but in chapter 14, 9 through 11, we also see that. 00:09:56.080 |
And Zechariah 14, 12 also has a prophecy that at the end time, God was going to bring sores 00:10:02.000 |
and God's going to bring judgment through sores. 00:10:11.440 |
God has left imprints of his final bowl judgments all throughout scripture. 00:10:16.160 |
I'm not going to go to it, but I'm just going to give you references to it. 00:10:21.480 |
But the sores will not affect the believers, right? 00:10:26.320 |
The judgment is coming and it's specifically targeted, these plagues are specifically targeted 00:10:30.880 |
to the people who have the mark of the beast. 00:10:33.800 |
What was interesting is one of the commentators, you know, the way they worded it was those 00:10:40.040 |
who have the mark of the beast at the final judgment will eventually have the mark of 00:10:45.680 |
And that's what's happening on the first bowl. 00:10:51.600 |
The second bowl judgment, the judgment is poured directly into the sea. 00:10:58.200 |
It turned like the blood of a corpse and every living thing in the sea died as a result. 00:11:07.720 |
It's coagulated blood, means the whole body of water is going to become completely useless, 00:11:14.800 |
This coagulated blood, you're not going to be able to sail in it and nothing is going 00:11:23.120 |
It doesn't say it's targeting a specific area. 00:11:25.880 |
All of the body of water is going to turn like dead man's blood, right? 00:11:30.620 |
So this judgment is similar to the first plague that we see in Egypt and the second trumpet 00:11:42.460 |
And this will be worldwide universal judgment. 00:11:47.400 |
Since the earth is covered by 70% of the world with water, it basically means if 70% of the 00:11:56.840 |
body of water turns to coagulated blood, this is universal. 00:12:00.380 |
It's going to affect everybody who's living at this time, right? 00:12:08.420 |
And this is part of the reason why pre-trip people believe in pre-trip because of the 00:12:15.220 |
extent of this judgment, how the argument is the church can't be living through this, 00:12:23.180 |
So if you want to argue with me about pre-trip, you know, cite this. 00:12:29.540 |
The third bowl judgment, verses 4 through 7, the judgment is poured into the rivers 00:12:39.380 |
So where before was the body of the ocean and then now it's the freshwater. 00:12:52.020 |
The third trumpet judgment resulted in poisoning of one third of the world's freshwater, but 00:13:08.580 |
If freshwater is destroyed, right, and you can't use it, and the whole ocean water becomes 00:13:18.780 |
Well, supposedly, I don't know how long you can live without food, but I hear somewhere 00:13:24.220 |
around four, four weeks or something like that, okay? 00:13:27.700 |
That's if you're very healthy, but you can't live without water for more than what, four 00:13:35.620 |
You guys probably know better than I do, but, you know, water is not just important, it's 00:13:41.820 |
So the fact that there is no water that you're going to be able to drink means, again, that 00:13:46.900 |
the survival rate is going to be very, very low, right? 00:13:51.100 |
So this judgment, again, when you just read the length of it and you say, "Oh, you know, 00:13:56.060 |
water turns," this sounds very similar to what we saw in Egypt, it sounds very similar 00:14:00.380 |
to the trumpet judgment, but when you actually look at the details of what it is saying, 00:14:05.960 |
it is much more severe than anything that we've seen up to this point, right? 00:14:11.620 |
Similar language, but the extent and the degree is much more severe. 00:14:20.980 |
This is the same judgment that happened to the Nile River in Egypt, or at least the turning 00:14:28.040 |
And then the angel that carried out the judgment on the water breaks out into praise for God's 00:14:36.260 |
At verse 4, "The third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of water, 00:14:42.460 |
And I heard the angel charge of the water say, 'Just are you, O Holy One, who is and 00:14:50.340 |
For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to 00:14:55.780 |
Typically, when you think of praising and worship, it usually happens when there's deliverance 00:15:04.500 |
But here, the angel comes out and he breaks out into singing because of the judgment of 00:15:11.900 |
And even in the context of God pouring out his judgment, it's an illustration of his 00:15:18.680 |
So worship isn't just when what we perceive to be good is happening, but even when God 00:15:23.460 |
is pouring out his wrath, the angel breaks out in singing. 00:15:31.020 |
The reason given for their specific judgment was the persecution of his children, killing 00:15:37.600 |
In other words, it was retribution for harming God's children. 00:15:45.520 |
As they spilled the blood of martyrs, they will be given blood to drink for their punishment. 00:15:53.100 |
So we don't know if this is going to be a literal thing where, you know, the rivers 00:15:56.520 |
that they bloodied with the blood of martyrs, and that's the only water that they're going 00:16:01.700 |
They're going to have to drink the blood of the martyrs. 00:16:05.220 |
And that was the judgment that God's going to bring upon the end. 00:16:08.960 |
And then it talks about how the altar also breaks out into singing, and the altar is 00:16:17.300 |
Remember Revelation chapter 6, 9, where the martyrs are under the altar praising, and 00:16:23.940 |
then they are not praising, but they were praying to God, "How long, O Lord?" 00:16:29.900 |
And God responds to that in judgment, that those who martyr them are also going to be 00:16:39.580 |
So again, as I mentioned last week and even on the pulpit on Sunday, that in the context 00:16:47.140 |
of just utter devastation, God is still being worshipped. 00:16:56.260 |
Because ultimately, why is the judgment coming in the first place? 00:17:01.340 |
Because they refuse to honor and worship God. 00:17:05.560 |
So in the context of this judgment, heavens and the angels, the elders, the beasts, they're 00:17:11.300 |
all in constant worship of God against those who refuse to worship Him. 00:17:18.100 |
So the worship of the angels is in contrast to those who are receiving the judgment. 00:17:23.560 |
The fourth bowl judgment, unlike the fourth trumpet that produced third of the sun, moon 00:17:32.140 |
and the stars darkened in the fourth, fourth bowl poured out on the sun is followed by 00:17:41.660 |
So everything that God has given to the world to sustain life is one by one being taken 00:17:53.920 |
When God created the world, He created one by one for six days everything that man needs 00:18:03.660 |
So He created vegetation, the animal, the air, the light, the day. 00:18:08.540 |
So He creates all of these things and then when God has made enough to sustain life, 00:18:16.740 |
If you look at the judgment, God is slowly taking one by one away everything that we 00:18:22.580 |
need as a necessity to sustain life, He's taking it away. 00:18:27.120 |
And we say it all the time how it is only by the grace of God that we're able to breathe 00:18:33.840 |
God is allowing us to live because He's allowing us to have enough oxygen. 00:18:37.060 |
He's allowing the sun to stay at a distance and provide the sun to sustain life. 00:18:42.460 |
He's allowing the water so that we can drink and sustain life. 00:18:46.060 |
So all of these things are necessities that we need for sustaining life. 00:18:50.780 |
But when God's judgment comes, He's basically taking away every little thing that is required 00:19:00.460 |
So if you refuse to worship me, if you refuse to submit to me, I'm going to let you go and 00:19:13.060 |
He's taking away everything that they need to sustain life. 00:19:16.340 |
Though they understood that the judgment was coming from God, instead of repenting, and 00:19:21.220 |
this phrase is repeated three separate times in this section, they curse the name of God 00:19:29.100 |
And that's exactly what it says in Romans 121. 00:19:32.060 |
The reason why the wrath of God is being revealed is because although everything God needed 00:19:37.720 |
to show was very plain to them in creation, they refuse to honor God and give glory to 00:19:44.260 |
And so here, you would think, at least from our perspective, that one thing, if disaster 00:19:51.980 |
came and you don't understand where the disaster came from, but here it says it's clear and 00:20:01.440 |
They're going to know that judgment is coming from God. 00:20:03.840 |
But instead of repenting, they turn and shake their fist at God, right? 00:20:09.860 |
And each one, as it gets more and more intense, instead of softening their heart in repentance, 00:20:14.980 |
and even now if they would repent, God would forgive their sins, right? 00:20:21.940 |
And the whole reason why they're here in the first place is because they hardened their 00:20:26.300 |
heart, they hardened their heart, and they hardened their heart. 00:20:28.900 |
And then when the final judgment came, it's so hardened that even at the verge of eternal 00:20:39.540 |
So there is not a single person who's going to be entering into hell who has any hint 00:20:48.120 |
Every single one of them are going to be cursing God as they go, right? 00:20:53.560 |
We're not seeing a group of people who are begging God for mercy and God says, "Enough. 00:20:58.180 |
You know, I've given you enough time to repent and it's too late," right? 00:21:04.400 |
Every single soul that is condemned, as they are entering into hell, are going to be shaking 00:21:19.200 |
The judgment is directed toward the throne of the beast. 00:21:24.140 |
And as a result of this, his kingdom will be darkened. 00:21:33.280 |
Maybe it's going to fall into depravity and they're going to end up hurting each other. 00:21:39.720 |
Maybe God's going to withhold his peace, right? 00:21:47.820 |
And then there's going to be wars back and forth. 00:21:56.720 |
Even as the people of the world are gnawing their teeth in anguish, instead of repenting, 00:22:01.440 |
again, they say they curse God for their suffering and did not repent of their deeds to the very 00:22:07.360 |
And it's always interesting to me when tragedy hits people's lives, why some people grow 00:22:18.080 |
in their faith and some people turn away from God. 00:22:26.440 |
For sure, we've seen people where suffering comes into their life and as a result of that, 00:22:30.600 |
they're sanctified and they end up running to God. 00:22:34.040 |
And then you see a bunch of people who say, "I'll never go to church because God did this 00:22:40.800 |
They saw suffering in somewhere else and said, "Well, if God's going to do that, I'm not 00:22:46.960 |
So the same grace, same love, same wrath falls upon everybody and yet some repent and some 00:22:58.280 |
So to the very bitter end, those who are under condemnation, they're condemned because they 00:23:06.700 |
Not because they weren't given the opportunity, right? 00:23:10.480 |
They had every opportunity but to the bitter end, they refuse to relent, right? 00:23:18.440 |
The sixth bowl judgment, this judgment is poured out on the River Euphrates and dried 00:23:25.660 |
it up to prepare for the coming of the kings from the east. 00:23:28.720 |
Now there's, depending on different commentaries, they'll tell you different things but I think 00:23:34.360 |
what made most sense to me is that the River Euphrates is mentioned before. 00:23:45.000 |
This judgment is poured out on the River Euphrates and dried it to prepare the coming of the 00:23:48.760 |
kings of the ages and then the Euphrates formed the eastern border of the land of Israel. 00:23:56.340 |
So the dried bed of Euphrates will allow the armies from the east to cross into current 00:24:01.760 |
So in other words, it's allowing, if you look at it again, if you were to look at the current 00:24:07.080 |
atmosphere now, what's at the east of Jerusalem? 00:24:21.200 |
Iraq, Iran, Syria, I mean all the Middle East countries that want to see Israel wiped out, 00:24:30.120 |
So when the River Euphrates dries up, they're able to cross and basically they're gearing 00:24:35.920 |
That's the picture that we're seeing here, right? 00:24:38.300 |
So the bold judgment comes, the earthquake hits, is it an earthquake yet? 00:24:43.560 |
No, no, the Euphrates, it dries up and then it says they prepare for battle, right? 00:25:06.680 |
So remember chapter 12 and 13, you have the dragon, who's the dragon? 00:25:15.060 |
And then you have the beast, number one, Antichrist. 00:25:20.560 |
And then the third beast is, yeah, second beast is the false prophet. 00:25:24.880 |
And so you see the same trio that shows up here, right? 00:25:31.800 |
The three that mimic the Trinity in chapter 12 and 13, they reappear at the very end. 00:25:37.840 |
And it says the mouths of each of the dragons, beasts, and the false prophets signifying 00:25:41.280 |
their lying work to deceive the kings and their kingdoms for the battle on the great 00:25:46.320 |
day of God, the Almighty, which is what we commonly call the Armageddon, right? 00:25:53.200 |
Armageddon is the final battle where Satan, Antichrist, the false prophets are going to 00:26:02.440 |
The river Euphrates dries up, they prepare an army to come into the great city, right? 00:26:09.280 |
Again, if you read different commentaries, they might have different interpretation, 00:26:15.040 |
but typically if you're a pre-trip or post-trip, pre-millennial view, this is the view. 00:26:21.280 |
Again, so if you didn't understand anything I said, don't worry about it, okay? 00:26:25.760 |
So it's interesting, this is picturing a battle at the end where Israel is going to be attacked 00:26:34.340 |
They're going to come in and they're going to come in and it's not a triumph of victory 00:26:39.360 |
where the Euphrates dries up and then Satan, the Antichrist, bolsters up the different 00:26:49.100 |
And that's where Armageddon happens and that's what we're going to read about in chapter 00:26:52.380 |
17 and 18, where the final battle takes place and then the judgment against Satan and his 00:27:01.840 |
So chapter 16 is the bold judgments that is going to initiate the Armageddon, right? 00:27:07.840 |
And Armageddon, how many of you heard the term Armageddon before? 00:27:11.840 |
How many of you who heard it before came from a Presbyterian church? 00:27:19.280 |
So typically you're not going to hear that in a Presbyterian church, okay. 00:27:24.720 |
Armageddon is the final battle where Satan is going to be bound for a thousand years. 00:27:29.040 |
And so all of this is a setup for all of that, okay? 00:27:32.560 |
And it says, "From their mouths came unclean spirits of frogs." 00:27:38.920 |
And the reason why the frogs, the frogs were commonly understood as vile and unclean, right? 00:27:44.240 |
In other words, these three satanic trio are going to put all their efforts to lie and 00:27:52.880 |
Remember Jesus says that at the very end, a deception is going to be so strong that 00:27:56.640 |
even the elect, if that was possible, would be deceived, right? 00:28:02.480 |
So at the very end, the satanic effort to deceive the world is going to be ratcheted 00:28:09.960 |
So in other words, people are going to be confused as to what is and isn't the truth 00:28:13.480 |
at the very end, and that's satanic work, right? 00:28:20.160 |
These demonic spirits will perform signs to assemble the demonic kingdom for the battle 00:28:27.520 |
And the way he's going to muscle them up is by deception and lying. 00:28:32.080 |
And that's the primary way that Satan works all throughout Scripture, right? 00:28:37.400 |
Did Satan scare Eve to eat the forbidden fruit? 00:28:52.000 |
So when satanic activity is described, anywhere it's described in the Scripture, it's often 00:29:03.400 |
And the way he schemes is he's the father of lies. 00:29:10.560 |
That's the primary way that he deceives and divides the church, and he conquers and he 00:29:14.760 |
halts the gospel ministry is by deception, right? 00:29:19.320 |
And that's why it's so important for us that unless we allow the Word of God to constantly 00:29:23.520 |
judge the thoughts and intentions of our heart, every single one of us is susceptible, every 00:29:29.160 |
single one of us is susceptible to the schemes of the devil, right? 00:29:43.880 |
So if his primary work is to deceive, our primary back to truth, right? 00:29:50.940 |
If our enemy's attack is constantly trying to deceive, and he says that from their mouth 00:29:54.960 |
all these vile things are going to come out to blaspheme the name of God and deceive the 00:29:59.400 |
world to build up this kingdom to rebel against God, our primary fight is to cling to truth. 00:30:07.200 |
And clinging to truth isn't just clinging to the proper exposition of the Word of God. 00:30:13.620 |
You can have all the truth and be dead wrong in your heart, right? 00:30:19.320 |
You can do all the right things for all the wrong motives. 00:30:22.120 |
And that's why truth has to be objective truth, right? 00:30:27.560 |
But it also has to be personal truth, that you're able to judge the thoughts and intentions 00:30:36.480 |
Our primary battle is to know and hear the voice of God and follow him, right? 00:30:42.940 |
Because that's what Satan is constantly trying to do. 00:30:45.360 |
Our thoughts, our hearts, our intentions to deceive us, to drag us away from who he is. 00:30:53.120 |
And then when he gathers his army, he's going to, again, he's going to enter into Armageddon 00:31:03.560 |
The Lord's coming will be like a thief to those under judgment, but to the blessed of 00:31:07.800 |
God who stay awake will not be naked or exposed, right? 00:31:15.720 |
So again, this is my argument for post-trip, right? 00:31:21.000 |
So the intense judgment, but here it clearly says that those Christians will be preserved. 00:31:26.240 |
So if it's interesting, it says that those who are awake and sober when all this is happening, 00:31:32.600 |
So when you think about naked and exposed, what's the imagery that you see in the Bible? 00:31:40.320 |
Adam and Eve, when sin comes in, the first thing that they recognize is their nakedness 00:31:47.620 |
And so the first ramification of sin was nakedness and shame, right? 00:31:55.280 |
So in here it says those who are awake and sober who are preparing, right, at the end 00:31:59.580 |
time when the judgment comes, they will not be naked or be exposed. 00:32:02.940 |
In other words, their sin is going to be covered by the blood of Christ, right? 00:32:10.080 |
The seventh bowl judgment, verses 17 to 21, the final bowl judgment is poured upon the 00:32:15.780 |
air followed by proclamation out of the temple that it is done, right? 00:32:22.360 |
So if you put judgment in the air, I mean, now you've covered the water, you've covered 00:32:28.420 |
You've covered plagues, and then now even the air itself is going to be judged. 00:32:34.740 |
So far the judgment was directed toward the earth, sea, waters, the sun, and the air, 00:32:41.340 |
But now this symbolizes the thorough and complete nature of the final bowl judgment. 00:32:46.700 |
It is devastating, it is complete, it is thorough, and it is eternal. 00:32:57.340 |
The greatest earthquake in human history will take place after the flashes of lightning 00:33:06.580 |
What's the greatest earthquake in modern history? 00:33:15.140 |
Remember what that, I forgot what that was, was that nine? 00:33:20.700 |
It wiped out like over 200,000 people, right? 00:33:26.020 |
And that's just modern history, I don't think that was the greatest earthquake, but it says 00:33:29.220 |
the earthquake that's going to come, the earth has never seen it before, right? 00:33:33.980 |
It's going to be so great, so intense, that the islands are going to sink and the mountains 00:33:41.780 |
That's how intense, there's going to be no mountain standing and no island by itself, 00:33:46.140 |
That's how devastating this earthquake is going to be. 00:33:48.420 |
So the tsunami is going to wipe out any island, right? 00:33:52.460 |
And it's going to crack open and devastate any mountain. 00:33:55.900 |
So if anybody survived any of this, the earthquake, right, earthquake is going to wipe them out. 00:34:02.340 |
And then if they happen to survive that, what happens next? 00:34:08.540 |
So imagine if you're living during this period and you live through all of that, earthquake 00:34:13.260 |
hits, devastation happens, everybody you know, right, 90% of the people are dead, and you're 00:34:21.020 |
And then you look up and the hail comes, right? 00:34:24.740 |
So it's absolutely, completely devastating, completely thorough, right? 00:34:29.300 |
At least that's the picture that we see here. 00:34:33.700 |
The effects of this great earthquake will be that the great city will be divided into 00:34:43.300 |
Most likely in reference to Jerusalem, right? 00:34:46.860 |
And Jerusalem is going to be divided into three parts. 00:34:49.780 |
The end result will be the transformation of the layout of Jerusalem to prepare for 00:34:56.980 |
According to Scripture, Christ is going to reign in Jerusalem through His people, and 00:35:06.060 |
And so this earthquake is going to set up a new layout of the heavenly kingdom in Jerusalem. 00:35:14.740 |
Unlike the great city of God, cities of the nations experienced the outpouring of God's 00:35:22.100 |
The great city of Jerusalem is going to be divided into three parts, but all the other 00:35:25.060 |
nations, their land is going to be utterly devastated. 00:35:29.180 |
All the islands will sink and the mountains will be completely made low. 00:35:36.620 |
Whatever was not destroyed by the earthquake, then comes the hail stones weighing 100 pounds. 00:35:42.220 |
Each will be thrown down from heaven upon men. 00:35:47.900 |
And then the final result of that, you would think that some would repent, but it says, 00:35:53.940 |
the suffering brought on by their own sins produced in people greater, it only produced 00:35:58.420 |
greater cursing toward God rather than repentance. 00:36:01.420 |
So as I said from the beginning, it's emphasized three separate times, right? 00:36:07.500 |
Remember the number three is confirmation, right? 00:36:12.180 |
In the Bible, whenever you see anything in repetition three times, it's to make sure 00:36:16.340 |
that we understand that this is where they stand, right? 00:36:21.220 |
There's nobody falling through the crack who has any hint of repentance. 00:36:26.380 |
There's not a single person who's going to be entering into hell with regret, right? 00:36:32.620 |
Every single person entering into hell is shaking their fist at God, cursing God for 00:36:37.420 |
every bit of suffering, everything that they have seen, even though they brought it upon 00:36:43.100 |
God gave them plenty of warning after warning after warning, right? 00:36:47.220 |
He sent his prophet, he sent his word, he sent the Holy Spirit. 00:36:50.400 |
He built his church, he sent missionaries, he gave his word, he gave the translations, 00:36:56.820 |
one after another, testimony after testimony, year after year, generation after generation. 00:37:05.860 |
And then finally, when the bowl judgment comes, it is finished, right? 00:37:11.220 |
So everyone at this point who was going to repent has repented. 00:37:17.160 |
And everyone who is entering into eternity, again, it's described three separate times, 00:37:27.620 |
I had a conversation with Isaiah, and typically at night we pray together, and then I asked 00:37:35.140 |
him after we prayed, and I said, "Isaiah, do you believe?" 00:37:38.580 |
I just said that in passing, usually he just kind of runs off. 00:37:46.460 |
You know, I was like, "What do you mean by you're trying?" 00:37:54.700 |
So I said, "What do you mean by it doesn't seem real?" 00:37:57.380 |
He's like, "You know, it's because I can't see him." 00:38:00.260 |
And having this theological conversation with him before he goes to bed, he says, "Because 00:38:06.140 |
You know, I've had this same conversation with all of my other kids, but usually during 00:38:14.700 |
He's like, "Sometimes because I can't see, it doesn't seem real." 00:38:18.620 |
And then so I said, "Well, where do you think we came from?" 00:38:23.220 |
You know, like, "It doesn't make sense that we just came out of nothing." 00:38:27.340 |
So he said, "I'm thinking through all of this." 00:38:28.860 |
So he's thinking, "You think after we die, we just go nowhere?" 00:38:33.860 |
He said, "But it doesn't make sense that we came from somewhere and then go nowhere." 00:38:38.700 |
I said, "Man, you're thinking about all of this in fourth grade." 00:38:43.420 |
So I'm having this conversation with him, and then so at the end of it, I said, "Okay, 00:38:51.100 |
I want you to just don't feel pressure because your dad's a pastor that you have to, like, 00:38:54.900 |
I believe and, you know, everybody's telling you that you have to believe this and just 00:38:59.980 |
So make sure that if you believe that you really believe, and I want you to ask these 00:39:05.140 |
I want you to wrestle with this so that if you, when you believe that you really believe, 00:39:18.420 |
Whether you're a fourth grader or however old you are, if the most important thing that 00:39:24.180 |
we have is not money, it's not our jobs, not our relationship, it's our faith, right? 00:39:30.540 |
So we study all of this stuff, and I know when we look at some of this stuff, you're 00:39:37.140 |
It just doesn't seem real because we've never seen it, right? 00:39:42.700 |
It seems like something you watch in a movie. 00:39:45.500 |
And so a part of you may look at that and just, "Hmm, maybe it is and it isn't," but 00:39:51.340 |
you don't give too much deep thought into it, and not just this, but to the Bible itself, 00:39:57.900 |
to your relationship with God itself because you're afraid. 00:40:02.860 |
And the fear is, what if at the end of that I say, "I'm not sure if I believe?" 00:40:17.640 |
And as a result of that, we bury these doubts, right? 00:40:22.000 |
And because you bury these doubts, it manifests in your life. 00:40:27.920 |
It manifests in lack of desire to spread the gospel. 00:40:34.800 |
But in the end, it's this lack of faith that you're just kind of covering over, not really 00:40:41.580 |
So if faith is the most important thing that we have, we need to be very serious to make 00:40:51.760 |
So my encouragement to us is, we're going to keep studying the Bible, right? 00:41:02.000 |
Be honest about what you're wrestling with, right? 00:41:04.680 |
Because if we're not honest, you can't grow in faith if you're ignoring your faith, right? 00:41:13.280 |
So that's a deep lesson I learned from my son this week, talking to him, right? 00:41:17.600 |
He's willing to be honest so that one day, if he does confess, that I know that it's 00:41:21.240 |
him confessing, that he's not giving a knee-jerk reaction because he feels pressured. 00:41:25.200 |
And I pray that that's the same response that we give as well. 00:41:28.520 |
So let me pray for us and then let me give you the discussion questions. 00:41:35.280 |
Heavenly Father, we thank you for your living word. 00:41:43.400 |
And we confess at times, Lord God, that all that we are reading in Scripture doesn't seem 00:41:52.560 |
And what was true yesterday seems to be true today and tomorrow. 00:41:57.720 |
And even though we know that death is imminent, that everything inside of us tells us that 00:42:03.440 |
you are real, that your word is real, that your promises are real, and yet we wrestle 00:42:18.220 |
Help us, Lord, to see through eyes of faith that it would affect our thinking, our pursuit, 00:42:29.120 |
Just ask, Lord God, that in our weakness that we would find strength in Christ. 00:42:33.880 |
I pray that you would bless the time of discussion, that it would be an honest and open discussion, 00:42:38.800 |
that we may grow, be challenged, be sharpened in you.