Heavenly Father, we come before you desiring to know your Word. We pray that our study would lead us to a greater and more specific vision of who you are. Help us, Lord God, not to be caught off guard like the world, that your coming would be like a thief in the night.

Help us, Lord, to watch carefully that we may live sober lives, knowing, Father, that this life is passing. Help us to know the signs of the times, Lord God, that we may live lives truly worthy of the calling that you've given. We ask that you would bless this time, that your Word would go forth and that your people would hear the voice of your Son, Jesus, and that they may follow him.

So we pray for your blessing this afternoon. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right, so we're looking at chapter eight of the book of Revelation. So if you look at the picture that I got from Google here, you'll see each one of these horns actually depicts the picture that you hopefully remember from your reading.

So just get a one glimpse and you kind of digest that, okay? It's amazing what you can do with Google. Just type in "seven trumpets of Revelation" and boom, there it is. All right. So in the beginning, in Revelation chapter eight, remember there was a, if you remember the seven seals, that the first four seals, what were the first four seals?

First four seals. Anybody remember? The horsemen, four horsemen, right? Each of the horsemen. Anybody remember the order? White, red, black and pale. Okay. So those are the four. And then after that, the fifth seal is talking about the martyrs, right? And then the sixth seal, there's an intense judgment on the sixth seal.

And then there's kind of a parenthetical statement. Chapter seven was a description of the 144,000. And then it describes the multitudes that are seen in heaven when they're all in worship, right? And then chapter eight begins with the last seal, the seventh seal. Remember the question I asked you, like if you look at the seven seals and the seven trumpets and the seven bowl judgments, like are they overlapping each other?

Or are the seven trumpets, like within the seventh seal and the seventh seal, it opens up the seven trumpets. What do you think? You don't have to say anything. I just want you to think for a little bit, right? Do you understand my question? Is this seven years, right?

Or seven different judgments that are overlapping each other, seven seals, seven trumpets, the seven bowls, it's talking about the seven different things, but it's talking about the same time period. Or is it seven years and then on the seventh year, it opens up the seventh trumpet. And then at the end of the seventh, at the seventh, was it the trumpet, it opens up the seven bowl judgments.

Okay. So, that's the question. I just want you to be thinking about it because obviously if you're trying to look for the application of some of these things, it would make a big difference if you're looking at it as this increasing and intensified, or if it's seven years just overlapping, talking about different kinds of judgments.

So there are different views on both, right? Now, remember we talked about there are different approaches to the interpretation of the book of Revelation. So, if you happen to be a part of the group that looks at the book of Revelation as already fulfilled prophecies, meaning that it was talking about Rome, it was talking about the Roman soldiers coming in and destroying the temple and all of this judgment is allegorical about some historical event, right?

If you believe or if you've been taught that that's how we ought to look at Revelation, these are all fulfilled prophecies that happened. And so, when you read the commentaries, they're going to tell you that it looks like these are the Romans and this is what happened in AD 90 or the gathering of the early church, but these are all fulfilled prophecies, right?

Now, again, you don't have to answer me, but if you look at the prophecies that are laid out so far up to where we've come, remember I told you that you're going to see an increase in intensity of these judgments? Remember I told you that? And I'm sure you probably noticed it already.

The trumpet judgments are much more intense than the judgments that you saw with the seal judgments. And then the bowl judgments are always going to take it to a next level. So if you haven't read the bowl judgments, you're probably wondering what could possibly happen that's going to be even more intense than what you've seen, but that's exactly what you're going to see.

There's an increase in intensity. Now, if you were to try to apply that in the first century as it being fulfilled, in my opinion it's very difficult to apply that because it's extremely grossly exaggerated, meaning a third of the heavens, a third of the sea, a third of mankind.

You know, I mean, so unless you're interpreting a third as, you know, a certain small portion, a third represents a number of something and you have to allegorically apply it, it's really difficult to apply that, you know, unless you really allegorize every single thing that they say, right? That's why I think it's very difficult to try to see that all that was fulfilled in the first century, that it seems like to me that this is revelation of some intense judgment that's coming at some point in the future, and I think that's the best way to look at that, okay?

Well, we're at chapter one. It opens up the seventh seal and it doesn't tell us a whole lot about that other than the fact that there's silence, right? So there seems to be a kind of a pause of silence and presence of God or before God unleashing great judgment.

So in the Bible, whenever there is a moment of pause or silence, it's because there's a sense of awe, either God has showed up and they're in terror or fear, or God is about to speak and say something and so everybody's just kind of staying hushed and silent and it seems kind of like that's what's happening, right?

The two verses, I'm going to call it that. All right, so the two verses I put up there in Zephaniah 1-7, it says, "Be silent before the Lord God for the day of the Lord is near. The Lord has prepared a sacrifice and consecrated his guests." So the Lord is about to bring judgment and he says, "Be silent." And Zechariah 2-13, "Be silent all flesh before the Lord for he has roused himself from his holy dwelling." So not just these two verses, I mean, I can find many other passages where God, right before he acts, there's kind of a dramatic pause, almost kind of like he wants everybody to pay attention to what either he's going to say or what he's going to do.

And in this case, clearly what he's about to do. So there's a moment of silence and considering what we see after and each one of these trumpet judgments come and it's just devastation after devastation. If one thing doesn't wipe you out, the next thing comes and if you somehow survive that, the next thing comes and it just kind of keeps adding and then you think you're kind of at the end and then boom, you have the seal judgments that's going to come in.

You know, when I thought about this, this moment of silence before the trumpets are, you know, we move on to the trumpet judgments. I remember, I don't know, some of you guys may remember, I don't know how old you were when 9/11 happened, but I remember I got a phone call from somebody who was my youth student years ago and I haven't talked to her in a while and then she called me out of the blue early in the morning and she said, "Hey, Peter, you got to turn on the television because something's going on." And I turn on and the plane, the first plane has already crashed and it was burning.

Now, you know, for a split second, it's so surreal because the Twin Tower in New York is kind of like the, what do you call it, the Statue of Liberty. I mean, that's been there as long as I can remember. You know, it was a tourist attraction. It was one of the main things that you think of when you think of United States, it was Twin Tower and to have it, an airplane crashed and then seeing that burning and then hearing all these other news about how another plane is headed toward the Pentagon and how that went, crashed.

And then I remember watching this thing and then right in the middle of watching it, another plane crashes into the other tower, you know, and this is all live on television. And obviously the whole country is just, we were just shocked and all, just probably in silence and then not too long after that, the first one drops and the thought of, oh my gosh, that building probably holds at least 40, 50,000 people, you know, and then it crashed.

So we don't know exactly how many, at that time, we didn't know exactly how many people were in the building. And then there's this, this, this sense of, I didn't call it like dread that the other building is also going to fall, you know. And I remember thinking about that and I remember reading this and thinking about this dead silence that falls on, on, in heaven for 30 minutes as that kind of scene, like you, you know something terrible is about to happen and it's imminent and it's going to happen, it's God ordained, but you, you kind of are watching it and it's going to, it's slowly beginning to unfold, but it's unbelievable.

And it just kind of made me think about that scene, that, that, how I felt at that minute, that moment when those things began to fall. And it just shocked, I mean, obviously the whole nation was in shock. But that's basically how chapter eight opens, right? The last seal is open and this dead silence and the silence isn't everybody just being quiet and just resting.

It's dead silence because something, something horrendous is about to happen. God's judgment is about to be unleashed and it's almost kind of like heaven knows what's, what's about to come. And they're, they're just fearfully and in awe watching. And that's exactly what happens. Once it opens up and then the trumpets begin to blow, the judgments begin to unravel and every one of these judgments could, could be the end of the world, but it just keeps coming one after another.

Right? So we look, we see the seven angels, they're given seven trumpets to blow to initiate the second set of judgments. Right? And we're not told exactly who these angels are, but we are told early on in chapter one and two that there are seven angels above the seven churches.

So we're not sure if it's those angels or a different set of angels. And the trumpets in the scripture were used for all kinds of purposes. I mean, I'm not going to go through all of them, but to either gather people or sign of warning for the tribes to, to maybe scatter during times of war.

Here it seems like it's being blown kind of, kind of like it happens in Zephaniah 1, 14 and 16, like that, that it's heralding the day of God's wrath. So let me read you that passage. Now come back to that. The great day of the Lord is near, near and hastening fast.

The sound of the day of the Lord is bitter. The mighty man cries aloud there. A day of wrath is that day, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of trumpet blast and battle cry against the fortified cities and against the lofty battlements.

I mean, if you, if you think about the way that the second coming of Christ is revealed to us in scripture, you know, obviously as Christians, we look forward to the consummation of Christ's coming and redeeming the church. But before he does that, before we are caught up into heaven and we are in his bosom for eternity, all this is going to unravel.

And it is going to be like something that we've never seen before. And again, that's the silence that comes upon them, the whole heaven. And so basically the blowing of the trumpets is a warning sign for everyone to pay attention that this is exactly what's happening so that there's no, there's no mistake that this is not just a natural disaster.

This was not just a mistake that what is about to happen is God ordained. So they blow the trumpet, "Hey, God is about to act and it's going to be terrible what's about to happen." But he wants everybody to know that this is not, this is God ordained. Right after that in verse three, it says, "Another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer.

And he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints and on the golden altar before the throne." So aside from the seven, it seems like there's another angel that appears and he seems like there's, he has more authority than the other seven because he's the one giving instructions and he's the one who's throwing out the judgment.

Now there are several angels in the Bible that actually given names and I'm sure there's more than, more than these that are mentioned, but there are two in particular that's of interest to us. The angel Gabriel in Daniel 8, 15 to 27, he appears there and he interprets the visions and he's the one who's speaking to Daniel and opening his ears and the minds of people so that they can understand the vision of God.

Luke chapter 119 is where Gabriel appears and he prophesies about the coming of the Messiah. So this angel, it seems like he's not just an ordinary angel. He is maybe one of the top angels, right? But we know that he's not the top angel because there's another angel. There's another angel mentioned in the Bible and he's the archangel, the chief angel.

Anybody remember his name? Huh? Michael, right? Michael is called the archangel, meaning that he is the captain. He's the chief of all the angels. And this is probably where Satan was. So archangel Michael may have been a subordinate to Satan, but after Satan falls, he takes his place, right?

Now obviously the other angel that's mentioned is Lucifer, Satan. He's also mentioned, but I didn't put that up there. So we don't know if this angel, this particular angel that comes and he's the one who's throwing the fire down on the earth, but because he's not specifically named by name.

But again, we know that Michael, archangel Michael and Gabriel, these two are, they appear throughout the scriptures and they're the ones who are conveying God's message and speaking to the prophets. And again, in Michael, he's mentioned in Jude 9 where speaking of Satan, he says, you know, the Lord rebuke you, and then he's rebuking the church at that time for taking Satan lightly.

That even archangel Michael, you know, not respect as in reverence, but respect his power to not to just go against Satan and talk about him loosely like that because he's powerful. So you know, if you look at, again, the biblical account, Lucifer was above Michael, right? So he's, so in book of Jude verse 9, it tells us to be careful.

Now again, we don't know if it's one of these two, but it would be fitting if they were because that's how they're presented to us in the other parts of scripture. So you know, there's a whole spiritual realm that is mentioned in the scripture that we don't typically pay a lot of attention to because there's not a lot of details, right?

Of angels, of fallen angels, Satan. In fact, there's other name that we're going to run into, I think in chapter 10, the beast, the dragon, there's all these different things that are being presented in the scripture that we kind of vaguely know, but we don't really understand the spiritual realm.

But there's definitely a world that you and I don't understand in the spiritual realm. That's why the scripture always says that our God is the God of heaven, earth, and under the earth, meaning that there's a, there's all of this is God's creation. That it's not just a physical world that exists.

There's a whole new world. In fact, the spiritual world in some sense may be more real than this because once we die, we're going to be in glorified bodies and we're going to be with Christ, right? So again, I think it's interesting for us to think about all this because there's a whole aspect of the spiritual realm that we don't really think about, but I think we should.

I think we should because it's there for a reason. There are spiritual things going on that we don't know. So there's a spiritual warfare that is going on that the scripture calls us to participate in. That our real war is not against flesh and blood, it says, right? It's against spiritual forces of powers in high places.

So what is being revealed to us in Revelation, right? In the epistles it tells us about it. We just don't know the details. But this is the scene that the scripture tells us is happening in our daily lives, either in some sense is participating in this war. And we see that, right?

Later on we'll see that in the prayers of the saints, how our prayers are lifted up and it plays a role in the unraveling of all of this stuff, right? You understand what I'm saying? I'll mention it again when we get there, okay? The scene in heaven suggests that there is something sacrificial about our prayers, which I just mentioned.

And both the believer and his prayer enter the presence of God by way of the altar. So it says in verse four, "In the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints," you notice how the incense was something that you offered up at the altar, but along with that the prayer of the saints rose before God from the hand of the angel, right?

"Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and there were peals of thunder, rumbling flashes of lightning, and an earthquake." It almost seems like what's about to happen happens as a response to prayer, right? Where these prayers and the incense and the sacrifices are going up to God, and then he takes these incense, right, and then that's what he throws to the ground.

And then earthquake and fire and rumbling and flashes, they begin to take place. Now why do you think that the saints, our prayers, we don't know exactly how and what role it plays, but clearly it involves us. We're not just onlookers just observing and saying, "Oh, God's acting." We are actually in some sense participating through prayer, through spiritual warfare, right?

It doesn't say God responded to this particular prayer and he's answering these prayers. He doesn't say that. He doesn't go into the detail, but it does say that in response these incense and these prayers go up, and when it receives, is on the throne, and it kind of triggers this judgment coming upon mankind, right?

Now if you think about it, in the previous passage it says that the martyrs were crying out to God. Remember what they were crying out? In the previous, I think it was the fifth seal, the martyrs, they were crying out, "How long, O God?" To vindicate them, right? Against their enemies.

And so, so much of their prayer is basically asking God to step in in this spiritual battle. Yes? Yeah. So during all of this happening, it seems like the persecution and the suffering of the Christians are increasing, and in that context, as the suffering of the Christians are increasing, they are crying out to God, and it is their prayers that this angel takes up, and then that triggers the next judgment that comes, right?

In response. So when the full, remember he says, you know, that he's not going to come, the end is not going to come until, what does he say? There's other brothers and sisters who are going to be added to this number of martyrs, right? Remember that? In the fifth seal?

And so it seems like when this judgment happens, is a fullness of number may have come, and their prayers, their crying is reaching up to God, and God responds, and then the judgment begins, the trumpet judgment begins. That's what it seems like, right? The seven trumpet judgments, before we get into it, are divided into two groups, and again, very similar to the seal judgments, if you remember, the four horsemen, and then the fifth seal is kind of like a, fifth and sixth seal are different than the first four, and then there's almost a break between the sixth and the seventh, and that's exactly how the trumpet judgments are laid out.

The first four are natural disasters, just one after another, and then we get to the fifth and sixth, it's the judgments differ a bit, and then there's a long break. In fact, chapter nine, no, chapter 10 and chapter 11 is kind of a parenthesis, where the sixth seal is opened up, and then all these other things are mentioned, it's kind of like a parenthesis.

And then it doesn't, the seventh trumpet doesn't even open up until end of chapter 11, right? So it's kind of like the outline or the break is very similar to the seal judgments, the trumpet judgments. And that's why some people think that maybe this is overlapping, because the theme seems very similar, right?

Which I already mentioned, the first four are plagues directed toward the world of nature, whether it is the mountains or the earth or the sea, but there's intense judgments that are coming. And then the fifth and sixth are separated from the seventh trumpet in parenthesis, right, before the final trumpet blows.

And then the intensity of this judgment, trumpet judgment, becomes progressively more intense in comparing to the seal judgments. So imagine, which we're going to get to in a bit, this judgment is like, if we're not mistaken, and this is exactly what's going to happen. And I know there's an element in the church that allegorizes all of this stuff, and that maybe a lot of this stuff is talking about what happened in the first century and it's not going to happen.

But to me, it doesn't make sense. I don't think that that's the best way to interpret this. I think this is going to happen. And I also think that we are, as a church, going to go through the tribulation, because the language that I see is that He's going to preserve us through all of this stuff, meaning that not to take us out, but to give us strength to test the real faith.

So people who have real faith and people who don't have faith are going to be changed. And one of the reasons why I believe that the best way to interpret all of this is to take it as literally as possible. Some of them are obvious that you're not supposed to take it literally, but a lot of times, as much as possible, because if you look at the prophecies that are fulfilled through Christ, it was literal.

Where He was born, how He was going to die, how He was going to suffer, somebody was going to betray Him, He was going to ride on a donkey, He was going to be nailed on a tree, the leaders are going to betray Him. So if you look at the prophecies that talk about Christ, so much of that was word for word fulfilled.

And Jesus kept on saying over and over again that this has happened to fulfill prophecy, to fulfill prophecy. And so it seems to me the more consistent way to understand prophecy is to take it as literally as possible, because remember, the Jews couldn't understand. A lot of the passages that they couldn't understand, they just kind of shelved.

Going back at it, it says all these things are about me. You go to Isaiah 53 and all these prophecies, now we're looking back at it, clearly that must be talking about Christ. But it didn't fit their image of Christ. Christ was going to come and conquer, He's going to be our King, why would He be suffering?

Why would He be meek? Why would He be riding on a donkey? And so all of these things didn't fit, so they just kind of shelved it. You go back and look at it, it's clear. So I think we look at the book of Revelation that as much as we can or clearly seems like we should interpret literally, that we should take it literally, right?

Now the reason why I say all of this stuff is if all this stuff is going to happen literally, think about the devastation that's coming before He comes to redeem His church. Think about what's going to happen to this earth. Think about what's going to happen to the people.

And all the time invested to make this place a beautiful place, heaven on earth, like preserve and recycling. I'm not against recycling, but I'm just saying like so much time and effort and energy and heartache is going into preserving this place when the scripture says that God is going to ordain this, that this is coming.

So again, I'm not against recycling, I'm not against social justice, all that stuff. I think Christians should be responsible, but our primary duty should be to save people from this, right? Primary duty, primary motivation for Christians is to save people from the wrath of God that's coming, right? And I think that's what was intended.

Whether we fully understand how it's going to be fulfilled or not, the intention is so that we would live soberly and that we would evangelize other people knowing that this is coming, right? And Luke chapter 21, 25, 26, Jesus says, "And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars and on the earth distress of nations and perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming in the world for the powers of the heavens will be shaken." So Jesus himself said that these are signs that you ought to be watching for.

So the first judgment. And you'll notice that the term "a third," "a third of the heavens," "a third of the surface" is going to be consumed, right? So first thing that he says in verse 7, "The first angel blew his trumpet and there followed hail fire mixed with blood and these are thrown upon the earth and a third of the earth was burned up and a third of the trees were burned up and all the green grass was burned up." So the first trumpet blows and right off the bat, just utter devastation, a third.

A third of the trees being burned up, which means that all the fruits needed for food will be gone with it. So again, because you and I don't live in the farm and we go to the supermarket to get our food. So imagine if you were living at that time saying a third of the trees are being burnt up.

What does that mean? You know, it would be equivalent to saying like a third of the supermarkets are going to be shut down, right? A third of the resource for whatever that sustains you is going to be wiped out. So imagine the kind of famine that's going to create, right?

Not only a third of the trees, but what does it mean for a third of the grass? You know, people primarily, either you were a fisherman or you were a carpenter, but a lot of people were living off the land and your wealth was measured by your livestock. So you had goat or you had sheep or cows or whatever.

So if all the third of the grass is wiped out, what does that mean? Not a third, all of the grass is wiped out. Your livestock can't survive, right? So today we may think all grass is gone and say, "Oh, our house is going to look ugly," you know, because we don't think of grass as food or somehow sustaining us.

But think of it at that time when all the grass is gone, it basically means no livestock. Your livelihood is going to be gone. And then the second, verses eight and nine, right? So not only the third of the earth, the trees and all of the grass, but even the sea.

Verse eight, "The second angel blew his trumpet and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea and a third of the sea became blood." What does that sound like? So it says, "The trumpet, something like a great mountain burning with fire." What does that sound like?

Could be a comet, falling star maybe, volcano maybe, right? We don't know, but when I think of mountain burning, the first image that I have is maybe a volcano, but this volcano has to be gigantic because it's going to destroy a third, right? Third thrown into the sea and a third of the sea became blood.

And it said, "A third of the living creatures in the sea died and a third of the ships were destroyed." So basically not only land, right? But everything that we know, even the ships will be destroyed. That's how devastating this is going to be, whether that's an earthquake or maybe a comet, right?

A lot of people, I remember when I was younger, you know, like pastors or people would give seminars on the end times and whenever they would get to these scenes, they would always equate it to a nuclear fallout because the devastation is so huge. Like what could possibly happen that a third, right?

It can't be just any volcano. Volcano is not going to destroy a third, but maybe an earthquake, maybe an asteroid, right? And then some people say it could be a nuclear bomb, maybe. You know what's interesting? I don't know if I have it in my next slide. It says a third of the creatures are going to be destroyed in the sea.

So the livelihood for their food, even in the sea. So you happen to be a fisherman, right? It's like, "Oh, we're safe because we don't have livestock." It's like, "Well, even fishermen are going to be affected by that." And at that time, at least, you know, where they are in Galilee, obviously more people, you know, probably were eating fish.

But the devastation, the point is that devastation is going to be very thorough and no one's going to be exempt. The third trumpet, the plague is going to consist of burning star that falls from the sky and the inland water is turning bitter and causing the death of many people.

This is where I remember very specifically a pastor was giving a seminar on this. And you know, like, I don't know if you've ever been to a seminar about like, you know, not to get chips in your arm or tattoos that's the mark of the beast. And you know, the Left Behind series kind of got everybody stirred up when that book first came out and they made a movie out of it.

So a lot of people were talking about the end times, even in Presbyterian churches, because that movie like really made an impact on everybody. And I remember one of the things specifically he said, he mentioned this particular passage in verse 11, the word wormwood. What's a wormwood? Does anybody know?

No botanist. Okay. So, wormwood basically is just bitter herbs. And so the word wormwood is equated in scripture with something bitter. God's going to bring judgment and honey is going to turn to wormwood. And so the scripture uses the term wormwood. You know, what's interesting is, again, when I was younger, a pastor was giving this seminar and he said, and he thinks that this judgment, this particular judgment is a nuclear fallout.

And the reason why he believed that and he was saying it's being fulfilled was, you know, some of you guys may remember, no, you're not going to remember, but you probably read about it. Remember the Chernobyl, the nuclear fallout and it destroyed thousands of people, homes, and it's still abandoned today because of the fallout.

You know what that city was called? Wormwood. Yeah. Look it up. I didn't believe it either, but it's called Wormwood. Go look it up. Go Google it, Wikipedia. All right, Wormwood, Chernobyl. So the name of that city was Wormwood. So I remember that pastor was going nuts over this.

Like this Wormwood, you see it's being fulfilled, it's happening now. Whether it is or not, I thought it was interesting that a lot of this massive devastation, like what could cause a third of the earth, a third of this, a third of the sea? I mean, it could be.

I mean, it doesn't mean it has to be, but it could be. But only other thing is, let me before we get to that, whether it is a nuclear fallout or whether it's natural, I think one thing that is going to be for sure that there's no, there's not going to be guessing.

Remember when 9/11 happened, a lot of people were like, "Oh, this is a judgment from God," or you know, when that tsunami hit Indonesia and all these hundreds of thousands of people died. "Oh, that's judgment from God," and there's debate even within the church. I think the only difference at the end when devastation comes, whether it comes through natural disaster or through maybe a World War III or nuclear bomb, that there isn't going to be any debate that God did it, that this is the judgment of God, because it clearly says it.

There is no debate. At the end of all of this, the response from people is that because God is coming to judge, they don't repent. They harden their hearts even further, meaning that they know full well that it was God, but they refuse to acknowledge Him. So that's the difference at the end when these things happen.

It's not going to be like, "Oh, is God in this?" It's like, no, God is coming and it's going to be for sure, it's going to be known that it was Him. The fourth trumpet is where we're going to be ending today. The third of the sun, moon, stars were struck with a blow that darkened them for a third of the day and the night.

So if you really think about it, and all the other devastations that happen, and just darkness a third of the night doesn't seem as bad, but in Scripture, darkness is always symbolism of judgment. In fact, it almost seems like, remember when we talked about, Dr. Harris talked about the darkness that fell upon from 12 to 3, and it was God coming to judge His Son?

And again, he made that case about how every important ratification of a covenant, God appears and He kind of covers because men cannot stand to be in the presence of His glory. That it almost seems like the earth goes dark because God is appearing, and when He appears, there's judgment.

Because unless you're covered by the blood of Christ, when God appears, you die. And so it almost seems like the fourth judgment that's going to come is going to be devastating. And then finally, the fourth trumpet judgment concludes with a cry from an eagle saying, "Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth." So these three woes are prophecy of the next three judgments that are coming, the fifth, sixth, and seventh.

So obviously, woe is prophecy of judgment coming, and then it's threefold, woe, woe, woe. So remember, we learned that anything that is repeated in Scripture is for the purpose of emphasis, right? So truly, truly, I say to you means pay attention. When it says God is holy, holy, holy, means that that's highlighted above all of His other nature.

So here it says, "Woe, woe, woe." So it's in reference to the woes that are coming, the next three judgments that are coming is going to be escalating in intensity. So can you imagine that we're only halfway through the judgments and the woes haven't started yet, right? The woes are coming, the three woes are coming.

So that's where we're ending today, and we're going to get to chapter nine, and the real devastation is coming. So all of this stuff, it lays out in Revelation, again, so that we would pay attention, so that we would not be caught off guard. So if you know any of this and you're looking for it, how can you possibly miss this, right?

Unless you're just not paying attention at all. And if you are paying attention, you're looking for this, how can that not affect you, right? If you really believe that this devastation is coming upon mankind, and then just kind of like, "Oh, yeah, I learned some stuff in Revelation, and I'm just going to go back to my normal life and then just save money and retire and die," right?

Either you believe this, and then you live according to the knowledge of what is coming and to live soberly, knowing that this world is going to pass, or you don't believe it, but there's nothing in between. You can't read this and believe this, and then just kind of live like everybody else.

There is nothing in between, right? And it is not me, it is not the church, it is not our generation. The truth that we profess requires it, right? The gospel of Jesus Christ requires us to make a commitment, not to just tag along, but to make a commitment, right?

The three woes, the warning of the severity of the three remaining judgments that is about to be unleashed in the second half of the trumpets blowing. So we'll get to that next week. And then let me go over the questions with you real quick. Discussion questions. Do you think that non-Christians in our area?

Okay, and again, not world, because we don't know, but in particular where we live, in our area, know that the Bible teaches an intense end-time judgment for those who do not believe, right? So when you talk to non-Christians, do they know that the scripture, the God of love that is constantly being presented to the world, that do you think that they know that judgment is coming and just the intensity of this judgment, right?

And these are, all of this, as horrific as these are, these are warnings, right? These are warnings. This is not the final judgment. All of these things are a warning to, hopefully, some might turn from their sins and not go to hell, right? Because the final judgment is not this.

What you are seeing in this is not the final judgment. The final judgment is when this is all over and the great white throne judgment comes, and then the other side of that is the real judgment for eternity. So as devastating as this is, this is not the end.

This is actually a warning, right? So do you think that the non-Christians around us understand and know this, right? And let me say this. I think, humanly speaking, we think this is going to turn people off. So in our wisdom, in our compassion, we think we're doing them a favor by not emphasizing this, because I know how they're going to respond.

If you do that, you're playing God. You're basically telling God that the information you've given is going to scare people. It's not going to save them. What God has revealed to us to save mankind, I'm going to take some of this off, because clearly you don't know what I know.

Think how arrogant that is to present the gospel that was presented to us in this way, to cut some of this off and saying, "God, you don't know my friends. You don't know these people." So it is beyond presumptuous, arrogant, for us to leave any part of this out.

I'm not saying that we go out and all we're doing is preaching judgment, but if we're going to declare the clear gospel, you have to present the whole gospel. If we're going to say that Jesus is going to save us, you have to tell them what he's going to save us from.

This is what he's saving us from. Two, should we interpret all natural disasters today as God's judgment? Why or why not? Try to explain from scripture, if possible. Anytime there's a big disaster that happens, that becomes a big debate. Was that God or was that not God? So try to use scripture as much as possible.

Three, take some time to pray for the non-Christians in your life that God would open their eyes and be delivered from the wrath to come. I think that's the immediate application. I think we talked about that last week. If you knew that this was going to happen, if you were the first century Christian and you read this and there's a real possibility that this may happen, how would you respond?

I think a lot of you responded by evangelism. That would be the, whatever it is that you're doing, wouldn't seem as important as telling other people about it. So let's take some time to think about the non-Christians in our lives, the people that we know, maybe not know, and be intentional about sharing the gospel with them.

Take some time to pray before we end. All right, let me pray first and then I'll let you guys get to your small group. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your living word. We thank you that you've opened our eyes to see the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Help us to be humble, to receive all that you have, that more than simply wanting to do the right thing, help us, Lord, to hunger and thirst for you, and that our desire to honor you, to glorify you, to worship you would lead to a clear understanding of all that you are doing in history.

Help us, Lord God, to love you and to love our neighbors as ourselves, that that would be our greatest passion, greatest investment, and greatest energy and money spent, Father God, for that sake. And so for that end, we pray for your blessing. We pray for all the small group time, Lord, that you would bless that time as well.

In Jesus' name we pray, amen.