All right, let's start. All right, we're looking at Revelations chapter 9. We're looking at the two of the three woes, the fifth and sixth trumpets. Okay, so we're going to be dealing with, again, the in between the sixth and seventh, and then seventh and on afterwards. Let me pray for us before we get in.

Gracious and loving Father, we thank you for this evening. We pray, Father, that you would continue to draw your people to yourself, help us to lean on you and not on our own efforts or our own understanding. I pray, Father God, that your word would come alive and strengthen and empower us, Lord God.

And this is time to you, Lord, in Jesus' name we pray, amen. Can somebody do me a favor? You know the glass doors over there because all the AC is on? If we have both of them opened, all the AC cold air will go out. Okay. All right, if we're looking at Revelation chapter 6, 1 through 21.

Okay. So the first four, again, on the top of the page, the first four trumpet plagues only took six verses to cover. If you remember, it was pretty rapid fire. It was kind of like the first part of it was the seventh seal, and then as soon as that was done, we jumped into the trumpets.

And then the first four trumpets, it was pretty rapid fire. In fact, it only covered six verses from one after another. But we're getting into the last time chapter 8 finished was saying that there's three woes coming. And it says, "Woe, woe, woe is coming." And so it signified the intensity of the judgment that's coming.

And so if you've read through it and you studied it before you came, you already know that what we're covering today is far more intense than what happened prior. So there's an increasing level of judgment upon each one of these trumpets. And so we're going to be covering the two, and then the third and the significant woe that's coming.

And so again, it keeps increasing, and then by the time we get to the seal judgments, it's even more intense than that. So you can imagine, if you haven't read, you can imagine just how intense it will be that up to this point, a third of humanity is killed and tortured, and yet the third woe hasn't even come yet.

And then the real severity is actually coming in the seal judgments. So again, the first part of it, again, just by the sheer number of verses that we're going to be covering, the first woe is a severe torment, is carried out by the demonic forces of the abyss. It doesn't say abyss, but again, the judgment seems to be coming from the abyss, and most commentaries believe that these are demonic presence that God is using to bring about judgment.

So he unleashes them, and he gives them specific assignments. And so this first woe that's going to be coming out in the form of locust and through what they're doing is going to be tormenting the earth. This torment is going to be so severe that the people who are affected by it are going to be seeking death for relief, but do not find it.

So I asked one of the questions, like, what would cause somebody to desire death and then not be able to find it? And I think that's one of the study questions that I asked you, and I'll give you an opportunity to discuss it with your group. But imagine how severe the pain is that they would have preferred death over the torment that they're experiencing.

So again, this is not just a simple disease. This is excruciatingly painful, and this is not for all mankind. It is limited to those who do not have the seal of God on them, meaning that Christians are covered during this period, right? I don't believe that they are raptured, but it's going to come upon the unbelievers, and it's going to be, again, intense torment.

The second woe is going to come with a demonic army riding horses, a 200 million mounted troops, which will ultimately wipe a third of the unrepentant humanity. So again, if the first woe is tormenting the people even actually seeking death, the second woe that's coming, the sixth trumpet, is actually going to bring a third of humanity to a stop.

They're actually going to be terminated. So again, it kind of gives you an outline of the severity of the judgment that we're looking at. So the fifth trumpet, the first woe, it says in verse 9-1, "The fallen star in 9-1, right? A fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit." Who is this angel that's falling?

Is it a person or is it a thing? It's clearly different than the fallen angel that we see in chapter 8, verse 10, because chapter 8, verse 10, the angel falls and what happens? The water is contaminated. So it seems like, at least the way it's described in chapter 8, verse 10, that it's a mass of molten material that falls on the water and contaminates, it's undrinkable.

So it doesn't seem like it's some kind of a being, but some kind of a star, maybe an asteroid, maybe a nuclear fallout, we don't know exactly what it is, but it's described as a star falling. But in 9-1, it seems to represent a person or a being because a key is given to this being, and this being basically initiates this judgment by opening up the – I use the word "abyss" because some of your translation has the word "abyss." The ESV, I think, uses the word "bottomless pit," but again, the significance, the meaning is the same.

Now before we go any further in describing the abyss, the abyss that is being described here is not hell. It is not hell. It is not a permanent place of torment. This is, again, different people have different ideas of what this may be, but clearly it is a place, a holding place of possibly demonic beings that they're being released for a period of time to accomplish God's purpose.

And then when that period is done, at the very end, at the White Throne Judgment, they will be bound for, again, before the White Throne Judgment, it says they will be bound for a thousand years, possibly back in the abyss, and then when they are finally judged, they will go into Gehenna.

Okay? And that will be hell. So what we're seeing here is not hell. They didn't – they weren't captured in hell, and then for a period released, and then they go back to hell, and then they come back, and then they go back. Okay? So the abyss is different than Gehenna.

It is different than hell, just for your information. Now who is this 9/1, this fallen angel? Again, it doesn't describe here, but just kind of putting two and two together, again, different people, depending on how you approach the book of Revelation, will have different opinions about this. But I think we talked about this before, especially when we studied through Isaiah.

Remember Isaiah, chapter 14, 12 through 21? Okay? Why don't we turn our Bibles there? I'm not going to read the whole thing, but at least a portion of it. Isaiah chapter 14, 12 through 21. Okay? Turn your Bibles to Isaiah chapter 14. Now some of you guys who are A students, how many of you remember the context of Isaiah chapter 14?

Who is this in reference to? What nation? Anybody remember? I know some of you guys were in the book of Isaiah. What kingdom? Starts with a B. Okay, Babylon, right? So chapter 14 is a judgment against Babylon, their hardiness, their arrogance. And so some think that chapter 14, 12 to 21, again, in the immediate context is talking about Nebuchadnezzar, that in his arrogance, God's going to judge him and bring him down.

But remember when we studied through this, starting from verse 12, that if you look at the language, there are certain things that are stated here that can't be talking about a finite human being. How are you fallen from heaven, O day star, son of dawn? How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low.

You said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven above the stars of God. I will set my throne on high. I will sit on the Mount of Assembly in the far reaches of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will make myself the most high, but you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit.

And he goes on and on. So many believe that this is in reference to the fall of Satan. So possibly that the text that we're looking at in chapter 9, verse 1 is describing of the fall of Satan. Again, in Luke chapter 10, 18, after Jesus sends out the disciples and they come back and they say, you know, we couldn't cast out the demons.

And in that context, again, Jesus says to them, I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Again, in reference to Satanic fall as he's being kicked out of heaven. Again, the description that we see here in Isaiah. And again, in Revelation chapter 12, verse 4, it talks about how the dragon, as he is again being kicked out of heaven, he drags a third of the angels with him.

And this is why the common belief that a third of heaven, a third of all the created angels, they fell along with Satan. Meaning that Satan was that powerful. He was the chief of the angels. Who's the chief of the angels now? We talked about that last week. We have Gabriel and Michael, Archangel Michael, right?

So Archangel Michael is the chief of the angels, but even Archangel Michael in the book of Jude says that he doesn't directly disrespect Satan because of his power. And he says, but the Lord rebuke you, right? And he cautions the church not to challenge him directly because we don't have that kind of power.

So in other words, he describes where that this is a very powerful being. So in creation before the fall, Satan sat above Archangel Michael, right? So that's how powerful he is. So when he fell, a third of the angels fell down with him. So in chapter, again, going back to Revelation chapter 9, verse 1, okay?

If you're not there, go back to chapter 9, verse 1. So the beginning of the fifth or the fourth trumpet or the fifth trumpet, star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. Now we don't know exactly who gave it to him, but considering that he is Satan, it's probably some, either the Lord himself, right?

Either the Lord himself, Jesus himself, or in a messenger from God is giving him permission to do this, right? So it's not like this conflict between God and Satan and we're going to try to figure out who wins. Even the Satanic work that is revealed in the book of Revelation is within the context of God's sovereignty, right?

God is giving him permission to carry this out. So the first of the three woes, they seem very similar. If you've read through the book of Joel, and I think I mentioned this maybe last week or the week before, the book of Joel is a judgment that is proclaimed upon a nation of Israel before the fall.

I mean, the Babylonians, they come in, they march against Israel, the southern kingdom, and before they fall, Joel is sent basically saying, "Because of your idolatry, God is going to judge you." So if you look at the language of the book of Joel of the locust judgment, you're going to see that there's a lot of languages very similar to what he mentions here because the book of Joel, we're going to review, if you've ever studied through the minor prophets, you'll know that the book of Joel has one of the most intense judgments recorded.

Some of the judgments recorded in Amos, in Isaiah, in some of the other prophets, I mean, they have bits and pieces of it. The book of Joel from chapter one to the end, it's about the intensity of this judgment that keeps increasing, and that's what we're seeing here with this fourth judgment.

We're only about halfway through, right? But the most intense judgment described in the book of Joel is only halfway, meaning he's going to get even greater than this, and I'm going to give you some example. So just to kind of give you a background of the book of Joel because it relates to what we're looking at, Israelites at this particular time in their history, before the fall, before the Babylonians come and take them, they were eagerly waiting for the day of the Lord.

And they knew that the day of the Lord was going to be a day that he was going to come and judge, but they just assumed that the judgment was going to be against their enemies, whether it was the Babylonians or the Assyrians or whoever was at the superpower.

So they were praying and waiting and begging the Lord for the day of the Lord. But when Joel finally shows up saying the day of the Lord is going to come, he says, "You're not going to escape this judgment either, that all who disobeyed, all who strayed from God, you're not going to be saved because you were born under a certain line." So Joel comes in and he warns them, "The day of the Lord is going to come, but he's not going to come to deliver you.

He's actually going to come to judge you." And that's what we see in the book of Revelation. Those who have the mark of the Lord will be saved, but even within the Jewish community, even within the church, remember he starts out the first two chapters of Revelation, he basically indicts the church.

And he's talking to people who may assume to be Christians, but he's saying then, "But those who overcome, those who conquer." Within the church. He doesn't just say, "All these churches have some problems that you need to fix." And he points out all of these things that they're guilty of and he says, "Only those who conquer, only those who persevere, only those who open the door and repent," he said, "they shall be saved." So the day of the Lord is being revealed, but this day of the Lord is going to come and it's going to surprise a lot of people.

Some people who thought that they were safe may find out that that wasn't the case. And so that's the background behind the book of Joel. Again Joel comes, declares the day of the Lord will not only bring judgment upon Israel's enemies but also upon Israel themselves. So I want to show you just to kind of some of the language that's very similar to the book of Revelation and the book of Joel.

So one, Joel chapter 2, 1, it begins, or at least a part of it, it says, "Blow the trumpet in Zion." So we had some discussion last week as to the meaning of the trumpets. You know how it was used to gather people to beginning of the year, various ceremonies.

But if you look at book of Joel chapter 2, 1, "Blow the trumpet in Zion, sound the alarm on my holy mountain. Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble for the day of the Lord is coming. It is near a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness." So again if you read through or studied through chapter 9 before you came, you already know that the language of "blow the trumpet" and how that's going to bring trembling and darkness is going to, darkness and gloom is coming.

Again it's a very similar language to what we see here, right, in chapter 9. We see the escalation of this judgment. So if you look at Joel chapter 1, verse 4, "What the cutting locust left, the swarming locust has eaten; what the swarming locust left, the hopping locust has eaten; and what the hopping locust left, the destroying locust has eaten." What is the point of this?

What is the point that he's trying to make? It's going to be thorough, right? It's thorough. So that's, up to this point, isn't that what we've been seeing? Like he would bring judgment upon the land and then he would bring judgment upon the mountains, he would bring judgment upon the sky, he's bringing judgment upon the sea.

And then the wolves are going to bring judgment in torment. And then the second, the fifth judgment is going to bring judgment upon man directly, right? And so it's kind of escalation. That this judgment isn't going to just bypass just anybody. It's going to be a thorough judgment. There's not going to be left any judgment for the future.

Remember how Jesus says that? He comes in the New Testament, he says that he left certain things unpunished, right? The wrath of God is being stored up, the language in the New Testament. Well, when we get to the day of the Lord, there's nothing being stored up anymore. That it's finally going to be unleashed and it's going to be absolutely thorough.

Even the description of the locust itself is very similar to chapter 9, 7 through 11 or so. Let me read it real quick. In appearance, the locusts were like horses prepared for battle on their heads and were what looked like crowns of gold. Their faces were like human faces, their hair like women's hair and their teeth like lion's teeth.

They had breastplates like breastplates of iron and the noise of their wings was like the noise of many chariots with horses rushing into battle. They have tails and stings like scorpions and their power to hurt people for five months is in their tails. They have as kings over them an angel with a bottomless pit.

His name in Hebrew is Abaddon and in Greek he is called Apollonion or however that is pronounced. So if you look at the description of the satanic or demonic army that he is unleashing upon mankind, again in Joel chapter 6, 1, "The nation has come upon you against my…" Again, this is talking about the locust army, "powerful and beyond number.

Its teeth are like lion's teeth." Remember reading that right there? And it has fangs of a lioness. Their appearance is like the appearance of horses. So all of this is right here. And like war horses, they run as with the rumbling of chariots. They leap on the top of the mountains like the crackling of the flame and all of this.

So again, the prophet Joel was specifically in historical context talking to the nation of Israel about the Babylonians coming and conquering. But remember when we studied about Isaiah, that there is always threefold application of much of these prophecies. One is the immediate historical context, which at that time was the Babylonians about to come in.

There is always a Christological fulfillment, meaning when Christ comes that he is going to partially fulfill some of these things. And then the ultimate fulfillment is at the day of the Lord. So we see the exact same language that was used about Babylon is now being used about the end times when he comes.

So the purpose of all of this language is the intensity and the thoroughness. Now we can go in here and study like what does the woman's hair mean? What does the lioness teeth mean? And we can go through all of that and just kind of guess. Everybody has different educated guess behind what the meaning behind all of this.

But the overall arching meaning behind all of this is the intensity, the escalation, the thoroughness of the judgment that's coming upon mankind. So the locust army is released and given the power of the scorpions, but he specifically limits them saying, "but not to kill." But to torment, but not to kill.

And the reason behind that ultimately is to give them opportunity to repent. And again, that's exactly the language that we see in the book of Joel. As intense as the judgment is, he says the judgment is coming upon Israel in order that they would repent. So let me just put this up there first.

So the limitation that the Lord makes on this demonic army is that they are there to torture, but it's limited to five months and ultimately not to kill. The book of Joel says in 1 5, "Awake you drunkards and weep and wail, all you drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine for it is cut off from your mouth." In other words, the point of Joel's intense prophecy is that through the judgment, through the warning, that they would wake up and repent.

And that's the same motive here, that up to this point, again, this is not hell. People are not being sent to hell, right? Or at least the ones who survive. The goal of this is ultimately to bring them to repentance. Joel 1 14, "Consecrate a fast, call a solemn assembly." And then he says in Joel 2 12-14, "Yet even now, even after all of this, declares the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, with mourning.

Then your hearts and not your garments return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and he relents over disaster. Who knows whether he will not turn and relent and leave a blessing behind him, a grain of offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God." So even through all of this, even through all the tormenting and all the disasters, he's still trying to bring people to repentance, ultimately.

I remember when I was, again, when we visit India, we're talking to the Indian pastors and we're talking about the persecution in India, how it's rising. And I asked them, "So how is this affecting you guys and how is it affecting the churches?" And they said, "Obviously, it's difficult because, you know, who wants to see their children being persecuted at school?

It's one thing for them, but their wives and children also have to suffer." But he said that the positive of all of this is purifying the church. The nominal, it's very difficult to be a nominal Christian in India, more and more, right? So it's causing people who may have been casually attending church to make a decision.

Either you're a follower of Christ or not. And so if you look at the judgment up to this point, he says there's going to come a time when God is going to allow those who may be in the church, who may have never thought seriously about their faith and committed to their nominal belief, but when the torment comes, either that's going to cause you to fall or it's going to cause you to repent.

So even up to this point, even with this intense tormenting, it's really God's mercy being demonstrated, right? Even up to this point. Remember, we didn't get to the seal judgments yet. We didn't get to the second or third woe yet. That's next week. And then once we open up the seal judgments, and then the Armageddon and the great white throne judgment is coming later.

We're at about halfway point. And even to this point, God is restraining, right? He's restraining them. He said, "Go out, torment only for five months and not to kill them." So the angel at the end of this in verse 11, and we talked about his name, the angel of the bottomless pit is not the same one mentioned in verse one, right?

Who's given the key to the abyss. So many people believe that the angel is talking about in chapter nine, verse one, who's fallen, either Satan himself or maybe a high ranking angel that fell and is maybe an antichrist. We don't know the exact. But these angels that are talking about at verse 11, it says that they are king over them and the angel of the bottomless pit, his name in Hebrew is Abaddon.

So the Hebrew name for him is Abaddon. The Greek name is Apollonian or Apollon, right? And both names means destruction or destroyer, right? And the reason why he gives a Hebrew and a Greek for the same name is again, referencing that this judgment is going to be universal. That this is not just targeting outside the Jewish community.

That it's going to be universal, just like what we're talking about in the book of Joel. They're waiting for the day of the Lord to come thinking that all their enemy is going to be destroyed, not realizing that the judgment is going to come to the household of Israel as well, right?

So that's why there's two separate names, a Hebrew and a Greek is given for this demonic name. So again, all of this is still within God's sovereign plan. We look at the sixth trumpet. The second will, and the intensity escalates even further, right? Just as a quick review of what he said so far, in chapter 8 verse 10, "Plagues of hail, fire mixed with blood that scorched the earth, burning mountain that fell into the sea, turning into blood, leaving death in its wake." Chapter 8 verse 8, "Blazing star from heaven falling into inland waters and causing bitterness and death, darkening of the sun and the moon that plunge the world into darkness." 12, "Swarm of demonic locusts released from the abyss to torment unbelievers." And that's what we've seen up to this point.

And then finally, the sixth plague. Up to this point, the sixth plague would be the worst. He mentioned specifically 200 million demonic army is commissioned to wipe out a third of the unbelieving world. Think about the power. We don't know exactly how many, a third of the angels that were kicked out, but they have to be at least 200 million, right?

So we're talking about, again, the power of Satan himself plus all of his angels, that they're going to be out in full force, fulfilling God's ultimate purpose of judgment at the end. But even in this, even in this, we see the mercy of God because even though it's 200 million, at least that's the number that is given to us, and we don't know specifically what the significance of those numbers are, but it's a huge number.

But when the host of heaven is described, it says myriads upon myriads, right? That's the description, meaning it's countless. That as big as a number of 200 million is, he said the number of servants of God in heaven is myriads upon myriads, meaning it can't be compared. So even in the midst of all of this, we see his power and his sovereign control over all of it.

So it's not like at the very end, he's fighting against Satan and Satan is going to win. It's like, "Oh no, he looks like he's going to win." And then Jesus comes in, then he conquers them. And that is not the picture that we see in the book of Revelation.

From start to finish, God is completely sovereign. From start to finish, God is completely sovereign. Even when Satan is released, it is under his control. Verse 15 points to the exact hour, day, month, and year of that, that this God has ordained, right? The exact number of demonic force will carry out the destruction is ordained as 200 million.

And this is not just something that he was just fortune telling. It's God ordained. The specific hour, the time, or the day. Remember when they asked, "Now you're going to establish the kingdom?" And Jesus said, "You do not know the time or the hour. Only the Lord knows. Only God knows." And he says, "God has appointed a specific day, a specific hour that this is going to happen." Times and seasons and visions represent the subjection of all things to God.

So as crazy as these visions and these warnings have been up to this point, all of it point to his sovereign plan. In Acts 1-7, it says, "Jesus spoke of times and seasons which the Father has put in his own authority." At no point in any of this has God lost control.

Even Satan and his angels, they wait for that determined time for God to release them. In fire and smoke and sulfur, it says that those are the avenues, the three plagues that this demonic force is going to use. So we're looking at the end times, whenever that time may be, that it's not going to be a cakewalk.

So no wonder a lot of Christians are hoping that we would be raptured before then so we don't have to witness any of this. We don't have to participate in any of this. But again, I think, the language that I see is that we're going to be going through all of this and genuine Christians are going to be preserved through all of this, that our faith is going to strengthen us and we're going to be able to make it out of it.

But in the end, he said, it's going to be so devastating that the people who are under this attack, under this torment, is going to prefer death, but death is not going to come. And I'm not exactly sure because obviously, you know, there's a lot of ways for somebody to take their life, but whatever is happening, there is no relief.

God is not allowing them to die. But even in the midst of all of this, despite all these judgments, the survivors refuse to repent. Verse 20, "The rest of mankind who are not killed by these plagues did not repent of the works of their hands, nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk." One of the discussion questions that I asked and giving time to discuss with your small group is, what would harden somebody hard to this extent that they see a third of mankind dying and there is no question?

Remember, there's not going to be a question that's like, "Oh, I wonder if this is God or not." I wonder if this is God or not. He said it's going to be very clear that this is God's judgment. The torment is going to be God's judgment. The demonic forces are going to be as a result of God allowing this to happen.

Knowing all of that, right, knowing all of that, they say they refuse to repent, they refuse to turn their way, right? They're so committed to sin that even in the midst of their torment, he says they refuse to repent. I'm going to give you some time with your small group to discuss that, like what would cause somebody to be that hardened, that committed to their sin, right?

But in the end, even up to this point, even up to this point, God is trying to bring them to repentance. Revelation chapter 221, in one of the letters to the churches, he says, "I gave her," talking about Jezebel, that even in that context, he says, "I gave her time to repent, but she refused to repent of her sexual immorality." Like all of the judgments and warning that was given to her, he said all of it was to bring her to repentance.

And again, finally, 2 Peter 3, 4-10, and I want to read this whole section for you. Because the context in 2 Peter 3 is people asking, like you said the Lord's coming, but why isn't he coming, right? And the Christians are being mocked because he didn't come right away.

And so Peter is responding to that in chapter 3, 4-10, he says, "They will say, 'Where is the promise of his coming?'" Let me stop right there. I mean, whether that was 2,000 years ago or today, when you talk about the second coming of Christ, non-Christians will probably mock us exactly the same way, whether it's 2,000 years ago or now, "Oh, where is he coming?

Oh, Jesus is really going to come." And maybe some of us, because it's been 2,000 years, and thinking like, "Oh, it just sounds like a fairy tale. It sounds like the Avengers or some imagination of some person." And the early church was no different. Whether it didn't happen within the 10 or 20 or 30 years, it didn't happen 2,000 years, the mocking was the same.

And so he says, "Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep," meaning they died, "all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation." Stop right there, right? Isn't that the same mocking today? Isn't that the same doubting today that sometimes can even creep in on us?

And so we read all of this as if we're reading some history or some document that has nothing to do with us. And he says that that's exactly how the non-Christians of the early church, they responded. That's what unbelief looks like. "For they deliberately overlooked this fact that the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of the water and through water by the word of God and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished.

But by the same word of the heaven and earth that now exists are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly." In other words, God has an ordained time. God ordained the creation, God ordained the restoration, right? So as creation was ordained and in God's sovereign time this happened, so will the restoration in God's appointed time that this is going to happen.

"But do not overlook this one fact, that beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day." Right? So again, I mean, think about our lives. Think how long one year was when you were five years old. Seemed like forever, right?

Now a year seems like nothing. I mean, literally, it seems like nothing. So time is very relative depending on who you are, right? I mean, 10 years seemed like a long period of time. 10 years go by so quick, a decade goes by so quick. I thought my 30s went by so quick.

40s went by like a blink. And I can imagine it's going to speed up. So time is very relative. So imagine in God's perspective in eternity, he said a thousand years for God is going to be like nothing, right? We're looking at it from an infant's perspective and saying, "How come it didn't happen?" From an infant's perspective.

He said, "Do not forget who you're talking about. You're talking about an eternal God." Verse 9, "The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise." It's not because he's not answering. As some count slowness, right? Again, perspective. "But is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance." So the whole reason why we've waited or he's been waiting and maybe possibly wait further is because he's been gracious.

We're living during a period of his grace. And what we see in the book of Revelation chapter 9, and even in the midst of all of this judgment and disaster coming, he says the end goal is that those who survive will repent and come to Christ. Because there's going to come a time when that period is going to be over.

The period of grace is going to be over. And that there is no opportunity to repent. There will be no survivors. It's going to be final and complete. We're not there yet. The book of Revelation is going to get us there to the white throne judgment. We're not there yet.

But as devastating as this is, don't lose perspective, right? All of this is to bring us to repentance. Not only for those who are going to be physically experiencing this, but even us, as we are reading this, as we are being warned that this is coming, that even though we may not have physically and visually experienced all of this, the goal of all of this is the same for us, is to bring us to repentance.

Whether we repent because it happens or whether we repent because it is going to happen, if we believe that this is coming, if we believe that this is coming and we really believe it, shouldn't it change us? Shouldn't it change our perspective of time, our perspective of money, our perspective of relationship, our perspective of fun, our perspective of life?

It would. And that's exactly what Peter was trying to say in Peter's, like, they're going to come mock you because it didn't happen according to their time, right? But do not know that the whole reason why you and I are alive and Christ didn't come and we didn't die is because there's still people to be saved.

That's the whole purpose of why you and I exist today. While we didn't die and go to heaven, the minute that we got saved is because there's others that needs to come in, right? So think about how much we pray about who to marry and what job to get and what house to buy and all of these things.

Again, they're not sinful things, but how trivial they are in light of how God views time, right? He views time to give us opportunity to repent and give us opportunity to bring others to repentance, right? So let me read the discussion question just to kind of clarify. Have you ever been disciplined to bring you to repentance?

If so, when and how did that happen? Has God ever brought discipline into your life? Because clearly it says in book of Hebrews chapter 12, verse 6, God disciplines those He loves. Have you ever experienced that and has that brought you to repentance? If so, when and how did that happen?

So, it's difficult to fathom why someone would refuse to repent after seeing and experience the wrath of God as a result of their sins, but that seems to be the response at the end times. The unrepentant will still, or for the majority, they're not going to repent. What would harden people to this extent?

What is the only power given to us to bring someone to repentance according to the Bible? I think you guys probably already know the answer to that, but I'd like you to take some time to discuss and if that's the case, what should we be investing our time doing?

Number three, how can you discern if something is demonic work or not? Have you ever experienced anything that was clearly demonic? I think some people think that demonic activity only happens within the charismatic circle. Demonic activity is not limited to the charismatic churches. It just means that we're insensitive because scripture clearly says there's a spiritual battle.

So, for us to be unaware of it and not paying attention to it, it just means we become insensitive. Clearly it's happening because the scripture says it. So, the question, again, I have for you is how do you discern and is there a time when you could clearly say that this was demonic, that you identify this demonic?

Fourth, what is something specific you can engage in today to be more spiritually aware and engage in the spiritual battle that we are called to fight? Are you aware that there's a spiritual battle? Are you actively engaged in this spiritual battle? What specific things can we participate in to be more sensitive to the spiritual battle and to be actively participating in this battle?

Okay, so that's the discussion question. All right? Let me pray for us and then I'll let you guys go to your small group. Heavenly Father, we want to thank you for the sober reminder of what is to come, whether that happens within our lifetime or after we fall asleep and sometime in the future.

We know, Father God, that the end is certain and that you are a God who is completely sovereign over all things. Help us, Lord, live day to day, consistent with the faith that we confess, that we do not hold on to the gospel, we do not hold on to the hope of the cross, Lord God, like a security blanket, being satisfied that we bought a free ticket to heaven.

Help us, Lord God, truly live up to the calling that you have given us. Help us to see the world as you see it. Help us, Lord God, not to be entangled with civilian affairs, that we may please the commanding officer who has called us from this empty way of life to live a life truly worthy, Lord God, of your calling.

So I pray that in our discussion that your Holy Spirit would guide and lead us, that you would allow our hearts to be softened to hear your word. Help us, Lord God, to speak the truth in love to one another, that we may sharpen one another, how to spur one another on toward love and good deeds.

Lord, we are weak in our flesh, but we know that you are strong in the Spirit. So we pray, Father God, that your Holy Spirit would lead and guide. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.