Alright, so today's goal is threefold. We're going to be looking at chapter 1 through 11. One is to, so that at the end of the Bible study or end of the review, that you will understand the major theme of chapters 1 through 11. So that's one of our goals.

Two, that you'll have a general flow of the book. So if we say, you know, what's happening and what event takes place after what, that you understand. So in order to do that, at least have some general knowledge. You don't have to have specific knowledge of every single judgment that is mentioned in Revelation, but hopefully you'll be able to distinguish between the third trumpet and the first trumpet.

And the first seal and the last seal. At least kind of general flow. And the third goal is I want you to be specific enough. So if I said chapter 3, that you know what is contained in chapter 3. If I say chapter 11, you know what's contained in chapter 11.

So if you're able to know the major theme, know the general flow of the book and be able to say from memory what's happening in each of these books, that by the time we get to chapter 12, you'll be much better prepared. That we're going to be jumping on top of this.

But if you don't get that, you know, obviously we're going to keep adding to this the different judgments and then it's just going to, all the judgments are going to start to sound jumbled together. Okay. So let me pray for us and then we'll jump in. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this evening and allowing our church to come together and study your word.

We pray that the things that we've already studied that you bring to memory and more than just our mind, that it would convict our hearts and move us, Lord God, toward our will and our lives. So we pray Father that your word would bear fruit and what you have intended that it would happen in us.

We thank you Jesus and we pray. Amen. All right. So before we get in, I want to get into the introduction of the book like we did last time, the purpose of the revelation. Okay. He says in verse three, so what I encourage you to do, whether it's your laptop or your phone or if it's a physical Bible, to open it up to revelation because we're going to be skipping through all 11 chapters.

Okay. And at the second part of it, I'm going to ask you to put it away so hopefully you can remember it, but this part you can have it open. Okay. So the purpose of the revelation in chapter one, verse three says, "Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy and blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written in it for the time is near." So there's three things that he mentions, right?

To read it, to hear it, and then to keep it. And this is true, obviously, in everything that we study in the Bible, that we would first listen, right? That you would listen to the teaching, that you would listen to the reading, you would, you would, oh, sorry, you would read it for yourself and then you would hear the teaching.

But ultimately, what does this mean for you? God didn't reveal the revelation, book of revelations, so that you can just say, "Oh, okay, you know, this is what God says about the end times." The purpose of it is, what is the application behind this? What was God's intent? How was God trying to move the early church through this writing, right?

It wasn't simply to inform. It was to inform in order to be transformed. So where does the transformation take place in our lives, right? In 1 Thessalonians 4, 2 through 5, we are warned and encouraged and told that, "For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night while people are saying there's peace and security, then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman and they will not escape.

But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief." So the book of Revelation, who was it written for in the early church? What kind of context were they in, the early church, that received this letter? What was the political spiritual environment? There's heavy persecution, right?

We're going to talk about that in a little bit. Where are the seven churches that he writes this letter to? What does that region call? Asia Minor. So some of you guys might remember when we were studying the book of Acts, remember Apostle Paul when he was making his second missionary journey?

He comes to Asia Minor. What does God tell him not to do? The Holy Spirit tells him not to go into Asia Minor, right? And then he goes up to Bithynia, and then while he's up at Bithynia, there's a dream that tells him to come over to Philippi. And so the Holy Spirit deliberately keeps him from Asia Minor, and during that period we find out there was intense persecution happening in Asia Minor.

So it was kind of where Apostle Paul, it was not a right time for him to be in that area. So this area where the seven churches, where the revelation was written for, was undergoing intense persecution. So what effect would this have, this revelation have to these churches? Encouragement, right?

Somebody's in intense suffering, saying, "No, Jesus is coming," right? To hold on, to cause them to persevere, to give them hope that the final outcome isn't going to be their destruction. The final outcome is going to be victory in Christ, even unto death. Even if you die, Christ is going to be victorious.

And then there's parts of it where it says they're crying out to God, right? There's martyrs who are crying out to God, and God says He will not delay. So those who are the ones who are persecuting and causing harm, that God's going to take vengeance on them as well.

So he's writing this letter as a source of encouragement, perseverance, to strengthen them, empower them, give them hope. So there's a very practical application to everything that he's saying. He's not simply tickling the church's ears. You know, I know some of you guys are really curious what's going to happen at the end, so let me just give you a hint of what's going to happen.

Obviously there is that effect on us, but there's a very practical effect on the church, right? To keep them sober, to persevere, even unto death, for them basically not to quit, right? So having said that, even though we may not be experiencing intense persecution as Christians, at least in this period, it is meant to sober us, to let us know that this is not just some statement of theology, that this is what is going to happen.

And so if we believe this, how does it affect the Christian? Knowing that the world is going to come to an end at some point, right? Knowing that judgment is coming. How does that cause us to live, right? And then I think one of the questions that I asked you in the beginning was, if you knew that Christ was going to come, you know, soon, tomorrow, next month, or next year, what is the first thing that you would do?

And I think universally, everybody said, we think about who to share the gospel with, try to save as many people as we can. And I think that's the effect that it ought to have on us when we consider and think about the end times. It gives us hope to persevere.

It gives us courage to live a life worthy of the gospel. And then it gives us a sense of urgency to preach the gospel, right? So the goal of our study, again, as an introduction, is to read, to hear, and to keep, right? And that's no different for us.

And again, in Revelation 16, 15, it says the same thing. "Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays away, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed." In other words, it's a challenge for the church to stay awake, right?

Not to be caught off guard when he comes. Like, oh my gosh, I wasn't thinking about his coming at all. And all of a sudden, he comes. And everything that we're pursuing, right, was for nothing. So don't live as if we're part of the world, right? This is really important.

I mentioned this before. And if you've never heard this before, it's probably, I'm assuming a lot of it went over your head. But whatever commentaries, maybe some of you guys have studied Bibles. Maybe you have a Reformation study Bible or John MacArthur study Bible. Whatever study Bible you have, they have a bent toward how they interpret the book of Revelation, right?

And there's four major bents that we cover, right? One is called the predatorist contemporary historical approach. Basically this approach, again, we went over this before. This is just for review. Predatorist approach basically is they believe that all that is prophesied in the book of Revelation was fulfilled in the first century, right?

They believe that everything happened already. So we're looking at past history. And so when they study the book of Revelation, they're going to find an anti-Christ is Nero, right? Or Israel is the church. Or they'll try to find a first century application for all of it. And so what we get out of it is principles, right?

Just like we studied the Old Testament, what happened to the nation of Israel, they didn't obey God and then they went into captivity. So that's how they study the book of Revelation. These are the past events. That's not our approach, obviously. Hopefully you've caught that. But that's the first approach.

The second approach is a historical approach. The historical approach in comparison to the predatorist, the difference is the predatorist believe that everything happened in the first century. The historical approach is that things have been unraveling throughout history. So instead of saying Nero is the anti-Christ, they may say some world leader is an anti-Christ.

Meaning maybe there was a period when the Catholic church was really corrupt and the Pope was the anti-Christ. Or maybe Hitler was the anti-Christ. So the application, so the historical view and the predatorist view is similar, except the predatorists find the application all in the first century. Where the historical view will find that it's unraveling throughout history.

So I remember a long time ago, people who didn't like Ronald Reagan, they were trying to put his number together and say his number somehow, his name somehow spelled out the number 666 and there was a bunch of people going around saying he's anti-Christ or whatever. They just didn't like his politics.

So those are the historical views. Whenever you see people saying that that's anti-Christ, this is anti-Christ, historically, throughout history. Okay, and obviously that's not our approach. Our approach is a futurist. Okay, not completely, but futurist. Futurist basically is that, I think I shared with you, whenever you study prophecy, there's three applications.

First application is the historical setting. So when John is writing or this letter is being written to the seven churches, there are actual seven churches. There is a church of Ephesus, there's church of Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Laodicea, all these churches actually exist. And so the problem that he is addressing is an actual problem that he's addressing at that time.

So there's, and same thing with Isaiah, when Isaiah prophesies about the Babylonians and coming and taking them to captivity, there is a historical application to what he's saying. He's saying things that apply to them. And then the second application is when Christ comes, he fulfills, again, the second portion of that, because Christ comes and he fulfills the prophecies partially, not completely.

So just like our salvation, we are saved, but we are being saved. We're not completely saved yet. We're not glorified yet. So we're in that process. So Christ begins the end times. We're in the last days. So Christ started it, but the ultimate fulfillment is at the very end, when Christ comes at the very end, in the day of the Lord.

So there's three applications. There's this historical event that's taking place, there is a fulfillment in Christ, and then there is the future when he comes a second time. And so that's when we talk about the end times. So the whole period from Christ to the end is considered generally the end times.

But specific application of the end times that we're talking about is the very end, talking about the tribulation during the time of millennium, the right throne judgment at the very end. So we believe that, again, the way that we're interpreting this is that there's a future event that's going to take place with the tribulation and the rapture and the millennium.

And so that's basically what the, not completely futurist, but that's probably the closest thing that will, you know, the things that at least I've been talking about related to this. And then you have the idealist approach. Idealist approach basically is none of this is meant to be interpreted literally.

It's just ideological. So you're supposed to allegorize everything. There's no historical application. There's no actual interpreting of this. So, you know, a thousand represents something, you know, 144,000 represents something else. So they're always looking for hidden meaning, right? They're looking for allegorical, right? So these are the four major approaches.

The reason why it's important for you to know this is because if you study the book of Revelation, no matter who you're studying, they're going to have one of these bents, right? So if you read a passage and say, "Hey, we studied this, but then this commentary says this," it's because they're bent on one of these things, okay?

Obviously we're going through the... I don't know if you can see this. Okay. Can you see the letters? Yes? All right, let me tell you what it is. It says, "Post-tribulational premillennialism." Can you read that? You can't read it? You can read it. How come she's sitting way back there, she can read it?

Huh? Oh, you can't see the smaller stuff. I can't see that either. Yeah, that's actually blurred. So all I want you to do is pay attention to the big picture. The post-trib, tribulational premillennialism, this is the timeline that I think I lean toward. And so as I'm studying it, and that's kind of like what I'm kind of suggesting to you because this is what I see.

So millennium, we're going to get to that in Revelation chapter 21, where all of this stuff that we're talking about, when all the judgments, when the seal judgment, the trumpet judgment, the bowl judgment ends, at the end, there's a rapture, there is a Armageddon that takes place right here, and then we all enter the thousand-year reign of Christ.

Right? Now, whether that's going to be a literal thousand years or not, but where Christ comes and He establishes His earthly kingdom through the nation of Israel for a thousand years. Again, whether it's literal thousand years, I'm not sure. But at the end of it, there's a white throne judgment, great white throne judgment, where all the world will have final judgment, the final judgment, and then we enter into eternity.

So that's the timeline of the end times. Now I'm not going to go through all of it, but pre-tribulational dispensation, pre-millennialism is basically Christ is going to come here, we get raptured here, the church is saved from this, all this, you know, the judgments that we've been talking about, the church has already been delivered, and then afterwards they come back down and then enter the millennium.

So this part is the same as up here. Okay? So the only difference between these two is when does Christ come? Does He come in the beginning of the tribulation or at the end of the tribulation? And then post-millennialism, again, I'm not going to get too much into that.

Post-millennialism and amillennialism is, I'm not going to get too much into that, but basically when we go back to the first couple approaches. So I just wanted to show you the first two. So this is the timeline that we're going off of. All right. So just keep that in mind.

So what are the four different approaches? I want to see your lips moving so I can see at least a portion of you. Got it. What's the first view? Preterist. And what does a preterist believe? First century. It was fulfilled in the first century. What's the second view? Historical.

And what do they believe? Fulfilled throughout history, and it's not limited to first century. And what's the third view? Futurist view. That there is going to be a future time when this is going to be fulfilled. And then what is the last one? Ideological view, or you can call it an allegorical view where everything is symbolic of something.

All right. So from here, what I'm going to do is on your paper, I just left blank chapter 1 through 11. So what I want you to do is as we're going over it, as we're reviewing it, just fill in the blanks there. Just take the notes that you want to take.

So later on, what I'm going to do is I'm going to say chapter 2. So our goal is so that you wouldn't have to look at it, that you would say, oh, chapter 2, this was going on. So chapter 1, just looking at the picture, just from memory, what do you remember about chapter 1?

Obviously, it's the introduction. That description, a student right there, that's basically what happens, right? So the book begins by introducing Christ, right? John is the first vision that he sees is a vision of who Christ is. He's the Alpha and Omega. He has the sword of the mouth and flaming eyes, and he's standing between the seven lampstand.

And so John gets a glimpse of the glory of Jesus, and he falls down, kind of like Ezekiel and Isaiah. And that's the beginning. So Christ himself reveals himself. Okay, so in chapter 1, Christ is shown. Who are the seven lampstands? Seven churches. So Jesus is described as standing in the midst of the seven lampstands.

So what does that imagery teach us? I think I was talking to somebody else before, but like Book of Revelation is, studying Book of Revelation is like studying painting, right? We don't analyze like every single word of what it means. It's kind of, we're shown a picture, and basically from that picture, we're supposed to understand what is the intent, right?

So one of the pictures that we see is we see a vision of Christ, and every character that is mentioned about Christ, where does this come back out? Do you guys remember? It's related to the seven churches. Do you remember? Every one of these seven churches, there's a Jesus's description that we see in chapter 1.

It says, "The one who stands in the middle of the seven lampstands." You know, he has something against you, or he has something to say to you. So every one of these characteristics is related to something related to the churches that he's going to be mentioning. So when he says that Jesus is standing in the midst of the seven churches, seven lampstands, what does that imagery teach us?

He has very intimate knowledge of these seven churches, that he's not far away from these churches making observations through a microscope or from a distance. Jesus is in the midst of them, so he knows them very well. And we're going to see that as he describes the seven churches, right?

He's in the midst. So chapter 1, basically introduction of Christ, introduction of him as the Alpha and Omega over the seven churches. Chapter 2 and 3 is a description and rebuke and encouragement of the seven churches. So the seven churches, if you can see behind me, there's Ephesus, Myrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.

Now I'm going to ask you is to see how much you remember. Which of the two churches that Jesus talks to that isn't rebuked? Philadelphia is one of them. Smyrna. Okay. So remember, Philadelphia and Smyrna are the only two churches where there isn't any specific rebuke, just encouragement. Just for your memory, the first church is what?

Ephesus. Last church is Laodicea. So the two churches that aren't rebuked are the ones that are attached to these churches. So Ephesus in the beginning, so you have Ephesus and Smyrna in the beginning. And then at the end, Laodicea and Philadelphia. So that already takes care of four, right?

Which church do you think has the greatest rebuke? Okay, let me put it this way. Which church has no encouragement at all? No exhortation? Laodicea. Laodicea. There's nothing good that's pointed out about this church at all. So we could say that the severest rebuke was for the last church.

And what was their primary problem? Lukewarm. Lukewarm, right? So other churches, there's the sin of Nicolation, sin of Balaam, the sin of Jezebel. So there are very specific sins mentioned, but the Laodicean church, which has no commendation for them, and the only sin that is pointed out is they're self-sufficient.

They're lukewarm, right? Their churches, they're worshiping God, but they don't really need Him. And that was the greatest rebuke. So I'm not going to go through all of them, but if you look at Ephesus, okay? Look at Ephesus, Revelation chapter 2, verse 1. To the angel of the church in Ephesus, the words of him who holds the seven stars in the right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands.

So the very first letter is described as one who holds the stars and he walks among the seven golden lampstands. So he's basically saying that there are certain things that may appear on the outside, but in reality, that's not true. So Church of Ephesus on the outside looks like a very strong church.

It has all the right doctrines and tests the apostles to see if they were true. They have all the things that you need on the surface, but Jesus walks among the lampstands and he knows exactly where they are. He knows behind the scenes. And he says, "I have this one thing against you, and that you have forsaken your first love." And this sin was severe enough, he says, "If you don't restore your first love, what does he say is going to happen?" He's going to take away your lampstand, right?

Meaning the church is no longer going to be a church. You can gather together, you can sing the songs, right? You can have all this stuff, but the Spirit of God is going to be withdrawn, right? So how important is it that our first love is something that we fight for, right?

So he intimately has knowledge of these things. So then I think another church that he points out, Church of Sardis, he said, "You have the reputation of being alive, but you are actually dead," right? He said, "You have an appearance, everybody looks at you and you say, 'Wow, that's a living church,' but in reality, spiritually they're dead." So in other words, Christ is in the midst of them and you can't fool him, right?

And so all of this is basically a setup of the judgment that's coming. So the historical application of all of this obviously is to specific churches. And then he's preparing them for the judgment that's going to come, okay? So when we get to the... Before we get to the judgments, right, what happens in chapter 4?

Okay, look at your Bibles. I want you guys to fill in the blanks as we're going, okay? What happens? John is taken up to heaven. He gets a glimpse of... What does he get a glimpse of? The throne of God, right? So he's preparing them for the judgment that's coming, at least the vision of the judgment coming.

And before he shows them the judgment, the utter chaos that's about to be unleashed, every single one of these seals, every single one of these trumpets, and then ultimately the bowl judgments are going to create a stir, right? We're reading this 2,000 years removed and we read it, it's very disturbing, right?

A third of the earth being wiped out, a fourth of the people that... They're going to be tortured, they're going to be begging to die and they can't die and they're being tormented. And we're only halfway through. The real severe stuff is coming at the second part. So imagine if you were in first century, you're reading this or you're getting this or you get a vision of this, how that would make you feel, right?

Anxious, fearful, right? Maybe terrified if this is actually going to happen, right? Terror may come. So before he reveals to them what is about to happen, what does he show? The throne of God, right? God's throne. He shows them the throne of God where God is in perfect control.

Where when he sees behind the scene where all of this is going to unravel because of God, God is sitting on his throne and they are worshiping him. And so that's something that I want you guys to notice that throughout these judgments, in between, whenever there's a break, God shows John a vision of the throne, right?

And when he sees the vision of the throne, what is happening? Same thing, same thing that he sees in chapter four, you're going to see later on in chapter like nine and all you will see it in chapter 11 where God is sitting on his throne and they are worshiping him.

The world is falling apart, right? There's earthquakes, there's famine. You have the red horse, the white horse, the pale horse, the black horse. They're all coming out bringing judgment upon mankind, right? Plagues, there's wars. All this is unraveling and John sees a glimpse of heaven and he's sitting on his throne and the elders and the creatures and the angels are all bowing down in worship, right?

So no matter how chaotic this world gets, God is still sovereign. He's still sitting on his throne. So that's the vision that he shows John. Before he begins to show the judgments coming one by one, right? So that's chapter four. Chapter five, it begins by in the scene of heaven where the elders and they're all crying, right?

Because and why are they crying? There's no one worthy to open the seal, right? And then they say, well, the Lion of Judah is going to come. He is worthy. And then when they turn around, what do they see? A lamb, right? As if he was slain. So obviously that is a picture of Christ and what he came to do, right?

The Lion of Judah who humbled himself, took on human form, right? And he became humble and you see Christ and the picture of Christ. And then so if you see at the end of chapter four, heaven breaks out in worship for God. And then at the end of chapter five, we see a vision of Christ as a lamb.

And then how does that chapter five end? Look at chapter five. Don't look up here. Okay, look at your Bible. How does chapter five end? Worship of the lamb, right? Yeah, I want you guys to, this is review for you. Okay? So chapter four, so before he goes into the judgments where the seals are beginning to open and then the judgment comes, he sees, he shows John a vision of heaven where they're all bowed down to worshiping God.

And then they turn it around and say, well, how is this going to be fulfilled? And then he sees the Lion of Judah who come in the form of the lamb, right? And obviously clearly he's going to be sacrificed for the sins of mankind. And then chapter five ends with praise and adoration of the lamb.

So before the judgment begins, there's scenes of worship, right? Two separate scenes of worship, the father and the son being worshiped. Okay, so remember that. So chapter one, introduction of Christ and the church. Chapter two and three is the seven churches, right? Seven churches. So remember the seven churches.

The first one is Ephesus. The last one is Laodicea. And the two churches that doesn't get rebuked, Myrna, Philadelphia, and then, so we're only missing three. So what are the other three? Say it out loud. What's after? Pergamum, Thyatira, and Sardis. Okay, those are the three. Okay, so if you remember the four easily, maybe the three will come better for you.

Okay? So that's chapter two and three. Chapter four, what happens? Door gets open to heaven, and what does he see? The throne of God, the 24 elders and the creatures bowing down and worshiping him. And then we get to chapter five, father gets worshipped, lamb of God, right? The lamb of God comes, and then chapter five ends with the worship of the lamb.

Okay? So you got that basic outline of five chapters of Revelation up to this point. So we get to chapter six. Yeah, that's not a pepperoni pizza. That's a seal. Okay? I tried to find one that didn't look like a, you know, pizza, but then this one I showed the best illustration.

You have the six seals and then ones on the bottom, the seventh seal. And I think you know why. Okay? So in the sixth seal, he opens up, the lamb opens up the first seal. Remember the, okay, let me mention this before I move on to the seals. Remember I told you, you had the seven seals, seven trumpets, and then you have the seven bowls, right?

Judgment. And there is a discussion as to whether these seven are supposed to be like linear, meaning that you have seven and then when seven closes, then another seven opens up. And then when that closes, another seven opens up. So that's one theory, right? But up to this point, remember what happens when you break the seventh seal?

It doesn't really explain anything. When the seventh seal is broken, what happens? Trumpet opens up, right? The trumpet opens up. And then when you get to the sixth trumpet, right? And then you get to the seventh, there's a, before the sixth and seventh, there's a long break of all of this happens.

When seventh seal gets, seventh trumpet blows, and then the bowl opens up, right? So this is the depiction, the illustration you see behind me is what I think is happening, where you have the seven. So the whole thing is happening in seven years, but at the end of seventh, on the seventh, the very last seal judgment, when that gets broken, it opens up the seventh trumpet.

And then at the seventh of the seventh trumpet, it opens up the seal, but it's all taking place. And what's happening is the very last seventh year, right before the Armageddon, it's going to be so intense, right? So you kind of starts out slowly. And then remember, we get to the half year mark, and that's when it gets really intense, right?

And we've only gone halfway. The real intense stuff is going to happen with the bowl judgments. And when the bowl judgments begin to open up, it's going to happen rapid fire. It's not once a year or once every few months, it's just coming boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, right?

It's kind of like fireworks. You know, you begin slow with one or two cracking every once in a while, then you get to the end and it's more rapid. And then the finale at the very end is boom, boom, boom, boom. So I think that that's what's happening, that these seven judgments are happening in seven years.

The intense stuff is happening in the three and a half second part. And then the real intense stuff is at the very tail end. Oh, sorry. Before we move on. Okay. All right. I can't mix up the order. Okay. So I'm going to go ahead and move on. I'm going to go ahead and move on.

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I'm going to go ahead and move on. I'm going to go ahead and move on. I'm going to go ahead and move on. I'm going to go ahead and move on. I'm going to go ahead and move on. I'm going to go ahead and move on. I'm going to go ahead and move on.

I'm going to go ahead and move on. I'm going to go ahead and move on. I'm going to go ahead and move on. I'm going to go ahead and move on. I'm going to go ahead and move on. I'm going to go ahead and move on. This is part of the reason why I believe that I believe the post trip theory because it doesn't seem like the church is going to be completely preserved from this.

The church is going to go through this and the intense suffering is in that's what the book of Revelation is written for is for the church to prepare. And then the sixth seal, what happens? A huge earthquake hits, right? So all the seals, so let's go, let's review the seals.

Okay. First one is the white horse and he brings conflict, right? To conquer, to conquer. The red horse, right? He'll withdraw the peace from the world. So there's going to be infighting. Third horse, it's going to be famine, right? He comes out with a scale. Fourth horse, the pale one, right?

He's going to bring death. And then the fifth one, the martyrs, right? On the altar crying out. And then the sixth one, earthquake. Okay. All right. So let's stop right there. This takes us all the way up to chapter six, right? Chapter one, introduction of Christ and the church.

Chapter two and three, okay, churches. All right. So seven churches. Let's see if you can remember. Ephesus. Ephesus is the church that lost their first love, right? Smyrna, the church that is not rebuked. Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea. Two churches that aren't rebuked is Philadelphia and Smyrna. One church that there is no commendation, Laodicea.

Okay? All right. And then chapter four. Remember, before the seal judgments happened, chapter four and five, right? They open the door, show him the throne of God. And when he sees the throne of God, what do they see? Right? The 24 elders and the creatures and the angels are all bowing down and worshiping him, right?

And then after that scene, we get to chapter five. What do they see? Right. The son, the father, and then the son in chapter five, right? The Lion of Judah come as a slain lamb. And then chapter five ends with worship, right? Worship of the father, chapter four, worship of the son in chapter five.

And then chapter six opens up the six seals. First seal, white horse, right? Mourning to conquer, red horse. Withdrawal of peace, black horse. Your murmuring is getting smaller and smaller. Famine with a scale, right? The pale horse, death. And then the fifth seal? Okay, martyrs crying out. Then sixth seal?

It's an earthquake. All right. So you got six chapters of outline in your head, hopefully, if you were a part of the people who are murmuring, okay? And then those who are keeping silent, maybe you don't know yet, okay? All right. So what happens after this? Chapter seven, remember chapter seven?

Right? We'd had six seals. And then what does that lead us to? 144,000 that's being sealed, right? These are the, again, we don't know, is that an actual number or is it symbolic? We don't know that for sure, but it seems like there's 144,000 and it mentions all the tribes of Israel that it may be referring to the nation of Israel being restored, right?

And then after that comes what? After the 144,000 are sealed, what do they see after that? All the other nations standing behind them, right? Yes? Okay. And then they also break out in worship, right? Before we transition into the seventh seal. Okay. So you got to solve to chapter six, you have the six seals and then chapter seven between six and seven seal, there is 144,000 that is sealed.

And then the great nations, the multitude, it seems like the Gentile world is also behind them worshiping. Okay. So you have up to chapter seven. Chapter eight opens up the trumpets, right? Let's see how much of the trumpets you remember. So the first angel blows a trumpet, what comes?

Right. Hail and fire. And what I want you to pay attention in the trumpets is if you look at the seal, right, all this disaster is coming upon the earth, right? And the trumpets coming, half of the trumpet is still natural disaster. And then when the woes come, remember the three woes at the end, right?

The fifth, sixth and seventh trumpet, the woes are targeted toward people, right? So up to this point, every disaster that came, God is still waiting for people to repent. He's giving them a last chance opportunity in the midst of all of this persecution, not persecution, but disasters that they would come.

But what was the response of the people when all of this is happening? They're still clinging to their idols. They said they refused, even after all of this, they still refuse to repent. So up to this point, God is still being patient with them. So the first seal or first trumpet comes, hail and fire comes, right?

And a third of the earth is burned up, right? So the first trumpet comes and the earth is burned up. The second trumpet blows, what happens? Mountain, it kind of, at least it sounds like a volcano, right? The mountain is burning up and then it's going into what? And a third of what dies?

Sea, right? The fish and creatures in the sea die. That's the second. The second is the earth being burned up, right? Second is the sea, third of the sea dying. And then a third trumpet blows, what happens? Star falls from the sky, right? So first is the earth, hail and storm.

The earth is burned up, a third of the earth. Second is mountains are on fire and a third of the ocean, right? Third of the creatures in the sea. And then the third trumpet blows, a star falls from the sky, a third of the rivers and the spring waters, right?

And this is where the word wormwood comes in, remember we talked about that, right? And third of the waters become wormwood and it seems like it's being poisoned. So maybe it's a nuclear fallout, we don't know what it is, but a third, a star falls from the sky and it reaches and it ruins all the still waters.

Third trumpet blows and what happens? He said that the third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, the third of the stars so that the third of their light might be darkened and a third of the day might be kept shining and likewise a third of the night.

So it seems like there's some sort of a cloud, a dark cloud that's hovering, right? Maybe it's a nuclear fallout, maybe it's as a result of the fallout this is happening, right? It's not obvious, but if you look at it, it's third, third of the earth, third of the ocean, third of the rivers, right?

And a third of the sun, the moon and all of this gets darkened, right? So the trumpet is basically wiping out a third of the world. And then in verse 13 it says, "Then I looked and I heard an eagle crying a loud voice and it flew directly overhead, 'Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth.'" So basically up to this point, right, it was disastrous, but the real intense stuff is coming, the "woe, woe, woe." So "woe, woe, woe" is referring to what?

Fifth, sixth and seventh trumpet, right? So the real heavy stuff is coming. So chapter 9 begins with the fifth trumpet. So what happens with the fifth trumpet? Right, a star falls from heaven, right, to earth and that star doesn't seem like the star that we're thinking about. It seems like it's some kind of a being, right?

Remember we studied that? It doesn't, because the way it's described is the star is given a key to the bottomless pit. So it seems like a fallen angel. So who would that be, right? Like an educated guess, we talked about this, that possibly this is Satan, right, talked about in Isaiah, that Satan falls and he's not given keys to the bottomless pit, meaning that he's the ruler.

He's being allowed, right, to take the powers and again, God is allowing him to bring judgment upon mankind. So that's the fifth angel. So from now on, we see demonic presence, right? There's a direct demonic presence. So up to this point, God's bringing judgment, but his angels are bringing judgment and he's restraining them to a certain degree because he wants them to repent, even in the midst of all of this disaster.

But once the demons are released, what happens? There's no restraint in demons, right? Once they come out, they're to destroy and destroy only. They don't want to see people repent, right? And that's the "whoa, whoa, whoa" he's talking about. Okay? So the fifth trumpet blows, angel falls, and he's given keys to the bottomless pit.

And again, and then he begins to bring disaster. And so when he's given the key, what happens? Army of locusts, right? Verse three. The army of locusts come out, then they come to completely devour. They come devour everything except for those who have the seal of God on their forehead, verse four.

And that's the fifth seal. And then it said, this first "whoa" is so intense, in verse six it says, "And in those days people will seek death and will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee them." That's how intense, that's the first "whoa." Okay?

So just to kind of recap, the first trumpet, hail and storm, third of the earth is burned. Second trumpet, mountain is burning, third of the ocean, right? Third trumpet, star falls, third of the rivers, right? Fourth trumpet, right, third of the moon, third of the stars, the clouds are going to cover all of it, it's going to be dark, right?

And then the "whoa, whoa, whoa." The fifth trumpet blows, star falls from the sky, right? A fallen angel, possibly Satan, he releases demonic powers, and these demonic powers are represented in these locusts that are coming and devouring, and this devouring is so intense, right, that people want to die but they can't.

That's how intense the first "whoa" is. That's the fifth. So the sixth trumpet in verse 11, right, what happens? The four horns of the golden altar before God saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet released the four angels who are bound at the great river of Euphrates.

So these four angels who are holding back, they're released, and then plague comes in verse 18. And it says, "A third of mankind is killed." So this sixth trumpet that blows, the angels releases whatever restraining power there was and then plague comes upon them and a third of mankind is wiped out, right?

So this judgment is increasing, right, exponentially with each of these judgments. And then in verse 20, it says, "The rest of mankind who are not killed by these plagues did not repent of the works of their hands, nor give up worshipping demons and idols of gold and silver, bronze and stone, and wood and cannot see or hear or walk, nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality of their thefts." Even after all of this, God is waiting for them to repent and they're not repenting, even after all of this.

And then for chapter 10, sorry, that was chapter 9, the first of the woes. In chapter 10, remember this? An angel comes and he has one foot on land and one foot in the ocean, describing the power of this angel, that it is a big, powerful angel that comes.

And he's holding a tiny scroll, right? And in this scroll, is it open or closed? Look at the picture. It's open scroll, right? It's not closed, it's open. And then what is John told to do with the scroll? To eat it, right? To eat it. And then he says, how is him eating going to, how is it described?

It is, right, as sweet as honey in the mouth, but bitter in the stomach. So it doesn't say, but why do we say we think that is? Possibly, remember he says that he's, God promised he's no longer going to delay. And what does it mean that God is going to come, he's no longer going to delay in coming.

So when he no longer delays, his second coming is bittersweet. It's sweet for those Christians who've been eagerly waiting and living soberly, and it's bitter for those who do not know Christ. Because with the coming of Christ, there's going to come judgment, right? And that's true of any revival, right?

When God's presence comes, typically we think when God's, you know, revival comes, that everybody's just going to feel happy and close to God. Revival doesn't come in the midst of unrepentant sinners. Revival comes because he comes to cause the church to repent and be purified. So when he comes, it's bittersweet, right?

It's sweet because Christ is here. It's bitter because he comes to cause people to repent. So the word of God is always sweet and bitter, like the gospel comes and he brings condemnation, right? But along with condemnation, he promises restoration, right? So we look at the book of Revelation, all this judgment is coming, but the end result of all of this is God's fulfillment of his promise of salvation, right?

I mean, we would like to skip through all of this and just get to heaven, right? But the process that God's going to take us through to get us to heaven is all of this, right? So again, it doesn't spell that out, but the word of God is always sweet and bitter, right?

It's sweet because it's from God. It's bitter because he's like a surgeon. He's going to come and convict us of our sins, right? So that's chapter 10. Then what happens in chapter 11, the last chapter? It begins with the measuring of the temple, right? He measures the temple, but God tells him, "Measure everything," but what he tells it not to measure?

The outer quarter, the Gentiles, right? And remember, what did that signify? Why do you take measurements in your house? Probably for renovation, for restoration, right? And that's exactly what God is promising, that his presence is going to be restored among his people, but he says, "Do not measure the outside," meaning he's talking about fake Christians, right?

Fake worshipers. He's going to prune the church. He's going to allow deception to come in, and he's going to prune, and he's going to bring judgment upon people who are just kind of hanging on who aren't real, right? So it's recognition of God's restoration, but also with restoration is going to come judgment inside the church, right?

The second part is the two witnesses, right? And these are powerful witnesses, and what were they wearing? Sackcloth. And what do the sackcloth represent? Preaching and repentance. So the imagery that we see of these two witnesses is kind of like John the Baptist, and his message was, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." So it seems like these two witnesses are coming, and they're preaching message of repentance.

He's basically kind of like functioning as John the Baptist, preparing for the coming of Christ. So how was their message received? Remember? Was there a revival that broke out? What happened? They hated them, right? They hated them so much that when the beast from the abyss comes up, and he overpowers them and kills them, what do they do?

They leave him out in the great city of Jerusalem, and they don't bury him. They basically mock him, and they celebrate his death, right? Then after three and a half days, they rise back up, and they go to heaven. Now we don't know the identity of these two. You know, some say Elijah and Moses, or maybe Enoch and Elijah.

We don't know for sure, but it seems like the message is pretty clear. God is sending his messengers and proclaiming judgment and repentance, and to the very end, the world is holding on, and they're not repenting. Okay? All right, let's review real quick. Okay, let's see. If you followed me up to this point, and you remember this, this is huge, okay, because so few Christians know what is contained in this book.

The fact that even if you can say chapter seven, and you know what's in chapter seven, right, you're already a student, all right? So hopefully, by the end of tonight, you'll be able to do that, okay? You'll know the flow of the book, at least halfway through it. All right, so you can kind of look through your notes for now, and then I'm going to test you without it afterwards.

So chapter one, just yell it out. This is a group project now. Chapter one, introduction. Okay, Jesus, right? Introduction to the description of Christ. Chapter two and three, seven churches, right? So the seven churches, let's see if we can get it in order. Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and the Odyssea.

Okay, good. Chapter four, he's taken up in spirit, and he's shown the throne of God, and the angels, the creatures, the elders are all worshiping, right? And they turn around in chapter five, they're all crying because no one was worthy to open up the seal, and he says, "The Lion of Judah is worthy.

He's coming." They turn around, what do they see? Lamb, okay? And then chapter five ends with worship of the Lamb. So worship of God, chapter four, worship of the Lamb in chapter five. Chapter six, seals, right? The seal judgments open up. So the four... No, I won't say it.

So when the seal judgment opens up, what's the first seal? White horse, conquering, red horse. Okay, I'm going to turn this off. Takes away the peace. Black, okay, has a scale. Okay, famine. And then the pale. Death, right? And then the fifth seal, the martyrs crying out under the altar.

Sixth seal, earthquake, okay? And then chapter seven, remember it's connected to the seal. 144,000 sealed. And after that, right, the Gentile nations behind them, right? And they break out again, it's a scene of worship. Chapter eight, the trumpet judgments open up. So trumpet judgments, what's the first one? Hell and fire, third of the earth is burned.

Second trumpet. Mountains on fire, third of the ocean. Third trumpet. Okay, falling star, a third of the rivers, right? Is wiped out. Fourth trumpet. Sun, moon, stars, like they smoked, blocks out a third, okay? And then the three, next judgment is called three woes. Whoa, whoa, whoa, right? You have three woes.

And the first woe, okay, a fallen star, seems like it's not the physical star but some sort of an angelic being that falls. He gets the key to the, right, he gets a key to the bottomless pit and he opens up and he brings out an army of soldiers, locusts, right?

And what do they do? Right, they're torturing and tormenting, right? And then they want to die but they can't, that's how severe it is, right? So sixth seal. Okay, sixth seal comes, okay, sorry, that's chapter, we're already in chapter nine, the woes are chapter nine, right? So the sixth seal comes, third of mankind, right?

There's pestilence, disease come, a third of mankind is wiped out, right? Chapter 10, big angel, right? The big angel, what does he have? Okay, he has a tiny scroll and John, okay, he's supposed to eat it, right? It's sweet in the mouth, bitter in the stomach. Chapter 11, measuring of the temple, right?

So measure the outer court and then the two witnesses, right? Two witnesses and then they're very powerful, anybody who comes against them, they're able to kill, they have the authority to kill with fire, right, from their mouth and then they're hated and then the beast, that's the first time we see the beast coming out.

Is the beast Satan? No, right? He's not Satan, so possibly he's the Antichrist because he's feeding off of Satan, later on he'll come back out, right? And then they come back to life and then they're up in heaven.