It's lovely to have you all here
again. It's lovely to have Alan and Christine with us and we
appreciate your labours in preparing these messages for us and we
We do pray your blessing, our Lord's blessing on your studies
and our time together that he might be merciful to us. One
of the wonderful things about the book of Revelation is that
we have without any question a book that says God wins. The Lord Jesus Christ reigns
and he wins. I love how Micah 18 describes
The question isn't who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth
iniquity, that passes by the transgression of the remnant
of his heritage. He retaineth not his anger for
ever, because he delighteth in mercy. Colin's going to pray
for us, and then we're going to sing number How about we sing
and then you pray, Col? Is that okay? We're going to
sing, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty. Early in the morning
our song shall rise to thee. Holy, holy, holy, merciful and
mighty. God in three persons, blessed
Trinity. Holy, holy, holy. Holy, holy, holy, holy saints
above. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. Holy, God of sinners, Lord God
Almighty. Holy, Lord God Almighty. Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty
All thy works shall praise thy name In heaven and sky and sea
Holy, holy, holy Father, I just want to thank
you for the sign that we can share together around your word.
I'm eagerly await what you have to say to us. In the name of
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, this is mine. I pray, Father, for all who are
out there, that you would use him lightly and speak to us. In Jesus' name, Amen. Just a moment to set everything
in place. And the time, the important,
I must keep a check on the time. Because it's easy to become very
excited with this. It's easy to get on a track and
not realize, was it Owen was telling me on, Wednesday that
when he first heard Henry Mahan he said to his wife when he'd
finished he said gosh that was over quick and she said that
was over an hour He said it didn't seem like an hour. Well, I hope
it's like that. I hope it is Anyway, just to remind you the
message of the book of Revelation is behold he cometh. It's there
in chapter 1 and Behold, he cometh. Our Lord Jesus Christ is coming
again. This world that seems so permanent
to everybody in it, this world is coming to an end. And Christ
is coming again. And where we're headed is for
eternal glory, for the Kingdom of Heaven. God's Kingdom is going
to triumph, and His people are going to be with Him, in glory,
in Heaven. This is the end of your faith,
the salvation of your souls. This is what it is. You see,
people say, well, where is his coming? Where is the promise
of his coming? As Peter said, he said, people
say, where is the promise of his coming? And then he says,
God is not slack concerning his promise. He isn't. He's, what
is he? He's long-suffering, not willing
that any should perish. What does he mean? Any in the,
no, he means any of his elect. He's not willing that any of
his elect should perish, but that all his elect should come
to repentance. That's what this time is for,
for his people to come to a knowledge of the truth. And it says also,
where Peter says those things, it's like the days of the flood.
In the days of the flood, they were saying, nothing's going
to happen, there's this guy in Noah, he's building this ark,
I don't know why he's doing that, we're miles from the sea, he's
preaching this message of righteousness, nothing's going to happen, and
they were going on, marrying and giving him marriage, Our
Lord Jesus Christ said, just as it was in the days of Noah
when everybody is thinking that nothing is going to change, then
he comes as a thief in the night. Our Lord Jesus Christ is coming.
So what are we waiting for now? Firstly, for God's plan to be
fully and finally implemented because God has a plan the plan
is the overthrow of the kingdom of Satan the plan is the triumph
of the kingdom of God the establishment of the justice of God so we're
waiting for all of the aspects of God's plan to be fully implemented
and all of God's servants, all of God's elect servants chosen
in Christ before the foundation of the world to be, as it says
in Revelation chapter 7 and verse 3, it says, touch not the earth,
don't let the judgment, the final judgment come out until we have
sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. There's a
fixed number of them. It's an innumerable multitude,
but there's a fixed number, a definite number, in the mind of God, chosen
in Christ before the foundation of the world, and the final judgment
mustn't fall until every last one of them is stamped with the
seal of God. It says sealed in their foreheads,
obviously it doesn't mean literally, this is symbolism. But it means
that they've got to be marked with the mark of ownership. You
know like the cattle ranchers, they brand their cattle, they
put their mark on it. Whose is it? God puts his mark
on his people. Symbolically, it's a mark on
the forehead, but God seals his servants. He puts his mark on
his servants. And so, While we're waiting,
whilst this is unfolding, we saw in the first three chapters,
which is the first of the seven visions of the book, what's going
on now while we're waiting? Christ, our risen glorified Christ,
not the man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, no comeliness that
we should desire him as he was as a man as he walked this earth,
but Christ, the risen glorified Christ, He's here in our midst. He's here wherever he says two
or three are gathered in my name. I believe we're gathered in his
name tonight. He says he's here in our midst, in this world. It doesn't seem like it to physical
senses, but to the eye of faith. Our Lord Jesus Christ is here
with us in this world. And why are we here in this world?
Because God has put us here. This is the place that God has
prepared for his people. Where you are here, where we
are back home, it's the place that God has prepared for his
people. In the world, but not of the world. In the world in
that we have to live in it, we have to breathe its air, we have
to eat its food and drink its water, we have to interact with
this world in so many ways. And the kingdom of Satan, as
we'll see later, probably tomorrow, the kingdom of Satan does what
it can to make that increasingly difficult towards the end. We
have to interact with the world, but we're not of the world. We're
not of its mindset. The things the world loves, we
don't love. We love the creation around us. We've been having such a good
time seeing such beautiful coastline and countryside all around here.
It's just such a blessing. You can see the handiwork of
God everywhere. But the culture of the world,
the philosophy of the world, the things that it loves, the
things that it values are not the things of the Kingdom of
God. And he's put us here. And while we're here, he's amongst
us, in the midst of us. We're candlesticks. Candlesticks
themselves don't give light. They bear the candles which give
light. And therefore the church is meant
to be that which bears the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And as we go through this life,
all down the centuries since Christ returned to glory, he
tells us that he's watching. I know your works. He knows our
situation. He knows our works. to see what
we're doing wrong, he knows our works to see the difficulties
that we have, he knows our works to see what he encourages, and
he's leading us. And it tells us in one of the
letters to the churches, he is the one that opens doors. You
know, as believers we should always be looking, where is the
Lord leading? And he says, I am the one who opens, and no man
closes. It's the letter to Philadelphia,
I think, isn't it? And he said, if I've closed the door, as he
did for Paul, when he wanted to do some more ministering in
the Turkey area, no, he had to go over to Greece, because God
opened a door there. And once God opens a door, that's
it, no man can close it. whatever happens, you know, whatever
they try to do God opens and God closes and no man can change
that and this goes on until, do you remember the parable of
the marriage supper that our Lord Jesus gave to his disciples
in Luke chapter 24 and he's talking about going out into the highways
and byways and compelling them to come in because those that
were invited in the first place and that's picturing the Jews
of his day, you know, there they had all the gospel privileges
and they were invited to come in, but they said, oh, I've got
this thing to do, I've just married a wife, I need to get to know
more, oh, my father's died, I just need to go and bury my father.
All of these things of the world, and he says, right then, well,
go out into the highways and byways and compel them to come
in, and his house is filled. This is what he's doing. he's
filling his house with that people, that innumerable multitude. From
right from the very beginning, from Adam and Eve, that innumerable
multitude, he's filling his house with the guests that will be
his at the marriage supper of the Lamb. In the second vision,
which was in chapters 4 to 7, we saw there that how is God's
plan? God has a plan. Here's a picture
in chapter 4 of the kingdom of God triumphant, the kingdom of
God completed. There it is, in all of its glory,
with God in the midst and all of his church and there's worship
and there's... that's the picture of chapter
4. So how's it going to come about? Who's going to be able
to accomplish it? Because the kingdom of Satan
says, if we just all get on with one another and don't bother
about this thing called the justice of God, then we'll all be fine,
we don't need to bother. But no, God must have his kingdom
established on righteousness. He must have it populated by
the people that he chose in Christ, but they're sinners. How is that
sin to be dealt with so that those people can be qualified,
made meat, as it says in Colossians, he's made us meat to partake
of the divine nature and therefore be in his kingdom. How is that
going to happen? Who is going to implement the
kingdom of God so that God's righteousness, God's holiness,
God's justice is established and not violated? How is that
going to happen? And they look and the challenge
goes out. Come on, this world, kingdom
of Satan, nations, organizations, United Nations, whoever it might
be. The call goes out and there's a deafening silence because none
is able. And John weeps much because none
is able to accomplish it. And then one of the elders says,
look into the throne of God. Look at the lion of the tribe
of Judah. This is Christ. Oh, right, look. And he looks. And what does he
see? He doesn't see a lion. He sees a lamb that has been
slain. Because he's only in the capacity of a lamb that is slain. The lion of the tribe of Judah,
in the capacity of a lamb that is slain, he's Precious blood
is shed and that satisfies the justice of God. He is the one
who is qualified. He is the one who is able to
implement the plan. He is the one who has authority
to unfold, unlock the seals on the plan of God for the implementation
of his kingdom. all accomplished through His
blood. And those seals, as they open,
this is God's plan. You know how we plan a project
and you say, well, we'll do that first. If you're building a house,
we'll dig the hole for the foundations before we put the roof on, normally
a good idea. You have a plan, you do things
in a logical, sequential order. And God has a plan for the removal
of the kingdom of Satan and its replacement with His glorious
kingdom. of righteousness established,
and peace. Peace, why? Peace with God, because
justice has been satisfied. There is therefore now no condemnation
to those that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not according to the
flesh, but according to the Spirit. He undoes these seals, and these
seals comprise things that are very surprising. it's the gospel
goes forward, the white horse and then he sends war among the
nations because the kingdom of Satan and all the nations of
the world they just want to get together and get on nicely and
not have any conflict and thereby achieve a lovely friendly society
which has no need for the justice of God, it has no need for the
person and work of Christ, it has no need for these sorts of
things. You know, am I saying something that is not patently
obvious in the world around us today the world around us today
has no need for the things of the Spirit of God has no need
for the blood of Christ it considers it a worthless thing a thing
that is fit to be despised and so God sends forth war into the
world he sends forth economic strife so the world doesn't get
on with one another huge divisions of poverty and great wealth he
sends death All the time, all the time. Either death in catastrophe,
death in disease, or death just by old age. Sways of humanity,
it says a quarter in those seals. Just over the process of time,
taken away. The fifth seal was a picture
that into this world God's plan opens and it's a picture of conflict. There is always conflict between
the kingdom of Satan and the kingdom of God. And to such an
extent that not only do we find ourselves as believers out of
kilter with the thinking of the world, But in extreme circumstances,
as it has done down history and probably in some places of the
world today, in actual fact, ends up in martyrdom. And we
have the martyrs crying from under the altar for justice.
What? For vengeance? No, for the justice of God to
be established. All of these things come and
then we have a picture, towards the end of chapter 6, of the
final destruction of this creation. This world in which we live is
going to become, it is becoming, down time it is becoming, less
and less of a comfortable place for people to live in. You see
pockets of absolute beauty and wonderful provision, but also
Great swathes of it are pockets where it is more and more difficult
to live. And you know, we hear the green
lobby constantly telling us about the dangers that we're doing
to the planet and the damage that's going to happen through
climate change and pollution and all of these other things.
And I think, you know, when I hear them, I think, well, is it God
just implementing this seal, this seal of this creation coming
to an end? This creation, we read in Romans
8.22, There Paul says, we know that the whole creation groaneth
and travaileth in pain together until now. It's not happy as
it is. It wants the end to come. It
wants the new heavens and the new earth. And just so that we
don't end up in utter despair, because we can't see beyond that,
then God gives us Revelation chapter 7 and in Revelation chapter
7 we see words of great comfort for God's saints, for his believing
people Judgment is going to be withheld until every last one
of them is there, sealed with the mark of God. God's mark of
salvation, God's mark of redemption. Every last one of them. Not one
will be lost. And at all periods of history,
there they are, they're all being brought in. They may seem like
little flock, Our Lord Jesus Christ said, fear not, little
flock. Don't be afraid. You may appear
as a little flock, but look where we get to. In verse 9 of chapter
7, a great multitude that no man can number, safely in heaven. praising God, in intimate communion
with our God, the kingdom of God utterly triumphant, the kingdom
of God established, the kingdom of Satan removed and destroyed,
and there God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. And
I would ask To anybody here, or anybody listening to this,
where are you? Are you sealed in your forehead
with the saving mark of our God? Are you sealed in your forehead,
or are you still content with Satan's kingdom? Okay, that was
a long introduction, I know. But anyway, we get to the seventh.
seal, the seventh seal of the book that we saw in chapter 5
at the start of it, in verse 1 of chapter 8, the seventh seal
opens. When he had opened the seventh
seal, this is the Lord Jesus Christ, there was silence in
heaven about the space of half an hour. Symbology, it's symbolical,
symbolical. There was silence in heaven.
and then the third vision unfolds and that's in chapters 8 to 11
and that's what I want to try to condense, to extract The key
points, and no doubt you can go back, I preached 27 sermons
on the book of Revelation, I no doubt could have preached twice
as many as that again, but I'm trying to condense it and get
the essence of it. And it's in chapters 8 to 11,
and it's a vision, as the seventh seal is opened, You see, we always
have seven, because that's God's number of perfection, and that's
what's needed for the successful implementation of the Kingdom
of God. He opens seven seals. The seventh one unfolds itself
as seven trumpets of judgment. the seventh of which opens and
then we get seven vials of final wrath on this creation so seven
trumpets of God's action this is what they are they're seven
trumpets of God's action so it's a different view of the same
scene of the history of this world right up to the end it's
another view of it from a different standpoint bringing out different
aspects of it emphasizing some points and not looking in so
much detail at other points that we've already looked at, greater
and greater detail, but it's seven trumpets of God's action
to grind down Satan's kingdom of sinful rebellion. That's the
way to think of it. It's grinding down Satan's kingdom
of sinful rebellion. This is God, in Christ, revealing
to his servants, is that not what he said he was doing in
the first verse of the book? This is our God, giving the revelation
to Jesus Christ, who by his servant John, tells his servants things
which must come to pass. His servants, believers. What
do I mean by a believer? Somebody that walked out to the
front. No, I don't mean that. I mean someone who has what the
Scriptures call the faith of God's elect. The true saving
faith of the Scriptures. And via John he gives this revelation,
which must happen, he says, to accomplish God's triumphant kingdom. Now in the first five verses
of chapter 8, It's all about prayer. Seven angels stood before
the throne of God, and to them were given seven trumpets. And
another angel came and stood at the altar, having the golden
censer, and he was given much incense, that he should offer
it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar,
which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense,
which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before
God out of the angel's hand. And the angel took the censer,
filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth, and
there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.
This is the prayers, this is space for prayer. There is space
for the prayers of God's people, the prayers of His saints. You
know, the disciples said to our Lord Jesus Christ, Lord, teach
us to pray. And He said, in this manner,
pray. Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. That's it.
Do we pray that? Thy kingdom come. Thy kingdom
come. Keep us in this world because
we've got so much to do and there's so many nice family things and
I've got so many projects at work and I'm going to go places
and I'm very ambitious. The true child of God prays,
Thy kingdom come. Lord, implement your kingdom.
Cause it to come about. Do we want it to come about?
Do we really want it to come about? Do we know him enough
that we long to be with him? Thy kingdom come. Complete it,
first of all, in the salvation of all the elect. Call out your
elect. Call out every one of them. How is he going to call
out his elect? by the foolishness of preaching. It pleased God
to save those who believe. This is how He does, by the declaration
of preaching. This is what we do, we're not
making offers to people, we're declaring what Christ has accomplished. And then we look to the Holy
Spirit and to Him alone. We look to Him alone to quicken,
to make alive, to make willing in the day of His power, so that
people who were once the enemies of the Living God are destroyed
in their opposition and they become willing servants, willing
to follow Him and believe Him. And the response of these prayers
of the saints is fire from the altar cast onto the earth. That
is God answering those prayers in judgments to grind down Satan's
kingdom. That's what it is. That's what
the trumpets are. Remember, if you will, Israel
in Egypt when Moses came to lead them out of Egypt. And you remember
there were the ten plagues that came. You imagine, you try and
relate that to the world in which we live today. If the Israelites,
and I know they were faulty in so many ways in their human weakness,
but there was Moses with the message from God to lead them
out, and the plagues to be inflicted upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt,
to get him to the point where he was forcing the people to
go, please go, even though he kept constantly having his heart
hardened against it. But if The Israelites then, with
Moses, were like so much of the professing church today, they
would have been praying for the plagues to stop, rather than
seeing the plagues as the instruments by which God would cause Egypt
to tell them, go, please, go, go out, go to your promised land,
go and worship your God, leave here. No, we pray, thy kingdom
come, God's kingdom come. So then we have these trumpets,
and they're in, chapter 8, down to the end of chapter 8, in the
verses 7 to 12, I think it is, yes, 12 or 13, no, sorry, 12,
we have the first four trumpets, and they're very similar to some
of the seals that have been opened. So what they are is a different
perspective on how God is going to replace the kingdom of Satan
with his glorious kingdom of God, his glorious kingdom of
righteousness and peace. And what we see in it is increasing
damage to the earth as a comfortable place to live. Now, I know a
lot of people spiritualize all of these things, and no doubt
there are spiritual aspects of it, but I think very much this
is saying that this physical creation is going to be afflicted. In the purposes of God, for the
kingdom of Satan to be ended, the vegetation is going to be
afflicted. That's the first trumpet. The
sea and its trade is going to be afflicted in some way. That's
the second trumpet. The fresh water is going to be
affected in some way. That's the third trumpet. Cosmological
cataclysm. That's a mouthful, isn't it?
Cosmological cataclysm is going to happen. That's the fourth
trumpet. And the effects of it on the people of the earth, whereas
it was a quarter when we were looking at the seals, it's now
a third are going to be taken away. It's increasing. We're
getting more towards the end. So there's an increasing level
of detail as to how these things are going to happen. Towards
the end of time, this world is going to become more hostile
to life. Is this something that is just
weirdly in revelation? No, if you turn back to Matthew
chapter 24, this is exactly what our Lord Jesus Christ told his
disciples when they were asking him about the end of time. In
verse 5 of chapter 4, he says, Many shall come in my name, saying,
I am Christ, and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars,
and rumors of wars. He, red horse, hear of wars and
rumors of wars. See that ye be not troubled.
Don't be troubled. Children of God, don't be troubled.
For all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom,
and there shall be famines and pestilences and earthquakes in
divers places. All these are the beginning of
sorrows. These things are going to happen
in verse 14 of the same chapter. He says, this gospel of the kingdom
shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all
nations, and then shall come the end. When ye therefore shall
see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet,
stand in the holy place, whoso readeth, let him understand.
Then let him which be in Judea flee to the mountains. On the
house, you see, he's talking about the effect on this world
in which we live. Verse 29, Immediately after the
tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the
moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from
heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken, and
then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. Then
shall the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the
Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and glory. You see, this is what our Lord
Jesus Christ in his earthly ministry taught. This is not something
that is new. Where did that come from? It's
exactly the message that he gave his disciples to expect as the
end comes. This planet is going to become
a more and more difficult place to support life. Why? Because
God is replacing this which is the... How did it become the
kingdom of Satan? Adam, in the Garden of Eden,
who had the authority of the kingdom of God, delegated to
him by God, he handed it over. When he ate of the forbidden
fruit, he handed it over to Satan, and thereby it became Satan's
kingdom. And he dwelt in all of his palaces,
as Luke 22 says, all of his palaces, the people, as John Bunyan wrote
his book, The Holy War, and in that people, you and me, are
pictured as man-soul. you know, this lovely creation
of God, but in the center of it, by nature, is Satan. And it's about the removal of
him, and the replacement of him with its rightful king, the Lord
Jesus Christ. So then, this all happens, these
woes come along, and then in verse 13, sorry, that's the trumpets,
then in verse 13, What happens next? Well, we've had four of
the trumpets and then an angel flies through the midst of heaven
saying with a loud voice, woe, woe, woe, three woes to the inhabitants
of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of
the three angels which are yet to sound. Right, you've had three
trumpets which inflict upon this world great change and increasing
difficulties with increasing effects but there are three woes
to come which are much worse that's what he's saying the three
woes and so in chapter 9 the fifth angel sounds and that is
the first of the three woes because four have already gone so the
fifth one is the first of the woes and what it is is Satan
cast out of heaven and given a key. He's given the key of
the bottomless pit. Remember, I'm talking about symbology. This is spiritual symbolism.
This is not literal, this is spiritual symbolism. Satan, when
he was cast out of heaven, you read about it in Isaiah 14, I
saw Lucifer cast out of heaven. He comes down, but he is given
the key of the bottomless pit. Who gave it to him? Who gave
it to him? God gave it to him. Do you remember
when we have the account in Job chapter 1? Do you remember who
starts the conversation with Satan? There's metaphor and allegory
and symbolism there, but there we see Satan coming into the
presence of God, and it's God who says to him, have you considered
my servant Job? It's God, God initiated that,
it's God that did it God gave Satan the key to the bottomless
pit and in that bottomless pit as we understand it are the hordes
that were cast out of heaven when they rebelled with Satan
in that which is pictured in Isaiah chapter 14 And he lets them loose, and they
come out, and it's vivid in its picture, isn't it? They come
out as locusts, a plague of locusts, and they've got attractive faces
and attractive hair, but they've got scorpion's tails, and they
sting with the sting of a scorpion, and they've got power to hurt
men five months. I think it was written in the
Northern Hemisphere, probably in the latitudes of Great Britain,
because that's about the time you would expect summer, you
know, like from May through to the end of September. Not like
here, it would hurt them for probably more like nine or ten
months. I know, you barely have winters, do you, down here. But
what it's talking about is satanic forces released. This is God's
doing. He gives Satan the key of the
bottomless pit and he releases this plague of locusts. It's
talking about spiritual forces, satanic spiritual forces. And what do they do? Let me describe
the day in which we live. They control the minds of political
leaders. That's what they do. They distort
education. They corrupt science. You know
in somewhere else, who is it that says about science, falsely
so called. Because they corrupt true science
with their message which says, no God for me. Their message
which says, they didn't want to retain God in their knowledge.
These locusts promote depraved arts in this world. They dress
up vile sin as charming and attractive. Everything that in true righteousness,
the righteousness of God, is vile and sinful and dreadful,
they make it white and fine and attractive, and the only thing
that they find fit to condemn, the only thing that they cannot
tolerate is intolerance. We find that the rule of our
society is whatever anybody wants to do, that's absolutely fine.
Whatever they want to do. That's the current morals, is
that whatever anybody wants to do, if they want to do it, that's
absolutely fine by me, they can go off and do it. So long as
they don't hurt me in the process, off they can go and do it. It's
what Paul says to the Ephesians, talking to the converts there,
the believers there. He says you were like that in
the world. He said you walked in accordance with the course
of this world. That's how you walked. You lived
your life. Your mindset was exactly like
that. According to the prince of the
power of the air. These locusts that come out of
the pit. The spirit that now works in the children of disobedience. You see the one who seduces mankind
with the prospect of a Christless kingdom of peace. That's Satan. He seduces mankind, although
they don't know it's him and although they don't know it's
heading that way, but we know that this is what he's doing.
He seduces mankind With the prospect of a Christless kingdom of peace,
where we all get on and there's no problem, what he's actually
doing, he's directing torment and suicidal despair on those
he draws away from Christ. We see it. They're stung by,
although they're so attractive and alluring, and powerful, you
know, the hair is the hair of women but their teeth were the
teeth of lions and they had a sting in their tails, verse 10, they
had tails like unto scorpions and there were stings in their
tails and their power was to hurt men five months now then,
which men do they hurt? which men do they hurt? The fact
of the matter is, verse 4, it was commanded them that they
should not hurt the grass of the earth, you see that's spiritual,
neither any green thing, that's already taken care of with the
first four trumpets, neither any tree, but only those men
which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. Those men
that have the seal of God in their foreheads are the ones
we saw in Revelation 7 verse 3. Don't let the final judgment
fall until every one of the elect of God is called in. Every one
of the believing people of God is called in. So then the sixth
trumpet sounds, and I know I'm scooting through here. I think
I had an entire sermon on that last little bit but never mind
The sixth trumpet sounds and that's the second woe and that
comes in verse 13 down to verse 21 of chapter 9 There's a voice
from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God When
you read that, you have to ask, what is it alluding to? What
is it hinting at? What is the point of that? What's
the point of this altar and the four horns? Well, you have to
think back to the Old Testament and the pattern that was given
in Exodus and Leviticus as to how worship was to be conducted.
And you, when the animal was killed and its blood was shed,
it was picturing Christ who would come, the Lamb of God who would
shed his blood. and the priest had to take of
the blood and put it on the four horns of the altar. It's speaking
of the blood of Christ. This is speaking of the blood
of Christ, the blood of Christ, the blood of sacrifice, Christ's
blood, that which is essential for the satisfaction of divine
justice. It is that blood that this world,
this kingdom of Satan, has trodden underfoot. and counted as a worthless
thing. Hebrews 10 verse 29, Of how much
sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy who
has trodden underfoot the Son of God, and has counted the blood
of the covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing. You know, we don't need it. Rubbish. Absolutely irrelevant. You hear
people coming up with the most outrageous, blasphemous things
about the things of God and the Christ of God and the blood of
the covenant. It's trampled underfoot. It's
treated with utter contempt. They've done despite to the Spirit
of grace. You know, that's the unforgivable
sin, our Lord said. The unforgivable sin is that
which is against the Holy Spirit. It's refusing the gospel, refusing
the gospel of grace. It calls for judgment. So there's
war, there's desolation, there's pestilence. And in this sixth
one, it unfolds into very, very strong hints of the final judgment,
the battle of Armageddon, which we see more of when we get to
the end of chapter 16. We see it very clearly there.
But there are strong hints of Armageddon here. Satan's objective
of a worldwide consensus of unity ends up thwarted by godless humanity's
mutual destruction in conflict. But at this stage, it isn't universally
in its effects just yet that there's still no repentance.
Look at verse 21. Neither repented they of their
murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor
of their thefts. They didn't repent. Despite all
these things coming and increasing, they didn't repent. So again,
like when we got to the end of chapter 6, you would be thinking,
oh, this is dreadful. What have the saints got to live
through yet? Because here we are in this world,
and all of these things to some extent affect the people of God. You know, wars come. In the Second
World War, there were true believers that were caught up in that.
There were true believers, there were families that were splitting
too by the ravages of war. Believers have been affected
by the ravages of poverty and riches and the great divisions
that there are. All of these things affect the
people of God to some extent. But just as chapter 7 came as
an interlude of comfort for the people of God, chapter 10 comes
as an interlude of comfort. Meanwhile, God says, don't be
afraid, don't be afraid my children, fear not servants of God. He
shows us here in chapter 10 that Christ is in complete control,
ordering all events according to the counsel of his own will,
right up to the end of time. The end of time, verse 6, we
see it there, that there should be time no longer at the end
of that verse. That's what he swears, by him
who cannot lie, he swears time shall be no longer. Here's this
angel, comes down from heaven, and as he's described, he's clothed
with a cloud, and there's a rainbow upon his head, and his face was
as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire. Does that
not echo of the picture of our Lord Jesus Christ in chapter
1? I believe this is Christ. This is clearly Christ. Here
he is for this interlude of comfort for the people of God. He comes
down and in verse 2 it says he stands there with a little book
open. He's got a little book in his
hand, open. And his right foot is upon the sea and his left
foot is upon the earth. Literally? No. Symbolically,
absolutely. What's he saying? He controls
all things in this creation. All things. This world, the ocean,
he is in control of all things. And he has a little book in his
hand, which is open in his hand. He's implementing it. He's standing
there. He's turning the pages of his
purposes. This little book is not the same
book that we saw in chapter 5. I don't believe it is. I believe
it's what's left of that to be implemented. It's what's left.
You see, the complete, this is how we implement the Kingdom
of God was there, but this is what is left to implement. At
the time when John was seeing this vision, this little book,
it's got the purposes of God to be unfolded, and it's him
that's turning the pages. As we look at this world around
us, as believers, We can take great comfort from this. Our
God in Christ is in complete control. We don't need to fear. When he says, fear not, it's
something we can really take to heart. We do not need to fear.
He is the one that has control over all things. He is the one
who announces when the end is coming and time shall be no longer. This space-time creation is coming
to an end. This is... the completion of
the kingdom of God. The gospel of redemption is accomplished. When he says, time should be
no longer, it's because the gospel of redemption is accomplished,
the elect sinners are justified, heaven is secured, the end of
Satan's stolen kingdom is certain, the completion of God's new heaven
and new earth are certain to happen. He is in control. Now
he says to John, come. He says, don't write it down
straight away, but come. Come, take this book and eat it up.
You've got to come and you've got to eat up this book. You've
got to imbibe it. You know, as you eat your food,
it becomes part of your body. It makes new blood cells, it
makes muscle cells. You've got to imbibe it. It has
to become part of you. This message of this little book
that our Lord Jesus Christ has in his hand for the completion
of his kingdom His servant has to take it and imbibe it. And
it says in verse 10, I took the little book out of the angel's
hand, in vision, in symbolism, and I ate it up. And it was in
my mouth sweet as honey. Why was it sweet? Because it's
the child of God tasting the purposes of God and seeing how
sweet are those purposes. And as soon as I had eaten it,
my belly was bitter." Why was his belly bitter? Because that
gospel which is sweet in the mouth, that gospel which is such
a delight to the soul of the child of God, puts you in conflict
with the world around and is the cause of bitterness on every
side. You come across that which is
in conflict with it and it's bitterness on every side. But
he's told You must prophesy, verse 11, he says, you must prophesy,
you must preach it, John, you must preach it before many peoples
and nations and tongues and kings. You must preach it. This message
must be preached until the end. Why must it be preached? Because
it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save those who
believe. This is what he does, Romans
10. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved. But how are they going to call on that that they haven't
heard of? And how are they going to believe
in what they've heard of if somebody doesn't come and tell them it?
How are they going to hear without a preacher? And how are they
going to go and preach unless the Spirit of God sends them
and equips them and gives them His message? It must be preached. This message must be preached.
to many peoples and nations and tongues and kings. Preach it
clearly. Preach the certainty of these
things in bringing in God's kingdom. This is what we declare as we
go about our lives. We trust that the fact that we
are in Christ and the values of the kingdom of God are in
us and It affects the way we live. What we do doesn't alter
in any way our standing with God. But when God has saved us
from our sins, it should affect the way we live and the way we
act. And as I once heard Henry Mahan preach, he said, it leaks
out. It leaks out to those around.
And we trust that some, we pray that some, as Peter says, 1 Peter
3.15, that some will ask us a reason for the hope that is in us. And
we'll be ready to give an answer to any who ask us. We'll preach
it, whether we're just He said, I'm just an ordinary believer.
No, you're a witness. You're a witness. All God's people are
witnesses in this world. It might just be in your demeanor.
You might find it hard to ever say anything, but if you're a
child of God, others will see that you don't hold the same
values that this world does. Or you might be a preacher, or
you might aspire to be a preacher, but it has to be preached with
clarity and with distinction. It has to be Preach to all without
distinction of their race or their status. It has to be preached.
We stand up and we declare it wherever God gives us the opportunity. This is why church is so important. The internet is a wonderful thing
in our day. I think it's just, as we'll see
in a later vision, probably tomorrow, we'll see how It is just prepared
for the days in which we live. Nevertheless, the message is
always clear. If you can get to a local church
where you will have fellowship and where you will hear a man
equipped of God to proclaim, to declare the gospel of his
grace, then you should be there and you should be supporting
all that you can. And I know you guys are. But
this is the truth. There is a real problem in these
days where it is possible to sit at home
and just flick your way through one internet sermon after another,
and that's not right. Yes, the internet is excellent
for scattered believers who have no other fellowship and they're
in situations where they cannot possibly get, but if you can
possibly get to where there is a company of God's people preaching
the gospel of His grace, it's mutual encouragement in this
world. It supports that declaration to nations and peoples and tongues
and kings that God calls for. So then who is to bear witness
to God's truth? So we'll move into chapter 11,
not far off. 45 minutes in. Keep going? Yes, I think you're up for it,
aren't you? Yes. So, who is to bear witness to God's truth?
Well, it's John, plus two witnesses. Two witnesses. They're here in
chapter 11. Two witnesses. And how are they represented?
You see, in verse 1 of chapter 11, you might wonder, what's
all this about? There was given me, John, in his vision, in heaven,
was given a reed, a measuring rod. He was given a measuring
rod and the angel stood saying, rise and measure the temple of
God and the altar and them that worship therein. But the outside
court, without the temple, leave it out, don't bother with that,
don't measure it, it's given to the Gentiles and the holy
city, pictured by Jerusalem, pictured by Old Testament Jerusalem
was a picture of the presence of God with his people on the
earth and there he lived, you know, there was the people there
in greater Israel and then in Jerusalem it was nearer to the
core and then there was the temple and its court but the real core
of God's presence with his people was in the Holy of Holies, in
the core of the temple, where the altar was. That's what it's
talking about. It's saying this is where the
true people of God are. There's a lot that looks like
that which is to do with the people of God outside, in the
wider Jerusalem, in wider Israel. Don't measure that, he says to
John. Only measure the core of it. Only measure that. The temple
of God and the altar and them that worship therein. not wider
Christendom. That's what I would call it.
You know, there's loads of Christianity in the world so-called, isn't
there? We call it Christendom. It's, you know, all the denominations,
all of the ones where it doesn't take the true child of God long
to discern them. I regularly on a Sunday morning
I get up and I'm putting some breakfast together and I put
the radio on to hear what the news is and then it becomes the
morning church service on a Sunday morning on the BBC and it doesn't
take you more than about two minutes into it to discern that
it's Christendom. There's no truth there. No truth
in it whatsoever. There's no gospel in it. There's
no satisfaction of offended justice. There's none of that there. It
just doesn't happen. It isn't there. It's Christendom.
It's the outer court. It's the city. It's all around. It looks like God's place to
the world in general, to religion in general, but really, look
what it is in verse 8. which spiritually, this is Jerusalem
symbolically, I'm not talking about that city in the Middle
East at the moment, that was just an Old Testament picture of it,
I'm talking about this world, this realm of so-called Christianity,
which is actually false Christianity, it's Christendom, it's anti-Christendom
in actual truth, it's called Sodom. It's called Egypt. You know, Egypt is a picture
of the world. There will be Egyptians in heaven because it's of every
tribe and kindred and tongue that will be there in heaven.
But nevertheless, Egypt is a picture of the world from which the people
of God are taken out. It's also, how do I know it's
Jerusalem that he's talking about? Where also our Lord was crucified. This is what it is. I'm not talking
about that physical city, but I'm talking about what it represents,
the outer court. Greater Christendom. You know,
when I hear these false religionists going on with their kingdom of
Satan core, which is wrapped up in the terminology, of true
Christianity in so many ways, but it isn't, it's so false,
this is what it is, it's Sodom and Egypt, it's completely contrary
to the truth of God. The two witnesses, there are
two witnesses, he says, the court which is without, this is verse
2, measure it not, give it to the Gentiles, they shall tread
underfoot, these religious folks shall tread it underfoot forty
and two months. Forty-two? Six times seven. Six sevens. Six? Number of man. Seven? Number of God's perfection.
This is man trying to achieve divinity. This is man with his
false religion trying to achieve divinity. It's exactly the same
time as in verse three, where God really gives power to his
two witnesses. And they shall prophesy one thousand,
two hundred and three score days. One thousand, two hundred and
sixty days. That's exactly the same as 42 months or 30 days. It's exactly the same as three
and a half. It's exactly the same as a time,
times, and half a time. These are all these pictures
of God's perfect time to accomplish his kingdom. You know he needs,
in the second half if you like, from Christ, ascending to heaven
until he comes again is three and a half symbolically and so
it was before three and a half total seven this is what the
seven is God's number of perfection for completing his kingdom and
he has these two witnesses now what are these two witnesses
now a lot of people jump down to verse six and they say ah
power to shut heaven that it rain not in the days of their
prophecy and Elijah in his day and Ahab and the wickedness and
Elijah had read the scriptures and he knew that God had said
that if you go after idols I will cause it not to rain and so Elijah
prayed in accordance with the will of the Lord in accordance
with the word of the Lord and Elijah said to Ahab, there shall
not be dew nor rain these years. And there was no dew or rain
for three and a half years. They have power to shut heaven,
that it rain not in the days of their prophecy. Also people
say, oh, well, it's Elijah that's physically going to come. Oh,
and there's another one, the other one, they have power over
waters to turn them to blood and to smite the earth with all
plagues as often as they, oh, that's Moses and the plagues
in Egypt. So literally, Elijah and Moses are going to come down
and they're going to testify in the streets. It's symbology. It's symbolism. It isn't literal,
true. Who then could the two witnesses
be? This is talking about the power
that they will have. But it's symbology. Remember
right at the start in verse 1 of chapter 1 that God has signified
to his servants. It's symbology. Who are the two
witnesses? I believe, I am persuaded, that
the two witnesses are God's people, as I said, always ready to give
an answer to anyone who asks them a reason for the hope that
is in them, and the preachers that God calls. The preachers
that God calls and equips to declare the truth of the gospel
of His grace. That is what I think of the two
witnesses, and they witness for a period. They witness for a
period of 1260 days. Again, symbolism. Symbolism.
Not literally 1260 days. Symbolism. It's of the time from when Christ went
back to glory to some time... I'm not going to start saying,
well, I know that this is today and next week will be such and
such another day, but I think it's about now or maybe just
before where we are now. I think that's what it's talking
about. This time, you know, when the gospel was preached so clearly
for great times. But then, when their testimony
is complete, verse 7, the beast, you see, they've preached the
gospel of grace. The beast that ascends out of
the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome
them, and shall kill them, and their dead bodies shall lie in
the street of the great city." This world of Christendom, this
world of false religion, false Christianity, anti-Christianity.
and the people and the kindreds and the tongues and the nations
shall see their dead bodies three days and a half, because these
are only days, not years, a limited period of time, and they shall
not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. They'll
just rejoice over the fact that that witness of the people of
God and the preachers of God has to all effects and purposes
been silenced in this world of religion. I believe those are
the days in which we're living. As I've said before, I wouldn't
die in a ditch over this in arguing with somebody about it, but I
am convinced that we're in this. Is it Satan's little season that
we will see in Revelation chapter 20? I'm pretty convinced that
it is. because in the last 50 years
effective gospel witness has been so damaged that you can
count on very few fingers the numbers of churches certainly
in Britain, I don't need more than about one hand to count
the numbers of places where you could go and I'd be confident
you'd hear a gospel message and I know you have a similar experience
here in Australia The world rejoices over the fact that it has been
silenced, that the witness of the true Church. Looking at it,
in Britain today there are very few places that have an established
building where the Gospel is preached, whereas Even 30 years
ago you could go to virtually every large town and city and
you would see a building and you could go there and you could
hear something that was pretty close to the true gospel of grace.
It has disappeared. It has absolutely disappeared.
The religious world is rejoicing over the fact that these people
who insist on the truth of scripture are effectively silenced. They're
rejoicing over it. They're enjoying the fact that
it is finished. I believe that we're in that Satan's little
season now. I believe that this is all part
of God's purpose. I look around and I don't weep
and sob at the state of the church, not at all. What I look around
at and what I see is exactly what God has told us in his word
he is doing. But they're taken to heaven immediately.
You see, after three and a half days, They stand upon their feet. The Spirit of God enters into
them. The Spirit of life from God enters.
They stand upon their feet and great fear falls upon them which
saw them. It is speaking to me of the fact
that although to the world this true gospel seems dead and lying
in the streets impotent, it isn't. Because just before the end comes,
they're going to be taken up to heaven immediately before
the end. And then, in verse 15, the second woe is passed, then
the third woe sounds in verse 15 which is the seventh trumpet,
the seventh angel sounded and there were great voices in heaven
saying and it says there in the translation the kingdoms of this
world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ
but I think the original actually says the kingdom of this world,
it's the one kingdom of Satan the one kingdom of Satan, which
is this world, has become, because now the people of God have been
taken out and he has implemented his kingdom. It's the kingdom
of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and
ever. And we see a picture of worship
in heaven. In verse 17, we give thanks,
O Lord God Almighty, which art and was because you have taken
to thee thy great power and has reigned, you've reigned unchallenged
and the nations looking at this were angry and thy wrath is come
and the time of the dead that they should be judged and that
thou shouldst give reward unto thy servants the prophets and
to the saints That's again why I think that's the two witnesses,
the preachers and the people of God, the saints of God. And
them that fear thy name, small and great, and should destroy
them which destroy the earth. And the temple of God... You
see, the people seeing this fact, that the true people of God have
been taken out of this world, are absolutely furious that it's
not fair, and it's not right, and it's unjust. And so verse
19, the temple of God was opened in heaven. the justification
for it, the vindication of the plan of God is seen. There was
seen in his temple the ark of his testament. What's the ark
of his testament? It's the gospel of his grace
there in symbol. Do you remember in the days of
one Samuel and the days of Eli when they fought with the Philistines
and the Philistines captured the ark of the covenant and they
took it away and It was Eli's daughter-in-law, wasn't it? I
forget her name now, but she was about to have a child and
she died in the process of having a child and they wanted her to
name the child after his father, I think it was Phineas or something
like that. And she said, no, no, no, we're going to name him
Ichabod. Why? because the glory of God
has departed. Why had the glory of God departed?
Because the Ark of the Covenant, which is the gospel of His grace,
has departed. The churches that once preached
the gospel, you could put a sign up above their doors. Ichabod.
Ichabod. The glory has departed because
they no longer declare the gospel of the grace of God in the Lord
Jesus Christ. This seventh trumpet is the triumph
of the kingdom of God over the kingdom of this world and they're
all angry that the temple is opened and so God is just. God
has accomplished just redemption of his people. In summary, The
saints pray. In this third vision, chapter
8 to 11, the saints pray, thy kingdom come. God answers. How does God answer that prayer? With seven trumpets of judgment
on the kingdom of Satan and of Antichrist to grind it down,
to bring it to an end. It comes down on creation, on
the spirit of man, on the world consensus of unity. And all the
while God in Christ is reigning supreme. This is the message
we must take with us as we go through our daily busy lives
doing what we have to do. The God of this world in Christ,
the true God of this world, in Christ is reigning supreme, controlling
everything. Fear not, little flock, don't
be afraid. He's commissioning his preachers to still proclaim
the truth. The real church, the inner temple,
not the outer core, not the wider Jerusalem, not that false Christendom. His true people are preaching
the gospel of his grace. The days in which we are living
are those days, I believe, those days, that little season that
the end comes quickly and the final judgment of the seventh
trumpet falls that is the message of this third vision it's the
same as the second vision it's the same as the first vision
but it's just from a different perspective these are the days
in which we are living now okay, so we'll finish at that point
and then tomorrow if you've still got the energy I love it, I could just keep
going 12, 13 and 14 is the next vision so if you've got the strength
and the energy come back and we'll look at that then I need Thee every hour, most
gracious Lord, so tender, most kind, and least of all. I need Thee only, dearly I need
Thee. ? Come to me ? ? I need you now
? ? Say you love me now ? ? Temptations are strong ? ? When you're mine
? ? I need you, need you, need you, need you, need you, need
you, need you, need you, need you, need you, need you, need
you, need you, need you, need you, need you, need you, need
you, need you, need you, need you, need you, need you, need
you, need you, need you, need you, need you, need you, need
you, need you, need you, need you, need you, need you, need you, need you, need
you, need you, need you, need you, need you, need you, need
you, need you, need you, need you, need you, need you, need you,
need you, need you, need you, I need Thee every hour, in joy
or pain. Come quickly and resign, for
life is in pain. I need Thee only, please, every
night in the open air. ? I need Thee every hour ? ? Teach
me Thy will ? ? And guide my souls in Thee, O Lord ? ? I need
Thee, O Lord, I need Thee ? ? Every hour I need Thee ? O Holy One, O Radiant Beam, God
Blessed Son, I need Thee, O I need Thee, every hour I need Thee,
O Blessed Son. Thank you, Alan. Thank you for
all being here. We'll be back in our normal home tomorrow,
thankfully. Thank you. Let's pray. Heavenly
Father, we pray that you would cause us to go home and to contemplate
the things of this world from Heaven's perspective. We thank
you, Heavenly Father, that you are a God who cannot lie. Your
Word, like your dear and precious Son, the Word made flesh, is
true. These things must come to pass,
Heavenly Father. We thank you for the extraordinary
privilege that you have granted us to have had the Gospel preached
to us and to have you come and make it effective in our lives.
We thank you, Heavenly Father, that the work that you have begun
is the work that you have promised to complete in the lives of each
and every one of your people. And in this little time that
we have here, Heavenly Father, we do pray that you cause us
to simply walk in childlike faith with our great God and Saviour,
your dear and precious Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. We commit
ourselves into your hands, Heavenly Father, and seek and pray your
blessing upon us and your witness in this world through these fellowships. We thank you again, Heavenly
Father. Thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.
Okay.