Turn with me again, if you would,
to Revelation 11. I was thinking a moment ago, as we're going through, Brother
Scott was asking the Lord's blessing on this book, on our hearing. And I thought again about what
Gary Shepherd told me. He said when we stand up to preach,
we are talking about things that are so far over our heads. And I do pray that the Lord might
be pleased to teach us something. I know that we see through a
glass darkly, but we do see. I know we understand in part,
but we do understand. We have looked and considered
the opening of seven seals and we have looked at the opening
of the seventh seal. It introduced seven trumpets. Tonight I would like for us to
look at a few verses beginning in verse 15. at the seventh trumpet. Now, the Scripture we ended this
morning, it said the second woe is past, and behold, the third
woe cometh quickly. Now, it doesn't mean, obviously,
that it has passed as of this time because we are in it. But as far as the revelation
that John had been given as pertaining to us who are upon this earth
right now, I would say that very probably it's safe to say that
we're in, as I said this morning, the period of the first and second
woe when you understand somewhat of what the first and second
woe is. That is the allowing by the Lord. In fact, the Scripture
says God sent strong delusion. It's not that this smoke came
out of the bottomless pit, just slipped in there and the Lord
wasn't able to stop it. Remember, our God reigns. Nothing happens without His express
permission, power to accomplish He does. He worketh all things
after the counsel of His own will. So I know that we're in
the midst of the first woe because strong delusion's here. I know
that we're in the midst of the second woe because the Scripture
sets forth that there's a famine now. We know that that famine
is here. consent according to the power
and permission and Word of Almighty God. But we can only speculate
where we are on this grand scale. I don't know. I do not know what
tomorrow holds. I don't know how far this famine
will be sent or allowed or permitted, I just don't know. But I do know
that without us knowing how quickly or how far this third woe or
second woe, I'm sorry, shall come, we must be, as we said
this morning, watching, listening, thankful. that the Lord has allowed
us to hear, just that we're here this evening, is by the indescribable
grace of Almighty God. There are thousands and thousands
and thousands of people in our immediate vicinity, in this part
of the state right here, in this state, in this country, but there's
literally thousands upon thousands and thousands that have no heart
to be here and don't care. Watch therefore, for ye know
neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh. That we have a heart to be watching. We have a heart that says, I
don't know exactly what shall perfectly come to pass, but I
know that He who does all things after the counsel of His own
will is the one to whom we watch and wait. Well, this next portion
of Scripture, in verse 15 of Revelation 11, it says, angel
sounded. Now, remember this eleventh chapter. We started out this chapter,
and this particular chapter is one that gives us an introduction
to the truth that shall be revealed later in this book. I just, as a point of remembrance. I brought this out when we started
the 11th chapter. And in the 7th verse of this
particular chapter, Revelation 11, when we looked at the 7th
verse, I said at the beginning, and when they shall have finished
their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless
pit shall make war against them and shall overcome them and kill
them. And we eventually saw what that
meant, but also in Revelation 13, verse 1, it says something
about the beast later. It says, "...and I stood upon
the sand of the sea, and I saw a beast rise up out of the sea,
having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns,
and upon his head the name of blasphemy." So what I'm saying
is we're looking at the 11th chapter. There are some statements
that are being made that shall be more fully revealed as we
go into this book. As we look in these last few
verses, the reason I'm making such a stand or a statement upon
this is because you're going to find when we get into the
twelfth chapter, the next chapter, you're going to find that all
of a sudden we have been brought into the final trumpet. The judgment of God is actually
ushered in with the seventh trumpet. But when we get into the twelfth
chapter, it's as if the Spirit of God has taken us all the way
back to when Satan fell and drew a third of the angels out of
heaven and there was a woman. It's as if we step back and we
look at the whole grand scope of the whole purpose of Almighty
God again. So the eleventh chapter is an
introduction of the final judgment that we shall behold vividly. in the details that shall soon
be revealed. Now, the sounding of the seventh
trumpet is the ushering in of the final judgment of Almighty
God. We have looked and we saw in
this first woe, great woe, which is judgment, false delusion. That's judgment. We saw the famine
of the hearing of the Word of God. That's judgment. But the
final judgment is when all men, women, shall stand before Almighty
God in that final judgment. So the introduction of this judgment
is ushered in in that 15th verse, and it says, "...the seventh
angel sounded, and there were great voices in heaven saying,
The kingdoms of this world or become the kingdoms of our Lord
and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever." Now,
John heard the seventh trumpet sound. And as soon as he heard
it sound, that trumpet sound, he said, there were great voices
in heaven. Now, that phrase right there,
great voices in heaven, is actually interpreted, mighty disclosures. Mighty disclosures. As soon as
the seventh trumpet sounded, there were mighty disclosures
in heaven. And these voices of disclosure
actually set forth, literally, the anticipated conclusion has
come. So, the kingdoms of this world
in this disclosure. This is it. This is the great
voices. The kingdoms of this world have
become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ. Now, you know,
we're here this evening and we could truthfully say we have
some mighty disclosures that the Lord has given us, some great
voices, great truths. that has been told us. Flip back
a few pages to 1 Peter. 1 Peter 5, verse 8. 1 Peter 5, verse 8. Here's a great voice. This is
a mighty disclosure. Be sober. 1 Peter 5, verse 8.
Be sober. Be vigilant. because your adversary
the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he
may devour, whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the
same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in
the world, but the God of all grace, who hath called us unto
His eternal glory by Christ Jesus after that ye have suffered a
while, make ye perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle ye. To Him be glory and dominion
forever and ever. Amen." Now you stop just a minute
and just think about this. We're in this world. We're thinking
about and we're talking about this morning that those that
are suffering, our dear friend and brother, for the Todd and
different ones that are going through some serious physical
trials. And there's some serious emotional
and family. And you're thinking to yourself,
how would I know unless the Lord had given me a mighty voice,
a great disclosure that our God is in control, that we're in
the midst of His purpose and His grace, keeping us, rest assured,
that our Lord God reigns. Yet, that power and that authority
that He exercises, and there is absolutely no doubt, remember
where John is. He has seen this smoke that has
come out. the famine, and he's seen the
witnesses in a vision that has been slain and left unburied,
and he saw some things that would be very troubling in this vision. And this seventh trumpet sounds,
and he hears these great voices. And this is what the voice says.
The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord.
and His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever." What
a comfort to be able to hear that. In the midst, while we're
going through this book, there's been some things that I've read
that I'm thinking to myself, oh, I don't know exactly where
those lines are, but the comfort of knowing that He who is in
control, that's a great comfort to me. And there's times that
I don't understand. There's times that I look and
I see and I wonder, what is the Lord doing here? But I know this,
though I don't always see with vision, perfect vision, what
He is doing. And when it appears as though
to me that Satan seems to be ruling. And there's times that
we look around and you think, it appears as though to me that
things are just not within the control that I think. I know
this, that it is the glory of God to conceal a thing. I don't understand why some things
happen. But at the day of final judgment,
and all of these things that seem as though that these lines
are not exactly where I can grasp hold of them. Our God, who is
the sovereign God, His will and His purpose shall be fully revealed,
for all opposition is going to be abolished. Everything that
has raised its mind and thought against Him that has not been
paid for by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. All
rebellion against Him that is not under the blood, I am telling
you, is going to be put down. And that is comforting to me.
It will then be perfectly clear that Satan's limited power and
dominion over this earth which is but the purpose and will of
Almighty God. When He is going about as a roaring
lion seeking whom He may devour, we are going to see in that day,
and by faith we see it now, that the dominion of our Lord is perfect
and entire and complete. These great voices, these great
disclosures, were a great comfort to John and they're a great comfort
to us. Remember, little flock, it has
pleased the Father to give you the kingdom. All of these things
that's coming about, this life is but a vapor. This life is
short. There are some trials and some
tribulations that we're going through right now. But in His
day, in His purpose, In His will, these great voices reveal the
kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord. Here the Lord revealed that He
is in perfect control. You remember at the beginning
of this chapter when the Lord told John, He said, here is a
reed. You take this reed and measure. He says, measure the temple of
God, the altar, and them that worship therein. Do you think
that there's a possibility that He does not know where we are
tonight? Do you think that there's a possibility that He would leave
us to ourselves? As the church that was revealed
as those two witnesses preached during that three and a half
month period, those 1260 days in sackcloth in mourning as they were going
through according to the will and purpose of Almighty God and
brought to a point, to the point that I truly believe we're in
right now. And as I said a while ago, I
don't know exactly where that point is on this great scale
of the famine of the hearing of the Word of God. But do you
think that there's a possibility that Almighty God does not know
exactly where Katie Baptist Church is tonight? Do you think that?
Do you think that there's a possibility that He sent His only begotten
Son into this world? Do you think that He was made
sin for His people, took their guilt, His soul, made an offering
for sin? Do you think that there's a possibility
that the Father that forsook the Son because sin was found
there, do you think He'd forsake you? John said there were great disclosures,
great voices in heaven. And this is what they say, the
kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and
of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever. He shall rule. His kingdom shall never terminate. The kingdom of God that He has
birthed you, chosen you in, redeemed you too, called you into shall
never terminate." Now, the fuller revelation of this reign shall
be dealt with, especially in chapters 20 to 22 in the book
of Revelation. But especially, there is coming
a time when the prophecy, prophecy of Psalm 2, verse 8, is going
to be perfectly fulfilled when it says, Ask of Me, and I shall
give thee the heathen for thine inheritance and the uttermost
parts of the earth for thy possession. I know, I'm convinced, by faith
though I see so little and understand and perceive so little, he shall
reign." That's what the voice said. That's what the utterance
says. He shall reign. forever and ever. As we said before, our Lord reigns
now. He rules now. But this introductory
part of the seventh trumpet that is being sounded is stating that
there is going to come a time, though we see it vaguely now,
that He shall be recognized universally As the king and all idolatry
shall come to an end, obviously, this is the time or the period
when time shall be no more, and there's going to be the eternal
reign of our Lord after His judgment. But it shall surely be. Every knee is going to bow. Every tongue is going to confess
that He is Lord. to the glory of God. The rebels
against Him right now shall acknowledge His Lordship. And the Scripture
we will see later in this book, the saints will cry hallelujah
when God puts rebels in hell. Well, it says in verse 16, ìAnd
the four and twenty elders which sat before God on their seats
fell upon their faces and worshiped God. I read that Scripture and
then I read it and I read it again. I know that the four and twenty
elders, we've looked at this before, is an emblem, a symbol
of all of God's church. the redeemed church. John is
seeing this in a vision. The 4 and 20 elders, but here's
the amazing thing, the glorious truth that is set forth. They sat before God on their
seats. These 24 elders are seated When
it says their seats, they're seated on 24 thrones. They have
been made kings and priests in the Lord Jesus Christ. And they
rule with Him. To what extent that statement
is to be revealed, I don't know. But I do know this. They sit
and rule with Him. Sit on His throne ruling as kings
and priests. And these four and twenty elders
which sat before God on their seats fell upon their faces and
worshiped God when they heard the great disclosures, the great
voice that was out of heaven. These prostrated themselves in
worship. They sat. That is setting forth
that they are resting. Resting in the Lord Jesus Christ
who is their eternal Sabbath. Hebrews 4 and 9 says, "...there
remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God." Now, to you
that have believed, You've entered into that rest. Meaning this,
that you're not trying to accomplish anything. You're not trying to
merit your salvation by your works of self-righteousness. You have, by God's grace, been
brought by the Spirit of God and taught that Christ is your
Sabbath. He is your rest. But the word
there in Hebrews 4-9 says, "...there remaineth therefore a rest to
the people of God." It never ends. This remaineth is a perpetual
rest. And these that are resting, which
sat before God on their seats, when they heard, they fell down
upon their faces and worshiped God. Now, that fell down on their
faces. That same sense or interpretation
was what the wise men did when it says that these wise men came
from the East and came to worship Him. I looked that up also, and
it meant to kiss like a dog Licking his master's hand, he worshipped,
prostrated themselves. These 420 elders, they sat before
God on their seats, fell on their faces and worshipped God when
they heard the voice out of heaven that says, the kingdoms of this
world have become the kingdoms of God. And then in verse 17
it says, they were saying, we give thee thanks O Lord God Almighty,
which art and wast and art to come, because Thou hast taken
to Thee Thy great power and has reigned." You know, as we look
at this, and even as I read the words that are being said by
these four and twenty elders that sat on these thrones and
fell down and worshiped the Lord, I read the words and within my
heart, I think to myself, I cannot stand the thought that I cannot
enter into this. I know what they're saying. I
hear it. I behold it. I look at it. And
it grieves me because I know this, I don't feel the depth
of what they're saying right here. And I know it. And but
for the grace of God that would keep me and preserve me, there's
enough pride and rebellion and resentment in my heart against
that Word right there. I read it where they say, we
give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty. And I think to myself,
do I thank Him like I should? No. And you know what? You don't
either. Oh, thanks be to God. that it
is by grace that we are saved through faith, and that not of
yourself. It is the gift of God. We give
Thee. That's what they said. We give
Thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty. We don't give ourselves thanks.
We have nothing to be thankful for in ourselves. Here is the
redeemed and glorified church doing what she, number one, truly
desires to do and must do. Be thankful. Be thankful. In all things, the Scripture
says, give thanks. Do you think that you'll ever
go through eternity and not be thankful? I can't even enter
into the thought I mean, it just boggles my mind that we shall
go through eternity having the Lord Jesus Christ to look upon
and to be thankful for. Thankful, thankful. Only then
shall we know with a sinless heart and be able as we ought
to express the gratitude that is due Him. We thank Thee, O
Lord God Almighty, which art and wast and art to come. That's the way the Lord described
Himself back in Revelation 1 when John saw Him. We thank the Eternal
One. We thank Him who is eternal,
the unchangeable One. Malachi 3.6, the Lord says, I
am the Lord. I change not. Therefore, you
sons of Jacob are not consumed. I thank Thee that we thank Thee,
Revelation 11, Lord, because You are and You washed and You
are to come. You don't change. We are thankful
because He is the unchanging God. Secondly, we give thanks
because Thou hast taken to Thee Thy great power. When it seemed that the Lord
And I do know, if we're honest, we seem to think at times that
the Lord has relaxed His rule. Now, I do understand there's
not a believer in this congregation tonight that will openly admit
that. If somebody would say, do you truly believe that God
is in control at all times? There's not a believer in here
that won't say, oh, I know the Lord's in control at all times.
But let me ask you this, in the middle of the night when something
is going on and we are thinking about it and concerned about
it and worrying about it, what do we truly in the deepest most
part of our heart say? When it seems that the Lord has
relaxed His rule. When it appears as though that
Satan has an unchecked Anarchy in this world. Now, I'm just
telling you the way it is. When we find ourselves worrying,
concerned, wondering what's going to happen and perplexed and scared. When that wicked thought comes
to our minds, How thankful it is that we can
read of the 24 elders that says, We give you thanks, because Thou
hast taken to Thee Thy great power. We are thankful, Lord, unto You,
because You have reigned. You have exercised the power
that you've always possessed, and we know it. There shall come
a time when all of God's people shall see. Truly, our God has
always been in control. We know it by faith, but oh,
how often do we doubt. But can you imagine these that
in that day, in that time, in that period, that shall with
sinless eyes, sinless thoughts, sinless heart, realize perfectly,
it's over. It's over. Falling down and worshiping
Him and saying, Lord, we give You thanks because You never
change, how thankful we are that You eternally loved us and redeemed
us and kept us in spite of ourselves and in spite of the way we doubted
You, in spite of the way it appeared as though that Satan was in control,
in spite of it, when these things came our way, how thankful we
are that You've taken to Thee great power and You've reigned
and ruled And the nations, verse 18, were angry. And thy wrath
is come in the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and
that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants, the prophets,
and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great,
and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth." We're thankful. Lord, we're thankful. We're thankful. As I said a while ago, we're
thankful now. But oh, we're not thankful as we shall be. We're
not as thankful as we desire to be. In Psalm 2, let me just read this for you.
You can turn there if you desire. Psalm 2. The saints, the twenty-four
elders, they fell down on their faces before the Lord, and they
were thankful. They said, we're thankful because
the nations were angry. Psalm 2. Verse 1, Why does a
heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings
of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together
against the Lord and against His anointed, saying, Let us
break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. And the Scripture says, He that
sitteth in the heavens, he that is sitting down, He that hath
said it is finished, he that sitteth in the heavens shall
laugh, and the Lord shall have them in derision. All that has
opposed Him, all that has desired in their heart to resist Him
shall be brought down. The nations were angry. And thy
wrath is come. That's what's happened in this
seventh trumpet. Your wrath, your judgment is
come. Your justified abhorrence has
appeared. Though men have for all time
failed to see God's judgment and wrath in storms and pestilence,
Famines, disease, earthquakes. There's coming a time that they're
going to see it. They're going to know it. They
said the nations were angry. Thy wrath has come in the time
of the dead that they should be judged. Notice here that everyone
is going to be judged in righteousness by Jesus Christ. I want you to
turn with me to Acts 17. Acts 17 verse 31. Acts 17 verse 31 says, Because he hath
appointed a day, I don't know when it going to be. But I'm
telling you, there's a time. He's appointed a day in which
He will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained,
whereof He hath given assurance unto all men that He hath raised
Him from the dead. Now, the standard of judgment
is going to be the entire revealed will and Word of Almighty God. If there be in that day, if there
be one infraction found upon a man or a woman, he's going
to be damned. The Lord said that every jot
and every tittle. You know, I've heard that. every
jot and every tittle. And I wondered what that was.
And what it is, when you look at the Hebrew language, there's
sometimes when they make a symbol and there'd be just a little
bitty, just a little line, a little jot just on that. That's what
the scribes referred to as the jot or the tittle. And it changed just ever so slightly
the tense of that word in the Hebrew. You could look at a symbol,
and sometimes I'd look at it and it would look like the pi,
you know, pi symbol. And it might have just a little
jot, and it just changed it ever so slightly. And the Lord says
that every jot and every tittle of the law is going to be fulfilled
by Him. Only those who have fulfilled
in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ every jot and tittle of
the law shall be justified before Him. Only those considered in
the merit in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ and His blood
shall be saved. The nations, the twenty-four
elders say, were angry Your wrath is come, the time of the dead,
that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward
unto the servants, thy servants, the prophets, to the saints,
and to them that fear thy name, small and great, and shouldest
destroy them which destroy the earth. The dead, the spiritually
dead, shall receive their reward." Out of darkness, judgment. And the servants of God, God,
the prophets, the saints shall receive their reward, which is
God himself. Fear not, Genesis 15, 1. Fear not, Abram. I am thy shield
and thy exceeding great reward. when this seventh angel sounded. And John heard with the sounding
of that seventh trumpet, which was the ushering in. And we shall,
by God's grace, over the next few chapters, behold the final
judgment of God. It's not just going to be in
just one verse of Scripture. We shall look at it. But this
is an introductory passage that tells us, as the 14th verse says,
the second woe is passed, and behold, the third woe shall come
quickly, cometh quickly. These 24 elders, when the judgment
of Almighty God, the final judgment of God has come. In the ushering
in of that final judgment, the whole church redeemed. falls down before Him and says,
Lord God Almighty, thank You. Thank You. Thank You because
Thou art and watched and art to come. Thank You that You don't
change. Thank You that we sons of Jacob
are not consumed because You've taken to Yourself power. When
it appeared as though that Satan was in this world as a roaring
lion doing what he wanted to do and had no restraints on him,
you took it and you revealed it. And all the nations that
were angry against you and resisted you and despised your Christ
and your gospel, they were angry and your wrath has come. Lord,
thank you. Thank you for your mercy. Thank
you for your grace. Now judgment's here. Verse 18. And you're going to judge in
righteousness. And you're going to give reward
unto every man. Judgment to those that are found
outside of your Son. And you're going to reward your
servants, the prophets, your saints, and them that fear your
name, small and great. and that you're going to destroy
them that destroy theirs. Lord, thank You. Thank You that
You've kept me. Thank You that You've not left
me to myself. One day, we're going to know. One day. But I tell you this,
even right now, our heart truly can rejoice in knowing this,
though we would never presume to be able to keep ourselves,
He keeps us. keeps us by His power. Now, the
19th verse, I'm going to stop. Well, my time is up anyway. But
I'm going to stop because the 19th verse I really think would
be better tied in with the 12th chapter. I think it is a verse
that introduces the 12th chapter. It says, "...and the temple of
God was opened in heaven, And there was seen in his temple
the ark of his testament. And there were lightnings and
voices and thunderings and an earthquake and great hail. And there appeared a great wonder
in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her
feet and upon her head a crown of twelve stars." And the verses
that follow. So Lord willing, we'll just wait
and deal with the 19th verse as we begin. the 12th chapter.