Walk with me to Revelation chapter
9. Revelation chapter 9. This has been such a glorious
book. As we study it together, look
at it, and behold the wonder of God Almighty keeping us in
the midst of the judgment that is upon this world. Let's just
pick up where we left off this morning. I'll pick up in verse
17. John says, And thus I saw the
horses in the vision. You know what had happened. The
Lord had spoken to the angel when the seventh trumpet sounded
And the next great woe, there are three woes that are being
set forth here. The first being the revelation
of what God Almighty has sent forth, strong delusion. And if we weren't convinced by
the Scriptures that this is so, We would say, oh, God wouldn't
do that. But the Lord Himself, the means by which God uses,
He uses absolute rebellion to praise Him. All is going to fall
at His feet. All is going to have to admit
Jesus Christ is Lord. Man fell in the garden. What he said in Adam was this,
I want to rebel against God. God in His infinite justice gives
a man exactly what he wants. That's what he wants. I want
to believe a lie. He said, I'll give you that. But for the grace of God, we'd
all do it. we looked at in the revealing
of what we continue on tonight is this. God Almighty in the
sending of these wars and rumors of wars and famines and pestilence,
God is saying judgment is coming. Judgment is coming. And men see
it all around. We see the wars. We see the pestilence. And men don't see it. We'll deal
with that in the last two verses of this particular verse. And then we shall see. But it's
not going to be until the 11th chapter. You would think when
the 10th verse would start, you'd almost think it would say, And
the third woe, the last trumpet sounded. But it's not until the
11th chapter of the last great woe, which is the ushering in
of the absolute final judgment of God. God sent strong delusions,
smoke, judgment, woe, woe, woe. Well, let's look at this. Verse
17, I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them having
breastplates of fire and of jacinth and brimstone in the heads of
the horses were as the heads of lions, and out of their mouths
issued fire and smoke and brimstone. Now John says, and thus in that
17th, this is the way I saw it. And what follows is going to
describe what he saw. By this he means what I'm about
to tell you is the description of this army. Remember, the four
angels in verse 14 were loosed, which were the messengers of
God, whether it be nations or kingdoms or whatever, comes against
nations, shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. They were all bound up in the
great river Euphrates. We looked at that. But now he's
going to describe this army. Now, as I said this morning,
We don't doubt for one second that involved in all of this
description right here is, without a doubt, I don't doubt that there's
not modern warfare. I don't doubt. I know that when
it begins to describe the heads of these horses out of their
mouth issued fire and some that I read said, well, that's cannons,
that's machine guns, that's, you know, and fire came out of
their tails, that's jets and stuff like this. Well, I don't
doubt that all wars are included in this. But, I mean, I could
give a good argument by going all the way to the beginning
of wars when there weren't jets. So therefore, there's got to
be something else that's set forth. And what is being shown
here is described in how John saw. Thus I saw the horses in
the vision, and them that sat on them." And here he says, those
that sat on these horses, they having breastplates of fire,
and jacinth, and brimstone. Now there is the key to describe
actually what is going on. Remember this. Woe is being stated
as these trumpets are being sounded. God is pouring out judgment. Something is happening here.
He said they had on them breastplates. Now, just as a reminder, the
breastplate in the Old Testament was that part of the high priest's
dress while performing his service of intercession. It set forth,
really, the authority. It was a picture. It was a type. On the breastplate of the high
priest, you remember there were twelve stones with the names
of the twelve tribes of Israel. It was called a breastplate of
judgment. Now, when the Lord Jesus Christ,
of whom that breastplate spoke, bore on His heart the names of
all of His people, those twelve tribes represented the people
of God, and He bore their names on His heart before God as their
Redeemer and Mediator and High Priest. Now, believers are said
to possess or wear a breastplate of faith and love according to
1 Thessalonians 5. Now this breastplate is possessed
by believers only by the merit of the blood of Christ and His
righteousness that has been charged to or imputed to them. So there are some references
to breastplates. and what they represent and what
the authority is and what they symbolize. Breastplate, it's
a symbolic symbol, a symbolic plate, let me say this, that
means something. These right here are said to
be having on them or to possess breastplates of fire, jacenth,
and brimstone. It was on their breastplate.
Now, fire. is, according to the Scriptures,
one of the greatest elements in nature as we know it by which
the Lord is pleased to carry on in the setting forth of His
purpose and His holy will in the kingdoms of this world, fire. The Scripture says that He, that
is in Hebrews 12, 29, God Himself is referred to as a consuming
Fire. Now that is a quote in Hebrews
12, 29, from Deuteronomy 24, 4, and we're taught by that Scripture
that God Almighty hates sin now as He hated it under the law. Fire is that which God has displayed
His wrath. Fire. So when you see fire, It
is symbolic in Scripture always of God's wrath and judgment. In Leviticus, look at me, Leviticus
9, Leviticus chapter 9, anytime you see fire in the Scripture,
it sets forth judgment and wrath. Leviticus 9, verse 23 and 24,
it says, in Moses and Aaron, went into the tabernacle of the
congregation and came out and blessed the people. And the glory
of the Lord appeared unto all the people. How was it? How did
it appear? There came fire out from before
the Lord and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and
the fat, which when all the people saw, they shouted and fell on
their faces." Fire. It was in a bush burning that
God Almighty spoke to Moses. It was a little bush, a bramble
bush that set forth the Lord Jesus Christ the Messiah. A bramble
bush speaking of His humanity, His humility. The burning of
it setting forth His deity. In Malachi 3.2, the Lord is set
forth as a refiner's fire. That is, one who by his word
of fire consumes the rebellious and wicked in wrath and also
burns the dross of the presence of sin in his people. So fire
is symbolic of Almighty God. In 1 Corinthians 3.13 it says,
Every man's work shall be tried by fire. It belongs to God. It speaks of God. But also the
torments of the damned, those who are wicked in themselves,
left to themselves, is described also as under the image of fire. Deuteronomy 32.22 says, For a
fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest
hell three times. In the book of Mark, chapter
9, verses 44 to 48, our Lord referred to that final place
of the wicked, it says, into the fire that shall never be
quenched. We could go on and on and on
and talk about fire, but fire itself is a symbol of God's judgment,
God's justice. His justice shall eternally fan,
if I can say it like that, the flames of hell. As fire On these
breastplates speaks then that this is a great army, though
in themselves they are set forth as four angels that had been
bound up, and they were loosed, as we looked at this morning,
at or in the river Euphrates, bound up in that. So ultimately,
I know this. about this great army. When John
says, I saw the horses in the vision and them that sat on them
having breastplates of, number one, fire. I don't know who they
are. I don't know if they're a nation.
I don't know if it's a kingdom. I don't know if it's an army.
I know this, that they've gone forth to destroy a third of the
men. I know this, that the Lord spoke
of wars and rumors of wars. I know this, we read this morning
where the Lord says, I send the sword. I slew. I sent the pestilence. I withheld the rain. I did that. I don't know who they are. And
the Scripture doesn't reveal exactly who they are. But I'll
tell you this, whoever they are, they're the messengers of God,
used by Almighty God. You say, are they evil in themselves?
I'm sure they are. But they're still God's messengers.
God sent them. They're used by Almighty God,
and when God is through with them, He'll judge them. And He
will justly put them in hell. You say, can He do that? What
do you think? What do you think? He does as
He will. He moves kingdoms. So these that
John saw, he said, I saw them, they had breastplates of fire. But secondly, he said, Japheth
and Brimstone. Now, you know, I got to looking
at that, and jacenth. Well, I found out that jacenth
is a color. It's a bluish color. But actually,
the same verse that we're in reveals what this jacenth was. It was the bluish smoke that
came. Look at the last verse. I mean,
the last part of this very verse that we're in. They had breastplates
of fire and jason and brimstone, and the heads of the horses were
as the heads of lions, and out of their mouths issued fire and
smoke and brimstone." Now, John saw, as he looked, he saw these
breastplates are the authority, is what he's talking about. The
authority of these and fire and jason and brimstone. This actually,
the jason and the brimstone speak of the actual pouring out of
the judgment because God is a consuming fire. Brimstone. I've heard of brimstone, to be
honest with you. For me to find out what brimstone
really was, here again, I had to look it up. I want you to
turn with me to Luke. the book of Luke, chapter 17.
Brimstone, I found out, is described as a sulfurous fire, fire of
sulfur. No other time is brimstone ever
referred to except in this sense, fire from heaven. and always
spoke of judgment." Fire from heaven. Luke 17, verse 26 to
30, it says, And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it
be also in the days of the Son of Man. They did eat, they drank,
they married wives, they were giving in marriage, till the
day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came and destroyed
them all, likewise also as it was in the days of Lot. They
did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they
built. But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained
fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even
thus shall it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed. Turn over to Revelation 14, 10. Revelation 14, 10. Well, let's read verse 9. And the third
angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship
the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead
or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath
of God which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation. And He shall be tormented with
fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the
presence of the Lamb." And then again, references made in Revelation
21 and verse 8. So back in Revelation 9, when
John saw these four angels that had been loosed, that had been
prepared in verse 15 for an hour and a day and a month and a year
to slay the third part. Remember this. Woe is being pronounced. Judgment is being pronounced
upon this world. Only those who have been sealed
by the Lord God Himself, the servants of God, are eternally
protected falling to or succumbing to the lies of false religion
and the judgment of Almighty God that is poured out on this
earth. John saw in these angels, he
saw them having breastplates of fire adjacent and brimstone. And this description sets forth
that which is, as I said before, sent from Almighty God. That
breastplate, right there, set forth as being said of fire,
jason, and brimstone is revealed in Psalm 3-6. Now, I've missed it. It's going to be an unusual one
for me. I wrote down it was in Psalm.
I'll have to look it up. But it says this, that this breastplate
of brimstone is the portion of the wicked. That is their portion.
So we see here that actually what's being set forth is that
these angels, though wicked in themselves, are the messengers
of Almighty God. Then it says, "...and the heads
of the horses were as the heads of lions." out of their mouth
issued fire and smoke and brimstone." These heads of these horses were
strong, powerful, accomplishing the purpose that God Almighty
has sent for them to accomplish. Out of their mouths, fire, smoke,
and brimstone. And verse 18 says, "...and by
these three, was the third part of men killed by the fire and
by the smoke and by the brimstone which issued out of their mouth."
See, verse 15 said that these four angels were loosed, which
were prepared for an hour and day and a month to slay a third
part of men. Verse 18 says that by these three
was the third part of men killed by the fire and smoke and brimstone
which issued out of their mouth, and it reveals this. that whatever
God's purpose is to do in sending this woe of judgment, whatever
is entailed, wars or rumors of wars, a third part of the men
are going to be killed. God is going to send judgment. Verse 18 says that He did so. Exactly. How many people, having
not the seal of the servants of Almighty God, has God sent
judgment to? I do not know. Verse 19 says,
For their power is in their mouth and in their tails, for their
tails were likened to serpents and had heads, and with them
they do hurt. Of this particular passage of
Scripture, I To be honest with you, I looked
a long time, and I think that the Lord has given me some insight
into it. As I have said before, I have
tried to enter into these verses very cautiously, taking a verse
of Scripture and finding another verse of Scripture to back it
up if I have made a statement. I realize that in this verse
that there is certainly a lot of room for speculation. But
we really don't have that privilege because speculation is just that. Speculation, I think. This Scripture
says, I know first of all, that their power is in their mouth. What I have to do when I look
at a portion of Scripture like this is try to take the wording,
the tent of the wording, the context, and try to decipher
and ask the Lord for some insight into it. But the Scripture that
says, for their power is in their mouth. The word power there means
ability or privilege or force. Their force is in their mouth. Now, here again, great speculation
could be made concerning what that mouth is. But, turn with
me to Luke 21, Luke chapter 21, and I'm going to show you a word,
the same exact word that is translated mouth in Revelation chapter 9
in Luke 21 It says, Luke 21, 24, ìAnd they
shall fall by theÖî Now you see this next word here? ìÖedge of
the sword.î That word ìedgeî right there is the same word
ìmouthî in Revelation 9. The verse that we just read,
ìAnd they shall fall by the edge of the sword.î and shall be led
away captive into all nations, and Jerusalem shall be trodden
down of the Gentiles until the time of the Gentiles be fulfilled."
That verse of Scripture comes at the conclusion of a discourse
that was given by our Lord concerning the last days. In that book,
Luke chapter 21, let's look at verse 8 and read a few verses.
He said in verse 8, Take heed that you be not deceived. Now,
I want you just to read this with me, and I want you to notice
how consistently some of these things that we've just looked
at concerning the woes that God has poured out is set forth in
this passage of Scripture. And I truly believe, starting
down in the 12th, 13th, down in that area right there, we're
starting to see the indication of the third woe. But I want
you to look. You remember the first woe was
the deceptiveness that came out. The second woe was the wars and
rumors. Let's read this passage of Scripture.
Luke 21, verse 8. Take heed that you be not deceived.
For many shall come in My name saying, I am Christ. And the time draweth near. Go
ye not therefore after them. Does that sound like anything
we just read where the bottomless pit was opened up? But when you
shall hear of wars, commotions, be not terrified. For these things
must first come to pass, but the end is not by and by. Then said He unto them, Nations
shall rise against nations, kingdoms against kingdoms, and great earthquakes
shall be in diverse places, and famines and pestilences, and
fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven. But
before all these, they shall lay their hands on you and persecute
you, delivering you up to the synagogues and to the prisons,
being brought before kings and rulers for My name's sake. And it shall turn to you for
a testimony." I'll just stop here for a moment, then we'll
continue reading. I don't think it's hard for us
to understand what's being said right here. as the great woes
of God's judgment is poured out on this world, how the wicked
and unbelieving hate and persecute God's people while God is pouring
out judgment upon them and the comfort that the believer has
while they are going through this woe and are hated for His
namesake, how we are reminded that He has kept us and sealed
us and protected us in the midst of this great tribulation. Verse 13, it shall turn to you
for a settlement. Settle it therefore in your hearts,
not to meditate before what you shall answer. For I will give
you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries shall not
be able to gainsay nor resist. And you shall be betrayed both
by parents and brethren and kinfolks and friends, and some of you
shall they cause to be put to death, and ye shall be hated
of all men for my name's sake, but there shall not an hair of
your head perish. In your presence possess ye your
souls. And when ye shall see Jerusalem
compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is
nigh. Then let them which are in Judea
flee to the mountains, and let them which are in the midst of
it depart out, and let not them that are in the countries enter
thereunto. For these be the days of vengeance.
that all things which were written may be fulfilled, but woe unto
them that are with child, and to them that gifts suck in those
days. For there shall be great distress
in the land, and wrath upon this people." And here's that passage,
"...and they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall
be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem shall
be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles
be fulfilled." Now, I know this in this 19th verse. It says,
"...for their power is in their mouth." That is to say, their
ability and their privilege and their force is in the edge. I know this, that God's people
are persecuted. It says, "...in their mouth."
The Lord translated it back in Luke as the edge of the sword. Wars, hatred, judgment, is certainly
stated to the wicked that the final judgment is absolutely
coming. But these wars that we are seeing
today are also a picture that speaks of the great battle of
the ungodly against the Christ Himself manifested as wars against
His people. Believe me when I tell you that
the ungodly, the religious ungodly hates the gospel that we preach. Hates the Christ that we love. Despises Him because He is absolutely
sovereign. And they want for themselves
a free will. I want to be my own God. But
in the last two verses, verse 20, In verse 21, the Scripture
here reveals the true hardness and deadness of the unregenerate
heart. The rest of the men which were
not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of
their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols
of gold and silver and brass and stone and wood which neither
can see, nor hear, nor walk. Neither repented they of their
murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor
of their thefts." All men, by nature, are sinful, dead, and
rebellious, and judgment itself will never bring them to repentance
before the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the goodness of God in
the revelation of Himself, in the granting or giving of a new
heart. He said, I'll remove the heart
of stone. That is to say, that stony heart
that reigns, the throne on which it sits, I'll remove that. And
I'll give you a new heart, a new spirit, A new man. A new creature. I'll rebirth you. Born from above. Born of the Spirit. It is the
goodness of God that leadeth a man, a woman, to repentance. Judgment itself will never cause
a dead man to repent. People think, I tell you, you
get in a dire strait and they get in trouble or they find out
they've got a great disease Surely they will turn to the Lord. No,
they won't. Not unless Almighty God gives
them a new heart. Not unless He reveals Himself.
They will not. No war, no sickness, no trial,
no despair ever turns a dead heart that hates God to bow before
Him. Only the new man, the new mind,
new creature. One made willing in the day of
His power. Only that man repents or thinks
differently about how God justifies a sinner. When the goodness of
God reveals the crucified Savior, God's people, they come to Him. They repented not, the Scripture
says, of all that were killed, of all that perished. You'd think
men could look around and just humanly speaking We see wars
and we see famines and you think, boy, surely all of these children
that are dying over there, all of these men that have died in
wars or women that have died in wars, surely people would
say, judgment is coming. They don't see that. The Scripture
says, The rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues
yet repented not of the works of their hands. That is to say,
They repented not of their desire to have their own free ability
and will. That they should not worship
devils or the doctrines of devils. A man will believe a lie because
that's what he wants to believe and God allows him to believe
it. It says that they didn't repent
of the works of their hands. They should not worship devils
and idols of gold and silver and brass and stone. and wood,
these things right here, they can't see, they can't hear, they
can't walk, though certainly I know this, that certainly there
have been some that have made these little golden idols and
created an actual physical idol. You bet this, every unbeliever
has created these valuable idols to them in their own heart. They've got an idol. And the
Scripture says they didn't repent in verse 21 of their murders,
or that is, of their hatred for God. You remember when the Lord
said, He says, You say that thou shalt not commit murder? He said, I tell you, if you hate
a man in your heart, you've already committed murder. And then the
Lord told His disciples, He said, They hated Me for they hated
you. These right here, they didn't repent of their murder. that
is, of their hatred for Almighty God. They didn't repent of their
sorceries or the deceptive method, deceiving themselves and nations,
and they didn't repent of their fornication, that is, their spiritual
adultery. I'll not have this God to reign
over me. I'll rebel against Him. They
did not repent of their thefts, that is, their desire to steal
God's glory by making salvation possible through their own work. Oh, how gracious Almighty God
has been to His people that He has sealed and kept from believing
a lie. He sends judgment and woe into
this world, and only a believer is given an eye to see. and an
ear to hear and a heart to perceive and to recognize this is the
judgment of Almighty God. And God is saying, every time
you see one of these locusts on television preaching, and
they're not preaching the gospel, you look at that locust right
there and you say this, he's preaching damnable heresy. He's setting forth heresy. The Scripture says it's making
merchandise of a man's soul. And a believer looks at that
through the revelation of the Word of God, and he says this,
God has given men exactly what they want, judgment. Whoa, whoa. You look around and you see all
of the battles and the famines and the pestilences and this
thing that's going on, everything that's going on in this world.
A believer looks at that and he says, God is saying judgment's
coming. There's no peace in this world. There's nothing stable
in this life. And you know this, that third
woe is coming, and that itself is the final judgment of Almighty
God when it's going to be over. And a believer says in his heart,
but for the grace of God, I'd believe that very thing if God
Almighty hadn't kept me. I see these around here, and
they're wicked in themselves. The Scripture sets forth that
theirs has breastplate. of fire adjacent and brimstone,
it is the judgment of God Himself giving men exactly what they
desire and keeping His people in the midst of it. Well, may
the Lord bless this Word to our hearts and cause us to be thankful
for His indescribable mercy to call us out of darkness and keep
us. Some might say, well, I tell
you what, you're just arrogant. and you're just proud. I'll tell
you what a believer is, they're thankful that God wouldn't leave
them to themselves. And they'll say as Paul says,
I am what I am by the grace of God.