In Revelation chapter 9, we got there last week, but we actually
got to the end of chapter 8 about seeing the eagle flying overhead,
crying the three woes. Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell
on the earth at the blast of the other trumpets and at the
three angels are about to blow. So, just to give a little recap,
we have seen a scene in heaven, We have seen that scene from
earth, we have seen that scene from heaven, we have seen the
scenes of the seals, we have seen the scenes of the trumpets,
and now we're gonna continue in the trumpets. I hope now you're
starting to see how the pictures look. Are you seeing these as
pictures? This picture, and then this picture,
and this picture, and sometimes they're the same picture from
a different point of view. We know that as we've seen these
angels, we understand that as we see prayers and the altar
of God, it's always about the prayers of the people, prayers
of the saints of God, prayers of the people of God. And we
also understand that all these seals, all these trumpets, all
these bowls are continually being poured out and expressly lived
out presently. We saw the seventh seal, we will see
the seventh trumpet, we will see the seventh bowl, and we
know that that is the only portion of this experience that has yet
to be experienced. So in other words, we're not
looking at a book about history that's yet to come, we're looking
at a narrative of pictures of what God has done and is going
to do. And as we get through, it'll
start making more sense, even though there are a lot of images
in this letter that won't make sense to us. No matter how much
we study the Old Testament and understand the imagery, it will
seem odd. There are things that will seem
odd, like why long hair? Why do these locusts have long
hair like women? We don't know. We don't know
why the picture is like that. We can look at some places in
the Old Testament and see that they use that same imagery there
in other places of real battles. But we've got to remember in
our first few weeks of studying this letter, not everything has
a type and shadow. Not every point here is supposed
to identify with an absolute reality. Similes, yes ma'am? And I don't know, this could
be totally off, but you were saying that this really had to
have a meaning. She said, you know, we were talking
about Revelation one night, and she said that that man in the,
in common day reality world, we know the different things,
that it had words like helicopter, and you know, not that that's
what that means, but that could have been the only thing in their
visions that they've seen, or whatever that they might have
seen in this that helped to describe what they were seeing, even though
they had no specific name for each one of them. And that makes
sense and there's a lot of people theoretically who would say it
could apply that way. But in our class and what we've
been learning thus far is that the reading of this letter, according
to the very beginning of it, it says that they would understand
and hear and keep, and that the things were written here that
they may understand and know. So these revealed things are
absolutely clear to the people who receive them. So in understanding
then how we should apply it, we have to go back to what they
would think rather than think forward. I mean, and these are
all theories, just like end times theories and millennial theories.
They're all theories. They have no scriptural foundation.
They're all theories. And so that's why I'm teaching
this the way I'm teaching it. How are we to read it? Do all
these things that we see in the world fit with what we just read
or is the overarching purpose and message clear this way? And so that's the thing that
we'll see as we start to look at some of these things. We see
the employment of literary types and literary, I cannot even think
tonight, devices like simile and comparison and metaphor and
allegory. And so let's take a look at that
as we get started tonight. Chapter 9, verse 1, we start
there, and the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star
fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the
shaft of the bottomless pit. He opened the shaft of the bottomless
pit, and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great
furnace. And the sun and the air were
darkened with the smoke from the shaft. Then from the smoke
came locusts on the earth, and they were given power like the
power of scorpions of the earth. They were told not to harm the
grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree, but only those
people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. They
were not allowed, excuse me, they were allowed to torment
them for five months, but not to kill them. And their torment
was like the torment of scorpions when it stings someone. And in
those days, people will seek death and will not find it. They
will long to die, but death will flee from them." Now, think about
that for a second. We talked about all this last
week. In this picture, we know the angels that are coming from
the bottomless pit are what? demonic angels, fallen angels.
Well, what we can't do is we can't take this image of a trumpet,
this image of angels, this image of horse riding demons, and this
image of all of this stuff happening, the image of the corners of the
earth being held back by the angels and the winds being held
back by the angels of God. The point in this is not to look,
but the problem is we've been told to look at it this way.
We're not to look at this letter and say, now what does that mean
and when's that gonna happen? When's that going to happen?
What is the pit? What is the smoke? What is the sun? What
is that? That's not the point. Apocalyptic writing is not supposed
to be a key or a legend for understanding specifics. It's supposed to be
a picture of understanding explicits. And the explicit thing that we
see here as this fifth angel blew his trumpet, the star fallen
from heaven, when do you hear the word star in the scripture? Who is the fallen star? Satan,
Lucifer, the angel of glory. Lucifer. He is cast out. We see
that in the Old Testament. He's the star thrown from heaven.
That's the language that we know in the writing of the Jews that
God has given for the expulsion of Lucifer from the heavenly
domain. And so, when was that done? A star falling from heaven,
that is eternity past. That's before the world began.
That's before Adam and Eve were created. That's way back in the
day, if you will. And this bottomless pit and the
shaft that rose up and the smoke and the great furnace and the
sun were darkened and all this thing. What is the picture there?
Is there supposed to be, is there a pit? Can you put an angel in
a pit? Can you put a metaphysical being inside of a box? No. So what's the point there? This
is just like Jesus when he talks about how hell will be like. See, some people go, oh hell,
there's fire and there's worms. No, there's not. No, there's
not. There's nowhere that ever says
that hell has fire. No, Jesus says that it will be
like this. What is that? That's a simile.
Like if I say my mama's apple pie is like heaven. Does that
mean that if I get up high and stand in it, I'm in heaven? No.
Then why then, there's a simile that says, like a place of eternal
fire, where the worm never dies? And the rust, whatever else it
is, where there'll be weeping and gnashing of teeth in eternal
darkness? Well, if I light a fire in the dark, guess what I can
see? So the picture there, that Jesus was expressly showing how
the, he says it'll be like, and then he says no, it'll be far
worse than that. You see? He doesn't say it's
going to be like that at all. He says it will be far worse
than the awfulest place you could think of, which is the Valley
of Gehenna, which is where they burned carcasses and garbage
and fecal matter and all sorts of things. And it's forever had
a perpetual fire. It never went out. It was always
there. And people didn't get, especially
Jews, they never went near anything like that. I'm talking about
unclean. You don't go there. Jesus says that that is a walk
in the park compared to what hell is going to be like. If
you think that's bad, hell is going to cause you some fear. Hell is also talked about in
Revelation 19, about being inside of a wine press. and the stone
of that two-ton winepress crushing the reprobate over and over and
over and over again. That's what hell is like, according
to the writer of Revelation. And that Jesus is walking in
the winepress of the fury of the wrath of the judgment of
God and all the reprobate are in it being smushed and out doesn't
come wine but the blood of the unbelievers. Now that's not what
hell is. Jesus isn't going to keep putting
us in there and recreating us. It's going to be worse than that.
It's an image to show you just how horrible the judgment of
God is going to be. And so the same thing is true
with the wickedness and the position of the heavenly places and the
principalities of darkness and powers. They come from a place
that is so opposite of where Christ is. You see that? Christ is in the place where
there's no son needed, because He is the light. Christ is in
the place of eternal joy, where every tear has been wiped from
our eyes, and every horror, every pain. We're always worshiping,
we're excited, and we can't wait until the prayers of the saints
are answered, when God brings recompense and judgment once
and for all, and then we get back to worshiping together. So angel has been given the keys
to give command and to work with other fallen angels. And he opened
the shaft of the bottomless pit. I mean, hear that? It wasn't
the bottomless pit. Man, that's scary. Of course
it's scary. It's a personification of evil. And out of the pit arose
smoke. What does it say? Like the smoke
of a great furnace, with the smoke The sun and the air were
darkened, and from the smoke came what? Locusts. What kind of locusts? Well, locusts
are little grasshoppers. There was one outside a couple of weeks
ago. Tried to catch it and it flew away. Grasshopper, about
that big. And they can bite you. They can
grab hold of your finger and you have to sling them off. And
a swarm of locusts can darken the sky. You ever seen one? I've never seen a swarm of locusts
like that around here. But I've got friends who live in certain
parts of the country and they say that locusts can come in
on a grain field and you'll think it's a thunderstorm. And the
sun will just vanish and they will dive down and the entire
harvest is gone. It's the plague that God brought
upon Egypt. He darkened the sun. He made
the river Nile blood as we saw earlier in the latter part of
chapter 8. The personification, or not the personification, but
the illustration or the illusion of looking at the plagues of
Egypt. God has poured this out upon not just Egypt, but all
humanity presently in this day. For some reason, I got to looking
at sinkholes yesterday and watching them. That is horrifying. Neighborhoods,
and we think of sinkholes, we think of something down in the
Everglades in the middle of nowhere or whatever. Watching the helicopter
footage of a sinkhole take a subdivision and it just looks like a doodlebug
farm. You know what doodlebugs are?
The antlions? And you look out and it's just
got all the little, doodlebug, doodlebug, whatever the little
thing. Your house is on fire. And he throws up there and you
reach down and you grab him. scoots backwards. It's really
gross, but you know, you're playing with the larva of an insect.
I don't even know what it becomes. What does it become? I don't
even know. We used to catch them, put them in there, and let them
doodlebug, and then we'd feed them ants. But this subdivision of 400 houses
just went Swallowed up in the earth four to five hundred feet
down into the earth disappeared into nothingness and everybody
ran for their lives and many people perished and I'm watching
this going how horrifying I remember being in California when you
had our first earthquake It was a five point two and it was less
than a mile from the surface Which is pretty high up and not
only was it a mile to the surface. It was a mile and three-quarters
from our house and And so it's four o'clock somewhere around
in the morning, and I wake up thinking I have been transported
into an Exorcist movie. Because on this wood, second-story
wood floor of my home, my poster bed is going and shining and
just doing all like this. And I get my bearings and the
streetlights from the windows, get my eyes, and I see my mirrors
doing this, the pictures are falling off the wall, I hear
things falling and glass breaking. It's an earthquake, and I try
to stand up, throws me to the ground, throws me to the ground,
throws me to the ground, throws me to the ground, throws me to
the ground. The door was going, boosh, boosh, boosh, boosh, boosh,
boosh. It's crazy. Curtain rods fell
off. 45 seconds, it's over. And all
I can think about is I can't get to my kids. I go in there. Everything in their bedroom is
dumped over, and they're just asleep. And I thought, I got to go from
this place. I'm not living in a place where the ground could
shake out from underneath me. I went, after your second one and your
third one, you know, I go out thinking the whole neighborhood
is going to be in disrepair. And my neighbors, are you okay? What? What happened? There was
an earthquake. There was? I wonder why my dishes
were, had fallen off the counter. I didn't know. Y'all crazy. I'll take an earthquake any day
over a sinkhole. That's horrifying. I'll take
a hurricane over a sinkhole. I'll take a tornado over a sinkhole.
That horrifies me. A bottomless pit just opened
up. That's scary. That's the image that we see
right here. Now ask yourself this. If this is happening right
now, where's all this calamity? Just look around, folks. You
want to think where there's a sinkhole in the Bible? When Moses took,
by the power of God, the Israelites out of Egypt, and he brought
them to Mount Sinai so that God could meet, the glory of God
descended upon the mountain, so he could meet with Moses and
give him his holiness, give him this righteous standard, give
him the law through which would teach us of our need for the
gospel. Moses goes up. Aaron and everybody else melt
down gold, build a cow, worship it, and have a party. Moses comes off the mountain
and God opens up the ground and swallows half of them. Yes, He did. Swallows half of
them. And they still worship cows later,
lest we forget. This tempest, this trouble, this
trial, this image that John is writing is supposed to show us
the place from where evil is coming. It's not giving us a
description of the evil location. It's not giving us a description
of what demons are. They're not locusts. Because
we see they're not locusts, are they? They're not locusts, but
it says they're not going to take over all the world, they're
not going to kill everybody, they're not going to destroy
everything, but they are going to torment those who are unbelievers
and cause pain and suffering and continually cause strife
in this world. And in verse 7, it starts to
talk about, that's where we are tonight, in verse 7 it starts
to talk about what these things look like. In appearance, the
locusts were, uh oh, simile. It doesn't describe them, it
describes what they're like. Like horses prepared for battle
on their heads. What looked like crowns of gold,
their faces were like human faces. and their hair like women's hair
and their teeth like lion's teeth and they had breastplates and
breastplates like breastplates of iron and the noise of their
wings was like the noise of many chariots with horses rushing
into battle. They have tails and stings like
scorpions and their power to hurt people for five months is
in their tails. Now imagine this. And they have as king over them
the angel of the bottomless pit. His name is in Hebrew, Abaddon,
and in the Greek he is called Apollyon. The first woe has passed. Behold, two more woes are still
to come. And the sixth angel blew his
trumpet. And I heard a voice from the four horns at the golden
altar before God saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet,
release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates. So the four angels who had been
prepared for the hour, the day, the month, and the year were
released to kill a third of mankind. The number of mounted troops
was twice 10,000 times 10,000. I heard their number. And this
is how I saw the horses in my vision. And those who rode them,
they were breastplates the color of fire and sapphire and sulfur.
And the heads of the horses were like lion's heads. And fire and
smoke and sulfur came out of their mouths. By these three
plagues, a third of mankind was killed by the fire and smoke
and sulfur coming out of their mouths. For the power of the
horses is in their mouths and in their tails, for their tails
are like serpents with heads, and by means of them they wound.
The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues did
not repent of the works of their hands, nor give up worshiping
demons and idols and gold and silver and bronze. and stone
and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, nor did they repent
of their sex, excuse me, of their murders or their sorceries or
their sexual immoralities or their deaths. Can you see that? This is a picture. This is a picture of what Jesus
is commanding upon the earth. When we see the fall of humanity
in Genesis chapter 3, we know that calamity comes. The wages
of sin is death. Inside the Garden of Eden, even,
had to be shut out from man, for it was a place of paradise
where God walked with men in intimacy. Intimacy was gone.
The wage then was eternal damnation. What is there for us is nothing
but hopelessness. Man then would work by the sweat
of his brow, he would toil and put together, and yet even time
would tear down. Rot, destruction, horror, wind,
rain, fire, bugs, pestilence, serpents, beasts. See, we don't
deal with that in our first world. But imagine in many places, and
if you were to just look at news broadcasts, you would not sleep
for a month, but there are people who are consumed by creatures
every day. I mean, just at a Disney resort this last summer, a young
boy was snatched into the water by an alligator and consumed. Wow. What must it be like at
the Nile? What must it be like in the Amazon
or in the Congo or in places of Eastern Africa where a $5
mosquito net makes a difference in generations being lost forever? What must it be like in places
where great rain brings flood and calamity, where just a small
dew in the morning would bring a slide off a mountain to consume
your whole village? What must it be like that a small
earthquake outside a specific place in the Pacific Ocean would
cause a tsunami that would kill 300,000 people in five minutes? We are isolated from that type
of stuff, y'all. But it's not ancient history.
It happened today. It happened yesterday. It's going
to happen tomorrow. Before we get up in the morning,
thousands of people across this world will be eaten by lions,
and tigers, and bears, and fish, bitten by serpents, scorpions,
murdered in their sleep by their neighbors because they wanted
what they had. Beaten to death because someone
might want their vehicle. Shot because they wear a badge.
Hanged because of the color of their skin. And we see this calamity
and we cry out, Oh God, when? You see the prayers of the saints
now. When are you going to stop this? When are you going to bring
justice? God has already started to bring
justice. a small picture of justice, a small picture of the casualty
of sin, which is death, which is destruction. These similes that we see over
and over again are supposed to give us the depiction of just
how wicked things are and how God sovereignly sends these demons
to do His bidding. And as we'll see in chapters
to come when He brings judgment. He's even given a taste of judgment
in that where most people say, in my free will, if I knew how
bad things were, I would repent. We'll see right now what that
looks like. You might say, well, what about
all these pictures? What about looking like horses
prepared for battle? Crowns of gold, human faces. They were like horses prepared
for battle. It had nothing to do with how they looked. It had
to do about their preparation. They were equipped. A horse prepared
for battle is not the same as a horse prepared for rodeo. A
horse prepared for rodeo has a leather saddle and a rein and
a bit and stirrups. And the cowboy can ride that
horse and do what he needs to do. The rancher can use that
horse to gather in the herd. A horse prepared for battle is
one that is equipped to go into battle. These demonic angels
are equipped by God and empowered by God to go in for battle. And
it's not a battle with the flesh of humanity against some other
flesh. It is the battle that God is
teaching us in Ephesians chapter 6, that we do not fight against
flesh and blood, but against the powers and the principalities
of this present darkness. But in the glorious good news
of God through Jesus Christ, the son, we see that Paul would
say in the latter part of the chapter eight of Romans that
there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God, which
is in Christ Jesus, not even the darkness of the powers of
the of the principalities of darkness, not even their power. And so when we understand that
what John is doing is showing his people just how things are,
these people, beloved, said, I've seen this now. I saw this. This is what's happening in our
world today. I see this calamity. I see this
horror. I see this stuff. You mean this
is happening by the will of God? Yes, beloved. Verses 8 through
10, it teaches that these Demons are powerful. They have teeth
like lion. Why women's hair? I don't really
know, except that they were human-like, as well as lion-like, as well
as locust-like, as well as scorpion-like, as well as serpent-like, as well
as... Keep on going. They're prepared. They're powerful. They're enabled. They're invested in their mission.
They're not coming down here just to go, boo! They're not
here to scare. They're here to torment. And God has sent them upon the
earth, just like He sent Satan himself, Lucifer himself, into
the life of Job and said, go and you tear up Job's life. What
was Job visualizing when he saw his body fail? When he heard
of his crops burning, when he when he heard the story from
his servants that all of his livelihood was gone, that he
was bankrupt and had nothing. Oh, at least I have my family. And then God sent the devil to
take Job's family. And Job says, blessed be the
name of the Lord. At least I've got my friends.
And then his own friends cursed him. These demons have been given
power to torment as long as they are enabled to do so, and only
at a certain time that God has applied for them. In verse 11,
it's a key here to understanding this. They have as king over
them the angel of the Spot on the Pit. His name in Hebrew is
Abaddon. In Greek, the same word, Apollyon.
What is that? Abaddon means destruction. Apollyon
means the one who destroys. So here it is, these demonic
angels given the ability to overpower creation. to hurt, to destroy, to cause
suffering. And all of this has come and
is happening. And beloved, just like the sixth
seal, we see that just like the fifth
seal, we see this stuff taking place. And the sixth seal, the
stuff taking place. And in verse 12, then we see
these words. The first woe is past. Behold,
two woes are still to come. Why the woe, woe, woe? Remember
we talked about that last week? Because there is going to be
not just sorrow, not just suffering, not just a lot of sorrow and
suffering, but ultimate sorrow and suffering. And the first
wave of suffering, people like to say, well, this world is more
than I can bear. This suffering is more. You've seen nothing
yet. Now, great is God to be praised because in this text,
we see that the reality of the pouring out of such suffering
is aimed at whom? Unsealed. This is the contrast
between those who are sealed, though they may be martyred,
and though we also will suffer, we will not suffer as these suffer.
What if we experienced the same calamity? Are we not suffering
the way these suffer? No. Just as Paul would tell the
Thessalonians that we do not grieve as those who have no hope,
though we may lose our loved ones, though they may die, we
do not grieve as those who have no hope. Though we may have cancer,
just like our godless neighbor, we do not grieve as those who
have no hope. We might suffer in a way that
is equal to those who are unbelievers. But friends, our suffering is
not worthless. It is worth something. It is
good. It is a gift of God. It is a
preparation for glory. For this light momentary affliction,
Paul would say to the people of Corinth, prepares us for an
eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. As we look to
the things, not the things that are seen, but which are temporal,
but to the things that are unseen, which are eternal. We're not just getting a taste.
We're being glorified. There are still more woes to
come. Friends, I believe the woes could be looked at this
way, and I say this not dogmatically from this text, but just in the
sense that it's easily to be understood. Woe, you will suffer
in this life because the world has fallen. Woe, you will suffer
the wrath of God and the judgment and the consequence of sin in
this life, and it will have no benefit to you. And woe, there
is a judgment that is worse than this that you shall suffer for
all of eternity. But you might be asking yourself,
where am I now? Look at verse 13. Verse 13 says, In the sixth angel
blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of
the golden altar before God. What horns? The other trumpeters. Where are they? Before the altar
of God. Where are those? Remember the
prayers of the saints? This is showing us that even
in these judgments, reminding us that in these judgments, the
prayers of the saints are being answered. Friends, listen. God
bringing suffering in the world is an answer to the prayers of
God's people. How? Friends, do you not pray for
God to cease all this? Do you not pray for God to bring
justice? Do you not pray for God to bring
repentance? You not pray for God to bring
sanctification, you not pray for God to come swiftly, Lord
Jesus. That's the context. This shows us the work of God
in response to the prayers of his people, these judgments are
in response to God's people's to God's people in their prayers.
And so the answer to that, verse 14, saying then to the sixth
angel who had the trumpet, release the four angels who are bound
at the great river Euphrates. And you're like, uh-oh, now there's
some specifics. But we're in the middle of this
picture. So if we're in the middle of an image, and there's something
lucid about that image, then that lucidity is also part of
the image. What do I mean by that? This
isn't a where's Waldo in the abstract. It's not a find a hidden object
in the middle of the mud. Here's the picture, here's the
example, here's the metaphor, here's the simile, here is the
allegory, here is the point. The hearers of this letter would
understand that one of the greatest fears of the Roman imperial system
at this time was what? The Paratheons. These people
that lived north of the Euphrates. These people who had the ability
to invade the Roman Empire and possibly take it over. They were
feared and now we start seeing there is an enemy here bound
at the great river Euphrates. It's a metaphor. It's a picture. These people went, wait a minute.
God's about to do something. God's about to release the enemies
of Rome on them. But it goes bigger than that,
doesn't it? That's not the point of Revelation at all, is it?
It's not about Rome getting it. The Rome got it before this was
written. It's about the enemies of God
getting it. Getting what they deserve. And the people of God
getting what they don't deserve, which is grace. mercy and kindness. The idea of invasion. By this,
people was a very known fear and it was a very real enemy
beyond the Euphrates, this reveals that the angels that we see here
are enemies of those who are enemies of God, even though they
are enemies of God. You think about that. See, people
think the devil's on our side when we're unbelievers. I'm on
the devil's side. The devil is not on our side
when we're unbelievers. The devil is on his side, which
is against God, and we're against God, and the devil's against
us if we're against God as unbelievers. So the devil hates unbelievers.
The devil hates believers. The devil hates God. He hates
everybody. So the enemies of God in the
heavenly realm are the enemies of the unregenerate and the reprobate
in the earthly realm. And God uses his own enemies
as enemies of his own enemies. Holy cow, my mind's blown. That's
the picture. These demonic angels are being
used by God to bring recompense upon his own enemies. Did God not do that in the physical
world? Every time the page turned, God
used the pagans, the wicked, the debased, the evil, to come
against those that disobeyed Him. So this time, it's been happening
and happening and happening, but this time, We see something
different. These enemies are vicious. In
Jeremiah chapter 46, we see a picture of that. If you can turn there
with me, if you can find it, if your Bible's big enough to
see. Jeremiah 46, look at that really quickly as we... Yes,
before Ezekiel. The word of the Lord came to
Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations about Egypt, concerning
the army of Pharaoh, Necho, king of Egypt, who was by the river
Euphrates at Carchemish, in which Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon,
defeated in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah,
the king of Judah. Prepare buckler and shield in
advance for battle. Harness the horses, mount, oh
horsemen. Take your stations with your
helmets. I should do this in a Scottish accent, right? Polish
your spears. Put on your armor! I mean, why
have I seen it? They are dismayed and have turned
backward. Their warriors are beaten down
and have fled in haste. They do not look back. Terror
on every side, declares the Lord. The swift cannot flee. Look at
verse 7. Who is this rising like the Nile? Look at verse 9. Advance, O horses! Rage, O chariots!
Let the warriors go out, men of Cush, and put who handle the
shield, men of Lud, skilling and handling the bow. That day
is the day of the Lord of hosts, a day of vengeance, to avenge
himself on his foes. The sword shall devour and be
sated, and drink its full of their blood. You see that imagery
there? You see that? You see that simile there? Do
swords drink? For the Lord of God hosts a sacrifice
in the north country by the river Euphrates. Verse 11. Go up to
Gilead and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt. In vain you
have used many medicines. There is no healing for you.
The nations have heard of your shame. Look at verse 14. Declare in Egypt, proclaim in
Migdal. Proclaim in Memphis. Uh oh, it's
getting close to home. In Taffanis. Stand ready and
prepare for the sword shall devour around you. It keeps on saying,
it keeps on going. Look at verse 18. As I live,
declares the king, whose name is the Lord of hosts, like Tabor
among the mountains, and like Carmel by the sea shall one come.
Prepare yourselves baggage for exile, O inhabitants of Egypt,
for Memphis shall become a waste and ruin without inhabitant.
A beautiful heifer in Egypt, but a biting fly from the north
has come upon her. Even her hired soldiers in her
midst are like fattened calves. Yes, they have turned and fled,
Together they did not stand, for the day of their calamity
has come upon them, the time of their punishment. She makes
a great sound like a serpent gliding away, for her enemies
march in force and come against her with axes like those who
fell trees. They shall cut down a forest, declares the Lord,
though it is impenetrable, because they are more numerous than locusts. They are without number. The
daughter of Egypt shall be put to shame, and she shall be devoured
into the hand of a people from the north. And that is of Euphrates. It goes on. There's an imagery
there in the apocalypse that goes right back to what we see
in that same type of picture. It's not talking about that.
It's just using that same type of picture. The picture that
God used the prophet Jeremiah. Even in verse 23 of 46 of Jeremiah
says that the troops were like locusts. What's the point of
a locust? They're destructive. They work
together and they're everywhere. There's no escape. Doesn't that
make more sense? You can't escape suffering. You
can't escape vengeance. You can't escape the consequence of sin.
You can't escape God. You can't escape it at all. Matter
of fact, we saw at the end of last week, people say, where
is death? Oh, please let me die. Is that
not the song of suffering? As we saw on the seals, oh, would
the mountains fall upon me? See the same story from a different
perspective. But it said they could not escape,
they could not hide. And it says, so the four angels
who had been prepared for the hour, the day, the month and
the year were released to kill a third of mankind. What's this
third again? Here's another third. There were
13 thirds in the last section. Now here's another third. What
does it mean? It's not complete. This is not the judgment day.
not all humanity. This is not the judgment of God
which is complete, but the continual temporal penalty of sin and the
fall by the will and the purpose of Jesus Christ. And the number
of mounted troops was twice, 10,000 times 10,000. Do your
math. Where's Trey? He's not here. 10,000 times 10,000 is 100 million.
Doubled is what? 200 million. I can do easy tens. 200 million. Really? Who counted that? Did John count
that? No, that's not the point. Matter
of fact, it doesn't even supposed to give us a number. 10,000 is
a perfect number, divisible by 10. It's a number that's used
throughout all of the Old Testament. Leviticus 26, it talks about
10,000, but it's not specifically numbering things of 10,000. It's
just talking about an abundance, a great number. Deuteronomy 32,
the same thing, about a great number. It's an expression of
largeness. So to say something's 10,000,
that's large. For the Bible to say it's 10,000
times 10,000, see now it's sounding like Semitic literature, isn't
it? What does that mean? That's a
real bunch. Now double it! I mean, it's a lot. What is it
showing us? The angelic host, the angelic
demons, there is no count for them. They are everywhere. You cannot hide. You cannot exercise
them. You cannot move into a place
of spiritual protection from God's judgment if he so chooses.
Even his own beloved people cannot escape the suffering of this
life. Does the archangel Gabriel and Michael bring suffering the
lives of people? Is it a hurricane that comes?
How does this work? We don't know, but the Bible
says that God uses the fallen angels to perpetrate his will
and purpose in the suffering of this earth. He's the king
over it. Jesus Christ sends his angels.
Jesus Christ sends the four horsemen. Jesus Christ sends the demons.
Jesus Christ sends Satan, and he does his bidding. And this
is the picture that we are supposed to see. It's vast. In 17, it says, and this is how
I saw the horses in my vision. They wore breastplates the color
of fire. I mean, start thinking this now. What does that look
like? I mean, if we had an army lined
up, and we saw some horses, or we saw some people riding horses,
and the horses had pink Afghans on them. Pink. It's the My Little Pony army.
My Little Pony, you know, the rainbows are coming out. We see
a rainbow in this next text. I mean, is that scary? No, it's
not supposed to be scary, pink Afghans. That would scare me.
I'm like, what's really invading us right now? Maybe there is
something to that. But I saw these horses in my
vision and those who rode them, they, those who rode them, wore
breastplates the color of fire and sapphire and sulfur. And the heads of the horses were
like lion's heads, and fire and smoke and sulfur came out of
their mouths." What is that a picture of? Say it. Destruction. Fire, sulfur, smoke. Destruction. Here are these things in verse
18, and by these three plagues, a third of mankind was killed. Pestilence, disease. Since we've
moved back here for the last five years, I have seen more
people buried having died from cancer than I've seen my entire
life. I'm not lying. More people buried from cancer in this community
than I've seen my entire life elsewhere. It's weird. It's very weird. Tensor. What's this third? This
is the 15th time we've seen one third. It's not complete. This
one third of all humanity was killed. That means the suffering,
the fire, the smoke, the sulfur coming out of their mouths. Because
the power for the power of these horses is in their mouths and
in their tails. For their tails, listen to this,
it sounds just like Isaiah. I'm in Jeremiah 46 again, serpents
with heads and by means of them they wound. What's the point
of that? What are we supposed to know?
I think we're supposed to see this as it is, a horrifying,
graphic, ghastly image of evil. Isn't it? It reminds me of something
I'd see on a horror show. It reminds me of something I'd
see on a show about the end of the world. It reminds me of something I'd
see in a scare house or some kind of crazy something like
that. It reminds me of something I'd see in a horror book written by Stephen King. This horrifying thing describing
this supernatural beings coming down and just killing a third
of the world. Nothing can be done about it. What's the point
here? This image is supposed to show
us that evil is here And God has turned evil loose upon the
earth. Is that not the picture? And
when you see that, you saw it in the other chapters. You saw
it in the sixth seal. You see it in the sixth trumpet.
You're going to see the same thing in the sixth bowl. And you're
going to see it recapitulated again when you start to see the
dragon and the beast and everything. You're going to see the same
story told seven times in this letter. The same story. And friends, this picture makes
us say what? All hope is lost. All hope is
lost. We're just going to sit here
and suffer in this world until it ends. And then and then what? But we know, beloved, that all
hope is not lost. We know all hope isn't lost. Remember the hymn? That we don't
ever sing when I play because I can't play it. A mighty fortress
is our God, a bulwark never failing, our helper he amid the flood
of mortal ills prevailing. For still our ancient foe, the
star from heaven, doth to work us woe. His craft and power are
great and armed with cruel hate. On earth is not his equal." I
think that Martin Luther took that straight out of Revelation.
from the pictures he saw reading John's apocalypse. Did we in
our own strength confide our striving would be losing? Were
not the right man on our side the man of God's own choosing? Dost ask who that may be? Christ
Jesus, it is He. Lord, sabbath His name from age
to age the same, and He must win the battle. And though this
world, with devils filled, threaten to undo us, we will not fear,
for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us. The prince
of darkness grim, we tremble not for him. His rage we can
endure, for lo, his doom is sure. One little word shall fail him. That word above all earthly powers,
no thanks to them, abideth. The spirit and the gifts are
ours through him who with us sideth. Let goods and kindreds
go. Let this mortal life also. The
body they may kill. God's truth abideth still. His kingdom is forever. Y'all, that's this text. It's
popping. I'm like, wait a minute. That's
the song I know. A mighty fortress is our God. All hope is not lost, for Christ
has been the victor already over evil, over death, over hell,
over murder, hate, bigotry, racism, misogyny, war, famine. And this picture shows us that
while evil will get worse and worse and worse, and the world
will get darker and darker and darker, and the forces of the
darkness will continue to be allowed to infiltrate the minds
and the lives of people, to do that which is unnatural because
God has turned them over to the reprobation. God is not making unbelievers
do it. He's withholding His mercy so
that they stay in their natural state, that they do that which
is clearly their heart's desire. The pain of evil is here in the
world. And it is well time that we see
the work of the demonic, the work of the devil, the work of
the world. under the sovereign hand of God.
Murder, hate, bigotry, rape, war, famine, thievery, burglary,
gossip is the result of the fall. And God is allowing the natural
consequence of justice to be let loose on the earth. Friends,
it is right that God brings suffering in the world. Sometimes when people suffer,
they come to their senses, don't they? We see the story in Luke
15 where Jesus tells of the prodigal son, which is really a story
about Israel and the Gentiles. It's not about
you and I running away from God. It's about the older brother
being Israel and Gentiles being Younger brother. How do I know
that? Because that's who he's talking
to. He's teaching about that. These pictures here remind us that sometimes suffering
in this world will bring somebody to their senses and come to the
Father. But they only do that, beloved,
when God has, what, birthed them anew. To the hearing of the words
of Christ, they believe because God has willed it. They have faith because God has
given it. They have hope because God has
granted it, they have repentance because it has been gifted, because
they've heard the gift of God's grace is given to the hearing
of scripture and the movement of the spirit of God is at the
will and the mercy of God. When we see these pictures, beloved,
we need to remember that we are dealing with the powers of evil.
Ephesians chapter six says that we stand against the devil's
schemes by the armor of God, which is all of Christ. The helmet
of salvation. The breastplate of righteousness.
The shoes of the mercy of the gospel of peace. The belt of
truth. The sword of the spirit, which
is the heard word of God. We are victorious when we're
in battle because God is victorious against the powers of evil. Remember,
last week we discussed the plagues of Egypt. Pharaoh repented numerous
times. How many times? Ten. And this
is it. I'm almost done. What was Pharaoh's
repentance? worldly, worldly sorrow. Oh, I'm so tired of the pain. Leave, please, so the pain will
leave. Then God does what? Mercy. Take this pain from you, Pharaoh,
from your people, because you've relented. What happens when justice
comes through suffering and through judgment and we repent under
judgment? But we hate God in mercy. Hardens our heart. Something
my fathers used to always say, the jailhouse religion. Sentencing
day, everybody's crying for Jesus. And then when they get out, they're
lusting in their flesh. They go in crying for Jesus,
judgment, get out, mercy, I don't need God now. That's what Pharaoh
did. And the Bible says that God himself
hardened the heart of Pharaoh. How did he do that? Did he take
Pharaoh's heart and prevent it from seeing? No, he showed him
his mercy. And showing him the mercy in
the natural state, we hate him. Verse 20, 21. The rest of mankind who are not
killed by these plagues did not repent of the works of their
hands. I hear that church. Nor did they give up worshiping
demons and idols of gold, idols of silver, of bronze and stone
and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, nor did they repent
of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or
their thievery. Why? It's the same way Pharaoh's heart
was hardened. It's the same thing Jesus says
to Nicodemus when he says these words. This is the judgment. Listen. People love the darkness
rather than the light because their works are evil and they
do not come to the light lest their works be exposed, but all
beloved. who come to the light do so,
that it may be clearly seen that their works have been carried
out in God." Friends, without God's infinite mercy, the judgment
that we see, partially temporal judgment, puts those who hate God into
greater hate when He takes it away. Well, if God was just nicer,
being nice. They're not going to come to
me. If God was just merciful, I'm being merciful. If God would
just reveal himself to me, behold, I stand as the living water. All who thirst come to me. Coming to you. I hate you. I hate you. You rich young ruler
hated Jesus. He just wanted what Jesus had.
He wanted the ticket in the pocket of Christ. He wanted that ticket
to eternal life. Jesus, you got the key. Give
me a copy. Jesus, I'm the key. I'm not going
there then. In fact, I'm not the key. I'm
the life. If you're a little hostile to
God, they hate him and they'll always hate him more and more and more.
And that's the picture that we see here. You suffering saints
of this first century, John is saying, God has shown me that
this has been happening since the dawn of time when the serpent
entered the garden and deceived Eve and Adam and Eve fell from
glory and fell from righteousness. God in His righteousness brings
recompense and this is just a taste. And you hate Him even when He
gives you mercy because that's what you do. And when Jesus Christ comes,
when the seventh seal is pulled, when the seventh trumpet is sounded,
when the seventh bowl is poured, when the day of Christ is here,
all those who continue to hate Him, not only are they guilty
already, but oh, His judgment is ever so sweet. I used to ask
myself, how will there be peace in heaven when these multitudes
are being cast into the lake of fire? Because it makes sense,
beloved. It makes sense. We hate God,
we despise him, we spit upon his glory, we hide our face from
his majesty, we don't worship him or thank him or love him. Except we'd be born of God. And friends, that's the picture. And I want you to see it. Because
it's where we are. I have to look for revelation
to come. It's come. It's revealed. Because we don't
have to go to Job to understand the sovereignty of God and the
sovereignty of this world. It's there. And it's there. It's everywhere. Read it. What do we love? Our traditions?
Our pictures? Our prophets? Or Jesus Christ?
Do we love a short-lived, barely 100-year-old eschatology, or
do we love the gospel of God? I had a conversation with a brother
just this week who is at the place where he believes that
eschatology, in some sense, is a separable offense, a divisive
matter of essential doctrine. And I don't disagree with him,
but I tell you, beloved, I think we've got to be a little more
patient before we do stuff like that. The greatest sin is not to feel like, that ain't what
I believe. The greatest sin is to say, God, you're wrong. And reading this letter, brothers
and sisters, has given me great joy. It's given me great joy
to know that God is at work. He's not waiting. He's at work. He's not. Absent. He's at work. Satan doesn't have a blank check.
He's on a time clock. And he's got a schedule. And
God has written it. And I'm fine with it. Are you? We'll stop there and pick up
there next week. Let's pray. Father, these pictures are just.
They're beautiful. And horrible at the same time. But just as we looked at a few
chapters ago in this letter, Lord, it brought to me a fire
today as I settled in my spirit to teach this tonight. That these
things be true. Where is our urgency? Lord, your supremacy does not
exclude your command. Send us into the world. For the
harvest. The harvest. Is plentiful. And Lord, I readily repent of
my mindset in that. Who's going to come to faith? Though you tell us that the way
of destruction is broad. And the way of life is narrow
and few will find it, Lord, you say the harvest is plentiful,
myriads and myriads and thousands of thousands from every tongue
and language and tribe. So, Lord, settle in our hearts
that we might share the gospel every day. The simple message
of your holiness, and our wickedness and your justice and your mercy. And your judgment against Jesus.
That we have been forgiven in him. Father, we pray because your
spirit teaches us in the word that he goes forth. And blows. And prepares the way for your
word. And opens hearts and minds. Father, we pray for our loved
ones And for those who are lost come to faith. But do we really
believe that you can change them so that they may believe? Help us to have such belief.
In Jesus name, Amen.