We look at the first six seals,
and as you'll see, here is a seventh seal. in chapter 8 of Revelation. You might say, well, why did
John put that in the next chapter? He didn't. He wrote it continually.
When the Lamb opened the seventh seal was actually part of what
we see in chapter 7. Why they break it apart like
this, I do not know, but it's been like that for centuries,
so we shall keep it. That's why it's important for us to just
not, anyway, it's important for us to not look at at the chapters
and the chapter numbers as clear marks in this letter, because
it's not at all. The thought continues. But for
our study, they work very well, and so tonight we continue looking
at chapter 8. I will read chapter 8, verses
1 through—actually, let's go back. Let's look at chapter 7. When the Lamb opened the seventh
seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. Then
I saw the angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were
given to them. And another angel came and stood
at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense
to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden
altar before the throne. And the smoke of the incense
with the prayers of the saints rose before God at the hand of
the angel. Then the angel took the censer
and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the
earth. And there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of
lightning and an earthquake. And we'll stop there. So here's
what we've got. This recurring theme of Judgment
Day. continually appears at the end
of every cycle. We saw it at the end of the letters,
the seven letters to the seven churches, the seven seals now. We'll see it next week as we
look at the seven trumpets, and then we'll see after the seven
trumpets the seven bowls, which are seven plagues. And what we're
seeing now with this seventh seal is really Well, what we'll
see after the seventh seal is all of a sudden a recapitulation.
Remember me telling you about that word. It's something that's
repeated and restated, usually from a different perspective.
And so what we'll see as we move into these seals, as we'll see
as we have been looking from earth, now we'll see as a view
from heaven. And I'll show you what that looks
like as we get into it. But before we move on, let's
remember a few things and observe a few things. First of all, if
you've ever seen a movie, and I'm sure most of us have. I don't
know if you watch cinematography. I'm the type of guy that I love
to see the framing of a photograph. I love to watch the framing of
a scene that I watch in film. I like to watch it. Has it been
cut? Has it been run? Is it one camera? Is it two cameras?
Is it three cameras? And I spend a lot of time analyzing
this view because I enjoy the art of cinematography more than
the art of acting because acting these days is not acting. It's
just weird. I could have this 65-minute monologue
and we do it in 30-minute sections and it doesn't really matter
because I can get it wrong 1,500 times and just continue to do
it and it looks perfect on film. That's why so many actors and
actresses actually don't even realize what their scene looks
like until after the movie comes out because they don't get to
watch it. They go to watch the premiere so they can see their
art. So when it comes to cinematography, what's this got to do with? This
is what John is doing. John is showing us the same thing
from a different camera angle, from a different perspective.
It's like when you watch cut scenes in a movie. Some shows
you'll see four or five conversations. You'll see somebody talking at
my house, and somebody talking at your house, and somebody talking
at the church, and somebody talking at the school, and somebody talking
at the shopping mall. But it's all happening simultaneously,
but we can't look at five conversations at the same time. But, so we
have to watch them in sequence, even though they're not chronologically
disturbed, they're all together. And so that's what's happening
here in this letter, in this revelation. There's all of these
conversations, all of these happenings going on at the same time. And
it's sort of like if ten people were involved, you say, well,
why does he have to do that? Well, if all of us were to go and be
in the same room and observe the same, let's just say it was
a gathering, a fellowship or a party, And we all went back
and were asked to recap the evening. We would all give some of the
same information, which is called corroboration, but some of us
would notice some things that others did not. Now that's not
what's happening here in Revelation, but it is similar in that John
is writing And he's writing from one perspective at the same time
that he's going to be writing from another perspective showing
the exact same event and the exact same sequence of things.
And here it begins and we see it over and over and over and
over again. It is very typical for apocalyptic
writing as a genre. For example, if you ask one person
who was at a particular event to describe the mood, they would
do that. If you ask another person that
was with them to describe the activities that took place, they
could do that. Another person would say, well,
what was there to eat? And they could do that. And you
get three correct and very explicit and detailed true explanations
of the same happenings. In this letter, we start to see
such happenings. Don't forget that when we look
at Scripture, we have a lot of different genres. We have the
genre of letters. We have narratives, which are
stories. We have history. We have poetry. There's wisdom
literature, like the Proverbs. There are teachings or didactics. There are sermons. There are
prayers. There are hymns. There are itineraries. Did you
know there are itineraries? Paul writes a lot of itineraries.
Or Luke writes a lot of itineraries. And even architectural descriptions
or architectural design narratives in the Bible. So when we read
these things, we need to understand exactly what it is we're reading.
see that we are actually understanding these things within the context
of their genre. So is true with apocalyptic writing. Here is
one of the defining elements of apocalyptic writing, is that
it does display different pictures of different things, I mean of
the same thing, from a different perspective. Sort of like a coloring
book. A coloring book, if you think
of Revelation as a coloring book, you could have a picture of Jesus
praying in the garden, and then a picture of Jesus on the cross,
and a picture of this, and at the same time you could have
a picture of the disciples running for their lives, and a picture
of Mary weeping at the foot of the cross, and a picture of this,
and a picture of that, all happening at the exact same time. That's
what John is showing us here. In apocalyptic writing, because
it is greatly image-driven, colors are of great importance. Numbers
are of great importance and views and symbolism are of great importance. And they're vital to the mystery
and symbolism of such style of writing. It would be sort of
like the difference between a history textbook an editorial, a congressional
report, or a political cartoonist. All of them could be alluding
to the same event, but they would do so in a very different way,
depicting a very different narrative or a very different style of
writing. While they all show the same thing, they will do
it in much different ways from much different angles. That is
what's happening here in Revelation as we continue, and I want you
to keep that in mind. First of all, I want to remind
us that this letter, this book of revealed things, is not a
book of cryptic origin. It's not a book that's supposed
to be mysterious, that unfolds untold prophecies that we're
supposed to decipher. Apocalyptic writing, especially
in Revelation, it's not a bunch of hidden things about the future
that we're not supposed to understand. Remember that we learned that
in the very first week, that this letter was written so that
the readers of it would know completely, ultimately, and perfectly
the very first time they read it. And they would understand
it, and they would apply it, and in obeying it, they would
be blessed. We've also seen that there's not anything yet future
to come, except what? The Day of Judgment. That nothing
we've seen depicted already in the first seven chapters have
anything to do with what's coming tomorrow, but it's everything
that has come and everything that is currently happening on
the world today. And as we move into this last seal and then
into the trumpets, there's a setup here that I want us to just be
mindful of. Here we'll start, let's put it
this way, and this will begin to help us see a pattern of seven
sevens. I still didn't say that correct
in English. It's okay, it works up here. You get it. There are
seven sevens. There are seven letters to seven
churches. There are seven seals, seven
trumpets, seven bowls, and seven views of God's victory. So there
are seven sets of seven in the book of Revelation, and that's
all there are. Seven sets of seven showing the exact same
thing, telling it from a different angle or a different point of
view. And it all has to do with two things. Revelation is only
about two things, and I hope you can see what they are. Number
one, it's about Christ's work in the purposes of God. Christ's
work in the purposes of God. Secondly, the reign of Christ
as he fulfills the purposes of God. And in what two ways does
Christ fulfill the purposes of God? Salvation and judgment. There it is. So from a simplistic
point of view, those seven sevens reveal that Jesus Christ is the
one who works, as we saw when we see the one who is worthy
to take the scroll from the one that sits on the throne, Jesus
Christ. Who is worthy to do that which the King has decreed? Jesus
Christ. Who is worthy to open the creeds
of the Lord and put it all into play? Jesus Christ. Who is the
one who commands the decrees of God? Jesus Christ. Who was
the author of the letter? Jesus Christ. So here we see
Christ for working the purposes of God. And then finally, we
see the reign of Christ and fulfilling the purposes of God through these
things in salvation, the salvation of those who are sealed and the
judgment of those who are not sealed. And so as we begin to
move, you'll start seeing that this is not as cryptic as we
thought it was. The problem is we have looked
at this letter from a contemporary lens for so long as a culture. Everybody who thought it differently
and who read it simply have died. They've died. They've all died.
And so the contemporary way of viewing the letter of Revelation
is one through which Oh, biases have been set by culture, by
literature, by tradition, by historical error, and the like. Also, I believe that of all the
letters of the New Testament, that Revelation is one that should
be read without chapter or verse headings. It should be one of
those that you should print out off your computer. It'll fit
on a small couple of pages and just read it as it was intended
to be read. And then all of a sudden, these
things start to make better sense, because though we try not to,
when we see a big fat eight, we think it's something new.
And because we think it's something new, because it's been segmented
that way, we then begin to start realizing that we begin to start
trying to read into the letter, which is eisegesis, rather than
seeing what the letter is saying, which is exegesis. And when we
do that, then we come up with wrong statements about what God
has said, which is blasphemy, and then blasphemy turns to heresy,
heresy turns to false worship, false worship turns to apostasy.
That may be a stretch for some of us, but I do believe that
when we follow the traditions of men as to interpret scripture,
we fall into an apostate place, even though we may be amongst
the people of God, we are no longer walking with God. And
Hebrews chapter 6 talks about some of those things, not specifically
about misinterpretation of Scripture, but non-correct application. No regeneration. Only regeneration
will produce the fruits of Christ. Only regeneration will produce
the fruits of God. And so we can understand certain
theological positions, which millions do, that have no effect
on their lives, because not only are they not born, but they cannot
be born by the way they're reading the text. Well, I thought this
was about end times. It is about the end days, the
end day, the one and final thing that we see. And as we've come
to this final seal, remember what we saw about the seals previously. In chapter six, we saw these
seals all open, and then we saw this interlude going into the
very beginning of chapter seven, when the question is, who can
stand? We see God actually sending Satan into the earth and all
the angels that fell with him into the earth to bring death
and hell and destruction and mire and decay and temptation
and depravity and all of these things and all kind of destruction
and calamity on the earth. We see God commanding them to
come as the seals are opened. We see all of this war and the
rumors of war and all the things that men do, the thievery, the
murder, the rape, the incest, the lust, all the stuff that
happens. We see God orchestrating all
of this justice and the effects of the fall of man on the world
and it's happening today. We see the saints and the martyrs
who died on the earth and who also experienced the same trials
and tribulation under, we see the picture of them under the
altar in heaven crying out, Lord, when will you bring recompense?
When will you bring justice against those who hate you? When will
you bring justice against those who slay your people? And then
we see this seventh seal. Or then we see the question is,
then there shall be calamity and then God will come and send
the angels to come and fold up the earth and everything will
be gone. And then the people who are hiding or thinking they
can't hide, hide. And then the question is, who
can stand? And we see in chapter 7, who stands are those who are
sealed of God. They will not face corruption. They will not
face death. They will not face anything but
being excellently submitted to the decree of God and salvation.
And John, if you notice that, he comes to a place of worship
through chapter 7 where he even begins to start saying, Sir,
here's this, the writer, if you will, starts to imagine himself
in the number, worshiping the Lamb. So in chapter 8, it starts
out with this seventh seal. Now look what it's saying there.
The seal 6 and the seal 7 are the exact same event. What is
that event? That event is the judgment day. The problem is
we think that they're sequences because he says, then I saw,
then I saw, then I saw. Well, you can't look at a picture
book at one time. You have to look at the pictures,
even though they may be different camera angles of the same scene. This is one scene. The Day of
Judgment is not a place in time. It is the end of time. The Day
of Judgment has no extension to it. It is a once and for all,
in the blink of an eye, expression of God's righteousness, expression
of God's justice, expression of God's sovereignty, and a display
of such where He is found and proven to be supreme over all
things. So, as the sixth seal and the
seventh seal show the exact same thing, what does the seventh
seal show us? It says there, when the Lamb
opened the seventh seal, There was silence in heaven for about
half an hour. I want to stop there because
really this belongs to the very previous, to the previous text.
The seal is opened and there was silence. What does it say
to us when there was silence? What is happening now in heaven? What is going on this very moment
in heaven? You remember what the Revelation
taught us? Worship. Praise. Worship. Praise. To the Lamb and to the One who
sits on the throne. Praise. All the time. Constantly. Forever. Well, there's also something
else going on in Heaven. And we'll see that as we start
to look at some of the... As we begin in this text chapter
or verses 2 through 5, we'll see some other things that are
going on in Heaven simultaneously. We'll see what the angels are
doing now. But what happens when this seventh
seal is opened, when this sixth seal is opened? It is the judgment
day. So the sixth seal is opened and
we see what happens on the earth. And the seventh seal is opened
and we see what happens in heaven. What happens in heaven is that
there is silence. Now what's significant about
this silence? A lot of people try to make something to do about
half an hour. You know what the word half an hour means? A short
period of time. It's not explicitly teaching
us that for 30 minutes. Why? Because there's no time
in heaven. There's no clock in heaven. God's not going to go,
OK, silence! Ding! Yay! Praise you, Lord!
Praise you, Lord! I mean, it's not like that. Just
imagine what it's... In simplistic ways, imagine what
is happening here. Everything stops. Why? Because God has corrected the
wickedness of this world. He has brought corruption to
its proper place, which is wrath. And all of heaven is silent.
Now, should there ever be a time when Christ is not worthy of
praise? Is there ever a time when Christ is not worthy of
worship? Is there ever a time when you
should take a break from worshiping in heaven? No. Then why silence? What does it mean? There's a
song that I don't particularly care for, but it is a powerful,
thought-provoking song. I can only imagine. Why don't
I care for it? Because I've just heard it so
much it drives me insane. But I mean, I can only imagine what
it will be like. And the song's about standing
in heaven, standing. You know, will I praise Him? Will I stand
in silence? Will I fall to my knees? What
will I do? Whereas the scripture tells us what we'll do forever,
saying worthy is the Lamb. But on that day of judgment,
those who are with Christ will be still. Those who are there
in heaven, the angels included, the elders and all the creation
will be quiet. This quiet is because no one
knows what to say. No one knows what should next
come out of their mouths, because listen, all the worship due to
Christ, all the worship due to God has been given continually,
eternally. And then when we see God, when
we see Jesus Christ, the Lamb, judge the world and put to end
the wickedness of this world, friends, I believe there's going
to be silence because for a moment, for a short time, we're going
to have to absorb the reality of what Christ has just done.
We're going to have to stop and we're going to have to realize
we just added exponentially a worthiness to Jesus Christ that we had not
experientially realized. What am I saying? That though
we can worship Christ in all of His glory, we're not going
to completely see the complete worthiness of Christ until we
see His judgment. I think we're just going to be
awestruck. I think we're going to stand and wonder. And we're
going to stand in awe. We're going to stand in silent
worship at the work of God. And most importantly, guess what
this means? That the work of God's redemption
and the work of God's judgment is complete. It's complete. It's over. It's the new day,
it's the new heaven, it's the new earth. So maybe, now this
is speculation, I know what I'm saying here is accurate in the
context that we're just in awe, but maybe it's because in that
moment, all of a sudden our bodies are back. All of a sudden, we're
in the world with Christ. All of a sudden, the new creation
has come, and the dead in Christ has been raised, and judgment
has happened, and justice is here, and righteousness prevails,
and the sun never goes down on the saints of God. And it's taken
us 30 minutes to figure out, wow, we gotta pile this up. Let's worship Christ again. I
mean, this is what's happening here. This is what we have to
look forward to. And then what's happening? What
else is happening at the same time? Not what is next to happen,
but what else is happening? Look at chapter 8, verse 2. The seventh seal has been opened. It is the judgment, the same
as the sixth seal. It's just the judgment of God.
The seventh seal reveals perfection, the finished work of God. reveals
it, it gives the picture of it. It's not a real seal, remember. Jesus isn't up there right now
popping seals. And verse 2 says, Then I saw
seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were
given to them. Now what's happening? Here's what we see. We've already
seen the expression that there are a multitude of angels. We
already know, based on what we understand with scripture, that
angels are innumerable. We also see the reality of angels
work in this Old Testament and even the New Testament. They
are the messengers of God and the servants of God. Angels are
actively working this very moment. Angels of good, angels of evil.
And they're at work, both sides, at the command of Christ. In
this picture we see in verse 2, John is seeing seven angels
standing before God. He's not seeing seven angels,
maybe he is specifically, but what he's saying there is he
sees a perfection, he sees a perfect number of them. And he's given
us the expression that these angels stood before God and they've
been given trumpets. What does this mean? It means
that they stand there ready to serve. They stand before the
Lord, and Jesus Christ commands the angels. We saw that in the
first seals, that He commands these four ridles from these
first four horses of the apocalypse. We see that they are at work
right now by the command of Christ, that Christ has sent Satan into
the world, that God hurled him out of heaven to the earth in
order that he might seek whom he would devour. to cause calamity
by the will of God against the sickness and the wickedness of
the earth. Christ commands the angels, the righteous angels
and the fallen angels. And the angels here, just like
generals at the command of an army, do the work of the Lord
and fulfill the desires of Christ. So angels do the command of God.
They stand ready, serving at all times, bringing forth all
the desires upon the cosmos. These trumpets that they're given
are symbolic of the command of the sound of the command of a
start of something. These trumpets, as we'll see
when we look next week, we'll see two things that the trumpets
do, one of which is trumpets sound a warning of war. And trumpets,
according to Scripture, sound a welcome. These trumpets are given to these
angels, but these angels, before they begin to blow their trumpets,
they're doing something. Look at verse three. What are
they doing? Because I don't know if this gets you just extremely
just humbled. And but I pray that you see what
is here. And another angel came and stood
at the altar with a golden censer and he was given much incense
to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden
altar before the throne. Remember what Hebrews writes
and tells us in verse 14 of chapter 1. Hebrews tells us that, are
they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake
of those who are to inherit salvation? That the angels of God are created
by God eternally to go and do the will of God for the sake
of the elect, for the sake of those who shall be saved and
those who are sealed by the Lord and by the Spirit. This angel
is shown taking the picture of a servant of God going to the,
where? To the altar. What is he doing? Where are the saints under the
altar? We see the picture of the saints
being under the altar. We see this angel taking these
prayers and he's doing something with them. He's taking them from
the altar. Now keep in mind this is an image that John is being
shown for us to understand. I don't believe that there are
prayers that are collected in a container and sitting there
and there's an angel that has to dip them out and add them to
some incense and then burn them and then let the smoke go up
to God so he can get this. But this is the picture of what happens
when we pray. This is the picture of what's
going on in heaven this very moment as we pray. The prayers
of the saints are effectual, beloved. These prayers... are
actually moving into the ears of God and the servants of God
through the angelic host aid they're moving, if you will.
How does that work? We don't know, but we want we
are wanting the word of God wants us to understand that there is
work involved in prayer. What kind of work? Well, why would someone have
to put incense in the first place? What does the scripture teach
us about that? The picture of the altar in the temple or the
Holy of Holies is a place where God meets man. It's a holy place.
And the incense is mixed in with the sacrifice. The incense is
mixed in so that it would be fragrant. It would be welcoming. It would be gloriously holy to
the nose of God. Now God doesn't need incense
to make something righteous. God makes things righteous through
His decrees, evidenced and effectual through Jesus Christ, whom He
decreed before the world began, would become a ransom for many.
So in this, the angel takes the prayers, mixes it with incense,
and gives it to God. See this perfect picture, church. This perfect picture. God's people
and their prayers have an effect on history. God's people, when
they pray, as James would say, the prayers of the righteous
availeth much. Friends, when we pray, it changes
things. There's a really big argument
against Reformed theology that talks about God's supremacy and
God's omniscience. And that if God is sovereign,
then why pray? Because God sovereignly has decreed
prayers as an effectual agent toward His decrees. It is one
of those things that's mysterious. Much like many people ask, well,
why do we preach? Why do we share the Gospel? Why
must we do all these things if God is sovereign and He'll do
what He's going to do? Because that is what God wants
to do. So He's doing what He wants to
do, which is to use His people for the sake of His namesake. Oftentimes, I think people just
argue like that so that they can get off the hook of believing
in the true God of the Bible to begin with. so that they can
by acts of unrighteousness, which is forced unbelief because of
their philosophy, doesn't fit their theology. And they'd rather
have the first than the latter. They often ignore what is clearly
seen in scripture. This incense that we see here,
what is this incense? Sort of like frankincense. In
chapter 5 verse 8 we saw, as we read weeks ago, and it says,
And when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and
the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding
a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers
of the saints. So as Scripture interprets Scripture,
we see this incense as an opportunity to be the prayers of the saints.
This angel is taking this, these prayers and preparing them in
the sense of as a servant to go before the Lord. Now, does
this angel have the ability to make our prayers holy? No. Can
the angel fix our prayers? Well, why would the angel need
to do anything with our prayers? Why are the prayers not just
going straight to God? Well, let me ask you this. Have
you ever prayed perfectly? I've never prayed perfectly.
I've never prayed perfectly. So my prayers are tainted with
selfishness, ignorance, formality. They're lacking. Sometimes they're
prayed in doubt. Sometimes they're prayed in repetition.
Sometimes they're ignored all the way around. So even when
we pray with the best of intentions, with the best of hearts in this
flesh, we still are not, our prayers are not perfect. But
the work of Christ in redemption places our prayers in a position
to where God can receive them. So that even when we pray, redemption
is at work that our prayers are heard. Not because it's us. Not because we have the right
words. Not because we have the right heart. Because Christ has
done the work. And so this picture is a picture
showing that God is at work sending His servants to bring His prayers
to Him. To bring our prayers to Him.
Christ sends these angels to do the will of God. So what's
the big deal? Why does that matter? What's
the point anyway? Because beloved, John wants the
people to see God wants people that John is writing to to see
that their prayers are worth something. That they're not praying
to an empty ear. They're not praying to the ceiling.
They're not praying to a wall. They're not praying to a false
god. They're not praying to no effect. They're not going to
just pray and hope and that God's going to just do what He wants
to do. Oh, when will you come and save us? When will you bring
justice against those who have martyred us? When will you come
against the wickedness of this world and set your name back
high like it's supposed to be? When will you bring recompense?
That's the prayers of the saints in heaven. That's the prayers
of the saints on earth, among many things. So this prayer,
the prayer and the work of prayer is seen here in this picture. In verse 4 it says, And the smoke
of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God
from the hand of the angel. Friends, this sounds like a lot
of work. This sounds like a lot of busyness. How many times have
you prayed today? How many times have we all prayed
collectively? If we were to add them all together,
then how many Christians pray to the ears of God this day?
How many saints stand before the throne of God this day and
continually pray and ask of God to do that, to have His will
be done? Friends, prayer is no simple thing. I don't know about
you, but prayer for me in this world is very difficult. Prayer
is one of the hardest things that I labor. I can study easier
than I can pray. I can preach easier than I can
pray. I can share the Gospel much easier
than I can pray. I can build a wall and dig a
hole much easier than I can pray. Prayer is the number one battle. Praying effectively is the number
one battle in my life. And I would suggest that probably
it is the number one battle in your lives. Prayer is a difficult
task. It is not simple. And not only
is it not simple for us, it is not simply just hurled into the
mind of God. This picture shows us that there
is a lot of work in prayer, not just in our minds and hearts,
but in the work of heaven. They are not pushed aside and
stored for later. They are not packed up in a little
box that God will get to them like emails. The righteousness
of Jesus Christ is at work interceding very actively every moment we
pray before God. And the command of God through
Scripture is that we pray without ceasing. So brothers and sisters,
there's a lot of work on God's behalf so that our prayers are
heard. And isn't that a blessing? Because
let me tell you something about this. When will this happen? There will come a day, you people,
as the scripture teaches, when you will receive rest and you
will no longer cry out for vengeance and justice, but God will do
it in His day. This day is coming when God desires,
but we do not stop praying for it. We pray for it. But it comes
when the Lord is ready. So many times as Christians we
get to the place where we forget that God is not bound by time. To a day, a day to God is like
a thousand years, and to God a thousand years is as a day.
Imagine a thousand years. I can't imagine not even being
half a century old yet, living five times longer than I already
have. I don't want that. I don't want five more fifties. I couldn't imagine two more,
much less one more. How crazy of a distance, that
is. I want to see my savior. I want
to see the Lord. I want to be where Christ is.
And one day in his timing, it shall be there. How labored is
the man at 80? How labored is the man at 90?
Wondering when God shall answer his prayers or even if God is
is hearing them at all. How much more so are those who
labor in prayer under tyranny and under persecution and under
suffering? because of their faith in Jesus
Christ. This, beloved, is a very, very blessed truth that we see,
that God is at work bringing those prayers, even when they
are not holy and pure, but tainted by the flesh to His ears. And
He will bring them to fruition. Paul writes to the Romans in
chapter 8 verse 34, he asks the question, who is to condemn?
Christ Jesus is the one who died, more than that, who was raised,
who is at the right hand of God, who is interceding for us. Beloved,
the intercession of Christ is not just something that He'll
do as a ticket. Yep, they've got a ticket. Come
on in, come on in, come on in. We see the intercession of Christ
as an active, living reality for the saints in every aspect
of our lives, every single moment, every single second of our lives,
eternally. That Christ Jesus intercedes,
what does that look like? I don't know, but the Scripture
has told us to consider it this way, that when the accuser accuses
us, Christ excuses us. When the accuser charges us,
Christ says guilty, no longer I have paid for that crime, that
there's intercession continually going on our behalf, that the
work of Jesus Christ as a high priest is an eternal work. And
though the atonement has come, the consummation has not. So
not just our eternal salvation that we look forward to in the
future, but our eternal salvation this very moment in every aspect
of it. The preservation of our minds, the preservation of our
souls, the preservation of our prayers is at work in eternity. But what do these prayers do?
Look at verse 5. Imagine this work here. Here's
this angel. Here's these angels giving trumpets. And another angel comes to the
altar and he's picking out the prayers of the saints who were
prayed and collected there and he's mixing them with incense,
he's burning them and sliding them around in the censer and
the smoke comes from the censer and that smoke comes up to God
and it pleases God and it's an offering to God and it's a sacrifice
that honors God. And then the angel, by the command
of God, takes the censer and fills it with fire from the altar
and throws it to the earth. Think about that. Here's the
prayers of the saints, fire added to them, hurling the fire from
the same container, from the same source that the prayers
have come. Imagine that. What is the symbol of the altar
anyway? It is where redemption comes. It is where atonement
comes. It is where restitution comes. It is where justice is
made. Justice is made. Lambs and goats and doves and
meal, flour, does not please God. But sacrifice pleases God. It was not the blood of goats
that He desired, but what? The blood of His Son. the blood
of perfection, atonement. We must understand that in this
place of our lives, though we do not see it, there is a cosmic
decree taking place right before us in the metaphysical realm
that is invisible to our eyes, that is invisible to our entrance,
and that God is working perfectly in every circumstance. This was
a beautiful, awesome, amazing thing for the hearers of this
letter to see and to understand during this time. You mean our
prayers are not only heard, but they're made perfect. And God
perfectly in His will, everything we pray will come to fruition
in the will of God. Friends, this is seen then in
judgment. That as the saints pray for judgment,
there comes a day then, at the end of time, at the day of judgment,
when the angel takes the prayers and throws fire to the earth.
And look what happens. It says, there were peals of
thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.
The prayers of the saints are answered and judgment comes to
the earth. Jesus Christ in Luke chapter
12 says that, I come to cast fire on the earth, and would
it be that it were already kindled? It's verse 49 of Luke 12. These
are some of the difficult sayings of Jesus. If you go on in that
text, He says, do you think I've come to give peace on earth?
No! I tell you, but rather division.
For from now on, in one house there will be five divided, three
against two, two against three. There will be divided father
against son, and son against father, mother against daughter,
and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law,
and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law. Jesus Christ brings fire. Jesus
Christ brings judgment. Jesus Christ brings redemption.
You think things of this earth, you think sin is offensive? When
we talk about the judgment of Jesus Christ, the Lamb who came
to take away the sins of the world, you think that that's
not offensive to unbelievers? It is very offensive. And sadly,
it is offensive to many believers because it's not the Jesus that
they most care for. But if it were not for God's
judgment against the Lamb, then the Lamb would be coming back
to bring judgment against us. Jesus comes to bring the sword
as He casts fire. In this last day of judgment,
the prayers of the saints are answered in Jesus Christ, as
we'll see in Revelation 18, 19. He will bring eternal recompense. He will bring quick and swift
judgment, just like we saw in the 6th seal, just like we will
see in the 6th and 7th trumpet blast, just like we will see
in the 6th and 7th bowl, and just like we will see in the
6th and 7th portion of God's justice, we will see in this
life one day the end. This judgment is not the angels.
This judgment has not come from the angel. This judgment comes
from God. This judgment belongs to God.
How do we know? Because of the things like thunder,
rumblings, fire, lightning, earthquakes. These are indicative of what
we see in the Old Testament about God. That the presence of God
brought these things with Him. We see in Exodus 19, on the morning
of the third day, there were thunders and lightnings, a thick
cloud on the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast so that the
people in the camp trembled. Can you imagine? Have you ever been near an explosion? It's incredible. It's a mixed
bag of tricks. A great explosion. Explosion
is very exciting. You feel it in your spine. the
repercussion of even a small explosion, it does something
to your body. You can feel it on your internal
organs. It produces adrenaline because
your body's been compressed. And it also deafens you. You
can't hear. And then when you do begin to
hear, you hear this high-pitched ring. Now that's just a little
tiny bomb. That's just a little tiny five-pound
box of tannerite. Imagine the presence of God. Imagine the boom of millions
of trains, the trumpet of God. Imagine the flame and the shake
and the thunder and the cloud. Isaiah 29, the prophet says you'll
be visited by the Lord of hosts with thunder and with earthquake
and great noise with whirlwind and tempest and the flame of
a devouring fire. What does this teach us about
God? Let me tell you what it teaches you about God. God incarnate
can sneak into the world unnoticed. And God incarnate can sneak out
of the world in the ascension. Just being visibly seen by a
few. When God comes back in his glorious
judgment, he will not be ignored. When God spoke to Israel, they
could not ignore his presence. We did not eat, drink, and be
merry. We did not say it as well with our soul when the presence
of God struck upon us fear at Mount, what is it? Sinai. My brain just left. I
never came back, never had one. I'm using y'alls. They did not
ignore God. God cannot be ignored. The presence
of God is not pleasant. The presence of God is not peaceful.
It's mighty. It's mighty. I don't know if
you've ever seen anything really big, like a creature, but I'm
trying to think, other than an elephant, the largest thing that
I've ever... Oh, Shamu. I've been around that thing.
He's dead. No, I'm not weeping. Yeah, I was called down at 17
when I was at SeaWorld. We played there for a little
concert. They brought me out of the audience,
of all people, the hydrophobe. And I was up way high. They call
me down there and they teach me hand signals and this whale
that I thought was Shamu, which was about the size of the grouping
of chairs here, spit on me and turned flips and did all sorts
of cute things. And then the drum rolled and
the music played and now the star of the show and an eyeball
about that size swam by. And I went, no, I'm out. I almost
used profanity and peed my pants in the same sentence. But I just
turned around and said, where are you going, sir? No, don't
leave. You're going to be starved and shunned. Feeding something
else to that thing. Not me. I'm not sticking around. I went.
I left the arena. Walked right on out with the
camera on me the whole time. Just not doing it. That was unbelievable. Unbelievable. No way. For a gajillion
dollars a second, I wouldn't stand there. Unbelievable. Could
be consumed by its blowhole. It could be consumed by its nostril.
Why they have them, I don't know. What fool plays with a whale
that big? And that's a tiny whale. I mean, think of the whale shark.
Think of the things that God talks to Job about. Leviathan. Think of the things that God
talks about, the serpent, the sea monsters, and all these other
things that He says that just to look at them would cause you
to die. You can't ignore that. God is
bigger than that. He created those things that
are massive and enormous and vast and miraculous and majestic
and horrifying. He created them. How much greater
is there to tremble before the Creator of those things which
cause us to tremble? And when God comes in judgment,
there will be no one standing except the sealed of Christ. And those who are left will tremble
before Him. He will come in fury. He will
come in thunder. He will come in fire. He will
come. For those in judgment, it will
be forever horror. And it's right. But for those
who are sealed, oh beloved, it will be forever glory. Forever
glory, and rightly so in Christ. For the glory of what we have
come to, and oh the beauty of what we have been spared. I think
of Hebrews chapter 12 as we close out tonight, that says this,
I'll read the whole thing. Therefore, since we are surrounded
by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight
of sin which clings so closely and let us run with endurance
the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder
and perfecter, not a word, but it's there, of our faith. for
who the joy of the cross was set before him, endured the cross,
despising the shame, and seated at the right hand of the throne
of God. Consider him, beloved, who endured from sinners such
hostility against him, so that you may not grow weary and faint-hearted. In your struggle against sin,
you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? Oh,
my son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord. Do
not be weary when reproved by Him, for the Lord disciplines
the one He loves and chastises every son whom He receives. It
is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you
as sons. For what son is there whom the
Father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline,
in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children
and not sons. Beside this, we have all had
earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall
we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live?
For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best, but He
disciplines us for our good that we may share in His holiness.
For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant,
but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those
who have been trained by it. Therefore lift your drooping
hands and straighten your weak knees and make straight paths
for your feet so that what is lame may not be put out of joint
but rather healed. Strive for peace with everyone
and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.
See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God, that
no, quote, root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble,
and by it may become defiled. That no one is sexually immoral
like unholy Esau, excuse me, immoral or unholy Esau, who sold
his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward,
beloved, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected
and he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.
For you have not come to what may be touched. A blazing fire,
and darkness, and gloom, and a tempest, and the sound of a
trumpet, and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no
further message be spoken to them, for they could not endure
the order that was given. Quote, if even a beast touches
the mountain, it shall be stoned. Indeed, so terrifying was the
sight that Moses said, I tremble with fear. You have not come
to that. But it says, You have come to
this, Mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly
Jerusalem, and to the innumerable angels in festal gathering, and
to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and
to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous
made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and
to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood
of Abel. See that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For
if they did not escape when they refused Him, or warned them on
earth, much less will we escape if we reject Him who warns from
heaven. At that time His voice shook the earth, but He now has
promised, yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but
also the heavens. This phrase, yet once more, indicates
the removal of things that are shaken. That is, the things that
have been made, in order that the things that cannot be shaken
may remain. Therefore, let us be grateful
for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let
us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and awe, for our
God is a consuming or that there is no better text to put in perspective
what John is writing and showing us here in these first few verses
of Revelation 8, in these first few seven and a half chapters
of this text. We see the redemption of God
for His people, and we see the judgment of God against His enemies,
and we see Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as the effectual
agent of redemption and the effectual agent of justice. So for we who
are in Christ, we rejoice, we are humbled, we are satisfied. For those who are not in Christ,
we tremble with fear and rightly so. So as we consider this text,
as we leave, ask yourself where you sit, ask yourself on what
side of what chair of what line do you find your life? Do you
stand sealed by the Holy Spirit of God, believing on Jesus Christ
this very moment for salvation? Or do you stand separated from
Him, trusting in you and your own way, waiting for the right
opportunity when you've lived your life enough and gotten everything
you want to do out of your system that you would come to Christ?
Or are you truly, truly His this day? I pray that not only are
you truly his, but that you rejoice in him. That the extinguishment
of this world is not something you loathe, but it's something
you long for. That the judgment of God is not something that
you wish would be a thousand years after you die, but that
it would come quickly for you. So that his righteous judgment
would find you sealed and pleasant. That his presence would be glorious
and not horrible. Imagine that. The old hymn, one
of my favorite hymns in this book, is how sweet and awful
is the place. You all know that? 116? Listen to the words of some of
this stuff. Number one, awful actually means full of all. Now
it means terrible. It's amazing that it probably
means terrible as well, as all filled. Because for unbelievers,
it is an awful place to stand before the judgment of God. For
believers, it is an awful place to stand in the glory of God
because it is awesome either way. How sweet and awful is the
place with Christ within the doors while everlasting love
displays the choices of her stores. While all our hearts and all
our songs join to admire the feast, each of us cries with
a thankful, Lord, why was I a guest? Why was I made to hear your voice
and enter while there's room, when thousands make a wretched
choice and rather starve than come? T'was the same love that
spread the feast that sweetly drew us in, else we had refused
still to taste and perished in our sins. Pity the nations, O
our God, constrain the earth to come. Send your victorious
word abroad and bring the strangers home. We long to see Thy churches
full, that all the chosen race may with one voice and one heart
and one soul sing Thy redeeming grace. Is that our heart? Knowing that without the mercy
of God, we would be rightly facing judgment. And if it were not,
if it is not for the mercy of God in our preaching, we would
not see the lost who stand in judgment come to faith. Beloved,
if revelation does not do anything for your worship, it ought to
do a lot for your evangelism. Because the justice of God is
not a joke. It is not going to be stayed by a phone call or
a delay or an excuse. But as all things are silent
in heaven during judgment, so shall all things according to
Paul in Romans 3 be shut and all mouths be shut. and no one
can argue their way into righteousness. And so let us just be full of
joy and full of awe and full of woe that so many refuse to
see and pray that God through the Word would come and open
their ears so they could hear and bring them to life through
the Word. Lord, it is it is very disturbing
to my soul when I think of those who are lost. Father, it's so disturbing that
I wonder why that I can even go a moment throughout the day
and not. Cease to think about. What kind
of person does that make me that it's not continually on my heart?
Maybe it is a part of Your grace that You strike us with it in
moments to remind us of this, of the necessity and the urgency
of preaching the Gospel, but You also give us opportunity
to move beyond that so that we might fulfill our lives in You
and grow in You in worship and enjoy the salvation that we do
have, which should also spur us to go and share the Good News.
Please, Father, give us this heart. Give us a heart to know
you and to know your word and to pray for each other passionately,
fervently, zealously. Pray for each other with all
of our hearts and minds and soul to forego our meals and our entertainment
and our vacations, that we might spend time with each other in
prayer and in fellowship and in discipling each other in your
word. Father, help make us a people that your name would be glorified
greatly. Lord, lose us. Help us to throw
away all of our trophies and our crowns and our glories and
our vain idols for the sake of Christ. And Lord, we pray that
you would prompt us in this way every second and that we would
prompt each other as we have opportunity. And we pray this
in Jesus' name. Amen.