Well we come this week to Revelation
chapter 9 and as you will have noticed in the reading there
are some complicated things here, there are some things that are
hard to understand but with God's help and God's blessing we'll
get something from it I'm sure. you know we we live in a world
where the philosophy of this world says that we're gradually
all improving everything's getting better you talk to the the rulers
of this world the thought rulers of this world the thought leaders
of this world everything's getting better it's so much better than
it used to be in the dark ages and even fifty years ago we're
getting so much richer and we're getting so much smarter technology
And we're all living longer. How many times have we heard
that? We're all living longer. And disease is being defeated.
And, oh, we're getting so much of a nicer society because we're
so much more tolerant of diversity, whereas we didn't used to be.
And we've got open borders in this lovely, great, big, free
world where you can make it your objective to visit every place
on the planet and, you know, you stand a good chance. If you've
got the money to do it, you'll get there and you'll see it all.
Mass worldwide travel. All of these things. but I think
most of us know that as the scriptures say we're living in perilous
times this is what it says in 2nd Timothy chapter 3 listen
this know also that in the last days and we're in the last days
not just because these are last days whereas 50 years ago wasn't
the time from when Christ went back to heaven to when he comes
again that's the last days that in the last days in these days
in which we're living perilous times shall come For men shall
be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers,
disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection,
truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers
of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of
pleasures more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness
but denying the power thereof. From such turn away." Are we
not living? in those perilous times, improving?
I don't think so. Man, and all our philosophies
and philosophers, they try constantly to do what they tried in the
days of Nimrod, just after the flood, to build the Tower of
Babel, that man would find our own way to eternal bliss. We'd find our own way to heaven
and a way that doesn't need this substitutionary atonement thing.
A way that doesn't need the sacrifice of the Son of God. We're good
enough on our own, that's the philosophy. of the Tower of Babel.
It's the philosophy of this land, this world in which we live in
these days. And as fast as another layer
they try to build on the modern Tower of Babel, that is this
world where we're all building this utopia of peace and happiness,
as fast as they put another layer on it, something happens to knock
it down. Something happens to knock it
down. Disasters happen. terrible thing, aren't they?
All around us, you know, and religious folks wring their hands
and they get all upset about it and they start to doubt, you
know, they say, where is God when disaster strikes? Did you
hear the Archbishop of Canterbury two weeks ago? The Paris thing,
atrocity, was a terrible thing. But do you hear the Archbishop
of Canterbury? Oh, it makes me wonder where God is in these
days. They start wringing their hands.
And it's been the same down the years, World War I, where is
God in World War I? Oh, the Holocaust of the World
War II, dreadful, dreadful thing, yes, dreadful, dreadful thing,
where is God in all of this? 9-11, or as we would say on this
side of the Atlantic, 11-9 when the planes were flown into the
Twin Towers in New York and 3,000 people killed. Where is God in
all of this? The 2004 tsunami that swept away
hundreds of thousands of people around the borders of the Indian
Ocean. Great earthquakes come and you hear the death tolls
of thousands and it's colossal. The bombings that we had in London
10 years ago, Middle East wars, ISIS, all of these things, the
Paris atrocity recently, all of these things keep happening
to kind of knock down that hope to build up to heaven. And in
the world, we've still got poverty. You know, there was that make
poverty history or something like that, wasn't there? It might
still be going on. We've still got poverty, we've
still got famine, we've still got colossal debt, we've still
got general moral degeneration going on. Getting better? No.
And the religious folks, they seem to think that if they believe
in a God, they believe in a God who is a pathetic being. Their
God is a God who is wringing his hands and weeping in frustrated
impotence. I've heard them say they think
God is shedding a tear over such and such a thing. Because he's
tried his best with us, but we're all so hopeless as human beings,
that we're all so disobedient. He's just about, oh, he's just
despairing with us. That's not the God of the Bible.
That is not the God of the Bible. It's not the God that true believers
believe in. How does your faith, how does
mine, relate to this world and the events that we see unfolding? Well again, we've already seen
this time and again in Revelation. Revelation 9 gives us more of
a perspective on the days in which we live, what is happening,
why it's happening, where is God in all of it. At first when
you read it, it's alarming. In preparing it, I want everybody
to hear what it says, but I don't want anybody to be unnecessarily
frightened. Do you know what I mean? I want
people to understand the seriousness of where we are. But don't be
freaked out by this. If you're a believer, remember
the account of the boat, the fishing boat. on the Sea of Galilee
at night when the storm came up and the disciples were in
the boat on their own and the storm as it can do in that part
of the world these storms can flare up and boats on that little
inland sea can very easily be swamped and sunk and they're
terrified they're absolutely terrified of this alarming thing
that's happening to them and Jesus comes to them walking on
the water and says to them, don't be afraid, it is I. Don't be
afraid. And he speaks to the storm. And
he speaks and he says, peace, be still. And the waves stopped. And they said, what manner of
man is this? That he speaks to the weather,
the elements of the earth. He speaks to these things, and
they obey him. I'll tell you what manner of
man he is. He's the son of man, who is the son of God, who rules
over all things. And whilst this was a storm for
a purpose, for a moment, never forget, He's in control of it.
What we read here in Revelation chapter 9 can seem alarming,
but don't ever forget this. The One who is controlling it
all, absolutely, is our God, who is a God of grace, who is
a God of compassion, of mercy to His people. He's a God of
grace. Don't ever forget that. He's
in control of all of it. Now let me give you again, as
we must, a quick reminder. We've seen in chapter 5 the seven-sealed
book. It's the plan of God to bring
in his unrivaled kingdom of peace and righteousness, to defeat
Satan's kingdom of this world of false peace, of false righteousness,
of deceit and deception. He was a liar from the beginning.
His kingdom is a kingdom of lies. And God's purpose is to bring
in his kingdom of unrivaled peace and righteousness, based on his
justification of his people. Look who's going to open the
seals. Look who's going to implement the plan of God to bring this
about. It's the Lion of the tribe of Judah. But he only does it
in the capacity of the Lamb of God, slain from the foundation
of the world, whose blood was shed to pay the price of justice
for the people that God will save and take into his kingdom,
the citizens of the kingdom of God. He must justify them, for
nothing that defileth can enter in. So how must those who are
defiled with sin, the non-righteous, how are they going to get into
it? They can only get in by justification, on the basis of a price paid,
a ransom price paid. As Job said, deliver him from
going down to the pit. Deliver him. Why? I have found
a ransom. the ransom has been paid, the
price has been paid, you can release the goods, the goods,
eternity for his people, the kingdom of God. He's going to
implement it, and he comes, and the first way he implements it
is he comes into this kingdom of Satan, this world on a white
horse, with the gospel of his grace. in the old testament restricted
to Israel and the temple sacrifices and the people of Israel, the
people of God to whom were given the oracles of God now throughout
the world the gospel is preached and people of all races, all
races believe that gospel not many but people of all races,
he comes on his white horse victorious in this fallen world Point number
one of the way that God establishes his kingdom, he comes with the
gospel, but then he does other things as well. He lets loose
a red horse, which is the horse of war. No, he disrupts, he frustrates
the kingdom of Satan, and he does it with war. He does it
with a black horse, which is the horse of socioeconomic strife,
and division, and contention. Enormous differences between
rich and poor. Enormous. If you just look around
the world, you just see it. Enormous differences of riches
and poverty. Massive. Socio-economic strategy. He does it with the black horse.
It's God. He's not wringing his hands weeping over it. He's sending
it, it's his plan, it's the seven sealed book, that the Lamb of
God opens, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, he opens the seal,
he sets these things loose, why? Because this kingdom of this
world, the kingdom of Satan, must be frustrated, for, what
should we pray Lord? Thy kingdom come. It's the kingdom
of Christ, the unrivaled kingdom of peace and righteousness that
his people desire to see, that he is going to implement. And
then he comes with the pale horse, the fourth one, the pale horse,
the horse of death. And that sweeps away a quarter
of humanity. Well, you say, well, you know,
two point so many billion people are not being swept away, it's
an indication of great proportions death. This last week, Christine
and I had to go north, why? To a funeral. To a funeral. The
pale horse rode in to the family and somebody else was taken.
That's the way it is. It always is that way. He comes
with these things disrupting the disrupting the intentions of
Satan to establish his unrivaled, his false kingdom of false peace
and false righteousness and he sends these out and the fifth
seal was the martyrs showing the great strife that there is
between the people of God and the world, the contention that
there is that whilst we strive at all times to live at peace
with all men, yet people that rule this fallen world cannot
stand the gospel of God's grace they find it the most disgusting,
the most objectionable thing and they go to the extent in
times in history and even in these days in some countries
but in this country four or five hundred years ago, the martyrs,
the people, the evil rulers and authorities put to death, burned
at the stake, cast into prison. John Bunyan, twelve years in
bed for jail, why? For preaching the gospel of God's
grace. That's why. That's why. We see
that. It's one of the seals of God's
purposes. And then he gives the sixth seal,
which is the portents of cataclysm. This earth, it's not here for
good. It may look solid and it may look, they may tell you we've
got five billion years before the sun becomes a red giant and
swallows the solar system. No. The portents are there. God is going to roll all these,
he says he's going to roll it up like a scroll of paper. He's
just going to roll it up. It's going to come to an end.
So, that's six of the seals. The seventh seal, you have to
wait till chapter eight, and we saw that last week, but not
before chapter seven, an interlude. Chapter seven, what was the purpose
of that? It was to give comfort to God's people. It was to say
to them, don't be freaked by, don't be terrified, you people
of God, don't be, look, let me show you. If you're believer
in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are sealed in your forehead spiritually
by the Holy Spirit of God. These things will not touch you
spiritually, you're preserved, your destiny is absolutely certain. Look, 144,000 of you, God's perfect
number, it's all symbolical, I won't go through it again,
but in heaven he sees All of them there in heaven, and what
does he see? A multitude that no man can number.
As innumerable as the sand on the seashore is innumerable.
As innumerable as the stars of heaven are innumerable, and they
still are today. That's what he sees. A multitude
that no man can number. From which tribe? Every tribe
and race. Which language? Every language.
He brings them all together in heaven. Don't be freaked out.
Don't be alarmed. Don't be disturbed. And then
we get to chapter eight and we hear the seventh seal unloosed. And the seventh seal is seven
trumpets. The seventh seal is the blowing
of seven trumpets of judgment. Now all of these are layer upon
layer of revelation. They're not strictly a sequence.
they happen contemporaneously. But in a sense, as time goes
on towards the end, they become more intense. And so we saw that
whereas when the Red Horse went out, the War of Horses, the Horse
of War, a quarter were killed, When you get to the trumpets
blowing, it's a third, which is bigger. There's more. There's
more disruption. As we get towards the end, there's
more disruption. There's now going to be more
disruption. And the first four trumpets, that we saw briefly
last week, are the disruption of Satan's kingdom by the disturbance
of created things. the vegetation, the means of
the planet to feed itself, the seas. You say, oh, you're talking
in fairy stories, you might as well be reading Lord of the Rings
to us. No! The leaders of the world
are gathering in Paris at the moment to talk about climate
change, because they're terrified that the planet's not going to
be able to feed us. It isn't fiction! This is what
God wrote, this is what God gave to his people 2,000 years ago.
It isn't. It isn't fiction. It isn't just
like the fiction of this world. So the first four trumpets were
frustration, disruption of the vegetation, of the seas and their
food and the means of transport, the poisoning of the water. Poisoning?
The waters are not poisoned, the waters are not, no. Bacteria. diseases, viruses. You see, all
of these things are the great fears and threats that hang over
mankind, aren't they? In this world of Satan. All of
these things are told in those first four trumpets. Celestial
effects are coming, and the effect of them is getting worse. Not
a quarter, but a third. Where is God in all of this? As we look around at all of the
disruption that's going on, where is God? That's a question that
an Armenian preacher in Ashland, Kentucky asked Henry Mahan the
day after he heard that his oldest son had been killed in Vietnam.
He says, where's your God now? And Henry said to him, I'll tell
you exactly where my God is. He's on the throne of the universe
where he's always been. Where is God in all of this?
In the wars? In the economic disruption? in
all of the threats that seem to hang over our survival as
a race, he's on the throne, controlling all things, directing all things
to frustrate Satan's kingdom. Why? Because Satan's kingdom,
do you know what the mark of Satan's kingdom is above all
else? It's Christless. We don't need Christ. We will
not have this man to rule over us. Satan's kingdom is marked
by this. It's an aspiration to live happily
forever without Christ. That's what it is. An aspiration
to live happily forever. A false heaven, because you can
have no heaven without Christ. Believer, if you are a believer,
if you have trusted Christ, if you are sealed of God in your
forehead, do not be alarmed. do not be alarmed by these things
these are all in the purpose and plan of God and that's what
this book is telling us don't be alarmed by history as it unfolds
do not be alarmed we're living in these days when these things
are unfolding they have been throughout the lifetimes of all
of us and for hundreds of years before do not be alarmed don't
be alarmed by what chapter nine tells us the woes that he sends
forth by the trumpets, the woes that he sends forth are controlled
by God and released for his purposes. And what are his purposes? Thy
kingdom come. Thy kingdom come. That's his
purpose. There's only one reason to be
alarmed by any of this, and that's if you're outside of Christ,
if you don't trust him, if you don't believe him. Look at chapter
8 verse 13. when we began our reading earlier,
I beheld and heard an angel flying through the heaven, or an eagle,
some say it should be translated, flying through the midst of heaven
saying with a loud voice, woe, woe, woe, to the inhabitants
of the earth. Four trumpets have gone, three
more are to come. And what he's saying is these
three trumpets to come are going to be even more woeful, even
more of an aggravation to the kingdom of Satan than what has
gone before and in chapter nine we see the first two of them
so I've called this message the first two woes we have to go
a long way we have to go right down to I forget where exactly
I think yes nearly towards the end of chapter eleven before
we actually get to the third woe and the seventh trumpet but
we're looking at the first two woes in chapter nine this week
Four trumpets have sounded, affecting a third, but three worse are
to come. That's why the angel flies through
heaven, or the eagle, or whatever it was, it doesn't really matter.
But there's a warning that there is worse to come. Three worse
to come. As the end approaches, The book
of Revelation indicates that things will intensify. And whilst
what we see has always happened, to an extent, I believe, as I
said last week, we're living in unprecedented days. And I
said to you, didn't I, that the thing that stands out, that marks
out the period of history in which, say, I have lived The
last 64 years in which I have lived is an enormous ballooning
of the population of the world. It's never happened before. The
population of the world has bobbled along and in the early 1800s
it is estimated somehow that there might have been 1 billion
people. There are 7 billion today. When I was born there weren't
even 3 billion people. In 1951 there weren't even 3
billion people. There are 7 billion today. Just
in my lifetime. Does that not tell you? That
we're not... You know, they like to give you
the impression that we're living in a steady state, that everything's
going on like it always has been. No, it's not. No, it's not. The population is ballooning
of the planet. Things are going on on an unprecedented
worldwide scale. Things happened locally, they're
now happening globally. 200 years ago, if Ebola had broken
out in West Africa, nobody would have known about it, never mind
bothered about it, but when it broke out in our world a year
or so ago, there was absolute terror, that unless it was contained,
vast quantities of mankind would be wiped out. Do you see how
perilously close to the truth of these things, the things that
we see are, in reality? But remember this, Christ opens
the seals. He gives the trumpets to the
seven angels. It's his purpose to defeat Satan
and his kingdom and to secure the triumph of his own. And why?
Because his blood, his own blood, has bought his people's justification. That's why. That is the only
way to establish a kingdom of righteousness and peace, is in
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. So let's look at the first woe
Remember, it's not a sequence, it's in the first 11 verses,
and you'll remember from the reading that it involves a plague
of locusts. Locusts are associated with a
plague. Locusts are. In Egypt, when God
was sending plagues on Egypt, that he might let the people,
the children of Israel, go. Locusts was one of the plagues. There was blood in the river,
there were frogs, there was lice, there was all, but locusts was,
and if you've ever seen a locust, I imagine you have in a zoo,
you've probably seen locusts in a cage, but They're quite
big insects, but they have a voracious power to eat vegetation. If a
plague of locusts arrives, they strip an area that's green in
no time. In an alarming period of time,
they strip it. They have a particular period
when they go to work. It's the summer months. That's
the reference to five months. the time when the locusts do
their work they're coming to do their work when locusts, not
meaning a literal summer but nor are they literal locusts
this isn't a plague of literal locusts, no no the fifth trumpet
sounds, the first woe and what it relates to is the fall of
Satan, look and the fifth angel sounded and I saw a star fall
from heaven remember this is outside of time in the eternity
of heaven, John is seeing eternal things. He isn't seeing an event
happen, he's seeing what has happened and established a state.
Satan has fallen from heaven, he is fallen from heaven unto
the earth. Our Lord Jesus Christ in Luke
10 and verse 18 said to the people around him, he said, the Son
of God said this, I beheld Satan as lightning. fall from heaven
so he's fallen from heaven he's out of heaven he's where he is
we know what he is he's the father of lies this is the fall from
heaven was before the fall of man in the garden of eden in
fact the fall of man in the garden of eden is probably tied up with
this first plague with this plague of locusts because you see what
we see is this When he was cast out of heaven many, many angels
were cast out of heaven who fell with him, who disobeyed with
him. Many, many were. And they were bound up in what's
called here the bottomless pit. They were locked in the bottomless
pit. There are many who are in the air, as it were, who are
free evil spirits doing their work. When Jesus went about his
ministry, many were possessed of these spirits. In one man,
they asked him, rather than be sent back to the prison of the
bottomless pit, could they go into a herd of swine? and they
did. You may wonder what mysterious
things that you read in the Gospels like that. There are these demonic
forces that were cast out of heaven with Satan and locked
up in the bottomless pit but Satan was given the key. Note, Satan didn't have the key
He didn't have the key, he was given. Who gave him the key?
The Lord Jesus Christ gave him the key. Our God gave him the
key. You know, just like when Satan
was before God and God says, have you considered my servant
Job? He could only go as far as God
let him. Let me touch him. No, you can
take everything away from him. Don't touch his flesh. Well,
let me take his life. No, you cannot take his life,
but you can hurt him. Everything he was allowed to do was limited
by what God said. God gave Satan the key. And the
bottomless pit was opened. Satan opened it and let loose
his hordes. And they came out like a plague.
Imagine, this is spiritual imagery. This is symbolic imagery. They
came out like a plague of locusts. These demons of Satan, his fallen
angels, his hordes, they come out to do his work like a plague
of locusts goes to work on the earth. But they don't touch the
earth. They don't eat the vegetation. And look what else they do. It's a worldwide plague of locusts
let loose by Satan using the key that was given to him. Secondly,
they're demons doing Satan's will in the air. Ephesians 2
verse 2, wherein in time past you walked according to the course
of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air.
Talking about Satan and his demons. There are these demons in the
air, but these ones we're talking about are bound in the bottomless
pit. And these are the ones that when
let loose, it says in Ephesians 6 verse 12, we wrestle not against
flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual
wickedness in high places. This is it. This is what we're
talking about. This is what we're talking about.
And in response to it, Paul in Ephesians encourages those that
read what he says to put on the whole armour of God, the helmet
of salvation, the sword of the spirit, the breastplate of righteousness, have I said the helmet of salvation?
Yes I think I have, but yes you know all those different elements
of the armour of God because these are the ones that we fight
against these locusts, these spiritual locusts, these demonic
locusts let loose by Satan with the key that he's been given
from the bottomless pit and their purpose what are they going to
do as they're let loose? They're going to torment men,
which men? Verse four, it was commanded
them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth. So they're
not literal locusts. Neither any green thing. No,
that's what literal locusts do. Neither any tree. But what are
they to hurt? Those men which have not the
seal of God in their foreheads. What's that? Those who reject
Christ. those who want nothing to do
with the gospel of his grace those who are not sealed by the
Holy Spirit of God in their head and what does he do? he doesn't
kill them, they're not allowed to kill them but they torment
them for their season they torment them and they're not locusts
literally because these have got stings in their tails they've
got stings, apparently you've probably all seen scorpions in
the zoo Well, you know, they've got that tail that hangs over.
It is said that the sting of a scorpion is the most painful
thing you can experience. If you ever get stung by a scorpion,
it's an absolute agonizing sting. And that's what this is talking
about. The sting in the tail is very, very severe. We'll see
what it means shortly. But they go forth like horses
for war. You see what they're like. If you remember, the shape of
a locust's head is a bit like the shape of a horse's head,
isn't it? Yeah? Well, he says they go like horses
for war. And they've got crowns of gold
on their head. Oh, they look appealing. They
look like they're rich. Crowns of gold on their head.
Oh, and their faces are the faces of men. We know them, we're familiar
with them. Don't be frightened of them,
they're just the faces of men. Oh, look, they're quite attractive.
Look at verse 8. They've got hair as the hair
of women. Oh, they look like beautiful
women. Oh, they're very alluring, aren't they? And they're strong,
they've got the teeth of lions, and they've got armour on breastplates,
breastplates of iron, and they've got wings, and they sound like
chariots of many horses, running to battle. And their tails are
like scorpions, with stings in their tails, with their power
to hurt for five months, to hurt men for five months. These are
alluring satanic spirits. They are attractive to fallen
man. They're alluring in appearance,
in their power, in their riches. Do you know, this world is just
filled with it. The allure of this world. The
allure of it, the appearance, the power, the riches, the charm,
the beauty of it. And sinners, sinners positively
choose Satan's works and kingdom. given the option they choose
Satan's works and kingdom and it says in Romans 1 24 God also
gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts
and men are seeking to die but they're unable to die for five
months that's the summer for the time that they're let loose
to do their work they want to die, is that not the most despairing
situation to be in? you know when you hear of people
who feel that there's so little point in living they want to
die but they don't have the courage to kill themselves that's what
it's speaking of that's what it's speaking of the torment
of these satanic forces let loose these satanic forces are shaping
and have shaped and do shape the spirit of the age one of
them was let loose couple of hundred years ago and set off
the philosophy and the religion of the world all around us which
is the religion of evolution the religion of godless evolution
was triggered by one or more or many of these locusts from
the bottomless pit these demonic forces from the bottomless pit
telling people you don't want to retain God in your knowledge
there's no need to think about God They bring spiritual woe. And how do they bring it? They
control the minds of our world leaders. Look at the confusion
amongst the leaders of the world in these days. Should we go bombing
people in Syria or should we not? They don't have a clue.
How are we going to deal with what's come in through our borders?
We haven't got a clue. How are we going to stop radicalization?
We haven't got a clue. How are we going to get out of
the debt that we're in to the far east of the world? We haven't
got a clue. We haven't got a clue. Spiritual
woe. They control the minds of leaders. Where else do they go? I'll tell
you where they go. They influence education. Their philosophy is
in education. Education is a good thing, but
be in no doubt, watch out for it. Their influence is in education. It's a godless influence. They
promote depraved arts, depravity, obscenity in the arts. They adorn
the charms of vile sin. Listen to this statement. This
is what they do, and I think anybody that's in any way right-thinking
will agree with me. They make that which you know
inside is fundamentally good into something which is bad.
and they make that which you know is fundamentally bad into
something which is to be praised and good. Have we not seen it?
The last 10 years has been worse than the previous 50. It just
gets worse and worse. This is what they do. These are
the ones. These are the ones who are doing
the bidding of the prince of the power of the air. He's the
spirit that now works in the children of disobedience. what
paints a more accurate picture of the world we live in? The
ascent of man, we're all getting better, we're all heading towards
this wonderful utopia of peace, or Revelation chapter 9 the first
11 verses? The one who seduces The people
of this world, with a Christless kingdom of false peace, that
is Satan himself, is actually directing torment and despair. Torment and despair. Verse 12,
one woe is past, there come two woes more hereafter. we've just
about run out of time and I think for the sake of time I'm not
going to go on I'll come back to this second woe next week
otherwise we'll be here for another twenty minutes or more but I
want to reiterate a warning and I want to reiterate comfort to
the Christless kingdom of Satan to unbelievers to this wicked
world it is ripe for final judgment As I say, you know, I'm not walking
around with sandwich boards hanging over my shoulders, you know,
with the end of the world is nigh on. But I'm telling you,
in my lifetime, things are rapidly hastening. Jesus said, look,
look, you see the fig tree when it's coming into fruit. You see
the red sky at night and you say, oh, it's gonna be a fine
day tomorrow. He said, look at the signs, look at the signs.
Just in my lifetime, the world population has more than doubled.
And the things that I've been talking about, interpreting this
plague of locusts, are absolutely there before your eyes. If you've
got eyes to see it, they're there before your eyes. God's word
is true. So this is the warning to this
wicked world. It's ripe for final judgment. This world cannot be fixed by
man's towers of Babel. They didn't work in the first
place and they don't work now. Terrible woes are unfolding in
retribution for sin. Heed the warning of the signs
and flee. As John the Baptist said to the
Pharisees who came out to him, he said, what told you to flee
from the wrath to come? That's what I would say. Knowing
these things, flee from the wrath to come. Flee to where? Where
should you run? Where should you hide? There's
only one place to hide. There's only one rock in which
you can hide. There's only one cleft in a rock
in which you can hide. And that's Christ and his shed
blood, which alone fits you for God's kingdom. Thy kingdom come. And believers, believers, are
you going to see these things? We're seeing them happening.
Are you going to be around when they happen? Unless we're taken
individually, yes, we're going to see worse and worse happen.
This is what God's word tells us. But why does he tell us?
He tells us so that we don't be alarmed when we see it happening.
Because why? It's all in his control. and
you're sealed by the Spirit of God in your forehead through
faith in Christ, you're sealed for that, you're spiritually
safe, you cannot be touched by this plague of locusts. Remember
what it said, they only have power to hurt those men which
don't have the seal of God in their foreheads. The people of
God have repented of their sins, if you look at verses 20 and
21 just briefly, well verse 21, despite everything that God sends
Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries,
nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts. Neither repented
they of it. They didn't repent of it. God's
people have repented. Why have they repented? Because
God has shown them something of the fact that they're sinners.
Remember that hymn? A sinner is a sacred thing. The
Holy Ghost has made him so. Everybody, all have sinned, but
only true believers know that they're sinners, because
only they are shown that they're sinners, and only they are granted
the gift of repentance by the Spirit of God. In the Acts of
the Apostles, God has granted to the Gentiles repentance. They've
repented, but these, in the kingdom of Satan, have not repented.
No, the people of God cannot be touched by the plague of locusts. They cannot be hurt. They're
spiritually immune from their sting. All things are in God's
control. He is sovereign over all things.
He shall not fail. And his innumerable multitude."
Do you know what it says, what Paul says in one of the epistles?
He says to believers, he says, you are even now seated with
Christ in eternity. Do you know, outside of time,
in time, you've got to proceed to the day of your death and
you go to be with him in heaven but outside of time in eternity
God says this to his people, you're seated with Christ in
eternity. That's where you are. And with
that comfort, we can echo what David said in Psalm 4, verse
8. Listen, are you worried about
these things? Are you alarmed by these things? All the things
that are coming. I will both lay me down in peace
and sleep. You sleep when you're not worried,
don't you? I will both lay me down in peace and sleep for thou,
Lord, only. makes me to dwell in safety. We'll come back to the second
woe next week, I think I need to change the title before I
put it on the internet, the first woe. Okay, we'll end it there.