Revelation chapter 9. Now you
must remember as we study through the Revelation And these things
that we see that are great, great mysteries, we need to keep in
mind, and foremost in our mind, the way this book starts. You
turn to Revelation 9, verse 12. But the book is called the Revelation
of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him to show unto Him, to
His servant, things which must shortly come to pass, And he
sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John. So what is the revelation all
about? It's the revelation of Jesus Christ. We see the revelation
of His character as the Lamb of God that redeemed us from
all our sin by His blood. And we see the Lamb of God upon
His throne. that's ruling and reigning and
controlling all the events of all time to the minutest detail
known unto God are all of His works from the beginning. So in Revelation 9 verse 13 down
through verse 19 we see the sixth angel sounding one of those seven
trumpets that were given. And when the Lord had opened
the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about a space of
an hour, and I saw seven angels which stood before God. To them
were given the seven trumpets. That's Revelation 8, verse 1. Last time we saw what happened
when the fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and then today,
We see what happens when the sixth angel sounds his trumpet.
Now keep in mind as we read through these things, this is not something
in the future that's going to happen. This is what is happening
right now. This is a description of what
the Lord Jesus Christ, who knows all things, who works all things,
who does all things, it's a description of our Lord telling us what's
going on right now. Nations shall rise against nations. You'll hear of wars and rumors
of wars, but the end is not yet. But it's coming. It's coming. It's coming. The six angels sound
the trumpet. Judgment comes upon the earth.
You remember in chapter 8 verse 13, And I beheld and heard an
angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud
voice, Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, by reason of the
other voices of the trumpet of the three angels which are yet
to sound. Number 5, number 6, number 7. Look at verse 12, One woe is
past, Behold, there cometh two more woes hereafter.' And the
sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of
the golden altar which is before God. This voice is none other
than the Lord Jesus Christ. Woe to the inhabitants of the
earth! Upon those not sealed with the
seal of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ in their forehead,
there is nothing but judgment, eternal condemnation for those
who are not in the Lord Jesus Christ. Woe unto those who are
not in Christ. Remember the word in John chapter
3. He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting life. He that believeth not in the
Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. Woe unto those who were not in
Christ and Him crucified. Notice in chapter 9 verse 4,
It was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of
the earth, that is, these locusts, neither any green thing, neither
any tree, but only those men which have not the seal of God
in their forehead, those who are not sealed with the gospel.
There's nothing but judgment and condemnation outside of the
Lord Jesus Christ. That ought to make you to take
alarm to make sure that you're resting in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, in our study today, we learn
about the events that have been taking place since Adam's fall,
fallen race, Since sin entered into this world to mankind, to
men and women, all men, transgression by one man brought judgment upon
all men. Sin always brings judgment because
God is holy. By one man, by one man's disobedience,
Many were made sinners. Adam was a representative man.
When he sinned, we sinned. Paul writes about it in Romans
5. Wherefore, by one man, sin entered into the world, and death
by sin. So death passed upon all men,
for that all have sinned. Does that include you? Does that
include me? That includes all men everywhere.
Judgment because of sin. Now, several things to keep in
mind as we consider this passage of Holy Scripture. This is a
revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. All of His character,
His attributes, His power, His glory, it's all about Him. In
verse 13, of Revelation 9, the sixth angel sounded, he sounded
by the command of God, and I heard a voice from the four horns of
the golden altar which is before God. The voice that John hears
is the same voice that John heard back in chapter 1. Let me just
read it to you, don't turn. Revelation 1, I was in the Spirit
on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a great voice as of
a trumpet saying, I am Alpha, I am Omega, I'm the first, I'm
the last. God does not change. He's the
same yesterday, today, and forever. John heard that voice in the
beginning, and John hears the same voice again. In the tabernacle
of old, and you have to go back and study the tabernacle to get
the meaning of what's being said here about this golden altar.
There was in that tabernacle of old, the tabernacle in the
wilderness, there was a brazen altar of sacrifice that stood
outside that tent, that tabernacle, where the sacrifice was made
morning and evening, and the blood was shed. And that altar
is a picture of Christ's sacrifice. On that altar, brazen altar,
there were four horns on each corner. Whenever you see horn
in scripture, it's indication of power. And those four horns
indicate that God has power universally north, south, east, west. What they call the four corners
of the earth. Also within that first sanctuary,
the holy place, there was this golden altar of incense. And that speaks of the intercessory
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, that altar had four horns. The Lord Jesus Christ is that
one mediator between God and man. Remember, we read something
about that in chapter 8, verse 3. Turn back over there. And
another angel came and stood at the altar having a golden
censer, And there was given unto him much incense, that he should
offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar
which is before the throne, and the smoke of the incense which
came with the prayers of the saints ascended up before God
out of the angel's hand." And again, this is a picture of Christ
in accessory work for us as the mediator. The four horns of that
The altar of incense also speaks about there's one intercessor,
there's one mediator on all the earth, the four corners of the
earth, there's just one, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ.
These four horns speak of the eternal power of the Lord Jesus
that reaches to all four corners of the earth. Is there any place
on the top side of God's green earth where the Lord Jesus Christ
doesn't reign? He reigns everywhere. He has
all power, our Lord said that, upon His resurrection and upon
His ascension to glory, He said, all power is given unto me in
heaven and in earth. Second thing we need to keep
in mind, the Lord Jesus Christ ever lived to intercede for us
as our great high priest with the sacrifice that He made for
us with His own blood. His priesthood is the unchanging,
eternal priesthood. He is the King-priest. Like the
Order and after the Order of Melchizedek, He is a priest forever. And the good news about that
is He represents us before God with the sacrifice of His blood
and righteousness before God. He ever lived to intercede for
us. The third thing we see in verse 14, sang to the sixth angel,
which had the trumpet, and it's the trumpet of woe, it's the
trumpet of judgment, loosed those four angels, which were at one
time restrained, over in chapter 7 verse 1, which were bound at
or in the great river Euphrates, and the four angels were loosed,
which were prepared for an hour, a day, a month, and a year for
the slay. or to slay, to kill the third
part of men. His command to these four angels
shows that the Lord is upon the throne with complete power and
is in charge of all things. His priesthood, he is the priest
enthroned and all things are under his control. All good angels
the elect angels are called, or evil angels, fallen angels
are called, all things are under His charge, His command. All things serve His purpose. Listen to this scripture in Ephesians
1, talking about the Lord Jesus Christ resurrected in the throne.
God the Father put all things under His feet and gave Him to
be head over all things to the church. He reigns and rules everywhere,
all the time, over all things. He said, I am the Lord, I change
not, therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. 14, down through verse 21, this sixth
angel sounds this trumpet of woe and trumpet of judgment. And this is a description of
what's been going on throughout human history since Adam's fall,
since Adam's sin. These trumpets and this trumpet
describes war, not one particular battle, but all wars that have
ever been, past, present, and future. Since Adam's fall and
sin entering into the picture, there's nothing but war, hatred,
vengeance against mankind, one another. These events that are
mentioned here are not something future, but rather what is taking
place right now. We see it before our eyes. Nation
rising against nation. Wars and rumors of war ever since
sin entered in. Man has been at war with God
and with one another. What did Cain do just outside
the garden Cain and Abel, remember Abel brought the blood sacrifice,
typifying salvation through a substitute, and Cain rose up and killed his
own brother. Murder was in his heart. There
will never be total peace among men until the Prince of Peace
comes and makes a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth
righteousness." Man by nature is at war with God because he's
at enmity with God, and because of that he's at war with one
another. God's going to make a new heaven
and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. Now, turn back
over here to 2 Peter chapter 3 for just a minute. 2 Peter
chapter 3. We cannot, as a race of human
beings, we cannot destroy this earth. God created it. We cannot destroy this earth.
Nor can we save it. It's marked out for destruction.
Now you can talk about green all you want to. And you can
try to save this planet and think you're doing something. It's
marked for destruction. Look what he says here in 2 Peter
3. Verse 10, The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night,
in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and
the elements shall melt with a fervent heat. The earth also
and the works therein shall be burned up. Seeing these things
shall be dissolved. What manner of person do you
ought to be in all holy conversation? Godliness. looking forward hastening
unto the coming of the day of God wherein the heavens being
on fire shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with
a fervent heat. Nevertheless, we according to the promise look
for new heavens and a new earth wherein as well as righteousness."
Now notice that reference there on verse 13. It's Isaiah 65 and
Isaiah 66. So that promise was way back
given to Isaiah 700-800 years before the coming of the Lord
Jesus Christ. So we cannot destroy this earth,
nor can we save it. The Lord's going to take care
of that. He's going to make a new heaven and a new earth wherein
dwelleth righteousness. Loose the four angels. which
were prepared for an hour, a day, and a month, for to slay the
third part of men. These angels, we read about in
chapter 7, verse 1-3, were restrained then, but here they're let loose. These angels, whether good or
evil, whether the elect angels or fallen angels, all angels
accomplish God's And his purpose is an eternal purpose. They cannot
act without the decree of God. The devil and all of his angels
do exactly what God had determined before to be done. Michael and
Gabriel and all of his elect angels are also under the command
of the Lord. They always accomplish his purpose. His purpose. None of these angels
are out of control. They're doing everything that
God had determined and decreed before. This great river Euphrates
represents and is symbolic of the whole ungodly world. Assyria and Babylon. Remember
when Israel was taken Captive for 70 years, it was beyond the
river of Euphrates into Babylon. Remember, in the days of Jeremiah,
Ezekiel, and Daniel, those men were carried away into Babylonian
captivity across the great river Euphrates. And it's symbolic
of the ungodly world. Most of the old commentators
that I read after, John Gill back in the 1700s and Robert
Hawker back in the 1800s, say that this has a reference to
the followers of Muhammad and the religion of Islam. Little
did they know of the war of terror that they have inflicted upon
us and upon all men for the last 20 years. I don't think that
this war and wars will ever end, there's going to be wars and
rumors of wars until the Lord Jesus Christ comes back again.
This thing that's going on right now in Ukraine is exactly what
he's describing here in Revelation 9. Look at verse 15. And the four angels were loosed,
which were prepared, They were prepared by the command of God
to slay the third part of men. Notice they act for a certain
set period of decreed time, and one day war will cease. One day all the purposes of God
will be accomplished, and every enemy of God will be forever
cast out of the presence of the Lord, but until then, Devastation
upon this earth. One day, all evil forces are
going to be put out of business. That's the thing I like about
reading the Revelation. I know who wins. I've read the
last chapter. I know who wins. Look over here
at Revelation 19, verse 19. Revelation 19, verse 19. And I saw the beast, and the
kings of the earth, and their armies gathered together to make
war against him that sat on the horse," that's talking about
the Lord Jesus Christ, "...and against his army. And the beast
was taken with the false prophet that wrought miracles before
him, with which he deceived them that received the mark of the
beast, and them which worshipped his image, These both were cast
alive into the lake of fire, burning with brimstone. God is
going to put every demon spirit, every evil person out of business
finally and fully, when He makes a new heaven and a new earth,
wherein dwelleth righteousness. And the number of this army,
look at verse 16. Revelation 9 verse 16. And the number of
this army is a symbolic number of 200 million horsemen ready to do damage. What an evil army. 200 million
soldiers bent on destroying the one-third part of humanity. Of course, this number is not
an actual number, but a number so large that it seems infinite. Remember, they operate under
the absolute sovereign control of the Lamb upon the throne.
I turn back to Revelation chapter 5. Some people think the modern
Prophecy people think that that's talking about China or Russia,
200 million soldiers. I don't think that's what it's
talking about at all. Look over here, but the main thing I want
you to see is who's in charge. Who is the captain, the general
over this? over this army. Revelation 5,
verse 5, one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not, behold the
line of the tribe of Judah. The root of David hath prevailed
to open the book and to loose the seven seals of the river.
And I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne, in the midst
of the four beasts, in the midst of the elders, to the lamb as
it had been slain, having seven horns. Remember I told you horn
represents power. He has all power, seven eyes,
all-knowing, which are the seven spirits of God sent forth into
all the earth. And he came and took the book
out of the right hand of him and set it upon the throne. So
everything is orchestrated, decreed, and controlled by the Lamb upon
the throne. And He works all things together
for good for His elect. Those who are not His elect,
everything works against them to their eternal condemnation. Now look at verse 17, 18, and
19. And thus I saw the horses in
this vision. And them that sat on them, having
breastplates of fire, fire represents judgment, and this stone here,
Jasoneth, and brimstone, again, stones of judgment, and the heads
of the horses were as the heads of lions. And out of their mouths
issued fire, smoke, and brimstone. Now this is not some future prophecy
about cannons and guns and different things. This is talking about
God's army sent forth to bear the wrath of God against all
sin. It's judgment to come. Judgment
to come. What a gruesome, destructive
machine that we read about here. that has one purpose, to kill
and to destroy one third of all creatures, and it's being fulfilled
right now. They have, as it says there,
breastplates of fire, which are breastplates of judgment. We've
seen that before, haven't we? Over here in verse 9, where it
talks about those locusts, that were in the shape of horses
prepared to battle, they had breastplates of iron, hard-hearted. And there we're talking about
false preachers. But here, this war machine here had breastplates
of fire and judgment. Fire always represents the judgment
of God, the judgment of God. They have heads like lions. Remember
in 1 Peter chapter 5, we read about the devil that goes about
as a mighty roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. And then
they have mouths that issue fire and smoke. Remember, this is
the judgment of God. They don't have that power to
condemn or that power to kill apart from the decree of Almighty
God. Verse 18, by these three, the
third part was killed by the fire, by the smoke, by the brimstone
which issued out of their mouth. Again, it's a judgment of God
against this ungodly world. Loose the angels and let them
go. And we see these things taking place right before our eyes today. Today. Look at verse 19. And their power is in their mouth. and in their tails. And their
tails were like the serpents, like we studied about last week,
the scorpions. Their tails were like the tails
of serpents, and had heads, and with them, they do hurt. They do hurt, they do harm. Tails
like serpents. That is, what does a serpent
have? What does a scorpion have? Poison. Poison. poisons in their
mouth. Heads, he's talking about poisonous
doctrines of men, false men and devils and demons. Heads that
bring harm, thoughts that bring destruction, like the locust
out of the bottomless pit. False preachers have nothing
but poison in their doctrine and in their words. Now, what
is most interesting here, when you get down to verse 20, You
see all this judgment of God, this mighty army assembled by
God, with the wrath of God, with the judgment of God, with the
fire of God. And all these things come, and
millions upon millions and millions of people have died under the
judgment of God. And you think everybody would
say, OK, let's repent. Right now, let's repent. But
look what it says. The rest of men which were not
killed by these plagues, they repented not. They repented not
of the works of their hands. You mean the works of my hands
need to be repented of? Absolutely. All the works of
my hands are nothing but sin. That they should not worship
devils, demons, cold dead idols of gold, silver, brass, stone,
wood, which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk. Idols are dead. Why would you
call upon an idol to help you? Neither repented they of their
murders, their witchcraft, their sorceries, their fornication,
spiritual idolatry, nor of their thefts, robbing God of His glory. All these things, these judgments,
Judgment now and judgment to come. Warnings, yet mankind in
general does not repent and turn to the Lord. Now here's the thing
we need to keep in mind. Providential judgment will not
produce true, lasting repentance. When people get in trouble, and
I've seen this and you have too, when people get in trouble, it
may be sickness or different things, When people get in trouble,
they usually get religious until the trouble goes away and then
they forget God. So it's not true, lasting repentance,
is it? So providential judgment will
not produce true, lasting repentance. It didn't here. Neither will
false doctrine or false preachers. They cannot bring in true, faith
and true repentance in the Lord Jesus Christ. You cannot learn
the truth by listening to lies. False doctrine will never teach
us the truth. Repentance toward God and faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ is a gift of God. Faith comes by hearing,
and hearing by the Word of God. They will not repent of the works
of their wicked hands, nor turn from them, rather they'll trust
their works to save them. Will not repent of devil worship,
believing his deceitful lies, and it goes all the way back
to what he said to Eve in the garden. You'll be like God. You just partake of that fruit
and you'll be like God. They will not repent of their
wicked works, the works of their hand, or worshipping themselves,
saying that salvation depends upon you, the work of their hand. They will not turn from idolatry,
worshipping a God who want to and can't, but rather they'll
keep right on going on their course unless God stops them
by His grace. Let me show you another Scripture
that's similar to this. Turn to Revelation 16. Revelation
16. When the vials of wrath are poured
out, there's more wrath to come. Verse 8, Revelation 16. The fourth
angel poured out his vial upon his son, and power was given
unto him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great
heat, blaspheming the name of God, which had power over these
plagues. They repented not to give him
the glory. And the fifth angel poured out
his vial upon the seat of the beast, and his kingdom was full
of darkness. And they nodded their tongue
for pain, and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of
their pain and their sore deed, and they repented not of their
deeds." So judgment and wrath will not produce repentance and
true faith. What does bring true faith and
true repentance? It's the goodness of God revealed
in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. There can be no true
repentance but by the sovereign grace of God. There can be no
grace in our hearts that causes us to repent but by his regenerating
grace. Without the new birth, The heart
remains hardened, unmoved through the deceitfulness of sin. Remember
what Jeremiah said about the heart, deceitful above all things
and desperately wicked. Unless God grants repentance,
which is a turning from self and works and our idols unto
the true living God, unless God grants repentance, we'll never
turn away from our self, depending upon our self. True repentance,
as described, is turning to God from our idol to serve the living
and true God. And think about this, the Lord's
unspeakable mercy to us, to bring us to true repentance toward
God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's a precious gift
of God. Remember, it says in scripture,
we studied this in Romans 2, it's the goodness of God that
leads us to repentance, the goodness of God revealed in the gospel,
His love, His mercy, His grace given to us in Christ that leads
us to true repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith
like repentance is the gift of God. Repentance like faith, both
love and acknowledge the truth of the gospel. God grants repentance
to the acknowledging of the truth. God grants The faith of God's
elect that acknowledges the truth of salvation. It says in the
book of Acts, the Lord Jesus Christ was exalted to give repentance. When Peter was sent to the house
of a Roman soldier named Cornelius, and the Lord saved Cornelius
and his house by His grace. When Peter went back to the church
and told them that God saved Cornelius, They said this, giving
God the glory, saying that God granted repentance to sinners
unto life. God had granted sinners to repent. God granted and God gave life. God help us to repent by his
grace and to believe him, the Lord Jesus Christ, to bow and
submit through the Lordship of Christ. Now let me give you this
in closing. I've got just a few minutes left,
but I can get through this quickly. How do you know if I have true
repentance and true faith. How do I know the faith I have
is really the faith of God's elect? How do I know if the repentance
I have is not just temporary remorse for feeling guilty? How
do I know that it's true repentance that's always coming and looking
and believing the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, let me give it
to you this way. False faith and false repentance
can never produce a broken heart over sin. It's the true faith
of God and the true repentance of God that produces a broken
heart over sin. False faith can never produce
that. False repentance can never produce
that. Secondly, false faith, false
repentance will never and can never and will never acknowledge
that my best deeds before God are nothing but filthy rags in
His sight. in His sight. True faith acknowledges
that all of our righteousness is the Lord Jesus Christ alone. We're going to see that in our
study Wednesday night from Isaiah 64. True faith acknowledges that
our sin is put away by the Lord Jesus Christ. Thirdly, false
faith, false repentance will never, can never, will never
bow and submit to the absolute sovereign will of the Lord. False
faith won't do that. False repentance won't do that.
Only true repentance causes us to bow to the Lordship of Christ
and say, Lord, if you will. You remember how the leper came
to the Lord? full of leprosy. He came to him and bowed in worship
and said, Lord, if you will, if you will, you can make me
clean. And the Lord said, I will be
thou clean. You see, he came in submission
to his lordship. And that's what true repentance
does. Lastly, false faith. False repentance will never,
can never, will never receive the Lord Jesus Christ alone for
all salvation. It's always Christ plus this,
this, or that. True saving faith receives the
Lord Jesus Christ, true repentance receives the Lord Jesus Christ
as everything in salvation. Not a part of it. everything
in salvation. In Him dwells all the fullness
of a Godhead bodily and we stand complete in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now how blessed you are if God
has granted you true repentance toward God and faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Judgment and wrath will never
bring repentance. It's the preaching of the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ that truly does.