You’ll notice there’s no outline in your bulletin or on powerpoint today because I want you to be completely focussed on experiencing our passage today. This is meant to be an experiential passage of Scripture, and I want you to be able to really put yourself in the story today. So let’s just get started in:
Chapter 8
Verse 1. This must be important for it to have been mentioned here. This must be a momentous event, because so far all we have read about is this constant worship going on. What are they doing during this half hour of silence? The scroll has now been fully opened with the seventh seal and heaven is simply awestruck and this is the calm before the storm.
This reminds me of a verse from Habakkuk chapter 2 verse 20, some of you may even remember singing it. “The Lord is in His holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before Him”. This doesn’t mean be quiet in church, it means the Lord is about to judge, every body shut up, because you have nothing to say. We were silent for communion today because I wanted us to really take in the momentousness of what Christ did for us.
Think about that, what that must have been like. The amazing sense of solemn anticipation, sadness and joy because God was about to get the ball rolling in terms of bringing about the end of everything that is evil. The silent prayer that must have been going on for those who were going to experience what was about to come.
Some say the trumpet judgments that are now coming are the first half of the tribulation and the bowl judgments that come later is the second half. I disagree, I believe the opening of the seventh seal here is the beginning of the second half or the Great Tribulation because clearly the intensity of the judgments are increased at this point.
Verses 2-5. This is a scene very similar to what we saw in chapter 5 where the Lamb took the scroll and the 4 living creatures and elders fell before the throne holding harps and bowls of incense. Here are the seven angels now given trumpets. Trumpets are very significant to the Jewish culture at this time, and they always signalled the beginning of a major event.
Then another angel comes and stands at the altar offering up the prayers of the saints. The saints are all believers and the nature of these prayers is clearly to bring in the kingdom of God on earth. I don’t believe this angel is Jesus because in the previous verses He is called the Lamb. In verse 5 this mighty angel then takes this censer and throws the fire down onto the earth. The saints have prayed that the final judgment would come and Jesus the Lamb begins it here with the opening of the 7th seal.
Verses 6-7. Remember when the angels were told not to harm the earth or sea or any tree while the 144000 were sealed? Now with the first trumpet, hail and fire mixed with blood are thrown to the earth and a third of the earth and trees were burnt up and all the grass on earth. Think for minute, what would the implication of this destruction be? Most of the food for animals and humans would be destroyed.
The first four trumpets all target the natural earth affecting food and water supplies. This will cause the people on the earth to experience extreme hunger and thirst. Now why would a merciful God put people through such torture, why not just kill them so they don’t suffer?
He is still giving them a chance to hunger and thirst for Him while they are alive. And it seems that as soon as a person turns to Christ during this tribulation they will be either martyred or raptured very quickly, ending their suffering.
This is very similar to what God did to Pharoah in Egypt, he kept increasing the judgments for the purpose of getting him to believe in the true God. Are the fire and hail and blood symbolic? I doubt it, the blood just symbolizes death and there’s no reason to believe that God could not display such a supernatural event.
Look at Exodus 9:18-26 the seventh plague. God’s people were protected.
Verses 8-9. This burning mountain could easily be a giant meteorite or something similar, and with all the creatures that die, a third of the sea could easily turn red with blood. Similarly the massive tsunami that this would cause could easily destroy a third of the ships in the ocean.
Again Exodus chapter 7 the first plague. Read 7:17-21. None of this stuff is new, God has used these methods since the beginning.
Verses 10-11. A great star falls from the sky. This could very likely be a comet that breaks apart and crashes to earth and it may be that the bitterness is something like sulphuric acid. The people were so thirsty they had to drink this contaminated water. Others think this could relate to nuclear war, with the star being a nuclear missile, radioactively contaminating the water supply. Jeremiah spoke of this wormwood water in chapter 23 verse 15 because of the pollution of ungodliness.
Imagine being alive on the earth during these events. Imagine what Wolf Blitzer is doing on CNN. Absolute terror and chaos in the world, but still no repentance, no acknowledgment that this might be from God. Reports are now coming in of many deaths from the bad drinking water.
Verse 12-13. What causes the darkening of the sun? Of course if the sun was darkened that would darken the moon and stars. Some say this is because of all the pollution in the air from all this fire and volcanic activity on earth.
But I think by using the word “struck” it is referring to something actually happening to the sun. Perhaps a third of it burns out or something. Not only would this darken things, but the temperature of the earth would drop drastically. We saw this in Exodus 10 as well, darkness from heaven, plague #9.
Days and nights are all out of whack. Now again imagine these poor people on earth witnessing all this. I’m sure God left the TV stations and internet working so this could be seen everywhere, maybe he’s waiting until high speed internet and satellite TV reaches everywhere on earth before he shows his full power through these judgments.
These people have to be thinking by now that this is the end of the world. Now so far things aren’t looking to good, but if that isn’t enough, an eagle flies overhead and cries out that you haven’t seen anything yet, wait for the next three trumpets.
He mentions all earth dwellers. John means not just that these are people living on the earth, but also that they live for the earth, or are worldly.
These are the people referred to in 1 John 2:15-17, “do not love the world or the things in the world, if you do, the love of the father is not in you… the world is passing away along with all its desires, but whoever does the will of the Father abides forever”. The true home of God’s people even when they physically dwell on the earth is in heaven, we are merely visitors here on earth.
Heaven and earth were united until Satan caused the fall which created the gulf that only Christ could bridge. We will see at the end that heaven and earth will be united again.
Chapter 9
Verses 1-12. These three trumpets are now called the woes and the first of these, the 5th trumpet, shows John the star that had fallen from heaven. He didn’t see a star fall from heaven here, but the star that had already fallen, Satan, who was given the key to the bottomless pit which Luke calls the abode of demons.
This is not hell or the lake of fire, but you might consider it what we would think of as the underworld. Then this great swarm of very bizarre creatures emerges. They’re like a swarm of locusts but they have strange characteristics and were given powers, and unlike real locusts they are not to harm the earth, just torment people. This is clearly some kind of satanic army.
Apollyon the destroyer, or Satan is their king and they obey him completely. Satan hates us and wants to destroy us. The normal lifespan of a locust is about five months and this is how long these demons are allowed to operate. Clearly these are not literal locusts, and I won’t go into all their physical details, but I do think the torment of the stinging could be taken literally because of the detail of the description of it.
If you have ever been stung by a scorpion or jellyfish you know what kind of extreme nerve pain it is, but it doesn’t kill you. These locust beings have seven traits, they are perfect torture. People, don’t dabble in the occult, this is real and it’s really powerfully bad.
You see, not that many people have actually suffered yet until these locusts. Things are very traumatic, and some have died, but now with the fifth trumpet we get some real ongoing torment. Many think because of the crowns on the creatures, that these are the leaders of the nations on earth who become in essence possessed by Satan and bring pain and torture to the people.
Like I said, this is probably a satanic army that is only out to control people with torture. The first thing I thought of are those tazers that the police now have, that’s the kind of pain described here, so my guess is that Satan’s demons are keeping people in line by using this kind of torture.
You know if you want to see some amazing parallels to what we’re reading here, read through the book of Joel. It’s only 3 chapters and it’s amazing how many things you will see that parallel this part of Revelation, both of the destruction and redemption. It’s almost like a condensed mini book of Revelation.
Then in verse 12 we see relief. Ah, finally those pests are gone, what a relief! But then:
Verses 13-21. Are you kidding me? Finally relief from five months of torture, and then another trumpet! What now?
How about releasing four bound Satan’s angels with millions of troops making the motorcycle gang look like Sesame Street, who promptly go and slaughter a third of the people left on the planet. But these are lucky ones who finally got to die. This command is coming from the altar of God, He is answering the prayers of the saints. It’s horrible to us, but it is God doing it and it is good in the big picture.
Four fallen angels who were bound, a good angel would not have to be bound, they lead a massive army that now doesn’t torture, but kills a third of humanity. Combine this with the fourth of mankind that was killed in the seven seal judgments, and we see that over half of humanity is now killed. I wonder from these descriptions if the plagues that are mentioned are massive volcanic activity that gets unleashed, with fire, smoke and sulphur. Obviously literal horses are not going to be breathing fire.
Lots of horrible stuff will be happening in these literal dark days. Remember most sin occurs in the darkness. Do you know what the word sorcery here refers to? It is the Greek word pharmakia (like pharmacy) and literally means the use of drugs. Drug and alcohol use will be rampant. It’s often associated with Satanic worship even now, and will certainly be used to self-medicate as all this tribulation is going on.
I don’t want to be too graphic here but in Maple Ridge where I was counselling in addictions there is a very strong Hell’s Angels presence and the crystal meth culture was growing very rapidly. And much of this culture was involved in satanic activity, including believe it or not, the sacrificing of babies. I ask you, is it cruel for God to wipe out this kind of evil activity, or is it good?
My guess is that many of these people getting killed are gentile people who turn to God during the tribulation. When the torture doesn’t get them to worship Satan, they are finally killed and instantly go to heaven as martyrs while the 144000 Jews are protected supernaturally from all of this to continue their witness.
But here’s the amazing part in verse 20. After all this carnage unlike anything we could imagine witnessing, it says those who were still alive refused to repent and change their ways of worshipping demons and idols, and committing horrible sins against each other. Can you believe that? All believers are dead now, Satan has let his followers live.
Not one of them is grateful for getting through this, not one of them turns to God and says I’m sorry Lord please help me. The rejection of God, by man is extremely strong. Everyone of us is only here today because of God drawing us to him, and if we’re honest there is still a big part of all of us that wants to reject him, to run from him. Fortunately once we’re sealed nothing can snatch us away from our Lord.
Do you see what we have to be grateful for? Life is pretty good wouldn’t you say? You got a sore back? How about getting stung by scorpions constantly for five months, struggling to find fresh water in the dark cold world, with the smell of billions of dead people scattered around the earth, much of which has been destroyed by fire and hail.
Aren’t you glad that isn’t happening right now? And aren’t you glad that if you believe in Jesus Christ and are part of His church, you are going to avoid these horrible events?
Remember the previous chapter, the church is not on the earth at this time. Yes we go through some tribulation, but it is clear from the chapters we have already covered that the church, all saved people prior to the great tribulation are in heaven represented by the 24 elders and the multitude from all nations.
I hope this reminds us of how horrible it will be for those who are unsaved. And really get an appreciation for what salvation is. It’s not just having this buddy Jesus.
I don’t know about you, but my life is looking pretty good. I bet there aren’t many people going to get their Thanksgiving turkey at the supermarket in the times we just heard about.
We are warm in the winter, cool in the summer, dry when it rains, fed when we’re hungry, if we even know what hunger is. We decide we want something, and we usually go out and get it, or someone gives it to us. Sure we have some tragedies in our lives, but look at us, we make it through, we are comforted by the one who made us and saved us.
Oh, do we have much to be thankful for, but isn’t it true that it takes very little for us to start complaining, to be ungrateful, to be bitter toward others. We don’t have to deny that we are in pain sometimes, that we are disappointed sometimes, but The Word of God says, “Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that we may become pure, children of God …”.
There’s another great word in Scripture and clearly God doesn’t like it – grumbling. 1 Co 10:10 Do not grumble as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. James 5:9 Do not grumble against one another, so that you may not be judged; behold the Judge is standing at the door.
The people grumbled against Moses though God was miraculously providing them with everything they needed. Jesus very clearly responded in John 6:43, “Stop grumbling amoung yourselves”. And Peter says in his first letter, show hospitality to each other without grumbling even when you are suffering.
Do you think God appreciates and blesses a thankful heart?
There’s a saying that we should have an “attitude of gratitude”. We all know that even in the worst of times we have at least some little thing to be grateful for, but our nature is to focus on the things that are wrong. I am telling you that when we choose to dwell on what is wrong we are only hurting ourselves and pushing people away, but no matter what our situation, if we choose to be grateful for what we do have, our emotions change.
Next time you are feeling like life is unfair, like you don’t have what you want, that life has dealt you a severe blow and God has abandoned you. Think of our passage today and be grateful that the sun shines, the moon glows, the stars are still in the sky, scorpions are not stinging you, you have fresh Killarney lake water to drink, and most of all that when all we read about today comes to be, because of the incredible grace of our God, by believing in him you will never have to go through it.
Go from here today with that attitude, as we prepare for Thanksgiving this week put your mind on what you do have and what you won’t have to endure because of Jesus being in your life.
