The book of REVELATION is an odd book when compared to the rest of the Bible. It is a warning for everyone, even though some will not be here to see these warnings unfold. It tells of things to come that were seen in a vision nearly 2,000 years ago. And it describes some things the writer had no way of describing.
We are told in REVELATION 1:3;
“Blessed is the one who reads and blessed are those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep what is written in it, because the time is near!”
Most Christians do not like to read this book, and most preachers do not like to teach it. But by my reading this chapter today, and by your listening to it, we will both be blessed in God’s eyes.
Our perspective is that this book is a very difficult book to understand, and rather than make a mistake teaching it, or spend the energy trying to understand it, maybe we should just leave it alone. But is that the correct perspective to have?
The wealthy father took his son on a trip to the country so they could see how the poor folks lived. They spent two days with a dirt farmer’s family, helping them work during the day and then being with their family at night.
On the way home, his father asked him if he had learned anything about poor people. The son said he had learned that their front yard stretched to the road, but the farmer’s front yard stretched beyond the hills. Their swimming pool was rather small, while the farmer had a stream without end. Their day consisted of being bored, while the farmer’s family always had a garden to tend or wood to chop.
And then the son said, “Thanks, Dad, for teaching me how poor we are!”
Perspective is the eye-opener of true knowledge. With that same perspective, let us say “Thank You” to God now for teaching us, through this book of REVELATION, that there is much more to know than we tend to think.
In chapter 8, we discussed the first four trumpet judgments. They were: The judgment by FIRE (vs. 7); the judgment upon the SEA (vs. 8-9); the judgment of WORMWOOD (vs. 10-11); and the judgment of absolute DARKNESS (vs. 12). For time’s sake, we will not read these passage again, but highly suggest you read them when you get home so you can understand that they were very bad judgments, indeed.
We ended in verse 13 by learning there were 3”woes”, or “judgments”, that were yet to come, and each of these would be worse than any prior judgment.
Now, as we go into chapter 8, we are seeing the beginning of God’s purest wrath being poured out upon an evil and unrepentant world, and it only gets worse with each passing step. The trumpet judgment is about to begin.
In VERSE 1, John says:
“The fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven to the earth. The key to the shaft of the abyss was given to him.”
Who is the star that fell? Typically, in the Bible, a fallen star refers to an angel who has been told to leave heaven. Most theologians consider this fallen star to be Lucifer. Remember that Jesus remarked He had seen Lucifer fall in LUKE 10:18.
“I watched Satan fall from heaven like a lightning flash.”
John received insight from this vision. He “saw” the star falling does not mean he saw it with his own eyes. He saw that it “had already happened” in the vision. In verse 1, he said he “saw a star that had fallen.” That is in the past tense.
When this angel fell, the keys to the abyss were given to him and his sole purpose was to unlock the shaft.
(Some theologians believe this star was Jesus, but I think if it had been Jesus, John would have indicated such in his writings. Other theologians believe it was an angel of God. Again, I do not see any indication that the fallen star’s purpose was anything other than opening the pit so the smoke from it could cause chaos on this world.)
The “shaft of the abyss” refers to a bottomless pit. That word is the Greek word “abussos” which occurs nine times in the New Testament; seven of which are in the book of REVELATION. It refers to a place of imprisonment for supernatural beings. It is also a place of pure torment for them.
In MATTHEW 8:29, we read about the story of the demonic man who lived in the cemetery. Christ drove the demons out of him; they entered a nearby herd of pigs; and the pigs rushed off a cliff into the waters and drowned. In this account, we see where the demons asked Jesus, “… have you come here to torment us before the time?”
The abyss and the time of torment are clearly connected. The demons are aware of this future time, and, judging by the above verse, they are afraid of it, too.
VERSE 2 –
“He opened the shaft of the abyss and smoke came up out of it like the smoke from a great furnace. And the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the shaft.”
When the smoke came up, it darkened the sun and blinded the eyes of men by putting out light and knowledge. This helped promote ignorance and error. It also darkened the air, which shows it polluted the world and acted to confuse men. And from this great smoke, instruments of God’s wrath appeared and were unleashed upon men.
VERSES 3-4
“Then, out of the smoke, locusts came to the earth and power was given to them like the power that scorpions have. They were told to not harm the grass, or any green plant, or any tree, but only people who do not have God’s seal on their foreheads.”
This is the first woe. These locusts are not like any previous locusts that have previously been on this earth. Those locusts ate plants and devastating entire crops. These scorpions mentioned here do not eat plants. They attack men. Let’s read about them.
VERSES 5-6
“The locusts were not permitted to kill the people, but to pester them unmercifully for five months. Their torment will be like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man. In those days, people will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, but death will flee from them.”
The torment will be so unbearable, people will actually want to die, but they will have to go on living. This judgment of locusts will be the worst punishment the world will have ever seen - - up to this point.
VERSES 7-9
“The appearance of the locusts was like horses equipped for battle. On their heads were something like gold crowns; their faces were like men’s faces; they had hair like women’s hair; their teeth were like lions’ teeth; they had chests like iron breastplates; the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots with many horses rushing into battle;
VERSES 10-12
“… and they had tails with singers, like scorpions, so that with their tails they had the power to harm people for five months. They had, as their king, the angel of the abyss; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and his name in Greek is Apollyon. The first woe has passed. There are still two more woes to come after this.”
Both names mean ‘destroyer.’ That is the description of the king of the bottomless pit, or shaft. It is Satan, whose sole purpose in eternity is to destroy everything of God and all of God’s creation. That includes me and you!
These locusts have been given the power of scorpions – not in their look but in their power. They resemble something between man and beast. And they only torment those who have NOT been sealed by God.
The dictionary defines the word “torment” as: “having great physical pain, or extreme mental anguish.” It also says it is “unbearable pestering.” All people who are not sealed by God will experience very painful bites and stings all over their bodies that do not stop hurting or festering; and they will go five months with no real sleep because of this continual pain and pestering.
In EXODUS 8:22-23, God had Moses get up early and go tell Pharaoh;
“But on that day, I will give special treatment to the land of Goshen where My people are living; no flies will come upon them. This way, you will know that I, the Lord, am in the land. I will show a difference between how I treat My people and your people.
Just as God’s children were kept safe from the judgment of flies in the Old Testament, they will be kept safe from this judgment of locusts, too.
This is the end of the fifth trumpet judgment (or the first “woe.”)
And now, the sixth trumpet judgment, or the second “woe” is about to be unleashed – and it will be much worse than the one before.
VERSES 13-14
“The sixth angel blew his trumpet. From the four horns of the gold altar that is before God, I heard a voice say to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, ‘Release the four angels bound at the great river Euphrates.’”
The gold altar was a place where priests burned incense day and night. It was meant to offer up to God, the incense and prayers of His people. The altar had a horn protruding from each of the four corners at the top.
Who are the four angels bound at the river Euphrates? We studied about them in chapter 7:1. They are the same angels who restrained the winds from blowing until the faithful in God were sealed. Now that the faithful in God have been sealed, these angels are ordered to go ahead with their pre-appointed duties.
VERSE 15
“So, the four angels who were prepared for the hour, day, month, and year were released to kill a third of the human race.”
This is a major point in God’s plan for the people that He created. It is time to dispense with those in the End Time who have rejected His Son. Adding this number to the number of people already destroyed in the fourth seal, about 50% of humans will be gone.
VERSES 16-19
“The number of mounted troops was 200 million. I heard their numbers. This is how I saw the horses in my vision: The horsemen had breastplates that were fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow. The heads of the horses were like lions’ heads and from their mouths came fire, smoke, and sulfur. A third of the human race was killed by these three plagues – the fire, smoke, and sulfur: For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails; because their tails (like snakes) have heads and they inflict injury with them.”
The number of soldiers shows that there are many nations who have come together as one in the fight against God. Today, it would seem that those nations could include Russia, China, and all of the Islamic nations of the Middle East. They could unite and come under the banner of the European Union or some other global authority.
The way John describes what they will wear and the weapons they will use, many theologians believe it was his best attempt to describe things he had no words to describe: Things like tanks, troop carriers, airplanes, nuclear weapons and such.
VERSE 20 (a)
“The rest of the people, who were not killed by these things, did not repent . . .”
God has given mankind every chance to repent from his sins and turn back towards God, but mankind has always refused, wanting to continue doing those things in the world that we enjoy. In so doing, we actually show that we hate God.
VERSE 20 (b)
“… of the works of their hands to stop worshiping demons and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood…”
The works of our hands refers to how we make things and then worship them. We always like to pause and admire what we do. It is a pride thing. A boxer’s first instinct is to hit his opponent and then stand there and admire the damage he has done before hitting him again. That often leads to his own defeat by giving the opponent a chance to recoup.
We love to build things, either physical things; such as houses, restoring cars, or even planning things. And then we love to admire them and keep them in the forefront of our minds because we are proud of what we have done.
VERSE 20 (c)
“… which are not able to see, hear, or walk.”
Sadly, all these things I just mentioned cannot see us, they cannot hear us, nor can they walk with us or guide us. We spend all of our time and energy pursuing things that cannot react with us or benefit us. Yet, we still chase after them. Why we don’t turn around and see Jesus Christ as the One who can actually give us everything we crave is beyond any rational explanation.
In verse 15, we saw a third of the human race killed. In verse 20, we find that those who remain still do not repent of their worldly ways. They continue to worship idols and be fixated on things they personally like. If you think we do not do the same thing, check your garbage some time. We actually worship demons when we worship these things.
If someone asked you if you worshiped idols, your first answer would be a quick denial! Yet, how many things do we have in our lives that actually are our idols, at least for a moment?
Any time we put our focus on anything other than on Jesus Christ, that thing we are focusing on becomes our idol. It might be our jobs that take center place in our minds, or our relationships, our money, our place in society, our golf games, and anything else that could tear us away from focusing on Jesus Christ. Again, if we think we are different than the people described in verse 20, I challenge you to do some reassessing of your life, and see what things you worship instead of Jesus.
So we see here that we allow ourselves to do all the wrong things and very little, if any, of the right things. Just what are some of the wrong things we are doing?
We allow abortions under the guise of “women’s rights”, we give homosexuality a free reign because “it is their right,” and we deny people the ability to freely worship Christ because “other people are not comfortable with it.” It never ceases to amaze me that Christians pray for others while others attack Christians, yet we are perceived to be the bad ones on the block.
We put all of our attention and focus onto the “stuff” in our lives that cannot help us after we die, and forget all about the God of heaven who CAN help us throughout eternity. We turn our backs on our Creator so we can drool over the lowly things we create. And we honor mortal man as if he were our god.
We say that we are good people and don’t hurt anyone. That is the biggest lie Satan has every put out, and we have bought right into it. There are demonic influences in pornography, adultery, gambling, drinking, and everything else we do against God. And these things not only affect us, they affect those around us.
VERSE 21
“And they did not repent of their murders, their sorceries, their sexual immorality, or their thefts.”
It is April 15th in the heavenly realm, folks. It is time to pay the piper; time to pay the debt we owe. It is time for us to stand before Christ and explain to Him why we have done and thought the things we have done and thought in our lives. And it is time to either receive His loving reward or His tragic judgment.
Most people are thoroughly confused when it comes to how they live their lives in the spiritual realm. They think that because they claim to be Christians, they are safe, no matter what. They think they cannot be bothered by demonic forces.
Let me explain very carefully how demonic forces affect your life.
If you merely claim you are a Christian because you go to church or because you are a “nice person,” you are fooling yourself. If this describes you, you are not a Christian. And you can be possessed by the devil.
A real Christian is one who has thought about who Christ really is, and has made a conscious choice to ask Jesus into their heart; to try their best to live like Jesus wants them to live; and one who develops a personal and in-depth relationship with Jesus – every day.
The devil cannot posses a real Christian. 1 JOHN 4:4 guarantees that by saying, “Greater is He who is in me than he who is in the world.”
But we cannot sit back and relax, either. The devil may not be able to posses you, but he can and will oppress you. He cannot read your thoughts as Jesus can, but he can still shove thoughts into your mind, and if you do not have the full armor of God on (EPHESIANS 6:12-17) you can be greatly influenced by him.
As a soldier on the battlefield stands guard with an ever-vigilant awareness, let us see the need and practice the steps to keep spiritually vigilant; to be always are; and to be fully dependent upon Jesus Christ, who really is the solid rock on which we stand.
Every one of us get caught up in this activity of focusing on the world, even to the extent to where it harms our eternal souls. We need periods of “course corrections” to bring us back into a healthy and loving reliance on God.
Remember, the trumpets in the book of REVELATION. These trumpets do not play jazz, they play a song of judgment upon mankind. Do not let yourself be distracted from God to where you could be susceptible to hearing them.
May I ask you today to assess yourself and if today is your “course correction”, come up here now and let me pray with you, or see me after the service so that we can pray privately.
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for more sermons on Revelation & the End Times, go to our website at -
http://www.bruceballministries.com/d_revelation_series.html
