During a tourist bus excursion to a volcanic canyon in Iceland a couple of years ago, a woman was reported missing when she failed to return to the bus. The bus driver waited an hour before notifying the Icelandic police. Soon after the missing person's report, search and rescue teams and even a helicopter arrived to search for the missing woman. About 50 people also participated in the search on vehicles and by foot.
But the search was called off within about 12 hours when it authorities discovered that the missing woman wasn't really missing. She was actually on the bus and she had even been a part of the search party. Apparently before reentering the bus after the stop to tour the canyon, she changed her clothes and “freshened up.” The other passengers didn't recognize her. Chief of police Sveinn K. Runarsson told reporters that the woman was innocent of the mistake. She recognized the description of herself and “had no idea that she was missing.” (“Lost Woman Looks for Herself in Iceland's Highlands,” Iceland Review, 8-27-13; www.Preaching Today.com)
That describes a lot of people. They have no idea that they’re missing. They have no idea that they’re lost and in need of a Savior.
Perhaps, that describes some of you. You’re in the church or on the bus, so to speak, and you do good things like joining the search party. But you don’t know that you are the one that needs to be found. You don’t know that you are the one who needs to repent and believe the Gospel.
So what happens to people like that? What happens to people who don’t realize their need and turn to Christ to save them? Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Revelation 9, Revelation 9, where we see what happens to those who wait too long to let God rescue them from their sins.
Revelation 9:13 Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar before God… (ESV)
This is the altar of incense, from which the prayers of believers ascend before God (Revelation 8:1-5). Now, whether this “voice” is the prayers of the believers or the voice of another angel, we don’t know. But we are reminded that our prayers DO make a difference with our Sovereign God. They DO affect world events.
Revelation 9:14 [This voice is] saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, ‘Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.’”
Now, the Euphrates River is a very important river in world history and geography. It was the eastern edge of the Roman Empire in Bible days; and to this day, it is the dividing line between east and west.
According to this verse, four angels are bound there awaiting release. No doubt, these are fallen angels or four of Satan’s demons, because God’s good angels are never bound in the Scriptures.
Revelation 9:15 So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour, the day, the month, and the year, were released to kill a third of mankind. (ESV)
Already in Revelation, we’ve seen a quarter of mankind killed. Now, we find that a third of those who are left are going to be killed when these four demons are released from the Euphrates River. That’s more than half of the world’s population terminated in two major catastrophes just a few years apart.
SATAN’S DEMONS WILL BE RELEASED, and billions of people will die!
How? Through a major world war.
Revelation 9:16 The number of mounted troops was twice ten thousand times ten thousand; I heard their number. (ESV)
That’s 200 million! In other words, these four demons will incite an army of 200 million troops, which will come from the east to invade the west. And before the war is over, 1/3rd of the world’s population will be wiped off the face of this earth.
I find it very interesting that at the height of the Cold War, Communist Red China, east of the Euphrates River, claimed to have a man and woman militia of 200 million troops (Time, 5/21/1965). That’s the same number of “mounted troops” predicted here in verse 16.
Today (2015), the CIA estimates that China has nearly 400 million men, between the ages of 18 and 49, fit for military service. That doesn’t include the 364 million women they estimate are fit for military service in China, as well. (CIA World Fact Book, updated August 11, 2015; www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ch.html)
Just three months ago (May 2015), Chinese President Xi Junping and Indian Prime Minister Marendra Modi met and agreed to “enhanced military ties” between their two nations (Press Information Bureau, Government of India Prime Minister's Office, May 15, 2105, http://pib.nic.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx? relid=121755).
As a result, China’s navy is sending vessels and representatives to the Indian International Fleet Review for the first time ever in February 2016. (Ankit Panda, “A First: Chinese Navy Will Head to India's International Fleet Review”, The Diplomat, July 20, 2015, http://thediplomat.com/ 2015/07/a-first-chinese-navy-will-head-to-indias-international-fleet-review/)
Add to that the fact that China and India are part of a regional association with over a dozen other Asian nations to develop a stronger voice in world Affairs (Jimmy DeYoung, Prophecy Today, April 11, 2005 and December 16, 2005), and you can see that the stage is being set right now for this eastern invasion of the west as predicted right here in Revelation 9 (see also Revelation 16:12).
The nations east of the Euphrates River are coming together, and what seemed impossible just a few years ago is now not only possible; it is quite probable. It is all coming together just like the Bible predicted almost 2,000 years ago! When the four demons are released from the Euphrates River, they will have no trouble inciting 200 million troops from the east to invade the west. Look at how the Bible describes them.
Revelation 9:17-19 And this is how I saw the horses in my vision and those who rode them: they wore breastplates the color of fire and of sapphire and of sulfur, and the heads of the horses were like lions’ heads, and fire and smoke and sulfur came out of their mouths. By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed, by the fire and smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouths. For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails, for their tails are like serpents with heads, and by means of them they wound. (ESV)
These are strange creatures, but are they fire-breathing monsters from the pit of Hell, or is this a 1st century description of 21st century weapons? If you were in the 1st century, trying to describe a vision of 21st century high-tech warfare, how would you do it? Perhaps, your description would be much the same as we have here in Revelation 9. What we’re talking about here are weapons of mass destruction in the hands of a vast Asian Army, which will wipe out a third of the world’s population.
Not too long ago, this was inconceivable. But today, China, India, Pakistan, and Korea, all have nuclear ambitions and capability, so this is not only conceivable, it is downright inevitable.
According to the most recent Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) just out last month (July 2015), China has approximately 250 nuclear warheads, 50-75 nuclear-capable Inter-continental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs), and three operational JIN-class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines (SSBN), with two more under construction. (Nuclear Threat Initiative: China, July 2015, www.nti.org/country-profiles/china/)
The stage is set right now for the horrendous apocalypse described here in Revelation 9. That can only mean one thing: Jesus is coming very soon! The Bible says that before any of this takes place, Jesus will come again to take His own out of this world (Revelation 3:10). He will take us to be with Him forever, i.e., those of us who have turned to Him, those of us who have trusted Him.
So, if you haven’t done it already, I urge you to trust Christ today. Call upon Him right now, and ask Him to save you from your sins, because there is coming a day when it will be too late.
2 Corinthians 6 says, “NOW is the favorable time; behold, NOW is the day of salvation” (vs.2). Right NOW is your time to come to Christ, because there is coming a day when you won’t want to. There is coming a day when nothing will persuade you, not even the threat of death. For when Satan’s demons are released…
PEOPLE WILL REFUSE TO REPENT.
They will refuse to turn from their sins, and they will refuse to turn to Christ, who alone can save them from their sins.
Revelation 9:20-21 The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts. (ESV)
Usually when a person is faced with certain death, he or she turns to God, but not here at this point in the Tribulation. Here, they continue on in their sin and refuse to be rescued from it.
Lillian Pearsall, of Moravia, New York, talks about her days as a telephone operator before there were cell phones. On one occasion, a customer talked overtime on a long-distance call from a pay telephone booth. Even with her friendly reminders, he refused to deposit his overtime coins. Instead he slammed down the phone, irate and verbally abusive.
A few seconds later, he was back on the phone – somewhat calmer.
“Operator, please let me out of the phone booth – I'll pay, I'll pay, just let me out!”
The customer mistakenly thought the operator had control of the phone booth's doors and had locked him in! He gladly paid the overtime charge and with her advice gave the booth door a hefty kick to free himself. (Lillian Pearsall, Moravia, N.Y. “Lite Fare,” Christian Reader)
That’s what usually happens when people are trapped. They change their tone of voice and ask for help. But there is coming a day when everyone will be content to remain trapped in their sins. Their hearts will be so hard, they will refuse to cry out for help; they will refuse to trust the Lord to change them from the inside out.
Now, that’s not so hard to believe when you think about how people are resistant to change. For example, Psychiatrist Dr. Stephen Grosz points to research that shows people don't usually respond when a fire alarm goes off. Instead, of leaving the building immediately like they know they should, they stand around and wait for more information. But even when that information comes, they still won't make a move – and sometimes that proves deadly.
In 1985, 56 people were killed when a fire broke out in the stands of a soccer match in England. Close examination of television footage later showed that fans did not react immediately. Instead, they continued to watch both the fire and the game, failing to move towards the exits.
Research has also shown that when we do move, we follow old habits. We don't trust emergency exits and always try to exit a room through the same door we entered. After a fire in the Beverly Hills Supper Club in Kentucky left 177 people dead, forensic experts confirmed that many of the victims sought to pay before leaving, and so died in a queue.
Dr. Grosz concludes:
“After 25 years as a psychoanalyst, I can't say that this surprises me. We resist change. Committing ourselves to a small change, even one that is unmistakably in our best interest, is often more frightening than ignoring a dangerous situation. We don't want an exit if we don't know exactly where it is going to take us, even—or perhaps especially—in an emergency… We want to know what new story we're stepping into before we exit the old one.” (Stephen Grosz, The Examined Life, W.W Norton & Company, 2013, pp. 122-123; www.PreachingToday.com)
The point is: when the fires of judgment are upon us, we are less likely to change, not more likely; we are less likely to repent; we are less likely to turn from our sin and take the escape God has provided through Jesus Christ. So, please, don’t wait till then. Instead…
REPENT TODAY, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.
Turn to Christ today before you no longer want to. Give your heart to Him before your heart is so hard there is nothing that could ever persuade you to change your mind.
In The Magician's Nephew, C. S. Lewis describes the creation of Narnia. It is created when Aslan – the lion who represents Jesus – sings it into being. It is a grand “call to worship!” But there is one, Uncle Andrew, who refuses to hear it.
C. S. Lewis writes, “When the great moment came and the beast spoke, he missed the whole point for a rather interesting reason. When the lion had first begun singing, long ago when it was still quite dark, he had realized that the noise was a song. And he had disliked the song very much. It made him think and feel things he did not want to think and feel.
“Then, when the sun rose and he saw that the singer was a lion (‘only a lion,’ as he said to himself) he tried his hardest to make himself believe that it wasn't singing and never had been singing – only roaring as any lion might in a zoo in our own world.
“‘Of course it can't really have been singing,’ he thought, ‘I must have imagined it. I've been letting my nerves get out of order. Who ever heard of a lion singing?’ And the longer and more beautifully the lion sang, the harder Uncle Andrew tried to make himself believe that he could hear nothing but roaring.
“Now the trouble about trying to make yourself stupider than you really are is that you very often succeed. Uncle Andrew did. He soon did hear nothing but roaring in Aslan's song. Soon he couldn't have heard anything else even if he had wanted to. And when at last the lion spoke and said, ‘Narnia awake,’ he didn't hear any words: he heard only a snarl. And when the beasts spoke in answer, he heard only barkings, growlings, bayings, and howlings.” (C. S. Lewis, The Magician's Nephew, Collier Books, 1970, pp.125-126)
Right now, God is calling you to worship Him with your life. It’s a beautiful song, inviting all to become a part of its beauty. Please respond today, before the only thing you hear in your heart is a snarl.
There is an old legend, which I’ve shared before, that describes Satan in a meeting with all his demons. He wanted to send one of them to earth to aid men and women in the ruination of their souls, and he asked for volunteers.
One creature came forward and said, “I will go.” Satan said, “If I send you, what will you tell the children of men?” He said, “I will tell the children of men that there is no heaven.” Satan said, “They will not believe you, for there is a bit of heaven in every human heart. In the end everyone knows that right and good must have the victory. You may not go.”
Then another came forward, darker and fouler than the first. Satan said, “If I send you, what will you tell the children of men?” He said, “I will tell them there is no hell.” Satan looked at him and said, “Oh, no; they will not believe you, for in every human heart there's a thing called conscience, an inner voice which testifies to the truth that not only will good be triumphant, but that evil will be defeated. You may not go.”
Then one last creature came forward, this one from the darkest place of all. Satan said to him, “And if I send you, what will you say to men and women to aid them in the destruction of their souls?” He said, “I will tell them there is no hurry.” And Satan said, “Go!” (Bruce Thielemann, "Tide Riding," Preaching Today No. 30; www.PreachingToday.com)
My dear friends, don’t you believe it for one moment. The time is now, for the longer you put off turning to Christ, the harder it is to do so. The Bible says, “TODAY, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts” (Hebrews 3:7,15). So please, turn from your sin and trust Christ with your life before your heart gets so hard nothing can penetrate it. Please, repent, before you no longer want to.
