Revelation Study Series 14b - God’s Mysterious Plan Fulfilled Chapter 9b
02.06.22
Message…
An article in the Akron Beacon Journal written just a few weeks ago by Mark J. Price spoke of a man named W.L. George who in 1822 wrote a “full-page article in the New York Herald” about what life would be like in 2022.
He wrote…
• “I suspect that commercial flying will have become entirely commonplace. The passenger steamer will survive on the coasts, but it will have disappeared on the main routes, and will have been replaced by flying convoys...”
• “The people of the year 2022 will probably never see a wire outlined against the sky: it is practically certain that wireless telegraphy and wireless telephones will have crushed the cable system long before the century is done.”
He went on to predict movies would be made in color. And, a long list of many other things.
Some he got right. Some things he got wrong.
“Americans will be less enterprising and much more pleasure loving…”
https://www.beaconjournal.com/story/news/2021/12/27/experts-from-1922-made-prophecies-2022-future-predictions-new-york-science-city-of-tomorrow/8972713002/
He was curious and contemplative about what things would look like 100 years from the time of his writing.
Today, if you're curious about more than just years from now…but, what will the end of the world look like…well, we already know. We don’t have to wonder, God’s Word tells us…
LW we talked about the fifth angel that blew the fifth trumpet. That judgment released a demonic force of locusts out of the bottomless pit that will torment unrepentant mankind (anyone on earth that does not have the seal of God) for five months during the Great Tribulation period.
This is the first “Terror (Woe)” Judgment…there are two more…
Revelation 9:13-14
13 Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice speaking from the four horns of the gold altar that stands in the presence of God.
You can read about this altar in the book of Exodus as it is described. It was made of Acacia wood, measuring 7.5’ square, 4.5’ in height and overlaid in bronze.
It was placed outside the tabernacle/temple, in the outer courtyard. Animal sacrifices were burned on the altar by the Levitical priests to cover the Jewish people's sin.
(This, obviously a symbolic picture of Jesus, the ultimate/only sacrifice that doesn’t merely cover, but takes away a believer's sin!).
The horns of the altar represent mercy, but now they represent judgment!
14 And the voice said to the sixth angel who held the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great Euphrates River.”
The sixth trumpet sounds, and four fallen angels which have been bound are set loose.
*(Euphrates River Map pic) The Euphrates river is 1,730 miles long. It begins in Turkey, passes through Turkey, Syria, and Iraq...and empties into the Persian gulf.
“...the prominence of this area in Scripture cannot be overlooked. The Garden of Eden was somewhere in this section. The sin of man began here. The first murder was committed here. The first war was fought here. Here was where the Flood began and spread over the earth. Here is where the Tower of Babel was erected. To this area were brought the Israelites of the Babylonian captivity. Babylon was the fountainhead of idolatry. And here is the final surge of sin on the earth during the Great Tribulation Period.” -McGee, J. Vernon, Thru the Bible with J. Vernon McGee, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 2000, c1981.
Revelation 9:15-19
15 Then the four angels who had been prepared for this hour and day and month and year were turned loose to kill one-third of all the people on earth.
16 I heard the size of their army, which was 200 million mounted troops.
17 And in my vision, I saw the horses and the riders sitting on them. The riders wore armor that was fiery red and dark blue and yellow. The horses had heads like lions, and fire and smoke and burning sulfur billowed from their mouths.
18 One-third of all the people on earth were killed by these three plagues—by the fire and smoke and burning sulfur that came from the mouths of the horses.
19 Their power was in their mouths and in their tails. For their tails had heads like snakes, with the power to injure people.
1/3rd of mankind will be killed in this world war.
This army of 200 million may or may not be made up of mankind. Some suggest this is a demonic army, such as the locusts we read about last week.
Regardless as to the identity of the army, the destruction and the toll of death will be beyond imaginable.
“After the first six seal and six trumpet judgments, the population of the earth has been reduced by more than half.” -https://www.spiritandtruth.org/teaching/Book_of_Revelation/commentary/htm/chapters/09.html#Revelation%209%3A15
So, imagine you are alive at this time on earth.
You have entered the Tribulation after witnessing millions of people (genuine believers) vanish/disappear in the blink of an eye (no warning/no explanation). The world is in chaos!
You have lived through some incredible, and even indescribable cataclysmic events from both the sky and the earth.
? of the earth has been burned up.
? of all the water turned to blood.
? of all marine life died.
? of all shipping vessels destroyed.
? of the remaining water has been poisoned.
You’ve lost the light from ? of the stars, moon, and sun…
…your day consists of more darkness than light.
You’ve suffered through torment from demonic locusts that sting like scorpions…the pain so unbearable that you will want to die but it doesn’t kill you…
You just lived through a demonic force of 200 million killing ? of the entire population.
And, now…all of this has happened in the span of about 3.5 years…
Half of the entire world population is gone since this all started.
You’re alive. (I don’t know that you will feel like a survivor. But, you are alive.)
How do you think you would feel? What would you be thinking? What would be your attitude or actions?
We actually know how you will respond to all of this!
We know what you will be thinking and feeling! The Bible tells us!
Revelation 9:20-21
20 But the people who did not die in these plagues still refused to repent of their evil deeds and turn to God. They continued to worship demons and idols made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood—idols that can neither see nor hear nor walk!
21 And they did not repent of their murders or their witchcraft or their sexual immorality or their thefts.
In spite of all of the judgments that will be released...all of the destruction, devastation, horrible conditions, unfathomable number of deaths...those who choose to be unrepentant will remain unrepentant.
Sin's grip on an individual is always a death grip!
Man will see and acknowledge God’s judgment.
Yet man will cling to his sin rather than seek the only One who’s conquered sin and death!
Even in the end times, people will sin just as people have always sinned throughout the ages.
While many may not bow down in sin before an image of a false god, they will be just as consumed with material things made by the same hands as people are today.
People will not repent of their murders, or of their witchcraft…
?[“Witchcraft”]... “Sorceries” is the Greek word...from which we get our English word “pharmacy”.
“Pharmacy means “drugs.” … The Great Tribulation will be a period when the use of drugs will not be controlled. Drugs will play a large part in the lives of the unsaved and will serve several purposes. Drugs will enable them to bear the judgments of the Great Tribulation period. …”
-J. Vernon McGee Commentary, Thru the Bible
There is a drug called, Captagon which many Islamic Terrorists use. It is produced in Syria and helps terrorists stay awake for long periods of time (days). It gives them energy, and they have no need, nor appetite for food.
Many of the people who have witnessed killings by ISIS describe them to be almost like zombies in their actions.
-http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-11-24/captagon-the-drug-that-kept-the-paris- attackers-calm/6970464
The grip of sin...of drugs and alcohol will only tighten on those as the end grows closer. People will use these things as an escape...just as they do now. It is empty relief now, and it will be then as well!
Sexual immorality will continue to have its hold on men and women. Man will continue to rebel against what God has blessed in that of marriage, and for what is to be between only a man and a woman in marriage.
Despite all the judgment taking place, man will seek every pleasure, dull every sense, and have no moral compass in all that he touches, desires, or steals!
The anti-christ will utilize all of these things to grab hold of an individual, control that person and drive that person and his soul to hell!
satan is headed to destruction and he wants to take anyone and everyone with him.
2 Thess. 2:9–12
9 This man will come to do the work of satan with counterfeit power and signs and miracles.
10 He will use every kind of evil deception to fool those on their way to destruction, because they refuse to love and accept the truth that would save them.
11 So God will cause them to be greatly deceived, and they will believe these lies.
12 Then they will be condemned for enjoying evil rather than believing the truth.
How sad it is that man...knowing these horrific judgments are from God...will not repent and turn toward their Creator!
They will turn away from the very One whom they should be turning toward!
Life Application:
Psalm 78 was written with the premise of why does a people whom God has been good...turn away from Him?
Psalm 78
1 O my people, listen to my instructions.
Open your ears to what I am saying,
2 for I will speak to you in a parable.
I will teach you hidden lessons from our past—
3 stories we have heard and known,
stories our ancestors handed down to us.
4 We will not hide these truths from our children;
we will tell the next generation
about the glorious deeds of the Lord,
about His power and His mighty wonders.
5 For He issued His laws to Jacob;
He gave His instructions to Israel.
He commanded our ancestors
to teach them to their children,
6 so the next generation might know them—
even the children not yet born—
and they in turn will teach their own children.
7 So each generation should set its hope anew on God, not forgetting His glorious miracles
and obeying His commands.
8 Then they will not be like their ancestors—
stubborn, rebellious, and unfaithful,
refusing to give their hearts to God.
Psalm 78 lists several reasons as to why/how people turn away from God…
-Forget His wonders and miracles
-Do not believe God nor trust His care for them
-Give lip service for worship, but lie about the loyalty of
their hearts
-Do not keep His Word (obedience)
-Tested Him in unbelief versus trusting Him (faithless)
-Worshiped idols made by their own hands
-They believe they can control their destiny, rather than the One who controls their eternity!!!
All of Psalm 78 summarizes mankind's sin and rebellion against God. That summary comes to one conclusion. The problem is a person’s heart!
Do you love Jesus more than your sin?
Before you answer “Yes”...
“No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him…” 1 John 3:9a/ESV
If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
1 John 1:6/NKJV
So, do you love Jesus more than your sin? ?Wait…
Do you love Jesus more than having your way?
Do you love Jesus more than your dreams, or aspirations?
Then, calling the crowd to join His disciples, He said, “If any of you wants to be My follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow Me.
Mark 8:34
Do you love Jesus more than your money? Job?
“No one can serve two masters…” (Matt. 6:24)
Do you love Jesus more than your family?
“If you want to be My disciple, you must, by comparison, hate everyone else—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be My disciple. Luke 14:26
Do you love Jesus more than whatever it will cost you to love Jesus?
So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple. Luke 14:33
Do you love Jesus’ truth more than the truth you live?
John 8:31-32
31 Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. 32 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
