Title: The Sound Of Trumpets
Text: Rev 8:6-9:21
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Introduction:
- Review from the last few weeks to what we talked about.
1. First we talked about the rapture of the church, when Jesus returns to take to heaven all who have believed in Him since His life and death on earth.
- We talked about how close we are to the church being raptured, and I gave 5 points that show us how close we really are.
- One point was Deception would be wide spread, I gave this shocking information:
More than a third of Church of Scotland ministers do not believe in the virgin birth of Christ, a central tenet of Christian faith.
A Sunday Times survey of kirk ministers found that 37% believe the traditional story of Jesus’s birth, which forms part of the nativity, should not be taken literally.
2. Second we talked about the Judgement Seat Of Christ, and how we will be judged for our service done on earth whether good or bad.
3. Third we talked about the revival of the Roman Empire, the rise of the Anti-Christ and part of the 7 year tribulation.
- I talked about how close we are to the tribulation hour and how Christ could come at any moment.
- And now we pick up where we left off a few weeks ago, and talk about the tribulation hour and just how close we are to certain events happening.
- We are going to look at the battle of Armageddon, an even that will take place near the end of the 7 year tribulation.
- But as I said before, events in our world need to lead up to this big battle that is going to take place in the world.
- The question is, are we seeing it in the news, or hearing about it at all?
- The answer is yes I do, but I will explain that latter on tonight.
- Lets continue to pick up where we left off from 2 weeks ago.
- We talked about the Anti-Christ and the first 6 sealed judgments, what next?
- Well there was the appearing of the Anti-Christ first, war next, then famine, death, martyrdom and then fear upon all men.
- Followed by the 7th seal which introduces the 7 trumpets of Rev 8:7-11:19.
- Now I don’t know when these judgements will come upon the earth. I don’t know what sequence they will appear.
- I believe it will appear exactly how the Bible says it will appear, in this order recorded in Revelation.
- The Judgements that will come upon the earth will happen all throughout the Tribulation hour. The full 7 years.
The 7 Trumpet Judgements:
- The seventh seal inaugurates the seven trumpet judgements, which judgements are reminders of the ten plagues on Egypt.
- The first 4 affect the natural world; the last 3 affect the unredeemed people of the earth.
- Everyone except the 144,000 people of the remnant of Israel are subject to the plagues of the trumpet judgements.
- The horror announced by the first six trumpets is beyond comprehension, but the seventh trumpet announces the glory of the kingdom of Christ which is to come.
Trumpet 1: 1/3 Of Earth’s Vegetation Destroyed (Rev 8:7)
- Is this possible?
- Yes, according to Life Pictorial Atlas, Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America incorporate a total of 56,889,581 square miles.
- Dividing this figure by three, one arrives at the sum of 18,963,194 square miles, the amount of land area that will burn during the Tribulation period according to Revelation 8:7.
- Comparing this figure with the combined land areas of the nations predicted to align themselves for the Middle East confrontation (Eze 38-39), one discovers that the two sums are identical, one third of the globe to the exact mile, believe it or not.
- Let’s go one step further, the atlas also lists the population figures of the nations of the earth.
- The same alignment of pro and anti Russian nations for the war of wars totals one third of earth’s inhabitants.
- Rev 8:7 and 9:18 could be factual events, fulfilling very soon.
Trumpet 2: 1/3 Of Sea Turning To Blood (Rev 8:8)
- This judgement could be a giant meteor falling into the sea.
- The phrase said it was like a mountain.
- A similar event took place in Ex 7:19-21 when Moses and Aaron took there rod and dipped it into the water ways of Egypt.
- The waters turned to blood and the fish all died.
- The second trumpet blast is so bad that one third of the creatures in the sea die.
Trumpet 3: 1/3 Of Rivers Become Contaminated (Rev 8:10-11)
- A star, or a meteor, soaring through space, will speed towards earth and strike the waters making them unfit for human consumption.
- A similar thing took place in the past.
- A volcanic explosion in the Aleutian Islands on March 21, 1823, caused the waters in that area to become bitter and unfit for people. This could easily happen again.
Trumpet 4: 1/3 Of Light Is Lost (Rev 8:12-13)
- This has to do with the sun, moon and stars.
- At the sound of the 4th trumpet 1/3 of the light produced by these things is extinguished.
- This happened in Egypt also.
- The worst is yet to come. An angel flying through the midst of heaven cries, woe, woe, woe.
- The first 3 and half years of the tribulation are not nearly as bad as the last half.
- As the tribulation approaches its climax, the judgements become more and more severe and the loss of life is greater.
- Notice how each trumpet up to this point only needed 2 verses to describe them, the next two trumpets require 12 verses for number 5 and 9 verses for number 6.
Trumpet 5: Plague Of Terrible Locusts (Rev 9:1-12)
- I believe the star that John sees is without a doubt the devil of verse 2.
- The fallen one is presented with a key to the bottomless pit, and he uses it to open it.
- Out of the bottomless pit arises smoke like you have never seen before, locusts to do acts of evil in the world.
- These are not literal locusts but rather fallen angels who have been restrained and imprisoned. II Peter 2:4 says, “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgement.”
- Now in chapter 7 we saw multitudes sealed, the locusts or fallen angels are not allowed to touch the sealed only the unsealed, those who have worshiped the beast and accepted his number 666.
- They are not allowed to kill the unsealed, but rather torture them.
- The next 4 verses give us a vivid description of these fallen angels.
- They were strong and fast vs 7
- They were like royalty, conquering type and intelligent vs 7
- They were attractive and very cruel vs 8
- They were invincible vs 9
Trumpet 6: 1/3 Of Mankind Killed (Rev 9:13-21)
- Now because of rejecting the message of God, the voice from the alter tells the sixth angel to loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.
- Now these 4 wicked angels are set free to wreak havoc upon the planet earth.
- They are told to kill 1/3 of mankind, the population of earth is presently 5 billion people.
- 1/4 die under the rider of the forth horse.
- Thus at this point, the earth’s population is 3.75 billion.
- Now an additional one third or 1.25 billion perish as the four fallen angels are released.
- Now there will be a great war in this area called the battle of Armageddon which we will deal with in just a moment.
- We have now witnessed the release of thirteen judgements. One would think that after experiencing seals and 6 trumpets, mankind would consider eternity with God, not so.
- Those alive continue to rebel and live in sin, vs 20-21.
- They refuse to repent of 5 different sins and they are:
1. Occultism
2. Murder
3. Drug Abuse
4. Fornication
5. Stealing
- The bowl judgements come next, toward the end of the tribulation hour and just when they are ending the battle of Armageddon takes place.
The Battle Of Armageddon:
- What is the battle of Armageddon?
- In 16:14 we discover that the nations of the world come to Armageddon because of three unclean spirits that perform signs, going out to the kings of the earth to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.
- Why the battle of Armageddon? Satan wants to exterminate the Jews from the face of the planet.
- For if the Anti Christ can destroy the Jews, then there would be no reason for the Lord to return and satan could continue to rule this world.
- This battle will take place from nations south, north, east and west.
- They will involve countries like, Russia, arab countries, china etc.
- Are we moving in that direction today?
- Listen to what’s happening as we are heading towards that day and hour.
- Russia and China increase military cooperation.
- China’s State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan told Putin that Beijing does not have such a consultation mechanism with any other country. He called Russia China’s "main partner for strategic cooperation."
- Assad, on his first official visit to Russia, was set to push Tuesday for a greater Russian role in the Middle East. He has made contradictory statements about whether he would also discuss any plans to buy Russian weapons, including the anti-aircraft missiles, that have caused concern among Israeli and U.S. officials.
- Israel was attempting to halt a weapons deal under which Russia agreed to supply Syria with advanced anti-aircraft missiles.
- Once-bitter rivals Russia and China will hold a massive joint military exercise on Chinese territory next year involving submarines and possibly strategic bombers, Russia’s defense minister said Monday as the two nations move to bolster already burgeoning military ties.
(All news information comes from prophecynewswatch.com)
