The Book of Revelation from 40,000 Feet

The Book of Revelation can seem complicated. There's lots of symbols in the book. There's lots of similes and metaphors, and there's characters. And it speaks in ways that are kind of unfamiliar to our ears. We looking at things like, there's lots of sevens in the book. There are lots of creatures, elders, beasts. There's a fiery red dragon. There are judgments, earthquakes, cosmic events, asteroids, meteors of some kind fall into the earth. And when we read things like that, we can get lost in all those details. We see like, souls under the altar, and it sounds strange to our ears.

And we covered a lot of this in the first message. This is message number 11 in the book of Revelation. We've covered the first few chapters. We've covered all the churches of chapter two and chapters two and three. But I wanted to go through, so we don't get lost in all the little details, go through and cover the whole book and see the whole theme of the whole book. So we're not losing the forest for the trees.

And so in that first message, if you want to go back and listen to it, it's online, it's on our website. You can read about what do you do with all these metaphors and similes and figures of speech. And one thing to remember is that all those things, all those symbols point to something real, a reality behind all those things. They're not symbols just for symbols sake. And the thing that's real is always greater than the symbol itself.

That gives us our need for proper hermeneutics. We have to properly interpret the Bible. Hermeneutics is the science and the art of Bible interpretation. It's observation, interpretation, and then application. And there's lots of different kinds of hermeneutics. But here at this church, we hold to the historical, grammatical, literal hermeneutic. That's how we take our Bible historically, grammatically and literally. And so there's a phrase that says, if the plain sense makes sense, don't look for another sense.

So there's also a need. When you're looking at the Book of Revelation, really any book, but especially this book, there's a need to have spent some time reading your Old Testament. The book of Revelation is 404 verses. I think it's 404. And some theologians say that there's up to 800 allusions or references to the Old Testament. That would be two for every verse. So if you're. If you haven't spent any time in Genesis, in Daniel, in Zechariah, in Psalms, in Joel, you're going to have a hard time connecting the dots in the Book of Revelation that that should go to.

There's a value, there's a great value in doing what we're doing in Hebrews right now. In the morning, we're going through a book systematically, verse by verse, deep diving into those books, verse by verse, paraphrase by paraphrase, chapter by chapter. And we're getting a lot of. A lot of data out of there.

But there's also a value to reading large portions of the Bible and getting familiar with the stories and events spoken of in your Old Testament and throughout the, and the New Testament, throughout your whole Bible. Because what happens when you're reading through a book of Revelation and you've done that? You read a verse, you read something, you're like, wait a minute, I've read that before. Where have I seen that before? And then you can look it up, a concordance, or now you got your phones and you could do a word search and you can find out where that ties in before. Or if you have a study Bible, you can look at the reference notes in your study Bible and find out where that is in the Old Testament.

But there's nothing like the spirit of God taking things you put in your mind and reminding you of those things as you're reading through a book. And, and then you chase those things down, because if you chase them down, they become yours. Now, you've done the study, you're not just looking at, say, MacArthur's notes or Ryrie's notes or somebody's notes. You're not looking at somebody else's notes. You are creating your own database in your mind of where these things exist. And we forget. But there's value in knowing how to do those things.

So with that said, I'm not going to spend a lot more time talking about that. That was quick introduction. Why this message now? And basically, the message is needed, and it's needed to get the whole context of the book. I really, I really do think so.

But before I get started, let's say a quick prayer and then we'll, we'll. We'll jump into the book.

Father God, thank you so much, Lord, for your word. Lord, thank you for the opportunity to come up here and open the Book of Revelation. Father. It's scary, it's daunting, it's a large book. But, Lord, pray that you would guide us as we go tonight. You would, Father, keep me from stumbling or saying things that are not right. And, Lord, may your word be spoken tonight. In Jesus name, Amen.

Okay, so like I said, we've been in the first three chapters of the book of Revelation. And as a review, John is confined to the island of Patmos for the. For the Gospel. He's. He's imprisoned on the island of Patmos. And that's a. You know, that's a dreary. It's a rock in the middle of the Aegean Sea. And I could see where somebody who's in prison there might think, and I don't know that John thought this. There's no record that he thought this. But I could see that somebody who's in prison and confined to a prison might think, why am I here? Is this a waste?

But the Lord appears to him on the island of Patmos and he reveals what's going to happen. He reveals, gives them the letters to the churches. It's a revelation of Jesus Christ that's given by the Father to Jesus Christ. And then Jesus gives it to his angel to give to John so that John can give to the churches.

And so he's there on that rock and Jesus reveals himself to John and he sees. He, John, sees the risen Christ in the first chapter. The first chapter of verses 1 and 2 says, and the revelation of Jesus Christ was God, which God gave him to show his servants things which must shortly take place. And he sent and signified it, you might say that. Signified it by his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ and to all things that he saw. Okay.

And then right after that, he sees the risen Christ. And John, who spent three, three or three and a half years with Jesus, walking the shores of Galilee and in Judea and all that he sees the risen Christ. And he falls. When he sees him, he falls down like a dead man. I fell down as. As though. As though dead. Because that's what happens to anybody when they come into encounter with the. With the glorified Christ or when they come encounter and they see the glory of the Father, they fall. Jesus is not your homeboy. He's not your buddy, he's not your pal. He's your Lord.

So I want you to look at Revelation, chapter one, verse 17 and 18. And it says, and when I saw him, that's what he said. I fell down as dead. And Christ says, don't be afraid. I am the first and the last. I am he who lives and was, was dead. And behold, I live forevermore. Amen.

So John is overwhelmed by that vision. And then a few Verses later in verse 19, I think, I believe that the Lord gives us a key to understanding the Book of revelation. Chapter one, verse 19, Christ tells John to write the things which you have seen and the things which are and the things which will take place after this. So John has given a threefold message. The things that he has seen in the past, the things which are in the present, and the things which will take place after this or in the future.

And so John has written how he saw the Lord and then he wrote the letters to the churches which were in the present. When John was on the island, those were the churches that were in existence and John is writing to them. And then as we'll see, I want you to keep a finger in verse chapter one, verse 19. And I want you to see as we enter chapter four, we're going to kind of go, we're going to skip the churches. We've already spent a lot of time on the churches. But really to us, in my mind chapters two and three are probably the, all of them are important, but they're the most important for the church age believer. Chapters two and three because their message is directly to the churches and all of them have application for us. But.

In the letters to the churches, Jesus is making basically reminding everybody that he is Lord of the church and he's Lord of the Church and he is coming quickly. And so it's a message for the churches to repent of what they're doing wrong, continue to do what they're doing right, to wake up if they've fallen asleep, and not to take the Lord for granted.

So now I want you to, we're going to start in chapter four, verse one. So we finished the churches and John begins to speak in chapter one and it says, and remember, have your finger on chapter one, verse 19 as we enter chapter four, verse one, chapter chapter four.

After these things I looked and behold a door standing open in heaven. And the voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me saying, come up here and I will show you things which must take place after this. Chapter one, verse 19, he said, and the things which must take place after this. And so now we have another after this, Metata in the Greek there. But it's after this. After what? After what he had just spoken after he, the messages to the churches.

Now I'm going to tell you, he says, come up here, come up to heaven. John is somehow transported physically, spiritually, I don't know, up to heaven. And John sees things from then on, from the vantage point of Heaven. And he's shown the things are going to happen after their churches. So I believe that. I mean, I can't prove it, but I believe that this is referring to the rapture of the church.

John says in verse two, immediately he was in the spirit and behold, a throne in heaven, he sees the throne of God. John sees God on his throne in heaven and immediately upon being called up there. And one of the reasons I believe this is we see references to believers in heaven throughout the book of Revelation. But from this point on until around chapter 19, we don't read about believe, we don't read about a whole lot of believers like the church age, believers on earth. From chapter four to chapter 19, it's I'd be hard you see them in heaven, but I don't, I don't read about them on earth.

So the book from this point on becomes very Jewish in its standpoint, very Jewish in what it's saying. And another, another point is everything after this point is prophetic. So it's speaking of events that are going to happen from, at least from John's perspective. So, and John tells us what he sees. And the first thing he sees is the throne of God.

And just from verse two, chapter four, verse two through eight, he says, immediately, I was in the spirit. And behold it, a throne set in heaven. And one sat on the throne. And he who sat there was like a Jasper and a Sardis stone in appearance, and there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald.

Around the throne were 24 thrones, and on the thrones I saw 24 elders sitting clothed in white robes, and they had crowns of gold on their head. And from the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices. Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God.

And before the throne there was a sea of glass like crystal. And in the midst of the throne and around the throne were four living creatures full of eyes in front and back. Verse 8, the four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes round and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying, holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come.

John is caught up to heaven and he sees the throne of God, and he sees exactly what Isaiah saw. In Isaiah, chapter six, when Isaiah saw the Lord sitting on a throne high and lifted up and he saw the seraphim, Isaiah called him Seraphim, with each having six wings, and with two they covered their face, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. And they're. And they're calling out holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts. The. The whole earth is full of his glory. So John sees exactly what Isaiah saw.

Notice that John sees 24 thrones with 24 elders around the throne. And the question arises, who are the 24 elders? Well, for the sake of time, I'm not going to tell you. I'm not going to run every reference down today. If we go through the book of Revelation more slowly, we can examine these a little bit further. There's a lot of debate who these guys are. I'm going to skip that for right now. And there's going to be another reference to them in, in a little bit, and we'll cover a little bit of it there.

But then we see that there's a problem. There's a problem in heaven, which is around Revelation, chapter five, verses one through three. And I saw in the right have a right hand of him who sat on the throne with a scroll written inside and on the back sealed with seven seals. Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the scroll and to loose its seals. And here's the problem. No one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look at it. No one was worthy.

And John beginning to realize that, no, everybody's saying around, no one's worthy to open the scroll. John begins to weep. He's troubled by the fact that no one is found worthy to open the scroll.

And now we know from history that there are scrolls like this, that they found, scrolls that are written on the inside and on the outside, scrolls that are sealed multiple times with seals. And typically when they find those, those are title deeds. They're title deeds. And so I would make the argument that's the title deed to the earth. And no one is found worthy to open the title deed to the earth, Earth in heaven. And John begins to weep.

But then he's told in verse five, do not weep. Behold the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David has prevailed. To open the scroll and to loose its seven seals, the lamb is worthy.

John sees the lamb. He says, in the midst of the throne, in the midst of the four living creatures, stood a lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. Then he came and he took the scroll out of the hand of him who sat on the throne. Jesus is worthy to take the scroll.

And then there is a Praise service in heaven. All heaven breaks out in praise as Jesus takes the scroll and the four living creatures and the 24 elders fall down before the Lamb and sing a new song. In Revelation, chapter 5, verses 9 and 10, they say, you are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals. For you have. You were slain and you redeemed us to God by your own, by your blood, out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and you have made us kings and priests to our God and we shall reign the earth.

Now, just quick, I don't have a lot of time to spend looking at this, but there is a manuscript variant here and it speaks to the identity of the 24 elders, the majority text. If you have your new King James there, your new King's James says, us and us and we. If you have an ESV or a new American standard, something based on the newer manuscripts, it'll say where it says you have redeemed. It says, people, you have redeemed people and you have made them kings and priests and they shall reign on the earth. So, I mean, does it change a lot of theology? No, but it would identify. Are the. Are the elders redeemed? People who. Who are now in heaven, who are ruling and reigning? That's the difference. So there isn't. I'll let Johnny speak to the manuscript differences. But the majority. 95% of our manuscripts say we and us. 5% say they and them. So moving on.

Then all the hosts of heaven cry out with a loud voice in chapter five 12 through 14, saying with a loud voice, worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing, and every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea and all that are in them. I heard saying, blessing and honor and glory and power be to him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever. Then the four living creatures said Amen, and the 24 elders fellowship fell down and worshiped him who lives forever and ever.

Don't ever let a liberal theologian tell you that Jesus is not divine. Don't. Don't listen to a cultist who tells you that he never claimed to be Lord. He is here in heaven, receiving worship by all the hosts of heaven. And it is not a problem. It is expected. He deserves to be worshiped, and it says so that he is worthy to receive glory and honor and power and praise.

And then he begins to open the seals. Now, before I get to the first seal. I forgot all about this. Okay, okay, let me skip those. We don't need those. Okay, before I get to the sixth seal, I want you to notice a pattern in the judgments that are coming.

First. There are three groups of seven judgments. There are the seven seals, the seven trumpets, and the seven bowls. But even these are given pretty much in groups of six. There are six judgments, and then they're followed by some kind of a break. Usually details given about the people involved or what's going on behind the scenes. And then. And then. So there's a little bit of space. That space varies. Sometimes it's several chapters, sometimes. Sometimes it's a few verses. But then there's six judgments, then some explanation, and then a seventh judgment. And then that seventh judgment inaugurates the next seven judgments. So I just want you to see the pattern of the judgments with a break before the 6th and the 7th. Okay.

Now, Christ begins to open the seal. In chapter six, verses one and two, it says. Now, I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a voice like thunder, come and see. And I looked, and behold, a white horse. And he who sat on it had a bow, and a crown was given to him. And he went out conquering and to conquer.

Now, these first four seals are what we call the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. But notice who's in control of the four horsemen. They don't come until Jesus opens the seals. The timing. It's the Lord's timing. He's sovereign. None of this will happen until it's the Lord's time to make it happen.

But anyway, he opens the seals, and this first horseman comes out, and this is the Antichrist. And he comes out with a bow. But notice he has a bow, but he has no arrows, just a bow. That's like saying he had a gun, but he had no bullets. Imply. It implies a conquest. That is, it's not at first. It's not. He's not conquering by force.

There's a. There's another. There's another way to look at it, too. I mentioned earlier that you need to know some of your Old Testament. And I've mentioned this a few times in my sermons about Daniel, chapter nine and the 70 weeks of Daniel. And we haven't spent any time on it, and we're not going to spend a lot of time on it tonight either. But. But I think it's important just to kind of look at it and understand what's being said.

I Think Daniel is speaking about the same person in the 70 weeks of Daniel as the horseman that you just saw. And he says, you got to remember, in Daniel, chapter nine, Daniel realizes that Jeremiah's prophecy of the seven years is almost over. And he begins to pray. And he begins to pray specifically for his nation and the city of Jerusalem and the holy mountain of the lord in verse 20. And the answer comes to him by from God through Gabriel in Daniel, chapter 9, verses 24 through 27.

I'm not going to read all of it, but Gabriel tells him, 70 weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city. And determined for what? And he explains, determined to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make reconciliation, for iniquity, to. To bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy. That's it. 70 weeks are determined to wrap this all up.

Now it's just, if you're not familiar, it's 70 weeks of years. So each week is seven years. So it'd be 490 years. And so then those 490 are broken up, those 70 weeks are broken up into a group of seven and 62, and then finally a final seven.

And I'll just tell you 69 of those weeks are fulfilled. They're fulfilled. And it. And we, we know when the 69th week ended because it says, and the, the street shall be built again, and the wall. Even in troubled times, you could read about Nehemiah. You can read how they built with one hand and they had a sword in the other.

And after 62 weeks, the second, there's seven. And the 62 Messiah will be cut out. It will be cut off, but not for himself. He didn't die for his own sins. He didn't die because he did anything wrong. He died for our sins.

And then after Messiah is cut off, the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Titus Vespasian destroyed the city and the sanctuary. And. And then after Messiah is cut off, the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Titus Vespasian destroyed the city and the sanctuary. And. And then the end will come with a flood. And then in verse 27, and he shall. And then he's speaking of this prince who shall come. And there's a big gap here, 2000 year gap here. But he shall confirm the covenant with the many for one week, one seven year period. How long does the tribulation last? Seven years. It's the fulfillment of Daniel's final week, and he's going to confirm a covenant with the many for one week.

So he comes with a covenant. The Hebrew Word for covenant is the word. And. But the word for bow here is taxon. But it's also the same word in Genesis, chapter nine for the rainbow God put in the. In the sky. When he said, I will never destroy the earth again with a flood. And that was a sign of a covenant, that God would never destroy the earth again. It's the same word.

So he comes with some kind of a covenant, an agreement, a treaty of some kind, and that begins the last seven years, or the seven, the 70th week of Daniel.

So the first horseman is the Antichrist, and he's released on the earth. And now some theologians have argued that this horseman is Jesus Christ, but this isn't Jesus Christ. And if he. If it is, he's coming with some really bad company. He's coming with war and death and pestilence and Hades following behind. This isn't. This isn't Christ. This is the Antichrist.

As a matter of fact, we've been going through Islam downstairs, and we finished that, but we've been going through it. And when Islam talks about this guy in Daniel chapter, in Revelation, chapter six, they think this is their Mahdi, this is their Messiah. And later, when we see Jesus coming on the horse, and In Revelation, chapter 19, they think that is the Antichrist. So everything is reversed. Their Christ is our Antichrist, their Antichrist is our Christ. And so when all the armies of the earth are there to fight against Christ coming, that's their eschatology, that's their theology.

So, but when he comes, when the Antichrist comes, he promises peace, but he brings war and destruction and inflation and hunger and pestilence and death. Paul told us in First Thessalonians, chapter 5. I'm not going to read all these. But he told us that when they say peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them. Labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you, brethren, I love that in Thessalonians, when they say peace and safety, sudden destruction comes upon them, and they will not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness so that the day should overtake you as a thief.

And then we have what results? When you have the first four horsemen and you have war and pestilence and death and Hades, you have the fifth seal, which is martyrdom.

Revelation, chapter 6, verses 9 through 11. And when he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, how long, O Lord, Holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth. Then a white robe was given to each of them, and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who would be killed as they were, were complete, completed.

There's going to be now, I believe there's a Rapture. But even because there's a rapture, there's still going to be a lot of people that come to the Lord during the Tribulation period. A lot of people, maybe more people than we can even imagine, come to the Lord. And we're going to see that in a minute. But. But to come to the Lord during the Tribulation is basically a death sentence. So they're going to be persecuted, hunted down, and they're going to give their lives.

Then, then you have the sixth seal and there's an earthquake and cosmic events are happening. Now, up until this point, God is using human agencies, using the Antichrist, and he's using all the stuff that comes from war and pestilence and disease and. And that's a judgment.

But now when he opens the sixth seal, we see a global earthquake and we see some astronomical catastrophes that are going to devastate life on the earth. Chapter 6, verse 12 through 17. Let me see if I can not read all of this, but. And I looked, and he opened the sixth seal. And behold, there was a great earthquake. And the sun became black, a sackcloth of hair, the moon became like blood. And the stars of the heavens or stars of heaven fell to the earth as fixed tree. Fig trees drop in late, their late figs when it is shaken by wind.

Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up. And every mountain and island was moved out of its place. Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men and the commanders and the mighty men, every slave, every free man, that's everybody hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains and said to the mountains and the rocks fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of his wrath has come. And who is able to stand?

Now, I do have a position. It might be a minority position. I don't know if I'll get in trouble. Maybe I'll get in trouble. I'll just tell you. I'm not going to be dogmatic about it, but you got to know your Old Testament. Because when I read that for the first time. I immediately thought of the book of Joshua immediately.

There too, you have the one coming, the savior there is Joshua. What's Jesus name in Hebrew. You have there. You have. You have Joshua fighting a campaign to take over Canaan. How long does he fight for? Do you know that the campaign lasts for seven years to take the land.

You have Jonathan trying to rid the inhabitant, the evil inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites who had been there, the wicked and sinful Canaanites. He's trying to rid the land of the Canaanites. And he's commanded to get. To push them all out, get rid of all of them. And of course, he fails.

And there in some of the battles, you have massive hailstones and meteors that kill more of the enemy than the Israeli army does. And just a little aside, when he wins that battle and he finds those kings hiding in the caves, the kings hide in caves to escape Jonathan or Joshua and the Israeli army, they're hiding and Joshua captures them and kills them. And it's just a little thing. Their camels are there, and Joshua takes off the crescent moon, ornaments that are on the camel's necks. Do you know what the symbol of Allah is? It's a crescent moon. So Allah wasn't. I mean, Islam wasn't around yet, but you did already have the moon God. People worshiping the moon God at that time anyway.

The rulers of the earth, though, they realize these judgments are in reality the wrath of God and the wrath of the Lamb. Their question is, who is able to stand? And I want to show you, keep that in mind. Who is able to stand? Because there is somebody, there are people who are able to stand. And we're going to see who those people are.

Then In Revelation, chapter 7, we see that after these things, verses 1, verse 1, after these things, I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth and the winds that the wind should not blow on the earth, on the sea, or on any tree. Then I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of God, the living God. And he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, saying, don't harm the earth, the sea or the trees till I have. Till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.

And I heard the number of those who were sealed, 144,000 of all the tribes of the children of who Israel were sealed. And then it names the tribes this is our first break. So we had six judgments, six seals, and we have our first break. And now we see the ceiling of the 144,000 Jews. And it names the 12 tribes there.

But if you notice, if you're careful, you're reading carefully, you'll notice there's a couple tribes missing. Dan is missing, and Ephraim is sort of missing. He's not named, but he's replaced by his father's name. You see his brother Manasseh in the list, but you don't see Ephraim. And it just says Joseph. So Ephraim and Dan are not included.

Now, I don't. I can't be dogmatic about that either. But I can tell you that that's where the golden calves were set up in the tribe of Dan and the tribe of Ephraim, that Israel, Jeroboam, set those golden calves up so people wouldn't worship the Lord in Jerusalem. And so those tribes are excluded here at the end in the book of Revelation.

So after these things, in verse nine, I looked and behold a great multitude which no one could, number of all nations, tribes, peoples and tongues. And look what they're doing. They're standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands. Those who were killed for their testimony to Jesus Christ, they're able to stand. The people on earth, they're not able to stand.

And then John sees these people clothed in white robes, and he's at. And one of the elders asks him, who are these? And John's like, I don't know, you know, And. And he said, these are the ones who come out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. These are martyrs from the tribulation period. And God will wipe every tear from their eyes.

And then we have the seven, the seventh seal. So we had a break, a little introduction to the 144,000. And we see the. The martyrs in heaven. And now we have the seventh seal. And you have silence in heaven for about a half an hour. And then you have an angel that takes the sensor full of the prayers of the saints and takes the coals from the throne of heaven. And he throws that sensor down to the earth. And there's thunder and noises and lightning and an earthquake.

And then the seven angels who have the seven trumpets come out, and they're about to sound their trumpets. And then you have the first trumpet, chapter eight, verse seven. The first angel sounded, and hail and fire Followed mingled with blood, and they were thrown to the earth. And a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.

And the second trumpet, a great fiery mountain that kills a third of the sea life. Now, you remember John is writing the first century. So he says things like. He said. Let me see, he says, and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea. So is it a great mountain or is it something like a great mountain? I mean, if you're in the first century and you see some massive fiery thing coming and hitting the earth, how do you explain it? Are you going to have, you know, I saw an ICBM come in, you know. No, you're going to describe it, however you know how to describe it. But he says something like a great mountain. I don't know if that's what it is, but something like a great mountain, and it kills a third of all the sea life when it falls on the seas.

And then he sees another great star, he says. Then in verse 10 of chapter 8, he says, then a third angel sounded and. And a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch. And it fell on a third of the rivers and of the springs of water. The name of the star is called Wormwood. And the waters became. Wormwood, became bitter, and men died from the water.

When I read these catastrophes, I do think. I mean, is it nuclear? I mean, what's happening here? Because the water is bitter. You can't drink the water. You die if you drink the water. We're going to see in the fourth trumpet sounds, the sun, moon, and stars are darkened. So is that fallout? I have no idea. But is it all spiritual? Is it all, you know, I don't know, But I don't think when I say spiritual, I mean these things are happening. They're not. I'm not spiritualizing. I mean, is God doing it, doing it outside of human agency or in human agency? That's what I'm. I'm not sure how to explain.

So then you have the fifth trumpet. And I find it interesting that this is called the first woe, the fifth trumpet. Wow. We've had seven seals, four trumpets already. And now we come to the fifth trumpet, and it's called the first woe.

And it says in Revelation, chapter 9, verses 1 and 2. Then the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth. Now, this is no ordinary star. Like we just whatever what the last ones were. Because this, whatever this is, is given personality. It's given pronouns to him was given the key to the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit, and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace. So the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit.

Like I said, unlike. Unlike the other stars fallen from heaven that caused devastation. This is some kind of being, probably a demon coming and releasing other demons, because it talks about. He releases locusts upon the earth. But they're no ordinary locusts, because these locusts, they don't harm people. I mean, sorry, they don't eat the grass and the trees and things like that. They leave those alone. They torment men for five months.

And whatever these locusts are, they have a king over them. And if you read, I think it's in Proverbs, locusts don't have any king. But. So these are no, These are no ordinary locusts. They have a king over them who is the angel of the bottomless pit. His name is Abaddon in Hebrew, or Abaddon or Apollyon in Greek, which means destroyer.

Then the sixth trumpet sounds, and you have these four killer angels at the river Euphrates. He says the sixth. This is verse 13 through 15. Then the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from. From the four horns of the golden altar, which is before God, saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates. So the four angels who had been prepared for the hour and the day and the month and the year were released to kill a third of mankind. So massive devastation.

And then we have. So that was the sixth. Whoops. That was the sixth trumpet. And then we have another little break. You have. You have a story here now of the mighty angel, a little book, Seven Thunders. And you're going to see that there's these two witnesses.

Chapter 10. And I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, clothed with a cloud, and a rainbow was on his head, and his face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire. And he had a little book open in his hand, and he set his right foot in the sea and his left foot on the land. And he cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roars. And when he cried out, seven thunders uttered their voices. And John's about to write what the thunders say, and he's not allowed to, but then he's commanded to eat the little book.

And again, if you're reading your Old Testament, there's a scene just like this. I think it's Ezekiel where he eats the book and it's like honey in his mouth, but it's bitter in his stomach. And you know, the word of God is sweet, but the judgments can be bitter. So he eats the book and it's like honey in his mouth, but bitter in his stomach.

And then we also see the two witnesses at the temple described in chapter 11 of the book of Revelation. Again, when I see, when I read this, it might be me, only I don't know. I see the book of Joshua. Now, remember, Moses sent 12 guys into the promised land and it didn't work out so well. Ten of them gave a bad report. Two of them, Joshua and Caleb, were the only faithful ones gave a good report. Well, later, 40 years later or 38 years later, when Joshua is crossing into the promised land and he's scoping out Jericho, he doesn't make that mistake. He sends to right sense. Two and, and I. They're called spies. And that's fine. I think we call up witnesses because the only thing that's recorded is they got Rahab saved.

But, but you also talk about these two witnesses. It says they will prophesy for 12, 60 days or three and a half years. You're going to see these numbers over and over again. 12, 60 days, three and a half years, 42 months. They're all the same time period. And they're called the two olive trees, the two lampstands standing before the God of the earth. This is another place where a little knowledge of your Old Testament would help, because this is an allusion to Zechariah chapter 4.

But notice that the temple is measured. The court of the temple is given to the Gentiles for 42 months. That's three and a half years. Now, I don't know how, I don't know how the current state of things in Israel. And I don't know how the Jews are going to be able to build a third temple on that Temple Mount. But I know that by the time you get here To Revelation chapter 11, the temple is standing and the sacrificial system is going again.

And now, now I don't know how that happens. Maybe that's the peace treaty that the Antichrist starts with. Maybe he. That's how they're allowed to establish the sacrificial system again and have a temple on that Temple Mount. I've been up there. It's very hostile up there. And I don't know how they're going to allow Jews to build something up there. But we know it's going to happen.

But the two witnesses, they proclaim the gospel for those three and a half years and then they're killed and then they're resurrected again and taken up from the dead. And of course the world rejoices when they're dead and. But they actually send presents like Christmas or send presents to one another because the two, the two witnesses died. But, but then they're raised from the dead and, and taken back, back to heaven.

Then you have. That's the end of our break. And we have the, the seventh trumpet. And the kingdom of our God, of our Lord is here in Revelation, chapter 11, verse 15.

And then the seventh angel sounded and there were loud voices in heaven. The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. And the 24 elders who sat before God on their thrones, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, we give you thanks, O Lord God Almighty, the one who is and who was. And it was to come because you have taken your great power and reigned, and the nations were angry and your wrath has come and the time and the time of the dead that they should be judged and that you should reward your servants, the prophets and the saints, and those who fear your name, small and great, and should destroy those who dwell on the earth.

And so you come now, I marked it in your notes. You come to kind of this mid tribulation events kind of in the middle of the tribulation. And you come to a group of chapters here that are kind of a break. And it gives you a cast of characters and kind of the scope of everything that's happening and the people involved.

And so in chapter 12, the first person you see is this woman clothed with the sun and the moon and the stars. And it says that the woman was clothed with sun and moon, stars, and was about to give birth to a male child, the fiery red dragon. And if you're wondering who that is, it tells you it's Satan who deceived a third of the angels, is standing before the woman and he wants to devour her child before or as soon as it's born.

Now, there's no question that the child being talked about is the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the child. The question is, a lot of people argue about who the woman is. A lot of people want to say the woman is the church. Well, better not be the church, because she's pregnant. We're supposed to be a virgin bride, right?

The woman is not the church, the woman is not Mary A lot of Catholics want to say the woman is Mary. It's not Mary. The woman is Israel. And if you, if you know your Old Testament a little bit, just go back to the, the dream Joseph had. In chapter 37 of Genesis, Joseph dreamed about his mother and father and his brothers. And he talks about being the sun, moon, and at the time it's 11 stars. Because Benjamin is not born yet. But this Jacob, his father is Israel. So this is talking about the nation of Israel, and it's a symbolism for the 12 tribes and so on.

So even after the. Though the dragon tries to kill the child, and that child another clue to his identity, who is to rule the nations, he was caught up to God in his throne. And God also prepared a place of safety for the woman.

Now this is going to happen for Israel in the second half, for the remnant of Israel, I should say, in the second half of the Tribulation, when God gives them a place out near Petra somewhere to run and hide from the Antichrist. And there's a remnant that's going to be saved because the millennial kingdom's coming. There's people that survive and populate the earth again in the millennial kingdom. So there's a remnant for God's chosen.

And then there's war in heaven in Daniel chapter, I mean, Revelation, chapter 12, verse 7 through 12, and it says that. So that great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old called the devil. And Satan, who deceived the whole world, he was cast to the earth and his angels were cast out with him.

You might ask, why is Satan in heaven anyway? He's fallen, right? Well, he's fallen, but he still has access until he's cast out. So you remember the Book of Job, when the sons of God presented themselves before the Lord, Satan came with them, right? And we're told that he accuses the brethren, he accuses us before the Lord day and night, right? So Satan still has access, but he's gonna lose his access. He's gonna be cast to the earth.

And when he's cast to the earth, he's gonna be really, really mad. And so. And he seeks, when he cut. When he's cast to the earth, he's gonna seek to persecute the woman, Israel, and those who have the testimony of Jesus, people who come to the Lord during that time to destroy them.

And then you have in chapter 13, a promise. We're gonna. We're gonna make it. Going to make it. Chapter 13, we have the beast from the sea or the Antichrist. And describes him. And then I stood on the sand of the sea, and I saw a beast rising out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads a blasphemous name. Now, the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like the feet of a bear. And so he goes on.

But he's described as a beast coming out of the sea. And he's given power, throne and authority by Satan himself. He also appears to have a mortal wound that is healed. And all the world's going to marvel how his mortal wound was healed. And those who dwell on the earth are going to both worship him, and they're going to worship the dragon, who is Satan, who gives him his power.

And then we see another beast in verse 13, 11 through 18, which is the false prophet coming out of the land, this beast. And he is going to exercise all the authority of the first beast and cause everybody who dwells in the earth to worship the first beast. And he's going to perform signs, fire, coming down from heaven and all that.

But he's also going to cause all to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, so that no one can buy or sell unless they have the mark of the beast. And then we have another break here where you talk about the lamb and the 144,000. I call them the sealed evangelists.

It says in verse chapter 14. Then I looked, and behold a Lamb standing on Mount Zion. And with him 144,000 having his Father's name written on their foreheads, in contrast to those who had taken the mark of the beast. You have these that have been sealed with a mark by the by the Lord, by God himself.

And these proclaim the gospel to the world as well as an angel who preaches in the midst of heaven the everlasting gospel to those who dwell on the earth. And then the Son of Man you see coming in the clouds in 14 verses 14 through 16. Then I looked, and behold a white cloud. And on the cloud sat one like the Son of Man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, thrust in your sickle and reap, for the time has come for you to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe. So he who sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped.

And now we come to the bowl Judgments beginning in chapter 15. The first bowl. Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous. Seven angels having the seven last plagues. For in them the wrath of God is complete.

And so the. The many of these remind me of the plagues on Egypt. The first bull, you have festering sores that break out on all those who have the mark of the beast. The second plague you have the. The ocean turns to blood. The third plague, the third bowl you have the fresh water turns to blood. The fourth plague, you have the ultimate global warming. You have intense heat. The fifth bull, you have darkness. If you remember in Exodus, there was darkness that could be felt during those plagues.

And then you have the sixth bull, which is the Euphrates dries up, and it dries up to prepare a 200 men, 200 million man army that comes from the east. And where are they coming? They're coming to the land of Israel, to the valley of Armageddon. Armageddon. The valley of Megiddo. And I don't know, it's like 50 miles wide, 100 miles long or so.

You can stand on Mark, Mount Carmel. And you can, which is by the sea, kind of. And you can look back inland and you can see the valley. And in this valley is where a lot of the stories you know about happened. Cisera and Jail Happened right down there, right on this mountain. That's where Elijah killed the prophets of baal. Across the valley and to the right you have Mount Gilboa. On the right, where in that valley is where Josh Gideon and his 300 men fought. I forgot how many was 128,000 or 138,000? Something like that. They fought an army of over 100,000 people and won. God allowed them to prevail. Mount Gilboa is where Saul and Jonathan fell. In the distance to the left you can see Mount Tabor, which is, according to church history, where the transfiguration would have happened.

So you can see all that from Mount Carmel looking down. Lots of things have happened in this valley. It's amazing. But he gathers all these people in the, in the, in the, in this valley because they're coming to fight against the Lord. And then they're going to just speak and destroy them.

And then we have, in chapter 20, verses 1 through 3, we have Satan bound and Christ reigning on earth for a thousand years. Revelation, chapter 20, verses 1 through 3. Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven. Having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of that dragon, the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, just in case you're confused, he tells you again who this is. And bound him for a thousand years. And he cast him into the bottomless pit. And he shut him up with a seat and set a seal on him so that he should deceive the nations no more till the years were finished. But after these things, he must be released for a little while.

And then going on, it says, and. And I saw thrones, and they sat on them. And judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God. Who had not worshiped the beast or his image. And had not received the mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who has part of the first resurrection over such the second death has no power. But they shall be priests of our God and of Christ. And shall reign with him a thousand years.

And when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from prison. And I know I'm probably beating the dead horse, you know, I know I've mentioned this before. How long is this? It's a thousand years. Oh, it's a long time. You know, the millennium's happening right now. Satan is bound right now. I mean, not that you would notice. The world's falling apart. Doesn't look like he's bound, but anyway. So I don't know why theologians have such a hard time. And I think that's the value of going through the book like this. You don't get bogged down with everybody's thoughts about what it says, you just read what it says. It's a thousand years.

And then in Revelation, chapter 20, verse 7 through 10, and he says, and while with a thousand years, that's seven, that's seven. When a thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison.

Now, if you read Zechariah, you learned that during this thousand year period, people are living a long time. If you died 100 years old, you thought you were thought to die young. People are going to live kind of like they lived in the book of Genesis when they lived a long time. I don't know if it was going to be that long, but it's going to be a long time.

So the earth gets. What happens when you have a lot of people who live a long time for a thousand years? You're going to have a lot of babies, you're going to have a lot of humans being born. Now remember, these people are lived through the tribulation. They repopulate the earth. They're still sinners, but the Lord is in their midst. And when I read the last nine chapters of Ezekiel, it's like the Lord is living with them, like in the book of Leviticus. They have to take care of sin quickly. They have to, you know, anyway. Yes, the Lord is the punishment for sin, and he took our punishment upon himself. But they're going to be looking back and remembering how awful sin is during that period of time.

But anyway, when a thousand years had expired, Satan was released from his prison and he goes out again to the nations, deceives the nations again, and they come. He rallies the nations again to fight against the Lord again. And they come against the camp of the Lord. And of course, the Lord puts an end to that rebellion.

Then there is a. Then that's the end of the millennium. And the Lord has a Great White Throne Judgment. Now this Judgment in Chapter 20, this judgment is not for believers. The only people at the Great White Throne Judgment are unbelievers. They're lost.

Everyone here is judged out of what is written in the books. And the books are the books of all the deeds they have done. Now, don't get the idea of a scale. If you have a scale and you did one sin, you're toast. The scale is over. So don't get the idea of scales. They're judged by what they did in the books because that's what they're trusting in. They're trusting in themselves. And if you're trusting in your own self, your own goodness or your worth or whatever for salvation, you're going to be judged out of the books and you're going to be condemned.

But everybody who was found in the Book of life was saved. So all these people and the great white throne Judgment, they're judged out of the books. And then they were thrown into the lake of fire and we kind of skipped it. But the. When Christ came on his white horse, he took the prophet, the false prophet, he took the Antichrist and he threw them into the lake of fire. They're the really the first inhabitants of the lake of fire.

Then after the thousand years are over and Satan deceives the nations and Christ puts Satan down, Satan is taken and he's thrown into the lake of fire where the. Where the Antichrist and the false prophet are already. And then there's the great white throat Judgment.

And then there's a new heavens and a new earth and Hades. And everything's all evil and wickedness. Death and Hades are delivered, deliver up their dead who are in them. And the sea delivers up the dead and with them and all wickedness is thrown into the lake of fire where now Satan and the false prophet and the Antichrist are. This is the second death. Anyone not found in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

And then there's chapter 21. There's a new heavens and a new earth. For the first heavens and the first earth had passed away also. There was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is with men. And he will dwell with them. And they shall be his people. God himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe every tear from their eyes. And there shall be no more death and no more sorrow and no crying. There shall be no more pain for the former things have passed away.

And then he sees the New Jerusalem. And I saw no temple in the New Jerusalem. For the Lord Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city had no need for the sun or for the moon. We talked about this in Sunday school. How come there was light before there was a sun? Well, when we have the New Jerusalem, we're not going to have the sun or the moon. And the Lord's going to be the light and the and the Lamb is going to be the lamp.

So. And the nations of those who are saved shall walk by its light. The light of the Lord and of the Lamb. And its gates shall not be shut at all by day, and there shall be no night there. And they shall bring the glory of and honor of the nations into it. And they, they shall by no means. There shall by no means enter in anything that defiles or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life.

And then we see that he showed me a pure river of water, of life. So you see the river of life and the trees of life there in the New Jerusalem.

And then to finish it off, Jesus says, I, Jesus just reminded you God gave him the revelation to give to his servants. And he closes the book by saying, I Jesus have sent my angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the root and offspring of David, the bright and morning star, and the Spirit and the bride say, come. And let him who hears say, come. And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take of the water life freely.

And he ends the book by saying, he who testifies to these things says, surely I come quickly. Amen. Oh, that we would yearn. Do you yearn for the coming of the Lord? Do you yearn for that day? No more sin, no more the corruption of this world. I hope so. I hope we yearn for that day.

And we can say, we can say with what's the response? You guys all know the response. What's the last phrase in your Bible? Even so, Lord Jesus, come quickly

Father God, thank you for your word. Thank you Father. I don't know how far I went over, but Lord, I just pray, Father, that these words would sink into our hearts, Father, that we would comprehend the just the message of your word. You are coming quickly and you are worthy to receive honor and glory and praise, Lord. And we don't want to wait till then to give it to you. We want to praise you and glorify you. Now help us to do it not just on Sunday, but on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday and every day, Lord, giving you praise and Lord, being in your Bible and making these connections and knowing your word, Lord, not, not because we have to be spoon fed, but because we want to know what you have said to us, Lord. So fill our hearts with your word, Lord, and help us to live for you every day in Jesus name, Amen.