In this sermon, the speaker discusses the book of Revelation and the themes of grace and judgment. He highlights the pattern of grace before judgment that is seen throughout the book. The speaker also mentions a future war near the river Euphrates that will be triggered by the release of four demons. He then goes on to explain the significance of the numbers mentioned in Revelation, such as the one-fourth and one-third of mankind being killed. The sermon concludes with a discussion on the seven trumpets mentioned in Revelation and how they represent the last trumpet of judgment.

We were considering part of Revelation chapter 7 last week, and we saw that Revelation chapter 7 is basically divided into two parts. The first part deals with the children of Israel, verses 1 to 8, who are God-fearing, a remnant. The number, though described as 144,000, may be representative or may be exact, we're not particular about that, but there is going to be a remnant in the nation of Israel who are going to be protected in the time of judgment, just like Israel was protected in Egypt when God's judgment fell on Egypt. In verse 9 onwards, we saw deals with the redeemed from every tribe, nation, people, and tongue, and this we see refers to the church. And during the time of judgment, the church is not going to be on the earth. We read very clearly in 1 Thessalonians 5, 1 Thessalonians 5, and verse 9, that God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. And so we see this great multitude, which no one can count from every nation, tribe, and tongue, standing before God. Jesus said the last days will be like the days of Noah and the days of Lot. And Jesus said, just like when Lot was taken out, then the judgment fell on Sodom and Gomorrah, and Noah was taken out into the ark, and then the judgment fell upon the world, in the same way the church will be taken out, and then the judgment will fall upon the rest of the world. And so we see here, in Revelation 7, verse 9, they were standing with palm branches in their hands. Now, in the Old Testament, the Israelites were told to celebrate one of their feasts with palm branches, and that was called the Feast of Tabernacles. The Old Testament feasts all had a symbolic meaning relating to the future, like, for example, the Passover referred to the crucifixion of Christ, in the same way the Feast of Tabernacles in the Old Testament, described in Leviticus 23, verse 40, is a picture of the millennial reign of Jesus Christ on this earth. And that's the significance of the palm branches in their hands. And they cried out with a loud voice, saying, I want to paraphrase these words so we understand what they're saying. What they're saying is, our salvation is entirely due to God. Nothing of us. In other words, it's only the grace of God that we are here. And every true child of God will have to confess that when he stands before the Lord. It is only, only the grace of God that brings us here. Our salvation is due entirely to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, whose blood was slain, whose blood was shed, because of which we are here. And all the angels who were standing around the throne, and the elders, and the four living creatures, they fell on their faces and worshipped God, saying, Amen, blessing, glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen. In the book of Revelation, amidst all the many seven, seven churches, seven seals, seven trumpets, seven vials, seven thunders, we also have seven pictures of worship in heaven. And here is one of those pictures, we saw an earlier one in chapter four and chapter five. Here is another one, and it's almost as though people in heaven, the angels, I get this impression that the angels, and the twenty-four elders, and the four living creatures, are just waiting for the slightest excuse to worship God, and to say, Hallelujah, praise be to God. Think to have such an atmosphere in our hearts. There is a song which we sing, saying, Heaven came down and glory filled my soul. Well, I believe one mark of heaven coming down into a person's heart is that he is waiting for the smallest excuse to worship God, and to praise Him. The spirit of praise, thanksgiving, and worship is the spirit of heaven. And someone says salvation is due to our God, and all the angels, the millions of them, the four living creatures, and twenty-four elders are immediately ready to take up that and say, Amen. Yes, that's right. Then it says here in verse thirteen, one of the elders asked me this question, these who are clothed in the white robes, that is this great multitude who are standing there, who are they, and from where have they come? And John said to him, My Lord, you know. And he said to me, these are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Now that teaches us whether the church is going to go through the great tribulation or not. Now this is an area in which many believers have different opinions, but to me, Revelation seven, verse fourteen is very clear. When you say that somebody has come out of a room, what does it mean? That means he was in the room, and then he came out of the room. For example, later on in Revelation, it says in chapter eighteen, verse four, Come out of Babylon, my people. That means they were in Babylon, and they come out. So we see here when it says they came out of the great tribulation, the simple meaning is they were in the great tribulation, and they came out of it. Now, my own understanding is that it is because our flesh does not like tribulation, that a doctrine has come up that the church will escape tribulation. And I tell you quite honestly, that is a doctrine that my flesh would also like to believe, just like your flesh. Everybody's flesh would like to believe a doctrine, which means we're going to have an easy time. But I have not found one verse in scripture that teaches that. Tribulation from man, God has never promised to protect us from. We know that throughout the history of the church, the church has always faced tribulation. And even today, in about one-third of the population of the earth, is under oppressive communist rule, Islamic rule, and they are suffering tribulation when they stand up for Jesus Christ. So this is not something strange, it's happening right now. It's just something that's going to take place on a more worldwide scale in the days to come. It is the wrath of God which we will never face, but tribulation we shall face. But I've often thought about how will it be if I have to stand one day and be burnt at a stake, or to be thrown into lions. Well, humanly speaking, I don't have the courage for it. But God will give special grace at that time. That's His promise. So we're not afraid of tribulation, we believe that God will give us grace. John himself, who wrote this letter, says in Revelation chapter 1 and verse 9, I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation. Now if you had gone and told the Apostle John that tribulation is not for the church, he'd have just laughed at it, because he was going through it himself. No, this is a doctrine that has come out of a comfort-loving Western Christianity. You wouldn't believe that such a doctrine could ever come out of any person oppressed in communist or Islamic land. No, it says here they came out of the great tribulation, they came out triumphant. They were glad to lay down their lives, to be beheaded or to be slain, and counting it a privilege to suffer for the sake of Jesus Christ. And they washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. That's why they're standing here. They've been faithful and they've been cleansed. For this reason, verse 15, they are before the throne of God and they serve Him day and night. Yes, this is wonderful. Only the pure in heart, it says, can see God. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. These are ones who are pure, because they've been cleansed. Therefore they stand before the throne of God and it says here they serve Him day and night, which teaches us that even in eternity there's going to be some type of service that we're going to do for the Father. And He who sits on the throne shall spread His tabernacle over them. That means there's going to be the covering, protection of God, the comforting presence of God wherever we go. And they shall hunger no more. Verse 16, they shall thirst no more. That means every unsatisfied longing that I have on earth is going to be satisfied over there. I'm going to have perfect satisfaction, you and I, when we stand there. Neither shall the sun beat down on them nor any heat. There are not going to be any more trials and tribulations there. Through much tribulation we enter the kingdom of God, Acts 14, 22. But once we get there, no, there will be no more sun beating down on us nor any heat. For the Lamb in the center of the throne shall be their shepherd in a far deeper way and greater way than He is our shepherd right now. And will guide them to springs of the water of life. This refers to deeper experiences in the Holy Spirit than we can ever have on this earth. For the river of life is a picture of the Holy Spirit and God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes. There are not going to be any more sorrow or any more death. This is a picture of how it's going to be when we stand before the Lord finally. It's a picture of what's going to be right at the end of the book of Revelation. But God has given us this vision of grace before the judgment begins in chapter 8. You find in the book of Revelation, as I once said earlier in an earlier study, that there's always grace before judgment. And here is a beautiful picture of the grace of God that we have in chapter 7. And then judgment begins again in chapter 8, just like we saw in chapter 4 and 5. That was the picture of grace. And then judgment in chapter 6, the same thing here. So that we don't have a string of chapters on judgment, it's interspersed with pictures of God's grace to the human race. And then we come to the last seal. And one thing, again I must remind you here, that the book of Revelation is not given in a serial order as to what's going to come next, what's going to come next, what's going to come next. Because many of these things that we see here later on, you'll find are actually something taking place earlier. For example, what you see in chapter 11, 12 and 13, you'll find is actually taking place much earlier, before even the sixth seal. But the book of Revelation goes back and forth, there to the end, as we saw in chapter 7, verse 14 to 17, and then back again to give us a little more description of what comes. So we shouldn't try to think of this coming before that and this coming before that. Now, here begins the time when the judgments of God fall upon the earth. Now in chapter 6, all that we saw is various horses riding forth and various calamities taking place on the earth. But we didn't see any judgment being poured down from heaven upon the earth. We saw tribulation in chapter 6, and so it is quite proper for the church to be on the earth while chapter 6 is going on. War, famine, earthquake, pestilence, that's been happening through the centuries, and the church is here. Tribulation, that's been happening, that's the fifth seal, and the church is still here. But when it comes to chapter 8, the judgments of God immediately before that, we find the church is taken up, as we saw in chapter 7, and the Jews who are God-fearing are sealed and protected from these judgments. We see here in verse 2, verse 1 first of all, when He broke the seventh seal there was silence in heaven for about a half an hour. Silence is so unusual in heaven that they've got to make a record of it. You can imagine that with the noise of thunders and like mighty rivers of water, the praise going on that when everything stood still for half an hour, John wonders what's happening. And we can turn to Isaiah 28, verse 21, and see a verse that tells us why there is this silence. When it speaks about judgment, in Isaiah 28, verse 21, it says here, in the last part of verse 22, I have heard from the Lord God of hosts of decisive destruction on all the earth, and it is described in verse 21, the Lord will rise up as at Mount Parisim, He will be stirred up as in the valley of Gibeon, to do His unusual task. That teaches us that judgment is not God's usual task. It is an unusual task. It is, as it says in verse, to His extraordinary work, a strange work. Judgment is not something that God delights in. It's something strange and alien and foreign to Him. And that's why there is a silence. It's almost as though God is waiting and saying, I wish these people would repent so that I don't have to judge them. That is the meaning of that silence. God is not willing that any should perish. He is long suffering, waiting for all men to repent. And there is a pause, a pause in heaven. God waits, even today He is waiting for people to repent before the final judgment comes. I want to show you another verse in Luke chapter 4, where Jesus, in the book of Revelation, we see Jesus opening the scroll. And what we saw in Revelation 8 verse 1 is the scroll completely opened, the seventh seal. Up till now it has only partially opened. Now in Luke chapter 4 we find something similar of a scroll which is partially opened. When Jesus came into Nazareth in verse 16, and He stood up in the synagogue to read, and it says here the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to Him. The prophets and the law was found up in scrolls and kept in the synagogue, and you had to open it out. And Jesus opened out the scroll, verse 17, and found the place where it was written. And He read from Isaiah 61, verse 1. And if you compare Luke 4, 18 and 19 with the Old Testament passage in Isaiah 61, verse 1 and 2, you find one significant difference. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He sent me to proclaim release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are downtrodden, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord. And in Isaiah 61, verse 2, there is one more sentence which Jesus did not read. You know what that sentence was? The day of vengeance, of judgment of our God. Notice, it says here the favorable year. That is a whole year of 365 days. But judgment is one day. It is almost as though grace is 365 times as long as judgment. A favorable year and a day of judgment. That is what we read in Isaiah 61 too. But Jesus stopped at the favorable year, the year of grace, which has gone on now for over 1900 years. And He closed up the scroll, verse 20. He did not open that last part. But when it comes to Revelation 8, verse 1, and the silence, God has waited, waited, waited. And He has waited some more time. One day is with the Lord as a thousand years. So we can say one hour is about 40 years or so, and a half an hour is a long period of time, about 20 years or so. God waits, we can say. God waits. It is pictorial language. God is waiting so that people will repent. But finally they do not. And so finally Jesus opens the scroll completely and reads that last sentence. The day of judgment of God has come. And there we see in verse 2, I saw the seven angels who stand before God and seven trumpets were given to them. Now when we think of seven trumpets, we need not think of them as seven different trumpets. When we saw the seven lamps of fire, which are the seven spirits of God in chapter 4, verse 5, we mentioned that it is not seven different Holy Spirits. It is one Holy Spirit, but sevenfold. And we must think of this also as the last sevenfold trumpet. It is the last trumpet. It is sevenfold in its duration. The significance of this is, if you turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 15, we read there in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 51 and 52, Paul says, Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep. That means we shall not all die. Some will die, but not all. But we shall all be changed, whether we are dead or alive. We shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. When? At the last trumpet. That's the time the church is going to be raptured. That's the time, at that last trumpet. And that's what we read in Revelation chapter 8. The sevenfold last trumpet. At that time, for the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. That's why we saw in Revelation chapter 7, after the tribulation, the last trumpet sounds and the church is up there before the Lord. And then with the sounding of the last trumpet begins the judgments that are going to fall upon the earth. We read in Revelation chapter 3 and verse 10, Because you have kept the word of my perseverance, the Lord says, I also will keep you from the hour of trial and testing, that hour which is to come upon the whole world. That hour is going to begin in Revelation chapter 8, verse 2. But if we keep the word of his perseverance, we won't be here on earth in that hour. Because at the last trumpet, in the twinkling of an eye, you know how long it takes for us to blink our eye. In a moment we are gone. We are transformed. And then the trumpet blows and the judgments fall upon the earth. Now if you turn to the book of Numbers and chapter 10, in the Old Testament, there's a lot of connection between the book of Revelation and the Old Testament. In the book of Numbers chapter 10, we read about seven reasons why trumpets were used in the camp of Israel in the Old Testament. And that has a connection with the sevenfold last trumpet that we just read. Numbers chapter 10 and verse 2 onwards. We read here, First of all, it is to be used, you make yourself two trumpets, First, you shall use them for summoning the congregation. That's the first purpose of the trumpet. To call the church up to meet the Lord in the air. To summon the congregation. Second, to make a journey. That's the second thing. And that's what the church is going to do. It's going to make the greatest journey, the last journey we're ever going to make, from this earth straight up into the Lord's presence in the air. And third, the third reason is given in verse 5, when you blow an alarm. That's the third purpose of the trumpet, to blow an alarm to the rest of the world that something serious is going to happen. Fourth, we read here in verse 9, when you go to war in your land, you shall sound an alarm with trumpets. The war has begun. God versus the ungodly, headed up by the Antichrist. And then fifthly, verse 10, the day of your gladness. That is the day of the church's gladness when she sees the Lord face to face. Sixthly, the day of your appointed feast. Same verse, verse 10. And seventhly, again the same verse, verse 10, the first day of your month, or in other words, a new beginning. So we see the seven purposes of the trumpet, to call the congregation. First, to make a journey. Second, to sound an alarm. Third, to declare war. Fourth, to proclaim a day of gladness. Fifth, to proclaim an appointed feast, a feast with the Lord, the marriage supper of the Lamb. And seventhly, a new beginning. All that is there in the seven trumpets in the book of Revelation. Now we turn back to Revelation 8 and we come to verse 3 to 5. Another angel came and stood at the altar holding a golden censer, and much incense was given to him that he might add to it, add it to the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. Now we saw earlier in chapter 5, verse 8, about the prayers of the saints which are accomplishing something. Now here again we see in chapter 8, verse 3, the prayers of the saints, particularly this prayer, Our Father, let Thy will be done on earth as it is done in heaven. That prayer that people have prayed for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years. Finally, it's going to be answered now. It's amazing. God works and answers the prayer. And it says here, Your incense is added to the prayers of the saints, and the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints went up before God out of the angel's hand. Now the incense is obviously the name of Jesus Christ. There's a beautiful verse in the Song of Solomon, chapter 1, verse 3, which says, Your name, O Lord, is like ointment for the poor. The Lord's name is like incense, sweet-smelling incense and ointment. It is that which, when added to our prayers, ascends before the Lord and brings an answer. Not a magical repetition of the name of Jesus, but a spiritual entering in to the value and the worth there is in the name of Jesus Christ because of who He is and because of what He has done for us on Calvary's cross. That name is what makes us acceptable. My prayer by itself cannot ascend before God, but there is an incense that is added to it. I come in the name of Jesus Christ and then I can stand. I am accepted before the Father just like Jesus is accepted. Wonderful. And as soon as these prayers, finally the multiplied prayers of millions of saints and thousands of years, finally the total effect of it is seen here in Revelation 8, verse 3 and 4, and there is an immediate answer. And the angel, verse 5, took the censer and he filled it with the fire of the altar and threw it to the earth. And there followed fields of thunder, sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake, all symbolic language to teach that God, after these many prayers that we have prayed for many years, when He begins to answer, it's going to be a pretty quick job and a thorough job. If He waits, He waits only because He is very patient with unrepentant, ungodly sinners. And then we read in verse 6 to 13 about the blowing of these trumpets. And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets sound them. And I want you to notice in verse 13, I looked and I heard an eagle flying in midday heaven saying with a loud voice, woe, woe, woe, to whom? To the earth dwellers, to those whose minds are set on the things below, to those whose interests are in this earth. If you call yourself a believer and your interests are in this earth, well, then you've got to put yourself in that verse. A true born-again child of God has his mind set on the things above. This world is not his home. He's a pilgrim and a stranger here. The judgments of God that are described from now onward are for the dwellers on this earth. Those who have made their permanent home here. That's the meaning of dwelling on the earth. Those who made their permanent home here. Verse 7. Notice the first judgment. The first angel sounded and there came hail and fire mixed with blood and they were thrown to the earth and a third of the earth was burnt up and a third of the trees were burnt up and all the green grass was burnt up. Now, we don't understand everything about that but there's going to be some type of judgment that is going to fall upon the earth. Then we read in verse 8. The second angel sounded and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown to the sea and a third of the sea became blood. That's the judgment on the sea. And a third of the creatures which are in the sea had life died and a third of the ships were destroyed. And then we find the judgment on the rivers. Verse 10. And the third angel sounded and a great star fell from heaven burning like a torch and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of waters. And the fourth judgment is on the celestial bodies. Verse 12. On the sun, moon, stars so that a third of them were smitten they were darkened so that they did not shine. These four areas where judgment falls. Earth, sea, the springs of waters and the celestial bodies. We'll come to it again later on in chapter 16 when some more judgments fall upon these celestial bodies. But I want you to notice here the fact that only one third one third, one third, one third, one third you find again and again in verse 7, verse 8, verse 9, verse 10, verse 12. Why only one third? God is so gracious. He's waiting. He's waiting. He's hoping that people will turn. He doesn't want to bring a complete judgment. Now I want you to turn here to a verse in Micah chapter 7. The judgments that fall in the last days are similar to the judgments that fell in Egypt in many ways. Micah chapter 7 verses 8 and 9. This is Israel saying do not rejoice over me O my enemy though I fall I will rise. Israel has fallen but he will rise again. She will rise again. I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him until he pleads my case and executes justice for me. There is a time coming when the Lord will execute justice for Israel. And then verse 10 my enemy will see me and shame will cover her who said to me where is the Lord your God? And then we read finally in verse 15 as in the days when you came out from the land of Egypt I will show you miracles again. And that's what we see here in the last days. Judgments similar to the plagues of Egypt that are going to take place just before the millennial reign of Jesus Christ on the earth. I want you to notice just one other thing here in Revelation 8 and verse 11. Revelation 8, 11 it says here in verse 10 that a great star fell from heaven burning like a torch. We can look at we don't know exactly what this star is. It could refer to a fallen angel a demon perhaps that does something. But there is an Old Testament reference to Wormwood which I would just like you to turn to in Jeremiah and chapter 9. In Jeremiah chapter 9 and verse 13 to 15 it says the Lord said because they have forsaken my law which I set before them have not obeyed my voice nor walked according to it but have walked after the stubbornness of their hearts and after their idols therefore here is the reason because they forsook my commandment they did not obey my voice in the stubbornness of their hearts they followed after idols therefore I will feed this people with wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink. That's the reason for this judgment. In another passage it's chapter 23 of Jeremiah and verses 10 to 15. And here also it says now here it's speaking about the leaders and the preachers. This whole chapter is about the leaders and the preachers. Verse 9 as for the prophets what about the prophets? Verse 10 the land is full of adulterers there is adultery among the preachers. Verse 11 both prophet and priest are polluted and therefore verse 15 thus says the Lord verse 14 among the prophets of Jerusalem I've seen a horrible thing the committing of adultery telling lies and they do not turn people back from their wickedness they do not preach obedience so that the people have become like Sodom therefore thus says the Lord concerning these preachers I'm going to feed them wormwood. Now that's connected up with what we see in Revelation 8 verse 10 and 11 there's going to be a judgment with a star called wormwood falling upon the waters. It's some type of plague that's going to come upon the face of the earth. I'm not particularly interested to know all the details of that because I'm not going to be here and I hope we're not too curious to find out what exactly does all that mean brother just make sure that you're not here at that time that's all we're interested to know there is going to be something terrible that's clear we don't want to find out all those details. Revelation 8 four angels have finished blowing their trumpets and now we see in verse 13 an eagle says whoa whoa whoa there are three more trumpets to be blown verse chapter 9 verse 1 and the fifth angel sounded and I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth and this is clearly a fallen angel most probably Satan a star fallen from heaven and the key of the bottomless pit was given to him. that means this is a fallen angel who's got a key that bottomless pit is the pit in which demons are locked up by God you see at the present moment the demons are not all sent there you remember when the man called Legion came to Jesus and the demons within that man said have you come to send us into that bottomless pit the abyss and they pleaded with Jesus not to send them into the bottomless pit yet and so Jesus granted their request and sent them into the two thousand pigs who ran into the sea but the bottomless pit is one day going to be open and the demons that are locked up there are going to be released onto the face of this earth that's part of the judgment that God is going to allow upon the face of this earth the Lord says to the people as it were you wanted to follow the advice of the devil you wanted to obey the devil's word rather than my word alright here you are here are all his friends coming to visit you now the whole lot of them from the bottomless pit and that's what we see here he opened the bottomless pit and smoke went up out of the pit that's the filth and the muck and the rubbish of unclean spirits the smoke of their sins and filthiness like the smoke of a great furnace and the sun in the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit I want to tell you there are evil spirits in the world today but it's nothing compared to what it is going to be when the bottomless pit is opened up under the fifth trumpet and out of the smoke came forth locusts upon the earth these locusts are a picture of these evil spirits that are tied up in the bottomless pit at the moment and power was given to them God has allowed them to do something as the scorpions of the earth to have power now scorpion is one of the pictures that Jesus used in Luke chapter 10 verse 19 to symbolize the powers of darkness Luke chapter 10 verse 19 Jesus said to his disciples I have given you authority over serpents and scorpions to tread upon them a scorpion is a picture of the devil and his host as much as a serpent and it says here that power was given unto them as the scorpions of the earth it's picture language to show just like a scorpion stinging a man hurts him in his body and poisons his blood in the same way these evil spirits are going to be permitted to torture human beings at that time and out of the smoke they came out and verse 4 they were told that they should not hurt the grass of the earth nor any green thing nor any tree no to the very ones that you heard of in revelation 9 to the torturers verse 35 so shall my heavenly father do to you if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart I want to tell you something whether you believe it or not I don't want anyone's blood to be on my hand if there's anyone let him call himself a believer sure baptized speaking in tongues healing the sick whatever he may call himself if he has not forgiven others I want to tell you dear friends he's not going to be taken up when Jesus comes he's going to be handed over to these torturers to me that is as clear as black is black and white is white only because I believe the word of Jesus I believe that that man who was handed over to the torturers was a man who was once forgiven tell me wasn't he forgiven yes or no he was forgiven but then the lord withdrew that forgiveness why because he would not forgive somebody else you say but that person has done a terrible evil to me alright as long as you keep that excuse you're just preparing yourself for the torturers and what people suffer at the hands of demons today is nothing compared to what it's going to be under revelation chapter 9 that's why I earnestly tell people everywhere I go forgive forgive your heavenly father will not forgive you if you do not forgive every human being on the face of the earth that's the one way anyway to be ready for the rapture when Jesus comes and so we see here these demons torture people and we see here in verse 11 of revelation 9 they have a king over them the angel of this bottomless pit and his name is given in Hebrew Abaddon in Greek Apollyon teaching us that both the Jews and the Gentiles are going to suffer at the hand of this demon you can call him Abaddon if you like or Apollyon if you like or a name in Hindi or English or whatever name you like they're going to come and torture you if you have not forgiven others and if your heart is not right if you are not washed in the blood of the lamb and if you are not taken out that's clear and then we read in verse 12 onward the first woe is past behold two woes are still coming after these things verse 13 the sixth angel we're still in the seven trumpets we've finished just five trumpets here's the sixth one and the sixth angel sounded and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God one thing to the sixth angel who had the trumpet release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates now the river Euphrates is one of the broadest rivers that flows down the nation of Iraq in the Middle East and it says here there are four demons who are tied up there at that river I have no difficulty in believing that and it's going to be a center of war as it is right now this long drawn out war that's gone on between Iraq and Iran for years I think is nothing compared to what's going to come near that river Euphrates in a little while there are four demons tied up there and it says here these four demons are going to be released and that's going to bring on a tremendous war in the final days we'll come to that in chapter 16 but here it says these demons who've been prepared for the hour and the day and the month and the year were released so that they might kill one third of mankind now in chapter 6 verse 8 we saw that one fourth of mankind was already killed by the ashen horse which is followed by death and Hades now four billion people in the world one fourth is killed in chapter 6 verse 8 how many are left? three billion and out of that three billion here one third more are killed how many are left? two billion that reduces the world's population by half again it is demons multitudes of them verse 16 the number of the armies of the horsemen was two hundred million two hundred million demons let loose on the face of the earth along with all the existing ones that are already there I heard the number of them and this is how I saw in the vision the horses and those who sat on them the riders had breastplates the color of fire and of hyacinth and of brimstone the heads of the horses are like the heads of lions and out of their mouths proceeds fire and smoke and brimstone and a third of mankind was killed by these three plagues by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone Jesus spoke about hell as a place of fire and brimstone well here are these people bringing the atmosphere of hell to the people on the earth we saw something of the atmosphere of heaven in chapter 7 in chapter 4 and 5 here is something of the atmosphere of hell fire and brimstone whatever they mean whatever they symbolize it's not something that anybody is going to relish it proceeded out of their mouths verse 19 the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails for their tails are like serpents and have heads and with them they do harm now God is using various types of symbolic language to teach us that there are going to be some terrible judgments on the earth when the day of the Lord is declared this is the day of the Lord and it's going to be a terrible time just the word terrible not being enough God uses various symbolic language to express the horribleness of exposing oneself to demons of not listening to the word of God when Eve listened to Satan in the garden of Eden she opened a door for the influx of demons into the human race Jesus has come and shut that door but we have to personally make that choice it says in Ephesians 4 27 give no place to the devil if I don't give any place to the devil in my life I'm not disturbed I'm not interested in know what chapter 8 and chapter 9 symbolize in the final days all I know is it's going to be something terrible it could be just like the the legion of demons got into the 2,000 figs it could be that these 200 million demons get into 200 million people and do some terrible things through them it could be quite likely and in spite of all this what do we read in spite of all this and the rest of mankind verse 20 who were not killed by these plagues imagine watching one third of the world's population wiped out yet they did not repent do you remember what the rich man who went to hell Jesus told about a rich man who went to hell and Lazarus went to heaven the beggar when the rich man went to heaven went to hell sorry he told Abraham who was in paradise please send Lazarus to go and tell my five brothers so that they should repent Luke 16 verse 30 it is the lack of repentance that sends people to hell and that's what we see here the rest of mankind did not repent verse 21 they did not repent that's repeated twice you'll come to it later on again they did not repent but what did they not repent of here it is idolatry devil worship worship of demons has increased in the 20th century much more than at any time in the history of the world idolatry worshiping idols of gold and silver including idols of money and position and honor on the earth murder which includes hatred they did not repent of their hatred and bitterness and murder their sorcery that is playing around with astrology palm reading reading in the newspapers what the stars foretell for you this week and various things dealing with demons in various forms fortune telling of various types sorceries the Greek word for sorcery is pharmakia from which we get the English word pharmacy and you could translate this word as drugs they did not repent of taking drugs there in Revelation nor of their immorality that is their adultery fornication and their stealing stealing taking things that don't belong to us these are the people who are going to be left behind the people who indulge in fornication theft drugs sorcery hatred murder idolatry worship of demons etc they are certainly going to be here and the judgments don't turn them around because their hearts have been hardened now we come to chapter 10 I saw another strong angel coming down out of heaven this is obviously some type of archangel since he seems to have such a fantastic appearance clothed with a cloud the rainbow was upon his head the symbol of God's grace his face was like the sun reflecting God's glory his feet like pillars of fire and he had in his hand a little book which was now open the book was sealed in chapter 5 but now all the seven seals have been opened and the book is open now and he placed his right foot on the sea and his left on the land and he cried out with a loud voice as when a lion roars and when he had cried out the seven seals of thunder uttered their voices now notice we've seen the opening of the seven seals and the book is open we've seen six of the seven trumpets we'll come to the seven trumpets in a moment in our next study but six trumpets have blown the last sevenfold trumpet has blown the church has taken up the judgments of God are falling upon the earth those who have been sealed among these Israelites alone are protected and now we hear of seven thunders what is contained in these seven thunders and when the seven seals of thunder verse 4 had spoken I was about to write and I heard a voice from heaven saying seal up the things which the seven seals of thunder have spoken and do not write them that is something hidden something hidden which God has not revealed John heard it he knew what it was and he was about to write it and it would have become a part of the book of Revelation at this particular stage but for some reason God has hidden it now I don't know what that is and I don't want to try and speculate but considering the seven seals and the seven trumpets and the seven bowls of rock that come later on in chapter 16 I certainly don't think it's anything very pleasant it's going to be probably something just as terrible as all the others that we have seen and that we are going to see now all these are various ways and means by which God is seeking to picture the terrible judgment that's going to come upon this earth because of its having rejected Christ and having followed the devil and having lived in sin and the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his right hand to heaven that's all self explanatory and swore by God by him who lives forever and ever who created heaven and the things in it and the earth and the things in it and the sea and the things in it I just want you to notice in the book of Revelation one thing I'll just mention it in passing here that the sea is always spoken of as separately from the earth heaven we think heaven and earth it says in Genesis 1 1 in the beginnings God created thee heaven and the earth the sea was not created in the beginning the sea was created later during the six days in Genesis 1 and there's something connected with the sea which has to deal with evil spirits and demons which we shall perhaps look into later when we come to another chapter and I just want you to notice that here the one who created heaven the earth and the sea that there shall be no longer delay God is going to do this work of judgment quickly He's going to complete it quickly but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel when He is about to sound then the mystery of God is finished as He preached to His servants the prophets and so we see that the seventh angel sounding is going to be the final end of all the judgments and the mystery of God will be finished as He has spoken to His servants the prophets now what is the mystery of God? now in the New Testament this word mystery occurs a number of times and mystery means a secret which cannot be understood without God's revelation it's not a secret that just cannot be understood it's a secret that can be understood only if God reveals it that's the meaning of a mystery and basically I don't want to go into a detailed study now of all the mysteries mentioned in the New Testament but I want to say that all the mysteries can be basically summed up under two headings the mystery of godliness 1 Timothy 3.16 and the mystery of iniquity 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 7 most of the mysteries or all of them can basically be summed up under these two headings the mystery of godliness and the mystery of iniquity the mystery of godliness is the truth the mystery of iniquity is the lie I just want to explain those statements now what is the mystery of godliness? let's turn to 1 Timothy 3.16 under the mystery of godliness I want to subdivide it into three sections A, B and C the mystery of godliness three parts to it first part 1 Timothy 3.16 here it speaks in the last part of verse 15 that the church of the living God is the filler and support of what? the truth what is the truth? great is the mystery of godliness Christ was manifest in the flesh and was pure in His spirit beheld by angels proclaimed among the nations this Christ manifest in the flesh who lived a pure life was proclaimed among the nations of the world believed on by a few people in the world and He was taken up to glory that is the mystery of godliness basically it means this that even though you have a flesh you need not sin that's the message that comes through Jesus Christ coming in our flesh and yet being pure in His spirit even though you have a flesh you need not sin that is the truth and the church verse 15 is supposed to be a filler to hold up this truth but it has not held up this truth for many centuries but now once again in these last days God is raising up the church in different parts of the world to hold up this truth Christ has come in the flesh and He's been pure in His spirit we too can walk as He walks now the second part of this mystery of godliness is in Ephesians 5 notice here in 1 Timothy 3.16 it's called a great mystery this is one of the great mysteries of scripture Ephesians 5.32 the second part of this mystery is also called a great mystery Ephesians 5.32 this mystery is great which mystery? verse 31 the two becoming one flesh the husband and wife becoming one flesh this mystery is great Ephesians 5.32 but I speak concerning Christ and the church so this is the second part of the mystery of godliness that Jesus Christ has got a bride who is also walking as He walks walking in the same flesh and overcoming sin and the third part of it is in 1 Corinthians 15 verses 51 and 52 which we already saw a little earlier I tell you a mystery 1 Corinthians 15.51 in the moment, in the twinkling of an eye when Jesus comes the trumpet will sound and we shall be raptured verse 51, this is also called a mystery now we come to the mystery of iniquity 2 Thessalonians 2.7 2 Thessalonians 2.7 it says the mystery of lawlessness or iniquity is already at work and here it speaks about lying in verse 10 deception of wickedness and lying signs and wonders, verse 9 they did not receive the love of the truth, verse 10 because they loved a lie or loved the lie what is the lie? now I'll tell you what the lie is listen carefully the lie which satan told Eve in the Garden of Eden you know what it is? you can sin and get away with it you can sin and God won't punish