The Jewish Final Solution to the World's Problem - Revelation - Demonic Hordes Are Released

[0:00] Would you open your Bible, please, to Revelation chapter 9? I have some propositions to share with you before Gary comes to read the text.

[0:14] And I intend to try my best to work in a few minutes for Q&A when we finish, because I'm confident that the subject matter will no doubt generate a lot of questions.

[0:27] So, for many who will be hearing this present content from Revelation 9, it will be very difficult for you to process.

[0:41] The reason being the introduction of the supernatural on a scale heretofore unimagined and certainly unexperienced. For those who deny the supernatural in any venue, and they are those whom we call naturalists, they will simply dismiss this content as so much mythology.

[1:06] By definition alone, they simply rule out the possibility of these events ever occurring. But even for those committed to the authority of the Bible, many, even of them, will not be able to take the events and their descriptions literally.

[1:23] Literally. In our previous session, dealing with chapter 8, we gave you several examples of the confusion and disagreement among commentators who refuse the literal interpretation.

[1:38] And in doing so, there is no possible check or even a limit that can be set on man's imagination. The far-fetched interpretations we saw many come up with were even more difficult to embrace than simply embracing the literal.

[1:55] Many who reject the literal interpretation have adopted the motto, Because these grotesque things recorded herein have never been, therefore they cannot be.

[2:11] Simply because we have never experienced in the present, therefore they cannot exist in the future. Such a position is illogical and fallacious.

[2:23] It is tantamount to saying that God has already played all the cards he has, and his creativity is exhausted.

[2:35] Before we read the text, there are four things I wish to impress upon you before we actually engage chapter 9. And if you could keep these in mind as we are working our way through the chapter, it would be very helpful.

[2:51] Item number one. It is the divine principle of God using evil to punish evil.

[3:04] He did this repeatedly in the Old Testament regarding the Philistines to chasten Israel, the Assyrians to chasten and lead captive the northern ten tribes of Israel in 722 BC.

[3:18] He used the evil Babylonians to chasten and lead captive the southern tribes of Judah and Benjamin into Babylonian captivity under Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BC.

[3:32] And then in New Testament times, God allowed the pagan evil Romans to overrun, subjugate, and occupy Israel before, during, and after the time of Christ.

[3:44] All these instances employed evil sources to address the evils of God's own people, the Israelites. In addition, he used various prophets to warn the people that unless they repented and turned to him, this is what he would do.

[4:06] They didn't, and he did. But this, this content contained in Revelation 9 actually finds God utilizing the evil one himself.

[4:24] The very cheapest of the fallen angels called Abaddon, the destroyer, otherwise known as Satan or the devil.

[4:37] Both Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 depict an incredibly proud person in the form of the chiefest of angels who actually believes he has the wisdom and power to dethrone the Almighty.

[4:56] His is the ultimate, the consummation of pride. Not only so, but mankind in the majority of those living during Revelation 9 and onward will defy the God of heaven knowing full well who he is and what he can do.

[5:20] Nevertheless, they are actually ready to defy and take on the deity himself. Now that is unthinkable.

[5:33] For these evil people living during this time to suspect that there may be a supreme being behind all of the things that are being brought upon them and therefore they will oppose him with everything they've got.

[5:47] That's one thing. But for them to actually know that this is the creator, sustainer of the universe, they are going against and still do it?

[6:04] That requires a special kind of pride. And that is an ugly depiction of the depths of the human heart because these will be full-fledged members of the human race.

[6:21] not very many of us would begin to suspect that the human heart is capable of pride and rebellion on that level.

[6:36] And of course, we exclude ourselves from that possibility. And if we are to be excluded, it is only because we are already in Christ.

[6:47] but for those who are not, these depths of depravity are available and potentially active in all unbelievers.

[6:58] their pride and their arrogance, that is, the people who are living during this time. It is the time of Jacob's trouble.

[7:10] It is the time of great tribulation. It is the time that our Lord described in the Olivet Discourse that had never been seen by humans before and never would be seen again.

[7:21] Their pride and arrogance will be fueled and influenced by the successes of the Antichrist who will in turn be energized by this fallen angel, Lucifer, who has become Satan.

[7:40] And item number four, I'm sorry, item number three, well, let's just combine that with four because it's very close and in the ballpark.

[7:56] No, let's not. Let's not. The third is actually tied to the second and it stems from human arrogance and rebellion. Although this has always been resident in all of our fallen human hearts, never has it been put on display via such defiance, rebellion, and unwillingness to repent, even though man living then will know full well who he is defying and opposing.

[8:25] We have but to consider and let's do this for just a moment before Gary comes to read. Turn with me, if you would, to Revelation 9 if you're already there and look at verse 20 and 21.

[8:39] And the rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues did not repent of the works of their hands so as not to worship demons and the aisles of gold and silver and of brass and of stone and of wood which can neither see nor hear nor walk.

[8:58] And they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts.

[9:10] And the sorceries as we pointed out in the past is the word in the Greek pharmakeia from which our word pharmacy comes and it has to do with drugs.

[9:21] The tribulation period is going to be one that will be seriously and severely engaged in the likes of a drug culture that you cannot imagine.

[9:34] It is going to permeate everywhere all over the globe. And then in Revelation 17 if you would look there for just a moment please I just want to read a verse or so to establish something.

[9:49] Revelation 17 and 14 These will wage war against the Lamb who of course is the person of Christ and the Lamb will overcome them because He is Lord of Lords and King of Kings and those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful and they are going to knowingly intelligently if you can imagine my use of that word it would seem like intelligence has escaped them and are bordering on insanity but I say intelligently because they will know and understand full well what they are doing.

[10:33] and then the last is in Revelation 11 and verse 10 and those who dwell on the earth this is a phrase that John is going to use in Revelation a number of times and the expression while on the surface it seems well of course it's quite obvious where else would they be dwelling but on earth but it means conveys the idea in the original language that those for whom the earth is everything they are all wrapped up in planet earth they are in love with the world and this is the world of which John speaks in his first epistle when he says love not the world neither the things that are in the world for those who love the world the love of the father is not in him this is speaking of that kind of mentality and that is what is going to be realized so believers our citizenship is in heaven from which we look for the savior our lord

[11:47] Jesus Christ they have no interest in that at all all they are interested in is planet earth and the here and now and that is the expression that is given there and then the last item that I want you to consider before we look to the text is the existence of angelic beings both fallen and unfallen are every bit as real as the existence of human beings they simply do not appear in our sphere of being at the present they were very much in appearance during the age and dispensation of Israel but are far less obvious during this present church age or the dispensation of the grace of God very logical reason for their prominence during this time in the revelation in keeping with last things is simply because the church age will have been over it will be passed when these things are occurring the rapture has occurred the dispensation of Israel

[12:54] Israel has returned Israel will be right back in the thick of it on the front burner once again and they will be objects of persecution throughout the world persecution will of course be engineered and energized by the Antichrist who will depict the Jewish people as scapegoats for the entire world and it will be a repeat of the Holocaust only on a much greater and more brutal scale than was realized during World War II if that is possible it is now what we will be sharing with you from Revelation 9 in fact from the whole book of Revelation it is now the 70th week of Daniel the time of Jacob's trouble it has Jewishness written all over it and is accompanied by things supernatural and that is something that we are going to have to get accustomed to as we go through the Revelation because there are going to be items that will surface and some have already surfaced by the way that are simply too difficult for us to believe because of our limited experience and sphere of reference right here on earth we know what we are accustomed to we know what we have seen we know what is doable we know what is logical and these things in Revelation don't fit they don't fit that model these are not ordinary they are not predictable they are not customary they are not within our realm of experience at all they are in a very real sense otherworldly and there is going to be more angelic activity in the book of Revelation both of fallen angels and unfallen angels than there has been in all of the rest of the Bible put together and the reasons for that I think will surface as we go along so Gary if you will come now and read for us as you folks follow along the first twelve verses of Revelation chapter nine good morning interesting thing that I want you to think about as I read this is the description of the locust and if you can use your imagination and picture in your mind this description chapter nine one through twelve then the fifth angel sounded and I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth and the key of the bottomless pit was given to him he opened the bottomless pit and smoke went up out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit then out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth and power was given them as the scorpions of the earth have power they were told not to hurt the grass of the earth nor any green thing nor any tree but only the men who

[16:54] do not have the seal of God on their foreheads and they were not permitted to kill anyone but to torment for five months and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man and in those days men will seek death and will not find it they will long to die and death flees from them the appearance of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle and on their heads appeared to be crowns like gold and their faces were like the faces of men they had hair like the hair of women and their teeth were like the teeth of lions they had breast plates like breast plates of iron and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots of many horses rushing to battle they have tails like scorpions and stings and in their tails is the power to hurt men for five months they have as king over them the angel of the abyss his name in

[18:37] Hebrew is Abaddon and in the Greek he has the name Apollyon the first woe is past behold two woes are still coming after these things a biblical woe is the time of very special and extraordinary tribulation and we are told that two woes are still coming at the end of verse twelve and if you will look at verse thirteen of chapter eight we read I looked and heard an eagle flying in mid heaven saying with a loud voice woe woe woe to those who dwell on the earth because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound there are seven seals that we have examined and the seventh seal introduces the seven trumpets and the seven trumpets after six of them sound the seventh trumpet introduces the seven bowls or the seven vials each of these is worse than the one before the vials will be the worst of all and they will come from

[20:05] God himself one almost gets the impression as we read through the revelation that the first series of judgments are principally involving those that man is able to bring upon man and it's pretty bad it's war and famine and starvation and everything that goes with it just like man has been capable of creating in the many wars that he has engaged in over the past several thousand years they always result in the same thing huge loss of life huge loss of wealth huge loss of virtually everything almost always accompanied with famine and starvation deprivation refugees and everything much like we're seeing right now in the Mideast where there are hundreds of thousands of people dispossessed because of the conflict in their area so all of these things are part of the woe that is mentioned here and when the fifth angel sounds and

[21:21] John says he saw a star from heaven and we have identified the stars as being angelic beings they are called stars because they are principal players they are not stars that are heavenly bodies such as you go out and look at on a star lit night that's not what these stars are these stars that the scripture refers to in revelation are principal players sometimes they are fallen angels sometimes they are unfallen angels and the name that they are given star relates to our use of the word star anytime you see the billing for a movie or for a play or an act or something starring and then it gives the name of the principal characters in the play or in the movie or whatever it is well these angels are stars they are principal players and they are going to have very very significant roles now

[22:23] I do not know I cannot tell you as John describes these stars these angelic beings sometimes are called great angels sometimes are called stars I do not know when John describes them here in the revelation and he depicts them as being four angels holding back the winds winds from the east the west the north and the south I don't know whether angels are going to be visible seen be doing that or whether they are as we know them to be invisible beings who just have authority and dominance over the elements and can fully control them that may be too I do not know and John does not tell us but he depicts what he sees here and what the angels are creating what they are doing are often utilized as symbols and then we translate those symbols into actuality so we read that this fifth angel sounded that is he blew his horn this is a ram's horn very loud very long and very labored requirement to blow that thing and when he did this star from heaven which had fallen to the earth receives a key of the bottomless pit which is given to him this star falling from heaven is none other than

[23:56] Lucifer Satan himself Christ refers to this I think it's in Luke's gospel when he said he beheld Satan fall and I think this is what the references has to do and make no mistake about it he does have access to heaven I do not understand that because if I were God I wouldn't allow him in but I'm not God so whatever purpose he has for allowing Satan in he takes advantage of it and Satan does have access to heaven there one of his chief objectives is to be the accuser of the brethren and if you read the book of Job it becomes very very apparent that Satan does have access to God in heaven and that he comes and goes and he has access to planet earth and we are told in first Peter five I think it's verse eight that be sober be vigilant for your adversary the devil walks to and fro upon the earth seeking whom he may devour he's always looking for a soft touch for targets and there are some people of course who are willing to accommodate him so we do not understand a great deal about

[25:18] Satan but we do understand that he is the epitome of evil he is a liar from the beginning he is a murderer the truth is not in him he never had an original idea in his life he is the great duplicator the great copycat but he has tremendous power and ability and yet keep in mind that Satan is no more than like a mad dog on a length of chain and God holds the other end of the chain and he can allow him whatever liberties he chooses and even in his evil he will serve God's ultimate purpose this key to the bottomless pit is a mystery in and of itself key in the Bible always speaks of authority and one who possesses the key simply has the ability to lock up or to unlock whatever is involved and I think this is at least partly involved in what our

[26:19] Lord said to Peter in Matthew 16 when he said I give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven and some of us believe and I am among them that Peter used that key when he gave the truth that Cornelius was seeking in Acts chapter 10 and invited him to put his faith in this Jewish Messiah so the key is a symbol of authority Christ has the keys of death and of Hades and life and death and we are not told that it is Christ here who gives the key to the bottomless pit to Satan but whoever it is it is a legitimate transaction the key is not wrested from him the star does not take the key he is given the key it appears to be an act of cooperation the bottomless pit where is it spent a great deal of conjecture over a number of centuries as to the location of the bottomless pit but that which seems to be the greatest favorite of the greatest number of writers is that this pit is located in the bowels of the earth how far down we do not know scientists are able to tell us that there is an enormous increase in the intensity of heat and of the temperature as you move toward the earth's core with this globe being about 25,000 miles in circumference and by the way we are not a perfect circle our globe is not completely circular it's a little oblong but if you were to examine the diameter of the earth it would be approximately 8,000 miles if you talk about pi r square and the circle and the radius and all of that it would be about 8,000 miles through so all you have to do is start digging and after you've dug 8,000 miles down you would pop up

[28:38] I guess in the land of the kangaroos something like that down under so if this conjecture has any validity at all and I'm not ready to take it to the bank but it may because what we base that on is that this bottomless pit the entrance to it and the exit from it appears to be right here on planet earth I have no idea where the face of it is but apparently he is going to know because this bottomless pit is also identified with Tartarus where angels are confined even now we are told by Jude and by 1st Peter or 2nd Peter that the angels that fell that kept not their first estate are confined in darkness in this place called Tartarus how long have they been there we are not told when they were confined but it appears that it might be in conjunction with their having rebelled against the authority of the

[29:46] Lord when 8,000 or however many there were one third of the angels fell with Lucifer they chose to throw in their lot with him and they may have been incarcerated from that time and if so they're still there they have been holed up in this place called the bottomless pit for all of these years what are they doing there have no idea how are they bound no idea other than to say they are there bound helpless unable to escape simply because of the spoken word of God we know that angels are spirit beings and they are not to be bound with ropes and chains and things of that nature and where that phrase is used I'm satisfied that that is figurative language because you cannot bind a spirit being with a rope or a chain they are immaterial so the one who said let it be and let there be light and there was light this same one who spoke is the one who by the force of his words is holding these angels in this prison this temporary prison they've been there all this time and now they're going to get out now they're going to be released and the one who is going to release them is Satan himself he opened the bottomless pit smoke went up out of the pit like the smoke now by the way

[31:28] I've told you before so say I now again we're going to see John using simile simile is a figure of speech it is a poetic expression and it always means the same thing it means like or as or as it were John is not saying these are locusts not saying that he's saying they are like locusts and the reason he uses this terminology like or as rather than trying to be specific and say yes for sure they're locusts no no no all John is doing and all he can do is utilize his own frame of reference with which he is familiar and as he looks at these utterly grotesque weird creatures the likes of which none of us have ever seen all John can say is it looks to me more like a weird kind of locust than any other thing now he was familiar with locusts

[32:36] I mean the real garden variety because there were locust plagues in the Old Testament and they were very familiar with them and the prophet Joel describes a plague of locusts and these are freaks of nature as it were and they swarm into a given area by millions and there is no way that they can be contained they have a voracious appetite they will devour every sprig of green vegetation within sight and they leave the area where they have been completely barren they just wipe out everything John's familiar with that kind of locusts and Joel is too and there have been occasions where some American farmers and European farmers have been familiar with the plague of locusts where they absolutely destroy everything these are entirely different these are demonic beings now

[33:44] I'm going to step aside here just a little and allow our imagination to roam I suspect that most of you have seen the Wizard of Oz I don't know how many times I saw it probably 12 or 15 times slipped through a lot of them because I was entertaining our retarded daughter Dawn Elizabeth and she loved the Wizard of Oz and I don't know how many times Barbara and I watched that thing together we know all the songs we know what's happening next we know that Dorothy Gales from Kansas and her little dog Toto and all the rest do you remember those really weird looking flying things that Hollywood came up with when they created to go off to the land of Oz and to serve the wicked witch remember that those flying creatures grotesque looking well they were just something that Hollywood dreamed up and you've never seen anything like that in real life nobody's ever seen anything like these in real life either but you know we human beings with our two eyes and one head and two arms and two legs we have developed the mistaken notion that we represent what could be considered normal of the creation of God and it is beside us to contemplate a being with six wings and with two wings he covers his eyes and two wings he covers his feet and with two wings he does fly where does that come from how weird is that and throughout

[35:35] Revelation a number of creatures are described the King James often calls them beasts other translations render them living creatures so we because probably because there are seven billion of us and who knows how many billion have already gone on and died as human beings we consider ourselves and the construction of our bodies the norm but God is very creative and he has created all kinds of other creatures besides human beings well just look at the animal world with which we are familiar but that does not begin to exhaust God's creativity so it goes much beyond that let us continue reading here they came forth locusts upon the earth and power was given them as the scorpions that is as the scorpions of the earth have power these are told that they should not hurt the grass of the earth nor any green thing now you see if these were normal locusts this is what they would be interested in but they are told leave those things alone nor any tree but only the men human beings and I take it probably includes ladies too mankind who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads well we know the 144,000 as we saw in chapter 7 and again in chapter 11 they will have the seal of

[37:16] God on their foreheads they are going to be completely free of any activity of these locusts or whatever you want to call them they were not permitted to kill anyone no power of death will be given to them but to torment for five months that's a long time to put up with torment five months 150 days of unrelenting pain just can't imagine that we are all familiar with people who who because of some medical condition they may be suffering live in perpetual pain I mean these dear folks undergo pain the likes of which you and I can't imagine 24-7 and they try this narcotic and that narcotic and we all know the danger of people getting hooked on opioids and many of these start out to be legitimate prescriptions from doctors but the person becomes so dependent on them and they are habit forming and the next thing they know they are hooked and we have literally today millions no exaggeration we have millions of people who are under the influence of these narcotics opioids many of which began to be legitimate doctors prescriptions and they morphed into something that often becomes illegal and that of course is to say nothing about all of the illegal drugs that are out there and peddled on the streets you're all familiar with that

[39:10] I'm sure much more so than you would like these are going to have the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man I don't know about you but if you've lived any length of time at all you've probably suffered a few bee stings just about everybody gets stung by a bee or a wasp or something sometime or other and it can be kind of painful but it is nothing I am told like a sting of a scorpion never experienced that don't want to but people who have been stung by a scorpion say that it induces excruciating pain the likes of which you just can't imagine it's very very intense and I suspect that there are probably antidotes for it but there will not be an antidote for this these men will be under such severe pain they will want to die they will want to take their own life sometimes people who are convinced that suicide is their only option take the position that

[40:19] I don't know what comes afterwards but it can't possibly be any worse than what I'm experiencing now therefore I'm going to take my own life and check out but that of course is something they do not know they are laboring under an assumption that it cannot be worse but that is an assumption that they should not make how can we explain this how much effort does it take for a person who is bent on on destroying themselves how much effort does it take to do that how much strength does it take to pull the trigger on a 38 or to plunge a knife into one's heart or stomach like Harry Harry how much energy does it take why is it that these would not be able to do so I don't know I can't speak to that medically I just have a suspicion and a suspicion is this that the toxins that these that these creatures may inject from their tail this this toxin whatever it consists of can very easily have a paralytic effect you know there are certain snake bites that act on the basis of paralyzing the muscles in the body and one of the muscles that is paralyzed is the breathing apparatus so that you simply cannot breathe you cannot get your air it it invades certain nerve tissues and causes paralysis and causes everything to shut down you may go blind before you die or deaf before you die all of these things are involved in just ordinary snake bites that are available to us here on planet earth this is something of a different caliber a different dimension and I want to emphasize this transcends the natural this is supernatural this is supernatural it is as if

[42:36] God is allowing all the possibilities to be pulled out it is as though things were kind of kept under control for the majority of mankind but during this period of time this is the greatest size this is the final wrap up this is the coming down of the curtain this is the last days of humanity as we know it and all the stops are pulled out and all of these devices come into play which have never been experienced before so when Jesus said it is a time such as the world has never seen before and will never see again in those days men will seek death and will not find it and they will long to die and death flees from them and the appearance of the locust was like there is that simile again he doesn't say they are horses don't make them horses

[43:38] John doesn't say they are horses he says they are like horses he is saying that is the only thing I can think of when I look at these things that I am seeing in this vision it reminds me more of a horse than it does anything else well then John you are saying it is a horse no no no it isn't actually a horse but what else can I call it actually probably all of us would be at a loss to name anything like that if it is something you have never seen before in your life all you can do is report what it looks most like to you and that is what John is doing weird this is really bizarre stuff like horses prepared for battle that is shielded armored in some way and on their heads as it were crowns like gold now again he's not saying they had gold crowns on their head he's saying that's what it looked like looked like they were wearing gold crowns

[44:46] I don't know what you call those things but that's what it looks like the only thing I can think of when I look at them is these gold crowns and their faces were like the faces of men I can identify with that I sure know what those look like and they had they had a human like characteristic to them now can you imagine how utterly weird these these things had to appear with these wings and tails and then to top it off you give them the face of a human being what in the world and how many of them do you think there are well that's later we'll get there and they had breast plates that's the armament they had breast plates like breast plates of iron and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots of many horses rushing to battle

[45:52] I have never heard the sounds that a locust horde or a swarm of locusts can make but I have heard recordings of them and it sounds like an incredible drone it almost sounds like the old B-52s flying overhead in formation you get this rumble and this roar and when you take millions of these locusts and I'm talking about the kind that infect planet earth you take millions of them with all of their fluttering wings at a time it sounds like a great motor firing up and coming off from a distance the sound of chariots well John is witnessing this in vision John never seen a motor before motors didn't exist 2000 years ago that's all new whatever this noise is being made

[46:58] John records it as such and they have tails like scorpions doesn't again he says like scorpions and in their tails is their power to hurt men for five months they have as king over them a leader the angel of the abyss this is the bottomless pit his name in Hebrew is Abaddon and in the Greek he has the name Apollyon and the word Apollyon in the Greek literally means the destroyer that's his specialty that's what he does and he does it very well he's very efficient he is the destroyer he is the counterfeit of God who is a creator and his plan is to thwart the plan and program of

[48:02] God in any way that he can so God creates and God brings to life and Apollyon destroys and he brings death that's what he's all about and he's the great deceiver the first woe is past behold two woes are still coming after these things and we'll have to wait until 1114 before we see woe number two but each of these will be more intense than the one before and then when the vials are loosed or the bowls as they are sometimes called there will be six of those as well seven for the whole picture and that will be the most intense of all so during the first part of this tribulation period man will be having his way with man and there will be war and famine and pestilence and everything that goes with it then in the second part of it which is what these trumpets are dealing with this is the second part of the seven year tribulation it is going to involve all that satan has in his bag of tricks that he is going to pull out and utilize that is going to be worse than what the problems were under the seals this will be intense like the world has never seen but the worst is yet to come and that's when God himself empties his six files upon the earth and one would think that with the pressure increasing and intensifying that man would come to his senses and repent and you know there will be a number who will and they will be repenting and be converted because of the efforts of the 144,000 who are going to have a tremendous ministry and the only reason they're going to have a tremendous ministry is because they are indestructible otherwise they would be eliminated too they are going to have a tremendous ministry worldwide and they will be bringing people to

[50:27] Christ in the tribulation period and many of them will be martyred for their faith shortly after coming to faith and they will be put to death by the antichrist and by these who are involved with this and we'll see this develop later on in the book of the revelation so this is what is in store for the world in so far as chapter nine is concerned at least the first half of it and I want you to note if you will the fallout of this in chapter nine is summed up in verse 21 they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts so this deals with the incorrigibility of the human heart and what I would like to do now is close with a word of prayer and I would encourage each of you if you would please if you have questions regarding this passage and I certainly understand that you do feel free to write out your questions just on a scrap of paper the back of a bulletin or something like that if you have questions that you want and I don't care who submits them you don't have to sign them it doesn't make any difference just drop your questions in the offering box on your way out and if there are enough questions we will devote next week to just

[51:56] Q&A if there are not enough questions then we will go on and finish the chapter so would you pray with me please Father we examine this passage of scripture and we do not see one shred of grace surface in what we have discussed this is not a time of grace dispensation in the age of grace will have passed yet in your mercy there is still the availability of deliverance for those who have an ear to hear and we recognize that the 144,000 will have an effective ministry and will usher many into the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ we are grateful for every one of them but for an unrepentant earth as is depicted here we can only see your absolute pure justice at work it is not a bad thing when men receive what they deserve it is a just thing it is a righteous thing and this is what you deal in and yet in wrath you remember mercy and we are grateful that you do for the sobering content of this passage this morning if it has spoken anything to those of us who are here now let it be that we live in a privileged generation who have the ability to escape anything of this magnitude that is in store for this world that we can put our case in the hands of the

[53:52] Lord Jesus Christ receive his salvation his forgiveness and his eternal life and we need not be concerned about any of these things that are coming upon the world we recognize that in your righteousness and in your justice evil and evil men must be dealt with and you are going to do that we are grateful that you are a God of absolute justice and righteousness and we are glad that your righteousness was satisfied through the payment that Jesus Christ made on our behalf and father if there is anyone here this morning boy or girl man or woman who can honestly say I have never really put my faith and trust in Jesus Christ as my savior but I certainly want to do that and with all of my questions and fears and doubts uncertainty I want Jesus to be my savior I want his righteousness to be imputed to my account and as best as I know my heart and mind

[54:58] I want to put my trust in him even now dear friend if you make that your prayer be sure to tell someone before you leave here this morning or let me know because I have some literature items I'd like to share with you thank you father for what you've been pleased to reveal to us this morning difficult material though it is and in some ways very depressing and yet we make no apologies for your word we thank you for it and every aspect of it dismiss us now we pray in Christ's name amen