The Jewish Final Solution to the World's Problem - Revelation, Part 16- The Four Horseman of the Apocalypse

[0:00] Please turn to the book of Revelation, to chapter 6. And this morning we'll be looking at the entire chapter.

[0:14] Revelation chapter 6. The first seal, rider on white horse.

[0:28] Then I saw when the lamb broke one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying, as with a voice of thunder, Come.

[0:44] 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 him to conquer.

[1:00] The second seal, war. When he broke the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, Come.

[1:11] And another, a red horse, went out. And to him who sat on it, it was granted to take peace from the earth, and that men would slay one another, and a great sword was given to him.

[1:28] The third seal, famine. When he broke the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, Come.

[1:38] I looked, and behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand.

[1:49] And I heard something, like a voice in the center of the four living creatures, saying, Come. A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not damage the oil and the wine.

[2:11] The fourth seal, death. When the lamb broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, Come.

[2:24] I looked, and behold, an ashen horse, and he who sat on it had the name Death. And Hades was following with him.

[2:38] Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, and with famine, and with pestilence, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

[2:52] The fifth seal, martyrs. When the lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained.

[3:15] And they cried out with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, will you refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?

[3:31] And there was given to each of them a white robe. And they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also.

[3:57] The sixth seal, terror. I looked when he broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood.

[4:20] And the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind.

[4:34] The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.

[4:50] Then the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the commanders, and the rich, and the strong, and every slave and free man, hid themselves in the caves, and among the rocks of the mountains.

[5:07] And they said to the mountains and to the rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the presence of him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb.

[5:23] For the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand? It is my intention this morning to try best I can to work in a time of Q&A.

[5:45] Don't know that we'll be able to do it because there is a lot of content to cover, but nonetheless, I would enjoy entertaining your questions or comments because of the sobriety of the material we'll be covering, and the fact that it's right here before us.

[6:02] So, as we look over this chapter and what John is revealing, we see a great deal of symbolism, and it is marked in these four horsemen of the apocalypse.

[6:16] And I just want to say, as regards symbolism in the Bible, and for your information, there are no horses in heaven. And there are not supposed to be.

[6:30] What John is seeing by way of these four horsemen riding these different colored horses is visionary. It is never intended to be, nor is it ever inferred, that these are literal, actual horses, hoofs, and manes, and all the rest.

[6:48] But these are being portrayed to John in a vision. It is almost as if he is looking at a gigantic television screen, and he is seeing these things acted out before him.

[7:03] As we come to the Revelation, some might ask the question, and it is a legitimate question, what is it with all of these symbols? These symbols that you say mean something, and the white horse, where the rider has a bow, but no arrow, that is symbolic of the potential for war, but not the reality for war, because the rider is inadequately equipped for war, in that he has only a bow.

[7:36] But the rider of the next horse is that one, which is riding a red horse, and he is given to make war upon the earth.

[7:47] That's going to be next in the order of sequence. There will be war. This is what Christ is speaking of in Matthew 24 and the Olivet Discourse.

[7:59] There shall be wars and rumors of wars. And then, we read about the black horse, and the black horse is significant of that which always accompanies war, and that has to do with famine, shortages of food, people starving to death.

[8:15] And then, of course, the rider of the fourth horse, the fourth horse is the pale horse, and that is a picture of death itself. So, we may wonder, why all the symbolism?

[8:28] Why do you suppose God has not spoken in just plain, straightforward, literal language about these things that are going to come upon the earth?

[8:39] Why has he resorted to symbols? And the answer, I think, is rather simple when you stop to think about it. He has already spoken in great abundance, literally, and straightforward, so as to not be misunderstood.

[8:54] And the symbols that he is using here is simply an additional venue of communication or vehicle of communication that he is using to express to human beings what is going to transpire.

[9:09] Symbolism is an adjunct and is secondary to the plain language that has already been abundant as offered through all the writing prophets from Isaiah to Malachi, in addition to the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24 by Christ himself.

[9:26] Add to all that the straightforward prophecies in Acts 2 and 3, in Romans, in 1 Corinthians, in 1 and 2 Thessalonians, in 1 and 2 Peter, and in Jude.

[9:39] What do all of those have in common? They have all spoken of the end times, not with symbols, but with plain, straightforward language.

[9:50] The symbols that are used here in the Revelation and also in certain passages in the Old Testament, particularly in the book of Daniel, are simply God's insistence on covering the whole of the territory when it comes to explaining and revealing himself and his plan and program to men.

[10:13] It is as if God is using every avenue available. all is an act of his grace, for the thought seems to me to be that if you don't get it one way, you'll get it another way.

[10:26] But it is all intended that we get it. So God is pulling out all the stops and is, through gracious disposition of his, is giving gracious warnings to prepare for what is coming.

[10:38] He places him by, man may prepare for it by placing himself in the safety of salvation which is provided in Christ. And now, here as chapter six opens, let me remind you, if I may, of what transpired in chapter five, although we will not be returning there.

[10:58] But chapter five concludes with the four and twenty elders falling down, worshiping and praising and singing praises to God.

[11:09] But as chapter five ends, the time for singing and worship of the Lamb is now over. The time has arrived for the Lamb to become the Lion.

[11:26] And now, the time for judgment has arrived. And that's what chapter six is all about. As each of the seals in Revelation six are broken, the wrath of the Lamb begins to be extended on earth.

[11:47] Now, symbolically speaking, how wrathful can a Lamb be? A Lamb we automatically think of as just a tender, sweet, cuddly little bundle of fur or fuzz.

[12:00] Innocent, harmless. But not this Lamb. This Lamb is coming to exact the wrath of God.

[12:15] And men are going to cry out for the mountains to fall on them to hide us from the wrath of the Lamb. And you know what is significant about that?

[12:25] And this is very, very important to understand. The time is coming when man who is going to be on the receiving end of the punishment of God will know who the source of the punishment is.

[12:41] Now, it's one thing to be able to assume that it's from nature, that it's just Mother Nature is angry. But no, there won't be any mistaking this.

[12:52] They will know that it is from God Himself. And there will be two predictable responses. responses. One will be a responsible response, whereby they will acknowledge their sin, repent of their sin, put their faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.

[13:14] There will be those who will, there will be those who won't. They will dig in their heels, they will stiffen their neck, they will not be turned, they will defy, they will rebel, and they will continue doing so, even though it will cost them their life.

[13:33] And there have always been these two categories, and it will not be any different, even though God will be tightening the screws on humanity, and things will be getting tougher and tougher and tougher.

[13:47] There are still those who will shake their fist at God and refuse to repent. Cataclysmic events are going to occur throughout the earth.

[14:00] great complex of physical convulsions on the earth. All will constitute but the beginning of what is to come.

[14:12] Jesus described this in Matthew 24 and verse 7 when he says, these are the beginning of sorrows. There is a lot more to come.

[14:24] and that compels me to turn now to a commentary, and I've got probably 40 or 50 different commentaries on the book of the revelation.

[14:36] You would be surprised how much they are all over the map when it comes to interpretation, the meaning of the symbols, and so on. And some I found to be much more profitable than others, and they are among my best friends, those books that occupy my shelves, and I've been collecting them for the last 60 years, and they have served me very, very well.

[14:57] And one that I wish to call your attention to now is written by Dr. Henry Morris, and the reason I am referring to him is partly because of his background, not only his interpretive skills for the revelation, but Dr. Henry Morris teamed up with John Whitcomb in the 1960s, and they authored that monumental volume that really kicked off a new appreciation for the flood of Noah and for creationism as opposed to evolution.

[15:30] And the book was called The Genesis Flood, and we have read it and re-read it with great relish, and it is one of the classics in that particular genre.

[15:41] So Dr. Henry Morris, before he became an author and became the founder of the Institute for Creation Research, was on the faculty at Virginia Polytechnic Institute for a number of years where he taught as a professor of hydraulic engineering, and he's a man who knows a great deal about water and its destructive power and its unpredictability.

[16:07] And he has written a couple of commentaries, and one is on the Revelation, and the other is, of course, on the book of Genesis. Genesis. Now, someone who would not appreciate the connection would wonder, why in the world would someone write commentary on two books that are so diverse?

[16:27] The first book in the Bible and the last book in the Bible. And the answer is, they are not diverse at all. Revelation and Genesis are very closely connected, and the book of Revelation refers to events in Genesis a number of times, and we will see that as we work our way on through it.

[16:46] So, Dr. Morris has, like many other scholars, had noted the vital connection between the first book of the Revelation of God and the last book of the Revelation of God, and that's what gives you a perspective as to everything then that is in between.

[17:03] There is a beginning and there is an ending. And he has addressed some of the cataclysmic things that are going to take place upon the earth, and I think he has better credentials for doing so than what the average Bible teacher would have, just because of his secular background in the field of hydraulics and engineering, wherein he served for so many years in the state of Virginia.

[17:29] So, I'm going to begin just reading some of his comments and the references, and I'll invite you to follow along. I am not apologizing for reading the material simply because it is so vital, and I find it deeply interesting in connection with the text, and I think you will too.

[17:53] Bear in mind, if you will, that when these things occur, those who are believers will have been removed from the scene. We will not be experiencing these things.

[18:05] The rapture of the church or the translation will have already taken place. We are going to avoid these. We are going to escape these, not because we are somehow worthy, or not because we do not deserve to be here or anything of the kind, but simply in accordance with the grace, plan, and program of God, he has seen fit to remove the church, which is the body of Christ, before he resumes unfinished business with the nation of Israel.

[18:32] And even then, when that occurs, the church age, which is the dispensation of the grace of God, will have fulfilled its completion.

[18:43] It will have come to an end. That body wherein Jew and Gentile are melded together in one new person constituting the body of Christ, that is removed from the scene in a moment in the twinkling of an eye.

[18:58] 1 Thessalonians 4, we've looked at, and 1 Corinthians 15. We don't know when that's going to take place. It could take place before I finish the next sentence. But that is going to precede these events in the Revelation.

[19:13] And the world is going to be left behind to suffer what is following here. And I'm just going to jump in with verse 12 and the opening of the sixth seal, which reads, And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and lo, there was a great earthquake.

[19:33] Now let me just say this. This word is mega in the Greek. It is a mega earthquake, not just an earthquake.

[19:44] This baby is not going to be 6.7 on the Richter. This may very well break the Richter. This is going to be something. This is going to be an earthquake the likes of which the earth has never had a quake.

[19:59] There was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood.

[20:10] Now it doesn't say the moon became blood. It says it became as blood. What's going to cause that? Dr. Morris says, The opening of this next seal marked another great catastrophe on earth.

[20:28] This one, however, was not a continuing condition as under the four horsemen of the first four seals, but a single great complex of physical convulsions on the earth.

[20:42] In its brevity and intensity, however, it spoke more clearly and eloquently to the inhabitants of the earth than had any of the others. They had already been experiencing war and famine and pestilence, as well as general violence in the world.

[21:00] For that matter, even earthquakes had been occurring in divers places for many years, but most men had refused to see in these a divine warning.

[21:13] The Lord Jesus Christ had even told his disciples that a worldwide state of war, accompanied and followed by famines, pestilences, earthquakes, fearful sights from heaven, and general troubles, would be a great sign of his coming and the end of the age.

[21:33] Matthew 24, 7, Mark 13, 8, Luke 21, 11. All these, Jesus said, would constitute the beginning of travail, that is, the first birth pains presaging the imminent coming of the new age.

[21:52] This complex of events, in fact, seem to occur for the first time in history in connection with the first world war, with a second and similar birth pang occurring in connection with world war two.

[22:06] I do not know that those actually figure in, but they may very well, and it is significant that both of these are referred to as world wars, involving a multitude of nations on both sides.

[22:23] The same combination of troubles will be repeated in the world for at least the third time as the seals are opened by the Lamb, but the calamities will be far more severe than before.

[22:36] Especially is this true of the great earthquake described here, which for the first time in history is worldwide in scope. All earthquakes that we have experienced up to this time are relatively localized, and the center or the core of where they began is generally able to be pinpointed in the scientific community, and they read their seismographs, and they can tell exactly how severe the earthquake was, and that enables them to know the extent of the damage and so on.

[23:16] But this is going to be a worldwide earthquake. I can't imagine anything like that.

[23:27] One gets the impression that none of the seven continents are going to escape the effects of this earthquake.

[23:37] Seismologists and geophysicists in recent years have learned a great deal about the structure of the earth and about the cause and nature of earthquakes.

[23:51] The earth's solid crust is traversed with a complex network of faults with all resting upon a plastic-like mantle whose structure is still largely unknown.

[24:04] Whether the crust consists of great moving plates is a current matter of controversy among geophysicists, so the ultimate cause of earthquakes is still not known.

[24:18] In all likelihood, the entire complex of crustal instabilities is a remnant of the phenomena of the Great Flood, especially the breakup of the fountains of the Great Deep.

[24:31] In any case, the vast worldwide network of unstable earthquake belts around the world suddenly will begin to slip and fracture on a global basis and a gigantic earthquake will ensue.

[24:50] This is evidently and naturally accompanied by tremendous volcanic eruptions spewing vast quantities of dust and steam and gases into the upper atmosphere.

[25:06] It is probably these that will cause the sun to be darkened and the moon to appear blood red. I remember I had relatives living in the northwest when Mount St. Helens blew and they said for a long period, a big period all around it, it was just like nighttime almost.

[25:29] You couldn't see. You couldn't see anything through all of the ash that had been falling. And seismologists and historical people tell us today that Lake Yellowstone, which is a beautiful lake that sits in Yellowstone Park, is actually the very top of the mountain.

[25:53] And the lake is a crater. That once was an active volcano. And as near as they can determine, that volcano blew its top like Mount St. Helens did somewhere in the 13 or 1400s.

[26:14] So we're talking six, seven hundred years ago. And we are told that even though there are no signs of it being active now, if it should become active and that should blow its top like Mount St.

[26:28] Helens did, it would make St. Helens look like a firecracker. And this thing would be so catastrophic and so huge and the explosion so great that if you plot this on a map in your mind's eye, Yellowstone is in the area of southern Montana.

[26:52] And it is going to blow its top. And it will cover Atlanta, Georgia with six to twelve inches of ash.

[27:07] We just cannot imagine something like that. Is this going to be involved in this grand eruption? We don't know. That is a possibility. Let me call one. The prophet Joel apparently speaks of this same time when he says, And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood and fire and pillars of smoke.

[27:31] The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood. Now, nothing is going to happen to the sun and the moon. They're still going to be in business as usual.

[27:43] But as you look at them, they're not going to appear that way. It will be as if somebody turned the light out on the sun. You won't see it. And the moon is going to give this mysterious red glow.

[28:00] This is in Joel 2.30 and 31. And I mentioned that before, not all of these things are spoken of by way of symbol. Some of it is very straightforward and direct, such as this very prophecy that we just shared from Joel 2.

[28:15] That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness.

[28:30] Zephaniah 1.15. Behold, the day of the Lord cometh. And that's this cataclysmic time that is coming. The day of the Lord.

[28:43] It's not 24 hours. It is a period of time that will encompass all seven years of this tribulation period. That will be the day of the Lord.

[28:54] And it is frequently referred to as such in numerous places in the Old Testament, especially in the Old as well as in the New. The day of the Lord cometh, cruel, both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate, and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.

[29:15] For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light. The sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.

[29:27] Isaiah chapter 13, verses 9 and 10. And these references that you read back in the prophets, Zephaniah and Isaiah and Jeremiah and so on, they just sound like so much poetry.

[29:40] And as you read them, you know that there is nothing in history that answers to these claims. And there isn't supposed to be.

[29:53] Because they are all spoken prophetically. And as the writer gave these things under inspiration, the writer is saying, this is what's coming. This is what you can expect.

[30:06] But Isaiah, 700 years before Christ was born, was saying things like this? Well, that ought not to be any problem for one who recognizes the inspiration and the authority of Scripture.

[30:22] God built all of that into this. And it's just part and parcel. It's just standard operating procedure for him. It ought not to be any surprise to us. Let me continue.

[30:41] When it talks about the stars of heaven falling to the earth in Revelation 6.13, as even a fig tree casts her untimely figs, the earthquake, says Dr. Morris, of verse 12, actually includes more than the solid earth.

[31:02] The word in the Greek, seismos, seismos, from which we get the word seismology, which is the scientific instrument that measures the intensity of an earthquake.

[31:13] seismos literally means shaking and can apply to the air or sea as well as the land. Now, how in the world could you shake the air?

[31:31] In Matthew 8.24, it is translated, tempest. To those on the earth, it will seem that the sky is shaking as well as the earth, and it will appear as though the stars themselves are being shaken loose from their moorings in the heavens and then plummeting to earth.

[31:51] For thus says the Lord of hosts, yet once in a little while, and I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land, and I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come.

[32:08] Haggai, chapter 2, verses 6 and 7. Listen, this stuff wasn't put in the text just to fill space. This has reality, substance.

[32:23] The word star, which in the Greek is the word aster, refers to any luminous body in the sky other than sun and moon.

[32:34] Obviously, the stars here are not the distant stellar objects we today call stars, but the language of the text seems to denote more than the meteorites commonly today called falling stars, which were already, no doubt, as familiar to John as they are to us.

[32:51] And of course, we know falling stars that are labeled that are not stars at all. They are meteorites, but they have a streak and a light to them, and they look like a star that is falling. In fact, it is not.

[33:01] The most likely identification of these particular falling stars is that a great swarm of asteroids that pummel the Earth. Such an event has never occurred in historic times, but scientists have long speculated about the probability of either past or future Earth catastrophes caused by encountering a swarm of asteroids.

[33:28] Such an encounter is a real possibility. Almost sounds like a science fiction movie that Hollywood's turning out, doesn't it? Where they have to get on a spaceship and go off to blow up something to save the Earth and so on.

[33:42] Such an encounter is a real possibility and would cause great devastation on the Earth near the various points of impact. A shower of giant meteorites might have the same effect.

[33:54] It might even be the trigger that will set off that global earthquake. This enigmatic prophecy reflects Isaiah 34 and verse 4.

[34:07] Here's what it says. And all the hosts of heaven shall be dissolved and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll and all their hosts shall fall down as the leaf falleth off from the vine and as a falling fig from the fig tree.

[34:25] The host of heaven is a phrase commonly used in scripture for the stars. Well, the stars of heaven will never actually be dissolved because the scriptures say they will shine forever.

[34:37] Psalm 148 verses 3 through 6. However, they will appear to dissolve for the same reason that the sun and moon are darkened. The dust and gases from the pillars of smoke erupting from the Earth's depths will screen and refract the light from all heavenly bodies.

[34:56] The departing of the heavens like a scroll is more difficult to understand. There seem to be two possibilities. Now, understand, he's not speaking dogmatically here.

[35:07] He's just saying of what could occur that could account for this. It may be this or it may be that. He's not dogmatic, but he's simply posing it as a possibility. One is that the clouds of dust will gradually spread across the sky, making it appear the sky is being rolled up.

[35:29] However, the use of the graphic term departed seems to indicate something more spectacular even than this. The other possibility is that the Earth's crust, highly unstable ever since the Great Flood, will be so disturbed by the impacting asteroids, the volcanic explosions, and the worldwide earthquakes that great segments of it will actually begin to slip and slide over the Earth's deep plastic mantle.

[36:06] Most geophysicists and seismologists today are pretty well convinced that the Earth has a layer of tectonic plates, kind of like shelving that is layered, and that when there is slippage in those tectonic plates way down, it could be even miles down below the surface of the Earth, that slippage is telegraphed up to the surface, and that's what results in an earthquake.

[36:39] earthquake. It is a part of the ground way down deep, giving way, and everything on top is collapsing into that new void or movement that has occurred, and you get on the surface of the Earth the enormous shaking that we call an earthquake.

[36:58] geologists, physicists, geophysicists for many years have been fascinated with the idea of continental drift, although strong evidence has been accumulating against any such phenomenon occurring in the present age.

[37:17] Several have published theories of a past naturalistic catastrophism involving what they call the Earth's shifting crust.

[37:29] Some such phenomenon may actually be triggered under this judgment of the sixth seal, dwarfing the damage occasioned by all the mighty earthquakes of the past.

[37:42] Those who reside in regions above such shifting crustal plates will observe the heavens appearing to move in the opposite direction, and it will seem as if they are being rolled up up.

[37:56] They won't be rolled up, but they will look that way. They will give that appearance, and in the process, every mountain and island will be moved out of their places.

[38:08] Do you understand that all of the islands throughout the Atlantic and throughout the Pacific, all of these islands are nothing more than mountains?

[38:23] mountains that are submerged mostly beneath the water, and it's only the top of the mountain that extends out of the water that allows people to live on it.

[38:37] That's all the Hawaiian islands are, and all the other, the Solomons and all the rest. They are just mountains sticking up out of the water, and they are all going to be moved.

[38:49] every mountain and island will be moved out of their places. It would seem that such an amazing phenomenon must be caused by some such area-wide slippages of the crust.

[39:05] Such a mighty display of cosmic power will finally gain the attention of the ungodly world, while I would think. including all of its political, industrial, intellectual, and military leaders, the very ones who had ignored the warnings of the previous judgments, and were persecuting and slaying those who were trying to bear witness to the world that the judgments were due to the wrath of the Lamb.

[39:38] And if the leaders were awed and frightened by the terrifying convulsions, even more so were ordinary people, both those who still enjoyed a measure of freedom, and those who were in bondage, the word doulos could apply both to slaves and to those who were as subjugated peoples, were forced to work in occupations not of their own choosing, such as in Red China and other slave nations, wherever possible, particularly the leaders, will flee to the great underground civil defense shelters that had been originally designed as protection against nuclear attack, or to the great natural caverns such as Mammoth Cave, hoping to escape the falling stars and other devastations on the surface.

[40:26] And he's quoting Revelation 6 and verse 16, and they will say to the mountains and the rocks, fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb.

[40:43] The inhabitants of the world, including even their leaders, are finally convinced of the foolishness of atheism and evolutionary humanism, acknowledging that the God of creation is indeed on his heavenly throne.

[40:58] They also will reluctantly recognize that he whom they had rejected, Psalm 2, verses 1 through 3, is now speaking to them in his wrath and vexing them in his sore displeasure.

[41:19] The testimony of those who had borne witness to them of this fact had been silenced by execution. But now the Lamb himself was angry, and his wrath is kindled but a little.

[41:35] And they were all about to perish from the way. Psalm 2, verse 12. These kings and judges of the earth were no longer boasting and threatening, but were quivering in their holes in the earth.

[41:50] They were not safe even there, as the sliding crust and quaking rocks caused many of their shelters to collapse on top of them. Even this, however, now seemed preferable to facing further judgments from the Lamb.

[42:03] And they even prayed for such quick destruction, for the great day of his wrath is come. And who shall be able to stand?

[42:17] Revelation 6, 17. This is referring to great underground bunkers that have been constructed in virtually every major nation in the world to protect themselves and the leadership and the government against nuclear attack.

[42:34] You may be sure that we have these in Washington, D.C., and it is way underground so that bunker busters or anything else could not reach it.

[42:45] And this is where a makeshift government would be set up in the event of a nuclear attack. And you may be sure that Moscow has the same thing, and so does London and probably Paris and certain other places because they know that the possibility always exists from somebody detonating a nuclear device and starting a nuclear war where there would be a maddening exchange and survivors and radiation and everything that would accompany it would be more horrific than anything we could imagine.

[43:22] And let me close with this last paragraph. Dr. Moore says, At least it was salutary that men were finally willing to acknowledge God and his omnipotence.

[43:35] It is absurd for a creature to imagine a vain thing, Psalm 2.1, thinking he can dethrone his creator, and this terrifying physical upheaval had forced them to recognize this fact.

[43:49] But, like the devils, they merely believed in God and trembled. still refusing to turn to him for forgiveness and salvation.

[44:00] Isaiah also foresaw this day, Enter into the rock and hide thee in the dust for fear of the Lord and for the glory of his majesty.

[44:11] The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. And they shall go into the holes of the rocks and into the caves of the earth for fear of the Lord and for the glory of his majesty when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.

[44:34] Isaiah chapter 2, verses 10 through 19. You cannot find anything in all the annals of human history that even begins to answer to this.

[44:44] So what then is the general response of unbelievers who, when they read something like this, just so much religious rubbish.

[44:55] Dismiss it. That's just some old, fogey Jew thousands of years ago with a beard and wearing a bathrobe that got all so-called inspired, wrote all of this stuff.

[45:06] It's just a bunch of religious gobbledygook. Don't pay any attention to it. Nothing to it. That's a common response of a great many in our culture today. I've often said, so say I now again, I think some of the very saddest words that will ever be uttered by a human being is when someone stands at the great white throne judgment before almighty God and all they can think of is is so.

[45:43] The Bible was really true after all. Yeah. It'd be too late then to do anything about it.

[45:59] Then amazingly, even this would pass. After these few terrifying days, the stars stopped falling and the terrible shaking ceased.

[46:10] the survivors emerged from their shelters and began again to rationalize their resistance to God.

[46:22] Get the impression that man is incurable. incurable. He is. He is incurable until and unless he embraces the truth that God has been pleased to reveal.

[46:37] Then there's hope for him. Until then, he will play every last card he possibly can before he would be willing to turn to the real source of help.

[46:47] the survivors emerge from their shelters began to rationalize their resistance to God. After all, these awful calamities could be explained scientifically.

[47:03] So perhaps they had been too quick to attribute them to God's wrath. I can see this just as plans day because I know this human being and what he's made of.

[47:16] I can see that, you know, we actually thought God had something to do with that. Now we know better. There's a scientific explanation and there will be experts. There will be experts arrive on the scene who will be able to explain it all away and the people out there will.

[47:36] So, there's a logical explanation to it all and they'll buy it. So what else is new? They will quickly set about rebuilding their damaged structures and become more resolute than ever in their opposition to the gospel of Christ.

[47:57] Maybe they'll even develop a motto called world strong. Can you see it? World strong. Is there any bright light in this at all?

[48:19] Yes, there is. Nevertheless, there were many who had really believed and were saved.

[48:31] They fearlessly gave a renewed testimony to the word of God and the eminence of his judgments and thus quickly they also joined the ranks of the martyrs at the heavenly tabernacle.

[48:47] And that will be coming up in our next study. Wow! In the midst of all the devastation and destruction and chaos and conflagration and everything, there are going to be those who will actually come to their senses and say, you know, this is all the wrath of the Lamb and this is what the long suffering of God has been holding off for centuries.

[49:23] and finally the cup of humanity and his sin has come full and God has said, that's enough. Solemn, solemn times.

[49:38] This is Revelation chapter 6 and I am indebted to the pen and the writing of Dr. Henry Morris. I've read a number of his articles and he is with the Lord now so wherever he misspoke in this he's got the real scoop by now.

[49:58] But this is as good or better than anything I've read along the subject and I've read a whole lot over the last 50 years and this fits the text and makes more sense than anything I've been able to come up with.

[50:15] So let's pray. Father, we marvel at what is coming upon this earth and yet there is no reason why we should because judgment has been promised upon an unbelieving world dating back to the time of Sodom and Gomorrah and we ought not to be surprised at what is coming because you will abide man shaking his fist and we marvel that you have waited as long as you have 2,000 years since the time you made the gift of salvation available to us through Jesus Christ and you have allowed this whole sin sick world to continue on this crazy path of disobedience and rebellion and denial and everything that goes with it we just marvel at your patience and long suffering and father is there someone here today or in the audience who will be listening to this audio to whom you are speaking and perhaps for the first time they've really seen some things clear and they recognize that provision has been made for them through

[51:38] Christ and that he really is their only hope before these events or after these events he is their only hope because he's the only one you've provided and we are so thankful that you have so our prayer for anyone outside the Lord Jesus would be their willingness to look at reality and look at the world as it is and look at history as it is and recognize that there is no valid reason whatever for rejecting the truth of what we have considered may they see the Lord Jesus Christ as being their only solution because indeed he is be willing to repent of their sin by simply acknowledging it and saying I know I'm just like everybody else I am a flawed human being I am what the Bible calls a sinner as is all of humanity and right now before God

[52:38] I want to acknowledge my sin I want to take responsibility for it I want to own it and make no excuses for it and then I want to thank God for the forgiveness that he has made available to me for my sin thank to Jesus Jesus Christ to pay to sin so as best as I know how with fears and doubts and questions I just want Jesus Christ to be my Savior I want to put my trust and confidence in him I want him to take my life and make it what he wants to make it because after all I owe my very life to him I just want to give it back thank you Jesus for being my substitute for dying in my place if that's your prayer God will hear it you should tell someone else so that they can encourage you be of help to you let me know if you've made a decision if you have further questions my time is yours

[53:41] I'll meet you in my office at your home anywhere you want to meet to talk about these things I have some literature that would be helpful to you so let me know if you have that need thank you father for this time that we have shared together sobering solemn as it is in the midst of it all we see the wonderful matchless grace of God still willing to be extended to those who will trust him and we are grateful thank you in his name amen I'm already over my time why don't we do this why don't we start next Sunday morning with Q&A okay that way I know you'll get some questions in so let's do that next Sunday we will start with Q&A you