Transcription downloaded from https://sermons.gracespringfield.com/sermons/43028/revelation-chapter-nine-and-ten/. Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions. Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt. [0:00] Once again, Father, we want to express our gratitude to you for making it possible for each one to be here today. None of us is here by accident. We are grateful for the presence of each one. [0:11] And we ask that as we engage the text, speaking about these things that are difficult even for us to imagine, because they are so removed from what we consider the norm, that they are hard to grasp. [0:26] And yet we once again remind ourselves that it is your infallible word that is setting forth these truths. And we need to be subservient as your servants and make our minds and hearts open to the truth that you have to reveal. [0:41] So we give this time to you with thanksgiving in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen. Amen. We've got a tremendous amount of angelic activity taking place in the end times. [0:59] Safe, I think, to say more so than at any other time in human history, even including the time when our Lord was here on earth and there were angels that were involved at his birth, there were angels that were there at the tomb, etc. [1:12] But you realize in the 22 chapters that we have in the book of the Revelation, angelic beings are mentioned over 60 times. [1:24] This is unparalleled, completely unheard of. And I want you also to keep in mind that as we are studying these issues, many of which are revealed to be symbolic, symbols always mean something that is real. [1:40] The symbol is an indicator, but it is not indicating nothing. It's indicating something. And in the vast majority of the cases, the symbol isn't all that difficult for us to figure out. [1:56] Usually we can appeal to other portions of scripture for light on that symbol. So in connection with the symbolic language and in connection with the utterly unorthodox, bizarre descriptions of the living creatures that are given throughout the Revelation, many times referred to as beasts, you need to remind yourself that this is not business as usual. [2:23] This is a highly, highly irregular time in the history of the world. There is going to be more angelic, more demonic, more supernatural manifestation on an almost daily basis, the likes of which has never occurred in the history of the world. [2:45] I suppose you could just throw it all under the general category of supernaturalism, one thing after another. Nothing is going to be in accordance with the way man is used to it. [2:59] It's going to be a whole new ballgame. And we've got these various facets revealed. And in the first one, we saw that the riders on the horse of the apocalypse are revealing to us the first payment, if you will, to humanity. [3:26] And in the second, which is what we are considering now, is the trumpets. And in the third will be the vials. So let me remind you again that in connection with the very first one, which is referred to as the seals, the scroll with the seven seals. [3:46] Remember, it is the seventh seal that opens and introduces the trumpets. Then we go through six trumpets, and we'll be covering the sixth one today. [3:57] And when the seventh trumpet sounds, which will not be until after an interim of a couple of chapters, because the seventh chapter, the seventh trumpet will not be blown until Revelation 11, 15. [4:11] There is a parenthesis in between. And the seventh trumpet will introduce the seven vials or the seven bowls. And I might not be accurate in my estimation, but this is the way it comes across to me. [4:28] And you can give it some thought. The first seven judgments have to do with the havoc and the devastation that man visits upon his fellow man. [4:43] And it's going to be really bad. But they give way to the trumpets. And the trumpet judgments have to do with the loosing of Satan and his demons to add to the devastation that man has been bringing. [5:05] So it is going to be an intensification, a worsening. In other words, can it be any worse than what man is going to be doing to his fellow man, which is brutal, violent, vicious? [5:20] Can it be any worse than that? Yes. And what will make it worse is what the demonic beings loose will do to man. [5:31] That's going to be even more intense. Well, can it get any worse than that? Yes. And that will be reflected in the bold judgments because in these. [5:46] It will be the almighty. Visiting the earth. With an even more horrendous judgment than those that preceded. [5:59] And then the end will come when that is finished. This is referred to in a session that we will look at this morning. Having to do with the mystery of God. [6:13] And we are, I think, told in no uncertain terms what the mystery of God is. And let me just throw out a little seed for your thinking right now. [6:23] One of the greatest mysteries that mankind has always had regarding the deity is this. How long is his long suffering? [6:37] How long, oh Lord, will you allow this to continue? How long will the injustice and the violence and the brutality be allowed to go on? [6:48] When are you going to do something? When are you going to step in and put an end to this? That is reflected in the mystery of God. [7:00] So let us delve into chapter 9 here. And I will be as brief as I can be in working through this material. I want to get into chapter 10 and, if possible, complete it. [7:11] The fifth angel sounded or blew his trumpet. John says, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth. [7:22] And to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. This is the abyss. And that's the way it's translated in the Greek. There is a distinction that ought to be made that is not reflected in the King James. [7:35] And it should be the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star having fallen. The star had already fallen. [7:45] John is not witnessing it falling. He is declaring that it is an already fallen star. And this star is not a star. It is an individual. [7:56] It is a person. And it is none other than Satan himself. To him, to this star, was given. And the word star, when used in the scriptures, sometimes it means a star. [8:09] An actual physical star. As a star of Bethlehem, etc. But sometimes the word star simply means a principal player. A principal character. Much as you would use the term a star of a movie or the star of a cast. [8:23] And this is the star that is involved here. And a key was given to him. The key of the bottomless pit. This is the abyss. And I suggest that this abyss or this bottomless pit is geographical. [8:40] It is located somewhere on this planet. I have no idea where. Could be down from the polar ice cap. Could be down from the sands of the Sahara. [8:51] Could be down from the ocean. I have no idea. But it is someplace in the bowels of the earth. And this bottomless pit, when it is opened, emits a smoke out of the pit as the smoke of a great furnace. [9:06] This is going to be a gigantic, well, Lomza translates it as smoke belching from a great furnace. This isn't going to look like some idyllic scene of smoke curling out of somebody's chimney. [9:20] This is going to be massive. And it is likely going to involve a huge amount of the surface of the globe. This is going to be the emission of smoke, vapor, fumes, the likes of which we can hardly identify. [9:36] We know something about volcanic eruptions and how it sends a cloud around the whole earth and sometimes creates darkness temporarily. But out of the smoke of the great furnace, it will be so huge that the sun and the air will be darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. [9:59] And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth. And unto them was given power as the scorpions of the earth have power. [10:09] These are demonic kinds of beings. We don't have any basis of comparison. [10:22] He does not say that they are locusts. He says that they are like locusts. I get the impression as I read through the revelation that John is continually groping for language that will describe what he is seeing. [10:37] Because these things are new to him. And all he can do is use language that is familiar to him in his reference bank. [10:49] So he is describing these things as what they remind him of. What they look like. And apart from that, he is at a loss for words. [10:59] But he does the best he can, I'm sure, in describing these things. And this is why the term is used so much like and as it were. [11:11] Because that is not a completely accurate description. It's just the best that anyone can do under the circumstances. To them was given power as the scorpions of the earth have power. [11:23] And it was commanded that they should not hurt the earth, nor any green thing, neither any tree, but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. [11:36] Now bear in mind, of course, that this is all taking place after the rapture of the church. This is during the 70th week of Daniel, the time of Jacob's trouble. [11:46] And the unbelievers that have been left behind are coping with these incredible times that they are dealing with on a daily basis. [11:57] And each day is going to bring new surprises and new challenges and new risks. These locust-like beings that are demonically generated will not be able to kill their subjects. [12:17] Permission to take lives will not be given to them any more than was not given to Satan to destroy Job. God told Satan that he could do anything he wanted to Job, but he would not allow him to take his life. [12:32] And these are going to experience the same kind of thing. And they are going to be tormented for five months. This is a biblical 150 days. [12:43] And their torment was at the torment of a scorpion when he striketh a man. And I think I pointed out to you that it has been recorded that the strike or the sting of a scorpion, and John, of course, is talking in terms of the Mideast insect, a large scorpion, has a venomous bite that is one of the most painful things that a human being can experience. [13:10] And a number of children who have been stung by Mideastern locusts do not survive. But for those adults who do, it is an agonizing, painful kind of experience, the likes of which most of us have never undergone. [13:26] And it is going to be so intense that men will seek death and not find it. And you know, in almost all cases of suicide, even in our day, there are usually only three reasons why anyone commits suicide. [13:47] One is they are out of touch with reality. They are not responsible for their own actions. And they take their life as what we would call an insane person. [13:59] And secondly, people may take their own life because they are undergoing such intense, agonizing, physical pain that probably none of us here have ever experienced, at least not for any length of time. [14:18] But it's unrelenting, unremitting, and it just cannot be cured. And their reasoning is, I don't know what death is like, but for me it would be a sweet release. [14:32] I prefer death to this. Whatever it is, it can't be worse than this. And they take their lives to escape from the physical pain. And then the third reason, of course, is that people may be undergoing such intense agony of soul with emotional pain and hurt and deprivation or anger. [14:53] However, many people, by the notes they leave behind, have actually taken their own life to try and get even with somebody else. [15:05] And the note makes it quite clear with a, see what you made me do, that kind of thing. But in this case, men are going to seek death and not be able to find it. [15:17] And the only rationale that I can come up with as to why that might be is that it may be that this venom in these supernatural insects will be so paralyzing and so captivating to those who are stung by it that they will be immobilized. [15:40] And when you realize that you cannot do anything but lie there and suffer, and you can't even lift a gun to take your own life and blow your own brains out, all you can do is lie there and suffer and wish for death, but it will not come. [15:58] I do not know that that's the way it's going to be. I just suggest that as a possibility because one can be immobilized to that extent. They will desire to die and death shall flee from them. [16:11] And the shapes of the locusts were like, again, John is groping for words to describe these, they are like unto horses. He's saying this is what it reminds me of, prepared unto battle. [16:24] I think John is just bowled over by this. This is a major wow. His eyes are as big as saucers and he's looking at these things and he's, wow, look at that. [16:34] Look, never seen anything like it. And finding it very difficult to even describe it. Shapes of the locusts were likened to horses, prepared unto battle. [16:46] And on their heads were, as it were, crowns like gold. And their faces were as the faces of men. Again, indicating that this is some kind of other worldly type created being that he has no reference for. [17:04] They had hair as the hair of women and their teeth were as the teeth of lions. And they had breastplates, as it were, breastplates of iron. [17:16] And the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle. These beings, these demonic beings that have taken on these physical characteristics, have no doubt been confined to this place that is referred to as the abyss, or the pit of the abyss. [17:36] They have been confined there, in my estimation, which may or may not be correct, from the time they rebelled, and God imprisoned them in this bottomless pit. [17:50] It is the bottomless pit to which Satan will be consigned also, for a thousand years, and then he will be released. I don't begin to understand how spirit beings can be confined in a physical proximity. [18:12] Because we know that they do not constitute matter, so they would not be subject to what we think of as jails or prisons or anything like that. [18:24] But suffice it to say, the Almighty has his ways of incarcerating non-physical beings, and this is where they have been. Now, if this is the case, I think it is. [18:38] But there are those who would disagree and find other solutions. But if this is the case, and if these incarcerated beings have been confined there for several millennia, and I'm talking about thousands and thousands of years, and if a principal reason that they have been confined is because of their negative behavior, activity, particularly as it regards humanity, then humanity is going to bear the brunt of the blame for their incarceration. [19:17] And they are going to be mad. They are going to be filled with hatred and anger for all of humanity. And mercy, compassion, will be totally foreign concepts to their thinking. [19:37] They will have none. There will be no milk of human kindness. One reason, because they're not human. And they are simply bent on the destruction of humanity. [19:48] And they are going to have their way with humanity at this time, under God's permission. verse 10 tells us, they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails, and their power was to hurt men five months. [20:07] And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, or the abyss, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon. But in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon. [20:22] And of course, Reims-Doué version says that Abaddon in Hebrew means destroyer, and in the Greek, the name Apollyon means destroyer. [20:35] This of course is what he is famous for doing. More than anything else, he is the destroyer. God is the creator and the giver of life. Satan's main objective is to be the destroyer and the taker of life. [20:49] He is contrary to God in every way. He possibly can be. And then, if you will turn the page, we see that verse 12 says, One woe is past, and behold, there come two woes more hereafter. [21:06] And woes are translated as calamity, disaster, or terror, or cataclysm, or conflagration, whatever you want to call it, but it will be worldwide. [21:16] And the sixth angel sounded. This is the sixth trumpet. Again, maybe I remind you that the seventh will not be until chapter 11. So that's when we'll have a kind of an interim period. [21:30] And I heard the voice from the four horns of the golden altar, which is before God, saying to the sixth angel, which had the trumpet, loose the four angels, which are bound in the great river Euphrates. [21:46] Now, how in the world would you go about binding angels in a river? In the river Euphrates? I have no idea. [21:56] I don't know how you'd go about bounding them in a bottomless pit either. But that's not part of my job description. It is part of God's job description, and I'm sure that he has no difficulty with it. [22:07] Then, be reminded, these are not physical beings. They are going to take physicality upon them. But they are spirit beings. They are demonic beings. And they number in the hundreds of millions. [22:25] I can't conceive of that. I can't conceive of that. Although, as we've related earlier, as recent as the 1950s, 1960s, Mao Zedong, who was at the time the founder and the dictator of the People's Republic of Red China, boasted that the Chinese people could put 200 million men under arms in the field in very short notice. [22:59] So, this is a term that is conceivable to humanity. It's still a huge number of people. And why the Euphrates? [23:10] What's this with the Euphrates? What's the significance of that? Commentator, Dr. W.A. Criswell, who was a giant of expositors of the scriptures, pastored the First Baptist Church in Dallas for something like 50 or 52 years, and had written a number of commentaries. [23:30] And I want to share some of the comments that he made in regard to the Euphrates. And it makes a lot of sense. Loose the four angels which are bound over the great river Euphrates. [23:42] Twice in the book of Revelation, that Euphrates is referred to in the same identical language. The river Euphrates begins in the Armenian mountains, some of the highest in the earth. [23:56] Flooded in the springtime with melting snows, it goes through the Taurus range and through the Mesopotamian valley down to the Persian Gulf. The Euphrates River, the most important, the longest, the biggest in all Western Asia, was the place where sin was first known, where misery first began, where the first lie was told, where the first murder was committed, where the first grave was dug. [24:32] The Euphrates River was the scene of the two great apostasies before and after the flood. The Euphrates River was the scene of the rise of Israel's greatest and most oppressive enemies. [24:47] The Euphrates River was the scene of the long years in which the children of Israel dragged out the wearisome days of their captivity. The Euphrates River was the scene of the rise of those great world empires that oppressed civilization in the ancient day. [25:06] Cruel empires like Assyria, like Babylon, like the Persians and the Medes. There, in that place, these four angels, these magnates of evil are chained. [25:19] They have in their hands power of awful destruction and satanic evil. they are prepared for an hour and a day and a month and a year. [25:32] At the exact second, at the exact moment in God's calendar, their vile judgment is loosed upon this world. And I want you to bear in mind that this judgment from these beings that is forthcoming is all under the dominion of God's absolute perfect justice. [25:56] Earth will not be receiving something it does not deserve. This is what mankind has been hankering for, if you will, from the time of Genesis 3. [26:12] It has gone on unabated, evil has gone on unchecked, and during this time it is going to be intensified in a way that you just cannot imagine. [26:24] And it is going to be global. There isn't going to be just some little hot spot like in the Mideast. This is going to be all over. Now, with your notes there, if you will, please, let us continue on with verse 15. [26:52] And the four angels which were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, a day, a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men. And this number, of course, would be in the billions. [27:07] That's with a B. And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand. Weymouth translates it two hundred million, which is exactly the way it reads in the Greek. [27:19] And I heard the number of them. And that's how John is able to identify with accuracy the number. And thus, I saw the horses in the vision and them that sat on them having breastplates of fire and adjacent and brimstone or sulfur, if you will. [27:39] And the beasts and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions. He doesn't say they are lion heads. He said, that's what they look like to me. They look like the heads of lions. [27:50] I assume he's probably thinking in terms of the mane, perhaps, of the male lion. And out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. [28:03] By these three was the third part of men killed by the fire and by the smoke and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths. [28:14] For their power is in their mouth and in their tails. For their tails were likened to serpents and had heads, and with them they do hurt. [28:28] I can't imagine anything like this. This completely escapes me. I know John has given us a description to the extent of his ability, but even his description is just more than I can get my brain around. [28:40] And may I again remind you, this is all supernatural. Where and how did these demonic beings who are spirit beings, how did they come by the physicality that they are going to have? [28:57] Where do they get these bodies? Because they are going to be physical beings. Satan does not have, to the best of our knowledge, the power to create. [29:10] he has the power to destroy. He has the power to make, but not create. And there's a vast difference between making something and creating something. [29:24] When something is made, you use pre-existing materials to construct it. When something is created, it is born out of that which had no previous existence. [29:42] We are told that God created ex nihilo in the Latin. God created matter out of nothing. [29:55] Remember seeing Sound of Music and Julie Andrews singing, nothing comes from nothing, nothing ever could. [30:06] created. Well, that's true. We cannot create something out of nothing. But God specializes in creating things out of nothing, whether it's the worlds, planets, stars, whatever. [30:20] He created them all out of nothing because there was a time when matter did not exist and he brought it into existence. It's difficult for me to think in terms of God accommodating Satan by preparing and providing some kind of physical body by virtue of his creative power so that these demonic beings could inhabit these bodies. [30:47] I can understand God cooperating or permitting to the extent that he looses these and lets them do their thing, but it's a stretch for me for God to actually be involved in that. [30:59] I may be wrong. Perhaps he is. I would suggest a possibility even that these may be some kind of robotic physical creations made by man. [31:17] And maybe if you turned one upside down and looked at what was stamped on the bottom it would say made in China. Wouldn't that be a twist? Well we know they have the capacity of making a whole lot of things and is it possible and I'm just suggesting this is a possibility because we just kind of group and look for answers to this. [31:41] Is it possible that there could be some kind of a mechanized robotic type thing and by the way I don't know if you're aware of it or not but the United States military has been working for a long time on developing a robotic infantry soldier so that we would not have to send America's finest into into combat but in really in reality it would be nothing more than like moving the drone from the sky to the ground and making ground troops instead of airborne planes that could see things and pick out targets and deliver laser guided bombs and things of that nature it just not may not be that far fetched at all and then these demonic kind of beings could commandeer these things and operate them according to their will regardless of how they might be programmed so I just throw that out as a possibility we are living in a day of unbelievable technology as you are well aware and who knows what might be on the horizon out there so it's just mind lost yes you know you said that you didn't know how spirits could be confined maybe [33:02] God took away the spirit and gave the demons bodies when he opened up the bottom of the pit they came out and they had bodies maybe they had bodies when they were confined I don't know that may well be you may very well be right there's a lot about this that we just don't know and we are not told you can't help but wonder you can't help but speculate your curiosity just gets the best of you and you envision all kinds of possibilities such as the one that I just shared and such as what Ron just shared and both of those may be right or they may be far off the mark we don't know but I do know one thing there are going to be a lot of surprises when these things come down just just absolutely amazing and then in verse 17 I saw horses in the vision and them that sat on them having breastplates of fire Jason's brimstone heads of the horses were as the heads of lions etc and the third part of men were killed and but powers in their mouth and in their tails these apparently are very deadly whatever it is they emit or project or fire it is from both ends of these beings and it's just their destructive capability is going to be utterly awesome and the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands that they should not worship devils and isles of gold and silver and brass and stone and of wood which neither can see nor hear nor walk neither repented they of their murders and this is another thing that will complicate this time of Jacob's trouble men will be preying on one another and one of the reasons they will be doing that is because everyone will be trying to survive and man can be reduced to animalistic behavior when his survival is threatened and when drinking water is so scarce that it cannot be found and food will be at a premium and your gold will you can't eat it it will be a time of just unparalleled devastation and in spite of all of that man is not going to fall on his knees before an avenging god and say you are lord we've had it all wrong we repent we regret we are sorry please forgive us there isn't going to be any of that there isn't going to be any of that man is going to be so hardened he's going to dig in his heels and shake his fist at god and curse the god of heaven there will be no repentance yes does this assume that that they're aware that they should repent or have they gotten to a point where they they're not able to anymore they have no idea what's expected of them to kill and be killed i don't know i don't know i can't i can't really answer that what will be in the heart and minds of people it's difficult for me to think that they really want to repent but somehow just don't have the capacity to do so i see here injected in this text a spirit of defiance of defiance and this is the rebel heart coming to full fruition this is the extreme ugliness of fallen human nature that's what we have here this is man at his worst he is letting letting it be revealed the capacity that he has for violence for for evil for brutality [37:03] it is all coming to the fore this is mankind's worst hour and it is very very ugly and i saw another mighty angel come down from heaven clothed with a cloud and a rainbow was upon his head there's a chapter break here but probably not not a good one not very many of them are good ones but you have to break the chapter somewhere i guess the identity of this angel is highly disputed among theologians and commentators they are divided as to whether or not it is the person of christ himself who sometimes is referred to as an angel because the word angel simply means messenger and we know that christ in a pre-incarnate revelation disclosed himself in the old testament as the angel of jehovah he was one of the beings that visited with abraham along with two other angels when they came to destroy sodom the angel of jehovah was there and it was the angel of jehovah in the book of joshua who confronted him and said that he was the captain of the host of the lord and that was a pre-incarnate revelation of christ and some feel that this mighty angel here is also christ because some of the description that is given of him sounds very much like the description that is given of christ and it is clearly christ in revelation chapter one but there are other things about this angel that lead us to believe that it is not the person of christ and if i were to take my pick i i i don't think that this is referring to christ at all and one reason i don't is because this angel is going to approach the earth and it will be during the tribulation period and there's no record that christ will visit the earth during the tribulation period but he will at the end of it so but be that as it may i don't think we can be dogmatic about it i want you to note however that he has in his hand a little book well we are told he has a rainbow upon his head and what does that remind you of what does a rainbow remind you of covenant yeah genesis and it reminds me of the faithfulness and the integrity of god and the angel with this rainbow about him is reminding john and all who read this that god is a god of promise and integrity and he will keep it and it goes all the way back to the beginning in genesis 6 and his face as it were was as it were the sun and his feet as pillars of fire that does sound like a description of our glorified lord in revelation chapter 1 where john gives that description and we know that when he was transfigured before james and john his face shone with the brightness of the brightness of the noonday sun and his garments were whiter than any fuller soap could whiten them so it is reminiscent and they may be right this may be a person the person of christ but i don't think so this angelic being had in his hand a little book open and again some scholars feel that this is the same as the seven sealed scroll because this is a scroll also and it's translated book but it is a little book and i think it stands in contradistinction to the seven sealed scroll that john sees that he that the lamb of god opened the seals thereof because this is not described as a scroll it is specifically described as a little scroll and the word in the greek is different from the other word and it is a diminutive [41:04] that is used indicating that is minor in size and it is i think not to be confused with the other and perhaps the most striking characteristic is that he says that he had in his hand a little scroll opened weymouth translates it a small scroll unrolled it isn't sealed it is open as if it is available for inspection it is open and he set his right foot upon the sea and his left foot on the earth and this too is a symbolic act what is it symbolizing well think in terms of one putting one's foot upon something and whatever you put your foot upon conveys the idea that that thing is in subjection to you if you put your foot on the neck of a wild animal or something to contain it you are exercising supremacy over it and you are exercising a kind of ownership over it and this angelic being with one foot on land and one foot on the sea is demonstrating complete authority over land and sea [42:33] God told Abraham every place where the sole of your foot treads I have given to you and the treading of the foot and the standing of the foot upon something indicates ownership in one of the Psalms the father is speaking to the son and he says to him sit thou at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool and that's where you put your feet so it is an exercise in dominion it is a claiming if you're going to stake a claim on something like they did out in the Oklahoma territory where the Sooners got their name you have to be there you have to walk on the ground and you have to stake your claim because you were there and when you do then you can claim ownership over that and here that's exactly [43:33] I think the idea that is being conveyed he had this little book open and cried with a loud voice as when a lion roars I'm telling you John is saying this voice was so loud it was just like a mighty lion roaring and when he cried seven thunders uttered their voices this is the response to what the lion is roaring or the angelic being like a lion roaring and when the seven thunders had uttered their voices I was about to write and John was going to copy what he saw on the little book and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered and write them not so this angelic being is crying out with a loud voice and the response that comes is from these seven peals of thunder each one is saying something by way of response each one is taking some kind of a position making some kind of promise offering some kind of declaration and [44:49] John is about to write down what they say because he had been instructed from the beginning to write what he sees I want you to write in a book what you see and what John wrote is what we're reading this is the book of revelation and as John prepares to write what these seven thunders have responded to he is told seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered and write them not Daniel was given the same information he too was going to disclose what he had seen and was told seal up the vision of the prophecy until the end time we still don't know what that is there is a great deal of prophetic information given to us in the book of Daniel but that he was told not to record not to reveal it and the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven and swear by him that liveth forever and ever who created heaven and the things that are there in and the earth and the things that are there in and the sea and the things which are there in that there should be time no longer this is another reason why personally [46:13] I don't think that this is Christ because this angelic being is swearing by the one on the throne and what he is swearing is there should be no more time which is a really poor translation that's the way that King James renders it but it isn't saying that there isn't going to be any more time what it is saying is what the references indicate the ASV the Weymouth and the basic English says that there should be delay no longer no further delay no more waiting so you can see how someone could misunderstand that when you say there will be no more time I've heard people say this well you know the Bible says the time is coming when there will be no more time no that isn't what it's saying God isn't going to do away with time but the time is coming when the string is run out that's what he's saying there will be no more delay the curtain is coming down and that's what this angel is announcing there will be no more delay but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel when he shall begin to sound the mystery of [47:38] God should be finished as he has declared to his servants the prophets and this is rendered then the hidden purposes of God of which he told the good news to his servants the prophets are at once fulfilled rame says then shall have been completed the sacred secret of God as he told the good news unto his own servants the prophets well what is this mystery of God and I think that it is nothing more than the secret is out the string has run out God's patience has come to an end the long suffering is over remember back in Revelation chapter 5 the souls of those that were beheaded for the testimony of Jesus were under the altar remember their plaintive cry how long oh [48:41] Lord how long before you execute judgment and vengeance upon those on the earth how long is this going to go on how long is death and destruction and ruination going to rule the earth how long is man's brutality going to be allowed to be permitted how long before you step in and execute the judgment and the justice that you're capable of when are you going to do something this is it this is the mystery of God is it not true that this is one of the great perplexities that mankind has today and especially unregenerate mankind what is one of the principal things with which they charge the God of heaven if he is so strong and he is so smart and he is so capable why doesn't he do something why does he allow this to go on why doesn't he intervene this is no way to love and he lets all of this stuff go on how long is this going to go on well this is the end this is where it stops there will be no more delay [49:56] God is going to bring down the hammer and that's precisely what he is talking about here in my estimation the secret the mystery of God should be finished is there a question or comment somebody the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again and said go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which stands upon the sea and upon the earth and I went unto the angel and said unto him give me the little book we're on the next page here and this would be page 1216 at the bottom left hand corner and he said unto me take it and eat it up now this is a strange kind of thing but again we haven't been reading much in the revelation that isn't strange right eat it up and here he is told in advance he is to take this chew it up swallow it and when you do it will make your belly bitter but it shall be in your mouth sweet as honey and [51:28] John says and I took the little book out of the angel's hand and ate it up and it was in my mouth sweet as honey and as soon as I had eaten it my belly was bitter and he said unto me thou must prophesy again before many peoples and nations and tongues and kings now we've got another symbol what is this little book symbolizing what is symbolic nature of eating this and it is sweet in the mouth and sweet to the taste but the after effect is bitter suffice it to say this is not an experience that is to be limited personally to John John is representative I think of all of humanity in his eating this book sweet to the taste bitter in the stomach as an after effect have you any thoughts regarding that [52:38] Marvis sin in general is like that to most people I'm sorry sin in general doing the wrong thing you do the wrong thing because you want to because of what it's going to get you right now but later it bites you how can it be wrong when it feels so good interesting thought anybody else in the mouth sweet as honey when we let the scriptures interpret the scriptures we find similar uses of this thy words were found and I did eat them and they were sweeter unto me than honey yea sweeter than the honey cone that's a good experience and it's always in reference to what [53:39] God has provided the fear of the Lord that Psalm 19 the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether more to be desired are they than honey yea fine honey this is a real purified kind of honey there is a sweetness there is an initial sweetness in taking in that which God has provided but what has the experience of the world been from the time of creation it has started out with that which was sweet good desirable God even pronounced it not just good but very good he was pleased with all of his creation that which was provided for Adam and Eve was sweetness every tree of the garden you may freely eat it must have been had to have been a virtual paradise all that he provided was sweet and when it is received with gratitude with an obedient response it remains sweet but has that been the experience of humanity no no rejection rebellion always takes that which is sweet and turns it into something nasty bitter this is a picture of the human race and [55:25] John is experiencing it this is man taking what God has provided and his response to what God has provided has been rebellion and rejection and that automatically turns it into that which is bitter this is what they are experiencing and what John is recording and what all of revelation is about as it starts out everything is as it should be paradise is realized but when paradise is lost through man's rebellion and lack of gratitude rejection of what God provided and goes his own way what does what God provided turn into a bitter difficult painful experience this is where the world is today this is a micro cosm of all of humanity for all times this is the picture so that will bring us then to chapter 11 and well [56:36] I've got 60 seconds left such luxury of time have you a comment or question anybody Marvis I had a question about back here in verse 4 in chapter 10 it starts talking about the seven thunders I don't remember thunder being talked about before that do you have any thoughts about the seven thunders what that yes thunder has been talked about before here in the revelation I'm not I'm at a loss to put my finger on exactly where it is but I do recall the term in the term in the Greek too and I remember working with that I'd have to look it up I don't even have the references here but this is not the first time thunder has been mentioned in revelation and each time it seems to have been connected with voices that are so compelling and so utterly awesome in volume and everything that it can only be likened to the roar of thunder sure made an impression on [57:45] John other comments or questions anyone Mike these last few verses here it seems unlikely that they would be addressed to the third mankind that's left it was written for the reader today yeah well I think there's a lot of truth in that and I do someone has said that that during the time during the time and ministry of the apostle Paul when once the mystery was made known to him and he began proclaiming the mystery of Jew and Gentile and one body etc that to read the gospels during the church age even as we do now and this is where [58:46] I think many many in Christendom have really dropped the ball and I speak of myself as one who dropped the ball for probably 10 or 15 years after I was a believer but when I came to an appreciation of how the gospels are to be viewed as opposed to how they are viewed by most Christians which is very sentimentally and very incorrectly I think because you see the world the Christian world is so caught up with the four gospels why because that's where Jesus is that's the earthly life of Christ so they almost automatically give precedence to that above everything else because that's where you find Jesus and if you don't believe me just look at the red letters that'll really prove it and they lose sight of the fact that while the gospels do contain the revelation of [59:50] Jesus the revelation of Jesus goes on doesn't stop with the gospels doesn't stop with the great commission so called Matthew 28 19 and 20 the revelation of Jesus goes on to his being glorified and revealing himself to Paul the apostle and what he revealed to Paul was a tremendous update of information and what you have in the gospels the source is the same as all coming from Christ in fact Genesis comes from Christ it's all from him the whole book and when people fail to recognize that they get stuck back in the gospels and they don't see the continuing revelation and the point has been made that during Paul's time you could read the gospels and that was history and the time is coming the time is coming when the church is translated removed from this scene and people are going to be reading the apostle [61:02] Paul and that will be to them what the gospels are to us now that will be passe se why why do I say that because Paul was the apostle of the grace of God he was the apostle to the Gentiles and when the church is removed then the age of grace is over the dispensation of the grace of God is over so the writings of the apostle Paul who was chosen by Christ to give the written dispensation of the grace of God to mankind that's going to be passe to them just like the gospels are to us now and the time is going to come when men will be reading the book of Revelation and possibly even the Hebrew Christian epistles consisting of the [62:03] Petrines and the Johannines and Hebrews etc. grouped in with the book of the Revelation and they will see Paul and his writings as passe they are not passe now they are front and center now they are to be the focus of the church because we are the ones to whom those epistles are written but the time is coming when the ones to whom the epistles are written are gone and then they will be passe and what will be front and center latest revelation will be the book of and it all fits in with the progress of revelation as you go on through the scriptures anyone else yes shall I have no idea but I sure have wondered about that are we going to know what's taking place down and I have often wondered what do those who are in heaven now know if anything about what's going on here some say if people in heaven know what's going on on the earth wouldn't that detract from heaven one would think so maybe they're oblivious to what all is going on there [63:15] I don't know but you can't help but wonder about it wish I had a good answer but I don't the longer I live the harder good answers are to come by I can remember years ago when I knew the answers to all those things I own isn't that amazing how dumb we get with age just seems to work that way doesn't it well thank you all for being here and enjoy the rest of the day and for those of you who are yet to eat a meal why enjoy your meal let's pray shall we thank you father that you are in charge of everything and you and that fact is our great source of undying comfort and we bless you for it in Christ's name Amen