REVELATION 6-11 TRIBULATION SEALS AND TRUMPETS2014 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Revelation 6-11 Tribulation Seals And Trumpets

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2014. We're going to be looking at chapters 6 through 11, which are the chapters that we read this week going through the Bible in three years. Now, I'm going to spend a little bit more time in introduction than usual because last week was the Thanksgiving service.

And so we would have covered chapters 1 through 5, but we didn't so that we could spend time giving and thanks. And I wasn't able to be here, but I heard it was a blessing and glad you were part of that. But so I want to just spend a few moments here talking about the book of Revelation before we get into our chapters for the evening. So first off, the book of Revelation is written by John the Apostle.

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over there in the Middle East, in the Europe area. And then he's writing to them to relate to them the vision that he had while he was on Patmos. And Jesus gives him specific things to share with those churches, but he also tells him to write these things down and send it to those churches. Now in the timeline, again, of John's life, this is late in his life. We believe he died probably around 100 A.D.,

And he wrote this around 97 AD, probably not too long after he actually experienced the revelation on the island of Patmos. And so the way that we understand it happened from history is that John, under the persecution of the Roman Empire, was tried to put to death in boiling oil and that was unsuccessful.

And so then they secluded him on the island of Patmos as a prison or, you know, as a punishment for him. And God gave him that revelation while he was there. He survived the island of Patmos and then he was released after that and he was allowed to return to Ephesus where he died a few years later. Now,

Now, the location of these things, again, this is, we're looking at, you know, the area around Rome and the Roman Empire. And so there's the Mediterranean Sea and then Ephesus. We spent a lot of time there with looking at the Apostle Paul and his missionary journeys.

And so John went to Ephesus later on in his life and then returned there after Patmos. And Patmos is a little island there off in the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. And he was sentenced there for a season and then released. But it's there that he's looking back at as he writes the book of Revelation where he has this revelation from Jesus.

Now he gives us an outline of the book of Revelation in Revelation chapter 1 verse 19 where Jesus tells him to write the things that he has seen, the things which are, and the things that will take place after this.

And so this divides the book of Revelation into three parts. They're not equal parts, but three parts. So first we have the things which you have seen. And in Revelation chapter 1, John had this vision of Jesus. And so those are the things that he had seen.

But then he's to write the things which are. And so we see in chapters 2 and 3, he writes to the things that are happening at the present time amongst those seven churches. And so those are the things that are, the things in the present time.

But then there's things in the future that he needs to write about. And those are the things that will take place. And that's recorded for us in the remainder of the book in chapters 4 through 22. And so that's all of the end times events that we'll be looking at throughout the book of Revelation.

And so last week we would have looked at chapters 1 through 5 and here's a quick summary of those. First in Revelation chapter 1, John has a vision of Jesus. Jesus appears to him, begins to speak to him and gives him all of the details that we'll be looking at throughout this book.

Then in chapter 2, Jesus dictates a couple letters to John to send to the churches of Asia. And so you have the letter to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, and then Thyatira.

And then that continues in chapter 3 as he writes letters to Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. And so these are letters that Jesus is writing to those churches. We can apply those letters in several ways. First of all, it applied to the actual church that existed at that time. It was those issues that they were facing and it was those encouragements that they needed. But we can also see that churches...

today can look at these letters and find, you know, we fit into probably one of those. And so we can receive that instruction for ourselves as a church.

But then we can also look at that and see and understand, well, us as individuals can read through those churches and understand that there's been different times in our lives where probably we've been, you know, in all of those conditions of the different churches. And so we can look at it at any time and see where do I fit now? Which church am I currently? And then receive the exhortations and encouragements that are there.

There's another way to apply these letters, and that is to look at them as an overview of all of church history.

And so looking at Ephesus as, you know, the years immediately preceding Jesus and his resurrection, and then continuing on down the line with the last four churches being churches that exist into the tribulation period. Now that's a lot of detail I'm not going to get into, but if you want to dig into it, there's lots of ways to understand those letters that Jesus writes to those seven churches.

Well, then in chapter 4, John is caught up into heaven and he describes for us the throne room in heaven, this great heavenly scene there before the throne.

And then in chapter 5, as he's there in heaven, there is the scroll that the Lamb is able to take. He's the only one worthy to take the scroll, which we understand to be the title deed of the earth. And so this scroll has seven seals, and the opening of the scroll is what we're going to be getting into this evening as we head into chapter 6.

One last slide before we get into our chapters for this evening though. Jesus, as he speaks to John and tells him to write down these things, he says there's going to be these things that must shortly take place. And so what are these future events that will shortly take place in the book of Revelation? Well, we could talk about the rapture of the church there in Revelation chapter 4.

Then in chapters 6 through 19, which we'll be looking at a majority of that this evening, we'll be looking at the seven years of tribulation. After that, you have the return of Jesus Christ to the earth and his 1,000 year reign. And then during that time, while Satan is bound, while Christ is reigning, at the end of that reign, he will be released for one final rebellion and

And then will come the great white throne judgment and that will bring in the new Jerusalem and eternity. And so these are the future events which are yet to take place that are recorded for us here in the book of Revelation. And we'll be looking at this evening and on into the next couple weeks as we finish out reading the book. So we pick up our chapters now in Revelation chapter 6 and the key verse is verse 1.

It says, Now I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a voice like thunder, Come and see. Here we get to watch unfold the seals on this scroll. And so if you could picture the scroll, there's a couple ways it could have been. You know a scroll is wound up, right? So it's round, and then it would be sealed along the seams perhaps with seven seals.

And so you could break, but in order to open the scroll, you'd have to break all seven seals and then you could open it and read the contents. Another way that it might have been sealed is it could have been sealed along the way as it was being rolled up.

And so you roll it up a little bit, you put the wax seal, then you roll it up more, you put the wax seal, you roll it up more, you put the wax seal. And then what would happen is as you unwound the scroll, you'd be able to read part of it, but in order to read the next section, you'd have to break the seal.

And then as you broke the seal, you could read the next section. And then you broke the seal and read the next section. And so that's probably what John's describing here. As he opens up the scroll, that is Jesus opens the scroll, these seals are being broken. And it's not just, you know, things are happening as the seal is broken. But it's corresponding with the events that are happening on the earth as God unfolds his plan of judgment on

upon the earth. And that's really what this whole tribulation period is all about. It's this judgment that God is pouring out upon the earth. And so with the first seal, as part of God's redemption plan, first bringing judgment and then to bring the world back into its right order with Christ as king, it begins with seal number one where the Antichrist comes forth to conquer the

Now, I am sharing with you, you know, the perspective that I have on these things. But it doesn't actually say that it's the Antichrist. It says, you know, there was a white horse and he had a bow, or the rider had a bow and a crown and he went forth conquering and to conk.

And so I'm not going to be trying to give every perspective on the book of Revelation. If you want to dig into other alternative views, there's plenty of those out there and you can find them anywhere. But here we see it as the Antichrist who comes forth and he begins to conquer. He begins this covenant with Israel and the tribulation period is seven years long. We know that.

One mistake that we often make is we think that the tribulation begins with the rapture of the church.

But that's not actually the case. The tribulation begins or the 70th week of Daniel begins with a covenant that is made between the Antichrist and the nation of Israel. And that's found in Daniel chapter 9 verse 27. And so this covenant is the beginning of this tribulation period. And this Antichrist will come on the scene to conquer. Not only will he come on the scene to conquer,

Not with a bow and arrow. You notice he has a bow but no arrow. So not with battle but with political power. In Daniel chapter 11 verse 21 it talks about the Antichrist rising to power.

And he will do so, it says he shall come in peaceably and seize the kingdom by intrigue. And so by plotting craftily or underhandedly, he seizes the kingdom and he begins to conquer the earth. And so he'll begin to establish his kingdom, which he will try to extend to the end of the earth to be one world kingdom with him on the throne. Well, then the second seal is broken.

And now peace is taken from the earth. There's going to be a short season of peace as the Antichrist takes the reign of powers. Now, the tribulation period can be divided into two sections. You have the first three and a half years and you have the last three and a half years. And we often refer to the first three and a half years as the good years.

But I'd like to point out, and we'll see this as we continue, that when we talk about the first three and a half years being the good years, it doesn't mean that everything's perfect, that there's no battles, that there's no hurt, there's no heartache. It's not like that. It's still going to be bad, but it's...

than the last three and a half years. And by comparison, it's much, much better than what is to come in the final half of the tribulation period. And so this season of peace that the Antichrist will bring in will not be

super far extended and it won't be very long lasting. The second seal is that peace is taken from the earth. And so there is going to be lots of trouble and turmoil in both halves of the tribulation period. Well, then the third seal is broken and here comes famine.

Out comes a pair of scales which talks about the need for rations and the scarcity that exists. And so the food is going to begin to cost greatly. And so the common worker at those days received a denarius for a day's labor. And so as it describes it here in verse 14,

It says, And so the idea here is a quart of wheat...

for a denarius for a full day's wages so you work all day and all you get is a quart of wheat for it and so if you think bread is expensive now you know you could think about well if i make ten dollars an hour for eight hours that's eighty dollars for a loaf of bread that kind of gives you a picture of the type of famine that's going to be happening it's going to be very severe well then the fourth seal is opened

And here it says that a quarter of the earth is killed at this time. So with all of the things that are happening, the famine, the sword, and the beasts of the earth, and all the things that are happening on the earth, now it's beginning to take its toll. And so when this seal is opened, a quarter of the earth will be killed. If you are interested in doing some math...

The world population as of August of 2014 estimated to be a little over 7 billion. Now, assuming that everybody who claims to be a Christian is actually a Christian, which is about 32%, that means that when the rapture takes place, that would be about 2.3 billion people vanish from the earth.

And that means that heading into the tribulation period, the population of the earth at that time would be just under 5 billion people. Well, if that's the case, there's a lot of assumptions here, but just to give us an idea, when the fourth seal is opened and a quarter of the earth is killed, that's 1.2 billion people. A little over a billion people would be killed in the opening of this seal.

Now just to give some perspective on that, if you do some rough estimates on all of the wars and all of the famines, the deaths resulting from them for the past 2,000 years,

Estimates are about half a million. If you add up all the deaths from war and famine for the past 2,000 years. Add it up. So 2,000 years worth of deaths from those things is about half a million. But here in this seven year period.

Whichever part this seal opens in, it's going to be double what's been experienced for the past 2,000 years. It's pretty significant, in other words, that this is going to be not just a normal thing. It's not going to be, oh no, it's Ebola or whatever. It's going to be much more severe than we could ever possibly imagine.

And so a quarter of the earth will be killed at that time. And so that would leave then about three and a half billion people on the earth after the opening of this seal for the remainder of the tribulation period. Well, continuing on now in chapter 6, we have seal number 5 in verses 9 through 11. And here we see the martyrs are comforted.

So there are those who have believed in Jesus. Now, this is something that's encouraging and something we need to pay attention to because what this means is there is opportunity for salvation during the tribulation period.

So this will be taking place after the rapture of the church, but that doesn't mean that nobody can then be saved, but instead that there will be people who turn to Jesus after the rapture and during the tribulation. Now,

Some people think that they can then, well, wait until then to get right with God. But that's not really very wise because it's going to be a terrible time to live as we just talked about in these plagues or in these seals that will be opened. And so it's going to be very difficult. And on top of that, the Bible talks about great deception for those who have rejected the truth. So it's not wise to wait.

But it is encouraging to know that those that we're praying for, even if they do not receive Jesus before we're taken up and caught up to be with the Lord, there is opportunity for them afterwards. And there will be those who turn to him. And so here are these martyrs who are there in heaven now because they've been put to death for the name of the Lord. They're being comforted. And very soon they're going...

to be, well, their death is going to be atoned for or paid for. Then in seal number 6, verses 12 through 17, we have some catastrophic events that take place. Now, these are some pretty serious things that are happening here with the great earthquake and then the sun becoming black and the moon becoming like blood, the stars falling. There's these great cataclysmic things that are happening.

And so sometimes we can kind of wonder, well, what exactly is going on? Some have suggested that this is a good description of what would happen if there was a nuclear exchange. And that's a possibility. But whatever means it actually takes place, it's something that God is orchestrating as part of his plan of redemption for the earth and judgment for those who are rebellious against him.

I like the way that David Guzik addresses it. He says, And so this idea of the sun becoming black as sackcloth

might not be the sun changing color, but it might be stuff that's happening in the atmosphere. And so the sun is not able to shine through. And the moon becoming like blood might be more about, again, things happening in the atmosphere than the moon itself changing color. And so these are things that are affecting the earth and affecting the way that the sun and the moon appear as the tribulation is unfolding.

Now, one of the keys that you'll see throughout the book of Revelation, you can find in verse 15 and 16. And this is really important to pay attention to. Here's what it says. And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains and said to the mountains and rocks, fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb.

So here's something to pay attention to. The tribulation period is not going to be just a troublesome time where nobody knows what's going on.

The tribulation period is going to be a time that is so troublesome that the whole world knows exactly what is going on. They recognize that this is the wrath of God, the wrath of the Lamb, which is the wrath of Jesus. And so they recognize this is God's judgment upon the earth.

Now what's interesting about that as you go on in other chapters you see similar types of quotations from the people on earth but it tells us that they would not repent of their sins and they refused to repent of their sins even in the midst of it and

And so don't picture the tribulation as, you know, unsuspecting, ignorant people experiencing terrible things. But it's people who know the truth, who know what's happening, but still refuse to submit to Jesus as Lord. And that's why the tribulation is necessary. God is bringing His judgment on those who refuse to submit to Him as Lord.

Now in chapter 7 we go on, verse 4 is the key verse. He says, Chapter 7, the way that I see it, is probably parenthetical.

Now, as we were looking at the seals, that was in succession, right? The first seal was opened, then the second seal was opened. But chapter 7 doesn't necessarily happen immediately after the sixth seal, but it could have happened before or in the midst of that time.

I kind of think about it this way. It's like pausing a movie to explain some things. You ever do that? Whenever you're watching a movie with Richard, a lot of times you have to pause the movie and explain some things. Well, you see, here's this guy and here's his backstory and that's why he's saying this right now, right? And so you kind of go backwards and fill in the gaps so that Richard understands what's happening in the movie.

I'm picking on Richard because, well, I've had real life experience with this. And so it's easy to explain it. And so in a similar way, I think here we see in chapter 7 kind of a parenthetical thought. Okay, so here's what happened in this protection, in this sealing for these 144,000. And so in verses 1 through 3, we have four angels who are holding back the four winds.

Now this might be that they're literally holding back the wind and so the wind is not blowing on the earth. Or it might be figurative. That is that they're holding back the winds of judgment until these 144,000 can be sealed. Well it talks about them being sealed in verses 4 through 8. And the idea here is before the harm comes upon the earth, these servants of God have to be sealed.

They're going to be protected. They're going to be, you know, proclaimed to be gods. And so they're the servants of God.

And again, these are people who turn to Jesus after the rapture has taken place. If they had turned to Jesus before the rapture, they wouldn't be here in the tribulation. They would have been caught up to be with the Lord. But there's going to be these 144,000 and it's this specific number. And so it's not that all believers will be sealed. So not everybody who turns to Jesus will experience this.

And not all Jewish believers will experience this. But this specific number, 144,000 of the Jewish people.

Now there have been many who have claimed to be this group, the 144,000. Jehovah's Witnesses are probably the most famous of those who have claimed that. But I don't think that God could have made it any more clear that this is a group of Israelites because he mentions the different tribes of Israel. And so it was 12,000 from the tribe of Judah and then 12,000 from Reuben and on and on and on.

through the different tribes of Israel. And so here is this 144,000, a specific number of Jewish people who will be protected by God through the remainder of the tribulation period. Well, then in verses 9 through 12, John sees a great multitude before the throne.

Now again, this is encouraging because it means that these are believers who have turned to Jesus after the rapture. And what's encouraging about that is it's a great multitude that no one can number. And so this is pretty awesome. There's going to be a huge amount of people who are

Before the throne because they've died in the midst of the tribulation and they've believed in Jesus. They're going to turn to him and be saved. Now these are probably part of the fruit of the 144,000. Because the 144,000 are not just protected during the tribulation but they're proclaiming throughout the tribulation the truth of God.

And so they are witnessing and they're declaring the truth. And so people have that opportunity and many respond. It's explained to him in verses 13 through 17. These...

come out of the great tribulation. And so these are martyrs. These are believers who die in the catastrophic events that unfold. And so it's going to be, you know, many who turn to Jesus, but they die because they're put to death for their faith. They're martyred or they're caught up in all of the catastrophic events that are happening upon the earth. If you think about it this way,

We saw just a few moments ago, if a quarter of the earth dies, it's a little over a billion people, as we estimate, you know, during that time. Now, if you average that over three and a half years, so let's say that all happens in the first half of the tribulation period, that means that 253 people are going to be dying every second, right?

through that first half of the tribulation period when you talk about a quarter of the earth dying. And so it's going to be, you know, a lot of death. And so yes, even those who turn to Jesus will have died during that time. Now that brings up a question that a lot of people have. Where do people go when they die during the midst of all this?

And so I put together this chart a while back. It's kind of dark, so I apologize for that. But this will kind of help you picture and get a glimpse of where people go when they die. So right now, before all these future events take place,

If a believer in Jesus dies, we know that they go to be with the Lord. And so they go into eternity with God because to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Now an unbeliever who dies goes to a place called Hades. It's not a permanent place of judgment. It's temporary until the great white throne judgment and then the eternal judgment will come after that.

Now as we head into the seven years of tribulation, before that happens, there is going to be the rapture of the church. And so as a believer in Jesus today, either if you die today or if the rapture of the church happens today, you'll be caught up to be with the Lord and you'll be with God eternally. Unbelievers who die today go into Hades.

When the tribulation starts, it's going to be populated by unbelievers because all the believers will have been caught up to be with the Lord. But there will be opportunity to be saved. And so there will be believers. Many of them will have to die for their faith. They'll have to die out of the persecution for believing in Jesus. And so they will be martyrs and they will go into eternity as we see here in chapter 7.

Then there will also be believers who just die because, well, of all the events that are happening upon the earth. And so they also will go into eternity to be with the Lord. And then there will be some believers who make it through the tribulation and then will head into the 1,000 year reign of Christ.

The 144,000 are sealed. And so they're all going to make it through the tribulation. They're not going to die during the tribulation. But they're going to make it through and then head into the thousand year reign of Christ. Unbelievers will also die in the midst of this. And so at any time in the tribulation period when they die. They will go to the temporary place of judgment, Hades. And then at the end of the tribulation, Hades.

Whatever unbelievers are left will be put in Hades. It will only be believers who go beyond that into the thousand year reign of Christ. And we'll get to that probably next week as we head through or continue through the book of Revelation. Actually not next week but the following week when we talk about the thousand year reign of Christ. Alright, Revelation chapter 8.

Verse 1 now, it says, when he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. Verses 1 through 6, we see the seventh seal. Remember, there was seven seals on the scroll. So now it's the final seal. And now when it's opened, there's silence.

We often refer to it as the calm before the storm. It's not the end. But when this seal is opened, well, there are some things that happen. One of which is that there are seven trumpets given to angels. And now these seven trumpeters prepare...

to sound. In verse 2, it says there are these seven angels and they were given seven trumpets. Now, as they begin to blow their trumpets, like the seals, as they blow the trumpet, then there are going to be these judgments that are unleashed upon the earth.

And in the doing of this, there's going to be a lot of prayer that is answered. And you'll notice in verse 4, it says, And so there's these prayers that are being brought before the Lord.

Probably prayers for justice. Probably prayers for righteousness. You could think about how many times have you prayed for justice in this earth and justice in this life. And God answers those prayers. He may not do it on our timetable, but he does. And so these prayers are brought before the Lord at this time. And now as these trumpets are sounded and these judgments are unleashed,

It's going to be the answer to many of those prayers that have been prayed. And so this is the completion of the seven seals. First the Antichrist comes, then peace is taken from the earth, then famine is brought on the earth, then the death of the quarter of the earth, then the martyrs are comforted, then there's catastrophic events, and then now there's silence in heaven, and these seven trumpets

Now we don't know the time frame. Again, we could talk about the seven years of the tribulation. We could talk about the first three and a half years, the last three and a half years. Those segments are clearly spoken of in the scripture. But we don't have exact time frame as far as how long this is happening.

And so these might be all taking place in the first half or some in the first and some in the second. That's not clearly articulated for us. There's lots of ideas and speculations about how to work that out. But we're not going to get into that this evening. Continuing on in chapter 8. The first trumpet now is sounded in verse 7. And a third of the vegetation is burned.

So a third of the trees are destroyed or burned as this trumpet sounded. Now NASA estimates there's about 400 billion trees on the earth. So a third of that is a little over 100 billion, 133 billion trees would be destroyed during this time.

It's interesting to kind of play with your mind and play in your mind with how these things might be fulfilled. You know, so is it you look down your block and there's, you know, 30 trees and then so you count one, two, three, that one's burned, one, two, three, that one's burned. Is it like that? It's spread out throughout the whole earth. Seems unlikely. It's possible that this will be located to major areas. And if you think about it in this way,

What if it's just one big area that's damaged? If you think about the square mileage, you know, of the different places throughout the earth, you look at North and South America combined and they make up about 28% of earth's land.

So if North and South America were both destroyed, maybe nuclear war, maybe God destroys it in some other way, but that would fulfill this, that a third of the earth's trees would be burned if those two continents were destroyed. So that might be something that's happening, or it might be more spread out. We don't know exactly how God's going to do it.

The second trumpet is now sounded in verse 8 and 9. And here a third of the sea is turned to blood. Now again, this could be spread out here and there. Or you could maybe think about the Atlantic Ocean, which is 29% of the earth's oceans. And so in the Atlantic Ocean, if that was turned to blood or destroyed, that would fulfill the third of the sea being turned to blood here.

The third trumpet sounds and a third of the water is made bitter. And here it describes in verse 11 a star striking the earth, maybe a comet or something like that, called wormwood. And the result is the waters become wormwood and many die because they drink the water that has been affected by this.

And then a third of the stars are darkened in the fourth trumpet. And so this is affecting now the stars. Again, there's lots of things you can consider with this. You think about the stars. It takes a long time for the light from the stars to reach us. So is it that the stars are dying or is it atmospheric? We don't know. But however God does it, he's going to do it and a third of the stars are going to be darkened. What I'd like to call to your attention is just notice how much God is in control.

It's one third of the vegetation, one third of the sea, one third of the water, one third of the stars. It's measured. It's specific. It's exact. And God is precise in that way because through all of this, as terrible as these judgments are, this is still God's mercy. God doesn't have to go through all this process. He could just end it.

And just that would be the end right then. He doesn't have to go through this. But even in the midst of this, God is giving mankind opportunity to repent. And so these judgments are measured. They're brought forth with exact measurement, with precision, because God is still giving the rest of those who survive the opportunity to turn and get right with him. Well, now Revelation chapter 9, verse 6.

So now the fifth trumpet sounds, verses 1 through 12. And here there's going to be five months of demonic torment. There's going to be these demonic creatures which are likened to locusts.

And locusts is kind of like a grasshopper. But we're not talking about like a plague of locusts. We're not talking about natural insects. We're not talking about helicopters or some other machine have suggested. But we're talking about these demonic creatures that are given this power and authority to torment humanity.

But they're only allowed to torment those who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. It tells us in verse 4. So those 144,000, they're protected in the midst of this. But everybody else...

is susceptible to this torment. And so they're going to be stung by these locusts. They're going to be, you know, tormented by them. And it's going to be so bad in verse 6, it tells us that men will seek death, but will not find it. They'll desire to die and death will flee from them.

And that's difficult for us to imagine perhaps, but maybe it's not so difficult for us to imagine. Things that are so terrible that you want to die, but you're unable to die. It's going to be a crazy time of judgment. Well, then the sixth trumpet will sound in verses 13 through 21. And here four angels are released to kill one third of mankind.

Now again, notice God is still in full control. The timing is perfect. These four angels have been held up until this point and it's now at this point, at this exact moment in history that God releases them. And so it's measured, it's precise in its timing, it's precise in its effect in that it's one third of mankind.

And so again, we're still seeing the mercy of God as, yes, many are going to die. And well, these judgments are opportunity for them to repent or even think about the previous trumpet, right?

Five months of torment. They want to die, but they're unable to die. And then a third of mankind dies in the next trumpet. That five months is God saying, here's your chance. Here's opportunity. A whole bunch of you are going to die after this. Even though you want to die now, you can't. But it's your opportunity to turn and get right with God. And then the third of mankind is killed in the next trumpet.

So picking up where we left off before, the fourth seal, a quarter of the earth is killed. It's about 1.2 billion. That leaves 3.6 billion population after the fourth seal. Now a third of those is actually the same exact number as before. 1.2 billion will be killed at that time. So another...

You know, again, looking at the last 2,000 years, it's about 500 million deaths from war and famine combined. Now that's going to be doubled once again. And the population after the sixth trumpet will be about two and a half billion people that will be left. So great devastation as we continue working our way through these judgments from God. Well, now we head into chapter 10. Verse 10 is the key verse.

It says,

Now here as we look at chapter 10, well not just this chapter, but chapters 10 through 14, I would suggest are also parenthetical thoughts. Where you hit the pause button and you start explaining to Richard what's really going on, right? In the same way, he hits pause and now he starts to explain some other things. Because we left off with the 6th trumpet and then we're going to hit the 7th trumpet and

And so he's like, okay, pause, here's some other thoughts, and then we're going to continue on the scene in just a moment. And so here in verses 1 through 7, he says, I saw a mighty angel with a little book.

And so he sees this mighty angel. He has a little book. And as he sees this angel, in verse 4 it tells us he hears this voice. It's the seven thunders uttered their voices. And he was about to write down what those voices said. But then the voice from heaven spoke to him and say, don't write it down. Seal up those things. They're not to be written down.

And so many people wonder, what did that voice say? What did those thunders say? I think it's just a reminder for us. Studying the book of Revelation is not about having all the answers.

I think like the rest of the Bible, it's about getting to know the one who has the answers. And so there's mysteries. Again, I've been sharing, you know, with you some specific things that are from my perspective. You know, some interpretations of the things that are happening here in the pages of Revelation. There's lots of different interpretations and ways to approach these things.

But it's not about having the right way. It's not about having the one answer. It's not about knowing every detail about these things. There's lots of mysteries. It's about getting to know God and looking to Him in the midst of this. One of the things that we stumble on is wanting to know or have an answer for everything. But the problem with that is if you can only believe what you understand, then your God is your mind.

That there's going to be mysteries with God because he's much bigger than us and he hasn't unfolded the plan for us. We don't know the future. We don't know all the details. And so there's going to be things like this where we just don't know what the thunder spoke, what the Lord spoke at that time. God keeps us on a need-to-know basis and you don't need to know everything and so God doesn't tell you everything. And we have to learn to be able to live with that.

Well, then in verses 8 through 11, he says, I took the little book and ate it. And so whatever this little book is, he takes it from the angel and he eats it. It's sweet, but then it turns bitter. My best understanding of what this little book is, is this is the rest of the prophetic message that John's going to deliver. And so this one is for him to share. But the thing that he heard with the voices was not...

There's room for discussion on that. All right, chapter 11, our final chapter for the evening. Verse 15.

Then the seventh angel sounded and there were loud voices in heaven saying, the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall reign forever. So we hit pause. We talked about this scene with the angel in the little book. Now unpause. We'll talk about the seventh seal and then he's going to explain some more things and then I believe we'll continue on the seventh seal in a few more chapters.

Verses 1 and 2, he's given a reed to measure the temple. And so he's giving a measuring stick and now he's going to measure the temple. Now right now in Israel, there is not a temple. There's the temple mount. There's the wailing wall, which is not a wall of the temple, but it's the retaining wall around the foundation of the temple.

And so there's going to be a temple that is built right now where there is no temple. It's going to be the fourth temple. So the first temple was built by Solomon. It was destroyed by Babylon. The second temple, remember Zerubbabel came back and rebuilt the second temple.

Then it's the third temple, even though the second one wasn't really destroyed, but the third temple is referred to as Zerubbabel's temple as expanded by Herod.

Now it was expanded by Herod and so that was the temple that existed in Jesus' day. And that temple was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. And ever since then there has not been a temple there on the Temple Mount in Israel. But there is going to be. That's part of the future things that are yet to happen. And so this fourth temple will be rebuilt. And now John is measuring that temple.

Then in verses 3 through 6, we're introduced to these two witnesses who will prophesy for 1,260 days. Again, this is one of those areas where we don't have all the answers. One of the main questions is, who are these witnesses? And it's usually suggested that it's Moses and Elijah.

or Moses and Enoch, or Moses and some other guy. It's, you know, depending on who you ask, there's lots of different opinions. But Moses represents the law. Elijah represents the prophets. Remember, Moses and Elijah appeared with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration.

And so it's possible that Moses and Elijah are sent back to earth during this tribulation period to be one of these two witnesses for the Lord. Now Enoch, you remember back in Genesis, he didn't die. He walked with God and then was not because God took him. And so that's why many people suggest it's Enoch who is one of these two witnesses because he didn't actually die. Um,

but that he was raptured and so he's now sent back to be a witness we don't know who they are but these two witnesses proclaim the truth to the world but they're also gifted by god with great power and they do miraculous signs and they bring all kinds of trouble to people who are rebelling against god for it tells us a specific time period 1260 days

Now you'll see that time period mentioned a lot throughout Revelation. You'll also see the time period of 42 months. That's the same. This all works out to three and a half years. 1,260 days, 42 months, and three and a half years used synonymously throughout Revelation.

And so that leads to another question. So when do these witnesses prophesy? If it's three and a half years, is it the first three and a half years? Or is it the last three and a half years? Or is it some in between? This time period of 1,260 days. There's lots of discussion about that. We don't have all the answers. My best guess is that these guys are ministering during the first half of the tribulation. That they die. The beast kills them.

In verses 7 through 10, you see that happen. And then he goes into the temple and sets up the abomination of desolation and proclaims himself to be God. And that's what marks the middle of the tribulation period. And so that's my best guess. But again, you can discuss with Jake if you have other thoughts on it. Verses 11 through 14, it tells us that life entered them after three and a half days. And so the beast kills them. Everybody rejoices. But then...

They are resurrected after three and a half days and are caught up to be with the Lord. I think verse 14 is interesting in the midst of this. It says, the second woe is past and behold the third woe is coming quickly. And so I think this is interesting because it helps connect to us maybe a possible timeline. And that is the first woe is coming.

Referring back to the fifth trumpet and the demonic locusts that are there. Then the sixth trumpet would be the second woe. And that's where the demonic army kills the third of mankind. And then the two witnesses are killed and then resurrected. And then the third woe now is coming quickly would be the final trumpet, the seventh trumpet. And then you see that in verses 15 and 16. The trump seven is sounded and the temple is opened in heaven.

Now, that means that, or that makes it possible that that lines it up with the middle of the tribulation period. So again, it's possible.

that the two witnesses are killed they are resurrected the antichrist goes in and proclaims himself to be god that happens in the middle of the tribulation now this seventh trumpet sounds and this final judgment is going to be extending for the final three and a half years of the tribulation period and so out of these seven trumpets or the seventh trumpet comes the seventh bulls

Think about it like the seven seals, right? There was all these judgments, judgments, judgments. The seventh seal, when it was opened, then the seven trumpets were brought forth. And then the seventh trumpet sounds, and now seven bowls are brought forth. And why do I say that? Well, because again, some of this is parenthetical. And when you jump to Revelation chapter 15, verse 5 and 6...

John says there, behold the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened. And so Revelation chapter 15 verse 5 corresponds with what's happening here in the seventh trumpet. And then out of the temple comes these seven angels having these seven plagues. And so the final seven plagues we'll look at next week that are poured out upon the earth.

And so this is possibly the middle of the tribulation. And so all the things that have taken place are the first three and a half years. And then as we go forward, these are going to be the last three and a half years. Again, that's my perspective. You're welcome to have other thoughts on it. And we can discuss it later. But either way, the tribulation is going to be a pretty terrible time.

On Sunday, as we were talking about serving one another and ministering to one another, one of the verses we looked at was in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, where Paul tells us to comfort one another with these words. As he's talking about the future, the future plans that God has, he says, comfort one another. Now, as you look at all these tribulations and all these judgments,

That's not very comforting. And so what Paul is talking about is not remind each other of all the judgments that are coming, but

remember that there is going to be the rapture of the church. And that's a comforting thought. And we are to comfort one another with these things. And so I wanted to end with just a reminder of some of the reasons that we believe the rapture happens before all of this judgment. And so first you have the after this in Revelation chapter 4 verse 1.

Now this is significant because remember in Revelation 1.19 we get the outline for Revelation. The things that you saw, the things which are, that is the present tense, and then the things which will happen after this. And then in Revelation chapter 4 verse 1 it says, after this.

And then there was a loud trumpet sound and he was caught up into heaven. And so we see Revelation chapter 4 as a great picture of the rapture of the church. Now another thing that you can consider in that is the second thing. That is the church is in heaven.

As you look at Revelation chapter 4 and 5 and study the different elements of that and the elders that are there, the 24 elders, are very likely a picture of the church. And so the church is in heaven in Revelation chapter 4 and 5 and the church is not mentioned or talked about in the next chapters until chapter 19 where once again we see the church in heaven. And so the church is in heaven. It's not on earth during this tribulation time.

Another reason we believe the rapture happens before the tribulation is because Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 9 that we are not appointed to wrath. And you might remember the verse I read to you back in Revelation chapter 6. As they hid themselves

And the rocks, and called the rocks to cry on them, or to fall on them, to hide them from the wrath of the Lamb. And so, the tribulation period is the wrath of God upon the earth. And the Bible is declaring here, we are not appointed to wrath. God's not going to include us in that judgment. Well, then we have the departure in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2.

There's a lot of details I can't get into there, but there is, Paul talks about, there's this departure that's going to happen and then the Antichrist is going to come on the scene. That he can't come on the scene until there's first this departure and I believe that there Paul is talking about the rapture of the church. That that can't happen, the Antichrist can't come to power until the church has been caught up to be with the Lord.

Well then, 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, also chapter 4, which is the verse I mentioned on Sunday, is this doctrine of the rapture is meant to be a comforting doctrine. So if the rapture was to take place in the middle of the tribulation, then the idea would be, you know, well, take comfort. You only have to suffer, you know, quite a bit. And then you'll be caught up to be with the Lord in the midst of the tribulation. That's not very comforting as you look at the tribulation period.

But what is comforting is to know that God has called us to be out of here before the wrath of God is unleashed upon the earth. And so it is a comforting doctrine, the rapture of the church. Philadelphia, the church written to in Revelation chapter 3, is given a promise that they will escape the wrath that is to come. And so there's a reference there to the rapture.

Jesus told us in Luke chapter 21 verse 36 that we should pray to escape the things that are to come. And so there is this idea of an escape.

That is the rapture. That we will be caught up and not endure the things that are going to happen. And then the final thought, the reason why to believe the rapture happens before the tribulation is Paul makes it very clear in not 2 Thessalonians 5 because there is no 2 Thessalonians 5. So that's 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verses 1 through 3 that there's no specific time

There's not a specific time for the rapture of the church. That is, it's going to happen by surprise, like a thief in the night. And if the rapture were to happen in the middle of the tribulation, well, then once the Antichrist signs the covenant, you know exactly how many days until the middle of the tribulation.

If the rapture happens at the end of the tribulation, then, well, you know it's exactly the seven years until the end of the tribulation. And so, one of the reasons why we understand and believe the rapture happens before the tribulation is because, well, it's going to be a surprise. It's going to catch us off guard.

We're not going to be ready for it. We can't count down the days to it. You can't do your Christmas Advent calendar, the rapture chain, 30 more days until the rapture. You can't do that. It's going to be a surprise. It's going to be like a thief in the night. And so because there's no specific time, we understand that the rapture happens before the tribulation. And so as we continue to study and read through the judgments of Revelation, it can be quite, you know,

And it can cause lots of fear. But comfort one another with these things. That the Lord is coming. Soon and very soon we're going to be with the King. And we're going to be caught up to be with the Lord. We're going to see tribulation. Jesus said in this world you will have tribulation. Generally speaking. But the tribulation, the seven years of judgment are not ordained for us. And God has some better things for us as we are to be caught up to be with Him. And so it's great encouragement for us to walk with Him.

To continue to pursue him. So that we're ready for him when he comes. Let's pray. Lord we thank you for these great promises. Lord we know that you are holy. That you are righteous. And you will bring judgment upon the earth.

You will make things right. And even in the midst of that, you are merciful and giving people opportunity to repent. And so we thank you for your grace and your mercy in the future. But Lord, we also thank you for your grace and your mercy now. And the way that you've ministered to us and blessed us. And I pray that you would help us in response to these things that are yet to come. Help us, Lord, to be right with you today. To prepare ourselves for your return. That we would be looking up

knowing that our redemption draws near. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.