Prophetic Ministry During End Times – Revelation 10:2-11

Revelation 10:2: “He had a little scroll open in his hand. And he set his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land,”

In Ezekiel 2:10, during the era of Jerusalem’s first Babylonian captivity, the Lord gave Ezekiel a vision of a hand with a scroll in it. It had writings of lamentations, mourning, and woe on it. Here, in Revelation, we have another sort of “Babylonian captivity” with the ruling empire on earth coercing people to espouse its beliefs, agenda and cultural norms. The lamentations, mourning, and woe during the last days of earth before the Lord returns are due to people abandoning and opposing God to follow evil desires.

Revelation 10:3: “And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roars. When he cried out, seven thunders uttered their voices.”

In Jeremiah 25:29-30, the Lord said to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, “For behold, I begin to bring calamity on the city which is called by My Name... Therefore prophesy against them all these words, and say to them: ‘The Lord will roar from on high, and utter His voice from His holy habitation. He will roar mightily against His fold. He will give a shout, as those who tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth.” This passage indicates that when God roars, it is because He is ready to bring righteous consequences to evildoers.

Revelation 10:4: “Now when the seven thunders uttered their voices, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, ‘Seal up the things which the seven thunders uttered, and do not write them.’”

In Psalm 29:3, it is written, “The voice of the Lord is over the waters. The God of glory thunders. The Lord is over many waters.”

In John 12:23-33, when the hour had come for Jesus to be glorified by dying for our sins, He said, “Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour?’ But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your Name.” When Jesus prayed this prayer, a voice came from heaven, saying, “I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.” The people who stood by, “said that it had thundered. Others said, ‘An angel has spoken to Him.’” Jesus said, “’This voice did not come because of Me, but for your sake. Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.’ This He said, signifying by what death He would die.”

The death of Jesus on the cross for our sins signaled the beginning of the end for Satan. Such passion from Jesus for the souls of people demonstrated how serious God is about saving our souls from the devil.

The “seven thunders” relates to the “the “seven spirits of God” mentioned in Revelation 1:4, 3:1, 4:5 and 5:6. The seven spirits of God are described in Isaiah 11:2. In Zechariah 4:2–6, the prophet sees a golden lampstand with seven lamps, which the angel explains represents the Spirit of God, saying, “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit says the Lord.” In Zechariah 3:9 and 4:10, Zechariah mentions the “seven eyes of the Lord” that range across the whole earth, symbolizing God’s complete and all-knowing watchfulness.[1]

The end times judgments written on the little scroll of the mighty messenger in Revelation 10 are “roars” and “thunderings” of God against Satan and his followers. Their time is short.

John wanted to write down the words of the “roars” and “thunderings” but was told, “Seal up the things which the seven thunders uttered, and do not write them.” The Holy Spirit will reveal these words to God’s people when the time is right to do so.

This is why at times we, who know the Lord and are very familiar with His prophecies, cannot clearly and fully explain various passages of Scripture. The Lord has not made their meaning fully known yet. He will do so at the appropriate hour.

Later, in Revelation 22:10, the Lord said to John, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this scroll, because the time is near.” Thus I, and others like me with a prophetic leaning from the Lord, are moved by God’s Holy Spirit to study the prophecies of Revelation, understand them and articulate them to people everywhere.

Revelation 10:5-7: “The angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised up his hand to heaven. And swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things that are in it, the earth and the things that are in it, and the sea and the things that are in it, that there should be delay no longer, but in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, the mystery of God would be finished, as He declared to His servants the prophets.”

The lifting of the mighty messenger’s hand is like what Abram did before the king of Sodom in Genesis 14:22-24, when Abram said to him, “I have raised my hand to the Lord, God Most High, the Possessor of heaven and earth, that I will take nothing, from a thread to a sandal strap, and that I will not take anything that is yours, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’”

Lifting the hand is a gesture one makes while speaking a solemn oath.

This lifting of the mighty messenger’s hand relates to Deuteronomy 32:39-41 where the Lord declares, “‘Now see that I, even I, am He, and there is no God besides Me. I kill and I make alive. I wound and I heal. Nor is there any who can deliver from My hand. For I raise My hand to heaven, and say, ‘As I live forever, if I whet My glittering sword, and My hand takes hold on judgment, I will render vengeance to My enemies, and repay those who hate Me.”

The mighty messenger’s “standing on the sea and the land” relates to Psalm 146:6, which declares, “The Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them – the Lord, who remains faithful forever.” God is sovereign over creation. He carries out His will on earth.

The mighty messenger says to John, “In the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, the mystery of God would be finished, as He declared to His servants the prophets.”

In Revelation 11:15, the seventh angel sounds his trumpet, and loud voices in heaven declare, “the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever.”

The last judgment ends Satan’s activity on earth. He and his followers are cast into the lake that burns with fire and brimstone forever. Thereafter, Christ and His followers enjoy a new heaven, new earth and new Jerusalem.

Revelation 10:8-11: “Then the voice which I heard from heaven spoke to me again and said, ‘Go, take the little scroll which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the earth.’ So I went to the angel and said to him, ‘Give me the little scroll.’ And he said to me, ‘Take and eat it. And it will make your stomach bitter, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth.’ Then I took the little book out of the angel’s hand and ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth. But when I had eaten it, my stomach became bitter. And he said to me, ‘You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings.’”

The little scroll is sweet to John’s mouth, but bitter to his stomach. The angel tells John, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings.”

It is sweet to receive words from God, but bitter to speak them to haters of God.

In Jeremiah 25:4, Jeremiah said to the hard-hearted people of Jerusalem, “The Lord has sent to you all His servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, but you have not listened nor inclined your ear to hear.”

In Ezekiel 3:1-3, the Lord said to Ezekiel, “Son of man, eat what you find. Eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.” So Ezekial opened his mouth, and the Lord caused him to eat that scroll. And the Lord said to Ezekiel, “Son of man, feed your belly, and fill your stomach with this scroll that I give you.” So he ate, and it was in his mouth like honey in sweetness.

Then, in Ezekiel 3:4-9, the Lord sent Ezekiel to speak to his own people... to “the house of Israel.” The Lord told Ezekiel they would not listen to him because they don’t listen to God. The Lord said of them, they “are impudent and hard-hearted.” But the Lord said of Ezekiel, “I have made your face strong against their faces, and your forehead strong against their foreheads. Like adamant stone, harder than flint, I have made your forehead. Do not be afraid of them, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house.”

In Acts 7:53-60, Stephen told the religious leaders of his day, “You received the Law by the direction of angels and have not kept it.” Those religious leaders stoned Stephen to death.

The calling to “prophesy about many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings” is bitter sweet. It is sweet to receive words of knowledge and wisdom from the Lord. As I mentioned in my previous article on Revelation 10:1, God gives these revelations to those He dearly loves, and who dearly love Him in return. However, it is bitter to have so much love for God and for people, and yet be rejected by people.

In 1 Corinthians 13:2-7, Paul wrote, “And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ...Love suffers long and is kind. Love does not envy. Love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

Love is pretty much everything that the world is not because love is of God.

In Luke 19:41-44, Jesus wept over Jerusalem, saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”

The ministry of end times prophesy involves lamentations, mourning and sorrow.

In 2 Samuel 18:19-23, there’s the story of Ahimaaz. Ahimaaz said to the general of David’s army, “Let me run now and take the news to the king, how the Lord has avenged him of his enemies.” At first, General Joab denied his request. Yes, the king’s enemies were dead, but so was the king’s son. But Ahimaaz insisted twice more, so Joab let him run with the news.

In 2 Samuel 18:33, when David received the news of his son’s death, he “wept, and as he went, he said thus: “O my son Absalom—my son, my son Absalom—if only I had died in your place! O Absalom my son, my son!”

Jesus Christ did die in our place to save us from the death we deserve, but we must receive Him and believe in Him to appropriate His free gift of salvation to us. Have you done that?

End times prophecy is good news for those who know God and walk with Him, but bad news for those who hate God and hate His messengers. Deniers and rejectors of God will spend eternity with the devil in the lake of fire. The disaster that they will experience is far greater than any disaster ever experienced on earth. May God help us to pray for them and speak to them.


[1] Wearefaith.org

A Mighty Messenger from Heaven – Revelation 10:1

Revelation 10:1: “I saw still another mighty messenger coming down from heaven, clothed with a cloud. And a rainbow was on his head, his face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire.”

This mighty messenger comes down from heaven. Being “clothed with a cloud,” “and his feet like pillars of fire,” connects him to the Lord as described in Exodus 13:21. Our Lord led His people by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. In Psalm 18:11, God makes “the clouds of the sky His booth (Hebrew – sukkah – סֻכָּה) around Him.” In Psalm 97:2, clouds surround God. In Exodus 24:18, “the sight of the glory of the Lord was like a consuming fire.” In Revelation 1:16, the feet of Jesus appear “like polished bronze refined in a furnace of fire.”

“A rainbow was on His head” connects him to the One who sits on the throne in Revelation 4:3 with “a rainbow around the throne.” In Ezekiel 1:26–28, the Lord gave to Ezekiel a vision of heaven in which he sees on a throne the likeness of a man whose appearance is as fire with a rainbow about it. The heavenly one’s “appearance was the likeness of the glory of God.”

The mighty messenger’s face shines like the sun. In Matthew 17:2, when Jesus was transformed in appearance before James, John and Peter, His face shone like the sun. In Revelation 1:16, the countenance of Jesus “was like the sun shining in its strength.”

This mighty messenger (or angel in Greek) is either Christ or the angelic messenger named Michael. Michael (מִיכָאֵל) means “who is like God.” Hebrews 1:3 speaks of Jesus being the brightness of God’s glory and the express image of God’s person. In John 1:14, Jesus is the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us with the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Jesus embodied God in human flesh.

In Jude 1:9, Michael is called a ruling messenger or archangel. When he contended with the devil, he did not bring a reviling accusation against the devil, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.”

In Daniel 10:5-6, God gives Daniel a vision of One whose facial appearance is as lightning. He is clothed with gold about His waist. His eyes are like torches of fire. His arms and feet are like burnished bronze. This description matches that of Jesus in Revelation 1:13-16.

In Daniel 10:13-14, the heavenly messenger who speaks to Daniel said that he received help from a chief prince named Michael. He tells Daniel, “I have come to make you understand what will happen to your people in the latter days.”

In John 1:18, Jesus is called the “exegete” (Greek text), that is, the One who declares or explains God.

In Revelation 1:1, the entire book is called, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ.” Jesus Christ is the One who reveals the things that are to come to God’s servants.

In Daniel 12:1, it is written that Michael will stand up for God’s people during the earth’s last days of tribulation.

In Revelation 12:7-9, “Michael and his angels” fight against Satan, and cast him down from heaven to earth.

In the Gospels, Jesus casts demons out, but also gives this authority to His disciples.

The distinction between Jesus and Michael is so thin, it is difficult to know for certain at times if they are one and the same, or if Michael, the ruling messenger, is just that much like Jesus.

What we have here is a mystery. In Revelation 10:7, the Lord says, “In the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, the mystery of God would be finished, as He declared to His servants the prophets.” The reason some sayings in the Scripture are mysterious to us is because the truth about them has not yet been fully revealed to us.

In Mark 4:11, Jesus said to His disciples, “To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to those who are outside, all things come in parables.” Until Jesus revealed truth of various Scriptures to the disciples, they could not clearly understand them. Human reason and intellect is insufficient to understand the mysteries of God.

In 1 Corinthians 1:9, “It is written: ‘Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”

In Daniel 10:11, the heavenly messenger said to Daniel, “O Daniel, man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak to you...”

In John 21:20, the Scripture refers to the Apostle John as “the disciple whom Jesus loved.”

Scripture indicates that God reveals His mysteries to those He loves. God’s loved ones also love Him. The first and great commandment is to love God with all one’s being.

In 1 Corinthians 2:11-12, God reveals His mysteries to us by His Spirit. “No one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.”

In Romans 16:25, Paul indicates that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is a revelation of a mystery that was kept secret since the world began.

In Ephesians 1:8-10, Paul gives glory to God for making wisdom and prudence abound to those who are in Christ. He helps us to “know the mystery of His will which He purposed in Himself.” “That in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth.”

In Ephesians 3:5-6, Paul gives glory to God for revealing to him the mystery of Gentiles and Jews becoming fellow heirs, of the same body. This was something new to the Jews.

In Ephesians 3:7, Paul marvels that though he is the least of all the saints, God gave to him the gift of grace to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.

In Ephesians 3:9-10, He wrote, “To make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God... now... made known by the Church.”

In Ephesians 3:14-19, Paul speaks of bowing His knee to the Father, and praying that He would grant to his listeners ability to comprehend the depths of God’s love which surpasses knowledge, that they might be filled with the fullness of God.

This is the desire of all, who like the apostles Paul and John, serve Jesus Christ. We want Jesus to clearly reveal to us the mysteries of God so that we might understand them and explain them clearly and rightly to our listeners.

In Revelation 10:1, John saw a mighty messenger. In my next article, my plan is to study the Scripture and ask the Lord to reveal to me the meaning of the mysteries he brings to light in Revelation 10:2-11.

The Sixth Trumpet – Revelation 9:12-21

Revelation 9:12: “One woe is past. Behold, still two more woes are coming after these things.”

In its noun form “woe” is a state of being, namely, grieving a loss. As an Interjection, “woe” is an exclamation of grief. In Revelation 9:12, “woe” is used as a warning that great losses are coming unless people repent of sin and begin glorifying God. God created us to bring Him glory!

According to the King James Bible Dictionary, the exact word “woe” is used 106 times in the King James Version, while related forms like “woeful” and “woes” appear once each.

In Matthew 23, Jesus pronounces seven “woes” against the scribes and the Pharisees.

In Matthew 23:13, woe for shutting people out of the Kingdom of Heaven.
In Matthew 23:14, woe for exploiting widows while making long prayers to hide their greed.
In Matthew 23:15, woe for making their followers fit for hell.
In Matthew 23:16–22, woe for making legalistic rules that supposedly please God but don’t.
In Matthew 23:23–24, woe for obsessing over stats but neglecting justice, mercy, and faith.
In Matthew 23:25–26, woe for posing as holy, but being greedy and self-indulgent.
In Matthew 23:27–33, woe for dressing themselves as holy, yet being murderers of prophets.

In Proverbs 15:11, it is written, “Hell and destruction are before the Lord, so how much more the hearts of the sons of men.”

Do you really want trumpets six and seven to sound after what happened during the previous five trumpet blasts?

In Joshua 6:1-25, the people of Jericho did not repent after six days of trumpet sounds. They should have! All of them except Rahab the harlot gambled that the God who destroyed Egypt would not destroy them. They were wrong. On the seventh day, trumpets sounded again and all of the people perished except for Rahab and those in her household.

In Joshua 2:18, Rahab tied a scarlet cord in the window of her home signifying that she believed Israel’s God was God. In Hebrews 11:31, Rahab is mentioned alongside such heroes of the faith as Noah, Abraham, and Moses. In Matthew 1:5, her name appears in the genealogy of Jesus.

Revelation 9:13: “Then the sixth angel sounded. And I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar, which is before God...”

In Exodus 30:1, this golden altar with the four horns is the altar of incense which represents the prayers of God’s people ascending before Him.

In Revelation 6:9, John saw the souls of the martyrs praying at this altar for God to take vengeance on those who murdered them. Like Abel in Genesis 4:10, their blood cries out to God for vengeance.

In Revelation 8:3-5, an angel takes a censer filled with prayers and incense from this altar and casts it to earth. When he does, thunderings, lightnings and an earthquake break out on earth.

Revelation 9:14: “Saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, ‘Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.’”

In Joshua 1:3-5, the Lord promised to Israel, “Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you... the River Euphrates... to the Great Sea [the Mediterranean]... No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you.”

In Genesis 2:14, the Euphrates River is mentioned as the fourth river breaking off from the river that flowed out of the Garden of Eden.

In Genesis 10:8-10, Nimrod built Babel near to the Euphrates River. Babel and Babylon are fundamentally the same geographical location and city, with “Babel” being the original Hebrew name and “Babylon” being the later Greek form. בָּבֶל is the Hebrew rendering of the Akkadian phrase Bābilim, meaning “Gate of the God.”

The physical ruins of ancient Babylon are located along the Euphrates River in present-day Iraq about 50 miles south of Baghdad.

In Genesis 11:1-9, rather than spreading out to fill the earth as God had commanded them to do, people wanted to gather in Babylon, build a city and make a name for themselves. God had to stop them. Babylon is a code word for people who try to rule themselves apart from God.

In Genesis 14:1-9, the first international battle took place between a coalition of four eastern Mesopotamian kings and an alliance of five local kings from the Jordan plain. Mesopotamia is the region between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.

In Revelation 9:14, the sixth angel says to release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates. Why were they bound? They are evil. God restrained them. 2 Thessalonians indicates that God restrains lawlessness. God can also release lawlessness.

Revelation 9:15: “So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour, day, month, and year, were released to kill a third of mankind.”

In Zechariah 6:1-6, four horsemen are pulling war chariots. The Lord explained to Zechariah that these four are spirits of heaven. They go out from the Lord to all the earth. In Revelation 6:2-8, the riders on four colored horses bring curses based on the Law of Moses against lawbreakers.

Cumulatively, they bring forth sword (war), famine, pestilence and death. These four judgments are like four prescriptions designed to humble people and to bring them to repentance. The words, “sword, famine and pestilence” appear together in 26 different Bible verses. Death usually follows war, hunger and disease. Death is the fourth horseman.

In Revelation 18:8, God says of Babylon, “Therefore in one day her plagues will overtake her: death, mourning, and famine. She will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.” In due season, God brings down those who exalt themselves against Him.

Revelation 9:16-19: “Now the number of the army of the horsemen was 200 million. I heard the number of them. And thus I saw the horses in the vision: those who sat on them had breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow; and the heads of the horses were like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and brimstone. By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed—by the fire, the smoke, and the brimstone which came out of their mouths. For their power is in their mouth and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents, having heads; and with them they do harm.”

In Ezekiel 38, God foretold of “Gog,” the prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal advancing with a great coalition of forces from Persia (Iran), Ethiopia, Libya, Gomer and Togarmah against Israel. Biblical scholars and historians generally link Rosh, Meshech, Tubal, Gomer, and Togarmah to ancient regions in modern-day Russia, Turkey, and Eurasia.

In Ezekiel 38:9, God speaks to Gog, saying, “You and all your troops and the many nations with you will go up, advancing like a storm. You will be like a cloud covering the land.”

In Ezekiel 38, God promises to shake the earth with His presence, and turn the swords of these soldiers against each other. He will rain down great hailstones, fire and brimstone on them. As a result many nations will know that God is the Lord of heaven and earth.

A third of mankind was killed as a result of this war. In Revelation 14:20, God speaks of blood as high as horses’ bridles, for one thousand six hundred furlongs which is 200 miles. Isaiah 34:2-3 speaks of the Lord’s indignation against all nations. His fury against their armies to destroy them. “Their stench shall rise from their corpses.”

A third of mankind means that one out of every three people on earth will be dead. Imagine the logistical nightmare for the survivors to clean up after such a mess. In Ezekiel 39 and Revelation 19, God calls for birds and scavenging beasts to consume the corpses of defeated armies.

Imagine the level of bereavement on the earth.

When God removes restraints, battles break out. A 200 million soldier army has never been assembled before. The total size of all armies at the height of WWII was 70 million.

This army was recruited by Satan to attack God’s people in Israel. They have fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow breastplates. These colors represent fire in its various forms depending on how hot it is. These soldiers are full of fiery hatred of God and Israel. The heads of their horses are fierce like the heads of lions. The horses also have the spirit of murder in them. Out of their mouths comes fire, smoke, and brimstone alluding to the evil spirits within them.

Revelation 9:20-21: “The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.”

As in Genesis 6:5, the “wickedness of man is great in the earth. Every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” They harden their hearts against God and refuse to repent.

When Jesus was brought to trial before the people of Jerusalem, they chose to acquit the insurrectionist Barabbas rather than Jesus. In the last days, many people, will run with the devil rather than walk with Jesus.

In Revelation 9:21, sorceries is mentioned. The Greek word for sorcery is “pharmakos” from which we get the word “pharmacy.” Some drugs are medicines that are helpful. Others are not! Some drugs cause harm to and through people.

In Revelation 9:21, sexual immorality is mentioned. The Greek word for sexual immorality is “porneias” from which the word “pornography” is derived. Pornography is the study of sexual immorality. The enemy of our soul knows what arouses are sinful nature. He wants to lead us astray from worshipping and serving God just as he did with Adam and Eve.

Consider this, Adam and Eve were in a paradise, and still opted for something other than God. Jesus was in a wilderness. He had not ate for forty days but would not turn stones into bread to satisfy His hunger when the devil tempted Him. In 1 John 5:5, the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God overcomes the world. In 1 Thessalonians 1:10, Jesus delivers us from wrath.

In Proverbs 10:17, the Lord says, “He who keeps instruction is in the way of life, but he who refuses correction goes astray.”

In Proverbs 10:25, the Lord says, “When the whirlwind passes by, the wicked is no more, but the righteous has an everlasting foundation.”

Let us pray for God to have mercy on the human race. We are for the most part deceived and distant from God. May the Lord in His lovingkindness graciously grant us repentance from sin and faith in His Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ.

The Fifth Trumpet of God – Revelation 9:1-11

In Revelation 8:13, John heard an eagle say as it flew over him, “Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, at the blasts of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow!’”

Four angels have already sounded four trumpets. They caused various disasters to happen on earth. Their plagues were similar to the ones that happened in Egypt during the days of Moses. The next three trumpet sounds are, “Woe, woe, woe!” The woes cause significant losses.

When the fifth angel sounds his trumpet, a star falls from heaven, and an angel opens an abyss and out of it comes locusts that bite like scorpions.

Revelation 9:1-2: “Then the fifth angel sounded. And I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth. To him was given the key to the abyss. And he opened the abyss, and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace. So, the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit.”

The word “abyss” (άβυσσος) is formed from the Greek prefix “a” meaning “without” plus “byssos” meaning “bottom” or “depth.” It was commonly used to describe an immeasurable chasm, a vast void, or a profound difference between two things. In biblical texts, it refers to the underworld.

In Revelation 11:3-7, after the two witnesses finish their testimony, “the beast that ascends out of the abyss will make war against them, overcome them, and kill them.”

In Revelation 17:8, people whose names are not written in the Book of Life, marvel at the beast, that is the antichrist. This beast ascends out of the abyss and goes to perdition.

In Revelation 20:1-3, John sees an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the abyss and a great chain in his hand. He binds Satan with a great chain and casts him into the abyss, shuts him up and seals the door for a thousand years.

In Luke 8:30-31, demons in a man named Legion asked Jesus not to send them to the abyss.

Where did the angel get the key to the abyss? Most likely from Jesus.

In Matthew 16:19, Jesus gives the keys of the kingdom of heaven to His disciples to lock and unlock heaven’s supply. In Revelation 1:18, Jesus said, “I have the keys of Hades and of Death.” In Revelation 3:7, Jesus quoted Isaiah 22:22 as being fulfilled in Him: “The key of the house of David I will lay on His shoulder. So He shall open, and no one shall shut. And He shall shut, and no one shall open.”

Revelation 9:3: “Then out of the smoke locusts came upon the earth. And to them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.”

In Exodus 10:12-15, the Lord told Moses to stretch out his hand over the land of Egypt so that locusts would come and eat every herb that the fiery hail had left behind. The locusts covered the earth and the land was darkened by them. There remained nothing green on the trees or on the plants of the field throughout all the land of Egypt.

The locusts of Revelation 9:3, have the power of scorpions which is to grasp its prey, sting it with poison and devour it. Who knows but that God created scorpions on the earth as prophetic signs of what is to come in the last days.

In Ezekiel 2:6, the Lord compares those who defy Him with briars, thorns and scorpions, saying, “And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them nor be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you and you dwell among scorpions. Do not be afraid of their words or dismayed by their looks, though they are a rebellious house.”

In Luke 10:19, Jesus said to His disciples, “Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” Jesus used the terms “serpents” and “scorpions” to refer to servants of Satan.

Revelation 9:4: “They were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green thing, or any tree, but only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.”

Praise God for placing His seal on those who believe in His Son Jesus Christ. They are spared from the plagues that others suffer.

According to 2 Corinthians 1:21-22 and Ephesians 1:13, God’s seal is His Spirit: “Having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.” In Ephesians 4:30, the Lord says, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” The angels of God know whom God has sealed.

In Revelation 7:4 and 14:1, the 144,000 Jewish followers of the Lamb are mentioned as having God’s seal on their forehead.

God commands these locusts not to harm green vegetation or trees, but only people unprotected by His seal. The fact that these locusts are released from an abyss and attack people not plants indicates that they are demons released to torment people.

Revelation 9:5-11: “And they were not given authority to kill them, but to torment them for five months. Their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man. In those days men will seek death and will not find it. They will desire to die, and death will flee from them. The shape of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle. On their heads were crowns of something like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men. They had hair like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth. And they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots with many horses running into battle. They had tails like scorpions, and there were stings in their tails. Their power was to hurt men five months. And they had as king over them the angel of the abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon [Destroyer], but in Greek he has the name Apollyon [Destroyer].”

In Revelation 20:1-3, Satan will be placed in the abyss. He is the king and destroyer that reigns over the locusts. In John 10:10, Jesus said that the devil comes to kill, steal and destroy.

In 2 Corinthians 4:4, demons “blind the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” The greatest loss Satan wants for people is the loss of their soul. Thus, he tries to keep people from believing in Christ.

In 1 Corinthians 5:5, a man who behaved immorally was delivered over to Satan by the Church for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit would be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. In 2 Corinthians 2:5-11, Paul indicates that the disciplinary process worked, leading to the man’s repentance. Thus, he urged the congregation to forgive and confirm their love for him so he would not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.

In the Book of Job, the Lord allowed the devil to test Job’s faith in God, but set limitations on how much suffering he could inflict on him. In Job 3:21, Job lamented for those, “Who long for death, but it does not come.”

As with Peter in Luke 22:31-32, Satan desired to have Job, that he could sift Job as wheat, but the Lord kept Job’s faith from failing. In Luke 22:32, Jesus said to Peter, “After you are converted, strengthen your brothers.” And in Job 42:10, “the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.”

In Revelation 9:7, “The shape of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle.” In Joel 2:24, the Lord compares an army’s galloping horses to a swarm of locusts.

In Revelation 9:7, they have something like gold crowns upon their heads. The crowns indicate authority over certain people. They have authority to attack those who are not sealed in their foreheads by God. The “something like gold” indicates that they are imposter authorities who do not serve God or people. They serve Satan.

In Revelation 9:8, their woman-like hair indicates that they are seductive. In 2 Corinthians 11:14, Paul wrote that Satan transforms himself into an angel of light. In Proverbs 5:3, the lips of an immoral woman drip honey. Her mouth is smoother than oil. In Proverbs 7:5, 21, the seductress uses enticing and flattering words to seduce her prey. Proverbs 7:26-27 says that she has slain strong men. “Her house is the way to hell.”

In Revelation 9:8, though they look alluring, they have teeth like lions. Cults are seductive, thus easy to join, but difficult to escape. The same goes for sin. Sin’s pleasures turn into chains. Jesus said to beware of false prophets. In Joel 1:4-6, the Lord compares an invading army to a swarm of locusts with teeth of a lion. It is hard to free one’s self from the jaws of a lion.

Their iron breastplates symbolize their cold-blooded nature towards their victims. For example, sex traffickers use the bodies of their captives as long as possible. Their victims want to die but are kept alive.

The Lord sets two limits on these locusts: severity and duration. They do not have authority to kill people. Their freedom to torment people ends after five months.

In Exodus 10:4-14; Deuteronomy 28:38; 1 Kings 8:37; 2 Chronicles 7:13, Joel 1:4; Amos 4:9, plagues of locusts are God’s judgment on sin. Spiritually speaking, when people abandon God, they become vulnerable to demonic attacks and takeovers.

The fifth trumpet judgments alert people to the fact that something is missing. It is faith in Christ.

If you have not yet asked God to forgive your sins, I urge you to do so. Pray to God in the Name of Jesus. Ask Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior. Denounce your sins and Satan. Ask God to keep you from temptation and deliver you from evil. Ask the Lord to maintain your faith in Him. Trust in Him! He will come through for you. He does not fail or forsake those who trust in Him.

If you are already a believer, but your faith is being severely tested by various trials, lean on Jesus. Don’t try to shoulder the burden alone as though you deserve it. God loves you! He hasn’t forsaken you. Your faith amidst trials is a great witness for Christ to those around you.

In Revelation 2:10, Jesus told the Christians in Smyrna, “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you a crown of life.”

In Revelation 2:13, Jesus commended the Christians in Pergamos, saying, “You hold fast to My Name, and have not denied My faith... even when Antipas... was slain among you.”

In Revelation 3:9, Jesus told the Christians in Philadelphia, “I will make them [their critics] to come and bow before your feet, and to know that I have loved you.”

During the tribulation era, multitudes of people from every nation believe in Jesus. Despite the devil’s best efforts to destroy every person’s faith in Christ, he fails. Christ is greater than he.

The First Four Trumpets – Revelation 8:6-13

Revelation 8:6: “So the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.”

In Revelation 8:7-13, 9:1-20, 11:15-19, each time an angel sounds a trumpet, divine judgments rain down on earth.

Revelation 8:7: “The first angel sounded: and hail and fire followed, mingled with blood, and they were thrown to the earth. And a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.”

The first trumpet judgment is on grass and trees.

In Exodus 9:23-25, when Moses stretched out his rod toward heaven, the Lord sent hail and fire on the land of Egypt. The hail struck every herb of the field and broke every tree of the field.

In Revelation 8:7, the Lord reveals to us that the miracles during the days of Moses and during the last days are initiated by God and not by man.

If God is giving prior announcement of these signs through His two witnesses mentioned in Revelation 11:3-6, as He did through Moses and Aaron in Exodus, it is because God is working in and through them. In 2 Corinthians 4:7, Paul, through whom God did mighty miracles, wrote, “We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.”

In Ezekiel 38:18-22, when Gog comes against the land of Israel, God promised in verse 22 to “rain down on him, on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, flooding rain, great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.”

In Joel 3:2-3, the Lord promised Israel, “I will also gather all nations, and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. And I will enter into judgment with them there on account of My people, My heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations. They have also divided up My land. They have cast lots for My people, have given a boy as payment for a harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they may drink.”

The devil sees the destruction of Israel as a victory against God, so he mobilizes the evil empires of the world to gang up on this tiny nation and destroy it, but God defends Israel from them.

As the seven angels sound their seven trumpets, God issues judgments upon heathen empires.

Undoubtedly, grass and trees suffer, but grass is also symbolic of human flesh. Isaiah 40:7 says that people are as grass. Trees are symbolic of rulers. The king of Babylon is compared to a tree in Daniel 4:22.

Revelation 8:8-9: “Then the second angel sounded: and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood. And a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.”

The second trumpet brings down a great mountain. God compares Babylon to a mountain in Jeremiah 51:25. “Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain, who destroys all the earth, says the Lord. And I will stretch out My hand against you, roll you down from the rocks, and make you a burnt mountain.”

In Mark 11:23, Jesus said, “For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.”

The mountain Jesus was dealing with in Mark 11:23 was unbelief in Messiah among the spiritual leaders of His people in Jerusalem. Unbelief needed to be brought down and faith raised up.

In John 8:24, Jesus said to the hard-hearted religious leaders of Jerusalem, “If you do not believe that I am He [the Messiah], you will die in your sins.”

As a result of the second trumpet, a third of the sea becomes blood, a third of sea creatures die and a third of ships are destroyed. This sea may refer to the Mediterranean and not all oceans. In the Apostle John’s world, the Mediterranean Sea was their sea. Isaiah 57:20 says the wicked are like the troubled sea.

During the seven seal, seven trumpet and seven bowl judgments, God judges the unbelief and the ungodliness of the world’s proud empires.

In Exodus 7:20, at the Lord’s command, Moses struck the waters of the river with his rod “in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants. And all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood.” God gave Pharoah ten opportunities to repent and believe in Him, but Pharoah refused to do so, and perished in his sin.

Revelation 8:10-11: “Then the third angel sounded: And a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the water, because it was made bitter.”

Wormwood in the last days is characterized as a fallen star. In Isaiah 14:12, Satan is a fallen star: “How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer (Day Star), son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations!” The star that falls from heaven is Lucifer.

In Daniel 8:10-12, the Lord speaks of a great horn that grows until it reaches the host of heaven. It casts down some of the host and some of the stars to the ground, and trampled them. He exalts himself “as high as the Prince of the host. And by him the daily sacrifices were taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was cast down.” He casts truth down to the ground.

In Jeremiah 9:15, the Lord said, “Behold, I will feed them, this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.” This was God’s response to Judah’s abandonment of Him.

In Deuteronomy 29:18, the Lord said, “Make sure that there may not be among you man or woman or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the Lord our God, to go and serve the gods of these nations, and that there may not be among you a root bearing bitterness or wormwood.”

In Numbers 5:19-22, a married woman suspected of adultery by her husband was made to drink “bitter water that brings a curse.” If she was guilty, the Lord would make her thigh rot and her belly swell.”

In Hebrews 12:15, the Lord warns us against bitterness, saying, “Watch carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled.”

Wormwood produces a bitter oil. Wormwood symbolizes bitterness, poison and death. The devil and his minions are like vipers who poison hearts and minds against God.

In Revelation 12:11, the blood of Christ is the antivenin. We claim the blood of Christ over us just as the Israelites in Exodus 12:13-28 placed the blood of a lamb over their doorposts in Egypt so that the angel of death would not hurt them. Medical antivenin is made from lamb’s blood. It neutralizes the poison from a snake’s bite.

Revelation 8:12: “Then the fourth angel sounded: And a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them were darkened. A third of the day did not shine, and likewise the night.”

In Matthew 24:29, Jesus foretold that in the last days, “The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light.” The people liked the dark side, so God granted their wish.

In Exodus 10:21-29, darkness during the day was one of the ten plagues that God placed on Egypt for their rebellion against His will.

Anne Graham Lotz was interviewed on the Early Show a few years ago by Jane Clayson. Jane asked Anne: “How could God let Hurricane Katrina happen?” Anne replied, “I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we have been telling God to get out of our schools, government and lives. Being the gentleman He is, He calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand Him to leave us alone?”

The first four trumpet judgments reveal that God remembers mercy even during judgment. The judgments are partial judgments striking only a third of the targets in each category. When the Israelites were forced into exile it was done in three phases not all at once. God’s judgments are painful but are designed to lead people to repent of sin and turn to Him for salvation so that they might be saved from the most painful judgment of all... from eternal hell.

Revelation 8:13: “And I looked, and I heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, ‘Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!’”

In Isaiah 24:5-6, the Lord says, “The earth is also defiled under its inhabitants, because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore the curse has devoured the earth... and few men are left.”

In Isaiah 24:19-20, the Lord prophesies, “The earth is violently broken, the earth is split open, the earth is shaken exceedingly. The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall totter like a hut. Its transgression shall be heavy upon it, and it will fall, and not rise again.”

In Hosea 4:1-2, the Lord indicts the inhabitants of the land saying, “There is no truth or mercy or knowledge of God in the land. By swearing and lying, killing and stealing and committing adultery, they break all restraint, with bloodshed upon bloodshed.”

The proud empires of earth, like Pharaoh, refuse to repent from sin and turn to God after the first four trumpet judgments. God sends an angel to warn them with a loud voice that three more painful judgments are coming.

According to Ezekiel 33:11, God does not delight in the death of the wicked. He wants the wicked to turn from evil and to turn to Him for salvation. According to Isaiah 43:11 and Acts 4:12, God is the only Savior. Salvation is about receiving Christ and all that He has done for us. The one thing we must do to be saved is to believe in Jesus Christ God’s Son.

The cup of divine wrath or fury is mentioned in Isaiah 51:17, 22; Jeremiah 25:15, and Revelation 14:10. In Luke 22:42, Jesus did not want to drink this cup. He drank it for us. We can either drink the cup of God’s salvation or drink the cup of His wrath depending on what we do with Jesus.

In Psalm 116:13, David wrote, “I will take up the cup of salvation, and call upon the Name of the Lord.” In Matthew 26:26-28, Jesus urges us to, “Drink from it [the cup], all of you. Drink all of it. This is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.”

Jesus Christ is a wonderful Savior! When we ask Him to forgive our sins, He does. Jesus fills us with His Holy Spirit to help us live a new life. The Holy Spirit helps us to love God and neighbor. He fills followers of Jesus with love, joy and peace so that we can serve God with gladness.

Trumpets, Incense and Eternal Happiness – Revelation 8:1-5

Revelation 8:1-2: “When He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about an half hour. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets.”

In Leviticus 26:18-19, the Lord says, “‘And after all this, if you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. I will break the pride of your power. I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze.”

People have already experienced the judgments released by the opening of the first six seals. Now, with the opening of seventh seal, seven more judgments are released, each one with the sound of a trumpet.

Satan’s servants are cruel. In Revelation 6:9-11, the witnesses of Christ that they martyred ask the Lord how long it will be before He avenges their blood. The Lord urged His martyrs to be patient. He promised to avenge their blood.

There is silence in heaven. It is the quiet before the storm.

When the angels sound their trumpets, calamities happen on the earth.

In Numbers 10:9, the Lord said to Israel, “When you go to war in your land against the enemy who oppresses you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets, and you will be remembered before the Lord your God, and you will be saved from your enemies.”

In Joshua 6:3-20, the Lord gave to Joshua the battle plan for conquering the kingdom of Jericho.

Jericho had insurmountable walls around it. It was a fortress. The Lord told Joshua to have seven priests and all the men of war march around the city once per day for six days. Seven priests blow seven trumpets each of these days. On the seventh day, they were to march around the walls of Jericho seven times, and then, make a long trumpet blast and shout to the Lord. When they did this, the walls of Jericho collapsed and they conquered the city.

In Judges 7:19-22, God led Gideon and his 300 men to sound horns before a battle.

In 2 Chronicles 13:18, priests sounding trumpets preceded a war victory for King Abijah of Judah. His army of 400,000 defeated an army of 800,000. His army slew a half million enemy soldiers in one day. “The children of Judah prevailed, because they relied on the Lord God of their fathers.” Like Gideon, they trusted the Lord despite overwhelming odds. The same God who did miracles in the past, will do them again.

Joshua’s mission was to cleanse the Promised Land of idolaters. The mission of Jesus when He returns is to cleanse the earth of Satan and his followers. When Jesus returns to gather His elect to Himself, it will be with the sound of a trumpet.

In Matthew 24:29-31, Jesus foretold, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light. The stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”

The sound of a trumpet proceeds the return of Christ to gather His elect people unto Himself.

In Revelation 14:14-20, two harvests are described. During the first harvest, One like the Son of Man, wearing a golden crown, sits on a cloud and thrusts in His sickle, and the good harvest of the earth is gathered. The second harvest involves the vine of the earth being cast into the winepress of God’s wrath, and blood flowing to great depths.

Revelation 8:3-5: “Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth. And there were noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake.”

In Exodus 30:1-6, an altar of incense was one of the items inside the tabernacle of Moses. The top of the altar was square with a horn on each corner. The altar of incense was placed before the veil that separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies. On the other side of the veil was the Ark of the Testimony, where the presence of God abided.

In Exodus 30:7–10, Aaron was instructed to burn incense on the altar morning and evening as a regular offering to the Lord. The altar of incense was called “most holy to the Lord.”

In Numbers 16, 250 Levite priests rose up against Moses and Aaron. Moses told these priests to take censers and put fire and incense in them, and to come before the Lord. The congregation joined behind the rebel priests until Moses told the congregation by the Word of the Lord to separate themselves from the rebels or perish. After that, the earth opened up and swallowed the rebels, their families, and their belongings. Fire from the Lord destroyed the 250 priests.

In the last days, influencers will rise up to turn people away from listening to God’s anointed servants. Like Pharoah in the days of Moses, they will have hard hearts against the Lord and His people. They will make life miserable for Christ followers. Despite God doing many signs and wonders in their midst, they will continue to oppose Him and die in their sins.

Burning incense relates to prayer. In Psalm 141:2, David prayed, “May my prayer be set before you like incense.” In Luke 1:10-13, as the father of John the Baptist (Zechariah) offered incense in the temple, the assembled worshipers prayed. The angel Gabriel told Zechariah that his prayer was heard, and that he would see God’s answer soon.

The angel in Revelation 8:3-5 mixes the prayers of God’s holy people with incense and allows this mix to ascend before God. When the angel takes fire from the altar of incense and throws it to earth, it causes noises, thunder, lightning and an earthquake.

In Revelation 14:18-20, an angel comes out from the altar. He has power over the fire. He cries out to the one who has a sharp sickle to cut down the vine of the earth and cast it into the great winepress of God’s wrath. When he does, blood flows.

When our prayers seem to be unanswered, we may wonder if God is hearing us. In Exodus 3:7, the Lord told Moses, “I have indeed seen the misery of My people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering.”

In Daniel 10:12, an angel told Daniel, “Do not be afraid Daniel, since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them.”

In Luke 18:1-8, Jesus told a parable to encourage us to always pray and not to lose heart. He spoke of a widow whose judge neither feared God nor people. At first, he would not give her justice, but she pestered him until he did. “Then the Lord said, ‘Hear what the unjust judge said. And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” The key to victory is faith in God’s Word.

In Matthew 7:24-25, Jesus told the tale of two house builders. One was wise and the other foolish. The wise builder built his house on the rock foundation of listening to Jesus and following His directions. His house stood strong during days of tribulation. The foolish builder disregarded the teachings of Jesus. His house collapsed when the storms began.

Those who disregard Jesus may have exquisite looking empires at this moment, but they are living on borrowed time. Their houses are houses of cards. In Revelation 18:10, the mighty ruling empire of the world (Babylon) ends inside of one hour. Babylon is a code word for the kingdoms of this world that live in opposition to Christ and His Word.

In Revelation 8:1-5, God transforms His people’s prayers into fiery judgments on evildoers. In Revelation 21-22, the followers of Christ are enjoying a new heaven, new earth and a new Jerusalem. God Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth takes care of them and ensures that they enjoy “a happily ever after” forevermore. Praise the Lord!

Multitudes Saved During Days of Tribulation – Revelation 7:9-17

Revelation 7:9: “After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’”

The last time, the phrase, “After these things” appeared was in Revelation 7:1. This phrase in Revelation 7:9 refers to the Lord setting apart 144,000 people from Israel’s twelve tribes for His service explained in Revelation 7:1-8. In Revelation 14:1-5, John saw these elect servants of the Lamb singing a new song that God gave to them. They follow the Lamb wherever He goes. They are firstfruits to God and to the Lamb, which means that their is more fruit to follow. There is no deceit found in their mouths, which means that they are truthful witnesses for Christ.

Through these 144,000 Messianic Jews, God brings a multitude of people from every nation, tribe, people and tongue before His throne to wave palm branches and to give glory to God who sits on His throne and to the Lamb. Praise the Lord!

In Leviticus 23:39-43, the Lord instituted a seven day feast for Israel to observe. It was called the “The Feast of Tabernacles.” At the beginning of these feast days, they took fruit from beautiful trees, branches from palm trees, boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook; and rejoiced before the Lord their God. They made booths with the branches and dwelt in them for seven days. God instituted this feast to remind Israel that they dwelt in booths when He brought them out of Egypt.

In John 12:13, just a few short days before He would die on the cross and resurrect from the dead, Jesus entered into Jerusalem with a warm welcome from people who “took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him, and cried out: “Hosanna! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ The King of Israel!”

Thanks to the redemptive work of Jesus Messiah, a multitude of people from every nation have been rescued from bondage to sin, and brought into the Promised Land of eternal paradise.

In Revelation 7:9, Jesus revealed to John a great crowd of people standing before God’s throne and before the Lamb. They are in God’s presence. They are from every nation, tribe and language. They are clothed with white robes, symbolizing purity, holiness and righteousness. Who clothed them with these white robes? Jesus Messiah did when He died on the cross to replace their sins with His righteousness. They have palm branches in their hands, and they cry with loud voices, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

Revelation 7:10-13: “All the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures and fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying: ‘Amen! Blessing, glory, and wisdom, thanksgiving, honor, and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen.’”

In Deuteronomy 32:3-4, Moses wrote these words in a song to the Lord, “Ascribe greatness to our God. He is the Rock. His work is perfect. For all His ways are justice. A God of truth and without injustice. Righteous and upright is He.”

The angels, the elders and the living creatures in heaven ascribe blessing, glory, wisdom, thanksgiving, honor, power and might to our God. Praise the Lord!

John sees a great crowd. Can you imagine the volume of so many voices shouting together, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” The Lord saves multitudes of people from hell and brings them to heaven during the days of the great tribulation. Though Satan’s servants on earth did their best to thwart them from believing in Jesus Messiah, they believed in Him, and were saved from hell by Him.

Revelation 7:13-14: “Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, ‘Who are these arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from?’ And I said to him, ‘Sir, you know.’ So, he said to me, ‘These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

So many saved souls coming forth from days of divine wrath on sin is a powerful testimony to the fact that during days of wrath on sin, God remembers to show mercy.

In Habakkuk 3:2, the prophet prayed, “O Lord, revive Your work in the midst of the years! In the midst of the years make it known! In wrath remember mercy!” In Revelation 7:14, God answered Habakkuk’s prayer.

God spoke of these days hundreds of years earlier to His servant Daniel the prophet. In Daniel 12:1, the Lord said, “At that time Michael shall stand up, the great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time. And at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone who is found written in the book.”

They washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Those saved in the great tribulation are saved just like the rest of us, namely by the blood of the Lamb. White by blood is an interesting phrase. We don’t think of things being made white by blood. But the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin. Isaiah 1:18: “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”[1]

Revelation 7:15: “Therefore they are before the throne of God and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them.”

Psalm 16:11 says that in God’s presence “is fullness of joy. At His right hand are pleasures forevermore.” All love, peace and joy emanates from God. What a blessing for these whom the world mocked and hated! Now, they are in the soul soothing presence of God. They have entered into the joy of the Lord!

On earth, so-called “great” people had body guards, barriers, waiting lists and endless reasons why only certain people can see them face to face. But in heaven, the redeemed get to see, speak with, and personally be of service to God Almighty Creator and Sustainer of the universe day and night forever. He never leaves them.[2]

Revelation 7:16: “They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore. The sun shall not strike them, nor any heat.”

The abundant food and drink of heaven contrasts with the famine on earth. The pleasant climate of heaven contrasts with the harsh climate on earth. God wipes away every tear from their eyes. Jesus shepherds them to fountains of living waters. Falling tears are replaced by fountains of joy.[3]

Jesus fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah 49:10 for His followers: “They shall neither hunger nor thirst, neither heat nor sun shall strike them. For He who has mercy on them will lead them, even by the springs of water He will guide them.”

Revelation 7:17: “For the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Jesus fulfills the prophecy of Ezekiel 34:23-24, “I will establish one shepherd over them, and He shall feed them—My servant David. He shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I, the Lord, will be their God, and My servant David a prince among them. I, the Lord, have spoken.”

This passage confirms that Jesus Christ is the good shepherd that David wrote about in Psalm 23. He makes us to lie down in green pastures. He leads us beside the still waters. He restores our souls. His goodness and mercy followed us all the days of our lives. He graced us to dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

In John 14:6, Jesus Christ declares that He is the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Him.

In Luke 15:11-32, Jesus told a parable which describes how the Heavenly Father waits for His prodigal sons and daughters to return home to Him. When they do return, He runs toward them, embraces them, and throws a celebration for them.

Have you asked Jesus the Lamb of God to take away your sins and to be your good shepherd? If not, He is reaching out to you now through His precious promises that you should believe in Him, receive Him, and be saved by Him. Please don’t pass on the opportunity to be with the Lord, to dwell in His house forevermore.


[1] Sermon notes from Adrian Rogers
[2] Ibid
[3] Ibid

Sealed in Christ – Revelation 7:1-8

Revelation 7:1: “After these things I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, on the sea, or on any tree.”

“After these things” refers to what transpired when the first six seals were opened. In Revelation chapter six, when the first four seals were opened, war, famine, and death broke out on the earth. When the fifth seal was opened, the Lord promised martyrs in heaven to avenge their blood. When the sixth seal was opened, a great earthquake occurred, the sun was darkened, the moon became blood red, stars fell to the earth, the sky changed, and mountains and islands came down. People cried out for mountains and rocks to fall on them and hide them “from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!”

Have you heard the saying, “Sometimes things have to get worse before they get better?”

In Jeremiah 1:9-10, the Lord said to Jeremiah prior to the Babylonian takeover of the world, “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant.” After Babylon tore things down, God rebuilt them.

The prophecy of Jeremiah reflects the prophecy of Revelation. After the end times Babylon destroys, God makes a new heaven, new earth and new Jerusalem.

In Revelation 7:1, John sees four angels holding back the four winds of the earth.

In Jeremiah 49:36, the Lord speaks of bringing four winds from the four quarters of heaven to scatter the people of Elam, that is, to displace them from their land.

In Daniel 7:2, Daniel sees a vision by night of the four winds of heaven stirring up the Great Sea. In Daniel 7:3-28, from the Great Sea arises four great beasts which are world conquering empires one after another. They destroy many people, but then, the Kingdom of Christ appears and they are no more, and only His kingdom remains.

In Zechariah 6:5, an angel explains to Zechariah that the four horseman are four spirits of heaven. The Hebrew word for “spirit” can also mean “wind” depending on the context.

During a surgical procedure, a surgeon makes a wound to reach the inner part that needs mending. Once the wound is closed up, better health follows.

Job 5:18 says that the Lord “wounds, but He also binds up. He shatters, but His hands also heal.” Hosea 6:1 says, “Come, let us return to the Lord; for He has torn us, that He may heal us; He has stricken, and He will bind us up.”

In Romans 2:4, we read, “Do you despise the riches of His [God’s] goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?” God allows humbling circumstances to turn us FROM sin so that we will turn TO Him.

The Book of Judges contains testimonies of God allowing pagan nations to oppress His people to bring about their repentance. When they cried out to God for help, He raised up a “judge” to deliver them from their enemies.

Are you dealing with enemies? Repent of your sins against God. Name them! Your worst enemy is sin. Cry out to God! Ask Him to forgive you! Ask Him to deliver you from whatever is oppressing you.

In Acts 26:18, Jesus told Paul that his mission was to open the eyes of people “in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.”

Revelation 7:2-3: Then I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God. And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, saying, ‘Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.’”

Our Lord Jesus revealed to John four angels holding back the four winds from the earth. Governments have invested millions of dollars in climate control research. God only needs four angels to manage it. They are climate control experts. Winds of change are about to be released when a fifth angel shouts to the other four not to harm the world “till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.”

God’s wrath is not against His servants. Remember how God protected Israel from the plagues that He sent upon Egypt?

In Exodus 9:23-26, “Moses stretched out his rod toward heaven; and the Lord sent thunder and hail, and fire darted to the ground. And the Lord rained hail on the land of Egypt. So, there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail... And the hail struck throughout the whole land of Egypt... Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, there was no hail.”

In Exodus 12:12-13, God told Moses to have people place lamb’s blood on the doorposts of their homes so that when the angel of death passed through Egypt they would be protected.

In Peter 2:7-9, the Lord, “delivered righteous Lot” from His judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot “was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked. His righteous soul was tormented from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds. The Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment.”

In Revelation 7:3, God ordered a SEAL to be placed on the foreheads of His servants before the four angels released the four winds.

In Ezekiel 9:4-52, God told His angel, “Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it.” Then, to another angel, He said, “Follow him through the city and kill, without showing pity or compassion.” God protected His prayer warriors from the plagues of Ezekiel’s days.

Revelation 7:4-8: “And I heard the number of those who were sealed. 144,000 of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed: of the tribe of Judah 12,000 were sealed; of the tribe of Reuben 12,000 were sealed; of the tribe of Gad 12,000 were sealed; of the tribe of Asher 12,000 were sealed; of the tribe of Naphtali 12,000 were sealed; of the tribe of Manasseh 12,000 were sealed; of the tribe of Simeon 12,000 were sealed; of the tribe of Levi 12,000 were sealed; of the tribe of Issachar 12,000 were sealed; of the tribe of Zebulun 12,000 were sealed; of the tribe of Joseph 12,000 were sealed; of the tribe of Benjamin 12,000 were sealed.”

God seals 144,000 Israelites. In Revelation 14:1, John saw “a Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him 144,000, having His Father’s Name written on their foreheads.”

In the ancient world, a king or a property owner used a seal to show ownership. The Name of the Father are on the foreheads of the 144,000 because they are in Christ.

In John 6:27, Jesus told the Jews, “Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.” God the Father has His seal on Jesus. Being in Christ is the key to being sealed by God. Be in Christ and you are sealed by God for everlasting life.

According to 2 Corinthians 1:22, God’s seal is His Spirit. Ephesians 1:13 says, “Having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.” 2 Timothy 2:19 says that “the Lord knows those who are His.” Ephesians 4:30 says, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” The angels of God know whom God has sealed.

The 144,000 are the saved remnant of Israel mentioned in Romans 11:24. They are elected by God’s grace! They are the natural branches grafted back into God’s olive tree!

These 144,000 Jews do not come to God by works of the Law. As with Saul of Tarsus, Christ Jesus converts them to Himself by His grace. Their unique calling and abilities are God’s grace gifts to them and to the world. The Lamb makes them outstanding evangelists.

In Revelation chapter seven, the names of Joseph and Manasseh are listed but the names of Dan and Ephraim are not. The tribe of Dan introduced idolatry into the nation of Israel according to Judges 18:30. Some speculate that the anti-Christ will come from the tribe of Dan because of Jacob’s words in Genesis 49:17. Jacob declared, “Dan shall be a serpent by the way, a viper by the path, that bites the horse’s heels so that its rider shall fall backward.” A viper that causes people to fall backward. The antichrist leads people to fall away from (abandon) faith in the true Christ. Manasseh and Ephraim were the sons of Joseph. So, in essence there are 24,000 elected ones from the tribe of Joseph and none from the tribe of Dan. [1]

Usually, Joseph, though one of the twelve sons of Jacob, is not listed as a tribe of Israel. His sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, are listed as half tribes. Sometimes, Ephraim is used in the Old Testament to refer to all the northern tribes of Israel, just as Judah is used at times to refer to all the southern tribes of Israel. The northern kingdom’s capitol, Samaria, was located in the land allocated to Ephraim. Perhaps, the reason that the name Ephraim is not used in Revelation chapter seven is because of its double meaning.[2]

In Revelation 14:4, the Lord indicates that the 144,000 do not have intimate relationships with women. God also led Jeremiah the prophet not to marry. In Jeremiah 16:1-4, the Lord told Jeremiah not to take a wife to spare him from grief. The Lord said, “They shall die gruesome deaths... they shall be like refuse on the ground.” The Lord spares the 144,000 from concerns of harm happening to spouses and children.

The 144,000 are not symbolic of the Church. Celibacy was never required of the Church as a whole. God gave Christians permission to marry in 1 Corinthians 7:1-6.[3]

According to Revelation 14:4-5, the 144,000 are sealed with divine protection from apostasy. They follow the Lamb wherever He goes. They are redeemed by the Lamb. In contrast to the anti-Christ and his followers, they do not deceive. “No deceit was found in their mouths.”

According to Romans 10:4, during the days of wicked King Ahab and evil Queen Jezebel, God reserved 7,000 men who refused to bow to Baal. The 144,000 in Revelation chapters seven and fourteen are like the 7,000. They are sealed by God so that they can complete their mission for Christ. They are His end times harvesters of souls. They are His gift to the world. Can you imagine the harvest they will have? It only took 12 Messianic disciples to start the Church.

The underlying question of Revelation 7:1-8 is, “Am I sealed by God? Have I believed in Jesus and received His Holy Spirit?” If not, now is the time to do so. Don’t wait! When the Lord returns, He will arrive like a flash of lightning. In Hebrews 3:7, “The Holy Spirit says, ‘Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.’” Believe and receive Jesus Christ!


[1] Sermon notes from Adrian Rogers
[2] Ibid
[3] Ibid

The Martyr’s Prayer is Answered – Revelation 6:9-17

Revelation 6:9-10: “When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the Word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, ‘How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?’”

The souls under the altar want the Lord to avenge their blood on those who dwell on the earth. They represent the cry of all martyrs from Abel to the last martyr of God.

“How Long O Lord?” They want justice. In Psalm 79:6, Asaph prayed, “Pour out Your wrath on the nations that do not know You, and on the kingdoms that do not call on Your Name.”

In Genesis 4:10-12, after Cain killed his younger brother, the Lord asked, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground. So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth.”

The Lord gave to Cain a consequence for killing his brother. In Revelation 16:6, those who shed innocent blood receive the consequences they deserve: “They have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and You have given them blood to drink. For it is their just due.”

God also counts the blood of children as innocent blood. 2 Kings 21:6 says, “He [Manasseh] made his son pass through the fire...” 2 Kings 24:3-4 says, “Surely at the commandment of the Lord this came upon Judah, to remove them from His sight because of the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done, and also because of the innocent blood that he had shed; for he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, which the Lord would not pardon.”

False religions yield no salvation. Psalm 106:37 says that “they even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons.” The only One whose blood was without sin is Jesus Christ. God does not receive the blood of any other than His own Son to atone for the sins of humanity.

Innocent bloodshed is what makes horror movies so horrific. An Australian missionary once said to me, “Movies that glorify the shedding of innocent blood are satanic.” Visions of demons slaughtering innocent people is evil in God’s sight.

The devil tempts people to sin. Sin yields the curses of the Law. The devil, however, wants people to blame the followers of Christ for the world’s curses. To be their scapegoats.

In Deuteronomy 32:43, the Lord calls the nations to rejoice with His people, saying, “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people; for He will avenge the blood of His servants, and render vengeance to His adversaries. He will provide atonement for His land and His people.”

In 2 Kings 9:1-3, Elisha commissioned one of the sons of the prophets to anoint Jehu king over Israel while Jezebel was still a queen over them. The young man spoke the following words over Jehu as he anointed him, “You shall strike down the house of Ahab your master, that I may avenge the blood of My servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the Lord, at the hand of Jezebel.” Jehu made sure that Jezebel died the disgraceful death she deserved.

In Luke 18:7, Jesus asked a rhetorical question, “Shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them?” “YES!” God will avenge their death.

In Revelation 8:13, John hears an angel say with a loud voice, “Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!”

John, who recorded the words of Revelation for us, lost his brother James in Acts 12:2 when King Herod killed him with the sword. John saw Jesus crucified because of His love for people.

In Revelation 6:9, John saw the souls of the martyrs of Christ under an altar. The altar symbolizes a life poured out for God. Leviticus 4:7 says that the priest “shall pour the remaining blood at the base of the altar of the burnt offering.”

The Lord’s martyrs were slain for declaring God’s Word and for testifying for Jesus. Revelation 19:10 says, “The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” In Mark 13:9-10, Jesus said, “You will be brought before rulers and kings for My sake, for a testimony to them...”

Revelation 12:11 speaks of those who overcome the devil “by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.”

In Revelation 12:17, the devil is at war with those who keep the commandments and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. He is at war with those who preach the Law which condemns sin, and the Gospel which points to Jesus Christ as the only Savior from sin.

In Revelation 20:4, John sees “the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the Word of God.” They refused “to worship the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands.” They live and reign with Christ.

Revelation 6:11: “Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed.”

The martyrs are told to rest a little while longer until the rest of their fellow servants and brothers are killed as they were.

It is a painful undertaking at times to save sinners. It cost God His Son. It cost God countless faithful saints and servants. Satan is very cruel. To rescue captives from him is to risk personal harm. But the devil’s day is coming.

In Acts 17:31, Paul told the Epicurean and Stoic people of Athens that “He [God] has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”

In the last six verses of Revelation chapter six, “the wrath of the Lamb” is released. Who thought a Lamb could render such harsh judgments?

Revelation 6:12-17: “I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. 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! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

All classes of people want mountains and rocks to fall on them and hide them from the wrath of God and the wrath of the Lamb.

In Exodus 8:19, Pharaoh’s magicians recognized that God was plaguing Egypt. They said, “This is the finger of God.”

In Leviticus 26:1-44, God told Israel that they would be blessed if they obeyed Him and cursed if they defied Him.

As to curses, the Lord says in Leviticus 26:18, “After all this, if you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.” The Lord pauses between each set of seven judgments to give people an opportunity to repent.

Jesus Christ reveals three rounds of seven judgments in the Book of Revelation. Round one is the seven seal judgments (Revelation 6:6-7:5). Round two is the seven trumpet judgments (Revelation 7:7-15:8). Round three is the seven bowl judgments (Revelation 16:2-17:8).

Pharaoh would not have experienced ten plagues if he had repented after the first one, but he was hard-hearted. Likewise, many people in the last days will be like the Pharaoh and like the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. They will refuse to admit that ungodliness is wrong. In 2 Peter 2:6, 10, Peter wrote, “They are presumptuous, self-willed...”

We can choose to defy God, but we cannot choose the consequences that of such defiance.

The key difference between saints and sinners is that saints recognize their need for Christ to bear the curse of the Law for them and sinners do not.

In Galatians 3:10, Paul wrote, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the Law, to do them.”

In Galatians 3:13-14, Paul wrote, “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us... that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”

The Law demands a curse on whoever breaks it. “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the Law” means that He covers our imperfect obedience with His perfect obedience. The blessing of Abraham is a friendly relationship with God. In James 2:23, it says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. And he was called the friend of God.”

As friends of God, we might experience temporary persecution from those who hate Him, but we will not experience God’s eternal wrath on sin.

God’s judgments on earth are lesser tribulations intended to save us from a greater tribulation, namely an eternity without Him in hell.

For example, in Acts 16:26- 31, the Lord called for an earthquake to open the prison cell where Paul and Silas had been locked up unjustly. The earthquake frightened the prison guard. He thought his prisoners had escaped. He was about to kill himself, but Paul stopped him and urged him to believe in Jesus. He and his entire family believed in Jesus. The earthquake prepared his heart to listen to the voice of God via Paul and Silas.

The people under the Lamb’s wrath ask who is able to stand before Him? Will you be able to stand before Him when your life is over? In Luke 21:36, Jesus said to “pray that you may be counted worthy to escape these things and to stand before the Son of Man.”

In Romans 5:1-2, we learn how to stand before God... “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand.” We must stand before God clothed in the merits of Christ and not our own.

In Psalm 52:7-9, the Lord urges us not to be like the man who trusted in the abundance of his riches. In Psalm 53:1, David wrote, “I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever. I will praise You forever because You have done it...”

I like what missionary and martyr Jim Elliott once said, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

The Four Horsemen – Revelation 6:1-8

In Revelation 6:1-8, the Lord revealed to John four horses with four riders. This vision relates to the vision that He gave to Zecheriah the prophet back in the days of Darius of Persia.

In Zechariah 1:8-11, the Lord showed Zechariah a man riding on a red horse, and behind him were horses: red, sorrel, and white. Sorrel is a bright copper-red or reddish-brown. The Lord explained to Zechariah that, “These are the ones whom the Lord has sent to walk to and fro throughout the earth.”

2 Chronicles 16:9 says, “The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.”

In Zechariah 1, the horsemen found the people of earth at peace with their sin. But in Zechariah 6:1-6, the four horsemen are pulling war chariots. The first chariot had red horses, the second black horses, the third white horses, and the fourth chariot dappled horses. All of the horses are strong steeds or war horses. The Lord explained to Zechariah that these four horses are four spirits of heaven. They go out from the Lord to all the earth.

As in the Book of Revelation 6:2-8, the four colored horses bring curses based on the Law of Moses against those who break God’s Law.

The horses of the first chariot were red, signifying war and bloodshed. In Revelation 6:2-8, the red horse takes peace from the earth so that people kill one another. The white horse comes with a bow and a conqueror. The black horse brings famine and insufferable economic inflation. The pale horse is followed by Death and Hades.

Cumulatively, they bring forth sword (war), famine, pestilence and death. These four judgments are like four prescriptions designed to humble people and to bring them to repentance. The words, “sword, famine and pestilence” appear together in 26 different Bible verses. Death usually follows war, hunger and disease. Death is the fourth horseman.

Prophetic voices warn against dangers of false beliefs and point people to the importance of true beliefs about God. Proverbs 23:7 says, “As he thinks in his heart, so is he.” Thus, it is important that we work to replace false beliefs about God with truth beliefs about Him.

God consistently warns people of His judgments against false beliefs before He applies judgments. For example, in Jeremiah 14:12, the Lord said to the people of Jerusalem through His prophet, “I will consume them by the sword, by the famine and by the pestilence.”

In Jeremiah 27:8, the Lord said, “It shall be, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and which will not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation I will punish, says the Lord, with the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.” In Jeremiah 29:17, “Thus says the Lord of hosts: Behold, I will send on them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like rotten figs that cannot be eaten, they are so bad.”

In Matthew 24:7-8, Jesus spoke of sword, famine, pestilence and earthquakes.

Many today erroneously assume that God is no longer the same toward sin as He was before.

2 Thessalonians 1:7-9 says, ”When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, these shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power.”

Hebrews 10:26-31 says, “If we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord. And again, ‘The Lord will judge His people.’ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

Like a mother bear, God’s grace has two depositions, one of warmth toward those who receive and appreciate it, and the other of vengeance toward those who insult the Spirit of His grace.

In Romans 3:31, Paul wrote, “Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid! Yea, we establish the Law.” This means faith in Christ doesn’t nullify God’s Law, faith in Christ fulfills the Law.

In 2 Peter 1:3, Peter wrote that God’s “divine power has granted us everything we need for life and godliness.”

In 1 John 5:2, John wrote that commandment keeping is an expression of love among God’s people. “This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out His commands.” God and His Word are one and the same. We love God by loving what He says and by applying His Word to our every day lives.

The four horses of judgment are comparable to the four winds of change mentioned in the Bible. In Daniel 7:2, the four winds of heaven churn up the Great Sea, from which four great beasts (worldly empires) emerge.

In Revelation 7:1, four angels stand at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds until God’s servants are sealed (Those who love and serve the Lord are protected from God’s wrath). When the four winds are released, disasters break out. The Hebrew word for wind (ruach) also means spirit or breath, connecting these winds to spiritual forces.

In Zechariah 6:7-8, we read, “Then the strong steeds went out, eager to go, that they might walk to and fro throughout the earth. And He said, ‘Go, walk to and fro throughout the earth.’ So they walked to and fro throughout the earth. And He called to me, and spoke to me, saying, ‘See, those who go toward the north country have given rest to My Spirit in the north country.”

The strong steeds refers to all four horsemen. After they complete their judgments on the first three empires of Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Graeco-Macedonia, they walk to and fro the earth until the final foe of Israel arises, namely the Roman Empire. This empire will continue in various forms until the second advent of Christ. Hence they “walk to and fro through the earth.” The last great competitive empire against God shall fall as did the previous three.

Revelation 6:1-2: “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.’ And I looked, and behold, a white horse. He who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.”

This conqueror on a white horse is an antichrist. The word “anti” means against or instead of Christ. He rides a white horse like the Messiah does in Revelation 19:14, but he is not the Messiah. He is a counterfeit. He conquers people militarily and ideologically. In John 5:43, Jesus said to the Pharisees, “I have come in My Father’s Name, and you do not accept Me, but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him.”[1]

According to Jesus in Matthew 24:5, the appearances of antichrists are an indication that the end of the world is near. The world is looking for a hero. Currently, the largest money making films are about heroes who do great signs and wonders.

Revelation 6:3-4: “When He opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, ‘Come and see.’ Another horse, fiery red, went out. And it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, and that people should kill one another; and there was given to him a great sword.”

The rider on a fiery red horse has a sword in his hand. Red is the color of blood. The last days of earth will be filled with wars. There will be class, gender, race and religious wars. The rider on the fiery red horse takes peace from the earth so that people kill each other. Peace is God’s blessing. Jesus Christ is the Prince of Peace. If we want peace, we must have Christ.[2]

Revelation 6:5-6: “When He opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, ‘Come and see.’ So, I looked, and behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, ‘A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not harm the oil and the wine.’”

The rider on the black horse has a scale in his hand. John hears a voice saying that a quart of wheat will cost day’s wage. Can you imagine having to work a whole day for a loaf of bread? Famine follows war as night follows day.[3]

Revelation 6:7-8: “When He opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, ‘Come and see.’ So I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed with him. And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth.”

Death rides a pale horse. The word for “pale” here is the Greek word “cloros.” It is a greenish yellow. The color of a corpse! Death sits on this horse and Hades follows him. Hades (the grave) collects what death leaves behind.[4] War, hunger, disease and calamities have snared his prey.

Did Jesus warn people about a worse tribulation than the tribulations experienced on the earth? Yes, He did. Yes, Jesus warned about hell more than any other in the Bible. Read Luke 16:19-31; Mark 9:43, 48; Matthew 10:28, 13:42, 25:30 for more details. Jesus used vivid words like unquenchable fire, outer darkness and weeping to describe hell. Jesus wanted people to repent of trying to save themselves and turn to Him (the Messiah) for salvation.

Think of it! If the consequences of sin are not severe, why did the Son of God have to die a cruel death on a cross to save us from our sin?

God’s earthly judgments are lesser tribulations intended to save us from a greater tribulation, namely an eternal judgment in hell. For example, in Acts 16:26- 31, the Lord called for an earthquake to open the prison cell where Paul and Silas had been locked up unjustly. The earthquake frightened the prison guard. He thought his prisoners had escaped. He was going to kill himself, but Paul stopped him and urged him to believe in Jesus. The prison guard and his entire family believed in Jesus. The earthquake prepared his heart to listen to the voice of God via Christ’s servants Paul and Silas. He believed in Jesus and acted upon His Word and was saved from the eternal consequences of his sin.

Have you believed in Jesus? I mean really believed in Him as though your eternity depended on Him because it does. It is eternally vital that you place all your trust in the merits of Christ for your salvation, and not in your own merits. Be like the tax-collector in Luke 18:13, who with humility and anguish for his sin, said, “God, be merciful to me a sinner!” In Luke 18:14, Jesus said, “I tell you this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

[1] Sermon notes from a message by Adrian Rogers
[2] Ibid
[3] Sermon notes from a message by Adrian Rogers
[4] Ibid