Revelation Chapter 8

Today, Dr. J discusses Revelation 9.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:20

Welcome to Dr. J in the Bible. Today we're looking at chapter eight of Revelation. I hope you're ready. Let's go. So we're looking at the seventh seal and the first four trumpets of Revelation chapter eight. Revelation chapter eight marks the transition from the seven seals to the seven trumpet judgments. And the seventh seal introduces silence in heaven and is basically a prelude to the trumpet judgments, which bring intensified judgments upon the earth during the tribulation. And as we look at this from a pre-trib, premillennial perspective, the church has already been raptured, and the judgments fall on an unbelieving world that has rejected Christ and is left behind. We look at verses one through five of chapter eight, and it says that when the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about a half an hour. So silence in heaven represents awe in anticipation before God's intensified judgments. When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about a half an hour. And the silence is striking. Some have seen it as a as it's a breathing space, or the angels are silent so the prayers of the saints can be heard, perhaps even the cry of the martyrs in Revelation 6. More likely, however, the silence in heaven demonstrates a sober, awestruck silence at the judgments to come. Now that the seals are are off and the scrolls can be opened, the other angel with the scroll opens it. It says, Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense that he should offer it with 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 to God from the angel's hand. And then the angel took the censer, filled it with the fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth. And there were noises and thunders, lightnings and an earthquake. So the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. So we look at this, and God prepares a new phase of judgment, each trumpet bringing specific divine consequences. You know, the other angel, some see this angel as Jesus, functioning as a mediator between uh because of Old Testament reference to Jesus as the angel of the Lord. And anytime you see the angel of the Lord in the Old Testament, it's referring to the pre-incarnate Christ. Others say it could be a mere angelic being because the specific ancient Greek word for another means another of the same kind. We don't know for sure. Um, you know, I I kind of take the view it it could be Jesus in that he's the one who's taking the prayers and answering them. He's gonna answer with judgment. Um I guess you it could be another angel, too. And we'll know someday, and that's why we got to get ready. So we will find out. The golden censer and incense, uh, what does that symbolize? It symbolizes prayers. That's what I'm saying. The prayers are coming through this mediator, which we know that there's only one mediator between God and man, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why I hold that view. And so the censer is thrown to the earth, indicating that God will respond to prayers with righteous judgment. And so the angel took the senser, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth. As God's people pray for resolution of all things, with a consummation of all things, our prayers were touched by the fire from the altar in heaven. When we pray for thy kingdom come, we're praying for Jesus to come back. We're praying for God to judge this evil world. So all things will not be resolved on this earth until judgment comes. And when the prayers of God's people come back to earth, and they bring the grounds, well, or the judgment of the noises, the thunderings, the lightnings, and the earthquake. It's kind of like imagine a courtroom where the judge pauses to acknowledge the prayers of the innocent before pronouncing the next series of penalties on the guilty. Each of the seven angels prepared to sound their trumpet, marking specific judgments to come, which they symbolize God's orderly execution of justice. Each trumpet unfolds according to his divine plan. God is not impulsive, God is not disorganized, God is very patient and long-suffering that all should come to him and none should perish. Verse 7 talks about this first trumpet, hail and fire mixed with blood, was thrown to the earth, and a third of the earth burned. So 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 burnt up, and all the green grass was burned as well. So you can just picture this. Um the blood may be the result of this hail and this fire. And um and it's a partial destruction of vegetation, of the earth's resources. And as a result, the effect is the consequences is the agriculture is damaged, the environment is devastated. While you can almost picture wildfires everywhere, hailstorms, destroying crops widespread, but partial, not totally, signaling the beginning of divine judgment. And I think even right now, before the rapture, and we're not even, you know, we're still on earth. Someday I'm looking forward, Lord, to rapture us up, Maranafa. But we're still here. And um, but we can see see patterns in the world, the increase of fires, increase of catastrophe, uh, all a result of sin and the fall. But we can see them increasing like birth pangs. And I think that will just continue to increase more and more as we get closer to that time. Verse 8, something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea became like blood, destroying sea life and ships, and the economic, ecological disaster affecting the trade route and the food supply. You know, a volcanic eruption or a massive meteor hitting the ocean, killing marine life, causing this widespread panic from coast to coast of nations. Third of the trees were burnt up, the green grass. Can you picture this? Um many wonder how this could happen. Number one, we don't really have to have an explanation because God's gonna do it, and God is God, and we're not. But some people take the view maybe that God will use something like a nuclear war, a fallout, pollution, meteors, so forth. And that's possible. And but but God but this should never obscure the essential truth that God brings judgment and he isn't pass a passive bystander. Right? This is not his it's not nature taking its course here. God is the God is the one to you know acting out judgment. God can use whatever method he desires, and he may use some of these. He may not, he may just directly use things that are uh that that he's already that maybe through man that he would just allow it to increase. But that's irrelevant, because it's gonna happen and it's gonna be bad. Verse 10 a great star named Wormwood fell from heaven, and a third of the waters became bitter. And wormwood symbolizes a bitter calamity of waters, and they become undrinkable. Drinking waters contaminated, leading to death and suffering. Um and so we see this, God's judgment directly affects the necessities of life. Water, food, um, ecology, and it's reminding humanity of its dependence on Him. Imagine rivers and wells bitter, crops dying from poison irrigation, mass human suffering because of lack of clean water. I mean, we're seeing a lot of this in parts of Africa and Asia. Um and and so yeah. Verse 12 a third of the sun, the moon, and stars were struck. There's a partial darkening of the celestial bodies. There'd be reduced sunlight, moonlight, affecting climate, agriculture, and human perception of time. And it represents God's power over creation, disruption of human reliance on natural order. And so you can imagine the fear going through here. A dim sun, cold nights, unusual seasonal patterns disrupted. Maybe winters will be hot, hot, maybe summers will be more cold. I mean it's gonna be weird weather. Well, we're kind of experiencing that to some degree. Causing fear of uncerta uncertainty. We also know from the book of Revelation that it says the Euphrates River will dry up. And we'll get into this as we go further. But the Euphrates River is drying up already. You know, they have taken satellite photos of the Euphrates River and it's showing that it's drying up. And the Euphrates River is even kind of shaped like an omega, uh, kind of like Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega. I don't know. I don't think anything's by accident. God leaves his fingerprints everywhere. So we're seeing some really, really interesting things. Uh we can see in our culture, in the world that we live, many of these things happening more and more. And uh I believe after the rapture, it's going to be so much an everyday thing of major crisis. Picture something like the World Trade Center over and over again every day. I remember that in when that occurred and uh of 2001, 9-11. And it was really uh, I think it was really an um anxiety-inducing time. But this is gonna be like that every day, more intense. Uh, and I'm glad that I'm not gonna be there. My hope is you won't either, and that you will accept Christ before it's too late, that you will trust that Jesus went to the cross and died for your sin, rose from the grave, so that you can be with Dr. J, most importantly with Jesus through these times. I know this was a little shorter, went through very quickly, but um it's pretty self-explanatory. Picture a world that will be under the judgment of God. People just don't know what uh what is waiting if they reject Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior. Remember that God can take your mass, turn to a message for his glory for your good.