The Return of Death (The Seven Trumpets) | Revelation 9:12-21 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Revelation Bible Study Series)

It is said that 1.8 to two people die every second

worldwide, 106 people every minute, 6392 every hour, and

just over 150,000 people every single day.

The Bible, however, predicts something remarkable.

It predicts a period in the future when these predictable

statistics will come to a mysterious halt.

The Scripture foretells a moment in history that is

unprecedented. Death will be withheld from the

world as the globe will be tormented by demonic spirits for

a total of five months, and this will be by divine sanction.

This will be permitted by God as a way to jolt the wicked in

order to repent before it is too late.

And this is what John saw when he had a vision of an Angel

blowing the fifth of seven trumpets which have been

appointed by God to declare the escalating acts of his wrath

just before the return of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

But that is not the only thing that John witnessed as an

unusual phenomenon in this Tribulation era.

There is something else that will happen.

And after John finished explaining the events under the

5th trumpet, he says the following.

In Revelation 9 verse 12, the first woe has passed.

Revelation 9:12

Behold 2 woes are still to come. As if to say, as bad as this

was, it's only going to get worse.

Now what can be more terrifying than the release of innumerable

amount of demons who have been chained in the abyss for

thousands of years to inflict unspeakable pain upon every

person who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads?

What we're about to be told, we're about to see exactly what

will transpire because we still have 3 trumpets, one that we

covered last week, 2 left, and each of them have been ascribed

A woe. And we will look at now the 6th

trumpet as we read Revelation 9, verse 13 down to verse 15.

Revelation 9:13

Let's turn there together. Then the 6th Angel blew his

trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the

golden altar before God, saying to the 6th Angel who had the

trumpet release the four angels who were bound at the great

river Euphrates. So the four angels who had been

prepared for the hour, the day, the month and the year were

released to kill 1/3 of mankind. Let's pray, Lord, we ask, as we

always do, humbly with Your word before us, that You would lead

us through it, that we would hear Your voice, that it would

swallow up any other voices that contradict Your will, Your

wisdom, Your mind, Your heart. We, we want to be engulfed by

the revelation of who You are and so Lord apprehend us and

take us deeper and draw us closer into your bosom that we

may leave here knowing you more. This is our desire as a church.

In Jesus name we pray, Amen and Amen.

So the 5th trumpet was blown, and what happened there was the

unleashing of demons who were given authority to torment but

not to kill. Now we come to the 6th trumpet,

and there was also demons who were released, but this time

they've been called to execute in a staggering way.

John tells us that after five months of no death, no matter

how many attempts to commit suicide, no matter how many

attempts to try to kill somebody else, at the end of almost half

a year, there will be the unleashing of mass casualties,

1/3 of mankind in that future generation.

Here's we have to remember when we looked at the seal judgments,

the first set of judgments, we're now in the second with the

trumpet, we have the bulls to come.

In that first set with the seals, we learned that 1/4 of

mankind had already died through wars and famines and all these

different issues, and now we learn 1/3 on top of it.

So we have at least 1/2 of the world's population that have

already perished. This is unthinkable.

This is hard to imagine. But this is the reality of that

future tribulation period. And this is essentially the

summary of the 6th trumpet, that 1/3 of mankind will be dead.

But is that all the Lord intended to teach us through it?

Most definitely not. We just read the first few

verses about the six trumpet. We still have the rest of the

chapter. And if you look at the the

entirety of this section, you'll actually notice three groups of

persons, three groups, and each of them have something to offer

us in terms of our spiritual maturity.

And so this is just a helpful way to organize our thoughts.

But we read the first few verses and that actually shows us the

first group in focus under the 6th trumpet.

What's highlighted immediately are the Saints.

The Saints. How do believers fit in this

picture? Look back at verse one.

Excuse me, verse 13. Then the 6th Angel blew his

trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the

golden altar before God. So this trumpet blast, it's

sounded, it's alarmed. And right after John hears a

voice. But we're not given the identity

of the commander. Is this voice Christ?

Is this voice an Angel? It's unclear, but what is made

known to us is the location of the voice.

This command came from the four horns of the golden altar before

God, and this is an object that you and I have seen before in

Revelation not too far back. Look back at Revelation 8 very

quickly and look at verse 3. John says here in Revelation 8,

Revelation 8:3

verse 3. And another Angel came and stood

at the altar with a golden censor, and he was given much

incense to offer with the prayers of all the Saints on the

golden altar before the throne. And the smoke of the incense

with the prayers of the Saints rose before God from the hand of

the Angel. This golden altar that was

placed before the throne of God in heaven is intimately

connected with the intercessions and the prayers of God's people.

And this instrument reflects the very same altar that was located

right before the veil in the temple.

And this is a symbol of God treasuring and honoring our

prayers. And it wasn't just true in that

temple. It's true to this day because he

has his own heavenly altar that holds our cries and our

requests. So we can't say this, though,

that the voice that John heard from the four corners of that

altar are the combined voices of believers telling an Angel what

to do. That's not what's happening

here. What is happening here is that

the Holy Spirit wants us to see how the intercessions and the

supplications of the Saints throughout the ages plays a

major role in the unfolding of these events in the last days.

That's the heart of the matter. Or else why mention the golden

altar, right? It's as though the Lord wants to

tell us through this vision that all the cries in the longings of

his people over the centuries for true justice for the return

of His Son are now being answered.

And we've been given this vision ahead of time to realize that

God will indeed answer those prayers one day.

But let's think about this more deeply.

Isn't it profound to witness in our Bibles how there is a

connection between the prayers of God's people and events that

can affect the world, that can make history, that can transform

nations? This is remarkable that the

children of God's prayers being given to him are taken into

consideration to actually intervene in our world in ways

that we've never seen before. Prayer is a mystery for many

reasons, yet Scripture makes this thing unclear that it has

the ability to Pierce into the spiritual realm and influence

things. And I can't think of a stronger

example than this and of this then with Daniel and Daniel,

Daniel 10 · chapter mention

chapter 10, you remember Daniel, a man of great prayer.

Now, for those who come here every single week on Friday

nights, we're studying Ezra. Do you remember what year it was

under Cyrus King of Persia that he released the Jews to return

back to their homeland? It was the first year in the

first year of Cyrus King of Persia.

But in the beginning of Daniel 10, we're given another ten time

stamp. In the third year of Cyrus King

of Persia. Daniel made this decision.

I'm going to mourn and I'm going to pray for three weeks now.

The question is why? Why did Daniel decide to

consecrate himself in this manner?

What took place for him to make this decision?

We're not told in Daniel Chapter 10, but we can speculate.

Daniel 10 · chapter mention

Daniel was a high official in the government, was he not?

And the people had already been released a few years prior.

His own people. He chose to remain back.

We're going to study some of the reasons why on our Friday

nights. Why did Daniel stay back when

there was an open door for all the remnant to return?

Is that interesting? Well, he chose to remain, and as

a high official, it's very likely that he received updates

of what took place in Jerusalem in the attempt of the people of

God to rebuild the temple. You have to remember that there

were great obstacles, a lot of opposition, a lot of

persecution, to the point where the project was put on pause.

And it could be that Daniel learn about this update and it

troubled him deeply because he read in the Scriptures that the

people of God would be recovered, restored, and that

they would move on. 70 years had passed, the Exiles finished.

Why are things not moving ahead? And I'm persuaded that this

disturbed Daniel so much that he chose to fast and he began to

pray and inquire of God. Lord, what is happening here?

What's going on? And as he decided to set apart

that time and his energy, something astounding took place.

A heavenly messenger appears before Daniel a few days after

that three-week time of consecrated prayer.

And he gives him one of the most profound and detailed prophecies

in all of Scripture. We can't get into into detail

now, but what I want to bring to your attention is what this

heavenly messenger said to Daniel initially.

So go to Daniel 10 and look here with me in verse 11, Daniel 10,

Daniel 10:11

verse 11. And he said to me, Oh Daniel,

man greatly loved, understand the words that I speak to you,

and stand upright, for now I've been sent to you.

And when he had spoken this word to me, I stood up trembling.

Then he said to me, Fear not Daniel, for from the first day

that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself

before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come

because of your words. Now, many who teach on prayer

love to come to this passage, yet they tend to rush past the

opening words of it. Before Daniel was given any kind

of explanation of what was going to take place with the people of

Israel, what was he told? Oh, Daniel man greatly loved the

Lord, saw it necessary that Daniel would be reminded of the

great affection that he had for him.

Why? I think there's a clue in the

context right before this Daniel fainted at the sight of this

heavenly being. He collapsed.

And it could be that the Lord right away wanted to reassure

the prophet, wanted to strengthen him by doing what?

Setting before his eyes the great love that this great God

had for him. And I think even in that we have

a lesson for each of us, all the people that I've met over the

years before ministry and especially in ministry, who

doubt God's love for them, who whose hearts race at the thought

of one day standing before them, even though they proclaim him to

be, to, to be their Savior and, and, and they're delivering the

Redeemer. How do I know if I'm doing

enough to please him? Is my status truly set?

Is it sealed that I'm forgiven? I am his own.

The the troubles and the weakness that brings.

Ioffer this truth to you in the same way that it was prescribed

to Daniel. You must set before your heart

the love of God until you're able to be confident in your

stance. And this truth even applies to

those who are weak in their faith, who are weary in this

journey. Do you see the remedy here?

Understand and meditate on the strong, consistent, steadfast

love that God has for you and I. On a personal level, this is

what this man heard and what's so remarkable to me.

It's not the first time Daniel heard it.

In Daniel 9, when another heavenly being appeared before

him, he was also told the same thing.

Man greatly love, beloved of God.

And at this point in the section of Daniel, he's quite old.

He's an elderly man. And even as an elderly man, a

seasoned St. He needed to be reminded of

God's love. This mighty prophet, this holy

man, this individual who's who's impacted an entire empire, more

than one empire, needed to rehearse God's love, not just

for Israel, not just for his house, not just for his own

name, but for Daniel. And that is a resounding

exhortation in your New Testament of mine.

Do you remember what John wrote in first John 31?

See what kind of love the Father has given us.

That's the first part of that verse.

See what kind of love the Father has given us.

Other translations say behold what manner of love the Father

has given. That first word is so important.

See it, behold it. Pay close attention to it.

Don't just let it skip over you. God loves me, OK?

No, no, no, sit there. What do you mean this God loves

me? Does he actually have feelings?

Did he actually have emotions? Or is it this stoic, loyal,

covenantal love? I made a promise and I'm going

to love you. Or is actually heart behind it?

What do you know about this love?

And understand this? It will be your fuel.

It will be your source of energy.

In this walk, Daniel needed to stand upright.

You're going to need it as well. And so does the preacher.

Look at this love. This is the first thing that

Daniel learned about or was reminded of at least.

But it's not the only thing. Look at the end of verse 12.

This heavenly messenger tells Daniel that his powerful arrival

was what? Because of his words?

I have now come because of your words, Daniel.

Implying what? Implying this?

That if Daniel had never opened his mouth, this heavenly

messenger would never have arrived and open his mouth.

And so Daniel prays for three weeks and it was delayed for

longer. The answer did not come until

after a few days beyond that time.

But what does this Angel teach him and teach us?

The moment you set your heart to see God about this matter, God

heard you. God heard you, And not only did

He hear you, there is a delay because there is this invisible

war taking place, but your prayers.

Look at this. Put angels to work.

I wonder how many angels are not working because we're not

praying. And we see the same thing in

Revelation 9, do we? Not that it was something about

that golden altar, though. The voice we can't mark out.

We can't say clearly what that voice was.

That altar that symbolizes our prayers made that Angel do

something on the earth. And Daniel didn't just receive

an answer to his prayers. He received insight that there

was an all out scrimmage. There was an all out fierce

battle among angelic beings in the heavenlies.

And we may not have the detailed explanation of how prayer

intersects with the spiritual realm or how invisible

dimensions intervene in our material world.

But you know what? The Bible does make clear that

prayer is not merely A psychological exercise or some

form of self help therapy. Prayer has power.

Prayer has the ability to change things.

Prayer can move principalities. Prayer can push back the forces

of evil. Prayer invites God's grace into

our homes, into our churches, into the streets of our

neighborhoods, into our nation. Prayer has power, and Daniel was

told this and it's been left in our Bibles for us to see it.

And this is a consistent testimony throughout Scripture

of how much God honors the prayers of His people, even the

weakest in the church, even some of the most inconsistent in the

church, if they have the faith to pray, oh, the things that God

will do with those prayers. You know, with all that's going

on in our own nation, one of the scriptures that keep coming to

mind is what Jeremiah. We've learned this on Fridays

not too long ago, what Jeremiah told the Exiles while they were

in Babylon. Can I remind you what he said in

Jeremiah 29, verse 7? But seek the welfare of the city

Jeremiah 29:7

where I've sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its

behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.

What a profound verse. Imagine this.

Jeremiah is calling the Exiles in Babylon to do what?

Pray. They're at their lowest in terms

of their spiritual stature. They are at their lowest in

terms of their testimony. They have been removed from the

Promised Land. How much more of a rejection do

you want than that? And yet God says, if you choose

to pray, I'll still listen to you.

Paul asked the Corinthians to pray for him.

The Corinthians, if I had a choice of which church in the

New Testament letters, I would have pray for me.

The Corinthians would be near the last.

And yet Paul says, if you pray, I believe that God will hear

you. What kind of grace is that?

Pray. And when you pray for the city,

the city that is holding you captive, the city that's

oppressing you, it's going to benefit you.

So pray. So the first thing that we see

with the Saints in Revelation 9 is that God takes our, our

prayers seriously. And the question we have to ask

is this, do we? Do we?

Oh, there's so much more to say, but we have two groups left to

look at. We looked at the Saints in this

vision of the 6th trumpet. But now let's look again at the

demons. Come back to Revelation 9 and

we'll read down from verse 15 to verse 19.

So the four angels who had been prepared for the hour, the day,

the month, and the year were released to kill 1/3 of mankind.

Pause. I have to just say this for

those who don't believe in the futurist interpretation.

How do you spiritualize this one 1/3 of mankind?

Did they die in 70 AD? How do you prove that

historically? Just have to get that out there.

Verse 16. The number of mounted troops was

twice 10,000 * 10,000. I heard their number, and this

is how I saw the horses in my vision and those who rode them.

They wore breastplates the color fire and of sapphire and of

sulphur, and the heads of the horses were like lion's heads,

and fire and smoke and sulphur came out of their mouths.

By these 3 plagues 1/3 of mankind was killed by the fire

and smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouths.

For the power of the horses in was in their mouths and in their

tails, For their tails are like serpents with heads, and by

means of them they wound. So like the 5th trumpet, the 6th

calls for the liberation of demonic beings, 4 of them to be

exact, and they seem to be like 4 high-ranking fallen angels.

And we know that these are fallen angels because verse 14

tells us that they are bound. You don't bind holy angels.

These are vicious evil spirits. And unlike the angels that we

looked at last week, these shackled spirits are not bound

in what the abyss that that's what we would anticipate.

We looked at the bottomless pit and how that is something that

we find throughout the scriptures, the the holding

place of the worst of the worst demons.

But now when we come to the 6th trumpet, unlike the 5th, these

demons are not found in the abyss.

They're actually located and confined at the great river

Euphrates. Huh.

Now, the Euphrates River is, is one of the most important rivers

in the Middle East historically and even agriculturally.

It begins there near the eastern mountains of Turkey, and it

flows through Syria and it touches Iraq and it comes and

joins the Tigris River before emptying into the Persian Gulf.

And this is a 1700 mile kind of body of water.

And it's been crucial to the rise and development of many

civilizations throughout history.

But we have to ask this question, what relevance does it

have in our biblical worldview? What, what does what does it

have to offer us in terms especially of understanding

prophecy? Because the the the river

Euphrates appears a different different amount of times in the

Old Testament, but only twice in the new and both times.

Guess which book? Revelation.

Well, I want to give you a few reasons why I believe

understanding the great river Euphrates is important #1 The

Euphrates River marked the eastern boundary of the land

that was promised to Abraham and his descendants.

So if you read Genesis 1518 more carefully, you'll realize that

the eastern boundary is marked by the Euphrates River.

And throughout the Old Testament, what you find is that

some of Israel's most fiercest enemies had to cross the

Euphrates River in order to conquer the people of God.

So there is a consistent testimony of the Euphrates River

in the Old Testament being a symbol of enemy invasion, and

that's what John seems to be doing here.

By the help obviously, and inspiration of the Spirit,

there's this anticipation of an enemy invasion.

We find it here in Revelation 9. But look at Revelation 1612, the

only other time Euphrates is mentioned in the New Testament.

Look at this, in Revelation 16 verse 12, the 6th Angel poured

Revelation 16:12

out his bowl on the great river Euphrates and it's water was

dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the east.

So again, remember the Book of Revelation is dripping with Old

Testament allusions and references.

So we've been looking at the Old Testament, Euphrates, Euphrates,

Euphrates and now we come to the new and we realize, uh oh, there

must be an enemy evasion coming and there is.

And it's going to be one of the greatest ones against the people

of Israel, which will set the stage for the intervention of

Christ to defend them and establishes millennial reign.

This is one of the reasons. But we have a second reason why

I understand the Euphrates River is helpful.

It reminds us that biblical prophecy centers around a

particular part of the world, namely the Middle East.

There are many prophecy enthusiasts who try to

forcefully place current regimes and politicians and governments

and movements into biblical prophecy, failing to realize

that the Scriptures and the author of the Scriptures is not

interested in trying to place or code things about modern

realities. Prophecy in the Bible centers

around Israel and her neighboring nations.

So be careful of prophecy teachers who say, I found the

United States in the Book of Revelation, and this is the role

that the United States, a symbol of the eagle, and this is what's

going to happen. And this is how they're going to

integrate with the Bible. Doesn't go there.

The Holy Spirit doesn't go there, and we shouldn't go there

either. But with that understanding,

there's another warning. And it is this to become overly

sensational and fixated on current events in the Middle

East. And there are other people who

are in that camp, pastors in fact, who consistently and

constantly interrupt their sermon series because of the

newest headline of what's happening over there in the

Middle East, who constantly put things together at pieces to try

to say here's a fulfillment instead of putting that energy

and that focus on what Christ has revealed clearly and what he

demands from us now. So beware, although Israel is

much in focus, especially in prophecy, don't become overly

fanatic with what's happening in current day events.

Here's the last thought to consider about the Euphrates

River. It reminds us also that there

are fallen angels and there are principalities who assign and

are occupied by operating in certain regions of the world.

We didn't explore this in Daniel 10, but when we continue from

this heavenly messenger appearing before Daniel, he goes

on to explain that his message to the prophet was resisted by

one of the leaders. That the Prince of the Kingdom

of Persia and that even Michael the Archangel had to now

intervene and help overcome this king in order for this prophecy

to be brought be brought forth before this man of God.

Now, there is no way that you can interpret this as actual

kings of our own realm fighting against each other.

It's clear that we're talking about spiritual rulers.

And you find this in Ezekiel, You find this in Daniel.

You even find it in the the Book of Revelation where you have

demonic beings who actually hold different positions and ranks

and even are designated different parts of the world to

do certain things. Do you remember when we studied

the seven churches and what Jesus actually said to one of

them in Revelation 2 when he said that the throne of Satan is

in your midst? So at that point Satan's

headquarters was in a certain city, an Asia Minor of John's

day. And that's what you see here.

You see that there are these 4 angels who are in a specific

location on the earth. Not more is given to us, but it

is a reminder of how the things that are going on in our world.

Behind our entertainment, behind our politics, behind different

elements, there is a very real evil presence at play.

And that's important to understand so that we know what

our battle is really up against. Not flesh and blood, but

invisible forces who are very organized, very sophisticated,

very vicious. But with this awareness, listen,

you can't, you can't be too, too, too caught up with the evil

that's going around. Because in the very same passage

that we just read about these demonic beings, it doesn't take

much time before we are reminded strongly about God's

sovereignty. Look again at verse 15 of

Revelation 9. So the four angels who had been

prepared for the hour, the day, the month, and the year were

released to kill 1/3 of mankind. Released by who?

Not by Satan. God's sovereignty presides over

all things, including these powerful forces.

And let's not limit His incomparable knowledge and power

to demons. Understand, this is what I take

from this verse. You and I worship a God who is

fully aware of every second, every hour, every day, every

week, every month, every year that is lived by every person on

every side and every corner of this planet.

From this day until the end. He knows everything.

And this truth is not merely meant to impress you, It's meant

to inspire you. It's meant to grant you this

unshakable confidence. It means that nothing that

surprises me in a single hour, nothing that takes place in an

ordinary day, nothing that piles up in a very busy month of the

year. There's not one thing that seems

to be delayed in terms of my desires that span over years

that escapes the compassionate knowledge of God or His schedule

for that matter. Do you see how I mean?

How much more specific can this verse be?

The day, the hour, the month, the year?

God had that planned long ago when these four specific angels

would be released to do His bidding.

Does he not give you and I more careful attention?

He does and he is more aware and he is more mindful of the things

that you take for granted. What a comforting truth from a

very unlikely place in the Bible.

But there's more comforting truths from it.

Look again at the detailed description of these terrifying

beings, these 4 fallen angels that were released.

They again seem to be high-ranking demons, but they're

portrayed as soldiers riding on horses, and they're arrayed with

colours and symbols that are hellish, sulfur and red, and all

these things are meant to describe destruction and

judgement. And we even told the way that

they will eliminate 1/3 of mankind.

Look again at verse 18. By these 3 plagues, 1/3 of

mankind was killed. They will bring disease, it will

bring viruses, they'll bring different forms of corruption

that will erode the population in such a alarming rate.

And you might be wondering what's encouraging about this.

Here's what's encouraging. Remember the last thing that was

numbered on the earth in terms of persons before this text I

told you that other translations read 200,000,200 million of

these demons will be let go and loosen upon the earth.

And I thought I've read a big numbers before in this context.

And the last time persons are numbered were the 144,000

servants from the tribes of Israel.

You remember them? A 144,000 who are still on the

earth at this time, even under the 6th trumpet.

Are they outnumbered, do you think?

Yeah, they are. In fact, they don't stand a

chance. That's the point they actually

overcome. Even with all of hell belching

out its forces, these 144 servants will still be effective

in their ministry, will still be able to testify.

The gospel will still be flickers of light sprinkled

across the globe. And the point that you and I are

supposed to take from this is that the Lord does not need much

to accomplish his will, does he? He doesn't.

And He always works through a remnant, and He performs His

greatest works against all odds. And that was helpful to me

because I don't know about you. I feel the darkness surrounding

me growing, and I feel more and more, especially if you look at

what's happening in churches in America and leadership and

movements and agendas and all these heresies, old heresies

coming back, new ideas coming back.

I mean, we're losing guys here. At the same time, in the future,

in the worst moments of history, when really the people of God

will be the most outnumbered, they will succeed.

They will be untouchable, they will perform God's will and

Satan and all his army can't do anything about it.

I'm encouraged by this. God will always protect and He

always will use a faithful remnant to advance His purposes.

This is what we learn about the demons.

But we come to the last group of Revelation 9 under the 6th

trumpet, and that is the wicked. We didn't read these verses from

verse 20 down to verse 21. The rest of mankind who are not

killed by these plagues did not repent of the work of their

hands, nor give up worshipping demons and idols of gold and

silver and bronze and stone and wood which cannot see or hear or

walk. Nor do they repent of their

murders of their sorceries, or their sexual immorality or their

thefts. I argue that what we just read

in those verses is scarier than the description of the demons

and the devastation they will cause.

What we just read to me is more terrifying.

What am I referring to? The white knuckled commitment to

sin, even though God is judging you for it in this way.

Staggering, striking. You know what disturbed me?

That the rest of mankind who weren't slain, we're still

choosing to worship the very things that were killing them.

Did you see it? In this list of vices are

included what? The devotion to demons, idols

which are impersonated by demons, and sorceries.

We'll get to this at another point in Revelation.

The word sorceries, by the way, is where we get the word

pharmacy, pharmakeia. We'll get to that in a few

weeks, but this is a vivid display of the insanity of the

depraved heart, people refusing to let go of the very practices

that are destined to destroy them or are already killing them

slowly. And before we assume that this

is a future defiance, this is one kind of kind of like the end

time characteristics. Remember, it's very much a

reality today that there are those, maybe even in this room

listening to this message, who show a terrifying loyalty to

something or some things that are killing you and you can't

seem to shake free from it. And it may disturb your

conscience from time to time, but it still clutches.

It has a grip on you. And here's the thing that I want

to say as lovingly as possible. What will it take for you to do

everything in your power with the truths that are at your

disposal in the Word of God, to put to death the thing that is

trying to strangle your soul? It's searing your conscience.

Do you realize that it's ruining your marriage?

It may have generational consequences.

You think it's just affecting you and not knowing that there

is a spiritual law in your home. You are the head of your house

and your children are watching you and they need you more than

ever. And you're willing to let that

thing eat up your life, not ever taking into consideration that

it will come perhaps for those that you love the most.

It's robbing you of testimonies. It's it's taking away your joy.

It's displacing you from the rightful dew of God from

actually being able to use you the way He's called you to be

used. And yet here you are, sitting in

another service, under another message, knowing full well that

you're going to go out these doors and go back to the very

same things. That are eating up your soul

like a cancer. How senseless and my question is

what will it take how much erosion needs to take place

become you've become fully invested to eliminate that

thing. Let him who has an ear hear what

the Spirit says through his word.

I got to admit, though, looking at this is disturbing, right?

I mean, you have these, these people, these men and women who

will not repent. I mean, there's going to be no

denying that. What what happened in these

series of events, five months of no death and then 1/3 of mankind

being slain. This is spiritual.

This is not normal. And they'll go right back to

their demons, and they'll go right back to their witchcraft,

and they'll go right back to their sexual sin, and they'll go

right back to killing people and stealing from people.

How, how, how, how it's disturbing.

And we can apply it spiritually to our own war against sin.

But I'm impressed. I got to admit.

I'm impressed. This is impressive because

again, you're being afflicted, you're being tormented, you're

being threatened, and you still choose to worship the very

things that are doing this to you.

You know what came to my mind? How dare we then, if God, in His

perfect wisdom and love should afflict us, ever entertain the

thought that we will walk away from Him for whatever pain that

He is allowed in our lives? This is Satan tormenting his own

followers, and they don't walk away from Him.

But then where's when there's some tribulation, when there's a

delay to months, maybe years of prayer, when there's something

that doesn't make sense to you because you've been serving God

and the thought comes to mind? Just give it all up, it's not

really worth it. How dare we even think for a

moment maybe that is the best option.

In my response to what God has permitted in my life, I remember

Job when everything happened to him in a matter of minutes.

Satan had the right to take everything away from Job.

Everything. But you know what's so striking?

Satan left his wife and this woman, he lost all his kids, he

lost his business, but Satan left his wife.

And you realize early on in the book of Job, why?

Because she looks at Job and says, are you still holding fast

to your integrity? Curse God and die some helpmate.

And Job says this in chapter 2, verse 10.

You speak as one of the foolish women would speak.

Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?

Now this man, Job has been given to us, according to James, as an

example of how to patiently endure suffering.

Read that in James 5. But you know who really does not

like Job? Prosperity preachers because

they can't really reconcile Job's story and what they claim

to be the will of God for every single Christian.

If you confess enough and say enough, you'll be healthy

continually. You'll be rich continually.

In fact, you'll grow, grow, grow, grow, grow in these areas.

And if you don't, it's because you have the lack of faith.

So how do you deal with Job? Well, they say the reason why

Job this is real. I've heard it with my own ears

with my jaw dropped. The reason why Job experienced

all of this is because Job made negative confessions and he

wrongfully blamed God for the atrocities that he experienced.

To which I respond did you finish Job 210?

Because after he said to his wife shall we receive only good

from God and not receive evil. The Holy Spirit leaves this

commentary. And all this Job did not send

with his lips. He wasn't wrong in his

assessment. He didn't send.

This is a negative confession. This is faithful understanding

that sometimes God does allow adversity and he does allow

things to happen that don't make sense to us.

All the Puritans, they're good friends of mine, John Flavel

said. This affliction is a pill, being

wrapped up in patience and quiet.

Submission may be easily swallowed, but discontent choose

the pill, and so embitters the soul.

Profound. When God places the pill of

affliction in our mouths, what you do with it will determine

your experience. Here's what I want to say in

light of that. One of the secrets of enduring

suffering is not focusing so much on the why of the pain, but

on The Who who permits it. It was a psalmist who said in

Psalm 119, verse 75, I know, O Lord, that your rules are

Psalms 119:75

righteous. So what is he addressing?

The the character of God. Your rules, O Lord, are

righteous. And then he finishes the thought

in the following way, and that in faithfulness you have

afflicted me. So how is he translating the

affliction, the righteousness of God?

He's good. He it's impossible for him to do

wrong. It's impossible for him to

perform evil. It's impossible for him to do

anything and allow anything in my life for my hurt, for my

pain. There's always something

redemptive that God has in mind, even in this.

And so David could say if he wrote Psalm 119, in

faithfulness, you afflicted me. So let me tell you how I

finished studying the 6th trumpet.

When I looked at what the rest of mankind did, I said, if this

is how sinners will be devoted to their sin, God by Your grace

make me devoted to you in all things, no matter what comes my

way. And though you slay me, I will

hope in you, as Job said. And that's the thought that I

want to leave with you. Remember, what we're doing here

in Revelation is not just looking at future events.

All Scriptures breathe out by God, and it is profitable for

our development now. So when we look at the Saints,

what do we learn? Oh, prayer has power.

When we look at demons, what do we realize?

Well, all of them can line up against 144,000 and God's

purposes will still prevail. So what does it matter whoever

is elected mayor of this city or this president?

OK, one with God is majority. And lastly with the wicked.

I refuse by the grace of God to allow the wicked to outperform

and out serve and out love their sin in comparison to my Savior.

By His grace, I want to cling to Him and stay close to Him no

matter what, because in faithfulness He afflicts us.

Maybe that's a word for some here who who walked into this

place bruised and wounded, not knowing what to make of it.

Here's what you make of it. You were greatly loved, as

Daniel was, and there's not one thing God permits outside of His

compassionate knowledge and schedule for the purposes He has

for our lives. Lord, we thank You for Your

word, and we ask that You would help us write these truths on

the tablet of our hearts and as the book of Proverbs says,

treasure up my commandments. Lord, help us to take these

jewels and to put them in the depths of who we are and to lock

it in that treasure chest and to never fail to revisit them when

we need to. We bless you, Lord, for the

service. We thank you how you have

graciously LED us all the way to this point in Revelation.

We trust you have so much more in store for us.

For now, Lord, we meditate and we rejoice and we give you glory

and response in song. In Jesus name we pray.

Amen. Why don't we stand and worship

the Lord together?