Five Months of Hell (The Seven Trumpets) | Revelation 9:1-11 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Revelation Bible Study Series)

We've come to feast on His Word and so please meet me in your

Bibles in Revelation Chapter 9. Revelation Chapter 9.

Revelation 9 · chapter mention Revelation 9 · chapter mention

It could be said that an effective cheat teacher knows

and recognizes when repetition is necessary in order to firmly

establish truths in the minds of learners.

And I say that because it could be that you've realized that

some of these introductions in our study of revelation are

similar. And I'm here to tell you that's

intentional because the aim in that is after hearing over and

over again the structure of this book, it would be so ingrained

in your memory as you hear about the layout and the overarching

theme so that it would become almost second nature.

With that being said, we are still examining God's final

program of judgement for the last days and we are looking at

3 Series of judgements, each consisting of seven acts, 7

events, and we've already completed the first set.

We already looked at the seal judgements.

The scroll has been completely opened by the hands of Christ,

and now we find ourselves in the midst of the trumpet judgements.

And if you were here 2 weeks ago, you recall that we looked

at what happened after the four trumpets were sounded, and we

are ready to see the final three.

But before John is given insight into the last three trumpet

blasts, there is a strange and interesting interruption.

It's in the last verse of chapter 8.

Look at Revelation 813 for a moment.

Then I looked and I heard an eagle crying with a loud voice

as it flew directly overhead. Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell

on the earth at the blast of the other trumpets the three angels

are about to blow. You know this well.

Woes are common expressions in the Scriptures to represent it,

to signify and call out condemnation or judgement.

And double woes are not uncommon either.

When you see whoa whoa, it's because there is an emphasis.

But a triple woe like what we find here in this verse is rare.

Now, we might think the message of this verse is that there is

an extreme emphasis, but in actuality, its main purpose is

to assign each woe to each of the remaining trumpet blasts.

That's what we're going to find in this new chapter.

A woe for the last three trumpets.

Now here's the question that came to mind immediately.

Why do the last three trumpets receive this ominous recognition

instead of the first four? And the answer is very clear

when you compare both. You see, when we looked at the

1st 4 trumpets, we saw that they triggered devastation upon

nature. 1/3 of this part of the earth, 1/3 of the rivers, 1/3 of

this. It was all about the Earth, the

planet. Now, as we come to the last

three trumpet alarms, we're going to see that they will set

into motion judgement and torment against people directly.

Humans will now be targeted not indirectly, but directly.

So this is very sobering. And these events, particularly

set off by the 5th trumpet, are so severe that they might be

understood as hell on earth. Actually, an appropriate title

for this passage of Scripture that we're about to read is Five

Months of Hell. And I'm sure you're going to see

it as we read Revelation 9, verse one, down to verse 6.

Let's do that together. And the 5th Angel blew his

trumpet, and I saw a * falling from heaven to earth.

And he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit.

He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the

shaft rose smoke, like the smoke of a great furnace, And the sun

and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft.

Then from the smoke came locust on the earth, and they were

given power like the power of scorpions of the earth.

They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green

plant or any tree, but only those people who do not have the

seal of God on their foreheads. They were allowed to torment

them for five months, but not to kill them.

And their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it

stings someone. And in no day in those days,

people will seek death and will not find it.

They will long to die, but death will flee from them.

Father, we realize immediately that we need your wisdom.

And Lord, I am very aware that I need your help in delivering

this. Every preacher, oh God, that is

honest, recognizes the need of your help.

And Lord, every listener who understands their knee will say,

Open my heart, help me to hear what you have to say.

So Lord, just take over and have your way in the service.

Lord, especially now as we unpack your word, we give you

glory for your help. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.

There are many ways that one can approach this nightmarish scene.

So many details, so many mysteries, so many questions.

But as I was reading over this passage over and over again

throughout this past week, certain words began to surface,

Certain words began to be highlighted.

And I want to show you what I mean.

Look back at verse one in the second part.

And he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit.

Look at the second part of verse 3.

And they were given power, like the power of scorpions of the

earth. Look at verse four.

In the beginning they were told not to harm the grass of the

earth or any green plant or any tree.

Finally, look at verse 5. They were allowed to torment

them for five months. It is so easy to get caught up

by this horrific set of details and this ghastly imagery, but

woven through it all is the language of God's sovereignty.

Do you see it? I see it.

Revelation teaches us many things, but one of the things

that it continually reaffirms is the extent of God's authority

both in the realm that we see and the one that we cannot

perceive. And what we have here before us

is a reminder that the Lord's governance extends to realities

that we often forget He has mastery over.

And so as you and I approach this at face value, reading it

may be terrifying. It may cause us to be curious.

But when you meditate on it, I trust that you will be

strengthened in your faith and who God is and what He is

capable of. I have one goal today before we

break bread in reading and expounding on these verses.

Just one simple mission that you and I would see just how big God

is the guy that you love, the guy that you sing to, the guy

that you trust in for your daily needs.

I want to show you today through this passage that He is

incredibly majestic. There is not one corner of the

universe that he does not have jurisdiction over.

He is so strong. He is so powerful, He is so

mighty. And we get a snapshot of it

right here. And so today we're going to look

at 3 domains that our God has authority over, 3 realities that

he governs that we often miss or don't really give him credit for

or recognize his presence in three of them.

And the first one is this God's sovereignty over the underworld.

God's sovereignty over the underworld.

Look back here again at verse one and verse 2.

When this 5th Angel blew his trumpet, John saw something

immediately, a star. He says I saw a * falling from

heaven to the earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of

the bottomless pit. We've seen stars falling in our

study of revelation, have we not?

We remember during the seal judgements, and particularly the

6th one, how there were many stars that had fallen as a fig

tree would dispense figs when it is shaken.

And not too long ago in the trumpet judgments, we saw on the

3rd trumpet that there was a great star that fell from

heaven, and it fell on 1/3 of the rivers and springs of water.

And so now we come to this text and we almost anticipate that

this is just another cosmic disturbance.

But we quickly learned that this is no ordinary star.

In fact, this is not a real star.

This is not a literal mass from the sky falling into the earth.

It's a person and that's not us making this interpretation on

our own. John tells us, look at the

language. It has personal like qualities.

He started, he saw a * falling from the heaven to earth and he,

he, oh, he, he was given what a responsibility.

He was given the key and he was called to action.

He was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit.

So what we have here is a person that fell from heaven.

Now we know that this person is not a human.

This person is from another realm, from a heavenly realm

because it fell again from heaven.

Now here's what's interesting. We see in the scriptures that

angels are referred to more than once as what stars, especially

in Job 38 verse 7. So now the question follows.

Job 38:7

This is an Angel, an angelic being that fell from heaven?

Is it a good Angel? Is it a bad Angel?

Is it the chief of demonic angels?

Is it Satan? Because Satan, we're told in

more than one place in the Bible, fell from heaven?

Well, some would say it has to be a good Angel because no way

would the Lord give a key to a bad Angel to open up this shaft

to a bottomless pit. Other would say, no, it has to

be a bad Angel. It has to be a fallen Angel

because he's fallen. Let's not spend our energy here.

This is the point that I want to drive into our hearts.

This Angel was given a key by God for a day.

He's borrowing one of God's keys, and this key opens the

door to what is known as the bottomless pit.

Bottomless pit. This is important in the Book of

Revelation, in all the New Testament, the bottomless pit in

the original word, it's actually one word.

It's the word where we get abyss from.

It appears a total of nine times in the New Testament, seven of

those nine times. Where do you think Revelation?

And when you collect all the references to this abyss, this

bottomless pit, you learn what its function is.

It represents a deep, dark, very real spiritual prison house for

fallen angels. Do you remember what happened

when Jesus arrived to the Gadarenes and there was a very

tormented soul who is filled with thousands of demons in

Christ unusually asked the name of this demon and here's a

reference for you in Luke 8 verse 30.

Luke 8:30

I'll read it. Jesus then asked him what is

your name? And he said legion, for many

demons had entered him, verse 31.

And they begged him not to command them to depart into the

abyss. Whatever you do, son of God, do

not bring us to the abyss. Scripture teaches us that from

the time of the fall, God has assigned certain demonic beings

to a gloomy darkness, to be chained everlastingly until the

final judgment and their verdict is made.

Peter shares us in second Peter. Jude shares us in his short

epistle. There are actual demonic beings

who are in this very moment apprehended, incarcerated, and

kept from freely roaming on the earth.

Now, there's a whole other category of demons who have been

running loose on this earth since the beginning of time.

But there's a whole different group of fallen angels that have

not seen the light of day that have been kept and will be kept

until that final day except for what we find here.

Do you understand what's happening here?

God is permitting an Angel to open the door for the worst of

the worst demons, for the vilest spiritual criminals who have

harassed humanity in unspeakable ways, to freely roam on the

earth and do as they please, to an extent for almost half a

year. This is terrifying and

rightfully so, and this background shows us here that

God is doing this as an act of judgement.

God is doing this because He wants to let them be His agents

of chastisement and judgement. Notice the description of the

smoke in verse 2. Can you see it with me?

It says here. Then in verse 2 he opened the

shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke like

the smoke of a great furnace. That expression smoke arising

like the smoke of a great furnace in relation to the

judgement of people, only appears in one other place in

all of the Bible. Can anybody guess where Sodom

and Gomorrah, after Sodom and Gomorrah, experience God's

wrath, fire and brimson falling from heaven.

We're told there that Abraham looked upon the land and he saw

smoke arising like the smoke of a furnace.

And that's almost repeated here word for word.

Why? It foreshadows something

devastating. It shows here that there is

going to be a severe manifestation of God's holy

justice like the world has never really seen.

And as you look at this, you think to yourself, is there any

hope? I mean, what?

What do you make of this? Well, again, read between the

lines. Don't focus on the demons.

Focus on the one who has authority over the underworld.

He's able to keep them back, and He's able to loosen them.

And I want you to see what's going to happen upon Christ's

return at the end of Revelation. Go to chapter 20 Revelation and

notice that immediately after Christ returns bodily and places

his feet on the Mount of Olives, and he deals with the enemies of

God's people. 01 of his first priorities before he establishes

his millennial reign is what you see in Revelation 20 verse 2.

Revelation 20:2

And he sees the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the devil

and Satan, and bound him for 1000 years, and threw him into

the what, Pitt the abyss, the very same word, and shut it and

sealed it over him so that he might not deceive the nation's

any longer until the 1000 years were ended.

After that, he must be released for a little while.

There's a day coming when the chief of demons, the Prince of

all that is dark and wicked, the head of all demonic operations,

will be arrested. There's a warrant for his arrest

and he will be imprisoned for a literal 1000 years before the

new heavens and the new earth commences.

This world is going to experience a length of time free

from any satanic temptation, devilish oppression, possession,

and even deception. That day is coming.

What I just read to you is not a description of heaven because at

the end of the verses we just read, it says he's going to be

released again. This is speaking about when

Jesus returns, He is going to set up his reign.

And one of the glories of his physical reign on the earth is

he's going to take Satan and all his minions and launch them into

the pit for 1000 years. And the redeemed and even those

who remain who are unbelievers who will live in that reign are

going to know a world that has never been without demonic

presence. Now here's why this is

important. Those who don't believe that

this is all future and that this is literal have to interpret

this in another way. So many who don't hold to the

futurist interpretation of the Book of Revelation will say what

we just read there about the 1000 years and Satan being put

into a pit. That's all figurative and it's

speaking about today. It's speaking about how Satan

has been bound. 1000 years is just a symbolic number.

Satan has been bound since Jesus Christ died on the cross.

To which I respond, how is he doing all of this while bound?

All this chaos, all the increase of evil, This is him bound.

I don't want to see what he's like when he's set free.

So this is this is a dilemma. You either take all this again

spiritually, or you acknowledge that there is a glorious future

ahead, not just for the Church, but the entire world as it sits

under the governance of the precious Prince of Peace, Jesus

Christ of Nazareth. But he has control over that pit

now and he has a divine purpose behind it.

So the first thing I want you to understand is hell, which is

another thing I don't want to confuse you.

This underworld, this abyss is not ruled by Satan.

I know, I know. People get the theology from

cartoons where Satan sits on this throne and he's in hell and

he can belch out as many demons as he wants.

This Angel was given a key from God to let loose, and God has

many keys, as we're going to find out.

The second thing that we see sovereignty at play here at work

here is very close to the first. God's sovereignty over demons,

Not just the place, but these persons like the star we read

about. What locus?

There are no ordinary locusts. They are locusts because again,

in the Old Testament, locusts were one of God's most

devastating acts of judgement. They would devour all of your

resources within a short span of time.

We see it in prophetic literature.

We see it literally taking place in actual manifestations of

God's wrath. Locust, locust, locust.

So again, the student of the Old Testament in the Scripture says

this is not good locust. But then you read on and you

see. These aren't bugs.

Go to verse 7 of Revelation 9. In appearance, the locusts were

like horses prepared for battle. On their heads were what looked

like crowns of gold. Their faces were like human

faces, their hair like woman's hair, and their teeth like

lion's teeth. They had breastplates like

breastplates of iron, and the noise of their wings was like

the noise of many Chariots with horses rushing into battle.

They have tails and stings like scorpions, and their power to

hurt people for five months is in their tails.

They have as a king over them the Angel of the bottomless pit.

His name is in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he is

called Apoleon. What do we make of this?

Number one, I don't think it's helpful to try to explain every

single detail and what could be the specific meaning behind it.

Here's what you take from this. This grotesque description of

these beings is meant to reflect the hideousness and the twisted

nature of these beings. This is clearly demonic, and

these demonic creatures are again, by very nature so vile,

so despicable, totally wicked, that their physical description

reflects that distortion. I don't know if you visualize

this description, if it looks strange, if it looks ugly.

It's meant to be because these are again angels that have

betrayed the living God and have chosen even to their own eternal

doom to resist Him and to fight against His purposes to this

very moment. So when you see this, you're

supposed to almost cringe and shrink back like this is almost

like these are like monsters. They are monsters and though you

don't want to pluck every single detail though you can, there is

obviously an importance behind these things.

If there is one thing to take from it is that they are

extremely powerful. Look again at some of these

things. Teeth like lion's teeth.

Breastplates of iron wings that sound like Chariots rushing into

battle, tales that sting like scorpions.

And above that they have a king. So there's, there's rank,

there's order, there's, there's strategy.

In the Kingdom of Darkness, as much as they cause chaos,

they're very much sophisticated. And this this fact that they

have a king also is extra validation that they are not

locusts, real locusts. You know why?

Because in Proverbs 30, verse 27, Proverbs 3027 says locusts

Proverbs 30:27

have no king. It's a very interesting

observation. In the book of Proverbs.

There's a spiritual lesson behind that.

But these locusts, they have a king.

And John says he has a name. And for some reason John wants

to give us the name in Hebrew and in Greek.

And I'll tell you this, it's not so that John can show us that he

knows multiple languages. Both of these names in their

meaning, represent destruction, represent devastation.

But why Hebrew and Greek? To show that the influence of

this demonic being, this Prince of demons, affects the whole

world, Jew and Gentile. His impact is global.

There's nothing outside of his reach in terms of his venom and

his plans and his deception and his destruction.

So you read this in isolation and you step back and you think,

this is, this is horrible. What chance does humanity have

against these forces? What can you do to resist them?

How can this earth, how can the people of God even fight against

these invisible beings that are so obviously destructive and

powerful? And though they are clearly so

able to wipe out humanity in an instant, they can only go so

far. And what we just heard and

learned earlier, that's the point.

Again, if you just chop off 7 down to verse 11 and put it

somewhere, you would think this is who we're up against.

But you have to read what we read earlier.

This is something for you and I to understand, and I'll tell you

why in a moment. But look at what they can't do.

Come back to verse 4. They were told not to harm the

grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree.

So they could not go so far in their attempt to damage

anything. They could not kill anybody,

though they were able to kill. They can only harm, and they

couldn't touch a single plant, a single tree, a single blade of

grass. Let me talk about specific

authority, but not just what they could unleash in terms of

their power, but the duration of it.

You can go one second beyond five months.

And my favorite, these demonic beings, though they they drool

at the thought of being able to devour those who are creating

God's image, could only harm those who did not have the seal

of God on their foreheads. The people of God were

untouchable and this is something again for you and I to

reflect on because there is a growing fascination with a

demonic and Christendom today. There are entire ministries that

are being built on the mistaken idea that genuine born again,

spirit filled Christians are in need of deliverance from demons

possessing them. In order for that kind of a

message to become convincing, these kind of teachers will over

and over again highlight and focus on the extent of the power

of demonic beings, so much so that they entertain very strange

concepts of behavioral patterns that have to be associated with

these demonic influences. Do you, do you arrive late all

the time for work or for church? There's got to be a demon.

Are you sleep all the time? It's probably the demon.

Are you impatient? It's a demon.

Demon. Every, everything's a demon.

Everything's a demon. And why is that presented?

Because it calls for everybody to need deliverance, then it

brings in business, it brings in followers, it brings in

supporters. And no doubt we should never in

arrogance minimize what these creatures are able to do.

Even Michael the Archangel would not directly rebuke Satan.

He called the Lord to rebuke him.

So there has to be a level of respect in that sense.

But I want to present to you the focus of the Christian that

although these are again, very mighty creatures, they are not

mightier than God. They are not.

They can't even take a step without his permission.

They can't choose their weaponry.

They can't go as long as they want to.

They can't even use one of their hideous fingers or their teeth

to cut the grass. They're restricted.

They're held back because there's a sovereign force

greater than these beings. In fact, if all of hell came

against one soul hidden in Christ, they would not succeed.

If Abaddon, a Napoleon himself, towered above the weakest and

feeblest of all Christians, though filled with the Holy

Spirit, he would not be able to do anything.

Do you understand what we have in Christ?

Do you understand the, the, the, the package of our salvation

includes that if we are sealed, yes, this is a specific seal for

a specific group of people in a specific amount of time in a

specific period of time, but it's no different for us seal of

the Holy Spirit. So add on top of this the the,

the teaching of being delivered by demons to the concept of

Christians being cursed by demons, that there's people

there casting curses and casting spells.

Where do you get the idea that a Christian filled with the Holy

Spirit can be cursed? Where do you get the idea that

an innocent believer who went to some vacation and grabbed some

souvenirs from a foreign land brought it and you just invited

devils to take over your house? Is it that easy?

Is our salvation that week? Is our walk with Christ in the

Spirit so vulnerable? I was reading the Psalms the

other day. I'm going through psalms in my

personal reading. I stumbled upon a verse I want

to share with you. Listen to this in Psalm one O 9

verse 28. Psalm one O 9, verse 28.

David says let them curse, but you will bless.

Let them curse but you will bless.

Is that what you believe? Are you not in a greater

covenant than that of Moses and the Israelites who did not know

that there was someone and a whole group of people really

hoping and planning to curse them as they traverse through

the wilderness? They didn't even know what was

happening, and God turned every curse into a blessing.

Is it any less under the blood of Jesus Christ?

Demons are real. Their power is real.

There is real possession. There is real oppression.

There is a real need for people to actually be delivered from

demons. But if you're in Christ, you are

untouchable. You are untouchable.

It's true in the tribulation period, it's true today.

And be careful who you listen to people's personal stories.

Do not trump over scripture. Be careful of that.

Satan is a deceiver and I'm unfortunately seeing many

people, especially the younger generation, gobbling up this

teaching for many reasons. But I find this in my Bible that

you can have the worst of the worst demons unleashed upon the

earth, and those who are sealed by God will not be harmed.

That's your inheritance too, because God is sovereign over

demons. Lastly, God as you know, is

sovereign over death. Come with me here.

In verse 5, we read the word torment appearing 3 times, like

the torment they're inflicting upon the masses is so intense

that look what the masses will choose to do, at least attempt

to do in verse 6. And in those days, people will

seek death and will not find it. They will long to die, but death

will flee from them. So this will be so overwhelming

that that most people, if not all of them, who have been

struck by these demons, will attempt suicide, will try to

kill themselves, would in in relief try to kill one another.

And there's going to be a strange phenomenon during these

five months. No matter what you do, nobody's

able to die. It's really a miracle.

And it's going to only confirm further that the source of the

suffering in these five months is supernatural.

This is something strange. Now, as you look at this, you

might be wondering, why would God allow this?

And one might say, well, it's because God doesn't want to give

them an easy escape. He doesn't want to offer them

immediate relief. I don't think that's God's heart

behind it because this pursuit of death, would that lead to

actual relief? No, only to greater torment,

because Jesus said if you die in your sins, you will perish.

So this this was for five months.

But there is an eternal torment for the wicked.

And if these people had access to the cessation of their life

at will, then you're talking about most of the world plunging

themselves into hell in a matter of months.

Do you know what I see here? Hopefully you agree with me.

I see grace. That's what I see.

God withheld death. He closed that door.

It was not accessible. But why?

Because this population had already seen so many things, had

received so many warnings, had perceived and experienced so

many disasters, and evidently they have not yet called upon

the Lord. They're not sealed by Him.

And so the Lord now takes it to another level.

He actually has a woe attached to this trumpet blast in order

for this people to wake up. Some people get saved through

preachers and there are other people who get saved through

pain and that is God's intention here, that they would finally

realize this is not normal, this is not humane.

The fact that this is plaguing the globe, the fact that we're

trying to die and we can't die. This has to be God.

God forgive me, I repent, I call upon you, rescue me.

There's an interesting passage in Job that confirms what I am

conveying to you in Job 38. And this is where I'm ending

verse Job 33. Rather verse 14.

It says for God speaks in one way and in two, though man does

not perceive it. For God speaks in one way and in

two, though man does not perceive it.

And what are the ways that he speaks to man, though man does

not immediately understand that it's God trying to get their

attention. Well, here's one of them.

Look at verse 19 of Job 33. Man is also rebuked with pain on

his bed and with continual strife in his bones, so that his

life loathes bread and his appetite.

The choice is food. His flesh is so wasted away that

it cannot be seen, and his bones that were not seen stick out.

His soul draws near to the pit, and his life to those who bring

death. For what purpose?

Verse 29 Behold, God does all these things twice, three times

with a man to bring back his soul from the pit, that he may

be lighted with the light of life.

There are some people who are lying in hospital beds today

because God is speaking to them. There are people who have had

life altering accidents because God is speaking to them.

You might be sitting here today and you receive the diagnosis.

You don't know God. Could it be that He's speaking

to you? I'm not saying every sickness is

a message from God. I'm just saying it's a

possibility. And one of the reasons why the

Lord allows us is because God understands something you and I

often forget. These bodies are temporary.

This life is short. There is something coming more

real than whatever you know here.

Eternity. Eternity.

And God, in His mercy, though you may even have cursed them

because of the pain in your life, knows that that pain is

temporary and it's worth experiencing it if you call upon

Him to be saved. God speaks in many ways.

He doesn't just speak through sermons.

This is His primary way, His word.

But there are other means that He gets man's attention,

especially those who are extra stubborn.

What you find with the 5th trumpet is a generation that are

extremely stiff necked. And So what does God do in His

sovereignty? Well, He's sovereign over the

underworld and He's sovereign over the demons, and He's

sovereign over death. And He unlocks it and He lets

them loose and He allows them to torment people for five months

for the sole purpose of them crying out for salvation and be

kept for eternity. That's what's happening here.

And here's the point I want to end with.

If God can postpone death, as we saw for the purpose of a wicked

people to have a chance to repent, what does that power

mean for those who already belonged to Him?

I want to speak to the believer and say remember the truth of

this verse. When you are fearful dads,

husbands of leaving your wife or children behind prematurely.

Cling to this promise and God's sovereignty over death.

When you receive the phone call that you dreaded your whole life

and a doctor gives you that report and it confirmed what you

feared. If you are regularly haunted by

the possibility of accidents, or maybe you you get threats from

unstable people, and we're seeing that more and more

happening here. You want to talk about more

manifestations of demonic activity?

It's happening in our culture, is it not?

Don't lose sight of God's sovereignty.

Your King and mine not only has the key to the abyss.

Back in Revelation One, we learned that He has the key to

death. And in his perfect wisdom and in

his wonderful grace, God considers every factor of your

life and mine. He knows just the right time and

the right means to open that door called death and to say,

son, daughter, it's time to walk through.

That's the hope that we have. The same one that has the power

to withhold death from the wicked.

He knows when to suspend it from your life, and He knows when

it's time for you to walk in and through it.

So what do you have to fear? Our God is sovereign over

everything. Our God is sovereign over the

underworld, the abyss, the demons who are there, the demons

that will be released, and even death itself has to submit to

God's will. And you and I get to live in

that reality every single day. Why?

Because of what Jesus Christ has done for us, that's why.

One more reason to celebrate this bread and this cup.

We have such a great salvation because of Him.

Lord, we thank You for this time.

We are spellbound by Your sovereignty and we choose to

pause as we are ready to feast on these elements.

What a redemption we have. What a salvation we have.

What promises are these? Thank you for the seal of the

Holy Spirit. Thank you that we are immortal

until you say so. Thank you that we are stronger

and more resilient because of Christ our Savior.

Thank you in a very unpredictable world where it

seems like demons are more loosened than at any time that

we can remember before. We are safe in Christ.

Our children are safe in Christ, our homes, our finances, our

bodies. Our ministries, they're safe in

Christ. We give you all thanks now as we

meditate on these things in Jesus name, Amen and Amen.