The Beginning of the End

Amen. Thank you for being here tonight. It's an honor to be back with you tonight. I always

enjoy being with you on Wednesday night, especially as we continue this awesome series that we

are in. If you've enjoyed this book of Revelation so far, let me hear you give it a hand. A

few of you, yeah, some of you. So I must confess, I must be honest with you a little bit. You

like honesty, right? Yeah, most people do. So that's understandable. But when we started

this series several months back, I had a thought to myself, and I usually, as I do, I like

to share my thoughts that I have with myself with other people, because that's just how

I am. And so I shared this thought, and here is the thought. I'm going to share it with

you.

The winter Bible study, the book of Revelation, it can be a little bit intimidating for some

people, and especially for the teachers of that winter Bible study. And I was thinking

specifically about the fact that we are so blessed here at Champion Forest with some

of the best teachers of God's Word that have ever walked the earth, right? They're not

here tonight, but I won't tell them that you think so highly of them. And so in the process

of thinking about this, we have some of the greatest teachers, and I just thought to

myself, and as a member of Champion Forest, and not just a pastor here, how fortunate

we are to have such good teachers, and that they can teach the Word the way they do in

the book of Revelation. It can be so intimidating, and I just said, you know, I feel sort of

bad, but not really, about some of those churches that don't necessarily have access to the

teaching that we have here. You know, like if they had some kind of preacher that's never

walked through the book of Revelation before, maybe he's like 26 years old.

And he's still in seminary, and he's never mastered this stuff yet, and here I am.

Join me as we find our way through the book of Revelation, chapter 8, as we're going to be

tonight. If you would open your Bible to Revelation chapter 8. Luckily for me, we have

some of the greatest Bible teachers, and we have the Bible, God's Word, right in front of us, and

so many resources, and God has really revealed this to me.

And I think that we're going to walk through this, and we're going to be just fine tonight,

don't you worry. And if I say anything terrible, Pastor Ed is going to come get me off the

stage. And so we are good to go. Since we're speaking on resurrection on Sunday and Revelation

tonight, it reminded me of one of my favorite stories of a Sunday school teacher, a Sunday

school class. It wasn't my class, but this Sunday school teacher gets up and he says,

you know, boys and girls, is it true that I must sell all my possessions and give to

the church in order to get in heaven? And the little boys and girls say, no, that's not the way

you get in. He says, okay, well, maybe if I'm a really good person, and I'm a nice, respectful

person, I obey my parents, I clean my room, and the little boys and girls say, no, that's not the

way you get in heaven. He says, okay, well, maybe if I do really good things for the poor, and I

do all these things that in the Bible, they're good things, and maybe if I do all those,

do I get into heaven?

Finally, one little boy raises his hand and says, I know how you get into heaven.

The teacher looks at him and says, okay, tell me. He says, you've got to be dead.

You've got to be dead to get into heaven. Duh.

That's a little bit where I feel like we are tonight, that we're going to see in chapter

8 of Revelation that you've got to be dead to get there, and if you're not, there's some

things that are going to happen. And as we open this book tonight, as we look through

these things, we're going to see some things that are going to happen in Chapter 8 that

are going to happen in chapter 7 as we see in chapter 8, and the two things that are

going to happen in chapter 8 are going to be broken.

In fact, in a little text of chapter 7, the names that will be broken are also broken

in chapter 8.

Okay.

할�y Gonzague, we learned just a little bit of this a couple of weeks ago, in revelation

chapter 6.

We found the 6th seal being broken, and then we had a little bit of a break, a little bit

of a rest last week in chapter 7.

And we learned about the 144,000 in the 12 tribes of Israel that are all represented

on the throne, around the throne.

And we learned about all of that and now we move into chapter 8 and we're going to return

to the 6th seal.

Okay.

to the seals the seventh seal is where we're going to be tonight and so as we open this seal as we

get we're going to see what happens when this seal is open the seventh seal opening brings a few

things and I'm going to pick up in verse one of chapter eight when the lamb opened the seventh

seal there was a silence in heaven for about a half an hour then I saw the seven angels who stand

before God and seven trumpets were given to them so the first thing we're going to see from the

seventh scroll being opened is or seal being opened is an appropriate response to the holiness of God

an appropriate response to the holiness of God because if we look back just a few verses I mean

just not even a full chapter before this in Revelation 7 it says after this I looked and

behold the great multitude that no one could number from every nation from every all tribes

and

the peoples in all languages standing before the throne before the lamb clothed in white robes

with palm branches in their hands and crying out with a loud voice salvation belongs to our God

who sits on the throne and to the lamb so just a few verses before we had this great scene of

worship and adoration before the throne a great number of people so many that can't even be

numbered are all before the throne worshiping praising giving adoration

and we know that worship takes place in a number of different ways and so you can imagine the

the noise that must be involved with this worship everybody does their own thing everybody does

their own version but all of which are all being offered at the same time to God before the throne

and as we open the seventh seal we see a dramatic shift in the mood and maybe the volume level

around the throne there's a profound silence that overcomes everyone in the room and everyone in the room

everyone around the throne for 30 minutes I mean silence is golden but that not too much silence

right I can remember when I was a little kid getting phone calls home from my teachers to my

parents and it was never because I was a bad kid got it it's never because I was a bad kid but the

teachers would say something like Jonathan's a great kid and he's he's bright and he he just

really likes to talk I can't stop talking to him I can't stop talking to him I can't stop talking to him

I can't stop talking for five seconds without Jonathan interjecting in and it wasn't that I was

trying to be rude or disrespectful but I had some knowledge to add you know there's the teachers

teaching something and I can probably think of something that needs to be added to whatever

she's saying it's not a bad thing it's I'm helping that's how I saw it but silence is a hard thing for

a lot of us to to deal with imagine yourself getting on an elevator this just happened to

Allie and I last night I was in the elevator and I was in the elevator and I was in the elevator and

you're getting on the elevator and you and the person you're with Allie in this case we're having

a conversation another person gets on the same elevator with you having his own conversation with

the person on the phone and immediately upon getting on the elevator all stops have you ever

noticed this it's the most awkward thing and you just hope that two floors three floors is all you

got to deal with this because silence is hard for us to deal with and yet we find around the

throne a number so many that they can't count goes from praising and shouting to silence

because sometimes there's just no words there are other times in life where we encounter something

or we're around something we're doing something that just leaves us speechless

there's all all kinds of other examples but for for context sake the masters is

beginning to tell us that we're doing something that just leaves us speechless

tomorrow at 7 45 a.m just in case you were wondering I will be watching but there was a time

in my life when we used to live in Augusta that I got to go to the course and what you see on tv

is beautiful and it's brilliant but when you look at it there's just no words you just take in the

beauty the creation around you there's just no words that truly do justice to what you're looking

at and so what we're going to see here from Augusta is that we're going to be watching a

the breaking of this this seal this the the the opening of the seventh seal is that

all these people go from shouting and cheering and worshiping to complete silence

because there's just no words for 30 minutes and so what I thought we'd do is practice this for a

moment and so what I would like to do is awkward this may be but for 30 seconds and I have a timer

here for 30 seconds I just want us to be in the middle of the room and I want us to be in the middle of the room

as still and as quiet and as silent as we possibly can are you ready go

breathe we made it I was difficult it was very difficult but can you imagine 30 minutes of that

30 minutes of that in the presence of a holy God

it must have been an incredible scene

must have been an incredible scene

it's been something truly incredibly a part of incredibly awkward but incredibly powerful

and as we see here around the throne that we we learn and we understand that

there are more than one postures to take before a holy God

sure there is a time for clapping and shouting and singing but there's also a time just to be still

and when God is about to reveal his right justice and right wrath when he's about to

pour his right justice and right wrath he's about to pour his right justice and right wrath

out over the earth that might be a time to just be still and be reverent and be in awe of who God is

and what he's about to do because sometimes that's the only response that we can have

now it certainly doesn't diminish the times that we are we are exuberant about our worship we're

excited we're loud we're clapping we're having a great time doesn't diminish those moments but

it does let us know that it's okay to be still psalm 46 tells us be still and know that I am still and know that I am still and know that I am still and know that I am still

I am God

sometimes it's just right to be silent

and that's what happens here as we open the seventh seal we see this appropriate response to the holiness of God

and then we pick up in verse 2

then I saw the seven angels who stand before God and the seven trumpets were given to them

these trumpets they're used throughout the Bible as a signal or as a time of calling attention to whatever it may be

and generally

speaking a lot of the times it was at the start of something

it was to signify the beginning of

and these trumpets are given to these seven angels and these seven angels are going to blow these trumpets

and that the sound of the trumpet there's going to be some repercussions

it's going to start something

but before these trumpets are blown before we see what's going to happen after the first breath of the trumpet is blown

there's another pause that God brings in

there's another reason

there's another waiting

for God to do what's coming next

what's inevitably coming next

let me pick up in verse 3

and another angel came

and stood at the altar with a golden zinzer

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

then the angel

took the zinzer and filled it with water

and the zinzer took the zinzer and filled it with water

it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth and there were peals of thunder rumblings

flashes of lightning and an earthquake so just like the seventh seal being opened brings us

the appropriate response before God this brings us to a recognition of the power of prayer

because God's about to do what he's going to do and he knows what he's going to do but he

he sees a moment an opportunity to to do something that that is worthy of his time

worthy of this pause this rest so we see this second or additional angel come in a addition

to the seven and some people would say this is just another ordinary angel if there is such a

thing others would say that this is a representation of Jesus because of the task that he is he is he's

giving the task that he is doing it's a

representation of Jesus as our high priest either way whether it's Jesus or whether it's

another angel either way the task is the same you see this angel comes in and he's holding a golden

censer which is like a golden plate attached to some chains and he carries it in and and with this

golden censer there is the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints so this golden

see on the day of

but before he would do that and in an effort to cover himself or cover

the the altar before he could he could sprinkle the the sacrificial blood in order to cover

himself he would enter first with the incense and the incense would burn and it would fill the room

and and it would it would basically cover the altar and the altar would cover the recibision

chairs it would basically cover the altar and it would basically cover the sleeping room and it

be like the prayers of the people being being lifted to God and these prayers being lifted to

God are a sweet aroma they're pleasant they're pleasurable God enjoys the smell of our prayers

and so this covering happens until he can do the sacrificial sprinkling of the blood and and this

is this is what happens there in the day of atonement and we can take that and we can look

at what's happening in heaven and and this angel brings the incense and the censer before God

and in this censer is filled with all the prayers of all the saints

you see we talked a couple weeks ago about the the prayers from the saints that were

God give them what they deserve do what you're supposed to do they deserve it they've asked for

it give it to them but he waits

and now here we go

here we are picking that same story up all the prayers of all the saints are being offered before

God and God takes in these prayers and they're pleasing so he takes them in and he he covers

himself and then he puts them back into that censer because the the power of prayer

is outrageous in this moment think of it like a a uh you know like a

the atm the tubes of the atm the the prayers of all the saints have been shoved into that tube

and it shoots up the thing wherever it goes and then God gets it and he takes in all the prayer

and then he shoves them back into that tube and then he throws them at the earth

because God is answering he's receiving he's taking in and then he's he's responding to

the prayers that have been lifted up by all the saints

and so if you've ever prayed a prayer of of God this isn't fair if you've ever prayed a prayer of

God why would you do this to such a good person if you've ever prayed a prayer of any kind your

prayer is included in that tube or that censer your prayer has been heard it's been answered

it's been taken in it provides the fuel for the destruction that God is about to pour out

it provides the fuel for the destruction that God is about to pour out

and so he throws this censer back down to the earth and it provides a almost like a warning shot

get ready because here it comes I've heard your prayers I've taken them in I've I've done what I

needed to do to them I appreciate your prayers now here we go and he throws this golden censer

filled with with fire back down onto the earth and it brings peals of thunder and lightning and

earthquakes signaling the beginning that God's wrath is about to be poured out

and so for us we need to recognize that we need to pray

prayer is one of the most important things that we have at our disposal at every moment of every day

and the power of prayer here is is not just that we ask and that we get

sometimes we diminish the power of prayer we diminish the the the authority that prayer has

on our lives and and we we ask God to do something for us and when he doesn't we get upset

now it's not wrong to ask God to do something for us but we need to be

and we need to pray in that that God's will be done on earth as it is in heaven

that's what these prayers are we need to be praying that that God would bring

peace on earth that his righteousness would fall we need to pray for the church that it would triumph

because these prayers are being lifted up by the persecuted

the people who have been done wrong

bad things have happened to these people and they've prayed about it and these are the prayers

that are being lifted up and God hears and he answers these prayers

and these prayers are important enough for God to take in

and to hit pause before the good stuff starts

maybe not for the earth but for God's people

and so as we look here we're going to see that first the the the appropriate

response to the holiness of God

second the things that God has done for us and the things that God has done for us

the first thing that happens is is the recognition of the power of prayer

the third thing that happens as a result of the seventh seal being broken is the

sounding of the trumpets sounding of the trumpets and these trumpets are going to

like I said announce this new wave of God's judgment on the earth there's

about to be something that's happening on the earth that is going to be

signified by these trumpets as we're going to look here there's there's four

trumpets in this chapter and then it continues into the next chapter and then

it continues into the next chapter so we're going to cover these four tonight

in the next three next week but verse six of chapter eight says now the seven

angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them and you can

imagine the anticipation of those on looking those watching here they're

seeing the the trumpets being raised and they're anticipating and they're

expecting what's about to happen but there's really no way of us ever having

any idea of the magnitude

so these trumpets are raised and the first angel blew his trumpet and there

followed a hail and fire mixed with blood and these were thrown upon the

earth and a third of the earth was burned up and a third of the trees were

burned up and all the green grass was burned up so trumpet number one brings

destruction on the earth destruction on the earth you see this first trumpet it's

it's the first of the outpouring of the earth and it's the first of the outpouring of the

outpouring of God's wrath on the earth this first trumpet is accompanied by a

mixture of hail and fire and blood is mixed in and and some people would say

this is a reference to the plague number six on Egypt and this hail fell and it

killed people and so they would say that the blood that's that John's seeing is

actually on the on the down the downside it's actually when it hits others would

say this is a massive volcanoes around the world

super volcanoes that are exploding and and it's not really hail it's more like

ash and fire that's just this is going all over the world either way the the

outcome is the same that a third of the grass is burned up and a third of the

trees are burned up now if you can imagine the normal lifestyle that we

live you look out a window you expect to see a tree or some grass but if you can

imagine one third of the trees and one third of the grass worldwide gone in an instant

you can imagine the destruction that that would cause our world that would cause our earth

you know there's been a lot of scientific studies done about people a lot smarter than me that talk

about the deforestation around the world they're cutting down trees to build stuff or whatever it

is and and i'm neither neither for or against i am not talking about any of that right now

but what i am talking about is the the reality that trees are being cut down

there's a lot of study and a lot of scientific fact about the amount of oxygen that each of

those trees cuts out of the world and apparently if you get to a certain amount of trees that have

been cut down the oxygen capacity of the the world greatly diminishes

which is not good for those who breathe oxygen

like you and me

and everything else.

So you can imagine the destruction that is caused

if a third of the trees

and a third of the grass is gone

in an instant.

But that's just the beginning

because it's just the first of seven trumpets.

So the first trumpet, although it may be bad,

don't worry, it's going to get worse.

It's going to get a whole lot worse.

Trumpet number two is in verse eight.

The second angel blew his trumpet

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.

And so the second trumpet blows

and what John calls a fiery mountain

falls from the sky

and lands into the sea.

And maybe, maybe not,

but maybe we can say that this fiery mountain

is a meteor

falling from the sky on fire

and as it hits the water

it causes one third of the sea

to be filled with blood,

one third of the creatures in the sea to be killed

and one third of the ships on the earth

being destroyed.

Now you can make an argument

that because the creatures in the sea die

that's why the blood.

But either way,

that's the outcome.

That's the outcome.

And just for a moment,

if you begin to understand

or begin to try to wrap your mind around

what this looks like,

a third of the sea creatures on the earth,

gone.

Allie and I were watching this thing

on National Geographic called Hostile Planet

and it's really interesting,

but it is hostile.

There are so many ridiculous things in the world.

Animals, fish,

I know fish are animals,

but just in general,

there is some crazy stuff going on

that we don't even know the half of.

A third of all the sea creatures

that we don't even know how many exist

are done.

That's profound to me.

So trumpet number two

is going to bring this devastation in the sea

and the amount of carnage from this meteor

hitting the sea would be rather disgusting.

I mean, you've ever been on a sea

or on the boat

and you float over one single dead fish,

you know how pungent that smell is?

Imagine one third of the sea creatures

on the earth smelling like that.

It's not a place you want to be.

I'm just going to read this

because it just blows my mind,

but there are 4,617

near earth asteroids

that have so far

been cataloged.

4,600 have so far

been cataloged.

Some have predictable orbits,

while others do flybys.

Can you imagine a meteor

or an asteroid doing a flyby

of the earth?

Over 1,000 of them are considered

to be larger than

a half mile in diameter.

That's a 1 in 10,000% chance

that earth could be struck

by one of them.

So much for the friendly skies.

If an asteroid

of 600 feet in width

were to strike the mid-Atlantic,

it would produce a tidal wave.

It would produce a tidal wave.

A tidal wave 600 feet high.

And the heat from a rock this size

would literally boil the fish.

The seismic waves

would kill even more

and the tidal wave would sink

every ship in the Atlantic.

I mean, that's a massive

piece of rock.

But that's what John sees,

a mountain, something like

a fiery mountain flying into

the sea.

And it's just,

it's just getting started.

Because trumpet number three

brings another set of circumstances.

Trumpet number three in verse 10.

The third angel blew his trumpet

and a great star fell from heaven

blazing like a torch.

And it fell on a third of the rivers

and on the springs of water.

The name of this star is Wormwood.

A third of the waters became

Wormwood. And many people

died from the water because it had become

bitter.

So trumpet number three

is going to bring a defilement,

a defilement of water.

A defilement of water.

So all the fresh water,

the rivers, the springs,

the fresh water that we drink,

the things that are very important to us

as well as oxygen,

a third of them are going to be

contaminated or defiled.

Unable to drink.

Not good for us because they've become

bitter. And there's some

speculation about what this star

means or what this star is

exactly. And some people would say,

that it's the opposite

of when Christ was born,

God put a star in the sky.

And the opposite of Christ

is the Antichrist.

And so when the, this is God

signaling the Antichrist with a falling

star.

Now, maybe,

maybe not.

There's another

group of people who think that this is

more like a missile.

But because John had no clue what missiles

were, he didn't know what it was called.

So he called it a,

a falling star. But in our context,

for our terms, with our modern technology

and modern warfare, a missile

makes sense.

I mean, think about this

for a moment. This may be just a weird

coincidence or maybe not.

Did you know that the Russian word

Chernobyl, you know Chernobyl?

The Russian word, that

Russian Chernobyl means

wormwood.

Did you know that?

So the Bible,

the Bible is telling us that it's going to be

named wormwood and it's

going to turn the water bitter.

Now think about this just

for a second. The radioactive

chemicals that were a

result of what happened in Chernobyl

got into the water and it made the water

bitter.

Unable to drink. Not good. Radioactive.

Now think about just for a minute

if what happened at Chernobyl was to

come down from a nuclear sized missile

or atomic sized missile.

It hits the ground. It explodes.

Radioactive ash and chemical

and just explosive smoke

gets up into the atmosphere.

And then it makes its way

along the sky

in the wind and then suddenly

a rainstorm hits.

And suddenly that

cloud of ash and

chemical is

interacting with this water that then

falls down to the earth.

And then you know how water works.

Water goes

down into the

other waters and suddenly we've got

a pretty big contamination issue

on our hands.

And so you can see a little bit of how

this would be relatively possible.

And so John is watching

this and he's like, oh that is

crazy.

And in our context when we think

about it, that's pretty possible.

And so when we look here the third

trumpet brings us defilement of water.

And there's a strong sense in which

how much worse could it get? Our trees

are gone. Our sea is gone.

And now we can't drink the water.

But we're only halfway

through the trumpets.

Because God's wrath is being poured

out on what it deserves to be poured

out on. Sin.

And so we're going to pick up

and the fourth trumpet is going to

cause another shift in

the atmosphere. And the fourth trumpet

in verse 12 says,

the fourth angel blew his trumpet

and a third of the sun

was struck. And a third of the moon

and a third of the stars. So that a

third of their light might

be darkened. And a third of the

day might be kept from shining. And

likewise a third of the night.

So

there's this

weird shift that happens

that all these different cosmic

activities begin to happen

and the days are darker

and the nights are even darker and

the stars are gone and the sun's

not shining as bright and the moon's not

shining as bright.

And you begin to look around and wonder

what exactly is going on.

But this

disruption in the cosmos is

not only part of God's judgment about

what the earth deserves, but

it's also maybe just one

more warning.

One more, there's

more.

Because in addition to

this fourth trumpet, there comes

a verbal

warning in verse 13. It says,

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 that the three

angels are about to blow.

Woe, woe,

woe to those who dwell

on the earth. At the blast

of the other trumpets that the three

angels are about to blow.

See, it's about to

get a lot worse.

We're only halfway through

and it's about to get worse.

I don't know

about you,

but what we've seen tonight is a massive

amount of destruction and judgment being

poured out by a just

God.

And the punishment that's

being poured out is just punishment.

It's deserved.

It's not unfair, it's fair.

Because that's God's character,

that's who God is, and that's what

sin deserves.

But no matter how bad it gets

for you and I,

no matter how bad it gets in general for you

and I, we can

have some assurance.

We can have some faith, some trust

that here's your point for

home, that ultimately God

is in control.

And in the end,

God wins.

No matter how bad it gets,

no matter how bad it seems, God

is in control.

In the end, God wins.

Because I don't know about you,

but as bad as what we've seen from just

the first three are, I certainly

don't want to be around for those, let alone

what's about to come.

But there's

some good news because

we don't have to be here.

There's

a story of a father and his little

daughter and they were walking through the

prairie. And as they're walking

through this prairie, it's

really wide, the grass is all

matted down, it's dry, it hasn't rained in a while.

As they're walking through this prairie,

off in the distance, the father

and his little daughter, they see a fire.

They see some smoke.

And they recognize that this fire

is coming.

The wind's blowing towards them, the fire

is just eating up all this

dry grass in front of them. It is making its way

towards them.

And realizing that

they're unable to outrun this fire,

they're unable to escape the

path of the fire because it's

it's

engulfing them. The dad,

quick on his feet, lights a fire

at their feet.

And he begins to stoke it

and he gets it going and suddenly he's got

a fire circling them

and it's moving out.

And as the fire makes its way in,

the little girl looks up at her dad and says,

Dad, the fire is getting closer.

What are we going to do?

And the dad looks at her and says,

Don't worry, honey.

That fire ain't coming to us.

Because where we

stand, we're behind the burn.

And if you

recognize this story, if you

understand this story, once it's been

burned, it's not going to come back.

And so

when we look at the destruction

and the fire that's coming,

when we look here

in Revelation, the fire, it's on its way.

Our only

escape from the fire that's inevitably

coming towards us is to stand

on a burned spot

where the fire has already been.

And some

2,000 years ago, Christ

died on a cross and took on

the flames and the wrath

of God for sin on our behalf.

And the only

way to escape the fire that is inevitably

going to engulf us

is to stand on the

already burned spot of Christ.

By putting our

faith and our trust in Him.

We are safe for time, we are safe for

eternity from the flames of hell and from God's

judgment against us.

If we stand on the already burned

spot of Christ.

And tonight, friend,

if that's you, if you're worried about the

fire coming in, if you're worried about what's

coming after you, tonight is the night. There's not

been a better time than tonight

to stand firm on the already

burned spot of Christ.

Thanks so much for

joining us today. We pray that the truth

of God's word is both encouraging

and uplifting to you.

If you'd like more information about our church,

service times, or locations,

or if you have a question about what you

heard today and you want to connect with someone,

I want to encourage you to visit us on our website

at championforest.org.

Have a great day and God bless.