Revelation 8 and 9

October 10, 2021

A Quick Review of our earlier studies:

There are 3 groups of judgment called SEALS, TRUMPETS and BOWLS (or vials).

            > There are 7 SEAL judgments and the 7th Seal bursts into the TRUMPET judgments.

            > There are 7 TRUMPET judgments; the 7th Trumpet burst into the BOWL judgments.

What are the 3 divisions of “The Time of Wrath”?

            > The Time of MAN’S Wrath.

                        It comes during the first half (3 ½ years) of the 70th week of Daniel.

                        It starts in Chapter 6 as the first 6 Seals are opened.

            > The Time of SATAN’S Wrath.

                        It comes during the last half (3 ½ years) of the 70th week of Daniel.

                        It starts as the first 6 Trumpets under the 7th Seal are blown. Chapters 8 & 9.

            > The Time of GOD’S Direct Wrath.

                        It comes during the 30 days following the 70th week of Daniel.

                        It starts as the 7 Bowls under the 7th Trumpet are poured out.

                                    Chapters 11:15-19; Chapters 15 & 16.

Revelation Chapter 8

Seventh Seal: Prelude to the Seven Trumpets

8 When He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. 2 And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets. 3 Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. 4 And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand. 5 Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth. And there were noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake. So the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.

The sounding of the first six Trumpets are given in 8:7 thru 9:21.

            The first four judgments fall directly upon nature and only indirectly affect man.

            The last two judgments fall directly upon man. (9:4,15)

First Trumpet: Vegetation Struck.

The first angel sounded: (The judgment) And hail and fire followed, mingled with blood, and they were thrown to the earth. (The results) And a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.

Second Trumpet: The Seas Struck.

Then the second angel sounded: (The judgment) And something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea, and (The results) a third of the sea became blood. 9 And a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

Third Trumpet: The Waters Struck.

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

Fourth Trumpet: The Heavens Struck.

12 Then the fourth angel sounded: (The Judgment) And a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, (The result) so that a third of them were darkened. A third of the day did not shine, and likewise the night.

The announcement of 3 woes (worse judgments) to come.

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

Revelation Chapter 9

Fifth Trumpet: The Locusts from the Bottomless Pit (The first Woe).

Then the fifth angel sounded: And I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth. To him was given the key to the bottomless pit. 2And (The judgment) he opened the bottomless pit, and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace. So, the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit. 3 Then out of the smoke locusts came upon the earth. And to them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. 4 They were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green thing, or any tree, but only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5 And they were not given authority to kill them, but to torment them for five months. (The results) Their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man. 6 In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will desire to die, and death will flee from them.

The shape of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle. On their heads were crowns of something like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men. 8 They had hair like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth. 9 And they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots with many horses running into battle. 10 They had tails like scorpions, and there were stings in their tails. Their power was to hurt men five months. 11 And they had as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, but in Greek he has the name Apollyon.

12 One woe is past. Behold, still two more woes are coming after these things.

Sixth Trumpet: The Angels from the Euphrates (The second Woe).

13 Then the sixth angel sounded: (The judgment) And I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, 14 saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” 15 So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released (The results) to kill a third of mankind. 16 Now the number of the army of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them. 17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision: those who sat on them had breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow; and the heads of the horses were like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and brimstone. 18 By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed—by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which came out of their mouths. 19 For their power is in their mouth and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents, having heads; and with them they do harm.

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

LET’S STOP AND DO THE MATH: Revelation 6:8 said 25% of the world’s population would be killed by the catastrophes brought by the 4th Horseman of the Apocalypse. Now we learn that 33% of the remaining population will die. The world population today is estimated at 7.91 billion people so for simplicity of math, let’s call it 8 BILLION.

8 billion – 2 billion (25%) = 6 billion – 2 billion (33%) = 4 billion people left.

These remaining 4 billion people had seen all this torment, turmoil and termination of the lives of 4 billion people and John sadly reports that they still failed to repent of their sins and turn to God. Instead of turning to God they turned away from God.

The events in our world now will be even worse in The Great Tribulation.

            Self-sufficiency (Humanism)

            Demon worship    

            Idolatry

            Murder

            Sorcery

            Sexual Immorality

            Theft

We miss the whole point if we spend too much time focusing on literal vs. symbolic.

 God is showing John that the problem with mankind has been, is now and   always will be the same. God gave us the the right to freely choose whether or not to love and serve Him. God even put within all people a desire to seek and  know Him. Even when mankind chose not to seek Him, God chose to provide a  way back to fellowship with Him. But God will never make His Creation choose Him. And sadly, no matter how terrible the conditions are in one’s life, many  people choose to reject God’s love rather than accept it.

The battle for the soul of mankind is between God and Satan and God uses love to bring mankind back to Him and Satan uses lies to pull mankind away from God.

God is willing to let the record of mankind speak for itself. Sadly, too many of God’s creation are also willing to do so too.

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