The Tribulation, part 2

Transcript

GR 433
1/31/1982
The Tribulation Part 2
Selected Verses
Gil Rugh

We're going to be looking again into the tribulation this morning. As we consider further the area of Biblical prophecy and want to spend one more time together, our time this morning, in looking at the tribulation period. Then in our next study, we are going to see-the climax of this time with the battle of Armageddon and the second advent of Jesus Christ to the earth.

All right. There's going to be a little bit of adjustment here as we go along. That will help you keep awake maybe as well. The Book of Revelation in your Bibles. And what I want to do is just overview some of the events of the last half of the tribulation, particularly we'll look at the trumpet judgments and the bowl judgments. Just briefly touching on each of them to get an idea of the judgement that God is going to be pouring out during the last half of the tribulation period. See something of the severity of these judgments. We earlier looked at the seal judgments which are the first in the series of judgments poured out by God in the seven years tribulation. We noted then that seals are followed by the trumpets are followed by the bowls, three series of seven judgments, seven seals followed by seven trumpets followed by seven bowls. And they carry us through the tribulation.

Now before we look into these specific judgments, just a word on two significant groups of people that are mentioned. Back in chapter 7 of Revelation. We mentioned these three series—these three sets of judgments carry us through the tribulation and the Book of Revelation, chapter 6 to 19, are built around these. But then there are breaks in the judgments to give explanation about events that are transpiring.

In chapter 6 of the Book of Revelation, we saw the seal judgments, then chapter 7 is a break. It tells us something about those who are going to be saved in the tribulation, Then with chapter 8, we will pick up with the trumpet judgments, Chapters 8 and 9 will have the trumpet judgments set out, Then there will be a break and we’ll have a break from chapter 10 down to chapter 16, Then we pick up with the bowl judgments.

In chapter 7, we begin with four angels commanded to restrain the wind and an instruction given not to pour out any harm on the earth, Verse 3, ’’Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the bondservants of our God on their foreheads,” So the judgments are to be restrained until the bondservants of God are sealed, Now a seal, word that’s used of you and I as believers in Scripture—we've been sealed by the Holy Spirit until the day of redemption, These spirit—these individuals are sealed which indicates that they are preserved and protected by God through these judgments, It guarantees that they will not be destroyed in the judgments that are about to be poured out. Now this is only for a specific group, of believers, and the indication here seems to be that God is guaranteeing the preservation of this group of believers through the tribulation. Now, you see down with, verse 9 and following in chapter 7, that there are a great number saved in the tribulation who also die in the tribulation. Verse 14 says,
"These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." They have died in the tribulation, but there are one hundred and forty-four thousand Jews that are sealed by God to guarantee their security and preservation through this time.

Note verse 4 of chapter 7, "I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred and forty-four thousand sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel," I don't think that it is necessary to say that this is a visible seal on the forehead, This is a seal that contrasts them with those who received the mark of the beast on their forehead and their hand. This marks them off as special to God. The number I take it is a literal number—one hundred and forty-four thousand. They are identified from every tribe of the sons of Israel. So it's a hundred and forty- four thousand Jews. And then it's delineated for us. There are twelve thousand from each tribe in Israel. Verses 5, 6, 7 and 8, in case we would misunderstand, Twelve thousand from the tribe of Judah, twelve thousand from the tribe of Reuben, twelve thousand from the tribe of Gad and so on. Now how specific could God be? He says one hundred and forty-four thousand from every tribe of the sons of Israel, And then in case anybody misunderstands, He goes through and says twelve thousand from this tribe, twelve thousand from this tribe, twelve thousand from this tribe, and yet there are still people today who say that this does not believe that there are twelve thousand from each tribe. Now if it doesn't mean that, we are at a loss to understand what God is saying, I think it's very simple. God is going to seal twelve thousand from each of the tribes of Israel, Say, "Well, who knows who the tribes of Israel are today? They've been so blended and mixed and we don't have any idea who they are," You're right, we don't, but God does, So it's not really a big problem, Do you think God is up there trying to sort out which tribe each Jew belongs to? It's not a problem for Him. No difficulty, And He sends the angels out to mark out twelve thousand from each tribe. Why would He do this? Well, you remember that we are going to be coming up on the Millennium, the earthly reign of Christ after the tribulation. The Millennium is the time when the promises and prophesies of the Old Testament to Israel regarding an earthly kingdom will be fulfilled and the sealing of these twelve tribes—representatives from these twelve tribes—guarantees that each tribe in Israel will be represented as we go into the Millennium, So that when Christ comes back to establish the Millennium, we won't find out that there were only 200 from the tribe of Reuben who survived the tribulation, none from the tribe of Gad and so on. No, there will be at least twelve thousand men who have been secured by God through the tribulation. Now, beyond the fact that they are sealed and preserved, we don't know what they will do. Many hold that these 144 thousand will function as evangelists though the tribulation, And I have no problem with that because they are sealed by God, sometime during the tribulation they are going to be saved and we would expect then that they would share their testimony and be proclaiming that Jesus is the Messiah. Perhaps through their testimony many in Israel will be saved in preparation for the coming of Christ because they are going to be supernaturally preserved from all the judgments that are poured out on the earth, from the persecution by Satan, that they might survive this seven-year period,

Now, one other group—not really a group, there's just two people—over in chapter 11, marked out as special, Over to chapter 11, Now, let me say that does not mean that there are only going to be 144 thousand Jew7s w7ho survive the tribulation. But, it does guarantee that these twelve thousand men from each tribe will survive and they are secured by God for special purposes. Beyond that, we don't know how many Jews will survive, In chapter 11 of Revelation there are two witnesses mentioned. We've referred to them earlier, I just want to draw your attention to them again, Verse 3, "I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for twelve hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth, these are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth." A picture drawn from the Old Testament in the Book of Zechariah with Joshua and Zerubbabel as God's two witnesses pictured there as olive trees and lampstands, Those who represent God, Here are these two men who have the power to work miracles, To proclaim the message of God functioning during one half of the tribulation, and then they are martyred and then experience supernatural resurrection, There are those who hold they function during the first half of the tribulation, others hold the second half, I prefer the first half of the tribulation, but either one is a possibility, Not* here we see God proclaiming His message, His revelation to the world for three and a half years. It may be in connection with their testimony that the hundred and forty-four thousand Jews are saved. Because these two witnesses are centered in Jerusalem and that's where they are proclaiming the message from God. And since they are in Jerusalem, they will have a special impact on the Jews,

Now, back to Revelation chapter 8. You have these hundred and forty-four thousand Jews sealed. You have these two witnesses specially prepared by God for a ministry in the tribulation. Now we've noted during the first half of the tribulation some of the judgments, We come to the middle of the tribulation—three and a half years along some dramatic events occur, Satan is cast out of heaven as we saw in chapter 12, No longer has access to heaven, He has great wrath knowing he has but a short time, Russia and her allies, the Arab world and so on, invades Israel and are supernaturally destroyed by God, The antichrist now sets himself up as world ruler, presenting himself in the temple at Jerusalem as God, The abomination of desolation which we read about in our Scripture reading in Matthew 24 when Christ spoke to the Jews and said, "When you see the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place, then take flight," Don't go back and get your luggage and so on. That will mark the beginning of this great persecution, Also it's about this time that the judgments from God become even more sever and for three and a half years the earth is brought to almost total ruin and annihilation.

Chapter 8, "When He broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour," You see the connection here is back to chapter 6, in chapter 6 and verse 12, the sixth seal was broken. Every time a seal was broken remember a judgment comes, Now the seventh and final seal is broken and out of this seventh seal comes the series of seven trumpet judgments, So in a special way the seventh seal, it's judgment is the seven trumpets, And we'll see the seventh trumpet will sound and the particular judgment of the seventh trumpet is in effect the seven bowls. There is silence in heaven for about a half an hour. Picturing something of the awesomeness of what is about to transpire. That silence which causes the awareness and the expectation that something awesome is about to transpire, Now we can't go into the details of this, we studied the details of this in our study of Revelation some time ago; but it's interesting to note that verses 3, 4, and 5 indicate that what is about to transpire is tied to a response to the prayers of the saints. Because the prayers of the saints are laid before God and they result in this judgment. So the cry that has come up for God to avenge His children and so on final now culminates in this series of judgments,

Verse 6, "The seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound, And the first sounded," And every time a trumpet is blown, another judgment is poured out and you get some idea, a feeling of repetitive as these judgments are poured out. And you'll see that there's going to be a parallel. We'll go through the trumpets, then we'll go back and do the bowl judgments and you'll see that what happens with the bowl judgments are these judgments are intensified that have been poured out in the trumpets,

"The first sounded, and there came hail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were thrown to the earth; and a third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up and all the green grass was burned up," Rather awesome judgment. One third of the earth in effect is destroyed. The blood here may refer to the death of men and animals caught by this judgment, One third of the earth going to burned up, Destroyed by the hail and the fire, the blood may be a picture of the tremendous carnage that takes place with humans and animals caught in this tremendous judgment, One third of the earth is consumed.in this judgment, Now that's an awesome judgment and that's just one, And keep in mind, these judgments are building, We've had the seal judgments and now we're adding to that the trumpet judgments, And with that is mixed all the other things that are transpiring and going on.

Verse 8, "The second angel sounded, 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 creatures which were in the sea and had life, died; and a third of the ships were destroyed," You see some parallel also in these judgments with the plagues upon Egypt under Moses and we won’t take time to go back and check them but the first plague in Exodus chapter 7 ties closely to what we are reading about here, "A large object like a mountain," You note it says, "A second angel sounded,., something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea, Doesn't necessarily say it was a mountain, but it's a huge object like a mountain, We’re not told what it is, And many ideas and speculations made from a nuclear blast to some kind of meteorite, Perhaps it’s just something supernatural cast by God into the sea which would seem to make sense since the result of it is supernatural—a third of the sea became blood, God turns one third of the oceans into blood which naturally results immediately in the death, of everything in that part of the sea, All the fish are destroyed, the boats are destroyed, Tremendous catastrophe takes place here, Perhaps the ships were destroyed by a tidal wave caused by this mountain crashing into the sea—we’re not told, but the result is clear. One third of the sea becomes blood, Now again that becomes difficult to picture, but again we have something of a pattern set down by the plagues of the Old Testament done under Moses,

A third angel sounds "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 waters-; and the name of the star is called Wormwood; and a third of the waters became wormwood; and many men died from the waters, because they were made bitter," This is the opposite of what we have in Exodus chapter 15. In Exodus chapter 15, the bitter waters are made sweet,
Now here, the sweet drinkable waters are made bitter, You have one third of the fresh water supply destroyed, Again "a great star fell from heaven," I take it the emphases here is this is a judgment from God poured out on the fresh water and one third of the earth's fresh water supply is now rendered undrinkable. So that vast numbers of people die. You can imagine that. If one-third of the drinking water on the earth was immediately consumed and destroyed—rendered unfit. Think of the tremendous loss of life that would immediately follow upon that.

Verse 12, "The fourth angel sounded, and a third of the sun and a third of the moon and a third of the star were smitten, so a third of them became darkened and the day might not shine for a third of it, and the night in the same way," Darkness for a third of the day so additional eight hours now rendered into darkness. Remember the ninth plague in Egypt in Exodus chapter 10? Darkness enveloped the whole land. We have a picture laid down for us in those plagues. It looked forward to the time when God would not just be judging Egypt but would be judging the world and now you have another eight hours of darkness added in judgments. Now those are the first four trumpets and you note how God doesn't develop them in any great detail, Here's what's going to happen, Here’s going to be the result. Going to destroy the fresh water. Many are going to die. Going to turn a third of the seas into blood and all the fish are going to die and all the ships in that part of the seas will be destroyed, No great elaboration on how will this transpire, what will happen, God will simply do it. But isn't that what He did under Moses as well? No great details necessary. Moses turns the water to blood. How could that happen? Well, a sovereign God did it, Brings darkness into the land. How could that happen? A sovereign God did it.

Now we have four trumpets, and then we break. In verse 13 and read, "And I looked and I heard an eagle flying in midheaven, saying with a loud voice, 'Woe, woe, woe, to those who dwell on the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound]" Now, this cry from an eagle flying in the heavens, "Woe, woe, woe," because now things are going to get bad. Now you get some idea of how things are deteriorating that we'd say, "Can things get any worse? " After seeing the seal judgments, after seeing the first four trumpets and now God intervenes to announce woe, woe, woe, because now things are really going to get bad on the earth.

"And immediately the fifth angel sounded," and what happens now are the forces of the demonic world are loosed in ways that they have never been before so that things will take a dramatic turn for the worse. Demonic beings who have been bound and restrained by God are now loosed upon the earth to bring a havoc and a destruction of unparalleled judgments. "The fifth angel sounded, I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth; and the key to the bottomless pit was given to him."

Interesting, I ought to note here, This chapter, chapter 9, has more uses of the word as and alike than any other chapter in the whole Bible, You get some idea that John is grasping to try to explain and picture what he saw and he's doing this under the inspiration of the Spirit, But in all these pictures, it's as this, it's like this, Here's a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth and John doesn't see this star falling. It's a star from heaven which had fallen. Perfect tense. It had fallen in the past and the result was it was now fallen. And I take it the reference here is probably to Satan because of the destruction. You can just jot down Isaiah 14, verses 12 to 17 and then Luke chapter IQ, verse 18 where Jesus said that He saw Satan falling from heaven. Picture of Satan having been cast to the earth and now he has the key to open the bottomless pit. The bottomless pit is a holding place for demonic beings. It is the place where Satan himself is going to be confined during the thousand year millennium. So now he is given the opportunity to open the bottomless pit.

"He opened the bottomless pit; and smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit, And out of the smoke came forth locusts upon the earth; power was given them as the scorpions of the earth have power," So a picture here, the bottomless pit, it's the dwelling place of demons, Luke chapter 8 and verse 31 identifies it in such a way. Let me just read Luke 8:31 for you quickly, "The demons were entreating Christ not to command them to depart into the abyss." That place where they would be confined and restrained. So when it opened, they came out and we're told in verse 3, out of the smoke came forth locusts upon the earth. Now these locusts are not just ordinary locusts because the abyss or the bottomless pit is not the holding place for locusts. But rather these are demonic beings coming out. Now they may be coming out in the form of locusts. They may be demon possessed locusts if you will. But what is pictured here are hordes of demonic beings now loosed upon the earth. Perhaps in the form of locusts, but different from normal locusts, they have the power as of scorpions. Now, it doesn't say they are scorpions, but they're like scorpions, because they are going to be able to inflict a terribly painful bite upon the people of the earth. So it's like the pain of the scorpions bite or sting—it’s called a sting I guess. Now, note they don't hurt the grass or the earth or any green thing or any tree but only the men. And only the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. So here those who have been sealed are preserved by God, Again, similar to the plagues in Egypt, Right? For us who are believers and who understand the Old Testament Scriptures, this is not so hard to accept. Because this is what God did with the plagues in Egypt, Were the Israelites afflicted by those same plagues? No, they were preserved by God. So here those sealed of God are preserved. Particularly the hundred and forty-four thousand which we read about in chapter 7.

All right. Verse 5, "They were not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment for five months; and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man," So these demonic beings will plague the earth for five months. Then will undergo this tremendous time of suffering, Now, you note, they are not permitted in verse 5 to kill anyone, You see God is still in control, He still determines how far even this horrid horde of demonic beings can go. Inflict tremendous pain and suffering, but not to take life, And it's going to be so bad in verse 6, "In those days men will seek death and will not find it; and they will long to die and death flee from them," Having been afflicted by these demonic beings people are going to wish they could die and yet God is not going to allow them to die. They are going to long for death as an escape for the tremendous suffering, but they won't be able to die. Awful time. Then they're pictured. They are pictured and described and down to verse 11: "They have as king over them, the angel of the abyss; his name in the Hebrew, Abaddon, and in the Greek, Apollyon,"

So they are lorded over by Satan himself and directed in their activity.
All right, that’s the first woe. Two woes are still coming. Remember three woes, Woe, woe, woe,

"The sixth angel sounded, I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, one saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, 'Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.' And the four angels who had been prepared for the hour and day, the month and the year were released, so that they might kill a third of mankind." Now you see here just as the fifth trumpet resulted in the releasing of a great demonic horde, so now the sixth trumpet sounds and four angelic beings who are bound at the great Euphrates River, This again has to refer to demonic beings. Unfallen angels are not bound. But these angels are bound at the River Euphrates. Why are they bound here? Because it's God's purpose and intention to hold them there until the precise time in His plan, Note how it's put in verse 15, "The four angels who had been prepared for the hour, the day, month and year were released," You see things are right on God's time schedule, right down to the right year to the exact month, to the exact day, to the exact hour, Now it is time, release the four angels in the River Euphrates. You note what the releasing of them does. It prepares the way for the destruction of a third of mankind, Now we saw in our study of the seals under one seal, one quarter of the earth's population is killed, Now, under this one trumpet, one-third of the earth's population is killed. That's one half of the earth's population,
What about all those who died when one-third of the fresh water was rendered undrinkable, when one-third of the sea was turned to blood. They're all additional, One half the earth's population have died under one seal and one trumpet and think of how many millions have died under the other judgments as well and you get the idea that when Christ said if He did not intervene at the end of seven years, there wouldn't be anybody left alive on the face of the earth,

This is an interesting section. We're going to be talking about it in our study this evening regarding Armageddon, because here comes an army, verse 16, "The number of the armies of the horsemen was two hundred million". This is going to tie to a bowl judgment that we're going to get to, I hope, shortly. There are four angels released and they are empowered to kill a third of the earth and evidently part of what they do involves the mobilization of an army of two hundred million, I take it that's a literal number, Some commentators in bygone centuries had a hard time with that because they could never fathom that there could be an army of two hundred million, But I take it the numbers in Revelation are precise and exact and what we have here I take it are the armies of the east. The armies of China, the orient and so on, We'll see this when we get over to the bowl judgments shortly.

"I saw in the vision the horses and those on them whose riders had breastplates of fire, hyacinth, brimstone^ heads of the horses like the heads of lions; out of their mouths proceed fire and smoke and brimstone, A third of mankind was killed by these plagues, by the fire, the smoke the brimstone, which proceeded out of their mouths," This description pictures very graphically the destruction of this huge array. Now obviously, the picture here is different than anything John would have been familiar with. And there's no problem in reading in the modern machinery of warfare in his description as he tries to describe what this army would look like and how they would move. Perhaps it's an attempt to describe the modern warfare that would have been given to him in vision and symbol. One-third of the earth's population is destroyed by this mighty army.

Now note verse 20 before we jump over to the bowls. "The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and silver, brass which can neither see nor hear nor walk, and they did not repent of their murders, their sorceries, their immorality nor their thefts." It doesn't make any difference. Over half the earth's population has been destroyed and the survivors are just as entrenched in their rebellion against God as ever,

O.K, Jump over to chapter 16, chronologically, chapter 16 will follow on what we've been studying in chapter 9, Chapter 15 prepares the way for this, An anticipation of this final judgment* Then verse 1: "And I heard a loud voice from the temple, saying to the seven angels, 'Go and pour out the seven bowls of the wrath of God into the earth,'" These are the last judgments that will bring us to the second coming of Christ, "The first angel went and poured out his bowl into the earth; and it became a loathsome and malignant sore upon the men who had the mark of the beast and who worshiped his image," So you see clearly, this afflicts only the followers and worshipers of the beast. A malignant sore causing great suffering and torment obviously. Followed immediately by the second angel pouring out his bowl into the sea, "It became blood like that of a dead man^: and every living thing in the sea died," You see what happens with the bowl judgments, they will intensify what happened under the trumpets. Under the trumpets, one third of the sea turned to blood. Now God completes the process. The entire sea is blood and almost unimaginable and yet, it's going to happen. Everything in the sea died, Destruction of all life in the sea is now complete,

"The third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of waters, and they became blood," Now the fresh water supply is totally ruined, and done away with, You'll remember again in Egypt the pattern here. This brings to a completion what we saw under the trumpets where one-third of the fresh water supply was destroyed, Now God turns all the fresh water to blood and there is a rather picturesque description of it. "I heard the angel of the waters saying," And it’s interesting, the angel of the water. A particular angel in connection with the water. The one perhaps who had poured out his bowl upon the water, "Righteous are you who are and was, 0 Holy One, because you have judged these things," Note how the angels view this who serve in the presence of God. This is a righteous judgment. "For they poured out the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. They deserve it." Interesting expression here, they are worthy. We see this earlier in the Book of Revelation, chapter 4 verse 11 and chapter 5, verse 12. They talk about it 'with Christ, He is worthy. Here is what the unbeliever is worthy of. Worthy to have blood to drink because he's been guilty of the martyrdom, persecution of the people of God, This is righteous that they should be judged in such a way,

"I heard the altar saying, ’Yes, 0 Lord God, the Almighty, true and righteous are your judgments,’" I want to make a note here. There are people who say, "Oh, how could a loving God do these kinds of things?" One of the great tragedies that characterize people today is a failure to appreciate the righteousness and holiness of God, Those angels that served constantly in the presence of God, say that these judgments are truly righteous and truly holy and it's our failure to appreciate the awfulness of sin and the holiness of God that causes us to question whether God could really do such things. Could He do any less on sinful rebellious beings?

"The fourth angel poured out his bowl upon the sun; and it was given to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with fierce heat," This angel poured out his bowl and the sun intensified its heat to scorch the earth. And you know what has happened. All the water on the earth has been turned to blood. And now the earth is being scorched with tremendous heat and there is no water to alleviate that suffering. The oceans have been turned to blood, all the fresh water has been turned to blood, and now God turns the heat up to scorch the earth. Note the response verse 9, "Men were scorched with fierce heat; and they blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues; they did not repent, so as to give Him glory," They’re not crying cut for mercy from God, they’re blaspheming Him, And we see this even in limited ways today where some, on some occasions people called to undergo intense suffering and persecution blaspheme God. Because even in their perversity, they recognize the hand of God in it, but they will not bow the knee to Him, but they’ll curse Him. That’s what’s going on here. What do these people deserve?
They're blaspheming God, They're unwilling to respond to the grace and love of God as demonstrated in the day in which we are now living, and when God deals in wrath and judgment, they are still unwilling. So they reject love and grace. They reject wrath and judgment. And yet people say, "Oh, God couldn't do that," Could He do anything else and still be righteous and holy?

Verse 10, "The fifth angel poured cut his bowl upon the throne of the beast; and his kingdom became darkened;" The earth is thrown into darkness, the kingdom of the beast, the antichrist who has been ruling the world. His kingdom now has been thrown into darkness. Remember before under the trumpets? The day was shortened by a third. Now it’s thrown into darkness. And note what happens here. You ever bite your tongue? Not figuratively, literally? You know and you, "Oh," and your wife or your husband says, "What happened?" "Oh, I bit my tongue." And that really smarts. It's not very smart, but it smarts. Now note here, the end of verse 10, "They gnawed their tongues because of pain," Now I don't know exactly all that's involved in the producing of this pain in this tremendous darkness. But I know it's got to be a terrible pain if it causes them to gnaw on their tongue. But note verse 11, "And they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores; and they did not repent of their deeds." They'll chew on their tongue, the pain is so great, but they will not bow the knee before God, They will not be woed by love and grace and mercy today and they will not be driven to their knees by judgment and wrath and suffering either. You see how stubborn and sinful the heart of the human being is? Unwilling to bow to God no matter what.

The sixth bowl, and we are now on the brink of the return of Jesus Christ, "The sixth bowl is poured out upon the great river, the Euphrates." Now remember, we saw under the six trumpets, the four angels at the Euphrates River loosed and they mobilize an army of two hundred million. Now, the great River Euphrates is "dried up that the way might be prepared for the kings from the east," Now that army of two hundred million are presenting the armies from the east, That’s further clarified for us here, "The kings from the east.” The Euphrates—having pictured that natural barrier through biblical times. Now it’s dry. To picture now that there's freedom of access for this huge array of two hundred million to march into Palestine, It's a preparation for Armageddon. We'll talk about that in our next study this evening.

And you have a little brief verses 13 to 16 statement on the preparation for Armageddon. Verse 16 says, "They gather them together to the place which in Hebrew is called Har-Magedon," Armageddon, Then the seventh bowl is poured out on the earth. And you'll note, it's poured out on the air. "A loud voice came out of the temple from the throne, saying, 'It is done,"' This is the final judgment, "There were flashes- of lightening, sounds, peals of thunder; a great earthquake such as there had not been since man came to be upon the earth, so great an earthquake was it, and so mighty, The great city was split into three parts, the cities of the nations fell, Babylon the great was remembered before God to give her the cup of the wine of the Spirit's wrath. Every island fled away, the mountains were not found. Huge hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, came down from heaven upon men; and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, because its plague was extremely severe," Which concludes the series of judgments by God by the reminder that the unbelieving earth is still in the process of blaspheming God. Cursing God because of the judgments He's pouring out on the earth.

Now, this last bowl poured out brings a great earthquake. Verse 19, "The great city was split." In chapter 11 of Revelation verse 8, Jerusalem is called the great city. I take it it's natural to take it here as Jerusalem, We know that there are going to be some topographical changes as we come to Armageddon to help preserve some of the Jews at this period of time. Evidently this takes place here. "Babylon the great was remembered", Now what will happen is chronologically you go from chapter 16 to chapter 19. But he’s mentioned Babylon the great in verse 19 was remembered before God. So chapters 17 and 18 develop Babylon the great for us. Chapter 17, religious Babylon which we saw is destroyed in the middle of the tribulation. Now the destruction of Babylon is completed. And chapter 18 records the destruction of commercial Babylon, That political and commercial center of the world described in detail in chapter 18, is the destroyed at this time and the way is prepared for the second coming of Christ to earth.

So, just something of an overview. I mean we've taken a brief time to survey the awful judgments to be poured out on the world. Why is it necessary? Why would God deal with human beings in such an awful, wrathful way? Because of sin. Because of our unwillingness to bow the knee before Him, to respond to His grace and love as demonstrated in the death of His Son. But we persist in rebellion and rejection. So it's necessary He pour out wrath. In that wrath, it's further revealed how sinful we really are. I take it all these things are going to happen just as we considered them. Be climaxed by the second coming of Jesus Christ to earth, that’s what I anticipate. Looking forward to the coming of Christ first to take me to be with Himself and then to come back with Him and to bring to a climax and a conclusion this time,
If you turn over to Revelation 19 just quickly. Just to give you the chronology, This is where we'll pick up in our study this evening. Verse 11 is the next event chronologically for us after verse 21 of chapter 16, ”1 saw heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True; and in righteousness He judges and wages war," The climax of this age when Jesus Christ comes to set up His kingdom. Let me ask you one question, Where are you this morning? Have you come to believe in Jesus Christ as the One who died to pay the penalty for your sin? Are you holding on stubbornly, adamantly, to your own religious convictions, and it's this way or no way? All you're demonstrating is how sinful the human heart really is, God’s dealing with us now, today in mercy and grace. Not pouring out His wrath as we’ve been seeing. Have you responded to that love and that mercy? Have you come to realize that you’re a sinner for whom Jesus Christ died? Have you come to believe in Him as your Savior? If not, why not? The provision has been made, the opportunity is there. What a tragedy, what a testimony to our sinfulness that we persist in rejection of that salvation so freely and graciously given.

Let’s pray together.