Waiting for the Other Shoe - Revelation 8:1-7
Revelation 8:1-7 · Vern Peterman · Jun 7, 2009
Revelation (2009), No. 23
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/492613619743

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Okay. We've got the handout here, which is where I'll have a question for you. But before we get to that, there were a couple of questions last week I want to try to address. And one is you had a question about death during the Millennial Kingdom. And so I brought up something, and it turns out I need to make a slight correction.

Isaiah 6520 is the passage that addresses life and death during the Millennial Kingdom, and we covered that. February of two years ago, and we're going through Isaiah. It says, No longer will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man that does not live out his days.

For the youth will die at the age of a hundred. I think I said a hundred and twenty, so that's mistaken. It should be a hundred. Okay, who dies at the age of a hundred. And one who does not reach the age of one hundred will be thought accursed. In other words, he died young at 100, right?

So at any rate, here's the handout from that Sunday. I'll pass that on to you. And thanks for the question. So that's a key thing. During the millennial kingdom, there will be death. However, longevity will be the norm. There's longer days than we typically have. And when we get into the new heavens and new earth, that is when this present earth is ended and the new heavens and new earth are created, no longer any death. And that's something we'll encounter. This is a question that comes up from actually what will be in our very last studies in the book of Revelation. Michael, do you have your question? Yeah, death will not be eliminated until this present heavens and earth is done.

Right? And we'll have a new heavens and earth, no longer any death. No more sorrow or crying or pain. Okay? Yeah, you sure can. You know, Jehovah's Witnesses say that the dead have no thoughts. Therefore, when you die, your thoughts know nothing. Right. They believe in annihilation, right? How do you respond to that? That is also a question we'll be addressing further. There are groups, and the Jehovah's Witnesses are among them, who teach annihilation. That is, that there are those who go to heaven, and those who do not, basically are annihilated, terminated.

That's not the picture that we get from Scripture consistently. Either we don't get it from our study of Revelation and we also don't get it from any of the other passages that talk about the Lake of Fire or anything of the sort. It's basically, it is a doctrine in search of passages to support it, rather than passages from Scripture developing the doctrine, which is the order it needs to be. Oddly enough, the Jehovah's Witnesses are really an offshoot of the Seventh-day Adventists, and both groups teach annihilation.

Again, it has to do with the heritage that they have, not what the Scriptures say. And I would suggest one other thing, and that is annihilation, the idea that, you know, if you don't go to heaven, you just get annihilated, or you don't, like the Jehovah's Witnesses say, most of those saved under the Jehovah's Witness teaching will spend their life not in heaven, because that's basically a closed door, but rather on a new earth. That's their teaching. and everybody else will be annihilated.

That's their teaching. That is a whole lot more pleasant sounding and appealing than the idea of a hell or a lake of fire, which is what scripture really talks about. Are you going to answer that later? Yeah, basically we'll go through the passages and talk to them, but the idea that you're done when you're here, if you're not going to heaven or going in as they teach onto a new earth, that's something that they've concocted. It's not something that Scripture teaches. They've come up with their own teaching and it's one they just got from the Seventh Adventist where they're just an offshoot.

Then you had a question and what I'm going to do is I'm going to give you the quick answer and it had to do with Revelation chapter 14 and where is that and when does that happen. We are going to be stepping into that passage again It'll be a few weeks out. But the quick answer is that Revelation 14, I believe, is a looking ahead to the time when Christ will reign on the earth. And there's a couple reasons why I believe that's so. And it's abundantly clear from Old Testament passages, whereas Revelation 14, 1-5, is positioned in Zion, which is not heaven. but is earthly in Jerusalem in Israel. And it says that when Christ stands there, the original language is written as he stands there to stand there fixed and to remain there, not as a temporary place or something of that sort.

So, at any rate, we're going to get into that in detail. I realize that that's nowhere near an adequate answer. So here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to tell you, on the one hand, to wait. On the other hand, I'll give you the information package and you can look at it and get a sneak peek.

OK? Memorize it. Yeah, you can memorize it and give it back when you're done. OK. One other question. OK. Christ comes down in Zion. Yeah. He's on the Mount of Olives, right? Here's what's going to happen. The Mount of Olives from Zechariah, the Mount of Olives is where his feet touch down. Right across that valley is Mount Zion, kind of the southern area of Jerusalem. Mount Zion is frequently used as a term for Jerusalem itself. He will reign as the Messiah from that place.

The other thing is what will be his path. He will enter into Jerusalem. As a matter of fact, there is right now walled up, bricked up the Eastern or Golden Gate. It's bricked up because when the Muslims heard that the tradition is that the Messiah will come through that gate. They thought that putting bricks in front of it and Muslim tombs would help them keep the Messiah from coming. As if that's going to help.

But he will land on the Mount of Olives. That's from Zechariah where it says that he will do so. It's also what is promised in Acts chapter 1, correct? What did the angels tell the disciples? He'll come back in the same way that he left. Where will that be?

Mount of Olives. That's exactly what Zacharias says. Okay. And again, I acknowledge that my response to your question was very quick and minimal. We will dig into it in full detail in just a few weeks when we get to chapter 14, first five verses. Okay. Now the question for you.

We're going through these passages that have all sorts of scary things, and in truth, they're going to get scarier. The magnitude of them will get greater. The knob on the heat will get turned up. With all that going on, I mean, we're talking massive things way out of proportion with any human control.

Should we as Christians be scared? I'm seeing heads shaking, no. Why in heaven's not? We won't be. Okay, yeah, I think it's something, as we look through it, it is important not to get locked in on a mindset, this is just getting scarier and scarier.

I'll tell you, ahead of time, we've got a lot of chapters to go. And there will be some crescendos and high points. This still, as we pointed out, alternates between heaven and earth. Here we are in chapter 8 at the beginning part of the tribulation period. There's a lot of tribulation yet to go. There is still a syncopation between heaven and earth that is actually yet to take place. More arrivals within this context on the heavenly scene. But still lots of chapters in the tribulation period and we see ahead of us yet a great number of judgments yet to take place.

Tell me why should we not be afraid? Why isn't this scary to you and me? One is we won't be here. That's point one. This is not designed to just make you more and more scared every week. Our hope is in Christ's coming for us. Paul even writes and calls it the blessed hope. He writes to Titus. He says it's not just a hope, it's not just an I hope so, it's the blessed hope. So that's one reason not to be afraid. We are promised not, not never, never to be the recipients of God's wrath. So that's point number one. Why is the scary stuff there then? Why do we get to read it? Because some will be here.

Who? Those who weren't raptured. Yeah, those who weren't raptured. And it'll be those who didn't believe prior to that time of the rapture. Okay. And so we have nothing to be scared about for ourselves. It does provide us a knowledgeable opportunity to talk to others. Not to go around scaremongering. You know, running around with signs the end is near, you know. Not to go around scaremongering, but just to get people a perspective. You know, you have an opportunity now. It becomes a tool. Pardon? Yes, it's a tool.

It is not a matter of going around scaremongering, you know, signs the end is near and running around trembling and, you know, looking freaked out. But it is, it does bring up an opportunity for people. an opportunity to talk to people and let people know, you know, hey, there's some really big issues in front of us here. And there's a very big personal issue. And so, again, not to just go around frantic and scared and not to go around just with the purpose of scaring people, but for us to say, hey, we know what's going on. We know that we're not going to be here through the middle of this. And by the way, you don't have to be here either. So it's a gracious opportunity. Sam?

I think it also goes along with the trust that, more importantly, if I was a Muslim and I read this book, I'd be really concerned because it doesn't say anything about Allah. It doesn't say anything about Muhammad. But it definitely does talk about Christ and Jehovah. So, they have a lot of concerns. And anyone who is not part of Christ and Jehovah, then, There's a real problem.

Now, I'll tell you, the Muslim teaching is that there is coming up a seven-year tribulation period, but Christ is only coming to bow the knee and point to Muhammad. That's the Muslim teaching. Yes. And so, Christ will bow the knee and point to Muhammad. It'll be not pointing to Christ as the Messiah, but it'll be Christ's place to point to Muhammad. That is the Muslim teaching. So they've taken this teaching that, you know, Muhammad got it from the Jews and the Christians, right? And so what did he do? He adapted it and made it point to himself. So that's the teaching that they have. But yeah, as you read through this, it's not consistent with Islam. There's no mention of Muhammad, okay? It's not consistent with Islam, and there's a very big point.

I talked to a Jewish rabbi, it's been, gosh, about two and a half years ago now, here locally, and he said, yeah, we look to the Messiah, the Messiah is the descendant of David. He's not God. Well, that's not what Zechariah says. Zechariah, that same one that says his feet are going to touch the Mount of Olives, it says God will come. It's very clear. God will come.

It's not just a descendant of David. Is Jesus a descendant of David? Yes, but that's not the whole story. So they've missed out on the understanding. We get a clear understanding from here. Revelation says repeatedly that Christ is deity. Including, as John did in the Gospel of John, the I am. Ego emi statements. Yes? Well, that's the thing.

It doesn't stand up to scrutiny. But if somebody wants to just listen to some yak, they'll find a way to talk around it. Frankly, what I thought was interesting is if I wanted to talk about Zachariah or Daniel or Isaiah, the rabbi that I talked to said, I don't want to talk about it. He didn't want to discuss it. He didn't want to go into detail. Frankly, I'm not sure why. He didn't say why. I suspect that some of the conclusions that one could come to in reading those books doesn't hold up, you know, when you start comparing it to what the Jews teach. And so they just rather not discuss it.

Yes? While we have a very enjoyable literacy rate in this country, many parts of the world do not have this great literacy. They look to these teachers that, say, like Charles Briggs, When you walk around with a Bible in your hand, you need to look at those leaders, the speakers, and say, well, whatever they say is the Lord's truth, and it's really just that person's interpretation. So that's why you say the Muslim faith is growing at the speed with which it's growing. People don't really know. They're seeking the truth. Bruce brings up a good point.

Many places in the world, it was true to our experience in Uganda, have what's known as an oral culture. We're a literary culture. We rely significantly on what we read and, you know, even to the point if it's electronic or email, you know, what we see on the internet. A lot of what we read is what impacts the way we think and what we understand. In much of the world, they're still in an oral culture mode.

And so if the imam, for example, tells somebody within Islam, oh, that really wasn't Jesus that died on the cross. It was somebody else. They just, oh, okay. And the reality is you start reading the text, there's no way that that holds up. Yes. That's very similar to what happened in the United States when the Catholic Church was in charge because They had it in Latin and they didn't want people to understand. They only wanted them to know what they told them.

The problem was there was no checks and balances from the people to the pastoralists or the bishops or the pope or whatever. And so they could do whatever they wanted to do. And that's when you end up like a religious, I guess you'd call it a religious tyranny or whatever you want, a dictatorship. Because they can do whatever they want. Because the people don't understand why they're doing it. That's right. That's right. That very problem is one of the reasons why from time to time we'll have electives here on how to study the Bible. So that you know.

And what I've told people is I'm allowed to tell you from up front in the main service, don't believe anything I tell you. I can do that twice a year. And last year they said I'd use that, my quota, up early. I don't know if I've used it up this year or not.

But the reason is, I don't dictate what's true, right? I'm not the dictator of what's true. God's Word is true. And all I can do is, you know, teach and point to it, but from what's objective, not dictating this is true and that's not true and you're supposed to believe me, right?

And so that's an important point. We are to look at God's Word for ourselves. We are to look at it and learn how do I study it. And whatever I say, I have an accountability before the Lord. I have an accountability before the Lord. And even an accountability before you. Good point. Let's take a look here. We're going to move through the passage.

Revelation 1.3 says, Blessed is the one who reads this book. And I think that's another key thing as you look at it. The book is not, from the beginning, not designed to just scare the stuff out of you. The book is designed from the very first verses to bless the one who reads and hears.

Revelation 8-1, when the Lamb broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. The Greek here in verse 1 doesn't say Arneon or in English Lamb, but given that chapters 5 and 6 make it clear that only Jesus Christ the Lamb is in all the universe qualified to open the seals, the meaning of the pronoun is very clear.

It's pretty clear. The one who opened the seventh seal here is likewise Christ. As we pointed out all through Revelation, Christ is actually the Little Lamb. The Little Lamb. We have here a stark contrast with all the seals that have been seen before. Unlike the other openings of the seals, the opening of this one brings silence in heaven.

There's consequently no new judgment about to take place in the earth at that moment either. Let me have you just personally and subjectively place yourself in the heavenly scene where John is. Can you imagine that? Put yourself in the heavenly scene. You're giving being given a privileged time to step into the heavenly scene. Here you are in heaven seeing it with this unique opportunity. And then the Lord opens this seal and it's quiet in heaven for half an hour.

What's that going to be like for you? It's awesome, right? Yeah, a minute with third graders is awesome. What we're looking at here in the heavenly scene, I mean, because remember, John's been listening to loud voices. Matter of fact, very little happens there where it isn't loud. Now there's this awesome silence for about what seems to John like about half an hour. This is an awesome silence, isn't it?

Are the judgments all done? He doesn't know. Well, he doesn't know, but we can tell from the rest of what he wrote, there's a whole bunch of chapters left of more judgments to come. But you're right, he doesn't know. As a matter of fact, nobody has said, John, hang on, it's going to be quiet for half an hour. He just has to wait and see what happens, right? Yeah, this is an awesome time. He's not told, John, it's going to be silent for half an hour. He just waits. until something else happens and nothing else does for what he estimates is about half an hour. So this is some awesome time.

And he's not had quiet times in heaven. So imagine what this is like for John to go through this place that's completely foreign to him. Remember earlier, Earlier, when it seemed like nobody was immediately responding to the call to, you know, who's worthy to open the book, to open the seals, what did John do? He started crying. One of the elders says, John, be quiet. Stop it. Stop crying. Now, it's quiet. After all the loud voices, voices like rushing thundering waters, now it's silent.

Imagine what that's like. More awesome than a quiet minute in the third grade class. Thank you for that. He gives the estimate here. I think there's something to think about too with this silence. I'm looking on page 2, the flip side of that page there. It brings up a key point.

Have you ever had times in your life when it seems like God's silent? God, I'm looking for answers. How come you're not telling me something? I'd like some insight, Lord. I really would like to hear something from you. I'd like to see some action. How come you're quiet? Ever have a time in your life when you are thinking, I think it's time for God to act? I think it's time, oh yeah, I think it's time for God to do this, and right now is right about the right time. Okay? Ever have one of those times? Yeah.

Here in the midst of the seven-year tribulation period, here's John in the heavenly scene, and it's just dead silent for a half hour. And that's after Christ opened the seal. You'd think the seal opens, something happens, right? No, quiet for half an hour.

At least that's John's estimate. I don't know if the Lord allowed him to take an hourglass up. Probably not. Those are the kinds of times when we have to trust in the Lord's sovereignty. See, John didn't even get some kind of an announcement, you know, hang in there, John, it'll be a half hour. He had no idea. Was John wondering, How many days does this go on, if days mean anything here? Will half an eternity, by John's perception, pass before something happens?

I think it's an important perspective for us to look at, just that God's got his sense of timing about things, and his sense of what should happen when, And there may be times in the midst of those silences, of those waiting periods, when we think that the Lord ought to be doing something a whole lot differently with a whole different timing. I've been there too.

This is the last time Christ will open a seal. That doesn't mean his acting upon things on earth is going to end. No, that doesn't mean that. This is the last seal, the seventh one. Sometimes God sets things in motion, and sometimes things are very apparent from the hand of God. And other times, things just seem to happen. But God's in charge of both. God's sovereign either way. The rest of what's going to happen on there, those are all things that the Lord's going to bring about too.

Verse 2, And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. So here's John who is the eyewitness there on the heavenly scene. He says clearly here that there are seven angels. John didn't mean about seven or approximately or more or less, but seven exactly. He refers to these specific seven angels eight more times after this. The seven angels, that particular group. Not an angel or a group of seven angels, but the seven angels, that group, these particular seven.

There's a kind of a text box on the bottom of page 2 that includes this passage in verses 2 and 6 where the seven angels show up. There's other listings in chapters 15, 16, and 17. What's interesting is the last place that the seven angels is mentioned is when one of the seven angels is the one who says to John, when all judgments are done and the new heavens and the new earth are created, He says to John, come here, let me show you. Let me show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.

So that'll be a time when one of these seven angels has an assignment that's not related to judgment. Let's look at page three here. The angels stand before the presence of God, and this action is in the active voice, so the standing is the angels doing by deliberately acting that way. The angels take a stand before the Lord, but the trumpets are given to them. They are the recipients of the trumpets. These trumpets are not for music. The trumpets are not musical trumpets as in making some really nice music. The trumpets are military trumpets. Ever been to like some sort of a sports event and they use the trumpet and they'll go, I mean I don't even have to do it, but remember they go with the trumpet sound and then CHARGE! Right? It has nothing to do with credit cards. Okay?

So it's a military trumpet. So what are these seven trumpets doing? They're announcing a military attack from heaven. They're announcing a military attack. Yeah, prepare for battle. This is that kind of a trumpet. This is not a musical trumpet as in, boy, that's a really nice tune or that's an impressive trumpeter. This is an announcement of a military attack. This is to announce that the attack is going to begin.

So here's how it comes about, verses three and four. Another angel came, so this is not one of the seven, but another angel came and stood at the altar, this is on the heavenly scene, holding a golden censer and much incense was given to him that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense and the prayers of the saints went up before God out of the angel's hand.

We've studied This passage and passages like it in Revelation 5.8, we've got it for the sake of easy reference there in a text block. When he had taken the book, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. The use of the word golden in both places indicates that the container holds something valuable. Valuable contents. What's more, the censer is placed on a golden altar. Again, pointing to value. And this is good to know. What's of value?

The prayers. Ever have one of those times when you're praying and you're just wondering what the Lord does with it? Lord, I've been praying and I don't know. What are you doing with this? I've been praying. I'd be sure nice to know that you're hearing this. And what does this tell us? The prayers of the saints are valued. First of all, do the prayers make it to heaven? Yeah. What does God do with them? They're valued. They're put in golden containers, is the picture there. The Lord values our prayers.

And that's important to remember. Remember we talked earlier about, we were saying, Lord, it'd sure be nice if you did something right about now. You know? Lord, I would like for you to respond like this. Now! Okay? And we're thinking, what's the Lord doing with this? The message comes again. The Lord says, I greatly value them. They're right here. And here's the thing. They're right here in my presence. And I value them greatly.

And because it's quiet in heaven for a while, it doesn't mean he doesn't hear them. It doesn't mean it didn't get there. And it doesn't mean it's not of value. It did get there. He does value them. They're right there in his presence. He knows. He knows.

On page four of your handout there, incense, they're specifically called the prayers of the saints. So we're not in doubt about what the incense means. It isn't just guessing. It's the prayers of those who have placed their faith in Christ for salvation. Those are the ones being called saints.

Like gold incense in those days was also very costly and brought in from a great distance. Incense was often brought in from hundreds and even thousands of miles away. A very costly thing. So you have not only the golden container and the golden altar to give value to the contents, but that the incense is the prayers of the saints is also a statement of value.

The sensors that he had in mind here were kind of like a shovel. They're a shovel in shape. That's the particular design that was used there. A short-handled shovel. Verse 5, and the angel took the censer and filled it with the fire of the altar and threw it to the earth and there followed peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake. So this is kind of shocking perhaps. You take this censer, this short-handled shovel, you fill it up from the coals of the altar and what do you do? Throw it to the earth. Throw it to the earth. Here is this angel who's carrying out this judgment. Here's the fire that's about to come. Now, there's something else to look at here.

This idea of the fire and the idea of all the thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake, those kinds of things, those are spelled out in this text box that we have at the bottom of that page in the Old Testament, and then it shows up here in Revelation. Now, Old Testament, where is that? That's all under Israel, right? And now it shows up in Revelation. How come you don't see descriptions of things like this happening, for example, during the book of Acts? How come you don't see that? Thunder and lightning and that sort of thing. How come you don't see that happening during the book of Acts?

Signs and wonders were for the Jews. Okay. You had signs and wonders for the Jews. That's one reason. Good. What else? It's in the church age. What's interesting is that we see repeated reference to it among the Jews and now jumping over the church age entirely, it shows up again here in the book of Revelation when the church is gone. Another real interesting pattern. It's completely jumped over the time of the church before this kind of thing, the thunder and the lightning and all that, shows up again.

Okay. Let's look at page 5 on your handout there. So this fire cast from heaven pictures God's wrath expressed to those dwelling on the earth. What does it look like to the people on the earth to have this coming down out of the heavens? What's it look like?

Well, I'd be scared. You'd be scared. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, all of a sudden here comes this a heap of coals and blood and such and coming out of the sky. Yeah. Well, isn't there different parts? One says a burning mountain from the sky or whatever comes down. There's another picture of it. That same word, Valo, is used when Satan was cast to earth. So there's more symbolism there. The mountain, Satan, this fire coming down. Meteors, stars. Yeah, we're going to see more things coming out of the sky.

And I think that's another thing, is people from the earth aren't throwing stuff up to heaven. The Lord doesn't throw something down and people in the earth throw something up to heaven and it's just back and forth. Everything is coming down out of heaven to the earth, but you don't see earthlings throwing stuff up into heaven. That doesn't happen.

And also this word ballo, from which we get our word ball, is the word that's repeatedly used. It's a forceful casting. Okay? Down there. So. It would also be a surprise. Ah, that's the other thing, a surprise. It's going to be waiting for it to happen. Yeah.

Will there be anyone to whom it will not be a surprise? Pardon? Yeah, those who are saved during this period of time and have developed a regard for God's Word, just like you and I, they'll read this. And they'll say, hey, guess what's happening next? Okay? It will be, because the sequence is very clear, it'll be just a matter of, okay, it's about time for the next one. It's about time for the next one. And people who read this will know what's going on next. They'll know what's happening.

Oh yeah, it'd be highly disruptive. Yeah. Yeah. It will be a surprise. It won't be like, okay, at 8, you know, 39 this evening, if you look up in this part of the sky, there'll be a meteor shower. It won't be anything like that. It'll be all of a sudden here this thing comes. But there is also an element at which it won't be a surprise for those who can read through it just like we are. Okay. They'll look at it and say, well, the Lord said that was going to happen next. Here we have these Old Testament passages. Exodus 19 and 20. Thunder and lightning flashes. Thick cloud upon the mountain. A very loud trumpet sound. Exodus 20 and 18. The thunder and lightning flashes and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking.

All of a sudden it jumps again past the Church Age into this period of time, Revelation 8-5 like we see here. We'll see it again in Revelation 11-19 and 16-18. Thunder, lightning and earthquake will be the pattern there. Okay, take a look at page 6 there. We're going to see this combination of events happen a couple more times during the time of the Tribulation period. The last of those events will be at Revelation 16, 18. Let's see. Right in here. Hail and earthquake will be the last time we see that happening.

This set of events happens at the end of the seven seals. at the end of the seven trumpets and the end of the seven bowls. So it's the seventh in each case is this pattern. In verses 6 and 7 it says, And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound them. 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, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up. And then we begin to see this pattern that shows up in the trumpets, and that is a third, a third, a third, a third. Okay? The Greek is triton. Okay? A third, a third, a third, a third, and then in the last seven bowls, the one-third goes away. Okay? It's no longer a significant but less than half fraction.

It now becomes much more massive, much more extensive. I think it says mix with blood. I think we have to add here or have to allow a figure of speech that isn't necessarily real animal's blood but has the appearance of blood or very reddish material. I would say we have to allow for it, not that it specifically has to be, but I think it's possible that that's used as a figure of speech rather than as a literal event.

Now, what's going to happen? What are people going to be thinking when all this takes place? What's going to be entering their minds? A lot of people will be afraid. Oh no, this is really bad. Will everybody be fruitful? No, not everyone. Now why do you say not everyone? Because the Millennium Saints will know what's happening. Those who are going to be saints living into the Millennium, or even if they don't survive this period of time, they'll say, hey, I know what's going on. If the Lord decides to take me home, So be it. He's in control. Or, if the Lord has me live through this, and to be among those who populate the time when the Lord reigns on the earth, so be it for that too.

There also seems to be a certain amount of predestined stuff going on at that time because it says, let the evil continue to be evil and those who fight with the sword will die with the sword. I mean, there just seems to be a certain amount of certain paper handbooks and markers indicating that their fate is to be marked. Yeah, yeah. And that's one of these things. This is a matter of God's sovereignty.

See, right now, a lot of people like to go around thinking that they call the shots in life. And this will be a time when it becomes very clear. We human beings do not decide everything about what's going to happen. No, we don't. It will be one of those times when people discover, no, I'm not in charge here. Things keep coming out of the heavens, okay? Things keep happening here on planet Earth and I don't control them.

And yet those these things and they're right in the midst of all this. They've had books, they've had friends that have told them about it. They've seen it on TV. I mean, and yet they still stand stubborn. There will be those who are afraid. There will be those who are mad.

I am really mad because I wanted to do this today. I was supposed to go on this cruise and now the ship is ruined, you know. I wanted to go on a really nice camping trip, and now the trees are just torched. I wanted to take a nice week off, but I work for the Department of Forestry, and boy am I going to be busy.

There will be those who are afraid. There will be those who are ticked off. They're just really mad about all this. Highly disruptive. How rude of God to do this. There will be those who will say, well, the government ought to do something. And I suppose they ought to. But that won't do any good.

And then there will be those who say, I know what God's doing. And I'll trust Him to either take me out or take me through it. But either way, God knows what He's doing. As a matter of fact, He's telling us ahead of time what He's doing. He knows what's happening. All these responses out there. And it'll be important for people to get those sorted out.

Because what happens to them for eternity will make the difference. Being mad won't do any good. Being afraid, frankly, won't do any good. It will only be turning to the Lord and trusting Him and responding to the repeated presentation of the gospel that will do any good at all. There will be the 144,000 who will be untouched, basically, by this whole thing.

Constantly spreading the gospel. One of the other things we haven't encountered yet, I don't think, is a gospel angel up about at the level the birds fly, going around constantly with the gospel, and for the first half of the tribulation, two witnesses. Somebody's starting to have their hand up here. Oh, a couple people.

Yes. The 144,000 will be untouched, but they'll still be in the midst of it. Yeah, that's right. They'll still be happening and they'll be there. Yeah, but not wiped out. Suffering the consequences. I would say what they would be seeing is certainly the discomforts but not wiped out by it and preserved for the sake of being a continuing voice for the truth, continuing voice for the gospel.

But those who come to be believers during that time do not have that. That's correct. And they will either lose their life in the middle of this time or will live through it and be among those who populate the earth during the reign of Christ on the earth.

Here's the interesting thing is Nobody who is saved will enter the tribulation period. Only the saved will enter the millennium. Isn't that interesting? Those who populate the millennium will only consist of those who are saved and live through the tribulation period.

Yes? Here's the interesting thing. We haven't gotten to those passages yet because the timing is not there yet, but we will get there. And for anyone who takes the mark of the beast, they have a direct go to the lake of fire. And they don't get any second considerations or, you know, oops, I shouldn't have done that. Isn't that interesting?

Yeah. This is a, you know, you got this, you got that. Your eternity is sealed by what you decide. Yeah. It's also a good reason for the anger. Yes. Really upset. Look, man, I took the market a beast. I did all this thing to do everything right and make all the purchases and all that. How come all this bad stuff's happening? This is highly disruptive. What's going to happen to my 401k? Here I invested in this shipping line and a third of them got wiped out. I'm really upset.

But there must be a lot of people that don't take the market a beast. There will be a great number of people who don't. There will be those who will. It is those who do take the mark of the beast who will not have a second chance. Their eternal fate is sealed even if they are still living on planet earth. It is a very fixed spiritual decision. I think some of the martyrs under the altar when they're told that Those are some of the people who don't take the mark of the beast, because they will be martyred.

They will be run down and martyred, because it says that he attacks the Christians and the followers of Jesus, which obviously they're the religious right of the day, right? That's what they're going to be called. I think the thing is, more than religious right, it's religious correct. There will be spiritually right and spiritually wrong and the difference will be abundantly clear.

The person who takes the mark of the beast is so far committed to where they're spending eternity that it's irreversible as to the consequence. Here's the interesting thing. Right now, if you have put your trust in Christ for salvation, even if you were to blow it, you would still spend eternity in heaven. During the tribulation period, those who take the mark of the beast have the opposite situation. They've taken the mark of the beast. It is guaranteed, locked down, irreversible. They're going to spend eternity in a lake of fire. So we have assurance of salvation and eternal security. They who take the mark of the beast have eternal insecurity." Assurance of condemnation.

Isn't that something? That's an amazing thought to ponder. Mark of the Beast, and the bar code, and the 666. It's not going to happen until the Beast comes out of the sea and he starts pursuing the unsafe. And the truth isn't even going to be there. People are forever wanting to lock in on, this is the Antichrist, and this is the Mark of the Beast.

Nonsense! I'm not looking for the Antichrist, I'm looking for THE Christ. I'm not looking for the mark of the beast. I'm not going to be here. I have no idea if that's going to show up on my credit card or anything else. I am not going to be here. I do not have the mark of the beast anywhere on me or in my wallet or anything of the sort.

I don't know who the Antichrist is and I don't care. I'm looking for Christ. That's the blessed hope. I'm not told to look for the blessed scare. There isn't any such thing. The next thing I want to see is Christ. The next thing I want to hear is time to come home.

Some years ago, Nancy and I had a friend who was a young believer and she was in a department store around Christmas time. And you know, the department stores have their their various calls that they have to the people who work there and they, you know, it sounds like different noises, you know. Anyway, she was there and there was a fairly loud trumpet sound that came over the PA system. She dropped all of her presents and said, Lord, I'm ready.

And, you know, I certainly can chuckle a little bit, but that's really the attitude to have, isn't it? Lord, I'm ready. I'm not walking around scared to death. It's the Antichrist. I've got to get rid of these cards because it's the mark. No. None of that. I'm not looking for the Antichrist. I'm not looking for the mark of the beast. I'm never going to know Him or see Him. I'm looking for Christ's coming. That's what I'm going to see next. I hope it's today. Let's pray.

Lord, as we look at this passage, certainly a lot to look at to cause one to be scared or, depending on the reaction, mad. But Lord, as we look at it, what a blessed hope we do have. What a wonderful Lord we do have. And thank you that we can take you up on the promise. Blessed are those who read and who hear this book. And we do that now. And Lord, we also pray as we go through the events of today and this next week that we would learn from this lesson of the half hour of silence in heaven to look for your action and your wisdom and your timing as you see fit. And to recognize that whether we hear and see the response or not, You're receiving our prayers as highly valued. And yes, they do make it to heaven. We just thank you in Jesus name. Amen.