that I was way too loud like mom it was all quiet we were working on stuff and, all of a sudden we hear this shouting and everybody's just looking like, what is going on and Jude said I just said that's my mom. So apparently yeah yeah no clue never heard that woman in my life. So anyway apparently I need to tone it down a little bit. But you know, Revelation four and five, just that's the way you got to do it. So I don't think I'll be quite that way today, but, but it's always good. So we are going to get started. Let's pray together and we'll start. And hopefully we'll get a few to come in. It seems like we're a little short on numbers, but maybe they're just coming. God, we thank you so much for this day. Thank you for your word. Thank you for what it tells us about what the future will be like. And while there are many horrible things, that await our world in the future. We thank you that for those of us who know you as our Lord and Savior, we have nothing to fear, and that you have promised that you will save us from those days, and even more importantly, save us from eternity separated from you. And I just pray that, again, as we go into your word, and I always feel inadequate, and I just don't do it justice, I know that, but I just pray that the Holy Spirit would do his work in our lives today, and Help us to hear what you would want us to hear and to learn what you'd want us to learn We give it to you and we pray this in your name. Amen So we are getting pretty much into the Nitty-gritty of the judgment of God that is awaiting in the future So just kind of out of curiosity because I knew it would be good. I Decided to Google God's judgment. I and see what people have to say about that. And this is just one of the quotes that came up by some, I have no idea who this is, Sherry Rowe Dirksen. She says, quote, the divine is free of judgment. The statement God is love reiterates this. Of course, there is no smiting. There is no judgment. Do not conceptualize the divine as if he, she were human. It is only us who think like this. Well, Sherry, there's a lot of things that we disagree about with your statement there. But unfortunately, this is probably a pretty accurate reflection of what most people would say. That God is love, right? We're all about love now. Love is love. Live and let live. Don't judge. And while this is certainly a feel-good message, it's a lie from the pit of hell, because it prevents people from seeing God for who He truly is. It prevents people from seeing themselves for who they truly are. And it prevents people, most importantly, from getting right with God, because they don't realize who He truly is and who we truly are, and that His judgment is real. And when we read a book like the book of Revelation, we're faced with a choice. We can either take the Bible seriously and accept that it is God's truth to us, or we can adhere to the popular and convenient belief that the wrath of God is an old-fashioned notion that is to be discarded. I recently saw a quote, well it was a while ago, but on social media I saw a quote once that said, if your entire theology is God is love and do not judge, you don't have biblical Christianity, you have Oprah. And isn't that the truth? But that's what a lot in our world think today. Nancy gets special treatment around here. You know, we really have no concept of how truly holy God is. We tried to paint that picture a little bit, Revelation 4 and 5. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. He is worthy of all our worship and worthy of all the glory. And we really have no concept of how holy God is and how utterly ugly and offensive our sin is to Him. Because we're sinners and we're just used to it and we're used to the world around us. And we don't think about these things. But Revelation is a book that tries to lay this out for us. Revelation, as we know, we've talked about the Apostle John writes Revelation and he receives a series of visions. It's all one revelation. Dad hated it when people said revelations. It's not revelations, it's one revelation. But he sees a series of visions that lay out the future of the world. And we are in the tribulation. Thankfully, not literally, but we're in it in our Bibles. That's the point that we have reached. We are in the tribulation. If you were here a couple of weeks ago, we did chapters four and five, which is this awesome, majestic, mind-blowing scene in the throne room of God. And I believe that God opens with that. And I'll put up on our timelines. I know you guys have seen it, but this is where we're at now, tribulation. I believe God opened with that throne room scene because part of the reason anyway was he knew he was going to start to reveal now to John the inconceivably horrific judgments that are going to come upon the earth. And God understood the overwhelming magnitude of what he's about to lay out for John. And it's as if God kind of prepares John for those terrible things by first giving him a virtual tour of heaven. by first reminding him that he is in control, that God is in control. And that John had, you know, despite the horrible things he's going to see, John had no need to panic. He had no need to be scared or be dismayed or to despair because there is a throne in heaven and God is on it. And in chapter four, we saw that the father is on the throne and he was holding a scroll that was written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals. That's really the best way to think of it maybe is probably the title deed to the earth. So once you open this scroll, it will start to unveil the culmination of redemption story. And it's going to be the reconciliation of all things to God. And also this scroll is going to usher in the tribulation judgments. So before we get to that scroll, I kind of want to go briefly through some just facts about what we know of the tribulation. So you know where these facts are found in the Bible and what the tribulation is all about. And I know we already have covered some of this stuff and some of this we won't talk about much because it'll be in some passages yet to come. But I kind of wanted to just set the stage for what this seven year tribulation is like, because it's going to be so different. You know, we tend to think that the world is the way it's always been, that when we've experienced it. The Old Testament world was very different. The Tribulation world is going to be very different. There are going to be so many things that are just radically different from what we're used to, and just kind of get an idea of what the Tribulation is going to be like. So, our facts about the Tribulation. It will last for seven years. That's your, we all know that one. One of the places we find that is in Daniel's 70 weeks. We talked about that extensively. If you were here for that lesson, remember that it's 360 days in those years, so the tribulation will last for 2,520 days according to the lunar calendar that the Old Testament Jews used. It will begin with the signing of a peace treaty between the Antichrist and Israel, and it will end with the return of Jesus. Second, and we talked about this in our rapture lesson, that the two primary purposes of the tribulation are to punish unrepentant Gentiles, and that's what we're going to see with all these judgments that are coming up in Revelation, and it's also to discipline and to save rebellious Jews. Because remember, the tribulation really is for the Jews, because God has promised that the Jewish nation will return to Him. fully, not just in their land like they are today, but spiritually, they will realize that Jesus is the Messiah. Gentiles will also be saved during the tribulation, but it is primarily for the Jews. Third, the tribulation will be ruled by the unholy trinity of Satan, the Antichrist, and the false prophet. Satan is always doing his best to imitate mimic God and to deceive others and to believing that he is God deceive others into worshiping him So here he copies God with his unholy Trinity. We won't talk about that too much because we will get to that later in Revelation The tribulation is going to be unprecedented in many ways number four it is the time of unprecedented divine wrath poured out by God upon the people of the earth. In fact, Jesus says in Matthew, if the time wasn't cut short, that nobody would live through it, because that's how bad it's going to be. Number six, it's a time. Oh, did I skip? No, number five. Number five, it will be a time of unprecedented spiritual warfare. We'll see that a lot in Revelation chapter 13 where Satan gets really mad when he's finally officially kicked out of heaven as far as he has no access to it anymore and he completely loses his mind and he takes it on the world and we will talk about that later in Revelation. Number six, we talked about this one too, it will be a time of unprecedented violent persecution of Jews and all who would refuse to worship the Antichrist. And all of these things we will get to again, but I know we've touched on some of them too. Number seven, I want to try to develop this one a little bit. We don't have a lot of time, unfortunately, but it is eerily similar to the days of Noah. And this is what Jesus himself told us. I really wanted, as I've been saying this, I really wanted to spend an entire Sunday on the days of Noah. Because if you understand the days of Noah, you so much better understand the days that are coming in the tribulation. Because honestly, the world is going to look more like Noah's day than it looks like in our day. And I don't know that I'm going to be able to spare another week to talk about the days of Noah. I guess I'll see how we get through this, and maybe I'll get one at the end. Or maybe by the time we hit May and June, you guys will be ready to be done with this class. I won't want an extra week. Anyway, I would highly recommend to you this book. as it was in the days of Noah by Jeff Kinley. If you want to know more about the parallels between, because obviously we can write a book about it, there's a lot to say about it. It's really good and it just gives a lot of insight about this time, this period of time. This is where Jesus says it. He says it in Matthew chapter 24, verses 37 to 39, For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark. And they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away. So it will be, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. I'm losing the microphone. How is it similar? I probably don't have a full list here. I guarantee all these facts, there's a lot more facts we could list about tribulation. I'm sure none of my lists are really exhaustive. First of all, we know that Noah lived in the end times of his own world and generation. He watched his entire generation, his entire world get wiped out, minus seven other people with him in the ark. Really, one of the primary ways that the tribulation will be like the days of Noah is that human depravity will once again reach its fullness. And I don't think I mean, even after studying it, I feel like I don't totally understand. Exactly what these days were like and what it was like for Noah to live in this kind of generation But this book we try to paint a little bit of a picture here. And one of the verses that really just brings us home is Genesis chapter 6 verse 5 where it says the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually and And speaking of that verse, Jeff Kinley writes, wait, did you read that correctly? Did Moses really mean to write that? Did he actually say that every thought of every person was only evil continually? As in all the time? Is that even possible? Apparently so. They were, they actually were as bad as they could be all the time. In a pre-flood humanity, sin became a lethal virus, a plague spreading from parent to child and person to person. It was manifest through sexual perversions, wickedness, hatred, aggression, and violent behavior. And Noah's contemporaries were eaten up with it. It consumed them, man and woman, boy and girl. No one was immune. It respected no geographical boundaries. It was equally in women as it was in men. It flowed like a river through every town and village like their only source of water. They drank it during the day and binge drank it in the evening. Evil was king. People hated each other and the whole planet hated its creator. It was Mardi Gras on steroids. Every day was a riotous rebellious rejection of the one who had made them Insanity and lawlessness reigned in the absence of righteousness sensuality violence and demonic activity filled the void the image bearers Yahweh had made had transformed themselves into a global mass of moral chaos and wickedness This then is the strength scope and potential reality of life without God Aren't you so grateful that we don't have to live through that? That God has given us a way to escape because those days are coming again when every person, every thought will be only evil all of the time. That's mind-blowing. That's hard to even comprehend. We know from Genesis that there's kind of three specific types of sins that are mentioned in Noah's time. There was rampant violence. It's on your sheet. So there was rampant violence. There was unrestrained sexual deviance. And there was obsession with the demonic. And as I thought about those three things, I thought, you know, for lack of a better term, our world today, being groomed for all of that aren't we like our society is telling us to accept all of these things rampant violence I mean we saw so much violence connected with you know the George Floyd thing with all the riots and the burning and the looting and the stealing and people almost like yeah good for you you deserve it this is what our government's bad or these business owners are bad and you know everybody is just promoting these things and I think of I'm gonna have to be careful of my words today, aren't I? I've got some little ones in here. I was gonna say some, yeah. Also, the deviance that I talked about, I won't talk as much about that as I was going to, but you guys just need to turn on the news to know that there is all kinds of sexual deviance everywhere, and we are well and truly down a road that, I mean, I'm no prophet, but the next thing around the corner is pedophilia, is allowing it, legalizing it. I mean, there's already groups out there to promote that agenda. It's coming. Also, the obsession with the demonic. There seems to be indication from Noah's account too that there was even connections with sexual activity with the demonic. which is pretty crazy and I won't go into that too much either with the young ears here but we can see these things we can see that our society is doing its best to promote these things to normalize these things and to even celebrate these things and if you don't think so which I'm sure you do but I mean June is coming right pride month We take pride. I mean, it's literally depravity on parade, which is what it was in the days of Noah. We have well and truly gone down the rabbit hole. Isaiah 5, 20 and 21 says, woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet. Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and shrewd in their own sight. And don't you, I mean, I know you feel this. The world just recently, almost even just as COVID, I don't know if it was before then, but it just feels like everything is upside down and inside out. Right is wrong and wrong is right. Everything is so confused. And you just look around, you shake your head and you think, where is even the common sense? I mean, can we just not, we can't even agree on basic things like men can't be women. Or I mean, some men say they can give birth. And you're just like, what is happening right now? How did we even get to this point? We are down the rabbit hole and we are marching closer and closer to the time when Sodom and Gomorrah will describe every city, every town, every neighborhood. I think you're all familiar with the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, so I won't say those details either, but you know what those men were doing. Imagine that in every neighborhood. things like that, depravity like that. We are getting closer and closer to a very dark age where every thought of every person will be only evil all the time. We were approaching a godless world. That will be the world of the tribulation. It is just staggering to think because Bible scholars estimate, and there's obviously we can't have an exact number, but most Bible scholars, historians of the Bible, estimate that the population of Noah's world, I mean I guess in my head I always kind of think of it small. You know because it's not long after relatively speaking, it's not long after Adam and Eve, but because of all the kids that people had in the extended life periods that they had, The population of the world, they estimate, was between 7 and 10 billion. That's more than today. I mean, it's right around that number. We're about eight-ish, I think, now. But it's as many, if not more, than today. And isn't it just staggering to think that when God looked at all of these people, he found only one? Only one? If Noah has never made your personal cut of heroes of the faith, add him today. It is amazing what that man went through and how he was a righteous man in that kind of culture. Thankfully, in the tribulation, there will be more than just one. We'll get to that in our passage later in Revelation. But most will be totally godless Also similar to the days of Noah mankind will receive ample warnings and opportunities to repent we will see in the tribulation They will get many opportunities to repent. We know that Noah took at least Well about a hundred years to build his ark second Peter tells us he was a preacher of righteousness Those people had chances to repent and to get on that ark themselves They didn't take it Because D mankind will live in willful ignorance and unbelief of the coming judgment of God and therefore will be completely unprepared. They'll just keep living like things have always been the way they've always been. And God's judgment will be on a global scale. just as it was in the days of Noah. But what almost makes tribulation scarier than the flood is at least the days of the flood, the globe, the world was destroyed in a single event. In the days of the tribulation, God is going to draw out his anger over seven years. And there will be none with excuse because, number eight, everyone on the earth will hear the gospel. We'll get to that, but we will know everybody will hear the gospel. And we also know that most will refuse to repent and they will harden their hearts against God. So we're going to talk about that first series of judgments, the seal judgments, beginning as the seal is broken on the scroll that Jesus has received into his hand. We're also going to see that the other judgments of revelation and the tribulation judgments, they will all come from the seals. So as Jesus opens the seals, he gets to the seventh seal, and that's going to open the trumpets. And as the last trumpet is sounded, the seventh trumpet, that is going to open the bowls. And we're going to see all of these judgments. They're going to ramp up in frequency and intensity. As Jesus said, they're going to be like labor pains. So they start slow but it gets fast quick with intensity and frequency. Let's go to Revelation chapter six to read about the seal judgments. Now I saw when the lamb opened one of the seven seals, I heard one of the living creatures say with a voice like thunder, come. And I looked and behold, a white horse and its rider had a bow and a crown was given to him and he went out conquering and to conquer. So we see here in this first seal, this is the beginning of the famous four horsemen of the apocalypse. And three, the last three represent forces or circumstances. the first writer follows that pattern we could say that this seal is world conquest but we could also say that this world that this seal is the Antichrist himself now this doesn't mean the Antichrist himself is on this horse I mean the Antichrist doesn't come from heaven he's a human being on the earth so this writer would be representative of the Antichrist and The color of the horse, it's the color of peace. We associate white with peace. We know that the treaty with Israel will kickstart the tribulation, but this will be a false peace. This rider has a bow, but he has no arrows. And a lot of scholars point to that to say this is probably a reference to the Antichrist's ability to conquer without use of military might. He is going to take over the world without firing a shot. He's going to be charismatic. It's going to be after the rapture happens. People are going to be terrified and want answers. And so he is going to come and say, hey, it's OK. I'm here. I'm the savior of the world. And take over and deceive people into thinking he's a great guy. It says he's given a crown, which in the Greek, that crown was given to a victor, not a king. So if you won an athletic competition, this is the kind of crown you would get, the crown of a victor. You've won something, but a crown for a king was different. So the Antichrist, he's going to win for a time. He's going to have victory for a time, but he will not have ultimate authority. He is not the king. And I want you to notice in the first four seals, there's going to be phrases used like given to or granted to. It was given to the rider. It was granted to the rider. God is in control. He's the one giving these things. And we're going to see that the world will be swept up in an unprecedented sense of peace and hope and security. But this golden age of peace will be very short-lived, because the second seal is pretty much right behind it. Verse 3, Then he opened the second seal. I heard the second living creature say, Come. And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people would slay one another, and he was given a great sword. This seal represents violence, murderous conflict, global bloodshed. We see this in the color of the horse, the red associated with blood. This seal could refer to war. Some people call this World War III. I'm not sure that that's what it's talking about. I feel like it's talking more about just personal violence. conflict between individuals within cities, within neighborhoods, even in homes, talking about assassinations, revolts, riots, civil unrest, looting, assaults, abuse, rape, murder, and all of it stemming from people hating each other's guts. The short sword that he's given is more of a dagger-like in the Greek. It was a weapon that was used not so much in war, but in close combat, personal one-on-one close combat, And this word that says slay, they will slay one another. That was the same word that was used for the violent death of Jesus. It's used for the violent death of the Antichrist that we'll read later. It's the same word that they use for the violent deaths that talk about the tribulation martyrs that we will see yet to come. So it is violent. Violence, hatred, murder will run rampant and unchecked across the world. And violence usually leads to something else, verse 5. Then he opened the third seal, and I saw the third living creature say, Come. And I looked, and behold, a black horse. And this rider had a pair of scales in his hand and I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, a quart of wheat for Denarius and three quarts of barley for Denarius and do not harm the oil and wine. The third seal represents famine or scarcity. We see this with the black horse. Black is often a color that's associated with sorrow or lamentation. we see that the writer has a pair of balancing scales, which was used in ancient times to weigh out grain and other food essentials to determine how much you should, what was the cost for that. So this says, in this scenario here, you can buy a quart of wheat or two or three quarts of barley for the same amount of money. Barley was cheaper, but it was also less nutritious. It also required more of it to fill someone or to make your bread, that type of thing. A denarius was an average day's wage in John's time. And a quart of wheat was enough to sustain one person for one day. So what this is saying, that during this time, in order to buy enough food for one person to survive for one day, it will require a full day's wages. And you thought your grocery bill is bad these days. Biden's economy is going to look great compared to this. I mean, there's no way someone can feed a family, and how can you even pay your other expenses? Food isn't our only expense. Can you imagine? It costs that much money to feed someone for one day. It says don't damage the oil and wine. I think that probably means because those were things that were considered pantry staples, kind of like our flour and sugar, our butter types of things. These were used for making bread, for cooking. I think it's saying that those things will become luxury. So what you used to have in your pantry and you're just used to it being there and it's not that expensive, you better not damage it. You better take care of it because you're going to have to ration those things. You know, do you remember the eerie feeling it was during COVID to go into the store and see some empty shelves? Do you remember that? And thankfully they weren't all completely empty. I mean, there was still plenty of food to be had, but sometimes there were certain things on your list and you went to get them and like, it's all gone. It was just kind of creepy, wasn't it? Every single shelf will be empty. There will be nothing to be had. This will be a hunger crisis that's not limited to some random nameless village in Africa. The world will be filled with malnourished children with bloated bellies. Everywhere on earth there will be glassy-eyed people wandering around like skeletons with their skin hanging off. And we know, if you were here when we talked about the siege of Jerusalem, starving people are desperate people. And desperate people do desperate things. And people will cheat and lie and steal and kill. They will even turn to cannibalism. in order to have something to eat. Verse 7, Then he opened the fourth seal. I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, Come. And I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And its rider's name was Death. And Hades followed him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth to kill with a sword, and with famine, and with pestilence, and by wild beasts of the earth. The last rider represents Death. We see the horse's color. Mine says pale. Some versions say ashen. Basically, the color here is a sickly green. It's the color that's used to describe the pallor of a decomposing corpse. And we see this as the culmination of the four seals because we talk about sword. We talk about famine. And now we've added pestilence and wild beasts. You know, COVID really showed us how fast a virus can spread in our modern society and how devastating it can be. Imagine like five different viruses all going around at the same time. I mean, we saw the panic that just one caused. We saw how weak and vulnerable humanity is, how weak and vulnerable our economies are. It also talks about attack from wild beasts. This could be large animals that have become so ravenous, because of all the disasters happening and their food shortage, that maybe animals are attacking dogs, wolves, bears, lions, depending where you're living. Wild animal attacks increasing. It could also I think refer to beasts that carry infectious diseases. Animals like bats, birds, dogs, rats. There are more than 100 diseases that can be spread from animals to humans. I think that's why maybe these animals are linked here together with pestilence. That could be how these beasts are attacking. The bottom line is there is a massively devastating death toll. We see that this writer is not alone. It says that Hades is following him. Hades there means the abode of the dead or the grave. So it doesn't necessarily mean hell. That doesn't mean there's only unbelief like death is coming and Hades follows and all these people dying are getting thrown into hell. It's Hades just is mean here the grave. So it's going to be saved and unsaved alike who are dying and their bodies are going to the grave. Because we see here that these four horsemen are responsible for killing a quarter of the world. Now the seals, I think, start pretty much right at the beginning. Obviously, the first one is right at the beginning because the Antichrist comes. And so this is kind of the first half of the tribulation. All of these seals and their ramifications will continue through the whole thing. But can you imagine, let's even give it three and a half years. Three and a half years that a quarter of the world's population dies? Can you imagine the quarter of Lamar's population dying in three and a half years? We would all be losing our minds. That would be so devastating. This is the world. 25% of the world's population is gone, and we are only in the fourth judgment of 21. It will be the single greatest loss of life on earth since the days of Noah's flood, and we've only just begun. Verse 9, when he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of the Lord and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, O sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete. They were to be killed as they themselves had been. So the scene shifts back to heaven. These are martyrs in heaven, the souls of those who have died for the sake of the gospel. Now, there have been martyrs in every generation, but there is a greater period of martyrdom yet to come in the tribulation. And remember, there's no believers to start. But once the rapture happens, the church is gone. But it won't take long for people to figure out, for some people at least, to figure out what happened. The Bible is true. Jesus is who he said he was. And they trust in Jesus. But then they have a target on themselves because they're followers of Christ. Many who are left behind, well, all those who trust Christ will refuse the mark of the beast. They'll refuse to worship him. They become targets of Satan's wrath. Many will be beheaded. We'll see that that becomes the favored method of persecution later on in Revelation. But we see here in this scene in heaven that Satan might be able to take off their heads, but he cannot destroy their souls. They're in heaven, they're praying to Jesus, they're asking how long before He will avenge them. And they're not asking here, I don't think, for personal vengeance, revenge, but rather a vindication of God's holiness. Like, how long before you establish your kingdom? How long before you defend your holy name? Let's do this thing! Let's get to the end! Let's bring about the kingdom of Jesus! You know, and I always thought it was an odd description that they're under the altar. I'm like, it just gives me, anyway, this weird mental picture of all these people squished under an altar. You know, I don't know exactly how that's going to look, but it is an appropriate place, I guess, when you think about it. In Leviticus, it talks about how the blood of sacrifices were poured out at the base of the altar. They were always pouring the blood out at the bottom of the altar. It would run down the altar. And so I kind of think of this as their position here demonstrates that their lives were poured out as a sacrifice for the glory of God. They were a sacrifice for him. And how does God answer their question about how long is it going to be before he avenges their death? Well, he doesn't. In typical God fashion, he doesn't always answer our questions. And he just tells them to wait, wait a little longer until the number of martyrs are going to reach the number that they're supposed to, the number that God has ordained. And so we see in this that the death of every martyr is not an accident, it's an appointment. God has a plan in place and everything's going to fall in line exactly as he has ordained it to be. Verse 12, then he opened the sixth seal. I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake. The sun became black as sackcloth. The full moon became like blood. The stars of the sky fell to the earth as a fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. The sky vanished like a scroll that is to be rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and the rocks fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb. So the great day of the wrath has come, who can stand? So at this point, the natural world goes haywire. We see that there are catastrophes on earth, oops, I go ahead, catastrophes on earth and in space. If you read of a global earthquake, it's going to be the first one of three in Revelation. The light of the sun will die out. The moon hangs like a blood clot in the sky. Stars fall to the earth. The sky splits like a scroll. Every mountain and island is moved. Now how this all plays out is a bit of for grabs. Obviously it's going to happen. So some of the speculation comes in and how is this all going to happen? The greatest earthquake that the earth has ever seen would likely trigger tsunamis and volcanoes. It could be the ash and the dust or things that are going on in the atmosphere that obscure the light of the sun. So that's why it seems like the sun goes dark or maybe why the moon appears like it's red. John says that the stars fall to the sky or the stars fall to the earth. Obviously if a real star hit the earth we'd all be dead. That's not what's happening. Remember John's trying to describe what he's seeing, what things look like. I think this could maybe mean that some of the light of the stars just is gone. Maybe obscured again in the atmosphere so he's not seeing stars anymore. I also personally I kind of think he's seeing some devastating asteroid showers. stars hitting the earth. Just as an example, in 1989 apparently there was a small asteroid, a half mile in diameter, that passed our planet at the distance of 500,000 miles, which in cosmic terms is a close call. This is what an article in the LA Times said about it. An object half a mile across, like the one that just missed us, would hit with the force of 20 billion tons of TNT. If it struck New York, it would undoubtedly wipe out the entire city and kill millions of people in an instant. If it struck the ocean, it might be even worse, for the water in the ocean would slosh tremendously and huge mountains of water hundreds of feet high would crash onto neighboring shores and drown tens of millions. If the object were bigger still, it might puncture Earth's crust, set off volcanic action, start worldwide forest fires, drown half the continents, and cast so much dust up into the stratosphere as to cut off sunlight for a long time. Kind of sounds like what John's describing, doesn't it? If he did witness an asteroid shower, I'm sure it looked a lot like stars falling to the sky. I thought it was interesting. This was in 1961. This is a Russian hydrogen bomb that was being tested. As I was reading about that, it says, nuclear blasts create a vacuum in the atmosphere. Of course, being a vacuum, then air rushes back to fill the vacuum. It kind of appears, does it not, that, The sky is rolling up on itself like a scroll, which is exactly what John said. The sky, let's see what verse I'm looking for. Yes, in verse 14, the sky vanished like a scroll being rolled up. You can kind of see it, right? Interesting to think about. Maybe this is something John is seeing, not from a man-made nuclear bomb, but possibly from an asteroid hitting with so much power. But clearly, however this all plays out, however the sixth seal plays out, it is divine judgment like the world has never seen, and no one is spared the horror. These people know it's from God. It's His wrath against them. They even say, this is the one who sits on the throne, this is the wrath of the Lamb. They know it. They acknowledge these disasters are coming from Him, and yet they continue to harden their hearts. It gives me very Pharaoh in Egypt during the plagues vibe. Right? Sometimes you just read that story about what happened in Egypt, and you just shake your head, and you're like, Pharaoh, what are you doing? Your country is devastated. Your firstborn is dead. You're not going to beat this God. It's not going to happen. He's shown this over and over and over. You can't beat him. And yet he keeps hardening his heart, keeps hardening his heart. And even when he finally lets him go, he then changes his mind and goes after him again. And even, and God stands between his people and Pharaoh, they go through the Red Sea, and then the cloud moves, and Pharaoh decides to charge through. And I think, was there nobody in the army who thought, this is a really bad idea? Like, I think I would have been the last guy hanging out at the back. I'm just going to see how this goes for the rest of y'all. Have they not seen what God did in their country? And, you know, those of us who are saved and we have the Holy Spirit in us, this just makes no sense. But it just shows us what a godless world is like, and someone who doesn't have the Holy Spirit, they can harden their hearts so hard. that they even know this is from God, and they know they can't win, but they're still going to refuse. And instead of asking for His mercy, instead they want the rocks to fall on them. But we will see here, after this chapter of God's great wrath, that his wrath is inseparable from his love. Because even in the midst of judgment, God gives opportunities to repent. Chapter seven. After this, I saw four angels standing in the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow on earth or sea or against any tree. Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun with the seal of the living God. And he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, saying, do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads. And I remember the number of the sealed, 144,000 sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel. 12,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed. 12,000 from Reuben, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Manasseh, Simeon, Levi, Issachar, Zambulan, Joseph, Benjamin, 12,000 from each were sealed. So we see here that there's four angels, they're kind of key positions of the earth. They've been given authority to harm the earth, to harm the sea, to harm the trees. I think that's a reference to the trumpet judgments, because we'll see that's what's going to happen in the trumpet judgments, and they come next. But a voice calls out and says, okay, hold off guys, hold on. There's this angel here, he's got a seal of God, he's gonna seal some servants on their foreheads before we do anything more here. So God seals these servants by his angel, and it's a precise number, and he gives all their tribes of origin. Now some say, some scholars say that these numbers aren't literal, that it just kind of means there's gonna be a lot of them. beg to differ with that because while there are places in scripture you know there are verses like a thousand years like a day and a day like a thousand years I mean it's kind of a general yeah it just means a long time but there's nothing in this passage to indicate that these aren't to be taken literally I mean why be so specific if these aren't literal numbers so I take this literally there are also some who say that these are not Jews that this is just a general description of believers. So anybody who happens to be a believer during the tribulation, Jew or Gentile, there's just gonna be a lot of believers, not necessarily Jewish. I've got a problem with that one too. Why would you bother to name all these tribes? If they're not Jews, why are you describing it like this? And there are some who argue that say, well, but there's no Jew alive that knows what tribe they came from. Which just makes me want to bang my head against a wall because God knows. It doesn't say that they know, but God knows. So what does it matter if they know or not? God's the one keeping account, so it's OK. These are 144,000 Jewish men. Goes in your blank. Jewish men. I don't know how much more clear the word of God can make it. They are Jewish men. They are sealed on their foreheads. That's your second blank. Sealed on their foreheads. This is likely not a literal visible mark. It's kind of in contrast with the mark of the beast. We're going to see that later in Revelation. But this mark kind of designates ownership. These men belong to God. They're set apart as a special remnant. God is going to protect them. Undoubtedly, they're going to experience hardship and pain and loss. They're living through the tribulation, but God will protect them so that they will accomplish their purpose. It's an interesting list of tribes. There's 29 times that the tribes of Israel are listed in the Bible. All of those lists are in the Old Testament, except for this one. This is the only New Testament list. And if you want to get technical about it, there's kind of 13 tribes. Joseph was not the oldest, but he got the double portion. So he had his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, and they are the tribes of Israel. So there's kind of 13 tribes if you divide it that way. Typically the tribe of Levi is the one that's eliminated from most lists because they didn't get their own territory. The priests lived in and among all the tribes so the people would have access to the priests. So typically Levi is kind of the odd man out on most of the lists when we make it 12 tribes. And usually the name of Joseph is dropped, because they always say Ephraim or Manasseh. Here we do have Joseph, but we also have Manasseh. So when it says tribe of Joseph, it has to be the tribe of Ephraim, because we already have Manasseh listed. Does that make sense? So Joseph is Ephraim, because Manasseh is already listed. The tribe that's not there is Dan, and we don't know why. So there's really no use speculating about it. We do know that historically Dan was guilty of great idolatry. Some say that Dan became so assimilated and so sucked into this idolatry and so married into the neighboring people groups that the tribe of Dan lost its identity and that tribe no longer exists. I don't buy that one bit because in Ezekiel chapter 48, God is dishing out the inheritance of the Millennial Kingdom because he's going to give all the tribes certain portions, again, of land during the Millennial Kingdom. And the very first tribe named to get their land is Dan. So Dan is not gone. So even though he's not on this list, I don't know why, but he's still around. He's not done. God's not done with Dan or any of the tribes. These servants, they will proclaim, that's in your blank, they will proclaim the gospel for all of those who are living during the tribulation. Basically, God plans to unleash 144,000 apostle Pauls to the end of the earth. I mean, we know how much Paul alone rocked the world. God's going to send out 144,000 of them. And I'm just going to add a few quick facts. The rest of these we're not going to see until really we get to chapter 14, because they show up again. They may or may not survive the tribulation. There's debate on that. If they don't survive, they will still accomplish their purpose. God will seal them for a time, and then maybe his protection will be gone. Then they will be martyred, that type of thing. So there's debate. We'll talk about that another day. we'll see that they will sing a song before God's throne that no one else can learn. Isn't that cool? They're going to have their own special song for the throne. No one else will be able to learn it. It just shows the uniqueness and the special purpose that these men will have. They're going to be sexually pure. So virgins, it says they've never been with any women. So we know from there too that they're men, because it says they're not going to be with women. And we also know that they're going to be the first fruits. They're redeemed as first fruits for God, which when something is a first fruit, when they offer the first fruits of sacrifice, that means like this is the first thing that's coming, but that implies there's more to come, right? A first fruit means this is just the beginning. So if the 144,000 are redeemed as the first fruits, that means there's a lot more Jews coming. These guys are just going to be the first ones. And we've talked about that. Tribulation for the Jews. More Jews will be saved. And they are going to be fully obedient to God and blameless in their ways. They will preach the gospel of Jesus to the nations. And they will be part of harvesting many souls. And I think that's why we see this multitude right after them in heaven, starting at verse 9. So verse 9 says, After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and 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. And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshipped God, saying, Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen. Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, Who are these dressed in white robes, and from where have they come? I said to him, sir, you know, John's learned the trick in heaven. Like you asked me a question. I'm just going to turn it right. Like, you know, so you tell me. He says, you know, and so the elder says to John, he said to me, these are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb. Therefore, they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple. And he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore. The sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. The lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eye." You know, I love as we go through Revelation, we keep we'll go to earth and we go to heaven, then we go to earth and we go to heaven, and we keep getting these snippets of heaven to remind us that God is in control. And that while the tribulation is going to be a time of unprecedented judgment, God's grace will allow for unprecedented redemption. We see this great multitude, which here is made up primarily of Gentiles, because it says that they are from every tribe and tongue and people and nation, though there will also be Jews in this crowd, These, I believe, are some of the fruit of the 144,000's ministry to the world. And I believe it includes those from the fifth seal, the martyrs who have died specifically for their faith. But I think this multitude isn't necessarily specifically martyrs. This says it's the ones coming out of the Great Tribulation. So it's everybody who dies who was saved up to this point of the Great Tribulation. So maybe they were killed by war. Maybe they were killed by somebody looting their store and killing them. Maybe they were killed by you know, a bear, whatever, all these things that can kill people, so not necessarily martyrs, but any who were saved, who died up to this point during the tribulation, they are in this crap. And verse 14 says, they are the ones coming. It's present tense. It means these people are continually arriving. They just keep coming, and they just keep coming, and they just keep coming to join this crowd. I love how chapter seven ends, how he talks about wiping away every tear, how they will not no longer hunger and thirst, no longer be burned by the sun. You know, there's so many days that I just feel like I am done with this world. I just, I so want to be done. And my life is really good. I've never starved. I've never not had enough money. I've never had I've never been totally alone that nobody loves me. I've never, you know, I've had good health. Most of my family has had good health. I mean, I have had a blessed, blessed life. And there are still days when I'm just like, I am so done. I just want to go home. I just want to go to heaven. I want to be where everything is perfect and right and we don't have to deal with this junk anymore. I just want to go. And can you imagine how these who have been through the tribulation, they endured so much. And now they are in the throne room of God where he says, you will never hunger. You will never thirst. The sun will never burn you. And I love how it says the lamb will be their shepherd. Isn't that such a crazy oxymoron? I love the multifaceted aspects of our God. He is the lamb. He is the shepherd. What a great glorious future awaits those who trust in him. I want to point out very quickly, I know we're out of time. This is what we talked about in Revelation. These are the seals and the martyrs. These are actually signs for those who will be living in the tribulation of what's happening. And they've shown up before John ever told us about them. Though they weren't called that, so we might miss it. But it's called the Olivet Discourse. False Christs. Wars, rumors of wars. Famines. Plagues. Martyrdom, persecution, earthquakes, terrors in the sky, the gospel we preach to the world. Jesus told us all these things before John did. So we're going to take a little detour. I know we just got to Revelation, but we're going to take a little detour next week. We're going to talk about the Olivet Discourse. We're going to talk about some of the teachings of Paul, because we're going to talk about the signs of the times, because I believe personally We are living in the times of design. Because all of these signs are in play right now. At least setting the stage. We will go there next week. I think you still have one blank left. The seventh seal, right? A couple blanks of the seventh seal. See I made you wait till the very end to fill in your notes, because then you don't put your stuff all away while I'm still talking. We don't get to the seventh seal until we get to chapter eight. So that's why I didn't do it now, but we'll see that there is thunder. Well, there's silence in heaven. That's your blank. There's going to be silence in heaven at the seventh seal. There is thunder, lightning, and an earthquake again, and it will unleash the seventh trumpet judgment. So that's your blank there. So for those of you who will be at the, we are having Sunday school next week. For those of you at the women's retreat, You won't miss out on any revelation. So I thought that was another good reason to take a little detour. We're going to talk about the signs of the times, because we're in the times of signs. And God, we just thank you so much. Thank you for your word. Thank you that even in the things that are hard to hear, and even hard to comprehend, and even hard to wrap our minds around, we know that it is all right, it is all good. And God, I am just always reminded that I deserve these things. that these horrors that the people will have to live through in the tribulation, I deserve that too. I deserve it because I'm a sinner. And it's only because you died for me and you revealed yourself to me in your word and opened my eyes to who you are that I can be saved from it. And so I just thank you so much for that. Just pray that you would be honored in all that we do today. We give it all to you and we pray this in your name. Amen.