Please turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Revelation chapter 9. Revelation chapter 9 beginning in verse 13. And the sixth angel sounded. And I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men. And the number of the army of the horsemen were 200,000,000, and I heard the number of them. And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them having breastplates of fire, and of jason, and brimstone, and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions. And out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. By these three was the third part of men killed by the fire and by the smoke and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths. For their power is in their mouth and in their tails. For their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt. And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues, yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood, which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk. Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts. It seems to me that these sermons through Revelation chapter nine have been very much like a long and weary trek through an Arabian desert. In order to, as you know, the controversies concerning Revelation are almost innumerable. Almost every single verse is contested as a battleground. And so in order to provide something like a substantial proof, One must be elaborate. And so we have been quite elaborate in all of our treatment. That's a hard and heavy work under the best of circumstances. It becomes worse when the subject matter is so very unpleasant. And it's hard to imagine any work less pleasant in this religion. Islamic religion, there is certainly no good news, no gospel. But we have been reminded by recent events of the profitableness of the consideration of these things. I was able to receive a testimony from my wife that these things have been very useful to her in recent days, these things are useful to us as we listen to the news so that we become not confused concerning the origin and character of this great godlessness. And the Bible happily addresses Islam for us and not just by general principles. Of course, the Bible will load us up with principles for dealing with any false religion. But the Bible addresses Islam in all of its historic particularity. And this is also very helpful, because it has been one of the great scourges to mankind for a very long time. We can be very happy that God has spoken to it so that we might understand what has been such an important part of the history of the world, such an important part of our history, The scripture teaches us how to think about Islam. The world had been calling it the religion of peace, but with recent events in Iraq and Syria, I think that that is getting more and more difficult for folks to maintain. Even liberals are finding it more and more difficult to utter these words. But as we had an occasion to consider even this morning, Revelation chapter nine uncovers the deception there. This is a devilish, hellish religion of suffering and perpetual war. Since its first eruption into the world, it has been a religion of perpetual conflict. And one thinks of the prophecy concerning Ishmael and his descendants, that his hand would be against every man and every man's hand would be against him. And so it has been with these children of Ishmael. So the Bible tells us not only how to, where to think about it, but also what to expect from it. I cannot tell you what the future of Islam might be from Revelation, but I can tell you how God has used it in the past and what has been before will be again. And indeed, I think that we are saying that what has been before is indeed replaying before our eyes. We now have a global Christianity that has symbolized with Rome and Eastern Orthodoxy concerning these idolatrous practices. Are we really very surprised to see the Islamic menace now rearing its head worldwide, becoming a pestilential judgment upon our idolatries as a people. Like sins tend to be visited by like plagues. And in this particular case, the revival of the same sin, even in the Protestant churches, has been visited with the same plague. It is back. But one final thing. The Bible also teaches us the assurance that belongs to us, even in the face of this menace. These dreadful enemies are well in hand. They're not running outside of God's control, but we have seen over and over again in chapter nine, the providential limitations that God has set upon them. His mighty word, thus far will you go and no further. And there, their proud waves have always stopped. And also, we have been well assured that this plague has not been directed against God's sealed ones, but against the idolaters, the mariolatrists, and so on. And so, although in some ways I can't be altogether glad to make our trip back to the deserts of the East, we will soon be done with this part of the work. I can at least take some encouragement from the fact that I know that it's very profitable for us during this season. So let's just consider where we've been. We have been away from Revelation for almost two months now. Anti-Christian idolatry. had been discovered, not just in the Eastern empire, but to the Eastern empire. You remember that a succession of witnesses had risen up within the Eastern empire itself, uh, accusing the Eastern religion of idolatry. They're Kings. If you remember, the Assyrians and the iconoclastic movement, some of her theologians, the Pelicans and some others, all rising up the Muslims themselves. This is idolatry. But they neglected the service of the horns, if you remember. This is the remedy for sins of ignorance when they have been discovered. Those sins of ignorance that have brought guilt, defiled the meeting place and disturbed our fellowship with God. They refuse to go to God in repentance and to plead that one and only sacrifice. They remain intent even to the present day to continue in those sins. And so the cry goes up from those very same horns, those neglected horns for judgment. And the judgment is the release of the four tempest angels. We were first introduced to them at the beginning of chapter eight. They went forth in the destruction of the Western empire. They had settled down in the East on the Euphrates with the settling of the Saracen menace, if you remember. Muslims are prone to a lot of the same things Christians are. There at the Euphrates, worldliness and luxury caused the whole thing to settle down. But eventually that was no longer satisfying. A new Islamic threat arose. and this time in the hands of the Turks. The Turkish menace worse by far than the Saracens ever were. And this renewed Islamic threat was not good news for the world. The world was greatly troubled. And if you even understand the history of the Reformation, you have to understand that the Turks were still a great threat. You also understand some of Martin Luther's courage when he was challenged by Charles V and said, you threatened to divide the empire by this new doctrine at the very time that we need union to face the Turks. They're invading Europe. And Martin Luther believed that the truth would prevail over all of God's enemies and that he didn't need any political combination. Well said and well taught from Brother Martin. Their commission was the destruction of the Eastern Empire within 396 years, 118 days, as it is given an hour and a day and a month and a year. So in the year 1057, January 18th, Toghril begins his campaign to extend Islamic power, no longer content with simply taking Baghdad. 1453, May 16th, the Turks take Constantinople. It was completely surrounded and defeated, and by the 29th, they were in full possession of the city, exactly as the prophecy said that it would be. Now, really beginning with verse 16, we begin to get other distinctive marks identifying the Turks so that we're very sure that we have not gone wrong, we have not gone astray. If you remember the sermons right before we left off, one of their distinctive marks was their vast hordes of cavalry. and here they are particularly identified as riders upon horses. The report of the first crusade as it reached Nicaea was that they were able to bring a quarter of a million horse into the field, which, of course, European armies could be big, but largely an infantry, not in cavalry. This was quite a difficulty for the Europeans. The Ottomans of the 17th century during the time of the Reformation were said to be able to bring some 750,000 into the field, the horse. They were distinguished in this way. And then in the first half of verse 17, we even get the color of their armor, but it's described in a peculiar way, red, violet and blue, yellow. These were all distinctive marks of their armor, the way that they dress themselves in combat. But interestingly enough, the author is not satisfied with red. He wants to say fiery and not just violet or blue, but Jason or hyacinth sort of a purple, a smoky color and not just yellow, but sulfur. unusual adjectives, which I do believe look forward to the weapons that they used in their warfare so effectively against Constantinople, which was gunpowder. And some of the first construction of heavy cannon to take down a city wall the size of that of Constantinople. And that brings us to the second half of verse 17, And the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions, and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. So again, in verse 17, we've got the description of cavalry and riders. Now the heads of the horses are portrayed in a very peculiar way. If you can imagine a horse's body, but a lion's head, this is the way these strange creatures appear to John. And I think that that pretty obviously communicates something to us of their ferocity. In contrast with the former image where it says their mouths, the mouths of the locusts were like lions, here it's the entire head, fearsome. And out of their mouths poured fire, smoke, and brimstone. What a nightmarish image, this horse with a lion's head and fire, smoke, and brimstone. Interestingly enough, the only other place in the Bible that you get all of these things together is at the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, which speaks of great devastation and great ruin. But I want you to notice also the correspondence of the colors to these three things. There's the red of fire, the blue of smoke, and the yellow of brimstone or sulfur. And the language of brimstone here is just another word for what we, I think, in contemporary language would call sulfur. Now, by way of historical fulfillment, it's very interesting that throughout the scripture, the head is symbolic of government or rule. You might think of Daniel's vision and the statue and the golden head and so on. The head throughout the scripture is a pretty common symbol for rulers or for government. And interestingly enough, among the Seljukians, their leaders for a long time took the title Arslan, which in the Turkish language means lion. And they did that for many generations. It was the name of one of their most significant dynasties. And of course they were called that because of their fierceness in warfare. Also, the Ottoman sultans were frequently called the lion in contrast to all other kings that they called dogs. So the Ottoman king was the lion. All the other kings of the world, these are just dogs by comparison. Look with me also at verse 18, where we get some further description of the belching of their mouths and the effect. So we've already been told that fire, smoke, and brimstone is coming from them, from their mouths. By these three was the third part of men killed by the fire and by the smoke and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths. This is a largely a repetition of verse 17, which does seem to further impress it upon the mind as if this is a, a most noteworthy fact, something to be well accounted for. And when you, when we see what this fire, smoke and brimstone does, it's quite significant. It killed the third part of men killed. This is in immediate contrast with the fifth trumpet. So we're in the sixth trumpet now. This is an immediate contrast with the fifth where the locust plague with the scorpion tails that stung, you remember that they had been given to torment, but expressly not to kill. And so we talked about the political vexation of the East, but that it was not destroyed. It continued as a body politic, very much tormented. It's true. Losing some territories, it's true, but Constantinople endured. But now the third part is not just to be vexed, but destroyed. It's going to be put to the death. I've already alluded to the historical fulfillment here in front of us that the fire, smoke, and brimstone are here expressly identified as the means of the destruction of the Eastern Empire. And so it was, because it was cannon, heavy cannon, that destroyed Constantinople. And without it, the Turks could not have taken it. This is a most important, striking, even startling figure that's given to us, highlighting the principal features of this great conquest. You have to understand, Constantinople had endured as a city Its walls, its proud walls, really had never been breached. It had never fallen. It was a bit vexed by some of the European crusaders at one point, but Constantinople had endured for 1,100 years. That is a long time. A millennium is a long time, and it had survived longer than that, and it had been attacked. Just think of the history that we've already portrayed. It had been attacked by the Goths, by the Huns, if you remember Attila, by the Avars, by the Persians, if you remember the Persians that keep coming back into our narrative, by the Bulgarians, by the Saracens, after the Saracens, interestingly enough, by the Russians, and by the Turks on previous occasions. And the Turks hadn't been able to take it until the development of the cannon. Gunpowder was a relatively recent invention by the time you get to the mid 15th century. There's some evidence that its existence out in the Far East, China, might take you back a couple of more centuries. But the Muslims figured out how to construct these very large cannons. And when I say large, I mean, Some of their larger cannons could hurl 300-pound stones, 300 pounds, 300-pound projectile coming at the wall. So Muhammad II, who was the one who ended up taking Constantinople, established a foundry at Adrianople for the construction of these large things. And I was able to find online a picture, if you'll look at your Now to get some sense of scale, and the picture's not super clear, but this is in a museum, and you see the little museum placard? Imagine a man standing in front of that, reading the placard. Do you see it? Get a sense of the size of that cannon. These surrounded Constantinople, not just on the land side, But part of the innovation at the time, too, and part of the craft of the Muslims at this time was they brought Navy barges upon which they could plant their cannons and also bombarded Constantinople from the water. So Constantinople was completely surrounded and taking fire from all sides. And just some quotes from our unwitting interpreter, Edward Gibbon, just a handful of some things that he says, the volleys of lances and arrows were accompanied with the smoke, the sound and the fire of the musketry and cannon. So you've got the ancient weapons present like javelins and arrows, but also he notes the smoke and the fire that was so prominent upon the battlefield as they were using, um, apparently handheld firearms of some kind as well as the heavy cannon. Elsewhere he says, the long order of the Turkish artillery was pointed against the walls, 14 batteries thundering at once. If you can imagine 14 cannons hurling at one time 300 pound projectiles at the wall over and over and over again. It gives you some sense of what was happening. The fortifications which had stood for ages against hostile violence were dismantled on all sides by the Ottoman cannon. Many breaches were opened. From the line, the galleys, and the bridge, the Ottoman artillery thundered on all sides. The camp and city, the Greeks and the Turks, were involved in a cloud of smoke which could only be dispelled by the final deliverance or destruction of the Roman Empire. But it talks about the battlefield and its characteristic was it was filled with smoke from these cannons. And finally, he concludes Constantinople was subdued, her empire subverted, and her religion trampled in the dust by the Muslim conquerors. And it's very interesting that the cannon fire is highlighted for us. Fire, smoke, and brimstone, all very characteristic of exploding gum powder. And take away with us just one doctrine. Islam has ever been spread by violence and terror. Biblical Christianity is spread through a loving delivery of the good news of Jesus Christ. These religions couldn't be more different. And I don't want you to be confused. It seems as if the whole world is beguiled, infatuated with Islam. Again, the outrages are becoming so pronounced. that I do believe people are beginning to choke upon these words, but the Lord told us beforehand so that we would not be confused. I want you to remember in Revelation chapter nine, we began in the early days of the six hundreds, early seventh century. That's when the locust plague went out with their threefold choice for all of the conquered lands. You can convert to Islam. Or you can pay the tax, special tax levied upon Christians, or you'll be put to the sword. But choose one of these three, because one of these three, it must be. And everywhere they went with these terms, there was misery, unrestrained misery. The way that the people are described in Revelation chapter nine is that they long for death, but they can't. It's a region of misery. Now it's the 15th century when Constantinople falls. And now, see, it's not a ethnicity thing. It's not the Saracens, it's the Turks. But the threefold choice of this hellish religion remains. It has become militant again, and so they go on conquest again. Convert, pay the tax, or the sword. It just so happens that the Turks were even more effective than the Saracens were. Now from 600 to 1450, and that's really not the end of the Ottoman Turks, that's a long time. What a curse and a scourge upon the land, and that for a long time. We haven't done enough of the history, and I can't just go on and on and on like this forever, but I thought a summary statement might be helpful. Dr. Collings, who wrote the revelation portion of Poole's commentary after Poole died, said this, no such devastations were ever made by any enemies that ever appeared in the world as by the Turks have been. And that's pretty much the way that the people of God felt in Europe all of this time. No such devastations were ever made by any enemies that ever appeared in the world, as by the Turks have been. And of course, the world had never seen anything quite like the artillery bombardment of Constantinople. That was new. It was a pretty new thing. Well, let me ask you a question. We started back in the early 600s. We've run up through the fall of Constantinople in the 1450s. Now it's the 21st century. What figure does the religion of peace cut in the world? Doesn't it look every bit the same as it ever did? And I could wish that we were not so easily fooled, so easily beguiled, so easily lulled to sleep. The world seems shocked that the same threefold choice is being put to the people of Iraq and Syria by ISIS. But it's ever been this way. And listen to the news and ask yourself the question, has it changed one whit from the seventh century? a millennium and a half, and it's the same. It's the same. But this is how this devilish religion has always advanced itself, through equally devilish means, murder, mayhem, deceit, and fear. These have always been its principal tools. But Christianity couldn't be more different. And I don't mean just anything that's called itself Christianity. And I don't even, I certainly don't mean anti-Christianism. The Roman church has shown itself more than capable of quite a bit of violence as a church. And we'll come to that in Revelation. But I'm talking about biblical Christianity. Biblical Christianity. We never have had any command from the Lord anywhere in the scriptures. to take up the sword to advance the religion? Of course not, because you can't convert the soul with force. The word of God is going to convert the soul when it's blessed by the operation of the spirit. So Christ's little lambs were sent out into the world preaching the good news that the savior that the world has been waiting for has come. He has accomplished our redemption. The Prince of Peace reigns. Let us enter into a peaceful and peaceable subjection to him." And this good news was to be preached in love. The Christians went out into the world serving, not destroying, serving the bodies and souls of man, sincerely desiring their welfare everywhere that they went. What a difference. You remember what the Apostle Paul says, but the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but are mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. So you'd think, what could be weaker than a word spoken? And yet that word spoken becomes mighty through God to the pulling down of those spiritual strongholds that are invincible to us. You know, we can't pull it down on ourself, much less in anybody else. And yet the Lord uses what Paul calls the foolishness of preaching as the power of God to save some. And so Christianity has gone out preaching the good news of the gospel. These are Christian arms. This is the Christian heavy artillery we witness to a sieve in Christ. And this is good news for us. If you remember the sermon this morning, all of these Islamic efforts will come to nothing. They've come to nothing before, and they will come to nothing again. Christ will be victorious. And the gospel, remember Luther, the gospel will be successful. It will prevail over all of its enemies. The knowledge of the Lord will overspread the earth. We have talked as Calvinists about an irresistible grace. It cannot be resisted. We resist indeed, but his grace throws down all of our resistance and makes of us a people willing in the day of his power. So let us open our mouths, even in the face of this enemy, if need be, and let us believe what God has said. This is the declaration of God. For whatsoever is born of God, overcometh the world. And this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. And it's been before. You think about the Roman empire and the poor preachers of the gospel that went out into that Roman empire. So very few, so very weak, so very poor. And yet they went out preaching the gospel. They were resisted by the full power of Roman military might, the greatest military might that the world had ever seen to that point. And at the end of the conflict, the gospel prevailed and the Roman military might was cast down. It's somewhat frightening for us to think about judgments upon sins will come again against the same sins. but the victory of the gospel that has been in times past over other nations will be over this nation, this religion, this doctrine as well. The gospel will prevail. Let us pray together.