Thank you for selecting this message by Dr. James Hoffman. Dr. Hoffman preaches verse by verse through the entire book of the Bible. From all of us at Living Water of Lapine here in Central Oregon, we hope that it will encourage you and feed you spiritually. And if you would like to leave a message after the sermon, our contact information is found on the sermon page where you found this sermon. Now may God richly bless you as you listen. When he opened the fifth seal, Revelation 6, 9, and 10, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God 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 the blood on those who dwell on the earth? We know what that feels like, don't we? How long must I suffer this painful disease that seems to be going on and on and on? How long until God remakes the world so that no babies die of SIDS, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome? How long until no more radical Islamists try to force the world to continue their despicable understandings. How long until no more young wives die of tragic diseases? How long must we struggle with this temptation in my life? How long until redemption comes? How long until suffering ends? How long until God shows His glory and puts those who mock Him to shame? How long? Well, that question has been ringing through the prayers of God's people for thousands of years now. What do you think it's going to look like when God decides it is time In Revelation 6, verse 11, the martyrs are told to rest a little longer. And then we are about to see, as we open chapter eight in our study through the book of Revelation here on Sunday mornings, we're about to see here in Revelation 8, their prayers come before God and He answers these prayers. For centuries, God's people have been praying, thy kingdom come, Thy will be done. And now those prayers are about to be answered. Many of you here have experienced peace and joy that God has given you in the midst of struggles, in the midst of trials in your life. He does that by grace, by the offer of total forgiveness of sin. But to a world that rejects that grace, God can only bring peace through judgment. That's what we are seeing in this book. Six of the seven seals have already been opened as we come to chapter eight, and we have watched the waves of successive judgments roll across the earth. But like it or not, the prayers of God's people are involved in the judgments that he sends. The purpose of prayer, it's often been said, is not to get man's will done in heaven, but to get God's will done on earth. Even if that involves judgment. To pray for Christ to come is to pray for the Lord's name to be upheld in the judgment of all those who have stood against him and his people. Christians in the 21st century are often so afraid of mentioning judgment. They'd rather forget of judgment's existence, although it's very biblical. You know, it's our duty though, to be concerned with the Lord's justice in judgment, as well as in salvation. In our prayers, we must ask that God will defend his utter holiness and justice. Praying thy kingdom come is asking God to come in judgment on evil. Not just that he speed us along to a more joy-filled day ahead. Judgment is coming in response to prayer. Now that might not seem like a very high priority on our prayer list. Lord, please bring your judgments of suffering down on this earth. But you know what, for suffering people, persecuted people all over the world, Judgment on the world that represses them is a sign of hope. A signal that God will not wait only until the second coming to begin vindicating them. God will complete his judgment on that day. But the Lord of history, even now, is at work. He is judging the earth, even now. A moment ago we prayed for brothers and sisters down in Louisiana experiencing tragedy with all of the flooding. And I'm reminded of what Christ told his disciples. He said, who do you think were the greater sinners when the tower of Siloam fell upon them? No, it's not just that they sinned more than the others. And certainly that's not the case of why we were praying for those in Louisiana. that when a judgment falls, it's because it fell upon somebody who is a greater sinner than those otherwise that didn't experience it. But overall, ever since the Garden of Eden, these plights have been judgments, reminders that sin exists here on the earth. Well, the main point of our study this morning in chapter eight is that the trumpet blasts of Revelation chapter eight they depict the completion of God hollowing his name in response to the prayers of his people and the holiness of God being brought into sharp focus. Or more simply, God is answering the prayers of his people by hollowing his name and judging the world. And one day he's going to do it to completion. Let me unpack it a little bit by bit before we go forward. Now the next two chapters in Revelation are about the trumpet judgments. The four trumpet blasts that we see today in chapter eight are accompanied by judgments that fall upon the natural world, the land, the sea, the rivers, the lights of the heavens, the sun, the moon, and the stars. And then next week, when we open chapter nine, those two trumpet blasts are accompanied by judgments that will inflict humanity more so than these that we see, more directly than these today. So in chapter eight, the created world is affected. And in chapter nine, humanity is more directly affected. The sealed judgments are now over. The trumpet judgments are about to begin. These will be followed by the bowl, or if you're reading King James, the vial judgments. Each series of seven judgments gets increasingly more intense, more severe. These are terrible things that are coming. J. Vernon McGee, I promise I'm not going to imitate his voice. J. Vernon McGee has this to say. It may deceive you to have him presented as the gentle Jesus who went about doing good, which he did, but we are also going to see the wrath of the Lamb someday. The Lamb is the one of whom John the Baptist said, behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world, John 1 29. Men are not lost, Because they are sinners, they are lost because they have rejected Jesus who died for them. Even if you go into a lost eternity and have not accepted Christ, he died for you. And you simply made his sacrifice for you of no avail. You have trodden underfoot the blood of Christ when you take that kind of attitude and position toward him. Maybe you don't like the fact that the gentle Jesus is going to judge. We've already seen that the wrath of the lamb will be terrifying to those on earth. My friend, when you talk about gentle Jesus, you had better get acquainted with him. He died for you, he loves you, he wants to save you, but if you will not have him, I tell you there is waiting ahead of you a terrifying judgment. Someone will say to me, you're trying to frighten people. I would like to scare you into heaven if I could, but I know that you are too sophisticated and cynical for that. But my beloved judgment is coming on this earth. I say, hallelujah. I am glad that it is coming and that God is not going to let the world go on like it is now. It has gone on long enough. One more thing and then we're going to get to our text. The trumpet judgments and the subsequent bowl judgments that follow significantly parallel the plagues that God sent on the land of Egypt. All of these judgments are similar and why not? After all, the whole world will be saying, just as Pharaoh did, who is the Lord that we should serve him? And so the trumpet judgments and the bold judgments are reenacted judgments of the Egyptian plagues recorded in Exodus chapter seven through 12. Both will show the people of this world their helplessness and hopelessness without God. And so open your Bibles with me now to the eighth chapter of Revelation. And the reading of verse one is this way. When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. Silence comes as a dramatic contrast to all of the shouting of praise and all the playing of harps that's been going on up in heaven to this point. You'll remember perhaps how we ended in the last week's text. Millions of angels, hosts of redeemed humans and other heavenly creatures have been crying out before the throne of God and singing praises to him. But now suddenly it ceases. When the seventh seal is open, there's total silence. It's a most dramatic pause. This is the silence of mystery, a silence of intense anticipation of what is about to happen. It communicates in a dramatic way, the full and awesome authority of God. Everything must wait for his keenly move. This heavenly hush or this celestial calm was the calm before the storm. It was an ominous silence that says something dreadful is about to happen. The world is noisy, so noisy it can't even hear God. Be still and know that I am God, Psalm 46.10 says. That's not the world's way of doing things, though, is it? But heaven was still to know what God will do next in judgment. They knew something of what lay ahead, though they might not have known all. But they knew they were about to witness the greatest time of sorrow that the world has ever seen. The hosts of heaven are sobered in silence and stand breathless in wonder. The silence shows the seriousness and the gravity of the situation which is brought about by man's sinfulness and defiance toward God. Verse two. Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God and seven trumpets were given to them. These angels were near God in their location. Stop and think. These angels would best understand the holiness of God, which motivates the oncoming judgment upon the wickedness of men. God is holy and will punish evil. The seven angels were given trumpets, which is significant to John because he was a Jew and he understood the place of trumpets in Israel's national life. According to Numbers chapter 10, trumpets had three important uses. They called the people together. They announced war. And they announced special times in the national life of Israel. The trumpet sounded at Mount Sinai when the law was given. We see that in Exodus chapter 19, verses 16 through 19. Trumpets were blown when the king was anointed and enthroned, 1 Kings 1. Verse 34 and 39. And of course, anyone familiar with the Old Testament would remember the trumpets at the conquest of Jericho, wouldn't we? As Joshua chapter six gives us that narrative. Sounding seven trumpets certainly would announce a declaration of war as we're reading it here in chapter eight, as well as the fact that God's anointed king is enthroned in glory. and about to judge his enemies. As trumpets declared defeat to Jericho, they will ultimately bring defeat to the world system, which is symbolically described in the book of Revelation as the word Babylon, the world system. Verse three, and another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne. Sweet smelling incense informs us that the prayers of God's people are a pleasant fragrance to God. These are prayers from saints who are experiencing persecution and other difficult times on earth because of their faith. Their prayers are especially important to God. These verses return us to the scene of the opening of the fifth seal that we read about in Revelation chapter 6 verses 9 through 11 where John saw under the altar, probably the same altar that he sees here in Revelation 8 verse 3. And under the altar in Revelation 6, 9 were the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness that they had borne. They were crying out, how long will you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? And they were given white robes and told to rest a little longer until the number of martyrs would be complete. Verse four. And the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints rose before God from the hand of the angel. God is a God of justice. God does acknowledge one side can be right and another can be wrong in a situation. Boy, we live in a world where relativistic morality reigns, doesn't it? We see something that looks, oh, very right or very wrong, and the world says, oh, it's more complicated than that. Who can really know what's right and who can really know what is wrong? There really is no right and wrong. It's really whatever the majority says right is. No. There is right and there is wrong. And furthermore, God is a God of wrath who provides us necessary moral clarity to take sides when clear examples of oppression are taking place. We see it here. We are to pray for those who are suffering around the globe today. The picture here is that the prayers are coming up to God as smoke of the incense ascending upward, pleasing him. These prayers get through to God. They get his attention. they prompt judgment upon the evildoers. We're encouraged, I believe, to be in prayer right now, in supplication for those who are suffering right now around the globe. I pray that God would either save his enemies who are perpetuating it, those who oppose the gospel and the people of God, that he would bring them to repentance, or if he's not gonna do that, that he would thwart all their efforts to keep people from worshiping God by faith in Christ. Pray that God would either save those who destroy families and hurt little children, or thwart all their efforts and keep them from doing further harm. Those prayers will be heard. Those prayers are like incense, pleasing aroma to God. We simply cannot miss the connection here. between the prayers of God's people and the outworking of God's purpose to save and judge. These events go forward precisely in response to the prayers of God's people. Remember that before God appeared to Moses to send him back to Egypt, we read in Exodus chapter two, verses 23 through 25, During those many days, the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God, and God heard their groaning. And God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel, and God knew. God judged Egypt in order to deliver Israel. And in so doing, God was responding to the prayers of his people. The book of Revelation is showing us the ultimate exodus, but this time it's not a mere nation that God is judging, but the wicked world system that is raged against God and his people. As at the exodus from Egypt, God is going to judge the wicked world and deliver his people in response to their prayers. Verse 5, then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it on the earth. And there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake. Casting the censer filled with fire to the earth was symbolic, I believe, here. It pictures the rage in heaven over the wickedness on earth, which is meted out against God's people. You attack God's people and you're attacking him. The trauma of thunder, lightning, and earthquake are simply a precursor to the coming storms of judgment from the trumpets. God is upset and woe on the wicked earth. Let's look at the trumpet now in verses six and seven. Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them. First angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire mixed with blood, and those were thrown upon 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. The first trumpet, judgment resulted in the earth being scorched. You know, as a college professor, I hear an awful lot of students' speeches about the supposed global warming and the destruction that is coming upon our planet unless we take the right political action. And the students accept as fact, many have no idea that there are so many meteorologists and scientists who are disputing these claims and showing where these accepted claims have actually originated from, that easily prove global warming is a myth just as easily. After I hear such speeches, I sometimes will hand a student an information sheet and I say, don't worry, it's not going to affect your grade, but perhaps you should consider some of the credible evidence on the other side of this issue. You know, personally, I am very skeptical of global warming, which has become so politicized But I have no doubts about the reality of this global warming. None. Hail and fire mingled with blood reminds us of the seventh plague that God sent against Egypt in Exodus chapter nine. And since this is a supernatural judgment, it's not necessary for us to look at these natural reasons. I got so tired as I was studying for this message this morning of reading the sources that I normally rely on and reading and seeing how they were explaining them away in natural terms. And I'm thinking, why do that? This is God. We don't have to. It's quite reasonable and logical to conclude that if the plagues of Moses were literal, then the plagues that are coming in the great tribulation period are also going to be literal. The target for this judgment is green vegetation, the trees and the grass, and one third of which is going to be burned up. One can well imagine how this would affect not only the balance of nature, but also the food supply. This is gonna affect man indirectly. Right now, it's just on these elements of the earth, but yes, man is gonna be deeply affected by it. The Greek word for trees usually means fruit trees. And the destruction of pasture lands are gonna devastate the meat and the milk industries. Verses eight and nine. The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea. And a third of the sea became blood. A third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed." Now, here we have a little bit of a license to see it symbolically, because it says here, something like a great mountain. Turning water into blood reminds us of the first Egyptian plague in Exodus 7. And notice again that it says something like a burning mountain was cast out of heaven. It could be a meteor, don't know. But a fiery object like a great mountain and triple judgment resulted. A third part of the salt water turned to blood. a third part of marine life dies, and a third part of all the merchant ships are destroyed. Probably an ecological as well as an economic disaster of unprecedented proportions. The supernaturalness of the judgment is evidence in that only a third became blood. No other part is not blood. That's a miracle of mercy, is it not? God's giving his people a chance to repent. The third part of the ships were destroyed. This would really hurt commercial business in the oceans. A tidal wave will probably happen when what likely may be a meteor will hit the ocean. You know, I googled it this week. I wanted to find out how many merchant ships are registered. that are out there. I came up with a number. By 2015, there were 50,420 ocean-going merchant ships that are registered. Well, take a third of that and just try to imagine the shockwaves that are going to hit the shipping industry if 16,638 valuable ships are suddenly destroyed. Wow. And then, what about their cargo, as well? Verses 10 and 11. The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became Wormwood, and many people died from the water, because it had been made bitter. Like the possible meteorite of the previous trumpet judgment, this judgment also affects a third part of the water. The waters here are not the oceans, they're more inland waters, rivers and springs. God's wrath next reaches inland, it touches the rivers and the fountains of water, wells and the source of the rivers. making the fresh water taste bitter like wormwood. One third of these rivers and their sources will become so bitterly polluted that drinking their water could produce death. The people who drink from these waters are in danger of dying. What must happen to the fish and the other creatures that live in the waters? And what would happen to the vegetation near the water, all the crops and agriculture? Verse 12. The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of their light might be darkened, and a third of the day might be kept from shining, and likewise, a third of the night. This, of course, reminds us of the ninth plague, the plague of darkness that came upon Egypt during Moses' time in Exodus chapter 10. This was a supernatural diminishing of natural light from the sky. The sun, the moon, the stars grew dim and at times even gave no light. Now, we'll note later on whenever the diminishing of the sky lights involved, the result was increased darkness on the earth. And of course, that's going to also greatly affect the vegetation, all of the agriculture. The darkness is very fitting. He spoke of the darkness of the deeds of mankind. God was giving it to them in fullness. This particular judgment is probably temporary because the fourth bowl judgment, when we get to the bowl judgments, is going to reverse it. The Son's power will be intensified as one of the coming judgments. Then at the close of the tribulation, the sun and the moon will be darkened again to announce the Savior's return. according to Matthew chapter 24. Well, verse 13 says this. Then I looked and I heard an eagle crying with a loud voice as it flew directly overhead. Whoa, whoa, whoa, to those who dwell on the earth. At the blasts of another trumpet that the three angels are about to blow. You know, it's as if this messenger is crying out You think it's been terrible? Just wait. The worst is yet to come. God warns, but it's obvious that man has paid no attention to the warning. Like Pharaoh of old, they hardened their hearts to the judgment. They didn't recognize that it was God that was bringing them. Liberal news media is probably going to be explaining every judgment as a natural phenomenon How wrong it is to declare this is a judgment of God. Well, back in 1806, they'll have explanations. Anything but to recognize God in them. Probably raise taxes to help combat the so-called natural cause disasters. That God was in them would not necessarily be considered by most men. Everyone who would dare say that these great catastrophes were the judgment of God are going to be greatly scorned and ridiculed just as they are today. The eagle announced a very climaxing of judgment, a crescendo that ends at last with the pouring out of the bowls of the wrath of God, the worst ones of all. You know, speaking of these judgments and the awful times ahead that are coming, If I took a poll of this congregation this morning, if I asked you how you felt about these horrific judgments, many would say, you know, they make me feel uncomfortable. That's why I don't even want to read the book of Revelation. I stay away from that book. It just makes me so uneasy, these judgments. Why is that? Why do we feel uncomfortable when we read judgments like these? Let me share these words from Eugene Peterson. He says, we do everything we can to make light of judgment. We use every stratagem we can find to avoid dealing with the consequences of sin. But God will not let us off. He will not indulge our inattention. He will be taken seriously. In a pause between trumpet blasts, an eagle cries its warning. However practiced we become at tuning out sounds that we do not want to hear, including the sounds of God's displeasure at sin, God finds new ways to penetrate our defensive deafness. The eagle cry catches us off guard. The truth is, we are seeing here in the increasingly intense judgments of the last days, it will, when it comes out with these, be nothing really all that new. God has been sending judgments all through the history of mankind. Like I said, it's not for us to say, well, okay, this particular area that was struck by this natural disaster, they're worse sinners than these over here. We can't do that. What's happening in Louisiana right now is a reminder to us all of God's displeasure. And one day he is coming with greater intensity. God's been sending judgments all through the history of mankind. There've been volcanic eruptions, meteors falling on the earth, poisoned waters. Terrible disasters have struck before, but they are going to grow to a climax. Yet we must not misunderstand them, even now, looking forward ahead at them, because they are for our own good, our own good. Let me list for you five effects of judgment on us. First of all, judgments frighten us. They're intended to. They're sent to arrest our attention. They chill our blood. They alarm us. They scare the living daylights out of us. like children at a horror movie. We're fascinated by them, but we want to hide our eyes and not look fully at them. That's the first effect of judgment. It arouses fear. Then because it terrifies us, judgment also sobers us. How many people here in America immediately rearranged their priorities five minutes after the first airplane hit the tower of the World Trade Center in New York on September 11th? We heard so many testimonies of people during that time saying, I'll never take life lightly again. That taught me a lot. I began to see what's really important. Didn't you hear a lot of comments like that too from people? No, that's what judgments do. They help us reassess our life. They change our priorities. C.S. Lewis well says that fear or pain or judgment is God's megaphone to reach a deaf world. And so judgment corrects us. They force us to face unpleasant facts about ourselves. We don't like that. We don't like to be told that we're not perfect. We know that we're not, but we don't like anyone else to say so. We are uneasy at having these things pointed out. But judgment strips away our illusions. It restores us to reality. We begin to think accurately, clearly, as God thinks. We plan more carefully. We live more thoughtfully. That's why God sends judgment. Fourth, judgment humbles us. We begin to see that we're really not in control. We don't run everything about our lives. We're not autonomous creatures. We're not little gods capable of making everything we want to of ourselves. as the media keeps trying to tell us, we're not in charge. We see how foolish we have been in the past. We've made many mistakes when we thought we were right. We begin at last to welcome guidance, to listen to others, and especially to seek out wisdom of the word of God. And finally, judgment reassures us. It comforts us. He gives ample warnings before it gets unbearable. And that's what we're seeing here with these tremendous judgments. Whoa, whoa, whoa, it's coming. He gives us time to act before it gets out of hand. He will give time to those who are remaining on earth before it gets out of hand as well. I don't believe we'll be here as believers in Jesus Christ. I believe we're going to be in glory, but there are going to be many people here on earth who will have time to repent and they're given time to repent. How many times have you heard someone say, well, I worship a God that is very loving. He would never punish with these judgments like that. God would never do this. You know what our passage today is teaching us? It's teaching us that it is the very love of God that makes him judge. God must judge in order to eliminate evil once and for all from his creation and to bring the world universal blessing, which men have longed for throughout all of human history. That's why it's coming. Pray with me, will you?