Lord Jesus, Heavenly Father, thank you so much for this opportunity to study your word. Please help us as we dig into your word here to be able to understand the prophecies of the things that are going to be fulfilled, the things that are yet to come, the things that we need to be prepared for. Help us as we dig into your scriptures to have the understanding that you would have us to have. We pray in Jesus' precious holy name. Amen. We continue in our study in prophecies of our list of the twenty major prophetic events that are yet to be fulfilled. We're on item number nine on our list, which is the seven trumpet judgments. And this takes part in the second quarter of the first half of the Tribulation. If you go on with the chronological order of events, But if you will, turn to Revelation chapter 8. We'll get right into it there. Now, last week we had covered the seal judgments, and we've gotten six of those seals. This begins here at the opening of the seventh seal. And the seventh seal actually indicates the beginning of the next phase of judgments, which are the trumpet judgments. Revelation chapter 8 verse 1 reads, And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. This is the only event of the seventh seal is the beginning of the next stage of judgments or the next phase of judgments. The silence is just in the anticipation of the awesome judgments that are about to unfold and for it to be silent in heaven there for a half hour. Continuing in chapter 8, verse 2, it reads, And I saw the seven angels which stood before God, and to them were given seven trumpets. And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer, and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne." And this is, as it says, the prayers of all saints. "...in the smoke of the incense which came with the prayers of the saints ascended up before God out of the angel's hand. And the angel took the censer and filled it with fire of the altar and cast it into the earth and there were voices and thunderings and lightnings and an earthquake. And the seventh angel which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth, and the third part of trees were burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up." You can relate to that if you've ever watched a meteorite storm or seen anything like that. up in the space when you look up there and see these here you actually be witnessing that they would strike the ground and as things enter the atmosphere they get really hot and heated up and burning so you can relate this to things that we're familiar with. In verse 8 it reads, And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea, and the third part of the sea became blood. There again, this sounds like a huge meteorite or asteroid striking the surface. Now, there's a fast movement of folks these days that are scientists that are trying to find ways to prevent an asteroid strike on the earth. because we can tell from evidences found when we look at the moon that there are asteroids and meteors out there that strike and leave pretty huge craters. If you've ever been out west there to that big crater that they have out there, the meteor where it struck, and they say it was a big chunk of nickel and made a massive hole in the ground there. And there's other evidences from The pictures that have been taken with satellites and so forth of huge impact areas from craters, craters from impacts from asteroids or meteors. So we have evidences of this sort of thing happening in the past. So it's very easy to believe it's going to happen again in the future. Now it's this man's arrogance in thinking that they're going to be able to stop this one right here because this is part of God's judgment and there ain't going to be no stopping it. And as it describes there, it hits the ocean and kills one-third of the sea creatures and so forth. Let's read that one again in verse 8. It says, And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea, and the third part of the sea became blood. And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea and had life died, and the third part of the ships were destroyed. And the third angel sounded, And there fell a great star from heaven burning as it were a lamp. And it fell upon the third part of the rivers and upon the fountains of waters. And the name of the star is called Wormwood. And the third part of the waters became Wormwood. And many men died in the waters because they were made bitter. And the word Wormwood there, the old English word, means bitter and it's actually a reference to a plant which is once used as a tonic. If you consume too much of it, it will actually poison you and very bitter tasting. And I've heard some folks say that the incident that occurred over in Russia in Chernobyl a few years back where that nuclear power plant had a meltdown and radiated vast area over there and a lot of people died. And that area is still poisoned with radiation. And it's thought that there's a connection between the word Wormwood and the Russian word Chernobyl. I've been told that Chernobyl and Wormwood mean the same thing. So this actually may be a clue to us to let us know that This is going to be a radiation effect from that second meteor or asteroid that strikes, because it caused it in verse 11 there. And the name of the star causes a star, so it's a huge huge meteor or meteorite, however you want to say it, or asteroid, but a huge object calling it a star, it would be burning and it would be full of radiation and striking the ground and the rivers and polluting it all with radiation and if you drank that you would die and it would be bitter tasting and that's what it's speaking of here. Verse 12 reads, And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars. So as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise. Now, if you have a vast meteor shower or an asteroid or a large meteor strike the Earth, the impact is going to throw a lot of dust up in the air. And this dust up in the air will be in the atmosphere for a good while. And that is probably what it's indicating here, that that haze is going to actually lessen the amount of light that you'll be able to see because of this huge cloud mass of particles that was blown up in the air from this meteor strike on the earth. Continuing in verse 13 here, chapter 8 verse 13 it reads, And I beheld and heard an angel flying through the midst of the heaven saying with a loud voice, woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels which were yet to sound." That's three warnings, letting them know that, hey, there's three more judgments to come. Woe, woe, woe. And continuing here, Revelation 9, it reads, And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven to the earth, and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. Now here, this reference to a star can also be compared to a reference to angels. And so this is an angel that was given the power to open, or the key to open the bottomless pit. Verse 2 reads, And he opened the bottomless pit, and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace. And the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. It's like the earth itself just opened up. A massive caldera, like a volcano opening up. And up out of this opening, the smoke from the the ashes or whatever from down in that bottomless pit, that fire that might be down in there, just rising up. And there again, makes things even darker and hazier. And all this darkness is going to have an awful effect on the planet, because the trees and plants and grass and things that have survived to this point through the other judgments are going to be affected by the loss of that much sunlight. Continuing in verse 3, Chapter 9, verse 3 reads, And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth, and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree, but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. Ok, these locusts, as it says, with stingers like scorpions have power to sting those that aren't saved, those that aren't sealed, which should include or would include the 144,000 and that multitude of believers that have been led to the Lord that have not yet been martyred, haven't been killed. So there's still going to be a lot of people that are saved fear in the tribulation there that are going to be witnessed to this, and these locusts will not harm the Christians. It will only harm those that are lost. As far as speaking up there about the seal of God in their foreheads, Continuing in verse 5, it reads, "...and to them it was given..." These locusts with the scorpion-like stings. "...and to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months, and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion when he striketh a man." So the people that these locusts sting won't die from their stings, but the sting will be tormenting them for five months. They'll feel the pain from that sting. And in those days shall men seek death and shall not find it. It'll hurt so bad that they'll wish they would just die. And shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them. And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle, and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men. When it describes it, it gives a comparison. It doesn't say that they are horses with crowns of gold and faces of men, but in comparison, when John's seeing all this and he's describing what he sees, he relates it to things that he understands and he thinks other people can understand when he's describing it. So this is the image that it looks. You know, they're shiny, so it looks like gold, the goldish color. And they have faces so that you'd figure, well, okay, they've got eyes and a mouth and nose and so forth. It's the faces of men. So let's read chapter 9, verse 7 there again. It reads, And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses. So they weren't horses, but they looked kind of like a horse prepared into battle, which means If you see in the insect, they got these shell-like almost armor cladding. When the horses that were prepared into battle, they would put this armor on them, whether it be thickened pieces of fabric that they would make in wool or out of leather or even later of brass and metal and it would be a piece across their forehead and so forth so that the horses could survive in a close encounter and battle. So these creatures had these plates on them you might say, and if you look at insects close up you can tell they've got this like armor plating on them. And it reads, and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men. And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions. And they had breastplates as it were breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle. And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails And their power was to hurt men five months. I've heard several different interpretations of people that have read the descriptions of these. Everything from being that they are truly some sort of an insect, about the size of a goose or a duck. I've heard other people say that they are much larger because of the reference to horses here. I've even heard some people say that they are a description of military flying vehicles like helicopters. and the things that a helicopter can do. And the description about the sound would be one of those that might lead you to believe that, as it said here in verse 9, as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle. Now that could be because there's so many of them that they make that loud of a noise. As I said, there's folks that think that this is actually a reference to military aircraft that will be released and sent out to harm man. But I don't quite go along with that because the people that are going to be running the military at the time is going to be the government that is going to be run by the Antichrist. And he's not going to send out military vehicles to attack his followers. He would be sending them out to attack Christians. But this is part of God's judgment, so I feel that these are probably an insect-type creature that is going to be released right out of that pit and torment man as it says here. I'd like to take the Bible as literal as possible when you can, and this is one of those instances where I don't see that this is going to be a mechanical device. These are going to be living creatures are going to come out and torment man. There is no indication of how big they are, but the fact that they can sting. There are a lot of insects out there that could come close to this description. There are thousands of insect varieties that we have yet to even identify, especially down tropical forest region and down in those areas. There's so many insects out there that modern scientists have no idea that they even exist. If you've ever seen a display of various insects, there's some creepy looking bugs out there that could be described as these. We're all familiar with plagues of bugs. I know recently here in this area we've been plagued with these little stink bugs. And before that it was the ladybugs and various bugs like that. And you can imagine the numbers of these bugs that are going to be released if it's an insect-like creature. I continue in verse 11 here, chapter 9 verse 11, it reads, And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon. Both these mean the destroyer. Verse 12 reads, One woe is past, and behold, there come two woes more hereafter. 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 two hundred thousand thousand. 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 jaseth 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. So even after all these plagues that are coming, all these judgments, all these events that are unfolding right before them, they still don't want to repent. They still don't turn to God. They get more and more into their evil ways. They're worshiping their idol and they're doing their drugs and their fornications and their thefts. So it's going to be a pretty riotous, wild, evil time. And even with these judgments unfolding upon the people right in front of them, and this torment that they're going to be going through, they still won't turn to the Lord. Alright, that covers the seven trumpets. So the first one there was the first trumpet was the hail and the fire upon the earth. The second trumpet was the burning mountain that was cast upon the sea or that huge asteroid. The third trumpet was the wormwood upon the waters. which would have been that radiation effect from the drinking water. And the fourth trumpet was the sun, the moon, the stars were darkened by one third, which would be a result of the striking of those asteroids or meteors against the earth and stirring up all that dust and so forth. And then the demonic locus, which would be number five, the fifth trumpet, the demonic locus, which were released out of that bottomless pit which could have been like a big volcanic eruption or an opening of a chasm into the earth and there also releasing smoke which would further affect that darkening of the sun and moon and so forth. And then the sixth trumpet was the horsemen that are described there that are going out killing people. And even through all of this, All these signs, these wonders, these events that come, these judgments, there will be so many people that are still so set in their ways of serving Satan that they won't turn to the Lord. But there will be people that are saved. There will be people that are protected from all this, that won't be affected by these horrible things, the stinging, and they won't be killed by these creatures and so forth. They will survive that. It's not going to be good times by no means, but they will survive it. And the main thing, like we've said so often, is to get your life right now, so you don't have to go through this tribulation period. You don't have to see these judgments unfold before your eyes. Turn your life over to the Lord. Accept Him as your Lord and Savior. And be raptured up before all this occurs. The things we've read so far are all occurring during that first half of the tribulation. And this is not even entering the Great Tribulation, which is going to be way, way worse than the things we've already described. So, as we've already said, please turn your life over to the Lord, accept Him as your Lord and Savior. Let Jesus Christ come into you, fill you with the Holy Ghost, and give you the understanding of the Scriptures and His Word. Go out, preach, teach, witness so that we can get as many souls as we can saved before the Tribulation, before the Rapture. so we can all spend this time period in glory, in paradise with the Lord, and miss all this evil that's going to be occurring down here on this planet, and miss all these judgments that are going to be occurring, so that we can return with Him at the end of that tribulation, and spend that thousand years ruling and reigning with the Lord during the millennial period, which we'll be getting into later in our study here. Well, let's go ahead and close. That's all we have time for now. And we'll pick it back up next week on this study of 20 major prophetic events yet to be fulfilled. Lord Jesus, I thank you so much for your word and everything that's in here. There's so much that we can't even comprehend yet, but we thank you for your revelation of your word. Help us to be able to have that burning desire to dig into it, to be able to learn what you were trying to tell us here. Help us all be prepared for the things that are yet to be fulfilled. We guide and direct everything. We pray in Jesus' precious holy name. Amen. Thank you.