We'll be in Revelation 6 again, but I want to bring us back up to where we are in our study in the book of Revelation. I know I did this last week, and I don't mean to... Well, yeah, I do mean to drill it in to you. I want to catch us back up again. If you're like me, your attention span and your memory is about the length of an ant. And a lot of times I have to be reminded of things I ask my wife, she has to remind me to remind her to remind me a lot of times of things. So I want to bring us back up to where we have got to in our study of the book of Revelation. In chapter 4, verse 1, we saw a picture of the rapture of the church. In chapter 4, verse 1, John is called up into the third heaven, and he tells us what he saw there. Chapter 4 talks about how that John saw a throne and one on the throne was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone. That jasper stone in the Bible, the jasper stone is a gem that reflects a lot of different colors. I guess you could say multi-faceted stone. And it shows all the different colors of the rainbow, many different colors. And it's a picture of God's glory. Well that sardine stone is a blood red gem. They say that thing's as red as blood. Well, here's what happened to John. John got to heaven and human words failed to describe the appearance of the one that he saw upon the throne. So John had to use a picture of two stones. One, multicolored, showing the glory of God. The other one, blood red, showing how John got to heaven. Amen. Through the blood of Jesus Christ. And what a sight John must have seen. You'll find as you go through the book of Revelation, you're going to find the word like a lot of times. I saw this as if it were, I saw this that was like, this was like this. And the reason is that there were things in heaven that John couldn't even explain with human words. Words failed him. There was no way to describe everything that John saw. Well, John also saw 24 elders robed in white with crowns of gold on their heads. There were also four beasts that cried day and night, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, which was and is and is to come. And as those beasts praised God, or well, the Bible says, praised Him that sat upon the throne, those four and twenty elders, those twenty-four elders, the Bible says, fell down at the feet of Him that sat upon the throne and cast their crowns at His feet, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created. That right there tells us that we're not to live to please ourselves, as I said Sunday. You and I were created to please God, not ourselves. But most people live today as if this is the only life that matters. They live this life as if nothing else is going to happen to them. And they try to please self instead of trying to please the One who created them. Well, what was it that John was seeing in chapter 4? John was seeing the raptured church in heaven praising God. Well, when we come to chapter 5, we're introduced to a seven-sealed book. John said that he heard a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book and loose the seals thereof? Well, a search was made and the Bible says that no man in heaven or in earth or under the earth was able to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon. And John wept, it says in this news, until one of the elders came to him and said, Weep not. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, hath prevailed to open the book and to loose the seven seals thereof. John turns to see this lion that he's just told about, but instead of a lion, he sees a lamb. The Bible says he sees a lamb as if slain from the foundations of the world. And that lamb takes the book, and as the saints begin to sing their new song, and all of heaven joins in in the praise of the Lamb of God, Jesus begins to open the seals on that book. Well that brings us to chapter 6. The first seal was opened and we saw a rider on a white horse. That's in verses 1 and 2. We saw that rider on a white horse and we saw that that rider on the white horse was Antichrist who will rise to power after the rapture of the church. He will make a seven year covenant, a seven year treaty or covenant with Israel. which he'll break in the middle of that seven years. And the signing of that covenant will begin the clock on the seven years of the tribulation period here on earth. Well, once we saw that, John said when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, come and see. And that second seal showed him a rider on a red horse We learned last time that this rider was war, that this could be the battle of Gog and Magog mentioned in Ezekiel 38 and 39 when that coalition of nations including Russia and Iran, Afghanistan, Turkey, Ethiopia, and several other countries when they surround Jerusalem and come against Jerusalem and God miraculously delivers Jerusalem out of their hand. Well, here we are now at the beginning of the seven-year tribulation period. The world has a new leader, the Antichrist. Jerusalem has been attacked from all sides, but God's miraculously saved her. But there's still five seals yet to be opened. Now look in Revelation 6 and verse number 5. Revelation 6 verse number 5. The Bible says, And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo, a black horse, and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny, and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine. Now let me back up for just a moment and explain that that penny there that the Bible mentions is not a penny like we know. That was a denarius, it was equivalent to about a day's wage, a whole day's wage. So they were getting just enough food to survive on for one day's wage. They'd get one day's worth of just enough food to survive on for one day's wage. So this seal here, the third seal, brings with it the outbreak of widespread famine. Some have said that only one-eighth of the world's food supply will remain when this cell is open. This will likely be the results of that second seal, that war, that we read about. This will be the result of it. I got curious about famine and about hunger, so I got to doing some research. And according to one website, as many as 828 million people, which is about 10% of the world's population, go to bed hungry on a daily basis. 30 million children around the world suffer from malnutrition as a result of famine and starvation. So we see that famine and starvation is a growing problem in our world today. But imagine, imagine for just a moment the magnitude of this problem when the world's food supply is reduced to only one-eighth of what it is right now. If 828 million people is going to bed tonight hungry, imagine when there's only one-eighth of the amount of food as there are right now. In other words, if you've got eight ears of corn, one will be left. You've got eight bags of rice, one will be left. Out of every eight cows, one will be left. At eight chickens, one will be left. Can you imagine the famine and how that's going to affect the population of the world? People will be fighting. They'll be killing one another over food at that time. And naturally, the death toll from that lack of food is going to be staggering. So this third seal brings with it famine in this world. How would you like to leave your children or grandchildren behind and them have to face that? Are we beginning to see how important it is to try to reach people for Jesus Christ while we have the opportunity to reach them? Let's go on. We've still got four more to go. Look in verse number 7. The Bible says, And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I looked, and behold, a pale horse, and his name that sat on him was Death. and hell followed him. Now pay attention to that. Pay attention to that. That's why I say slow down to read your Bibles. Pay attention to the words. The rider's name was Death and hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth to kill with a sword and with hunger and with death and with the beast of the earth. The opening of this fourth seal brings death. Death by war. Death by starvation. Death by wild beast or pestilence. And of course we know that death naturally follows war and famine. But the death toll is more than any of us could even begin to imagine. The Bible here says power was given them over the fourth part of the earth. One-fourth, a quarter of this world's population is going to die in this judgment alone. The current population of this world is nearing 8 billion people. A quarter of that will be almost 2 billion people will die in this judgment. Can you imagine 2 billion people suddenly dying I don't mean to be morbid or gross or anything like that. There's no possible way that they're going to be able to keep up with burying that many people. Can you imagine the stench? Can you imagine the disease? Stop and think about what this world is going to face during this tribulation period. And we're only on the fourth seal. We've still got three seals, seven trumpets, and seven vials of judgment to go. Not to mention the seven thunders that John was not even allowed to write about. Now notice I told you to pay attention to that phrase, and hell followed. This tells us that both the bodies and the souls of these that die in this judgment are destroyed. Remember what I told you that this is after the rapture. These are those who have been left behind after the rapture. They're not saved. They're not born again. And with death, For them, hell is going to be their eternity. They don't get a do-over. They don't get a second chance. Two billion people go to hell in this judgment. You say, well, that's pretty callous of God to send them to hell. God didn't send them to hell. God is not slack concerning His promises, as some men count slackness but as longsuffering to us. We're not willing that any should perish but that all come to repentance. This is exactly why Christ has not returned to this earth yet. He's not waiting so that you can enjoy as much time as you possibly can down here. He's waiting because He's given people the opportunity to repent and be saved right now because when the rapture happens, If they've heard a clear presentation of the gospel, they don't get another opportunity. So by what the Bible is telling me here, two billion people are going to die and go to hell in this judgment because they refused to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior when they had the opportunity. The rapture has taken place. The church and the Holy Spirit have left the earth. leaving behind a world of chaos, confusion, and unbridled sin. Judgment has begun. So far we've seen four sealed judgments. Antichrist, war, famine, and death. And these first four judgments have resulted in seven-eighths of the world's food supply being gone and the death of almost two billion people but there's still three seals left to be opened. And when I say the death of two billion people, I'm only talking about the deaths of those that were given a number for in that fourth seal judgment. That's not including the second seal, which is war. There'll be millions of people, I'm sure, killed in that one. All those nations that come against Israel, they're going to be killed. Then you've got the famine in the third seal. We're not told how many will die in that famine, but we can rest assured that there will be some that will die, probably millions if not billions in it. And so we've already got billions and billions of people dying and going to hell because they would not accept Jesus Christ as their Savior. As we come to this fifth seal, a change has taken place. The tribulation period is broken down into two parts. The Bible says there's seven years of tribulation on this earth. At the midpoint of that tribulation period, at three and a half years, the Antichrist is going to break his covenant with Israel. He's going to walk into Jerusalem. He's going to walk into that temple. He's going to desecrate the temple. He's going to set himself up as God in the temple. And at that point, there's going to be wide-scale persecution of both those who have been saved in the tribulation period. Those who have been saved were those who never heard a clear presentation of the gospel before the rapture took place. God's going to give every man an opportunity to be saved. So those who have already heard, they had their opportunity. Those who never heard a clear presentation are going to get it during the tribulation period. We'll read about that later with those 144,000 witnesses. But Antichrist at the three and a half year period is going to begin to persecute, to hunt down and kill both the Christian and the Jew. That's when the mark of the beast which may be voluntary in the first half, in the second half it will be mandatory. If you don't have the mark of the beast, then you won't be able to buy or sell. You won't be able to go. You either take the mark or you're dead. One of the two. And so we see here that something happens when we get to this fifth seal. This is why I told you, any of y'all who have heard Revelation taught or have studied Revelation, a lot of people will teach, and I'm not saying that I am right. I could be wrong. I'm not going to say this 100%. I tend to believe that when we get to the fifth seal, we have entered into the second half of the tribulation period. As a matter of fact, I'm certain of that tonight. That's why I say I don't think these judgments run one right after the other. I don't think it's going to be the seal judgments, then they stop, then the trumpet judgments, then they stop, then the vial judgments. I think they're all running all through the tribulation period. Because when we get here to this fifth judgment, We have entered into the second half of the tribulation period. Now what did I just say was going to happen in the second half of the tribulation period to Christians and Jews? They would be what? Killed. The believers will be martyred because of their testimony for Jesus Christ, right? Now look in Revelation 6 verse 9. The Bible says, "...and when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying..." Now let me stop right there for just a moment and ask you this question. From the time that the church was founded until the rapture of the church, There have been people who have been martyred for their faith in Jesus Christ, right? But when the rapture occurred, Christ brought them back with Him. Their bodies were resurrected from the grave. Their soul and body, they got a changed body and they were met, right? So they're no longer bodiless souls. Does that make sense? Are you following me with that? Now look what he said. He said he saw the souls of those under the altar. These don't have a physical body right now. So that tells me these are some that something happened to them after the rapture of the church. And when he had opened, verse number 9, opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? Now look what it says, And white robes were given unto every one of them, and it was said unto them that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow servants also, and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled. The fifth seal here in the book of Revelation is the cry of the martyred tribulation saints. That means that this fifth seal has to be opened at some time during the last three and a half years or during that time known as the Great Tribulation. Notice the answer to their question. How long, O Lord, holy and true dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood on them on the earth? And to that they are told this, rest for a little season, now listen to it, until their fellow servants also and their brethren that should be killed, as they were, should be fulfilled. So we see that this is not at the end, but at some point, maybe towards the middle of the last half of the tribulation period. They're told that there are others that must be martyred for their testimony of Jesus Christ. And that God, after that happens, God is going to avenge their blood. And that vengeance is going to come when Christ returns to this earth. sometime at the end of the tribulation period. Now remember, we've had the rapture of the church, right? That's the rapture of the church. Who is the church? When we talk about the church, who is it that makes up the church? The saints. Those who have been saved from the time that Christ resurrected and the day of Pentecost came when the church was formed, from that point all the way through the rapture of the church, that's what we call the church age, those are the ones that's going to go out in the rapture of the church. It won't be the Old Testament saints. It won't be the tribulation saints. Only the church is going up in the rapture. So sometime at the end of the tribulation period, and I believe that it will probably be either at or just before the appearing of Jesus to the earth, both those martyred tribulation saints and the Old Testament saints will be resurrected. And at that time, the souls of these that we see under the altar will be reunited with that glorified body just as the dead in Christ was reunited with the glorified body at the rapture. So we've seen the first five seals broken. The first seal ushered in the Antichrist. The second seal brought war. The third resulted in famine. And the fourth resulted in the death of approximately two billion people. The fifth seal was the martyred souls of the tribulation saints as they cried out for God to avenge their blood. Five seals, two more. I'm going really fast. I hope you all are following me. I'm trying to get done with these seals tonight. Amen. So we can move on to these other judgments. The cry of the martyred tribulation saints. They'll be those who are killed for their testimony, those who have believed in Jesus Christ during the tribulation period. Understand this also. I'm sure I can't give you Bible on this, so I'm going to give you opinion, which is worth about five cents. But just knowing how people are, knowing how men are, there's going to be some who's going to refuse that mark of the beast just because they don't like it. It's not going to be because they accept Christ as their Savior. They're just not going to like it. Now I say that because just knowing how people are today, they're not going to be any different in the tribulation period. If they decide to reject the mark of the beast, and they're killed because of that, but they did not accept Christ as their Savior, They still spent eternity in hell. It did them no good. Now I say that just judging how people are today. When they don't like something, they rebel against it. And that's how it's going to be. Alright, go to verse number 12. Let's finish up these last two real fast. Verse number 12. The Bible says, John said, and I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, And lo, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood. And the stars of heaven fell into the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. and the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains, And rocks, fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of His wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand? As the sixth seal is opened, The earth is rocked with the most destructive earthquake that has ever taken place. I began to look up earthquakes that have taken place and just to name a few. In 2004, an Indonesian earthquake killed 283,000 people. In 1976, an earthquake in China killed between 255,000 and 655,000. In 1956, in China, one million people died in an earthquake. But this will be an earthquake, the like of which has never been felt before. We're told here that every mountain and every island will be moved out of their place. It tells me this earthquake is going to be a worldwide earthquake, even under the oceans. And that's going to result in massive tsunamis all around the world. Untold millions, if not billions, are going to die in this judgment also. And John goes on to tell us that the heavens are shaken. The sun is black and the moon appears as blood. Stars fall and the heaven departs as a scroll. And some have asked if this could be a description of nuclear war. The falling stars could be described as either a massive meteor shower, or an asteroid or comet strike, or a massive nuclear attack, or it could be a combination of all of those. All we know is it's going to be complete chaos. Amen? It's going to be a time like we can't even begin to fathom in our finite little minds. We've never seen anything to compare to what they're going to see in that tribulation period. Notice their response to God's judgment. They hid in the mountains, they hid in the dens, they hid in the rocks. They wanted to die instead of face God's judgment. John Yates said it this way, he said, almost the whole world begins to pray after these judgments. But they pray for the wrong thing. They indeed pray to be saved from the wrath of God, but the Savior they prayed for to deliver them was not Christ, but death. Most of the earth will be blinded to the truth. They'll believe Satan's lies. They'll curse the God of heaven and earth. And instead of repenting for their sins, they pray to die in their sins. And that brings us to the last sealed judgment. Turn over to Revelation chapter number 8. Revelation chapter number 8. Look in verse number 1. The Bible says, "...and when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour." In order to understand the significance of this last seal judgment, I want to go back, if you will, turn back to Revelation chapter 7. Look in verse number 9. Revelation 7, verse 9. The Bible says, After this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands, and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God, which sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb, And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, saying, Amen. Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen. And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes, and whence come they? And I said unto them, Sir, thou knowest. And he said unto me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and 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 that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them, they shall hunger no more, they shall thirst neither thirst any more, neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. Now he said, after this, John said, look in verse number 9 again, after this, after what? John has just seen the sealing of the 144,000 Jewish witnesses that's going to go out as evangelists into all the earth. Well now John sees a great multitude which no man can number, standing before the throne of God and before the Lamb. Well who are they? Verse number 14 says that these are they which came out of great tribulation. These are the tribulation saints, those souls that we saw under the altar, some of them. These are the tribulation saints, those who received Christ during the tribulation period. These are the fruit of the 144,000 Jewish witnesses. It was after the winning of the tribulation saints and their appearance in heaven that the seventh seal was opened And what does the seventh judgment bring? It brings silence in heaven for the space of half an hour. Now there's a lot of folks, I've read many who view this, silence, They said a multitude of different things that it means. Some said that when the seventh seal judgment was opened, that marked the beginning of the trumpet judgments. Others said that this silence was because those trumpet judgments were about to begin. But looking at everything that has happened up to this point, You have the martyred saints. You have the earth shaken. You have the sun darkened. You have the moon appearing as blood. You have the heavens being rolled back as a scroll. It seems to me that the seventh seal judgment tells us of the end of God's judgment and the return of Jesus Christ. Heaven is silenced because the Lamb of God has gotten off the throne and is about to step back down on this earth. to set up His kingdom for 1,000 years. We'll see as we go through the trumpet and the bowl judgments in the next few weeks that the seventh of each set of judgments, just like this one, seem to announce the end of the tribulation period and the triumph of the Lamb. We have went through seven judgments. We have seen Antichrist. who's going to rule and reign around this globe for those seven years. He's going to be the one who persecutes Israel and who kills the Jews and the Christians or the believers who refuse the mark. We've seen war. We've seen death. We've seen famine. We've seen earthquakes. We've seen all of these different judgments Yet there's still 14 more judgments that we've yet to see. And again, that's not including those thunders that John was not allowed to write what they uttered. The tribulation period, this time that we call the tribulation period that occurs seven years before the Lord returns, is not going to be a time of peace and plenty. It's going to be a time when all of hell is unleashed on this earth. God's going to pour out His judgment upon unbelievers in ways that you and I can't even begin to imagine. The book of Revelation, one, it should bring hope to Christians, knowing that there is an end to all of the sin that's upon the earth right now. Things happen in our life a lot of times and we wonder, God... I know people that have had some very atrocious things happen to them. And the person who did those things seemed to just go scot-free. But I'll promise you this, as I heard one, I like the way one preacher phrased this, There is a payday someday. Man thinks that he's getting away with sin today. And I believe that's why people are getting bolder and bolder and bolder in their sin, because they don't believe that they're not being punished for it, so why not go on? What they don't understand is there is coming a judgment to this earth. God's going to judge sin on this earth. And that's why it's so important for you and I to be telling people that the price of their sin has already been paid on Calvary. All they have to do is accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, and their sin receipt can say, paid in full. Jeremy, all the things that you've done, it's due to all the sin, your record in heaven says, paid in full. Paid in full. The Bible says God won't remember not one of those. He's cast them behind His back, cast them into the deepest parts of the sea to remember them no more. See, your sin was judged on Calvary. Those who don't accept Jesus Christ, their sins will be judged at the great white throne of judgment when they stand before God. and they'll be cast into hell for all eternity. We got to reach them now. We got to reach them now. There's people, I guarantee you there'll be somebody who will lay down tonight, who has plans to get up tomorrow to go to work, young person to go to school, whatever it may be. They've already got their week planned out. And tonight, they're about to lay their head on their pillow to go to bed tonight, thinking about all the plans that they've got. But before morning, they're going to open their eyes either in heaven or hell. And if we don't tell them, they're going to die in their sin and go to hell. That's our job. That's our job. Not just the preachers. That's all of our jobs. we're all to be witnesses for Him. Amen? And this book of Revelation should be a, if I can say it this way, a spur in our side to go tell them, knowing what they're going to face.