It's a bad phrase because we do believe in a millennium. And we do believe in a rapture. Not a secret rapture, but a rapture. However, I didn't realize it was going on during this class. Let's pray. Our Father, as we bow in Your presence once again, we are so thankful that You promised to be with us. You've given us Your Spirit. You've given us Your Word. And by Your grace, we're enabled to understand. And yet, we come to a book that You've made it very hard for great men of the faith to understand through the years. And we pray that Today, through this Word, we might see the Lord Jesus in a new way, high and lifted up on his throne. And Father, we give glory to you this morning. In Jesus' name, amen. Alright, we ended, not quite, last week in chapter 7 of Revelation. to remember that this section, chapter 6 and 7, we see the entire redeem to the church and we see the four judgments of God in chapter 6 with the persecution of the martyrs. And it reveals the church in tribulation as these judgments are worldwide. But we saw in chapter 7 The church will be brought safely through the tribulation. Not taken out of it, but protected through it. Sealed and protected, glorified. Chapter 7 at the end. And this immediate section reveals the church in heaven. Just about on the end of all things, if you will, it's 1159 and ticking on the world clock. All the seals were opened but one. We're on the very brink of eternity and yet before that final seal is open, there is this interlude in which we will read, which is chapter 8. Now, let's read the last from 715. For this reason they are before the throne of God and they serve him day and night in his temple. And he who sits on the throne shall spread his tabernacle over them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, neither shall the sun beat down on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb in the center of the throne shall be their shepherd, and shall guide them to the springs of water of life, and God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes." And then he broke the seventh seal, and there was silence in heaven for a half an hour. It's during this interlude that he introduces a whole new series of judgments coming upon the world. In there with seven angels and seven trumpets. And at the end of this chapter, you'll see that he brings on three woes, which are even greater in judgments and greater intensity. The end of chapter six, we saw the day of wrath, the judgment of the wicked, 612 to 17. And this is in contrast to the bliss of the redeemed in chapter 7, 9 through 17. And this theme is recurring over and over in the book of Revelation. If you look at it that way, you try to find it that way, you'll see the redeemed in heaven. You'll see right up humanity brought to the very brink of eternity, the redeemed are saved, they're up in heaven, and then starts a whole new picture of judgments. The unity of Revelation is neither chronological nor arithmetical, or it is really artistic, much like a musical score or a theme played over and over with some variations each time it's played. Something new is added to the theme. So, in your reading this week, if you would try to find that in these seven sections that we've shown you that More Than Conquerors provides, I think I provided an outline in the very beginning for that. And with every cycle of disaster in the book, John provides more information and greater understanding of the final drama that unfolds in the consummation of the ages. These trumpets we find are actually the signals for the widespread destruction by these judgments and are warnings to the wicked to repent. Look over in chapter 9 and verse 20 and 21. And the rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons and idols of gold and of silver and of brass or stone and of which can neither see, nor hear, nor walk. And they did not repent of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their immoralities, nor of their thefts." So these judgments coming upon the world are to bring humanity, fallen humanity, to repentance. That's what they're designed to do. When they do not repent, more judgments come upon the world. Turn with me over to Psalm 18 for a minute. We looked at some language last week that showed the type of language that is in Revelation. I want you to see some more. It sounds so much. Psalm 18, look at verse 7. Then the earth shook and quaked, and the foundations of the mountains were trembling. They were shaking because he was angry. Smoke went up out of his nostrils, and fire from his mouth devoured. Coals were kindled by it. He bowed to heavens also and came down with thick darkness under his feet. And he rode upon a sheriff and flew, and he spread the wings of the wind. He made darkness his hiding place, his canopy around him. Darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies, from the brightness before him passes thick clouds, hailstones and coals of fire. The Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the Most High uttered His voice. Hailstones and coals of fire, and He sent out arrows and scattered them, and lightnings flashed in abundance and routed them, and the channels of water appeared, and the foundation of the world were laid bare at Thy rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the breath of Thy nostrils. And he sent me from on high, and he took me and drew me out of many waters, and he delivered me from my strong enemy and from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me. They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my stay. He brought me forth into a broad place, and he rescued me because he delighted in me." A very similar sounding language that we see in Revelation, the heavens and the earth shaking. and mountains shaking and so forth. And then in chapter 3 here, he says in verse 2, I saw seven angels who stand before God and seven trumpets were given to them. And another angel came and stood at the altar holding a golden censer and much incense was given to him that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. We see the angel throwing fire to the earth, you know. In verse 5, the angel took this censer and he filled it with the fire of the altar and threw it to the earth and then followed peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and earthquake. You see that language? It's very similar throughout the Scriptures. But he throws the fire of the altar to the earth. Why? Because of the prayers of the saints that we saw in chapter 6 and verse 10, chapter 5 and verse 9. And they're really symbolic of every type of calamity that will come upon the earth during this church age. And as we see in 8 verses 7 through 12, the first one sounded and there came hail and fire mixed with blood and they were thrown down to 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. Pardon me. And the second angel sounded something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood. And the third of the creatures who were in the sea and had life died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. And the third angel sounded, and a great star fell from heaven burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of the water. and the name of the stars called Wormwood, and a third of the waters became Wormwood, and many men died from the waters, because they were made bitter. And the fourth angel sounded, and a third of the sun and a third of the moon and a third of the stars were smitten, so that a third of them might be darkened, and the day might not shine for a third of it, and the night in the same way. And I looked and I heard an eagle flying in mid-heaven saying with a loud voice, woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth because of the remaining blast of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound." Okay? We see lightnings and earthquakes and hailstones and fire and blood, fierce storms, forest fires, all kinds of natural disasters that kill and maim and they're from God. I'll give you a real, let me read Jeremiah 30. Just two verses in Jeremiah 30. Behold the tempest of the Lord. Wrath has gone forth, a sweeping tempest. It will burst on the head of the wicked. The fierce anger of the Lord will not turn back until he has performed, until he has accomplished the intent of his heart. In the latter days you will understand this. The world wins the judgment of God. And then in verse 8, and I'm going through chapter 8 rather quickly, I want to get to chapter 10, 11, and 12. To me, they're very revealing chapters. They probably show us the heart of what we're talking about, those three chapters. So, but feel free to ask questions in the meantime. Verse 8, the second angel sounded something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea and a third of the sea became blood. And then a burning mountain, you know, he didn't say a burning mountain was thrown into the sea here. He says something like a burning mountain, doesn't it? Something like a great mountain burning. And verse 9 continues in the same thought, and a third of the creatures and a third of the ships were destroyed. You know, this means all kinds of maritime disasters. You think of almost the unexplainable Bermuda Triangle. where they've lost planes and ships and people and they don't even understand why. And great tsunamis, typhoons. There are thousands of merchant ships in the Atlantic Ocean sunk because of World War II. And there's 800 German U-boats alone. There's 1,100 shipwrecks in Lake Erie. Think about that. So, these joys are coming all the time. And then verse 10, a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch. Again, this is symbolic language, folks, because a great star would be thrown to the earth. There would be no earth left. Stars are bigger than our sun, which is a million times bigger than our world. So, this is symbolic language. He sees this. This is a vision. These are visions that John has. And the name is Wormwood. And the waters of the rivers and lakes became Wormwood. The result, many men died because they were made bitter. This is not only true of the natural, literal order, but life apart from God is bitter. But I was in the water business so I know, especially back east where you have a lot of wells out in the farm country, the whole water tables are polluted anymore. You used to be able to, 40 years ago, take a bottle of bleach and throw it in your well if you had a problem there and it would clear it up. Now the whole lakes and the underground rivers are polluted. You can't drill a well anymore without putting in some kind sophisticated equipment that will kill all the bugs in your UV lights and so on. It's one out of five people in the world, one out of every five people in the world drink polluted water. Does that mean it hasn't reached a third yet? I don't know. These judgments are from the throne of God. They're divine judgments because we see the element of fire, the fire being thrown down by the angel as a judgment. And God is a consuming fire, it says. The judgment of God symbolized by fire on Sodom and Gomorrah. His symbol of his presence was fire in the Old Testament. We have the concept of hell, fire hell, hell fire, in Matthew 10, of eternal punishment. Jesus' second coming is going to be in fire. And Peter says that the elements will be burned up by fire. Fire cast upon the earth is symbolic of the judgments of God. I will say this to you in a practical sense, you know, you get people all the time saying, could this thing that happened down in Haiti, is that the judgment of God? Absolutely. It's absolutely the judgment of God. Anytime you see something like that, you can say it without fear of contradiction, because God says it. He's sending judgments upon this earth all the time for men's sin. And He wants them to repent. They don't seem to want to repent, so He sends more judgments. And this is going on. It seems to be getting greater, doesn't it? We've seen more earthquakes and things all the time going on. These tsunamis, I don't remember those when I was a kid. And I spent a lot of time in the ocean. Questions or comments? I thought that would bring one out. Because these are judgments of God. So, you know, people ask this all the time. Well, God couldn't be involved in that, is He? Nothing? Let me just babble on. Okay, look at verse 12. And the fourth angel sounded, and a third of the sun, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars were smitten, so that a third of them might be darkened, that day might not shine for a third of it, and the night in the same way. Here we see the light of the glory of God in creation is hidden from the eyes of the unregenerate. In Exodus 10, 21 to 23, 2 Corinthians 4, 3 and 5, which tells us that the God of this world has blinded the eyes of them that they might not see the light of the glory of God, so that the light of the coming of Christ in judgment the unregenerate world does not see and discern. That's why they don't repent. They don't see this is real. They don't see this is from God. While the believer sees it and trusts in God, Verse 13, And I looked, and I heard an eagle flying in midheaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell in the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound." Now, he would be able to see the eagle flying in the midst of heaven, and the vision would be able to see the whole world with an equal view. And he announces three woes against the unbelieving world. on the earth. Remember that phrase? To those who dwell on the earth. That is the unregenerate world. When I say the unregenerate world, I mean it's the unregenerate. There's two groups of people that show up in this book. The saved and those who dwell on the earth. You can see that phrase over and over. And this woe, these woes, woe, woe, woe, is a warning that things are going to get worse. Things are going to get much worse. The judgments of God have been severe in the first four trumpets, but the next three judgments would be terrible. Now, we come to chapter 9 if there's no questions. I'm going on. Yes, sir. What do I say to that? Well, in this next chapter, we'll get into the answer to that if you want to wait, but I'll give it to you. We're promised protection spiritually and eternally. We're not protected from the elements of any judgments that are pointing up while we're here. I think that's why. In my opinion, and this is probably not sound like a humble opinion, but it's my opinion, that the idea of the rapture of the church during the tribute for this terrible tribulation to get it out of here is an American idea with ease. You know, we don't want to face any of this hard stuff, but we're facing the hard stuff. sickness like anybody else. You could get killed in an automobile accident. You can get killed by lightning. It doesn't protect you there, but you're protected. We saw last week standing before the throne, no matter what happens to the unregenerate, we're protected by God. We stand in the day of judgment. And that's really the answer to it. No. There was a lot of Christians killed in World War II. A lot of Christians killed in the Civil War. We're not immune from that stuff. Yeah. Well, I will say this. In Chapter 9, we're going to see that the judgments, there are judgments that we're exempt from, that do come upon the world that we're exempt from. OK. All right, let's read chapter nine, because, you know, go back to chapter one, verse three, it tells us if we read this book, we'll be blessed. The fifth angel sounded and I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth and the key of the with the key of the and the key of the of the bottomless pit was given to him. And he opened the bottomless pit, and smoke went out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit. And out of the smoke came forth locusts upon the earth, and power was given them, as the scorpions of the earth have power. And they were told that they should not hurt the grass of the earth or any green thing or any trees, but only the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. And they were not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment for five months. And their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man. And in those days, when men will seek death and will not find it, they will long to die, and death flees from them. And the appearance of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle, and on their heads, as it were, crowns like gold, and their face were like the faces of men. And they had hair like the hair of women, and they had teeth like the teeth of lions, and they had breastplates like the breastplate of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots of many horses rushing to battle. And they have tails like scorpions and stings, and in their tails is the power to hurt men for five months. And they have a king over them, the angel of the abyss. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek is the name Apollyon. The first woe is past. Behold, two woes are still coming after these things. And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the gallalder which is before God. One sang to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, released the four angels who were bound to the great river Euphrates. And the four angels who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year were released, so that they might kill a third of mankind. And the number of the armies of the horsemen was two hundred million. I heard the number of them. And this is how I saw in the vision, the horses and those who sat on them, the riders had breastplates the color of fire and of hyacinth and brimstone, and the heads of the horses are like the heads of lions, and out of their mouths proceed fire and smoke and brimstone. And a third of mankind was killed by these plagues, by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which proceeded out of their mouths. For the power of the horses is in their mouth and in their tails, for their tails are like serpents and have heads with them they do harm. And the rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. And they did not repent of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their immorality, nor of their thefts." Their ideology or their beliefs in the idols caused their wicked actions. We see there. Alright. Now, we see in the first verse of chapter 9, a fifth angel sounds, and I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth. Alright, it's past tense. It's already happened. It's happened in the past. That angel fell. Had fallen. And what happens here? What is given to the star? Key to the bottomless pit. And what did he do with it? He opened the pit. Who do you think this star is? The devil. That's right. When did he fall to earth? Well, turn over with me to Luke chapter 10. You remember Jesus sends the 70 out and He says, who rejects you, rejects me. And He rejects me, rejects the one who sent me. In verse 17 of chapter 10, the 70 return with joy saying, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name. And He said to them, I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning. All right. And then in John 12, He says in verse 31, now judgment is upon this world, now the ruler of this world shall be cast out. And the answer to the question on who is it is right, it is Satan and it's found in the verse 11 of chapter 9 where we read. And they have a king over them, the angel of the abyss. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon and the Greek he has the name Apollyon. This star is Satan. And I want you to see something here. He's given this key. He doesn't have his own authority to go and open the abyss on his own. He has to be given this authority, he has to be given this power. And he opened the abyss. And the abyss is used seven times in Revelation, and I don't know if you know the number seven in Revelation is used some 46 to 48 times. It's an amazing number. But in every time this is used in Revelation, it refers to the place of demons. 9, 1, 2, and 11. Chapter 11, verse 7. 17, verse 8 and 20. 1 and 3. Now you see what's happening here. Satan, the angel of the abyss, opens the abyss after he's given the key to be able to do it, and smoke rises so that the sun and the air are darkened by it. And again, he can't do this on his own. And we see in this chapter that it is God who ordains through the angel of the abyss, who unleashes the horrors and demonic activity in this world. But again, and we'll see this later on, I believe it was Luther who said, the devil is God's devil. He can't do anything that God doesn't ordain. I'll quote you something from Kistemacher on this. The abyss has a shaft that leads to the so-called bottomless pit. Out of this shaft, fumes arise like smoke from a great furnace. The picture John paints is that of thick smoke which obscures the light of the day, obstructs breathing, contributes to illness, produces an unbearable stench, and blemishes everything on which it descends, as if hell itself breaks loose to mar, pollute, and defile God's creation. This enormous furnace serves to portray hell itself, from which clouds of smoke do arise to darken the light of the sun and pollute the air, making breathing nearly impossible. And he's really talking about evil. Evil is like a dense cloud that turns the world into darkness and suffocates all those who are breathing its polluted air. But evil itself functions only with the divine permission. It arises, increases and opposes all that is true, pure, good and admirable. Evil never succeeds in conquering God's kingdom because God not only permits but also controls its effect. Silence? Any questions, comments? The kingdom of darkness is here opened with its deluding influences. Colossians 1.13, he delivered us from the authority or the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his dear son. Ephesians 4 talks about the mind being darkened and alienated. In 612, the forces that we fight are not flesh and blood, but they're powers of darkness in heavenly places. Again, which is the veiling of the unbeliever who cannot see because their mind is darkened. And what we see in these two chapters and so forth is that the judgment of God upon the world is both physical and spiritual. And when you come to know that the darkness of man is under the control of Satan, Ephesians 2. Ephesians chapter 2. You were dead in your trespasses and sins which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Our minds being alienated from God, being darkened in their understanding. Again, Ephesians 4. And there's this power that comes out of darkness that's under the control of Satan, under the control of God. The second commandment tells us that thou shalt not bow down thyself to them or serve them. Implied in that language is that when you bow down to an idol, there's a power that holds you there. And for the unregenerate, for the unregenerate man, you bow to that idol. That power is going to hold you there. That's why you can't just say to some unregenerate kid, just say no to drugs. Now, one or two might be able to do it for a while. But in general, you can't just say, I'm going to quit this. I'm going to stop this. Because you're under the control, or they're under the control of Satan. And when you bow down to Satan's idols who he sets up for you in your mind, in your heart, you're attracted to them and you're held there. Psalm 106, 36 and 37 says this. But they mingled with the nations, and learned their practices, and served their idols, which became a snare to them. They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons, and shed innocent blood, and the blood of their sons and their daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood." And they became unclean in their practices and played the harlot in their deeds." Again, you hear that language there in Psalms. It's very much like what we're reading in Revelation. Okay. Idols. John MacArthur says it. There is no such thing as an idol, but the demons are there. and has a life and so an unregenerate person has, there's enough validity by the demon to draw the mind of an unregenerate person to hook them and to keep them there. Anything? Come on now. I'm losing my voice. You've got to say something here. Shiloh. Mm hmm. Yeah. And we'll get into that. We're going to get to that a few weeks down the road when we talk about what how Satan's bound and what all that is. But I think you'll see the flavor of this book when we get to chapter 10, the end of chapter 10, all of 11. 11 is going to take us a couple of weeks to go through. And 12, you'll be able to see, I think, clearly what I've been saying all along. Hopefully. Yeah. I mean, I go back to Revelation 1 9 where John said he was in the tribulation in his day the tribulation You know, so these judgments are going you see that you'd see the demonic forces in our day all over the world I mean, you know Right and you go down through almost any of our cities anymore, and you see more readers and psychics and all that kind of stuff. You hear witchcraft, which you didn't hear much of when I was a kid. I knew a couple of them. Okay, anything else? Well, let's continue on. I think we can see some of this in chapter 9. Verse 3, Out of the smoke came forth locusts upon the earth, and power was given them, as the scorpion of the earth had power. And they were told that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, or any green thing, or any tree, but only the men who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. And they were not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment for five months. And their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man. They were told that they should not hurt the grass, any green thing, or any tree, but only men, unregenerate men only. This is part of our sealing. This goes back to what Rick was asking me before. We are, as Christians, protected from the pollution of apostatizing error. We can be in doctrinal error and we can be in error, but we can't be in apostatizing error where we leave the Lord. where the unregenerate is just led anywhere. They want the demons or Satan wants to take them or their own heart wants to take them. So we're protected because 1 John tells us we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error and we don't need anybody to teach us. We have this ability by the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit of truth. And in verse 5, they're further limited in that they cannot kill anyone. And this is, you see, this is in contrast with the four horses and riders of chapter 6 who brought wholesale death upon the world. And now we see, I want to show you what kind of locusts they are. Turn with me to Exodus chapter 10. 12 to 15. And then the Lord said to Moses, stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come up on the land of Egypt and eat every plant of the land, even all that the hail has left. And Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and the Lord directed the east wind on the land all that day and all that night. When it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts. And the locusts came over all the land of Egypt and settled in the territory of Egypt. They were very numerous. There had never been so many locusts, nor would there be so many again. And they covered the surface of the whole land so that the land was darkened." And notice what they did. They ate every plant of the land and all the fruit trees that the hail left. Thus, nothing was left on a tree or plant of the field through all the land of Egypt. Now, here they're told, you come and don't eat any of the green stuff. What kind of locusts are they? That's what locusts do. They're symbolic locusts. They're not literal. A locust was one of the worst plagues, devastating judgments upon any land. And Joel would read about Joel where he says locusts, you know, every kind of eating locust there was. What's being revealed here in chapter 9 is the wrath of God being brought upon men, those like Romans 1 and Romans 3, who tells us that they have no peace. There's no peace in their heart. You know, the unregenerate has no peace. The wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest, whose waters stir up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. And Romans 3 says that the path of peace have they not known. And so to make these men and women there to torment them for five months it says. It says they have the power of the scorpion, but the scorpions for the most part are not lethal, but they inflict great pain upon you. And they're to do this for five months. And so, again, this doesn't allow any interpretation that these locusts are Muslims or Saracens of the 7th or 8th century coming upon the land and devouring it. Because why? Because an invading army coming into a land would not stop and say, I'm not going to kill anybody. They killed everybody. Okay? All right? The sting of a scorpion is very, very painful. And it would be almost unbearable if it lasted five months, wouldn't it? But what is being said here is that the judgment is being brought for the full season from April to September. And this is what is repeated in verse 10. It is to hurt men for five months. The full season of the judgment upon them. That's really what's being said here. Not a literal five months. It's the full season of the time, a time of torment and pain. In Mark 9, 48, it talks about their worm will not die, and the fire will not be quenched. So it's both mental and physical torment here. And these torments are only for the unregenerate. people, because the people of God have this peace in their heart. They can't be, you know, sent reeling and in torment. If you're in torment and you're a Christian, you better check your faith. You're not supposed to be tormented. You might have a problem. And you might have to deal with it or you might be living in some kind of sin that you need to deal with. But you shouldn't be tormented mentally. You should have this peace. Peace with whom God is well pleased. Peace on the earth is only for the Christian. But there is peace. Peace, peace. And now it says that they will seek death and they will not find it. What really are they and what is this punishment? Well, I believe it's found in the description of the locusts. They're spirits that attract the wicked world. They represent lust, passion of the fallen humanity. Horses and chariots equal power and war. Teeth are like lions, which means they're greedy. They devour everything. The faces of men, we look to other men. We look to vain philosophies of men. We look to Freud and Darwin and Hitler and so forth. And that the unregenerate does. These are the idols that they set up in their heart caused by the darkness of their mind and the futility of their mind being caused by Satan and opening up the demonic pit. and the delusion that's coming upon the world. But that delusion is under God's control. And you look at 2 Thessalonians 2 where it talks about God sending the delusion, final delusion upon the world that men do not have a love for the truth. Very consistent stuff here. And the hair like women would be the sensual sexual desires of lust Sin seems desirable. They would have a breastplate of iron, seemingly invincible. I don't know how much time I have, but from 1930 to 1950, open wheel racing in this country was very popular. In fact, 1949, the midget racing, open wheel racing on midgets was the most popular sport in this country. But about 200 men died in those things and it was very limited. It's not like racing today where every little town has racers. There was a very select few of racers, only very few Offenhauser engines built. And those men who ran that circuit died on a regular basis, a regular basis, 6 to 10 a year. When you talk to them, they say, it can't happen to me. And they would go out there in a race, a particular race, and maybe see two or three of their own buddies get killed. It's an invincibility that man is deluded into thinking. The Titanic was the epitome of man's invincibility. And they challenged God by saying, God can't sink this ship. He sank it on the maiden voyage. So that's what this breastplate of iron seemingly invincible men. Men are deluded into thinking there is no judgment. I'm OK. God wouldn't come down and give me this. He wouldn't send me to hell. He wouldn't do this to me. His word says he will. OK, questions, we got it, we got to end. Everybody's coming down. Questions, comments. No. Yes, Shiloh. Okay, good. Okay. We tried to show you today two ways to look. What is a literal locust? What do they do? What do literal locusts do? They eat everything that's green. They eat every plant. These don't eat plants. They're told not to harm them. Okay. In the very first chapter, we talked about the star. holding five stars, seven stars in the right hand. Well, you can't hold one star in the right hand. You saw a vision of a man. He can't hold seven stars, little stars. And he went on to explain that these stars are figurative. They are the angels to the seven churches, the candlesticks. I saw seven candlesticks. Well, they said John says that these candlesticks are the seven churches. So when there is clear interpretation, you'll find it in here and we'll look at it when we come to it. I mean, every everyone, not all the symbols are interpreted for us, but many of them are. And if you look for them and you'll continue to read on in the chapter, you'll usually find out. Let me see if I can show you one right now. No, I can't find it. But anyway, we'll get to it. And then the other thing is you have to go and you look and find out what is a literal thing do and what does a literal thing not do. It's like the locus. And you have to make your determination. Go back and look about what fire is in the Old Testament. God's voice thundered, you know, like that. The hills are shaking. You're not talking usually. There might be some shaking. There might be some earthquakes. They're having earthquakes. But a lot of this is is... I read it last week, I think, from... I'll show you a chapter here on what this is. I don't know if that helps you at all. Marlon. Yeah, sure. Well, yeah, this is demonic activity. working on people. This is what this is. Breastplates of, you know, causing people to set up idols in their own mind, which causes war. Right, but these aren't literal things. What was going on in their time, too, is just the language has changed when he says the white horse went out with a bow. He wouldn't have understood, none of the Jews that read that wouldn't have understood if he said the white horse went out with a bazooka. You know, we can understand on this side of it that the man of war used a bow in his day and we use bazookas in our day. But in his day, if he had wrote down, he wrote a bazooka, they couldn't have understood it. And so then it would have been no good to them. It's good to them and it's good for us. Yes, sir. Anything else? Anything? Come on, help me out here. OK, let's pray. Father, we thank you for your great mercy and grace to us. And we understand that there are many things hard to understand in your scriptures, but you've not left us with a page of confusion. You do all things decently and in order. And we know that you would have not been able to write in this first chapter that by reading this book, we would be blessed therein. both readers and hearers. Father, we thank you and we ask that you give us your spirit of discernment and that we might see the blessings that you have for us in this book. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.