and we have been studying in our Sunday morning series the plagues of Egypt and the plagues that God poured out upon Egypt and we felt it would be a good idea and felt the Lord was in it to revisit the future plagues of the Tribulation as we look at the plagues of Egypt we can see some pictures and some things that come through in the book of Revelation and what God did On a local level in Egypt, he's going to do on a global level or on a global scale in the future. Of course, there's not exact parallels with all of the plagues of Egypt, but there is a lot of similarities, especially with the trumpet and vial judgments, but on a much larger scale. So we're dealing with the theme Tribulation Plagues and then specifically Vials of Vengeance and I hope that if nothing else, revisiting a few of these Revelation messages might encourage you to delve into it again. If you haven't been through the Revelation series, we have a whole series available there if you would be interested to Listen to those, access them on our website. Revelation chapter 16 and we're going to read from verse 1 down to verse 21. Why don't we read it responsibly tonight? I'll read verse 1, you read verse 2 and we'll go back and forth that way until we get to the end of the chapter. So reading from verse 1, and I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, go your ways and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth. And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea, and it became as the blood of a dead man, and every living soul died in the sea. And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus. And I heard another out of the altar say, even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments. And the Lord angel poured out his fire upon the sun, and power was given unto him, scorching and with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues. And they repented not to give him glory. and blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds. And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. behold I come as a thief blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments lest he walk naked and they see his shame the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven from the throne saying it is done and there And the great city was divided into three parts and the cities of the nations fell. And great Babylon came in remembrance before God to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven every stone about the weight of a talent and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail for the plague thereof was exceeding great let's pray father we ask for your help and your blessing upon our study here tonight lord for some this will be reviewed for some it will be new we just pray lord that you minister to each one his necessary portion, Lord, that you would speak to our hearts, that you would help us, Lord, not to merely be fascinated with future things, but to allow your word to challenge us, Lord, to think about how we're living our lives now. And Lord, we pray for your blessing. We pray for your help now in Jesus' name. Amen. As we've mentioned a number of times in the book of Revelation, we have three main series of judgments. We have the seven seal judgments, the seven trumpet judgments, and then the seven vial judgments. The Lamb is the one, the only one, worthy to open the seals and so we see that this entire seven-year period is a period of God's judgment. We do not, as some do, try and divide the seven-year period between the wrath of man and the wrath of the Lamb because if the Lamb of God doesn't open that first seal there's nothing happening here on earth, there's no wrath poured out and so it's all the wrath of the Lamb. We see that in heaven, heaven is dictating what's happening on earth, heaven is in control and we know that God is on the throne and God is in control ultimately but we're going to see that especially in the book, we see that especially in the book of Revelation where God is intervening and acting directly in the world to pour out his judgments upon a world that is deserving of his wrath. And God is really working to do two things, two main things in the tribulation. Number one, he's trying them that dwell upon the earth, the earth dwellers, those who have their abode in their hearts and their homes. Down here, those who are in rebellion against God. God is going to judge the wicked. God is going to judge this world. And then number two, God is working to bring about Israel's repentance. It is the time of Jacob's trouble. Not the time of the church's trouble, the time of Jacob's trouble. It's the 70th week of Daniel. And we know the 70 weeks, Daniel chapter 9, are determined upon thy people and thy city. So when we're dealing with the seven-year tribulation period, understand that it has to do with Jews and Jerusalem. Jews and Jerusalem, not the church. The church is snatched away before that period of wrath, for we are not appointed to wrath, are we? 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. Revelation 3.10, because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I will also keep thee from the hour of temptation, which is to come upon all the world, there to try them that dwell upon the earth. And so we are promised exemption from this period of God's wrath. We are not appointed to the wrath of the day of the Lord here, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. And of course, he's going to do that by rescuing us through the rapture of the church. Well, we're here in chapter 16 now of Revelation and we looked at the trumpet judgments over a couple of messages and now the bowl judgments or the vial judgments. We started that last week and now we're continuing with that theme tonight. So we want to just briefly review a little bit and then continue on with the vial judgments tonight. You'll notice that the wrath of God is a key theme of these chapters. Chapter 15 verse 1, For in them, referring to this final series of seven, is filled up the wrath of God. So in the tribulation period, you have God's wrath growing in intensity. It's all God's wrath, but it does grow in intensity. This is where some get confused. They say, well, see, the wrath of God's happening right at the end. No, it's all God's judgment on the world, but now it's filled up to the full. It's God's wrath reaching its apex, its climax in these judgments. chapter 15, verse 7, seven golden vials full of the wrath of God. Revelation 16, 1, the wrath of God there upon the earth. And then chapter 16, verse 19, we read it just before, listen to these words, the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. I mean, this is the pure, undiluted, righteous, just wrath of an all holy God. And oh holy God, that's an awesome thing. And I find it interesting that when we looked at this last week, that before God pours out this final series of seven judgments here upon the world, final seven plagues, there is a worship service in heaven. Do you know it's possible as Christians to worship soberly in light of God's judgment? Not because, we understand our heart is not to see people judged, but from the perspective, true and righteous are your judgments. Whatever you do, God, is right and true. And so as we study these judgments, it should actually, among other things, cause us to worship God from the perspective that he is a just God and a holy God and that we have complete confidence in his judgments. Whatever God does is always right and always true. So please, as we go through these judgments, don't have the idea that God is being unfair, that God is being unjust, that God is being unreasonable. God always gives perfect justice. And that's why we have one of the angels saying in verse five, thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus. then the answer from the altar, verse 7, even so Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments. So we noted the preparation for the vials in chapter 15, there's that worship in heaven, the prayers of the saints there being offered up again before the throne I believe, yep. Okay, I don't see, maybe I'm getting confused with the trumpet judgments but anyway, you have the worship scene in heaven in chapter 15 there. All right, then we come to the pouring out of the vials in chapter 16 and we looked at three of these last week, we'll just briefly review those and then study the final four. So the first vial, the first bowl was poured out and there was the judgment of sores, we could use the word sores there, verse 1 and 2. And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, go your ways and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth. And the first went and poured out his vial upon the earth and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast and upon them which worship his image. So we have this plague of sores and you see the similarity there to the plague of boils from the Old Testament in the Exodus. Then the second vial was poured out and that impacted the seas and the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea, and it became as the blood of a dead man, and every living soul died in the sea." Now, under the trumpet judgments, a third of the sea was impacted, remember that? And a third of sea life died. But in the vial judgment, the entire sea, the oceans of the world are all affected, and they become as the blood, not of a living man, but the blood of a dead man. And every living soul dies in the sea. And then we have the third vial poured out, which now affects the freshwater sources. So you have judgment upon the oceans of the world, then you have judgment upon the freshwater sources of the world, the rivers and the streams and so on. So you see that God's judgment matches the crime. world has shed the blood of the saints down through the ages and this is going to be true in the tribulation period, not of the church age saints but of tribulation saints. The church is going to be caught up out of here but aren't you thankful that even during that seven-year period there will be people who come to Christ through the witness of the 144,000 Jewish evangelists there. So we have the first vial, sores, second vial, seas, the third vial, streams, and now we pick up with where we left off last week, the fourth vial, sun. The sun is impacted, verse eight and nine. And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun, and power was given unto the sun, unto him, sorry, to scorch men with fire, and men were scorched with great heat, blaspheme the name of God which hath power over these plagues and they what? Repented not to give him glory. So we note there the burning of men in verse 8 through 9, the burning of men. Under the fourth trumpet judgment the sun's intensity was reduced by a third, here the sun's intensity is increased. So the sun is going to be so hot and it's going to be operated in such a way there that it will scorch men with fire and with great heat. And so men are going to get just a little foretaste on earth of what hell will be like. Imagine the fires, imagine the heat of that time. This will be global warming. but it'll be divine global warming. It won't be caused by your Toyota. Global warming will not be caused by a little bit of carbon coming out the back of your car. This will be a direct judgment of God upon the earth and don't forget that this takes place in the context of the third vial where all the water has been turned to blood. So you imagine, you have no fresh drinking water, all the water sources of the world have been turned to the blood of a dead man, and now you have scorching heat and nothing to drink except this water that has been turned into the blood of a dead man. And so we have this scorching of the earth, and it's a reminder, isn't it tonight, that if you reject Christ, you will burn for all eternity in a real place called hell. I don't say that in a callous way, I don't say that tonight because I'm a hate preacher or because I don't like you and God's Word doesn't warn about hell because God hates you either, God's Word warns you about a place called hell because God loves you and because God is not willing that any should perish, the Bible says. but that all should come to repentance. You have a choice, though. You can either repent and receive the gift of salvation and forgiveness through the Lord Jesus Christ, or you can reject that and go to hell. And let me say, if you go to hell, it'll be because of your choice, not because God didn't make a way for you to escape. So we see under this vial the burning of men. Then we notice the blasphemy from men. Notice that the people here on the earth at that time do not respond with repentance towards God, but with blasphemy. And men were scorched with great heat and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues, and they repented not to give him glory. That's pretty serious, isn't it? instead of repenting over their sin, instead of coming to Christ for forgiveness, they rather blaspheme God who has power over these plagues. Make no mistake about it, the people living on the earth at this time will know that these are divine judgments because they're blaspheming the one who has power over these plagues. They know, they know these plagues are coming from God because from the sixth seal It dawns on them. It's amazing actually, you study it, it's like it dawns on them that what's been happening previously is also from the throne. But they're going to try and hide themselves from the wrath of the Lamb. They know, they know that God is on the throne. There'll be no real atheists at this time in human history. They will know that God is God because God will be so actively pouring out His judgments on the earth, they will have no excuse, there'll be no way to deny His existence and yet, despite the fact they know that God is actively intervening in the world, yet they will choose to blaspheme His name and to rebel against Him. You know, that tells me that just just having evidence of God's existence won't automatically make you repent. Just knowing that there is a powerful God or seeing evidence to that effect will not automatically mean you fall on your knees and trust in Christ. Some people say that, well if you could just give me evidence. these people will have greater evidence than most people in history, they will know that God is on the throne, they will know these judgments are coming from God and yet they will shake their fist in the face of God and blaspheme His name. Blasphemy is one of the key characteristics of the tribulation period. Remember the beast and the names of blasphemy there, I think the world's getting ready for that already, isn't it? I mean, we are living in a day where the name of God is just dragged through the mud. The name of Jesus Christ coupled with filthy four-letter words and the name of God blasphemed and blasphemy is going to be one of the prominent features of the tribulation period as men pour out their hearts' hatred against God. pretty scary actually, we've seen that in theory haven't we? It's pretty scary how hard the human heart can be and you know If the heart is entrenched in unrepentance, then judgment can actually make that heart push further into unrepentance. It's kind of like, as a parent, you can try and correct your child, but if that child is going to hang on to its rebellion, the correction can actually make them more determined in their rebellion. It's a bit scary, isn't it? Okay? If the heart's not right, I've seen it, okay? I'm making a choice, I'm not going to change, I'm going to be a rebel and therefore you can try and correct me but I'm just going to continue in that. And so that's the kind of situation we have here where the unrepentant people of the tribulation will just be entrenched in their hatred of God and their unrepentance. Do you see how the key issue here is that they won't repent? A little reminder here for those who want to use the Gospel of John argument and say, well, the Gospel of John doesn't mention the word repentance. Well, read his final book. Read the book of Revelation. And what's the issue? They won't repent. They won't repent, and it doesn't just mean repenting of their unbelief. Here, they won't repent of their deeds. They won't repent of their blasphemies. They won't repent of their wickedness, and their sin, and their murders, and their witchcrafts, and their thefts, and their fornication. You see, repentance is more than just dealing with your unbelief. That's an aspect to it. But it's very clear here that repentance also has to do with your sin. And repentance doesn't mean you fixing your own sins. It means you see that sin is serious and you come to Christ in faith who has the solution. But don't tell me that the concept of repenting from sin is nowhere found in the Bible. You're wrong. You're wrong. You're wrong. Read the book of Revelation. They won't repent of their sins. They won't repent of their fornication and of their thefts and of their wickedness against God. And so, Woolworth writes, "...the wishful thinking of some that men would repent if they only knew the power and righteous judgment of God is shattered by frequent mention in this chapter of the hardness of the human heart in the face of the most stringent and evident divine discipline." Now, if you have a heart that's hungry for the truth, I believe there's evidence that can convince you. Are you saying, you're just expecting me to exercise blind faith? No, we have a faith that'll hold up to the test. You search the scriptures, you study creation, you find the evidence for Christ and Christianity. And if you have a heart that genuinely wants the truth, God will show you. You'll find the evidence there to convince you. But you know, it's possible to know the evidence and to even be convinced there is a God and to be convinced of the truth of Christianity and yet say, I don't want it. People say, oh, if you could just show me evidence, I'd believe. Actually, that's not always the case because sometimes you ask people, if I could show to you without any shadow of a doubt that there is a God and that the Bible is real, would you believe? Oh, I'm not sure. Your problem is not intellectual, your problem is moral. Your problem is you don't want the change of life because you understand that if you come to Christ, your life is going to change. Could I encourage you? It's a change worth having. It's a change worth having to come into contact with Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and to have His power transform you and make you a new person. I tell you what, anything you have to give up for that, it's going to be more than worth it. And I'm not saying, again, that you have to try and change your own life in order to become a Christian. No, I'm saying if you become a Christian, your life will change by the power of God. And so we have the sun. Then vial number five, we could call this Shadows, verses 10 and 11. And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast, and his kingdom was full of? Darkness, what plague does that remind you of? Oh dear, we better go back and redo Exodus. Plagues that preach, what was the ninth plague? Plague of darkness and a darkness that could be felt. So can you see what God has done in the past, He's going to do again in the future but on a much larger scale. Okay, and the fifth angel poured out his vial, his bowl, upon the seat of the beast and his kingdom was full of darkness and they gnawed their tongues for pain.' There is a end times kingdom of Antichrist and you read about that in Revelation 17 and it's made up of a religious, it's got a religious component, it's also got an economic component, okay, a political component, one world order, okay, you don't have to jump online to find these things out, just read your Bible. Mark of the Beast, that's an economic control, you can't buy or sell without it and we know from Revelation 17 that the Antichrist's kingdom is centered in a city with seven hills, that's Rome. There's only one city on seven hills, Rome is known for that and it's significant isn't it, that that's the seat of the Roman Catholic Church and Okay, now I think that the Roman Catholic Church will... there's going to be an end times kind of church and I would suggest very strongly that the Catholic Church will be a part of that. You know, the current Pope just had a prayer meeting recently with all these different pagan religions. It's all just bringing everybody together, that's just getting ready for the Antichrist! Because he wants to control the world politically, economically and religiously. So this whole idea of, let's just throw down the barriers, let's put the Bible to one side and let's all come together as one church, that's the church of the Antichrist. Or it's the church that's getting ready for Antichrist, that's not the true church of Christ. So we see the similarity there in the plague, the plague of darkness here in the Tribulation to the plague that we've been studying in Exodus. Except, this will now, I believe, envelop it would seem, the whole world or at least all of those who are worshippers of the beast. Okay, because it says, the vial was poured out upon the seat of the beast, seems to be his centre of power, and his kingdom was full of darkness. And we know by that stage, he has a worldwide sort of dominion there, so all those who are a part of the beast's kingdom will be affected. And this darkness is a darkness that can be felt, in fact, it's worse than that, it's a darkness that somehow causes pain, they gnaw their tongues for pain. And I don't know exactly how that all works but it may be that this darkness intensifies the plague of boils or the plague of sores. whatever, they're going to gnaw their tongues for pain in this plague of darkness. So we notice the target, sorry I meant to give you the outline there, number one, the target of the plague. So the plague is directed against Antichrist and his followers and it's interesting isn't it, that hell is also described as a place of darkness. Okay, see those references there, outer darkness, outer darkness, outer darkness, the mist of darkness forever, 2nd Peter 2.17, the blackness of darkness forever. You know, if you choose the darkness of sin and Satan in this life over the light that is in Christ, you have darkness forever in eternity. Then we see the torment of the plague, I've mentioned that. But then look, the tongues in the plague. Despite this, again, we see they blasphemed God, this is the second reference to blasphemy in the chapter, and blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores and repented not of their... what? Their deeds, their lifestyle, their wicked actions. Okay, very clear. So again, unrepentant towards God. You know, I don't believe that people in hell can repent. I believe that when someone has said that final no to God, they become entrenched in their unbelief and hell will be a place where it's like this, where the more they're judged, the more they harden in unbelief against God and anger against God. That's what I believe. I believe that. You see, the decision you make for or against Christ in this life is fixed in the next. Well, how many times do you try and talk to people and they say, well, I guess I'll find out when I get there and I guess I'll have to make a decision after I'm dead. Too late. Too late. as it is appointed unto men once to die but after this the judgment. You must make a decision for Christ now before it is too late. You must choose Christ before it is too late. That's the message of the Bible. And so we have vial number five, shadows. Then the sixth vial, we could call this one slaughter. Slaughter, verse 12 through 16. And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates and the water thereof was dried up that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. And we'll keep reading in a moment. So in this plague we notice firstly there, the drying up of the river. God is going to God is going to allow there, the river Euphrates, to be dried up to make way for a end times army to come and perhaps the scorching heat of the Sun will play a role in that. So we have the river drying up. The Euphrates River forms a natural geographical barrier between the east and the west. Euphrates River, pictured on the map there, is roughly 1,700 miles long. I should have given you kilometres. My teacher wife, you've got to give it to us in kilometres. What's 1,700 miles in kilometres? Where's the mathematicians here? Now is your moment to shine. Tom, by 1.6? That's the formula, but what's the answer? It's good someone's got their phone on them, that's great. No, okay, thank you. Flowing from the Armenian mountains right down to the Persian Gulf. It is first mentioned in Genesis 2.14 and its last mention is here. So the Kings of the East, the way is prepared for armies to march from the east of Israel. Okay, to the east of Israel we have the great Asian nations such as India, Bangladesh, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, China and Japan. We don't know how many of those countries will be involved in this but we see a clear indicator here of the Kings of the East coming to this Battle of Armageddon in Israel. So... We certainly see the rise of the kings of the east, don't we? Especially in places like China today. Saber rattling and growing more and more powerful. Ah, may America's the greatest nation on earth. Won't be for much longer the way they're going. The Chinese have some pretty formidable weaponry. They even knock out satellites in space and all sorts of things going on. They are just very powerful kings of the east. And so we see the drying up of the river. and there's a picture of the Euphrates River and verse 16 says, and he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue, Armageddon. So they're marching across the Euphrates River there that's been dried up and they're coming to a place called Armageddon. Now, this is located in the great plain of Megiddo, southwest of the Sea of Galilee and we went there on our Israel trip. The word means the hill of Megiddo and the word Megiddo means place of troops or place of slaughter. It's also called the valley of Jezreel, it's quite a beautiful valley at the moment, a lot of agriculture through that valley but you can see how it could fill a lot of people just a very natural battlefield. In fact, Napoleon called it the most natural battlefield of the whole earth. That was his perspective as a military general. And this site is a historic site, even from biblical history and from general history. Barak defeated the armies of Canaan here in Judges 5.19. It was here that Gideon met the Midianites. King Saul lost his life here. then Titus and the Roman army used this natural corridor as did the Crusaders in the Middle Ages and then British General Allenby used it when he defeated the Turkish armies in 1917. John Phillips writes, the Holy Land has been chosen by God as the stage on which two crucial events take place, one on a mountain and one on a plain. Mount Calvary and the plain of Megiddo are the two altars of sacrifice that dominate the history of the world. On Mount Calvary, grace redeemed the world by the sacrifice of God's Son. On the plains of Megiddo, vengeance offers up the armies of the world in a sacrifice of doom. Both are blood baths, both are the descent of wrath upon sin. From each proceeds a supper, one a feast of remembrance for the people of God, and the other a feast of retribution for the carrion. At Calvary there rang up to the gates of heaven a victorious cry, it is finished. And at Armageddon there rings down to earth an answering cry from the temple gates in glory, it is done. And we read about this conflict over in chapter 19, if you want to turn there, and it takes place at the return of Christ to earth, we see Christ descending in verse 11, "'And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True,' aren't they precious names of the Lord? "'And in righteousness he doth judge and make war.'" It's totally righteous what he's doing. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns, crowning with many crowns. And he had a name written that no man knew but he himself, when he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. The armies which are in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should, what, smite the nations. and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of God, and he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written King of Kings and Lord of Lords." That's Christ. I saw an angel standing in the sun and he cried with a loud voice saying to all the flowers that fly in the midst of heaven come and gather yourselves together under the supper of the great God that ye may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of captains and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of them that sit on them and the flesh of all men both free and bond both small and great and I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse.' How stupid to fight against God, how foolish to war against the Lamb of God, the Son of God, but that's the stupidity of rebellion and unrepentance there, and against his army. And the beast was taken and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him. That's that end times battle. Christ comes and they're going to be slain with the sword of his mouth. probably just speak the word and it's over. I don't know how he's going to do it but his eyes as flame of fire and he's coming, read it in Isaiah, the day of vengeance in his heart, sends goosebumps through you, it's in the heart of God, he's perfectly righteous and pure but God is going to bring just vengeance on this wicked world. Now I want you to notice that there are evil spirits that are stirring up this army that comes to Armageddon there. Because we notice in verse 13 and 14, the Bible tells us, and I saw three unclean spirits, so John sees this in vision there, like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, who's that? That's Satan isn't it? And out of the mouth of the beast, that's the Antichrist, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, can you see an unholy satanic trinity there? the dragon, the beast, the Antichrist and the false prophet. Satan's a mimicker, he copies and often he tries to copy even biblical ideas in his deceptions. So you have the dragon, and then the beast, the dragon in a sense, mimicking God the Father, the beast or the Antichrist, pretending to be the Christ, and then the false prophet basically mimicking the Holy Spirit, being the one who proclaims the so-called Messiahship of the beast there. So it's interesting, look at the depiction of these evil spirits, they're likened to frogs that come out of the mouth, Now again, can you think of where this image might come from, from our Exodus series? Okay, the plague of frogs, but here it's quite a ghastly picture really. He sees three frogs, so one out of each mouth, one come out of the mouth of the dragon, one out of the mouth of the beast, and one out of the mouth of the false prophet. And you say, well what do these represent? Well look at verse 14, for they are the spirits of devils. working miracles which go forth under the kings of the earth and of the whole world to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. So there's a satanic deception behind this. Satan's going to deceive people into thinking that they can actually overthrow Jesus Christ. you know, people actually, they're actually going to think that, they're going to be satanically deceived into that. I think of Psalm 2, why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing? What do they say? Let us cast away their bands and cast off, you know, their bands and cast away their cords from us, he that sitteth in the heavens shall up. It's not the first time people have come together and said we're not going to have God's authority. What a foolish thing, God laughs at that. You can't shake off the Creator's authority. He made the earth, He made you! He has power. So they come out of the mouth here and the imagery of frogs here is a fitting portrayal of evil spirits and their base evil nature. They come out of the mouth and that probably speaks of the satanic inspired propaganda of the Antichrist. Lying spirits, deceiving spirits, you better understand that there are deceiving spirits in the world. You better understand the devil's real and demons are real and they're out to deceive you and this future period is going to be a time of great deception. You think about that, the church is removed, think about how much deception there will be in the world without that restraining influence of the Holy Spirit through the church. So the kings of the earth and of the whole world, so this verse reveals that it's not only the kings of the east that come to this battle but the nations of the earth are gathered together for judgment there at Armageddon in that Jezreel valley there in Israel. Then we notice the waking up of the reader, verse 15, there's a little instruction to the reader, behold I come as a thief, that's Jesus Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame. So the imminence of the return of Christ is emphasized, now within the context of tribulation, of the tribulation period, this is a word to the tribulation saints, okay? But we can draw an application for us, can't we? All right, that's the interpretation, it's an instruction to the tribulation saints, that has to be, it's within the context of the vile judgments here, and we're not here for those, okay? But we can certainly see the principle in that verse, we need to be watchful. we need to be ready, not for the vial judgments but for the voice of the Archangel and the trump of God. Then we look at the final vial judgment and we could call this one, shaking. Shaking, verse 17 to 21. And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air. there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven from the throne saying...' What are those words? It is done. Why does heaven say that? Because we've come to the end of the tribulation period and this is the final judgment and God's judgment now is complete and Christ is about to split the sky and come. Okay? And there were voices thunders and lightnings and there was a great earthquake such as was not since men were upon the earth so mighty an earthquake and so great and the great city was divided into three parts and the cities of the nations fell and great Babylon came in remembrance before God to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath so let's look at this now the voice from heaven verse 17 the voice from heaven it's a great voice You'll notice that the word great appears seven times in connection with the seventh vial, that's interesting. So we've got three series of seven judgments, we're on the final seven, okay, and seven times the word great appears in connection with this seventh vial, revealing its climactic nature. Okay, so great, great, great, great, great, there. Out of the temple, from the throne, so this is the voice of God speaking from the throne, there were voices, there was a, and where does it say there, there were voices and thunders and lightnings, where is it, it is done again, oh yes, there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven from the throne, who's on the throne? God is on the throne, so this is God speaking now from heaven, it is done, His work of judgment is done in this final vial and the tribulation judgments are over and Jesus Christ the King is about to come into view galloping on his heavenly steed and followed by heaven's cavalry. Don't get discouraged, looks at the moment like evil men are in control but we know the end of the story. Christ is coming. He's going to rule and reign and we're going to reign with him for a thousand years. The devil was going to be bound in the bottomless pit for a thousand years. Imagine a thousand years without the devil. And there's going to be a new heaven and a new earth and Satan consigned forever to the lake of fire. What glorious days await us. What glorious days are ahead. So, you see their voices and thunders and lightnings, they're proceeding out of the throne of God, what an awesome sight and in that voice it is done. Then we have the earthquake upon earth. This earthquake will be unparalleled in human history, it will be so great. God is going to give this old wicked world a mighty shaking. As Wolvid writes, the earth literally convulses as the times of the Gentiles come to an end. We note the devastation of the earthquake upon the cities of the world. Jerusalem, we believe that's a reference to Jerusalem there, the great city, cross-reference Revelation 11 verse 8, so the great city. Verse 19 is divided into three parts, the cities of the nation are going to fall. And Babylon is going to come up into remembrance before God to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. Babylon's been around for a long time, goes all the way back to the Tower of Babel and it's existed in various forms because Babylon represents not just a location but a religious system. there's going to be the end times manifestation of Babylon. That spirit of Babylon is still here by the way in the world today but this is the future manifestation of it and it's going to be the Antichrist Babylon and that's detailed in chapter 17 and 18. There's like a pause and it's detailed here in these two chapters with the woman riding the beast and so you've got the Antichrist's kingdom there centered in Rome with its economic aspect to it and everything and God is now going to deal a final death blow to Antichrist's kingdom and ultimately to this world system. aren't you looking forward to this wicked world system that's under the control of Satan coming to an end? It's going to be smashed by King Jesus and he's going to set up his throne, what a blessing. The picture there of Daniel's statue and the stone made without hands comes and just absolutely grinds that thing to nothing. Okay, And so this earthquake is going to affect not just the cities of the world but also the topography of the world because verse 20 says, and every island fled away. That's a pretty big earthquake when you've got islands moving, okay? And the mountains were not found. So you've got mountains coming down, crashing down. You've got islands moving out of there, fleeing away. I mean this is just... unbelievable, it has to be future, it hasn't happened yet, you can't fit this into past history somewhere, this is future and God's judgment there. Then we see there's also a hailstorm upon the earth, now even hailstorms today can cause a lot of damage, look at that there, how many of you have ever had hail damage to a car? Yep, okay, Adelaide, there's been a few bad bouts of that before but those little pebble things that damage your car, try about 40 kilos for this hailstorm, okay? This is like nothing the world has ever seen. And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent. All right, so see that? These hailstones are going to fall down at the end of the tribulation period here, in judgment upon the earth. Weigh about the weight of a talent. Now, a talent is between 108 to 130, is between 108 and 130 pounds, and I've given you kilograms, so you don't have to get your calculation out, or 48 to 58 kilograms. Can you imagine that? I mean, some of the biggest hailstones on records might be the size of a basketball or something like that, but can you imagine hailstones that weigh somewhere in the order of 48 to 58 kilos? Now, we have 20 kilo bags of cement, don't we? that's about over double that, or in New Zealand they're allowed to have 40 kilo bags over there because they must be stronger than us here, but there you go, we're not allowed to have them that heavy I don't think because it's an OH&S problem, but is that true? Anyway, I think they're 20 kilos, but the point is I'm just illustrating. Imagine something the size of a 40 kilo bag of cement falling out of the sky, that's going to pulverise the earth. and bring this wicked world, as we know it, to an end. And then of course, you know, we know that Christ is going to reign on this earth but it's going to be a different kind of place, the Lord's going to really give it a good shaking before he comes to reign. Now clearly some will survive because, are you surprised, they blaspheme God again. Verse 21, every stone about the weight of a talent and men blasphemed God because of the plague, see that word again, of the hail, for the plague thereof was exceeding great. What staggering blindness and hardness of heart. That's what happens when you pass the point of no return. Do you know you have opportunity to repent and God gives you, you have many opportunities to repent. Usually, I can't guarantee you another one of course, but God in his mercy often gives us many opportunities to repent. But did you know you can say no to God one too many times? And you can harden your heart and harden your heart and harden your heart to where it becomes impossible for you ever to truly repent and trust Christ. It's very serious. That's why when you hear the gospel and when you're given an opportunity to repent, you need to take it. because the heart is a deceitful thing and desperately wicked and we need to be scared of our own potential to harden ourselves against God. That's the third reference to blasphemy in this chapter. So these people were entrenched in their hardness and their unrepentance because they passed the point of no return. The day they took the mark of the beast and thereby sold their souls to the dragon. You read the book of Revelation, you take the mark, it's over. You're going to hell. You can't be saved from that point because it's an economic control but it's also an act of worship and allegiance to the Antichrist. So, yes, these are sobering things. So time is indeed running out for this wicked world, isn't it? you have a choice tonight, it's either heaven or hell, Christ or Satan. You say, oh but I just think there are more options than that. There are no other options. There's no in-between. It's either Christ or it's the devil. It's either eternity in heaven or eternity in hell. You can believe that there are many different options but you'll find out when you die that these are the two options. you'll find out that you were deceived. You need to come to Christ now while there is hope and while there is time. Let's have every head bowed and every eye closed as we close the service tonight. This should sober us as we look forward to see these judgments that God is going to pour out on the earth We've been studying the plagues of Egypt but we look forward into the future and see these plagues that are going to be poured out upon this wicked world. Do you know Christ as Saviour? Do you know how much God loves you? He sent his Son, the Lord Jesus, to die on the cross for your sins. He was buried and he rose again, proving that he is the Son of God so that you could be redeemed so that you could be saved from sin and saved from hell. I wonder, would there be anyone here tonight who would just say, Pastor Weston, Pastor Simeon, if I was to die tonight, I think I'm I think I would probably go to hell I think I don't I don't know Christ as my Savior but I'd like to settle that tonight would you just raise your hand if that's you all I'm not going to call you out by name I'm not asking you to join our church but I want to pray for you as I close and then we can take the Bible after service and show you how you can be saved how you can receive forgiveness of sins would there be anyone tonight just raise your hand and say Pastor Simeon I've been challenged about this choice heaven or hell yes thank you thank you you can put your hand down anybody else Thank you for raising your hand. Anybody else? Pastor, pray for me if I'm honest. If I was to die tonight, I don't know for sure where I would spend eternity. Anybody else? These are not fairy stories. This is the truth. These judgments are coming on this world and the time to trust Christ is now before it is too late. Anyone at all? Pastor, pray for me as you close and I'd like to know more how I can receive Christ as my Savior. Just slip your hand up. put it back to anybody else. Lord Jesus we thank you for this one hand that has been raised and Lord we do pray for this dear individual Lord that they would come to know peace in the Lord Jesus Christ and forgiveness of sins we pray Lord that you would move mightily in hearts Lord and that you would draw precious souls to yourself Lord Jesus we thank you that you loved us and gave yourself for us for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believed in him should not perish but have everlasting life and so Lord we pray for anyone here tonight who does not yet know you as Saviour we pray they would truly repent turn in their hearts to you Lord cease in for what it is as serious before you and then come in faith to you Lord Jesus believing that you died for them that you were buried in that you rose again and trust in your blood that was shed to cleanse them and to make them clean we pray in Jesus name Amen