Please note, the historical chart mentioned at the end or near the end of this message is available as a PDF file. Thank you. Well, I'm going to read now the entire 16th chapter of Revelation. Although I'm not going to be finishing it this morning, Sought to open up the first three vials last Sunday. I'm going to look at the next three and conclude the message in a different way from what I normally do. And you'll understand when I reach the near the end of the message. Revelation chapter number 16. Here now this portion of God's word. 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 an ointsome and greasome sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast and upon them which worshiped his image. 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 the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters and they became blood. And I heard the angel of the water say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art and was and shall be, because Thou hast judged us. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and Thou hast given them blood to drink, for they are worthy. And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are Thy judgments. And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun, and power was given unto him to scorch men 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 the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast, and his kingdom was full of darkness, and they gnawed their tongues for pain, and blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds. 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 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 prophets. For they are the spirits of devils working miracles which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame. And he gathered them together in a place called, in the Hebrew tongue, Armageddon. And 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 were voices and 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. And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. And 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. May God help us as we seek to understand his word again today. You may be seated. I return your attention to the 16th chapter of Revelation. Having just read it in your hearing, but having considered the first three historical vials last Sunday, I intend to finish the fulfilled historical vials of Revelation 16 in this message, knowing, as a number have mentioned to me, the challenge of keeping everything straight, the challenge of keeping everything straight in light of all the historical things being pictured, not only by the vials, but by the trumpets that precede the vials and the seals that precede them as well. Hopefully to help you, there is something, as I mentioned, I'm going to do after I finish seeking to show you what these last three fulfilled vials are picturing historically. In light of the fact that the seventh vial has not yet been poured out. The seventh vial has not yet been poured out because, friends, if it had, I would not be preaching to you today. But as you know, I have been attempting to open up the book of Revelation, considering it based on my studies from what was the predominant view of evangelical and reformed believers since the Reformation, if not before, until at least the 1850s with the rise of the popularity of mostly futurism. In Revelation, Jesus is giving to John and us visions and pictures of actual history. Actual history from the first century A.D. onward and from the standpoint of the last kingdom, pictured in the statue of King Nebuchadnezzar's dream that the prophet Daniel interpreted for him in Daniel chapter 2. Because there you see that God is sovereign over history. You see the reality that he was able to reveal to Daniel the coming kingdoms. There was Babylon, then the Medo-Persia Empire, then the Greek Empire, and then finally the Roman Empire. These are facts of history. And the kingdom of Rome in its two forms, pagan and then papal, a kingdom greatly weakened and in a different form than when John was on the Isle of Patmos. Friends, it's fascinating from a standpoint of history that the Roman Kingdom in its papal form still exists. Because consider it this way. In how many countries of the world today are there Roman Catholic churches pledging obedience to the popes of Rome? If you were to go down in the map downstairs and take a little, you know, those little push pins and say, OK, is there a Catholic church here? It would be fascinating. Now, I repeat, understanding Revelation in this way shows that all recorded history, even the history of Revelation, is selective. For remember, this is another thing to remember. Remember that even those holding to a preteristic view of Revelation, what preterism is, it's all been fulfilled because of the fall of Jerusalem. I mean, that's a historical view, right? It's a historical view of the book of Revelation. And those who are futuristic, that's a historical view of Revelation as well. They're saying that it's yet, the things are yet to take place. Unless you adopt what is called the spiritual view and just see everything spiritually, and it has nothing to do with actual history, everybody has some historical understanding of the book of Revelation. So to see the Book of Revelation referring to actual human history, be it past or yet future, is challenging. To come to that realization that, as I've said many times as I've preached, you know, history is not the tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury signifying nothing. There's a solemnity to history. There's a seriousness to history that, to be honest, friends, I did not see until I started looking at Revelation in the way I've been seeking to do. I confess that to you openly. But I also repeat that understanding Revelation this way is anti-papal because the papacy is the Antichrist of Scripture. But being anti-papal does not make it anti-Catholic. Just as being opposed to the teaching of the false teacher Mohammed doesn't make a person anti-Muslim. It is the false teaching of the papacy. It's the false teaching of Mohammed or any other false teacher that is being opposed. Because friends, what's the desire of true believers in Christ? What's the desire of true believers in Christ for those being misled and deceived by the false papal system or any false belief system? To be saved. To be saved out of that false system and come into the wonderful knowledge that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. As I mentioned, I didn't know that the building inspector, we would talk for a few minutes about his being saved out of Catholicism. Because what are the words from heaven in Revelation 18.4? And I heard another voice from heaven saying, come out of her, my people, that you be not partakers of her sins and that you receive not of her plagues. This has specific application, as I hope to show, to the false system of the papacy, but it's applicable to all false systems. How many who have loved ones in liberalism, in the liberal churches with that fly their God dishonoring flags, want to see them come out from among them and be saved? Or any of the others? But one of the ways, one of the ways to see how important it is to see how clearly Rome papal has been pictured in this final prophecy of Jesus will be in the chapters I have yet to get to. But last Sunday I ended with describing what the third poured out vial of Revelation 16 verse 4. And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters, and they became blood. I sought to explain what that was picturing from the perspective of progressive history. What does this third vial picture according to the progressive historical understanding of the Book of Revelation? The wars initiated by atheistic France after the French Revolution by Napoleon Bonaparte. Remember again, history is being revealed progressively to John and us by the seals, by the trumpets, and by the vials, something I will return to in this message. But prior to looking at what is pictured in the fourth vial progressively, I want to briefly mention something I did after last Sunday's message. I found a series of animated videos describing the assaults of the armies of Napoleon Bonaparte in Europe, keeping in mind what is pictured by the third vial. What does the third vial say? And the third angel poured out his vials upon the rivers and fountains of waters and they became blood. And I was amazed, or maybe I shouldn't have been amazed, at how central all the rivers in Europe were in the battles that were fought. And these videos were not produced by someone trying to explain Revelation historically. I just found it fascinating that as it pictured it, it's one river, another river, all the rivers. Which leads directly into the fourth and fifth vial of Revelation 16. The fourth vial, Revelation 16, verses eight and nine. And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun, and power was given unto him to scorch men 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." Now remember again, this is imagery. It's picturing something, or in this case, someone. Because the sun apocalyptically is a picture of someone occupying a high level of earthly authority. You can look back as how in various cultures, the kings were pictured as the rays of sun over their head, that's picture, that's apocalyptic literature. Here, having this authority and you think of having the authority to be able to bless or curse, depending on how the authority and power is used. Now, based on what the vials that precede this fourth vial picture and the fall and that the one that follows it pictures those who understand revelation historically, they see this as picturing Napoleon Bonaparte. They see this as a picture of Napoleon Bonaparte. He's the sun shining in a very negative way upon Europe. Because what is being pictured is easily overlaid with what Napoleon Bonaparte did between 1796 to 1815 throughout papal dominated Europe. He had himself crowned king of France, and he became the son of Revelation. He became that son, as the verse says, and the fourth angel ported his vial upon the sun, and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. He was a man who scorched Europe for almost 20 years. For almost 20 years of time. He waged war for over a decade throughout Europe. Entire villages were burned to the ground. Every kingdom in Europe, from Italy to Germany, from Spain to Russia, felt the scorching heat of his assaults. Those in power think of it from this perspective, those in power like the sun can be a blessing or a curse. Right, the sun can be a great blessing, but oh, if you're in the middle of the Sahara Desert and you've only got T-shirts and a short and shorts on, that's not going to be very pleasant, is it? The sun can do be both a blessing and a curse. And compare this today to what world leaders have the capability of afflicting on the world today. What could some world leaders inflict on the world today? But even a brief study of the extent of Napoleon Bonaparte's military campaigns are sobering to consider in their impact. Historians estimate that the death toll was in the millions. And add to this what is pictured in the fifth vial, as I will expand on in a moment, and you see again how we are being given a picture of the truth that the Lord's hand is on human history. He hasn't taken his hand off of human history. For Napoleon Bonaparte was the leader who had the Pope arrested and imprisoned. Historians call Napoleon Bonaparte the scourge of Europe. And remember, the nations felt the heat of this sun for almost 20 years. Remember that these were the nations that had for centuries obeyed the popes in their persecution. And in their killing of believers, we need to remember that as we move progressively through these things didn't just come about. Remember, there was centuries of persecutions preceding this of our brothers and sisters in Christ. But did these wars, did these wars move men in atheistic France and people dominated Europe to repentance as they killed one another on the battlefield? No. Verse nine, and men were scorched with great heat and blasphemed the name of God, which had power over these plagues. And they repented not to give him glory. Here you're having a picture. Think of it. God isn't saying anything to us after 1,200 years of persecuting and killing his people. What did France do? They voted God out of existence. Did the popes repent of their false teachings in support of the killing of believers? No. Which leads right into the fifth vial. Revelation 16, 10 and 11. And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast, and his kingdom was full of darkness. And they gnawed their tongues for pain, and blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds." Again, remember, this is imagery of something that happened historically. The seat of the beast is papal Rome. Remember, it had been approving and supporting the killing of believers for almost 1,300 years. John is given a picture of what took place at the end of that 1,260 year period of time. History records the fact that the armies of Napoleon Bonaparte pillaged Catholic churches, killed priests. And then on February the 15th, 1798, the Pope was arrested. The Pope was arrested by the armies of Napoleon Bonaparte. Notice the fifth vial, his vial upon the seat of the beast and his kingdom was full of darkness. I mean, when you arrest the Pope, it's like the kingdom is about to go into darkness. Not only that, on February 15, 1798, the Pope was arrested, taken to France, thrown into prison where he died. And his kingdom was full of darkness. The Pope's furniture, the Pope's library, the museum collection carried off by the soldiers. The wardrobe of the Pope was cast into the fire to retrieve the gold that was used in making those garments. Think of it. Such treatment of a Pope was unheard of before these events. And they nod their tongues for pain. I mean, think of the impact hearing, I mean, devoted Catholic nations hearing that the Pope had been arrested and that he had been imprisoned. The pain that that would have caused. But remember, friends, keep this in historical context. How many believers had their possessions taken from them, then thrown into prison cells and dying there over the last 1,200 years? As Arthur has been showing us from Fox's Book of Martyrs. Now again, did papal Rome learn anything from this judgment being pictured so powerfully? No. Verse 11, And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds. The power of the papacy over Europe was shattered after Napoleon. I mean, think of it from this perspective. I made reference to this a number of messages back. Remember that king that had to stand in the snow? He was King Henry IV. He had to stand in the snow barefoot to have a pope remove his judgment against his country to now a pope being thrown into prison and dying there. And remember, the Scottish preacher saw this coming a century before it took place. This was a painful time for the papacy as pictured, but did it? Has it repented of its false teachings? No. Pope Pius IX on December the 8th, 1854, proclaimed the immaculate conception of Mary. Then in 1870, even as no nations listened to or attended Vatican I, the demonic doctrine of papal infallibility was pronounced. They didn't learn. They still haven't learned. But now with the sixth vial, there is a change. There's a change in focus as Jesus shows his sovereignty over history into recent time. Into recent time, friends. Revelation 16, 12. 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." Now, friends, the last time the Euphrates River was mentioned was back in Revelation 9. Mentioned back in Revelation 9 under the sixth trumpet, where the Ottoman Turks are pictured as they invaded Rome and Constantinople fell. But here, What's the Euphrates River pictured as? Drying up. Drying up. The picture that is being painted here is a loss of power, is a loss of position. The Euphrates River is a picture of the bursting Ottoman Empire, the Turkish Empire that exploded onto Rome back in Revelation 9 under the sixth trumpet, and it existed for centuries of time. But now, according to Revelation 16, 12. The sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates and the water there was dried up. Its power and position. Ended and declined and friends, friends, this is what's so fascinating and sobering and challenging about this, just like Robert Fleming, who saw the French Revolution pictured 100 years before it took place. E.B. Eliot, who wrote a 2,500-page, four-volume historical commentary on Revelation, died before the events pictured in this sixth vial, but he said it referred to the drying up of the Ottoman or Turkish Empire. He said that after I died, the Turkish Empire will decline, the Ottoman Empire will decline, based on his understanding of this vial. Remember, nations and kingdoms rise and fall under the sovereignty of the Lord God. The challenge for us, at least the challenge for me, I don't know if you share this challenge with me. The challenge for me is in the sense, well, I can look back and say, oh, there's Babylon, and there's Medieval Persia, and there's Greece, and there's Rome. But today, that's the challenge. So remember that nations rise and fall today and in recent history because the Lord has raised them up or brought them down. Nations and kingdoms rise and fall into the sovereignty of the Lord. And John is given a picture of the dying or the drying up of the Ottoman or Turkish Empire. Now, again, it's legitimate to ask yourself. Does history reveal anything like this? Does history reveal anything like this? Yes. And friends, I know I'm hitting you with a lot. I mean, you probably said, I can't keep this straight. I know I'm hitting you with a lot of information, something I will try to rectify in a moment. But from 1820, see, this is moving progressively historically forward from 1820 to 1897, the Ottoman Turks lost control. Listen to this. The Ottoman Turks lost control of Algeria, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Crete, Greece, Herzegovina, Moldavia, Morocco, Serbia, and Wallachia. Ending with Britain and France controlling the Middle East after World War I, so by November 1st, 1922, 623 years of Ottoman Turkish rule over these areas was formally ended. How few today know that Iraq was founded in August 1921 by the British after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I. And this is just one example, illustrating how the great river Euphrates, the former great Ottoman Empire, was dried up. And what does it drying up so that the way of the kings of the East might be prepared. What does that mean, friends, for the world today? What does that mean for the world today? That the way of the kings of the East might be prepared? History is in the hands of our Lord. Now, I do not deny in the least That keeping everything straight and wrapping your mind around the truth that not just past history, not just future history, but all history is in the hands of King Jesus as revealed by revelation with the seals, with the trumpets. And now the fulfilled vials is not easy. Because friends, this means there's only one vial left. This means there's only one vial left. But as I said, I was going to do something that will hopefully help you. For what I want to do now is give you an overview. I want to give you an overview of the seals, the trumpets, and the fulfilled vials. And before you think I've lost my mind, I'm going to do it by handing out a sheet of paper. that I hope will help. You can take this with you. There's some coffee right on it. Since there's only one vial left, and that one hasn't been poured out yet. And that should cause us to wonder in the times we're living in. But just to give you an overview of what I've tried to show over the last few months, King Jesus reveals history until he comes again. You have the symbol, the first column listed down. Then you have the text specifically related, the historical period, the period pictured in the historical markers. So with seal one, you have a reference to pagan Rome at its peak. Period of time, 96 AD to 180. Why do historicists see it this way? Because of the bow reference and the type of crown. If you were to do research, you would find that these were particular for that particular time in history. Moving on to the seal number two. You have a new period of time, the Red Horse, civil war in Rome. Historical marker, the number of Caesars. There were 30 Caesars. I mean, it was like every few years or even less, the Caesars would be replaced by another one. Horrendous time of civil war in Rome. Seal 3. The black horse, economic devastation, and the reason the reason historicists see that is because of the specific price given for the wheat and barley. It's amazing. The price given in the text was not the price in John's day. It reflected the cost of wheat and barley. In the period mentioned and then the fourth seal. Death and disease, the pale horse, Entire towns were devoid of people because of what was going on in Rome at that time. The fifth seal, Revelation 6, 9 to 11, covering Christian martyrs. Remember, Diocletian attempted to destroy the church over a 10 year period of time. Then seal six, you have the fall of pagan Rome pictured. 313 to 395, fear of the pagans due to Emperor Constantine's embracing of quote unquote Christianity. And so you move from, and then seal seven gives you what? Reveals the seven trumpets. Trumpet one, the invasion of the Goths. How do we know that? The destruction of vegetation. It mentions it in the text. The next trumpet, the Vandals invade Rome. What were they known for? They were the tyrants of the sea. And if you read that text, that's what's mentioned. Going on to Trumpet 3, Attila the Hun or the Huns, they polluted the rivers. It was a battle tactic of Attila the Hun. And then Trumpet 4, Heruli invade Rome. The Western Emperor was banished. The Caesar fell from power. Moving on to Trumpet 5. The Muslims invade Rome. And friends, if you read the text, Revelation 9, 1 to 11, what are mentioned in that? Locusts. Locusts are mentioned, remember? Locusts were the emblem of the Muslims. Not only that, but there was the aspect you go back to, you go back to the First trumpet, the destruction of vegetation. And yet when you get down to trumpet five, there's no destruction of vegetation because Muslims were prohibited from damaging the vegetation. And then you go to trumpet six, 1062 to 1452, the Turks invade Rome. This is the Ottoman Empire, the fall of Constantinople. And you read the verses. What do you have pictured? Cannons. Cannons were first used against Constantinople. Constantinople wouldn't fall before that. So this is just a progressive. And so now you're a trumpet seven revealed in the seven vials and the things that I've sought to bring out over the last Sunday and this morning. The first vial moving progressively historically, the French Revolution. It was a boil. It was a sore. How? The rise of atheism, rationalism, the rejection of papal teaching. And then the second vial, dealing with the seas, the defeat of papal supporting navies. What's the historical marker? The number of ships that were lost. Then you go to the third vial, papal supporting nations invaded by atheist France. As I mentioned, all key battles were around the rivers of Europe. Then the fourth vial, Napoleon Bonaparte's assault against papal supporting nations. As I said, Napoleon had himself crowned king of France. He was the son. He was the leader. Moving on to the fifth vial, the assault on papal power and authority, as I mentioned, the Pope arrested. I mean, it's, you know, his kingdom fell into darkness. Well, I mean, you arrest the Pope. imprison him and then he dies in prison. The sixth vial bringing us close to our time and even the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the nations that now exist where the Ottomans used to rule and reign. These are facts. These are all facts of history, friends. And so that brings us to the seventh vial. I don't know when it's going to be poured out. I don't have that knowledge. His return, friends, is close. His return is close. What will the historical markers be to testify? I don't know. I don't know. But I thought it would be helpful to give you this to show you the progressive nature of this understanding of the book of Revelation. I'm not saying you have to embrace it. But it certainly shows to me that Jesus is king. He's king over human history. He's king over human history. And the book of Revelation shows this. See, the man in the basement may refer to the myth known as Neanderthal man to demean those who make decisions he does not like. But Jesus is with his church always, and he will be with his church until the end of the age. And we are surrounded by false and dangerous views of human history. Let's be honest. We are surrounded by dangerous and false views of human history. Neanderthal man is a myth. May what Jesus reveals to John help us to see history correctly before he returns. And be ready to meet him through his gifts of saving repentance and faith. He which testifieth, testify these things, saith, surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so come. Lord Jesus. Let us pray. Our Lord and our God, we confess that we need your help to understand history correctly. Give us that understanding through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.