you Welcome to the pulpit ministry of the Clearview Baptist Church in Redmond, Oregon. It is our sincere desire to magnify the scriptures, to glorify the Lord, to testify of the Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ, to edify the Christian, and to notify the sinner. Jesus Christ said, in answer to Satan, in Matthew chapter 4 and verse 4, It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. It's our desire to be a blessing to you today. With our Bibles open, we invite you to listen to today's message. Let's just turn our Bibles to the book of the Revelation this morning. Turn your Bibles to the book of the Revelation, please, and find chapter number 6. I have a long ways to go, and I want to get there, and so let's just begin. Revelation chapter number 6, we concluded last week, we preached to you about the throne room of God out of Revelation chapter number 4, chapter number 5. So today we begin in Revelation chapter number 6. And now we have come to what I call the hard things in the earthly realm. I didn't give you that point last week, but we preached on those high things in the heavenly realm. Chapters 4 and 5. Now, as we continue looking at the prophetic things of the future, we have the hard things in the earthly realm. Chapter 6, verse 1 through chapter 20, verse 15. So don't worry about it. I gave it to you in the outline. You have it already there, okay? Don't look at it right now. I want your attention to the message, not the outline. We'll look at those things at the two o'clock service, the Lord willing. So we're looking at hard things. in the earthly realm. We observed rapture and rejoicing in chapters 4 and 5. The scene was where? In the throne room of God, at the feet of the Lord and of the Lamb in heaven. Holy, holy, holy, we heard. Holy things in that heavenly realm. But now the scene shifts. We're back on the earth as far as the subject matter of chapter number 6. And this is those hard things which reveal wrath, and woe upon the earth. So we're going to see this, but the seven-year period of the tribulation is a day of terror for the earth. Paul spoke about 2 Corinthians 5, knowing therefore the terror of the Lord. It is also a day of trouble for Israel. Jeremiah 30 verse 7, this day is referred to as the time of Jacob's trouble. But as we get to the vials in the book of the Revelation, we see it will also be a day of triumph for heaven. The beast, the false prophet, Satan himself, you know where they're going? To hellfire and brimstone. They will be cast into that bottomless pit. They will wind up in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone forever and forever. God will not fail. He will win the victory. And so it's a day of triumph for heaven. So we're dealing with the prophetic things of the future, all right? So I'm gonna follow the same course as we did last week, giving you explanation this morning, and we'll deal with exposition later, Lord willing. Let me pray and then we'll read just one verse and then we will begin. Let's pray. Father, I come now in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank you for the day. Lord, you know where I am in my heart and in my mind and how much I desperately need you this morning. I need the help of God, the touch of the Spirit of Christ. Oh Lord, that I would be completely controlled by Him, filled with God this morning. Please give light. Please give understanding. Help the truth to come out in a proper way where men can understand the Word of the Lord. I know this would not happen according to human ingenuity. It must be of the Spirit of God that men's eyes and hearts are opened, that light is given, that understanding is given from the Word. So give your word. Free course is my plea, my prayer. May Jesus Christ be exalted, honored, magnified. I do pray in Jesus' precious name, for Jesus' sake, draw that sinner nearest hell to you today, whether they be here or somewhere else, but draw the sinners within this building under the sound of my voice to Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. Oh, please, for Jesus' sake, do this, I pray. Amen. Amen. All right, verse 1, chapter 6 of Revelation, verse 1, when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were, the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see." That's all I'm going to read for right now. Do you remember chapter 4? We were at the throne of God and we saw one upon the throne. We concluded chapter 4 with this, the song Thou art worthy, O Lord, or the saying at least, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created. In the right hand of Him upon the throne was a book written, in chapter 5 verse 1. It was written within, and on the back side it was sealed with seven seals. We saw one standing in the midst of the throne, who was the One, the Lamb of God, the worthy One, the worshipped One, the only One who was able to take the book, to open the book, and to look. Thereon. By the end of chapter 5, we heard the voice of many angels round about the throne. We heard the beast and the elders. We heard the throngs. The number was 10,000 times 10,000. Thousands of thousands. What did they say? Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. And by the end of the chapter, we hear the word, Amen. the agreement of all of creation to the saying about the worth, proclaiming the worship of the Lamb." Well, the Lamb was standing, chapter 5, meaning and indicating He's about to judge the world in righteousness. He has the book. It's sealed. It's shut. It's that roll, that scroll, different than what you and I would probably think about a book. It didn't have those bindings and didn't have a front and back hard cover. It would have been a scroll rolled up, sealed with seven seals. And he would open one seal and get to another seal and open it and continue to unroll it and unroll it exactly how it's to look. I don't know. But I know it's sealed with seven seals. on the backside. And at any point, at any rate, in chapter 6, as I've read to you, the Lamb opens the first seal. And so all the way through the end of chapter 6, He begins to open one seal after another seal. And what I want you to think about is this. As we look into a little bit of the details of these things today and hereafter, don't miss the Lamb. by getting caught up in all the details. It's easy to do this. We want to know who said what, and when, and where, and why, and how. But the point of the book, flip back to chapter 1, please, in chapter 1, verse 1. And I don't want you to miss this. I don't want to miss this. Revelation chapter 1, verse 1. The revelation of Jesus Christ. That is first and foremost when you read the revelation. Think and see Him. And He did say to show unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass. Yes, the things are important, but not unless you first recognize and see Jesus Christ. The things are of secondary importance to Him. Therefore, we have looked at the majestic things of the Lord. First, in order of importance, chapter 1. We have studied the characteristic things of the churches, chapters 2 and 3. We began last week, continue this week with the prophetic things of the future, chapters 4, all the way through the end of the book for the most part. Now then, what we are entering now with the church raptured in and in heaven, we are entering chapter 6, the 70th week of Daniel the prophet. I want you to think about this and we'll look at more of this a little bit later, but for now, Yeah, for now, let's wait. Let's wait on that. Let's say this. So in this book, since we're thinking about Jesus, we saw Him and we revered Him in the first chapter. I can't go back over that chapter. But then we saw Him among the seven churches. And our hearts, though filled with reverence, there was a call to repentance. That's still the call today, by the way. For sinner and saint is to repent. Repent, repent. The call rings out throughout the rest of this book in the future as well. But in chapters 4 and 5, there was rapture, there was rejoicing. But for the remainder of the book, our hearts should be filled with recognition that Jesus Christ is Lord. He's Lord over all in heaven, on the earth, and under the earth. And this tribulation period will be the execution of the righteous retribution of God Almighty on them that know not God. and on those, therefore, who have rejected Jesus Christ." They do not fall across the church. God is dealing primarily in divine judgment with Israel and, yes, alongside of them with the nations of the world or them that dwell on the earth. in this period of the prophetic things, we go beyond the tribulation and we're going to see a thousand-year period. I literally believe it's an hourglass time of 1,000 years, exactly as the Bible says it is. I believe it's a millennium. I believe it's 1,000 years. That being said, beyond that 1,000 years, God will bring in what we would call the end of time as we know it. And for you and I, I know there is no beginning of this, but the beginning of eternity, as we shall know it, when God has settled all things, when Israel is truly in the land, prospering under the Lord. And there's so much more details I left out there just because I don't have time. But at the end of the book, all men are confronted with a final invitation to come, to come to Jesus Christ. What mercy that 2,000 years ago, little less than that, I understand that, but 95 A.D. or so, the Lord revealed to John what the next 2,000 years and beyond, and the worst period in the history of all of humanity, seven-year period of the tribulation, He revealed what it was going to be like. What mercy. And yet today men scoff and mock the Word of God. But God in mercy said, this is what I'm going to do to those who reject my Son. So the invitation rings out this morning. If you do not know the Lamb of God, whom John the Baptist said came to take away the sins of the world, then behold the Lamb, as your Savior, lest you behold Him in this day as your judge. That being said, let's pick up. I want you to hold a finger here, put a bookmark. I want you to go back to the book of Daniel chapter nine. Again, this is explanatory. And I know it's a lot, a lot to try to digest, but we're just, I told you trying to get through the book, not verse by verse. If we did this, we'd be here the next 55 years. There's just no way. There's just no way. I'm telling you, this book of the Revelation literally brings in every book of the Bible, maybe, except Esther, as far as references. Maybe not Esther. But there's so much here. Daniel chapter 9, please. Alright, so, the vision of John is now taken up with the Lamb in the 6th chapter. He has commenced with the opening of the seven-sealed book. The presentation of the Lamb is one of wrath. It's one of fury. This is no playground. This is not child's play. This is not fairy tales. It's not imagination. It's the terrible wrath of God coming against the world. Now then, that being said, Daniel 9, 24. Are you there? 70 weeks are determined upon thy people. This is the angel Gabriel informing Daniel. So thy people would be the Jews. And upon thy holy city, that would be what? Jerusalem. To finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy. Know therefore and understand. All right, so let me pause here. If you read the book, you understand that Daniel, in the first of this chapter, Daniel was contemplating the prophecies of Jeremiah and the 70 years' captivity, and he realized that the captivity is almost over. So he sets his face to pray. He's an aged man at this time, and he's praying to the God of heaven, what next? Lord, our captivity is almost over. What is to come next? He reveals, God reveals to him what's next. but He reveals to him it's next, but it's not now. It's coming, but then it's also to come in the end. And so we are definitely looking beyond just Daniel's day to John's revelation, John's vision. Now, back to 25, verse 25. Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks. The street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after threescore," or 60, a score is 20, so 3 times 20 is 60, and after threescore and two weeks, "...shall Messiah be cut off, but not for Himself." Notice that reference. Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself. He died what? Not for his own sins, but for the sins of the people. This is the substitutionary atonement of Jesus predicted in the book of Daniel. Messiah will be cut off, but not for himself. And the people of the prince that shall come, that's Antichrist, shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. I do believe that that probably is a reference to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, and the end thereof shall be with a flood." And then he says, "...unto the end of the war desolations are determined." What's been happening for the last 1,900 and some odd years in Jerusalem and in Israel? War after war after war after war, desolations, skirmishes. It's their history. For you and I, it's their history. But for Daniel, it was their future, and it was prophesied. Now verse 7, 27. And he, the Antichrist, that prince that shall come, he shall confirm the covenant, that has to be the Abrahamic covenant, I believe, that they will get the land. What are we arguing about right now? Who the land belongs to, aren't we? Been doing it for a long time. Yeah, I know they came back into their land in 1948, but they don't possess the whole land, and not all of them have returned, by the way. There's a day coming when they all return. and the land's gonna be granted to them, and a temple's gonna be built, and that temple will be destroyed, and there'll be another temple built in the millennium, but who's gonna build that temple for them? Well, the Antichrist. The one they hail as the Messiah. But He shall confirm the covenant with many for what? One week. and in the midst of the week, or in the middle of the week, he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined, shall be poured upon the desolate." Now, three periods are mentioned here. A period of seven weeks, a period of 60 and two weeks, and then a final week. Or look to verse 24, 70 weeks, right? Seven plus 62 is what? Sixty-nine. That leaves one week. Look at verse 27. He will confirm the covenant with many for one week. All right, now, the first seven weeks, you can do a lot of study on this if you want to. I do agree with Sir Robert Anderson that it has to be that decree of Artaxerxes, I think I've got the king's name right, in around 445 BC under Nehemiah's time. Because when were the walls rebuilt with Nehemiah? Okay, so this commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem, according to verse 24, 25, also sees the street built again and the wall, and it's done in troublous times. What did Nehemiah have out of Sambola and Tobiah and those other boys? Trouble, trouble, trouble. It was a troublous time, but the wall was finished, the street was rebuilt, the temple had been built, if I remember correct, earlier. But anyways, I believe that was the edict there. And when you do the math, and you look it up and you study it, there were seven weeks of seven years. These are not weeks of seven days. These are weeks of seven years. Daniel would have understood it, and because even if you remember Rachel and Leah, he served how long? Seven years. But then he said, fulfill her week. And you'll get Rachel as well. He served seven more years. And the references fail me, but in the book of Leviticus, they had what? Weeks with their Sabbaths, a Sabbath weekly, and then a yearly Sabbath in the seventh year, and then after seven sevens, they had the 50th Jubilee, you remember? So they're used to seeing things as weeks of seven years. Now, also from this context, verse 27, in the midst of the week, So in a week of seven years, right in the middle, he's gonna do something. So what does this do? Divides the week into two periods. Three and a half years and three and a half more. Daniel talks about it in chapter 7 and verse 25. I believe that's the reference. Let me see if I've got it right. And I don't remember jotting this one down. Yes, and He, the Antichrist, shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws, and they shall be given into His hand until a time and times and the dividing of time. One time is one, right? Times is two more, that's three. And the dividing of time is a half. So three and a half. Now, that being said, I want you to, I don't know that you need to put a marker there. I'm gonna put one there just in case, Daniel 9. I want you to run with me now to Matthew 24. And let's look at what our Lord Jesus had to say about these things. The first period was that seven weeks of seven years, the rebuilding of the wall and such, Jerusalem, the restoration there, and the street. But then he spoke about 60 and two more weeks that would happen, or 434 more years. And when you do the math, you find that to the day Jesus entered Jerusalem, After 69 weeks, or 483 years from that commandment to restore and rebuild, 483 years, Jesus entered Jerusalem. And a few days later, or a week or so, whatever it was, I can't exactly remember, I've studied so many things, He died by crucifixion. To the day, God told the Jews when Messiah would be cut off. and they still rejected Him. Now, Daniel, you stay there in Matthew 24 for me, please. But then he says in chapter 9, that after those 62 weeks, three score and two, Messiah shall be cut off, and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy. And he says, and unto the end of the war, desolations are determined. That there is no specified period after the 69th and 70th week, meaning He just says, unto the end. So we know according to this context, the 70 weeks are for the Jews and the holy city. So God's people have to be in the land. for this period of time, the three periods of the seven weeks, the 62 weeks, and then the 70th week. So what we are in presently is a gap between the 69th and the 70th week. It's what we call the Church Age. Okay, there's a lot more to this. I'm not gonna deal with all that, but in the book of Acts, The kingdom and all was offered to Israel. They rejected the kingdom. The church was injected, so to speak, or interjected into history. And we now have, for the last two millennia or so, been in this gap. of prophecy. And the 70th week of Daniel will be what we are going to discuss in Revelation chapter 6 through 19. So you've had plenty of time to get to Matthew 24 by now. Understanding that the week is divided into two periods, let's see what Jesus Christ had to say about it. Matthew 24, look with me, verse number 1. Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came to Him for to show Him the buildings of the temple. Boy, we're always proud of our buildings, aren't we? And that's what they were doing. Lord, look at the temple. Look at the buildings. And Jesus said unto him, See ye not all these things? Verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down. Well, that happened. It happened in 70 A.D. when the temple was destroyed. That portion of Scripture or that detail of this is dealt more in Luke 21. We're not going to go there and deal with that. The destruction of Jerusalem with Titus, the Roman governor in 70 AD is dealt with more there. And we have more of the prophetic things of the end of the age here. But look at verse 3, And as He sat upon the Mount of Olives, so this is what is known as the Olivet Discourse, Matthew 24 and 25, the disciples came unto Him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? Lord, when is all this going to happen? And what shall be the sign of Thy coming? Remember, the Jews require a what? Sign. So let me remind you while we're here, lest I forget it. In Moses' day, what happened? Miracles, signs, wonders. Why? Because God was bringing the nation that He had began with Abram out of Egypt. And there were signs, miracles, and wonders. And then what happened when Jesus came again, when He was dealing again with Israel? Signs, miracles, wonders. What's going to happen in the tribulation period? Signs, miracles, wonders are going to happen again. So you've got to keep that in context of the Jews, the Jews, the Jews. That's why we're not seeing all the signs and miracles and wonders that we used to see or that were seen in the days of Jesus and the early, early church. Now then, verse number 3 continues, And what shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end? of the world. And Jesus answered and said to them, take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name saying, I am Christ and shall deceive many and shall hear of wars. and rumors of wars, see that ye be not troubled, for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nations shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, and diverse places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you, and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. Pause and say this, what are we saying right now? Flare up a spirit of anti-Semitism. What is mentioned right here in verse 9? You shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. What do we read of more and more these days? Earthquakes. What do we see? Pestilences. Even famines. And yeah, the globalists are trying to produce a famine. What else do we see? Nation rising against nation. Racism at an all-time high. Wars, rumors of more wars. In other words, if you remember what John said, 1 John 2.18, John the Apostle wrote, and he said, little children, it is the last time. Since the days of John, just after the ascension of Jesus, we have been in the last days. Joel's prophecy was fulfilled partially in Acts 2 at Pentecost. Again, proof from Peter's mouth by the Spirit of God, recorded in the book of Acts by Luke, the physician, we are in the last days. So what have we been seeing? I believe the shadow of what's coming. Man wants war, God's going to give him war. Man wants famine, God's going to give him famine. Man wants pestilence, God's going to give him pestilence. It's all going to intensify and increase, I believe, in the first half of the tribulation, which I designate with verse 8 as the beginning of sorrows. He says, Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you, and ye shall be hated of all nations for My name's sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets, verse 11, shall rise and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved." Now this is not salvation spiritually, meaning that if you endure all the persecutions, God's gonna save you and take you to heaven. It's a physical salvation. If you endure these things, you will be saved. Okay? And again, it has also to deal with, I believe, the sealing of those 144,000 evangelistic Jews that survive the first half of the tribulation period. They're going to be saved physically. If you survive it, you'll be saved. Verse 14, And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come. Some preachers take that verse and say that Jesus will not come until we as the church go throughout all the world with the gospel. I do not believe that's what this verse teaches. We are not preaching the gospel of the kingdom today. We are preaching, according to the apostle Paul, the gospel of the grace of God, the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. I am telling men today, yes, that he's coming, but the gospel which I preach is that he came 2,000 years ago. He died for your sins, he was buried, and he rose again. I am not announcing like John the Baptist that you repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. That's what John announced. We are announcing the gospel of the grace of God. Yes, the king is coming. Yes, the kingdom is coming. All through the book of Acts, Paul testified about the kingdom of God. We preach these things, but the gospel, that aspect of the gospel which we preach in its best good news or in its good news is that Jesus Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again the third day according to the scriptures. And so the message to Israel And yes to the world, but the message to Israel will resume in the days of the tribulation period, and it will be this gospel of the kingdom, the very message that Jesus Himself preached and that John the Baptist preached. And then shall the end come. And we'll see that later. Lord willing, today I hope to get there. Now look at verse 15. Remember what the Bible said, I'll reference it in case you didn't mark it. The Bible says this in Daniel 9, 27, In the midst of the week, he, the Antichrist, shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate. Verse 15 of Matthew 24, Jesus Christ said, When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, So for all the critics who deny the authenticity of Daniel's prophecy, Jesus was fine with it. Amen. Settle. Shuts the mouths of all the critics. But He says, when you see this, stand in the holy place. Whoso readeth, let him understand. Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains. Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house. Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days. But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day. For then shall be what? Great tribulation. such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved. But for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened." Now, would you go to the book of Jeremiah, Jeremiah chapter number 30. Jeremiah chapter number... so Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah. So find Psalms and begin to flip to the right, chapter number 30. So Jesus said that there will be great tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. I believe the first half would be designated by Jesus as the beginning of sorrows. because He said the end is not yet. These are just the beginning of sorrows. I believe the second half of that week of seven years, so three and a half years, the beginning of sorrows, three and a half years of great tribulation. Now we designate it, I do it too, as the tribulation period. And I'm fine with that. But perhaps the greatest classification for the whole week is Daniel's 70th week. Now, Jeremiah 30, verse 7. Let's back up. Verse 4, And these are the words the Lord spake concerning Israel and concerning Judah. For thus saith the Lord, We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace. Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child. Wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins as a woman in travail? and all faces are turned into paleness." Did you hear that? The strength of men will dry up in the days that are coming to Israel. So that their face will grow pale, their knees will buckle, their hands will be on their loins, and they will appear to be in as much agony as a woman travailing in childbirth. Why? Verse 7, That's an exclamation of grief, of horror, of terror. Alas, for that day is great, so that none is like it. It is even the time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved out of it. That's the second half, the period of great tribulation, which is to come upon this world. Now then, Let's go to the book of the Revelation, chapter 6. I believe that's sufficient enough. There's a few more things I could say I'm not going to say. But in the book of the Revelation, chapter 6, we begin with the seals. And then by chapter 8, we see the seventh seal, which is opened. And we move from seals to trumpet judgments. And then we come, I believe it's in chapter 11, we hear the seventh trumpet sound. And we move from trumpets to the vials or what would be like a bowl of the wrath of God. So according to the outline, again, don't look at it now, we'll look at it later. The way I put it is that the judgment of God commences or begins in the seals, chapter 6. The judgment of God then continues in the trumpets, chapter 8. The judgment of God concludes in the vials, chapter number 14. One author, John Phillips, wrote this and he said, there are three principal series of judgments in the book of the Revelation. The seal judgments, trumpet judgments, vial judgments. Under the seal judgments, this is really good, you ought to remember this. Under the seal judgments, the world is ruined by man. God gives man over completely to what he wants. Under the trumpet judgments, the world is ruled by Satan. The supernatural element of things will explode under the trumpet judgments. Under the vow judgments, thank God, the world is rescued by God. I like that. I agree with it. The sealed judgments will be open and affect the fourth part of the earth. How many people on the world today? Nine billion, right? Let's just assume it's 10 billion for the sake of math. 2.5 billion people will die under the fourth seal judgment. That's a lot of death. No wonder there'll be pestilence. No wonder there'll be famine with all the wars. But from this devastation, the world will be swept into more devastation. And in the trumpet judgments will be sounded more sore judgments. And now a third part of all the trees, and the sea, and the creatures in the sea, and the ships on the sea, and the rivers, and the waters, and the sun, and the moon, and the stars, third part, is affected. And even a third part of the day will be dark. A third part of the night, the sun, the moon, and then in this period, a third part of the men are slain. So several more billion people are going to die. It's terrible. There's never been a day like this. But this day is real. This day is coming to this earth. You say, preacher, why do you tell us? Because you probably know somebody going there, going to be in that day. Thankfully, after the seventh trumpet sounds, we hear in Revelation 11, 15, the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ. He shall reign forever and ever. Thank God. After that, we see seven angels with seven last plagues. And in the seven last plagues, which come with the seven vials, is the Bible says, filled up the wrath of God. The vial judgments will be poured out upon the whole world. That's in Revelation 16. In the seven vials, the fullness and fierceness of God's wrath will be poured out upon the earth and all of its inhabitants. After this, the seventh vial, you're gonna hear three words. is done." You know what it says to me? God is in control. You remember when I preached on the seven sayings of the cross? What did Jesus Christ say from the cross? It is finished. He bowed His head, gave up the ghost, commended the Spirit of the Father, bowed up His head and gave up the ghost. He didn't say, I am finished. He said, It is finished. In another day, in a different context, not as the Savior of men, but as the Judge of men. This same Lamb who died for our sins, who was buried, who rose again, who ascended, who's seated at the right hand of the Father, who's been exalted, who said, It is finished. The same One will say, It is done. He's in control. All that we read, The power of the Antichrist is under the power of Jesus Christ. The miracles of the false prophet are under the miraculous power of the Son of God. And all of this, the sad and shameful thing, look at chapter 9. Would you do that? Go to chapter 9. Let me back up. Chapter 8. Chapter 8, verse 1. I'm getting ahead of myself, but I believe it's where the Lord wants me to go. Chapter 8, verse 1. Six seals are in chapter 6. And then there's a parenthesis explaining things in chapter 7. And when He had opened, chapter 8 verse 1, when He, the Lamb, Jesus Christ, when He had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. Now get the picture. Chapters 4 and 5, heaven wasn't silent, was it? It was loud, with a loud voice, they proclaimed, Worthy is the Lamb. Chapter 6, the heavens weren't silent. The Son of God was opening the seals, pouring out wrath. You say, well, preacher, the beginning of sorrows. It is, but I still believe it involves the wrath of God because in chapter 6, verse 17, He says, the great day of His wrath has come. Who shall be able to stand? Chapter 7 was explanatory details, but in chapter 8, imagine the scene. The seventh seal is opened and all of heaven is silent. It says at least a couple of things. Number one, that God, I believe, lets heaven in on what's happening. That's what you see through the whole book. And with a holy hush of reverence for the One opening the seals, heaven is quiet because they know what's about to happen. But at the same time, perhaps God, for the space of half an hour, gives the world a chance. Those who didn't reject the gospel before the rapture, give them a chance to repent. Look at chapter 9 now, verse 18. By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone which issued out of their mouths. for their powers in their mouth and in their tails, for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they did hurt. And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood, which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk. Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornications, nor of their thefts." You know what will mark the age of men in this day? Unrepentant hearts. You know what characterizes seemingly the majority of men today? Unrepentant hearts. Today I would say this, and I'm concluding the sermon. If you don't know Christ, repent. Believe. on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. Amen. Let's all stand. We're going to have a verse of invitation. We want to thank you for listening today. This is Pastor Benjamin Cooley. We're meeting above the restaurant next to Sleep Inn in the North Redmond Event Center, located at 1857 Northwest 6th Street, Redmond, Oregon, 97756. Sundays we begin our morning worship at 11, and our midweek prayer service is Wednesdays at 7, all at the same location. Reach us, clearviewbaptistatproton.me, or look on the internet, www.clearviewbaptistredman.com.