Now, last week we didn't finish the study, so I will be using some of the notes from last week, page beginning, Sealed by God. So that last week there was a note, if you happen to have those notes from last week, that would be helpful, but Sealed by God. But I just do want to make one or two preliminary things first. That is on the first page of today's notes, just to really keep you on your toes and shuffle a lot more papers. The vision of Christ writing letters, we just go through where we've been. There's a series of, not to speak to it, there's a group of seven letters that are written. So the first three chapters are dominated, if you like, by three letters preceded by a vision of Christ who speaks those letters. And then there's chapters 4, 5, and 6, which again is dominated, if you like, by the opening of seven seals. So you've got seven letters and seven seals. And those seven seals are preceded by a vision of God and the Lamb. So we've been through that, and we're just finishing the seals today. And then the next section is a group of seven trumpets that are blown, not actually preceded by a vision in this case, but preceded, as we'll see, by a little section at the beginning of Chapter 8, which we'll look at shortly. But I thought it would be helpful just to let you know, or just discuss briefly, the interpretive way in which I'm coming at the book. There's all sorts of ideas about how you can read the book. For years, I suppose, many of us were brought up with what's called a futurist view. in which there's the Church Age, which is the letters to the churches, and then there was the coming of Christ, and everything happened after that was after Christ came. So, funny that, you know, there was no mention of Christ coming at the end of Chapter 3, but Chapter 4 onwards is the period of the Great Tribulation, that's the Futurist view. Then there was a Historicist view, which was held by Jonathan Edwards, amongst others, great men. and by numbers of reformed people for years. I'm not sure so much now, but it was. And in which case, the whole book is a story from beginning to end, and it starts with the apostolic age and finishes with Christ's coming. So it's a historicist view. And there's other varieties of things which actually take the book in a linear fashion. This follows this, follows this, follows this. So it's a historical progression. There's great problems in doing that, particularly when it gets to Chapter 12, as we will on the next series that I do next term, because it just seems so obviously to be something way back at the beginning. So it seems far preferable to me to see it as a series of eight visions, and you can vary it as to where you see the breaks coming, but in other words, he takes you, he has Christ speaking to seven churches, and here you have, if you like, typically all the kinds of situations that the Lord addresses throughout the entire church age. So we don't have any trouble at all reading this church or that church or the other church and say, oh, yeah, OK, I understand. We're being spoken to. So chapters 1 to 3 speak to us. But then you can come to the breaking open of the seals. And I think, as we expounded at the previous week, you can see how those breaking of the seal is a situation that actually speaks directly to us. We say, oh, yeah, I can see that happening. And I can see how the Lord's speaking to us in the midst of that. And then we come to the trumpets today. Then again, you can see that the Lord is speaking to us. So I call it a progress of revelation. In other words, John did see this after this, but he didn't mean to say this is going to happen after this. It's the order of the vision, not the order of the happenings. In other words, God wants to actually open up this, and then when he's opened up, then your minds are ready to say, now I've got another level I want to open this up at. And today we will see how a similar event, under the breaking of the seals and the blowing of the trumpets, has got two different views of the same thing. And that's an important thing for us to have, each of those eight visions, each of which accumulate. And again, I'll check this as I go on studying it for the next term, but it does seem to me that as the book goes on, there's a mounting intensity in which, as it were, God gets closer and closer to the actual, you know, what's really going on. At the end of the day, it's God and Satan. But he tells you a lot of other things that build up to that. So that's my way of coming at it, so I can then leave out the first part of the notes for today. But I'm going back now to what we didn't finish last time, because with the breaking open of the seals that took place after the vision of God and the Lamb, There's the opening of one after another of the seals, and then with the opening of the sixth seal. After that, before the opening of the seventh seal, there's an interlude, and that's what we're looking at now. And then you come to the, and the seventh, then the seventh seal is open, and the seventh seal opens up the seven trumpets. It kind of opens up the next part of the vision. And then you have the seven trumpets blow and then there's an interlude after the six trumpets before the seventh trumpet. And it's if these two interludes at the end between the sixth and seventh seal and the sixth and seventh trumpet are saying, let's just stop a while and say, where are we? And speak directly to us as to where we fit in all of this. So let's have a look at what is revealed by reading chapters. chapter seven, or part of chapter seven, I won't read all of it. So after the six seals have been opened and all of the catastrophes have taken place, not least the killing of many saints and the Lord telling them to wait a little longer, and then this terrible manifestation of wrath in the sixth seal. And now, before the seventh seal, after this, I saw four angels. standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow on the earth, or sea, or against any tree. Then I saw, you think of all the tempests in the world, God saying, no wind. That's it. A picture, isn't it? We don't have to sort of say to ourselves, when did this happen? It's a vision, all right? And the vision is meant to convey an impression to the mind. It's quite an event. Nothing. I mean, nothing happening is quite an event, isn't it? Can you think of about two seconds in your house when nothing happens? Sometimes you wish for it, don't you? Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm. So these angels are there to release some harm. Don't harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads. And then it lists the tribes of Israel, Judah, Reuben, Gaddash, and Naphtali. It's interesting there's no Dan. And Joseph's mentioned instead of Ephraim further down there. So slight difference in the list, but various tribes and so forth. And then verse nine, after this, I looked and behold a great multitude. So he heard the number. He did say he saw another angel, but he heard the number of the seal. He didn't see the 144,000. Did you notice that? He heard the number. And then he saw a great multitude that no one could number from every nation, tribe, people, language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes with palm branches. White robes can mean the righteous deeds of the saints in Revelation, or it can mean wash them in the blood of the Lamb. It's got two meanings. Clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands. crying out with a loud voice, Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshipped God, saying, Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honour and power and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen. One of the elders talked to me, saying, Who are these? A very down-to-earth kind of little comment in the midst of something grand, isn't it? Who are these? Clothed in white robes. Where have they come from? John needs to get hold of this point, and we do too. He said, you know, that's a good answer. If you're out of your depth, you know. And he said to me, these are the ones coming out of the Great Tribulation. And we just want to inquire a little bit about why this little quaint interchange happens in the midst of a grand vision. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb. Therefore they are before, this is the explanation to John, therefore they are before the throne, serving day and night in his temple. And he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. They shall know hunger no more, thirst no more, the sun shall not strike them when he is scorching heat. For the lamb in the midst of them there will be their shepherd and will guide them to springs of living water God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. The opening of the seventh seal is held over while something else is settled. Further harm is going to come on the earth, but this time in a way that will not affect those who are sealed. Don't harm it until we've sealed. So what's revealed by the seventh seal, which is going to be the seven trumpets? Seven trumps are not going to affect those who are sealed. You see? So were the saints affected by the opening of the seven seals? You bet they were. Many were killed. Will any be healed or hurt by the seven trumpets? Not at all. See the difference? It's a different view, isn't it? From one point of view, we're fair game in this world. We may lose our lives. From another point of view, nothing can touch us. You need both views. Can you see that? So here's the ceiling. That's the ceiling that actually takes place. In biblical terms, if you actually look at all the occurrences where it says somebody was sealed, it means to be owned, It can mean to be protected or to be certified for service. Here's the seal of my boss saying I'm permitted to do this. And for Christians, this happens by the coming of the Holy Spirit. We were sealed, Ephesians 1.13, by the Holy Spirit of God. That is, God has put his mark on us and says, mine. Don't touch. Take notice of. Do you see? It's no small thing. It's not just a private enjoyment to have the Holy Spirit. It helps you feel good when you open your Bible or something. The Holy Spirit is God's mark of ownership on your life. And that marks you out as special to you in God's presence, but it also marks you out as special to others. This man is my servant. You disregard him, you disregard me. It's quite significant, you see. And in this case, it actually means that they will not be touched by anything that's revealed by the blowing of the seven trumpets. In biblical terms, we've read that, okay? We need to know we're sealed because we are so marked as belonging to God, the things that are described in the next section will not apply to us. Now, I've said that, then we have, he looks this time, he's heard a number and told, oh, that's 144,000, which seems to be saying there's nothing lacking. God's people have been brought to perfection. You know, there's 12 tribes of Israel, and I don't know, but it's just multiplied out, 12, 12, and plus 1,000, you know, multiplied by 1,000, and you get this 144,000, as if to say, here's complete company of God's people. and the entire people of God is represented. And then you see here another, well I can say another group, or is it the same group? I'm going to put it to you that it's the same group. And the reason we say so is because later on in chapter 14, the 144,000 is mentioned again, and they're called the redeemed from the earth. And here we're talking about a group of people thanking God for their redemption. So there's no clear biblical argument in biblical terms. I mean, this is a book of the end things, all right, of how things look ultimately. And in the end, you can't say that, oh, here's the Jewish section of history, of heaven, and here's the Gentile section of heaven. We're just one people. So if you've got a part of Revelation that's telling you there's a separate part for Jews and a separate part for Gentiles, then somehow that doesn't seem to fit with other parts of Scripture. So I'll put it to a stat, the 144,000 out of the great company of the redeemed who sing this song, It's one and the same group of people. The number is 144,000, but the site is innumerable. So John hears the number of people of Sheol, but sees the great company of the redeemed people praising God. They appear to be the same company, and I've just spelled that out a little bit there. With John, we also need to see God's people giving exuberant praise to God for their redemption. We heard that being spoken. They come from all nations that sing one song. They are before God and the Lamb, whom they love. They wear a white robe. They've got nothing to be ashamed of up there. Isn't that glorious? Nothing to be ashamed of. And they are ready to herald their King. This is heaven. They now lead the worship. You remember earlier it was, we had sang, we used that line, angels help us to adore him, you know, and the great creatures and the 24 elders gave some lead and then all the rest of the people joined in. Well now it seems to be reversed. There's a great crowd from all nations that are actually singing the praise of God and the angels say, oh, and they get in on the act. Which is interesting, because you remember in 1 Peter it says, angels in heaven long to look into the things that are actually happening on earth. You know, we might think that it must be great being in heaven, seeing Christ in the land. Well, I'm sure that would be absolutely amazing. On the other hand, where is God working? Where did Christ die? Where did Christ rise from the dead? Where is he actually... Where is he already beginning to create a new heavens and earth? By bringing people to life. Right here. And angels are looking down this end. Things into which Peter says angels long to look. Things that are happening amongst us. No small thing going on down here. So here I've started off with the angels who help us to adore him and now the angels say, oh, look at the way they're worshipping God. And in they come again. It's quite an antiphonal, as the word, you know. On this, now the singing and now the singing. But you remember the little interchange between John and the angel. We need to see God's people giving this, because we've been shown this happening and we've been shown it for a reason. They now lead the worship and the angelic company say amen. The earlier scene where those who suffered asked for vengeance. Remember the earlier ones when the fifth seal was broken? Said how long before you'll avenge us for our blood that's been spilled on the earth? They're in heaven, but they're still asking why God hasn't fixed it up. Suggest that there may be some qualification in regard to God's goodness. Not so. Not here. Can you see? Here's the crowd that now see the redemption. The nature of God has been fully disclosed by the blood of the Lamb and by their being freed from slavery. This is what they're singing about. Freed from sin. Just think of that. Can you feel within yourself the joy of just being free of all the dirtiness that mucks up your life and that keeps you justifying yourself and making your pain to yourself and everybody else? Isn't that wonderful? You can just be forgiven and then you can say, oh, I'm sorry, I did it wrong. And you can move another day because you're clean. There's nothing quite like it anywhere. under the sun. The nature of God's being fully revealed, free from sin, from wrath, free from the world. I sometimes think, well, all this stuff's happening in the world, I don't have to get across all that's happening in the world. I can be free of it. It's interesting, at the end of the book of Revelation it says, let the evil still do evil. You don't have to feel responsible for all the rot that's happening in the world. You don't have to feel overly put down by all that goes wrong. It's interesting, isn't it? There's a sense in which you can weep over people that do wrong. From another point of view, you can say, well, let the evil still do evil. You don't have to take it on board. You're free from sin. You're free from the world, the flesh, and the devil. You don't have to give way to your temptations. You can kick them in the face. And you're free from the fear of death. And from this freedom comes true humanity, and from this comes true praise. This is eternal life. An elder checks to see if John understands what he's seeing, and John ducks the question. You know, I think that's funny. Lovely. He and we need to know that people who've come up out of the Great Tribulation can sing this song. This is what people think of God when they wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb. The elders, and not just they, but the elders and creatures can think of seven gifts worthy for the Lamb, powered. That's exousia, if I remember rightly, which means the right to rule. Nobody's going to be afraid of this one. He's got the right to rule. He's got wealth. He's got all the resources. He can do anything. He's got wisdom. He's not going to make any mistakes. He's got might. That's, if I'm remembering right, Kratos. It just means pure power. Nothing's going to stop him. Honor. He's worthy, worthy of everything he's got. Glory. Everything you use can pour out and there won't be any glory as an outshining of holiness and blessing. He deserves to be blessed and praised. So there we are. They think of all these words. Stories coming to us from countries where Christians are persecuted, bear witness to the truth that joy in the Holy Spirit comes because of the truth of Christ and His forgiveness, not from circumstances. It's been so heartening to me, not just to say, oh, look at all these terrible things that are happening, but to see the joy they have. Sometimes joy that you and I don't have. The Holy Spirit's been poured into their hearts. They know what they've got that's eternal. We're sometimes so sated with our little, you know, accoutrements to life, you know, we miss the real thing. And here they are telling us what the true life is, that joy comes from being forgiven and knowing God, not from circumstances. This vision does not tell us what we'll be, but what can be so right now, and is so now. There's much to come by way of exposing, opposing, and destroying evil, but already we're given a picture of the age to come. We'll serve God, God will shelter us, the rigors of life, that no heat will strike them, You think of people in refugee camps, out in the middle of some desert areas sometimes. You see little pictures of them. I call it the rigors of life. I mean, life's just plain tough and hard and desperate, isn't it? Right now, and including many people who are Christians, God will shelter them and the rigors of life and life still infused with sin will all be gone. And they are aware of this and they are delighted in God who is doing such great things. The Lamb will shepherd them to springs of living water. And God will wipe all tears away. I think it's one of the great statements of the Bible. God will wipe all tears away. You have a man, his wife died, and the grief of it is just enormous. And some of the things that happened along the way are sad too. It's not just the pain, it's lots of things. Given the sadness of this world and the view of this world given in Revelation to wipe away all tears is the final testament that the Lamb has won an eternal victory over all evil. Heaven will have no lament. No regrets. No damaged memories. And we don't have to wait until the end of the book to know that it's going to have a good ending. I'm talking about Revelation. Weep now, and be a very unusual person if you don't, but know that there'll be a day when there'll be no tears. Astonishing. There'll be no... It was great now, but you know, I remember none. And yet it could only be the case if you actually realise that everything that's happened had to be so, and was good that it was so. Otherwise there'd still be tears. True? It's astonishing. That is a testament to the complete victory of God over the evil world. When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, Remember the interlude that we had when the Lamb opened the seventh seal of a silence in heaven for about half an hour. Have you wondered about that? It's a fascinating line, isn't it? I saw the seven angels who stand before God and seven trumpets were given to them. So it's a silence in which there's things to see. I gather that the silence doesn't finish and then we see these things, but during the silence, that's my way of reading it anyway, during the silence he sees these things. Seven angels stand before God and seven trumpets were given to them. And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer. He was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne. And the smoke of the incense for the prayers of the saints rose before God from the hand of the angel. And then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth. There were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake. So it started quiet, but it ends rowdy. Seven trumpets. The seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them. First angel blew his trumpet. that followed hail, fire, mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth, and a third of the earth was burned up, a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up. Second angel blew his trumpet, something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea, so the land, now the sea, and a third, so again a third of the sea became blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed, That puts a dent in the commerce. Third angel blew his trumpet. Remember, Christians are not affected by any of this. The third angel blew his trumpet and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers. Now you've got the potable water, as we call it, the drinkable water, and all the springs of water. Consider the significance of drinkable water and you've got Huge thing there, a third. The name of the star is Wormwood, a bitter plant, and a third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the water because it had been made bitter. Fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so you know the whole cosmos. So that a third of their light might be darkened, and a third of the day might be kept from shining, and likewise a third of the night. Then I looked and I heard an eagle crying with a loud voice as it flew directly overhead, woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, at the blasts of the other trumpets, not the three angels that are about to blow. Perhaps we'll make a stop there and just read that part of the notes. The 7th seal. Section 8.1-6 begins with silence and ends with a lot of noise. Storm and earthquake and trumpeters making ready to blow. Silence is notable because heaven's been busy and loud. If you just, you know, when you read silence and you think, oh yes, and you read back all the loud or huge, huge noises, thunders and lightnings and earthquakes. None of them are quiet, are they? The silence, but something happens in the silence. Trumpeters appear, prayers are offered, with incense and then the noise begins again. Clearly prayers are central to the action and they're central to the action of the seven trumpeters because the seven trumpeters are there at the beginning and they make ready to blow at the end. You see, so in between, so the trumpets are directly related to the prayers of the saints. Can you follow that? Now if there's a difference, you remember before the action happened to the Christians And they prayed. Fifth seal. Here the saints pray and things happen in the will. Opposite? Sometimes just things happen and all you can do is cry out. Other times we pray and things happen. You need both views. Is this God's response to the prayers of the masses back in chapter 6? Together with all those on earth who suffer because they belong to the Lamb, Christians pray for the kingdom to come. And this is where this section ends, because when the seventh trumpet blows, it makes this marvellous statement, the kingdom of this world, kingdom not a singular, the kingdom of this world, in other words, the whole world against God is one kingdom. Kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our God and of his cross. That's where we get our title from. the world, God's kingdom. You see that? This whole vision, both this week and next week, we're calling it the world, God's kingdom. It's all about these trumpets. And where are the Christians? The Christians are not the victims of this action. The Christians, dare I say it, are not the cause of the kingdom, but they are the occasion of the action. God is the cause, but we are the occasion. We pray and God acts. Did you see that? So there's a difference, isn't there, between the seals? You need that view of history. And now the trumpets? You need that view of history as well. Praying martyrs in the previous vision were told to wait. But God does not ignore the cries of His people. These prayers are presented to God with incense, suggesting the priestly ministry of Christ Himself, taking and sanctifying the prayers we offer. Dear me, we muck around with our prayers, don't we? But in the midst of all the prayers we pray, there are just some cries from the heart that are 100% real. And God can pick what's real in our prayers, and He can deal, He can It sanctifies those prayers, adds his own input to it, if you like. That's the ministry of intercession of Christ. Picking up our prayers and taking them to the Father and saying, Father, you've got to do something about this. Are you getting the picture that we might be reading the papers and reading the answer to your prayers? We thought answers to prayers only happen in churches with conversions and things like that. There's a lot more than that. Where are we? Our prayers give rise to action on the earth, action that heralds God's victory. Now you can take trumpets as a warning sign and I think you could say these trumpets are warnings because the Lord along the way says you didn't repent or presumably he wanted them to repent so if you like the trumpets were a warning. The trumpets can also be a call to war The trumpets can simply be heralding a victory, and I'm putting it to you that the nature of these trumpets is heralding a victory. I'll give you my reasons for saying so. This recalls the days when seven priests, remember there's seven trumpeters, ready to blow trumpets? There were seven priests who carried trumpets. And I had to check this, you know, back in the Exodus story. They carried trumpets as they marched around Jericho's walls for six days. On the seventh day, they blew them. Comparison. I mean it must be quite strange if you're in Jericho. Wouldn't it? What are they up to? It would have been laughing. It would have been laughing. Okay. Here's their trumpets, down by their side. No heralding of war or anything like that. Silence. And on the seventh day they blew them. And of course the walls came down. The quietness in heaven before the trumpets are blown is a comparison, if you like. God's victory then involves the judgment of those who oppose the purposes of God, but it heralds God's coming victory. Do you see why I'm saying that they are, if we take the connection with the seven angels and how you had seven priests, and some people say, well, the angels have a priestly-like vestments or something or other, they can be connected with that. So they're like those seven trumpeters, if you like, that were marching around. So from one point of view, it does involve judgment. As we have read these trumpets coming out, there's terrible judgments happening on the earth. But what are the judgments about? Are they just making life difficult for people, or are they actually saying, no, I do rule? And at the end of the whole process of the seven trumpeters, what's the final cry? The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our God. So I call them heralds of the coming victory. Do you see? That's why we come to that particular point of view. Now I connect that with Luke 21 where you remember the Lord was describing in those very famous a little apocalypse it's called sometimes where the Lord says this is going to happen and this is going to happen this is going to happen to Jerusalem and says after this Jerusalem thing then there's going to be all sorts of troubles in the world and you need to describe some of the troubles that are going to happen in the world and then he says when you see these things taking place lift up your eyes because your redemption is drawing nigh I think that's the way to read the trumpets when you see these things natural catastrophes. When you see these things taking place, lift up your eyes because your redemption is coming now. Somehow or another, and don't ask me how, everything that's happened is not only inevitable but indispensable. There need to be these things happening in order that it be clear that the kingdom of this world is the kingdom of God and will be the kingdom of our God. The whole world will be the kingdom of our God. In fact, the kingdom of this world, that is the organized world, will be the kingdom of God. There's an important difference between the opening of the seals and the blowing of the trumpets. In the first, Christians are martyred and they pray, and we've already looked at that, so I'll leave it. First four judgments release turmoil in the creation, and the next two, demonic afflictions that touch the souls of those who reject Christ. So there seems to be a difference between the four and the next two. One writer calls these trumpet judgments a controlled descent into chaos. Hmm, let's have a look at them. The similarity between what happens when the trumpets sound. I just had a connection with Jericho earlier. Now if you like a connection with Exodus, the parallels are unavoidable. In those days the cry of God's people came up before God. Remember Exodus 6? God heard the cry of the people being terribly abused by the Egyptians. So here God hears the cry of his people. At the time of the Exodus, plagues included hail, water turning to blood, darkness, locusts, and human deaths. Also here God called on Pharaoh to repent, and he would not. Again, as here, for all this they did not repent. These judgments are then penultimate, not final. They are limited to a third of the population, They have in mind that men and women will see that the world is God's, and that His Son, confessed by Christians, is in fact the face of God. The doctrine being contested today is not the deity of Christ or the effectiveness of the Atonement. Most people don't care about that. Not yet. You see, there's prior work to do. We pray for a little Johnny to be a Christian. Why wouldn't you? That's what you want, so that's what you pray for. God says, all right. But you see, what will bring Johnny to be a Christian? Well, that's a mystery. But God's real. We just like to work on the surface of things, but God really gets things to happen. What needs to be asserted is that God is God. And these trumpets address that need. Hail and fire, with blood, produce disasters on land, as trees and grass. Then something like a collapsing volcano produces disasters in the sea, marine life and shipping. Then something, sorry, what was it? Tsunami. Tsunami, yes, like a tsunami, isn't it? I mean, we have little things that take place, little things, I call them, and they involve thousands of people being disoriented and dead. There's something like a massive asteroid destroys a third of potable water. Then a cosmic disturbance causes partial darkness. Now, again, you people have pointed out that apparently several hundred thousand years ago, or thousands of years ago, tens of thousands of years ago, there was a catastrophe where a half of the species of the Earth were obliterated. Now, how on Earth they worked that out, don't ask me. But it's interesting, isn't it, that even scientists can see that there's been some cosmic events that greatly changed how things are on Earth. Here we are well out of the range of climate change, and certainly out of the range of things we can remedy. The imagery could cover any one of many acts of God that send our insurance companies into a frenzy. Or perhaps, and this is more to the point, leave populations devastated and spiritless. Well may we look with dismay at the disbelief that such things could happen. whether they be fires, whether they be natural disasters, there's no help that can get to people quickly and so forth. Jesus asked if someone on earth whose tragedy, someone on whom tragedy fell, remember they said, do you think that the people on whom the Tower of Siloam fell were worse sinners than others? He says, no, repent or you likewise shall perish. In other words, what is to be a proper response of the world, or us for that matter, to natural disasters? Don't talk about what you deserve. Repent, lest the worst thing befall you. And this is sweet Jesus. Pardon my irony. Jesus is real. I mean, he's going to end up on a cross. You see, God's dealing with real things. And really dealing with them. And we're out of our depth. And I'm not trying, nobody here can be smart. God is God. And we're human beings. And sometimes all we'll have to do is cry for what has taken place, won't we? And repent if something happens that shows we've just been playing games. We like to think we can make the world where nothing will go wrong. This will never happen again. Remember that was said about World War I? The war to end wars? What did the Lord give us? World War II? That's in our own lifetime. Well, it's in my lifetime anyway, so it might be some of yours, or most of yours, or probably. There. And, of course, we should try our best to make it so. Why wouldn't you make a product that won't let people down? I certainly hope the buildings I go up in, in a nice big lift, will work well engineered. And so forth. Why wouldn't you make the world the safer place as you can? So there's no excuses here. But what will it take before we see that it is God who provides for us, and not we ourselves? There's a verse I've just left there, you can look at it yourself, Isaiah 26, but it has the line in it. Your signs are in the land, probably signs that God looks after the country. Your signs are in the land, but they don't see it. God's looking after Australia wonderfully, but we don't see it. Deeper troubles are to come, and they are demonic in nature. The fifth and sixth trumpets now. I'll read some of them. 9, chapter 9. A fifth angel blew his trumpet, saw a star fallen from heaven. He was given a key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke of the shaft. From the smoke came locusts on the earth. So bizarre, isn't it? And they were given power like the power of scorpions. Scorpions reputedly have one of the worst pains that can be produced for a human being. Agonizing. They were told not to harm the grass, but only the people. But only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. It's what we were talking about earlier. They were allowed to torment them for five months. It's limited. But not to kill them. And their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings someone. And then those people will seek death and will not find it. They will long to die. that death will flee from them. Various things in that description seem to say that we're dealing here with more than just cosmic events, that is, natural nature events, but with something that's purely demonic. The fallen star suggests Satan fallen. Jesus said, I saw Satan falling like from heaven. The abyss is a place of foul fiends that the people, the demons that were cast out of pigs wanted to go. to avoid being sent to the pit, to the abyss, to place foul fiends. It's the lair of the beast soon to be revealed." And all those references are there. Satan is described later as bound here. And in the present case he can only use his own domain if given the appropriate key. Interesting. The creatures that arise can only touch humans, not the natural world, in this particular set of, in the previous one they did, but here it said, and only those who do not belong to the land, and they can only torment, not kill, but they are unnatural in appearance, like hair of a woman, but the teeth of a lion, and so forth. terrifying in their coming and agonizing in their effects. Such is the reign of the God of this world. When God lets Satan have his way for a little while, this is what happens. This is what he produces when permitted to do so, and the nature of his creation is evident. We have a nice little word for it, we call them despot in a human term, but here it seems to be more than just that, it seems to be demonic. In one sense this is all God's doing, but God often acts by giving up us to our own wills and delusions and guilts. The pain of never being good enough, the unnatural lengths this drives us to, to prove we're someone, and then the death that hangs over us, unrelieved with hope, may well be excruciating. We are meant to know God as Father and to be at peace with him. But if we won't come to him through the Lamb, Satan not only has a field day, he is given this task, if only to show the world that Satan is no father. How many times you could actually go through that and show, get your own way, and you find out what you can produce. And it ain't nice. We need to be under God. The sixth trumpet sounds, accompanied by a voice from the Golden Altar, where the prayers of the saints have been offered up, and the voice says certain angels are to be unbound, presumably because they've been fallen angels and had to be bound. They've been reserved for this task. Just as the death of the firstborn was the final plague in Egypt, so here it is announced that a third of mankind will be killed. Fallen and unbound angels command an overwhelming number of soldiers and their horses are deadly instruments of death. Is this the war to end all wars? What effect does it produce in those who are spared this overwhelming destruction? That's two-thirds of the population still. Nothing. They are still enthralled to demons, idols, still committed to their disregard for human life, for truth, that is, they would prefer to have sorcery than the reality, for purity and property they disregard it. The trumpets are given opportunity to repent and know the grace of the Father, but sin has mastered those who have not turned to the Lamb. We'll come to an interlude next week after this, but is this what our prayers are about? This is where we need to finish. We pray that our Father's name will be hallowed. Jesus said that's what we're to do. We pray that God's kingdom will come. That's what we're to do. Does this just mean a few conversions or an improvement in our discipleship? Well, it may be part of it, but it means God will bring It means God's will being done in earth as in heaven. It means the mystery of God being fulfilled. 10.7, it's there. In the seven days of the seventh angel, the mystery of God will be fulfilled. God will do what he's doing. God knows the meaning of our prayers better than we do ourselves. I love that. I can pray, God bless so-and-so and so-and-so and I cheer to the Lord, I just love this guy and I'd love it to change. That's all I can pray. I can't pray for earthquakes and stuff. That's not in me to do that. But God understands the meaning of my prayers. He understands how evil and stubborn our hearts are. And He knows that nothing will serve other than the ministry of the land, washing this filth away. and all the ministry of the Lamb, including this wrath, is directed towards the world knowing Him. And there's a little bit, a couple of verses of a song I wrote years ago. You can have a look at it. I think you'll know it already. But I'm reminded of Romans. The righteousness of God is being revealed from heaven. through the preaching of the gospel. Romans 1.17 or something there. Four, the righteousness of God is being revealed through the preaching of the gospel. Four, the wrath of God is being revealed against all unrighteousness and wickedness of men who by their wickedness suppress the truth. Two revelations are happening simultaneously. Romans 1. You don't have to go to Revelation. Do you see that? Don't be frightened of this. We're not about this. God is. We're about the preaching of the gospel. And God is revealing his righteousness. And here, God is about revealing his wrath. And they've got to be together. Just let it be. And don't try and encompass it. We're not God. But he has pulled aside the curtains to say, I'm looking after things, Grant. It's good enough. Father, thank you that you reveal things to us, and we certainly need them revealed, and we pray, our Father, that we may be humbled by these things, and at the same time be humbled by heartened by them, to know that you're not slack when we pray. And we thank you, in Jesus' name, amen.