Revelation 11 is where we're going to be. And I'm doing things a little differently than we were doing even last week. But you can see there's not a whole lot that you have to fill out. But if you happen to have your lesson guide from last week, we're going to kind of update the end of that as well. But really, for the last several weeks, we've been exploring the seventh trumpet judgment. And of course, we find this in chapter 11, verses 14 through 19. If you remember, this seventh trumpet judgment is also called the third woe, and that's because In the seventh trumpet, we find the final wrath and judgment of God on unbelievers. And we've explored some of this already. In these verses, we learn that the climax, and you can actually kind of look at the part of the scroll that we looked at before, but the climax of the seventh trumpet is, and you can see it right here on the screen, is the return of Christ. So if you don't want to get into the details, look up here and we'll work our way to the details. But the climax of the seventh trumpet is the return of Christ to this world. And really, once again, it's the climax of all of Revelation. It's the theme that we find in the very first chapter, and we find it all throughout the book. Behold, he comes with the clouds, John says in Revelation 1-7. And eventually, he does. And he will set up that rain that will rule and rule forever. But that return in the seventh trumpet is actually described in a few different ways in these verses uh... if you remember in verse fifteen it's described as when the kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our lord and of his christ and he shall reign forever and ever and certainly that is sort of an encapsulation of all that's going to take place to return to christ everything that that was the world's is now christ's and he will reign and establish a rule that will last into eternity that description is matched by the 24 elders in verse 16. When they make the same proclamation, thou hast taken to thee thy great power and hast reigned. So again, it's all dealing with what happens when Christ returns at some point during the seventh trumpet. Beyond this announcement, a further report is given about incidents that will both lead up to and flow from Jesus's return. And if you look at verse 18, before Jesus' return to reign will come the first part of this verse, the nations were angry and thy wrath is come. So obviously the wrath of the nations will result in the wrath of God and then Jesus will come because he is the executor of God's wrath. And then during Jesus' rule and reign, the second part of verse 18 will come because we have that the time and the season for three main events will occur. The three main events are the time of the dead that they should be judged, Also, the time that God should give reward unto his servants, the prophets, saints, them that fear thy name, small and great. So it's a time for judgment, a retribution, a time for reward. But also it's the time that thou shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth. And that would actually bring out this kingdom that the Lord is going to rule over. Well, last week we looked at verse 19, and this gives us another description of Jesus' return, but in a different way. Again, the climax of the seventh trumpet is the return of Christ, and it's described in all kinds of different ways in these verses. But in verse 19, the perspective in this verse is on how Jesus will return. If you remember from the first part of verse 19, he will return when the temple of God is opened in heaven. And that is the place of this revelation, the return of Christ in this verse. It's going to have the opening of this temple in heaven from the perspective of even the world under heaven. But then as Jesus returns, there will be, at the end of verse 19, lightnings and voices and thunders and a great earthquake and great hail. That shows us the power of this revelation, this return of Christ. And that will be the time when Jesus himself, who is the true ark of God's covenant, will be seen for who he really is. And that's the purpose of this verse, to show us that Jesus really is the ark of God's covenant, the true ark. Yes, it might be displayed in different ways, like the Old Testament ark, or even this heavenly ark that is described for us. But in Jesus, we have the power of God, the presence of God, really the supremacy of God in this world. Now, one reason why we can say that the ark here is a symbol for Jesus is because of how this verse in verse 19 is actually tied to the very next verse in chapter 12, verse 1. Something we need to remember is that these chapter divisions are not inspired. Even the verse divisions are not inspired. And what we find is there's a transition that connects verse 19 to verse 1. Here in verse 19, John tells us that all of this was seen. It's actually put in a passive way. It's an unusual expression in Revelation. In fact, most of the time when something is seen, John says, I saw it, I saw it, I saw it. And if you look up that phrase, I saw, you're gonna find it all throughout Revelation because John is saying it from his perspective, because it's his vision. God gave him this vision. Well, here we have it, this was seen in heaven. Now in verse 1 of chapter 12, we actually have the same expression as even another vision is about to commence. And so he says, there was seen, or in the King James, was appeared. It's actually the exact same word, the exact same syntax. There was seen a great wonder or sign in heaven. So more than likely the sign that we find in verse 1 and of course starting in chapter 12 that we find all kinds of signs and all kinds of symbols. It might also show us that this ark that was seen by John is also a sign or has some significance in that is a symbol of the Lord Jesus Christ. So even though we can say that John did see this heavenly object in the temple of God in his vision, it was a special wonder as well about the Lord Jesus Christ who is about to return to this world. Again, verse 19 is dealing with that climax of his return. So this final scene of the seventh trumpet seems to bring us once again to the same scene that we've already come to in Revelation, which is what we describe as the threshold of Christ's return. The threshold of Christ's return. Now we ended last time by looking at all the places, and this is on one side of your paper there. We looked at one, we looked at all the places where you can find this storm language that comes just prior to and along with the second coming of Christ. We find it several different places. Chapter four, verse five, chapter eight, verse five, here, chapter 11, verse 19, and then also chapter 16, 18 through 21. And so hopefully you're able to see that on your paper. The last three references in chapter 8 and 11 and 16 are all meant to signal the presence of God in heaven has now come to earth. And that is one of the reasons why we would say that these are pictures and descriptions of the power of Christ's return. However, in addition to these heavenly signals, lightnings and voices and thunders, and if you look at verse 5 of chapter 4, those come straight out of heaven. So we know it's talking about the presence of God coming to earth because the voices and the lightnings and the thunders all come from the very throne room of God. They demonstrate the power of God in heaven, and now it's coming to earth. But we have a couple of earthly signals as well, and that is an earthquake and hail. The earthquake that is referred to here, and in every other place where this storm language is found, seems to also point us back to when Jesus opened the sixth seal of the scroll that is found in chapter 6. And so you kind of see some of these markers that God not only gave to John in his vision, but also John gave to us in Revelation. to be able to bring us each time to the very threshold of Jesus's return. That is, he's not yet coming. He's sort of on his way to come. And then he draws him back to give us more information, more background, more detail of what's going to happen before he gets up to that threshold again. And he cycles back again to give us even more information until in chapter 9 we actually come to the time when Jesus comes and returns in the clouds. And so we see sort of a cyclical nature in the book of Revelation, which I think is probably one of the better ways to look at Revelation because it shows us that the theme of Revelation is prevalent throughout the whole book. It's about the return of Christ. There's a lot of calamities, there's a lot of judgment, there's a lot of wrath, but it is all something that leads up to the greatest event in all of history, and that is the return of Christ. That's what we're looking for. That's who we're looking for. But the earthquake that we find in chapter eight, and in chapter 11, and chapter 16 that you can see up here, as well as on your paper, all point us back to the first mention of earthquake in the sixth seal. So why don't we go back to chapter six briefly, chapter six, verses 12 through 17, and read about the sixth seal, because it's been a little time since we've been there, right? It's been a little time since we've looked at these verses. But in chapter six, verse 12, John says, and I beheld that when he, and of course that's referring to Jesus, had opened the sixth seal, and of course this is that heavenly scroll that Jesus as the Lamb of God took out of his father's hand when he was standing by the throne of God in heaven. So he has this scroll, he's already peeled off five of them, and now he opens up a sixth seal, and in the vision there are certain events that are brought about by the opening of these seals or the breaking of these seals. And so when he opened the sixth seal, John says, lo, there was a what? A great earthquake, a great earthquake. You find this a couple other places, that same description in Revelation. But what happens when this great earthquake, earthquake takes place? And the sun became black as sackcloth of hair. and the moon became as blood, and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men and the chief captains and the mighty men and every bondman and every free man hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains and said to the mountains and rocks, fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb. For the great day of his wrath is come. and who shall be able to stand." Now, if you just read those verses alone, the impression that they give is that the time for the end of this world and of God's wrath has arrived. I mean, we're talking about a quake that there is no more Mountains, there's no more islands. I mean, this is a catastrophic earthquake, a great earthquake. Every mountain and island are moved out of their places, and they recognize that God's wrath has come. It takes us to the very end. It takes us to the time of the end of this world and God's wrath upon the children of disobedience. Now, much of what we find here in the sixth seal is closely connected to what we found back in chapter 11, verse 19, which we spent more time looking at last time. And of course, this is sort of review, but it's also getting to kind of where we left off last time. But if you remember from verse 14 of chapter 6, John tells us that the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together. And the idea there is that there's a tearing and a cleaving away of the sky above in an unnatural way. And so it's almost as if a scroll And if you picture the heavens as a scroll, even into outer space itself, the idea is that it is being rent in a piece, or rent and divided and sundered to show what is beyond the sky, to show what is beyond that. Well, what could bring this about? What could bring this heaven departing as a scroll into its role together? Well, I think we find the answer in the seventh trumpet. If you keep your finger here and you go with me to chapter 11 again, and you look at verse 19, what do we find there? It says, the temple of God was opened in heaven. The temple of God was opened in heaven so that heaven itself is opened in order to bring Jesus into this world. And I think we have a very clear connection between heaven departing as a scroll and the temple of God being opened in heaven so as Jesus himself can return. And that's why I think that the events here in the sixth seal point us to this very climax of Jesus' return. But there's even more. It's not just isolated with verse 14 of chapter six. You know, flip back and forth. But in chapter six, verse 16, John saw and heard the unbelieving world say what? to the mountains and the rocks, fall on us, hide us from the face of him that sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb." So they're experiencing this terror. Now, we recognize that beforehand, the terror of God is not on the world. Otherwise, they would have repented long ago in dust and ashes. In chapter 11, verse 19, if you flip over there real quick, this same vision is put in different terms, so that there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament. We mentioned that the ark of the testament, that heavenly ark, is again a symbol of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is also the Lamb of God. Jesus is going to come to deliver his full and final wrath on this world before he sets up his reign, his eternal reign. And so here we have the men in the world saying, hide us from the wrath of the lamb. How, how, how in the world are they seeing this land? How do they recognize the wrath of the land that it's coming? It's because the arc of his covenant, his Testament was seen in the temple. They recognize that ultimately Jesus is going to return through all of these different ways. You know, we, we described all of those other symbols of his return to the, the sun turning the moon turning black or turning red, the sun turning dark, all of these things. Jesus is both the Lamb of God and the true Ark of God. And all of these things will happen when Jesus returns. And so then when we come to all of the lightnings and the voices and the thunderings that will come from heaven as Jesus is about to descend from heaven, what is that going to bring about? The rest of the storm theophany and earthquake and great hail on the earth. even the great earthquake that we find here in the sixth seal. And so I think, again, we have these verbal markers that take us to the very time of the end when Jesus is about to return. But every so often, he brings us back to give us more background and more information. And that's why I think we can see the seven trumpets as the main content of the scroll that Jesus was found worthy to open when he was breaking the seven seals in chapter six. So we can actually go back to the image of the scroll and this is what you have there. And again, we're gonna kind of look at it stage by stage. When we looked at the seven seals, they follow the same pattern that Jesus used in Matthew 24 in his Olivet Discourse. We're not going to take the time to go through all of those again, but almost in the exact same order, Jesus describes certain events, certain catastrophes that are summarized again for us in the seven seals and the language of the seven seals. But what Jesus was doing in Matthew 24, and what I believe what Jesus is doing here, is Jesus is reminding John of what he already taught. Jesus is reminding John of how things would be in this world between his return to heaven and return from heaven. Now, I think sometimes when we come to Revelation, we think, well, it's just a book about the future. And when we think about the future, we think about our future. And yes, it's a book about the future, you know, pretty much after the heavenly throne room. But we also need to remember it's also about John's future. So think about when John lived. That's 2,000 some years ago. And yet so much of what we have even in Jesus' Olivet Discourse is future, not for us, but for him. And so I think we have a continuity going on all throughout the church age that we would describe as the church age. Jesus is describing and reminding John through the seven seals of what things are gonna be like before his return. If you remember, the first five seals express the ongoing suffering that will happen both to the world in general and Christians in particular. The first four, the horsemen, if you remember, describe what's gonna happen in this world and over and over and over again, on a quarter of the world, this world is going to experience great catastrophe. And that has certainly been something that we see ongoing in this time of the church age. Of course, we know that Christians in particular will experience suffering. The fifth seal is describing martyrs, Christian martyrs. Christian martyrs that we've learned about even in our own church as we looked at church history. But all of this, I guess you could say general tribulation, will all lead up to the sixth seal that we just read about and the time when Jesus will return to bring his judgment and wrath on the ungodly. And so we see, again, the whole scheme and scope of Jesus' Olivet Discourse that's gonna happen between his advent to heaven and from heaven. But when Jesus opens the seventh seal, the purpose, the main purpose is to reveal the contents of the scroll. And of course, that all begins in chapter eight. And as we've seen, he provides more information about what must happen before Jesus returns. So again, we come to the sixth seal, it's as if Jesus is going to come, we've got the great earthquake, it's as if that's going to, they're gonna experience God's wrath, but Jesus says, nope, nope, wait a second, there's a little bit more that needs to take place. So he takes off the seventh seal, and what happens? we have the unveiling of the scroll, the scroll that was so prominent in chapter five. Now we understand what's the contents of this scroll. So when the seventh seal is broken, we find seven trumpets. And as each one is sounded by an angel, they bring forth various judgments on this world. So we would say that these are yet in our future. There are some that would say these are also in the past, but it seems like these are yet to come. But just before any of the trumpets are sounded, if you look at chapter eight with me now, chapter eight. Again, this is sort of a review, but I think it's something that we're gonna keep coming back to because we keep coming back to this storm language, this storm theophany, this manifestation of God's presence in the storm at the return of Christ. Just before any of the trumpets are sounded, a summary of them is given to us in verse five. If you remember when an angel takes a golden censer, fills it with fire from the heavenly altar, and then it says, cast it into the earth. And that leads to the very first mention of the great storm that will announce the wrath and the return of Christ. Because what happens? And there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake. We would say that that earthquake is the same earthquake that took place in the sixth seal, where the world is wanting to hide from the wrath of the land. They know it's coming. They know it's inevitable at this time, at that point. And so the voices and the thunderings and the lightnings here are the same signals that are referred to in the seventh trumpet that will accompany the Lord's return that we've looked at in chapter 11. So really, this is how I've come to see the structure of this part of Revelation in the seals, The Lord wants to remind John and us of what the world will be like until he returns. Then, when the scroll is opened, the trumpets reveal the great turmoil and tribulation that will overtake this world in the final years before Christ's return. When the seventh trumpet sounds, we know that there are many things involved that lead up to and flow from Jesus' return. And so if you can see, we've looked at this aspect of the diagram. probably last few weeks, and we can add it to the scroll, because it's all part of the scroll. It's part of the heavenly manifestation of what's going to happen in the future. And we can even add the seven bowls of wrath to this, which we will get to when we get to chapters 15 and 16. But the seven bowls of God's wrath are actually included in the seventh trumpet judgment. This is where the the third or the the seventh right is the third woe Because it includes the very wrath of god, but once again, they all bring us To the threshold of jesus's return which is the climax of this entire scroll I mean if you want to know what the scroll is about it's about jesus's return because then everything that we found in the announcement back in chapter 11 verse 15 will finally come. What is that? The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall reign forever and ever. So the kingdom of this world is over, the reign of this world is over and the rule of the Lord begins because all that God had prophesied, Jesus prophesied in Matthew is complete. All that Jesus prophesies in the trumpets is complete and even all that we find in the wrath of God is complete when Jesus comes to set up his eternal reign. Now, that's sort of the summary of the seals and the trumpets and the bowls. And we'll revisit this when we look at the bowl judgments again, the bowls of wrath, I should say. But one of the things that we find in the series of seals and trumpets and bowls are there are certain breaks in the action, right? There are certain breaks in the action. And so we have called these things interludes. paper that you'll eventually see on the site. I wonder if John could pass these out too. So these also are involved in the scroll that we see up here. But within the seals, within the trumpets, within the bowls, there are certain breaks in the action. And we've described two of them as interludes, right? We've described two of them as interludes. Between the sixth and the seventh seals, we find a break in the action in chapter seven that we can call the seal interlude. And you'll get this and be able to look at this. Again, nothing that you have to fill out. The seal interlude. Now, in this interlude, more information is provided about what will happen to God's people between the times of the fifth and the sixth seal. In fact, go back with me to chapter seven, Revelation chapter seven, because we need to remember that this is a break in the action. It tells us more about what's going to happen to God's people sometime during the events previously mentioned. And we would say between the fifth and the sixth seals, or sometime during that period of time. But just a real quick review, if you look back at verse 3 of chapter 7, we find the servants of God who are sealed in their foreheads, and they are sealed in order to be preserved from the catastrophes that are about to be unleashed on the world. Again, verse 3. I'm sorry, not verse 3. Verse 4. Yeah, verse 3. Seal don't hurt the earth or the sea or the trees and we'd say that would happen during the trumpets Until we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. And of course this comes that famous number what? 144,000 right verse 4 I heard the number of them that were sealed and they were sealed in 144,000 of all the tribes of the children of Israel and so we looked at that but then if you jump down to verse 9 of the same chapter and we find even more people described. Remember, we find what? Verse nine, a great multitude, which no man could number of all nations and kindreds and peoples and tongues. And where do we find them? We find them in heaven, don't we? They're actually serving God in his temple, his heavenly temple. And they're doing so day and night, which means that there still is day and night. So more than likely, these are people that have gone on to be with the Lord during still the time in which we live here. and they are before the throne and before the Lamb. Well, when John wondered, who are these people? Who's this great multitude? I mean, I heard described the 144,000, and now I see this great multitude. He's told in verse 14 about this multitude, these are they which came out of, and some translations don't put the article the, but it's appropriate here, out of the great tribulation, and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. And so the seal interlude describes the people of God both as they enter into and come out of what we describe as the Great Tribulation, right? But we don't know what this Great Tribulation is at this point. We're just given a picture, a snapshot, of how there will be faithful people going into it and faithful people coming out of it. And there's going to be a smaller portion going in and a greater number coming out from all over the world. And yet, what is this Great Tribulation going on? Well, we find out more information about it in the next break. Now, this is something that is really astounding to see and to look at the parallels between all of these interludes, if you will. So the next time that we come to a break in the action is in chapters 10 and 11. Of course, we just finished looking at this, but we would describe this as the trumpet interlude. This is something that is kind of put right in between the sixth trumpet and the seventh trumpet, just like what we found in the seals. But the focus of this interlude is also on God's people. But it gives us more information and more background as to why there's even going to be a great tribulation. What is this going to be like? If you remember in chapter 10, the focus is on John, right? And his ministry as God's prophet at the beginning of what has been called the church age. We mentioned already that John lived some 2,000 years ago. Of course, many believe he died just before the turn of the first century. So probably around 96 is when he might have written this book. Some believe that he died not too long after, just maybe a few months or even a few years after this. But he was an old man by that time. But if you look at verse 7 of chapter 10, John is told, that in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets." And so that's one of the reasons why we say that the days of the voice of the seventh angel last for quite some time. And yet the climax is the return of Christ. But this is part of his ministry. He's supposed to tell the world about this mystery that is now being revealed through revelation. If you jump down to verse 11, the very last verse of this chapter, John has also said, told, thou must prophesy again before, and this can also be about or even against, many peoples and nations and tongues and kings. So what does God give John the responsibility of doing? telling people about what is to come. Telling people to flee from the wrath to come. And how do you flee from the wrath to come? By fleeing to Jesus Christ, right? So this is another way of getting the gospel out, because we know what's going to come, and we need to tell people what's going to come. You might have, remember, seen some of those B.C. cartoons or comics, you know, and they had that guy that was all kind of dressed up rustic, and he had a sign, and he says, judgment is coming, judgment is coming, and of course, People would mock at that, people would look at that, people would consider them crazy, and that's really what the world thinks of us. The world, if they're really honest about it, they do not believe in that there's gonna be a judgment to come. And yet, part of John's responsibility and part of the church's responsibility, because remember, John is an apostle of the church, and as an apostle of the church, he gives us what we are to do. He gives us the content that we're supposed to share. Whether the world thinks we're crazy or not, we're supposed to do this. And so part of John's ministry was to keep sharing God's word to this world as it was revealed to him, including the judgments to come. This forms the background for the ministry of the servants of God when they come on the scene in the seal interlude, or in the trumpet interlude. So when we come to chapter 11, the focus shifts, doesn't it? No longer is it the ministry of John, but now we have the ministry of two witnesses, and we spent quite a bit of time looking at them. But they're also God's prophets who seem to appear toward the end of this age. But in addition to being leaders of God's people, they also seem to represent God's people for the time of their ministry, which is that famous three and a half years, or 1,260 days. They will eventually suffer at the hands of the beast, but so will the rest of God's people. And even though a multitude will be converted through their ministry, as well as through the ministry of, we could say, others like the 144,000, many will also be martyred for not worshiping the beast. So again, you see some overlap here, don't you? We have in chapter seven, a description of a great tribulation, the great tribulation. And there's going to be some faithful servants of God going into it. And there's going to be many faithful servants of God from all over the world that will come out of it, likely through martyrdom. But why is there this great tribulation? Well, if you go to the next interlude in chapter 10 and chapter 11, the ministry of John becomes the ministry of God's witnesses. The reason why there will be great tribulation is because the Church of Jesus Christ, at that time, will continue to propagate the very words that God gave John about the judgment to come and about the Messiah, who is the hope for sinners. And so this is the reason why there's going to be a great tribulation. because God's people will continue to do what John was told to do, to prophesy against or about many peoples and nations and tongues and kings, and as they hear it, they're not gonna like it. They're going to turn from it and even want to persecute God's people. And yet, what's going to happen? Well, we know that eventually, even in the life of those two witnesses, as they are propagating the very words that God gave to John, Though they will be martyred, they will also come back to life. God will reward them with the martyr's crown. So this trumpet interlude describes the people of God both before the Great Tribulation and during the Tribulation. Through the ministries of John beforehand, that's us. but also through the ministry of the two witnesses during the time of the tribulation. So you could almost put the ministry of the two witnesses sort of in the same place as the great tribulation because we've got the 144,000, we've got the two witnesses representing them and perhaps even being part of them that will lead to the great multitude coming to know Christ. But there are things mentioned in passing in chapters 10 and 11 that gave me, if not you, a lot more questions than answers, right? We find the description of a beast. And you're like, wait, where did that come from? The last time I saw a beast was back in chapter six when it talks about the beast of the earth killing people. So what is this beast that is gonna rise up from a bottomless pit? Well, we have a lot more questions than we have answers. And so starting here in chapter 12, and this is sort of the introduction of where we're going to go starting next Sunday. Here in chapter 12, verse one, right after the climax of the seventh trumpet is announced, again, the return of Christ, there's another break in the action. So it doesn't just keep on going in a chronological way, but rather there's a break in the action. And this time, instead of being an interlude within the series of judgments. So if you remember, we had the seal interlude taking place between seal six and seal seven. We had the trumpet interlude taking place between trumpet six and trumpet seven. Well here, there's nothing else that is described for us. We just get right into another series or another explanation of what's going to happen. And we could describe this as a prelude instead of an interlude. A prelude that appears before the final series of judgments, which are the bold judgments, the seven bold judgments, the seven vials of God's wrath. We would call this the bowl prelude, and it covers a lot more ground than the other interludes. And we know that because it's not just one chapter, like chapter seven for the seals. It's not just two chapters like it was for the trumpets. Now we have three full chapters that is just chock full of information and background. And yet it still leads us to the very same time period of the Great Tribulation. The focus of chapters 12 through 14, and hopefully even though we're gonna get into the details of this, the overarching theme is that there is a cosmic conflict between God and his people and the devil and his people. That is, there's a cosmic conflict that is going on between God and his church and the devil and the world. And that's what we see right at the outset here of chapter 12. The beginning of the conflict actually takes us back beyond the life and ministry of Christ that we will find in chapter 12. And that's something, again, that we see. It's not just a chronological book. It keeps taking us back to fill in more details. It keeps taking us back to give us more information. And so that's what happens here in chapter 12. It actually goes all the way back before the life and ministry of Christ. even before we're brought back to the peak of this conflict, before the great tribulation of God's people. And of course, eventually, we will actually come to the end of this conflict in chapter 14, which is the great harvest of the world. So there's really three main themes when we come to this prelude of the bowls. We've got the ministry of Christ, and before that, we have the great tribulation of God's people, and this is where we find the beast from the earth and the beast of the sea, and we find all of these things taking place, the false prophets, And then, of course, we have the great harvest of the world in chapter 14, which, again, gets us to the very threshold of Christ's return. He doesn't come yet in chapter 14, but he's really close to setting up his rule and reign in the earth. But then we're drawn back a little bit further. So with each of these three breaks in the action, I think you can see it here on the screen, but also on your paper, each of these three breaks, not only do we find more detail about the final suffering God's people that we will be called to endure, we're also given more background to help those who will suffer understand what it's really all about. And I think when we think about the context of Revelation and who this book was written to, remember, we have the seven churches of Asia, They were under the thumb of the Roman Empire, which many places in Revelation might be pictured as Babylon, the great Babylon, okay? The world system as a whole is described as that great Babylon that oppresses God's people. And so they were probably going through a lot of suffering. We read about a martyr named Antipas. We read about some suffering that Smyrna was going to experience. And we see all of these things taking place, and they're probably thinking, well, why, why? Well, this is why, because there's a cosmic conflict between God and His people, and the devil and the world. And it's been that way from the very beginning, from the very fall, when the serpent deceived and beguiled Eve to bring her to rebellion and sin against God, as well as to Adam himself. And so, with each of these breaks, more background is given to us as to why there will be a Great Tribulation. because the world cannot stand God and the world cannot stand God's people. Deep down, they don't want to hear what we have to say, just like they didn't want to hear what John had to say. That's why he was exiled to Patmos that he described earlier in this book. But you notice also in each one of these breaks, Not only does the perspective go back further in time and history, and I think you can see that, okay? So when we're talking about the seal interlude, where you've got the 144,000, you've got the great multitude, it seems to describe something that is yet in the future, just maybe even a three and a half year period of time known as the Great Tribulation. But when we come back down to the trumpet interlude, it goes back further to the ministry of John, right? And yet, it even, goes a little bit more forward to the actual resurrection and ascension of the two witnesses, which may be a precursor even to the resurrection and ascension of all of God's people. But then, of course, when we come to that third break, which is chapter 12 through 14, this prelude, it goes back even further. It goes back even further to before the time of Christ. And it also goes forward a little further. to the very time, the threshold again of Jesus' return was there's the great harvest of the world. And then Jesus returns. So the perspective of each break not only goes back further in time and history, they also take us a bit closer to the glorious appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so with that, we won't take the time to read this prelude because I was hoping that we'd have enough time. But with that, we're going to get into the prelude and we'll start that next time. So one of the things I would recommend is look through these interludes. Look at chapter seven, look at chapters 10 and 11, look at chapters 12 through 14 and see the background that is being given to us about this great cosmic conflict that we are actually involved in. It's going to climax sometime in the future in some kind of great tribulation that we read about here and already looked at. And yet that conflict is going on today. My wife and I were talking on the way here about the armor of God. Why do we need to have an armor of God? Because we are involved in this cosmic conflict. And we need to be prepared for the kind of conflict that could reach its climax at any time. And we need to recognize that and pray for God to help us through those times as well. Any others? Well, why don't we close in prayer and we'll get ready for our service. Father, we are so thankful for the opportunity that we have to look into your word because it is a wonderful, powerful thing that changes us from the inside out, Lord. And we're thankful that, yes, we know that you hold the future in your hands. And Father, I thank you that we have your word for us so that we can not only see what's going to come, but also why it's all happening to begin with. And so Father, I pray that you will bless us as we go forward into this prelude to the bowls of wrath that will describe even more to us about the background of why there's going to be a great tribulation, but also the very background of why there is this great conflict between you and the devil and between us and the world. but to also show us that you are the one who not only has the victory, but Lord, you're the one that gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. And so Father, I pray that as we learn more about it, that we will once again look with John to the very end, to that very climax that we've been looking at, the return of Jesus Christ, so that we might say with him, even so come Lord Jesus. Because Lord, we want the reign of this world to end. and the rule of our Lord to begin. We ask all these things in Jesus' name.