But nine years ago, Ed preached a sermon here on the fear of God. It was a very powerful sermon. It's one I keep referencing as the years go by. I keep referencing back to that when I am today. Because he pointed out the truths and ramifications of Proverbs 1, 7 and 9, 10. That it's the fear of Yahweh that is the beginning of both knowledge and wisdom. True success in life, that is accomplishing what you actually were created to do, why God has allowed you to exist, is going to be found in following Him. That begins with fear of Him, a proper fear of Him. Proverbs 1, 7 and 29 summarizes the problem with you don't have that fear of God, you end up with hatred of knowledge, instruction and wisdom. That leads just to utter foolishness. Lacking a proper fear of God, man becomes ignorant. in his own foolishness. Professing to be wise, they became fools, Paul says in Romans 1. So I highly recommend that sermon. If you go on the website, there's a link directly to it. And you can listen to it. It may have been nine years ago, but it's as good today as it was then. Maybe even better. Because actually I think that sermon does a good job of explaining why our society is degraded to the point that it is. It's a lack of fear of God. 2 Peter chapter 3 verse 15 points out it is God's long-suffering patience that is underlying salvation. Because if that wasn't true and the attributes of His mercy that flow out of that, none of us would be here today. We'd all be in eternal hell. Because that's what we deserve. But God is patient. He puts up with our sinfulness, our foolishness, and then going beyond that, in His loving grace, He grants salvation. through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, not by anything you've done because you can't do anything to earn it. It only comes by simply believing and he reckons that you as righteousness. Romans 2, 3, and 4 point out the same thing. It's the riches of God's goodness and this kindness he has toward us, his tolerance, his patience with us that actually should lead a person to repentance. And if we really think about it, it should, but people don't recognize their own sinfulness, so they don't even see that they're being tolerated. But it should lead us to repentance that God is so kind and good to us and provides for us. But the truth is that sinners commonly take God's long-suffering patience for granted, and then they presume upon that kindness to the point they actually expect it. And if the consequences of living in a sin-filled world, and there's all sorts of them. There's a consequence of your own sin. There's a consequence of the sin of the others. And the consequences of it's a cursed world. And things break down the way that they do instead of the way they were originally designed. When that happens and tragedy begins, then they unjustly accuse God. They blame Him. They get mad at Him. And failing to recognize that what they're doing is very unjust, lacking this proper fear of Him, they don't even recognize the danger they're in. They're heaping upon themselves more condemnation. Because eventually, God's long-suffering will come to an end. And as Hebrews 10.31 warns, it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Now because man does not usually respond to God's mercy and goodness with repentance, God does other things. He actually will do the opposite. He will bring about punishment and chasing to instill a proper fear. In some ways this is like your parents. Right? They love you. There's no one in the world that loves you more than your parents. I dare say that sometimes I think that even if you're grown and married, there's something about a mom just loves her kids. At least I'm seeing that with my wife. Our kids are grown, they're out of the house, but boy, she loves them. Amen. Right? However, as those kids were growing up, yep, we instilled some fear in them. Why? Because it's necessary. God's really the same way. That's our point of fatherhood is actually patting ourselves after him. He's a loving God and he chastens those who he loves. And so he will bring about or allow to happen or directly bring himself chasing and punishment to instill fear. And that out of that fear there should be a repentance. We see multiple examples of that in judges. Bad things were happening. They finally got to the point of, oh, We need to beg God for mercy and beg him to remove the oppression that we're in and he'd always graciously do so. At other times though, we'd see people's hearts just become harder. Think about the ministry of Jeremiah. Even told in advance, you're going to preach and they're not going to listen to you. The king and the people both became more and more obstinate. No matter how much Jeremiah warned them, this is what God is telling you. Well, people are still as foolish today. They blame God for troubles because He's sovereign. But instead of pleading for His mercy based on that very truth, they shake their fist at Him. During the course of the tribulation period, the wrath of God upon those that dwell on the earth is going to get worse. The sealed judgments were horrific. We've already looked at those. They included things like strife and murder and war and famine, pestilence, wild animal attacks, death of a quarter of the population of the world, and a shaking in the heavens and the earth demonstrated in dramatic signs. Now the many martyrs that are seen in the 5th seal and those that the innumerable multitude between the 6th and the 7th seal demonstrate that actually what God had done in bringing his wrath did work because there are a lot of martyrs. They came to faith in Christ as a result of seeing that yes God is still who he is, he is a creator and we're responsible to him. The seventh seal, which we looked at last week, opens the trumpet judgments and God's wrath escalates dramatically. The first trumpet brought hail and fire mixed with blood and it burned up a third of the earth, a third of the trees and all the green grass. The second trumpet brought something like a great mountain burning with fire being cast in the sea. and a third of the sea became blood. A third of all marine life died and a third of the ships were destroyed. The third trumpet brought a star named Wormwood falling from heaven and it caused one third of the fresh waters to become bitter wormwood and it killed many men. The fourth trumpet, the most dramatic to this point, smites one-third of the sun, one-third of the moon, and one-third of the star, so they do not shine for one-third of the day and one-third of the night. Absolutely supernatural, no physics can explain that one. It is God at work, and just like in the sixth seal, it is obvious God is at work, but men are still going to reject it. They still remain obstinate. Now these judgments, did bring about deaths of many sinners, but they also served as a warning to those that remained alive. And since you're alive today, you can take a warning. If you're dead, you can't get a warning anymore, right? So the living should always take to heart what's going on around them when we see God at work, even if it's in His wrath. But God's wrath is also tempered with mercy and grace because the midst of it Gospel still goes forward and people still get saved. And we know that even in that future point in time, the trumpet judgments, there are going to be those that are going to get saved. Because they're going to be persecuted by the beast that comes later. For those that continue to refuse His mercy and grace and endure His wrath after the fourth trumpet, which is horrible, it gets worse. Verse 13, chapter 8, Revelation. Then I looked and I heard an eagle flying in the midheaven saying with a loud voice, woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth because the remaining blast of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound. A woe is an interjection of grief and here is because the angel knows the intense hardships and distress that are coming are going to be so much greater than what has already occurred. The fifth trumpet brings about the first woe. Look at Revelation chapter 9, starting in verse 1. Then the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth, and the key of the pit of the abyss was given to him. He opened the pit of the abyss, and smoke went up out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit." So the fifth angel blows his trumpet, John sees another star which has fallen from heaven to earth. But this is not a celestial object this time. Proven by the fact that the key to the abyss is given to him. Masculine pronoun, not it. A neuter pronoun. It's a person. Now this is an angelic being because humans don't travel from heaven to earth. Now angels have been referred to as stars previously. In fact, in Job 38, Yahweh, as he's laying the foundation of the earth, refers in verse 7 to the morning stars that sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy at the laying of the foundation of the earth. In Isaiah 14, 12 we're introduced to Lucifer. Lucifer, the name means bright morning star or star of the morning, which is how it's translated in a lot of your versions. This is an angel, a star that fell from heaven. So John recognizes there's this particular angel and again an angel being referred to as a star. There's precedent for it. He recognized this angel had previously fallen. This is in the perfect tense. He's fallen to the earth is where he is at currently. Now the particular identity of the angel is not given, but actions demonstrate this is an angel sent by God on a specific mission because he is given the key by which he can open the abyss. The abyss is a transliteration of the Greek word, which most of your versions think have either bottomless pit, because it actually means without depth. Abyss is used nine times in the New Testament, all but two of them in Revelation. In Luke 8.31, when Jesus casts out the demons from the demoniac, they beg Him not to throw them or cast them into the abyss. Instead, He let them go into a herd of swine. Why swine herds are being kept among Jews? Well, that says a lot about what had happened. Drove the swine crazy and they became deviled ham. Some of you still know what deviled ham is, okay. And off into the sea they went and died. In Romans 10, 7 the abyss is used to refer to a holding place of the dead. Throughout Revelation, several more times it's used, it refers to a place of either where demons are being held and then they're released. It is the place from which the beast, a demonic being, will come later. It's also a place that Satan is going to be bound for a thousand years at the end of the tribulation period. So the abyss is very equated with the demonic. This angel unlocks and opens the abyss and smoke like that of a great furnace starts coming out. And in such a volume, the air is filled with it and it darkens the sun in appearance. Now know in Revelation we're told how long the effects of the fourth trumpet last. It darkened, remember, a third of the sun and a third of its shining. for a third of the time, but this verse indicates the sun is at least shining brightly enough, the smoke dims it again. It's darkened. The volume of the smoke often leads people to think this is coming from the fires of hell. Well, hell is the word Gehenna and probably better equated with the lake of fire at the end of Revelation 20, which is eternal. Hell is a different place from the abyss. The abyss is a prison for the demonic beings before being finally judged after the millennium. So this isn't hell. This is the abyss. It's a different place, but it's a nasty place. The passage goes on, verse 6, or 3 through 6, describes strange creatures that come out with a smoke from the abyss and what they can and cannot do, what they look like. Then out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth. Power was given to them as the scorpions of the earth have power. They were told not to hurt the grass of the earth nor any green thing or any tree but only the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. And they were not permitted to kill anyone but to torment for five months and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man. And in those days men will seek death and will never find it. They will long to die and death flees from them." So the smoke comes up and out of it, out of this smoke are these strange creatures. John describes them as locusts because of certain characteristics. But other characteristics that we've already started seeing is that, well these aren't insects. They're something else. Well, he describes what they're going to do before he describes what they look like, so we're going to do the same. And he notes first, they're coming out of the abyss in the smoke that's rising from it, and then they disperse over the earth. Second, he points out they're given power. The particular word here means the ability to perform the action, whatever is assigned to them. And that particular power was the power that a scorpion has to sting. Well, what does that do? Unless you're familiar with scorpions, you probably don't know, and I don't think there's a whole lot here in New York. They tend to be in warmer areas, and they really like dry areas. So they certainly were common out in the deserts of the Southwest where I visited a lot growing up in Los Angeles. They're very common in the Mideast, in the areas of Israel. They're generally nocturnal. They feed on insects and spiders. They kill them with a venomous sting after catching them with their pedipalps, their claws. Looks something like a lobster. They catch it and they sting it. Now, the vast majority of scorpions are not dangerous to man. There are a few species out there that can kill you, so they can be dangerous. You need to know your scorpions if you're going to start playing with them. Otherwise, someone's going to be playing a funeral march over you. But most of them, if they sting you, they cause a very painful swelling and discoloration of your flesh. They hurt a lot. That is the power of the sting of their tail, specifically pointed out in verse 5. Now these locust-like creatures are given power, but they are also restricted in what they can and cannot do. Now the person that is giving the instructions is not specifically named, but ultimately the instructions are coming from God. Whether given directly by Him, or by the angel with the key of the abyss, or by somebody else. Demons, including Satan, are in rebellion against God, and yet God still limits what they can and cannot do. The first couple chapters of Job are a classic illustration of that. Job was put in Satan's power, but to only a certain degree. Satan could not go past that. Remember, God knows what you can and cannot handle, and he'll never allow you to be tested or tempted beyond what you're able. He knows exactly where the line is. You don't, but you're going to find out. He does, and that's where our trust comes in. Neither the green grass, remember that was burned in the first trumpet judgment, it's recovered, it's regrown. So neither the green grass, nor green trees, or any green thing can be harmed by them. Now that's the opposite of an insect locust, because that's what they eat. and they can eat volumes of it and they come in swarms and eat all things and they create famines that way. But they can't harm any green thing. Now the previous four trumpets were directly against elements of nature. This one and the next one are directly against humans. So these locusts from the abyss, they're not permitted to kill humans. They're only allowed to be harmful to humans with their sting. They cause a lot of pain. The only ones exempt from that are these who have, the text states, have the seal of God upon their forehead. Now remember, we had seen between the sixth and seventh seal, there was 144,000 Jews, 12,000 from the tribes that are listed, that had the seal of God placed upon them. Some sort of identifying mark, they belong to God. So these locust creatures, as they see that mark, they know, you don't sting that one. Now, we're not told whether there are any more than 144,000 that are sealed. Definitely they are, but perhaps there's more the text simply doesn't say. But if you don't have the mark, you're in for a lot of hurt. Now, how bad is the pain from these creatures? Well, it'd be bad enough to be stung once. But this goes on for those who are not sealed for five months. Interesting enough, that's about the same length of time that insect locusts are active. About five months. But five months is a long time. Continually being stung by these things. The pain from the continuing torment actually caused men too long to die. They seek death. I don't know if you've ever been there, but a pain so much you just want to die. Imagine that for five months. But the language here is strong. They seek death, but death flees from them. In fact, death aggressively flees from them. You can't catch it. And so they're unable to escape these locust-like creatures whose purpose is to torment humans with the sting of a scorpion. Now why would God do that? Why would God direct His wrath in such a way for humans simply to be tormented in this way? A lot of people say, well that's so cruel. You know there's a common fallacy among non-Christians, often creeps in among Christians as well with the idea that death puts an end to human suffering. These people were thinking death would put an end to their suffering. Now that may be true in the sense that what other physical ailment, mental anguish you currently have while living upon this earth will end with death. But if you're not saved, that is the beginning of suffering, not the end of it. Do you recall Jesus' stories about the rich man and Lazarus? Lazarus was taken to Abraham's bosom. That is a place, an area of Hades in which the righteous were held and comforted. The rich man instead was in that part of Hades. There's a separation between the two sections in which suffering for sin begins. And the rich man in torment cried out this, quote, that God would be merciful that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue for I am an agony in this flame." Saint Lazarus, dip his finger in water and cool off my tongue. I'm in agony. Now this is before the eternal lake of fire. That comes later. That comes after the end of the millennium and final judgment before the great wide throne. The torment of these locust-like creatures is meant to cause men to repent before death, would remove the possibility of salvation from torment of everlasting punishment. The republic response to pain and suffering that occur in this life, due to the consequences of sin, whatever the source of that sin, is repentance and seeking the mercy of God. He's the one that can alleviate it. Sadly though, there are very few that respond in that manner. Most people try to find some way to alleviate the pain. We're in a culture that's gone drug crazy. Give me a happy pill, even if I'm depressed. You don't need a happy pill. You need to get your life together with God and walk correctly, because if you learn to trust Him, you'll be at peace. That's the truth of it. But people want something to make it go away quickly, instead of dealing with the underlying problem. It's sort of like if you were, had a knife sticking in you. I'm making it bigger than a splinter because that would hurt more, right? And instead of trying to deal with, get the knife out, sew it up and begin the healing process that, can you give me some aspirin because it really hurts. That's the way people respond to the consequences of sin. Just, can we just get rid of the pain? No, you got to deal with the underlying problem because if you don't, you end up in eternal hell. And whatever pain and suffering here is minimal. So understand it's actually an aspect of God's mercy to bring about suffering that may get you to understand and seek him instead of seeking your own solutions. Well, the passage goes on. And now it describes the appearance of these locust-like creatures. And they are bizarre. It says, They have tails like scorpions and stings in their tails. And in their tails is their power to hurt men for five months. So the description proves these locusts, they're not insects. They're some special class of creature. Now I had some fun trying to put together some of the imagery that is given here. So here we have a horse prepared for battle. And here are some locusts lined up as horses would be lined up ready to go into battle. Actually, similar metaphors used in Joel 2, 4, and 5 for an insect plague that occurred. He kept referring to it as like an army approaching and as powerful horses and ready for battle and pawing the ground. Some of that imagery is here. That's what John is describing. This creature, whatever it is, it's ready for battle. It's prepared. But it also had on it what appeared to be crowns of gold. There we go. You like that? Crowns of gold. There's a lot of fanciful things talked about these crowns. This is Stephanus. These are Victor's crowns, like if you were running in the Olympics and won. You get one of these wreaths, but this one's made out of gold rather than olive leaves. So there we go. And why would that be intimidating? Because it's not a helmet. It's not intimidated by you. It's already wearing a crown that says, I already won. Okay? I don't need a helmet. That's kind of intimidating. Decorated as if they've already conquered. Now the face of these creatures says we're like faces of men. Now that would certainly convey... You like that? Now remember, John is simply describing what he's seeing. Okay? Now I'm assuming that it's a face of a man that has got to have a beard. Right? I mean, that's one way you really can tell which is which. Okay? Men have beards. Very few women do. And if they do, they try and get them off really fast. Okay? Men have beards and they take pride in them. Some of them go really, really long. So it's got a face of a man, I'm assuming beard. But it's got hair like a woman. Here we go. So the hair would be coming out from under the crown. So there we go. A man's face, a woman's hair, a crown with a locus something like body. It also has teeth like teeth of lions. Here we go. There we go. There we got the dude. Alright? Now insects have jagged mouth parts, but they don't look like that, okay? Remember, my degree is in agricultural biology. That meant entomology. I looked at a lot of these things. Okay, a locust mouth, grasshopper's mouth does not look like a lion. I think John could have figured that out too. These are canine teeth for tearing flesh apart in a creature with a manly face and hair like a woman. Now the body of these creatures described next, like a soldier prepared for battle, they had breastplates like breastplates of iron. Now the thorax area of a locust, that's the area from which the legs protrude, has a hard exoskeleton. It's made of chitin. And so, yeah, it kind of appears armor-like. So maybe he's seeing something like, you know, right behind the head, there's part of the thorax. It kind of looks like armor, right? So maybe it was something like this. But it's well prepared to be defended. It's got this armor. In addition, the creatures in going together, the sound of their wings was like sounds of chariots and many horses running to battle. And if you get a million of these things and they're flying around, it sounds loud. It's very loud. This is a horde of these despicable creatures and the sounds that they're making is the sounds of going into battle. Now the last description of their physical appearance again proves these are not insects. It says they have the tails like scorpions and stings and in their tails the power to hurt men for five months. So here we have the same creature, now we give it a scorpion tail. Now, no species of insect looks anything like this. No species of anything currently that we are aware of on Earth looks like these things. It's a unique creature. I stress again, it is in the power of that tale that they hurt men for five months. Now verse 11 is the reason that it's thought that these locusts from the abyss are not just some kind of bizarre creature. They're probably of supernatural origin in nature and apparently demonic. Verse 11 says they have a king over them, the angel of the abyss. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon and in Greek he has the name Apollyon. Now king over them then is a particular angel whose name in both Hebrew and Greek means destroyer. The Greek name Apollyon only occurs here in the scriptures. The Hebrew name Abaddon occurs several times. Six times in the Old Testament where it's directly associated with death, or Sheol, which is the holding place of the dead, or with destruction. Now John states that this angel of the abyss, who is king over these bizarre creatures, designed to harm men without killing them. So it's an angel that's doing this. Now, first of all, this angel is not Satan. Okay? Satan is not associated with the abyss until Revelation 20 when he's cast into it and held captive there. Second, the abyss is associated with demons and evil beings as pointed out earlier. So it is reasonable to assume that this particular angel named Abaddon or Apollyon that is king over these locust-like creatures is also demonic. That would be the tie. Do not assume that this angel and these things are demons because they cause harm to sinful men. Remember it is the angel of Yahweh that destroyed 185,000 Assyrians in one night. The Assyrians were badly outnumbered. One angel and 185,000 of them. The angel of the Lord did that. 2 Kings 19.35 describes that. Yahweh did it through, the particular word there is masheth, it means the destroyer. In the Passover, in Exodus 12, we also find it as the angel of Yahweh through another angel that kills the firstborn, the dead. It's not evil for God to harm those who are evil or even to take the lives of them. In fact, that's justice. Now because these locusts from the abyss are associated with the demonic, because demons are fallen angels which are spirit beings, it's then often assumed that what John is describing here is symbolic representations. In fact, most commentaries are going to go kind of wild in what the symbolism is. If you add to it that this creature is nothing like ever been seen on the earth, then the door is wide open for any kind of allegorical interpretation or trying to equate it with modern machinery. But John is not using allegory here. And that creature thing that I had some fun with pictures is, is not a helicopter. That appears in the commentary. They're helicopters. Really? Guess he hasn't spent much time around helicopters. John is describing real creatures coming from a real place released with smoke that really did darken the appearance of the sun when it was unlocked and opened. It's not fictional. Second, there are a lot of bizarre creatures on Earth that people denied existed from reports about them until they got to see them themselves. That's the arrogance of man. I won't believe it till I see it. Well, there's a lot of bizarre things. I think they're still trying to figure out what a platypus is. It's got its own class because nothing else fits it. No one believed it until, well there is one of these bizarre things. The third thing to understand is that demons being fallen angels, which are spirit beings, can manifest themselves either through physical form, whether human or animalistic. They are capable of that. That occurs a lot in the current time. Demons will take advantage of anything that's popular out there. and then they'll become the power behind it. Verse 12 transitions to the next trumpet and woe. One woe is past, and you can certainly see why this one is a woe. Behold two woes are still coming after these things. Look at verse 13. Then the sixth angel sounded and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God. One saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, release the four angels who had been bound at the river Euphrates. And the four angels were released who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year so that they would kill a third of mankind. So the sounding of the sixth trumpet releases these four angels specially prepared for what they're going to do. The command to release is given from, quote, a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God. Now that would be the same golden altar that we saw back in the last week, chapter 8, verses 3 and 5, which was the source of the fire that the eighth angel that it commands the other seven angels of the trumpets used to light the incense on his fire pan which he hurled to earth that began the blowing of the trumpets. That means that this is probably the voice of this eighth angel since he's already been giving commands to these angels of the trumpets anyways. Now that particular golden altar described in Exodus 30 is actually patterned off the one described here in heaven. Now the horns on it, since that's mentioned here and not earlier, those were appendages on that altar of incense. Upon once a year, the blood of a sacrifice would be placed as part of atonement for sin. And it would be smeared on those four horns. But that's what it is. A voice comes from that, probably this 8th angel, and commands the 6th angel. The 6th angel then obeys the command. He releases these four angels that have been bound by the great river Euphrates. Now the fact that these four angels were bound is a strong indication they're not good angels. There's nowhere in scripture that talks about good angels being bound. But there's quite a few places where evil angels, demons, are bound. 2 Peter 2.4, Jude 6, or two of them. The phrase here, the great river Euphrates, refers to the whole region from the Euphrates of its headwaters up in the mountains of Armenia, all the way down to the delta in the Persian Gulf. The Euphrates River was actually the boundary for the land given to Abraham and his descendants. A lot of Israel's enemies Assyria, Babylon. They came from the other side of Euphrates. Now these four angels have been specifically prepared for a task at a specific hour, day, month, and year. Now that's an expression of God's sovereignty to carry out His will at a specific time in the future. He not only declares the end from the beginning, Isaiah 46.10 tells us that, God has a specific timetable that he is going to keep in fulfilling his will. And here it is kept to the very hour. The God who reveals himself in the Bible is not a God of happenstance. Now when these four angels are released, they will kill one third of mankind. Now the raw numbers of that, if you work it out, is about the same number as a quarter killed earlier. So you take the total, remove a third, or a quarter, you get a number. Now take a third of that and it ends up at the same number. Currently that would be a little over two billion. But the percentages change because you have a smaller population. Now if you add in those killed by other judgments, at least Well, not at least, more than half of the earth's population that was alive at the beginning of the tribulation are now dead. Death fled during the fifth trumpet judgment. Death is back and working some serious overtime with the sixth trumpet judgment. Starting in verse 16, John starts explaining how a third of mankind is going to be killed. And this is how I saw in the vision the horses and those who sit on them. The riders had breastplates the colors of fire and of hyacinth and of brimstone. The heads of the horses are like the heads of lions and out of their mouths come fire and smoke and brimstone. Now the text doesn't actually indicate the relationship between the four angels and this huge cavalry or the source of these horsemen and strange horses. Now Daniel 10, 13 informs us that demons are organized. And certain demons are actually given authority to influence particular nations. And they'd have other demons helping them with that task. So it's possible these are four angels of that type that are over nations. These nations being in the greater area of Euphrates. Maybe the nations are from that area. But that's speculation because the text doesn't say. There is some relationship, it just doesn't say what it is. It goes from the four angels directly to this huge army. 200 million. Literally, this would be translated, the number of the troops of the cavalry is two myriads of myriads. Now a myriad is 10,000. So this is 20,000 times 10,000 which is 200 million. It's interesting that both in lexicons and a lot of translations it states that this means an innumerable or unlimited number and I'm just going to point blank. They're reading their theology into even their translation. John has already expressed how he easily can describe what it means to be innumerable. Remember back in Revelation 7 and 8 John expressed the number of the multitude was, I looked behold a great multitude which no one could count. That's pretty easy, right? That's innumerable. That's unlimited. Here it states, Myriad to myriads of myriads. 200 million. And to stress the point, John states, I heard the number. The number is 200 million and I heard the number. It is extremely important to follow the grammatical historical methods of hermeneutics of interpretation because it lets God speak through his text instead of reading into the text a presumed theological system because that's what you'd like it to say. And if you're gonna be allegorical, it's certainly a lot easier to have this as unlimited rather than it's a fixed number. Because then you can do anything you want with it. The text here is specific. Now if I get upset with that kind of thing, it's because there's so much bad theology out there because people won't actually look at the text. Just let the text speak. It's hard enough, right? But let it say what it says. And if it doesn't say it, say, well it doesn't say it. Maybe it could be this, but I don't know. That's speculation. That's why I don't know what the relationship between the four angels and this 200 million man cavalry unit. I don't know what it is because it doesn't say. I can speculate, but I don't know. Let the text speak. Now related to this comes speculation about the source of such an army and what these horses may be. This gets a little interesting. Since I was a kid, China has such a large population. It was growing so rapidly back then. It's like they could field a 200 million man army. So what? What is the population of the earth at the time of the sixth seal? Half. of what it currently is at the beginning of it. So even if they have a large population now, it doesn't mean they're gonna have a large population then. You also have to consider something of the logistics. How in the world do you support a 200 million cavalry, whatever the horses are? It takes a lot more people behind the scenes to support those that are gonna be on the front line, right? Is that part of military? Okay, we got some military folks here, right? You're going to go out on the helicopter. How many people are behind keeping that helicopter maintained and fueled and all the rest of the stuff for the couple guys in to go out? Yeah, dozens, right? So you got 200 million man army and how many are going to try and keep this thing moving? Logistics of this is a nightmare beyond comprehension. Now the description of the riders is simple enough. It simply states, the riders have breastplates the color of fire and hyacinth and brimstone. Now note carefully, it is the colors of the breastplate that are described, not the materials of the breastplate. This then is simply, the breastplate is fiery red, smoky blue and sulfurous yellow. Now the symbols of the colors can be left to speculation, but certainly if you saw someone wearing a breastplate those colors, that would catch your attention. It's bright and it's the colors of a fiery destruction. Now it's the description of the horses that defies interpretation by anything currently known to man. Now verse 17 states they have heads like the heads of lions. which have fire and smoke and brimstone coming out of their mouths. In verse 19 they have tails like serpents having heads. Now allegorical interpretation is limited only by imagination. It is also common to point out to modern instruments of warfare to explain these horses. There is a horse with a lion's head breathing out smoke and fire with a snake tail. Have you ever seen any one of those? I haven't either. Does that look like a tank? No. And yet, that often is used. Why? Well, let's face it. Fire, smoke, brimstone, that could describe cannon fire or napalm, right? It's shooting out. That's some nasty stuff. And certainly a cannon, especially with a fire suppressor at the end of it, kind of looks like a long straight snake with a head on it. And it spits out fire and smoke and brimstone. Now, perhaps those could fit the description of some kind of tank, but again, these horses have heads that look like lions, and I've never seen any even imaginary tank with a lion head on it. In addition, it is from the mouth of this thing that looks like a lion, comes the fire and the smoke and the brimstone, and that is specifically stated that those are three plagues that kill a third of the population. The serpent-like tails that he mentions with a head only do harm, they don't kill. So if John is describing tanks though, a better question to me would be is why is he describing it like a horse and not like a wagon, which certainly would fit more to the idea of what a tank looks like. Then there's a logistics problem. How do you sport 200 million tanks moving around the world? that annihilate one-third of the population. A better answer, instead of going allegorical or trying to squeeze it in somehow with something that is in modern experience, is to recognize the result of four significant demons being released. And these, like the locusts from the abyss, are supernatural demonic creatures specifically equipped for this task. That allows John to do exactly what he did is describe accurately what he is saying and it eliminates all the problems of logistics. The supernatural aspects of these judgments should drive people to God and beg Him for mercy. This isn't stuff being done by humans. There's no natural explanation of it. though not stated specifically here, there will still be those that will repent during this period of time because again they are going to be persecuted by the beast after this point in time, but that's not true for the vast majority. Verse 20, The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues did not repent of the works of their hands. So as not to worship demons and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood which can neither see nor hear nor walk. And they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their sexual immorality nor of their thefts. The evil of that time will be great, it will be widespread and it will match the degeneration of people described in Romans 1. They descend into greater and greater immorality and mental depravity. Instead of worshiping the Creator, they worship idols made by what is created. That's utter foolishness. It was ridiculed even in ancient times. An example of that is Isaiah 44. He mocks the pagans. You take a piece of wood. You cut it in half. With some of it you cook your dinner. With some of it you warm your table. Aha! I've seen the fire. And the other half you carve and you bow down and worship it. And pray to it like it can do something for you. He's mocking them. John links idolatry with the worship of demons here that empower the idols. Moses does the same thing in Deuteronomy 32 and Paul in 1 Corinthians 10 20. Yeah, idols have real power. It's demonic power. And the modern idols, same thing. It's demonic power. Demons are active. They're real beings. They're not figments of imagination. And they will use anything they can to try to usurp God's position and move you away from Him. One of the more current ones is UFOs. Demons are the power behind that. Ghosts and poltergeists and all that stuff. Demons are the power behind that. and where it's still paganism and worshiping things made by man, it's demons that are the power behind them. But the depravity continues downward. Here it lists murder, sorcery, sexual immorality of all types and theft. Sorcery here, interesting word, pharmakeia, we get our word pharmacy from it. It refers to the practices of magic and of casting spells, often involving drugs. Now all these things were known to the churches in Asia to whom this book was being written. Remember, that's the first audience. These churches in Asia, the western side of modern Turkey, they were living in pagan culture. They saw this stuff all the time. They recognized it. Common for the Gentiles who are being converted out of paganism to have even practiced some of those things and that ungodly living before becoming Christians. Now those who survive these supernatural judgments will continue the same wicked practices. That's simply the evil nature of man. That's the way man has been. And it's the way man will continue to be. In Romans 3, Paul quotes from various Psalms and from Isaiah, starting in verse 10. It says, as it is written, down to verse 18, as it is written, there is none righteous, not even one. There's none who understands. There's none who seeks for God. All have turned aside, together they become useless. There is none who does good. There is not even one. Their throat is an open grave, and with their tongues they keep deceiving. The poison of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their paths, and the path of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge and wisdom. Without that fear, man will remain in ignorant foolishness and will refuse to seek God. This is true today as it was in the past and it'll be true in the future. If you're not a Christian, don't think you can continue putting off getting right with God. Do not presume that the Holy Spirit is going to come again on some more convenient day. One, you don't know if you have tomorrow. None of us do. And if tomorrow comes you may find yourself more like these who just becomes more and more hardened in your unbelief. God's long-suffering patience will run out. His wrath is severe. What is described in these trumpet judgments really is nothing compared to what hell is going to be like, the eternal lake of fire. If God is getting your attention through things that are hard for you, let him get your attention. So often we go out witnessing and people are going to complain, well, God did bad things to me, or he let bad things happen to my friend. Jesus used that as a warning. Do you think you're better than they are? Do you not know the Tower of Siloam? It could fall on you too. Get right with God. Don't put it off. If you are a Christian, well rejoice. Rejoice first with the fact that it is the fear of the Lord that started you on a path to know him and that the fear of the Lord in the continuing present continues to help you gain knowledge of him and wisdom so that he keeps changing you. conforming you to the image of Christ. And also, it's fine to rejoice to know you're not gonna be here for these judgments, okay? You can watch from heaven. And finally, pray for those that are not yet saved from their sins. Pray that God will continue to be long-suffering, patient, and merciful with them, that they will live another day. that they will have another opportunity to understand and be convicted by the Holy Spirit, which is the second part of that prayer. Pray that God will convict them of their sins that they may repent and turn in faith to Him. You can argue and argue and argue people. You cannot argue them into the kingdom of God. You can only present the truth. It's the Holy Spirit that must be at work. So pray that God's Spirit would be at work on the hearts, especially those individuals that you're naming by name, because you know them. They're family members, they're loved ones, they're friends, they're co-workers. You're naming them by name. Pray, God be merciful, keep them alive. God be gracious, convict them of their sins, that they repent and turn. And know the joy of eternal life, promised and secure in the Holy Spirit. Father, thank you for the truths of these words, as horrible as they are to us of what's coming. Yet we know they're true. They've come from you. Father, our desire would, to keep people from having to experience that, but even more so from having to experience eternity lost and separated from you. Father, only knowing from that point on, the torment is a consequence of their own sin. Father, we have the message of life. Give us opportunities by which we can clearly explain it to those around us. Father, that God did love the world so much, he sent his only son, that he would take on that penalty himself. He'd die in our place, that we can be forgiven in him. Father, all it really takes is to believe what he has said. which turns us from sin, salvageness, self-righteousness to the Savior. Father, give us those opportunities. Bring a conviction of not just sin, but also of truth, of righteousness upon these that do not yet know Christ in this way, that they may rejoice in receiving forgiveness of sins and eternal life. In Jesus' name, amen.