Well, if you have a copy of the scriptures, let me invite you to turn to Revelation and Chapter 8, the last book in the Bible, the book of Revelation and the eighth chapter. And Lord willing, we're going to look through this chapter together today. And to give us a focal point, I'm just going to read the opening two verses. Revelation 8, verses 1 and 2. Let me invite you as you're able. Let's stand and honor the reading and hearing of God's Word. Again, I'm reading from Revelation 8, verses 1 and 2, wherein John writes, And when He had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. And I saw the seven angels which stood before God, and to them were given seven trumpets. May God bless today, once again, the reading and the hearing of his word, and let us join again in prayer. Gracious and loving God, we give thee thanks again for thy word. We ask again for the illumination of thy Holy Spirit. Open our eyes, unstop our ears, Loosen our minds and hearts to receive thy word. We ask this in Christ's name. Amen. You may be seated. Well, we are continuing this afternoon this what I've called bird's eye overview of Revelation, one message on each chapter. And we're also going to continue this format where we're doing it like a catechism, seven questions about each chapter and seven responses or answers. And hopefully this gives us an overview of this book. It's a much contested book, a much disputed book. There are many who are drawn to it out of a sort of a fascination with prophecy and so forth. But as we've seen thus far, this book is about more than merely laying out future events. It's telling us about how to live the Christian life now, how to deal with persecution, how to worship the Lord in the midst of all types of circumstances. And so we're taking up again this task of looking at yet another chapter within this book. And this chapter is going to begin with an account of the seventh seal. There are lots of sevens in the book of Revelation, and we pointed out There are a whole series. There were seven seals. And by seal, we don't mean the animal, right? We mean the sealing of a book, the book of history. And those seven seals are opened. And we were told of different things that happened with the opening of each seal. And then, as we're going to see today, it's going to start seven trumpets. And then after that, there are going to be seven golden vials or bowls. And one of the challenges has long been how properly to interpret the book of Revelation. It's filled with so many sort of mystical and metaphorical symbols and signs. They're not always clearly interpreted for us, although some are. And one question is, are we to take these as The seven seals and the seven trumpets and the seven vials or seven bowls, as some modern translations put it, are we to see this as 21 consecutive events, seven and 14 and then 21? Or are we to see basically these sets of seven as describing the same thing, but in three different ways? My tendency is to see it in that way, to see this as a description, all these really as descriptions of the Christian life in this present age that we're in. Christ has come. He came as a babe at Bethlehem. He fulfilled his ministry here upon the earth. He went to the cross, died for our sins, was raised on the third day, appeared for 40 days to his disciples, was exalted to heaven, ascended to heaven. There he is now seated at the right hand of the Father, awaiting the time when he will come again. And then his second coming will be glorious. And we're living in this in-between time. And what is described for us is, in a mystical, spiritual way, the experiences of Christians in this age in which we live. That'll be something we'll come back to, to try to understand, to unravel, and to rightly divide and interpret what we're being told and what we're reading, hearing, and seeing in Revelation. So our first question we want to ask is, what happens when the seventh seal is opened? And this is ascribed for us in chapter 8. The first six seals were described back in chapter six. And then there was an interlude that we looked at last week in which we saw the 144,000 from the 12 tribes and also the great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, kindreds, and people. There was worship in heaven. And now, after that interlude in chapter 7, the six seals were opened in chapter 6, the interlude in chapter 7, and now in verse 1 is the last seal, verse 1 of chapter 8. And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. It almost seems anticlimactic. And I think this silence is telling us that, The veil is not yet been fully drawn back for us to see what will be the last event, the climactic event, and that is the coming of Christ in glory. But instead, there is silence. It says for half an hour. The second question then is, what does John next see? And the answer is found in verses 2 through 6 of Revelation 8, as John sees seven angels with seven trumpets. And then he also sees another angel with a golden censer. And this is an instrument for burning incense. And it was used in the temple in Jerusalem. They would burn incense. He sees the seven angels preparing to sound their trumpets. And so this is going to introduce the next set of sevens that I think mystically describe what happens in this age as we await the return of Christ. In verse 2, John writes, and I saw the seven angels which stood before God, and to them were given seven trumpets. The trumpet is, of course, a musical instrument, but it was in ancient times also a military instrument. It announced the instructions, the commandments of the commander who is over the forces in the field. And so this was the communication device to the troops. You blow the trumpet, and there was one tune that would be played to signal the charge, another to retreat, another to rest, another to stop and make camp, and there would be these trumpets that would go off. The Apostle Paul used a reference metaphorically to a trumpet in 1 Corinthians 14.8 when he said, for if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle? And there he was talking about the importance of clarity in speech in the worship of the churches, because the church at Corinth had gotten bogged down in ecstatic spiritual gifts. Instead of plainly speaking in intelligible speech, they were speaking in strange speech. And Paul said, the trumpet has to give a clear and certain sound so that the troops know what to do in battle. In 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 52, Paul says that the coming of Christ and the final resurrection will take place when the last trump has sound. There will be a final command, instruction, notice that goes out that Christ is coming in glory and the final resurrection. So These seven angels, these messengers of God, are given these seven trumpets. And then there's this other angel, we talked about that, the golden censer. Look at verse 3. And another angel came and stood at the altar having a golden censer. And there was given unto him much incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And we've already seen within the book of Revelation that incense is often appearing within this narrative in reference to prayer. It represents the prayers. Just as the incense goes up, so the prayers of the saints are being offered up. If you were to look back in Revelation chapter 5 and verse 8, at the end of that verse it says, There were golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of saints. And so it was a visual metaphor to say that when God's people come together and they pray, it's like incense wafting up, going up, that God is receiving. And so at this moment, when The seven angels are preparing to blow their seven trumpets. It's a reminder that God is listening all throughout this age to the prayers of the saints. It says in verse four, in the smoke of the incense which came with the prayers of the saints ascended up before God out of the angel's hand. Verse five, and the angel took the censer and filled it with fire of the altar and cast it into the earth. And there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake. And all those things, the voices, the thunderings, the lightnings, et cetera, these things have also appeared within the book of Revelation. And they often represent the presence of God and the voice of God. If you look back at Revelation chapter 4 and verse 5, when John saw the open door in heaven It says that in verse 5, and out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices. And so if we go back to Revelation 8 again, we've got this incense going up, which is the prayers of the saints, and we have God speaking with power. If you've ever been out in a storm, and you see the flash of lightning, and you hear the thunder, and it's an awesome expression of power. And so God is there. He's hearing the prayers of the saints, and he is speaking with power. And it's literally earth-shaking, earth-shattering as he speaks. And in verse six it says, and the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. They prepared themselves to blow these trumpets. Question three of seven, what happens when the first angel sounds his trumpet? And we get the answer in verse seven, as there is described for us various destructions that come upon the earth. Verse 7, the first angel sounded and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood and they were cast upon the earth and the third part of the trees was burned up and all green grass was burnt up. And so as we saw really with the seven seals, there are descriptions of various temporal destructions that come upon the earth during this time in which we're living before the second coming of Christ. But notice, even in this, that there is a limitation that is placed. Only a third part is touched by this. And this in and of itself, although it's a picture of destruction, it's also a picture of mercy that he doesn't completely destroy the earth in this time. In fact, as we go through these various trumpets, we're going to see there's almost like an anti-creation that's going on. You could read Genesis 1 and see how God makes the earth, and he makes the seas, and he makes the creatures that inhabit the seas, and he makes the heavenly bodies that occupy the firmament and so forth. And now it's almost like there's an undoing of creation. that is taking place with these opening trumpets. The fallen creation is falling apart. It's being made undone because it will soon be replaced by a new heavens and a new earth. Fourth question, what happens when the second angel sounds? And we see this in verses 8 and 9. And the second angel sounded. And as it were, a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea. And the third part of the sea became blood. And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea and had life died. And the third part of the ships were destroyed. And so with the first trumpet, there was destruction that came upon the earth. Now with this second trumpet sounding, there is destruction that comes upon the sea as a third of it becomes blood. We can think of about the plagues that came on Egypt where there was water that was turned to blood. And the creatures within the sea are also struck and this comes about because it's hard to imagine. How does your mind even wrap itself around this image of a great mountain burning with fire that's cast into the sea? And again, though, there is a note of mercy because the seas aren't completely destroyed. And all the creatures in the sea are not completely destroyed, though they might have been because of the sin of man. But only a third of them are destroyed, and the rest are allowed to persevere. Question five, what happens when the third angel sounds? And we get the answer to this in verses 10 and 11. as John sees great destruction that comes upon the waters of the earth, the rivers and the fountains of water, and they are made bitter. Look at verse 10. And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers and upon the fountains of waters. And the name of the star is called Wormwood. Anybody here read C.S. Lewis' book called The Screwtape Letters. And in C.S. Lewis' book there is a demon in training, it's a fictional book of course, and his name is Wormwood. And he gets instructed by an experienced demon whose name is Screwtape. He gives instructions to Wormwood as to how he can properly tempt and discourage in the faith a man who is called the patient, who has become a Christian. And where did C.S. Lewis get the name Wormwood? Well, he got it from Revelation 8 and verse 11. This star that falls into the waters and causes them to become bitter. But then notice the note of mercy in verse 11. And the third part of the waters became wormwood, and many men died of the waters because they were made bitter. But even in that, there's still mercy. God didn't destroy, doesn't destroy at this point all the waters and all the rivers and all the fountains of life. But he allows actually the most of them to remain. Divine mercy is shown to the world and the men who populate it. Question six of our seven-question catechism on Revelation 8. It's a rather shorter chapter than some of the other ones. And our question here is, what happens when the fourth angel sounds his trumpet? And the answer is given to us in verse 12, and that is, destruction comes upon the heavenly bodies, the sun, the moon, and the stars. Look at verse 12. And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars. So as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone, not a third part of it, and the night likewise. And so again, it seems to be the undoing of creation. The earth is touched. The seas are touched. The waters are touched. All the creatures within the seas. Men are hurt by this bitterness. And even the heavenly bodies are darkened. But again, they're not completely extinguished. A third of them are touching. This is the mercy of God. The whole creation could be wiped out. There could have been a cataclysm sent, like in the days of Noah. But we're seeing the mercy of God. Question seven. What then does John see and hear? And we get this in the final verse, verse 13. What does he see and hear? And we're told that he sees an angel, another angel, flying in the midst of heaven, pronouncing three woes. Look at verse 13. and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound. Revelation 8 ends with a cliffhanger. We get the first four trumpets. And then we see this one angel comes through and he says, whoa, whoa, whoa. And each one of those woes, remember that's what the prophets in the Old Testament say, whoa unto you. Each one of those woes represents the trumpet blast that will come from the last three angels. And this is going to be extended for quite a while, but look at chapter nine, verse one. And the fifth angel sounded. And then look at also in chapter 9, look at verses 12 and 13. After the fifth angel sounds, one woe is past. And behold, there come two woes more hereafter. And look at chapter 9, verse 13. And the sixth angel sounded. And I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar, which is before God. And then look over at chapter 10, sorry, chapter 11, and we get the end of that sixth trumpet, which is the second woe. Chapter 11, verse 14, the second woe is past, and behold, the third woe cometh quickly. And then in chapter 11, verse 15, finally, we'll get to hear the seventh trumpet blast. And the seventh angel sounded. And there were great voices in heaven saying, the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. Another great line picked up by Handel in his Messiah. If you've never listened to that, often played around Christmas time and also at Easter time, listen to it. But anyways, in this depiction, as we'll see, we'll talk about this later when we get to chapter 11, it seems that with the seventh Trumpet blast, it's the return of Christ. This argues for this explanation I'm saying where each of these sevens is really describing what happens in this world. What happens in this world? What happens in this world is we're in a fallen world. We are fallen. In truth, the whole creation is fallen. The Apostle Paul talks about in Romans 8 how the earth groans and the earth is suffering. The Lord Jesus Christ said in his Olivet Discourse, there will be wars and rumors of wars. There will be famines. There will be earthquakes. And so the whole world that we are living in is unsettled. The world in which we are living is going through great travails and there are temporal sufferings and judgments that are coming upon the world all the time. But you know what? The Lord in this age will not completely destroy this world. The earth will suffer, the seas will suffer, even the constellations will suffer, but The Lord will extend mercy because he is still bringing in the full number of his elect. And then at the end, Christ will come. No man knows the day or the hour. What is our task? Our task is to be faithful, even as we might say the trumpets are sounding, waiting for the sound of the of the last trump. And in the midst of this, what are we to be doing? We are to be praying. And the prayers of the saints are being fueled by the golden censer, which comes from the fire from the altar of God. And we hear the voice of God thundering, even in the midst of the calamities of this world, and we stay faithful waiting for the glorious second coming of Christ when he will redeem all things and there will be a new heaven and there will be a new earth. And that is our hope as believers, what Paul called the blessed hope that we are waiting for. Amen. Let me invite you as you're able, let's stand together. Let's join in prayer. Gracious and loving God, we give thee thanks that Thou art a faithful God, that we may see and experience temporal difficulties in this life. But we know that, oh God, you are at work. And your plans will not be thwarted. And you will work out your perfect will. And one day, the last trump will sound. and Christ will come in power and glory and we will experience the resurrection and we will be with thee in glory. Help us to be faithful in this generation. Help us not to retreat as one was telling me over lunch today that in that description of the whole armor of God there were there was no armor for the back because we are not to be retreating and running away from the battle, but we are to be running toward it. And help us to stand firm in this age and to be witnesses for Christ. We ask this in Christ's name, amen.