Chapter:
Rev
8
Passage:
Rev
8:6-13
A.
Find Out:
1.
What happened when the 1st trumpet was blown? v.7
2.
What happened with the 2nd? v.8,9
3.
What happened with the 3rd? v.10,11
4.
What happened with the 4th? v.12
5.
What was the eagle crying out? v.13
B.
Think :
1.
What were the CAUSES of disaster after the first three trumpets?
2.
What is the result on the world?
3.
What is the effect on the sky?
C.
Comment :
The sixth seal had heralded a shaking. The seventh seal opens
the way for death and destruction on a massive scale. Always remember
it is only by the grace and mercy of God that we aren't all destroyed
immediately (see studies in this Series on Romans).
The disaster that hits the earth can either
be seen as disaster which hits the whole world but only destroys one third
of it or, more likely, disaster that hits one geographical third of the
earth. In that third the earth is scorched, the sea is thrown into turmoil
and everything in it destroyed and all the rivers, lakes etc. completely
polluted. The result of this holocaust, now brought by a fourth angel,
is that the sky is blotted out (remember the sky over Kuwait when oil
wells burnt in the early part of the 1990's).
God's divinely brought judgements so often come through "natural"
means (see studies in this series on the first half of Exodus). Because
the foolish inhabitants of the earth still refuse to call on God (as we'll
see later), it is likely that they view these disasters as "natural"
or even "man caused". We see them, however, specifically brought
by the angels of God. As if that wasn't enough, we are shown an eagle
(eagles see all that is happening or coming) and it wails out what is
to follow, something even worse than we have seen so far!
D.
Application?
1.
Disasters drive men to God - sometimes!!
2.
God seeks to draw all men to Himself in love.
Chapter:
Rev
9
Passage:
Rev
9:1-12
A.
Find Out:
1.
What was the star given? v.1
2.
What happened when he used it? v.2
3.
With what consequence? v.3
4.
How were they restricted? v.4,5 (3 ways)
5.
Who rules over them? v.11
6.
How is their activity described? v.12
B.
Think :
1.
How would you summarise this first woe?
2.
How does this passage distinguish between believers and unbelievers?
3.
What or who do you think these locust-like creatures are?
C.
Comment :
The first four trumpets heralded death and destruction for
a third of the world. The fifth trumpet heralds agony and torment for
all the godless unbelievers (note that believers are still on the earth
in the midst of this "tribulation").
The 'star' referred to as 'he' clearly is a personality and we
may suppose he is either Satan or another leading fallen angel. He appears
to be given authority to release from the depths demonic beings that are
permitted to come against the unbelieving population of the world and
create extreme pain and agony, without ensuring death.
The description of these creatures is confusing and horrific. Whether
they can be actually seen by humans is not clear, but if they can be they
present a picture of creatures that would conjure up immense fear. We
will soon see that still the populace do not repent and call on God. The
Lord is giving every opportunity, indeed is presenting every sort of pressure
upon man almost to drive them to Himself and avoid eternal destruction,
but still they refuse. Such is the foolishness of sin in mankind.
D.
Application?
1.
God loves us so much that He sometimes uses very strong disciplinary
measures to drive us to Himself.
2.
Sin's foolishness means we sometimes need that!
Chapter:
Rev
9
Passage:
Rev
9:13-21
A.
Find Out:
1.
What command was issued? v.14
2.
What were the four angels to do? v.15
3.
How, apparently, were they to do it? v.16
4.
What specific methods would achieve it? v.18
5.
What did the rest of mankind continue doing. v.20
6.
Of what other things were they guilty? v.21
B.
Think :
1.
What, simply, was the effect of the 6th trumpet?
2.
What is clearly the moral state of the world at this time?
3.
What does this passage say about time and the purposes of God.
C.
Comment :
The end result off this trumpet being blown is that a third
of the world is killed. The how and when of all of this is not fully clear
and any detailed application is purely speculative. What we are told is
that there were four angels, presumably fallen angels because they are
'bound', i.e. completely restricted in their activity, who had been restricted
at some time in the past to be released for this specific moment in history.
The area of the Euphrates is the area of Mesopotamia , the area of the
garden of Eden and what is modern Iraq .
Again the description of the destroying army under these
four angels is horrific and mysterious, again presumably a demonic destroying
host. Unlike the creatures of the 5th trumpet, these ones actually bring
death, to a terrible ONE THIRD of the world!!!
Still godless mankind refuses to repent. They will worship
anything but God. Still they are bent on spiritistic occult activity,
their destruction, their abuse of the gift of sex and their abuse of each
other's property. What a picture of much of the world's activity today!
D.
Application?
1.
Yet again see the foolishness and stupidity and hardness of heart caused
by sin.
2.
All men have to die sometime and then face God. He has the right to
make that earlier than later.
Chapter:
Rev
10
Passage:
Rev
10:1-4
A.
Find Out:
1.
What did John next see? v.1a
2.
How was he described? v.1b (4 descriptions)
3.
What was he holding? v.2a
4.
What did he do? v.2b,3a
5.
What also was heard by John? v.3b
6.
What was John told to do? v.4
B.
Think :
1.
What are we told about the size or magnitude of this divine messenger?
2.
Why do you think we were not told the content of the seven thunders?
3.
Why should such a passage therefore be included in the Scriptures?
C.
Comment :
We have read today verses which could be written off as a
waste of time, but "all Scripture is profitable.." (2 Timothy
3:16 ), so let's see what it says to us.
First perhaps it shatters our ides of angels
being human size figures. The angel that appears here is enormous. It
planted one foot ON the sea and one foot ON the land. That denotes bigness!!
Second we see that things happen that God DOESN'T
want us to know about. When we consider such an idea more fully we are
reminded that the Bible is FULL of partial revelation. We believe not
because we have TOTAL revelation of God but because the little we have
impacts us so much that we trust Him for the rest. We are really told
very little about God, about heaven, about so many other things.
We may then ask, why should something like this be recorded in
such outline that it leaves us wondering? The answer is simply that it
DID happen so John recorded what he could of it. It is passages like this
that should convince us of the veracity of the revelation! It did happen,
otherwise there would be absolutely no point whatsoever of writing it
down. Yes it confirms the veracity of the vision!
D.
Application?
1.
The word of God is true, completely true!
2.
Thank God for the little we are shown!
Chapter:
Rev
10
Passage:
Rev
10:5-11
A.
Find Out:
1.
What did the angel promise? v.6
2.
What will happen? v.7
3.
What was John told to do? v.8
4.
What did the angel tell him to do? v.9a
5.
What did he also warn him about? v.9b
6.
What was he then told to do? v.11
B.
Think :
1.
What is this great angel doing in the first part of this passage?
2.
How, in this passage, does John move from being an onlooker to a
participator?
3.
What is about to happen?
C.
Comment :
This passage falls into two parts. First we have John observing
what was happening, then John being involved in it. First of all John
saw the angel make a solemn promise that the purposes of God, as revealed
in the Bible, were about to come to fulfilment. The seventh trumpet apparently
is going to herald the last stage in the purposes of God for the earth!
Following that, John finds himself being instructed to get involved
in what he sees before him. He is instructed to take the scroll and so
he asks the angel for it (remember what we said yesterday and note the
detail! If this had just been a dream he would have simply taken it, but
it is real and he respects the authority of the angel and asks for the
scroll). Why should the scroll taste good but go bad in his stomach? This
tells us that things often look good at first sight but as we consider
them, chew them over and digest them, then the full implications come
through to us and they don't then seem so good any longer! Finally (?
as a result of what he has eaten ?knowledge of God's purposes), John is
told to get ready to speak again God's purposes for the world.
D.
Application?
1.
God is looking for participators, not just onlookers!
2.
The truth sometimes can be unpleasant!
Chapter:
Rev
11
Passage:
Rev
11:1-6
A.
Find Out:
1.
What was John told to do? v.1
2.
How long will the "Gentiles" trample the city? v.2
3.
How long will the two witnesses prophesy? v.3
4.
How are they described? v.4
5.
What power do they have to defend themselves? v.5
6.
What other powers do they have? (threefold) v.6
B.
Think :
1.
Why do we ever measure anything?
2.
What do witnesses do?
3.
How would you summarise the authority of these two witnesses?
C.
Comment :
We measure something when we want to become aware of the size or
extent of it. We are not told of John doing this or the result of it so,
what we have here therefore is, at least, God's first requirement that
He wants John to be fully aware of the greatness and beauty of God's dwelling
place and the people there. Then comes indication of what is coming: Gentiles
(non-believers) "trampling" on the dwelling place of God's people.
But note while they are doing that God has two witnesses prophesying out
of weakness (sackcloth). They have the ability to speak God's devastating
word to deal with the enemies of God. This ability is to bring the judgement
of God to earth.
The period that keeps being mentioned is 3 years. Seven is the
number of perfection or completion in the Bible, therefore this period
is a specific period that is just part of the total period that God has
set for the fulfilment of His purposes. Whatever else we have in this
passage, we have an indication again of the sovereign purposes of God
whereby for a controlled set period, the Lord allows unbelievers free
reign but in the midst of that, He maintains a powerful witness to Himself!
D.
Application?
1.
God IS in control, even when the enemy appears to have free reign!
2.
God IS in control of the times & seasons for things to happen!
Chapter:
Rev
11
Passage:
Rev
11:7-14
A.
Find Out:
1.
What will happen to these 2 witnesses? v.7
2.
Where will it happen? v.8
3.
How long will they be there? v.9
4.
What will the people feel about them? v.10
5.
What will then happen to them? v.11,12
6.
What also will happen? v.13
B.
Think :
1.
What effect had the two witnesses had previously on the earth?
2.
What power does the enemy have?
3.
Yet what greater power is available?
C.
Comment :
Commentators speculate whether these two witnesses are two
individual men or whether they represent the church and Israel . The latter
is unlikely in that the remnant believers of Israel ARE part of the church
and not distinct from it. Here therefore it appears God has two prophets
who clearly speak His word to the world and make the world feel thoroughly
uncomfortable.
Next comes reference, for the first time,
to the "beast of the Abyss", without further explanation. The
only reference previously to the Abyss was in chapter 9. Whatever else
it might mean, we have a creature (which may be a single creature or many)
that has demonic origins who is permitted to kill these two prophets.
Even as God permitted Jesus to be killed,
so He permits these two to be killed, and similarly raises them up again,
so miraculously they come to life and ascend into heaven in full public
view, just like their Master. This appears to happen in Jerusalem (v.8)
which is now referred to as an ungodly and unrighteous place. Three and
a half days seem to indicate half of the time of God's determining for
His plans and purposes. Over all this we still see sovereign God ruling
and working out His purposes in the world.
D.
Application?
1.
Death is not the end. God brings life after death, here or in eternity!
2.
God is still sovereign!
Chapter:
Rev
11
Passage:
Rev
11:15-19
A.
Find Out:
1.
What was said to have happened after the 7th trumpet sounded? v.15
2.
Why did the elders say they worshipped God? v.16,17
3.
What thing would He now do in respect of the world? v.18a,c
4.
What would He do in respect of His followers? v.18b
5.
What then happened in heaven? v.19a
6.
What accompanied this? v.19b
B.
Think :
1.
What key turning points in history appears to have taken place?
2.
What was the purpose of the temple of old?
3.
What significance therefore, do you think the references to the temple
and ark have here?
C.
Comment :
After the fifth trumpet, the first woe was said to have occurred.
After the sixth trumpet the second woe was said to have occurred. The
third woe must come with the seventh (see 8:13 ). This woe seems to comprise
a revelation of heaven where God's sovereign ruling power is declared
as if in the present tense i.e. He is just starting to rule. But we know
that the kingdom or rule of God on earth started when Jesus came. The
rule that is now being referred to, therefore, must be something further,
something stronger than was seen through Jesus.
Jesus came to rule over the works of Satan (1 John 3:8),
not to bring eternal punishment. That occurs now and all those who have
died previously are now rewarded with eternal death or eternal blessing,
depending on whether they disobeyed God by rejecting Jesus, or whether
they obeyed by accepting Jesus. The temple is the meeting place between
God and man in solemn covenant and so it is there that God goes to determine
in which of the two above groups each person falls, on the basis of faith
through the law and sacrifice, or faith through Jesus.
D.
Application?
1.
Salvation is for now AND into eternity.
2.
Eternal salvation is through Jesus' death.
OVERVIEW
OF THE SEVEN TRUMPETS
Chapters
8 & 9 :
1st
Trumpet 1/3 earth burned
2nd
Trumpet 1/3 sea creatures destroyed
3rd
Trumpet 1/3 freshwater polluted
4th
Trumpet 1/3 sky polluted
5th
Trumpet Locusts from Pit
(1st
Woe)
6th
Trumpet 1/3 mankind killed
(?
2nd Woe)
Chapter
10 :
Interlude
Seven
thunders
Little scroll
Chapter
11 :
Interlude
(Cont.) Two witnesses
7th
Trumpet
Declaration of triumph
God's temple opened
RECAP
No.5 "The Seven Trumpets" Revelation 8-11
SUMMARY
:
In these 8 studies we have seen:
-
disasters coming that end up destroying a third of the earth
-
mankind still refusing to repent
-
the end coming soon
-
Jerusalem being trampled by unbelievers but God having two
witnesses to Himself
-
The death and resurrection of these two
-
Declaration of judgement starting
COMMENT
:
In these last desperate times before the end comes the pressure
builds up of disasters upon the earth when, one might expect, humanity
should cry out to God for help. Instead there is unrepentant rebellion
against God and His people.
Finally God declares the time has come for the final judgement
which will be delayed no longer.
LESSONS
:
1.
God's ongoing judgements are designed to turn men back to Himself
2.
The majority will refuse to heed the warnings and will come under
eternal judgement
3.
In the midst of this rejection, God will maintain a witness to Himself,
a
constant reminder to the rest of the world of
who He is.
4.
There will come a time when all will be accountable to God.
PRAY
:
Acknowledge the Lord Almighty whose plans and purposes WILL
be fulfilled in His timing.
PART
6 : Overview!
In this last brief Part, we will read a highly significant
chapter that allows us to have an overview of the war that is being carried
on. Within it we will see the sovereignty and humility of the Lord, while
we also see Satan's activities clearly revealed.
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