Revelation 8,9 June 21, 2009
Summer Sermon Series on
The Revelation of Jesus Christ, Part 5
“Can You Hear Me Now?”
Rev. Meagan M. Boozer
I have to tell you that if I had my way, I would have taken this week off from reading and preaching Revelation. There is so much going on right now. Many of us are dealing with some very difficult stuff in your personal and/or professional lives. It seems like a sermon on the 23rd Psalm or Jesus healing someone would “feel better” to us today instead of diving back into Revelation in chapter 8. But that’s my shortsightedness talking. I believe I was called to preach this book this summer, and whether I feel like preaching it you feel like hearing it is not the point, is it? It’s about obedience. And I think we’re learning that there is joy, great joy, in obeying our Lord.
Let us pray: Oh God, thank you for your faithfulness. Thank you for your sovereignty. Thank you for your promises fulfilled and yet to be fulfilled. Thank you for all the words in your Book, especially these words from the Revelation. We don’t understand much of it, but we can sense its power. Lead us, help us, comfort us, convict us. This we pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.
You may be surprised to see that we are going to focus on 4 chapters today instead of 2. That was not my original plan, but I think you will understand as we read the text.
Revelation 8
1When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. 2And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.
3Another angel with a golden censer came and stood at the altar; he was given a great quantity of incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar that is before the throne. 4And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. 5Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth; and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.
6Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets made ready to blow them.
7The first angel blew his trumpet, and there came hail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were hurled to the earth; and a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.
8The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea. 9A third of the sea became blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.
10The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. 11The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many died from the water, because it was made bitter.
12The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of their light was darkened; a third of the day was kept from shining, and likewise the night.
13Then I looked, and I heard an eagle crying with a loud voice as it flew in midheaven, “Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, at the blasts of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow!”
Revelation 9
1And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit; 2he opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft. 3Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given authority like the authority of scorpions of the earth. 4They were told not to damage the grass of the earth or any green growth or any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5They were allowed to torture them for five months, but not to kill them, and their torture was like the torture of a scorpion when it stings someone. 6And in those days people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will flee from them.
7In appearance the locusts were like horses equipped for battle. On their heads were what looked like crowns of gold; their faces were like human faces, 8their hair like women’s hair, and their teeth like lions’ teeth; 9they had scales like iron breastplates, and the noise of their wings was like the noise of many chariots with horses rushing into battle. 10They have tails like scorpions, with stingers, and in their tails is their power to harm people for five months. 11They have as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, ◙ and in Greek he is called Apollyon. 12The first woe has passed. There are still two woes to come.
13Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four ◙ horns of the golden altar before God, 14saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” 15So the four angels were released, who had been held ready for the hour, the day, the month, and the year, to kill a third of humankind. 16The number of the troops of cavalry was two hundred million; I heard their number. 17And this was how I saw the horses in my vision: the riders wore breastplates the color of fire and of sapphire ◙ and of sulfur; the heads of the horses were like lions’ heads, and fire and smoke and sulfur came out of their mouths. 18By these three plagues a third of humankind was killed, by the fire and smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouths. 19For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails; their tails are like serpents, having heads; and with them they inflict harm.
20The rest of humankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands or give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk. 21And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their fornication or their thefts.
Revelation 10
1And I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs like pillars of fire. 2He held a little scroll open in his hand. Setting his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, 3he gave a great shout, like a lion roaring. And when he shouted, the seven thunders sounded. 4And when the seven thunders had sounded, I was about to write, but I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and do not write it down.” 5Then the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and the land raised his right hand to heaven and swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and what is in it, the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it: “There will be no more delay, 7but in the days when the seventh angel is to blow his trumpet, the mystery of God will be fulfilled, as he announced to his servants the prophets.”
8Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, “Go, take the scroll that is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.” 9So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll; and he said to me, “Take it, and eat; it will be bitter to your stomach, but sweet as honey in your mouth.” 10So I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it; it was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter.
11Then they said to me, “You must prophesy again about many peoples and nations and languages and kings.”
Revelation 11
1Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, “Come and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there, 2but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample over the holy city for forty-two months. 3And I will grant my two witnesses authority to prophesy for one thousand two hundred sixty days, wearing sackcloth.”
4These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. 5And if anyone wants to harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes; anyone who wants to harm them must be killed in this manner. 6They have authority to shut the sky, so that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying, and they have authority over the waters to turn them into blood, and to strike the earth with every kind of plague, as often as they desire.
7When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them, 8and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that is prophetically ◙ called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. 9For three and a half days members of the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb; 10and the inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and celebrate and exchange presents, because these two prophets had been a torment to the inhabitants of the earth.
11But after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and those who saw them were terrified. 12Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here!” And they went up to heaven in a cloud while their enemies watched them. 13At that moment there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell; seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.
14The second woe has passed. The third woe is coming very soon.
15Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying,
“The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign forever and ever.” Then the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, singing,
“We give you thanks, Lord God Almighty,
who are and who were, for you have taken your great power and begun to reign. The nations raged, but your wrath has come, and the time for judging the dead, for rewarding your servants, ◙ the prophets and saints and all who fear your name, both small and great, and for destroying those who destroy the earth.” Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple; and there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.
As soon as each of the first 6 seals was opened on the scroll that Jesus alone was worthy to open, John either saw or heard something, or both. When the 7th seal was opened, he saw nothing and heard nothing for about half an hour. Earlier in our time here together, we had a time of silence. We sat in silence for 1 minute. It seemed a lot longer, didn’t it? Have you ever been somewhere where it got so quiet you said later, “You could have heard a pin drop.” The silence in Heaven for that half hour must have been that kind of silence – the kind that makes you full of wonder and anticipation. One biblical scholar wrote, “It is the silence of sovereignty. There is communicated in a very dramatic way in this quietness the full and awesome authority of God. Everything must wait for His kingly move.” And it is as if the Director said, at the end of 30 minutes not “lights, camera, action,” but “Angels, Trumpets, and Calamity.”
I was asked a question last week – a question that is probably on many of our minds. “Is what is happening now in Revelation, before or after the Rapture.” The Rapture, according to the dictionary is: a mystical experience of being transported into the spiritual realm, sometimes applied to the second coming of Jesus Christ when true believers are expected to rise up to join him in heaven. Matthew 24:40 describes what it will be like: Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left.
Not that long ago I had to travel to Camp Hill. I got on the turnpike here in Willow Hill, and it was totally weird. As I merged onto the highway, I didn’t see any cars coming, or any cars in front of me. I traveled for about 25 miles before I saw another car on the eastbound lane. I said to the Lord, “You didn’t just rapture everyone on this lane and I got here too late, right Lord?”
We all want to know the answer to the question, “At what point is the raising of the Lord’s faithful going to happen?” We want to know the answer because we all hope that when God’s wrath is unleashed on earth, if it is anything like what we have read here, we hope we’re not here to experience it. We hope that we would have all been “beamed up” and thereby spared for the glory of eternity in the presence of the Lord.
Let’s remember that Revelation is not a sequence of past historical events chronicled by an eye-witness. Revelation is a sequence of visions given to the apostle John about what is to come. It is filled with symbols and images that are like what we see in science fiction movies. It doesn’t seem real to us. But it was intensely real to John as he saw and heard what was given to him to write down for the Church. In the beginning of this sermon series we learned that Revelation is a combination of apocalyptic writing and prophetic writing. Apocalyptic writing is writing that is like a hill and a valley – gloom and doom followed by hope and promise. Apocalyptic writing emphasizes the freedom of God. A whole half hour of silence emphasizes the freedom of God. Prophetic writing is writing intended to call people to repentance, emphasizing the decision-making freedom of the people before God. In these last chapters we have read, we have a lot of apocalyptic writing woven together with prophetic writing – because at the end – it is all coming down to one question: Before the final judgment, will we fall on our knees willingly before the King of kings and Lord of lords, repenting of our sinful ways? Philippians 2 tells us that one day every knee in heaven, on earth, and under the earth will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. The reality is that some will bow early, some will bow just in time, and others will bow too late. This is essentially why the scroll that John was commanded to eat, which represents the message of salvation and judgment, was sweet in John’s mouth and bitter to his stomach. Perhaps this is what I am not “feeling” like preaching this book each week. Perhaps this is why we’re not “feeling” like we want to come and hear more each week. There is the blessing of heaven and the reality of hell.
Folks, as much as we want to know the answer to the “Rapture question,” our focus should not be on whether the true believers are still on earth when God’s wrath begins to flow. Our focus must be on whether our hearts are repentant hearts that clearly reveal a life that seeks to glorify and serve the Lord so that we’re ready, and those around us are ready whenever he comes.
Look with me at verses 20 & 21 of chapter 9. “20The rest of humankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands or give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk. 21And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their fornication or their thefts.”
Again, like last week, God limits the destruction. Last week, it was a quarter of the earth that was afflicted. This week, it is more: a third of the earth. Why not just get it over with, and come against the whole earth at once? Because of what we read in verses 20 & 21. The goal is not annihilation. The goal is salvation through repentance. We serve a God of second, third, and fourth chances. We serve a God who loves us, who shows us mercy by allowing us to experience the painful consequences of our own sinfulness in order to bring us to a change of heart. John’s vision is that none of the judgments described up to now have succeeded in bringing about repentance or any change of heart in an evil world. The surviving inhabitants on earth at the point of this vision are like Pharaoah in the face of the plagues on Egypt in Moses’ time: their hearts are hardened and they will not repent. In Exodus, God’s sovereignty is preserved by insisting that God hardened Pharaoah’s heart, but there is no such statement here. At least for the time being, the people have hardened their own hearts.
Now, jump over with me to chapter 11:13. “At that moment there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell; seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.” Some got it. The extended 6th trumpet (like 1001, 1002, 1003, 1004…) achieved at last the purpose of the series as a whole – repentance on earth and worship of God among some of the earth’s inhabitants.
Have you ever been someplace, or been with a group of people, and felt as if you were the only one who really had a heart for the Lord? Is it possible that the transportation (the Rapture) of the Church happened already and we are in the last times as was written in the letter of Jude, “In the last time there will be scoffers, indulging their own ungodly lusts.” That seems accurate as I look around at the world. The angel said in 10:6, “There will be no more delay!” Is it possible that we are now in the period of great glooms and dooms, earthquakes, famines, fires, plagues, and we are being shown God’s patience as he waits for us to repent? Listen to these words from 2 Peter, “Do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day. The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance.”
Am I suggesting we’ve missed the rapture and we’re in the 1000 year period (Rev. 20)? Some think so. Or am I suggesting the rapture is right around the corner, as many have thought over the years? I’m not suggesting either. I’m preaching the message that the prophets have preached from thousands of years before the first coming of the Lord, to the message John the Baptist preached (Matthew 3:8, “Bear fruit worthy of repentance.”), to the message Jesus himself preached in his first sermon (Mark 1:14, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news!”). The message today is the same message from yesterday and is the same message for tomorrow (for as many tomorrows as we are given): Repent! - for God’s wrath is just as real as his love. God will not tarry forever. As we are called to turn towards God and away from the temptations that look so good, but hurt us and others so badly – we must pray that the lives of others who are perishing apart from God’s grace would also come under the righteous blood of Jesus.
Now, I’m getting to the end of this message, and I know, I know, I didn’t explain anything about the scorpions with the stinging tails, the measuring rod, the two witnesses, etc., etc., etc. That’s because so many different interpretations are out there, and in God’s call to read this book in the context of worship, especially this week, I wasn’t led to interpret details. In the context of worship, I was led to help us all consider God’s promises of mercy and judgment. We don’t like to be reminded of the magnitude of God’s power when it comes to his wrath, do we? We would much rather consider his power to save because of his powerful love.
Let us not grow weary in sharing the truth about Jesus. Let us not give in to the fear that so quickly comes upon us when an opportunity to share our faith arrives. Let us repent of our sin, let us repent of our apathy regarding the times to come, and let us repent of considering those nagging thoughts that Jesus might tarry forever and never come to take us home. (See 2 Peter 3:1-7)
Jesus said, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself so that where I am, there you may be also.” (John 14:1-5)
Let us pray: O Gracious Father, there is no father on earth that can compare with you. You tell us that you discipline those you love, and we feel your discipline in our lives when we do not walk in your ways. We know you love us. We can hear you calling us to repentance. Forgive us for neglecting those things that you call us to cherish. Forgive us for approaching you haphazardly. Forgive us for pretending that we are something that we are not. Help us to live at peace with you by living in holy obedience to you. We do not want to incur your wrath for who could stand against it? (For those who have not said yes to the Lord’s call, please pray this prayer): Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, I do not really understand who you are, but today I believe by faith in what you have done. Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross to save me from the power of sin in my life. I open my heart to you, today, and I invite you to come in and commune with me. Clean out all that is unacceptable, and create in me a clean heart. I invite the Holy Spirit to come and fill me so that I can walk in faithfulness in your strength, not in mine. I commit to live from this day forward for the sake of the only one who can give salvation peace for all eternity. This I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.
As we collect our tithes and offerings this morning, I invite you to reflect on God’s mercy in your life as we listen to Chris Tomlin’s recording, “I Will Rise.”
Summer Sermon Series on
The Revelation of Jesus Christ, Part 5
“Can You Hear Me Now?”
Rev. Meagan M. Boozer
I have to tell you that if I had my way, I would have taken this week off from reading and preaching Revelation. There is so much going on right now. Many of us are dealing with some very difficult stuff in your personal and/or professional lives. It seems like a sermon on the 23rd Psalm or Jesus healing someone would “feel better” to us today instead of diving back into Revelation in chapter 8. But that’s my shortsightedness talking. I believe I was called to preach this book this summer, and whether I feel like preaching it you feel like hearing it is not the point, is it? It’s about obedience. And I think we’re learning that there is joy, great joy, in obeying our Lord.
Let us pray: Oh God, thank you for your faithfulness. Thank you for your sovereignty. Thank you for your promises fulfilled and yet to be fulfilled. Thank you for all the words in your Book, especially these words from the Revelation. We don’t understand much of it, but we can sense its power. Lead us, help us, comfort us, convict us. This we pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.
You may be surprised to see that we are going to focus on 4 chapters today instead of 2. That was not my original plan, but I think you will understand as we read the text.
Revelation 8
1When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. 2And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.
3Another angel with a golden censer came and stood at the altar; he was given a great quantity of incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar that is before the throne. 4And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. 5Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth; and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.
6Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets made ready to blow them.
7The first angel blew his trumpet, and there came hail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were hurled to the earth; and a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.
8The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea. 9A third of the sea became blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.
10The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. 11The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many died from the water, because it was made bitter.
12The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of their light was darkened; a third of the day was kept from shining, and likewise the night.
13Then I looked, and I heard an eagle crying with a loud voice as it flew in midheaven, “Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, at the blasts of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow!”
Revelation 9
1And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit; 2he opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft. 3Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given authority like the authority of scorpions of the earth. 4They were told not to damage the grass of the earth or any green growth or any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5They were allowed to torture them for five months, but not to kill them, and their torture was like the torture of a scorpion when it stings someone. 6And in those days people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will flee from them.
7In appearance the locusts were like horses equipped for battle. On their heads were what looked like crowns of gold; their faces were like human faces, 8their hair like women’s hair, and their teeth like lions’ teeth; 9they had scales like iron breastplates, and the noise of their wings was like the noise of many chariots with horses rushing into battle. 10They have tails like scorpions, with stingers, and in their tails is their power to harm people for five months. 11They have as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, ◙ and in Greek he is called Apollyon. 12The first woe has passed. There are still two woes to come.
13Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four ◙ horns of the golden altar before God, 14saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” 15So the four angels were released, who had been held ready for the hour, the day, the month, and the year, to kill a third of humankind. 16The number of the troops of cavalry was two hundred million; I heard their number. 17And this was how I saw the horses in my vision: the riders wore breastplates the color of fire and of sapphire ◙ and of sulfur; the heads of the horses were like lions’ heads, and fire and smoke and sulfur came out of their mouths. 18By these three plagues a third of humankind was killed, by the fire and smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouths. 19For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails; their tails are like serpents, having heads; and with them they inflict harm.
20The rest of humankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands or give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk. 21And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their fornication or their thefts.
Revelation 10
1And I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs like pillars of fire. 2He held a little scroll open in his hand. Setting his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, 3he gave a great shout, like a lion roaring. And when he shouted, the seven thunders sounded. 4And when the seven thunders had sounded, I was about to write, but I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Seal up what the seven thunders have said, and do not write it down.” 5Then the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and the land raised his right hand to heaven and swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and what is in it, the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it: “There will be no more delay, 7but in the days when the seventh angel is to blow his trumpet, the mystery of God will be fulfilled, as he announced to his servants the prophets.”
8Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, “Go, take the scroll that is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.” 9So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll; and he said to me, “Take it, and eat; it will be bitter to your stomach, but sweet as honey in your mouth.” 10So I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it; it was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter.
11Then they said to me, “You must prophesy again about many peoples and nations and languages and kings.”
Revelation 11
1Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, “Come and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there, 2but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample over the holy city for forty-two months. 3And I will grant my two witnesses authority to prophesy for one thousand two hundred sixty days, wearing sackcloth.”
4These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. 5And if anyone wants to harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes; anyone who wants to harm them must be killed in this manner. 6They have authority to shut the sky, so that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying, and they have authority over the waters to turn them into blood, and to strike the earth with every kind of plague, as often as they desire.
7When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them, 8and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that is prophetically ◙ called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. 9For three and a half days members of the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb; 10and the inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and celebrate and exchange presents, because these two prophets had been a torment to the inhabitants of the earth.
11But after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and those who saw them were terrified. 12Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here!” And they went up to heaven in a cloud while their enemies watched them. 13At that moment there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell; seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.
14The second woe has passed. The third woe is coming very soon.
15Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying,
“The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign forever and ever.” Then the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, singing,
“We give you thanks, Lord God Almighty,
who are and who were, for you have taken your great power and begun to reign. The nations raged, but your wrath has come, and the time for judging the dead, for rewarding your servants, ◙ the prophets and saints and all who fear your name, both small and great, and for destroying those who destroy the earth.” Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple; and there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.
As soon as each of the first 6 seals was opened on the scroll that Jesus alone was worthy to open, John either saw or heard something, or both. When the 7th seal was opened, he saw nothing and heard nothing for about half an hour. Earlier in our time here together, we had a time of silence. We sat in silence for 1 minute. It seemed a lot longer, didn’t it? Have you ever been somewhere where it got so quiet you said later, “You could have heard a pin drop.” The silence in Heaven for that half hour must have been that kind of silence – the kind that makes you full of wonder and anticipation. One biblical scholar wrote, “It is the silence of sovereignty. There is communicated in a very dramatic way in this quietness the full and awesome authority of God. Everything must wait for His kingly move.” And it is as if the Director said, at the end of 30 minutes not “lights, camera, action,” but “Angels, Trumpets, and Calamity.”
I was asked a question last week – a question that is probably on many of our minds. “Is what is happening now in Revelation, before or after the Rapture.” The Rapture, according to the dictionary is: a mystical experience of being transported into the spiritual realm, sometimes applied to the second coming of Jesus Christ when true believers are expected to rise up to join him in heaven. Matthew 24:40 describes what it will be like: Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left.
Not that long ago I had to travel to Camp Hill. I got on the turnpike here in Willow Hill, and it was totally weird. As I merged onto the highway, I didn’t see any cars coming, or any cars in front of me. I traveled for about 25 miles before I saw another car on the eastbound lane. I said to the Lord, “You didn’t just rapture everyone on this lane and I got here too late, right Lord?”
We all want to know the answer to the question, “At what point is the raising of the Lord’s faithful going to happen?” We want to know the answer because we all hope that when God’s wrath is unleashed on earth, if it is anything like what we have read here, we hope we’re not here to experience it. We hope that we would have all been “beamed up” and thereby spared for the glory of eternity in the presence of the Lord.
Let’s remember that Revelation is not a sequence of past historical events chronicled by an eye-witness. Revelation is a sequence of visions given to the apostle John about what is to come. It is filled with symbols and images that are like what we see in science fiction movies. It doesn’t seem real to us. But it was intensely real to John as he saw and heard what was given to him to write down for the Church. In the beginning of this sermon series we learned that Revelation is a combination of apocalyptic writing and prophetic writing. Apocalyptic writing is writing that is like a hill and a valley – gloom and doom followed by hope and promise. Apocalyptic writing emphasizes the freedom of God. A whole half hour of silence emphasizes the freedom of God. Prophetic writing is writing intended to call people to repentance, emphasizing the decision-making freedom of the people before God. In these last chapters we have read, we have a lot of apocalyptic writing woven together with prophetic writing – because at the end – it is all coming down to one question: Before the final judgment, will we fall on our knees willingly before the King of kings and Lord of lords, repenting of our sinful ways? Philippians 2 tells us that one day every knee in heaven, on earth, and under the earth will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. The reality is that some will bow early, some will bow just in time, and others will bow too late. This is essentially why the scroll that John was commanded to eat, which represents the message of salvation and judgment, was sweet in John’s mouth and bitter to his stomach. Perhaps this is what I am not “feeling” like preaching this book each week. Perhaps this is why we’re not “feeling” like we want to come and hear more each week. There is the blessing of heaven and the reality of hell.
Folks, as much as we want to know the answer to the “Rapture question,” our focus should not be on whether the true believers are still on earth when God’s wrath begins to flow. Our focus must be on whether our hearts are repentant hearts that clearly reveal a life that seeks to glorify and serve the Lord so that we’re ready, and those around us are ready whenever he comes.
Look with me at verses 20 & 21 of chapter 9. “20The rest of humankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands or give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk. 21And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their fornication or their thefts.”
Again, like last week, God limits the destruction. Last week, it was a quarter of the earth that was afflicted. This week, it is more: a third of the earth. Why not just get it over with, and come against the whole earth at once? Because of what we read in verses 20 & 21. The goal is not annihilation. The goal is salvation through repentance. We serve a God of second, third, and fourth chances. We serve a God who loves us, who shows us mercy by allowing us to experience the painful consequences of our own sinfulness in order to bring us to a change of heart. John’s vision is that none of the judgments described up to now have succeeded in bringing about repentance or any change of heart in an evil world. The surviving inhabitants on earth at the point of this vision are like Pharaoah in the face of the plagues on Egypt in Moses’ time: their hearts are hardened and they will not repent. In Exodus, God’s sovereignty is preserved by insisting that God hardened Pharaoah’s heart, but there is no such statement here. At least for the time being, the people have hardened their own hearts.
Now, jump over with me to chapter 11:13. “At that moment there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell; seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.” Some got it. The extended 6th trumpet (like 1001, 1002, 1003, 1004…) achieved at last the purpose of the series as a whole – repentance on earth and worship of God among some of the earth’s inhabitants.
Have you ever been someplace, or been with a group of people, and felt as if you were the only one who really had a heart for the Lord? Is it possible that the transportation (the Rapture) of the Church happened already and we are in the last times as was written in the letter of Jude, “In the last time there will be scoffers, indulging their own ungodly lusts.” That seems accurate as I look around at the world. The angel said in 10:6, “There will be no more delay!” Is it possible that we are now in the period of great glooms and dooms, earthquakes, famines, fires, plagues, and we are being shown God’s patience as he waits for us to repent? Listen to these words from 2 Peter, “Do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day. The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance.”
Am I suggesting we’ve missed the rapture and we’re in the 1000 year period (Rev. 20)? Some think so. Or am I suggesting the rapture is right around the corner, as many have thought over the years? I’m not suggesting either. I’m preaching the message that the prophets have preached from thousands of years before the first coming of the Lord, to the message John the Baptist preached (Matthew 3:8, “Bear fruit worthy of repentance.”), to the message Jesus himself preached in his first sermon (Mark 1:14, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news!”). The message today is the same message from yesterday and is the same message for tomorrow (for as many tomorrows as we are given): Repent! - for God’s wrath is just as real as his love. God will not tarry forever. As we are called to turn towards God and away from the temptations that look so good, but hurt us and others so badly – we must pray that the lives of others who are perishing apart from God’s grace would also come under the righteous blood of Jesus.
Now, I’m getting to the end of this message, and I know, I know, I didn’t explain anything about the scorpions with the stinging tails, the measuring rod, the two witnesses, etc., etc., etc. That’s because so many different interpretations are out there, and in God’s call to read this book in the context of worship, especially this week, I wasn’t led to interpret details. In the context of worship, I was led to help us all consider God’s promises of mercy and judgment. We don’t like to be reminded of the magnitude of God’s power when it comes to his wrath, do we? We would much rather consider his power to save because of his powerful love.
Let us not grow weary in sharing the truth about Jesus. Let us not give in to the fear that so quickly comes upon us when an opportunity to share our faith arrives. Let us repent of our sin, let us repent of our apathy regarding the times to come, and let us repent of considering those nagging thoughts that Jesus might tarry forever and never come to take us home. (See 2 Peter 3:1-7)
Jesus said, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself so that where I am, there you may be also.” (John 14:1-5)
Let us pray: O Gracious Father, there is no father on earth that can compare with you. You tell us that you discipline those you love, and we feel your discipline in our lives when we do not walk in your ways. We know you love us. We can hear you calling us to repentance. Forgive us for neglecting those things that you call us to cherish. Forgive us for approaching you haphazardly. Forgive us for pretending that we are something that we are not. Help us to live at peace with you by living in holy obedience to you. We do not want to incur your wrath for who could stand against it? (For those who have not said yes to the Lord’s call, please pray this prayer): Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, I do not really understand who you are, but today I believe by faith in what you have done. Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross to save me from the power of sin in my life. I open my heart to you, today, and I invite you to come in and commune with me. Clean out all that is unacceptable, and create in me a clean heart. I invite the Holy Spirit to come and fill me so that I can walk in faithfulness in your strength, not in mine. I commit to live from this day forward for the sake of the only one who can give salvation peace for all eternity. This I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.
As we collect our tithes and offerings this morning, I invite you to reflect on God’s mercy in your life as we listen to Chris Tomlin’s recording, “I Will Rise.”
