Revelation Part 14
REVELATION Chapter 8
In Rev. 8:1 the Bible says,
"And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour."
Before we go any further, this is such a significant event, I want to take a moment and let it’s impact weigh upon your spirit and your heart. There was silence in heaven for the space of half an hour. Is this not a tremendous event. Is this not a powerful event. Wow, what a something!
We remember that Jesus is opening the seven seals of the book that was in the hand of Him that sat upon the throne. We have now come to last of the seven seals, and many more things are described for us once the seventh seal is opened. The period of the Great Tribulation has come to the earth as a result of the seven seals being opened, and when the seventh seal is opened even more sorrow and destruction and terrors are described as happening to the earth and the inhabitants thereof. Perhaps the reason for the silence that is mentioned in Rev. 8:1 is like the calm before a storm. A storm of destruction is brewing and about to slam into the earth as never before experienced in all of human history. As the seventh seal is opened, and before the storm in unleashed, there will be silence in heaven for about half an hour.
Rev. 8:2 says,
"And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets."
In the ancient world in certain royal kingdoms a trumpet would be sounded to announce the beginning of some important event. God is using these references to trumpets for the same kind of thing. The seventh seal of the book has been opened, and we are told about seven trumpets. Before the trumpets are sounded we are told something else in Rev. 8:3-6. The Bible says,
"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 the smoke of incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand. 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 the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound."
There appears to be a direct correlation between the prayers that have been made by all the believers in God and the sounding of these seven trumpets. The trumpets do not sound until the prayers of the saints are poured out before God. What have we prayed over the centuries, we who have believed in God? We have prayed that the will of the Lord be done, and not our own will. Notice that the prayers are poured out on an altar. An altar is a place where sacrifices are made. When a believer is pressed down by the sorrows and the difficulties of life, and when such a person cries out to God from the depths of their soul and says,
"not my will but thine be done,"
it’s similar to death and to a sacrifice being made. We also pray and implore God just like Jesus taught us to pray,
"Thy kingdom come."
God has made many precious promises about His kingdom to come, and the more that we understand these promises the more that we know that many of our hopes and dreams will only be fulfilled when God establishes His kingdom. Some people put too much hope in the kingdoms of this world, but we know that it’s the kingdom of Jesus Christ and of God our Heavenly Father for which we wait and for which we pray. Our prayers have not gone unheard. They are a sweet fragrance and incense that will be poured out before the throne of God. The day will come when God will say that enough is enough. Enough prayers have been prayed, and the longings of the pure in heart have been delayed long enough. The time will be right, and God will answer the prayers of the humble ones who have placed their hope, faith and trust in Him. God will tell the angels to sound their trumpets.
Rev. 8:7 says,
"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 trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up."
The hail and the fire could be from several different sources: perhaps more meteorites that will rain down upon the earth, perhaps volcanoes that will erupt, or perhaps bombs that nations will shower upon each other. The blood is undoubtedly the blood of the humans who will be killed by them. Whatever the source of the hail and fire, we are told very clearly the result: one third of the trees and all of the grass will be burned up.
Rev. 8:8-9 says,
"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."
This sounds like a great and massive volcanic eruption in which the volcanic mountain is totally destroyed. Perhaps it will be the worst volcanic explosion in the history of the earth, and perhaps the destruction of the ships is a result of a great tidal wave that would surely follow an explosion of this magnitude should it be in or near the sea.
Rev. 8:10-11 says,
"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, and the third part of the waters became wormwood, and many men died of the waters because they were made bitter." This sounds like a large meteorite of some sort shall fall to the earth, and the destruction that it will bring will be much greater than just it’s impact of striking the earth. Quite possibly this meteorite or bomb that will fall from the sky will be nuclear in nature and cause the poisoning of the wasters.One-third of the water on the earth will be affected. We think that we have seen pollution in our lifetime, but the worst pollution that the world will ever see will come during the time of the Great Tribulation and it will come from the skys. Now again, it may be a meteor, it may be a nuclear weapon or it may be supernatural judgement flowing out of the finger of God slamming into the earth. One more way that people will die during the Great Tribulation: they will die from drinking polluted water.
Rev. 8:12 says,
"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 for the third part of it, and the night likewise."
Perhaps as a result of the smoke and the ash from the other calamities, 33% of the sun’s rays will be blocked from reaching the earth. Such a blockage of the sun would cause great climactic changes on the earth. Crops would fail, temperatures would drop, and the misery that would befall the human race would increase dramatically. There is currently an article on the Weather Channel website addressing the "Asian Brown Cloud". Further we have described to us on the Learning Channel on satellite television that a catastrophe of just this type and magnitude could come as a result of a huge volcanic eruption such as the world has never seen but which is lying dormant in several volcanoes around the globe today.
Just when human misery seems to be at a point where it could be no worse, the unthinkable happens, it does get worse. Rev. 8:13 says,
"And I beheld 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."
We have heard about many great natural disasters that will befall the earth, causing horrible suffering and death. What could possibly be worse? Evil! Evil forces will be unleashed such as they have never been loosed before.
Rev. 9:1-2 says,
"And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth; and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit."
We know quite clearly from what we are told in verse 11 of this chapter that the star that fell from heaven is not another meteorite, but is the devil himself. The devil was originally an angel. The place where the devil spends most of his time is on the earth tempting man to sin, causing sorrow and woe.The devil still has access to heaven. In the book of Job we are told that the devil appears before God to accuse the believers. But the day will come when the devil will be no longer permitted to visit heaven, and he will be cast to the earth. Because the devil is cast out of heaven, he knows his time is short and therefore his determination increases to cause as much death and destruction as possible while he still has time. The devil is the leader of many millions of other fallen angels who will also be loosed upon the earth. They will enter the hearts of evil men. The Great Tribulation will be a time of murder and violence and war and carnage such as the world has never seen or experienced in all of recorded history. It is the result of the sinfulness of man and the power of evil that is released upon the earth.
One of the reasons for the horrible crimes that human beings are capable of committing is because of the forces of evil that work so hard to influence man to commit great sins against humanity. But right now in our day though evil is abounding and growing at such a rate we cannot comprehend, we must remember that this is just the seeds of the harvest to reaped during the Great Tribulation. In the age in which we live, the forces of evil are held back and restrained to a great degree. What we are being told here in Revelation Chapter 9 is that one source of misery during the Great Tribulation is that evil will be loosed upon the earth as never before!
The message should be very clear: turn to God while there is still time. Without Jesus as your Savior you have no hope against the forces that can come against you. We need to heed the words of the writer of the Book of Hebrews,
"today is the day of Salvation…"
and
"it is a fearful thing, to fall into the hands of an angry God". Won’t you come to Jesus this morning. Romans 10: 13 says that
"whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."
You ask why you need to be saved, well Romans 3:23 says that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, Romans 6:23 tells us that the wages of this sin is death, but God has provided a gift of eternal life for all who will put their faith and trust in the atoning work of Jesus Christ.
Romans 10:9-10 says to us:
"That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved."
Won’t you bow your head and ask Jesus into your heart and to save you right now!?