Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] And one night, three boys from Carver Creeks got sloshed drunk and they thought they were going to kill this man and dump his body in the swamp.
[00:00:12] But as soon as they grabbed the jars of money and started to run, they found themselves running in quicksand and they perished.
[00:00:24] And legend says this is because Woolly Swamp is haunted by this dead man. Now, this is a terrifying song.
[00:00:36] Has some really great guitar riffs, but it's a terrifying song.
[00:00:41] And as a kid, I would listen to this song on my parents big wooden stereo in our living room. I would take the record, Charlie Daniels Band, I forgot what the album's called.
[00:00:55] And I would move the needle to that song. And I would listen to that song with the lights off, trying to scare myself.
[00:01:05] And I want you to know, it did wonders for my fear of the dark and my fear of ghosts and things like that.
[00:01:14] Every night after dinner, I would have to go feed our dogs outside, and we had no light where they were.
[00:01:22] They were in a pen outside. And my parents would make me go feed the dogs in the dark.
[00:01:28] And as I would walk to feed the dogs, I would hear the lyrics of the Legend of Woolly Swamp just going through my head, which read, if you ever go back into Woolly Swamp, you better not go at night.
[00:01:44] And here I am traipsing through the night.
[00:01:47] There are things in the middle of them woods that make a strong man die from fright.
[00:01:53] And I'm restraining from singing these lyrics.
[00:01:57] Things that crawl, things that fly, things that creep around on the ground.
[00:02:03] And they say the ghost of Lucius Clay gets up and he walks around.
[00:02:08] And then the chorus. But I couldn't believe it. I just had to find out for myself.
[00:02:13] And I would think I'm about to find out for myself here in the dark.
[00:02:18] All these things that are just out there.
[00:02:21] Revelation, chapter 16, 19 can have the same effect on us.
[00:02:26] Some of you are feeling that you've talked about your kids being in the service and the sermon, scaring them to death.
[00:02:35] Some of you have sent me texts during the week. And just as you read these chapters, you see the judgment of God in these horrific ways. And in this section of the book, and it is absolutely terrifying.
[00:02:51] You begin to think there are things out there that we can't see that can hurt us, harm us, destroy us, that are terrifying. And that's actually the point of these chapters, is for us to believe and know there are things we can't see that are terrifying.
[00:03:10] And the apostle John, who is in exile for preaching the gospel, he's given this vision of all of these things from heaven to see what is really out there from heaven.
[00:03:24] And in heaven, Jesus is ruling and he is the one who is in charge of all of these things.
[00:03:30] He is on the throne, ruling over all the scary things.
[00:03:36] But as John tries to put into words what he sees, we see Revelation is full of what is called apocalyptic language, which is language of judgment most often.
[00:03:49] And it is language that uses extreme imagery to communicate terrifying realities.
[00:03:59] The writer is at some points where he can't find the words to add to what he is describing and he comes up with almost out outlandish visuals to invoke emotions.
[00:04:13] But for the believer, the emotion is not just to be fear, it is to give us hope.
[00:04:22] Because John is at pains to describe the most terrifying things in the most terrifying way. He can describe them for the purpose of the believer, to know Jesus is in control and ruling over the terrifying things.
[00:04:36] And he is your king and you have no reason to fear. That is the point of these chapters, Revelation chapter six, which we've already covered six, seven, first part of eight through chapter 19.
[00:04:50] Now, just to put my cards on the table today, my view of these chapters could probably be called what is called an iodine idealistic view of Revelation.
[00:05:05] Which means I don't restrict any of these things that are being described here to the past, which some theologians do.
[00:05:14] They say the book of Revelation and all of this content happened in the past, specifically when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and destroyed the temple in 70 AD. Many theologians will come to Revelation and say that that's what this is describing here. That means you have to change the date that we've already given for Revelation.
[00:05:37] And nor do I think these things are restricted to just future. So as we move through them, understand, I don't think these things all just happen in the future. Some of them do.
[00:05:49] I think sometimes we experience some of the things here in the present.
[00:05:53] Now why do I think that?
[00:05:56] Well, if we go back to Revelation, chapter one, verse 19, John is told to write the things he has seen.
[00:06:07] He is told to write down the things that are, and he is told to write down the things that will soon take place.
[00:06:16] And so it's not just restricted in the past, it's not just something happening in the present, not just something happening in the future.
[00:06:26] What John is describing is a more general judgment that is being unleashed on the world that we have seen at all times.
[00:06:37] Specifically, since Jesus has been raised from the dead, ruling at the right hand of God, we have seen all these kinds and types of Judgments unfolding upon the world. And the point is, and you can have different views on this, Jesus is in control of it all.
[00:06:53] The judgment in the past, present and future.
[00:06:57] He is ruling over what we say, the last days, the church age.
[00:07:03] And as Pastor Eric described last week, the seals, the trumpets, the bowls. They are three cycles of this time period. The time from the resurrection to the second coming.
[00:07:14] The seals, trumpets and bowls tell that story three times.
[00:07:19] Three cycles of judgment that end in Jesus return. We see that three times beginning in the seals. And now we're going to start in the trumpets. We will see this cycle again, and then we will see it again in the bowls.
[00:07:35] These are more the kinds of judgment that Jesus unleashes on the world. They're not meant to be seen as some sort of timeline.
[00:07:44] We go back to the Olivet discourse. Jesus says there's going to be wars, rumors of wars, natural disasters, spiritual warfare. People will fall away.
[00:07:54] And we know that has happened all the time since the resurrection in the church age. And here, John, remember, he is describing all of this in the most extreme language he can find because he wants to shake us.
[00:08:11] Understand the time in which you're living and understand what Jesus is doing and be aware of what Jesus will do to those who oppose him.
[00:08:22] Understand that. Don't miss that point.
[00:08:26] Often we try to pinpoint a time or an event with all of this language, and we miss the point.
[00:08:33] Jesus is ruling and reigning, and he will always rule and reign. He will judge his enemies and he will rescue his people.
[00:08:41] And we see that first of all in our text today in creation judgments. Notice verse six.
[00:08:48] Now, the seven angels who had seven trumpets, remember seven fullness.
[00:08:54] They're going to tell the whole story again with their trumpets.
[00:08:59] Now we understand. Remember the scene in heaven. Jesus is the one ruling and reigning. He's been given God's plans. He has opened up the blueprint for human history. He has broken the seals, and we've seen the story unfold once. Hear the trumpets blare out.
[00:09:17] Okay, here we go again.
[00:09:19] And trumpets and angels always indicate an announcement.
[00:09:25] And so John wants us to know this time through the judgments.
[00:09:29] These judgments are meant to announce something.
[00:09:33] And so God is going to unleash some judgments on the world during this time that are to be an announcement to the people who live on the earth.
[00:09:42] Now, I believe what John sees here in chapters 8 and 9 are called preemptive judgments. They're like the plagues that were sent into Egypt.
[00:09:54] When God sent the plagues to Egypt, what was he Doing?
[00:09:58] He was warning Pharaoh, I'm coming to judge you and your gods can't stop me.
[00:10:07] Pharaoh, I'm coming to get my people and you're not going to stop me. And your gods can't stop me. That's the same thing Jesus is doing in the world right now. He is shaking the world and he is saying, I'm coming to get my people, coming to judge my enemies, Pharaoh, Nero, Domitian, anyone who opposes me, I'm going to judge them and I'm going to rescue my people. The same thing he did in Egypt. But we see the first judgment here. I'm going to run through these judgments for time. The first four very quickly, beginning in verse seven, I'm going to summarize. But as I summarize them, you read along in your Bible and you will see these first four judgments.
[00:10:55] An angel blows the trumpet. The first judgment is hellfire is thrown. Notice it's thrown by God from heaven to the earth. And this is very similar to the seventh plague in Egypt where the earth is destroyed. And then in verse 8, we see another trumpet and another judgment, another plague. Or a mountain on fire is thrown into the ocean and a third of the sea turns to blood and a third of the marine life is killed. And so what we're seeing here are things that we see all the time, Judgment on the earth. Vegetation is eaten up.
[00:11:37] We see cosmic disturbances that affect sea life and commerce on the sea. Jesus is doing all of that. And even now, now we might even say that's going to intensify as we get closer to his return. That's okay. But we see these things now as warning judgments.
[00:11:56] Here we see water turning to blood, reminds us of the Nile being turned to blood. Verse 10, a third angel blew his trumpet. And there is an angel named Wormwood that poisons drinking water on the earth. We see that all over the planet. Unhealthy disease because of bad drinking water. And what John is doing here is he's not trying to be so specific. He wants us to understand Jesus is doing all of this and he's doing it as a form of judgment that should shake you all of this fire, these mountains on fire, this angel being sent to earth. Jesus is doing something that should scare you to death if you could see it.
[00:12:42] Jesus is ruling over it all.
[00:12:45] And this is to remind us again of the first plague. Life giving water is diseased. And then the fourth trumpet, the sun, moon, stars go dark, reminds us of the ninth plague in Egypt. We see again disturbances in the solar system.
[00:13:05] That affect even we look around and it affects climate and weather and those things.
[00:13:10] The point is we live in a world right now that is not exactly right, it's not exactly in order. But Jesus is still in control and he's using this disorder to shake us. It is a form of judgment that is warning everyone here, I'm coming and I'm going to judge. I'm going to make all things new, and when I do that, I'm going to rescue my people.
[00:13:35] Just like the plagues in Egypt. It is to shake the world, but Jesus is doing it.
[00:13:41] All of this imagery of judgment, past, present, future, wherever you want to put those things. Some people even associate the first four trumpets to warfare, where armies have gone in to destroy places.
[00:13:55] It is the judgment of Jesus on the earth. Jesus is in control of it, past, present, future. If you want to lock it into one time frame, that's fine. But it's Jesus judgment.
[00:14:06] And as we see it, we are to be reminded Jesus is in control of it all. That's the point.
[00:14:13] I was looking through the most outlandish, bizarre apocalyptic headlines related to weather over the last five years, and there have been some bizarre things that have been written.
[00:14:27] There's a purpose behind some of it.
[00:14:30] But as we look at the world and we see bizarre activity, even with weather, we're not to be scared.
[00:14:39] We're not to be afraid. We are actually, as we've talked about in Revelation, to worship.
[00:14:44] We're to worship Jesus. He's ruling and he's reigning and he's in control of the temperature of precipitation that falls to the ground, turning snow to ice and ruining our lives for two weeks.
[00:14:59] He's in control of every gust of wind in a 200 mile long tornado.
[00:15:06] He's in control of every locust that darkens the sky in East Asia.
[00:15:13] Hundreds of thousands of feet of ocean that all of a sudden turns luminescent.
[00:15:19] No one has an explanation for this. These are things that have happened in the last five years.
[00:15:24] Every drop of rain that left a third of Pakistan underwater.
[00:15:28] He's in charge of the disruption that causes a snowstorm in Saudi Arabia or a Siberian wildfire in the North Pole.
[00:15:38] He knows why millions of dead fish washed ashore in Texas and Florida.
[00:15:43] And he knows why every iguana is falling in Florida.
[00:15:48] He's in charge of it all.
[00:15:51] And it is all meant to shake us.
[00:15:53] And we are to watch these things and not just go, that's interesting. We are to watch these things and go, there are things in this world that I just don't understand.
[00:16:03] And Jesus is ruling and reigning over every bit of it.
[00:16:07] And in him we're safe and we're to turn to our neighbors. We worship Jesus, who's in control. And then we witness, we look at our neighbors and we say, this storm's bad.
[00:16:20] But there's a storm coming and your generator will not save you from it.
[00:16:25] Your storm shelter will not save you from it.
[00:16:29] There'll be no running out in that tornado warning just because you look on your radar and you know it's in the distance and you can get your run in your jog in for the day. None of that.
[00:16:39] There'll be no shopping in this ice storm at Costco now. You won't be able to tread lightly on the storm that's coming that Jesus is bringing.
[00:16:49] You be warned, Jesus is coming and he will judge and he will rescue his people.
[00:16:54] And then we move to verse 13 and there is this sort of parenthesis of warning, this update verse 13.
[00:17:02] Then I looked and I heard an eagle cry with a loud voice as it flew directly overhead. Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth. Again, these are warnings to the people on the earth. They are sounding the alarm at the blast of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow. If you think these disturbances are bad, get ready because there is something worse coming.
[00:17:28] Woe be judged to those who rebel against Jesus. Earth dwellers are those who reject Jesus in Revelation. And here there's a warning of judgment. And we move from creation judgment to humanity that is judged. And notice verse one in chapter nine we see demonic oppression.
[00:17:46] And the fifth angel blew his trumpet and I saw a star. Stars are equated with angels.
[00:17:52] It falls from heaven to earth. I think this is a picture of when Satan fell from heaven to earth after he rebelled against God. But notice he was given the key.
[00:18:03] So Satan here is given authority. Where? To the shaft of the bottomless pit. The abyss which we see is going to be the home of the Antichrist, the beast. And this will be the place where Satan is imprisoned. But for a time he is given authority over this abyss. And notice he opened the shaft of the bottomless pit and from the shafts rose smoke like smoke of a great furnace.
[00:18:28] So Hell itself here belches forth smoke as Satan opens it up. Remember the imagery language.
[00:18:37] John's trying to communicate something that's going on in the spiritual realm. Satan's been given authority to open up hell.
[00:18:44] And notice the sun and the air were darkened with smoke from the shaft. This communicates that Something dark and creepy is abounding in the spiritual world. And Jesus is in control of it, even though he's allowing Satan to unleash it.
[00:19:01] Verse 3.
[00:19:02] And from the smoke came locusts on the earth. This is a reminder of the eighth plague. It's also a prophecy in Joel where locusts are coming to judge as a form of punishment and cursing on those who rebel against God.
[00:19:18] But here we see these locusts again. Notice this were given power. It's not power in of themselves. Jesus himself is allowing this.
[00:19:28] Notice power. Like scorpions of the earth. So they're locusts, but now you're telling us they have the power of scorpions. Again, apocalyptic language. He's trying really hard to say you don't want to mess with these scorpions.
[00:19:44] Locusts. Sorry, who are Sting, as we'll see. Like scorpions.
[00:19:52] Notice they were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green plant on there. Now that's what locusts do as judgment. They eat vegetation. No. What do these locusts do?
[00:20:04] But only on the people who do not have the seal of God on their forehead.
[00:20:10] So there is some sort of demonic oppression that will be unleashed upon the earth on those who are not sealed by Christ, the unbelieving world. And Jesus will allow this to happen. He will allow this demonic oppression. Locusts that sting not destroy the grass but sting and torment people.
[00:20:35] Now we're to be reminded here as we remember the seal of God. God has sealed those who believe in him by the gospel. They have hope in Christ. They are sealed from the destruction that is coming now. The reality is believers will suffer.
[00:20:52] But you cannot have the Holy Spirit of God and the spirit of demon at the same time. So whatever oppression here is going on, believers are rescued eventually from it. Now we may be affected by the work of Satan in the world. We may suffer at times the same way the people of God suffered in Egypt. It was inconvenient that the Nile turned to blood.
[00:21:17] The locusts and the frogs and all of that was inconvenient. And they had to endure that. But they were sealed for a coming rescue.
[00:21:26] It was not a We will not be.
[00:21:30] We're not in an eternal judgment by these things. We have been sealed for a rescue.
[00:21:38] And so we may not be oppressed in the same way. We might be affected by it. And ultimately we will not die eternally because we have been sealed by the promise of God. But the unbelieving world. Here's the point. They have no such protection against the forces of darkness. None.
[00:22:00] Satan can do as he pleases. With them, the demons can do as they please. And notice verse five, they were allowed to torment them for five months. This is just refers to a limited time, not to look on your calendar and say, let me figure out when these five months are and get ready. No, this is just saying for a time.
[00:22:19] Again, it points to the authority of Christ that he's allowing this, but not to kill them. And they were to torment them like the torment of a scorpion when it stings someone. And what does this look like? Verse 6. In those days, people will seek death and they will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee them.
[00:22:38] And we see that everywhere right now, right?
[00:22:42] The world around us. We see people realizing they live in a cursed world.
[00:22:46] And this world isn't always happy.
[00:22:49] But the only solution is death.
[00:22:52] There's a sense in which that is an oppression, a spiritual oppression, that that is unleashed upon the unbelieving world. And there is a hopelessness. Think about our society right now, just the hopelessness of it.
[00:23:10] Jesus allows such torment that is demonic. Again, believers are sealed from this to be unleashed on the earth. And notice verse seven, in the appearance, the locusts were like horses prepared for battle. Now what is he doing? Okay, these locusts, they sting like scorpions. Okay, if I haven't scared you enough yet, let me describe them even further. And they were like horses and horses prepared for battle.
[00:23:37] So we think about horses that went to battle. These were not like My Little Pony horses.
[00:23:44] When you saw a battle stallion, it invoked fear in you. Massive creatures that were taught to bite and kick and destroy.
[00:23:54] And John is trying to say, the things that I saw, they were terrifying. They were like battle horses. And on their heads were what looked like crowns of gold. This just refers to the fact that they were, in some sense rulers. As we read in Romans and we read in Paul's writing, he talks about rules and dominions of spiritual forces. Here, this is a dominion of demons. And notice their face was like that of human faces. This means they weren't just animalistic, they were sophisticated in some way.
[00:24:28] They're not just dumb locusts.
[00:24:31] No, they know what they're doing and they're strategic.
[00:24:35] In verse 8, they had hair like a woman's hair. This refers to an alluring, a temptation that they also brought with us. Brought with them, they tempted those that they oppressed. And their teeth, like lion's teeth, they were destructive and fierce. And they had breastplates like that of iron. They are impenetrable. And the noise of Their wings was like noise of many chariots with horses running into battle. And think about that many locusts, think about that many demons. And you hear them rushing. There's many of them and they are mighty and you can't stop them. And they have tails and sting like scorpions. And the power they have to hurt people for five months in their tails. He's just trying to mount up as many images that literally would be terrifying.
[00:25:31] It is as though he is playing a video game and he is building a character and he just keeps adding the most heinous characteristics to it.
[00:25:43] And what he is saying is no human can stop these things.
[00:25:47] What God is unleashing in the spiritual world, no human can stop, no army can stop, no person can stand against them. And you should be terrified of them.
[00:25:58] And notice their leader, they have a king over them, the angel of the bottomless pit. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon and in Greek, Apollyon. This just refers to Satan. The words here mean destroyer or destruction. He's leading all of this.
[00:26:15] And he stops in verse 12 again.
[00:26:17] Okay, that's one thing that Jesus is going to do. Now let me tell you more things he's going to do. There's two more still to come. If you're not terrified of what's coming, get ready, here comes more.
[00:26:30] Notice the sixth angel blew his trumpet. And I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar before God. And this was the place where the saints prayers are offered. And so we're to be mindful the people of God and we see at the end of Revelation. Come Lord, come quickly.
[00:26:47] Jesus is answering that prayer all through revelation. How long, O Lord, to you vindicate our blood.
[00:26:53] Jesus is answering that all through revelation, all through these judgments. I want you to know I'm coming.
[00:27:01] And the enemies of God are being judged. They're being tormented.
[00:27:05] There's a delusion that is overcoming them. I'm coming.
[00:27:10] Verse 14 saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates. Now this is the eastern burial barrier to Israel. And many get to this point and they say, okay, this judgment is directed to Israel. Maybe so I don't know where. God is purging a remnant from his people, those who will believe and follow Christ.
[00:27:36] Notice verse 15.
[00:27:38] So the four angels who had been prepared for the hour, the day, the month and the year, they were released to kill a third of mankind.
[00:27:46] Here there is another force, demonic force, and they're not just going to be allowed to torment. They're going to be allowed to kill again. Some people say this is warfare that comes upon the earth, battles war that wipe out a third of mankind.
[00:28:05] In general, we see again the plagues on Egypt, the tenth plague, the angel of death that moves in on Egypt before God rescues his people. These are just angels of death that are unleashed upon the world. However you describe, whatever timeframe you put them in, Jesus is going to unleash angels of death upon the earth.
[00:28:28] Notice verse 16. The number of the mounted troops, these angels, these demons, was twice 10,000 times 10,000.
[00:28:38] I heard their number. That's interesting. Right again, he's saying there were so many of them I couldn't count them, but I heard them.
[00:28:47] What does that mean? I heard their presence and it was terrifying.
[00:28:51] If you do the math, this is 200 million demons. I don't think John sat down and counted them. But what he's saying here is, I heard how many there were and he was terrifying.
[00:29:03] More than you could count, more than you could number. And no human, no human army is going to be able to do anything about this.
[00:29:11] And this is how I saw the horses in my vision. Those who rode them, they wore breastplates the color of fire and sapphire and sulfur. So if you think that this army of demons is not equipped for battle, well, their horses even wear breastplates.
[00:29:27] Breastplates with the imagery of judgment. Notice sapphire and sulfur. This is the color of fire, which indicates judgment that they are bringing. And the heads of the horses were like lion's head, fierce and destructive. And fire and smoke and sulfur came out of their mouths. Again, he is just trying to communicate. This is terrifying. Whatever this army is that's bringing to the earth, this is terrifying and no one can stand against it.
[00:29:54] And by these three plagues, a third of mankind were killed. The plagues that are brought by these angels, by the fire and smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouth here, Death is personified in this army of demons that no one can stop.
[00:30:09] Verse 19.
[00:30:11] For the power of horses is in their mouths and in their tails, for their tails are like serpents. Again, I don't think this is an army of angels. I think these are demons that are unleashed in judgment on the earth.
[00:30:22] And by means of them, they wound and they destroy.
[00:30:26] However we interpret this, whatever time frame you want to put it in, myself, I just see it as generic judgment on the earth.
[00:30:34] Jesus is in control.
[00:30:36] And here's the thing.
[00:30:38] If you were in John's position and God opened up the physical realm where you could see into the spiritual realm. You would see these type of things and they would scare you to death.
[00:30:49] And you would be like him. You wouldn't know how to describe them.
[00:30:53] 200 million demons are out there.
[00:30:55] And if you're not in Christ, you should be scared to death.
[00:31:00] If you're against Christ, he's going to use them to judge you. And you should be terrified of all of these things. But the most terrifying thing in these two chapters happens in verse 20. So we've talked about cosmic destruction on the earth. We've talked about demonic oppression.
[00:31:18] We've talked about demons who are going to be unleashed and judged the earth. But notice the most terrifying thing, the rest of mankind, verse 20, who were not killed by these plagues did not repent.
[00:31:32] That's the most terrifying thing, is that you could see and hear and feel the destruction of these things and not turn from your sin.
[00:31:42] That's terrifying.
[00:31:44] And that is the judgment of God upon the hardness of the human heart. Notice they did not repent of the works of their hands because they escaped all of this judgment. They saw it as a license to continue to sin. Notice. Nor give up demons worshiping demons. Or idols of gold or silver or bronze and stone and wood. These are things that they make with their hands. Think about the culture in Rome, all of the idols, all of the statues, but made to the emperors, made to the false gods. They make them with their hands. And then they go through a volcanic eruption and then they go through an earthquake. And they go to their little idol and say, but you can still save me. But you can still save me. No, it can't. And we do the same thing.
[00:32:31] We turn to the things that we create, that we manufacture in times of trouble and suffering. And we say, you can still save me. You can still save me. And we go to our bathroom mirror and we look ourselves in the eye and go, but you can still save me. But you know, we are being shaken to understand there is only one who can save us.
[00:32:54] Notice these idols cannot see or hear or walk. They give themselves over to things that aren't real versus the living God. They give themselves over to the creation versus they're the one who created them. And that is stupid.
[00:33:11] The one who is in control of all things, created all things. And then you're going to go to something you make to save yourself.
[00:33:20] Another human to save yourself.
[00:33:22] An emperor, a president, a government, a military. No, you can't do that.
[00:33:29] That's foolish.
[00:33:30] Nor did they repent of their murders or sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.
[00:33:38] Mankind was still marked with hatred, relying on false gods and idolatry that culminates in wicked behavior because you give yourself over to the desires of your flesh, which is self idolatry.
[00:33:52] And look at the world around us.
[00:33:55] We see the headlines way more clearly than any other time in human history. Everybody sees it all the time. It's a new thing every day meant to scare us. And we see it so clearly. But does it change anything?
[00:34:09] No.
[00:34:11] Mankind is still marred in wickedness and sin.
[00:34:16] These things are to shake us. And we are to realize how small we are. And we're to realize how insignificant we are. And we're to realize how weak we are. And we have no power against the things that are out there.
[00:34:30] But as scary as the demon world is, there is something scarier in each and every one of our hearts.
[00:34:37] And it's the same thing that happened to Pharaoh.
[00:34:39] Remember the plagues?
[00:34:41] God says, I'm coming to rescue my people.
[00:34:45] You and your little pathetic gods can't save me. Watch as I humiliate them.
[00:34:53] Plague comes. Plague comes. Plague comes. Plague comes. Plague comes. Plague comes. Plague comes. Okay, death of the firstborn.
[00:35:01] Y' all can leave.
[00:35:04] But by that point, Pharaoh's heart was so hardened that he still thought he was God.
[00:35:10] And as he held in his hands his firstborn, he was so deceived that he could bow up against the Lord God of Israel, that he chased down the people of God because he still thought he had some control.
[00:35:26] He still thought he was a God.
[00:35:29] And it led to destruction.
[00:35:32] And that is the sort of thing that happens in the human heart where you're not awakened to what's going on around you, and you're not awakened to your frailty and your sinfulness and you don't repent. Guess what? You're Pharaoh. You think you're a God and you're going to be able to stand against Jesus Christ, the risen king, and you can't. And just like Pharaoh, you will be immersed into judgment and you will be swimming with chariots of demons all around you because you thought you could handle it.
[00:36:08] You see, the judgment we face now is to tell us it is terrifying. You can't control it. And what is so sad is when these things happen in our culture and there's no reflection, there's no repentance, we just get mad at each other.
[00:36:23] We just yell and scream at each other and then scroll on to the next thing.
[00:36:28] We're so numb to what's going on around us. The world's not right and God is allowing it. These things to spin out of control so you realize you're not right either, and so you turn to Christ.
[00:36:43] But you miss the point when there's no reflection.
[00:36:47] Oh, it's climate change.
[00:36:50] Let's get the right politician in. He'll fix it.
[00:36:53] We still got science.
[00:36:55] Have you seen our military?
[00:36:57] Well, now we got AI.
[00:37:02] We're missing the point.
[00:37:05] We're small.
[00:37:06] We cannot stand against what is coming again. This has caused us to repent.
[00:37:11] You see, the world is scarier than you think.
[00:37:14] It's scarier than you think. That's what John is trying to communicate to us. That's what the passage is trying to communicate. Don't get lost.
[00:37:22] The world, the spiritual realm, the future is scarier than you think. Actually, the present is scarier than you think. Let that sink in. It's terrifying. If you could see it all, it is God's grace that he doesn't allow us to see it all right now, because we would all die.
[00:37:41] Scarier than you think.
[00:37:43] But in Christ, you're safer than you would ever imagine.
[00:37:48] The world is scarier than 20 million locust horse demons arrayed against you.
[00:37:58] But your standing is as safe as a bloody cross in an empty tomb.
[00:38:05] Do you get that?
[00:38:07] On the cross, Jesus died for your sin. He defeated death. And so whatever comes against you, you don't have death to face.
[00:38:15] You don't have the fiery torments of the demons in hell to face.
[00:38:20] Jesus endured the sting of judgment.
[00:38:23] All that, all that Satan could unleash upon the world was directed at Christ.
[00:38:30] The judgment, wrath of God poured out against him. He faced the sting of. Of death for you. And you know what colossians says? Chapter 2, verse 15. When he did this, he disarmed the rulers and authorities and he put them to open shame. He told Satan and the demons, you have nothing now.
[00:38:50] Sin has been defeated. Death has been defeated. Your greatest weapons have been taken from you. And in First Peter, chapter three, verse 22, he is seated at the right hand of God with angels and authorities and powers having been subjected to Him.
[00:39:04] There's nothing out of his control now, not even the demons and angels. And then, as we read earlier In Romans, chapter 8, verse 38, neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers can separate us from the love of God in Christ.
[00:39:21] That is your standing as a believer.
[00:39:24] And when you begin to open up eyes into the cosmic galactic world around us and you see how terrifying it is, that is to give you still in your spine.
[00:39:36] Nothing can come against me. In Christ, I am more than a conqueror. In Christ, I have the Gospel. My sins are forgiven. And when my corpse is vaulted in the ground, there is a day coming where it will be ejected. And I will rule and reign with Jesus forever. What do I have to fear? 20 million demons? Absolutely not. What do I have to fear? Sin? No. What do I have to fear? Death? No.
[00:40:03] And we live bold and courageous, worshiping the One who rules and reigns, and witnessing for Him. He is Lord and He is God, and He will rule forever and ever and ever. And there is great joy in living in Him.
[00:40:22] Because there are things in this world that you just can't explain, but you don't want to find out for yourself.
[00:40:29] And in Christ, you will never have to.
