God’s Promised Judgment – part 1
Revelation 8:1-13 (1-2)
October 23, 2016
This morning we are returning to the chronological flow
Of the book of the Revelation.
(We’ve actually had a pause in the flow for the past 3 weeks so that we could listen as God answered a very important question that was posed at the end of chapter 6.)
IT ALL STARTED WITH
• A tremendous heavenly scene in which John saw the Lamb of God take the scroll from the One who was seated on the throne.
This scroll is the title deed to the earth, and as we are seeing, it contains the judgments by which the Lord will remove the usurper, destroy sinners, and redeem this earth back to Himself.
• There were 7 seals that were to be opened.
• The first brought 3 ½ years of false peace.
• The second brought world war
• The third brought terrible famine
• The fourth brought death (1/4 of the world’s population)
• The fifth brought motivation for judgment as we saw the martyrs
• The sixth brought a great earthquake
And that is where we paused.
God has just shaken the earth.
He shook the earth so hard that the sun went black, the moon turned to blood, the stars fell to the earth, the mountains and islands fled, the sky rolled up like a scroll and every creature on earth saw God on His throne in terrible anger.
Mankind accounted for the horror of this event by
Praying to the mountains to fall on them
And estimating that no one could stand before this terrible God.
It has been bad.
And yet: ONE SEAL REMAINS
And this final seal takes judgment to a whole new level.
For contained in this final seal are 7 trumpet judgments
And then 7 bowl judgments.
Things are about to get really bad.
And I want to remind you this morning that
All of these judgments are the process
By which God is judging the world for its iniquity.
AND AS I STUDIED THIS WEEK
I DECIDED THAT WE NEEDED TO SPEND A LITTLE TIME ON THIS.
I think this truth is a good truth for the church to hear.
Because I wonder if the church today really believes it or not.
Across Christianity today there are two false doctrines that are permeating and spreading throughout the church in a very rapid fashion.
Those two doctrines are HUMANISM & UNIVERSALISM
HUMANISM basically says that “the chief end of all things is the happiness of man.”
This entire story, this entire plan, all of creation, all of redemption, all of today, all of eternity…is really all for the benefit and happiness of man.
• The world was created for me
• Jesus was sent just because of me
• God’s intent is to bless me and make me happy
• Heaven is about my reward and enjoyment
The chief point of Christianity is about making Christians happy.
And all you have to do is look no further than 90% of
What is being published by Christian outlets to see that this is true.
We are bombarded today with the prosperity gospel
And promises of your best life now
And reminders that God has good plans for us,
(which is always interpreted to mean earthly happiness)
And that it’s really all about us.
The pinnacle statement probably comes when people explain the cross and say something like, “God loved you so much that He’d rather endure hell than to have to go to heaven without you.”
It’s all about you:
• Your worth
• Your joy
• Your happiness
That is the prevailing a theme.
Now, most people won’t own up to believing it, but if you watch their ministry and listen to their statements you’ll see that it’s true.
People increasingly believe today that
God would never do anything to a person
That would make them uncomfortable or unhappy.
God only wants good for you and we have taken it upon ourselves
To fill in the blank regarding what we think “good” is.
IT’S HUMANISM.
And incidentally it is because we have begun accepting humanism that we also are rapidly beginning to accept UNIVERSALISM
What is Universalism?
The theological view arguing that all persons will ultimately be saved. Some also teach that there is no such thing as a literal hell or eternal punishment.
Some even use the cross to defend this,
• Emphatically claiming that Jesus died for all and already paid the debt for all sinners. (If that is true then no one would go to hell)
Others just let their humanistic theology take the next step.
• If God really loves creation and longs for their happiness, then there is no way He’d ever send humans to hell for eternity.
Now again, you won’t find a lot of people who say they believe in universalism, but their ministry and actions prove it.
I can ask you today: DO YOU BELIEVE PEOPLE GO TO HELL?
Today, in here, probably everyone would say “yes”.
• What if I told you to name one person you know that you think is going to
hell.
• What if I asked you next if you have ever told that person about their
miserable condition and revealed to them the salvation of Jesus Christ?
That’s where the rubber meets the road.
There is so much talk today of God loving us and God being good
That people have run with it and I think quit believing
That God really does judge sinners.
Certainly our tolerance for sin proves that.
Certainly our lack of evangelism proves that.
Either we don’t really believe hell exists
Or we don’t really believe people will go there.
It is humanism and universalism and both are ENEMIES OF THE GOSPEL.
Because the gospel says that the chief end of all things is not the happiness of man, it is the glory of God. And that God will be glorified both by the salvation of sinners and the destruction of them.
The gospel also says that not all men are universally saved, but only those who have repented of their sins and trusted in Jesus Christ for His applied righteousness will be saved. Everyone else will spend eternity in hell.
And I’m just not sure that the church today really believes
That God is angry at sinners, or that God will destroy them in hell for all eternity if they refuse to repent and trust Christ.
So BY WAY OF INTRODUCTION this morning
I just want to take a moment and remind you of WHO GOD IS.
I would begin with God’s own announcement of Himself.
Moses is in the process of receiving his second copy of the Ten Commandments and God reveals Himself to Moses.
Let me show you what God says about Himself.
Exodus 34:5-7 “The LORD descended in the cloud and stood there with him as he called upon the name of the LORD. Then the LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”
We certainly love the compassion and grace and patience and mercy and truth
And faithfulness and forgiveness of God.
We certainly do not want to minimize those wondrous qualities.
But it is as though the LORD anticipated that we as humans
Would be prone to focus on them to the exclusion of the rest of who He is,
So He also reminds Moses
“yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished”
That is to say, don’t let God’s propensity to be merciful lead you to believe that God won’t judge sinners. He most certainly will.
That is God’s own declaration of Himself.
Psalms 7:11-13 “God is a righteous judge, And a God who has indignation every day. If a man does not repent, He will sharpen His sword; He has bent His bow and made it ready. He has also prepared for Himself deadly weapons; He makes His arrows fiery shafts.”
Those who paint a picture of a God who is not angry at all
Clearly are not referring to the God of the Bible.
There is no condemnation for those who are IN CHRIST JESUS.
Those are not in Christ Jesus are at enmity with God,
And God “has indignation every day” toward them.
Wasn’t that the very message of John the Baptist?
Luke 3:7-9 “So he began saying to the crowds who were going out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? “Therefore bear fruits in keeping with repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘ We have Abraham for our father,’ for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham. “Indeed the axe is already laid at the root of the trees; so every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
John was preaching that very same doctrine.
God offers forgiveness to those who repent,
• But if you don’t repent (and that means genuine repentance) John says God will chop you down and throw you in the fire.
John was preaching about the God who revealed Himself in the Old Testament.
• Go to the Garden of Eden and see God evict those two for their sin.
• Go to the ark and see God destroy the entire world save 8.
• Go to Sodom and see God rain down fire and brimstone.
• Go to Jerusalem and see God destroy His own temple.
It is clear that God judges sinners.
He always has and most certainly will.
Now somewhere along the line someone came up with this notion that
The God of the O.T. and the God of the N.T. must be different.
Because they don’t think the God of the New Testament is that angry.
Certainly Jesus would never be so harsh.
I’m starting to hear it more and more today, this notion that Jesus only loved sinners. In fact, the only people Jesus ever got mad at were the religious people.
There is certainly some truth to that,
But the application and insinuation is horrible.
• Jesus loved sinners in the fact that instead of stoning them to death He offered them forgiveness for their sin if they would repent.
• He was angry at religious people because they didn’t think they needed repentance or forgiveness.
But if you are insinuating by that statement
That Jesus won’t send sinners to hell for eternity
Then you clearly have not listened to everything Jesus had to say.
Matthew 13:41-42 “The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Matthew 13:49-50 “So it will be at the end of the age; the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Matthew 16:27 “For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and WILL THEN REPAY EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS.”
Matthew 18:8-9 “If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than to have two hands or two feet and be cast into the eternal fire. “If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than to have two eyes and be cast into the fiery hell.”
Matthew 22:11-13 “But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes, and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes?’ And the man was speechless. “Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’”
Are you following me here?
The God of the Old Testament is also the God of the New Testament.
• He was holy then, He is holy now.
• He was merciful then, He is merciful now.
• He was angry then, He is angry now.
He doesn’t change.
Do not let your conviction regarding God’s mercy
Cause you to ignore that His judgment is absolutely certain.
Romans 2:4-6 “Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who WILL RENDER TO EACH PERSON ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS:”
God will glorify Himself either by the salvation of sinners
Or by the destruction of sinners.
Don’t buy into humanism and don’t buy into universalism.
Just because He is merciful and loving and kind and good
Does not mean He will not judge sinners.
TURN TO: 2 PETER 2:1-10
Peter starts by talking about the danger of false teachers (who are present today by the way) and who lead people into sensuality.
That means they tell people what their flesh wants to hear.
And then in verse 3 Peter says “their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.”
Now why would Peter say that?
Because the fact that God isn’t instantly judging those false prophets
Makes people think that He won’t judge those prophets.
And so Peter says, don’t assume that just because God doesn’t instantly strike them down that He has changed His mind about judgment. He hasn’t.
He is angry at them now and He will judge them soon.
And then Peter gives his proof to this statement. “For…”
(that’s Peter’s way of saying, this is how I know this)
(READ 4) – That was those straying angels in Noah’s day that God imprisoned in the pit.
(READ 5) – That was the sinners of Noah’s day whom God destroyed by flood.
(READ 6) – That was the sinners of Sodom and Gomorrah whom God destroyed by fire and brimstone.
(READ 7-8) – God also knows how to deliver the righteous
But if God judged the sinners of Noah’s day and Lot’s day…
“THEN…”
(READ 9-10)
That is Peter’s way of saying, trust me God knows how to judge sinners.
He always has done it and He most certainly will do it.
God is holding His wrath for a coming day.
He is holding His wrath for a day that Jesus said
Would be just like the days of Noah and the days of Lot.
Luke 17:26-30 “And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: they were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. “It was the same as happened in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building; but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. “It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed.”
People were just living it up, doing whatever their flesh desired,
And they (like us) didn’t really think judgment would come.
• Did the people Noah preached to for 100 years while he built the ark think God would really destroy the world?
• Did the people in Sodom who were warned by Lot really think judgment would come?
Well it did.
And our day is just like their day.
People today are consumed with the gratification of their flesh
And have no real fear that judgment will ever really come.
“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
It is bad enough that a sinful world believes this,
But it is absolutely inexcusable
When the church begins to believe it too.
• When we think sin no longer offends God…
• When we think sinners are somehow still pleasing…
• When we think God won’t really send them to hell…
• When we also get caught up in worldly preoccupation (eating, drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage)…
That is absolutely shameful when the church loses sight of this.
• We are to be the light in darkness.
• We are to be the pillar and support of the truth.
• We are to be the salt of the earth.
There is no way we can fall into their line of thinking.
GOD’S PRESENT PATIENCE SHOULD NEVER INSPIRE APATHY!
2 Peter 3:3-10 “Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.” For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.”
Do you hear Peter there church?
He knew people would begin to doubt judgment.
God’s patience has always caused men to doubt His judgment.
But Peter says the church better not do it!
We, of all people, had better get this truth through our head
• That there is a day coming in which all of your friends, all your family members,
all of your co-workers
• Who have not repented of their sins and placed their faith in Christ will be
judged and will go to hell.
Judgment is coming.
GOD PROMISED THAT IT IS
That brings us back to where we are here in our study of REVELATION
FOR HERE WE GET TO SEE WHAT THAT DAY LOOKS LIKE
We are looking at (in great detail) the promised judgment of God.
• We saw it in chapter 6 through the breaking of the first 6 seals.
• We see it in chapters 8,9, & 16 through the breaking of the 7th seal.
This is God’s judgment poured out on sinners.
Currently we are looking at chapters 8 & 9 which contain the opening of the 7th seal and the first 6 trumpet judgments which come out of it.
And these two chapters reveal 2 very important things.
1) A Description of God’s terrible judgment on sinners
2) A Declaration of man’s blasphemous refusal to repent
Despite all these judgments
Let me go ahead and show you how the earth will respond:
Revelation 9:20-21 “The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; and they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts.”
And that isn’t unique.
• After the 4th bowl men will blaspheme God again.
• After the 5th bowl men will blaspheme God again.
• After the 6th bowl men will gather together to go to war against God.
There are two very clear revelations here.
God will judge sinners and those sinners will deserve it.
Well let’s begin looking at it this morning.
(Don’t panic I know we used up a great deal of time on the introduction, but I do want to get started)
Chapter 8 can be broken into 5 easy points.
#1 THE ANTICIPATION OF JUDGMENT
Revelation 8:1
This doesn’t seem like much to us now, but I promise you in the day in which it comes I tend to think it will be almost unbearable.
“When the Lamb broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.”
First of all, heaven has been anything but quiet up to this point.
• In 4:1 John heard a voice like a trumpet
• In 5:2 he heard a strong angel with a loud voice
• He also continually heard myriads of angels and unnumbered believers singing songs of praise
• In chapter 6 when the angels told the four horsemen to “come” their voice was like thunder
• In chapter 7 the saved of the tribulation cry out to God in a loud voice
Heaven has been anything but silent.
But Christ has just opened the 7th and final seal,
And heaven just received the first look at what it contains.
The magnitude of what is coming
Literally caused all of heaven to pause in reflection and anticipation.
• What do you say when you see what is about to happen to sinners?
• What do you say when you see the fury that is about to come forth?
THERE ARE NO WORDS.
I still remember September 11th.
Carrie and I had been at our first church (Shiloh Baptist in Crawford, TX) for 1 week. The church treasurer pulled up in the parking lot and said something happened a plane or something accidentally flew into one of the Twin Towers. Later for lunch I went home (Carrie and I were staying with John and Linda Heaton because we had not found a house yet) and they both sat before the TV with tears running down their faces in absolute silence.
And I promise you September 11th was nothing compared to this day.
But when that 7th seal was opened all of heaven paused.
It is the calm before the storm.
Zephaniah 1:7 “Be silent before the Lord GOD! For the day of the LORD is near, For the LORD has prepared a sacrifice, He has consecrated His guests.”
Zechariah 2:13 “Be silent, all flesh, before the LORD; for He is aroused from His holy habitation.”
However the silence of heaven will soon be broken,
For God’s judgment is not an idle threat.
His judgment is real and it will be poured out.
So after 30 minutes of anticipation it is time to begin.
The Anticipation of Judgment
#2 THE PREPARATION FOR JUDGMENT
Revelation 8:2
“And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.”
Heaven is in a state of awe and pause and anticipation,
But God breaks the silence.
He has here “seven angels who stand before God”.
These are definitely a special class of angels.
I don’t pretend to be an expert on angels, but it is obvious that there are different classes and different ranks.
We know of Cherubim, Seraphim, Archangels, Principalities, and so on.
Scripture doesn’t give us a real unique look into how all this works
Except we know that they are ranked in some way.
Daniel 10:12-13 “Then he said to me, “Do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words. “But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for twenty-one days; then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia.”
Obviously Michael is stronger there being called “one of the chief princes”
We have Jesus make a statement in Matthew 18
Matthew 18:10 “See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven.”
We know that Gabriel was an angel of higher rank
Luke 1:19 “The angel answered and said to him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.”
We also know that some angels have very specific purposes.
For example, when we get to the 6th trumpet we read:
Revelation 9:14-15 “one saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” And the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released, so that they would kill a third of mankind.”
And I think that is the best way to view these 7
Who are currently standing before God.
These are 7 angels who have been
Specifically created and specifically placed before God
For the specific purpose of ushering in these specific judgments.
I tend to look at them sort of like a Special Forces unit.
THAT REINFORCES YET AGAIN THAT THIS JUDGMENT
HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE PLAN AND IT HAS NEVER CHANGED
And now, while heaven anticipates, GOD STARTS THE PROCESS.
“And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.”
WHY TRUMPETS?
Trumpets announce God’s intervention.
Sinai
Exodus 19:16-19 “So it came about on the third day, when it was morning, that there were thunder and lightning flashes and a thick cloud upon the mountain and a very loud trumpet sound, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the LORD descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently. When the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him with thunder.”
Jericho
Joshua 6:20 “So the people shouted, and priests blew the trumpets; and when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted with a great shout and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight ahead, and they took the city.”
Or listen to the prophets:
Joel 2:1 “Blow a trumpet in Zion, And sound an alarm on My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, For the day of the LORD is coming; Surely it is near,”
Zephaniah 1:14-16 “Near is the great day of the LORD, Near and coming very quickly; Listen, the day of the LORD! In it the warrior cries out bitterly. A day of wrath is that day, A day of trouble and distress, A day of destruction and desolation, A day of darkness and gloom, A day of clouds and thick darkness, A day of trumpet and battle cry Against the fortified cities And the high corner towers.”
Trumpets are a way of indicating that God is about to move.
God is about to intervene.
IN THIS CASE, GOD IS ABOUT TO JUDGE SINNERS.
Whereas the first 6 seals seemed general in scope,
Now the judgments get specific.
God is about to pour out judgments with the accuracy and detail of a commanding general who targets specific areas and specific targets.
God is going to war.
When we come back next week we’ll see how God’s fury gets kindled
And how His specific wrath begins to be poured out.
What I want to LEAVE YOU WITH this morning church
IS AN UNDENIABLE CONVICTION THAT GOD JUDGES SINNERS.
• It is not ok for us to treat sin like it is an insignificant thing.
• It is not ok for us to allow sinners to think God will not judge them.
• It is not ok for us to be more worried about how sinners view us than we are about how God views sinners
• It is not ok for us to know the way by which sinners can be forgiven and saved from that wrath and not tell them.
WE KNOW HOW THESE SINNERS CAN ESCAPE JUDGMENT
AND BE MADE TO STAND BEFORE GOD.
They can stand when they take their filthy garments
And wash them white in the blood of the Lamb.
THIS IS THE ABSOLUTE UNCOMPROMISING POSITION OF THE CHURCH.
This is the gospel.
This is absolutely a hill on which to die.
Absolute WOE to the church that compromises on this essential truth.
Church we know where sinners are headed
And we know how they can be saved
DO NOT DISTORT THOSE TRUTHS.
Acts 2:37-40 “Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. “For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation!”
