God’s Promised Judgment – part 2
Revelation 8:1-13 (3-13)
October 30, 2016
We actually began our study of this passage last week,
It just took me a little while to actually get into it.
We first took a look at the nature of God and His propensity to judge.
In fact God has repeatedly promised that judgment is coming.
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.”
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:”
Both of those passages (and a host of others) reminds us that
Despite the prevailing themes of HUMANISM & UNIVERSALISM
Judgment is NOT a myth.
GOD WILL JUDGE SINNERS.
In fact, if you listen to what Jesus said,
There will be MORE people who find themselves under judgment
Than there will be who find themselves in salvation.
Matthew 7:13-14 “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”
Luke 13:22-24 “And He was passing through from one city and village to another, teaching, and proceeding on His way to Jerusalem. And someone said to Him, “Lord, are there just a few who are being saved?” And He said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.”
And therefore it can NEVER be the position of the church
To act like sinners won’t be judged.
To fall into such modes of thinking or preaching or acceptance
Is to totally malign the truth of Scripture
And this is something that the church just cannot do.
As I told you last week, this is a hill on which to die.
People who do not repent of their sin and submit their lives to Jesus Christ will be judged by God and punished for all eternity.
This is a very evident truth promised throughout Scripture.
And it is some of the SPECIFICS OF THAT JUDGMENT
That we are reading about here in the book of the Revelation.
These judgments are not all of God’s judgments,
But they are certainly a terrible part of it.
We are currently looking at the judgments that unfold
WHEN THE LAMB BREAKS THAT SEVENTH SEAL.
Last week we saw our first two points.
#1 THE ANTICIPATION OF JUDGMENT
Revelation 8:1
• You know that the scroll which the Lamb is unrolling is the title deed to the earth and it records the judgments that God will unleash upon sinners and upon the enemy in order to redeem the world back to Himself.
• We already saw the first 6 seals opened before we took our pause in chapter 7 to see how people are made able to stand before God.
There is only 1 seal left to open,
And when it opens all the judgments of God are revealed.
And in verse 1 we saw the initial response of heaven when they were allowed to see what was included in this final seal.
• Heaven literally held its breath.
• Heaven was speechless.
• Heaven had no words.
Included in this seventh seal are all 7 trumpet judgments
And all 7 bowl judgments.
HEAVEN NOW SEES THEM ALL.
#2 THE PREPARATION FOR JUDGMENT
Revelation 8:2
Here we saw those special 7 angels who have this specific purpose
Of ushering in these judgments of God.
(They are given trumpets by God because trumpets signify God’s intervention.)
And the point we made here is that it is God who instigates the judgment.
Those angels didn’t take the trumpets, trumpets were given to them.
Make no mistake who the catalyst behind all this is.
This is the promised judgment of God
And it is moving forward by God’s divine decree.
Anticipation of Judgment, Preparation for Judgment
#3 THE MOTIVATION FOR JUDGMENT
Revelation 8:3-5
Now we have “Another angel”
He is not one of the 7
And he comes and “stood at the altar, holding a golden censer;”
The altar here is the incense altar
And the censer is used for the purpose of burning incense.
After God detailed the dimensions of this altar, He commanded Moses:
Exodus 30:6-10 “You shall put this altar in front of the veil that is near the ark of the testimony, in front of the mercy seat that is over the ark of the testimony, where I will meet with you. “Aaron shall burn fragrant incense on it; he shall burn it every morning when he trims the lamps. “When Aaron trims the lamps at twilight, he shall burn incense. There shall be perpetual incense before the LORD throughout your generations. “You shall not offer any strange incense on this altar, or burnt offering or meal offering; and you shall not pour out a drink offering on it. “Aaron shall make atonement on its horns once a year; he shall make atonement on it with the blood of the sin offering of atonement once a year throughout your generations. It is most holy to the LORD.”
This was the incense altar.
What was the purpose?
It was symbolic of intercessory prayer.
• When the priest went into the holy place to intercede for you he also burned
incense and as you saw the smoke rise from outside the tent it was symbolic of
your prayers ascending to God.
That is why Isaiah said:
Isaiah 1:13-15 “Bring your worthless offerings no longer, Incense is an abomination to Me. New moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies — I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly. “I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts, They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them. “So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.”
God told them that He hated their incense because He hated their prayers.
That incense was symbolic of prayer.
It is the same thing we see in Luke 1
Luke 1:8-10 “Now it happened that while he was performing his priestly service before God in the appointed order of his division, according to the custom of the priestly office, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. And the whole multitude of the people were in prayer outside at the hour of the incense offering.”
Well here that angel has approached the incense altar
And he has a “golden censer” which is used for burning incense.
ONE MIGHT ASSUME AT THIS POINT
That the angel is going to intercede before God on behalf of the world
That God might calm His fury and not judge the world
As harshly as the writing on the scroll seems to suggest.
After all, we did see this happen many times in the Old Testament.
• We remember God ready to destroy the Israelites after the golden calf and
then Moses interceded.
• We remember God ready to destroy Israel in the book of Amos until Amos
interceded.
One might suppose that this is what is happening here.
This angel is going to intercede on behalf of earth’s sinners
That God not pour out His heavy wrath upon them.
But that isn’t what happens.
“much incense was given to him, so that he might add it to the prayers of the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel’s hand.”
The angel sent prayers to God alright,
But it wasn’t intercessory prayers on behalf of the earth that he sent.
What prayers did he send?
“the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne.”
Remember them?
Revelation 6:9-11 “When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, ” How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also.”
• There we saw all those people who had been slain for their faith and they weren’t crying out for mercy for earth’s persecutors they were crying out for vengeance.
• They wanted God to avenge them and to judge them.
• But if you will remember God’s answer was to wait just a little while longer because there more servants who would be killed like they had been.
• And it wasn’t until that number was completed that God would be willing to judge the sinners on earth.
You remember that?
Well who was it that we saw standing around the throne in Revelation 7?
Revelation 7:13-14 “Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, “These who are clothed in the white robes, who are they, and where have they come from?” I said to him, “My lord, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”
Apparently all those who would be slain have been slain
And so the prayer of those below the altar is now revisited.
They cry out again for vengeance.
It is the cry of the afflicted throughout the generations.
Psalms 7:6-11 “Arise, O LORD, in Your anger; Lift up Yourself against the rage of my adversaries, And arouse Yourself for me; You have appointed judgment. Let the assembly of the peoples encompass You, And over them return on high. The LORD judges the peoples; Vindicate me, O LORD, according to my righteousness and my integrity that is in me. O let the evil of the wicked come to an end, but establish the righteous; For the righteous God tries the hearts and minds. My shield is with God, Who saves the upright in heart. God is a righteous judge, And a God who has indignation every day.”
Psalms 9:19-20 “Arise, O LORD, do not let man prevail; Let the nations be judged before You. Put them in fear, O LORD; Let the nations know that they are but men.”
And those are but the tip of the iceberg regarding God’s people.
The ill-treatment of God’s people is a very common thing.
• Remember how the Israelites were mistreated in Egypt as slaves.
• How often did the pagan nations afflict them even in their own land?
• Do we remember Jezebel killing the prophets?
• What about the attacks of Assyria and Babylon and Greece?
• Do we remember the slaughter of the apostles?
• Or how about the many slain during the reformation?
• Or the more than 300 puritans burned alive by Bloody Mary?
• Or those who suffer today in Islamic nations?
Many times God’s people have cried out to God for Him to intervene
And judge those who blaspheme His name and persecute His saints.
And time after time the answer has been to wait.
God was not yet in the process of judging sinners
Because He was till undertaking the process of saving sinners.
He remained patient
And He asked the same of those who had suffered for His name.
Well apparently that day is over.
It is now the Day of Judgment and those prayers are once again
Lifted up to God that it might motivate Him to that judgment.
The ill-treatment of God’s people is no minor thing & it is never forgotten.
2 Thessalonians 1:6-8 “For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.”
That is the day we are looking at here.
God is about to vindicate His people and avenge their blood on the earth.
And once the angel sends the smoke of the incense upward to God,
He also sends the fires of judgment down to the earth.
(5) “Then the angel took the censer and filled it with the fire of the altar, and threw it to the earth; and there followed peals of thunder and sounds and flashes of lightning and an earthquake.”
That is heaven’s decision regarding this judgment.
The earth deserves it for how they have treated God’s people.
It is time for judgment to fall.
Anticipation of Judgment Preparation for Judgment Motivation for Judgment
#4 DESCRIPTION OF JUDGMENT
Revelation 8:6-12
Here we have the blasting of the first 4 trumpets
And honestly there isn’t a whole lot of explanation that is needed.
It is pretty clear and obvious what is occurring here.
THE FIRST TRUMPET wipes out 1/3 of the earth and trees and all the green grass.
(6-7) “And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound them. The first sounded, and there came hail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were thrown to the earth; and a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.”
The one thing I would caution on here
Is trying to push too much natural explanation into this.
(By that I mean, don’t try to figure out this out with a natural explanation.)
Things like the hail is actual hail, the fire is probably lightning,
The blood could be like mud balls or the blood of the people hit with the hail.
I WANT TO CAUTION AGAINST THAT AND HERE IS WHY.
These judgments are not natural judgments.
These are supernatural judgments.
And unless John uses the phrase “like” hail or “like” fire or “like” blood
Then we have no reason to assume he was being anything but literal here.
These judgments are not a result of the curse, they are a result of the fury of God and they do not require a natural explanation.
We are much better off just to say that
God sent “hail and fire, mixed with blood” to the earth.
The effect here is staggering which is that “a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.”
It was a specific judgment targeted at the earth’s vegetation.
AND THEN THE SECOND ANGEL.
(8-9) “The second angel sounded, and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea; and a third of the sea became blood, and a third of the creatures which were in the sea and had life, died; and a third of the ships were destroyed.”
Here again the themes of fire and blood.
Only this time instead it coming with hail it comes “like a great mountain”.
Call it a meteor if you want, call it an asteroid,
I just know it is a massive land mass that John compares to a huge mountain.
And again the effect is similar in that it brings destruction to 1/3 of what it hits, in this case the sea.
• 1/3 of the sea became blood
• 1/3 of the sea creatures destroyed
• 1/3 of the ships destroyed
AND THEN THE THIRD ANGEL
(10-11) “The third angel sounded, and a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of waters. The name of the star is called Wormwood; and a third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the waters, because they were made bitter.”
This time the target is the world’s freshwater.
And we find that “a great star fell from heaven burning like a torch” and it polluted 1/3 of the fresh water.
Significant here is that the star actually has a name by which it is called, “Wormwood”
The word “wormwood” translates APSINTHOS
It is where we get our word ABSENTHE
Which is a drink created from the wormwood plant.
It is actually illegal in several countries because it is so dangerous.
In Scripture it is a word used of God making waters bitter and poisonous.
Jeremiah 9:15 “therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, “behold, I will feed them, this people, with wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink.”
Amos probably had the best handle on it.
We find what God desired of His people.
Amos 5:24 “But let justice roll down like waters And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”
But instead of a stream of righteousness, God only received a stream of bitterness.
Amos 5:6-7 “Seek the LORD that you may live, Or He will break forth like a fire, O house of Joseph, And it will consume with none to quench it for Bethel, For those who turn justice into wormwood And cast righteousness down to the earth.”
Amos 6:12 “Do horses run on rocks? Or does one plow them with oxen? Yet you have turned justice into poison And the fruit of righteousness into wormwood,”
Here we have God returning the favor on the world.
For the world who turned His righteousness into bitterness
God is now turning their water into bitterness.
And the result is that “many men died from the waters.”
Unlike at Marah where God turned bitter waters sweet,
Here God turns sweet waters bitter.
AND THEN THE FOURTH TRUMPET
(12) “The fourth angel sounded, and a third of the sun and a third of the moon and a third of the stars were struck, so that a third of them would be darkened and the day would not shine for a third of it, and the night in the same way.”
I’m not sure how this happens, but when dealing with the supernatural judgment of the Creator we certainly don’t have to understand it.
John simply says that God struck the great lights in the sky.
The effect was not dimmer light, but shorter light.
• The sun shined for 1/3 less of the time than normal, as did the moon and stars.
What we have here then is specific and calculated judgments from God.
These aren’t random acts of natural disasters, these are specific.
God targets land, trees, sea, fresh water, and the sun
And each time He specifically only targets 1/3.
It speaks of divine control and precision.
It gives the appearance of God UNDOING CREATION
• The One who created the sun and moon and stars and ordained that they should shine is now undoing that.
• The One who created the sea and all it contains and the fresh water and the trees and the grass is here undoing it.
Zephaniah 1:2-3 “I will completely remove all things From the face of the earth,” declares the LORD. “I will remove man and beast; I will remove the birds of the sky And the fish of the sea, And the ruins along with the wicked; And I will cut off man from the face of the earth,” declares the LORD.”
THE POINT?
• This is not random
• This is not accidental
• This is not chaotic
• Nor is this of human origin
Man couldn’t have that devastating of an effect if he set his mind to it.
These are not the result of
Human irresponsibility regarding the environment.
This is the result of an angry Creator who is unleashing divine judgment on His creation because of their sin.
LISTEN:
You should be concerned about global warming,
But it’s not the one they talk about on the news.
THERE ARE BIGGER ISSUES TO DEAL WITH THAN CO2 EMMISSIONS.
GOD HAS PROMISED JUDGMENT UPON THIS WORLD FOR ITS SIN.
• This world is in danger, but not because of too many water bottles or hair spray or Styrofoam.
• This world is in danger because by reason if it’s sin it has horribly offended the One who created it.
• And the God who created this world has enough power to destroy this world without even breaking a sweat.
You are seeing that here.
And this is just the first 4 of the trumpets.
And that leads us to the last point.
#5 THE DECLARATION OF MORE JUDGMENT
Revelation 8:13
We get another pause in the flow.
This time just one verse.
But it is given for perspective.
Hear we have an eagle flying with a message for the world.
“Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!”
Now let that sink in.
You mean that’s not all?
• God has just wrecked this world with world war, famine, death, earthquakes, and has sent fire and blood to wipe out 1/3 of everything precious on the earth, and still He’s not done?
NOPE
TURN TO ISAIAH 9:8
We aren’t going to get deep into this passage,
But there is a point to be made that I want you to see.
In verses 8-12 God is telling Israel that He is going to punish them for their arrogance and refusal to repent.
The punishment will be an invading army.
(11) “Therefore the Lord raises against them adversaries from Rezin and spurs their enemies on. The Arameans on the east and the Philistines on the west; and they devour Israel with gaping jaws. In spite of all this, His anger does not turn away and His hand is still stretched out.”
An invading army is not enough to satisfy God’s anger.
In verses 13-17 God refers to Israel’s lack of respect for God’s word so God promises to remove anyone who will give them the truth.
The punishment is having to live in a corrupt society.
(17) “Therefore the Lord does not take pleasure in their young men, Nor does He have pity on their orphans or their widows; For every one of them is godless and an evildoer, And every mouth is speaking foolishness. In spite of all this, His anger does not turn away And His hand is still stretched out.”
That’s still not enough to satisfy God’s anger.
In verses 18-21 God speaks of Israel’s spreading wickedness and how God is going to allow them to tear each other to pieces.
The punishment is God allowing them to tear each other to pieces.
(21) “Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh, And together they are against Judah. In spite of all this, His anger does not turn away And His hand is still stretched out.”
In 10:1-4 God speaks of Israel’s ambition and how God will judge them accordingly.
The punishment is death and captivity.
(4) “Nothing remains but to crouch among the captives Or fall among the slain. In spite of all this, His anger does not turn away And His hand is still stretched out.”
PREACHER, WHAT’S YOUR POINT?
My point is that there is no amount of pain and suffering
That mankind can endure
That will ever fully satisfy God’s wrath on her sin.
When it comes to judging and punishing sinners,
GOD WILL NEVER SAY ENOUGH.
Matthew 25:41, 46 “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels…”These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
God will inflict torment on sinners for all eternity
And they will never reach a point where God says,
“Ok, that’s enough, we’re even.”
Sinful humanity is incapable of paying off their debt before God.
That is the warning of the eagle here.
Yes you’ve suffered, yes it’s bad, but you ain’t seen nothing yet.
It’s going to get worse because God’s wrath on sin is NEVER SATISFIED.
EXCEPT FOR ONE PLACE
Can I read you a remarkable verse?
Romans 3:21-25a “But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith.”
I want to point out specifically that word “propitiation”.
Propitiation means “the turning away of wrath by an offering.”
You could look at it like “appeasement”
And Paul says that Jesus was such a propitiation.
Jesus turned away the wrath of God by an offering.
That offering was Himself.
Why is that so amazing?
Because Jesus there accomplished something that a sinner can’t accomplish in hell for all eternity.
Jesus satisfied God’s wrath,
And we’ve been seeing that His wrath is never satisfied.
What Jesus did on the cross is so effective and so powerful.
And you don’t have the slightest chance of ever duplicating it
Regardless of how much you suffer.
TOMORROW IS REFORMATION DAY.
On October 31, 1517 Martin Luther nailed the 95 thesis to door of the castle church there listing the abuses of the Roman Catholic church.
One issue Luther had was with the selling of indulgences.
• According to the Catholic church an indulgence is a way to reduce the amount
of punishment that one has to undergo for sin.
• According to Catholic doctrine if you don’t have enough righteous merit of your
own when you die, then you go to purgatory which is a place of purging until
you are purged from your evil and become righteous.
• To shorten that stay loved ones on earth can obtain indulgences which are
extra units of merit to apply to your account so you can get out earlier and go
on into heaven.
Luther vehemently opposed such notions.
And his 95 thesis against such practices began the great reformation.
(October 31 is a big day for the church, but not because of Halloween)
Luther was right to protest because according to Scripture
It is utter nonsense to think that any sinner
Can ever satisfy God’s wrath on his sin by his own suffering.
The only one to ever do that was Jesus Christ.
He fully propitiated the Father’s wrath toward all those who trust in Him.
(It is really quite remarkable!)
This morning I want to remind you again of the reality of God’s judgment.
THERE IS NO ESCAPING IT APART FROM JESUS CHRIST.
It is real
It is promised
It is terrible
It is eternal
Unless you repent of your sin and submit your life to Christ
Who already bore that wrath and fully satisfied the Father
On behalf of all those who trust in Him.
I would certainly encourage you to repent of your sin and trust in Jesus,
Because regarding wrath you ain’t seen nothing yet.
