 Well, let's open our Bibles together to the book of Revelation. We're in chapter 16 today. We're looking forward to celebrating Good Friday with you next week being Palm Sunday, and then Easter Sunday, you know last year we were unable to gather and And I don't know I mean in the history of our church I was the only time we were unable to gather together to celebrate But we're able to this year and we're gonna have a blessed time I'm looking forward to it already just a time for the church family to gather again and to just worship the risen Lord Jesus Christ and so we're looking forward to that we look forward to having you with us as we as we gather and celebrate Easter and The resurrection and all that that means and so if you have any friends, you know You can see that we're practicing to some degree social distancing here We're trying to be sensitive to your any people's concerns and all of that, but you know what? I'm just looking forward to it. So we invite you to be with us now. We're in Revelation 16 what we're going to be looking at It's pretty rough. I have to be honest with you first service walked out with flames in their hair I mean this is This is a rough study because we're looking at you know The the judgments that are falling and as I've been saying recently the the book of Revelation is A book of prophecy, right? It's Prophecy has been defined as pre-written history. And so this isn't a fantasy It's not something Intended quote-unquote just to scare people or whatever now This is God bringing a warning and he gives us this warning in this book and so we're going to be looking at Revelation chapter 16 verses 8 to verse 21 and we're going to look through the various judgments that are falling I'll give you a bit of a Background kind of as we begin and we'll move through this and again. It's it's one of those passages That are very serious and I like to approach these kinds of passages being respectful of the reality of what's taking place And the warning that is being given and so with that said we're going to be looking at Revelation 16 as the judgments continue to fall and we're looking specifically at the bold judgments and their conclusion and So I'll begin reading to you in verse 8. I'll read verses 8 and 9 of Revelation 16 give you a little bit of a Up to speed kind of thing introduction and move into our study. So let's begin reading here Revelation 16 Verses 8 and 9 Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the Sun Power was given to him to scorch men with fire and men were scorched with great heat and They blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues and they did not repent and give him glory So as we've seen God's final pouring out of his wrath is now taking place here in the book of Revelation these judgments that are Traumatizing the earth are what are called the bold judgments. These are the final judgments Following the first two set of judgments the sealed judgments and then the trumpet judgments Now when we were together last time I was sharing with you how that God's patience has finally come to its end He's been pouring out his wrath But even as he's been pouring out his wrath. He has given men opportunity to repent and be saved and As we've gone through Revelation we see that he had given a hundred and forty four thousand evangelists He had given two witnesses He had given the witness of those who had been saved under those ministries and As the tribulation has progressed we saw an angel flew giving the everlasting gospel And so throughout all these judgments God has continued to show his mercy and that's consistent with his graciousness In the book of Habakkuk in chapter 3 verse 2 He says Lord, I have heard of your fame. I stand in awe of your deeds Lord Repeat them in our day in our time make them known in wrath Remember mercy. You see the truth is it's God's desire for all men to be saved In first Timothy Timothy chapter 2 verse 4 Paul said that God wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth The Old Testament Prophet Ezekiel in chapter 33 verse 11 Said say to them as surely as I live declares the sovereign Lord I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked But rather that they turn from their ways and live God is not slack concerning his promise as some men count slackness But it's long suffering toward us were not willing that any should perish But that all should come to repentance. God desires men to be saved and he's shown great patience He's endured the evil of man. He's been calling them to repent throughout this book And as we've seen his patience has now come to an end John has seen seven angels having the seven last plagues These angels have seven bowls filled with the wrath of God and each in each angel individually is commanded to pour God's wrath out on Earth now those who received the mark of the beast and worshipped his image begin to suffer in worse ways Revelation 13 verses 8 and 15 tells us that believers refuse the mark many were martyred as a result But those who receive the mark are the ones who are drinking of the cup of God's wrath In Revelation 14 9 and 10 it says a third angel followed them saying with a loud voice If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand He himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God Which is poured out full strength into the cup of his indignation He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels And in the presence of the lamb So the bowls are being poured out God's wrath is being expressed And as we've been looking at this we saw that the the first bowl produced oozing and loathsome sores Then the second bowl caused the sea to become blood And every creature within it died and can you imagine the stench of that All the creatures dying And all the flies and everything that would be there So that would be that's a horrible picture and then the third bowl The third bowl was poured out it caused the rivers and springs of water to become blood As I mentioned last time they rejected the living water offered by christ They desired the natural and as a result they reaped what they were sowing So as this took place the angel of the waters gave praise and honor to god He proclaimed that god's judgment was a righteous and appropriate response To evil and these enemies of god have been persecuting god's children to the death And it's appropriate that this should be poured out upon them And as this is taking place we come to verses eight and nine and the fourth angel pours out his bowl And he pours it out notice on the sun So the first three judgments had been poured out upon the earth this judgment is poured out on the sun The sun we californians take such pleasure in that sun Now becomes deadly Instead of providing warmth and light it begins to scorch men with a searing heat Now those who are suffering are not christians Those suffering had received the mark of the beast. They've worshiped his image Believers will not receive this mark. They will not worship the image of the beast And so one commentator said that this sounds of like what isiah the prophet in the old testament had said in isiah 24 5 and 6 The earth is defiled by its people They've disobeyed the laws violated the statutes and broken the everlasting covenant And therefore a curse consumes the earth Its people must bear their guilt Therefore earth's inhabitants are burned up and very few are left So the scorching heat is not the only thing that plagues people You see with the heat comes the melting of the polar ice caps That would result in flooding the sea is already polluted And the putrid water rises and begins to saturate inland It'll undoubtedly result in even more loss of life buildings and homes will be devastated and misery continues to grow People are suffering They're suffering from the boils from the heat The undrinkable water incredible agony And yet verse nine says they refuse They refuse to repent instead. They utter blasphemies They've had a taste of hell But they refuse to repent their skin is blistering away by the sun, but they won't give god his glory They know god is directly responsible for the misery, but they blaspheme him They're hardened in their sin. They're loyal to antichrist. They refuse to repent Neither god's grace nor his wrath has affected them They're like their leader the antichrist because the fact is you become like what you worship They're evil and their hatred blinds them to the grace of god And so instead of repenting even as it says they blaspheme the name of god The god who has power over these plagues And they did not repent and give him glory Verse 10 then the fifth angel poured out his bull on the throne of the beast and his kingdom became full of darkness They nod their tongues because of the pain They blaspheme the god of heaven because of their pains and their sores And did not repent of their deeds. And so once again God brings judgment once again. They blaspheme once again. They refuse To turn away from their sin. This reminds us Of the judgment that god brought on egypt in the old testament when moses was delivering the children of israel Remember how that god brought plagues on egypt and one of the plagues was darkness In the book of exodus which records this in chapter 10 verses 21 through 23 It reads the lord said to moses Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that darkness spreads over egypt Darkness that can be felt So moses stretched out his hand toward the sky Total darkness covered all egypt for three days No one could see anyone else or move about for three days Yet all the israelites had light in the places where they lived So darkness is poured out It's poured out notice on the beast throne the beast throne represents his kingdom We know that the antichrist will rule over the whole earth. So the earth becomes dark There's an old testament prophet named zeffania in chapter 1 verse 15 It spoke of this time as a day of darkness and gloom a day of clouds and thick darkness Now jesus spoke of this when he was speaking of the tribulation In mark 13 verse 24 jesus said in those days After that tribulation the sun shall be darkened The moon shall not give her light isaia the prophet in chapter 13 verse 10 said The stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light The sun shall be darkened in his going forth And so this thick darkness takes place there's painful sores there's polluted seas Undrinkable water heat there's utter darkness. It's all hit the earth The people are in agony notice they they gnaw their own tongues in pain Yet they still refuse to repent they still refuse to give glory to god It says in verse 11 they blaspheme the god of heaven because of their pains and their sores They know that god is bringing judgment But they refuse to get right with god They prefer sin Instead of rejecting it and repenting from it And and by the way that is a very powerful picture of bondage to sin In john 8 34 jesus said Truly i tell you Everyone who sins is a slave of sin Between services we were speaking i was speaking to One of the men who's in our fellowship Who was sharing with us about um fact that when he had been in a rehab home He said some of the men who were there would just take off and leave They would he said they they wouldn't stay for the whole process Because they wanted to get out and get high they wanted to get out and drink He said some some of them would return after they had two or three days of partying Then they'd come back and that shows the bondage of sin They didn't want to get well. They didn't want to get rid of it. They didn't want to reject it They didn't want a new life They wanted free well They wanted to live some place and eat every day to have themselves protected if you will and then to go out And come back and a lot of people are that way Talk to somebody who's got a drinking problem speak to them and when they're open when they're honest when they're when they're sober And and and you will hear many people I have and I used to say this myself when I was an alcoholic You know, I want to be free of this. I hate this. I hate what I'm doing And then you go back to the bottom you go back to the drug you do it because it's your habit It's something you like it's something you're not really hating at all You have to get to the point where you hate it Well, you don't want any part of it where you're sick for for what it's made you into and what you've allowed yourself to become That's the way you get set free. You have to hate this in not pet it Not treat it like a friend that you hide in a room and bring out every once in a while when you're lonely You've got to say I hate this thing. It has to be crucified. It has to die It has to find a place of death so that you can be set free and made alive And that's what happens But when you don't do that you're in bondage and you know you're in bondage You wake up and you say where can I get a drink? Even though as as the writer of proverbs speaks about the man who does this he he stumbles he falls He has bruises. He doesn't even know how he gets them and he says ultimately where can I get another drink? And that's what takes place Sin is bondage And you have to get to the point you have to say I want to be free because Jesus said if you're my disciple You shall be free and you shall be free indeed completely free because of what Jesus Christ can do That's what Christ does. He sets the captive free And see this is a day of darkness a day of doom This is day of agony and instead of them rejecting the sin they're in bondage to it because they're a slave This is the last time by the way their unwillingness to repent will be mentioned Five plagues were poured out on earth Five times they hardened their hearts They are now hardened in their sin They're locked in their unbelief And the final two bowls are about to be poured out Verse six the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates And its water was dried up So that The way of the kings from the east Might be prepared and I saw three unclean spirits like frogs Coming out of the mouth of the dragon out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth Of the false prophet for they are spirits of demons performing signs Which go out to the kings of the earth And of the whole world to gather them to the battle of that great day of god Almighty and so verse 12 speaks of the sixth angel pouring out his bowl on the great river Euphrates The bowl is a preparation for what is soon to come The angel pours out his bowl on the river Euphrates and the water is dried up Now remember the water of the river had been turned to blood But now it is dried up so it can it can be crossed In chapter 9 verse 14 john spoke of the sixth trumpet judgment And he spoke of the four angels who are bound at the river Euphrates At that point he writes 200 million demons who were there were released This is the great river the great river Euphrates It's called the great river because it's the most significant and longest river in the middle east Genesis 10 to 10 through 14 tells us that the Garden of Eden was near the Euphrates So when this judgment occurs the Euphrates will be significantly different Its source is the snow fields of Mount Ararat in Turkey The heat of the sun will melt the snow the Euphrates will rise above its river banks The result will be bloody water flooding around its path After the flooding and destruction of bridges and roads the water will be dried up So that's going to occur to prepare the way for the kings of the east It's for preparation of battle the kings of the east Will move their military to the middle east Now it could first at first appear that the drying up the Euphrates is helping them It enables them to move their armies easily and rapidly But the fact is moving them to the it's moving them to their destruction in Armageddon They're coming to fight the campaign the battle. It's been called the slaughter of Armageddon And this is what's taking place And so as as the sixth angel pours out his bowl and the great river Euphrates its waters I dried up the kings of the east now can cross verse 13 goes on to say I saw three unclean spirits Like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon out of the mouth of the beast Out of the mouth of the false prophet their spirits of demons Performing signs which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world to gather them to the battle of that great day of god almighty And so these are the unclean spirits These unclean spirits are the ones that are giving motivation to the political rulers to attack israel And what's happening is these demons provoke the kings of the earth to come to destroy the nation of israel We saw how in chapter 12 the dragon satan persecuted the woman israel Well satan is still determined to destroy israel and he inspires nations to come march against and destroy israel And so He sees these three in verse 13 these three unclean spirits notice like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon Now these unclean spirits represent the influence of satan the antichrist and the false prophet They are deceiving spirits. They're inspiring the evil world leaders of the tribulation period Notice they're described as like frogs some people like frogs Some people eat frogs Some people ought to be put away You know they're in in the old testament frogs were unclean So that gives us an insight into why they're described as being like frogs They're unclean. There's something that god has nothing to do with And they're cold-blooded And it gives a good picture of these deceivers as cold-blooded unclean Charles riary one of the commentators i like to to use as i prepare studies Charles riary says they come out of the trinity of evil satan the antichrist and the false prophet Notice how verse 14 says they are spirits of demons performing signs Now remember earlier in the book of revelation the false prophet performed signs and deceived unbelievers In revelation 13 verses 13 and 14 it says he performs great signs So that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs Which he was granted to do On the side of the beast telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword And lived and so these are these are deceptive spirits demonic spirits and the deception Is uh is rampant at that time now I've said this before i'll say it very quickly Many of you perhaps have heard me share this with you In the past you know when you're reading your bible and you're reading through the gospel of matthew and you get to chapter 24 Matthew 24 speaks concerning the fact that jesus's men Looked at the temple and and the beauty of it and there's a wonderfully beautiful Edifice and all and they were marveling at how beautiful the the jewish temple was and during that time There were people from other lands who said if you you have they said if you've never seen beauty You need to see the temple Because they considered the temple during that that period as being the most beautiful building and so They uh they would speak of it even even those who were not jewish would say that and so the men You know come in they go to the temple and they're looking at how gorgeous the structure is how huge the stones are It's just a beautiful edifice and all and and jesus says well not a stone is going to remain And and they begin to think and later on they they speak to him in matthew 24 And they say tell us when will these things be and what will be the sign of your coming? And I I always point this out when will these things be and what will be the sign? You see a lot of times when people are talking about the last days They talk of the signs of the times and and that's that's that's that's good I mean that that is an important thing to do and there's there's you know, I think that's proper, but That wasn't what they said they didn't say what are the signs plural they said what is the sign? Singular what is the sign? What is the number one thing because when you read matthew 24 and you begin to read Jesus begins to speak of earthquakes and pestilences and things of that nature He begins to speak of a variety of things. These are only the beginnings of sorrows. He says But when you look at the answer the actual answer christ gives though these things are accompanying such things He says the sign Take heed that you're not deceived three times Take heed that you're not deceived when he says take heed He's saying you have responsibility A lot of people like to blame the teacher Jesus said no you take heed You weigh the words you do the checking you do the double checking where you have a doubt question You have that right and that responsibility So he says you take heed it's your personal responsibility for what you take heed that you're not deceived What is the sign that we're in the last day's deception? Deception is the sign spiritual deception that leads to the place where the world accepts a false christ an antichrist Who has a false wound People think he died a false resurrection and he is He has his john the baptist if you will his false prophet Who presents him and he is really in league with satan himself? We have to be careful in these last days and i'll say this quickly This isn't in my notes, but it always comes up as i'm going through bible studies. I think about it often Be very careful because sometimes People because they're holding a bible will be believed And you may watch Something on tv some program and the guy's got a bible. He's talking from it. He must be telling the truth When in fact sometimes they're not telling you the truth sometimes they're they're taking advantage of you Sometimes they're asking for your money. Sometimes they're asking for your support And i've heard them many times and they've said if we don't get your support this ministry is going down And I say go down Go down if you don't trust the lord go down Because if god raises it up god holds it up right if god raises it up god holds it up That's how it works with the lord, but if somebody says oh you we're going to go down. I say bye To see you later. It's not that I don't care about you. I do care But if you're relying on man rather than god then your your your energies of the flesh are what keeping you up in the first place No, we need the power of the holy spirit. We need the spirit to work in us through his word and that's how it works And so yeah amen to that And so that's that's how it works right and so what happens is you have the These this deception that has been going on and it's finally Basically incarnated in this final false prophet Who is causing people to worship the image of the beast? He has lying signs and wonders and we have been warned about that Again this deception is something jesus said matthew 24 verse 24 He said false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive if possible Even the elect you would deceive if it were possible even the elect. That's how believable those signs are paul warned the church in order to protect us from deception to prepare us In 2nd thessalonians 2 9 and 10 he said the coming of the lawless one is according to the working of satan With all power signs and lying wonders and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish because They did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved They loved the lie that antichrist was messiah Well first 14 speaking of these spirits It says they are spirits of demons performing signs which go out To the kings of the earth the political parties of the earth And of the whole world to gather them To the battle of that great day of god almighty And so they unite To converge on israel to battle against god himself In armageddon Obviously they are doomed to failure som 2 verses 1 through 6 Says why do the nations rage and the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves the rulers take counsel together against the lord and against his anointed saying Let us break their bonds and pieces cast away their cords from us He who sits in the heaven shall laugh the lord shall hold them in derision Then he shall speak to them in his wrath Distress them in his deep displeasure Yet i have set my king on my holy hill of zion the nations rage they conspire but god says he shall rule And so they're being prepared For their final destruction at the second coming of jesus christ They're moving Toward the city of jerusalem a few years ago i was reading how the nation of china had built a road that it can use That takes them through the himalayas through kashmir into pakistan Armies can use that road and they will make their way to the land of israel When you read the old testament the prophet zekariah in chapter 12 said this in verses 1 and 1 through 3 He said this is the word of the lord concerning israel The lord who stretches out the heavens who lays the foundation of the earth Who forms the spirit of man within him declares i'm going to make jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling Judah will be besieged as well as jerusalem On that day when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her I will make jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations all who try to move it will injure themselves In chapter 14 of zekariah verses 1 and 2 he said a day of the lord is coming When your plunder will be divided among you I will gather all the nations to jerusalem to fight against it The city will be captured the houses ransacked the women raped Half of the city will go into exile But the rest of the people will not be taken from the city Joel said in chapter three verse two I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the valley of jahoshaphat Then I will enter into judgment with them there on behalf of my people and my inheritance israel Whom they have scattered among the nations and they have divided up my land In Joel 3 12 let the nations be roused let them advance into the valley of jahoshaphat For there I will sit to judge all the nations on every side Now jahoshaphat is translated jahovah has judged It's a valley that's east of jerusalem It's called for those who've been to israel it's the key drawn valley And that the key drawn valley is as associated with judgment When you look at the key drawn valley It actually goes south and it merges with another valley The other valley is called the valley of geena It's where you get the word or valley of hinem It's the word a geena which speaks of hell and and so the key drawn and the geena of valley valley of hinem Joined together at the at that place there There was a at their where the their confluence where they intersect That that is an area that uh, they used to have a dump the dump They would take all the trash and they would put it there in the valley of hinem And and it would be constantly on fire And uh, that's why jesus spoke of hell that way He said he said where the the fire never goes out and the worm never dies And it was a word geena valley of hinem It was where the trash was burned and and so these two valleys intersect and is a place of judgment And so right there incidentally where they converge they had uh, they had what is called the potter's field And so the potter's field was located right at that intersection there and that's where uh, Judas was ending up where he ended up And so this is what's going on right now They're gathering together and as we see we will see when we get to chapter 17 It speaks in verses 12 and 13 of a 10 nation confederacy And the nations are going to join they're going to join together to make war They're going to make war against jesus who is the lamb of god The battle will be over fairly quickly It's actually Regarded not as a battle so much as a campaign, but it's also referred to as a slaughter And so he's speaking concerning this battle. He says that great day of god Almighty and then verse 15 behold I'm coming as a thief Blessed is he who watches and keeps his garments Lest he walk naked And they see his shame And so this is actually A word of encouragement when he says i'm coming as a thief we need to look at that for a moment He's not saying i'm coming to steal something because what he takes belongs to him What he's saying is i'm coming quickly and i'm coming at a time you're not expecting That's the kind of image that is repeated in various portions of scripture. For example in matthew 24 Verses 42 through 44 Jesus said watch therefore for you do not know what hour your lord is coming But know this if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come He would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into Therefore you also be ready for the son of man is coming at an hour. You do not expect In 1st Thessalonians 5 verse 2 paul said the day of the lord will come just like a thief In the night now this is not a warning It's an encouraging word. It's actually a word of comfort. He's making it clear But that the judgment will be fierce But it's not going to last long Notice how he says in verse 15 and want to look at this for a moment Blessed is he who watches and keeps his garments Lest he walk naked and they see his shame What this is is a picture of a soldier an image of a soldier A soldier is to be awake But not if you're awake that doesn't mean a whole lot. You need to be awake and alert Being awake doesn't mean anything if you're not alert So it's a picture of a soldier who's both awake and alert. He's on watch and he's watching Now in the military when I was in the army, I had to I had to do Guard duty and and I understand what this means You know, you have to be awake and you need to be alert and you need to be aware If there's anything that's coming there into your perimeter because you have to challenge it Because there are only certain authorized people who should come into that into that that perimeter and and on this is the picture of a soldier It's a picture of a soldier who is awake and ready. He's fully equipped notice how he says he's not to walk naked He has to keep his armaments garments. He needs to be fully clothed and ready He needs to be wearing his armor. He needs to be prepared He needs to have the helmet of salvation on he needs to have the breastplate of righteousness He needs to have his loin's gird with with truth. He needs to have The the the feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace He needs to have the shield of faith and the sword of the spirit He needs to be ready and prepared because your master's coming at a time You don't know blessed is the one who's prepared blessed is the one who looks up for his lord is coming Blessed is the one who lives like he's coming today And if he didn't come today, well, blessed is the one who expects him tomorrow every day We should be expecting the return of the lord and we should be serving him daily And that's what he's saying and you'll be blessed for that Instead of going to sleep and saying my lord delayeth his coming because jesus said the one who sleeps on On his watch is a person who is an unfaithful servant But the faithful servant is awakened aware at all time and that's a picture that that he would have us He's wearing his armor. He's ready for any unexpected battles as he's waiting and he's prepared He's properly clothed. He's awaiting his master In first on 228 now, dear children continuing him so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed Before him at his coming Be aware It's coming as soon. He's even at the door So be alert now for us I just I know that the The rapture of the the church is going to occur before all of this hits But I want to be prepared I want to be prepared I want to live in such a way that I actually live What I preach Because I preach that crisis coming I need to be prepared in the event that he comes even now That's something that we all should do and so this this word of encouragement is coming Before the seventh bold judgment Verse 16 says they gathered them together in the place called in Hebrew Armageddon That is a word that even our secular press uses. They speak about this final battle and all of that. It looks like it's armageddon Armageddon has various trans translations Armageddon is in in in the Hebrew. It's been translated Hill of slaughter It speaks of the hill country surrounding the plain of Megiddo We've been to Megiddo many times Megiddo is about 60 miles to the north of Jerusalem And and that particular area when you're there you'll be standing in a particular It's built up in this concrete and stuff and you can look over and see the entire valley And when you're standing there your your guide will speak to you and we'll tell you about Some of the history there and he'll tell you you know this this particular valley of Armageddon here as you're looking at the actual Valley, he'll tell you this has been the site of over 200 battles that have taken place over history And this will be the main Site the focal point if you will of the battle And it's going to be but it's going to be spread throughout this particular range It's a place of great slaughter. You see this area It's really not large enough to contain as many armies as as are described But it is the central focus of invasion And when you read about it as we've already seen the destruction of the world's armies will be terrible We saw in chapter 14 verses 19 and 20 of revelation that blood will splatter five feet high There'll be puddles of blood throughout this valley. There'll be so many slaughtered And battles will be engaged throughout israel And i'll be giving you more detail on this when we get to chapter 19 But this is kind of setting it up for us. This is called in hebrew Armageddon And then he goes on into verse 17 The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air A loud voice came out of the temple of heaven from the throne saying It is done This judgment completes the wrath of god upon those who have rejected jesus This will be the most intense and catastrophic time in history Like the fourth bowl that was poured out on the sun. This bowl is poured into the air It's kind of like god is cleansing the earth and sky from satan's evil influence and presence The earth the sea rivers the sun air Have been targets of god's wrath And in verse 17 it says that a loud voice came out of the temple Of heaven from the throne saying it is done That is a word of finality. It is announcing the end to unrepentant sinners And when that is said verse 18, there were noises and thunderings and lightnings There was a great earthquake such a mighty and great earthquake As had not occurred since men were on the earth So you have this terrible earthquake that takes place It shakes the world unlike any of that has ever happened in the past Haggai speaks of this when he says this is what the lord almighty says in a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth the sea and the dry land And so this occurs now the noises and the thunderings and the lightnings and the earthquake Verse 19 now the great city was divided into three parts And the cities of the nations fell and great Babylon was remembered before god To give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath And so notice that as he's speaking He had said that there was a great thunderings in all of that. We saw that before But here there is a great earthquake. He says it's a mighty and great one It's so huge and the city is divided into three parts And the cities of the nations fell Now this great city would be Jerusalem, which is called the great city in revelation 11 verse 8 Jerusalem it says is divided into three parts And it's made actually greater because there'll be a physical alteration to Jerusalem and the surrounding area You see when jesus returns we'll look at this for a moment when jesus returns He's going to touch on the mount of olives And the mount of olives is going to actually be split in two In the old testament book of zecharach 14 verse 4 it says On that day his feet will stand on the mount of olives east of Jerusalem And the mount of olives will be split in two from east to west Forming a great valley with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south And so fresh water is going to flow from Jerusalem All the way to the Mediterranean to the west and and down southeast to the dead sea In zechariah 14 verse 8 it says on that day living water will flow from out from Jerusalem Half of it to the east of the dead sea half of it to the west in the Mediterranean in summer and winter Ezekiel 47 10 says fishermen will stand along the shores of the dead sea all the way from mangetti to end Aglain the shores will be covered with nets drying in the sun fish of every kind will fill the dead sea Just as they fill the Mediterranean Isaiah 35 1 says the wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them and the desert shall rejoice and blossom As the rose and so when it speaks concerning this when you go to israel some of you have and you go to the dead sea You know that the dead sea is called the dead sea for a good reason nothing can live in it It's filthy. It's not so much filthy. It's filled with uh with minerals And and nothing can live in it if you if you go there and you're mad at somebody Just take a cup of that water and give it to him say are you thirsty because it'll kill them It is so so poisonous You know, so we tell we go to we go obviously we've been there many times and and we'll tell our people please Don't open your eyes Because a lot of americans like to look around, you know, they think it's pool water So it's don't open your eyes And don't drink it half a cup or more can kill you please don't do that It's very thick and people will go there and they lean it because you can't sink in it Even john couldn't sink in it. You can't sink it Well, no you did didn't know, um You can't sink in it I've known him since he's like six years old it's him. I've been doing this for a while. But anyway My son joseph was a little boy And he wanted to go into the dead sea. He was maybe eight or so. I don't remember his age eight or nine And we said don't open your eyes Don't open your eyes Because it'll burn you But he's a little boy. He's not thinking He opened his eyes When he opened his eyes, I was standing at the seashore. I'm not somebody who goes in I don't want to I'll put my hand in I'll say yeah, it's greasy and that's about it. That's as much of a thrill I get from it But my boy had to go in And when he did he opened his eyes and I was standing at the shore when I heard my son screaming It's like fire has ignited your eyes And he's screaming very loudly and crying And he comes running I said this way and he comes and I I grab him and I carry him to a what There's a place where you can shower and I held his head and I put the water in his eyes and just kept on Cleaning and cleaning and cleaning his eyes are red red red It's a it's a bad it's you can't drink the water. You don't open your eyes What they do is they will actually distill it They'll actually evaporate it and you have all these minerals And there will go to place a hava where they they sell the the various cosmetics and things that are made from the Minerals of the Dead Sea, but you can't drink it and you cannot you cannot Let it if you have sores on your arms or any open wounds on your body Don't go in it burns like fire Now the Jordan River Actually, I'll go a little further the Jordan River to the north has three main Streams that join into a single stream That makes the Jordan River the Jordan River from the north will join together with these three main tributaries Coming off of various three different places travels down and travels to the Sea of Galilee the Lake Tiberias and so You can fish there and and people do in week St. Peter's fish there every time we go to Israel because they they still fish that lake It's fresh water It's one of the main sources of irrigation if not the main source of irrigation The Jordan and the Dead Sea because God had told the children of Israel You're going to go to a land that doesn't have a mighty Nile river You are going to be having a small river. It's the Jordan descending from Dan You're going to have a small river. You could not rely on that river for for all of your needs So what you're going to do he says is you're going to trust me who brings the rain And I'll bring it in the in the early season and the latter season the early season and latter season the latter rains in the early rains And and so that way you will know that this is the land of grace And when it rains you will actually be blessed knowing that I am showing my grace to this nation And that's why Jesus said my water my rain falls on the just and the unjust alike And it's a picture of God's grace and that's how that works And so you have the jordan that that goes into an empties into the sea of Galilee But the sea of Galilee has an outlet and that's still a continuation of the jordan and it continues Until it gets to the Dead Sea when it gets to the Dead Sea the Dead Sea only collects water But never distributes it. It doesn't have an outlet. There's no outlet In the Dead Sea and that's why it's just receiving rain water and jordan water all this time And that's why it's the Dead Sea and one of the spiritual applications is always when you receive It's a blessing to give because if you don't give you become like the Dead Sea You're only a reservoir and you become dead with no life in you So that's one of the applications of that of that story. Well, there are no fish in the Dead Sea But when the Lord Jesus Christ touches the the Mount of Olives and it splits and the water begins to It's going to come out. It's going to go to the Mediterranean. It's also going to the Dead Sea The Dead Sea will become a place where fishermen spread out their nets and catch fish again Because it's going to be made alive the Dead Sea will be made alive by the return of Jesus Christ And that's the picture and that's how it's going to happen And even like it said a minute ago in Isaiah 35 1 the wilderness and the wasteland She'll be glad for them the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. So it's going to be a place of life Now Jerusalem will be elevated the surrounding regions will be flattened Again in Zechariah chapter 14 verse 10 All the land from Geba to Rimon south of Jerusalem will be turned into a plane Jerusalem will be raised up and will remain in her place from the Benjamin gate to the side of the first gate To the corner gate and from the tower of Hananah to the royal wine press So Jerusalem is going to be elevated because that's going to prepare Jerusalem for its role when Jesus rules and reigns And you have in verse 19 again great Babylon Great Babylon was remembered before God to give her the cup of the wine Of the fierceness of his wrath So the great the capitals of the world are going to be destroyed As is Babylon again, we're going to be looking at Babylon in chapter 17 And 18 and give you more details on that But they'll be destroyed And then finally verses 20 and 21 Every island fled away the mountains were not found Great hail from heaven fell upon men Each hailstone about the weight of a talent at 75 pounds Men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail Since that plague was exceedingly great Great Babylon was remembered and destroyed Every island fled away Mountains were not found in other words the earth is going to actually be altered and flattened It's going to be returning to what it was like before the flood Isaiah 40 verse 4 says every valley shall be raised up Every mountain will and hill made low the rough ground shall become level The rugged places a plain Hail from heaven falling upon men and it's destroying Now there will be those who actually survive But they remain hardened Instead of repenting as they see the signs wonders they blaspheme Jesus In spite of all of what they suffer They're completely hardened And the only way to escape this will be to turn to Jesus But they won't I'll close with this You know, we go through the book revelation. It's an interesting book I'm trying to do honor to it and teach you without getting real dramatic and all because sometimes when you go through Studies sometimes people like to give you all these things They say it's actually going to happen when in fact the bible doesn't say that So I try and stay as close to what the word is saying and maybe give application Where I where I feel that it's proper to do so But sometimes people will see the book of revelation and they'll think oh, that's just a myth. That's a story That's a children. You know, you're just trying to scare people. No, that's not true Nobody's trying to scare people. We're trying to inform and prepare people When you get into the word of god the word of god reveals to you what's going to take place This is not a story. This is going to happen Now one thing I have to say I believe that Jesus Christ is going to take the church In a moment in the twinkling of an eye We're going to be gone. We're going to be in the presence of the Lord. We're going to we're going to save this God didn't appoint us into wrath but to obtain salvation through Jesus Christ And god has a way of removing people before his destruction when when he was going to destroy satan and gemora He removed lot in his his daughters and god does that God put Noah and his family in an arc and saved them as he destroyed and judged the world God has a way of saving those who who believe in him and and and so we do and I believe that god is going to remove us from that That's my theological position and all of that But the bottom line is these things are going to happen to those who remain these things are going to happen This is not a story. This is real and we have an opportunity to escape before this judgment I've heard people say, you know what? I want to see a little bit of the tribulation I'm going to stick around and then I'm going to give my heart to christ and I say you're crazy, man. You're crazy If you can't follow Jesus when it's easy to do so, what makes you think you'll give up your head for him? when it's not No, now's the time today is the day of salvation The bible in Hebrews 4 7 says that today if you hear his voice do not harden your hearts You hold today is the day of salvation not tomorrow not next week not next month not next year not in 10 years It's today. I have never met a person who said to me not one time in 50 years Have I ever heard someone say I wish I'd awaited a little longer? I've never heard that I only hear I wish I'd have come sooner Because I'd have saved myself so much pain so much heartache so much that I've done to others So many things that I've reaped as consequences. I wish I'd have come to Jesus sooner today is the day of salvation Not next week not next month not next year today And god is offering us that if you haven't given your heart to christ You can do so today You can avoid this you don't get saved just to avoid it, but thank god you won't go through it Thank god for that because when you give your heart to christ God washes you by the blood of christ. He he strengthens you by his holy spirit He guides you and the way you should go He begins to bless you and you become a blessing to others and then they say to you what happened to you You know, you must have gone through some good rehab and you say no, I was reborn Jesus christ saved my life and transformed me That's what happens when you genuinely give your heart to christ So I have to close with that invitation to you if you don't know jesus christ today is the day Open your heart to him give your heart to christ and father We thank you for your work for lord your word is true Not one jot or one Pittle Will not be fulfilled every single marking every single breathing point Of your word is to be fulfilled The entirety of your word is truth And we trust you lord And so I pray that we would see this As an awakening and helping us to be aware of what the future holds And we would be ready for you lord We would be ready We want to be prepared So I ask lord in jesus name that you Would speak to us And that we would daily Walk with you eyes or close our heads bowed and those who are watching online I can't see you obviously or even those who are in the overflow, but I can't see those who are here In this room So if the lord is speaking to you and you know, you need to get right with god, it's time for you To turn from your sin ask forgiveness from him and receive Receive christ You need prayer right now Would you raise your hand and let me pray for you right where you're at get right with god Father you see these hands that are going up in this place right now lord in jesus name I ask that you would reach down and touch every person whose hand is raised Everyone and father may your holy spirit descend right now and and fill And work within washing cleansed from sin and give a hope lord for tomorrow May their names be written in your book of life And may they live a life that people will note Something something happened And so lord, I pray that you would work in there now And lord as they open their hearts and say god be merciful to me that you would fill them with your presence Lord, we bless you and we thank you for this We receive from you. Thank you You can put your hands down and jesus, I pray you keep working in every one of us to your glory in your name amen