 Okay, welcome back everyone to our class BC 308 on Revelation and Daniel. This is our second lecture for today, and we're going to begin with some questions. So, Abraham, you're there? Okay, I'm not sure if Abraham's back. Alright, say, maybe we'll take your question first, and then we will take up Abraham's question. I just want to make sure Abraham is there when we answer this question. Oh, you're there? Okay. Okay, not a problem. Alright, so let's answer Abraham's question in the chat. Are we going to be different in terms of ranking in Heaven? I'm trying to just think, Abraham, as to my understanding, I don't see any indication in Scripture that believers are going to be ranked differently. We will be recognized differently in the sense that, yeah, we will recognize those who are ranked differently. We will be recognized differently in the sense that, yeah, we will recognize those who are those 24 elders. We will recognize the 12 apostles of the Lamb. We've recognized the Old Testament Saints, New Testament Saints. Of course, we'll recognize all of them. But this doesn't seem to be an indication of different rank other than the fact that, you know, there are 24 elders seated around the throne. That's very special. Of course, that's very special. Not everybody's sitting around the throne in that manner. But other than that, I don't see, you know, the believers are graded, you know, you're a level one believer and you're level two and you're a level three believer. There's no indication of that. What we do know is we will get rewards, which obviously are different for the works we've done. That is there. Each one receive a reward according to his work. Other than the reward being given in proportion to or in relation to the work we've done. I don't see an indication in Scripture where there would be different ranking of believers. During the Millennium, that is, when we the Saints are with Jesus on the earth, at that time the responsibility given to us during the Millennium, Bill Berry, we can infer, we can state that from Luke 19. When Jesus gave the parable the talents, he said, you know, you have been faithful in few things. You have been made ruler over so many cities. So that means the authority we're given during the Millennium is in proportion to or in relation to the work and the faithfulness of which we have served the Lord during this time. So that is evident from Luke 19. But as far as I can see, there is nothing in Scripture indicating different ranking in heaven. So if somebody says, and I've read some material where people say I've had a vision in heaven and I've gone there and I've seen different classifications of believers and all of that. Well, that's a personal vision that they've had and they've written a book about it or they've written about it somewhere. But I do not see it backed up by Scripture. So that has to be taken with, okay, it's your vision. Thank you for sharing, but it's not something I need to subscribe to because it's not backed up in Scripture. But there are people who have written, you know, books like that and shared their so-called visions or dreams where they talk about different classifications and categorization of believers and all that. Now, whether it was just a dream or just their own, whatever, imagination at work, we don't know because we don't see it substantiated in Scripture. So that would be my response. As far as Scripture is concerned, we don't see it stated like that. Okay, Pastor, thank you so much. Say your question, please. Yes, sir, Pastor. Well, a question I wanted to ask is that the numbers that are given in Chapter 7 of those who have sealed, should it be read literally? Or should it be read from a Jewish cultural context that I may not understand? Maybe you can explain because there's tendency to just believe that these are the only number of people, you know, that would be, these are the only people who will come out of their tribulation and will come out, you know, sealed, but other was safe from the tribulation period. So I just wanted to get clarification on that because I've heard some people, you know, giving different explanations on what these numbers mean. So one of the things we, the approaches that we take in interpreting prophetic Scripture is this, where the literal makes sense, keep it literal, where the literal is observed, then read it as figurative. So that's kind of a general rule of thumb in handling prophetic Scripture. For example, you know, Revelation 6-1, somebody coming riding on a white horse with a crown. Okay, that doesn't make sense, you know, we don't have that happening these days. Or death coming, you know, famine coming, riding on a horse. Okay, that's figurative, right, because the literal is observed. So applying that same rule of thumb here, can 144,000 people be selected by God to be his servants? Is the literal possible? Answers here. So wherever the literal is possible, then we don't take it as figurative. It is literal, right? So my response would be, yeah, there are, it says 144,000, yeah, 144,000. Because if we choose to take this figurative, then, you know, everywhere else, we should say Jesus had, you know, if you had 12 disciples, we could say, well, maybe that's figurative. No, no, no, it's not figurative. It's 12 disciples, 12 literal disciples. 12 spies were sent. That's not figurative. That's literal. 12 spies were sent. Right. So wherever the literal is possible and logical, take it as literal. So we would apply the same principle here in interpreting scripture. Hey, the literal is practical. 144,000 people, Jewish people, sealed by God to serve him during the tribulation. So they served God. It doesn't mean only 144,000 were saved because we will read later on that there are in Revelation 12, we will read that there are more Jewish people, people who are going to be saved, Jewish people and as well as people, others who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. So this chapter is not saying that only 144,000 are going to be saved. What this chapter is saying is 144,000 were selected to serve God, for marked and sealed and to serve God in order to bring many more to salvation. We see the outcome of that ministry right here and we will see it again. We will see, you know, further things that many more people are being saved. So why 12? Because there were 12 tribes. 12 is a, you know, if you want to understand the meaning of the word 12, meaning of word 12 is 12. 12 is God's government. Well, the number 12 represents God's government biblically. That's the significance, but it doesn't need to be applied here because it's not about 12, but it's about 144,000 people who are being serving God. So that's how I would look at Revelation 7 and I wouldn't, you know, extrapolate other things or neither would I add things to it. People literal literal make sense. They're serving God perfectly fine. 12,000 from each tribe. Perfectly fine. The number 12 represents government, but does it apply here? No, it doesn't. So I don't need to introduce that idea here. And so on. Yeah. You have a follow up question to this day. Yes. Sorry again. So what I was just going to ask is, I know it says the tribes of Israel, but I'm just wondering, was this more than just Israel or was this specific to Israel? Could it be that John was talking from his limitation as an, as a Jewish person? Or is this more than just Israel? I don't know. I would ask that question. Yeah. So again, here we would say, take it the way it is stated. He mentions very specifically, you know, the names of those tribes. So, hey, he said it's the tribe of Judah. Let's take it literally. It is the tribe of Judah. We shouldn't use it figuratively. So my response is, yes, it is the specific tribe that he mentioned. It means that these are, so for example, right today in this, in our world today, we have Jewish people scattered all over the world. We have some Jews descendants, even in India, Jews in all parts of the world. Now they are descendants of a particular tribe. Today they may be, you know, living in different parts of the world, but if they trace their ancestry back, they're going to be from one of these 12 tribes. And what John is saying is God has marked out 144,000 people, Jewish people, descendants from these 12 tribes who are going to serve God during the tribulation. That's all he's saying. So are there actually 144,000 people? Yes, because that's the number given. Are they actually descendants from these 12 tribes? Yes, because that's where the Jewish people came from. They couldn't, if they're not from these 12 tribes, they're not Jewish. They are literally Jewish people because it states very clearly the tribe. Yeah. These are the 12 tribes. This one, they're descendants of these tribes. What is their purpose? They're going to serve God. So all these things, you know, these scriptures, do they make sense if they were taken literally? Yes. So we'll keep them literal and not make them figurative. Christopher, and then I see a couple of questions in the chat, which we will take up. Christopher, your question. Yes. This is a related question to these tribes. Would these tribes actually be messianic Jews? Because they are the ones who already believed that Jesus actually came as a man on the earth earlier. And the other question is around these tribes. Are they in existence right now? And, you know, would they be sort of, you know, would they sort of go back to these? And would they be Jews that go back to these tribes or are they currently living right now? Interestingly, I was just doing a little bit of research on Manasseh. And as you mentioned, these Manassehs actually, they are tribes who are actually in the northeast of India, in some way in Manipur. And they currently live in that area. So, yeah. So that's just sort of a bleak statement. But I just want to take some clarity on these two questions. Yeah. So are these messianic Jews? So basically the term messianic Jews is a term that is used for Jewish people who are embraced Jesus as a messiah. Right. So it's any Jew who believes in Jesus Christ as Messiah, as Lord and Savior. And they are messianic Jews all over the world. So the answer to your question is, yeah, these people, these 144,000 Jews are going to be serving Jesus Christ during the tribulation. So according to this term, messianic, it's not, you know, it's just a term that we've created in our times. Yeah. We can call them messianic Jews, but they don't necessarily have to identify themselves as messianic Jews. They're just Jews who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. We're going to be serving God. We're going to be preaching the gospel during the tribulation. So in that sense, yeah, they are messianic Jews, but they don't necessarily have to identify themselves as messianic Jews. The second question is, like I said, today we have Jews scattered all over the world. They're in different parts of India. You've got Jews in Kerala. You've got Jews in Mumbai. You've got Jews like you said in the Northeast. You've got some Jews, I think even in Rajasthan maybe. They're in different parts of the world. I mean, they are scattered all over the world. Right. Every Jew belongs to one of these tribes. Otherwise, it's not a Jew. Right. So if you trace that ancestry, it comes from the 12 sons of Jacob. So obviously they belong to one of those tribes. So God is going to have 144,000 of these people serve him. So the fact that they are Jews means they belong to one of these 12 tribes. Otherwise, they would not be a Jew. They scattered all over the world and God would seal them and use them. So to answer your question, the answer is yes. These are, every Jew belongs to one of the 12 tribes. That's why they are Jews. Descendants are from Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Jacob's 12 sons. Descendants. So that's what identifies them as Jewish. So, you know, which part of the world they may be, they could be all over the world today. Every in the scattered worldwide. And they could be people from within Israel or people outside in other countries who are going to be serving God. Yeah. Let's take these questions from the chat. Kennedy, is there any possibility that all the suffering could be shortened during tribulation times? So, Kennedy, what we do know is the Lord has ordained seven years. So these are seven calendar years. The only argument that we could have is are these seven Jewish years or seven Gregorian calendar years, but that differential is just a handful of days. So it's not a very big difference. But it's seven years, very clearly stated for us in scripture. 42, you know, 42 months mid afterwards. And so totally in 84 months, seven years, that's set. So that will not be changed because God has already determined that. If you're talking about at an individual level, we will read, you know, that there will be people who want to die, but they will not be able to die. That's a strange thing and we will read about that in chapter eight as part of what happens. So that's a different context. That's at an individual level. But to answer your question, will God change the seven years? He won't because he's already declared it to be so. Elisha's question, do Jewish people have any privilege in the second coming than other believers? I would go to Hebrews chapter 11, the latter part of Hebrews. And again, you know, to answer that question, I would reference Romans chapter 9, 10, 11, and also Hebrews chapter 11, the end of Hebrews 11 to answer your question. Elisha. So basically, you know, Romans chapters 9, 10, 11, the Apostle Paul teaches us how God is working with the church and with Israel during this time. So it's a very interesting revelation in Romans up to 9, 10, 11, where Paul is saying that Paul is saying that for a period of time, God is working with the church. But he's going to bring everything back together and give you the exact verse, Romans 11, 26, I think it is, where he says that, let me give you the exact verse. Yeah, Romans 11, 25. He says, for I do not desire brethren that you should be ignorant of this mystery. So it's a mystery. It's something that's hidden. That's been revealed. What is the mystery? Let's just be wise in opinion that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved. So it's very interesting. Study Romans 9, 10, 11, and there's Romans 11, 25, 26, kind of sums it up. It says, look, at this moment right now, Israel is blinded, but God's letting them be there. Because he is working with the church, Romans 11, 25, until he has touched all the Gentiles, the fullness of the Gentiles. God has done his work with the Gentiles. So right now, we're in that stage. We call it the church age. God is dealing with the Gentiles. But then tribulation, the focus changes back onto Israel because now he's going to bring us all together and all Israel, he's going to touch the people, the Jewish people. So then Hebrews 11 says that Hebrews 11, 39, 40, the writer of Hebrews says that they should not be made perfect apart from us. In other words, the way God is going to wrap everything up is by bringing us all together. He's not going to treat the church differently from Israel or Jewish believers. He's going to, they without us will not be made perfect, meaning, look, we're going all going to enter into this together. So the church and people of Israel who are saved, who essentially are the church or part of the church, they will come together. We see this again in Ephesians 2 where Paul says, he has made both one new man and they both have access to the father by the same spirit, Ephesians 2. So to answer your question, there will be no difference. Everyone, Jews and Gentiles who believe in Christ will be brought together in the same manner. The only thing we are seeing is with these 144,000 Jewish people who are servants of God, who are marked by God to serve him during the tribulation because they are going to be proclamers of the gospel. Doesn't mean they are the only ones who are going to be saved, but they're going to be serving God during the tribulation. That's the only, I would say, special thing that's happening. But in terms of the whole, the big picture, you see all these scriptures, God is bringing us all together. One thing that will happen, and Zechariah mentions this in Zechariah 12 verse 10, that at the second coming, there's going to be big great mourning in Israel because Jesus mentions this also in Revelation 1. Zechariah prophesied about it. He said, every eye who pierced him, they will see him and they will mourn. I'm talking specifically about the house of David. This is in Zechariah 12 verse 10. So that is going to happen. Now, it's not a special thing, but I'm just mentioning it. That when Christ returns in Revelation 19, it's going to have a big impact on the people of Israel at that time. They are going to mourn because they see the one whom they have rejected and pierced. Sorry, I said all that just to say there's no difference. We're going to be coming together, made perfect together. Thank you, Pastor. A quick follow-up. Does that mean to me that God has already determined the salvation of a particular group, say the 144,000, that number, if it is made up and no addition, no take-away, has God already made that determination that 144,000, some 144,000 of the Jewish people are going to be saved? Is that the interpretation, please? So, remember the focus of this 144,000 is not who are going to be saved. The focus of this 144,000 is who are going to be serving God during tribulation. So, how many are going to be saved? Millions. How do we know? Well, in that same chapter, Revelation 7.9, there's a great multitude, huge numbers of people. So, great multitudes are going to be saved during the tribulation. We don't know how many. It's just great multitudes from all people, tribes, including Israel. So, the 144,000 has to do with these people who are going to serve Him, their servants of God. So, salvation is not limited to these 144,000 Jews. Salvation is extended to all the Jews and all peoples of all nations, tribes and towns. But these 144,000 have been marked by God to serve Him. Just like you have been marked by God to serve Him, or I've been marked by God to serve Him. Each one of us has been marked by God to serve Him. In that same sense, these 144,000 have been marked by God to serve Him. Will God override their will and force these 144,000? Suppose, I mean, just imagine, okay, all of these 144,000 Jews decide to go on strike, and they say, we are not going to serve God. Well, that's the way it's going to be. Because God has not made these 144,000 Jews as robots. No, they are people like you and me. We all were marked by God to serve Him in this generation at this time. But it takes the cooperation of our will to serve God. So likewise, these 144,000 Jews, we could say, if you want to use the word, they are invited by God to serve Him during that revelation. If they all choose to protest and not serve God and choose to go to hell, so be it. They're not robots, they're people. And they're given a free will. But God says, I have called you to serve me. Give me the special privilege to serve me. During that revelation, it's highly likely all of them will serve God, just like you and I are choosing to say yes to the call of God. So we must understand it in that context. Okay, Pastor, thank you very much. So, all right, so let's get into chapter 8 if there are no more questions. So chapter 8, we transition from the seven seals into the seven trumpets. But before we transition into the seven trumpets, there's something interesting happens. We see there is a global prayer movement happening on earth. And it's very logical because you've got all these judgments happening. People are realizing this is the great day of wrath. There are people who are proclaiming the gospel, 144,000 Jews, but there'll be lots more people standing up to proclaim Jesus during the tribulation because they've realized it. People are being saved, they're dying for their faith, you know, what all this antichrist is doing. We will come to that in chapter 13. And in chapter 13, and also we'll see that in Revelation 17, that the antichrist is going against people who believe in Jesus Christ. It's severe. But while that's happening, Revelation 8 gives us an amazing insight. There's a global prayer movement, so much so that God himself, an angel of God, passed down a golden sense out that's talking about symbolic, prophetic about a prayer movement. That means that people are going to be praying all over the earth. And it's very logical, right? What do you do when you're facing, you're going through a time like this? There will be people who turn to God in prayer. So we see that in the early part of chapter 8. And then the rest of chapter 8 and into chapter 9, we go through each of these seven trumpet judgments. So each one is again causing something catastrophic to happen on earth. And then in chapter 9, we see that there's a deluge of demonic spirits that are released on the earth to destroy lives. So let's read it. Let's go through chapter 8 verses 1 through 13. It's not a very big chapter. We'll read three verses each please. Somebody could start. Revelation chapter 8 verse 1, when he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God and to them were given seven trumpets. Then another angel, having a golden censor, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar, which was before the throne. Amen. It was for onwards please. Yes. And the smoke of the incense of the prayers of the saints ascended up before God from the hand of the angel. And the angel took the censor and filled it with the fire of the altar. And cast it on the earth. And there were thunders and voices and lightnings and a great earthquake. And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound the trumpet. Thank you. Thank you. Verse 7 please. Verse 7, the first angel sounded his trumpet and there came hail and fire mixed with blood. And it was hurled down on the earth. A third of the earth was burnt up. A third of the trees were burnt up. And all the green grass was burnt up. The second angel sounded in his trumpets. Something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood. A third of leaving clifters in the sea died. And a third of the ships were destroyed. Okay, we're staying on watch please. 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 the third of the waters became Wormwood. And many men died on the waters because they were made bitter. 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. Yeah, we're starting to also turn. Then I looked and I heard an eagle flying in mid-heaven saying with a loud voice, woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth because of the remaining glass of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound. Thank you. So, chapter 13. We are transitioning, we transition from the seals to the trumpets. And in between verses 1 through 5, we are seeing prayer, the prayers of the saints. So, this angel has a sense, a golden sense with incense and the incense that represents this prayer of the saints and he throws the incense into the earth signifying, hey, I am giving rise to a prayer movement and the prayers of the saints are going to ascend before God. So, that's why we mentioned, this is a term that we coined, it's not biblical, but it's like based on this, there's going to be a prayer movement. People are going to be praying to God. What would they be praying? Praying for God's deliverance, praying for God's protection, prayers of repentance turning to God. These are prayers of the saints, people on earth, the saints on earth coming up before the throne of God. So, that means there will be saints on earth, people who are saved after the rapture. There's going to be people saying, it's very obvious. People see everything happening, they're going to turn to God in repentance and their prayers are coming up before the throne of God. But now the judgments have to continue. Then we start off with the trumpet judgments. And each trumpet is telling us something that's going to happen. The first trumpet, first angel sounds and vegetation. One third of earth's vegetation is destroyed. Now when we look at the earth today or the world today, we do have these huge forest fires. We have them happening in North America, South America, we have Australia, different parts of the world where sometimes fires just get out of control and hectares upon hectares upon hectares of land just burn down. But here it's saying one third of the trees and the grass was burned up. This is global. Right now we can't control some of these fires that happen in regions but this is talking about something global. A third of the earth's vegetation is burned up. That's massive. Then there is, verse 8, the waters are affected. Sea is affected. It's a great mountain burning with fire. We don't know for sure but we could imagine this, like a mountain burning with fires, like a picture of a volcano eruption or something like that. But Sir John didn't know about volcanoes so he just sees mountain burning with fire. And that's how he describes it. Maybe he was seeing some volcanic eruption or multiple volcanic eruptions happening or something in that nature that's affecting the sea, the water in the sea, destroying life in the sea, destroying, affecting transportation. But this is in a massive scale because it says a third of the sea. That's huge. So affecting a third of all transportation on sea. It's huge. We read about incidents happening here and there and when there are eruptions, volcanic eruptions happening here and there but this is something on much larger scale. Similarly, we are seeing waters being affected. It's so affected that people cannot drink the water and it's made bitter. That's in verses 10 and 11. And then the fourth trumpet is similar to what we read in chapter 6 about the sun, the moon, the stars being darkened similar to Joel's prophecy. So it's happening a second time. It happened first in one of the seal judgments. It's happening again in one of the trumpet judgments that the sun, the moon is being darkened. And as an angel announcing war to the inhabitants, both things are going to happen. That means, hey, the other three trumpets are going to cause even greater calamity. So that's chapter 8. We're just joining through the first four judgments. Let's go through chapter 9. It's a little longer chapter. A little more details are given but these are the next two judgments, trumpet judgments. So let's read verses 1 to 12, please. Revelation 9 verses 1 to 12. We could read three verses each. The fifth angel's root is trumpet. And I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft, the abyss. When you open the abyss, smoke rose from it, like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the abyss. And out of the smoke, locus came down on the earth and were given power like that of the scorpions of the earth. Okay, it was for somebody? It was for. They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree. Only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. They were not allowed to kill them but only to torture them for five months. And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes. During those days, people who seek death but will not find it, they will long to die but death will elude them. Thank you. Verse 7 onwards, please. The shape of the locus was like horses prepared for battle on their heads were crowned for something like gold and their faces were like the faces of man. They had hair like women's hair and their teeth were like land's teeth and they had brisket like brisket of iron and the sound of their wing was like the sound of chariot with many horses running into battle. And they had tail like scorpion and they were sting in their tail and their power was to hurt man five months. Verse 11 and 12, somebody? And they had... The angel of the bottomless pit whose name was named in Hebrew is Eberdon but in Greek he has a name Apolion. One who is fast behold still two more horses are coming after these things. Thank you. Yeah, we'll stop there. Thank you. Thank you. So this is quite elaborate about the fifth trumpet judgment. So you find a lot of activity happening. So basically an angel opens up this bottomless pit and that's interesting because we read about the bottomless pit but we don't know. There's not too much information given to us about it. So we have the phrase bottomless pit here. We have it there in Revelation 20 when Satan is down for a thousand years he's put away into the bottomless pit. We have reference made to it. We don't know exactly where it is, what it is, so on. But it's a place where God banishes demonic spirits, evil spirits and Satan himself will be thrown there. So this trumpet, fifth trumpet being sounded demonic spirits are being released from the bottomless pit to come upon the earth. Now we see them. It's very interesting because in the early part of chapter nine they are described as locusts and scorpions. So when somebody has dreams about locusts and scorpions you know that these are prophetic pictures of evil spirits, demonic spirits. But then later on in the same chapter nine verses seven through ten John is giving us some more description of these demonic spirits which are very, I'd use the word weird. They're weird because John is writing them as he sees it as it appears to him. And we don't know exactly what it is. He says these locusts, they look like horses they're prepared to battle, they've got crowns like gold they've got faces like men, they've got hair like women they've got teeth like lion's teeth they have breastplates, they're sounders like horses they have tails, you know, so he's seeing something very weird. Now we don't need to try to interpret seven through ten because anything would be just speculation but if we try to put ourselves, okay, John is seeing something and he's describing it in his language. Could they, and again we are just speculating could they represent something known to us on the earth today meaning could these evil spirits that are released from the bottomless pits actually empower some sort of mechanism, machinery known to us today and use that as instruments or vehicles to carry out what they're doing possible, right? So, you know, is John seeing some drones or is John seeing, I mean what we know as drones or is he seeing some, you know, aircraft or whatever we don't know, let's, you know, we could just imagine maybe speculate a bit to make things interesting but just leave it as it is that, okay, we can't interpret what he's doing, he's recorded what he's seen at that time based on it, but what is clear is there are demonic forces that are released on the earth they are led by the demon of the bottomless pits that's verse 11, that means this being the spirit is spearheading this thing and for five months they torment people all over the earth except for those who have been marked by the Holy Spirit this will, the 144,000 Jews obviously are marked or sealed by the Holy Spirit if you want to extend that those who have the seal of God on their forehead so it is not verse 4 of Revelation 9 he's not restricting them to the 144,000 but it's everyone who has the seal of God on their foreheads like I said, the seal of God represents two things represents the Holy Spirit and the name of God so what we can say based on verse 4 is believers in Christ during the tribulation are going to be spared this thing so these demon spirits are going to torment those who don't have the seal of God on them don't have the Holy Spirit and the name of the Lord on their lives going to torment them to the point that people will want to die but they cannot die so what kind of a torment is it? is it physical? seems like it because it says the torment is like when a scorpion strikes a man, that's verse 5 but it could also be mental torture, emotional torture to the point where people want to die but they cannot die and this is going to go on for 5 months on the earth so we can say that it's going to be very, very severe what we could venture to say is it's possible based on verse 7-10 that these demon spirits actually use some sort of thing on earth, missionary, mechanism to carry out their work so they may be because we see this happening in Revelation 16 also that evil spirits work through human agency to carry out their work we'll see it in Revelation 16 so based on that, it's possible that Revelation 9, 7-10 is talking about these spirits that are released from the bottom of the spit using some sort of human agency to really afflict people and cause them harm, torture them like this but it is targeting or it will affect only those who don't have the seal of God that we're not saying don't have the Holy Spirit in the name of God on their lives so we'll pause here, we've made some progress today it comes to Revelation 9, chapter 9 verse 12 we will pick this up next week any questions? I know we're already out of time but any quick questions? Go ahead, say very quick question so we wanted to say that the events we're reading now from chapter 7 is happening in the second half of the Tribulation no, all this is still in the first half of the Tribulation the transition happens in Revelation chapter 11 verse 1 because in Revelation 11 verse 1 it clearly tells us from then on it repeats Revelation chapter 11, chapter 12, chapter 13 on all of these three chapters it tells us very clearly from that point on there is 42 months so till Revelation chapter 11 verse 1 that is till the end of chapter 10 it's on the first half of the Tribulation so we are still in the first half of the Tribulation chapter 11 verse 1 is a midpoint thank you pastor, I'm so very grateful that you're holding us I'm just wondering, one might just argue that the release of the Apparedo of the Antichrist after the church has gone will this aim not be to unite the nations try to give a sense of peace in the first half of the Tribulation so what I'm seeing from all the judgments released it looks like Tribulation really starts from the beginning like it's really going to be serious and then it just gets hotter I was thinking maybe the first half even though yes there might be some form of force on the part of the Antichrist I thought maybe there will just be maybe I'm overthinking it, I don't know I thought maybe this would happen in the second half all these judgments that are happening on the edge right now so good observation but let's differentiate two things let's differentiate political positioning versus calamities happening so the man in Revelation 6.1 the man who comes riding on a white horse it's very intentional the figure, white horse, he comes as a man of peace he has a crown, he has a lot of influence so he's got influence over nations, over kingdoms so it is true he's coming in as a man of peace he signs a covenant of peace, Daniel 9.27 for seven years so his political movements the first three and a half years is one of peace but he is actually a man of war that's why he's actually carrying a bow and arrow Revelation 6.1 but he comes on a white horse meaning his political movements in the first three and a half years is one of peace but while that is happening there are all kinds of calamities judgments being poured out on the earth you will notice none of these things are political all these seals and judgments all these judgments, the seals and the trumpets so far are all environmental, you could say there is war, there's war beginning there in the second horse, the red horse there's war there happening that war could be an outcome of him trying to introduce peace because he is trying to bring peace to the Middle East there are going to be nations who may not like that so there's war there other than that, other than Revelation 6.3 where it's a second horse, the red horse everything else has to do with the environment things happening but when we get into the second part in 11.1 onwards we will see a lot of things getting worse so it's like a mixed bag if you want to say that way he's introducing peace there's a lot of environmental things happening but for the faith there's political movement but for the faith of the people there's a lot of harm happening people are being killed for their faith but things get worse in the second half of the tribulation so in one way, yes what you're saying is right, it's a good observation but I think if we also make note that most of the things we've seen so far are environmental things happening outside in the environment and all of that but there's also the political movement of this man on the white horse who signed a covenant of peace for seven years so it's a mixed thing I'm so sorry again my last follow-up question I wouldn't ask again the other question I just wanted to ask was that I lost my train of thought I lost my train of thought if I remember I'll ask in the next class sorry Pastor not a problem we can pick it up again next week we can discuss further good questions, thank you everyone let's close and pray, I know we're already into a break time but let's close and pray and then we can get to our next class somebody please pray and we will continue this next week Heavenly Father, we thank you for this beautiful session we thank you for revealing your truth to us Father so that we can be prepared for the day of your coming Father and thank you for all the work that you have begun in us, that you have promised you shall finish we thank you for everything that we are learning Father may it glorify your name, be used for the expansion of your kingdom and save many souls we give you glory, honour and praise for who you are and how you're leading us in Jesus' name we ask and pray, amen thank you everyone, we'll have a quick break I'll see you in the other class, God bless bye now