 I'm going to begin here in chapter 8 by just reading the first verse and then laying out a foundation for us and then moving into the chapter. We're going to be looking at the entire chapter today, but I'll begin by just reading verse 1 of chapter 8, give a prolonged introduction, lay a foundation, and then move into the verses. So here in verse 1, chapter 8, John writes, when he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. My own pastor Chuck Smith had said that this is proof that there are no women in heaven, but I'm not sure whether that's true or not. I didn't say it, I'm just repeating it. He got in trouble for that. I don't because I'm just repeating. But anyway, chapter 6 outlined the terrible destruction that will exist during a period of time called the tribulation. The tribulation is a seven-year period of God pouring out His wrath on a Christ-rejecting world. The tribulation is seven years broken into two segments. You have tribulation the first three and a half years, and then Jesus spoke of great tribulation, which would be the final three and a half years. And so chapter 6 outlined the destruction that will exist during this time of the pouring out of the wrath of God. Remember that they were praying to the mountains and rocks, fallen us and save us from the wrath of the Lamb. So that's the tribulation period. And so in chapter 6, Jesus is revealed as breaking the seals of this scroll and initiating this tribulation. The first five seals reveal anti-Christ, false peace, the war and famine, pestilence and disasters. And as we saw as the sixth seal is broken, things are so terrible that people begin to realize it is the day of wrath. Now we looked at chapter 7. Chapter 7 was a parenthesis separating the six seals from the seventh seal. And the chapters supply the answer about who is going to survive the time of God's judgment. And we looked at that and saw that the answer is 144,000 Jewish evangelists who will go through the tribulation and live. There will be those who are martyred but did not experience the wrath of the Lamb. Some will die in earthquakes, some people will die in wars and famines and diseases because those things happen. Others will be martyred but are in heaven from every nation, tribe, people and tongue. And so you have 144,000 who will survive but there are others who will come to faith and cries to will die during that time. And so as we enter into chapter 8, chapter 8 returns to the breaking of the seals, resuming where chapter 6 had concluded. The point out of judgment on earth is now once again being reported. The opening of the seventh seal introduces the second wave of judgment and that second wave of judgment is called the trumpet judgments. So the seventh seal judgment includes the seven trumpet judgments. The seven trumpet judgments leads to what are called the bull judgments. So the judgments of the tribulation period are found written in the scroll with seven seals and the Lamb has taken the scroll from the hand of God because as Scripture told us, He's the only one found worthy to do so. Of the seven seals, six have been opened revealing four horsemen. They've been called the four horsemen of the apocalypse. The word apocalypse simply means revelation. So they've been called the four horses of the apocalypse or the four horses of revelation. And we saw how the first introduced antichrist and the false peace that he will broker. The second horseman rode upon a red horse bringing war and violence. The third rode upon a black horse unleashing terrible famine and financial devastation. We saw that the opening of the fourth seal revealed a horseman on a pale horse. And that horseman brings death through war, famine and pestilence. And I pointed out the Scripture says a quarter of the world's population will die. That's close to two billion people. So the opening of the fifth seal occurs in the middle of the tribulation and it revealed that there would be martyrs during that tribulation. Again, those are the overcomers who are called tribulation saints. And then finally the opening of the sixth seal revealed a great earthquake. And John said, the sun becomes black, the moon becomes as blood. The stars of heaven fall like ripe figs. The sky receded as a scroll. Every mountain and island move. The earth is under such devastation that people begin to cry out that God is judging them. And again in chapter seven to reiterate, the first eight verses revealed 144,000 Jewish evangelists. They survived the seal trumpet and bowl judgments that come upon earth. They survived persecution, wars, famines, natural disasters, diseases and evil. They entered the millennial kingdom alive having been preserved by God. And as we saw last time, verse nine through 17, reveals believers who didn't survive. Some die from earthquakes, wars, famines, disease. Simply die because death does occur. And others are martyred but are in heaven from every nation, tribe, people and tongue. So what we have now is the opening, the opening of the seventh seal. So I says in verse one, when he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. Silence in heaven. When it speaks concerning that, the silence he's referring to would be what we would call an eerie quiet. It's been called the calmness before a storm because heaven is now silent. Now the silence comes after viewing heaven as a place filled with loud, worshipful activity. Remember as we've been going through this since chapter four. We saw in chapter four, verse five, when heaven is being revealed to us, it says, from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings and voices. In chapter four, verse eight, it said, four living creatures, each having six wings were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying, holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty who was and is in his to come. And then he said in verse 11 of chapter four, you are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power for you created all things and by your will they exist and were created. So heaven is filled with noise is the point. And we see something similar in in chapter five, verses eight through 13 with the song of the redeemed as John speaks of the voices of over a hundred million angels, four living creatures, elders singing and praising God for Jesus who they say is worthy of strength, honor, glory and blessing. So activity and noise. We read in chapter seven 11 and verses 11 and 12 that there's loud praise. There's activity in heaven. Heaven is alive, it's thunderous in its praise to God and the lamb who was slain. And now the father, the lamb, the four living creatures, the angels, the church, the martyrs are all silent. Why? Why is it suddenly silent for a half an hour? Well some say perhaps in anticipation for what is about to occur. Judgment is about to fall and it's an even greater judgment than before. So he says in verse one, he opened the seventh seal. There was silence in heaven for about half an hour. So with the opening of the other six scrolls, judgment began immediately in the opening of the seventh scroll, a different response occurs. The redeemed and angelic hosts are reduced to silence at the terrible things that are about to come, 30 minutes of dead silence. It would be eerie. It would be uncomfortable. It would be tension provoking silence. You can imagine everything is so loud. So much thunderous worship, 100 million angels praising God, elders, four living creatures, the redeemed, it's loud, it's filled with activity. And then suddenly it's just silent. Picture this kind of silence for 30 minutes as they're there in anticipation about what is about to take place, 30 minutes of dead silence. It's been called the silence of foreboding. Something bad is going to happen in the Old Testament book of Habakkuk chapter two, verse 20. It says the Lord is in his holy temple, let all the earth be silent before him. In the Old Testament book of Zephaniah chapter one, verse seven, it says be silent in the presence of the Lord God for the day of the Lord is at hand, for the Lord has prepared a sacrifice, he has invited his guests. It's silent in heaven for the space of a half hour. And then verse two, I saw seven angels who stand before God and to them were given seven trumpets. So following the 30 minutes of silence, John now sees something else. He sees the seven angels who stand before God. Now these seven angels spoken of here have been appointed by God to direct the trumpet judgments. And these angels are unnamed, but they are angels of great stature, they're angels of great prominence. And notice in verse two, to them were given seven trumpets. The trumpet signals, and in this case it is signaling judgment. Trumpets were used in Israel's national life for a variety of reasons. All you need to do is read the Old Testament book of Numbers chapter 10 and you'll see that because it speaks concerning the sounding of the trumpets. The sounding of the trumpets occurred at the giving of the law. In the announcing of public feasts, a trumpet would sound as a call for public assemblies and a trumpet was used during battles. They were also used to sound an alarm in the Old Testament book of Joel in chapter two, verses one and two. It says, blow the trumpet in Zion, sound the alarm on my holy hill, that all who live in the land tremble for the day of the Lord is coming. It is close at hand, a day of darkness, a day of gloom, a day of clouds and blackness. Like dawn spreading across the mountains, a large and mighty army comes, such as never was of old, nor ever will be in ages to come. In the book of Jeremiah chapter four, verses 19 through 22, oh my anguish, my anguish, I writhe in pain, oh the agony of my heart, my heart pounds within me. I cannot keep silent for I have heard the sound of the trumpet. I've heard the battle cry, disaster follows disaster. The whole land lies in ruins. In an instant my tents are destroyed, my shelter in a moment. How long must I see the battle standard and hear the sound of the trumpet? My people are fools. They do not know me. They are senseless children. They have no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil. They know not how to do good. The sound of the trumpet, here the trumpet reveals specific judgments that are greater than the previous judgments we've already seen. The trumpet judgments have been called the judgments of thirds and you'll see that in just a moment because in verse three and four it says, 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 and the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints ascended before God from the angels hands. So we see the angel presenting the prayers of the saints and the prayers of the saints are typified or pictured by incense and he offers it upon the golden altar because the golden altar is the place where prayer is offered. The prayers of the suffering and the martyred saints are being offered. Remember in chapter six verses nine and ten, how it said, when he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and the testimony which they held and they cried with a loud voice saying, how long, O Lord, holy and true until you judge an avenger blood on those who dwell on the earth. Well, those prayers are about to be answered. So this altar would be the altar of incense in heaven and in the Old Testament, there's a type of that found in Exodus chapter 30 and in chapter 40, verse five in Exodus, Exodus says, place the gold altar of incense in front of the Ark of the testimony and put the curtain at the entrance of the tabernacle. So this is the altar of incense is a picture of the prayers of the saints. Notice verse four, it says the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints ascended before God. And verse five, the angel took the camper, the censor, rather. He filled it with fire from the altar, threw it to the earth. So the angel throws coals from the altar to earth, resulting in destruction of earth. It says there were noises, thunderings, lightings and earthquake. The seven angels who had the seven trumpets repaired themselves to sound. And so the earth is now reeling. It's reeling with war, with famine, with pestilence, meteors, massive earthquakes and the fire of judgment descends in a greater degree than before. So you have the noises, you have the thunderings, the lightings, you have the earthquake, everything's being described. And that reveals the impact of the prayers. God is answering these prayers as it brings judgment on those who injured his children. Remember what it says in Mark 942, where it says, Jesus said, if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around his neck. So when this happens, the world has already experienced around four years of destruction. You would think that the people would be getting the message, but they refuse to repent. In spite of the preaching of the 144,000, in spite of the destruction of the earth, people are still hardened. Instead of hearing what is being said, they remain hardened in their sin. Some do hear and they repent, but the majority of the world rejects what they're hearing. It's true. People can be so hardened in their sin that they don't even, they're not even aware of what's taking place. When I was in the army, I served in the 82nd Airborne. And part of what I had to do one day is I had to go and drive a truck and pick up these guys who were in a jump exhibition. I'll never forget this. When you jump out of the planes or the helicopters, if you jump out of a plane in the airborne, it's not 30,000 feet above the air. It's in a plane, it's around 12,000, 1,200 feet. And in a helicopter, it's around 1,500 feet. So if you jump out of a helicopter and your shoot doesn't open, you're going to hit the ground in just a few seconds. You're traveling about 100 miles an hour and you're going to hit and that's going to be it for you. And so I was there and I was watching the jump exhibition when one of the people jumped and when he jumped, his shoot didn't open. And it doesn't take more than just a few seconds to hit the ground. And so you actually, you'll stand frozen. I've done that a couple of times. I've seen it a couple of times. You actually stand frozen and you begin to yell, open your shoot. Open your shoot. Deploy your reserve. And this guy's coming down. His shoot had opened, but it was entangled with the rope that we have that's tied to the parachute and the cords. And so it had done what we called it a streamer. And so he's just coming straight down. And as it's coming down, he started to move. And some of the shoot was catching the air, was slowing him down. But if you want to know how hard you hit when your shoot is fully open, just imagine yourself jumping off the roof of your house. Just run and jump from the roof of your house. None of us will do that. I won't do that. I don't even jump off my bed. But to jump off the roof of the house. And that's how it is. Because sometimes you may think, oh, you're just floating and you land like you're on a pillow. That's not how it happens. You're coming two-thirds the speed of gravity when your shoot is completely deployed. You're not coming down slowly. You're coming down in a controlled way because nobody fighting wants to be just kind of floating where people are taking pot shots at you from the ground. And you're only 1,200 to 1,500 feet above the ground. And you don't want to come down real slowly. So you're already coming down fast. First jump I ever took, 14 guys, the first jump, 14 guys broke legs or ankles. You hit hard. You don't hit soft. But when you've got a streamer, when you've got a parachute that's barely catching any of the air, you're coming down almost a full speed. And so we're watching this guy as he's coming down and beginning to yell, you know, pull your reserve, pull your reserve. And he didn't. He just was corkscrewing, it's called corkscrewing. He was just coming down and he hit a tree. He hit the branches. And the branches caught his shoot. And when it caught his shoot, it stopped him. It's like a yo-yo. He hit and went up like that. And he, I was there for this. And so I went up and he was taken off his shoot, swearing using God's name in vain. Just swearing because he was in an exhibition and he didn't like being embarrassed by a bad jump. And I've never forgotten that. That was back in 1971, 72. I have never forgotten that. That guy was this close to dying, this close. He was going to be just, he would have been driven into the ground, they'd have picked up him. The man would have been just, every bone would have been broken. He would have been just devastated. But you know what he's doing? He was swearing because he messed up in the exhibition. So I've, you know, you can go through a bunch of garbage, bad things can happen to you. And you can still be angry at God. You can still make statements at God, curse God. That's what's taking place. They've had four years of destruction and they're still rejecting God, still refusing to repent. In spite of the preaching, in spite of the destruction, they are hard. They're gonna hear and they've heard, there's 144,000 evangelists, but the world continues to reject Christ. And the result is continued judgment on earth. In verse six, it says, the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. The first angel sounded hail and fire followed, mingled with blood, and they were thrown to the earth and a third of the trees were burned up and all the green grass was burned up. So this continuation, the first angel sounds, there's hail, fire, mingled with blood, a third of the trees. That's why it's called the judgment of thirds. A third of the trees are burned up. All the green grass is burned. So this judgment is reminiscent of the judgment God brought on Egypt and Sodom in Exodus in chapter nine, verses 22 through 26. It says, the Lord said to Moses, stretch forth your hand toward heaven, that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt, upon man, upon beast, on every herb of the field, throughout the land of Egypt. Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven. The Lord sent thunder and hail and the fire ran along the ground. The Lord rained hail upon the land of Egypt. There was hail and fire mingled with the hail. Very grievous, such as there was none like it in all the land of Egypt, since it became a nation. And all the hail smote through all the land of Egypt. All that was in the field, both man and beast. Thank you. Thank you so much. I love you. Yeah, my throat for some reason, somebody's prayer is being answered. Shut that man up. Salut. Thank you. I appreciate it. Didn't do me any good, but I was thirsty. In the case of Egypt, God judged their idolatry. In Exodus 12 verse 12, it says, I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and it will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and against all the gods of Egypt, I will execute judgment. I am the Lord. When God brought judgment on Egypt, and you've read about that, or you've watched the movie, The Ten Commandments, so you're aware of it. God was judging the gods of Egypt, the ten plagues that you have in the book of Exodus are actually judgments on each individual God. The Nile God and various other gods were being judged. They had beetle gods and just a variety of them. So you see all of this judgment because every one of the judgments that were brought on them was because they were idolaters. It's because they were judging. He was judging them in their idolatry. That's why he said in Exodus 12, 12, that he was bringing judgment against all the gods of Egypt. Now, so there's judgment associated with this. You also see it in the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah. Now, when we read about Sodom and Gomorrah, I'm aware of the fact that many times what we do is we isolate one particular sin, one particular sin, and we make it seem as if that was the only reason they got judged. I have to tell you, that's not the reason. The only reason Sodom and Gomorrah got judged. The Bible tells us in Ezekiel, if you take notes, you might want to note this. In Ezekiel chapter 16, verses 49 and 50, listen to this. Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom. She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed, unconcerned. They did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty. So these are various sins that were associated. But it goes on to say, and did detestable things before me. Therefore, I did away with them as you have seen. Now I want to point this out again. She and her daughters, there were five cities that were actually judged with Sodom and Gomorrah. There were three other smaller cities. But he speaks concerning their sin. They were arrogant, overfed, unconcerned, did not help the poor and needy. And they were haughty. Five things. And then he says, they did detestable things. The word detestable. One of my commentators said this. The word detestable perhaps refers to that sin which took its name from them. A sin abominable to God and scandalous to human nature. That sin that we know of is from Sodom. And it was homosexual sins. So it wasn't simply homosexuality, it was. But there were other things involved. She was unconcerned, arrogant, overfed. And so that is made more clear if you look into the book of Judean, verse seven. It says, in a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire. And so God brought judgment on these cities in this way, which included the sin of homosexuality. Those sins are still with us today. Billy Graham once said, if God doesn't judge the United States, he's gonna apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah. Because those sins are with us to this day and are actually celebrated. We even have parades that celebrate those sins to this day. Notice in verse seven how it says, hail and fire followed mingled with blood. In Genesis chapter 19, verse 24, it says, the Lord reigned upon Sodom and Gomorrah, brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven. Now, this earthquake that was mentioned in verse five could trigger volcanoes that are spewing lava into the atmosphere. And that could trigger thunderstorms and hail. There is a man who just went home to be with the Lord. His name is Henry Morris. He was a scientist who also wrote Bible commentaries. And Henry Morris said, water vapor blown skyward may contain human and animal blood. It then could become liquid water, water drops contaminated by the blood and fall to earth. This particular judgment destroys all green grass and trees. Again, the judgment of thirds. Food supplies for man and beast are destroyed. The earth becomes a wasteland. And that reminds us of Joel chapter two verse 30 where God said, I'll show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood and fire and pillars of smoke. So the earth, and we have to picture this if we can. I mean, we see sometimes these reports on the news and you see a fire devastating California or you see a tsunami that has overtaken islands. And it's still something hard for us because I haven't been in a tsunami. I've seen the results. We went to minister in areas that have been devastated by tsunami. We saw how high the water had gone. We saw the homes that had been removed and we had seen pictures of what was taking place. As it took place and all, but I've never really seen that. I've seen the devastation of fires in California for some reason. We've recently been having a lot of fires and also we see the devastation, but not every one of us has ever actually been part of that and seen that firsthand. So we have to imagine how horrible this would be as it's falling upon the earth. All of these judgments are coming. Food supplies are being destroyed. The earth is becoming a wasteland. Like it says again in Joel 2.30, I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The earth is really under judgment. We already saw in chapter six, verses seven and eight, war, hunger, violent deaths and famine. We know that a quarter of the earth population is already dead, but famine now escalates. The skies are polluted by ash. What we have is ecology in chaos. I mean, with our fires not that long ago, you go out to your car in the morning, or you drive to work and you come out after your shift is done and your car can be covered with ash that happened here. And so that's taking place there on the face of the earth. And so this is coming and it's coming in very terrible judgment. Verse eight says, the second angel sounded, something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea became blood and a third of the living creatures in the sea died and a third of the ships were destroyed. That's so hard to believe. It's hard to even picture. You see the first judgment fell upon land, but the second falls upon the seas. We know that seas are a blessing. They provide food and oxygen, rain for the world, but that is now coming into judgment. One third of sea life, he says, is destroyed. One third of sea life destroyed is a number that we can't count. I was reading on this, the seas have 230,000 species that are identified, but scientists estimate the total of species in the sea is over a million species. And there's all of these animals that are dying because of the pollution and everything. One third of the sea life is destroyed. Notice in verse eight, he said, something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea. And there are those who say that this is possibly an asteroid. It could be a great meteor that hits the earth. Scientists have stated that an asteroid one kilometer in circumference could do more damage than an all-out nuclear exchange. Again, this judgment is similar to one against Egypt when the water was turned into blood. Notice in verse nine, a third of the ships are destroyed. One third of the ships of the world will capsize. Ports are going to be overwhelmed. Tsunami-type waves will hit. Commerce and transportation will come to a standstill. This would include the Mediterranean Sea. The Mediterranean Sea is the permanent home of the US-6 naval fleet, as well as being filled with Soviet vessels and ships from other countries. The Mediterranean is covered with naval vessels, crews, merchant and fishing ships. And so these are going to be devastated. Some believe that the picture we have here could be a description of a nuclear exchange. In verse 10, 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 water. The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became Wormwood. Many men died from the water because it was made bitter. Now Jesus spoke of this in Luke 21-11. There will be great earthquakes in various places, famines, pestilence, there will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven. Notice a third of the rivers and springs are affected. Again, some say this great star could be a meteorite. It's associated with a meteor or a comet because it has a fiery tail. So I was wondering about this about meteors hitting the earth and the largest proven crater of a meteor is the Beringer crater discovered in 1891 near Canyon Diablo, Winslow, Arizona. It is 4,150 feet in diameter and is now about 575 feet deep with a parapet rising 130 to 155 feet above the surrounding plane. It has been estimated that an iron nickel mass with a diameter of 200 to 260 feet and weighing about 2.24 million tons gouged this crater. So meteors have hit and they've done tremendous damage. So what we have here is a picture of debris polluting fresh water around the world. Again, it's a judgment reminiscent of the plagues on Egypt. Notice verse 11, the name of the star is wormwood and the third of the waters become wormwood. Now, wormwood. Wormwood is a Greek word, absinthus, absinthus. And the leaves of this particular, I don't even know what it would be called, herb, we'll call it an herb. They're used to make absinth. Some of you know what absinth is. I don't know what it is, so I had to look it up. Absinth is so poisonous that some countries have banned its manufacture and sale. Absinth is a liqueur that people drink and they're crazy. And then they eat a puffer fish, I guess, afterwards. But this is descriptive of something poisonous. The word wormwood is used eight times in the Old Testament, but three of the times are in connection to poisoned water. So this star, this star called wormwood in verse 11 represents bitterness and sorrow. And Jeremiah 9, 13 through 15, it says, the Lord said, because they forsake in my law, which I set before them and have not obeyed my voice, nor walked according to it, but they have walked according to the dictates of their own hearts and after the bails, which their fathers taught them, therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, behold, I will feed them this people with wormwood and give them water of gall to drink. You see, this is so fantastic when I go through it. I tell myself, you have to sow down, just let it impact me as I'm reading this. They refused something that was offered them. All the way back in the gospel of John, and Jesus was speaking, and it was the day of a particular feast, the great day of the feast. And Jesus had stood up and Jesus had said, if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. And thus he spoke of the Holy Spirit, which the Lord had yet to give. So Jesus offered people to quench their spiritual thirst. When you read your Bible, he had offered them what he called living water. When Jesus was speaking to a woman at the well of Samaria, and she came walking up to the well and all she is about to draw some water, he said, if you drink up this water, you'll thirst again. But if you drink up the water that I shall give you, it is gonna rise up within you like a spring of living water, fresh and vital. When you go to Israel and your guide is speaking to you, your guide will tell you what living water is. Because he asks us, and he'll ask you, should you ever go with us if you've never been. And the question will be asked, do you know what living water is? If I say that to us as a church and you haven't been to Israel, a lot of times we'll say, well, wait a minute, Jesus said, living water is a type of the Holy Spirit and you'd be theologically correct. But when you go to Israel and they talk to you about what living water is, it might surprise you. Because our guide will say, do you know what living water is? My mind immediately, the first time I heard that goes to Jesus' words in John 7, 37 through 39 or Jesus' words in John chapter four. So my mind goes there naturally and then your guide will say something that almost deflates you for a minute, but then it makes sense. He said, living water is drinkable water. That's what it is. He said, it's water that you can drink. Now me, I'm thinking, oh, living water is the Holy Spirit. Yes, it's a symbol of that. But without water, we die. And so he says, the Jew understands what water is and the need for it because they live in a very arid place, a very dry place. I don't know if you've never been to Israel. I don't know what you think Israel looks like, but it's very, there's a lot of desert. And you don't wanna go to Israel from June to September. You really don't want to, why? Because it's hot. It's really hot. We did it one time. We did it for our teachers. And that taught me never to go back at that time because our teachers wanted to go to Israel. And so we had some who went with us, but it is so hot. It is blistering hot. Even in the coast, when you go up north into Tel Aviv, you would think, because it's a coast city, you would think that it's gonna be cool, but it's not. It'll be 104, 108, 110 degrees. And you go out into the wilderness and it's hotter than that. And so you start understanding your Bible a little bit more when it speaks of the scorching east wind and various things like that. And you say, now I understand. Now I know what he meant by that. Well, living water is water that you can drink. It's water that you can take up and live. And that's why Jesus said, he'd give you living water. Why? Because you're in a drought, because spiritually you're dry. Because you don't have this water within you because you're not alive, because you're slowly but surely dehydrating to death. And that's why I said, I will give you living water and it's gonna be abundant and it's gonna be so great. It's gonna spring out in life in you. The Jews who were hearing that would understand that. The American Christians, we really don't. Some of us can if we live in arid places. If you live in a desert, you can understand that. You can say, oh yeah, during the summer, I don't wanna go out. If you live in Phoenix, Arizona, I don't wanna go out. It's 112, 116, dry heat, it's burning me up. And so I dehydrate. Well, what it is is the Lord was offering living water and they didn't want it, that people wouldn't take it. How do you get this living water? You believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. You open your heart to Him and you receive His message and it gives you this living water. But instead of wanting living water, they prefer wormwood. Wormwood is bitter and it doesn't satisfy your thirst and actually ultimately it kills you and many will die. You see, we need water. The average person will die between three and five days. Within three to five days. The average person will die if you don't drink. Three to five days. You can go 40 days without eating, but you can't go more than just a few days without water. And yet people are going without water. And now Jesus says that, John says that the water is made into bitterness because that's what they have in their lives, bitterness. In verse 12, he says, then the fourth angel sounded and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, a third of the stars, so that a third of them were darkened. A third of the day did not shine and likewise the night. And I looked and I heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven saying with a loud voice, whoa, whoa, whoa, your boat gently. No, whoa. Just see if you're listening. Whoa, whoa, whoa, to the inhabitants of the earth because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound. Whoa, whoa, whoa, triple whoa is a heightened expression of sorrow that is about to come upon you. Judgment has struck the earth, the seas, the rivers. And now notice how it says a third of the sun was struck and now it actually strikes the heavens. There's a reduction of light. It is now no longer as bright as it has been. This may be what is called a partial eclipse. Once again, it reminds us of the plague of darkness that came upon Egypt in Exodus chapter 10 because in that passage, God had caused a thick darkness to fall on Egypt for three days. Again, Jesus had prophesied this in Luke 21, 25 and 26. He said, there will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. And this darkness that occurs is associated with the day of the Lord. In Joel chapter two verse 31, the sun shall be turned into darkness, the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. Isaiah 13, nine and 10, behold the day of the Lord comes, cruel with both wrath and fierce anger to lay the land desolate and he will destroy its sinners from it. For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light. The sun will be darkened in its going forth and the moon will not cause its light to shine. Darkness, darkness begins to overwhelm the land. And as this is taken place in verse 13, he says, I looked, I heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven saying with a loud voice, woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet, trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound. He's saying, you haven't seen anything yet. You haven't seen how terrible it's going to be. These woe, woe, woe, these three woes represent the last three trumpet judgment. He's simply saying judgment is really just beginning, but it's going to get much worse. Peter said in second Peter chapter three verses 11 through 15, since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed it's coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with this promise, we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness. So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation. Bear in mind, the Lord's patience means salvation. Aren't you glad that the Lord didn't judge you and will say take your life the first time you sinned, but that God has been merciful to you? Some of us lived long lives before you came to Christ. You were an old sinner. Some of us were raised in Christian homes and so our testimony might be like, yeah, I was really a bad kid. I toilet-papered the neighbor's house one time and then did I feel terrible for weeks? I mean, that may be your testimony. I had a woman on staff that that was the worst thing she'd ever done. She was embarrassed about it. Yeah, I toilet-papered my neighbor's house. I still feel bad. Now you're gonna be kidding me. But I almost burned down my neighbor's house. So I actually really did. Anyway, so I was 20 when I came to faith in Christ at the age of 20. I had already lived a pretty hard life in sin and it's going in a worse direction. But I am so grateful that God reached down, grabbed hold of my life and changed it. I'm so grateful that he changed me. He gave me that living water. He transformed me. And so when I got saved, I started going to Calvary Chapel there in Costa Mesa under Pastor Chuck Smith and a young man named Lonnie Frisbee who was what I would call here as the youth minister. And I sat under that ministry until I went into the army. And I can't tell you how grateful I am that God reached down and touched me at the age of 20. You may have been younger, you may have been older. But at a certain point God reached down and he touched you and God had patience with you. You have probably had close calls where you almost died. You should have died. We were on the freeway. My wife and I were driving just the other day and we're driving from Los Angeles and we're going towards Norwalk on the five freeway. Some of you are familiar with that area. We're coming out of LA. We're going straight towards Norwalk and going to pass through Norwalk. And as I was going through on the five, I began to remember that when I was 18 years old, 17 years old, 17, my friend Nick was driving. We had a 65 Mustang. Nick was driving. I was the passenger. My friend Bill and my other friend Jim were in the back seat. And as we were driving, suddenly the car was lifted. We felt the car go up and shot from the slow lane across two lanes to the fast lane and shot back into the slow lane. We got hit from behind by four guys who had been drinking and they hit us at 100 miles an hour, lifted the car, lifted this Mustang, it was a Mustang fastback, lifted it in the air. He hit us so hard it caused the car to go into the air and hit. I went flying against the windshield. I hit the windshield and came down. We hit so hard that I actually, I don't know if I went out or not, but I opened my eyes. I was underneath the footwell, under the dashboard. It hit me so hard it knocked me down underneath the dashboard. My glasses had fallen off and I started saying, I'm blind, I'm blind. I didn't know my glasses were off. So my friend Bill hands me my glasses. Shut up, David, you're okay. You're not blind. We should have died. When we pulled over, that car pulled over too, we saw them throwing bottles, they're bottles from their beer. They had been drinking, they were drunk. They hit us. We should have died. We should have died on the side of the road. Should have died, but we didn't. God was gracious. How many times were you almost killed? Doing something stupid. Doing something, there used to be this, I don't even want to tell you what it is because it's still out, but there was a particular thing that people were using to inhale so that they could have hallucinations. I almost died from sniffing that. I almost died because it turns out it destroys your lungs and you can do it instantly. I didn't know that. And there I am. I've done so many things like that as a kid. Should have died so many times. So many times. I was being pushed by some guys. I had a Volkswagen and I was so drunk I had broken the shifter out of the transmission in fourth gear because I was just, I was really drunk. So these three guys loaded on red. Second all, Lily F-40s, for those of you who know, downers, they pulled up behind me. I didn't know them. They said, you need some help? I said, yeah, why not? They pushed me so fast. I got to the intersection of Pioneer Boulevard and Imperial Highway and then they stopped and like a sling shot, I went shooting through the intersection. I couldn't stop and I hit a pole. I could have hit the car that was in front behind that pole, but I didn't. I hit the pole on the side. I should have died, but I didn't. I can go on and on and on. How gracious God has been. How about you? What crazy things could you have died from? Overdoses, driving drunk, accidents, and yet you didn't. Why? Because God had a plan for your life because God gave you another chance because God said here, I'm gonna save you. And I love the Lord for that. I love the Lord for that, but these people are not. They are hardening their hearts, no matter what happens. How can you do that? It's beyond me. You see all of this has taken place already so many have died. So many have died. So many crazy things are happening. People say, oh, I don't believe that's gonna happen. No, it is. It is. It is. God doesn't lie. His word never returns void. It accomplishes its purpose. This is gonna happen. And that's why, one of the reasons why I got saved. And that's one of the reasons why the first thing I did was leading my family to Christ because I didn't wanna go to heaven without them. This is what set the fire under me. 50 years ago, this next Sunday, when I celebrate my 50th anniversary of coming to faith in Christ, that's what set the fire in my soul. That God was gracious to me. God preserved me and I want others to be saved too. And so this is what's taking place, guys. And I mean, this isn't a happy book by any means, not at this point. It gets happier later. But at this point, we're just seeing God pouring more and more and more judgment. And we're seeing the world and the world does this hardening and hardening itself against the grace of God and even the wrath of the Lamb, they are rejecting Him. And they don't realize that the Lord's patience means salvation. They could come to faith in Christ, but they don't.