A Daily Walk

Guest (Male): Some find the truths contained in Revelation hard to swallow, but Pastor John Randall has this to say.

John Randall: It's no wonder that people want to look at Revelation and say, "That's not true. That's a metaphor. One-third doesn't mean one-third. It's not what you think it is." Why do you want to dismiss it? Because it's the truth. And if it's true, then that affects the way that I live right now. Listen, either this is true or it isn't. Either God is who He says He is, and either what God says is going to happen is going to happen, or it isn't. That's for you to decide.

But if you look back in history in the past, and you see prophecy after prophecy fulfilled, and now even more prophecy being fulfilled, you better take a listen to what God says before it's too late. This is serious business.

Guest (Male): Well, you've no doubt heard the expression, "If you want to stop digging the hole that you're in, put down the shovel." It sounds so simple, and yet when it comes to life, why is it so hard for so many?

Pastor John Randall continues today in the Book of Revelation here on A Daily Walk. In Chapter 9, we hear of the future judgments coming to this earth, and despite all the torment the people experience, they still won't change. They won't put the shovel down. There's a lesson there for us. Let's go now to Pastor John to see what that is.

John Randall: The fact is we love our sin more than we love God oftentimes. And we're in bondage and we don't know how to get out. I want you to know this morning that Jesus Christ has the power to deliver you from the bondage of sin. But you have to turn to Him and repent of your sin. And before our time is over, I'm going to give you an opportunity to do just that this morning. But you have to turn from sin.

The Apostle John goes on now to attempt to describe what he saw. And the description, folks, it is frightening, like a sci-fi film. But this is not CGI. This is real. Look at what he says in Verse 7: "The shape of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle. On their heads were crowns of something like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men. They had hair like women's hair, and their teeth were like lions' teeth. And they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots with many horses running into battle.

They had tails like scorpions, and there were stings in their tails. Their power was to hurt men for five months. And they had a king over them, the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, but in Greek he has the name Apollyon. One woe is past. Behold, still two more woes are coming after these things."

Listen, John is translated into the future and he's seeing something he's never seen before. That's why 11 times he said it was like. It reminded me of. It was reminiscent of this. He's trying to describe what he saw in these demonic hordes. First of all, he describes their shape. It says they were like horses ready for battle. When you read and you think of a horse that's prepared for battle, what you envision is raw power ready to move and trample whatever it encounters within the battlefield.

He describes their head. He says their heads were like they had crowns of gold. The word for crown is actually a victor's crown, that these hordes move forward. They are unstoppable. Mankind won't be able to fight against them or to resist them. There's no weapon of warfare that can withstand their attack. He said their faces, well, they were like faces of men, but they were actual... they kind of looked like insects, but not exactly. He's trying to describe what he's seeing here.

They had human-like features. They had hair like women's hair. And then he said their teeth. I remember their teeth. They were like lions' teeth. Lions have three types of teeth, by the way, used for gripping and tearing. Did you know a lion can open up his jaws 28 centimeters wide, which gives them one of the largest bites in the animal kingdom? These guys had teeth. And their breastplates, they were like iron. That is, they were unstoppable. Their armor was impenetrable. And their tails were like scorpions.

Folks, the bottom line is that these creatures, when they are let go out of the bottomless pit that is currently closed and restrained, when they arrive, they are both deadly and frightening. And John says they follow a leader. They have a leader. He's the angel of the bottomless pit. He's called Apollyon. Apollyon means destroyer. Some suggest this is the devil himself, while others say it's one of the high-ranking demonic spirits. Regardless of who he is, we know that this is true nature and character of Satan unmasked.

He has one desire, folks, and that's to destroy men's lives. And that's the desire of the devil. One job, one goal, to destroy mankind. To keep as many people out of heaven as possible and take as many people to hell with him as he can. That's his goal. That's his desire. And that's why Jesus came to be the Savior from the destroyer. That's why Jesus came and died on a cross for your sin and rose again on the third day so that you could be delivered from what's coming.

But notice this: the devil, the prince of the power of the air, disguises his intentions. He promises people prosperity and blessing. But now his true intentions are seen. He's seen for what he is. And what the scriptures reveal is that in addition to the natural plagues of the first four trumpets, men will be subject now to supernatural torments of demonic spirits. The first two woes have passed. Behold, two more are still to come. This fearful torment inflicted by the locusts out of the pit of the abyss, it's only the first of three great judgments.

And then comes the sixth trumpet that sounds. And it says the sixth angel sounded. And I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, saying to the sixth angel who has the trumpet, "Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates." As the sixth angel sounds, the sixth trumpet, John hears a command given from the four horns of the golden altar there in heaven. The golden altar is that altar of incense that we read about in Revelation Chapter 8.

And the command is given to release four angels who are bound at the River Euphrates. Four angels. More than likely, again, in the context, these are evil demonic spirits. Not holy angels, but unholy. And these particular four have been bound there for some specific time and specific mission of judgment. And now they are released and all the destructive forces of hell... it's like all hell breaks loose during this time.

You think it's bad now. You look around and you see things that concern you. You look on the television and you see violence in the streets, or you see bombs going off in other countries. But listen, none of that compares to what's about to be unleashed during the Great Tribulation period coming on the earth. They're bound there, these four angels at the Euphrates River. And the location of these four angels, bound where judgment centers in the Middle East. Interesting.

It doesn't come as a shock to us today when we see what's going on in the Middle East at the present time, that out of that area will come these demonic spirits. And the River Euphrates that flows 1,700 miles through the heart of the Middle East. Both the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers actually originate in modern-day Turkey. The Euphrates snakes its way through Syria, flows straight through the center of Iraq, and connects to the Tigris before emptying into the Persian Gulf.

Out of that place will come these four demonic spirits out of the Euphrates River. It's interesting, folks, when you go back and you read through the Old Testament, in Genesis Chapter 2, for example, the Euphrates was one of the four rivers into which the river that flowed out of the Garden of Eden divided, the Bible tells us in Genesis Chapter 2. It was near the Euphrates that sin began. The first lie was told. The first murder was committed. The Tower of Babel was built right near the Euphrates.

The Euphrates was the eastern boundary of the Promised Land. It was Israel's influence that extended to the Euphrates during the reigns of King David and Solomon. Along the region near the Euphrates was the central location of the three world powers that oppressed Israel: Assyria, Babylon, and the Medo-Persian Empire. This place is significant. It's the river over which the enemies of God will cross to engage in the Battle of Armageddon, the Bible tells us in Revelation Chapter 16.

These four angels, Verse 15, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, are released to kill a third of mankind. The mission of these angels who had been prepared for this specific moment of judgment is to wipe out a third of mankind. Now, already noted in past studies, the first part of the Tribulation period, a large amount, 25% of the population perishes by the hand of the fourth horseman of the apocalypse.

And now John records as the Tribulation continues that another third of humanity perishes, which by today's numbers would be estimated around 2 billion people. It's hard to imagine that. Our minds can't conceive it, but the Bible warns concerning it. God in His grace, folks, God in His grace has restrained the darkest forces of hell and evil. And why? Because the Bible tells us He's long-suffering.

The Bible says in 2 Peter Chapter 3, Verse 9, that God is not slack concerning His promise as some men count slackness, but God is long-suffering, not willing that any should perish. He has withheld it. He has restrained it. But there's coming a day when all restraints will be taken away and the powers of hell who have been held at bay, preserved by the influence of the Holy Spirit through the Church and through God Himself, will be removed.

And men will experience what evil and the consequences of evil is really like. The judgment depicted here in Revelation that brings death to one-third of the earth's population is one of the most devastating mentioned anywhere in Revelation prior to the second coming of Jesus Christ. It's no wonder that people want to look at Revelation and say, "That's not true. That's a metaphor. One-third doesn't mean one-third. It's not what you think it is." Why do you want to dismiss it? Because it's the truth.

And if it's true, then that affects the way that I live right now. Listen, either this is true or it isn't. Either God is who He says He is, and either what God says is going to happen is going to happen, or it isn't. That's for you to decide. But if you look back in history in the past, and you see prophecy after prophecy fulfilled, and now even more prophecy being fulfilled, you better take a listen to what God says before it's too late. This is serious business. This is serious.

Listen, you can come here and I can give you some fluffy message about, oh man, God wants to make your life better in every way. Your best life today. Listen, your best life is not here. Your best life is up there. That's when your best life starts. Don't buy into the lies of soft-peddling preachers that say nothing of the truth and keep people in the dark. God's going to hold them accountable for what they say, and more importantly, what they don't say. What they fail to say. What they fail to tell people concerning the truth of what's coming.

John gives us now, as we conclude, a specific number of the army that was assembled and the devastation they bring. It says here, "Now the number of the army of horsemen was 200 million, and I heard the number of them. And thus I saw the horses in the vision. And those who sat on them had breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow. And the heads of the horses were like the heads of lions. And out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and brimstone.

And by these three plagues, a third of mankind was killed, by the fire and smoke and the brimstone which came out of their mouths. For their power is in their mouth and in their tails. And their tails are like serpents having heads with them they do harm." What is John describing here? We don't know. It could be all-out warfare. There are differing opinions on whether or not this army that's assembled is demonic or it's human.

There are some that suggest, and you can read it, that the rise of the army of the East there in China, that they will be able to have this many men ready for battle. Their armies are growing increasingly all the time. The one army that still rides on horses to this day. Interesting. Others feel that what is being described here is a demonic army. Regardless of what it is, it's an army that has destruction, and I don't want to be around when they begin to unleash their power as they assemble.

One man by the name of J.B. Phillips said it this way. He said, "Picture what the world would be like if we were to open the doors of all the penitentiaries on the earth and set free the world's most vicious and violent criminals, giving them full reign to practice their infamies upon mankind. Imagine that." And then he says, "Something worse than that lies in store for the world, as Satan is cast out of heaven and is now permitted to summon to his aid the most hellish terrors in the abyss to act as his agents in bringing mankind to the footstool of the beast." End quote.

Today in the news we see the effects of natural disaster or terrorist attack or violence in the street. But again, all of these things pale in comparison to what will unfold during the Tribulation period and the judgment that follows. But this is what's most shocking to me as we conclude: more than the demonic armies as frightening as they are attacking the earth and the evil unleashed, what's most concerning to me, listen, is the unrepentant response of mankind.

It says here in Verse 20, "But the rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts." Did not repent. In light of all of this, what God allows and how the world is impacted, there were still people that will not repent.

Although they know it's coming from God, they choose to sin even with the consequences of it. Man hardens his heart against the judgments of God. It was the Apostle Paul that said, "Don't you realize that it's the goodness of God that brings you to repentance?" But their idolatry will continue. Men won't stop worshiping their false idols. Murder will continue. A proliferation of bloodshed during this time.

Sorceries. The word here is pharmakeia. It speaks of their drug use and their witchcraft that goes right along with it. Immorality. The word is porneia where we get our English word pornography. It'll continue, fornication, immorality. It still continues even in light of the judgment coming. Thefts and crimes unpunishable during this time. The trumpets are sounding and people are not responding. And you know something? There are people like that today.

There are things happening all around us. Evidence of the signs of the times. And because of the hardness of heart and the love of sin, men won't turn to God. They turn from Him. They harden their heart toward Him. Friend, that is why the Bible says if you can hear the voice of the Lord today, do not harden your heart. Repent of your sin. Turn to God. It means to turn away from your sin. What does it mean to repent?

To repent means first of all a recognition of a need that I have. I am a sinner. I have sinned against God. I am guilty. You say, "I've never sinned against God. Have you ever broken the Ten Commandments?" I haven't. Well, you just did. You lied. We've all sinned. We've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. There's none righteous, no not one. All of us are in the same place. We're all sinners in need of a Savior and that's why Jesus came.

If you could get to heaven any other way than through Jesus Christ, then Jesus died on the cross in vain. He had to come so that we could be saved. But first of all, repentance starts with a recognition of a need that I have to be right with God. But secondly, there is a desire for repentance. I have to desire to repent. I have a need. True Christian repentance involves a heartfelt conviction of my sin, a contrition over the offense to God, and then turning away from a sinful way of life.

You know, there's a lot of people today, even in the church, that say they believe in God but again, they live like He doesn't exist. They'll be here today and they'll go right back to sinning right after this is over. They'll go right back and hang out with their boys or their girls wherever they're at, in the bar later on, throwing them back, getting wasted. Some will go back to the bed of fornication right after this service is over and not realize how serious this actually is.

That's not repentance. It's not just, "Man, I blew it. Oh well, I'm going to go back and continue." No, it's a turning away from that. It's recognizing my need and then turning to God and living for Him. It doesn't mean that I don't fail or that I don't fall short, but it means that now I have the power to choose not to sin where before I was in bondage to sin. That's what repentance is.

It's not saying, "God, I feel bad about what I'm doing," and then going back like I never had the conversation with God. It's turning from it. And the great news is the moment we turn to the Lord, He gives us the power that we have to overcome what we could never overcome. And I'm so thankful for that because like many of us here today, I was a slave of sin. Past tense. Was. But I'm no longer a slave because whom the Son sets free is free indeed.

And maybe you've been in bondage to sin. Maybe you've been living a lie. Maybe you just go through the motions. Maybe you've got everybody faked out except God because He sees and He knows. He knows who you are. He knows what you're about. And He loves you. And He wants to change you and transform you, but you've got to turn to Him. Friends, as we conclude these trumpet judgments, these trumpets are going to sound one after another after another, and what will follow is devastating.

But there is another trumpet. I mentioned it last week and I'm going to mention it again. There's another trumpet. And this is the one that you want to hear. In 1 Thessalonians Chapter 4, it says for the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God. And the dead will rise first, dead in Christ rise first, and we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and thus we shall always be with the Lord.

Therefore, comfort one another with these words. So I ask you again this week in light of the trumpets that will sound, which trumpet will you hear? Can I encourage you? You want to hear the first one. You want to hear the first one. And when that first one sounds, boom, we're gone. We're out of here. Are you ready for that trumpet to sound? I am. But it's possible that there may be one or a few who are not ready.

Listen, God has told us these things in advance because He loves us. He warns us because He loves us. He's telling you the truth. And so if you're not saved, or you're not walking with the Lord, or you're pretending and you want to get right with God and you truly want to repent of sin and be delivered from the bondage of it, listen friend, there's no better time than today to be saved.

Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And in a moment, I'm going to ask you with nobody moving around, nobody driving away, if you are not a Christian and you have not yet given your life to Jesus, or you need to get right with Jesus, that as the band comes up, they're going to lead us in a song, I'm going to ask you to get up out of your seat and come and stand below this platform and do business with God.

Respond to His love. Allow Him to change your life. You know, you'll never regret it, but I'll tell you this: you'll regret it if you continue to live the way you're living. Today is the day of salvation. God loves you. He died for you. He rose again from the dead and offers you salvation. Will you turn to Him today? I pray that you will. Will you pray with me now?

Heavenly Father, we thank you this morning. Lord, these are heavy things. Radical things, Lord, that You've told us in advance. Not to frighten us, but to warn us. To make us aware of what is to come so that we might turn to You and be saved from this generation, Lord, from these things that are coming. Lord, You made a way. You are the way.

And God, I pray right now in the name of Jesus that Your Spirit would bring conviction on those that need to be convicted so that they might turn to You and find Your love and Your grace and Your forgiveness and Your mercy, no matter what they've done, no matter what they've been involved in. Lord, today is the day to be forgiven, to be made whole, to have your guilt taken away. Lord, please do it now.

As the invitation is given, stir the hearts of people who are on the fence, who are about to make decisions that could affect them for the rest of their lives. Or this is the most important decision right here and right now. And we ask this in Jesus' name, Amen.

Guest (Male): It is exciting to think that the Lord could sound the trumpet anytime and gather His church before the Tribulation occurs. You want to be ready for it, and you can be through faith in Jesus Christ. You're listening to A Daily Walk with Pastor John Randall and part of our through-the-Bible study. Hear A Daily Walk online at adailywalk.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hey, have you seen Pastor John's A Daily Walk devotional? We post the daily devos at adailywalk.org. So, grab your Bible, watch these encouraging daily devotionals. They're short enough to watch as you're getting ready in the morning or on your lunch break.

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We'd love to hear your thoughts of our through-the-Bible study. Has it been helpful to your daily walk? Would you like to see us continue on this station? Let us know where you listen and what you're learning as you go through the Bible with John. Include your prayer requests as well. Contact us there at the website, adailywalk.org. Everyone loves a good mystery, at least so we're told. Next time on A Daily Walk, we give you three mysteries to consider contained in Revelation 10.