Simple Faith

Guest (Male): Today on Simple Faith we begin a study in Revelation 8. It is not a fun chapter to study, but Pastor Bill Henry is going to remind us today that every word in God's word should be studied. So stay with us.

Great to have you along for this edition of Simple Faith coming your way from Simple Faith Calvary Chapel. Pastor Bill Henry is our teacher and he's currently leading us in a verse-by-verse examination of the last book in the Bible, Revelation. We don't mean to scare anybody, but what begins to happen in Revelation 8 signals the beginning of the end for this world.

Now, of course, as born-again believers in Jesus Christ, we won't be around for the terror and destruction signaled by these trumpets. That's the good news found in an otherwise dark and dreary picture painted for us in this section of Revelation. Here's Pastor Bill Henry in Revelation Chapter 8.

Bill Henry: When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. He who opened the seal, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. So he's been opening the seals one by one. He alone is worthy to open the scroll, and then on the scroll there were seven seals. We've looked at the first six seals, and now as he's opening the seventh seal, we notice something very interesting.

Notice it says as he opened the seventh seal there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. Silence. This is the only time in the whole book of Revelation that the word silence is used. It's 'sigē' in the Greek. It means a hush, a silence, to command silence by making a 'shh' sound even. It was this quiet in heaven.

It's also worth noting that we see that there is time right now at least at this point in heaven. We don't know if it's on the same timetable, but notice that it was silent for about half an hour. Again, it's an interesting thing to note. As this silence comes, my old pastor noted when he was teaching on this, he said basically there's been volumes written on this silence here.

There have been many people who've written what this silence was for. You've got chapters and books about what the silence was. Where God is silent, we're usually best being silent too. We don't know exactly why it was silent, but we do know that it was talked about in the book of Zephaniah. Zephaniah 1:7 it says, "Be silent before the Sovereign Lord for the day of the Lord is near."

Could this be, again, this is just a guess, but it could be that even though we've been in the middle of the wrath of God being poured out upon a world that has rejected God, rejected Jesus Christ his Son? There's been horrific things already, so bad that guys and gals around the world have been going under rocks and into caves and saying, "Fall on us, hide us from the Lamb, the wrath of the Lamb."

That's how bad it's come, but now it's about to get even worse. Perhaps that's the reason there is a hush because most of your commentators believe that this is about the halfway point of the tribulation. This would be around the time when Satan would defile the temple and demand that the whole world worship him as God.

It's interesting as we see this silence and in the midst of it, verse 2, "and I saw the seven angels who stand before God and to them were given seven trumpets." We have seven angels standing before God given trumpets. Trumpets are used all throughout the scriptures to start battles, to celebrate feasts at the beginning of a month or other times. We see trumpets all throughout.

It's interesting in the New Testament the words where we see trumpet used. In 1st Corinthians Chapter 15, and again because it was a communion Sunday, I usually kind of will go a little quicker through the scripture references. They'll be on the television and on the screen behind me for reference for you. 1st Corinthians 15:50 we read this, "Behold I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed. For this corruption must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality."

In 1st Thessalonians Chapter 4 verses 15 through 18 we read this, "For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel and with the trump of God and the dead will rise first." Anybody else excited to hear that trump?

We who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, meet the Lord in the air and we shall be always with the Lord. Therefore, comfort one another with these words. You see when we hear about the other trump, Paul says, "comfort one another with these words." I think we're going to be rejoicing. I know I'll be doing my Irish jig before the Lord just to praise him, just falling down on my face to thank him for his great grace and love.

These trumps that we're about to look at, not so. There's not going to be joy. Notice verse 3, it says, "Then another angel having a golden censer came and stood at the altar." For those of you who aren't used to a liturgical church, a censer basically is an incense burner at the end of a chain. You would open up the censer at the bottom, you'd put some hot coals in there and then put incense as needed on top of that.

He goes on and says in verse 3, 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. We see this golden altar that is before the throne and what's interesting is we read about this golden altar in the Old Testament. I want to read to you from a commentary that I read. He just kind of synergized the whole thing and I want to read this to you.

He said this: "Back in the days when Israel worshipped God in the wilderness with the help of the tabernacle, two altars served separate purposes in Israel's system of worship. In the outer court stood a brass altar which animals were killed and sacrifices were burnt. A much smaller altar stood inside the temple in the holy place in front of the veil of the Holy of Holies."

The priest would take a coal from the brass altar of sacrifice, put it in the incense burner, a censer, with a small bowl attached to a rope or a chain and walk around the outer court into the holy place where he approached the golden altar of incense. Remember we're told in the Bible that the things in the Old Testament represented what we see in heaven and what we will see in heaven.

He would put the coal on that altar and sprinkle incense on it. From that would rise a sweet aroma that pleased God. This provided a graphic picture for the people of how their prayers rose up to God. We see this same picture unveiling before us. And yet here is this angel and he has this censer and look at verse 4, it says, "And the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints ascended before God from the angel's hand."

The incense is mixed with the prayers of the saints. It's interesting to note that we're once again told that the prayers of the saints are like incense unto the Lord where we see them being lifted up. If you remember back in Chapter 5, look at verse 8 with me. Revelation 5 verse 8, he said, "Now when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb, each having a harp and golden bowls full of incense which are the prayers of the saints."

It can be quite odd to think that our prayers are actually tangible things in heaven. Here today we can't touch our prayers, we can't really see them. But in heaven, they're tangible. They can be put into a bowl and burned up and lifted up as incense before God. I guess the question for me is, how many bowls will our prayers fill?

Are you a man or are you a woman of prayer? Or is it that quick, "Oh Lord, now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep, good night Lord, talk to you again in the morning?" Or is it like, "Hey Lord, thanks for this food and not let it land up on my hips or something like that?" Are you a man or a woman of prayer? Do you have time in the prayer closet where you spend time seeking the will of God, seeking to praise God, seeking to be with your God, just as Jesus told us how to pray?

It's a great question for all of us, how many of those bowls will be filled with our prayers? Now, another interesting thing to point is, I believe that some of these prayers were the prayers of those that were opened we saw in the fifth seal when it was opened. If you'll just glance with me back at Chapter 6. Revelation 6 verses 9 and 10 it says, "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 for the testimony which they held."

They cried with a loud voice, "Oh how long, oh Lord, holy and true until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth." As a matter of fact, we are seeing now that very thing. If you look at verse 5 back in our text, you'll see the angel then took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar and threw it to the earth. And there were noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake.

I believe that these are the prayers of the saints and even the judgment of God as it is being thrown down upon the earth filled with fire. Notice as it does so, there's noises and thunderings, lightnings. I believe this will happen all over the world. People all over the world will see this. It just won't be over Portland or over Battle Ground. No, it'll be all over the world and there'll be an earthquake. This is the second time an earthquake is mentioned here in the book of Revelation.

It's not just going to be a localized earthquake somewhere. It's going to shake the whole world. I believe it's meant to get the attention of everyone on the planet. Look at verse 7, "So the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. The first angel sounded and 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."

The Amplified says it this way: "And there was a storm of hail and fire mingled with blood, cast upon the earth. And a third part of the earth was burned up and a third of the trees was burned up and all the green grass was burned up." It's interesting we see the very first thing of the seventh seal, the first trumpet, is basically this hail and fire coming down from heaven, but notice it is mingled with blood.

I do believe that this is probably the blood of the saints that have been martyred as the world again is being judged for what they have done. They have martyred at this point we don't even know countless numbers of saints during the tribulation. As we see this, I just can't even imagine to go outside or to have hail that hits your roof. Our roof would burn if this happened and, as a matter of fact, notice it says a third of the trees were burned up, all the green grass was burned up.

We see this foretold also in Joel Chapter 2 verse 30. It says, "And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood and fire and pillars of smoke." Now, don't know if you remember just a few years ago we had record-breaking heat here in the Portland and Vancouver area. Remember it got up to like 115, 116 degrees? We had forest fires burning all around us. Remember we're in the midst of COVID?

The air quality was actually beyond hazardous here in our area. You could see smoke all over the place if you remember that. That was terrible. It was hard to breathe, my eyes at least were burning all the time. Now imagine a third of all the trees of the planet catching fire from this supernatural act. I believe it's actually going to be like a slice, one-third of the planet, because again I think it's going to be miraculous.

I think these are going to be supernatural things so that when people see them, they're not going to say, "Oh, well all this other stuff is just the result of this earthquake." No, they're going to know that it's God. They're going to know that it's his hand and I think it's going to be this clear slice of the earth is just where it's all going to fall, a third. That's going to affect all the planet. That smoke will cover all the planet. Think about how many people will die just from the smoke alone, but then all the plants that have been destroyed.

Most of your Bible scholars believe the things that we're reading are taking place in the last three and a half years of the tribulation. But we don't know how long in between each thing and how long they last. We've said this before earlier with the seals. We don't know if this is one thing after another in the same day, this all happens boom boom boom. But it's one thing, it might be a few months later, six months later, a year later. The next thing happens again, we're not told how long in between.

How long are the effects going to happen? Trees won't grow back even in two or three years. The grass will. This is not the first time though that something like this has happened, so we can kind of look at the damage that will be done if we look at Exodus Chapter 9. Exodus 9:22, "Then the Lord said to Moses, 'stretch out your hand toward heaven that there may be hail in the land of Egypt on man, on beast, on every herb of the field throughout the land of Egypt.'"

Moses stretched his rod toward heaven and the Lord sent thunder and hail and fire darted to the ground. And the Lord rained hail on the land of Egypt. So there was hail and fire mingled with the hail, so very heavy that there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. And the hail struck throughout the whole land of Egypt, both man and beast, and the hail struck every herb of the field and broke every tree of the field.

That's just the first trumpet guys and gals. That was a glimpse and this trumpet's a lot worse of what's going to happen. Now look at the second trumpet, verse 8 back in our text. "Then the second angel sounded and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea and a third of the sea became blood. And a third of the living creatures in the sea died and a third of the ships were destroyed."

Some of your commentators say, "Hey, this sounds a lot like an atomic bomb." If you've ever seen the video, it almost looks like a great burning fire mountain, doesn't it when you look at it? If John was looking at it, but to be honest, I don't think that's what it is because even then you could blame the Russians or the Chinese or the Americans came up with some new atomic bomb so it's their fault, it's not God. These things are going to happen, they know they're from God.

Devastation we see here. A third, remember a third of the planet, the oxygen that the trees create and the grass, think of that no longer being produced. And now a third of the oceans, check it out, it's like a great mountain 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. This is crazy.

Notice it became blood. It doesn't say like blood. It will become blood. How can God do that? Well, because he's God. That's not a big miracle to me to be real frank with you, but this is what's going to happen. If you know about algae and all the things in the sea, they produce a huge amount of our oxygen that we breathe.

Think of all the food, think of all the stuff that comes from the sea. Notice a third of the living creatures in the sea died and even a third of the ships. What's interesting is a third of the ships. I went to a website and checked out how many ships are on the seas right now today. Commercial ships, you can actually go online, it's kind of interesting. You can see a little map of where all the ships are because they all have to register and things like that.

There's over 90,000 commercial ships on the seas right now. So if this were to happen today, 30,000 of them would be wiped out. Now, that's not counting, by the way, privately owned ships that will be wiped out too. I think this is going to happen again like a slice or something of this area that all of a sudden you're going to have this regular seawater and then it'll turn to blood and they're going to come up right up, I think, to a line.

The reason why is because they're going to see the miracle in it. Why isn't that mixing over here? Because God said it was just going to be a third. But at the same time the devastation, the death, the diseases that will come from all the dead animals in the seas, imagine those countries that have their ocean all of a sudden turns into blood right on their borders. It's just crazy how many will starve to death because of this, how many will die from diseases and stuff that will come even with the dead animals.

Look at the third one, verse 10. "Then 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 and men died from the water because it was made bitter."

A great star fell from heaven. The word star there in the Greek is 'astēr'. This could be an asteroid, it could be a meteor. But what's interesting to me again is it's a miraculous thing that happens. It's not just some random meteor that everybody goes, "Oh, see it's just a random meteor." No, because notice what it strikes. It doesn't cause this huge tsunami, it doesn't cause these earthquakes. It fell on one-third of the rivers and of the springs of water.

The name of the star is Wormwood and the waters became Wormwood. In the Greek, that literally means it's this bitter. Wormwood represents bitterness. It usually, by the way, wouldn't kill people, the bitter water. It was just bitter, hard to drink. But this notice many men died from the water because it was made bitter. It wasn't just bitter, it was poisonous.

Do you see the picture? It will be like burning like a torch. It falls on a third of the rivers and the springs of water. Anybody here get thirsty suddenly? Imagine seriously you go home to get water it's not there, it's bitter because there's a supernatural act. All of a sudden you go to drink your water, all the water that's in rivers and streams, in springs, it's all a third again, a third. Imagine those countries that still have good water. How many people from the countries that have bad water or no water are going to now be fighting to go get that good water? Because remember, you can go without food for a week, two weeks, some of us even longer. But with water, you need two or three days.

Guest (Male): This has been Simple Faith with Pastor Bill Henry from Simple Faith Calvary Chapel in Vancouver, Washington. Today we brought you a message from Pastor Bill's series in Revelation. It's our sincere hope and prayer that you've been blessed by the words you heard from Pastor Bill today. If you'd like to share today's message with someone, it's available at our website to either watch or listen and you can actually download an audio MP3.

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