Are You Looking for Warning Signs From God?

 

Today as we enter a new chapter into the study of the Book of Revelation, we are going to see how technology plays an important role in what will be happening as God uses two witnesses to preach not only His message of repentance, grace, and mercy but also as a last warning of sorts to those still living in a Christ-rejecting world. We know that this prophecy was written more than 2000 years ago and the Bible assumes that the world would have the technology available so that they would be able to see what is happening around the world, without anyone having to be in Jerusalem to witness what is happening to these two men. We know with satellite television, the internet and smart phones, this is a very real possibility and as it advances, it will only make this even more real when it happens.

If you had someone in your life that you truly cared about, wouldn't you want to warn them that danger is coming? This is just what God's plan is in these final moments of the Tribulation period. His grace, love and mercy are so evident that He is giving us these final opportunities to come to know Him, as it was never His intention that anyone should be separated from Him. It will be our own choice to make the decision. God doesn't force Himself on anyone. He wants everyone to make that decision on their own.

If you have been following this study, you may remember that when we got to chapter 10:1 all the way to chapter 11:14, we are in what is called a parenthetical insert or pause in the action of what has been happening to give us more insight into what is happening at this time in John's teaching through what he is seeing during this 7-year period of the Tribulation on earth. It's like the camera stops for a moment and then pans back to John and zooms in on him, the apostle who has been given this vision of the future. We remember that as John was attempting to write down what the voices of the seven thunders had spoken, he was told to stop.

He wasn't allowed to tell us what those voices said, because it is something so bad that is reserved only for those living on the earth at that time. They are specifically reserved for the last days only. No one knows what that is. We are only going to get through the first six verses today, because this is one of the most complex portions of scripture in the Old and New Testament combined, so I don't want you to miss anything. Scholars throughout the ages have said, this is difficult stuff.

Revelation 11:1-6 ~ "I was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, "Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count the worshipers there. But exclude the outer court; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will trample on the holy city for 42 months. And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1, 260 days, clothed in sackcloth." These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. If anyone tries to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. This is how anyone who wants to harm them must die. These men have power to shut up the sky so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want."

The one thing, I want you to remember is that if you are reading this, you have an opportunity not to witness this event live. If you are a believer, you will be spared from the judgment of God and will be in heaven when all this happens on the earth for a full 7 years. The Bible clearly teaches us that the church will be removed from the earth before these things happen. In every generation throughout the ages, God has always maintained a witness to His great plan. The Lord God is everlasting and His Book, the Bible, is eternal.

Isaiah 55:8-11 ~ "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are you ways my ways, " declares the LORD. "As the heavens are higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. As the rain and snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seeds for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth; it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it."

God's Word always maintains a witness, even the Dark Ages, and we know that there are things done in the name of Christianity to which we can be ashamed of. We don't even have to go to the Dark Ages to find things like that. There are those that kill doctors who perform abortions because they believe they are justified in doing so because killing babies is wrong, which it is, but so is killing the doctor under the premise that because you are a Christian, you are justified to do so. That is terrorism. Yes abortion is wrong, but we are instructed not do those things, like blowing up clinics or murdering the staff that work there. That is the definition of insane. People will say that they did it in the "name of Jesus" or that "God told me to do it." God judges! God issues vengeance, not us. Many things are done in the name of Christianity, that is frankly embarrassing. We think about those Dark Ages where in the name of Christ, military operations were conducted and people were destroyed by the name or in the name of Jesus.

Even in those Dark Ages, from 1200's to early 1400's before the Great Reformation period, even when these horrible things were happening, God had a faithful witness. God is faithful to give a witness at all times.

Matthew 5:16-18 ~ "In the same way, let your light sine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished."

Not one little Hebrew comma, or exclamation point or hyphen of that language will pass, Jesus said, until all these things are fulfilled because God has established His witness. You, as a Christian, are a witness of Christ. There is no doubt that the Bible is God's witness to mankind! It is without error in its original language. It is perfect and He has preserved it through the ages. The Bible is in direct harmony with all that God has done. God is the Designer and Creator of all creation and we can say that creation is a witness to mankind an undeniable and great witness. Perfect creation! The scientific evidence of creation is also an undeniable witness because everything in the observable universe demands an intelligent designer.  Good theology and good science should never contradict one another. God has given us a perfect witness in His creation.

Psalm 19:1-4 ~ "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the works of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun."

We are missing this these days. We need to get out more and chill out. Get outside. Sit back in the desert where it is pitch black and stare at the skies. It just begs to have a conversation when you look at how beautiful it truly is. The greatest witness to God however is Jesus Christ.

Revelation 1:5 ~ "and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood."

John 1:1-4 ~ "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him, nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men." 

1 John 1:1-2 ~ "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched - this we proclaim concerning the Rod of life. The life appeared; we have see it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father has appeared to us."

That is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is God's faithful witness. In the context of the book of Revelation, not only do we have the unveiling of Jesus Christ in the coming Last Days but it is the witness that Christ gave unto the world. That witness is that time will conclude. Civilization will cease as we know it. All of this will not continue on indefinitely. The Bible says so. God has given us signs that we are approaching those tremendous days where it will all come to an end. God's final witness is a final and specific warning of events.

Revelation 11:1-2 ~ "I was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, "Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count the worshipers there. But exclude the outer court; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will trample on the holy city for 42 months."

Let's not make a big deal out of this measuring rod, it's really not the point or the issue. This rod or the word that was used was the rod that was found in the Jordan River Valley between Galilee, the Sea of Galilee as the Jordan River flows out of the Sea of Galilee down to the Dead Sea, and as it approaches the Dead Sea there is this area or region of reeds. Some of these reeds were used during the days of Ezekiel, Zechariah, Jeremiah, the prophets. These reeds were hollow on the inside, they were very firm and very light. Ezekiel was given a rod that measured about 9 feet high, and he was told in his vision to measure the temple. John is told the same thing. So this rod is a measuring rod that they used in construction. Guys back in those days would have used a measuring rod and a plume line in construction. Men use lasers or plume lines today to measure the uprightness of something. The measuring rods we used today bear such names like Stanley, and when we measure something out, we press a button and the measuring rod coils back up. John would use this as a staff and was used to lay it out and measure things with it.

John's given instruction by the angel to measure three things. (1) the temple of God, (2) the altar, and (3) the worshipers there. In this chapter, a warning is being given to those that God loves. Just like you would do for someone you love or even like that danger is coming. You wouldn't just keep that information to yourself. Something is coming that is detrimental to them. Something is coming. What you do with that warning however is up to you.

We are all responsible to how we respond to the warning of God. Are you going to heed the warning or are you simply going to choose not to believe it? Jesus is the only way for you to find your way to Heaven and relying on Him otherwise you will simply miss out.

No Human Has The Authority To Judge!

It makes you wonder why so many people will LOVE the Antichrist. It begs to ask the question why? He will come at a time in the world when there seems to be a complete bankruptcy in leadership among the nations of the world. He arises when the nations of the world are in financial peril and who are crying for peace and he will have all the answers according to the Bible. He won't just promise answers, he will have them. He will be a political whiz and for 3 and 1/2 years, he is going to look fantastic! This will be the first half of the Tribulation Period, but midway through the seven year Tribulation Period, all his false pretense will begin to be revealed to who he really is to the world.

As we continue into our study of Revelation, chapter 9, we can look at this as simply being a precursor to hell itself. There is a time in the Tribulation that is yet coming, guaranteed by God as a time of judgment that will last 7 years. The first 3 1/2 years is a form of judgment that catches people off guard. Judgment sent by God via a demonic deception, signs, miracles and wonders, peace brought about upon the earth, a peace treaty brought upon Israel for the first time. The Bible also says it will be a time of incredible wealth and prosperity. Ever Christian knows about the Antichrist. The world will not know him as the Antichrist. He will be an incredibly powerful, demonically possessed politician who will implement an economic world system, bring pseudo peace to the world, and the world will love him and will throw their dedication to him. This man is the Antichrist or instead of Christ, impostor Christ, he is Satan's son in a horrible, unholy trinity. You have the first 3 1/2 years, deception, prosperity and world peace. The last half is terrible demonic infestations upon the earth.

I don't believe that man will actually see these demonic entities that are coming upon the earth, I believe that God gave John the spiritual insight to see these things so he could write about them to us in the Book of Revelation. That would just make things worse to the people dwelling on the earth at that time, who have rejected Christ, they won't see these entities but will be inflicted by them, and now as we read this morning 1/3 of the earth will perish at their attacks, but mathematically it brings us from the beginning of the Tribulation to now, half of the world's population will be dead by the elements of judgment during the Tribulation period. 

Who wants to read a message like this? This is the reason many churches, pastors and the like don't even bother with the teaching of the Book of Revelation. But God put it there for a reason for us to read it, understand it and share with others what awaits the world when they reject Christ. It will not be a happy place to be. If you are a Christian this morning, Revelation 9, will not be your fate. You will NOT see these events. If you're not a Christian, you'd better be careful and become a Christian today. Here is one of the reasons why. Every day you keep getting older and you keep saying "No" to accepting Jesus. Everytime you say "No" while God is watching, you begin to pour concrete. Every day you say "NO" that concrete begins to set, until you've reached an age and had so many opportunities to say "Yes" to Christ but you continue to say "No" to Him. Now you are standing in cement that is so hard, because you have rejected Him for so long, that now the preaching of the gospel makes you angry. makes you mad and you won't repent. We will see what happens to those who continue to reject Jesus for too long in our study today.

Revelation 9:13-21 ~ "The sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I hard a voice coming from the horns of the golden altar that is before God. It said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, "Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates." And the four angels who had been kept ready for this very hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind. The number of the mounted troops was two hundred million. I heard their number. The horse and riders I saw in my vision looked like this: Their breastplates were fiery red, dark blue, and yellow as sulfur. The heads of the horses resembled the heads of lions, and out of their mouths came fire, smoke and sulfur. A third of mankind was killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke and sulfur that came out of their mouths. The power of the horses was in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails were like snakes, having heads with which they inflict injury. The rest of mankind that were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood - idols that cannot see or hear or walk. Nor did their repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts." 

When hell is unleashed upon the earth, we see there is a demand for judgment. You might not like it but it is holy and it is right. We have a hard time with it because man manipulates judgment and he creates his own form of judgment, but judgment is God's divine prerogative. Judgment comes from the hand of God. God exercises judgment. It is His right.

We see that the fifth, sixth and seventh angels are the worse because they deal with spiritual entities that are being released upon the earth. We can say, "that person has judged me or that church has judged me, and quite frankly no human has been given the authority to judge, according to the biblical definition. You need to understand that. We do have a judicial system in this land, established from the Bible by our founding fathers, based on the Word of God. That is why Scripture often says that judges in the Old Testament will name them gods with a little "g." They sit in judgment over people in the place of God. They are not God, they act in the place of God as judges. As believers, when we say we are Christians, we place ourselves in a category in which our lives must be evaluated.

It goes this way, if someone says that they are an Atheist, what do expect from them? Nothing. We can't expect anything out of them. If you tell your kid he is an animal, that he is a by-product of the evolutionary process. It is wrong for you to lay upon him a morality. What's wrong with you? Are you trying to impose an ethic upon an animal. You don't tell your dog to sit in the corner and then tell him, "It's wrong for you to do that. You lied to me. Wagging your tail all the while eating my cookies! You don't expect that out of a dog because he is an animal. If the evolutionary theory is right, and we are all just animals, you can't tell someone what is right and what is wrong.

The truth is that we are not products of an evolutionary process, the truth is that God has revealed to all mankind, that He is holy and He is Judge. You and I look at one another and evaluate each other based on our belief systems, atheist, evolutionist, and we don't expect anything out of them except animalistic practices. But when someone says,  "I believe in God," you put yourself in a category where I do now expect things out of your life. Why? Because you have put your title out there as one who knows God. Now you have an identity. The truth is now, I can evaluate my life and I can evaluate yours. We inspect the fruit of one another's lives. And so we should. That is acceptable.

But we should never judge one another as the Bible says. Why? Because the word "judge" means to condemn. You and I do not have the authority or ability to judge anyone with condemnation. You know what that means condemnation? If someone is on their way to hell by virtue of their belief and practice, we can not say to them , "You are going to hell!" We can say to them, "If you continue like this, according to the Bible, if you die like this, you will wind up in hell!" They can't say to you, 'Stop judging me!'  "I'm not judging you, this Word is judging you. And the Word says that if you die in your sins, then you will inherit hell. That is what the Bible says!" That is a very important thing to keep in mind.

God is the Judge and it is His Divine Prerogative.

Revelation 9:13 ~ "The sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I heard a voice coming from the horns of the golden altar that is before God."

Do you remember where this is at? That is in heaven, before the throne, do you remember the souls under the altar, remember they are the Tribulation saints who have died for their faith in God in the preceding 3 1/2 years?  Those are the souls that are under the altar, but a voice comes out of the altar. What is this voice? It is none other than answered prayer from Jesus Christ, Himself.

John 5:22 ~ "For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son." 

Revelation 6:9-11 ~ "When he opened the firth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. They called out in a loud voice, "How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?" Then each of them was give a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was complete."

These souls are crying out from under the altar, how long Lord before you judge the earth? There is a response, that judgment will come to the earth, your brothers and sisters that are still upon the earth, believing in Christ, during the Tribulation period, they must also die as you have died. Here are white robes of righteousness, wait just a little while longer.

Revelation 8:3 ~ "Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of the saints, on the golden altar before the throne."

We now already know what that altar is all about. Now comes a voice from the golden altar and that voice has instruction.

Psalm 2:2-7 ~ "The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the LORD and against his Anointed One. "Let us break their chains,"they say, "And throw off their fetters." The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the LORD Scoffs at them. Then he rebukes them in anger and terrifies them in his wrath saying, "I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill." I will proclaim the decree of the LORD: He said to me, "You are my Son, today I have become your Father."

Can you imagine governmental leaders setting themselves against God? Who would do that? They gather together in a little huddle from hell thinking about ways to overthrown God. Let's get away from God and remove Him from our society. Kinda of like Nimrod who built the tower of Babel thinking he would reach heaven to talk to God. God's going to laugh at their plans. When people draw lines to battle against God, don't panic Christian! In the end, the LORD gets the last laugh!

The ACLU can remove the Ten Commandments out of a courtroom in America. They have aligned themselves against God. God says, "Don't worry, I'll have the last laugh!" It's not American. It's not Civil. There are no liberties, they are taking them away and it's not even a union. They are crazy. They will come after you if you stand for God! It's normal. But remember that God will have His last laugh. Do not take counsel against God.

Psalm 9:7-8 ~ "The LORD reigns forever; he has established his throne for judgment. He will judge the world in righteousness; he will govern the peoples with justice."

God's judgment against those who oppose Him will be worse than anything you could have ever imagined. The Book of Revelation encompasses Old and New Testament and you read about so many descriptions of God's wrath and when you read about God's wrath in the Bible you need to check the context. Many times it will be speaking about the Tribulation period or what the Bible calls the time of Jacob's trouble or Israel's trouble. This is the wrath of God being poured out upon the earth against a Christ rejecting world.

Here are the parameters and the players: (1) Those that make up the Christ rejecting world, the Antichrist and all those that join rank with him. (2) The Tribulation Saints, the believers we read about in the Book of Revelation, who die for their faith in Jesus. (3) There are those who are of the house of Israel, the Jewish people. The Bible says that there will be a remnant of the Jewish people saved. Those are the three groups of people during that time. Without God's mercy for the nation of Israel, and even for the death of the believer, the Tribulation saint, God's mercy will be upon them. There is no mercy for a Christ rejecting world. They receive the wrath of God.

I can give you a million reasons why you should accept Jesus right now, one of them is because He is God. He is awesome. He is holy. He is your Creator. You'd probably expect me to say, "You might want to accept Him so you don't go to hell, or receive His wrath, of course." But the number one reason you should accept Jesus is He is God and He loves you. He is Creator and His attributes are fantastic! He is omnipotent. He is omniscient. He is omnipresent. It's the goodness of God that leads a man to repentance. God is that good! If it takes the wrath of God, that's the hard route. Better to give your heart to Christ today, and get ready to meet Jesus at any time.