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.
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