The Horrors of Gods Judgment

By Lin Brown Bible Text: Preached on: Revelation 14:8; 16:9 Sunday, September 12, 2010

Grace Particular Baptist Church 5725 Imperial Lakes Blvd Mulberry, FL 33860 Website: Online Sermons: www.graceparticularbaptist.org www.sermonaudio.com/graceparticular

This morning we come to the core passages of the judgment of God. We come to many terrible scenes. For the judgment of God is not something that is to be slightly viewed and he would not have it to be... he would take great pains to show steps to horrors and the finality of his judgment. I want us to look, first of all in Ephesians chapter six. In Ephesians chapter six I want to read from the Amplified version not because the King James is not sufficient, but this is a little more picturesque. Ephesians chapter six and verse 12. For we are not wrestling with flesh and blood contending only with physical opponents, but against the despotisms, against the powers, against the master spirits who are] the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spirit forces of wickedness in the supernatural sphere.1 Revelation is about that. Everything in Revelation is about that supernatural sphere. The atmosphere that goes on around us, the unseen world that is here in front of us, Revelation is about that world. The world does not see the judgment of God. It does not understand the judgment of God. It doesnt understand that when slight judgment comes, when partial judgment comes that God is speaking and speaking in a way that man needs to repent and turn from his wickedness. But the world does not hear that voice. You and I as the children of God see judgment in a tsunami, see judgment in a volcano eruption, see judgment in a earthquake, see judgment in a 9/11, see judgment in 70 AD in Jerusalem, see these things that God speaks to our spirit that this is me doing what I am capable of doing and the world sees it not. And the world understands it not. And it is not for the world except to destroy the institutions that we strive against day and night as children of God.

Ephesians 6:12 (Amplified Bible) Page 1 of 1

As we look at this I was thinking about this book, Gods Terrible Voice in the City by Thomas Vincent. It was written in the 1600s because he died in 1678. It is about the great fire in London, a great fire that engulfed the city. You and I have had visions this week of fire that destroys over in California, in Colorado. We know of this time of the year when the winds sweep across the plains and sweep the fires into great fury and burns great acreage. We fear it for our state. We have seen it come upon our state. But, again, this is God. This is his creation. I was sitting there looking out the window and I was looking at the creation. I was looking at all these trees around us. What holds these trees up? What keeps these trees from falling on this building and crushing all of us? What keeps the ground from upheaving? What keeps the water in its boundaries? When we go to the ocean I always think about that, that God has parted the bounds of habitation, meaning he has bound men in by the oceans of the world and when he wants those oceans to come into mans realm, they come into mans realm. They destroy mans buildings. They destroy mans life. They destroy the things that man has made. He has only but to do that. And over and over we see as these things take place starting in verse eight of chapter 14 of Revelation. And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.2 As we look at this and we hear these voices ring out from the throne of God, we are stricken by the fact that God is not silent and oh how man think he is. God is silent and, therefore, he is no God. God is silent and, therefore, he is powerless. God is silent and, therefore, we dont have to worry about him.

Revelation 14:8-12. Page 2 of 2

My wife was reminding me of those verses that tell us in the Bible, For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.3 Today we live in a time that the world thinks it has peace and thinks it is run by the UN peace keeping forces. We live in a country that thinks it has peace as our troops come back from Iraq. We live in a society that thinks it has peace as our cities grow greater and greater. We live in a community that thinks it has peace because the crime rate is down. Well, when they shall peace and safety, then Gods voice of judgment and Gods purpose of judgment and Gods acts of judgment come upon those who say they have that peace and safety. It is not for the people of God. It never is. There is no judgment for the people of God. Over and over we see the people of God being instructed how to be saved from judgment, to repent and turn from their wicked ways. If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.4 Over and over he will heal the Goshens in which the people of God live in. He will heal their land. He will heal their domain. He will heal their homes. He will heal their churches. But over and over we see people who dont repent. We see people who call for the rocks and the hills to fall on them. We see people who call for the technology of man to save them. Over and over we see the world turning to its own devices to deliver itself from the judgments of God. Have we not heard it since 9/11? We will rebuild. We will rise again out of the ashes. And over and over when a town is destroyed by an earthquake or a community is stricken by fire, We will rebuild. We will come back. We will overcome. And that is why in Revelation judgment reoccur and judgments come again and again. And that is why some think in Revelation they are the same judgments. But as I studied this week I realized they are not the same judgments. They are the judgments on the same thing intensifying more and more and more. What is next on Gods time table of judgment is yet to be seen. What God will do to his creation that is in rebellion against him is yet to be seen.
3 4

1 Thessalonians 5:3. 2 Chronicles 7:14. Page 3 of 3

One of the things that as a Dispensationalist I always took great heart in was when an earthquake in a new place was discovered, you know. We have earthquakes in California, well, that is natural. But one in Tennessee or North Georgia, that is certainly not the status quo of things. And so it must be the end. If you dont listen to an earthquake across the ocean, the next one may be in your backyard. That is the message of Revelation. God will bring judgment closer and closer and closer so you dont ignore it. And I am not talking to the people of God here. I am talking to this wicked, evil world who goes day in and day out thinking that God doesnt do anything. God doesnt do anything. Indeed, I am sure you cringe as I do every time I listen to a weather report and they talk about mother nature and evil weather. Weather is not evil. Weather is in the hands of God. The forces of nature are not forces of nature. They are the forces of God. It is his creation. That is another thing that Revelation would have us to understand. This is Gods creation. He created everything that is and it is his providence that moves everything in its course, moves the planets in their course, move the stars in the sky, moves the sun rising and falling, moving the moon as it moves in its course, moving the earth on its axis. It is God who upholds all things according to Colossians. And all things consist, not only the chairs that you sit in, but your very flesh consists by God, by his absolute providential order of things in his course. As we look at this we must be stricken by the fact that it says, Babylon is fallen.5 Babylon is a picture of mans cities, of man in community, of man in society, of man gathered together against God, because you know what happened at the original Babylon. They tried to build the tower of Babel. They tried to unite. They tried to join forces against God and get up to heaven and God would have no one get to heaven except by the Lord Jesus Christ and him raising him up. As we look at this we are stricken by the fact that it is those who take the mark of the beast who have all of this poured out called the wrath of God. The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation.6 This is what God would have us to understand by these chapters. He is not tolerant of the evil and the rebellion and the wickedness of man. He is storing up wrath for the day of wrath. He is storing up indignation for the outpouring of it upon man when he so desires to bring it. It is not some time for the future. Get that out of your mind. This is not some future coming that is just an end in itself. This recurs over and over in societies and over and over in the family of man. Wherever he is, whether he is in the Fiji Islands or
5 6

Revelation 14:8. Revelation 14:10. Page 4 of 4

whether he is in New York City. Wherever he is when he joins together in ignoring and rebelling against God these things come upon him periodically, from time to time and will come upon him finally. And that is what we are to gain in our understanding of Babylon is that God judges the community of man. We have this ridiculous statement made that a village makes the child. In other words, the community of man will mold the character of the child to be good because the community is good. But the community is wicked and it molds the character of every child to be wicked without the intervention of the grace of almighty God in Christ Jesus. As we look at this we also are impressed upon by the fact that cities have their unique evil. I first ran into this idea in a book by a man called Eric Sower who was talking about the intense evil within great cities. Well, you know them. You see them every day. We are not ignorant of them. We see them on TV. We see the inner city crime. We see the vice. We see the ludeness and the filthiness. We can even see the express filthiness of the streets. We can see the express filthiness that is within cities that is uniquely evil and I wouldnt live in one if you paid me to live in one of great numbers. I have been to New York City. I have been to Bombay, India. I have seen these great metropolises that breed their own source of evil. Babylon would have us to understand that. And that fallen state of Babylon will be depicted for us later on Revelation as the becoming the den of every wickedness and evil and seething cancer that there can be upon the creation. God uses all facets of his creation to revolt against man, whether it be sharks in the sea, whether it be bears in the woods, whether it be snakes, whether it be alligators. Over and over we are hearing about gators killing people and bears attacking people. And over and over we must see as the children of God, God uses his creation to destroy what he will destroy in man. Now believe that to be a very sobering case when we regard his creation and us as the guardians of it. The environmentalists tell us we must do all we can to take care of them. Well, we know the environmental program in Florida has caused a great problem with alligators. For a while they were thought to be extinct and nobody could kill them and nobody could hunt them and nobody could do this to them. And so they grew and they are very prolific in our state today. We know the environmentalists have told us that we are to save the planet, but this is Gods creation and he will do with it what he will do with it. He will move it as he will so move it. There is not a thing in creation that doesnt move according to Gods providence, nothing. Whether it is the snake that crawls on the ground or the bird that flies in the air, whatever it is, it moves by the providential design of almighty God to move it so. Where it goes, what it does, whatever its life here upon this earth is moved by the breath of God. That is how great and mighty our God is and that is what revelation would have us understand. I am the great powerful God.

Page 5 of 5

To that church in the first century it was a message that, you know, Imperial Rome is a great city. You can go there and see its glorious splendor, but it is nothing to me. I can destroy it when I want to. Babylon can fall whenever I want it to. Rome can fall whenever I want it to. New York can fall whenever I want it to. Jerusalem can fall whenever I want it to. Over and over and over again you and I must take a sober look at history. Prophecy is not history, dear ones. Prophecy is a matter of faith. But history is history and it attests to the fact that God has moved in the time and space continuum of mans existence to speak. And his people have heard him. Just as Vincent wrote in this book, God speaks many ways. He speaks by his preachers. He speaks by providential care. He speaks by his creation. He speaks by disasters. He speaks by destruction. He speaks all these ways. And man, natural man never hears him. Do you think I am just saying that? It says, But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.7 How do you know that a tornado that sweeps down and devastates a community is the power of God and the judgment of God and the hand of God? By faith, because you have faith to know that God created everything and everything is in his power and everything is under control. As we look at this, let us go on. The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb.8 That last part of verse 10 is talking about hell. And I want to say a little bit about hell, for hell is not a place that man goes voluntarily. Hell is not a place that man goes willingly. Hell is not a place that man says, I want to go there. But every man in his godless life, every man in his unrighteous life says, I want to reserve a place in hell. And this fire and brimstone is in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. They behold hell all the time as Gods judgment, Gods judicial place of judgment for all the wicked of this world. When they look at a Roman emperor in the first century who was abusing his power and killing people right and left and committing homosexual acts and doing all kind of wickedness before them, they knew hell is reserved for such a one, that Gods judgment will fall on the wicked.

7 8

1 Corinthians 2:14. Revelation 14:10. Page 6 of 6

When you and I look out upon the wicked and evil people of this world, upon the lying politicians and those that would abuse their powers when they get into power, we know there is a judgment for them in the end. Why does God feel that as being necessary? Why is it necessary there is a hell? Because God is a just and righteous and holy God. And Jesus is a just and righteous and holy Savior. He is not just a good, compassionate, loving Lamb of God. He is the Lion of the tribe of Judah. He is the great wrath of God poured on those who are not his children. If I not come they would not have had judgment, but I have come and now is the prince of this world judged. So over and over in Revelation we will see the progression of Gods judgment, starting in the community of man. But remember what the Amplified said? Spiritual powers, demonic forces, the judgment of God will spread from the community of man to the evil powers that are behind it, to the demonic forces that are unseen in this atmosphere, to the principalities and the powers of the air and, ultimately, it will come to rest on the great one who energizes it all, Satan. And we will see that progression as we go through the rest of Revelation. We will see it first falling upon the creation and the community of man. Then we will see it falling upon the demonic forces. The creation and the community of man are judged. The demonic forces are judged and Satan only is left. And he is suffered to go on for a little while and then he, too, is thrown into the lake of fire. And the ultimate end is heaven, the great sea of tranquility and hell, the great lake of fire as hell is swallowed up in the lake of fire and becomes all there is of the lake of fire. This is the picture that we have in Revelation. This is the vivid imagery that God would have put forth to us of his power, his magnitude, his sovereignty, his judgment, his displeasure against all of those who would ignore and who would rebel against his Son. For he has made all grace, all mercy, all love, all compassion as we heard in the last sermon, all faith and all mercy to subsist and to rest in his Son alone and to be outside of him is to be in this situation that we have right before us, the judgment of God. Verse 11. And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.9 I dont preach to you, the Bible doesnt present to you, the true preachers of the Word of God dont tell you that hell is time locked, that it is going to happen and then it will end. It is eternal, dear ones. The fires of hell burn eternally.
9

Revelation 14:11. Page 7 of 7

And to suffer and to enjoy and to fellowship in the beasts kingdom is to inherit that place. You and I live with people who are in that state. We live around them. We work around them. We live in neighborhoods of them. We shop in stores with them. Sometimes we talk to them. Sometimes they talk to us. But this is their state continuously, because they live in the kingdom of the beast and worship and serve under his mark. [?] only more, more and more I preach on Revelation and the more and more I pass these false churches and the people that flock to them. We dont pass any other sovereign grace churches on the way here or any other people that believe in the absolute sovereignty of almighty God in all things. And every one of those houses fill up every Sunday. The parking lots fill up. The people flock. They now have separate turning lanes to get into them. And the world flocks to these places. They dont escape either. There is a great judgment coming for them and we will see that in Revelation. As God brings down the community of man, he has special regard to the religion of man. And he will exemplify that in later chapters in Revelation. So what we have here is a general overall view of judgment. God said, I am going to judge it all. I am going to judge those who take the mark of the beast, and by that he means those who do so pleasure wise of the things of the world and religious wise of idolatry. Fear is the patience of the saints. It takes patience for us to live in such a world as this, a fallen world, a world that is doing everything it can to ignore God and many things it can to attack God. You and I have all seen, I know, the thing that took place with this pastor up in north Florida and his desire to burn the holy book of the Islamic faith, the Koran. And what a great outcry has come against him and has come against anybody that would do such a horrible thing. It has been a great detriment to those who would preach the truth if it were possible. If they could get to us they would persecute us. So they turn their attention to him and they say all manner of evil against his faith and his belief and his church. But notice. Notice that they are also turning against God because they are turning in favor of a false religion against a professing true religion. Again, this country sends away its day of grace and it sins against the voice of God. It invites more judgment. And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write...10 And, oh, how blessed this Scripture is.
10

Revelation 14:13. Page 8 of 8

Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.11 There is no retirement for Christians in this life. You know, you cant decide, Well, I have been a Christian today. I wont be tomorrow. There is no forgetting it and laying it behind. But, dear ones, there is a time that we are going to quit this world. And we will die in the Lord. And what a blessed state that is. We have got all of those who are of the kingdom of the beast and taking his mark and enjoying this life, dying and burning in the fires of hell eternally. But those who are called in the Lord are spoken of as blessed and they will rest from their labors. There will be no more striving to keep the faith. There will be no more striving to be true to the Lord and loving the Lord God supremely with all our heart and soul and mind and body and strength. There will be no more desires for the grace and mercy of God to get us through another day. We will rest. We will rest from our labors and our works will follow on us. That is finality. Today we rest in Christ, dont we? Today we quit striving and we rest in Christ, but we must do that every day. And we must do that all time and this time it will be done perfectly. And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man.12 Well, we know who this is, dont we? We know who we are to understand by this, one, like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.13 Here is Christ seated upon a cloud with a crown on his head and a sickle in his hand. What on earth does a crown and a sickle have to do with each other? Certainly we must surely understand and must surely see the clear imagery of this sovereignty in judgment. And that is what God would have us to understand, that the sickle is his instrument of judgment and the sovereignty is his crown to bring it about. Is it Gods right to judge? Man says, No, no, we have been good. We have done great things. We have good intentions at best. If we havent done good things, we meant to do them. But God says, It is my right to judge. It is my right to bring destruction. I want to read a few things here as this book begins.

11 12

Ibid. Revelation 14:14. 13 Ibid. Page 9 of 9

Psalm 65, the fifth verse. By terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us.14 Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?15 The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord GOD hath spoken, who can but prophesy?16 Amos three, verses six and eight. Shall there be evil or destruction in the city and the Lord hath not done it? Shall we look upon that and say, No, the Lord didnt do that? How many of us were greatly encouraged after 9/11? I mean, hours after 9/11? Maybe a day after 9/11 when people were saying, Well, this has come upon us because we are so evil and wicked. And preachers were saying that. And then, all of a sudden it stopped. And there came the voices from the background. God wouldnt do anything like this. God had nothing to do with this. God wouldnt move Islamic men to jump on a plane and crash into the twin towers. No, he wouldnt do that. And then that voice got louder and louder and everybody said, Oh, no, he didnt do 9/11. No, you know, that wasnt of God. Even when the great tsunami hit overseas some people said, This is God. Some pagan priests even said, This is God. And pretty soon it was nothing. Oh, mother nature did this. This was atmospheric conditions coming together that caused it. The sickle is in the hand of almighty God. But, more specifically, the sickle is in the hand of Christ. Christ sits as Savior of the world but as the one who will bring judgment when God designs for it be brought. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.17

14 15

Psalm 65:5. Amos 3:6. 16 Amos 3:8. 17 Revelation 14:15. Page 10 of 10

When does judgment come? It will not come a minute, a second, before it is time for the sickle to be put in. You who farm know you dont reap your harvest until it is time. You dont go out and pick green fruit. You wait for it to ripen. God is like that. That is why you are like that. You are like God in that aspect. In a very real sense agriculture reflects Gods providential care of his creation. He said it did. I am the husbandman. I am the farmer. I am the one who controls the crops. And when he is ready to reap them, when he is ready to cut them off at the plant, he will do so. And Christ holds the sickle in his hand and his hold from the throne. Remember, the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit are all one in their purposes. So there is not something that is controlling Christ beyond himself and his Father and his Holy Spirit. So this angel comes forth and says: For the harvest of the earth is ripe. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped. And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.18 And lest you think this was a harvest to go to heaven, then these verses come. Cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.19 The great winepress of the wrath of God, what imagery, what things are before us. God is not just indiscriminately mad about things. He has a container that stores the great grapes that are the imagery of his wrath for being pressed down by that wrath. God is not a passive creator, sustainer, not a passive Savior, not a passive judge. He is an active judge, Creator, sustainer and Savior. And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.20

18 19

Revelation 14:15-19. Revelation 14:19. 20 Revelation 14:20. Page 11 of 11

About this imagery God would have us to know that his judgment is universal, it is vast and it is deep. A thousand furlongs and up to the horses bridles. It is not a shallow judgment. It is not a partial judgment. It is a universal judgment that is to come when mans cities, communities begin to fall. Going on to chapter 15. And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God. And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest. And after that I looked, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened.21 What a marvelous chapter we have before us. You say, Marvelous? It is only eight verses long. But it is full of the peace and tranquility and blessing and mercy upon the people of God. You and I as the children of Godhaving gone through that great tirade of wrath and anger being poured out and there is more to come. We are not finished with itare enjoined here to come away from that. I dont get peace in knowing that the creation and the community of man is going to be judged in great wrath of almighty God. I rejoice in his justice and his holiness and his righteousness and say, Just and true are all thy judgments. And I get peace and tranquility in knowing the safety of the Church, of the people of God. I get peace in knowing this great picture that we have before us, a sea of glass mingled with the purifying this time, not of the judging, but the purifying fire of the righteousness and holiness of God. We are kept there. We are stored there. We are protected there within that realm of the peace and holiness of almighty God, exemplified and put forth to us in our persons. And there seated together with him in heavenly places we have gotten the victory. We have won the victory. It is not something for the future. It is something we have now. It is great blessing the children of God have right now, gotten the victory over the beast and
21

Revelation 15:1-5. Page 12 of 12

over his image and over his mark and over the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having harps of God. And singing the song of Moses. The Old Testament and New Testament saints alike standing, singing the glories of Gods righteousness and holiness and grace and mercy all together and saying what we as the children of God will always say, Great and marvelous are they works, Lord God almighty, just and true are thy ways thou king of saints. You and I will always vindicate the cause of God if we are the children of God. We will always look at it and say, Just and righteous are you, oh God, in what you have done. Holy and honorable are you in all of your dealings with anybody who has ever lived. If it is to damn them, holy and honorable are you. Just and righteous are you to do so. We dont shed tears over who God doesnt save and say, God should have saved them. Oh, if it was me, I would have. We must beware of that kind of idolatry. And we must ascribe all glory and praise to God who does what he pleases in his creation. Is it hard? Yes, it is hard. It is only the grace and the mercy of God that can cause you to be that way. Is it adamant? It must be, because God is unchangeable and we must be unchangeable in our glory to God in all things that he does. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest. And after that I looked, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened.22 As Charles Alexander said, There is no temple building in heaven that the door got opened to. This is a picture of the open revealing of all of Gods purposes in dealing with his creation. And the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles. And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials [or bowls] full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.23 You say, But I thought we just had the wrath of God poured out. No, it is coming. It is coming as being poured out. And poured out we are understanding as to be emptied, to be emptied into the containers to receive that wrath.

22 23

Revelation 15:4-5. Revelation 15:6-7. Page 13 of 13

And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.24 Verse eight, I dont know how it could get any worse, but verse eight is saying that no grace and mercy comes from the throne of God during this time. The smoke of Gods wrath and burning indignation consumes the whole scene. And I dont mean this is for the people of God by any means. They are already kept, remember. Over and over before something like this takes place we are told they are sealed. They are kept. They are safe. They are in the hands of God. But on this other, on this other even the slight voices that speak mercy and grace and peace are not heard any longer. They are not heard while this is going on. You and I, as we listen, we hear from time to time some voice come forth and say something about God and people dont listen to it, but there is coming a time there wont be even those voices speaking about God. When God designs that type of judgment for society, that is when it takes place. I was thinking about the beginnings of World War II and the rise of Adolf Hitler in Germany and how there were people who saw it coming. They were the people of God. And they were looking and they were seeing and they were listening to their preachers. Their Lutheran preachers had become liberal and people werent listening to them. And all of the sudden the masses were standing, row upon row upon row and row and saying, Heil Hiter, hail Hitler, hail majesty, hail lord, hail ruler. When the voices of grace will be heard no longer the voices of the wickedness of man will shout loudly. And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple.25 There wont be any coming in to the temples of God because of the judgment of God being apparent. Again, I even speak as if it would sound future. It is when God brings that to pass and it could happen tomorrow and it could happen in the next moment. It has happened in the past. It has happened in the last generation. It has happened in centuries ago. It could happen over and over and over again. Beginning in chapter. And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.26
24 25

Revelation 15:8. Ibid. 26 Revelation 16:1. Page 14 of 14

And this will bring us to the close of our message because this [?] they will come to pass in the next part. This will carry us through chapter 16 and 18. The angels and the vials and the wrath of God upon the earth come in phases. First vial, second vial, third vial, fourth vial, interlude, fifth, sixth, seventh vial and the end. Do you see now? Do you sense and do you understand what a great book we have before us and Gods purpose in it being so defaced by the futurist and by those who would say these are a one time events that take place and there yet in our future, obviously, because we are still here? Did you see the great detriment that futurism has done to this Word and to the purposes of God being revealed to his people? You and I, as we look at this book, we see the purposes of God being revealed. Over and over in history, history is a great testament to Gods providence of his creation. I dont study prophecy to know history and I dont study history to know prophecy. I look at history as the fulfillment of Gods purposes and the future is unknown to us and so we dare not say tomorrow is a guarantee or the next moment is a guarantee. God holds all things in his hands and when he wants to upheave them, when he want to bring them to a cataclysmic close he can. When he want to bring them to a slight close he can. When he wants to bring them to a quick close he can. And dont ever let us think because man says it cant happen, it wont happen. Dont ever let us think that we can say that tomorrow is a guarantee. And so let us rely upon the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ today for sufficient to today is the evil thereof. Gracious Lord and heavenly Father, as we come to you this day we would ask that thou would speak to our hearts and minds and though would give us revelation upon thy revelation, those things that I have not said or have not covered may be covered by thy Holy Spirit and might be understood by thy Holy Spirit to us to give us understanding and to give us the understanding and appreciation and thankfulness to thee for this great Word that thou has left for thy people. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

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