ACT 3
John was in exile on
a prison island for giving his testimony about Jesus Christ!
Rome’s emperor Domitian saw
himself as the new Augustus, who sought to control public and private
morals. He was the first Roman Emperor who had demanded to be addressed as dominus
et deus (master and god).
Remember that Revelation is the Apocalypse of Jesus Christ.
It is about Jesus and shows the history of man’s relationship to God from
John’s day to the beginning of eternity.
Throughout Revelation – the theme of sin-wrath-redemption are repeated
with ever increasing severity. Each of
Seven Acts reveals this theme. People
ask ‘why is God so harsh?’ He is
not! God wants the vilest sinner to
repent and turn to him for life. God
does not want us living in the results of our own sin and depravity so a day is
coming when his wrath will wipe away all that is evil and redeem his followers
to eternal peace and glory. Ask a better
question-‘why would a loving God let evil remain forever?’
STAGE SETTING for
ACT 3
8:2-6 And I
saw the seven
angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets. Another angel, who had a
golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer,
with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne. The smoke of the incense, together with the
prayers of the saints, went up before God from the angel's hand. (These prayers lifted up with the sensor sounds sweet
so far...) Then the angel took the
censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and
there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.
Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to sound them. (They weren’t
encouraged to gently lift their trumpets into place – they were fiercely
commanded to blast them as if charging into battle)
The
Sounding of the Seven Trumpets
Scene 1 Hail and Fire fall on earth
8:7 The first
angel sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and
it was hurled down upon the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third
of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.
Scene 2 A Mountain cast into the sea
8:8 The second
angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was
thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood, a third of the
living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.
Scene 3 A Great Star falls on rivers and springs
8:10 The third
angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from
the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water— the name of the
star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died
from the waters that had become bitter.
Scene 4 Heavenly Bodies Darkened
An Eagle announces 3 Woes
12 The fourth
angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the
moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them turned dark. A third of
the day was without light, and also a third of the night. (4 trumpets and a third of the earth, the seas, the
rivers and the sky are destroyed. John is watching these things happen and
continues with what he sees)
13 As I
watched, I heard an eagle that was flying in midair call out in a loud voice:
"Woe!
Woe! Woe (3 times Woe!) to the
inhabitants of the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by
the other three angels!"
Scene 5 (Woe 1) The pit of the abyss opened:
Locusts
9:1 The fifth
angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the
earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss. When he opened the
Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and
sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss. And out of the smoke locusts
came down upon the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the
earth. They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, (which is what
locusts naturally do) but only
those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. They were not
given power to kill them, but only to torture them for five months. And the
agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes a
man. During those days men will seek death, but will not find it; they will
long to die, but death will elude them. (John’s description of Locust
creatively describes the ultimate power of God) The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads
they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces.
Their hair was like women's hair, and their teeth were like lions' teeth. They
had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was
like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle. They had
tails and stings like scorpions, and in their tails they had power to torment
people for five months. They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss,
whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon. The first woe is past; two other woes are yet
to come. (God seems so mean – God is giving people who have denied his existence
the only proof they may understand – maybe in torment they will turn to Him and
find eternal life. Nothing else has
worked to this point – God loves them so much he is willing to inflict
temporary torture to get them to repent.)
13 The sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I heard 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 two-hundred million horsemen
16 The number
of the mounted troops was two hundred million. (Earth’s population at the time was
between 200-330 million people) I
heard their number. The horses 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 they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their
sexual immorality or their thefts.
The strong Angel with the little book
10:1-11 Then I
saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven. He was robed in a cloud, with
a rainbow above his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs were like
fiery pillars. He was holding a little scroll, which lay open in his hand. He
planted his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, and he gave a
loud shout like the roar of a lion. When he shouted, the voices of the seven
thunders spoke. And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write; but I
heard a voice from heaven say, "Seal up what
the seven thunders have said and do not write it down."
Then the angel
I had seen standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven.
And he swore by him who lives for ever and ever, who created the heavens and
all that is in them, the earth and all that is in it, and the sea and all that
is in it, and said, "There will be no more
delay! But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet,
the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants
the prophets."
Then the voice
that I had heard from heaven spoke to me once more: "Go, take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the
angel who is standing on the sea and on the land." So I went to the
angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, "Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but
in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey." I took the little
scroll from the angel's hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my
mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. Then I was told, "You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations,
languages and kings."
The ‘times of the gentiles’ The two prophets The evil city (Sodom, Egypt)
11:1-14 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, (or 42 months) clothed in
sackcloth." These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands
that stand before the Lord of the earth. (Jewish and Gentile Christians who
make up the church – many possibilities – Simply accept them as 2 witnesses to what
Christ has done and who the anti-Christ is) 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.
Now when they
have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will
attack them, and overpower and kill them. Their bodies will lie in the street
of the great city, which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt, where also
their Lord was crucified. (The great city of crucifixion is Israel but the people
remain as in Sodom and Egypt, unwilling to repent) For three and a half days men from every people, tribe, language and
nation will gaze on their bodies and refuse them burial. The inhabitants of the
earth will gloat over them and will celebrate by sending each other gifts,
because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth.
But after the
three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on
their feet, and terror struck those who saw them. Then they heard a loud voice
from heaven saying to them, "Come up here."
And they went up to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies looked on.
At that very
hour there was a severe earthquake and a tenth of the city collapsed. Seven
thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the survivors were terrified
and gave glory to the God of heaven. The second woe has passed; the third woe
is coming soon. (How could they now not repent
and turn to God?)
Scene 7 (Woe 3) Worship in Heaven
The seventh
angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said: "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our
Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever." And
the twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on
their faces and worshiped God, saying: "We
give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was, because you
have taken your great power and have begun to reign. The nations were angry;
and your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead, and for
rewarding your servants the prophets and your saints and those who reverence
your name, both small and great — and for destroying those who destroy the
earth."
Sin – what you do that is in opposition to how God
wants you to live.Wrath – The love of God unleashed to remove evil from our lives.
Redemption – The love of God unleashed by pouring out all His wrath on the only person ever to live without living in opposition to God – Jesus. And the result of that wrath crucified God’s only son to take the punishment that we deserve for our sin – DEATH-so that whoever believes in Him will not die – but have eternal life.
Think about that – you can escape the wrath of God
described in Revelation by believing the truth that Jesus Christ took the
punishment of death for you and he wants nothing more than for you and your
oikos to receive FULL-ABUNDANT-ETERNAL – LIFE!!!
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