[0:00] so do literal stars fall to the earth it would only take one so it's remember there's a vision vision symbols, pictures, impact what does that sound like?
[0:17] it sounds like the sky is falling and the world is over that's what it sounds like scripture we see these things are symbols we've heard about in Isaiah 13 Ezekiel 32, Joel 2 Matthew 24 the sun moon stars analogy right in Isaiah 13 God talked to Babylon said your sky is fallen, your world is over your nation is now dead Ezekiel 32 same thing to the nation of Egypt sun moon stars Matthew 24 Jesus said to Israel sun moon stars within one generation this temple will come down that will be the sign that you are at your end doesn't mean that the Israelites are wiped out but it means as a nation as a representative of God you're done you're done sun moon star your stars falling so so
[1:23] I think we need to consider that these are not literal things happening but symbols of massive changes nations will come and go nations will end Israel ends their temple has not been rebuilt they say oh Israel is still around God's gonna bring Israel well that's fine he may very in fact do that he may not also but 2,000 years without a temple something isn't right something's changed so so anyway so seals six signs six groups different groups that react to it all of their reaction is to hide from the wrath of the lamb who can stand the answer is nobody can stand when the wrath of the lamb comes and it's called the day of the wrath so we go through one two three four things happening in partial judgments and then five the fifth seal is a scene in heaven not even on earth a scene in heaven about when when and then seal six is like we skip all the way to the end last day boom it's done okay so so I think we have in the seals kind of a a picture a repeated pattern of judgment throughout church history it's a long view from the from the time of Christ until the very end these are the things that are going to be happening conquerors will come killing will result famine will result death will come and then and the when the day of wrath finally comes these signs will happen in fact I think they've already happened throughout history kingdoms have come and gone conquerors have come up taken over places they've lasted for a while another conqueror comes up that nation's gone a new nation is born over and over and over throughout history these are pictures and foretastes and foreshadowing of the very end then we see the seventh seal we didn't read it but in chapter 8 verses 1 through 5 is the seventh seal all of a sudden there's silence which is pretty dramatic in heaven because if you notice as we're reading some of these worship scenes there are loud voices in heaven loud worship myriads of angels with loud voices it's very noisy up there so you like soft worship you like loud it's all kind it's okay and all of a sudden silence it's got to be really dramatic silence about half an hour okay alright that's enough no seems odd half an hour in heaven is there time in heaven are there watches in heaven
[4:30] I don't know again vision just kind of gives the impact so there's a temporary silence and then the trumpets get ready but they don't start and then we're told about a sacrifice this altar and in the altar is burning incense which is remember that's right before the presence of God in the old temple right before the veil it's a picture the incense is a picture of prayers rising and here we're told there in heaven this altar is there the incense is burning and he adds to the incense prayers of the saints and then he mixes that up and then so he's got the prayers and the incense in his censer and then he takes some more fire I guess maybe he just uses his hand some fire adds that to the incense and prayers I'm not left handed okay and he throws it I look like a girl so throws it to the earth oh come on symbolic okay symbolic justice not all girls all right so symbolic prayers and fire thrown to the earth what's that going to do because as soon as that is done we see the four things that happen at the end of each series of judgments we see eight chapter eight five we see peals of thunder rumblings flashes of lightning and an earthquake all four of those things happen after each of the seven series of judgments so after the seals after the trumpets after the bowls in other words it's the final climax of the fireworks done done picture of the end it's over done okay so in the seals we're seeing kind of a long view of judgment of God throughout history to the end now we're going to open the trumpets and we're going to go back we're going to look at it a little different but it's going to do it again and you're going to get chapter 12 and you're going to go all the way back to the birth of Christ again and work forward so you can see this in revelation we're not progressing chronologically through the book we're seeing judgments that span the whole thing end of that oh okay
[7:15] I'm going to give you another view here's the trumpets chapter 12 oh going to give you another view here's some visions there's a woman there's a dragon okay all these things happening so I think that's what's happening I have the right to change my mind later but I think that's what's going on we got revelation figured out I'm so anxious to figure it out and I know okay it ain't going to happen but maybe we can get some of the pieces together okay so that's the review got it all the pieces fit okay so let's talk a little bit okay let's let's let's talk about it so so big question is this is revelation so big question is what is God revealing about worship himself judgment etc what does he reveal what is he showing us that's the big picture so let's break it into two let's break it into these two themes worship what's he showing us about worship what's worship what do we learn about worship what does worship look like in heaven it's continuous yeah except for a half hour short but yeah it's continuous it is sometimes it's loud sometimes there's intensity to it sometimes it's just a statement okay what else do you see what else do you see about worship it's corporate it's corporate it's gathering sometimes there's a little choir of four a little quartet and there's the 24 the bigger choir and then the angels come in and the multitude so it's by the way in this time where we're talking about gathering not gathering in heaven it's gathering they're all there the presence is significant you can testify can't you if you've been out of worship and in worship there's a difference when you're here doesn't mean you can't worship away and there's times where you have to do that
[9:34] I get that not criticizing that but if you have the option of coming or not coming come it's a big difference gathering is important and thank God we have the ability to reach those that can't gather but what else what else we see focused what do you mean where'd that come from focused it's all toward the word okay yes it's directed to him it's not about let me ask you did you notice any music it's there did you see it it's not a focus but did you see it where'd you see it you had to pick it up
[10:36] Terry didn't you yeah what'd you see well they're singing they're singing yep new song did you hear a music instrument named a harp yes it's there it's there but not the focus so what's a harp I don't know it's got strings yeah that's right fine fine fine fine fine I wouldn't be surprised okay all kinds of different string instrument what else I was struck by the the fullness so when you you talked about how seven represents completion or fullness and the numbers it's it's all inclusive the four creatures that represent you talked about how they represent wild beasts and domesticated beasts and the creature man possibly yeah and it talks about the earth in the where is it in the seals I guess it talks about the creatures and the sea and it's it's everything yes and I'm reminded that it says every knee will bow every tongue will confess in heaven on earth under yeah and yeah and that it's and God is the focus of all all of his creation yeah yeah yeah
[12:15] Terry so when it talks about how God is the focus and we see God as the focus what that also does is give us insight to determine false worship correct false worship would be that worship where it's directed towards us yes yeah or toward creation instead of the creator yeah instead of towards the creator that's exactly right so it also punches to help us determine false witness false worship you can always tell that direction yep yep whether something's true or not by words directed and then to that point then notice so chapter 4 is not complete without chapter 5 so the worship of chapter 4 is toward the creator what does what does 5 add to that Jesus worship in heaven is distinctly Christian it is distinctly
[13:16] Christian okay he is worthy because he's a creator yeah but it goes bigger than that it goes deeper than that he's worthy because he has redeemed he has come into his creation he's given his life for that for those people of all those nations that's why he's worthy and then so you got the worthiness of the creator in chapter 4 you got the worthiness of the lamb in chapter 5 different kind of worthiness huh Jesus uniquely is the only one worthy to open the scroll okay not above the father in fact how is Jesus worshipped in relation to how the father's worshipped any different he's at the right hand but how what kind of what worship does he receive is it different is it less that's not less same thing worthy you know huh honoring glory and praise yeah they both receive the same kind of worship by chapter 7 it's the salvation of the one on the throne and the lamb equally the son son is equal not above not below different role different role somebody asked about the spirit where's the spirit in all this chapter 4 verse 2 the spirit's the one that brought john to heaven in the spirit i came spirit's the one allowing him to hear and see remember that's how god works god the father plans god the son acts god the spirit applies to us huh he doesn't draw a lot of attention because the spirit's ministry is to get it focused on the son the son of course was always trying to get the attention to the father this is how they were but the spirit's there he's just he's the quiet sometimes you know so wait a minute sometimes he's kind of loud yeah so generally he's a gentleman what else in worship so i have a question so for chapter 4 verse 8 okay 4 verse 8 the four creatures they never cease to say holy holy holy is the lord god almighty who was and is and is to come holy holy holy holy is the lord god almighty who was and is and is to come holy holy holy holy is the lord so this is going on day and night without ceasing do you like repetitious singing they used to say back in the worship wars i hope we're not in those anymore but back in the worship wars you know there'd be the traditionalists and then there's the the praise music as if we're on different teams and be like oh you just want to sing seven words eleven times seven eleven it becomes meaningless and monotonous okay you translate revelation four eight how about that that's more than seven words more than eleven times what do you do for the what do you do i write praise and worship songs i write praise and worship songs so
[17:19] so what's the so wait so we think okay wait is that what heaven's going to be like i'm just going to sing the same thing over and over and over oh oh god here come the elders are falling down again the elders they're getting a workout right every time these guys are singing they're falling down casting their crowns well that means they got to go get their crown again get back up and get ready so is that what happens so what's that going to be like what if that's the worship song for the century well just wait a hundred years we'll sing a new one i don't know what if that's like so what do you think don't we think that there's a transformation that occurs within us we have to go through some sort of transformation yes we so we get rid of the old body get a new body no i'm not even speaking of that okay what i think it's our spirit that changes our characters change yes and i believe none of the other stuff is going to be very important it's not going to be important if you say the same word a thousand and seven times the beauty is going to be the glory of god christ and the holy spirit so we can't put ourselves into that in these bodies of flesh because okay i get i get it we i can sing repetitious songs for a while and be and it can be meaningful then my body gets tired my mind starts to wander you know well but there are some people who can even do it today and i admire people like that i'm not one of them but that's fine but i think it's deeper than just our bodies well because here it's as we said who in the very presence yeah who who who's talking i don't know i was just saying to focus yeah because if you're getting the very presence of of god and the lamb exactly what else matters amen right and and reading into that i got a body that doesn't get tired okay i got better understanding right i don't have the ache right so i can sing i can sing or at least at least have a loud voice it doesn't say they sing well it just says they're loud but i bet i bet it's beautiful and i think that's the picture of the harps is that okay this is this is coordinated this is beautiful there's a mixture going on like david for soft you know david's the one that got the choirs and got the arrangements and you know david thought worship was so as i've said before music could only have come from the mind of god with its melodies and its harmonies and its patterns man could not have created music right and this the what we're reading here today and as we read through revelations it keeps on coming keeps on coming back to the messiah and i know he was not an apostle or anything but there are stories about handle and when he wrote the messiah and how focused intently he was and he went all by himself and it was like the holy spirit was just writing the music through him people who were around said that and as you come to these verses where he that became the lyrics of the messiah you think about when he heard it and you just think we are worshipping we this is all toward the lord and you
[21:20] think i wonder if we'll sing this in heaven because it seems like god just gave him the way this was written that verse 12 in chapter 5 and you think about how he wrote that oh worthy is the lamb that was slain and all that it's like who could have emphasized that but the lord through his you know little dots and stuff through the music it's just so focused and powerful and that's what i think about when i'm listening to the side i think this is maybe sort of a taste of what we're going to see in heaven yeah and there's other worship songs that we've sung that it's like they and they last some of them laugh they're just they still resonate with power because the music and the words match so well that's hard to do but every once in a while they're just like oh yeah crystal so i was just going to add that i feel like annoyance like if you were is it was before the fall right so it probably kind of comes from our sin nature so i don't think we'll be more won't be annoyed they won't be there so that's right picture you're in heaven okay can we get to the next version i don't think so right yeah yeah but from a human nature you know earthly perspective we're kind of going oh i don't know about that right so that's i just want to bring that up so so on on the back of your outline you have the the little chart comparison or i compared the three scenes of worship chapter four chapter five chapter seven just to kind of see what how do they compare right what what are similar what things are similar what's different what do we learn by just kind of putting it down like that we did that last time with our review of chapter two and three looking at the seven churches seeing how they were you know what was emphasized what wasn't what do we see here anything jump out at you from those comparisons i tried to light up what seemed comparable there one thing i notices that in a lot of them there is there's worship that's objective in other words they say they're they're worshiping god but they're not talking to him they're talking about him right so the four creatures saying holy holy holy is the lord and then in 411 then it's the the 24 elders who say you are worthy now it's personal now it's directed see both kinds are worship we sing songs about god and sometimes we sing songs to god i refer to that as vertical and horizontal yeah and sometimes we talk to each other in our songs we did that today we gather together we are god's people and so so so that's still worship it's it's it's we're reminding ourselves of that of those truths because and i just bring that up because some people say well true worship has to be to god all the time and said to him well no that is worship yeah that's not the only kind of worship anything anything else each one seems to have a multi multi folded praise like in the first one there's a threefold praise and then there's a in the second one in chapter five there's a seven fold right to him
[25:22] belongs one and on and on and on and on and on and on and on see that that happens in each one yeah yeah then he hears something so he sees and then he hears and that's just typical of every vision scene he sees and he hears he's a witness what i saw what i heard i need to go ahead heaven is worshiped in torno heaven worships all heaven worships all heaven worships yeah yep okay so let's talk about wrath chapter six what's your impression starts opening these seals and things start to happen judgment start to happen what is called at the end of chapter six the day of the wrath of the lamb begins to happen what do we learn what is he revealing to us about his wrath about judgment swift and harsh swift and harsh you know it talks about violence and famine and all these things coming on but it doesn't like you you really drove home and this is not the end this is his wrath so if you look around some of the things that are going on in the world right now you can really see this going on it's a restrained wrath right so in seal four it's like do not harm this and you're only given authority over one quarter and we get to the trumpets it'll be one third it'll get it'll start to increase a little bit but still limited still restrained
[27:23] God's the wrath comes it must come because it's a holy God yet it's restrained why why is he holding back there's time these are warnings trumpet especially kind of a warning blast picture right does it also work toward God has always said one of the major things for me in the old testament is so they will know I am yahweh and so it's his glory and many God is a just God so he's bringing judgment but his and he's just in that judgment and that punishment or discipline however you want to call it but he does the discipline so they will know so they will repent so they will come to him as he waits for everyone to come to him otherwise without it they won't right possibly know him right so these things sound very awful and deadly but they're but we're awful and deadly we can't okay we can are we can really be entrenched in our rebellion yeah and the theme that recurs it doesn't say at the end of chapter 6 it doesn't say it says they hide and they're fearful right and they and they recognize that to me is really significant these earth dwellers that's what revelation will call people of the earth earth dwellers because that's their sum total of existence is the earth that's all they don't they don't get into the sphere of heaven but they recognize this is the wrath of the lamb they recognize where it is from they don't say oh this is the wrath of aries this is the wrath of apollo this is no they don't say any of that this is buddha this is something up no this is the wrath of the lamb christ they know it i have a hunch that most of them claim to be agnostic or atheist or polytheistic or something else but in the day they know okay chris i just had a question so when he says come when the living creature says come is he is that come directed towards us or to the horse to the horse that's what i didn't know i couldn't tell that it was towards the come and then comes the horse we're coming towards us yeah yeah james i think it speaks of a sense of urgency on our part like we talked about that in class this morning the urgency to preach the gospel to to to those who are unbelievers at this time or you know there's a sense of urgency there yeah it's certainly awaking so so we asked the question what's the purpose and meaning of of the wrath right purpose and meaning of the of the sealed judgments what do they show overall his power his power his his holiness who who's initiating all of this the lamb who's in control the lamb no matter what's going on here
[31:25] right whatever is going on today if it's some form of this he's in control he's on the throne keeping in mind that the lamb was slain right but resurrected he's the living god yeah he laid down once but he's not laying down right and that reminds me of daniel's vision when he went i believe to heaven and he saw the ancient one but he saw this man this figure that appeared to be like a son of man and of course there's all the ezekiel the plane the throne very much what you have here but the words in daniel are that the kingdom is given to the man the while like a son of man the figure that looks like a son of man the kingdom the entire kingdom was given over him and so it keeps taking it back to that he had a glimpse of the enthronement of christ because he comes up he's not coming down in daniel's he's coming up to the ancient of days and there he's given a kingdom that will not end ever yeah yeah yeah that fits very yeah a lot of daniel behind revelation here well it's all the prophetic and ezekiel as you mentioned also so a purpose of the sealed judgments obviously to show christ on his throne secondly to the earth dwellers to warn them right to awaken them hopefully to bring justice and it's also a purpose for the believers to test us to purify us to awaken us to embolden us james to embolden us to share hey there's time limited i need to share i need to witness right so okay again on the chart on the back i like charts i don't know about you i like charts it's revelation you got to do charts um so but this is just uh so at the bottom comparing the events of revelation 6 with jesus's teaching in matthew uh 24 as well as luke 21 you could also add mark 13 to this because there at the end of each of the gospels jesus gives his future event uh uh message they ask him about the temple right he tells them the temple will be destroyed within 40 years within one generation right and they say what will be the sign of the end what's the end going to look like and jesus begins to tell them what he describes is this is not the end but the beginning of earth things all these things that he describes he describes uh so look at luke in the middle luke 21 false christ wars famine death martyrs signs in the heaven signs in the sun moon stars powers of the heavens are shaken same thing in matthew right same kind of order going through these and you compare what jesus says in the gospels with revelation chapter 6 and they look the same to me whatever this conqueror is on a white horse remember satan can use white satan can disguise himself as an angel of light he can come as a conqueror could mean that it could mean a military change that he describes wars well violence of the red horse he describes famine well that's the black horse he describes death that's the pale horse he describes that they will
[35:26] go through martyrdom as disciples of jesus well that's the fifth seal then he describes the signs in heaven luke 21 11 earthquake signs in heaven sun moon stars luke calls them signs signs symbolic signals remember genesis 1 talks about what was the creation of the sun moon stars for these will be signs remember that he says that back in genesis 1 these will be signs for seasons and for signs from creation he meant he determined to do that so I guess I wanted to show the comparison to show that I think that's why I think the seal judgments are really about spanning they're already happening they've already been happening they're going to keep on happening going through repetitious patterns like this okay
[36:35] I don't think revelation 6 and on is future I think it's now we're already there I think we're already in the trumpets too I don't think we're at the bulls because it's going to end fast anyway might explain some things that are going on in the world might explain some of the confusion the tribulation the fear people have right so there's the bottom line difference how do we respond to the things going on and what God has said do we fear it's fearful things happening no we don't fear why why do we have hope even though bad things happen even though God is in control and initiating bad things do happen why do we have hope he wins chapter 7 shows that if you're a believer on earth you are sealed and protected!
[37:50] Doesn't mean you're protected from being hurt or even killed it means you're protected! from the judgments! from God you're not protected from the judgments of earth dwellers and when you survive the tribulation you stand before God in heaven and you sing his praises and you're rewardedNINGNING this is going on, what happens to believers?
[38:18] Well, if they're on earth, they're protected from God. And if they're in heaven, well, they're good. They're good.
[38:29] The tears are being wiped from their eyes. They're sheltered by the sovereign God. Jesus is their shepherd. Yeah, it's good. It's good. It's worth it. Alright.
[38:40] Any other thoughts? Questions? Changes? Reorientation. Okay. Let's pray.
[38:51] Father, we thank you for our time. We thank you for this book, Lord, that reveals who you are as the one who is worthy of all worship.
[39:04] We thank you, Lord, that you reveal also, not only are you a God who saves and has mercy, has love, has grace toward sinners, but you are still and always have been a God of holiness and justice and righteousness.
[39:25] And Father, we don't always understand, until we hear the gospel, we don't understand that tension between your forgiveness and your righteousness. but we see that you resolve it in Jesus Christ and we thank you.
[39:37] Thank you that you've revealed that to us. Help us, oh Father, to be awakened, to be alert. Help us, Lord, to lean on you every day.
[39:49] and we thank you, Lord, that our prayers of suffering are definitively answered. We thank you in Jesus' name.
[40:00] Amen. Amen.