They Did Not Repent – Revelation 8-9
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They Did Not Repent Audio Part 2 (Part 1 Above)
TITLE: They Did Not Repent
SUBJECT: Book of Revelation/Repentance
PROPOSITION: God has made extraordinary efforts to encourage humanity to repent. In this lesson, we will look at how Revelation 8-9 teach this truth through the limited judgments that God has used on the earth.
OBJECTIVE: The hearer should understand that the world is designed in such a way as to bring suffering humanity to repentance for their sins, and that when we don’t repent, we create great suffering in our lives.
AIM: I want to teach Revelation 8-9 and show the relationship of these verses to the Old Testament prophets and their call for people to repent.
INTRODUCTION:
1. Read: Revelation 9:20-21
2. About the Text:
1) These two verses are the key verses to understanding Revelation 8-9.
2) They inform us that everything that has happened in 8-9 is designed to get men to repent.
3) Another key verse for understanding these chapters is Revelation 11:15.
4) This is the beginning of the reign of Christ.
5) Everything in Revelation 8-11 precedes this event.
6) Revelation 8-9 concern the sounding of the first six trumpets.
7) The sounding of the sixth trumpet continues into chapters 10 and 11, and it ends in 11:14.
3. There is a relationship between suffering and knowing something is wrong.
1) When we have a physical pain, we seek to address it – to change something.
2) God uses spiritual pain to accomplish the same thing.
3) When we have suffering, we should wonder why it is happening, and what we can do to change it.
4) This is part of God’s order in the world for people to seek Him.
5) These chapters entail great suffering.
6) The conclusion is that God wants us to understand that something is wrong and change.
4. Ref. to S, T, P, O, and A.
DISCUSSION: God Brings Repentance through both his goodness and severity.
I. The Prayers and Worship of the Saints (Revelation 8:1-6).
1. This section is not part of the seven trumpets sounding.
2. It is an introduction to their sounding.
3. Here incense represents the prayers of the saints.
4. This incense is cast on the earth (verse 5).
1) Revelation 4:5
2) Exodus 19:16.
5. These prayers have a powerful effect on the earth, limiting the plagues that are to come.
1) Each plague only affects one third of its target.
2) This indicates that these are limited judgments on the earth.
II. The Calamities of the Old Testament (Revelation 8:7-13).
1. Calamities of hail, fire, and blood (Revelation 8:7).
1) Egypt – Exodus 7:20-21; Exodus 9:23-24
2) Sodom and Gomorrah – Genesis 19:24
2. Calamities of nations (Revelation 8:8-9).
1) Great Mountain burning with fire – God will make Babylon – Jeremiah 51:25.
2) Again one-third of the sea was affected – limited judgment.
3. Calamities of false religion (Revelation 8:10-11)
1) Great star fell from heaven – See Rev 9:1 – evil angel – false doctrine/prophesy.
2) Name of the star is Wormwood – See Jeremiah 9:15; 23:15.
3) Symbolizes the bitterness of the consequences of believing false doctrine.
4) Israel was scattered due to their belief in false doctrine.
4. Calamities of leadership (Revelation 8:12-13).
1) Sun, Moon, and Stars represent leadership – Genesis 37:9 – Joseph’s dream.
2) Darkening signifies punishment of leadership – Ezekiel 32:7-8
III. The Catastrophe of Sin (Revelation 8:1-12)
1. The work of Abaddon/Apollyon
1) It isn’t clear who Abaddon is; see Revelation 20:1-3.
2) The word literally means “destroyer.”
3) This “angel of the bottomless pit” was king over the “locusts” (Rev.8:11).
2. The locusts of the smoke.
1) Locusts consume by devouring.
2) They also have the power of scorpions to sting and hurt.
3) They only affect those who do not have the “seal of God on their forehead” (vs.4).
a. These are the enemies of God.
b. The faithful are not affected by Abaddon – see Rev.7.
4) They may not kill, but only torment for five months.
5) There is similar imagery in Nahum 3:15-17 about Assyria.
3. These are not normal “locusts.”
1) Read the description in verse 7-10.
2) Joel 2:5-7 describes something similar.
3) This is God’s judgment upon the unrighteous due to their sin.
IV. The Cataclysm of Angels and Armies (Revelation 9:13-19)
1. The four angels that were bound at the river Euphrates are released.
1) They were prepared for the hour, day, and month – planned – set in history.
2) They are to kill one-third of mankind – limited judgment.
3) Euphrates is the river of Assyria, Babylon, and the Medes and Persians.
2. There is a large army associated with the work of these angels.
1) 200 million horsemen – an unfathomable number – See Daniel 7:10.
2) The horses has breastplates of red, blue, and yellow.
3) They had lions heads that breathed smoke, fire, and brimstone.
4) They killed one-third of mankind.
3. These represent the punishing armies upon Assyria, Babylon, and the Medes and Persians.
CONCLUSION:
1. Consider all these Old Testament calamities, catastrophes, and cataclysms.
1) They were designed to get men to repent – read Revelation 9:20-21.
2) This is the point – God wants all to repent.
3) God uses calamities, catastrophes, and cataclysms to get men to repent.
4) Read Deut.30:1-3, 6, 8.
5) However, they did not repent (Rev.9:20).
6) Read Romans 2:2-10
7) Romans 11:22-23 says: “Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off. And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.”
2. Invitation