The Coming Ecological Destruction

As you know, we are currently in a series on the Book of Revelation and I invite you to turn to your Bible for Revelation chapter 8, chapter 8, you may have noticed the title of today's message and it is quite a dramatic title, but it is very far from the drama that this text will unfold for us. I Googled this week save the Earth save the planet and found an infinite variety of ways to do it five ways to save the planet 10 ways to save the planet 15 ways 25 ways 50 ways 100 ways to save the planet while realizing that God is about to destroy it and that is absolutely certain and while we will do well to be stewards of the planet, the purpose of our stewardship is to preserve the treasures that God has built. on this planet and he put them there to enrich the lives of humanity so that humanity would give him thanks and glory.

Basically, we have been given this planet as a treasure, a storehouse, a repository of all kinds of wonderful things that we now know. experience in this particular generation and at the same time that we have discovered all these things, there are people who believe that the planet is somehow God, the planet is sacred, a strange kind of thinking, 67% of non-religious Americans think that the planet is sacred. To honor the Creator we are bending creation and in many cases denying the riches that God has put on this planet for our use and in response to that for His glory all those who intend to try to save the planet would do well to understand that this is pure madness this is a disposable planet we are going to see that as we advance in the Book of Revelation we return to chapter 8 as we approach this text Heaven is silent we saw that in chapter 8 verse 1 the seventh seal has been opened and the angelic host sees what is described in that seventh seal and they are prepared to make that a reality by the sounding of seven trumpets and the pouring out of seven bowls.

Now let me reconstruct that a little bit for you in the future.

destruction

of this world the future Judgment of God the future day of the Lord is described in the Book of Revelation as the opening of the Seven Seals and the seventh seal seven trumpets and the seventh trumpet seven bowls that move us through the 7 - tribulation year Matthew 24 our Lord preaching about his own

coming

referred to this as the tribulation three times and that is why we are looking forward in the Book of Revelation to the future time of tribulation which we have also identified as the biblical day of the Lord, the day that God brings the final wrath, so by the time we get to chapter 8 and the seventh seal, several things have happened, the church age is over.

Chapters 1 through 3 describe the church and its life and then in chapters four and five, the church appeared in heaven, so the church has been gathered into heaven at the Rapture and then in chapter six, judgments begin on earth. These trials are horrendous from the beginning. There is a false peace with the Antichrist, followed by a war followed by famine followed by death followed by a seal in which there is prayer for divine Vengeance and from those seals The Sixth Seal I remind you to go back to chapter 6 and verse 12 here it is when the cataclysmic judgments begin to occur on creation itself Revelation 6:12 I looked when he broke the Sixth Seal there was a great earthquake and the sun turned black like sackcloth made of hair and the whole moon became like blood and the stars of heaven fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its unripe fruit. fruit when it was shaken by a great wind the sky was torn like a scroll when it is rolled up and every mountain and island was removed from its places then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free men hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains and said to the mountains and the Rocks this is representative of their worship of the planet.

In reality they are at that time praying to the planet they told the mountains and the Rocks fall on us and they hide us from the presence of him who sits on the throne and from the Wrath of the lamb because the great day of his wrath has arrived and whoever can stand like this is that Sixth Seal that casts the great day of wrath, the day of the Lord, as we call it, the time that our Lord referred to as the Great Tribulation, by the time we get to chapter 8, all of those things have already happened, those first six seals on top of that. salvation has been brought to the people of Israel, we saw that in chapter 7 salvation has been brought to the world, so there are countless people from every language, tribe and nation who have come to know Christ through the gospel, so the greatest outpouring of Salvation in the history of mankind will be taking place again, when we get to chapter 8, the church has been taken to be with the Lord God has begun to unleash wrath upon the entire Earth, finally collapsing the heavens and beginning the

destruction

of the Earth in that Sixth Seal and again all this is really called the Great Tribulation this is the day of the Lord the final day of judgment and again the Judgment that we call the day of the Lord the day of Wrath

coming

out of that seventh seal with the seven trumpets followed in a few weeks and days the seven bold final judgments that will come, so those three images give us the chronological progression to the end and what the end is at the end of the final bold judgment in At that particular moment, Christ returns to destroy all the wicked from the face of the Earth, all those who still remain, and to establish His millennial kingdom on earth, so that by the time we get to chapter 8, the world will have already suffered. years of trouble and deadly destruction. from God, the world will be under the terrifying domination of the antichrist, who massacres the Jews as many as he can and does the same to the Christians as many as he can.

He has successfully deceived the entire world into following him, so even though this judgment comes with this level of fury and the gospel is being preached the people are hardened in their hearts and maintain their loyalty to the Antichrist if you go to chapter n and the verse 20 you get this comment on the human response to all these judgments verse 20 the rest of the men who do not die from these plagues did not repent of the works of their hands so as not to worship demons and idols of gold and silver and of bronze and of stone and of wood that cannot see or hear or walk.

They do not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their immorality or their thefts despite all this massive cataclysmic judgment and the gospel that is preached, the hearts of the people become harder and harder, so when we come to the Chapter 8 we see the seventh seal. The seventh seal encompasses all the trumpet judgments and all the bold judgments, so this really takes us to the end of the Great Tribulation, the day of the Lord, until the return of our Lord Jesus Christ, by the way, the angels have been expecting. this not just for half an hour, although Juan said there was half an hour of silence as they anticipated the horrors of it.

They have been waiting for this for years, centuries, millennia, and according to verse six, they are now ready to blow the trumpets. This is the time when the Angels, the seven, verse two says they stand before God, sometimes called the presence. Angels, you have a unique role to play standing in the presence of God, worshiping God, obeying his commandments, serving his purposes and his will, and for now. They become angels of judgment blow their horns and with each one there is a stupendous devastating convulsion that falls on the earth and the sky like never before in the history of the world thinking of a contrast you remember that U Back in the sixth chapter of Joshua Joshua e Israel came to Jericho and that provides an interesting comparison to this in Joshua 6 in Jericho Jericho was about to be visited with judgment and destruction so here the whole earth is about to be visited with judgment and destruction and the parallels are interesting in the case of Jericho seven blows of seven trumpets by seven priests after a sevenfold march on the seventh day signaled the destruction of Jericho here seven blows of seven trumpets by seven angels during the seven years of tribulation signal the judgment on all Earth now there are seven trumpets, we are going to look at just four of them this morning contained in verses 7 through 12, it takes seven verses to cover these four, there are three final trumpet blasts that will take 50 verses to cover and we will get For those , next time these four relate directly to the Earth and life on this Earth.

Now there are some people who think that these things are symbolic, metaphorical or illustrative of some political upheaval, some social upheaval, some business disaster, some economic disaster, but that will come later. The business side of things appears in the Prophecies of Revelation 18, so what are we talking about here? Well, you know me well enough to know that. I think we take the Bible at face value, if it doesn't mean what it says then we have no idea. what it means and God would know that we have no idea what it means, so why would He reveal something that was completely obscure?

No, we just need to see what it says and affirm that that is reality itself, it does not represent something that it does not represent. It doesn't represent something, it is what it is, so let's look at these four trumpets starting in verse 7, the first sounded and there came hail and fire mixed with blood and they were thrown to the earth and a third of the earth was burned and a third of the trees were burned and all the green grass was burned now we know that there has been judgment in the Bible in the past with hail Isaiah 28 Job 38 speaks of judgment by hail there has been judgment by fire we are very We are familiar with Genesis 19, the destruction of Sodom and Gamor, so we know those things that God has used on a small scale in judgment, but this is a massive scale.

Remember now that the Earth has already experienced the phenomena described in The Sixth Seal, the sky collapsing, shattering the Earth and then verse five of chapter 8 when the angel the angel priest who is in the throne room of God takes the sensor He fills it with fire from the Altar and throws it to the Earth there were noises of thunder and lightning and an earthquake then That is already happening even before the first trumpet sounds, the Earth is being shaken like never before. Some of these phenomena are similar to the seventh plague in Egypt. You can read about this in the ninth chapter of Exodus.

Earthquakes, storms, hail, fire, what's it all about? of this type of massive storm Type of massive earthquake, the hail and fire could represent the result of the storm, which would be the hail, and the result of the earthquake, which would be the fire, an earthquake massive enough to rupture volcanoes and send lava is raining all over the world now notice this this is global to the extent that a third of the earth is burned a third of the trees are burned and all the green grass is burned this is essentially the end of forests and plant life The whole world is on fire now, you probably remember when you were in high school and learned that 70% of the earth's surface is water, 30% is land, so 30% of that land is going to be destroyed, this means that this is an attack on the food supply this goes beyond devastation when he says grass and trees, he means plants, there is no vegetation, there is no grass, there are no bushes, there are no crops, there is no food, there is no wood for construction, there are no water springs to protect from storms, hail, massive death of animal life throughout the planet.

Scorched and desolate earth appropriate judgment on man who worships the created order instead of the Creator return to Romans 1 for the accusation our Lord gives regarding Romans 1:18 the wrath of God being revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and injustice of men who suppress the truth in injustice because what is known about God is evident within them because God made it evident to them. God planted the understanding of his existence in the heart of every human being and we can see that there must be a Creator by looking. in creation verse 20 from the creation of the world the invisible attributes of it, the eternal power of it and the divine nature of it have been clearly seen anyone with half a brain can look at and understand the God who created the entire universe.

You have to have a cause for this massive universe. and you have to be powerful and Supernatural this is so evident it says that they have no excuse to reject the knowledge of God but they still do it even though they knew God they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him but they became feudal in their speculations their foolish hearts were darkened professing to be wise they became fools and exchanged the glory of the Incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and birds and four-footed and crawling creatures humanity looking at the creation then instead of concluding that it must bow before the Creator, bowing before the creation, not recognizing the Creator, the sustainer, not thanking Him, rejecting His manifest glory in the creation and worshiping the creation itself, this is a false animistic religion and as a result of this, God will He judges and will judge exactly at the point where men have developed their own deity and that is on the same Earth that they believe gives them life.

Thecommon expression is Mother Nature. God will destroy everything with this Hail, Fire and Rain, what do I do? I mean specifically, well, God will destroy the ozone layer, that's true, God will destroy the ozone layer, so if you buy an electric car, you won't protect the ozone layer. Your willingness to ditch the hairspray won't save the ozone layer and all. His efforts to somehow limit global warming are a kind of atheistic madness God is going to destroy everything God is going to destroy the ozone God is going to destroy the forests the rainforests God is going to devastate the world's plants and animals, that's just the first trumpet and you can extrapolate from that what life will be like when the food supply runs out, both the animal supply and the human supply.

The second angel sounds in verse 8 and something like uh great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea and the third part of the sea turned into blood the first trumpet dealt with the land and the second trumpet dealt with the sea 70% of the remaining surface of the Earth and God is going to judge that and a third of what is in the sea verse 9 is going to die and a third of the ships are going to be destroyed this is catastrophic, to put it mildly, the ingratitude of the man and his refusal to honor the Creator, but rather to worship in one way or another, if not openly and covertly, the creation will bring Judgment to that same God that he has falsely established now what is what is the great Mountain good , it's exactly what the scriptures say this could be a meteorite this could be an asteroid and by the way there are scientists who understand that We could have an asteroid impact or a meteorite on this Earth the size of a continent the size of a continent crashing into the ocean.

Somewhere movies have been made about this kind of threat and the horror of an entire world watching this thing go flying. space on a direct collision course with earth a huge rocky continent surrounded by combustible gases that ignite as they enter the atmosphere all aimed directly at Earth from God God is the force behind this and he is sending it as judgment and the world He leaves to track him. They will be able to see him. They will know that he is coming. He will be on television and people will be defenseless and helpless to stop him.

The third part of the sea will turn into blood. What does that mean? I don't know anything else to say that it will turn into blood when talking about the moon as if it looks like blood it is simply something that obscures it it is something dark that obscures it like blood but this is not blood this is blood some suggest a combination of elements of Blood-colored explosions of fire fill the sky as the earthquake-ravaged Earth and the erupting volcano everywhere belch all manner of fire and brimstone, as well as hail somehow thrown into the mix it seems. since blood does not say that it says it is blood, it could be the accumulated blood of the marine animals that are destroyed and humanity that is destroyed, that would certainly be reasonable if one third of the creatures are killed, one third of those who had life are dead and if a third of the boats are destroyed, that is a lot of humanity because there are many boats, this is a destruction that I think will finally make the people of saving the whales scared, to put it mildly, also that of the Malibu people who voted to make dolphins citizens of Malibu.

They will be equally distressed whatever the content of the blood. Poison the sea. Poisons the water. It kills a third of its population, from marine organisms to the largest mammals. The food chain is affected by this devastating judgment. remember now that all the bushes and trees have already been burned, a third of the ships were destroyed, what does that mean? Trade has stopped the supply chain, as we hear it referred to these days, the shipment of goods around the world will stop the arrival of this enormous mountain hitting the sea is going to send tsunamis like no one could ever understand, turning over huge ships as if were sticks and breaking them in ports all over the planet.

This is something that the prophets saw indeed. Hosea 4 reads Isaiah 2. I won't take the time to say that they saw this coming in the future, so the whole judgment is beyond anything that everyone in human history collectively could have seen, it is beyond what it sounds like. the third trumpet in verse 10 and a great star fell from heaven and it burned like a torch and it fell on a third of the rivers and the springs of water now we have seen the Earth hit we have seen the salt water the oceans hit the seas and now the sweet drinking fountain and apparently this great star that falls burning like a torch breaks into fragments and falls on a third of the rivers and springs of water this is obviously an assault on life nothing lives without water nothing this is a of the frightening visions and great signs from Heaven that Jesus referred to in Luke 2111 a flaming star asteros is the Greek term for a flaming star like this great Mountain PRI above comes and splashes so to speak and destroys a third of the drinking water by spreading it all over The balloon foams in gaseous fire, the destruction is incredible.

Of all the fresh water destroyed, a third of the world has no water and man is once again judged on the point of his ungodly concern for creation. Nothing lives without water and then in verse 11 we are told the name of the star. It's wormwood, which is an interesting name, wormwood translates from a Greek word, the Greek word wormwood from which we get wormwood and in the Old Testament this word appears as the word hemlock and there are a couple of places in the Old Testament where it is uses and It is said to be a very bitter poison and will eventually cause death, so this particular star is called Hemlock or you could say poison, so now you have a third of your fresh water poisoned.

This is a very orderly judgment from God, the whole world begins to be poisoned and people need to drink and they will drink when they have to drink or they will die and then they will drink poisoned water death will be massive throughout the Earth that is what It says in verse 11 many men died because of the waters because they were bitter or poisoned and then verse 12 the fourth Angel sounded and the fourth Angel sounded and a third part of the sun and a third part of the Moon and a third part of the stars were hit so that a third of them became dark and the day does not shine for a third and at night in the same way now attention moves from the surface of the Earth to above the Earth and eclipses begin to occur everywhere we had one a couple of weeks ago and there was a strange fear. that took hold of people all over the country by something as obvious and familiar as an eclipse, but this will be the eclipse of the Sun, the eclipse of the Moon, the Moon, the eclipse of stars, everything will take place at the same time, this will to generate panic. beyond anything, when they realize that the days are over, no more 24-hour days, no more weeks, no more seasons, everything is in total disorder and chaos, you cannot survive, you cannot survive and that's why it's so important to understand that these trials are happening in the end because obviously this is hopeless and you can imagine that people from all over the world will get together and have some kind of meetings and conferences and debates about what we do. scientists of the world, businessmen, capitalists. the politicians, the common people, if there has ever been an interest in Saving the Earth, they will do it at that particular Point, doing everything they can to understand and counteract The Impossible, they cannot stop the Divine judgment, it is all over. f the fresh water is gone the day and the night are gone the weeks are gone the time is gone the seasons are gone everything is assaulted and by the way this darkening of a third of the sun and a third of the Moon a third of the stars in The case of the sun is temporary at least in a sense because let's say in chapter 16 and look at verse 8 later, when the four bowls are poured out, they are rapid fire, at the end the fourth angel in Revelation 168 poured out his bowl on the sun and it was given to burn men with fire, men were burned with ferocious heat, they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues and they did not repent to give him glory again, we remind them of several things, God is in charge. of all these plagues number two they are being judged for their blasphemies and instead of repenting they blaspheme even more they refuse to give Him glory and that takes us back to Romans 1 again they refuse to give glory to the Creator and then God brings this horrible judgment, the sun is reduced to a third but later, whatever is left of the Sun, God will increase the temperature in a way that is beyond comprehension and will burn the entire earth.

These are simple words, direct statements. It's quite surprising really how little detail there is, but how terrifyingly accurate these judgments are. Things no longer grow, there is no more water, there is no transportation, there is no sense of time, this is not something new either. Isaiah wrote about it in Chapter 13, this kind of ending. judgment Jeremiah wrote about this Ezekiel wrote about this Amos wrote about this Joel wrote about this Zephaniah wrote about this this is the day of the Lord it can get worse it can verse 13 then I looked and I heard an eagle flying in the middle of the sky saying with a loud voice wo wo wo that is an anamatic word like oi oi oi to those who dwell on the earth because of the remaining blasts of the Three Angels' trumpet that are about to sound it may get worse it may get worse it gets worse, the first four trumpets are analyzed in seven verses, the next three will take 50 verses to describe, but what is so sad about this is that no matter what the judgments are, men refuse to repent, they will not repent, we saw it at the end. from chapter n we saw that as I read chapter 16 to you they blaspheme against the god of heaven and the old commentator I think summarized this beautifully enough to read it, he wrote this, even if the sentence against an evil work is not carried out quickly, it will be carried out in The Last Jezebel she may flourish in her iniquities for many years, but eventually the horse tramples her body in the streets and the dogs gnaw and crush her royal bones.

For a long time the old world was allowed to fuel its crimes. Jer to Noah throws challenge in the face of God. but soon, under his feet, lifeless bodies crashed together in the midst of the waves of an unimaginable storm. He continues, the trampled law will affirm the rightful honor of him. Christ will not endure the blows, torments and errors of Pilot's Hall forever and ever these trumpets. Once the charge is given, the vibration will sweep through the universe and everything created for human bliss will become a source of disaster for those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of Christ.

This is what is coming when we gather this morning at the Lord's table we rejoice because we are not children of the night we are children of the day we are not destined for wrath the New Testament says we are not destined for wrath we are kept from wrath coming those of us who know the Lord Jesus Christ will be taken to Glory before this begins when the Lord comes from heaven with a shout the cry of an archangel the Trumpet of God the dead in Christ will rise first the rest of us who are alive and we will all remain together with them we will meet the Lord in the air and enter his presence in glory we will not participate as victims of this we will not experience wrath nor the eternal wrath and not even the temporary wrath of the day of the Lord this is another reason for us to be grateful for our right to Salvation and that is what we express when we come to the table of the Lord thank you Lord for the Forgiveness of sins thank you for freeing us from the Wrath to come