Revelation 6

let's turn now and talk about what god's going to do uh we're going to get it here in revelation chapter 6. you know people often wonder what does the future hold and uh so often we are thinking in terms of our own personal experience what does the future hold well beginning in the fourth chapter of the book of revelation we do enter into future events but there's a vast difference in the future and it all is related to your relationship with jesus christ for the believers there is a glorious future ahead for the unbelievers there is real trouble ahead big trouble and we looked at the believer's futures in the last study last sunday night on the fifth chapter of revelation tonight we begin to deal with the issues that will happen here on the earth when the lord takes his church out we were in heaven with the church last sunday night tonight we come back to the earth after the church is gone and the events that are going to happen here on the earth once the lord has removed his church so in the background for this there in the heavenly scene last week john saw a scroll in the right hand of him who sits upon the throne the father the scroll was sealed with seven seals the strong angel with a loud voice said who is worthy to take this scroll and loose the seals john began to sob because no one was found worthy as we explained last week the scroll is the title deed to the earth and if no one is able to redeem the earth then it means that remains forever under satan's control that thought was more than john could bear and so when no man is found worthy to take the scroll and loose the seals john begins to weep with the thought of the earth continuing on under satan's control but the elder said to john john don't wait behold the lion of the tribe of judah hath prevailed to take this scroll and to loose the seals and then there breaks forth in heaven all kinds of worship starting with the cherubim adding to that now the redeemed church adding to that a hundred million angels plus millions of millions as then all of creation joining in in the praise unto the lord now jesus is holding the scroll with the seven seals and in chapter six he begins to break the seals to open this scroll that is there with the breaking of each seal there comes a corresponding event upon the earth that ties in with the various seals so in verse 1 i saw when the lamb had opened one of the seals and i heard as it were the noise of thunder and one of the four creatures living creatures which are the cherubim said come the word nc is added but john said i saw and behold there was a white horse and he that sat on him had a bow and a crown was given unto him and he went forth conquering and to conquer the moment the church is taken out of the earth the restraining force against evil will be removed and the world will plunge into the darkest hour of its history there will arise a man who is in the scriptures called by many various names the antichrist is the most common name the least used in the scriptures in the 13th chapter he'll be called the beast out of the sea in the 13th chapter no in in second thessalonians he is called the son of perdition but this man will arise to govern the world he will be a dictator but his rule will be over the earth he will arise out of western europe out of the nato nations it is interesting the fact that europe has federated together as a common nation they've removed the borders you now belong to the european community and they are becoming now a military power as of this recent bombardment of serbia nato was formed as an alliance for defense but it has evolved from that into an alliance of nations to force their will on other nations that are non-compliant to their wishes and so the beginning of the rise of this european power which will ultimately become the world dominating power and out of it there will come this man of sin who will when the church is gone be revealed and he will establish his program here on the earth now for the first three and a half years it's going to look rosy he's coming as a man of peace he's coming as a man of economic genius he's coming as a man who is able to bring warring powers together signing treaties and the world will hail him as the messiah the savior of the world he will come with supernatural powers the powers of satan he will actually receive from satan the world satan is going to turn the world over to him because satan desires to be worshipped and he will receive worship through this man and so he is coming as the white horse the antichrist jesus will be coming in chapter 19 on a white horse this man is a deceiver he is a false messiah he will come disguised as the true messiah and the world will hail him as such and even for a time the jews will hail him as such but then after three and a half years he will come to the temple that has been rebuilt in jerusalem through the treaty that he makes with israel and he will stand in the holy of holies of the rebuilt temple and declare that he is god he'll demand to be worshipped as god daniel tells us that this is the abomination which will cause the desolation or the great judgment of god to come upon the earth god has been very very patient with man god is today so patient so long-suffering he puts up with an awful lot people are allowed to blaspheme god people are allowed to uh engage in all kinds of evil practices and god allows that but when this man of sin stands in the temple the holy of holies and declares that he is god then is when god will begin to pour out his judgment upon the earth as we will find in subsequent verses here the judgments of god begin at that time jesus said when you see the abomination which was spoken by daniel the prophet standing in the holy place then flee to the wilderness in the 12th chapter of revelation we are told that god has prepared a place for them to flee the jews at this time those that do not escape will then face the wrath of the antichrist and he will make war against the saints the jews and overcome them and prevail against them paul the apostle tells us in 2 thessalonians 2 that he will stand in the temple of god showing that he is god or declaring that he is god and demand to be worshipped as god the final blasphemy of man against god the straw that breaks the camel's back so to speak that is the last straw as far as god is concerned and from now on god's judgment will come pouring forth upon the earth it begins with the opening of the second seal and when he had opened the second seal i heard in the second cherubim our cherub said come and there went out another horse that was red and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth that they should kill one another and there was given unto him a great sword and so with the opening of the second seal you're going to have wars breaking forth upon the earth the antichrist leading the western powers will ultimately face the powers from the east further on in the book of revelation we'll be told that the river euphrates will be dried up to prepare the way for the kings of the east and the great battle will culminate in the valley of megiddo just east of haifa and there is where god will gather the nations their armies together for the great slaughter which we will read further in the 19th chapter of the book of revelation and so great wars now we have seen some terrible wars uh i'm old enough that i lived during the second world war and it was really a very tragic experience to have many of my friends buddies who were killed in the war war is a terrible thing but now with the development of the super weapons the biological warfare and the various nerve gases an atomic war is going to be something like we cannot imagine and more and more nations are entering into the atomic community and atomic weapons are now in the hands of terrorists and so the world is not going to be a safe place at all because not only do you have just the initial damage that is done by the atomic explosion but you have the radioactivity that spreads with the winds across the landscape the third seal is opened in verse 5 and the third living creature said come and i behold there beheld there was a black horse he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand and i heard a voice in the midst of the four cherubim saying a measure of wheat for a penny three measures of barley for a penny and see that you hurt not the oil and the wine following the wars especially wars in which atomic weapons are used it will create a tremendous famine on the earth a famine is so great that they'll be selling a quart of wheat for 35 dollars it take a whole day's wage for a laboring man to buy just a quart of wheat it is interesting that they are told not to hurt the oil or the wine the oil representing the uh luxuries of perfumes and so forth and the wine they'll use the barley from the making of the liquor but there won't be barley for the people to eat there will be the rich will be able to survive through their wealth but the poor people are going to really be suffering during this famine famine such as the world has never known before and then when he opened the fourth seal the fourth living creature said come and i looked and behold there was a pale horse and his name that set on him was death and hell followed with him and power was given unto them over a fourth part of the earth to kill with the sword and with hunger and with death and with the beast of the earth so in these first four seals one fourth of the earth's population will be destroyed if there are four billion people at the beginning of the great tribulation period in just the beginning of the first four seals being open 1 billion people will not survive but will be killed during the opening of the first four seals you cannot believe the that is going to be upon the earth once the church is taken out and god begins to judge the earth because of its sinfulness when he had opened the fifth seal i saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of god and for the testimony which they held and they cried with a loud voice saying how long o lord holy and true before you judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth and white robes were given unto every one of them and it was said unto them that they should rest for a little season until their fellow servants also and their brethren should be killed as they were should be fulfilled now we enter into an interesting thing when the fifth seal is open there are these souls under the altar people who have been martyred and they are asking for entrance into the heavenly scene they're asking how long before we can come in i do believe that when the lord raptures his church it will be a real eye-opener for a lot of people that have been sitting on the fence i believe that there will be a time of great wailing by those that are left behind who understand and know what has transpired when suddenly millions of christians are missing from the face of the earth they'll realize that the lord has raptured his church and they've been left behind and they have enough knowledge to know that the earth is going to be plunged into this bloodbath and they'll realize that because of their folly their carelessness that they have been left to face the judgment of god that's coming upon the earth but they'll know enough that when this man of sin seeks to enforce a new economy that will be that they'll be using a mark rather than money for a medium of exchange and he requires that everyone receives a mark in his right hand or in their forehead and they will will not be able to sell without that mark that they'll have enough sense not to take the mark now we read in chapter 13 that they have power to put to death those that refuse to take the mark if for the testimony of jesus christ if you say i will not take that mark i believe in jesus christ i was a fool i wasn't walking with the lord he came and he took his church but i do believe that jesus is the son of god i refuse to take the mark they'll put you to death for the refusal to take the mark but believe me that's much better than taking the mark in the 14th chapter of the book of revelation we find that the lord will be sending an angel through the midst of heaven warning people not to take that mark so a person won't take that ignorantly god is going to give them a warning not to take the mark but those who do take the mark according to the warning given by the angel in the 14th chapter there will be no hope of their salvation ever they'll cut off they'll be cut off forever because they will have joined the forces of evil and darkness by the taking of that mark so those that will be slain and those who will stand up for jesus christ those who will bear witness of christ and of their own folly in not being ready when the lord took the church they will through death through their martyrdom and their witness of jesus christ they will ultimately be brought into the heavenly scene but i've often said there's an easy way to go and there's a hard way to go there are lessons that we need to learn and we can learn them the easy way or we can learn them the hard way and it's all up to you if you're stubborn you'll learn the lessons the hard way if you are pliant and obedient you can learn the lessons the easy way but god's going to teach you lessons that you need to know one way or the other jonah learned the lesson the hard way and it wasn't necessary that he go through all of that misery but he forced it on himself because he was trying to resist the will of god for his life and you in trying to resist the will of god for your life can make it hard on yourself jonah told you when he finished his experience there in the whale he told you what he learned they that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercies or those that are observing a lie make it tough on themselves and if you are observing a lie thinking that you can run from the call of god thinking that you can flee from the presence of god as did jonah you're only going to make it hard on yourself you're forsaking your own mercy there will be many a great multitude numberless multitude and as we get into chapter 7 next week we will see this multitude the numbers now evidently complete and as we get into chapter 7 the completed numbers are there in heaven and are finally brought into the heavenly scene they are not the church but they are people who will be saved during the tribulation through martyrdom and they will be brought into the heavenly scene in chapter 7 we'll get that next week when you get to chapter 20 as john is seeing the various groups in heaven they are still a separate group from the church i saw the thrones and they that sat upon them that's the church and then i saw those that were martyred for their testimony and that's this group that we have under the fifth seal and we'll see more complete in chapter seven as their number is complete and they're identified for us again a little more fully they came up out of the great tribulation washed their robes white in the blood of the lamb you can go that way but i sure wouldn't plan on it now there are those i don't agree with them but god knows i could be wrong once in my life but there are those who teach that if you reject christ now that you will not be one of those who will be saved during the great tribulation period and they used the verse in 2 thessalonians where it speaks of the antichrist the white horse writer in verses 1 and 2. and paul writing of that in second thessalonians chapter 2 said that they did not god will give them a strong delusion that they'll believe a lie rather than the truth because they did not have the love of the truth so if you don't have the love of the truth now there are those teachers commentators that say you will not have another chance even in the great tribulation and even by martyrdom as i said i don't agree with them but don't trust me you just get right with god and you don't have to worry there are a lot of things a lot of issues that in my mind there's a question mark i don't know will a christian who is walking in the flesh will he be raptured with the church or will he be as one of the five foolish virgins i don't know it is possible that you won't go up in the rapture if you are living in the flesh i don't want to assure you of something that may not be because i don't want you in heaven or you know in hell pointing at me and saying you led me wrong man there's to me a question mark and i don't want to live under a question mark i want to be sure i don't want to be on a hope so or i think so or possibly so or maybe so i want to know so that i am ready i'm walking after the spirit i'm seeking the things of god and then i can be assured i'm going in the rapture what about the children of unsaved homes where the parents are not christians what about them there's a question mark i don't know but i surely don't want to live in a question mark several issues were question marks if you reject christ now will you be able to be saved through martyrdom as i said some teachers teach no i personally think maybe yes but that's a maybe and it's a question mark don't bank on it don't live in a question mark you make sure that things between you and god are okay that you're walking in the spirit make sure that so we'll we're going to see this group again we'll come back to them and thus will uh leave them right now because we'll find them again next sunday night and then we'll find them again when we get to the 20th chapter of the book of revelation and we'll get a little more information each time verse 12 i beheld him when he had opened the sixth seal there was a great earthquake and the sun became black as sackcloth and the moon became as blood the stars of heaven fell into the earth even as a fig tree cast her untimely figs when she is shaken of a mighty wind and the heaven departed as a scroll that was rolled together and every mountain and island were moved out of their places sorry to hear that i was planning to spend some time in hawaii during the millennium now with the sixth seal there come great cataclysmic catastrophes it is interesting that isaiah speaks of these events he speaks of the heavens rolling being unrolled like a scroll and the stars falling from heaven isaiah speaks about the earth staggering like a drunken man and being moved out of its place the physicists talk about a polar axis shift and they believe that every so often the earth experiences a polar axis shift in which the whole geological surface of the earth is transformed and changed we know from the fossils and the sea fossils that have been found up in the painted desert area of arizona that there was once a large sea or body of water up there in that high desert area at 7 000 feet there on the north rim of the south rim of the grand canyon you can see sea fossils that are there in the strata there was once sea life up at that great altitude they believed that the grand canyon was perhaps formed as a result of a polar axis shift when that great body of water came rushing down as a result of the polar axis shift this and the changing of mountains and so forth that happen when the the earth shifts the polar axis and the oceans come flooding into areas the weight of the water pushing down causing the up thrust of the mountainous regions and so forth and the geologists and the physicists talk about things of this nature how the mountains are formed and uh how the seas change and there there are some interesting things there's a interesting book called earth in upheaval by emanuel bilikowski in which he records many interesting phenomena that are observable uh historic things that happen that are observable today uh in the geologic structures and so forth a fascinating book if you're interested in that subject but there have been cataclysmic changes in the past there are those who believe that the great flood of noah's day could have been precipitated by a polar axis shift where the waters just came rushing in as a result of the polar axis shift and the whole geographical surface of the earth transformed and changed of course you can only imagine the devastation that such a polar axis shift would create today with all of this modern structures and all that would not be able to withstand the violent shaking of the earth at that time a great earthquake notice is the thing that begins this but this isn't a localized san andreas fault or newport uh long beach fault you know here in california we have so many faults whenever the earth begins to shake you never know which fault it is but uh it's uh something that we're living on these tectonic plates that are moving underneath and we expect the big one to come sometime but hey that's not the big one god speaks about he's going to shake the earth once again until everything that can be shaken will be shaken and only those things which can't be shaken will be left a great earthquake not a localized earthquake but the whole earth going into a violent shaking and uh around the world and thus this sixth seal brings the great earthquake the sun becoming black as sackcloth the sun darkened as the result of the uh tremendous upheaval of the earth during this earthquake the dust and so forth going into the atmosphere the moon becoming as blood the particles in the atmosphere turning the moon a blood bloody red at night the stars of the heaven falling to the earth now the scientists and the astronomers also talk to us about asteroids and the possibility of an earth being the earth being struck by an asteroid and the astronomers are on an asteroid watch and they can tell you the asteroids that they have cataloged they can tell you about when they're going to come close to the earth and about how close they're going to come uh the astronomers have uh are in an argument right now concerning an asteroid that's supposed to come in around 2002 and some say it's going to come within 30 000 miles of the earth and others say no it'll be about 300 000. well tell you what the last asteroid that was on a near miss with the earth don't want that you know this should alarm you but we didn't discover it until after it had passed and uh as it was going away they discovered it and they said oh wow that was close and meteorite showers now if you've been out in the high arizona desert near winslow you perhaps have seen that huge meteorite crater where at one time this meteorite did not dissolve in the atmosphere but hit there on the arizona desert and the great cr crater a hole in the ground that was formed as the result of that meteorite hitting out there in the desert can you imagine when there comes a meteorite shower and the meteorites begin to strike the earth as a fig tree cast her untimely figs when she is shaken in a mighty wind jesus makes mention of this same event as a part of the tribulation experiences joel prophesies of it in the second chapter of joel and also peter quotes from joel in the second chapter of acts as they talk about this same event of this astronomical calamity that takes place at the opening of the sixth seal the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together just great cataclysmic events signs in the heavens every mountain and island moved out of their places tremendous geological upheavals and the kings of the earth the great men the rich men the chief captains the mighty men and every bond man and every free man in other words there's no escaping rich or poor famous or unknown the people that are on the earth are going to be terrified filled with terror when god begins to shake the earth when god begins to send the meteorite showers when god begins to move the earth and the islands in the mountains and they go through this great cataclysmic upheaval terror and fear gripping the hearts of the people as they seek to hide themselves in the caves and in the rocks and they call for them to fall on them to the mountains and rocks they cry fall on us hide us from the face of him that sits on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb now that sounds almost like an oxymoron the wrath of the lamb lambs are very mild kind of animals you never see signs that says beware of ferocious lambs but jesus as the lamb of god who gave himself as a sacrifice for our sins because of the evil of the world and what makes the lord angry is the effects of evil on man how many innocent people suffer because of the evil and and this is the thing that creates the wrath of god is what evil brings to pass upon the innocent and so the wrath of the lamb for the great day of his wrath is come and who shall be able to stand there will be no hiding place there will be no safe place i know that there are some people who have been uh fearful because of possible consequences from the y2k coming along and the computer glitches and so forth and and and some of them are storing food some of them have moved to isolated places and they you know bought generators and uh they have their own wells and so forth and and they're looking to survive if there are calamities that uh befall us as a result of the computer glitches that could take place at the uh turn of the millennium and there are those that would seek to prepare to go through the great tribulation and and there have been fellows who have sort of capitalized on this they they sell you a seven year supply of food and they you know will sell you a piece of uh property up in oregon in an isolated place and uh the whole idea is to uh hanker down and survive but there will be no safe place no safe place god is going to bring his judgment and it's going to come upon all of mankind that it's upon the face of the earth there will be no escape there is only one escape and that's before it happens and the lord has provided that escape he is the ark of refuge for those that will come and those that will receive jesus christ they will escape by way of the rapture but the rest of the world will not escape the wrath of god that will come upon the face of the whole earth the judgment of god coming against the christ-rejecting world so god has made the way for you now reject that continue to reject that and you can be sure that there will be a day in which you will weep and wail over the folly of rejecting jesus christ father we look at the future that is coming upon this earth once the church is taken out and lord we are assured we don't want to be here and we thank you lord that we don't have to be here that you've provided for your people a way of escape from the judgment of god for jesus you took the judgment yourself you took our sins upon yourself you died in our place that we through you might have the forgiveness of our sins and that we through you might become children of god lord we see the events taking place on the earth which are all precursors to the revelation of this man of sin we see lord in place the systems that he will be using it's all coming together lord in front of our eyes just like you told us it would lord may we not be foolish and live after the flesh and desire lord the things of the world but may we renounce the hidden works of darkness may we lord walk with you newness of life in christ in fellowship with you in jesus name we pray amen so we stand are you in a question mark are you in a hope so or are you in a no-so god wants you to know the pastors are down here to pray for you tonight should the church be raptured tonight and there is nothing that is that i can see that is hindering it from happening except we just don't know that the day or the hour but it could happen if it did happen tonight do you know for sure that you would be taken up in the rapture or maybe you would be left to see these things that we've been reading about here in the sixth chapter i'll tell you i don't want to be here and i know i won't be because of the promises of jesus christ and my commitment to him i encourage you to make that same commitment to live for the lord to walk after the spirit to commit your life fully to jesus the pastors are down here in the front to pray with you and to pray for you in order that you might know assuredly that everything between you and the lord is right there nothing between nothing in the way but you're ready to meet the lord whenever he might come for his church may the lord be with you and may the lord watch over and keep you and may god help each of us by the power of his spirit to be a witness to this world that is on the brink of disaster to warn men of the coming judgment of god let us be faithful witnesses of jesus christ to the world praise god from whom all blessings floor praise him all creatures hear below praise him above ye heavenly hope praise father son and holy ghost [Music] and now on behalf of the word for today the broadcast ministry of pastor chuck smith we thank you for joining us in today's broadcast for more of pastor chuck's studies and biblical teaching resources visit our website at pastorchuck.org you can contact the word for today at the word for today p.o box 890820 temecula california 92589 or email us at infopastorchuck gmail.com we'll return with more of our verse by verse bible study in our next broadcast with pastor chuck

Channel: Chuck Smith TWFT

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Length: 50min 25sec (3025 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 13 2021