The Tribulation Begins (#11) - October 28, 2020

so if you've ever wondered when the tribulation begins well i can't tell you when it's going to begin on our calendar but i can tell you when it begins in the book of revelation and that is in chapter six and that's the title of the message tonight the tribulation begins and i want you to open your bibles to revelation chapter six now by way of review you'll remember that chapter one was the introduction to the book and it was john's description of seeing jesus christ in his exalted glorified position in heaven and jesus was depicted to john in symbolic in a symbolic fashion and he wrote all of those descriptive words down in chapter one and then those words were even repeated in chapters two and three in the letters that jesus wrote to the churches speaking of that that's the second section of the book chapters two and three the seven letters to the churches and collectively that represents the church age and that is the age to which we belong the age in which we're living now and then in chapters four and five we were taken with john into god's throne room in chapter four the focus was on god the father seated on the throne but in chapter five the focus shifted to the lamb of god who is jesus who took the scroll from god who was seated on the throne now we are crossing into chapter 6 of revelation and as we think about the tribulation period which commences in the first verse of chapter six the tribulation is about god's wrath it's about god's anger and most people don't like to think about a god who is angry in fact in much of the popular contemporary preaching of our day there has been the depiction the painting of a god who is never angry oh he may get disappointed he may get a little frustrated maybe he's just up there biting his fingernails and he's not sure how he should react to the sin going on down here on planet earth but this god who has been repackaged by the slick marketers of the feel-good religion of our day he's always smiling like some big marshmallow floating through the atmosphere or the universe and he would never ever demonstrate anger but when we we read the book of revelation we see quite the opposite is true we see a god who is demonstrating wrath and anger because that is a part of his holiness it is as much a part of his attributes as is his love and his mercy god is going to pour out wrath on planet earth during the tribulation period and it is this tribulation period that comprises the bulk of the book of revelation now the tribulation is depicted in three sets of seven and the sequences of judgments are the breaking of seven seals then the sounding of seven trumpets and then the pouring out of of wrath from bowls that that god will pour from heaven down on earth the apostle john who is the author of the book of revelation witnessed the dramatic sequence of events in chapter 5 when a search was conducted to find someone worthy to approach the throne and take the scroll from god's hand and of course the lamb was the one who was found worthy so the lamb approached the throne and took the scroll and now as we begin chapter 6 what happens is the lamb who is jesus begins to break each of those seals that has the scroll bound and intact and what we'll look at tonight is as a seal is broken by jesus on the scroll in heaven so there is some type of of judgment that comes to the earth the breaking of a seal in heaven the coming of a judgment to the earth and the breaking of the first seal is where the tribulation is thought to begin now just to recap what the tribulation is all about it is a seven year period of time we believe for those of you who studied the book of daniel with us you'll remember in daniel chapter 9 the angel gabriel gave daniel the 70 weeks prophecy which was god's prophetic program for the people of israel we believe that with the death of jesus the the clock stopped on that 70-week program and 69 sevens were completed leaving a 70th week or 70th seven outstanding yet to be fulfilled we believe that the seven year tribulation is also the 70th week of that 70-week prophecy in daniel chapter 9. it is as i've mentioned the time when god's wrath will be poured out on planet earth we also believe that the tribulation period as we saw in daniel and we'll see again in the book of revelation is divided in half the first three and a half years then the halfway point and the last three and a half years it is during the latter half of the tribulation that the great tribulation will ensue which means that the most intense time of wrath will be concentrated into the last three and a half years of the seven some scholars interpret these judgments this period that that comprises the bulk of revelation to actually be depicting only the last three and a half years and not all seven now that is merely speculative but it is a valid way of interpreting it we're going to assume that it represents the entire period of time so we're going to begin by the lamb breaking the first four seals and jesus takes the scroll and one at a time breaks these seals and the first four we refer to as the four horsemen of the apocalypse so the lamb breaks seal number one and seal number one reveals the white horse and the white horse is symbolic of conquest this first horse is the first of the four and the breaking of these sequence of four seals look with me in verses one and two of chapter six where john says now i saw when the land opened one of the seals and i heard one of the four living creatures saying with a loud voice like thunder come and see and i looked and behold a white horse he who sat on it had a bow and a crown was given to him and he went out conquering and to conquer now when you see this writer on the white horse who was given the authority go out and to conquer there is another appearance of someone on a white horse in the latter part of the book of revelation in chapter 19 verse 11 where john says now i saw heaven open behold a white horse and he who sat on him was called faithful and true and in righteousness the rider of that white horse judges and makes war now can there be any doubt as to who the writer on the white horse is in revelation 19 verse 11 he who is faithful and true is the lord jesus christ he who judges in righteousness is the lord jesus christ so you have this first horseman of the apocalypse the breaking of the first seal he is riding on a white horse and you have jesus riding on a white horse some have suggested that perhaps the writer of the first white horse in revelation 6 is also the lord jesus christ but i strongly disagree because if this is the commencing of the tribulation period the breaking of the first seal i believe that the the antichrist will be an imitation of christ and therefore just as jesus christ will come on a white horse in final conquest so the antichrist is depicted on this first white horse in the breaking of the first seal so there's a similarity in that they both are riding on a white horse but the difference is one comes at the beginning of the tribulation the other comes at the end of the tribulation and we believe this is antichrist and christ sandwiching the events of the tribulation period now there is no warfare associated with the entrance of the antichrist here as the rider of this white horse in the breaking of the first seal this is just a symbolic depiction of his rise to power in the world so if these are given to us in signs it doesn't mean the antichrist is literally going to appear on the back of a white horse this is just how god revealed that the antichrist would appear on the stage of the world government system so he's not going to be on a white horse literally it was symbolically depicted in the holy spirit now i want us to notice some interesting things about him it says that he has a crown which was given to him and so this is a crown that that speaks about the honor and the power that are going to be entrusted to him and did you also see it describes this writer on the white horse as having a bow but what is missing are the arrows to be launched from the bow so that tells us that a bow which is a weapon of warfare but lacking the arrows with which to pierce the enemy he is going to appear powerful but appearances will indicate he is here to offer peace a bow power no arrows a man of peace and then it says he went out conquering which speaks of his strategy he will conquer and he will use his charisma he will use his diplomatic gifts and on the front end he will be very kind and and uh cordial but of course he'll reveal his true colors around the midway point of the tribulation he eventually is going to establish hegemony in the earth which means he is going to call the nations of the earth and manipulate the leaders of the world into the web of his universal alliance so that is the first seal the second seal is the red horse which it depicts war the second horse is red and we're going to see from what accompanies the rider of this red horse that warfare is intended in symbolic fashion look in verse number three when jesus the lamb opened the second seal i heard the second living creature saying come and see another horse fiery red went out and it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth and that people should kill one another and there was given to him a great sword so with the breaking of this seal there is going to be an outbreak of violence and bloodshed on the earth at this stage of the tribulation and whereas the antichrist had a bow without arrows the rider of this red horse has a great sword that he has been given and the sword is what draws blood so there is going to be upheavals of violence and warfare at that stage of the tribulation so if you're following the white horse symbolizes the conquest of the antichrist this the red horse symbolizes the outbreak of war and divisions between people and violence that leads to bloodshed then number three this the third seal that the lamb breaks is the black horse and from what we read the black horse depicts the idea of famine and universal want around the world look in verse 5 when the lamb opened the third seal i heard the living creature say come and see so i looked and behold a black horse and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand and i heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying a quart of wheat for a denarius and three quarts of barley for a denarius and do not harm the oil and the wine now just to translate the word denarius back in the time in which jesus lived in biblical times a denarius was a day's wage for a typical worker and ordinarily in that day and time a denarius would purchase 10 quarts of wheat or 30 of barley but during this time of famine which is indicated by the breaking of this third seal a denarius will only buy you 10 of what it ordinarily should be able to purchase so if you consider that that what what used to uh purchase 10 quarts of wheat 30 of barley will now only purchase 10 of that this refers to rationing this refers to worldwide famine there will be a state of desperation now you know we just had a warm up for this when it comes to some of the things that disappeared off the shelves of the grocery stores and the big box stores now we made jokes about the paper supplies and things like toilet paper that were so scarce at the outbreak of the pandemic but i want you to think about if that were true of the food supply in general if all of a sudden something happened to the production of food and mass and the same shortages that we felt from the paper supplies and cleaning supplies and other things that started to touch into the food supply during this pandemic and we've seen that get a little bit uncomfortably close to creating a crisis for us imagine it affecting every source of food for the people of the world and for us in a prosperous country like america so what i'm saying to you is the symbolism here is that there will be a time of famine and worldwide want corresponding with the breaking of that third seal seal number four reveals the entrance of a pale horse which we understand to be symbolic of death he's described as pale in color and i want us to look together beginning in verse 7. when the lamb opened the fourth seal i heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying come and see so i looked and behold a pale horse and the name of him who sat on it was death and hades followed with death and power was given to them over a fourth of the earth to kill with sword with hunger with death in general and by the beasts of the earth now some interpreters have said that a better translation of pale would be yellowish green in any case death is the primary rider on the back of this yellowish green or pale horse and death has a cohort called hades or the abode of the departed unbelievers and they were given power over one-fourth of the earth's population i want you to think about the magnitude of one-fourth of the earth's population so it is at this point in the tribulation depicted by the breaking of the fourth seal that one-fourth of earth's population will perish and the the means of death is described as the sword which includes warfare as hunger which has to do with famine and not only could it be a shortage of the food supply but contamination of the food supply death in general is referred to as a third means of death for one-fourth of the world which could include plagues such as the one that we are experiencing but for which there is no mask that can stagger the spread of such a plague we don't know what it means but i'm telling you it must be awful for it to be responsible for wiping out 25 of earth's population it will cause covet 19 in all previous plagues in history to blush in embarrassment over the limited limitation of the toll that they have taken then finally wild beasts are referred to there and perhaps this means in the less developed countries and places around the world where predatory animals wild beasts roam freely they will move into cities and places of dense population and because people will be in need people will be weak and hungry there will be universal plague these predatory animals will be able to uh for lack of a better expression go through the buffet now i don't know how to envision all of these things happening i'm just telling you what john saw depicted through the releasing of these four horsemen which bring about the beginning of wrath and judgment as the antichrist that first rider on the white horse is jocking his way into the position that he will occupy to lead the coalesced nations of the world okay so we typically view the breaking of those four seals together because each seal revealed a horse and rider now i want us to move to the lamb breaking seal number five which shows john the martyrs in heaven when the lamb breaks this fifth seal john saw what we believe are the first martyrs to go to heaven from out of the tribulation look with me in verse number nine when he opened the fifth seal this is jesus the lamb i saw under the altar up in heaven the souls of those who had been 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 until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth then he says a white robe was given to each of them and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who would be killed as they had been killed was completed so if what we believe is true and that is that the church is going to be raptured from the earth to heaven before the tribulation then these martyrs who are under the altar in heaven are those who have been saved after the rapture and during the tribulation and they have been executed because they made the decision to trust in christ during the tribulation period now the word our english word martyr actually comes from a greek word which is almost letter for letter the same as it comes into english and the word in its original form meant witness one who was a witness but eventually that word evolved into a more serious meaning especially for us as christians and now the word martyr can mean one who is killed because of his or her religious beliefs so it's not just someone who is persecuted a martyr is someone who actually pays the ultimate price through the loss of his or her life because of their faith and what john sees in heaven with the breaking of this fifth seal are these martyrs tribulation martyrs those who got saved after the rapture and have now been killed because of their faith and they find now that they've been transported from earth where they were hated as new believers to heaven where they find their eternal refuge in the throne room of god as he says symbolically they are they are hiding underneath god's altar he tells us in verse number 9 that they were slain because of the word of god which means they they had bibles believe the bible and because of their testimony which means they openly profess that they trusted in christ imagine a time when because of the bible and because of your verbal testimony you will pay with your life verse number 10 john said they were asking god how long was he going to wait before he would vindicate their deaths they remembered well what they left behind on the earth where the antichrist and and the governments under his reign turned in fierce anger against christians all over the world and and so imagine these martyrs have been killed by this world system that is hostile towards christianity during the tribulation and it it means they're human when they say god how much longer are you going to let the wicked people rule the earth and those who killed us now what a lot of people don't realize is this idea of martyrdom is not just something reserved for the tribulation period but there are believers in jesus who are dying because of their faith all over the world today in places like north korea and iran and in some of the african countries especially nigeria where there's been a recent uptick in persecution and hostilities against christians and in the sudan and especially in china now at gordon conwell theological seminary just outside of boston massachusetts they've established what they call the center of the study of global christianity and the center for the study of global christianity monitors the trends in christianity around the world including persecution and martyrdom the director's dr todd johnson and in a 2019 article dr johnson wrote this we estimate that more than 70 million christians have been martyred over the last two millennia more than half of which died in the 20th century under fascist and communist regimes we also estimate that one million christians were killed between 2001 and 2010 and about 900 000 were killed from 2011 to 2020 and you can find this article just a simple google search but here's what i want you to think about he said 70 million christians have been martyred in christian history but half of those died in the 20th century alone which which means this that that the 20th century was the century of the most bloodshed on the part of christians giving their lives for their faith than in all previous 19 centuries of christian history combined so you see what this tells us is that these circumstances described by john with the breaking of the fifth seal and these martyrs who've been killed during the tribulation this kind of thing is already going on in the world but verse 11 tells us according to john god clothed these tribulation martyrs with white linen robes and he offered them a word of assurance that they just needed to wait a little while longer because eventually he would vindicate their deaths and demand a reckoning by pouring out wrath on their execute executioners so with that said you see this drama building in heaven as people are being killed because of their faith during the tribulation they go to heaven and say oh god why are you letting this continue to happen and god says just a little while more and i will call it quits on the rule of the wicked on planet earth okay now just to step back for a moment let's recap a few things you know what this tells me this tells me first of all people will be saved after the rapture i've heard that question asked many many times will it be possible to be saved after the rapture the church is gone and the tribulation is here well how will people get saved many of them will remember the witness that the church shared who's to say there still won't be broadcast being aired of christian programming even though the church is gone and of course there will be copies of the scriptures there will be gideon bibles in every hotel nightstand drawer there will still be ways for people to know about jesus but people will be saved during the tribulation but there's also something that we need to remember that even though it will be possible to be saved during the tribulation the price to become saved the price one will pay for confessing faith in christ will be great another thing i want to say is that the rise of the antichrist to power is going to coincide with the challenges described in the breaking of these seals you can just imagine with economic fallout and the spreading of plagues and the food supply being greatly hindered and reduced and there being a time of famine and want and rationing and so imagine a global economic and food supply meltdown people are going to be looking for someone to provide answers and they're going to be looking for a leader who is knowledgeable a leader who says i can fix this and you know we have already seen how that worked here now i i dare not delve into the politics of covid and and and and all of the heated topics that that pertain to it but i'm going to tell you there has got to be more than one expert on pen on on a pandemic there's got to be more than once one credentialed epidemiologist than tony fauci and what you see happening in our country is you you see the the media and the uh elite of our culture and and those part of the social media mob they all march in lockstep to say if anybody even the president disagrees with dr tony fauci tony fauci is the know all the be-all the end-all it has been alarming to me how one man is attributed with omniscience who himself has contradicted what he said where he said this will go away soon masks aren't aren't of any use mask don't help i don't pred predict this lasting past april and now wear a mask this is with us to stay he's now for a universal mask mandate i'm not here to critique the masks or no masks i'm not here to speak about the politics but what has troubled me is how quickly so many millions of people were ready to listen to one man just one whom to contradict makes you almost guilty of treason this has been a dress rehearsal for how the antichrist is going to be enthroned crisis chaos plague pandemic economic fallout worldwide everyone will be waiting for the one qualified person to solve the problem and that person will be the antichrist the power of his consolidated global government will be hostile against any expression of faith in jesus during the tribulation thus these martyrs are under the altar in heaven and those here's the good news that those who get saved and those who are martyred during the tribulation absent from the body present with the lord they go straight to heaven and what better place to be than at the altar of god in heaven now let's look at the sixth seal seal number six causes cosmic disturbances to now as we read these next few verses i want you to notice the use of the words as and like which let us know that these descriptions john gives are not literal descriptions but he uses imagery for comparative purposes in verse number 12 he says i looked and when the lamb jesus opened the sixth seal behold there was a great earthquake the sun became black as sackcloth see the sun doesn't become sackcloth it became black as sackcloth and the moon does not become blood it becomes like blood and the stars of heaven fell to the earth as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind the figs hit the ground so i want you to think about it there are six events that unfold in the sixth seal that's easy to remember the sixth seal six calamities number one an earthquake we read that a moment ago number two the sun will be darkened now this doesn't necessarily mean that the sun is going to literally stop shining because that would end all existence instantly but it means that the upheaval in the atmosphere is going to fill the atmosphere with so much uh so much pollution contamination and airborne particles that the sun the rays of the sun will be will will be obstructed by all of the contaminants in the air not only that but the moon will become red same phenomena that the light of the moon is going to be obstructed because of volcanic eruptions and also because of other things that are happening within the earth's atmosphere during the time of tribulation so an earthquake the sun going dark the moon turning red then there will be apparently a meteor shower like a fig tree with ripe figs when the wind blows and the figs just drop down there will be an invasion into the earth's atmosphere of of meteors from from space and they won't just spray the nighttime sky with a streak of light they will actually land on the earth and bring destruction and death where they land but then we read that people are actually going to be allowed to see into heaven that's something that john describes at the breaking of this seal in verse number 14 he says the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up so the sky is going to be un unrolled like a scroll and this tells us that perhaps the people of the earth during this point in the tribulation will get a glimpse into the throne room of god don't know how that will happen but it's what john describes and then the sixth phenomenon is that every mountain this is in verse 14 every mountain and island will be shaken which has to do with volcanic and seismic activity that causes there to be geological disturbances all over the earth this is going this is why they call it the tribulation now jesus referred to these kinds of things happening and he spoke of them as happening after the tribulation for instance in his teaching we call it the olivet discourse in matthew 24 29 jesus said immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light the stars will fall from heaven so there you have same as the sixth seal sun moon affected and stars fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens jesus says will be shaken now he said that'll be after here it is happening during one of the things that we're going to notice as we traverse through this study of the tribulation is how many parallels there are in the tribulation period recounted for us in the book of revelation and all of the things jesus prophesied would happen in his pr prophetic sermon in matthew chapter 24. i mean you can just connect the dots line after line of what jesus said would happen during the tribulation and what john actually saw depicted in symbolic form in this book of revelation or the apocalypse as it is also called now this leads me to mention that although there are seven seal trumpets and seven seven seal judgments rather and seven trumpet judgments and seven bold judgments some interpreters do not believe that these judgments happen sequentially in in the in a chronological fashion as they are depicted in the book of revelation to john and as he recorded it for us that implies a linear development that that you know the second seal judgment follows the first the third follows the second and then of course when you get to the end of the seven seal judgments immediately the seven trumpet judgments ensue and therefore they happen in linear fashion sequential fashion some scholars believe that although it was depicted this way it was simply to help john organize it and categorize the judgments and write them down but that really all of the judgments that are described in these seals and trumpets and bowls may be happening simultaneously during the tribulation period or maybe some of them overlap with others and it's not that one has to be over before the next one begins well i'm only sharing that with you because it is uh it is you know a credible way of interpreting uh the the sequence of judgments is that they don't have to literally take place in the chronological sequence in which they they appear in the book of revelation but here's what happens after this sixth seal is broken and i i want us to to pay careful attention to what john describes in verse 15 the kings of the earth the great men the rich men the commanders the mighty men every slave and every free man what did they do in response to all of this upheaval they hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains and they said to the mountains and rocks fall on us please and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb for the great day of his wrath has come and who is able to stand so we believe from from what john is seeing remember this is all prophetic it's all visions imagery symbols none of these things have even taken place yet in our time so it was all being dramatically enacted through the power of the holy spirit giving john this revelation this tells us there's going to be an effort made by even the most powerful people on planet earth during the tribulation to find bunkers in which to take refuge the caves and the crevices and the rocks and mountains but what is so noteworthy here is that their desire to flee into these places of refuge and even to plead that rocks and boulders will fall on them and put them out of their misery as they see the world coming to an end it is not because of all of those things that they plead for death but according to john they are crying out that the rocks and boulders will fall on them to hide them from the face of god and from the wrath of jesus who is the lamb so remember the scroll unraveling perhaps depicting that somehow people on earth are going to be able to see into the throne of god from earth don't know how that would happen but they are crying out for protection from god's wrath that's what he describes and in verse number 17 the question is asked the wrath of god has come and and notice the question who is able to stand and can i answer that question for them and for us do you know who is able to stand before the wrath of god no one no one is able to stand before the wrath of god it's really a rhetorical question we know the answer we don't like to think of god as having wrath but if god had no wrath then let me tell you there would have been no need for calvary the reason there was a cross and the reason jesus came to the earth and became a man is because the human race was deserving of the wrath of god because we have trampled under our feet his holy and righteous laws we are an insult to his very nature and character and when jesus became one of us it was so that as one of us he could absorb the wrath that all of us deserved you see jesus took god's wrath in our place because jesus took the wrath of god for us on the cross when we receive the gift that his death procured for us we are promised are you ready for this we are promised that we as followers of jesus believers in christ we as christians will never say never we will never ever face the wrath of god and why do we escape how do we escape how is it that we never have to fear the wrath of god because jesus has delivered us from god's wrath so if the time of tribulation is the time of wrath and we've seen it here it's been stated twice just in the breaking of these six seals i want you to think about what paul wrote to the thessalonians in first thessalonians chapter 1 and verse 10 he said we are waiting for jesus god's son from heaven whom he raised from the dead even jesus who delivers us from what he delivers us from the wrath to come this is one of the most important verses that assures us that that god has made a way for us not to experience his wrath that will be poured out during the tribulation jesus delivers us from it he he goes on to say in the fifth chapter in verse number nine of that same thessalonian letter for god did not appoint us to wrath but to obtain salvation through our lord jesus christ did you see that god did not appoint us to wrath so when i combine chapter 1 and verse 10 of first thessalonians chapter 5 19 of first thessalonians with revelation chapter 6 and verse 17 that the wrath of god is being poured out and who is able to stand good news child of god we don't have to wonder if we'll be able to stand because god is taking us out of here he has not appointed us to experience the wrath of the tribulation and this is why i am a pre-tribulation rapture guy because there's too much in the scripture to convince me otherwise so the tribulation has begun we've gotten through the six seals and we'll pick up with chapter seven next week god thank you that in understanding that you are a holy god fully justified in demonstrating wrath against rebellion and the offenses that we have caused to your holiness you are justified in demonstrating wrath against sin but how we praise you and bless you that jesus took your wrath for us help us as your people to spread the good news that wrath can be avoided by coming to god through jesus and lord help us to realize it's time to get busy because once we're raptured the work will be done and we'll never again be able to share christ so i thank you that this study is not just filling our heads with knowledge it's filling our hearts with passion to be about your business in jesus name amen

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Length: 44min 18sec (2658 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 28 2020