Sermon Tone Analysis

April 4, 2012

By: John Barnett

Read, print, or listen to this resource on our website www.DiscoverTheBook.org

True salvation implants an inextinguishable hope within us.

Prophecy is probably the most encouraging and affirming study we can do in God's Word and especially prophecy.

Prophecy has inspired believers since the very first recorded teaching on prophecy in the earliest days of Christ's church; and it is the hope we have of Christ's return that has inspired believers to face troubles, afflictions, and wearying persecutions.

Today, as we read the darkest hours of mankind’s earthly journey, note how Jesus weaves into this dark fabric, the rays of HOPE.

As we open to Matthew 24:29 we find Jesus describing one of the more fascinating events during earth’s final days.

These words mark the crescendo, the finale, and the very last act of the dramatic entrance of Jesus Christ back onto the stage.

Please notice the 6 words captured in v. 29 and ponder what Jesus described in Matthew 24.

Matthew 24:29-32/ “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, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

30 Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

31 And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

32 “Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near."/

The enlarged, unabridged version of what Jesus saw coming, is described by John in Revelation 8.

As we turn there we are talking about an event that has an:

*Impact Felt Around the World*

As we head to the end of our Bible, think about who God's Word is for.

It isn’t just for us.

This book has encouraged saints for 3,500 years since Moses captured into scrolls the first five books.

It has encouraged Christ's Church for 2,000 years.

But, think of one more truth: this book will continue to encourage and help saints to the END.

You see the group that most needs these words are those alive at the END.

In Revelation 8 we see how powerful the hope offered by God can be, because it works even when the world is literally falling apart and everything else is hopeless.

Listen to what the Apostle John observed and described as a great burning mountain and great star burning like a torch:

Revelation 8:8-11 /"Then the second angel sounded: And something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood.

9 And a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

10 Then the third angel sounded: And a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water.

11 The name of the star is Wormwood.

A third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the water, because it was made bitter."/

After a lifetime of studying the book of Revelation, and reading as many books and commentaries as possible—I am still not sure as to whether the words of that prophecy we just read is a first-century man's inspired description of an atomic bomb, a super powerful demonic creature’s attack, or if it's about a comet, an asteroid, or meteorite slamming into the earth.

But we do know that God allows John to see an event as it was happening in the future.

This is not merely a prediction, prophecy in God's Word is: actually seeing an event in the future as it happens.

And John watches an object near the end of the world, falls from the sky and devastates the Earth.

And even in that situation, God offers hope that can help and keep believers from giving up.

The hope God gives is more powerful than any situation we could ever face!

Whatever this falling object is, God allows it to poisons a third of the Earth's fresh water supply, this could be explained as the effect of nuclear radiation fallout; but there are some ongoing discoveries that indicate another possibility.

For example:

*Near-Earth Objects*

It was just six years ago that the US government began funding a new branch of astrophysics called the Near-Earth Object Survey or NEOS.

The original allocation of $40 million was to survey every near-Earth object 100 meters across or larger for 12 months.

In May 2004 just three months after this project started, a University of Hawaii astronomer and a team from Arizona University discovered a new near earth object (space rock) and took photos until storm clouds blocked the skies.

Six months after that, around Thanksgiving of 2004, some Australian astronomers spotted the object, found it to be an asteroid, and named it 2004 MN4.

A month of calculations later led the astronomers to announce to the world on Christmas Eve of 2004 that this asteroid was on a direct hit trajectory with the earth.

Here is what the first verified NEO report said that was published in newspapers around the world:

Scientists calculated that with all available data, the asteroid: “would impact with the Earth on Friday the 13th in April 2029.

But what they concluded was that Asteroid 2004 MN4 was a "regional" hazard – only enough to flatten Texas or a couple of European countries with an impact equivalent to 10,000 megatons of dynamite – more than all the nuclear weapons in the world combined.”

One thing became certain at the end of 2004, the scientific world now has the instruments in hand to detect and track space rocks that were so small that they were not previously tracked; but that could wreak enormous destruction on this planet.

As with any other unexpected news, this caused a surge in anxiety for a couple of months, but was soon forgotten.

But look back at Revelation 8, and think about what it would be like on the ground when that future event happens.

Now, just think of a flaming object crashing to earth.

Something from space (a comet, a meteorite, or something else) hits the earth and poisons 1/3 of the drinking water we learned last week is already in short supply.

The result is that “many” people die from this water poisoning.

But Earth has already been hit.

*Great Meteors have Already Struck Earth*

Did you know that astronomers have concluded that a giant space rock strikes Earth, and leaves a huge crater about every 150 years?

Here in the USA we have made a national monument out of a one mile wide, six hundred foot deep meteor crater in Arizona.

Early this month on my way to Los Angeles I leaned over to Bonnie’s window seat, and watched Meteor Crater in Arizona go by.

By the way, that one hit since the time of the flood since we can still see it.

Right?

The flood erased the mountains, valleys, and craters across the planet when everything erupted, flooded, swirled and left a mile deep layer of flood sedimentation across the entire planet.

But, what size of space rock does it take to scoop a hole, a mile wide and 600 feet deep, into the Earth?

That meteorite was just 20 meters (or 66 feet) wide.

That 600-foot-deep (180-meter) hole in the ground, popular now with tourists, is less than 5,000 years old and was created by a space rock so small that another one like it might not be noticed until it hits.

We can only detect 100 foot wide rocks, that one was just 66 feet wide!

What if that sized rock hits Newark, New Jersey, 10 miles (16 kilometers) from Manhattan as the crow flies?

Not as much damage as you would think.

Other than Newark, NYC would be spared and only feel a moderate earthquake of magnitude 4.7 rattles the region.

New York City has handled such temblors in the past and largely endures.

No significant ejected materials hits Manhattan, and winds reach an insignificant 3.7 mph.

But what about a “star”, an asteroid that is bright, flies earthward and gets as bright as the sun--flaming downward through the atmosphere as it burns away at superheated entry velocity of miles per second?

Well if a small say “9.3-mile-wide (15-kilometer) asteroid -- the estimated size of the suspected dinosaur killer – drops onto on San Francisco.

The Bay Area doesn't do so well.

The resulting crater, at 113 miles (181 kilometers) wide, pretty much tells the story.

The entire metropolis vanishes faster than you can say where you left your heart.

What isn't consumed is knocked over in an earthquake of magnitude 10.2, bigger than any in recorded history.

Heat from a scorching fireball would turn much of the state, and parts of others, into toast.

The quick death experienced by most Bay Area residents turns out to be a blessing compared to the slow, searing, suffocating death that Los Angeles residents face.

*When Death gets Inescapable*

About 10 seconds after impact, radiation from the fireball sears Southern California, igniting not only the clothing people are wearing, but even the plywood on the outside of homes.

Within two minutes the ground under Hollywood begins to shake.

Weak brick structures crumble.

Concrete irrigation ditches are damaged.

Frame houses not properly bolted to their foundations are knocked off.

Even tree branches fall.

And then it gets nasty.

Six minutes after impact, much of earth that used to be under San Francisco has soared high into the atmosphere and begins to fall on the City of Angels (and just about everywhere else).

Ultimately, a blanket of ejected material nearly 18 feet (5.5 meters) deep is deposited in and around LA.

Within a half-hour of the initial cosmic impact, on comes a 66-mph (30 meters per second) wind to rake what's left of Los Angeles.

"If you're close to the site of a major impact, some pretty bad things happen," said Jay Melosh, an expert in impact cratering at the University of Arizona.

Denver, about a third of the way over, is coated with nearly a foot of ejected material, called ejecta.

Winds reach 22 mph.

New York City residents are spared enough that they can at first sit comfortably and watch all this on TV (to the extent there are any video feeds).

Still, about 13 minutes after impact, windows and doors rattle in the East.

After about 21 minutes, stuff shot out from the world's largest new crater starts to rain down on the East, depositing a half-inch blanket across the city.

About 3-1/2 hours later an 8-mph wind arrives.”

So, that would be the incalculable loss of physical property, and the unimagineable loss of tens of millions of human lives just in America, for just this one event of what will be a non-stop horror show that every person alive in the Tribulation will be experiencing non-stop right to the end!

Look back at Matthew 24 again with me, only this time look at verse 13.

I want to show you something amazing.

Jesus says that something will characterize those who are really His children.