Revelation 8-9 Destruction Comes

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Intro

Think of a time when you have seen Destruction. It is much easier to destroy than to build. It is not a positive word. If you have experienced or seen the power of a hurricane, earthquake, tsunami, or tornado, you know what the natural elements can do.

The atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II—code named "Little Boy" and "Fat Man," respectively—caused widespread destruction, leveled cities, and killed between 90,000 and 166,000 people in Hiroshima (about 20,000 of which were soldiers), and between 39,000 and 80,000 in Nagasaki.

In the Little Boy, a bullet-like projectile made of uranium-235 was fired at a core of the same substance to set off the chain reaction. The Fat Man, on the other hand, used a core of plutonium-239 that was ignited with thousands of pounds of conventional explosives, again setting off a chain reaction of nuclear fission.

The bomb Little boy is not that large. To put it in perspective, it is about the size of a large candle being shot into something about resize of a pumpkin and causing a chain reaction.

Likewise somethings so small as sin,entered the world and started the chain reaction down through the ages that leads us to today’s passage and and really the need for final judgement. Sin set us on a come for destruction.

We have to keep in mind that the theme of the Book of Revelation is “That which cannot be redeemed from sin must be destroyed,”

Read Verses: Revelation 8:1-5

Main Idea: God brings destruction on those who do not repent

I. Destroyed by Fire (ch. 8)

We saw last week that Chapter 7 is a break between the first six seals in chapter 6 and the seventh seal here in chapter 8. In Chapter 8 verse 1, John tells us that jesus opened the seventh seal. And the interesting thing is that john tells us that there was silence for about half an hour.

This is the calm before the storm. When the silence is so eerie and everything is calm and you just wait for whatever is coming next.

Then john draws our attention to the angel before the altar. He has a censer used to burn incense. To offer with prayers of all the saints. These Saints were the Saints of the Tribulation period (Revelation 6:9–11). Their prayers were for vengeance on and deliverance from their enemies.

But he picks up the censer, fills it with fire and throws it at the earth which causes a series of calamities. Hail and fire, burning the earth, trees and grass.

The sea turns to blood.which is possibly a Comparison with the first Egyptian plague (Exodus 7:19–21) when the waters in the rivers were turned to blood and the fish in these rivers died.

A meteor falls and kills Sea creatures and burns ships. A meteor falls from space burning as it falls. That is why we call them falling stars.

John tells us that another star falls. This will perhaps be another meteor, trailing a huge tail of flame, “burning like a torch” (A.N.T.) as it streaks through the heavens. Hurtling downward through space, it falls into the waters and contaminates one-third of the rivers and springs with its radioactive gases, thus rendering them poisonous. This is a fulfillment of Jeremiah 9:13–15, “Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.”

This whole chapter details four trumpet blasts that call forth destruction and we are told how devastating it will be.

But even though this is how the world will end, there is a way out or at least we will eventually come to our final peaceful eternal home.

Remember that which cannot be redeemed will be destroyed. How are we redeemed?

Application: Restored by Blood

We are restored by the blood of Jesus. The blood of the animals in the different temple sacrifice restored the Jews, but that was a temporary arrangement.

There was one that had to come to make one final sacrifice that would restore the world. And that took place on Golgotha on the cross on a Friday afternoon.

Jesus’ blood offers us Propitiation: To Remove God’s Righteous Wrath

Romans 3:25 says Jesus is the one whom “God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.” Because God is just, the sins of his people are no small obstacle.

God himself, in the person of his own Son, takes on human flesh and blood and offers himself in the place of sinful people, to receive the just wrath of God and pay our penalty in his death, all that we might live. His blood, then, signifying the sacrificial giving of his life in the place of those deserving death (and “received by faith”), propitiates his righteous wrath, upholds divine justice, and opens the floodgates of his mercy.

TS: While we as the elect are off the hook or we know that we are free from God’s wrath John lets us know though that there are three more woes coming. The fourth beast, the one that looks like an eagle gives us the bad news that there is more to come.

II. Destroyed by Armies (9:1-19)

The fifth trumpet bellows and John sees a star fallen from heaven t earth and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit.

The Revelation 9:1 (CSS Re): Angels are called stars in the Old Testament (Job 38:7).

3. In Revelation 20:1, this same angel is referred to as “having the key of the bottomless pit.”

4. Thus, he cannot be Satan, for God would not trust Satan to bind himself (Revelation 20:2). Neither is he a fallen angel, for as a cohort of Satan such an one could not be trusted to bind his master and lock him in the pit.

5. This Star Angel is one assigned to the specific task of opening and closing the pit on instructions from God.

And so upon opening the pit, armies of locusts, that had armor, and tails that stung. They were allowed to torment and hurt the people who are not God’s people.

The description John gives us is fantastical. If this is literal they are truly terrifying and f they are just a taste of what is really coming we should all be petrified. People want to die to escape the threat but they cannot. They must live through the terrible ordeal

Next we are introduced to The General of the Armies, Abaddon in Hebrew or Apollyon in Geek. In either language it means destroyer. Then the four angels are released to kill a third of mankind.

He is in command of legions of troops. And

The many destroy a percentage.

Application: But God’s people are Restored By One Man

One man saves many.

Jesus justifies and saves.

Justification: To Extend God’s Full Acceptance

Romans 5:9 says “we have now been justified by his blood.” Justified is courtroom language. The prosecution and defense each present their case, and the judge or jury makes a declaration: either righteous or condemned. The defendant is either guilty as charged or declared to be in right standing with the law — justified.

The reason those who are united to Jesus by faith are justified is owing, in part, to his sacrificial and substitutionary death. He willingly shed his own blood not for his own sins (he had none), but for ours. The spilling of his blood to cover our sins made possible our sharing in his righteousness by joining us to him through faith. Without his blood, our unrighteousness would remain unaddressed. We could not stand with him at the final judgment and receive with him his Father’s declaration, “Righteous.”

Paul tells Timothy in the letter to him, in chapter 1 verse 15 This saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them. 16 But I received mercy for this reason, so that in me, the worst of them, Christ Jesus might demonstrate his extraordinary patience as an example to those who would believe in him for eternal life.

Charles Spurgeon titled his sermon that centered on these two verses A Great Gospel for Great Sinners.

You are never too far gone for God to rescue you. Because if he intended to save you, you have already been paid for. And that is good news for a great sinner.

It demonstrates the amazing Grace that the song sings about. The grace that saved a wretch like me. Don’t let people or yourself for that matter think that you cannot be saved. Because you can.

Because if you. Notice, all of the angels are obeying God when all of these woes and truest are blowing and going on.

But there is one last section or warning that John gives us.

III. Destruction by Pride (9:20-21)

Revelation 9:20-21

The people who were left did not repent. They kept doing what they were doing even after witnessing all of these horrific events. They liked worshiping demons, and inanimate idols or gods they were killing, stealing and sleeping with whomever they desired.

They did not understand or wish to know what was happening, why it was happening or perhaps more importantly, Who was making it happen.

Their pride caused them to exchange their eternal joy for earthly happiness.

Application: We are Restored by Humility

Jesus humbled himself to the point of leaving heaven and dying on the cross/ God resurrected and glorified him. Exalting his name above all others. Philippians 2:9

Likewise, We must not be destroyed by our pride. Luke 18:9-14 Jesus tells his crowd a parable about the Pharisee and the Tax collector or sometimes you may have heard it the Pharisee and the publican.

Have the humility to know that you did not save yourself

Have the humility to realize you need a savior because of the impending

Proverbs 16:19

It is better to be humble in spirit with the lowly

Than to divide the spoil with the proud.

James 4:6

But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

Conclusion

Just like the bomb code-named Little Boy, it wasn’t very large but the power of the inside it was destructive. Sin is like that. It does not take a big sin to cause a lot of problems. The sin of pride caused the world to fall and the people who do not repent will face God’s wrath and judgement.

Those if us who have repented are safe and we can be firm in our faith that jesus is the one who saved us. So lets spread that good news that the savior has done his task and paid for the sins of sinners.

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