Hoards of Horses

Take your Bibles this morning and turn to Revelation chapter 9. Before we look into God's Word, we need to ask that He would open it for us. So bow with me in prayer. Father, we are Your children. you have given us the capacity to understand because you have given us new life. And with that new life, you've given us these abilities and capacities that we did not have when we were in darkness and under the reign of sin.

But Father, we are still dependent upon your spirit to enliven those capacities to grasp the truth of the word of God, not just to understand what that word is saying, but how that word should affect us, how it should transform us. And so we pray that you would work to transform us into the image of Christ as we see this truth, as we understand what's happening in the world around us, that we might be those who shine like lights in a dark generation. So open your word, we pray.

Help us. We need it. pray your spirit would illumine the text of scripture that it would be alive for us we pray this in the name of our savior amen bethany bennett has a horse his name is gibbs and first impressions are important to gibbs If you don't impress him right away, you might as well forget it. He won't like you. I know that because Gibbs used to live at my house.

He used to be Lydia's horse. And he liked Lydia a lot. He liked me. He did not like Annie. And he was always suspicious of Yance. It's the way he was.

But there was one thing we never had to worry about with Gibbs. We never had to worry about the fact that he would kill us by breathing on us or hurt us with his tail. Those are the kinds of horses that you find here in Revelation chapter 9 So if you will take your copy of the scriptures and you follow as I read Revelation 9 12 through 21 as we see these horses described for us.

The first woe has passed. Behold, two woes are still to come. then the sixth angel blew his trumpet and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar before God saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates so the four angels who had been prepared for the hour the day the month and the year were released to kill a third of mankind the number of mounted troops was twice 10,000 times 10,000. I heard their number.

And this is how I saw the horses in my vision and those who rode them. They wore breastplates the color of fire and of sapphire and of sulfur. And the heads of the horses were like lion's heads. And fire and smoke and sulfur came out of their mouths. By these three plagues, a third of mankind was killed by the fire and smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouths.

For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails. for their tails are like serpents with heads, and by means of them they wound. The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues did not repent of the works of their hands, nor give up worshipping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immoralities or their thefts. Now, you don't have to worry about where these horses are raised and bred because they are not horses, but symbolic representations of what is happening in this age.

Now, there are some reasons for me saying that and I think it would be good to review them quickly. I'm always tempted to do this every week just because we tend to forget that when we come into this book. But the first thing we need to remember is that this book is written in a kind of literature called apocalyptic literature. And you remember that apocalyptic literature presents its message in wild vivid startling bizarre pictures in these weird kind of symbols And those symbols reveal truth They intended to reveal truth but they revealed symbolically so that if you try to understand them literally, you miss the message altogether.

You've got to read them symbolically. So don't start looking for the ranch where these horses are bred since these horses symbolize another reality. Now recall as well that this entire book is a letter. It didn't start with seven letters. It is, the entire book is a letter written to the seven churches of Asia Minor and included in the Bible for us. So it is a letter written to us.

And it is an epistle written in order to promise us that we will share in the victory of the Lamb as we remain faithful through the suffering of the persecution of our enemies and we resist the seduction of a culture that is prosperous and easy. Now, again, let's narrow our focus. Now we're in the trumpet judgments in the book of Revelation. And you recall that these trumpets introduce plagues sent from God against his enemies.

And they are patterned after the plagues of Egypt. By understanding events in our world as judgments of God against our persecutors and our seducers. And when we understand that, we will be encouraged to remain faithful in the midst of persecution and seduction. And we know that God uses these plagues that are described in chapters 8 and 9, these plagues to expose and to harden the hearts of our enemies and to set the stage for His victory at the greater exodus that will occur when Jesus returns.

So that's where we are. We're in the middle of these plagues. these plagues that are described symbolically these plagues that are intended to harden the hearts of many of our enemies and to set the stage for the glorious coming of Jesus Christ and our deliverance our exodus from this sin age Now so far we seen five trumpet blasts five judgments against God enemies which in this book are all called earth dwellers, or those who dwell on the earth, those who have the limited perspective of this earth. Their horizons are the earth.

Their horizons don't go beyond their own idolatry, their own lust, their own dreams. It's not heaven. It's not a heavenly perspective. It's an earthly perspective. Now let's look at verse 12. The first woe has passed.

Behold, two woes are still to come. The last three trumpets are particularly difficult, harsh judgments. We've seen one, the fifth trumpet last week, which were the demonic locusts that torment people with despair and hopelessness. There are yet two more to be revealed. We look at the sixth trumpet this morning. What should you know in order to remain steadfast in Christ as you await the final exodus from this sin-cursed age?

What does God want you to know? That's what we want to see this morning in the sixth trumpet. Know, first of all, that God judges your enemies in answer to prayer. verse 13 then the sixth angel blew his trumpet and i heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar before god saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet release the four angels who are bound at the great river euphrates do you see what starts the whole series of events that we've read here do you see what starts the whole series of events that compose this sixth woe the sixth trumpet blows the sixth trumpet blows and a voice emanates from that little golden altar where the incense is burned now remember we've seen this altar already we've seen this altar in this book of Revelation this is the altar that is in the tabernacle in the temple standing right before the veil that leads to the Holy of Holies And on that golden altar, the priest in the Old Testament would offer incense.

That incense would go into the Holy of Holies and fill the Holy of Holies where the Ark of the Covenant was, the mercy seat of God where God descended. and made His presence known on the seat of that ark. The incense would go in there. They represented the prayers of the people. We saw it first in chapter 6. Now, this is continuing a theme through the book.

Look at chapter 6. Remember, verses 10 and 11 were in the middle of the seals. The seal judgments. And it says in verse 9, when He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the Word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, O sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?

Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete who were to be killed as they themselves had been. Here's the first mention of this prayer. This prayer of the martyrs calling for God's retribution and God's justice against their enemies. Then in chapter 8, in verses 3 and 5, we come to that altar again.

And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne. And the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints rose before God from the hand of the angel. Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.

We see again here, this is the prayers of the martyrs and the living persecuted saints, that we see that their prayer brings about God's judgment in the return of Jesus. Now once more, we are at that altar. And I don't know whose voice it is that emanates, if it's an angel or if it's Jesus' voice, but it's coming from that altar that represents the prayers of the saints.

Here you see that God answers the anguished prayer of His saints by unleashing the plague of the sixth trumpet. You know what? Today, in Iran, in Vietnam, in Iraq, in China, and many places all over the world, God's people are crying out for God's deliverance and God's justice against those who persecute them for loving Jesus and for serving Him All over the world even this day there are secret groups of people meeting and part of their prayers is crying out to God for their deliverance and for His justice to be shown.

And just like in the days of old, we can see it. The Lord said, I have indeed seen the misery of My people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey.

So I will stretch out my hand and strike the Egyptians, it says in Exodus. He hears the cries of his people. He's going to stretch out his hand. He's going to strike their enemies with plagues. and He will bring them into a land that is glorious. Boy, that's a picture, isn't it? And it's pointing us right here.

And so it is that before God delivers us through our exodus, when Jesus returns, He stretches out His hand and He strikes our enemies. He hears the prayers of His saints. Listen, as you look around at what's happening in this world, you may not recognize God's answer to those prayers. But He has been answering it since the church began. It is this plague of fierce, hellish horses.

That is the answer to the prayer for justice. he sends this plague. He stretches out his mighty arm through the agency of these angels and these wild horses. Well, what exactly is that judgment? We need to know that God judges, listen, God judges through death and despair. yeah that's what this text is telling us god judges through death and despair he judges his enemies through death and despair note the agents of this judgment let look at the text again Let begin in verse 14 Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates So the four angels who've been prepared for the hour of the day, the month, and the year were released to kill a third of mankind.

The number of mounted troops was twice 10,000 times 10,000. I heard their number. And this is how I saw the horses in my vision and those who rode them. they wore breastplates the color of fire and of sapphire and of sulfur and the heads of the horses were like lion's heads and fire and smoke and sulfur came out of their mouths. By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed by the fire and smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouths.

For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails for their tails are like serpents with heads and by means of them they wound. Now let's see the agents of this judgment. to get a handle on what's going on. The horses and riders are supernatural agents because they are demons. They are demons. Now, why would I say they're demons? Let me give you why I think these are demons.

Like the locusts and the demons that we saw already in the fifth trumpet, like the locust demons of the fifth trumpet, they are an innumerable host. Now, when John says, I saw them and they were twice times 10,000 times 10,000, he's not saying that there are 200 million demons at work in the world. When the book of Revelation piles up numbers like that, it usually means an innumerable number.

For example, as in chapter 5, verse 11, the voices of angels, myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands. Myriads is the word for 10,000, if I remember my Greek right. 10,000 of 10,000 and thousands of thousands. Well, you could do the math and come up with some kind of a number, but the point is they're an innumerable host, just like the locusts, this unbelievably large army of locusts that we read in the fifth trumpet.

They're like the locust demons. John describes them with monstrous metaphors, just like we saw the locusts were these monster locusts. Now we're seeing these monster horses. They wear incredible armor. That is, they're indestructible. You can do anything to them at least physically Their horses have lion heads indicating their ferocity Their mouths spew fire smoke and sulfur which speaks of their lethal power And tails that look like snakes speak of their ability to inflict spiritual torment.

These are ferocious and dreadful beings that afflict people in fierce, appalling, and devastating ways. These are fierce, unbelievably powerful creatures. And then lastly, I believe they're demons, because like the locusts or the demons we saw in the fifth trumpet, notice what it says in verse 19. For the power of the horses, like it says in verse 10, they have tails and stings like scorpions, and their power to hurt people for five months is in their tails.

And they're given power. Up in verse 3, they are given power like the power of scorpions of the earth. So these are also given power, if you will. And by means of them, like the locusts, they harm or wound. Alright? Right?

Now, another thing that strikes me is they're being led by beings of great power, four angels. Now these are bound. They're restrained against their will, just like the demons, as we saw in the fifth trumpet, are bound or are kept captive in the great abyss. But powerful as they are, please note this, powerful as those angels are, They, like the locust demons, they are under the sovereign power of the Lamb.

They do not have ultimate power. They are bound against their will and they are released at the day, at the day, the month, and the year that they're supposed to be released. That time is appointed for them to be released. They are under the sovereign purposes of the Lamb. They must be released before they can accomplish their purposes, and the very time of their release is according to God's timetable.

So they were released at His divine appointment. And by the way, what did we see last week? When were they released? They were released, as we saw from the Gospels, in the death and the resurrection of Jesus, when Satan was released. was judged. Do you realize, if I can go off on a little bit of a rabid track, they are tormenting people because they have been judged.

They're in their last throes. They've been judged. They've been rendered, if you will, unable to hurt the people of God. And so now, because of their judgment by the Lamb sitting on His throne now, they're having one last go of it, if you will. they have a mission of terror. You say, why do I say that? Not just that they're terrifying beings, but he mentions the Euphrates.

Now that might throw you, the Euphrates, why is the Euphrates River in this thing? What is that all about? Listen, we cannot think that this mention of that ancient river means that a force of 200 million people are going to appear at the Euphrates River and come marching across. Unlike I was taught. I was taught that these things belching smoke and fire were probably great brigades of tank forces from the Soviet Union or Chinese communists who appear at the river Euphrates and cross to attack Israel.

Folks, no. Why does he mention the Euphrates? If you read the Old Testament, Euphrates is the boundary point for all of the enemies of God's people. It's always on the other side of the river where the enemies and where darkness is. Just, I'm thinking of, for example, the book of Joshua. You remember what Joshua said in the very last chapter of that book?

He says, I'm going to serve God. We are no longer going to serve the gods from where? from across the river. What's he talking about? He's talking about the Euphrates River. And when you read, for example, and we won't look there this morning, but this afternoon read Jeremiah 46. In Jeremiah 46, there's this great army that's going to come.

The enemies of God's people. And where do they come from? They come from across the Euphrates. They come from in the parlance of the people that day they come from the north Exodus 38 I sorry Ezekiel 38 Another force is going to come It comes from where? It comes from the north. And the north is a reference to the people on the other side of the river.

The other side of the river. The Euphrates is the boundary point. All the forces of darkness in the Old Testament seem to come from there. I'm just going to give you an example from Judges chapter 6. And when you listen to these verses from Judges 6, you can hear the echoes of Revelation here. I'm just going to read from Judges 6.

I've got them here in the text, so you listen. For whenever the Israelites planted, and here now the geographical location is the east, which is the same reference to that area. For whenever the Israelites planted crops, the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the east would come up against them. For they would come up with their livestock and their tents.

They would come like locusts in number. Both they and their camels could not be counted, so that they laid waste the land as they came in. And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the people of the east lay along the valley like locusts in abundance. and their camels were without number as the sand that is on the seashore in abundance. Now, do you hear the echoes of Revelation here?

You see, Revelation is using that language of the Old Testament to talk about these spiritual forces that are like locusts, that are like these horses, that are like these forces from the Euphrates. To talk about the Euphrates was to talk about the land of terror. Now listen to me. I experienced that as a kid. Some of you who are old enough, like me or a little bit older, do you remember the Cold War?

Do you remember the Cold War? I grew up in the Cold War era. The Cold War era was like this. Where do our enemies come from? Where do they come from? The East.

They were the Soviets. They were from the East. they were the communist Chinese from the east now I'm not saying that that's what this refers so I'm just trying to illustrate the fact that when I was growing up our enemies always came from the east where was Vietnam fought In the east right All of our enemies came from the east Whenever we would think of the Soviet Union or the Communist Chinese, we'd think of the east, which is probably why a number of the Bible conference prophecy people that I heard would always equate this east, this Euphrates, with what? Our enemies at the time, which came from the east.

Now, here's the point I'm just trying to make. When you hear this Euphrates, you're talking about the boundary of that land where terror and darkness originates. And so that's what he's trying to say. He's using a familiar term in order to help us grasp that this is a terrifying thing. And by the way, for Jewish ears, as they read this, they're thinking enemies, but so are the Gentiles in the church who are Romans.

The Romans' enemies, guess where they came from? The other side of the Euphrates. They were the Parthian mounted troops. By the way, which is interesting to me, that these demons are described as mounted troops. Right? And the Romans had these enemies called the Parthians.

The Parthians had a cavalry where these guys could ride and shoot. there's pictures I saw pictures of them this last week they're sitting on their horses turned all the way around and shooting their arrows they were incredibly effective cavalry those Romans were terrified of them so this has a double reference to Jewish ears you know the land where enemies come from to Gentile ears the land where enemies come from these then are the agents of god's plagues upon the unbelievers a mighty supernatural terrifying force of demons now what do they bring they bring a plague of death these angels using demonic forces are authorized to kill one-third of mankind now again don't go home today and get on google try to find the world's population and see how many people have been killed all right and see if you can come up with one-third the point is that these demonic forces should have control of everybody but God limits them It a limited restrained judgment until Jesus comes when everyone is going to be judged But until then, there is this restrained judgment. And to speak of fire, smoke, and sulfur, it's just coming out of the mouths, and this is where they got the idea. This is where we were taught these are tanks, right?

Smoke coming out of their mouths. Got to be tanks. It's just symbolism. Okay? Alright, let's get back to this. There's no sense in beating up my childhood teachers, is there?

To speak of fire, smoke, and sulfur coming from the horse's mouth means to inflict fatal judgment. It's biblical language for dying under judgment. For example, let's look at some examples from the Old Testament. Genesis 19. This is where we first see it. We had reference to it last week.

Genesis 19 is where we first pick up this idea of fire, sulfur, and judgment bringing death. Genesis 19, verse 24. Abraham's looking down into the valley. verse 23 then the sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven and he overthrew those cities and all the valley and all the inhabitants of the cities and what grew on the ground verse 28 and he that's Abraham looked down towards Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the valley and he looked and behold the smoke of the land went up like the Smoke of a furnace.

Talking about destructive death here. Death. Alright, turn over to Deuteronomy 29. Deuteronomy 29. Verse 22, In the next generation your children who rise up after you and the foreigner who comes from a far land will say when they see the afflictions of that land and the sicknesses with which the Lord has made it sick. This is part of the curse of the covenant.

The whole land burned out. With brimstone and salt, nothing sown and nothing growing, where no plant can sprout, an overthrow like that of Sodom and Gomorrah, Adma and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in His anger and His wrath. Again, death reigns. So, these demons are given the power of death over God's enemies, over our enemies. And they are allowed, they are authorized to kill so many.

This can be the death that arrives at everyone's doorstep, unexpected or expected through an illness or some sort. It can also be the death that we saw so clearly this last week. The death that arrives suddenly with earthquakes and tsunamis and nuclear disasters. It can be those as well. It is death by any means. But these plagues, listen now, these plagues don't just speak of physical death, but these plagues also refer to final judgment because in this book this terminology is used of final judgment for example look over at chapter 14 verse 10 and another angel a third followed them saying with a loud voice if anyone worships the beast in its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand he also will drink the wine of God's wrath pulled full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.

There it's speaking of the final judgment. Okay? Fire and sulfur, use of the final judgment. Over in chapter 21. 21, verse 8. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, Detestable as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.

What do I mean to say that this is like the final? They begin now to experience, to taste, the final torment of the judgment that awaits them. so it's physical death but it's also experiencing something of that final death now think this with me you heard me say this many times before because we in Christ the age or the the age to come has invaded this present age and so we as Christians are beginning to taste life of the age to come right You've heard me say that many times. We're already tasting life of the age to come.

I'm beginning to think here that this indicates that these demons inflict on hard non-believers a taste of the torment that's to come. I'm beginning to think that hell is much more than just fire. it's much more than fire. It's the torment that sin brings. It's the torment. These demons are giving people a taste of the torment that will yet be theirs already.

Note this as well. It's not just the plague of death. It's the plague of despair. Look at their tails. They're serpent-headed tails. Isn't that a wild picture?

You ever seen a horse with tails with serpent heads on the end of their tails? You know, I never liked walking behind Gibbs when he lived at our house. I don't like walking behind horses because they might kick you. But I sure would not walk behind a horse who had serpents for a tail. Would you? All right?

They got, and what's interesting, he uses the word in verse 19. in the ESV it's translated wound but it's the exact same word that's used over in verse 10 of the scorpion locusts they have tails and stings like scorpions and their power to hurt people or to wound people it's the same word I don't know why they translated it differently so it appears that in verse 19 the tails of these hellish horses have the same ability to inflict the same wounds that the locust stings do. They not only inflict death, but the spiritual torment preceding death. Death and despair.

Now think about this. What a horrible judgment God inflicts on those who choose to ignore Him and chase their earth-dwelling dreams. people are hardened in their despair and tormented by hopelessness, and then their physical deaths make certain their spiritual fate as they die in hopeless hardened unbelief That is the judgment of God against his enemies That is the plague that these demons bring. Tormenting people with despair and then killing them.

Wow. All right, so here's what we've seen so far. We know then that God judges in answer to prayer. We know that he judges through death and despair. And finally, we need to know that God judges by the hardening of hearts. Verses 20 and 21.

The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues did not repent of the works of their hands, nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, nor do they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immoralities or their thefts. Death hardens hearts rather than producing repentance. Now look at the rest of mankind.

You would think that when people are faced with death, they would stop, they would take notice, they would start asking ultimate questions and they would start searching for God. You would think that, wouldn't you? But instead, they continue in their idolatrous ways, either serving dead gods, as is described in verse 20, or living lives of idolatrous pursuits, living life without reference to the one true and the living God.

How many folks struck by the fact that life ends suddenly begin to turn away from sin? How many? how many start thinking more deeply about the course of their lives when they're face to face with death? How many? Do you know how many funerals I've been to? I've probably been to more funerals than anybody in this room. Do you know how many people...

Well, listen, let me read these words to you. At the end of a funeral, when we're at the cemetery, and you know what? At a funeral, to me, that's prime planting time. and to be honest with you it bothers me when I go to a funeral and I hear a preacher just blather on about nothing It scares me to death but I feel obligated to preach the gospel at funerals and to bring people face to face with the fact that death is judgment.

I don't brag about that because it always scares me. It always does because people are going to get mad, or so I think. And then we go out to the cemetery and we stand there by this hole in the ground and people are weeping, and I've got to say the final words. Here are some of the words. Here's something like I normally say. You ready?

Here it goes like this. Here we commit the body of our loved one to its kindred dust. The spirit we leave with God, for we know the judge of all the earth will do right. This is the end of all the living. May the living lay it to heart. As there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave where we go, and as we know that God will bring us to death to the house appointed for all living let us here again consecrate ourselves to do with all our might what our hands find to do and may our trust be in him who said I am the resurrection and the life he who believes in me will live even though he dies and whoever lives and believes in me will never die when people are face to face with death and you say we're standing here think about the course of your life how many people do you think come up to me and say man, I want to tell you right now I've been thinking about you know how many times that happens?

Hardly ever. Death hardens hearts when it should bring people to repentance. Not many people think about the course of their lives in the face of this death, in the face of this life-denying force. They go on just like they were. And that's exactly what's described in these verses. They go on.

Death does not bring them to the point where they say, my life is going to end like this. you know what this last week we have seen the horrific images of an earthquake and if you can get to YouTube and look at some of those pictures of the tsunami I'm telling you, I watched one, and I'm seeing the water just start down the streets and get faster and higher, and cars tumbling, tumbling, and pretty soon houses coming off their foundations and moving away. It's a terrifying spectacle. let me ask you do you think that this week in the papers or if you get on the internet that you're going to read of a mass of Japanese people who abandoned their Shintoism and their Buddhism and their idols to pursue the living God do you think that's what you're going to read no you won't when 9-11 occurred in this country were people running to churches to find answers no they weren't why not you would think that would cause people because their hearts are hardened it causes them not to seek God but to harden their hearts and that is the judgment of God upon them. Herein lies the dreadfulness of this plague.

In the despair and hopelessness of life, many turn away from the hope that is in Jesus, and they're hardened. And in the face of death, even death on a massive scale, many turn away from the life in Jesus, and they're hardened. that is the plague that God sends Now we cannot lose heart in the face of that plague Alright? Having seen this picture, we cannot lose heart in the face of these judgments.

Why? Because we are secure in Christ Jesus, safe from the plague of hardened unbelief. Have you thought about that? You are safe in Christ so that you are not hardened in unbelief. The plague of unbelief and death and despair cannot touch God's people, for they have been saved by Jesus, our Passover Lamb. The plagues can't touch us because we have the blood of Christ over us, like the Israelites did on their doors when they put the blood of the Passover Lamb.

They're untouched, and so are we. And you know what? Death and despair can intrude in our lives. But they will never harden us to unbelief. Because we have Christ, the Passover Lamb. We do not need to lose heart.

And we, in the midst of the plagues that we see around us, await the final exodus. The appearing of the Lord Jesus Christ. it's setting the stage for our deliverance from this incursed age don't lose heart and listen there is a people there is a people chosen by god You say Pastor are you saying that all my friends that don know Christ are they all hardened in unbelief? Do I just give up witnessing?

Absolutely not! Why? Because as we saw with the locusts, these plagues cannot touch those who are sealed by God. There are people that are chosen and sealed by God for whom death and despair will prove not to be the means of their destruction, but the instruments of their salvation. There are people in Japan who are going to come to Christ because of what we saw.

They are the sealed of God. Don't lose heart. Don't lose heart. We are in the midst of a plague awaiting our deliverance. And those whom God has sealed will come to Christ. So we do not lose heart.

Instead, we remain steadfast. This then is heaven's perspective. This then is heaven's perspective. When you look at this world and you see such death and despair, do not think that God is absent. He's not absent. God is at work preparing the world, preparing you for the great exodus yet to come.

That's what's going on. He has heard the cry of His people and has stretched out His mighty arm to work for our deliverance and for the display of His glory. Live then. Live then with heaven's perspective. Father we are thankful that these plagues cannot touch your people Father, as we look around, help us to see that you are not absent, but that you're working through the agency of these supernatural beings to set the stage for the greatest display of your glory.

And in all of it, you have protected us from these plagues. Today, Lord, we see that you protect us from this plague of hardening through death and despair. Father, we thank you that when we are discouraged, we know we will not be hardened. When death comes to our doorstep, we still have hope. and God give us a heart give us eyes to see that you have your people and they are many they are an innumerable host that will stand before the throne of the Lamb and praise you who are sealed by God where these will not prove to be the agents of their destruction but the instruments of their salvation God give us eyes to see that as well In all of this, Father, give us heaven's perspective on what's going on in this world.

That we might remain steadfast, loyal to our King, the Lord Jesus. God, thank you that you have explained to us the age in which we live. Help us now then to live with heaven's perspective. for your glory. Amen.