[Originally preached 22 June, 2003]
Revelation 8-9; 11.15-19
We return to our series on Revelation this morning and to the next set of sevens: the seven trumpets. I think that you can tell that this section is going to be a bit more challenging, especially as we look at the particulars of each trumpet. But that isn’t going to be the focus of this morning’s sermon. After I give you a sense of the big picture, we’re going to focus on the first few verses in which we see what it is that starts these angels trumpeting.
So, where do these seven trumpets fit? We’ve just finished the seven seals. How do the trumpets relate to the seals? The seventh trumpet which is at the end of chapter eleven ushers in the age to come when God’s rule will be fully and finally established over all things.
Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever." Revelation 11:15
But this seems to present a problem. We’ve already seen the end of this age back in chapter 6 when the sixth seal was opened. This was where the lost were crying out to the mountains,
Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand? Revelation 6:16-17
We see here in chapter six that the Day of the Lord has come and the lost are fully and finally lost. The age to come is about to start. How can that happen all over again in chapter eleven? And what’s more, after the end of this age recorded in chapter six there can’t be the plagues on the earth that we see happening at the blowing of the trumpets starting in chapter eight. The old earth would be gone. The seven trumpets can’t be referring to things that happen after the seven seals are opened. The seven trumpets must refer to the same time span that the seven seals did. The seven trumpets refer to the time between the two comings of Jesus, ending at the end of this age and the beginning of the next. The difference between these two visions lies in what they are picturing to the saints. The difference lies in their respective messages. The message of the seven seals is that life in this fallen world is hard for the Church. The message of the trumpets is that God is at work dealing with the enemies of the Church, the unbelievers who persecute the saints. We have different messages that speak about the same time span.
Now, let’s consider some of the symbols that we find in our text. The most obvious are the trumpets. As usual, we need to look in the Old Testament to understand what’s going on here. We find trumpets used to herald God’s presence. Just think about Mt. Sinai. Along with the smoke and thunder and fire there was also a trumpet blaring. God was coming down to meet with His people. Another use for a trumpet was to give directions to the people of God as they were wandering in the desert. Trumpets were used to let the people know when to set out, when to gather at the tent of meeting and such things. Think of these trumpets in the same way as you would think of how bugles were once used in the army. A third use of trumpets was as a warning.
Blow a trumpet in Zion; sound an alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming; it is near, Joel 2:1
Here, the people were being warned that their God was coming and that He was coming in judgment. There’s one more use of the trumpets that I want to mention. And that was at a victory. The trumpet was sounded so that the people would know that the armies of God had defeated their enemies. There are a couple of good examples of the use of trumpets that you are familiar with. First, there’s the battle of Jericho. What do we have there? Seven days of blowing those horns. The other is when Gideon defeated Midian. What did his band of three hundred have? Each had a torch in a jar and a trumpet. Then there is one last example from the New Testament.
For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 1 Thessalonians 4:16
Now, all of these are included in the symbol of the trumpets of our text.
Next symbol. The blaring of these trumpets produces results. We see plagues being sent on the earth. There’s hail, fire, water being turned into blood, the sun and sky being darkened and the famous locusts. Does this sound familiar? Doesn’t it sound like Egypt at the time of the Exodus? Our text draws heavily from this image. What we are seeing is our God stretching forth His hand just as He did against Egypt, except this time it is against a different group of oppressors of the people of God. But He is again waging war to free His people from the land of slavery so that they might enter the Promised Land. The trumpets blare to send the plagues that will free the people of God. But there is another reason for the trumpets and the plagues: a call to repentance. God is calling the oppressors of His Church to repent and be saved. Sadly, it is a call that is rejected. You can see that at the end of chapter nine.
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 immorality or their thefts. Revelation 9:20-21
This also comes out of Joel chapter two. I read to you from verse one which was a warning that the Day of the Lord was coming, but listen to something a little later in the same chapter.
"Yet even now," declares the Lord, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; " Joel 2:12
Along with the warning there was the call to repent. Our text draws from the imagery of the time of the Exodus and from Joel 2.
There’s one more symbol: the incense on the golden censer. Now, the background for this is also in the Old Testament, but we don’t have to go back that far to understand what this is. All we have to do is look at Revelation 5.
And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. Revelation 5:8
It’s this image of the incense that we are going to focus on for the rest of the sermon. We’ll return to the trumpets next time, D.V. Listen again to this section of our text.
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. Revelation 8:3-5
There are two actions occurring here. First, the smoke of the incense rises to God. Then the incense-filled censer with the fire from the altar is thrown on the earth. As a result, there is the thunder and all the rest along with the blaring of the trumpets. Now, what is the point of this image? The prayers of the saints – the incense – are ascending to God. As a result, God is moved to action – the thunder et al. Then the angels blow their trumpets, each bringing a plague on the earth until the last trumpet is blown, ushering in the time of the full redemption of the people of God, the age to come. It fits the Exodus story to a tee.
Now, I have one point that I want to impress on you this morning. As you look at our text with the understanding that I have offered, what started things off? What moved God to act? What started the trumpets blaring? The prayers of the saints. Our prayers are indispensable for the ongoing plan of God. Our prayers cause God to act and to rescue us from ‘this present evil age’. Our prayers are what gets the ball rolling. To make this even clearer, let me say it this way. If we don’t pray there will be no rescue. The plan of God will not move forward. He will not act on our behalf. The trumpets won’t be blown nor will the plagues be sent. God will not free us from this fallen earth. Our prayers make that much difference.
Now, let me respond to any of you who are thinking, ‘That doesn’t sound very Reformed. What about God’s sovereign plan, His eternal decrees and all the rest?’ Consider some other Scripture. ‘You do not have, because you do not ask.’ [James 4:2] That certainly sounds as if our enjoyment of the blessings of God depends on our asking for them. It’s isn’t a stretch at all to say that if we don’t pray, God won’t act – at least according to James. Isn’t this the same point I am making from our text? Then there’s this.
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! Luke 13:34
What’s going on here? Jesus expresses His frequent desire to bless Jerusalem. And yet, He was thwarted in that desire! The Jews refused His overtures and, as a result, instead of enjoying blessing they were cursed. Being Reformed doesn’t mean that since we believe that God is in full control with everything planned out, it doesn’t matter what we do; that we can sit back and coast. Being Reformed means that God is in full control with everything planned out down to the last detail and that our choices make a tremendous difference in what happens. Isn’t this what the Bible teaches? If the Church prays then the trumpets are going to blare so loudly the pagans are going to be shaking in their boots. But if the Church doesn’t pray, absolutely nothing of the sort will happen. The trumpets will be silent. Our praying makes all the difference in the world. Our failure to pray makes all the difference in the world. Now, there is often one point in the sermon that I hope that everyone gets. This is it for this sermon. Don’t worry about trumpets and plagues and censers and angels. Just pray. Pray as if it makes all the difference in the world. If you do that, the sermon will be an extraordinarily huge success.
For those of you who are up for it, I’m going to develop this a bit. Let’s do that by means of a simple question. What should we pray? If you think about it, Jesus has already answered that question. We need to pray the prayer that He taught, the Lord’s Prayer. That was the model for how we are to pray. The catechisms of the Reformation used this prayer to teach people how to pray. A good Sabbath activity might be to read through what the Westminster Shorter Catechism or the Heidelberg Catechism has to say about this prayer.
I want to mention just a few things from this prayer that relate to our text. Here we are, dealing with our age-old tormentor, Satan, and those who side with him, whom our text calls ‘those who dwell on the earth’. [Revelation 8.13.] What do we pray? How about ‘Thy kingdom come’? What is it that we want more than anything? We want to be freed. We want to be able to enter our Promised Land. The only way that’s going to happen is if the kingdom of God comes in its fullness. Part of what that means, and here I’m using the language of the Shorter Catechism, is praying that Satan’s kingdom be destroyed – just as Pharaoh’s kingdom was destroyed. We need to pray for the destruction of evil in all of its forms. We need to pray that God’s kingdom of grace be advanced. This includes praying that Satan be stripped of more and more of his subjects through conversions. Quite apart from the individual benefits think of how our culture would be affected if more and more people were converted. And then we pray that ‘the kingdom of glory may be hastened’. As odd as it may sound, our cries for the return of Jesus can hasten His coming. How great is that?!? I would love to develop each of these but that must wait for another time. Simply put, we pray that things move ahead until that seventh trumpet is sounded.
What I do want to spend a little more time on is the last petition, ‘deliver us from the evil one.’ [NKJV] This fits so well with the Exodus theme. Just as the people of God cried out to be delivered from the evil Pharaoh we too need to pray to be delivered from our evil enemy. Here, we need to understand Satan’s methods. Think about this: what is Satan’s goal when he tempts you? It isn’t to get you to sin. That’s far too shortsighted. Satan wants you to renounce Christ. That’s his goal. That’s what he was doing in the Garden. He wasn’t interested in just getting Adam and Eve to break a rule. He was looking for recruits. Now, remember how he was described back in Genesis, ‘crafty’. He isn’t going to walk up to you and say, ‘Deny Christ’. He is subtle and sly. How did he do it with Judas? What was the opening that he exploited? Money. Satan found a little chink in armor and ultimately captured his prey. It started out small. Listen to something from John’ Gospel.
[Judas] said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it. John 12:6
‘A coin here, a coin there. Who’s going to miss it?’ But where did this ‘little sin’ end up? ‘Hmm, thirty pieces of silver. That sounds pretty good.’ And what was the result? Judas was lost, eternally. He is right this moment being tormented for that sin and all the others. Judas, the apostle who was a witness of Jesus’ words, works and wisdom. Judas saw it all. He walked with the Master for three years. And yet, Satan turned him. He renounced Jesus and now is paying for it.
We are in a battle. We are being oppressed by the evil one who wants nothing more than to see us turn from Christ. He is looking for a chink in the armor – even a small one will do – which he can exploit until he has you safely in his camp. Jesus warned us about this. He taught us to pray about it. ‘Deliver us from the evil one! Show us his sly schemes. Reveal to us the sins that he might exploit so that we might repent of them quickly. Lord, we don’t want to end up like Judas. Deliver us from his schemes in this life and deliver us from his presence forever. Even so, come Lord Jesus. Come and rescue us forever from his plots against our souls.’ And the point of our text is that if we pray, Christ will act. Full and final rescue is ours. But if we don’t pray, we will be lost. Are we better than the Apostle Judas?
My goal this morning has been simple. I have tried to encourage you to pray. Your prayers make a huge difference to the state of our world and to the state of your soul. You need to give yourselves to prayer. It needs to be a habit of each of us, individually, as couples, as families, and then as a church. Remember, if you pray good things will happen. Christ will act. You will see His mighty works in your life and in your world. Your soul will be kept safe. If you don’t pray, Jesus will not act. Good things will not happen. You will be giving Satan an open door to your heart. Please, for the sake of your own soul, if not for the sake of the world around you, pray.
Revelation 8-9; 11.15-19
We return to our series on Revelation this morning and to the next set of sevens: the seven trumpets. I think that you can tell that this section is going to be a bit more challenging, especially as we look at the particulars of each trumpet. But that isn’t going to be the focus of this morning’s sermon. After I give you a sense of the big picture, we’re going to focus on the first few verses in which we see what it is that starts these angels trumpeting.
So, where do these seven trumpets fit? We’ve just finished the seven seals. How do the trumpets relate to the seals? The seventh trumpet which is at the end of chapter eleven ushers in the age to come when God’s rule will be fully and finally established over all things.
Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever." Revelation 11:15
But this seems to present a problem. We’ve already seen the end of this age back in chapter 6 when the sixth seal was opened. This was where the lost were crying out to the mountains,
Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand? Revelation 6:16-17
We see here in chapter six that the Day of the Lord has come and the lost are fully and finally lost. The age to come is about to start. How can that happen all over again in chapter eleven? And what’s more, after the end of this age recorded in chapter six there can’t be the plagues on the earth that we see happening at the blowing of the trumpets starting in chapter eight. The old earth would be gone. The seven trumpets can’t be referring to things that happen after the seven seals are opened. The seven trumpets must refer to the same time span that the seven seals did. The seven trumpets refer to the time between the two comings of Jesus, ending at the end of this age and the beginning of the next. The difference between these two visions lies in what they are picturing to the saints. The difference lies in their respective messages. The message of the seven seals is that life in this fallen world is hard for the Church. The message of the trumpets is that God is at work dealing with the enemies of the Church, the unbelievers who persecute the saints. We have different messages that speak about the same time span.
Now, let’s consider some of the symbols that we find in our text. The most obvious are the trumpets. As usual, we need to look in the Old Testament to understand what’s going on here. We find trumpets used to herald God’s presence. Just think about Mt. Sinai. Along with the smoke and thunder and fire there was also a trumpet blaring. God was coming down to meet with His people. Another use for a trumpet was to give directions to the people of God as they were wandering in the desert. Trumpets were used to let the people know when to set out, when to gather at the tent of meeting and such things. Think of these trumpets in the same way as you would think of how bugles were once used in the army. A third use of trumpets was as a warning.
Blow a trumpet in Zion; sound an alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming; it is near, Joel 2:1
Here, the people were being warned that their God was coming and that He was coming in judgment. There’s one more use of the trumpets that I want to mention. And that was at a victory. The trumpet was sounded so that the people would know that the armies of God had defeated their enemies. There are a couple of good examples of the use of trumpets that you are familiar with. First, there’s the battle of Jericho. What do we have there? Seven days of blowing those horns. The other is when Gideon defeated Midian. What did his band of three hundred have? Each had a torch in a jar and a trumpet. Then there is one last example from the New Testament.
For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 1 Thessalonians 4:16
Now, all of these are included in the symbol of the trumpets of our text.
Next symbol. The blaring of these trumpets produces results. We see plagues being sent on the earth. There’s hail, fire, water being turned into blood, the sun and sky being darkened and the famous locusts. Does this sound familiar? Doesn’t it sound like Egypt at the time of the Exodus? Our text draws heavily from this image. What we are seeing is our God stretching forth His hand just as He did against Egypt, except this time it is against a different group of oppressors of the people of God. But He is again waging war to free His people from the land of slavery so that they might enter the Promised Land. The trumpets blare to send the plagues that will free the people of God. But there is another reason for the trumpets and the plagues: a call to repentance. God is calling the oppressors of His Church to repent and be saved. Sadly, it is a call that is rejected. You can see that at the end of chapter nine.
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 immorality or their thefts. Revelation 9:20-21
This also comes out of Joel chapter two. I read to you from verse one which was a warning that the Day of the Lord was coming, but listen to something a little later in the same chapter.
"Yet even now," declares the Lord, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; " Joel 2:12
Along with the warning there was the call to repent. Our text draws from the imagery of the time of the Exodus and from Joel 2.
There’s one more symbol: the incense on the golden censer. Now, the background for this is also in the Old Testament, but we don’t have to go back that far to understand what this is. All we have to do is look at Revelation 5.
And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. Revelation 5:8
It’s this image of the incense that we are going to focus on for the rest of the sermon. We’ll return to the trumpets next time, D.V. Listen again to this section of our text.
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. Revelation 8:3-5
There are two actions occurring here. First, the smoke of the incense rises to God. Then the incense-filled censer with the fire from the altar is thrown on the earth. As a result, there is the thunder and all the rest along with the blaring of the trumpets. Now, what is the point of this image? The prayers of the saints – the incense – are ascending to God. As a result, God is moved to action – the thunder et al. Then the angels blow their trumpets, each bringing a plague on the earth until the last trumpet is blown, ushering in the time of the full redemption of the people of God, the age to come. It fits the Exodus story to a tee.
Now, I have one point that I want to impress on you this morning. As you look at our text with the understanding that I have offered, what started things off? What moved God to act? What started the trumpets blaring? The prayers of the saints. Our prayers are indispensable for the ongoing plan of God. Our prayers cause God to act and to rescue us from ‘this present evil age’. Our prayers are what gets the ball rolling. To make this even clearer, let me say it this way. If we don’t pray there will be no rescue. The plan of God will not move forward. He will not act on our behalf. The trumpets won’t be blown nor will the plagues be sent. God will not free us from this fallen earth. Our prayers make that much difference.
Now, let me respond to any of you who are thinking, ‘That doesn’t sound very Reformed. What about God’s sovereign plan, His eternal decrees and all the rest?’ Consider some other Scripture. ‘You do not have, because you do not ask.’ [James 4:2] That certainly sounds as if our enjoyment of the blessings of God depends on our asking for them. It’s isn’t a stretch at all to say that if we don’t pray, God won’t act – at least according to James. Isn’t this the same point I am making from our text? Then there’s this.
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! Luke 13:34
What’s going on here? Jesus expresses His frequent desire to bless Jerusalem. And yet, He was thwarted in that desire! The Jews refused His overtures and, as a result, instead of enjoying blessing they were cursed. Being Reformed doesn’t mean that since we believe that God is in full control with everything planned out, it doesn’t matter what we do; that we can sit back and coast. Being Reformed means that God is in full control with everything planned out down to the last detail and that our choices make a tremendous difference in what happens. Isn’t this what the Bible teaches? If the Church prays then the trumpets are going to blare so loudly the pagans are going to be shaking in their boots. But if the Church doesn’t pray, absolutely nothing of the sort will happen. The trumpets will be silent. Our praying makes all the difference in the world. Our failure to pray makes all the difference in the world. Now, there is often one point in the sermon that I hope that everyone gets. This is it for this sermon. Don’t worry about trumpets and plagues and censers and angels. Just pray. Pray as if it makes all the difference in the world. If you do that, the sermon will be an extraordinarily huge success.
For those of you who are up for it, I’m going to develop this a bit. Let’s do that by means of a simple question. What should we pray? If you think about it, Jesus has already answered that question. We need to pray the prayer that He taught, the Lord’s Prayer. That was the model for how we are to pray. The catechisms of the Reformation used this prayer to teach people how to pray. A good Sabbath activity might be to read through what the Westminster Shorter Catechism or the Heidelberg Catechism has to say about this prayer.
I want to mention just a few things from this prayer that relate to our text. Here we are, dealing with our age-old tormentor, Satan, and those who side with him, whom our text calls ‘those who dwell on the earth’. [Revelation 8.13.] What do we pray? How about ‘Thy kingdom come’? What is it that we want more than anything? We want to be freed. We want to be able to enter our Promised Land. The only way that’s going to happen is if the kingdom of God comes in its fullness. Part of what that means, and here I’m using the language of the Shorter Catechism, is praying that Satan’s kingdom be destroyed – just as Pharaoh’s kingdom was destroyed. We need to pray for the destruction of evil in all of its forms. We need to pray that God’s kingdom of grace be advanced. This includes praying that Satan be stripped of more and more of his subjects through conversions. Quite apart from the individual benefits think of how our culture would be affected if more and more people were converted. And then we pray that ‘the kingdom of glory may be hastened’. As odd as it may sound, our cries for the return of Jesus can hasten His coming. How great is that?!? I would love to develop each of these but that must wait for another time. Simply put, we pray that things move ahead until that seventh trumpet is sounded.
What I do want to spend a little more time on is the last petition, ‘deliver us from the evil one.’ [NKJV] This fits so well with the Exodus theme. Just as the people of God cried out to be delivered from the evil Pharaoh we too need to pray to be delivered from our evil enemy. Here, we need to understand Satan’s methods. Think about this: what is Satan’s goal when he tempts you? It isn’t to get you to sin. That’s far too shortsighted. Satan wants you to renounce Christ. That’s his goal. That’s what he was doing in the Garden. He wasn’t interested in just getting Adam and Eve to break a rule. He was looking for recruits. Now, remember how he was described back in Genesis, ‘crafty’. He isn’t going to walk up to you and say, ‘Deny Christ’. He is subtle and sly. How did he do it with Judas? What was the opening that he exploited? Money. Satan found a little chink in armor and ultimately captured his prey. It started out small. Listen to something from John’ Gospel.
[Judas] said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it. John 12:6
‘A coin here, a coin there. Who’s going to miss it?’ But where did this ‘little sin’ end up? ‘Hmm, thirty pieces of silver. That sounds pretty good.’ And what was the result? Judas was lost, eternally. He is right this moment being tormented for that sin and all the others. Judas, the apostle who was a witness of Jesus’ words, works and wisdom. Judas saw it all. He walked with the Master for three years. And yet, Satan turned him. He renounced Jesus and now is paying for it.
We are in a battle. We are being oppressed by the evil one who wants nothing more than to see us turn from Christ. He is looking for a chink in the armor – even a small one will do – which he can exploit until he has you safely in his camp. Jesus warned us about this. He taught us to pray about it. ‘Deliver us from the evil one! Show us his sly schemes. Reveal to us the sins that he might exploit so that we might repent of them quickly. Lord, we don’t want to end up like Judas. Deliver us from his schemes in this life and deliver us from his presence forever. Even so, come Lord Jesus. Come and rescue us forever from his plots against our souls.’ And the point of our text is that if we pray, Christ will act. Full and final rescue is ours. But if we don’t pray, we will be lost. Are we better than the Apostle Judas?
My goal this morning has been simple. I have tried to encourage you to pray. Your prayers make a huge difference to the state of our world and to the state of your soul. You need to give yourselves to prayer. It needs to be a habit of each of us, individually, as couples, as families, and then as a church. Remember, if you pray good things will happen. Christ will act. You will see His mighty works in your life and in your world. Your soul will be kept safe. If you don’t pray, Jesus will not act. Good things will not happen. You will be giving Satan an open door to your heart. Please, for the sake of your own soul, if not for the sake of the world around you, pray.
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