Apocalypse: The Revelation of Jesus Christ
03/06/2005 - Woe is Me
This week marks the tenth anniversary of one of the greatest success stories in book publishing history. According to an article in this week's USA Today , it was exactly ten years ago that Dr. Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins released their first book together called Left Behind. After an initial printing of 35,000 copies, the book went on to sell 8 million copies and launch a series that has lasted ten years and now contains thirteen books, the latest called The Rising , which was released this week.
The series has turned into a phenomenon selling over 62 million copies with the last six books debuting at number one on the USA Today's best seller list. People can't read them fast enough and for millions the Left Behind series has been their first exposure to what the Bible says about the future through fictional characters like Rayford & Chloe Steele, Buck Williams, Bruce Barnes, and Nicolae Carpathia. The series is based on a pre-Tribulation view of the rapture, the perspective we're taking here, and the horrifying events of the book of Revelation and has lasted longer than the Tribulation itself! I think the goal is now to keep writing until Jesus comes!
But, as with any good fiction, the Left Behind series takes it share of liberties in how it interprets these events. So while it makes for a fascinating read, we have to be very careful not to confuse the speculation of fiction with good, solid interpretation when it comes to understanding biblical revelation. Interpretation must always take priority over speculation and that's what we are attempting to do in this series. There is no need to sensationalize the events of Revelation.
This morning we continue our series called Apocalypse: The Revelation of Jesus Christ with a teaching I've called "Woe is Me!" If you have a Bible meet me at Revelation 9. Now before we go any further in this series I think this is a good time to stop for a minute and talk about how we're to understand some of the bizarre things we're going to read about today and throughout the rest of the book because it really gets weird. What I have to say now is critical to this series so listen well.
In our study of Revelation we have to understand the difference between prophetic revelation, prophetic interpretation, and prophetic speculation.
Prophetic revelation is just that. It's what God has revealed, what God says about the future. The whole book of Revelation is prophetic revelation. It's what's written in the text. "This is what's going to happen," God says. That's easy.
Prophetic interpretation is trying to figure the text out. It's what we think God means. And that's hard. It has to do with understanding what the images and symbols mean in light of the Old Testament and in light of the culture and the time in which this book was written. That's interpretation and often there's more than one view on a passage. So often you'll hear me say, "This is what I think it means, but not everyone agrees."
Prophetic speculation is how we think it could happen. It's what takes place in a series like Left Behind. It goes beyond interpretation and picks up the newspaper and says, "In light of today and the things that are going on in the world right now this is how I think it could happen."
Let me give you an example. Jesus is coming again. That's prophetic revelation mentioned 316 times in the New Testament. That's one out of every thirty verses making the return of Christ by far the most dominant theme in the New Testament.
Jesus is coming again before the Tribulation. That's interpretation. There are some good scholars that believe he's coming during the Tribulation and some believe he's coming after the Tribulation. In this series, we're taking the view that he's coming before the Tribulation.
Jesus is coming in my lifetime. That's speculation. That's what I'd like to see happen. But it's only based on what I might read in the newspaper or what I want to happen. There's no Bible verse to base that on.
Let me give you another one. God will judge the world with destruction. That's revelation. That will happen.
The destruction described in the book of Revelation all comes in successive order. That's interpretation. Some scholars think it does and others think it doesn't.
The destruction described in Revelation will come in the form of nuclear warheads. That's speculation.
So, with that warning, lets proceed carefully into the last three of the seven trumpet judgments. Remember we began with the seven seal judgments at the beginning of the Tribulation and now come the seven trumpet judgments.
Last week, we ended chapter eight with these haunting words, "Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels!"
And the fifth trumpet blast sounds in Revelation 9:1, The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss. 2When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss. 3And out of the smoke locusts came down upon the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth. 4They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5They were not given power to kill them, but only to torture them for five months. And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes a man. 6During those days people will seek death, but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them. 7The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces. 8Their hair was like women's hair, and their teeth were like lions' teeth. 9They had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle. 10They had tails and stings like scorpions, and in their tails they had power to torment people for five months. 11They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon. 12The first woe is past; two other woes are yet to come.
Yikes! What in the world do we have here? A place called the Abyss is unlocked. The word Abyss mean's "bottomless". And out of it comes smoke that darkens the sky and out of the smoke come locusts who sting like scorpions and have the power to torture people for five months, which by the way is the lifespan of a desert locust. But they can't touch the 144,000 who have the seal of God on their foreheads. And they can't harm the grass, what's left of it, or the earth, or any plant or tree, or kill people. But their sting is so severe that people who get stung by these locusts want to die, but they can't. They're ugly looking things with human faces and long hair and lion's teeth and gold crowns on their heads. And when they fly in formation, 40 to 50 million of them at a time, the sound is deafening. Their wings roar like thunder. And they have a king whose name is Abaddon in Hebrew, Apollyon in Greek, which means "destroyer." Woe is me!
Again we see a parallel with the locusts that devastated Egypt in Exodus 10, but now this is on a worldwide scale. Yet even in this we see that God is in control. "Five months, that's as long as the suffering can last and nobody can be killed, and you can't touch my 144,000 servants," God says. That's prophetic revelation. Now what's the interpretation?
Well, we know from the Old Testament that locusts are often used as signs and symbols of God's wrath and judgment. One example is found in Amos 4:9 where God says, "Many times I struck your gardens and vineyards, I struck them with blight and mildew. Locusts devoured your fig and olive trees, yet you have not returned to me," declares the LORD.
But these don't appear to be ordinary locusts. They're certainly bigger and much more sophisticated looking. And because they come out of the Abyss they may be symbolic of demons, which would certainly fit the fact that they have a king whose name in both Hebrew and Greek means "destroyer." That sounds a lot like Satan to me who is exposed here for what he really is, a destroyer of the souls of men and women. He also fits the description of the star that fell from the sky after his rebellion in heaven against God which we'll read about in Revelation 12:9.
The term Abyss actually occurs in Luke 8 where Jesus has an encounter with a legion of demons and we read in verses 30-31, Jesus asked him, "What is your name?" "Legion," he replied, because many demons had gone into him. And they begged him repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss.
The fifth trumpet appears to summon demonic activity under the direction of Satan that causes worldwide torment and torture. That is the first woe.
The sixth trumpet sounds in verse 13, The sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I heard a voice coming from the horns of the golden altar that is before God. 14It said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, "Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates." 15And the four angels who had been kept ready for this very hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of the world's people. 16The number of the mounted troops was two hundred million. I heard their number. 17The horses and riders I saw in my vision looked like this: Their breastplates were fiery red, dark blue, and yellow as sulfur. The heads of the horses resembled the heads of lions, and out of their mouths came fire, smoke and sulfur. 18A third of the people were killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke and sulfur that came out of their mouths. 19The power of the horses was in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails were like snakes, having heads with which they inflict injury.
The sixth trumpet summons four angels out of the Euphrates River. Today we know that river as the one that cuts through the heart of Iraq. But when John wrote this, a Jewish reader would have thought, "The Euphrates River! That's the edge. That's the edge of disaster." For the Jews, the Euphrates River meant the end of their territory, the end of their promised land. Beyond the Euphrates lived the pagans, the unbelievers, the Gentile dogs. For the Romans, the Euphrates also meant the edge of their empire. Beyond it lived the barbarians who at anytime threatened to invade.
Now four angels, four evil angels, come out of the great river and kill a third of the world's population. Remember, a quarter of the earth's population has already died as a result of the fourth seal, the pale horse, so now the earth's population has been cut in half. Right now that would mean 6 billion cut down first by a quarter to 4.5 billion and now by a third of that figure to 3 billion. And the cause of all that destruction comes from 200 million mounted troops.
So here we go. The prophetic revelation is that 200 million troops will destroy a third of all humankind. The prophetic interpretation is that this is either a human army or a demonic army, which until recently was considered a no brainer because there was no human army that numbered 200 million troops. But today there is. Not long ago, China boasted that there were 200 million troops in their army. But now we're beyond interpretation and into speculation and that's dangerous. We don't know if this is a human army or not. The point is that this is a holocaust of epic proportions never seen on planet earth before.
God closes the chapter with his commentary in verses 20-21, The rest of the people that were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood-idols that cannot see or hear or walk. 21Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts.
Can you believe this? After all this death and destruction there are still people, lots of people, who refuse to repent and turn from their wicked ways. Just like the plagues in Egypt hardened the heart of Pharaoh and the Egyptians against God and his people so these woes do the very same thing. One commentator I read said, "The two closing verses of this chapter reveal an astounding picture of the depth of human depravity."
Which makes me realize that it's only because of the amazing grace of God that we're not among them. We're not any better. We're not any smarter. We're not any less depraved than these who are bent on worshiping idols. Our hearts can get just as hard. All we are are the unworthy recipients of the amazing grace of God. And because of that he's worthy all of our worship!
Now in Revelation 10 the scene shifts from earth back to heaven and once again we get to stick our head through the clouds and see what's going on in the throne room of God.
Look at Revelation 10:1, Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven. He was robed in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs were like fiery pillars.
John sees a strong angel, a good angel coming out of heaven, not out of the Abyss. He's robed in a cloud, his face shines like the sun, with a rainbow over his head, and his legs are like fiery pillars. These are all biblical images of God's holiness and faithfulness and love. The pillars of fire remind us of how God led his people through the wilderness with a pillar of fire. And the angel is holding something in his hand.
Look at verse 2, He was holding a little scroll, which lay open in his hand. He planted his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, 3and he gave a loud shout like the roar of a lion. When he shouted, the voices of the seven thunders spoke.
The angel has a scroll, a book, in his hand. It's a little scroll, not the same scroll that the Lamb opened in chapter five. This is another one. And when this gigantic angel touches down he straddles the land and straddles the sea like a holy green giant standing on the earth like it's a kid's sandbox holding this little scroll in his hand roaring like a lion, which brings a thunderous response.
After which we read in verse 4, And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven say, "Seal up what the seven thunders have said and do not write it down."
John is ready to record what he hears in the thunder, but God says, "No. Don't." Apparently the thunder communicated something that John wanted to write down, but God wouldn't let him. Maybe he heard about more judgments that were to come. We don't know. But it reminds me of the passage in Deuteronomy 29:29 that says, The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.
God has revealed a lot to us, but not everything. Some things he has chosen not to tell us. And we need to be okay with that. So we don't know what John heard in the thunder and what he was about to record.
But we do know what happened next. Look at verse 5, Then the angel I had seen standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven. 6And he swore by him who lives for ever and ever, who created the heavens and all that is in them, the earth and all that is in it, and the sea and all that is in it, and said, "There will be no more delay! 7But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets." 8Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me once more: "Go, take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land." 9So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, "Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey." 10I took the little scroll from the angel's hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour.
The holy green giant leans over and John asks him for the scroll. The mighty angel gives it to him and then tells John to swallow it. "It will taste good in your mouth," he says, "but when it hits your stomach watch out!" Sounds like those raw onions you had for dinner this week! And John doesn't argue. So he takes the scroll and does exactly what the angel commands. He eats it.
This isn't the first time someone in the Bible has been commanded to eat a scroll. In the Old Testament, the prophet Ezekiel was asked to do the same thing. In Ezekiel 2:9-3:3 we read, Then I looked, and I saw a hand stretched out to me. In it was a scroll, 10which he unrolled before me. On both sides of it were written words of lament and mourning and woe. 1And he said to me, "Son of man, eat what is before you, eat this scroll; then go and speak to the house of Israel ..." 3So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth.
In other places, David and Jeremiah talk about eating the Word of God and how it's sweeter than honey from the honeycomb. What's the symbolism going on here? I don't know for sure. But it seems to have something to do with internalizing the Word of God, consuming it, digesting it, making it a part of our life. And when we do we find it both sweet and bitter. The sweetness of the Word speaks of God's love and grace and blessings and the wonderful promises that we have in him. The bitterness of the Word speaks of God's wrath and his judgment toward sin like we see here outlined in the book of Revelation.
And just in case John thought he was finished we read in verse 11, Then I was told, "You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings."
There is still much more to come. But that's enough for now and that's more than enough to bring us to this table of amazing grace. It's only because God has opened our eyes that we are able to see our sin for what it is, an offense to a holy God, and the table for what it is, an expression of the ferocious love and dazzling grace of God demonstrated in the sacrifice of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world and our sin.