Preached by Andrew Smellie, June 24, 2007

Will you heed the trumpet call of repentance?! (Revelation 9:20-21)

Download audio

The book of Revelation was written to our first century brothers and sisters to strengthen their faith and give them courage in times of great persecution and allure from the world. We see in Revelation 8-11 that part of what they needed to triumph was a healthy understanding of God’s awesome judgment. Though the world may try to distort the fiery imagery of this amazing book to draw wrong conclusions about who God is and justify their own political views and motives–we know God rebukes those he loves and wants every person to come into his Kingdom. That’s why the picture of God opening His temple and revealing the Ark of the Covenant in Revelation 11:19 is so beautiful–that no matter how down we feel or how far we have strayed from Him, He can always welcome us home!
“The Trumpets of Terror and Triumph”
Preached by Andrew Smellie
Sunday, June 24, 2007

Revelation 8:1–13
• There are three cycles of judgment.
i. The Seven Seals.
ii. The Seven Trumpets.
iii. The Seven Bowls.

Question: Why was there silence in all creation?
• All of heaven was waiting to see what would happen next.
• The prayers of the saints are the incense of heaven. (Revelation 8:3–5)
• Another “partial judgment” was about to take place.
• Judgment will come upon those persecuting disciples of Jesus Christ.
• The terms saints, disciples and Christians are one and the same biblically, and they move God through their prayers to deal with the needs of the world!
• When the heavens were filled with the incense of the prayers of the saints, God acted.
• The trumpet was used to proclaim the battle cry.
• The trumpet was used to warn people.
• The trumpet was used for praise and celebration.

Question: What do these scenes remind you of?
• This is in response to the prayers of the saints. (Exodus 9:8–12)
• If we pray with faith, then we can move mountains by that same faith, just as Jesus promised!

Question: How is your prayer life?

Question: What was God trying to get Egypt to do?
• The plagues were sent to get Pharaoh to repent. (Exodus 7:14–24)
• Ships back then represented the riches associated with trade of Babylon. Babylon was Rome in the book of Revelation.

Question: Doesn’t it make you struggle with your faith when you go through economic hardship in your life?
• When God allows economic hardship in your life, you ought to respond to it in a godly manner. (Jeremiah 23:15)
• We know that we serve a Sovereign God. God is in control of everything.
• We do fall into bitterness, don’t we?!
• Over the last couple of years, our church had a church within a church with people who didn’t want discipling relationships and the acompanying accountability for obeying Jesus’ commands.
• Everything happens for a reason.

Question: How are you going to react?
• Bitterness is sin.

Question: What is the predominant sin that draws disciples to the world?
• Bitterness. If you are searching for happiness in the world, then you will not find it. . .but you will find plenty of bitterness!

Exodus 10:21–23
Question: Have you ever been in a place in your life where you could actually feel the darkness?
• There has got to be distinctiveness in life and in doctrine (1 Timothy 4:16)
• There is no sentimentality with God. There is no gray area with God.
• The first four trumpets are revealed upon nature; interestingly, natural calamity did historically weaken the Roman Empire.

Revelation 9:1–21
• The fifth angel sounded the trumpet. The fifth angel had the key to darkness.
• All of a sudden, out of the smoke, came meat-eating locusts.
• The locusts were there for five months.
• Five months represents a window (actual time) in the spring and in the summer for locusts.
• Locusts in the Old Testament are associated with an invading army.
• Abaddon was called Destroyer, the exact opposite of God, the Creator.
• Remember, we have met this army before: the Parthians.
• The Euphrates was the farthest east that the Romans would go.
• The trumpets were God’s call to repent!

Question: What does God have to do to get you to repent?
• You have no clue of the spiritual battle for your soul.
• We have to remember who the book of Revelation was written to. Christians!
• This world is so temporary.

1. The terror of lost hope.
• Often it is not until everything starts breaking apart or falling down around you that you cry out to God.
• We put our hope in many things other than God.
• We could even enjoy/worship the sin in our lives.
• God is trying to produce in man a sense of urgency.

Question: How many of you have not dealt with the character sin in your life?
• Either you repent or you do not.

Question: How many of you have visited the church for weeks and weeks now and still have not gotten restored or baptized yet?

Question: How urgent are you to repent of the sin in your life?

2 Corinthians 7:8–11
• Revelations 8-11 depicts a time of grace and love from God.

Question: Did God cause sorrow by the judgment in the book of Revelation?
Question: Were the people hurt in the judgment of God in the book of Revelation?
• You have this victim mentality of your sin – this is not God’s will for how to deal with sin.
• You should be eager to change, to show that your repentance is genuine.
• Once there is a conviction about your sin; there is an eagerness to get rid of it in the church.

Question: Is there an alarm about the sin in your life?

Question: Do you remember that heart to go anywhere, do anything and give up everything for God?

Luke 14:25–27

Matthew 13:44–46
Question: Who is really your god?
• Jesus did not apologize for speaking the truth in love, and you have got to speak the truth.
Question: What kind of conviction do you have about speaking the truth in love?

Question: How urgent are you to change?

Question: Do you have that urgency today?
• God allows scary things to happen to us to wake us up.

Revelation 10:1–11
• The angel mentioned in the beginning of the Scripture mentioned above is not Jesus.
• The secret plan of God (or the mystery of God) was to be unleashed. (Mark 13:40)

Question: Do you know what the mystery of God is?
• Eat the Word of God. (Ezekiel 2:8)
• We get that queasy feeling in our stomach—the Word is sweet when we hear it but sour because it is so challenging to actually live! (Ezekiel 3:3)

2. The triumph of hope.

Revelation 11:1–19
• To measure something means to protect it. He is using a temple as an example.

Question: Who are you talking about?
• There is no sentimentality with God.
• Three and a half years equals forty-two months.
• It represented the amount of time that evil was about to exist.
• It is about three and a half years since the “Kriete letter” came out.
Question: Have people repented yet?
Question: What is really going on?
• First, we see this temple of God.
• Second, we see the reference to this holy city – the people of God.
• We see the equating of the two olive trees and the two lampstands to the people of God.
• Joshua, the priest and Zerubbabel: the two witnesses. (Zechariah 4:1–14)
• Two out of the seven churches (lampstands) were left.
• It takes two witnesses to make a charge against someone. (Deuteronomy 19:15)

Who were the two witnesses?
• Elijah. (James 5:17–18)
• Moses. (Exodus 7:1)
• Elijah and Moses represented the people of God.
• Two lamp stands, Two olive trees, Two witnesses.
• You are mourning when you are dressed in sackcloth.
• Their message was to repent.

Question: What is your heart for your city?

Question: Do we have sorrow for Central New York?
• The beast represented the Roman emperor.

Question: What is the secret plan of God?
• They (His people) die. . .
• Sodom represented sin.
• Egypt represented slavery.
• Evil was allowed to reign and people looked at the dead bodies of disciples.
• These two disciples tormented the earth because they called people to repent.

Question: What is the secret plan of God?
• Jesus’ own preach the Word during this reign of darkness. That is our same test.
• If we remain faithful, we will be resurrected. They will be blown away.
• Help them understand that their real hope is not in the world, it is in heaven.
• The secret plan of God is revealed and the heavens rejoice.

Question: What is the challenge for you as a disciple of Jesus Christ?
• To keep your hope in heaven even during the darkness.
• There are people still searching to be a part of committed people who are sold out for God.
• The church of God is still open.
• For those of us who are disciples of Jesus Christ, we will see the Ark of the Covenant again—and not just a copy!
• We need to use the Bible in fellowship . . . to direct each other back to putting our hope in being with God in heaven.

1 Thessalonians 1:2–3
• The real issue is that we lose our endurance because we let go of our hope in heaven.
• You can put your hope in a lot of things.
• You can put your hope in your discipling partner being perfect all of the time.
• You can put your hope in the baptisms in your ministry.
• You can even put your hope in the actual movement of God.
• However, when you are disappointed, watch out!

Proverbs 4:23
• Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.

Proverbs 13:12
• Lukewarmness grows in disciples of Jesus Christ who are slow to repent and in leaders who are slow to call disciples to repentance.
• Even when you put your hope in good things, it can leave you longing/unfulfilled.
• Your ultimate hope is in heaven, not in this world.

Share This

Categories: Audio Lessons       Download PDF: