On June 14, 1988, the Storm Creek Fire broke out by lightning strike in Yellowstone National Park. By late September of that year, almost 800,000 acres had completely burned, over 1/3 of Yellowstone National Park. Just one single lightning strike started what many thought was Yellowstone’s greatest tragedy. Yet decades later, scientists point to that same fire as one of the greatest demonstrations of how God designed creation to be renewed through what looks like destruction. You see, the trees in Yellowstone is full of Lodgepole pine trees, which have what’s called serotinous pine cones. The pine cones remain sealed by a resin that remains shut until they’re exposed to the intense heat of a wildfire. The very fire that appeared to destroy the forest was also the mechanism that released millions of seeds, allowing a new forest to grow.

God doesn’t delight in suffering. But throughout Scripture, He often uses hardship to crack open hearts that comfort never could. In our text tonight, we’re smack dab in the middle of the tribulation, but we’re going to begin with the outcome of the first part of the tribulation we read about two weeks ago. So take your Bibles and turn with me to Revelation chapter 7 and let’s get started.

Now to catch us up to where we are here, you’ll remember that the Apostle John has been exiled to an island called Patmos. He was there because of the Word of God and because of his testimony. John was sent here because he was sharing the good news of Jesus Christ. And while he’s living in isolation in exile, Jesus shows up to him. The glorified Jesus. Fiery eyes, hair white as wool, brazen bronze feet, and he tells him, write these things down. Write what you have seen, what is, and what will take place after this. These are the three divisions of the book of Revelation. What John had seen, that’s Revelation chapter 1, the glorified Jesus. What is, that is chapters 2-3, the letters to the churches. A complete message for all churches of all time. And then, what will take place after this, that’s how the world ends, where we are this evening.

But you’ll remember two weeks ago, we went through the first round of the tribulation. These are God’s judgments poured out on the earth. I shared with you that the church is nowhere on earth to be found, there is no mention of the church from Revelation chapter 6 until Jesus comes back to the world on his white horse in Revelation 19. The church has been caught up, raptured, harpatzo’d, to heaven. Last week I preached 1 Thessalonians 4 & 5, giving you my reasons for believing that the church will be raptured before the tribulation. And you’ll remember the purpose of the tribulation, the final call to Christ.

So when we get through the first six seal judgments of the tribulation, we see the purpose of the tribulation. John sees four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, and there is a great restraining. We enter an interlude. Now I know our flat earthers in the room are getting excited about that four corner part, but this is a figure of speech to say they surrounded the earth. And they’re restraining the wind and the turbulence of the tribulation. One angel says to the other angels who are on the tribulation committee, [Revelation 7:3] 3 “Don’t harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we seal the servants of our God on their foreheads.” This is the repentance and the restoration of Israel. Do you ever wonder why, as Christians, we support Israel? Many reasons, and one of them is right here. I’ll share the other reasons with you another time, but right here we see the introduction of the 144,000, from the 12 tribes of Israel, and they’re going to play a key role in the tribulation. They’re going to be sealed to serve God throughout the tribulation.

Did you know that right now, if you are in Christ, you are also sealed? [Point] As a Christian, you are sealed to serve God. Now the meaning of a seal back in this time was like a signature. You ever watched our president sign an executive order? When there is an executive order written up, it means nothing until it is signed. It’s just words on a page until the president puts his signature on the order, and then as the saying goes, it’s signed, sealed, and delivered. It’s the same with your salvation.

Back in this day, there weren’t big sharpie pens, but kings would seal official documents by putting down wax, and pressing their signature rings onto the wax on the document. The document didn’t have any bearing until it was signed by way of the seal, by the king.

Before you become a Christian, it’s possible to know about God. I’ve met non-Christians who really know the Bible, who know the document, but they don’t know the King. It’s not until you completely surrender to Jesus that you’re full of the Holy Spirit, that you’re sealed by Him, that you can change from knowing about God to knowing God. [Ephesians 1:13] says 13 In him you also were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed. So you have this group of Jewish people who knew about God, but they did not believe in Jesus. Through these seal judgments, remember the purpose of the tribulation is the final call to Christ, they believe, and they’re sealed with the Holy Spirit, God’s signature, and once you’re saved, you’re always saved.

And not only them but look at verse 9: [Revelation 7:9-10] 9 After this I looked, and there was a vast multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language, which no one could number, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands. 10 And they cried out in a loud voice: Salvation belongs to our God, who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb! This is an absolutely true statement. You’ll remember this passage from our MDWK WORD this week. Salvation belongs to our God. Your salvation is not about anything you did to earn it. It is not possible to work your way into heaven. Your salvation is about what Christ did for you. To live the life you could never live and die the death that you deserved. It’s not about us, it’s all about Him.

[Revelation 7:11-12] 11 All the angels stood around the throne, and along with the elders and the four living creatures they fell facedown before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying, Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and strength be to our God forever and ever. Amen.

Now who is this multitude? I don’t have to answer this question, because the Bible answers it for us.

[Revelation 7:13-14] 13 Then one of the elders asked me, “Who are these people in white robes, and where did they come from?” 14 I said to him, “Sir, you know.” Then he told me: These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

These are the ones who answered the final call to Christ. God’s Word tells us that our righteousness is like filthy rags, and that the only way to be made righteous is to clothe ourselves in Christ. And when you completely surrender your life to Him, you have His eternal promise, signed, sealed, and delivered.

[Revelation 7:15-17] 15 For this reason they are before the throne of God, and they serve him day and night in his temple. The one seated on the throne will shelter them: 16 They will no longer hunger; they will no longer thirst; the sun will no longer strike them, nor will any scorching heat. 17 For the Lamb who is at the center of the throne will shepherd them; he will guide them to springs of the waters of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

Now the interlude is over and it’s time to get back to the tribulation. Remember there were seven seals on the scroll from Revelation chapter 5. We saw 6 seals opened in Revelation 6. Were any of you wondering, what happened to the seventh seal? Well the seventh seal, is the seven trumpets.

[Revelation 8:1] When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. You might have seen a funny video floating around out there about how this means men must get to heaven first because of the silence. That is an egregious misinterpretation of this passage. This silence is the calm before the storm. The gasp before a tragedy. The stillness before the first shot is fired in a battle.

[Revelation 8:2-4] 2 Then I saw the seven angels who stand in the presence of God; seven trumpets were given to them. 3 Another angel, with a golden incense burner, came and stood at the altar. He was given a large amount of incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar in front of the throne. 4 The smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up in the presence of God from the angel’s hand.

Now I want to explain what is going on here, and how this applies to your life. Do you remember, in the Old Testament, what was going on in the tabernacle? First, when you would walk into the courtyard, you would see the altar of sacrifice. This was where the priests would make animal sacrifices day and night for the forgiveness of sins. Then, inside the tabernacle, was the Golden Altar of Incense. Every morning and evening, the high priest would burn specially prepared incense, so that the fragrant aroma continually rose before God. The Old testament makes the explicit connection between the prayers of the people, and this incense rising to God.

When Jesus died for your sin, that Old Testament sacrificial system ended. Jesus was the sacrifice once and for all. Now, our prayers go to Him. But that fragrant aroma of all the prayers of God’s people is the same. And what is the prayer of every Christian throughout the thousands of years since Jesus came to save us? Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. That prayer is answered.

[Revelation 8:5-6] 5 The angel took the incense burner, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it to the earth; there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake. 6 And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them.

When these trumpets sound, I want you to see the specific parallels to the plagues over Egypt from Exodus, and God’s deliverance of His people.

7 The first angel blew his trumpet, and hail and fire, mixed with blood, were hurled to the earth. So a third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up. Remember the hail and fire that destroyed Egypt. Here we are with hail and fire, mixed with blood. Can you imagine, a third of the world being burned up? This is catastrophic.

8 The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain ablaze with fire was hurled into the sea. So a third of the sea became blood, 9 a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. Remember back to the plagues? When the Nile River turned to blood? Now it’s a third of the sea, and a third of the sea creatures. Can you imagine the stench? This will be a cataclysmic event.

10 The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from heaven. It fell on a third of the rivers and springs of water. 11 The name of the star is Wormwood, and a third of the waters became wormwood. So, many of the people died from the waters, because they had been made bitter. Now Wormwood is a bitter herb. It’s used throughout the Old Testament to symbolize God’s judgment. And do you remember, in the book of Numbers, when the Israelite people arrived at Mara? The water was bitter and undrinkable, but God performed a miracle to turn the water sweet and provide life. Now, it’s the reverse.

12 The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them were darkened. A third of the day was without light and also a third of the night. Similar to the ninth plague. Darkness. Do you notice a pattern here? A third, a third, a third. These cataclysmic events are happening over a third, or a part of the earth. Likely, the part of the earth this is falling is purposeful, demonstrating the purpose of the tribulation, the final call to Christ. The church has been raptured, but multitudes are becoming Christians as a result of these plagues on the earth. We’re going to end our text tonight here in verse 13:

13 I looked and heard an eagle flying high overhead, crying out in a loud voice, “Woe! Woe! Woe to those who live on the earth, because of the remaining trumpet blasts that the three angels are about to sound!”

Now I want you to circle in your Bibles that word “live.” If you’re reading a more literal translation, you’ll see the word “dwell.” Now there are two different Greek words for this same English word, “dwell.” You’ll see this phrase throughout Revelation, “Those who dwell on the earth.” The two Greek words for dwell are κατοικέω and παροικέω. Κατοικέω means to take up permanent residency. Παροικέω means to live as a foreigner. A sojourner. In Hebrews 11, the Bible described Abraham’s faith. That when he was called he obeyed, he went out to a land he did not know. By faith he stayed as a sojourner there. Παροικέω. But in the book of Revelation, we see God’s judgment on the people who put their faith in the world, instead of putting their faith in God. This is what idolatry is. Idolatry is trusting in anything more than you trust in God. It’s rare you’ll find someone worshipping a physical idol, like a statue or a golden calf these days, but these last days, we’re tempted to worship our jobs, to worship our possessions, to idolize our children, our children’s sports, even professional sports, or our hobbies. So my question for you is this. Are you living for this world, or are you living for God’s Kingdom? Because this whole place is going to go away, there is no foundation here. We are sojourners, the only place a person can take up permanent residency in God’s Kingdom is by completely surrendering to our Lord Jesus Christ. Just like Abraham in Hebrews 11, we look forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.