Hey, everybody. Welcome back to another edition of the Daily Bible Podcast. What's up? Yeah, yeah. What's up, Just because, no reason. Just because, just because. Just keep on walking reason, just because singing. Okay. Um, dude, it rained forever. What was that? Yesterday? That was, I mean, that was, uh, the day after Christmas? Thursday? It was, it was great rain. I enjoyed it. I opened the door and I said, I'm glad I'm not driving. This is fun. This is nice. Uh, you remember what it was like to drive in the rain when we were driving on Christmas? Or was it Christmas Eve that we were here, uh, at the office? So, I was glad I wasn't driving. I was happy to be at home. Yeah, same, same. Um, but yeah, it poured. It was, uh, it was nuts. Yeah. We're going to be driving. We're my family and I were taking off and not to California for a week for some time away, spend some time with Amanda's family. So you'll be holding down the fort here while we're gone. I will attempt to, yeah, we'll, we'll see what happens. No, I trust that you, I trust it. It'll get well, I'm not worried about it. We'll see. I'm not worried about it. So, although I was thinking back in the churches renamed, There's a new website. There's new taglines. We're gonna come back and the walls are painted. New staff is on. Everyone's gone. You never know. All my old cameras taken down. Um, I was thinking about it though. And you guys listening to this can pray for Pastor Rod's health because you're, you're it, dude, on January 5th. There's no backup. There's no backup. Well, contingency would be, if I get sick, I give, I give Mark my notes, and Mark just goes for it. That would, that would be my plan. Unless Mark has a couple in the can. I don't know if he does or doesn't. We'll have to ask him if he, if he does. And if he doesn't, he really ought to. Yeah. Everybody needs a biscuit. Ready to go? Yeah. Warm up that biscuit. Taste the biscuits. Taste the goodness of the biscuit. Have you heard that yet? It's, it's, yes. I have that thing. Yes, I have taste the biscuit. Yes. Yeah, it's absolute. Don't look it up. If you're listening in, listening in on this conversation and you're wondering, Hey, what's taste the biscuit? Don't even waste your time. It's total nonsense. It's total nonsense, but it's really funny. It was really funny. It's something. It's something. Well, hey, yesterday we left off with the, uh, lamb getting ready to open these seals. And so now, uh, we get into his actual opening of the seals and, uh, that starts chapter six. And there is this, uh, accordion effect here, uh, where the seals, the, the seventh seal begins the trumpets and the trumpets unfold after that. And then the seventh trumpet begins the bowl judgments. And then the bowl judgments unfold after that. So it's this progressive. unfolding of God's judgment and his wrath being poured out upon the earth and then Separate from this or kind of coalescing with this and you know sense is everything that's going to happen with the antichrist and the false prophet and the uh and satan and everything going on behind there, but so the judgment of god on the earth is both passive and active passive in Allowing the antichrist to do what the antichrist is going to do and then active in some of these astronaut updates Astronomical, um, and, and geological things that take place here that you look at and see what in the world is happening right now. Uh, this is a supernatural intervention of God bringing his wrath upon the earth. Uh, the, the seals begin here, uh, in chapter six, the, the first seal is open and we have these horses. So the first one is, uh, this white horse and the rider is given a crown and come out and allowed to conquer. And, uh, he's made to be the one that is conquering allowed to conquer. And this seems to be a reference to the Antichrist. And that's something that's worth noting as you read about the Antichrist in the Bible is he is always the one who is given power. And that's important for us to understand that God is still sovereign over all of these things that are taking place. So even over the tribulation, the time of Jacob's seven years and all the, the, the horrific things that unfold here. None of this has taken place apart from God's divine permissive allowance and purview. And so the white horse comes forth, given power, given the crown. The second seal opens up and you've got another horse coming out bright red. This rider is allowed to take a piece from the earth so that people are slaying one another. The scene is conflict and it's judgment and it's, there's famine taking place with the next seal here. Um, there is, uh, the, the, uh, The fourth seal in verse seven, you've got a pale horse death. So death is widespread fifth seal. You've got the, the martyrs, the souls. It's, it's a scene that is when you unfold it and when you read through it, it's just, it's overwhelming. It can get to the place where you're like, okay, How do I understand what all this is, is really going to be like? And I think that's part of the point is to get us to the place of going, I'm thankful I'm not going to be there. Um, I'm not going to be undergoing these things and watching these things unfold. But God is the one that's ordaining all of this. This is the scroll. And you have to ask The question, okay, who wrote the scroll to begin with? And the answer is God did. God has decreed that these things should take place. And so as all these judgments unfold from the antichrist on, God is the one behind this and he's the one in control of all of it. Just a quick point of reference here for some of you guys who are reading and wondering what a scroll with seals are. Uh, if you think about a scroll, you think about a rolled up piece of paper. Um, one way that you would prevent that piece of paper from being read by unauthorized eyes is to seal it with seven, perhaps wax seals. So where the papers would close, uh, where they would be rolled up and close, you'd have seven wax seals. And the image here is as Jesus opens up each of the wax seals, there's a judgment that is being released. And of course, you have the Antichrist and you have plague and death and all these other things. So the seal and the, and the, and the scroll are all indicative of God's Justice being poured out on people on the earth. Now what's interesting here, one thing that I found interesting here in chapter six at the fifth seal is that the martyrs are apparently aware of what's happening on earth to catch that, uh, Oh, sovereign Lord, they say in verse 10, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth. So these people who lost their lives as a result of their commitment to Christ are asking him because they're aware of what's happening. When will you do something about this? And then he tells him basically not yet, but I find that very fascinating. Will people see, are people watching us right now? Are there saints of, of long ago observing how God is interacting with the world on, on the current scene timeframe? I, I, I wonder, I think there, I think there's at least some evidence to suggest that they might be. Yeah, that is an interesting concept to dwell on. I've thought about that with, um, someone that we both knew that we both worked with who died before COVID. And I thought to myself many times during COVID, man, I wonder if he has any clue what's going on down here that we're doing all this nonsense and jumping through all these hoops and putting tape down on carpet and directional arrows on which way to walk in the office and which way not to walk. And maybe he was, maybe he's able to see that. And at the same time, Glorify God in the process of spectating what's going on down here, right? I I hope he's not having to watch the nonsense Because if there's laughter in heaven that they were laughing at us at that point for sure. Oh for sure For sure for sure well in chapter seven we get uh Some numbers that jump off here and the first number that is of significance that we find here is the number 144 000 and these are those that are going to be sealed Of the every tribe of the sons of israel so From here, he says we're going to have this many from Judah, this many from Reuben, 12, 000 each, 12, 000 by 12 is going to give you that number, um, 144, 000. So we look at this and we say, okay, what does this mean? And this is where I think in the book of Revelation, when we can allow the book to, To be literal, I think it is helpful for us because when we try to make things metaphorical, that's when we run into all kinds of problems to say, okay, so then what would be our parameters to really define metaphorically speaking what 144, 000 Jewish people represents? When I think a literal reading of the text would imply what the This actually is that during the tribulation period that the nation of israel, which is prominent on the scene and Kind of at the center of what god is doing here that there are going to be 144 000 literal people that he is going to take from the nation of israel and seal that these are going to be those that Zechariah 14 and 12 through 14 come to understand and see jesus as the messiah and they're going to repent and believe and their sins Are going to be forgiven And those are the ones that are going to be sealed to withstand and survive and get through this and be protected during the tribulation period. And so that's my take is that's who we see here. That's, that's not all that will be saved during this period. They're going to be tribulation saints. They're going to be people that are not part of Israel. that are saved during the tribulation period. These are unique because God is sealing them and protecting them and calling them out as, as uniquely saved during this period. So do you have any reason why then we would be missing Dan and Ephraim? I I've, I don't have an answer to this. I'm just going to tell you on the front end, as I was researching this, I see from the 12 tribes, you would expect all 12 tribes to be there, but you are missing Dan, the Northern most. And you're also missing Ephraim, one of Joseph's tribes. And in their place, you have Levi, which is of course, the, the priests, uh, who are, are the people that were called to serve the temple, serve the tabernacle. And so it's unusual for them to be listed there. Their portion was the Lord, which is why they never got land. They were sprinkled or salted across the whole of Israel's territory. But here there are 12, 000 from the tribe. And there are also 12, 000 from the tribe of Joseph, which Uh, is also interesting because his other son is there. Uh, but when it comes to Ephraim, they're, they're missing. Manasseh's there, but Ephraim's gone. Do you have any insight as to why those two tribes are not there? And these two tribes are, I mean, it's even interesting to call Joseph a tribe. Was he even a tribe? Not really, but he's there. What's, what's going on? Right. Yeah, that is puzzling. And I've wondered the same thing myself. The only thing I can think with Dan is Dan was kind of at the center of Jeroboam's rebellion against God. Um, he was one of his main altar sites that he set up one of the two golden calves that he created. And it could be that it's part of his. Perhaps part of God's judgment that the Danites as a result of their complicity with that as Jeroboam was largely held responsible for much of the, the, at least as the figurehead of much of the northern kingdoms downfall, it's, it's possible that they suffered because they were Complicit in that with him. So I, I, man, and I, I, that's the one I used to say, but here's one thing I could not get out of my crawl. Ezekiel 48 verse two, Ezekiel 48, two. Dan has a share in the land that's distributed in the millennial kingdom. So on the one hand, they're replaced in this text. And on the other hand, they have something. So what gives, what's happening here? I don't know. Isn't that crazy? That is crazy. Yeah. Yeah. That's a, that's a noodler. That is a head scratcher for sure. Yeah. Well, I'm glad you got that out of your craw. It's not out of my craw. It's in my craw. It's very much lodged. You got it out of yours and into everybody else's now i'm glad to share my pain with others Well after this the scene shifts again And this great crowd shows up with people from every nation tribe and language And they're all before the throne and before the lamb in white robes And they are praising god and so here the the scene shifts from israel in 7 to People from all over the world and all over the globe here and they are praising god and worshiping And, uh, one of the elders comes to John and strangely, the elder asked John, Hey, who are these? And where have they come from? And John, I love his response in verse 14. He's like, uh, you know, why are you asking me? You know who these people are. I'm the new kid here, bro. Right. Right. And so he says, these are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. Like I mentioned, there's going to be other saved besides the 144, 000. So these are those that are saved during the tribulation who end up dying as a result of their faith in Christ. And they are brought before the throne of God and they serve him in that presence. So, um, It's it's a a pretty amazing scene and it's a reminder that God is still going to be doing redemptive work Even during the the the horrific elements of the tribulation period chapter 8 Then we get to the seventh seal and the seventh seal is opened and there's silence in heaven for about half an hour Again, the literal elements here. I think are important for us to note when john says there was silence for about half an hour I think it means that there was silence for about 30 minutes while he was there in the presence in heaven, which isn't that in and of itself crazy? Because that means that there's some awareness of time in heaven, right? Isn't that crazy because you're not living in timelessness and here's what I think about that real quick And I'll let you go back to it. But no, you're good god because of his relationship with us Has willingly condescended his experience of time, which is timeless. God does not exist in time. He He kind of condescends to us for our understanding. And so I think he allows heaven to be, to experience the ongoing, uh, I don't know what to call it. The, the phenomenon of time, because it's his way of inviting us into his, his life and his kingdom. So I don't think God's God, obviously he's not in time, but he does it for our sake, which I find fascinating. There's going to be time in here, which, which causes me to wonder, okay, what's that going to be like? Is it going to feel like today? Is it going to be 30 minutes a day? It's a different kind of time scale. They're not going to have the sun and the moon in the same way, which is one way that we account for time. Because he himself is our light, right? We're no moon, no sun. So what's that time going to be interesting to ask all these questions. I don't have any answers, but I'm asking questions. It is. Yeah. Yeah. Noodling on deep things, which is good. Um, from this point after the 30 minutes, he sees these seven angels who now come forward with seven trumpets. And so the, we had the seal judgments and now we're about to have the, uh, the trumpet judgments and the trumpet judgments begin in chapter eight here. The first angel verse seven blows his blows his trumpet. And this is some of the. The, uh, the natural disasters that take place, supernatural disasters. We should, should actually put it because there's a, a storm of hail and fire mixed with blood thrown upon the earth and the earth. A third of it's burned up a third of the trees burned up all the green grass burned up. A second angel blows something like a great mountain thrown into the sea. Third of the sea becomes blood. Third angel blows a great star falls from heaven. The water becomes bitter and poisonous. a portion of it. The fourth angel comes in a third of the sun is struck in the darkness in the stars are swept out of the sky. And then he sees and hears an Eagle crying with a loud voice. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Those who dwell upon the earth. And that's the last three trumpets are going to be the final three woes, um, that are declared by this Eagle here. But these are, are just the The destructive nature of the wrath of God being poured out upon his, uh, his creation in response to the, the rejection of the gospel. Um, this is a little bit of the Romans two, five, you've been storing up wrath for yourself for the day of judgment. I mean that ultimately that's going to be eternity, but we're beginning to see some of God's patients run out at this point as he begins to unfold these judgments. Everybody's asking the question, is the eagle a literal eagle? I mean, I was thinking about that this morning because I was reading ahead a little bit for next year, um, and in Genesis, and you've, you've got the serpent talking with Eve. Right. And Eve talks back to the serpent. Unaffected. Totally like, oh yeah, it's a Tuesday. She's not, she's not like, what's going on? Um, Adam the snake is talking. So I think there's precedent for that. The animal kingdom to be able to communicate with. God's creation with humanity. Um, is that what's going on here? I think so. I, I would take it as a yeah, literal eagle crying out. I guess it, you would have to, it's either that or you're saying, okay, what does the eagle represent? Is it, is it, is it, and I guess with the serpent we'd have to say, well, Okay. The devil inhabited the, the serpent for a period of time, but you have Balaam's donkey as well, where you also have, it seems to be some, something inhabiting the donkey to talk to him, or maybe it was the donkey that God gave vocal cords to, to speak to him. So many questions that are just unanswered, at least not answerable to a degree of satisfaction, but that's interesting. I don't know if I, if I, if I know, I just see it's an eagle. I'm going to take the scripture at its words. Okay. It's an eagle. Does it represent something else? I don't know. Maybe. Maybe right. And that's what we have to do with the book of revelation. We can't press it too far you try to put it, press it too far, you can end up quickly in over your head and in making statements where scripture doesn't make statements. Right. Yeah. So that first, whoa, is this fifth angel blows, blowing his trumpet in a star is fallen and given this key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. And from the bottomless pit, it seems comes a demonic force of locusts and they're, they're given power over the people. They have stings like scorpions. Um, and, and yet they're not allowed to kill the people. And so, um, it's, it's just a picture where you say, okay, well, they're not allowed to kill them. That's a, that's a mercy. Well, actually it's, it's not, uh, because this is inflict as much pain and as much suffering, as much physical torment as you possibly can with, without killing them. And there's time and time again, During this where it says like in verse six in those days, people will seek death and not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them. God is going to even prevent people from being able to take their own lives because of wanting to pour out his wrath in judgment upon them during this, this, uh, this season, this stretch that's happening here. So this fifth angel blows. And, uh, this shaft is opened up. Some think that these are the angels that have been kept in prison. And we just read about them in a second, Peter and Jude, uh, that they've been kept in chains and utter darkness in that this is the release of them into the final judgment error, where they're permissibly allowed to be part of God's plan by inflicting torment on those that are still left on the earth. Sixth angel in verse 13 then blows his trumpet. This is the second will and he hears another voice John does From the four horns of the golden altar and he says release the four angels bound at the winds or at the four corners bound at the great River Euphrates rather excuse me, and so you've got these four angels and and four horses who come they are all appearing in in different colorful array and they have heads like different animals and With them come plagues and these plagues end up taking out a third of mankind Uh, was killed in and then there's fire and smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouths, the power of the horses. And so again, it's it's destruction. It's plague. It's disease. It's sickness. It's all of the the awful things that you can think of Uh, and yet the the most tragic thing probably is verse 21 where it says nor did they repent Of their murderers and their sorceries their sexual immorality or if there's thefts and so Given an opportunity even in the midst of all of this in everything that they're seeing They would not give up worshiping their false idols and gods nor would they repent From the awful things that they were guilty of doing real quick here. You mentioned four corners I know accidentally but in revelation chapter 7 and revelation 20 the four corners are mentioned The angels are holding back the four corners. So Some Flat Earth supporters would say, here's evidence that Scripture teaches a flat Earth, because a globe, a sphere, cannot have corners in the first place, but there are four corners listed here twice in the Bible, and the Word of God is infallible and inerrant. Are you telling me, Pastor PJ, that the Earth is not flat, when the Scripture says it here? Yes, I'm telling you the earth is not flat. Yeah, it's, it's language like we would use, north, south, east, west, directionally. When you think about the layout of the earth, and you think about all encompassing, it's language to communicate, hey, this is, they're covering, they're covering every, every inch. They've got it all covered in totality. No matter what direction you go, you're going to find that their effect is felt in that area. Amen to that. And it's the same thing that when we say something like, oh, the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, the sun isn't rising. The globe is spinning. We're spinning around the sun. So it's, it's not incorrect to use phenomenological language to say this is the true expression or the true, uh, it's a true statement about the way that we experience a certain thing. So four corners, north, south, east, west, I think is the best and probably easiest way to understand that terminology. Chapter 10, then we get into, uh, another angel that shows up coming down from heaven. So again, we we've pushed pause here after six, notice that six trumpets, we have not hit the seventh trumpet yet because again, the seventh trumpet is going to unfold, uh, the bold judgments that are coming, but this angel shows up and has a scroll. And the angel, uh, is, has the scroll, which he opens in front of john and gives it to john and says, take and eat it and your stomach will be bitter, but your mouth, it's going to be sweet is honey. And so he says, again, you must prophesy about many peoples in verse 11 nations and languages and Kings. And so this is an interesting scene. Uh, PR, I'd love to get your thoughts on this, that the bitterness and the sweetness, is it. In your eyes, just this idea of the content of this prophecy that John's having to record that there is so much painful about it and bitter about it. And yet there's, there's the sweetness about it too and the good that God is going to accomplish through it. Amen to that. That's exactly the way that I see this. I understand this as being, so there's seven thunders. are not revealed. They're, they're, John says, this is what happened. The seven thunders sounded, but he's not permitted to tell us what those seven thunders share. And so I'm, I'm guessing that what they're talking about one way or another is going to be more judgment. And, and this, this, this relates entirely to the Christian experience of reading about the just judgment of God. On the one hand, it makes us tremble because nobody wants to conceive. of their friends, their family, their loved ones being subject to the wrath of God. On the other hand, the sweetness is there in that we long for His justice. We want His righteous rule and reign, and so there is a sweetness to His promise to bring justice, and there is a Dark and bitter taste that also comes with it because we know what it implies. So I think, I think that's what's happening here. John is receiving more information about the judgment to come and it's sweet because it's God's word and his word is true and he's righteous and just, and it's bitter because of what it portends. Yeah, yeah, I would agree chapter 11. Then we have the two witnesses who are sent by God and Moses and Elijah are often attributed here to them and they are allowed to Witness testify. God protects them for a long period of time. They do all kinds of Prophetic miracles and different acts, and they are witnessing there for 1260 days. That's an important number that shows up again later on. That's three and a half years. Uh, the, the tribulation period is going to be seven years. Half of seven is three and a half, halfway through the tribulation period. The Antichrist. Is going to break the treaty that he had made with israel and that is when the the intense suffering of the tribulation period Is going to ultimately begin for the people of god And so here you have the witnesses Who are prophesying for the first part of that and they are allowed to do this for the first three and a half years And then after that They are eventually given over to death, at least initially here. They are silenced by the Antichrist and his foes and the people of the earth celebrate this. They even exchange gifts over the death of these two individuals, which is quite morose when you consider it. And then after this, They are given life again, they are resurrected and they are caught up again to be with the Lord at that point. But, um, interesting scene here with the two witnesses preceding the seventh trumpet that is going to sound after this. The seventh trumpet then is going to be the end of, of chapter 11 and the seventh trumpet is going to begin the, uh, movement towards the pouring out of the seven bowls and the seven bowls, uh, will be the final judgments that we read about in the book of revelation. And so verse 15, 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. And so it's a declaration of victory. Even before he gets into really the intensity of the pursuit and persecution of Israel by the Antichrist and ultimately by Satan, who's behind the Antichrist. That's, uh, that's the next section there. Yeah. Six through 11 PR, anything I missed on or anything you wanted to comment on the last couple of chapters. No, man, there's so much here. I mean, I just, I know I can, I can sense the frustration of our, of our listeners. Like, but you didn't talk about this. You talk about that. Tell me more about this. And there's so much here and I can echo that. I feel the pain of reading through it and not saying, I just want to slow down and kind of understand some of these things. And I guess that's the encouragement from us to you to study your Bible. It's one thing to read it. And that's essentially what we're trying to do. We're reading it through. We want to get an extensive overview. Of what the whole says well at the same time saying that you ought to make time for the intensive Kind of dedication that's going to be needed to really mind the depths of what are there So if your hunger is being stoked for the book of revelation fantastic We'd love for you to go back and study some of your most puzzling passages and tell us how you're doing We'd love to encourage you to do that. Yeah, and if you have questions submit them write podcast at compassntx. org And, and December of next year, we'll answer them for sure. Yeah. Or we'll get to them sooner than that. All right. Well, Hey, let's pray. And then we'll be done with this episode. God, we thank you for the book of revelation with all of its mysteries. And we just pray that we would be just passionate students of the word that we would give ourselves over to difficult things and things that cause us to wonder and scratch our heads and, and, uh, in question. And I just pray that you'd give us the ability to, uh, to know when we have to just kind of Push back and say, okay, we, we can't fully understand this. Keep us from error. Keep us from anything that would lead us or anyone else astray in our study, but give us a better and deeper understanding of your word. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. All right, y'all keep reading your Bibles and tune in again tomorrow for another edition of the daily Bible podcast. See you then folks.