Fearful Judgment Prior to the Coming of Christ

Verse 26 says this, For where soever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together. Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. Now, some of the things we’re going to look at tonight are going to sound quite fantastic.

Quite fantastic, and I think for a couple of reasons. The first reason is that we in our society, you and me, have been absolutely indoctrinated to disbelieve anything supernatural. If it cannot be explained scientifically, it is not possible. But in Scripture, what you notice is there’s a pattern. When you look at the Bible from a bird’s eye view, what you find is that whenever the Lord is preparing to do, or is in the process of doing, or making a major change in His dealings with mankind, maybe through a covenant or through a new revelation, what He does is He pairs that change, and I’ll give you some examples in a minute, He pairs that change with miraculous signs.

Because those changes demand something that demonstrates that God’s behind all this. And I’ll give you some examples. When God gave the law on Mount Sinai, the Lord established a new relationship with the people of Israel. And with that law came many, many signs. Moses was in Mount 40 days and 40 nights. They walked through the Red Sea. All the 10 plagues of Egypt. There’s just the manna every day.

The Shekinah glory. All of those things were indicators and demonstrations of God actually working. When Jesus first came and He Himself was the revelation, He demonstrated many signs. We’ve covered those in Matthew, so everyone here is an expert on that. He demonstrated His power because He is introducing new things. He Himself is a revelation. And then when He left and He ascended back to heaven and left the apostles, there was a period of time when that’s exactly, they were performing miracles and signs and wonders.

You can go back to Noah and you can go back to Abraham and you see that. And then you get to other parts where the scripture and the, let’s say the revelation of God has already been established. The signs dissipate. You don’t see them as much. For instance, you see almost no miraculous signs in the life of David. Have you ever noticed that? Or Solomon. And then you get to Elijah and there’s some signs there, but even when you move into the New Testament, the signs kind of dwindle as you proceed through the New Testament.

And then you get to prophetic information that is future to us like Matthew chapter 24 and the signs crank back up. You know why? Because the Lord’s about to do something big and the signs matter. So the Lord pairs the signs as demonstrations of what He is saying and what He is doing are true. So this idea, as we read these things, some of the things I’m going to say are going to sound more akin to something you would see on like a program on Discovery Channel or National Geographic, you know, one of these conspiracy deals about the apocalypse or something like that.

But just because of that, we cannot shy away from what the text says, okay? Really what they’re doing is that those programs and things are borrowing from what the scripture has always said. And it’s not that we can fully understand all of these things because these are prophetic. We can understand some things, but you know the details of these things are not all clearly discernible. But nevertheless, we’re going to look at these signs because these are major events.

This is unlike any other event that’s ever happened in history or will happen in the future. These are unique. And so we want to spend a little bit of time looking at them, but we have only four verses so that we can go, we can make sure we cover our bases on this and we are by no means exhausting this subject. So we’re just going to take what we can get here and move on.

Verse 26, wherefore if they shall say unto you, behold, he is in the desert, go not forth, behold, he is in the secret chamber, in the secret chambers, believe it not. Now the he is referring to Christ. Take a peek if you would at Mark chapter 13 if you would. This is the parallel passage and that gives us a little more information. Mark 13 verse 21. The Bible says this.

Mark 13 verse 21. And then if any man shall say to you, lo, here is Christ, or lo, he is there, believe him not. For false Christs and false prophets shall rise and shall show signs and wonders to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect. But take ye he, behold, I have foretold you all things. So in this, and we’ve already studied this, that at this period in history, just prior to the coming of Christ, there are going to be false Christs and false prophets and we’ve seen that clearly shown in Scripture.

And when we look at this verse where the Lord is saying, if they say Christ is in the desert, Christ is in the secret chambers, there is, that pairs with the idea of false Christs. In other words, and especially when you think of these deceivers that we see here, and we’ll see more about this in a second, but back in Matthew 24 verse 23, if any man shall say to you, lo, here is Christ, or there, believe it not, and then he repeats that in verse number 26, behold, he is in the desert, go not forth.

So the idea is that there is a deception in play at this period that is seeking to lure this elect group, which we’ve already seen, refers to the believing Jews, right? We’ve already seen that in the text. To lure them out from where they’re hiding. You say hiding, yeah, hiding, remember? You go back up to 17, verse 16, verse 17, these Jews have fled Judea and they’ve gone into the mountains because they saw the abomination of desolation and that was the trigger.

And we saw that already. And so they fled away for their life. And they’re in hiding and God is protecting them. Revelation chapter 12 says that. And so the idea is they’re in hiding, but yet there is this strong deception at play to draw them out. Christ is here and paired with that are these signs and these wonders. So these false Christs and false prophets are presenting a temptation to the Jewish believers and of course to the Jews more broadly to lure them by means of signs and wonders out from where they’re hiding to deceive them.

Okay, now go if you would to 2 Thessalonians, we’re coming back to Matthew, but look at 2 Thessalonians real quick. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. And we’ve covered this already, but we’re just going to review it very quickly. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, verse number 8, speaking of the antichrist, this figure, man of sin, son of perdition, he’s called here. Let’s go back up to verse 3. Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come, speaking of the day of Christ, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

So this figure is a self-deifying figure. He presents himself as one who is equal to God and worthy of worship. Now he says this, verse 5, remember ye not that when I was yet with you I told you these things and now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time? For the mystery of iniquity doth already work, that is currently, only he who now letteth will let until he be taken out of the way.

Times have been written on who is the person that is hindering the revelation of the antichrist. I’m just going to say I have no idea. I don’t think I’ve heard a convincing argument on who this he who now letteth, that let in this case refers to someone who hinders or blocks, and what is withholding that he can’t be revealed until his time? I don’t know the answer to that and I don’t know that anybody knows it definitively, but verse 7 says that once that restraining force is removed then verse 8 says and then shall that wicked be revealed whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming, that’s his end, even him whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders.

So this antichrist figure uses signs and miracles to accompany him and then we keep reading and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish. So those signs and those miracles are used to deceive those unbelievers. You see that? Does everybody kind of give me a nod? Everybody see that? That’s the purpose of the signs and the wonders. Because they receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved and for this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned who believe not the truth but have pleasure in unrighteousness.

Now we saw that this morning but the thing I want you to see is these signs and wonders that are performed, actual miraculous things performed by the devil, not by God but by the devil but of course permitted by God are used to deceive and delude. But in what way? Now go to Revelation chapter 13. Verse 1 says this, and I stood upon the sand of the sea and saw a beast rise up out of the sea having seven heads and ten horns and upon his horns ten crowns and upon his head the names of blasphemy.

And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard and his feet were as the feet of a bear so it goes on with the beast. Notice the dragon gave him his power and his seat and great authority. So the beast, the animal, the creature is not the dragon but is closely related to the dragon. This is what is called a satanic trinity. You have the dragon, you have the beast and you have the false prophet.

It goes on to say verse number 4, and they worshiped the dragon which gave power unto the beast and they worshiped the beast. Say who is like unto the beast who is able to make war with him? You see this beast here, this Antichrist figure wants worship. Verse 8 also says that, and all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him. You see that? We’ve already seen that in 2 Thessalonians and Daniel as well.

Now the thing is that to worship this person who is animated by the devil is to worship the devil. That’s what verse 4 says. And they worshiped the dragon which gave power unto the beast. And then you keep reading verse number 5 says this, and there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things in blasphemies and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.

So that matches 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 that we just read. Verse 6, and he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle and them that dwell therein. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And power was given him over all kindreds and tongues and nations. So this beast according to verse number 7 seeks to destroy those who believe in Christ.

He makes war with the saints. But not only that if you look down to verse 15, this is speaking now of the false prophet. It says this, and he, that’s the false prophet, had power to give life unto the image of the beast that the image of the beast should both speak and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

And he causeth all those small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand or in their foreheads and that no man might by or cell save he that had the mark or the name of the beast or the number of his name. So if you at this time, if a saint for instance at this time who believed in Christ refused to worship this anti-Christ figure and participate in his government in this way then he would be hunted down.

He would be killed. That’s what we know so far. This worship as we’ve seen is enforced, is enforced with the death penalty and there are actually indicators in prophetic scripture that the method of execution is beheading. That’s also in Revelation but we won’t go there for now. So this beast and this false prophet use signs and wonders to cause mankind to worship him. That is the, that is the lure.

That is the power. Performing a miracle to give legitimacy to his claims of deity. Everybody with me? Is that not the same pattern that the Lord used over and over in scripture? That’s what I said at the beginning, right? Now here the devil is using that pattern which is no surprise. He has a trinity, the devil, the beast and the false prophet as well. Now look if you would at chapter 14, next chapter over verse 9, the Bible says this, And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast in his image and receive his mark in his forehead or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation.

And he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever. And they have no rest day or night, nor night, who worship the beast in his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. So when a person participates in this way, and I’m not even going to try to attempt to say what exactly that mark is.

That’s, I don’t, again there’s no definitive answer. It’s useless to discuss as far as that goes. But this figure will demand worship. Those that worship him seal their fate. Does everybody see that? They’re done. They will go to the lake of fire. Alright. Now if you would go to chapter 12 of Revelation, verse number 1. And there appeared a great wonder in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.

And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. And there appeared another wonder in heaven, behold, and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them onto the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman, which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.

So this is symbolic. This woman has a crown with twelve stars. So this woman represents Israel in the symbolism. Now how do we know it’s symbolism? Because the events that this woman pictures span huge amounts of time. And you’ll see what I mean in just a minute. Notice what it says here. The dragon stood before the woman and was ready to devour her child as soon as it was born.

Now who is the child? Verse 5. And she, that’s the woman, Israel, brought forth a man child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. Who’s that? That’s Jesus. I mean that’s clear. That’s Psalm 2. That’s clear prophecy. That’s clear and red meat of prophecy right there. So that’s how you know it’s a figure. That’s how you know it’s a symbol. So this woman Israel gives birth to this one who’s to rule all nations with a rod of iron.

That’s Jesus Christ. And her child was caught up unto God into his throne. That’s his ascension. Right? Verse 6. And the woman, who’s the woman? Israel. She was led into the wilderness where she hath a place prepared of God that they should feed her a thousand two hundred and three score days. Now some people have said this woman is the church. But it’s not the church. Because she gives birth to Christ.

Right? That’s how you know she’s not the church. Because she has twelve, excuse me, twelve stars. I don’t know what happened. I’m infected with the same thing everybody else is dealing with. Some people say well that’s the twelve apostles. But it doesn’t match because she gives birth to the man child. So the man child is Jesus. He goes back to heaven. And the woman fled into the wilderness where she hath a place prepared of God.

And they shall feed her a thousand two hundred and three score days. One thousand two hundred and sixty. How many days is that? I mean how many years, how many months is that? It’s three and a half years with a three hundred sixty day year. Which is the way it was counted. Here, so this woman flees. The devil wants her. Right? He wants her. But she flees.

We’ve already seen that in Matthew twenty four. Now look if you would at verse thirteen. And when the dragon saw that he was cast into the earth he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. That’s Israel. And the woman and to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle that she might fly into the wilderness into her place where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time.

One and two. That’s three and a half. Which matches the number of days we just read. From the face of the serpent and the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth helped the woman and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.

And the dragon, now what is, so Israel has fled. The devil is trying to kill her. The devil is trying to stamp out Israel. This is the whole idea of war with the saints and all that kind of thing that we’ve read already. Now look at verse number seventeen. The dragon was wroth with the woman and went, listen now, to make war with the remnant of her seed which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

The remnant of the woman, who’s the woman’s seed? That is the people of Israel. The remnant of the seed, this is, that keep the commandments of God. So this is a believing Jewish remnant that the devil is destroying. Daniel says this, Matthew says this, it’s repeated over and over, the same thing in different ways. So you can imagine this woman is fleeing from what is a satanic attempt to destroy her but she’s being lured out.

Come see, Christ is here. These signs are being performed, right? The Jews seek after signs, right? Come see because as soon as she leaves her place of hiding, he is going to kill her. He is going to kill her. Now go back if you would to Matthew chapter twenty-four. verse twenty-seven. So Satan is employing deception to convince these who have fled to worship the beast, to convince those of the world to worship the beast.

And that is a powerful deception. In this thoroughly secular world, or at least our society, but I want to say something, a lot of other parts of the world have no problem believing in miraculous things, to be honest with you. But even in our secular area of the world, when real life, true blue, and not AI and nothing like that, when real life starts to, when these miracles start happening in real life, people are going to change their tune fast.

This is powerful. This is very powerful. You just look back at COVID, just as an example. All the misinformation about COVID. Is there something in the air here? I’m telling you, I’m just talking and my voice is stopping. All the misinformation about COVID. Now we know not everybody believed in everything they were told, but how many millions just lapped it up like that? Just like that. I mean, uncritically.

I want to tell you something. What’s interesting is America, people in America were the most cynical. You go to other places in the world, I know in Cambodia, man, they were swallowing, I mean, they were swallowing it hook, line, and sinker. Every word of it without criticism at all. So we had a little bit of a buffer, but that’s just an example. I’m not saying that’s necessarily prophetic or anything.

I’m just saying that’s an example of how quick, under the right conditions, how quick people’s mind will change. Now, so there’s deception being used and that deception is being used to convince people, Christ is here, come, Christ is here. And so you get to verse 27. For as the lightning cometh out of the east and shineth even unto the west, so shall also the coming of the son of Mambi.

Now have you ever been, have you ever been driving down the road? I love thunderstorms at night, don’t you? I love thunderstorms at night. Have you ever been driving down the road, maybe, or even being at home, and you see kind of thunderstorms in the distance or even one that’s come upon you, and you have seen lightning spread across the entire sky? Right? Have you ever seen that?

Now here, now think about this now. Because this is the illustration. This is the illustration of the coming of Christ, right? The second advent of Christ. His advent is like that. You know, when that, if you’re in one part of Greenville County and you’re sitting at home and there’s that thunderstorm and the lightning comes across the entire sky, it’s like the whole sky lights up. You know what?

Everybody in Greenville sees that. All at once. That’s what’s being pictured here. It’s fast and it’s public and it’s obvious. In contrast to what you see the Antichrist trying to deceive. See Christ is here, he’s secret, he’s, he’s, come, come out, I’ll show you. You don’t have to, nobody has to show you. When he comes, nobody’s going to be, nobody’s going to have to wonder if he’s here.

Just like that bolt of lightning comes across the sky. When Christ comes to judge, when Christ comes in his second advent with power and great glory, there will be no doubt that he’s here. You will not have to be convinced with signs and wonders. You see, that’s, that’s what the Lord is drawing a contrast. But there’s another one. He says this. Verse 28, it says, for wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together.

I know, don’t get picky, the word eagle, this is talking about a vulture. Okay, I know, well, eagles do not eat carrion, you know, eagles, I mean, come on. This is talking about a bird of prey. Have you ever, to go back to our, have you ever been driving down the road and way off in the distance, you see vultures circling? You ever seen that? When you see that, what does that mean?

What does that tell you? Something’s dead. Now, you haven’t seen the thing that’s dead. You don’t have to see it. It’s obvious, it’s clear. Now, I don’t know why the Lord chose to use this particular analogy. I don’t know. But one thing, if you saw, if you see that in real life, and you see, well, look, that’s an obvious indicator. That’s the way the coming of Christ is, it’s not secret.

When Christ comes to judge this world, there will be no, you will not have to look in the newspapers, you will not have to read Nostradamus, you will not have to look on the internet to get an interpretation or put it in Chat GPT. What do these signs mean? You don’t have to. It will be clear. It will be plain, just like there’s a dead body down there, just like everybody in Greenville saw the bolt of lightning.

So we get to verse 29. Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened and the moon shall not give her light. And the stars shall fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. Now here’s the thing. What we’re reading in verse 29 is getting right up to the moment that Christ returns and he reveals himself, right? The revelation. The book of Revelation covers this one verse, which is verse 29.

One verse in Matthew 24 is covered by lots of verses in Revelation. You with me? In other words, Matthew 29 is not descriptive. It just states the facts and moves on. Revelation is what fills in the timeline. It’s what fills in the gaps with those things. What I want to do is, just for time’s sake, if you’re writing down notes, if you’re a note taker, I’m going to read you three verses that relate to Matthew 24-29.

I’m going to read 29 one more time to get it fresh in our mind. Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened and the moon shall not give her light. And the stars shall fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. This is a clear prophetic reference. It is found multiple times in the Old Testament relating to the day of the Lord, which is the day of his coming in judgment.

Isaiah 13 verse 10. For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light. The sun shall be darkened in his going forth and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. That’s Isaiah, 700 years before Christ. Joel chapter 2 verse 10. And the earth shall quake before them. The heavens shall tremble, the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.

Joel chapter 2 verse 30. And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and terrible day of the Lord come. So what we read in Matthew 24-29 is not new. It is properly placed reminders of what those events, when those events will take place.

Now if you would go to Revelation chapter 6. Revelation chapter 6. I just want to help you understand some of these prophetic scriptures. Often times the first time you see a prophetic scripture you get some information but it’s hard to know where to place it. Does that make sense? Like you read it and you see it but it’s hard to know like how it fits. It’s like a puzzle.

You see a puzzle and you see kind of the color or something you know on that and it helps you identify it some but without context you don’t know where to put it. And then as you go through the scripture and you see these things that line up and each time it’s mentioned the puzzle gets a little bit bigger. And as you go you start to see the picture a little more clearly.

And so finally in Revelation and I think to be honest with you I think to those living in that day they’re the ones that are going to see it most clearly. They’re going to see the whole picture. Even we see only part of it because we’re not there yet. Anyhow you see this you know you have a bunch of puzzle pieces that are together and you have a good idea of what’s happening but it’s still kind of difficult to know exactly how it goes.

And that’s kind of what you have here. But when you get to Revelation this is where it’s more fully described. Revelation chapter 6 verse number 12 says this, And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal and lo there was a great earthquake. We read that in Joel a minute ago. And the sun became black as sackcloth of hair and the moon became his blood and the stars of heaven fell into the earth even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs when she is shaken of a mighty wind.

And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. Now you think well this is all symbolic. Well we’ve already looked at that and why that’s not the case. We take this as literal for a reason. Now here’s what I want you to think. Think about what you just read. What are the implications of these things?

What are the implications of these things? In Matthew it says the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. What kinds of things must happen in nature to affect the shining of the sun? To affect the stars? To affect the light of the moon? What kinds of things in nature must happen to move every mountain and island out of its place? What kinds of things must happen in nature that fit this description?

What I want you to say is the implications of these kinds of events are enormous. These things are global. When you talk about the touching the sun and the moon and the stars everybody sees those. These are global events. There is nothing, absolutely nothing in history that has happened like this. Even the very laws, and I think that’s what is indicated by the powers of the heavens shall be shaken, even the very laws that govern our universe and govern the natural world are in limbo, are in doubt, are being shaken.

In the book of Luke the Bible says this, chapter 21 verse 25 says this, and there shall be signs in the sun and in the moon and in the stars and upon the earth distress of nations with perplexity. The sea and the waves roaring, men’s hearts failing them for fear and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

Now Luke adds a couple of things, it’s similar to Matthew 24 but it adds a couple of new things. It mentions the sea and waves roaring. Now my wife and I have been watching a four part series about the 2004 tsunami in Sumatra. Does everybody remember that? I remember that very clearly. What was it? 225,000 people died in just two hours. 225,000 people. It was unbelievable. That fault that moved was the length of California.

Now you think about just that, sea and waves roaring, they had video on that in that program where it was, where of course the sea receded and nobody knew what was happening of course but then you looked off in the distance and you see this like roaring white water wave on the horizon. Now Revelation chapter 8 describes what the scripture describes as a burning mountain falling out of heaven upon the sea.

Now it’s no coincidence that that is a common apocalyptic motif, right? That’s no surprise. I’ll be honest with you, to see some celestial body of whatever size fall out of heaven onto the earth, there are few things that I can imagine that would be more terrifying than that. Every once in a while the scientists at NASA or whatever, they’ll say, oh well we have a Chinese satellite that’s de-orbiting and nobody knows exactly where it’s going to go and I always have like, we hope it has an 82.7% chance of falling into the ocean.

I’m like, well that’s pretty good I guess. But this is real. How would it affect people? What kinds of things have to be shaken that affect the shining of the sun and the stars and the moon? What kinds of cataclysmic things must happen for earthquakes that move everything to take place? You’re talking about things falling into the ocean out of the heavens? You talk about earthquakes over the world?

I mean we’re talking unbelievable terror, indescribable terror. The Lord in these judgments at one time in history before the revelation of his son touches the very movement of celestial bodies, the orbits, apparently the orbits of the celestial bodies. He touches the laws of gravity. He touches heat and radiation from the sun. That’s in the revelation. The sun, our sun which is the source of life, starts behaving in a way that’s unpredictable.

The length of day changes. The length of the night changes. Our clocks change. Our clocks change. There is tectonic activity over the whole. How many of you have ever been in an earthquake where you knew it happened? That’s not many of you. Five? Was that pleasant? It’s not the most exciting thing you’ve ever. Most people, like I want to be in an earthquake. I’m just telling you, I want to be in an earthquake as long as I’m outside, like in nature.

I want to experience it. But everybody that has experienced an earthquake comes back and says, I’m good. One time’s enough. What this describes as tectonic activity and its association with, you know, you think of how that affects the sea with tsunami, tsunami activity and stuff. I’m just telling you, this is not science fiction. This is not man-made apocalyptic things on the Discovery Channel designed to, you know, get ad revenue.

No, this is real. And when God says that he, that he is going to punish the world for their wickedness, I’m telling you, God is not joking. This is serious business. This will affect every human being on this earth. And really the ultimate purpose of this, really the ultimate, there’s many purposes of this, but one of the main, I should say, main purposes of this is so that God can bring Israel to a point that they will finally repent and trust in Christ, the one whom they pierced.

Zechariah chapter 12 says that. But it’s not only that. He’s doing it to judge this world. So in this time, going back to Matthew to close, Matthew 24 verse 29, The powers of the heavens shall be shaken. At this time, many of the things that we understand, that human beings understand as laws of nature will be shaken to their core. The very powers that hold the heavenly bodies in their right relationships will be altered by the God who created them.

It’s no wonder that Luke tells us that men’s hearts fail them for fear. And it’s no wonder that Revelation six tells us, like we saw in Sunday school, that men flee into the mountains, the sturdiest thing they can find, and crawl into the cracks and crevices and caves of the mountains and say, please, fall on us and hide us from this, protect us. That’s where this judgment brings men.

To be honest with you, I don’t even have words to describe these terrors. They’re indescribable. They’re beyond anything that we have ever experienced as humanity. And they’re beyond anything that we really can’t imagine. Whole societies just will come totally unraveled. And not to mention, 225,000 people died approximately at the 2004 tsunami. And that was in one part of the world. And that was a large event relatively, but minor compared to this.

It’s just mind-boggling. The Lord is serious about this. The Lord is serious about this. When he says he’s going to judge, this is why he calls us to remember Lot and Sodom and Gomorrah. And he calls us to remember Noah and the flood. He says, listen, I’m serious. I did it before and I am going to do it again. Man, what a mighty God. What hope we have.

What hope we have in Christ. Let’s pray together.