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Five Months of Hell (The Seven Trumpets) | Revelation 9:1-11 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Revelation Bible Study Series) · Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago

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We've come to feast on His Word and so please meet me in your
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Bibles in Revelation Chapter 9. Revelation Chapter 9.
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It could be said that an effective cheat teacher knows
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and recognizes when repetition is necessary in order to firmly
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establish truths in the minds of learners.
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And I say that because it could be that you've realized that
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some of these introductions in our study of revelation are
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similar. And I'm here to tell you that's
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intentional because the aim in that is after hearing over and
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over again the structure of this book, it would be so ingrained
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in your memory as you hear about the layout and the overarching
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theme so that it would become almost second nature.
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With that being said, we are still examining God's final
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program of judgement for the last days and we are looking at
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3 Series of judgements, each consisting of seven acts, 7
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events, and we've already completed the first set.
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We already looked at the seal judgements.
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The scroll has been completely opened by the hands of Christ,
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and now we find ourselves in the midst of the trumpet judgements.
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And if you were here 2 weeks ago, you recall that we looked
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at what happened after the four trumpets were sounded, and we
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are ready to see the final three.
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But before John is given insight into the last three trumpet
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blasts, there is a strange and interesting interruption.
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It's in the last verse of chapter 8.
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Look at Revelation 813 for a moment.
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Then I looked and I heard an eagle crying with a loud voice
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as it flew directly overhead. Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell
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on the earth at the blast of the other trumpets the three angels
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are about to blow. You know this well.
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Woes are common expressions in the Scriptures to represent it,
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to signify and call out condemnation or judgement.
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And double woes are not uncommon either.
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When you see whoa whoa, it's because there is an emphasis.
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But a triple woe like what we find here in this verse is rare.
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Now, we might think the message of this verse is that there is
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an extreme emphasis, but in actuality, its main purpose is
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to assign each woe to each of the remaining trumpet blasts.
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That's what we're going to find in this new chapter.
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A woe for the last three trumpets.
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Now here's the question that came to mind immediately.
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Why do the last three trumpets receive this ominous recognition
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instead of the first four? And the answer is very clear
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when you compare both. You see, when we looked at the
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1st 4 trumpets, we saw that they triggered devastation upon
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nature. 1/3 of this part of the earth, 1/3 of the rivers, 1/3 of
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this. It was all about the Earth, the
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planet. Now, as we come to the last
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three trumpet alarms, we're going to see that they will set
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into motion judgement and torment against people directly.
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Humans will now be targeted not indirectly, but directly.
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So this is very sobering. And these events, particularly
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set off by the 5th trumpet, are so severe that they might be
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understood as hell on earth. Actually, an appropriate title
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for this passage of Scripture that we're about to read is Five
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Months of Hell. And I'm sure you're going to see
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it as we read Revelation 9, verse one, down to verse 6.
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Let's do that together. And the 5th Angel blew his
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trumpet, and I saw a * falling from heaven to earth.
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And he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit.
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He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the
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shaft rose smoke, like the smoke of a great furnace, And the sun
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and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft.
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Then from the smoke came locust on the earth, and they were
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given power like the power of scorpions of the earth.
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They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green
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plant or any tree, but only those people who do not have the
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seal of God on their foreheads. They were allowed to torment
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them for five months, but not to kill them.
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And their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it
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stings someone. And in no day in those days,
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people will seek death and will not find it.
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They will long to die, but death will flee from them.
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Father, we realize immediately that we need your wisdom.
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And Lord, I am very aware that I need your help in delivering
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this. Every preacher, oh God, that is
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honest, recognizes the need of your help.
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And Lord, every listener who understands their knee will say,
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Open my heart, help me to hear what you have to say.
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So Lord, just take over and have your way in the service.
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Lord, especially now as we unpack your word, we give you
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glory for your help. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
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There are many ways that one can approach this nightmarish scene.
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So many details, so many mysteries, so many questions.
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But as I was reading over this passage over and over again
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throughout this past week, certain words began to surface,
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Certain words began to be highlighted.
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And I want to show you what I mean.
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Look back at verse one in the second part.
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And he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit.
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Look at the second part of verse 3.
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And they were given power, like the power of scorpions of the
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earth. Look at verse four.
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In the beginning they were told not to harm the grass of the
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earth or any green plant or any tree.
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Finally, look at verse 5. They were allowed to torment
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them for five months. It is so easy to get caught up
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by this horrific set of details and this ghastly imagery, but
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woven through it all is the language of God's sovereignty.
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Do you see it? I see it.
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Revelation teaches us many things, but one of the things
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that it continually reaffirms is the extent of God's authority
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both in the realm that we see and the one that we cannot
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perceive. And what we have here before us
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is a reminder that the Lord's governance extends to realities
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that we often forget He has mastery over.
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And so as you and I approach this at face value, reading it
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may be terrifying. It may cause us to be curious.
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But when you meditate on it, I trust that you will be
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strengthened in your faith and who God is and what He is
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capable of. I have one goal today before we
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break bread in reading and expounding on these verses.
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Just one simple mission that you and I would see just how big God
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is the guy that you love, the guy that you sing to, the guy
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that you trust in for your daily needs.
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I want to show you today through this passage that He is
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incredibly majestic. There is not one corner of the
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universe that he does not have jurisdiction over.
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He is so strong. He is so powerful, He is so
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mighty. And we get a snapshot of it
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right here. And so today we're going to look
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at 3 domains that our God has authority over, 3 realities that
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he governs that we often miss or don't really give him credit for
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or recognize his presence in three of them.
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And the first one is this God's sovereignty over the underworld.
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God's sovereignty over the underworld.
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Look back here again at verse one and verse 2.
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When this 5th Angel blew his trumpet, John saw something
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immediately, a star. He says I saw a * falling from
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heaven to the earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of
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the bottomless pit. We've seen stars falling in our
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study of revelation, have we not?
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We remember during the seal judgements, and particularly the
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6th one, how there were many stars that had fallen as a fig
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tree would dispense figs when it is shaken.
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And not too long ago in the trumpet judgments, we saw on the
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3rd trumpet that there was a great star that fell from
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heaven, and it fell on 1/3 of the rivers and springs of water.
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And so now we come to this text and we almost anticipate that
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this is just another cosmic disturbance.
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But we quickly learned that this is no ordinary star.
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In fact, this is not a real star.
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This is not a literal mass from the sky falling into the earth.
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It's a person and that's not us making this interpretation on
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our own. John tells us, look at the
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language. It has personal like qualities.
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He started, he saw a * falling from the heaven to earth and he,
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he, oh, he, he was given what a responsibility.
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He was given the key and he was called to action.
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He was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit.
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So what we have here is a person that fell from heaven.
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Now we know that this person is not a human.
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This person is from another realm, from a heavenly realm
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because it fell again from heaven.
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Now here's what's interesting. We see in the scriptures that
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angels are referred to more than once as what stars, especially
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in Job 38 verse 7. So now the question follows.
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This is an Angel, an angelic being that fell from heaven?
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Is it a good Angel? Is it a bad Angel?
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Is it the chief of demonic angels?
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Is it Satan? Because Satan, we're told in
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more than one place in the Bible, fell from heaven?
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Well, some would say it has to be a good Angel because no way
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would the Lord give a key to a bad Angel to open up this shaft
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to a bottomless pit. Other would say, no, it has to
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be a bad Angel. It has to be a fallen Angel
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because he's fallen. Let's not spend our energy here.
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This is the point that I want to drive into our hearts.
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This Angel was given a key by God for a day.
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He's borrowing one of God's keys, and this key opens the
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door to what is known as the bottomless pit.
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Bottomless pit. This is important in the Book of
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Revelation, in all the New Testament, the bottomless pit in
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the original word, it's actually one word.
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It's the word where we get abyss from.
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It appears a total of nine times in the New Testament, seven of
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those nine times. Where do you think Revelation?
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And when you collect all the references to this abyss, this
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bottomless pit, you learn what its function is.
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It represents a deep, dark, very real spiritual prison house for
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fallen angels. Do you remember what happened
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when Jesus arrived to the Gadarenes and there was a very
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tormented soul who is filled with thousands of demons in
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Christ unusually asked the name of this demon and here's a
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reference for you in Luke 8 verse 30.
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I'll read it. Jesus then asked him what is
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your name? And he said legion, for many
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demons had entered him, verse 31.
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And they begged him not to command them to depart into the
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abyss. Whatever you do, son of God, do
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not bring us to the abyss. Scripture teaches us that from
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the time of the fall, God has assigned certain demonic beings
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to a gloomy darkness, to be chained everlastingly until the
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final judgment and their verdict is made.
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Peter shares us in second Peter. Jude shares us in his short
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epistle. There are actual demonic beings
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who are in this very moment apprehended, incarcerated, and
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kept from freely roaming on the earth.
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Now, there's a whole other category of demons who have been
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running loose on this earth since the beginning of time.
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But there's a whole different group of fallen angels that have
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not seen the light of day that have been kept and will be kept
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until that final day except for what we find here.
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Do you understand what's happening here?
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God is permitting an Angel to open the door for the worst of
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the worst demons, for the vilest spiritual criminals who have
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harassed humanity in unspeakable ways, to freely roam on the
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earth and do as they please, to an extent for almost half a
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year. This is terrifying and
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rightfully so, and this background shows us here that
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God is doing this as an act of judgement.
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God is doing this because He wants to let them be His agents
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of chastisement and judgement. Notice the description of the
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smoke in verse 2. Can you see it with me?
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It says here. Then in verse 2 he opened the
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shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke like
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the smoke of a great furnace. That expression smoke arising
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like the smoke of a great furnace in relation to the
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judgement of people, only appears in one other place in
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all of the Bible. Can anybody guess where Sodom
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and Gomorrah, after Sodom and Gomorrah, experience God's
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wrath, fire and brimson falling from heaven.
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We're told there that Abraham looked upon the land and he saw
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smoke arising like the smoke of a furnace.
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And that's almost repeated here word for word.
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Why? It foreshadows something
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devastating. It shows here that there is
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going to be a severe manifestation of God's holy
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justice like the world has never really seen.
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And as you look at this, you think to yourself, is there any
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hope? I mean, what?
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What do you make of this? Well, again, read between the
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lines. Don't focus on the demons.
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Focus on the one who has authority over the underworld.
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He's able to keep them back, and He's able to loosen them.
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And I want you to see what's going to happen upon Christ's
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return at the end of Revelation. Go to chapter 20 Revelation and
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notice that immediately after Christ returns bodily and places
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his feet on the Mount of Olives, and he deals with the enemies of
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God's people. 01 of his first priorities before he establishes
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his millennial reign is what you see in Revelation 20 verse 2.
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And he sees the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the devil
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and Satan, and bound him for 1000 years, and threw him into
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the what, Pitt the abyss, the very same word, and shut it and
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sealed it over him so that he might not deceive the nation's
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any longer until the 1000 years were ended.
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After that, he must be released for a little while.
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There's a day coming when the chief of demons, the Prince of
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all that is dark and wicked, the head of all demonic operations,
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will be arrested. There's a warrant for his arrest
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and he will be imprisoned for a literal 1000 years before the
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new heavens and the new earth commences.
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This world is going to experience a length of time free
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from any satanic temptation, devilish oppression, possession,
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and even deception. That day is coming.
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What I just read to you is not a description of heaven because at
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the end of the verses we just read, it says he's going to be
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released again. This is speaking about when
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Jesus returns, He is going to set up his reign.
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And one of the glories of his physical reign on the earth is
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he's going to take Satan and all his minions and launch them into
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the pit for 1000 years. And the redeemed and even those
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who remain who are unbelievers who will live in that reign are
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going to know a world that has never been without demonic
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presence. Now here's why this is
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important. Those who don't believe that
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this is all future and that this is literal have to interpret
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this in another way. So many who don't hold to the
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futurist interpretation of the Book of Revelation will say what
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we just read there about the 1000 years and Satan being put
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into a pit. That's all figurative and it's
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speaking about today. It's speaking about how Satan
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has been bound. 1000 years is just a symbolic number.
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Satan has been bound since Jesus Christ died on the cross.
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To which I respond, how is he doing all of this while bound?
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All this chaos, all the increase of evil, This is him bound.
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I don't want to see what he's like when he's set free.
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So this is this is a dilemma. You either take all this again
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spiritually, or you acknowledge that there is a glorious future
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ahead, not just for the Church, but the entire world as it sits
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under the governance of the precious Prince of Peace, Jesus
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Christ of Nazareth. But he has control over that pit
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now and he has a divine purpose behind it.
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So the first thing I want you to understand is hell, which is
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another thing I don't want to confuse you.
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This underworld, this abyss is not ruled by Satan.
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I know, I know. People get the theology from
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cartoons where Satan sits on this throne and he's in hell and
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he can belch out as many demons as he wants.
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This Angel was given a key from God to let loose, and God has
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many keys, as we're going to find out.
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The second thing that we see sovereignty at play here at work
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here is very close to the first. God's sovereignty over demons,
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Not just the place, but these persons like the star we read
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about. What locus?
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There are no ordinary locusts. They are locusts because again,
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in the Old Testament, locusts were one of God's most
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devastating acts of judgement. They would devour all of your
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resources within a short span of time.
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We see it in prophetic literature.
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We see it literally taking place in actual manifestations of
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God's wrath. Locust, locust, locust.
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So again, the student of the Old Testament in the Scripture says
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this is not good locust. But then you read on and you
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see. These aren't bugs.
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Go to verse 7 of Revelation 9. In appearance, the locusts were
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like horses prepared for battle. On their heads were what looked
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like crowns of gold. Their faces were like human
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faces, their hair like woman's hair, and their teeth like
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lion's teeth. They had breastplates like
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breastplates of iron, and the noise of their wings was like
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the noise of many Chariots with horses rushing into battle.
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They have tails and stings like scorpions, and their power to
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hurt people for five months is in their tails.
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They have as a king over them the Angel of the bottomless pit.
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His name is in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he is
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called Apoleon. What do we make of this?
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Number one, I don't think it's helpful to try to explain every
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single detail and what could be the specific meaning behind it.
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Here's what you take from this. This grotesque description of
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these beings is meant to reflect the hideousness and the twisted
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nature of these beings. This is clearly demonic, and
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these demonic creatures are again, by very nature so vile,
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so despicable, totally wicked, that their physical description
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reflects that distortion. I don't know if you visualize
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this description, if it looks strange, if it looks ugly.
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It's meant to be because these are again angels that have
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betrayed the living God and have chosen even to their own eternal
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doom to resist Him and to fight against His purposes to this
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very moment. So when you see this, you're
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supposed to almost cringe and shrink back like this is almost
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like these are like monsters. They are monsters and though you
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don't want to pluck every single detail though you can, there is
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obviously an importance behind these things.
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If there is one thing to take from it is that they are
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extremely powerful. Look again at some of these
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things. Teeth like lion's teeth.
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Breastplates of iron wings that sound like Chariots rushing into
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battle, tales that sting like scorpions.
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And above that they have a king. So there's, there's rank,
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there's order, there's, there's strategy.
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In the Kingdom of Darkness, as much as they cause chaos,
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they're very much sophisticated. And this this fact that they
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have a king also is extra validation that they are not
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locusts, real locusts. You know why?
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Because in Proverbs 30, verse 27, Proverbs 3027 says locusts
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have no king. It's a very interesting
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observation. In the book of Proverbs.
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There's a spiritual lesson behind that.
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But these locusts, they have a king.
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And John says he has a name. And for some reason John wants
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to give us the name in Hebrew and in Greek.
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And I'll tell you this, it's not so that John can show us that he
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knows multiple languages. Both of these names in their
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meaning, represent destruction, represent devastation.
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But why Hebrew and Greek? To show that the influence of
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this demonic being, this Prince of demons, affects the whole
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world, Jew and Gentile. His impact is global.
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There's nothing outside of his reach in terms of his venom and
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his plans and his deception and his destruction.
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So you read this in isolation and you step back and you think,
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this is, this is horrible. What chance does humanity have
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against these forces? What can you do to resist them?
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How can this earth, how can the people of God even fight against
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these invisible beings that are so obviously destructive and
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powerful? And though they are clearly so
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able to wipe out humanity in an instant, they can only go so
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far. And what we just heard and
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learned earlier, that's the point.
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Again, if you just chop off 7 down to verse 11 and put it
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somewhere, you would think this is who we're up against.
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But you have to read what we read earlier.
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This is something for you and I to understand, and I'll tell you
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why in a moment. But look at what they can't do.
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Come back to verse 4. They were told not to harm the
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grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree.
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So they could not go so far in their attempt to damage
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anything. They could not kill anybody,
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though they were able to kill. They can only harm, and they
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couldn't touch a single plant, a single tree, a single blade of
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grass. Let me talk about specific
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authority, but not just what they could unleash in terms of
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their power, but the duration of it.
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You can go one second beyond five months.
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And my favorite, these demonic beings, though they they drool
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at the thought of being able to devour those who are creating
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God's image, could only harm those who did not have the seal
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of God on their foreheads. The people of God were
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untouchable and this is something again for you and I to
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reflect on because there is a growing fascination with a
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demonic and Christendom today. There are entire ministries that
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are being built on the mistaken idea that genuine born again,
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spirit filled Christians are in need of deliverance from demons
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possessing them. In order for that kind of a
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message to become convincing, these kind of teachers will over
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and over again highlight and focus on the extent of the power
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of demonic beings, so much so that they entertain very strange
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concepts of behavioral patterns that have to be associated with
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these demonic influences. Do you, do you arrive late all
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the time for work or for church? There's got to be a demon.
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Are you sleep all the time? It's probably the demon.
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Are you impatient? It's a demon.
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Demon. Every, everything's a demon.
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Everything's a demon. And why is that presented?
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Because it calls for everybody to need deliverance, then it
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brings in business, it brings in followers, it brings in
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supporters. And no doubt we should never in
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arrogance minimize what these creatures are able to do.
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Even Michael the Archangel would not directly rebuke Satan.
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He called the Lord to rebuke him.
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So there has to be a level of respect in that sense.
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But I want to present to you the focus of the Christian that
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although these are again, very mighty creatures, they are not
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mightier than God. They are not.
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They can't even take a step without his permission.
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They can't choose their weaponry.
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They can't go as long as they want to.
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They can't even use one of their hideous fingers or their teeth
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to cut the grass. They're restricted.
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They're held back because there's a sovereign force
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greater than these beings. In fact, if all of hell came
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against one soul hidden in Christ, they would not succeed.
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If Abaddon, a Napoleon himself, towered above the weakest and
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feeblest of all Christians, though filled with the Holy
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Spirit, he would not be able to do anything.
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Do you understand what we have in Christ?
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Do you understand the, the, the, the package of our salvation
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includes that if we are sealed, yes, this is a specific seal for
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a specific group of people in a specific amount of time in a
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specific period of time, but it's no different for us seal of
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the Holy Spirit. So add on top of this the the,
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the teaching of being delivered by demons to the concept of
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Christians being cursed by demons, that there's people
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there casting curses and casting spells.
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Where do you get the idea that a Christian filled with the Holy
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Spirit can be cursed? Where do you get the idea that
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an innocent believer who went to some vacation and grabbed some
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souvenirs from a foreign land brought it and you just invited
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devils to take over your house? Is it that easy?
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Is our salvation that week? Is our walk with Christ in the
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Spirit so vulnerable? I was reading the Psalms the
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other day. I'm going through psalms in my
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personal reading. I stumbled upon a verse I want
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to share with you. Listen to this in Psalm one O 9
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verse 28. Psalm one O 9, verse 28.
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David says let them curse, but you will bless.
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Let them curse but you will bless.
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Is that what you believe? Are you not in a greater
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covenant than that of Moses and the Israelites who did not know
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that there was someone and a whole group of people really
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hoping and planning to curse them as they traverse through
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the wilderness? They didn't even know what was
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happening, and God turned every curse into a blessing.
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Is it any less under the blood of Jesus Christ?
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Demons are real. Their power is real.
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There is real possession. There is real oppression.
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There is a real need for people to actually be delivered from
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demons. But if you're in Christ, you are
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untouchable. You are untouchable.
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It's true in the tribulation period, it's true today.
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And be careful who you listen to people's personal stories.
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Do not trump over scripture. Be careful of that.
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Satan is a deceiver and I'm unfortunately seeing many
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people, especially the younger generation, gobbling up this
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teaching for many reasons. But I find this in my Bible that
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you can have the worst of the worst demons unleashed upon the
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earth, and those who are sealed by God will not be harmed.
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That's your inheritance too, because God is sovereign over
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demons. Lastly, God as you know, is
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sovereign over death. Come with me here.
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In verse 5, we read the word torment appearing 3 times, like
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the torment they're inflicting upon the masses is so intense
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that look what the masses will choose to do, at least attempt
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to do in verse 6. And in those days, people will
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seek death and will not find it. They will long to die, but death
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will flee from them. So this will be so overwhelming
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that that most people, if not all of them, who have been
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struck by these demons, will attempt suicide, will try to
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kill themselves, would in in relief try to kill one another.
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And there's going to be a strange phenomenon during these
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five months. No matter what you do, nobody's
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able to die. It's really a miracle.
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And it's going to only confirm further that the source of the
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suffering in these five months is supernatural.
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This is something strange. Now, as you look at this, you
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might be wondering, why would God allow this?
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And one might say, well, it's because God doesn't want to give
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them an easy escape. He doesn't want to offer them
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immediate relief. I don't think that's God's heart
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behind it because this pursuit of death, would that lead to
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actual relief? No, only to greater torment,
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because Jesus said if you die in your sins, you will perish.
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So this this was for five months.
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But there is an eternal torment for the wicked.
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And if these people had access to the cessation of their life
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at will, then you're talking about most of the world plunging
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themselves into hell in a matter of months.
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Do you know what I see here? Hopefully you agree with me.
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I see grace. That's what I see.
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God withheld death. He closed that door.
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It was not accessible. But why?
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Because this population had already seen so many things, had
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received so many warnings, had perceived and experienced so
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many disasters, and evidently they have not yet called upon
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the Lord. They're not sealed by Him.
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And so the Lord now takes it to another level.
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He actually has a woe attached to this trumpet blast in order
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for this people to wake up. Some people get saved through
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preachers and there are other people who get saved through
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pain and that is God's intention here, that they would finally
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realize this is not normal, this is not humane.
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The fact that this is plaguing the globe, the fact that we're
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trying to die and we can't die. This has to be God.
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God forgive me, I repent, I call upon you, rescue me.
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There's an interesting passage in Job that confirms what I am
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conveying to you in Job 38. And this is where I'm ending
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verse Job 33. Rather verse 14.
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It says for God speaks in one way and in two, though man does
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not perceive it. For God speaks in one way and in
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two, though man does not perceive it.
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And what are the ways that he speaks to man, though man does
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not immediately understand that it's God trying to get their
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attention. Well, here's one of them.
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Look at verse 19 of Job 33. Man is also rebuked with pain on
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his bed and with continual strife in his bones, so that his
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life loathes bread and his appetite.
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The choice is food. His flesh is so wasted away that
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it cannot be seen, and his bones that were not seen stick out.
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His soul draws near to the pit, and his life to those who bring
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death. For what purpose?
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Verse 29 Behold, God does all these things twice, three times
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with a man to bring back his soul from the pit, that he may
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be lighted with the light of life.
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There are some people who are lying in hospital beds today
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because God is speaking to them. There are people who have had
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life altering accidents because God is speaking to them.
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You might be sitting here today and you receive the diagnosis.
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You don't know God. Could it be that He's speaking
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to you? I'm not saying every sickness is
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a message from God. I'm just saying it's a
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possibility. And one of the reasons why the
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Lord allows us is because God understands something you and I
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often forget. These bodies are temporary.
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This life is short. There is something coming more
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real than whatever you know here.
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Eternity. Eternity.
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And God, in His mercy, though you may even have cursed them
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because of the pain in your life, knows that that pain is
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temporary and it's worth experiencing it if you call upon
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Him to be saved. God speaks in many ways.
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He doesn't just speak through sermons.
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This is His primary way, His word.
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But there are other means that He gets man's attention,
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especially those who are extra stubborn.
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What you find with the 5th trumpet is a generation that are
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extremely stiff necked. And So what does God do in His
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sovereignty? Well, He's sovereign over the
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underworld and He's sovereign over the demons, and He's
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sovereign over death. And He unlocks it and He lets
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them loose and He allows them to torment people for five months
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for the sole purpose of them crying out for salvation and be
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kept for eternity. That's what's happening here.
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And here's the point I want to end with.
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If God can postpone death, as we saw for the purpose of a wicked
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people to have a chance to repent, what does that power
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mean for those who already belonged to Him?
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I want to speak to the believer and say remember the truth of
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this verse. When you are fearful dads,
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husbands of leaving your wife or children behind prematurely.
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Cling to this promise and God's sovereignty over death.
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When you receive the phone call that you dreaded your whole life
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and a doctor gives you that report and it confirmed what you
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feared. If you are regularly haunted by
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the possibility of accidents, or maybe you you get threats from
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unstable people, and we're seeing that more and more
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happening here. You want to talk about more
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manifestations of demonic activity?
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It's happening in our culture, is it not?
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Don't lose sight of God's sovereignty.
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Your King and mine not only has the key to the abyss.
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Back in Revelation One, we learned that He has the key to
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death. And in his perfect wisdom and in
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his wonderful grace, God considers every factor of your
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life and mine. He knows just the right time and
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the right means to open that door called death and to say,
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son, daughter, it's time to walk through.
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That's the hope that we have. The same one that has the power
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to withhold death from the wicked.
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He knows when to suspend it from your life, and He knows when
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it's time for you to walk in and through it.
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So what do you have to fear? Our God is sovereign over
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everything. Our God is sovereign over the
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underworld, the abyss, the demons who are there, the demons
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that will be released, and even death itself has to submit to
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God's will. And you and I get to live in
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that reality every single day. Why?
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Because of what Jesus Christ has done for us, that's why.
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One more reason to celebrate this bread and this cup.
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We have such a great salvation because of Him.
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Lord, we thank You for this time.
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We are spellbound by Your sovereignty and we choose to
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pause as we are ready to feast on these elements.
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What a redemption we have. What a salvation we have.
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What promises are these? Thank you for the seal of the
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Holy Spirit. Thank you that we are immortal
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until you say so. Thank you that we are stronger
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and more resilient because of Christ our Savior.
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Thank you in a very unpredictable world where it
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seems like demons are more loosened than at any time that
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we can remember before. We are safe in Christ.
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Our children are safe in Christ, our homes, our finances, our
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bodies. Our ministries, they're safe in
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Christ. We give you all thanks now as we
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meditate on these things in Jesus name, Amen and Amen.