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I’m going to invite you this morning to Revelation chapter nine is where we’re going to be together. Revelation chapter nine. And I want you to know, when you read Revelation chapter nine, this is where the weirdo people become even weirder, right? This is a I find as a pastor, um, every week I get letters from people that are just some crazy people saying crazy things, and they tend to be people that focus on chapters like this chapter. I feel like if I could just find out the source of where these people are coming from, I could save trees in the United States because of the amount of letters I get mailed to me. Every Tuesday morning usually starts off the same where, um, Amanda, our office administrator, will walk into my office and hand me our new sets of letters for the week of of people that are writing about some just some wild things relating to what they say is the gospel or the Lord or something, and some making some predictions about the future. Revelation chapter nine is one of those chapters. I think sometimes that catapults that kind of people In the agendas that they want to push. And I don’t think it’s necessarily a biblical thing that they’re doing, but but they think it is. Right. And but Revelation chapter nine is considered what many will consider as one of the more challenging chapters in all of Revelation.
And today we’re going to we’re going to deal with spiritual warfare. And when we talk about this chapter, there’s a few ways you can approach spiritual warfare. And certainly at this particular juncture, when we read chapter nine, I want you to know, I believe this chapter is talking about a future judgment where spiritual warfare is certainly heightened. Right. And so that that is that is critical to know to this. But but some people will extrapolate and get so fixated on spiritual ideas that you would think that when you would read the Bible that every chapter of the Bible surely is going to contain something about some sort of exorcism or, you know, something along those lines. It just becomes the this little rabbit hole they go down and they just get stuck on, and they think that that’s all that the the Bible really speaks about, right? The spiritual battles were exorcism like. Emily Rose in Hollywood. All of those things you see R-rated movies and scary things about. It’s all coming from Revelation. Like, they extrapolate that this is this is what the Bible is, right? And and it goes down a path that is unhealthy and not good. But but on the same token, when we talk about spiritual warfare, it’s real. And we need to have a healthy understanding in light of it. What is it God desires for us to know about this for our own lives? Right.
And so, by way of reminder, when you come to the book of Revelation, if you remember Revelation chapter one, verse 19 gave us two frameworks of thinking how to break, break down this book. In verse 19, John says he’s writing to us about what is and what is to come. And in the first three chapters, we dealt primarily with what was or what is in John’s day. And starting in chapter four, we shift to what is to come. And we’re now diving into chapter nine. And as we get to this chapter, if you remember chapter chapter six, God brings about what’s called the seal judgments. God is going to deliver the first of of a series of three judgments the seal judgments, the trumpet judgments, and the bowl judgments. And when God delivers his first set of bowl judgments, when you get to the fifth bowl judgment, God’s people ask a question in Revelation six, verse ten. Lord, how long? How long until you avenge our death and bring your judgment right? And God says in verse 11 to to rest a little while longer. God’s encouragement for them is to is to rest. And then God executes the remainder, moves into his other judgments. And in chapter seven, as God gets ready to bring his other judgments, he tells us that he is his plan to bring those judgments or to to wait until he redeems all of his people.
And that’s what chapter seven is. God is redeeming all of his people, and in chapter eight he delivers those judgments. Right? And we looked at that in the deliverance of the trumpet judgments. Right. The seven trumpet judgments, we’ve moved from the seal judgments into the trumpet judgments. And in those first four trumpet judgments we read about in chapter eight. We see it’s against really all of creation land, sea, rivers. God’s judgment is being made known. But now when you get into chapter nine, the last three trumpets deal more specifically with humanity or as as Revelation refers to to those on earth. It refers to them as earth dwellers or inhabitants of the earth. And and it’s distinguishing between chapter eight. Verse 13 is really where that phrase gets begin, begins to be used when it talks about those earth dwellers. It’s making a distinction, distinction between those that live for the kingdom of this world and those that live for the kingdom of God or the Kingdom of God. People were the ones that were sealed in chapter seven. Kingdom of the world is those that are earth dwellers. The the demise is coming because God is bringing his judgment against this earth. And when you get into chapter nine, this is where the story starts to talk about the the judgments described and the releasing of of demonic forces or the intensity of these demonic forces that that first torment and then ultimately lead to death.
And this chapter is a very sobering chapter because it helps us really pull back the curtain of of evil what’s driving evil in this world and the evil that’s taking place. And so chapter nine is really as we live our our in this physical world, we’re oftentimes ignorant or just blind to the spiritual implications of the things happening, happening around us. But chapter nine is pulling back the curtain to understand what’s orchestrating a lot of the spiritual activity that’s taking place. And it’s represented between one of two kingdoms, the kingdom of Satan or the kingdom of God. And so today we’re going to talk about the idea of spiritual warfare and being mindful of it. And I’m just going to walk us through this text and helping us understand, you know, how we apply this to our lives. So as you look at this again in Revelation nine, I think it’s talking about the intensity of demonic activity in the future. But but there are certainly some implications of which we can relate to in our lives today. Because point number one in your notes is this spiritual forces are always at work. Spiritual forces are always at work, whether the Kingdom of God or the kingdom of Satan. Spiritual forces are always at work and this has always been true. You don’t all of a sudden get into spiritual warfare, right? Like some people like to think about the spiritual realm that way, and I don’t I don’t know that it always leads to healthy categorization in thinking of spiritual battles that way, where you kind of live your life and all of a sudden things seem hard.
And then we start to categorize things under spiritual warfare, right? It may be true. There are times in your life where things feel more intense than others, and you can perceive it through circumstances around you. But but the fact of the matter remains you’re you’re always in spiritual battle. There’s always spiritual implications to what we’re doing in this physical world. And so that that’s always true. It’s it’s never all of a sudden you just cross a line. Now you’re in spiritual warfare. Right. It’s it’s it’s true for us now. As as in any moment moving forward. Now, some people looking at this might think, think to themselves, well, I don’t really believe in all that demon devil stuff. Right. And, and I would just say to you, well, unfortunate for you, that’s exactly what Satan wants, right? Um, the Satan certainly wants to lull you to sleep to the impact that he can have in your life, because if he just shows up and says, guess what, everybody. Satan’s here. Look at my horns. You know, that’s here’s Mattel. You know you’re going to look at that and be like, not today Satan. I’m not going to listen to that.
Right. Like if he shows up that way then of course you would ignore that. Or at least I would say I think most people would. There are probably a few out there that would be like this. He’s my hero. But, but, but most of us, if he showed up that way, would would certainly deny that or ignore that. That’s not the way he he likes to operate. And so spiritual forces are always at work. And the way that we deal with it is important. And one of the ways that I would say, if you just want to get a tertiary understanding of how to deal with spiritual forces, is to look at the New Testament epistles. Right. You got 21 epistles in the New Testament. These epistles are letters written to the church, which is really anything after the book of acts. Right. And you got Romans onto the book of Jude, which is right before you get to the book of Revelation. So anything from the book of acts before you get to Revelation, those 21 letters written to the church, it’s prescribing the church how to live for God’s glory in light of this world. Right? What does it look like to live the gospel in our lives? And that’s that’s the that’s the epistles, the 21 letters. Right. But the way some people talk about spiritual life, you would think that in each of those letters you would find and and when you get to a demon, here’s how you perform exorcism, right? Like that.
People get that, that meticulous and particular about it. And but here’s what you when you read the 21 epistles, you find that there’s not a prescription for an exorcism. And the reason for that is the way that God, God wants you to deal with the spiritual world is is different than just thinking your life is going to be full of full of, you know, performing exorcisms. That’s for Hollywood, right? But but rather, what God wants you to understand is there is a way to defeat the forces of evil in your life. That sounds very Star Wars y for a minute, but there are ways. There are ways to grab Ahold of the force for the good, okay? And there are ways to deny the work of what Satan wants to do in your life. And it’s not about fighting Satan as much as it is diving deeper in your relationship with Jesus. Like, I want you to know more than anything today when we talk about doing spiritual battle, my goal for you is not about moving away from Satan, I hope. I hope that that does happen. But but my primary goal for all of us is to walk deeper in Jesus. And in so doing, here’s what you find in Scripture. That is exactly the prescription of doing spiritual battle.
In fact, in James chapter four verse six, if I just verse four or excuse me, James chapter four, verse seven, if I, if I just give you a few verses to consider as we get ready to read Revelation, look what James says. He says, submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. And what James is saying is not two different thoughts. He’s sharing one thought, and he’s sharing two sides of the same coin here. And what James is saying, if I just said it another way, resist the devil in your life. And if you were to ask the question, well, how do I resist the devil? The answer is this submit yourselves therefore to God. And what James is acknowledging is there’s really two kingdoms for which you could live for, but you can only belong to one. And the question is, what kingdom do you want to belong to? The kingdom of God or the kingdom of Satan? And the kingdom of Satan is represented in this fallen Babylonian world. Its demise has already recorded for us in the Book of Revelation. And so he’s saying, if you want to do true spiritual battle in your life, this. This is what it looks like. You move away from Satan. But the primary goal isn’t so much about moving away from Satan, but rather moving closer to Jesus, walking deeper in relationship with Jesus because those two kingdoms are automatically diametrically opposed to one another.
And so by moving closer to Christ and walking deep in your relationship with him, you’re distancing yourself from the work of Satan in your life. In fact, Peter says it like this be sober minded. Be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him. Stand firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. So Peter is saying, look, we’re all going to go through challenges, and I don’t want you to be ignorant to the fact that there’s spiritual implications here. He’s saying, be sober minded or just don’t take this for granted. There’s there’s spiritual battle in this world. That’s true. But but the way you defeat this is not being fixated on Satan, right? Be watchful. And he tells you Satan’s intentions for your life. He wants to ravage you. He he wants to destroy you. But the way that you defeat him, he says, resist him. And here it is. Same coin, two different sides. And here’s how you do it. Firm in your faith, knowing that the same kind of suffering is being experienced around the world. This is this is not isolated to you and this is the way Satan likes to work in our lives, is he wants to make us feel like we’re the only one to isolate us.
That’s exactly the way a lion hunts, isn’t it? He finds a group to prey upon, and he looks for the weakest one among among the group. And that’s the one he goes after. And so this is what Peter is saying. Look, don’t feel like you’re the only one. We live in a in a sinful world that’s got adversity. But the way that you resist the devil is not by performing some kind of exorcism or focusing on the devil, but rather walking deeper in, in Jesus. And so with that, spiritual forces are always at work. And let me just dive a little deeper, deeper, or begin at least in Revelation. So you can see how this how this unfolds. Revelation chapter nine, verse one. And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fallen from the heavens to earth. And he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. I feel like this is somewhat describing a teenager’s room sometimes, but. And it says in verse two, and he opened the shaft of the bottomless pit. Been there. And from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft. So here’s what he’s saying is now we’re talking about what takes place from the kingdom of darkness. And when he’s describing this, I want you to note he’s he’s talking about Satan.
And more specifically, you’re going to see this in verse seven or excuse me, verse 11. He refers in verse 11 to Satan as the destroyer, which he’s given a Hebrew name and a Greek name for that. But Satan is the Apollyon or Abaddon. This, this, this destroyer who’s coming to to wreak havoc. And and when he’s when he’s describing him to us, notice he talks about this star that has fallen. Right? It’s not saying to you, this star is falling, but rather this star has already fallen. So, so the the work of Satan now is, is about to to to grow exponentially in this judgment. But but he’s he’s putting for, for us in our minds this idea of two kingdoms, the kingdom of God. We’ve already seen Revelation chapter seven. God redeemed his people that He branded them. They belonged to him, right? God tells them in chapter six, verse 11, his desire for them. They they want God to avenge their death in verse ten of chapter six. And Jesus says to him, verse 11, but rest. Rest. Don’t let this weigh on your shoulders. Let it weigh on mine. Write his kingdom for his people. And then there’s now Satan’s kingdom being represented through through this one. So spiritual forces are always at work. So let me give you point number two. Then spiritual warfare makes an internal impact. Spiritual warfare makes an internal impact.
And maybe we should reword it this way. Spiritual warfare begins by first making an internal impact. And when you think about the way that Satan affects our lives, this this is where his battleground begins. He is not one that shows up, like I said, with with pitchfork and horns and saying, Satan’s here, right? That’s not that’s not his M.O. for operation, but but the but the way that that Satan arrives into our lives, his his intentions are very clear. First Peter chapter five A lion to destroy John. Chapter ten, verse ten. The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy. But Jesus says, I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. His intentions are very clear, but his approach is very subtle. When Satan shows up into our life, it says in Second Corinthians chapter 11, it gives us this, this description of of the way he likes to work and move in the hearts of people. It says this in verse 11. Paul writes and he says, but I am afraid that as the serpent who is Satan deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, Or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.
When when Paul thinks about the way that Satan works, he’s not running into her life saying kill, steal, and destroy. That is certainly his intentions, but the way that he works in her life is to pervert truth, because Satan knows if he can get you to buy into a lie, he can destroy your life because what you believe you will ultimately live and you can believe it as sincerely as you want. The sincerity of your belief doesn’t make the belief healthy or good, right? And so if Satan can corrupt what you believe. Satan knows he can destroy your life. And Paul is thinking about this in regards to the first example in Scripture of someone that bought into a lie, which was Eve. And then he relates it to her own life, saying, I mean, someone can teach you a different Jesus, a different gospel, And you can be led by a different spirit that’s not of the Lord. And those lies are what can ultimately destroy us. And he goes on further and he says it like this. He says, verse 13, for such men are false prophets, deceitful workmen, distinguishing themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So saying Satan wants to put on that perception for you as if he’s he’s there for positive feelings. That’s what an angel of light is.
Feel good because I’m here. That’s what Satan wants, right? And and he tells you the way he works is through false teachers. And he’s describing those false teachers. And so he says verse 15. So it is no surprise if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. So when you think in terms of what does it look like in my life to do spiritual warfare, to truly defeat the enemy that wants to destroy my soul? It’s not about exorcism. It’s not even so much about fixating on Satan himself to make him the focal point. I mean, when you read about doing spiritual warfare in Scripture, it’s about focusing on your relationship with the Lord and diving deeper into him. As it’s saying in this passage, who is the true Jesus? Not not some Jesus that someone just wants to make up to make themselves feel better. Not some Jesus, some religious teacher who just wants to to tell you about to stroke their own ego. What does the Bible say about the about who Jesus really is? It’s the truth of Christ. In fact, one of the most powerful passages, I think, in dealing with spiritual warfare. We’ll look at a couple here, but Ephesians chapter six. Ephesians chapter six tells you to put on the armor of God, right? If you if you read that section at the end of Ephesians six verse ten, it says, be strong in the Lord, right in verse 11, and fight against the schemes of the devil.
And how do you do that? Verse 12. Put on the armor of God. It says, we don’t wrestle with physical things in this world, but spiritual forces of darkness. We put on the armor of God. What is the armor of God? And he communicates it to us. It’s the gospel declared in the Word of God. That’s why he says, put on the the belt of truth and the breastplate of righteousness, and shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel and the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, which is the Word of God. What he’s saying is, all of those things that you put on are really your identity in Jesus. You don’t wear your own righteousness. It’s Christ’s righteousness that’s your breastplate, that shield of faith. It’s it’s a trust. And you’re putting in what Christ has accomplished for you. That sword of the spirit, that is the Word of God. And you want to defeat the enemy. It’s not about focusing on the enemy. It’s about diving deeper in your relationship with Christ because it’s Jesus who sets you free. Spiritual forces are always at work. Spiritual warfare makes an eternal internal impact and the story moves on in Revelation nine verse three. Then from the smoke after the angel had fallen, from the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given power like the power of the scorpions of the earth, and they were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads.
They were allowed to torment them for five months, but not to kill them. And their torment was like the torment of a scorpion. When? When it stings someone. And in those days, people will seek death and will not find it, and they will long to die, but death will flee from them. And so he’s certainly identifying in this the the torment that’s that’s happening in their soul as they’re they’re wrestling and battling this, this spiritual battle. But I want you to know, when you when you read this section of scripture, um, these, these particular locusts that are discussed in this section, I don’t think are real locusts, meaning I do think they’re spiritual, spiritually real. But physically, I don’t think you’re going to see this running around in the world. Right? And the reason I say that is because of the way these these locusts are described, right? There is nowhere in the the animal kingdom or insect kingdom where you’re going to find locusts with scorpion tails. Right. And you’re going to read as you go a little bit further. There’s, there’s there’s more figurative language used for these locusts. So these aren’t physically real locusts, but the the spiritual implications and the spiritual reality is important.
And this is this is what John is pulling back. He wants us to see here that that these individuals are going to be tormented spiritually. I told you this a few more reasons why I don’t think they’re the real locusts. You see that they’re told, verse four that they shouldn’t eat any green plants. I mean, the first thing locusts eat, or certainly the vegetation of life and locusts aren’t about attacking people. But here in this story, this is what’s happening. They’re tormenting people and it tells you for five months, which is about the lifespan of a locust. Whatever is happening here is going to be temporal to to some degree. But but nonetheless, individuals are are facing this, this inner turmoil because of what these locusts are delivering. And then it helps us understand who these individuals are, right? It tells you that they’re they’re allowed to to to torment those who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. Right. Verse verse five is saying that they need to be the individuals that don’t have the seal of God on their foreheads, which we’ve already learned about what this represents, right? Chapter seven. When Jesus talked about redeeming his people, he said he would seal them on their foreheads, right? There was a mark in which they would receive because they would belong to the Lord.
And I told you when we were reading chapter seven that I don’t think that this is a literal brand, that you’re going to get some kind of tattoo on your forehead that says you belong to Jesus, but rather it’s drawing on an illustration that the Hebrew people would be familiar with, which is the Jewish Phylacteries. And Jewish people would often bind God’s Word as Scripture on their the wrists and on their foreheads. And it was an indicator of of God who controlled their life. They belonged to him that the Word of God was resting on their mind, and therefore lived out in this world the way they conducted themselves. And so it was an indication when they wore those phylacteries of who they truly belonged to. And when it’s talking about this branding on their foreheads, it’s saying it’s referring to God’s people and belonging to him. And so this judgment that’s happening is, is not happening for against God’s people. Because in this particular instance, God’s people already belong to him, and the Spirit of God already indwells them. You’re possessed, and it’s not by the devil. It’s by God’s Spirit. And God’s Spirit is is in you. And so he’s saying this, this judgment is, is coming against those that are opposed to God’s kingdom and rather living for, for, for Satan’s kingdom. And, and therefore they’re going to be tormented. Now, again, when it comes to facing this kind of of torment, Satan doesn’t show up and say, hey, I’m Satan, right? It’s it’s you buy into a lie and I’m buying into the lie.
It destroys your soul. And and they’re finding this torment happening to them. And then in verse seven, it goes on a little bit further. And I’m going to just skim through this fairly quickly. But in verse seven it goes on and starts to describe for us again what these locusts appearance of these locusts are like horses prepared for battle. And on their heads were what looked like crowns of gold, and their faces were like human faces, and their hair like women’s hair, and their teeth like lion’s teeth. And you can see this is very figurative, like there’s not a locust like this, but but it’s drawing from illustrations in society just wanting you to be overwhelmed by the destruction and the depravity and the despair that these demons want to bring on the earth. They want to wreak Havoc, right? And most think that when in Revelation nine, when it’s describing this human appearance, that what John’s actually doing is drawing on an image of the Parthians and the Parthians at this point in history, had attacked Rome several times and had been successful in defeating them in battle over and over again. And the way that they looked when they went into battle. Some think this is what John is describing, and he’s using this to illustrate the type of havoc that the demonic forces want to bring into the lives of, of, of these people.
But more than anything, for us, this becomes an illustration contrasting the difference between what Satan desires to do to people in his kingdom and and what Jesus desires to do with people in his kingdom. And remember Revelation chapter six, verse 11. Jesus said to us, rest a little while longer until he he avenges or brings his judgment on the earth. You read in chapter six, verse ten, God’s people, they’re a little bit worked up, maybe anxious in the soul, and they’re asking God, God, when are you going to deliver your judgment? They’re worried about this. And Jesus, rather than just say, right now, you know, he turns and just judges. He says, what’s more important is for you to rest. You’re with me. That’s where you belong. Rest. And in saying that, what Jesus is saying, let me, let me, let me care for this. Let let not this be your burden to bear, but rather mine. So this is indicative of Jesus’s kingdom. You see it holistically and especially in Revelation chapter 21, as God’s kingdom is made known. But God’s God’s kingdom is a place of shalom, a place of peace, a place of rest. Satan’s kingdom is one of destruction, even for those that belong to him. Satan’s desire is to destroy their soul.
Spiritual warfare makes an an internal impact. Let me give you the next point. Spiritual warfare then makes an external impact. Spiritual warfare makes an external impact. Now, I don’t want to say to you this morning everything that bad that happens to you, you need to to chalk up to a demonic attack. Right. That would be a terrible thing. Um, you know, we live in a fallen world. And so every time something bad happens, you don’t just need to turn around and say it’s called Satan. It’s called Satan. Right? Like Satan’s coming for me. You know, it’s you live in a fallen world. And because of that, sin impacts us. All right? And there are times in our lives where chemically or physically, our body just might need some treatment. And medically we may need to pursue doctors for that. Right. And so I don’t want to overspiritualize everything to where, you know, we need to say this morning something bad’s happened to you. There’s demons and Satan coming against you. And if we just pray those away, then. Then that’s going to take care of everything. Uh. That’s dangerous. We don’t need to do that. But but we do need to recognize there is a spiritual component to everything we do in this world. Because what you believe you will ultimately obey. And no matter what we go through in life, there’s a way to determine what kind of kingdom we’re going to live for in that circumstance.
And so point number three, spiritual warfare makes an external impact. You see in verse 12 he goes on and says this. The first woe is past. Right. So he dealt with the First Army. That was a spiritual army. And I think now as you get ready to deal with this next, this next trumpet, it turns more to the external, the physical in this world, it says the first woe is past. Behold, two woes are still to come. The sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar before God, saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet release the four angels who were bound at the great river Euphrates. Now this is very interesting for me. I think this is very important to recognize as you read through Revelation Relation that the way Satan’s kingdom works and the way God’s kingdom works. There’s there’s a there’s a duplication here. One or more of a maybe I should use the word mimicking. Seems everything that God does, Satan tries to mimic to a degree, but denies the power that truly is of Christ. What I mean is you’ll read in Revelation about Christ, but then you also read in Revelation about the Antichrist. You’ll you’ll read in Revelation about the Trinity, but then you’ll also read in Revelation about the false Trinity. You’ll read in Revelation like we’re reading now about four angels.
And if you remember, around Jesus’s throne there were four angels. But here serving Satan, you find again these four angels. It says in this passage they were bound and then released. The reason we know that these these angels are not nice angels that we typically think about. But but more demons is because nowhere in Scripture do you find good angels bound, only demonic forces being bound. And here they are being released. And when these four angels are released, it tells us that they’re coming from the river Euphrates. Now some people again take an interpretation of Revelation that I think can often be dangerous, which is they try to make everything literal, or some people try to pick and choose what they make literal and what they make figurative. And some people will come to this section where they’ll say, okay, these demonic angels coming from the great River Euphrates, building up this army, and they’ll look for people groups north of the Euphrates to figure out who the Antichrist is going to use or who Satan’s going to use to do his bidding. And they’ll be like, it’s that people group, right? And I don’t think that that’s that’s what God’s intentions are by calling Euphrates here. I don’t think that that is a good thing to do. But but but rather here’s, here’s what I think God is saying. He’s using the idea of Euphrates to conjure up more imagery, because for the Jewish people, anytime a group came across the Euphrates, it was to wage war against Israel.
And Israel oftentimes found themselves defeated in battle and taken away into captivity. This is where Nineveh was. This is where Babylon was. This is where Assyria was. And this is where the the Parthians come from. So every time someone’s coming across that river, it brings tragic consequence to the people on the other side. And so when this river Euphrates is talked about, it’s again conjure up the image to the the power of these forces and the destruction it wants to bring to our lives. And so it goes on further from there and talking about these angels. Verse verse 15, it says, so the four angels who had had had been prepared for the hour. The day, the month, the year were released to to kill a third of mankind. And this is another one of those verses where I say, I believe Revelation nine is still talking about a future event, though there’s certainly spiritual implications to our life right now. In fact, that God is so particular about history and knowing the beginning from the end. He knows the very hour date, time this is going to happen. And so So these four angels had prepared for this to bring about this, this moment. Verse 16. The number of mounted troops was twice, 10,000 times 10,000.
I heard their number. And this is how I saw the horses in my vision. And those who rode them, they wore breastplates, the color of fire and of sapphire and of sulphur. And the heads of horses were like lion’s heads. And fire and smoke and sulfur came out of their mouths. When, when John is describing this force again, it’s the idea of an overwhelming army. In fact, there is no army in all of history that’s the size of this army. If you if you do the math of what John’s saying here twice, 10,000 times 10,000, this is an army of 200 million people. This would be an army that’s a mile wide and 85 miles deep. And John’s not, I would say for us John’s not trying to say, look, count every head. Right. But rather he’s saying this is an overwhelming amount of people to even wrap your head around. This is a large battle that the enemy is waging, so it’s not something to take lightly. It’s like when Paul says in first Peter chapter five verse eight, be sober minded. Don’t lull to sleep from what the enemy wants to do to you. This is a significant battle of destruction. And if you find yourself on the other side of this, that the war is being waged against you, you just feel utterly defeated right now. Let me just give you some thoughts of encouragement that comes to the demonic forces, because God says, greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world.
And first John four four so I don’t want you to read this and be like, oh gosh, the church is horrible today. We’re so fearful. There’s 200 million demons coming at me like this. But but if you read in passages like first Kings or second Kings chapter 19, when Sennacherib, King Sennacherib comes against Hezekiah, King Hezekiah of Israel. It says that in the night that the battle, the night before the battle was to be waged, God sent an angel. And the angel destroyed 185,000 people from the from the army of Sennacherib. Right? One angel destroying 185,000. And there’s no indication in Second Kings 19, verse 35 that the angel was like. And I was tired, right? It seems like if there were more people, the angel would have been enough to take care of all of that. But what’s interesting is when you look at a passage like that and you turn to somewhere like Matthew 26. If you read Matthew 26, that’s when Jesus is in the Garden of Gethsemane. And remember, when the soldiers come to take Jesus away to crucify him. Peter pulls out a sword and whacks off somebody’s ear like like Peter’s. Peter’s going to have to rescue Jesus. Jesus really needs Peter. Like like Jesus can’t do it himself. And Jesus was like, what are you doing, Peter? Put that away.
Right. He heals the guy’s ear. He’s like, if I if I wanted to, I could call to the father, and the father would bring 12 legions of angels to rescue me. A legion of angels is about 6000 angels. If you multiply that, that would be about 72,000 angels. Jesus is saying he could call down at any time. If one angel can destroy a minimum of 185,000 and you’ve got 72,000 angels, that’s the number of over 13 billion, right? So as great as an overwhelming as this looks, I want you to know greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world. Right. But but what’s important in recognizing this look at this passage is, is to, to for our, our minds to be awakened to the impact that Satan wants to have in this world. And in fact, you know, here in America, I think our demons were often asleep to the destruction that’s happening in our country. And sometimes when you get out of your own country, you it’s easier to see it sometimes in other parts of the world than it is in your own. Because our demons, we just get comfortable with here. The dark things of the world that. That war against our soul. But. But you look in this passage, it helps open our eyes to to the reality of what’s happening around us.
And but let me give you a point. Number four. So I can draw some conclusions for all of us. Spiritual warfare wants to have an external impact, for sure. But number four, Jesus is our victory. Jesus is our victory. You would think after reading all of this and seeing you know that what Satan desires to do, that the people that are being attacked here and involved in this would want to cry out for help. They would want to seek a different solution and a different kingdom. Right? This is not working out living for Satan’s kingdom. But what’s interesting, when you read the end of this, it says, um, verse 20, the rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues did not repent of the works of their hands, INS, nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk. Nor did they repent of their murders, or their sorceries, or their sexual immoralities, or their thefts. This is tragic, right? The thing, the very things that are destroying their souls, they still cling on to. They’re still finding their purpose, their identity. They’re living for these things. And and you know, this this passage is letting you know, you know, when these terrible things are happening, God’s desire heart for people is that they would still turn to him, that they would repent, that they would belong to a different king and a different kingdom.
But but rather than do that, it’s like these individuals are are doubling down. And, you know, we look at this and we think, how silly, Right? How silly would you. Would you go through something like this and still then choose to hold on to those very things that destroy your soul? You would still choose to listen to the message of the enemy that’s bringing about destruction, buying into lies, rather than embracing the truth of Christ. But can we just be honest in order to relate this chapter to us today, knowing that this is a this is a future event that’s described, even though this is a future event. God’s people still do the same thing. We buy into the lies of the enemy. We start to walk in that rather than the truth of what God says. And it wreaks havoc on our souls. And can I just give you just a few ways? There’s there’s several ways I could talk about this, but can I just give you a few that when I, when I see it as a pastor, it’s, it’s tragic for me to watch people walk through. I’d say some of those battles that I see happen reside in guilt, shame and hurt. Guilt, shame and hurt. And what I mean by that is sometimes we’ve done bad things in our life. We’ve sinned against God, or even we fall as believers and and rather than walk in the identity that we have in Jesus and the freedom that only he can bring, we like to to walk in the guilt or not.
Maybe not like it, but we’ll step into the guilt and the shame of what we’ve done. And can I tell you, that is nothing more than a mark of the enemy. I mean, Revelation chapter 12, verse ten calls Satan the accuser of the brethren, which means what he likes to do is to stir up your past, to accuse you of things that you’ve done so that you don’t walk in the present reality of your relationship with God right now. What Satan likes to do is to make you think that Jesus isn’t sufficient for your life, so that you wear the sinfulness of your past, rather than to step in the moment that you have in the freedom of Jesus today. And so we’ll carry that burden, that sin, that shame, And not not understand that what Jesus has done is more than enough for me. And because of that, it wreaks havoc on our life. The other thing that will will step in other than guilt and shame is is hurt. And what I mean by that is we’ll let the hurt of things that we go through sideline us from truly living for the Lord. And sometimes as a pastor, I’ll see people go through difficult things.
And because I care, you know, I ask the question, man, how are they going to get up from that? But then I’ll look at what Jesus has done for us. And then my question becomes, why wouldn’t we get up from that? And what God has done in our lives is far more beautiful, far more important than let the the pain of what can happen in this world dictate how I choose to live from this point forward. And it’s okay to acknowledge hurt and sometimes hurt takes time to heal from. I’m not saying those things aren’t important, but what Jesus has done for you is far more important than to let the pain and struggle of the past to to change or alter the direction in which Jesus has called you to in him. Don’t let the past have that kind of control over you. Don’t let people who have hurt you have that kind of control over you. What Jesus desires to do in you and through you from this point forward, is far more important than what anything or any circumstance has done in your life. And so there’s this need in our life to to be able to step into the power of the presence of God, made known in our life to live for his glory, that that is what true spiritual warfare is about. In fact, if I just gave you this this concluding verse to think about, like how, how if we ask the question, how do I defeat Satan in my life? Right? It’s not it’s not about finding a verse in the Bible that talks about exorcism, right? But rather understanding what it means to to turn away from Satan and walk in the freedom of Jesus.
And in second Corinthians chapter ten, verse three, it says this. For though we walk in the flesh, knowing a physical world. We’re not waging war according to the flesh. Meaning, there are certainly spiritual implications of everything that’s happening in this physical world. But my battle is not with people. My battle is to understand that Satan grabs Ahold of the heart of people, but there’s something deeper taking place there. Sometimes we can get so worked up emotionally that we start attacking people rather than understand the true battle that God wants us to wage in this world. And so verse four, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds. So what it’s saying is, more than anything, what Satan wants to create in your life are these strongholds of lies. And when you can call out those strongholds for what they are and you put God’s truth in it, rather than listening to, to, to, to the lie that deceives and hurts us, then you find true freedom. Which is why he says in verse five, we destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.
So what Paul is saying, if you want to defeat Satan in your life, it’s not about getting up and just fighting Satan, but honestly, it’s about walking deeper in your relationship with Jesus, drawing closer to him. There’s certainly in a spiritual world, there’s physical implications that happen from that. But the way that we we battle is a relationship with Christ. Which leads me to this, and I’ll close that. Um, nothing reminds me more of darkness, I think, than what happened in Nazi Germany and in World War Two and before that. But when you read about World War Two, there’s a an individual named Adolf Eichmann who’s pictured there on the far left. He was responsible for for creating the plan that would orchestrate the transportation of all the individuals that would be led to the Holocaust, most specifically the Jewish people. Adolf Eichmann was the man that facilitated all all of that, working together logistically to get people to concentration camps, death camps, to kill them. And in the 1960s, he was finally caught and put on trial by the Jewish people, Israel. And one of the individuals that that testified against him, its individuals there in the in the middle picture and there again on the on the side this this individual his name is Yehiel De-nur. And he had dinner after he testified, he walked off from the stand and he immediately passed out.
Years later, Mike Wallace did an interview with him on 60 minutes, and he asked him, what led you to pass out? What was it? Was the moment too overwhelming? Was it was it just built up too much at the evil in the room? I mean, what what was it that led you to, to, to pass out? And he said none of those things. None of those things actually led me to pass out. But he said this to Mike Wallace. He said, no, none of those things. But rather all at once I realized Eichmann was not not the God like army officer who had sent so many to their deaths. This Eichmann was an ordinary man. I was afraid about myself, said Diener. I saw that I am capable to do this. I am exactly like he. What Donner was acknowledging is all of us have a spiritual battle within us, and buying into the lie of the enemy is what destroys us. But in order to win that victory, it’s not about focusing on the enemy, but rather focusing on the victor. Who is Jesus? The truth of His Word is the power to overcome. The deeper I dive into the relationship with Jesus, the stronger I am against the spiritual forces in this world. It’s not about focusing on the demonic, but rather focusing on your relationship with the Lord.