{"id":18976,"date":"2019-02-17T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-02-17T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/revelation-028-the-reality-of-demons\/"},"modified":"2022-01-12T17:16:05","modified_gmt":"2022-01-12T23:16:05","slug":"revelation-028-the-reality-of-demons","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/revelation-028-the-reality-of-demons\/","title":{"rendered":"Revelation 028 &#8211; The Reality of Demons"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[111],"series_event":[490],"sermon_service_type":[472],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18976","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-revelation","series_event-revelation","sermon_service_type-main-service","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Revelation 028 - The Reality of Demons","sermon_date":"20190217","sermon_month":"2","sermon_year":"2019","sermon_notes":19989,"sermon_slides":19990,"sermon_mp3":19991,"sermon_id":"21719135058687","series_or_event":490,"service_type":[472],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":111,"chapter_and_verse":"9:1-12","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\n\nThe Reality of Demons\u00a0\u00a0 2-17-19\n\nRevelation 9:1-12\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lesson 28\n\nI\u2019m trying to mix Hebrew with Texan and so that\u2019s what I came up with, but the way they say good morning in Israel is \u201cBoker Tov\u201d so \u201cBoker is \u201cTov\u201d is good, so let\u2019s give it a shot.\u00a0 Boker Tov!\u00a0 All right, praise God.\n\nLet\u2019s find our way to Revelation 9, I was hoping I could be teaching a more seeker friendly passage on my time back but that\u2019s where we find ourselves, Revelation 9.\u00a0 And I\u2019ll give you more details on the trip in subsequent teachings, right now my mind is still on Middle Eastern time, I should be sound asleep right now.\u00a0 It\u2019s kind of a scary thing when the preacher is asleep but we\u2019ll do our best.\u00a0 We had a wonderful two week experience in the land of Israel.\u00a0 There\u2019s really nothing like walking where Jesus walked.\u00a0 We went to a place called the Southern Steps in the temple area and it\u2019s indisputable that Jesus walked on those steps and so we just had a great time.\u00a0 We got back yesterday.\u00a0 The first order of business was to go to Dairy Queen because we had been eating <em>shawarma<\/em> and <em>falalfel<\/em> for two straight weeks, which by the way are very good.\u00a0 But we needed a little Americana going through our veins, blood stream, so praise the Lord for Dairy Queen.\u00a0 Amen!\n\nThe Book of Revelation, chapter 9, taking a look this morning at verses 1-12.\u00a0 David Hocking, the other teacher on the trip, who sponsored the trip, wanted to know what I was teaching on Sunday morning and I told him Revelation 9 and he said aha, demons huh, and so that\u2019s what we\u2019re talking about today, the reality of demons.\u00a0 The title of our message is <em>The Reality of Demons<\/em>.\u00a0 Do you believe in demons?\u00a0 Do you believe in the existence of Satan?\u00a0 It\u2019s interesting, the Bible really doesn\u2019t give a lot of wriggle room, it just tells us they\u2019re there and they exist.\u00a0 And we see a manifestation of them here in chapter 9.\n\nOf course I want to thank Gabe and Jim and Tommy Ice, did you all enjoy Tommy Ice?\u00a0 Yeah, when you see Tommy preach you say to yourself God definitely threw the mold away when He made Tommy Ice, because he can function as a theologian and a standup comic simultaneously.\u00a0 But I very much appreciate Tommy, I know you enjoyed his ministry.\u00a0 But of course I want to thank Gabe, Jim, Tommy, everybody else that filled in so well while I was gone.\n\nWe\u2019re in a section of the Book of Revelation, chapter 9, where the trumpet blasts are being sounded just as Christ began to open a seven sealed scroll in chapter 6, and every time a seal was broken another judgment came to the earth, the same is happening with these trumpet blasts.\u00a0 I believe that both of these events take place in the first half of the tribulation period.\u00a0 And I\u2019ll be showing you more why I think that as we progress through the Book of Revelation.\u00a0 But the primary reason is because when you get to chapters 11, 12 and 13, those chapters all revolve around the rebuilt Jewish temple.\u00a0 In fact, I had the privilege of going and standing, we had the privilege of going and standing on the Temple Mount where that third temple will exist one day.\n\nWe had the privilege of going into a place called The Temple Institute while we were in Jerusalem.\u00a0 They wouldn\u2019t let us take photographs there but it\u2019s very clear that they believe in plans, they have the plans laid out, archeologically they have the priest\u2019s robes prepared, they\u2019re preparing a special animal that will be offered in the rebuilt temple for animal sacrifices.\u00a0 It\u2019s very clear that the Jews have in remind to rebuild that third temple, and we know prophetically that temple will be function\u00ading midway through the tribulation period.\u00a0 That\u2019s the temple that the antichrist will desecrate.\u00a0 And because the temple involves the middle of the tribulation period and because chapters 11, 12 and 13 revolve around that temple in the middle of the tribulation period and because the events in the Book of Revelation are primary chronological I\u2019m placing the seal judgments, chapter 6, and the trumpet judgments, chapters 8 and 9, in the first half of the tribulation period.\u00a0 More on that as we progress.\n\nBut we\u2019ve worked our way through, you might recall, a couple of weeks ago chapter 8.\u00a0 Chapter 8, verses 1-6 was the opening of the seventh seal which involved silence in heaven for half an hour.\u00a0 A lot of us prophecy teachers, we disagree with each other on certain things, and so I like to say well, the reason there\u2019s silence in heaven for half an hour is that\u2019s when we\u2019re all readjusting our prophecy charts because I don\u2019t think anybody has a complete understanding of when these things will happen with the exact precision.\u00a0 We can make pretty good guesses.\n\nBut chapter 8, verse 1-6 is silence in heaven for half an hour. It\u2019s sort of a foreboding silence because that seventh seal unleashes a horrific wave of judgment, called the trumpet judgments.\u00a0 Angels proceed out of heaven each holding a trumpet and as they each sound their trumpets in consecutive order another judgment comes to the earth.\u00a0 So with trumpet one a third of the earth\u2019s vegetation was destroyed.\u00a0 Trumpet number two, a third of the ocean was destroyed.\u00a0 Trumpet number three, a third of the earth\u2019s fresh water supply was destroyed.\u00a0 Trumpet number four a third of the luminaries, the sun and the moon and the stars which the Lord brought into existence in the fourth creation day, those are darkened.\n\nAnd this morning we find ourselves dealing with trumpet number five, the release of what I believe is a demonic hoard upon the earth.\u00a0 So we\u2019re going to be looking at this morning chapter 9, verses 1-12.\u00a0 So here\u2019s the outline we\u2019re looking at.\n\n-------------------------------------------------- \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a05<sup>th<\/sup> Trumpet (Rev. 9:1-12)\n<ul>\n \t<li>Discharging angel (9:1)<\/li>\n \t<li>Angel opens the abyss (9:2)<\/li>\n \t<li>Demons emerge from the abyss (9:3)<\/li>\n \t<li>Demonic activity (9:4-6)<\/li>\n \t<li>Demonic description (9:7-10)<\/li>\n \t<li>Demonic leader (9:11)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nRemaining trumpets (9:12) \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0-----------------------------------------------------\n\nNotice, if you will, chapter 9 and verse 1, the discharging angel.\u00a0 Revelation 9:1 says, \u201cThen the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth; and the key of the bottomless pit was given to him.\u201d Notice this expression, \u201cthe fifth angel.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s very clear as you move through the Book of Revelation that these events are chronological.\u00a0 Now as we talked about at the end of chapter 6 there are five times where the chronology pauses and we\u2019ve had one of those pauses in chapter 7 and I\u2019ll be showing you where there\u2019s a pause in the chronology as we progress through the Book.\u00a0 This happens about five times.\u00a0 But other than that the events are meant to be understood in chronological order.\u00a0 That\u2019s why it keeps saying first, second, third, fourth, etc.\u00a0 Just as the creation days are meant to be understood as ordinary days in chronological order, day one, day two, day three, day four, etc. the same is true with these judgments in the Book of Revelation.\n\nIt says there in chapter 9, verse 1, \u201cThen the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star\u201d not it\u2019s interest\u00ading to me that angels in the Bible are typically analogized to stars.\u00a0 Back in Job 38:7, speaking of the \u201csons of God\u201d or angels it says, \u201cWhen the morning stars sang together And all the sons of God\u201d that\u2019s the angels, \u201cshouted for joy?\u201d It\u2019s interesting that Lucifer himself, who fell with a third of the angels and became Satan, he is initially referred to as a star.\u00a0 Isaiah 14:12 says, \u201cHow you have fallen from heaven, <u>O star<\/u> of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, You who have weakened the nations!\u201d\u00a0 In fact, the name \u201cLucifer\u201d itself means light-bearer or star.\n\nRevelation 12:4 says this: \u201cAnd his\u201d that\u2019s Satan, \u201ctail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 Verse 9 of Revelation 12 interprets these stars as \u201chis angels,\u201d in other words, Satan\u2019s angels.\u00a0 [Revelation 12:9, \u201cAnd the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.\u201d]\u00a0 So many times in the Scripture when you see the word \u201cstar\u201d it\u2019s referring to an angel.\n\nAs up jump down to verse 2 you see the personal pronoun \u201cHe,\u201d the masculine personal pronoun \u201che\u201d in reference to the star.\u00a0 So a star is not normally described as a \u201che\u201d unless that star represents an actual personage and in this case the star is an angel.\u00a0 This would be the discharging angel who is responsible for releasing other angels, in this case demons who are in a place called the abyss.\n\nYou\u2019ll notice also in verse 1 it says, \u201cThen the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth and the key to the bottomless pit was given to him.\u201d\u00a0 He\u2019s given a key, this angel, to a place that in the Greek reads the abyss, or the bottomless pit; a key is of course something that you\u00a0 use to open something.\u00a0 So he\u2019s given permission to open something that is containing something horrific which is about to come upon the earth in this fifth trumpet judgment.\n\nNotice if you will chapter 9 verse 2 where this angel actually opens up this abyss.\u00a0 Notice what it says there.\u00a0 \u201cHe opened the bottomless pit, and smoke went up out of the pit,\u201d translated \u201cabyss,\u201d and smoke went up out of the pit \u201clike the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit,\u201d or the smoke preceding out of the pit.\n\nWhat is this place called the abyss, translated bottomless pit?\u00a0 The only other time you see it referenced in the Book of Revelation is in Revelation 20:1 and verse 3.\u00a0 It\u2019s the place where Satan himself is going to be put once the millennial kingdom begins. When Jesus, or\u00a0 Yeshua returns to the earth He will start his thousand year kingdom at the end of the tribulation period and His first order of business is to dethrone Satan who has been running the world, and happy (I might say) running the world ever since the fall of man in Eden.\u00a0 And the Lord will take this entity, Satan, an angel, and He will put him into a place called the abyss, translated here \u201cthe bottomless pit.\u201d\u00a0 And that will be his location throughout the millennial kingdom.\n\nRevelation 20:1 says, \u201cThen I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand.\u201d\u00a0 Verse 3, \u201cand he\u201d that\u2019s Christ, \u201cthrew\u201d as Christ is working through this good angel, \u201cthrew him into the abyss, and shut <em>it<\/em> and sealed <em>it<\/em> over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time.\u201d\n\nWhy doesn\u2019t the Lord just take Satan and throw him into the Lake of Fire at the end of the tribulation period?\u00a0 Answer: He has one more purpose for Satan to fulfill; that will take place at the end of the thousand year kingdom.\u00a0 I hope you don\u2019t have a mindset related to Satan that he is somehow all powerful.\u00a0 I think a lot of people get their theology from the movie Rocky, where you\u2019ve got two price fighters relatively equally matched, put into the ring and you\u2019re sort of sitting on the edge of\u00a0 your seat because you don\u2019t know who\u2019s going to pull this off, is it going to be Apollo Creed or is going to be Rocky Balboa?\u00a0 A lot of people look at God versus Satan in that way; they\u2019re equally matched they think in their minds and we\u2019re not really sure what\u2019s going to really happen, who\u2019s going to win.\u00a0 The fact of the matter is this is no contest.\u00a0 Satan, Ezekiel 28:13 and verse 15 is a created being.\n\n[Ezekiel 28:13, 15, \u201cYou were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The ruby, the topaz and the diamond; the beryl, the onyx and the jasper; the lapis lazuli, the turquoise and the emerald; and the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets, was in you.\u00a0 On the day that you were created they were prepared.\u00a0 [14] \u201cYou were the anointed cherub who covers, and I placed you <em>there. <\/em>You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked in the midst of the stones of fire.\u00a0 [15] \u201cYou were blameless in your ways from the day you were created until unrighteousness was found in you.\u201d]\n\nIt says of Satan, \u201cOn the day that you were created.\u201d\u00a0 And immediately when you see that Satan is created\u00a0 you know that he\u2019s on the losing side of history because what power can a created being have against God who is omniscient, all knowing, omnipotent, all powerful, omnipresent, everywhere at the same time?\u00a0 The only reason Satan is even kept around is to somehow serve the purposes of God.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why these demons are in this place called \u201cthe bottomless pit\u201d or \u201cthe abyss,\u201d they\u2019ve been kept there, as I\u2019ll explain, since the days of Noah because God has a purpose for them.\u00a0 The purpose for them is to be released and to torment men for five months as part of this sixth trumpet judgment.\n\nSo where is this place called the abyss, this place where Satan will be thrown into one day at the beginning of the millennial kingdom?\u00a0 Where is this abyss that these terrible creatures arise from?\u00a0 I believe the abyss is called a prison, it\u2019s described that way in Revelation 20:7.\u00a0 [Revelation 20:7, \u201cWhen the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison,\u201d]\u00a0 \u00a0When the thousand years are completed Satan will be released from his prison.\u00a0 I believe it is a temporary holding place of incarceration for some demons and it will be Satan\u2019s location once the kingdom of God begins for a thousand years.\u00a0 So when you see this reference to the abyss, the bottomless pit, think of it as a temporary holding place for some fallen angels.\n\nSo one angel is given a key to unlock this abyss and what begins to come out of this abyss according to verse 2 is smoke begins to rise to the point where the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit.\u00a0 Revelation 9:2,\u00a0 \u201cHe opened the bottomless pit, and smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit.\u201d]\u00a0 Something is coming out of this pit and that\u2019s sort of a foreshadowing, if you will, a foreboding if you will, of something horrific that is about to come out of this abyss.\u00a0 The smoke itself is sort of a type, if you will, a prefigurement if you will, of something horrific that is about to be released and unleashed on planet earth.\n\nNotice if you will chapter 9 and verse 3 where we see entities that I believe are demons emerging from this abyss.\u00a0 Verse 3, \u201cThen out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth, and power was given them, as the scorpions of the earth have power.\u201d\u00a0 So one of the questions people ask is are these literal locusts that seem to be coming out here.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think these are actual physical literal locusts and the reason I think that is because John, in Revelation 9:1-12 uses the language \u201clike\u201d or \u201cas\u201d in a concentrated way more than\u00a0 you find anywhere else in the Bible.\u00a0 \u201cLike\u201d or \u201cas\u201d is what kind of figure of speech?\u00a0 It\u2019s called a simile, comparing two things with the expression \u201clike\u201d or \u201cas.\u201d\u00a0 John does this over and over and over and over again just in these twelve verses.\u00a0 To him they looked like locusts because he really couldn\u2019t fully identify what they were so he keeps saying they \u201clike\u201d or they were \u201cas\u201d something.\n\nIn fact, when you go through the Book of Revelation John does this quite frequently.\u00a0 He describes something and he uses the word \u201clike\u201d or \u201cas\u201d because John is given a very difficult task on the island of Patmos in A.D. 95.\u00a0 He is simply told to see a vision and write down what he sees.\u00a0 And you can see John sort of struggling to describe what it is he\u2019s actually seeing in the vision so he begins to analogize it to things from his own time period that he would recognize.\u00a0 So these entities coming out of this abyss, this bottomless pit, to John looked LIKE or AS locusts.\u00a0 And the fact of that they are coming out of the abyss, which is the same place Satan will be incarcerated to in the thousand year kingdom.\u00a0 And since the abyss is sort of a temporary holding facility, if you will, for demons I don\u2019t think these are literal locusts at all!\u00a0 (A) they come out of the abyss where fallen angels come out of, and (B) John never says they\u2019re locusts, he keeps saying they are \u201clike\u201d locusts.\u00a0 They\u2019re \u201cas locusts\u201d and he keeps using this simile.\u00a0 So I believe these locusts coming forth are what we would call demons.\n\nNow it\u2019s a very interesting thing when you get into the subject of angelology and demonology and Satanology which is an issue, a subject I\u2019m going to try to tackle in Sunday School a little bit down the road, once we complete our study of ecclesiology.\u00a0 Ecclesiology is the study of the church; angelology which would include demons and Satan is the study of what the Bible reveals about the invisible world that\u2019s all around us called the angelic realm.\u00a0 It is interesting that when you study your Bible, particularly the New Testament, and you study the fallen angels that are arrayed against us what you discover is some of these fallen angels are evidently free and can attack us at will.\u00a0 Ephesians 6:12 tells us that we are in a wrestling match today as we speak with such demons.\u00a0\u00a0 Ephesians 6:12 says, \u201cFor our struggle is not against\u201d what? \u201cflesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s very interesting to note that demons by and large are free.\u00a0 They\u2019re free to attack us under Satan\u2019s authority at will.\n\nBut as you continue to study the New Testament what you learn is there\u2019s a subset of demons that are not free but they are in a place of incarceration or imprisonment.\u00a0 The three references to this are 1 Peter 3:19-20, 2 Peter 2:4-5, and the Book of Jude, verses 6-7.\u00a0 Just one of those references if I can read it to you, [1 Peter 3:19-20, it says \u201cin which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits\u201d angels in other words, \u201c<em>now<\/em> in prison, [20] who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of\u201d who? \u201cNoah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through <em>the<\/em> water.\u201d\n\n[2 Peter 2:4-5, \u201cFor if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; [5] and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly;\u201d \u00a0Jude 6-7, \u201cAnd angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day, [7] just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.\u201d]\n\nWhen you study 1 Peter 3:19-20, 2 Peter 2:4-5, Jude verses 6 and 7, what\u00a0 you learn very rapidly is yes, most of the demons today are free but not all of them.\u00a0 Some are in a place of imprisonment, some are in a place of incarceration, and it\u2019s interesting that that place of incarceration is always connected to the days of who?\u00a0 The days of Noah.\u00a0 So apparently something really bad happened during the days of Noah for God to take not all of the demons but some of the demons and put them into a prison somewhere. And the only real explanation you have as to why this is a reality is the Book of Genesis, chapter 6 verses 1-4 which is one of those hotly debated passages of Scripture.\n\nIt says this: \u201cNow it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, [2] that the sons of God\u201d now the Hebrew expression for \u201csons of God\u201d is <em>bene Elohim<\/em>, and it is used other than in Genesis 6 about three other times in the Bible and it always refers to angels, without exception.\u00a0 In fact, what is the oldest book of the Bible?\u00a0 The Book of Job.\u00a0 In Job 1:6, Job 2:7 and Job 38:7, which I just read not long ago, <em>bene Elohim<\/em> always refers to angels, in this case fallen angels.\n\nIt says, \u00a0[Genesis 6:1] \u201cNow it came about, when men began to multiply on the face of the land, and daughters were born to them, [2] that the sons of God that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose.\u00a0 [3] Then the LORD said, \u2018My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 Verse 4, \u201cThe Nephilim\u201d now Nephilim is a noun, a plural noun, in verbal form it\u2019s called nephal, [can't understand word]\u00a0\u00a0 Nephilim literally means the fallen one.\u00a0 \u201cThe Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God\u201d <em>bene Elohim<\/em>, angels, \u201ccame in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.\u201d\n\nNow in angelology, I\u2019ll go into more details as to why I think this is so, but let me sort of give you the Readers Digest version if I can.\u00a0 In fact, when I taught at the local College of Biblical Studies for seven years, I taught angelogy every semester and every semester I would give a three hour lecture on Genesis 6:1-4. And it\u2019s one of the few lectures I can remember giving consistently where the students were wide awake for it because this is always an interest.\u00a0 I mean, what in the world is going on here with these sons of God and daughters of men in Genesis 6:1-4?\u00a0 The Readers Digest version is simply this: Satan, under his authority commanded that some of the demons, which had already fallen by the way, Revelation 12:3-4 and 7-8 tells us that when Satan fell originally he deceived a third of the angels into falling with him.\n\n[Revelation 12:3-4, Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems.\u00a0 [4] And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child.\u201d\u00a0 [7] And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war,\u00a0 [8] and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven.\u201d]\n\nThose fallen angels, we call them demons, which always sort of makes me feel good because although a third fell that means how many are on our side?\u00a0 According to my old math we\u2019ve got two-thirds on our side.\u00a0 So let\u2019s not get too afraid of the realm of the demonic but at the same time let\u2019s recognize the reality of demons that we are in conflict with.\n\nA third of them fell with Satan and Satan said this in Genesis 6, some of you, not all of you, some of\u00a0 you I want\u00a0 you to begin to procreate with human women, and I want you to create a race of people that aren\u2019t fully human.\u00a0 And those hybrid creatures are called there in Genesis 6:4 the Nephilim because Satan was trying to lock the human race into a permanent state of fallenness.\n\nWhy would Satan do that?\u00a0 Because Satan understands Bible prophecy.\u00a0 Satan is not like your typical theologian today that ignores Bible prophecy or maybe doesn\u2019t even believe in Bible prophecy.\u00a0 Believe me, he knows Bible prophecy very well and in his darkened mind he thinks he can stop the prophecies of the Bible from taking place, which he has an interest in because he was there, in fact, these words were spoken to him in Eden in Genesis 3:15.\u00a0 God said, \u201cAnd I will put enmity between you and the woman,\u201d \u201cthe woman\u201d being who?\u00a0 Eve.\u00a0 \u201c\u2026and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.\u201d And what was happening is right at the dawn of post fall history Satan was put on notice that \u201cthere\u2019s coming one from the seed of the woman\u2026\u201d (now who would this be?\u00a0 We would call Him Jesus, the Hebrews would call Him Yeshua) \u00a0but \u201c\u2026there\u2019s coming one from the seed of the woman who will take your head and\u201d do what with it?\u00a0 \u201ccrush it.\u201d\n\nNow Satan in the prophecy, we call it the proto evangelium, first Messianic prophecy in the whole Bible, you\u2019re going to be able to inflict some damage along the way, you\u2019re going to be able to bruise His heel, but in the end He will take your head and He will crush it.\u00a0 Having your head crushed is total defeat!\u00a0 If you had a choice would you rather have your head crushed or your heel bruised?\u00a0 I guess I\u2019d take the heel because the heel is temporal damage; the crushing of the head is permanent damage.\u00a0 And Satan was there, in fact, these words were spoken to him and he was put on notice that a Messiah was going to come and defeat him.\u00a0 Now the rest of Scripture is sort of an unpacking, if you will, of that prophecy.\u00a0 Genesis 3:15.\u00a0 In fact in that prophecy you have in microcosm form basically every event spoken of in Scripture.\n\nSatan, in his wisdom it has now become darkened, Ezekiel 28 talks about that, his mind doesn\u2019t work right. He\u2019s not rational.\u00a0 And why is that?\u00a0 Because \u201cthe fear of the Lord is the beginning of\u201d what? knowledge and wisdom.\u00a0 [Proverbs 9:10, \u201c The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.\u201d]\u00a0 If someone doesn\u2019t fear the Lord their mind starts to not work correctly.\u00a0 This happens with fallen angelic beings; it also happens with fallen human beings.\u00a0 Read Romans 1 and\u00a0 you\u2019ll see it very clearly, how people become darkened in their understanding when they refuse to submit to God.\u00a0 The brilliant minds, the brilliant intellect that God has given to Satan is not functioning correctly because he is not in submission go God and he thinks he can stop God\u2019s prophecies from happening.\u00a0 That obviously is not rational thought because how do you fight God?\u00a0 That\u2019s an impossibility.\n\nSo he works in history to prevent this Messiah from being born.\u00a0 And all the way through the Old Testament you can see this as the Messianic line, in many cases, is close to extermination or elimination yet somehow God always shows up in the nick of time to rescue the Messianic line.\u00a0 And what is happening in Genesis 6:1-4 is Satan is taking not all but some of his demons to procreate with human women so then the hybrid race will be created called the Nephilim, a race that is not fully human but the genetics of the race have been so tampered with that the race is partly human, partly angel.\u00a0 And this is why they are called the Nephilim.\n\nAnd what better way to prevent the birth of the Messiah who must come forth from the seed of the woman.\u00a0 The woman is Eve, the Messiah must not just be fully God but fully man.\u00a0 What better way to stop that from happening than to create a race of people that aren\u2019t fully human.\u00a0 To create a race of people that aren\u2019t fully human they could never begat or be the lineage to the Messiah, who must have full deity and must have full humanity.\u00a0 And you see, this is why Genesis 6:9 says that Noah was innocent and blameless in his days and in his generation.\u00a0 [Genesis 6:9, \u201cThese are <em>the records of<\/em> the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God.\u201d]\u00a0 And many people take that statement as well, Noah must have been a pretty good guy.\u00a0 No, he was not a pretty good guy, he was a sinner like the rest of us because the Bible says, Genesis 6:8, \u201cNoah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0How do you find grace if you\u2019re already morally perfect?\u00a0 Noah was not morally perfect, Noah got himself drunk,\u00a0 you\u2019ll remember, in the post flood world.\n\nSo when it says Noah was blameless and innocent in his generation what it\u2019s saying is his genetics had not been tampered with the way Satan was tampering with the genetics of the human race to prevent the birth of the Messiah.\u00a0 In other words, Noah was not one of the Nephilim.\u00a0 In fact, in Genesis 6:9 it says Noah was innocent and blameless and in that second word you\u2019ll find it used in Exodus 12:5 in Hebrew to describe the genetic purity of the Passover lamb.\u00a0 [Exodus 12:5, \u201c'Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats.\u201d]\n\nSo Satan was doing what he had to do to prevent the birth of the Messiah but he never got to Noah.\u00a0 He never got to Noah\u2019s wife, he never got to Noah\u2019s children, Ham, Shem and Japheth, he never got to their respective wives, and that\u2019s why they are preserved in the ark, because they are probably the only people left that are genetically qualified to bring forth the Messiah.\n\nAnd the\u00a0 Book of Jude,\u00a0 verses 6 and 7, says that when the angels did this and began to procreate with human women God was not pleased at all.\u00a0 It says, \u201cAnd angels who did not keep their domain but abandoned their proper mode He kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day,\u00a0 [7] just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.\u201d\n\nBecause these fallen angels, some of them, left their natural abode and began to procreate with fallen women, and by the way, an angel has an ability to look like a person.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t believe that then you can\u2019t understand Hebrews 13:2 which says, some of you \u201chave entertained angels\u201d what? \u201cunaware.\u201d\u00a0 [Hebrews 13:2, \u201cBe not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.\u201d KJV]\u00a0 In fact, in Genesis 18 and Genesis 19 Abraham had two guests that he had a meal with and the text just tells you they are two guests until you get to Genesis 19:1 and you learn that they are angels.\u00a0 [Genesis 19:1, \u201cNow the two angels came to Sodom in the evening as Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground.\u201d]\n\nSo apparently what happened is a third of the demons fell with Lucifer originally and <u>some<\/u> of them, not all of them, some of them got involved in this terrible project in Genesis 6 to tamper with the genetics of the human race, create the Nephilim, thereby in Satan\u2019s darkened mind thinking he can prevent the birth of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 And God was so disturbed by this act of rebellion that He took those demons involved in this crime and He put them in immediate incarceration in this place called the abyss.\u00a0 And that, beloved, is really the only explanation you have as to why some demons are free, \u201cwe wrestle not against flesh and blood,\u201d and yet some demons are imprisoned.\u00a0 You can take the third that originally fell with Lucifer and you can divide them basically into half; I don\u2019t know if half is the exact estimate but just for purposes of argument let\u2019s pretend half.\u00a0 Half got involved in the Genesis 6 project, trying to prevent the birth of the Messiah by tampering with the genetics of the human race creating the Nephilim by procreating with human women.\u00a0 Half of the fallen angels did not do that.\u00a0 That\u2019s why some are free and some are in prison.\u00a0 The ones that are in prison were part of the Genesis 6 project; the demons that are free to harass us were not part of the Genesis 6 project.\u00a0 And that\u2019s sort of my explanation as to what is happening.\n\nNow, there are many, many people that will laugh at this explanation; I\u2019ve had many, many criticisms of me personally because I hold this view.\u00a0 In fact, when I was at Dallas Seminary I was in Denny\u2019s with a professor and with two of his teaching assistants, and I was in a booth and one teaching assistant was here and one teaching assistant was here so I couldn\u2019t get out, and the professor was sitting across the table and somehow I made the mistake, which I should have never even divulged this, that I held to this view, and they sat there and hammered me with questions, I thought we were just going to go out for a hamburger and fries, they sat there and hammered me with questions, literally for two hours, why I would believe this.\u00a0 And finally I said well you all have been spending two hours criticizing my view of Genesis 6:1-4, you\u2019ve asked me probably, I don\u2019t know, fifty to seventy-five questions, can I ask you one question?\u00a0 They all said sure.\u00a0 I go, \u201cif this view is not true can you explain to me why some demons are free and some are in an incarcer\u00adation, because the New Testament clearly reveals that.\u00a0 And you know what their answer was, to a man?\u00a0 I don\u2019t know.\u00a0 And I said well, at least with my view, you may not like it, at least I have an answer, you don\u2019t even have an answer.\n\nAnd you see with Genesis 6 if you don\u2019t have the doctrine of angels in Genesis 6\u00a0 you really don\u2019t have a working explanation as to why some demons are imprisoned and some are free.\u00a0 So I pick the view with the least problems, that\u2019s what I do.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think there is a perfect view on this but I picked a view that has the least problems and best handles everything in the Bible, not just a passage or two.\n\nYou say well what does this all have to do with Revelation chapter 9, verse 3?\u00a0 [Revelation 9:3, \u201cthe LORD said, \u201cMy Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.\u201d]\u00a0 Because the demons involved in the Genesis 6 project are still in an incarceration.\u00a0 Why are they still in incarceration?\u00a0 The same reason why God is going to take Satan and put him in an incarceration in the same place at the beginning of the millennial kingdom.\u00a0 God still has one further purpose for Satan.\u00a0 God has one further purpose for these incarcerated demons to harass the human race.\u00a0 That\u2019s where these incarcerated demons came from; they were involved in the Genesis 6 project.\u00a0 They\u2019ve been in incarceration, I believe, in this place called the abyss, ever since the days of Noah.\u00a0 And God is going to let them out; He\u2019s going to give an angel a key, which is going to let them out of the bottomless pit so they can come forward and bring a great series of tortures upon the human race for a period of five months.\u00a0 They\u2019re being released at this point.\u00a0 And their activities begin to be described in verses 4-6.\n\nNotice, if you will, Revelation chapter 9 and verse 4, \u201c They were told not to hurt the grass of the earth,\u201d now why is that?\u00a0\u00a0 Because two-thirds of the grass on the earth is still intact because only one-third of it was destroyed with one of the earlier trumpet judgments, Revelation 8.\u00a0 \u201cThey were told not to hurt the grass of the earth nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.\u201d\u00a0 So this is a judgment that is coming upon unbelieving humans only.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t affect the grass or the trees, a third of them were already affected in the earlier trumpet judgments but this is only for humans and it\u2019s only for unsaved humans.\u00a0 We are told specifically that this stinging or this torture is only to occur with those who do not have the seal of God on their forehead.\n\nThe only people that have been sealed unto God up to this point in time in the chronology of the Book of Revelation are who?\u00a0 Anybody remember?\u00a0 The 144,000 Jewish evangelists, Revelation 7:3-4.\u00a0 [Revelation 7:3-4, \u201csaying, \u2018Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the bond-servants of our God on their foreheads.\u2019\u00a0 [4] And I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred and forty-four thousand sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:\u201d]\n\nThey were sealed or marked by the Holy Spirit; an invisible seal was placed on them.\u00a0 And so these demons incarcerated since the days of Noah are released from the abyss to torture humans only who do not have the mark for a period of about five months.\n\nIt\u2019s very similar to what you find in the Book of Ezekiel, chapter 9 and verse 6.\u00a0 Ezekiel describes a judgment happening in the days of Nebuchadnezzar, ancient Babylon, as Nebuchadnezzar was coming into destroy the temple and the city of Jerusalem.\u00a0 Ezekiel 9:6 says, \u201cUtterly slay old men, young men, maidens, little children, and women, but do not touch any man on whom is the mark; and you shall start from My sanctuary.\u2019\u201d So they started with the elders who were before the temple.\u201d]\n\nAs long as that protective mark was on them in Ezekiel\u2019s day and in the events of the Book of Revelation they are untouched by this judgment.\u00a0 And there\u2019s a real interesting application and parallel to us in the church age.\u00a0 The moment\u00a0 you place your personal faith in Jesus Christ you are sealed by the Holy Spirit, Ephesians 1:13, Ephesians 4:30.\u00a0 [Ephesians 1:13, \u201cIn Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation-- having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise.\u201d\u00a0 Ephesians 4:30, \u201cDo not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.\u201d]\n\nAnd as such absolutely nothing can come into your life without the divine permission of God.\u00a0 And that\u2019s why receiving Christ as personal Savior and being regenerated and receiving the seal of God upon you is such a big deal because once that happens Satan can do nothing to you unless God allows it.\u00a0 And we see a similar thing happening here in the Book of Revelation, chapter 9, verse 4 where this judgment is for humans only, unsaved only.\u00a0 The 144,000 apparently are protected from this.\n\nAnd how bad is this judgment?\u00a0 Verse 5, \u201cAnd they were not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment for five months; and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s like receiving a scorpion\u2019s sting when these demons have their way with you.\u00a0 And you\u2019ll notice that this only occurs for five months.\u00a0 And you\u2019ll also notice that the demons are not given authority to kill anybody.\u00a0 This, I think, speaks to the sovereignty of God; no matter how bad things get God is always still on the throne.\u00a0 Amen!\u00a0 God always still retains control.\u00a0 And you see the sovereignty of God here at work in the midst of this terrible judgment because it can only last for five months and it cannot result in anybody\u2019s death.\n\nIt reminds me of the Book of Job, chapter 1 and verse 12, and chapter 2 and verse 6 where God tells Satan you can have\u00a0 your way with Job but you can\u2019t kill him.\u00a0 [Job 1:12, \u201cThen the LORD said to Satan, \u2018Behold, all that he has is in your power, only do not put forth your hand on him.\u201d So Satan departed from the presence of the LORD.\u00a0 Job 2:6, \u201cSo the LORD said to Satan, \"Behold, he is in your power, only spare his life.\u201d\u2019]\u00a0\u00a0 In other words, even in the midst of a terrible time of difficulty for Job God was still on the throne.\n\nAnd that\u2019s something to understand because a lot of Christians today, a lot you, a lot of us, are walking through some very difficult times.\u00a0 All you\u2019ve got to do is read the prayer requests that come into this church and you can see it very clearly.\u00a0 There\u2019s a lot of suffering in this body; there\u2019s a lot of suffering amongst Christians worldwide.\u00a0 And that\u2019s where you need to have a belief in the sovereignty of God that God, for whatever reason, has allowed this into your life and the suffering is not designed to make you bitter, it\u2019s designed to make you better.\u00a0 You\u2019re going to learn things through this suffering but you have to understand that the suffering is kept by God under very tight reigns and on a very short leash.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what\u2019s happening here in Revelation chapter 9 and verse 4 and 5.\n\nNotice verse 6, \u201cAnd in those days\u201d what days?\u00a0 The events of the tribulation period.\u00a0 \u201cAnd in those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, and death flees from them.\u201d\u00a0 This is a very catastrophic judgment of the scorpion sting that is coming upon these human unbelievers; it\u2019s of such a caliber and intensity of pain that the natural desire is for people to want to commit suicide.\u00a0 And yet we were told earlier that they could not be killed under God\u2019s sovereignty, these humans.\u00a0 But think of a scenario where you\u2019re in so much pain that you want to kill yourself and yet suicide itself is not an option.\u00a0 In fact, committing suicide or damaging your body would probably only add to the pain and intensify the pain but it would not solve the pain.\u00a0 And that\u2019s the demonic activity that is taking place here in Revelation 9:4-6.\u00a0 I, for one, am very glad that I will be\u00a0 heaven, not on the earth, to see this horrific judgment take place.\n\nNow as you move down to verses 7-10 you have a description of these demons.\u00a0 And here\u2019s where I think a lot of interpreters in our camp, the futurist, pretribulational, premillennial camp have done us a disservice because they\u2019ve over sensationalized these verses.\u00a0 There are two extremes you have to monitor very carefully in the area of Bible prophecy.\u00a0 Number one, seeing too little, on the other hand, seeing too much, making the prophecy sort of fit a newspaper scenario to hyper sensationalize things.\u00a0 Allegorizing it away is horrific but equally horrific is hyper sensitization.\u00a0 Is that a word? Sensationalism, hyper sensationalism. But so many people teach, and I can name the names and if I name the names you\u2019d all know who I was talking about, but many people will teach that these are actually helicopters; many people teach that these sound a lot like cobra helicopters and they\u2019ll come up with these kinds of interpretations.\u00a0 The problem is John says they come out of the abyss, not out of the United States Air Force, out of the abyss.\u00a0 And when you study the abyss, as we have looked at, that\u2019s a temporary holding facility for fallen angelic beings.\n\nBeyond that John uses what kind of figure of speech over and over again?\u00a0 A simile, he keeps saying \u201clike,\u201d it\u2019s \u201cas,\u201d so a lot of people think they\u2019re following a literal interpretation when they argue that these are Cobra helicopters.\u00a0 Literal interpretation is not taking the events of the news\u00adpaper and reading it into the passage.\u00a0 That\u2019s not literal interpretation at all.\u00a0 Literal interpret\u00ad\u00adation is trying to figure out what the passage actually says.\n\nNow am I against looking at the signs of the times all around us, which show us that we\u2019re rapidly moving into this time period?\u00a0 I\u2019m not against that at all!\u00a0 What I\u2019m against is people not starting with the Bible first.\u00a0 We start with the Word of God through the literal, grammatical, historical consistently applied method of interpretation.\u00a0 Once that is established then you can kind of look at the world and see how the world is being shaped for this particular prophecy.\u00a0 But the problem is people start with the newspaper (we call that newspaper exegesis) and read it back into the Scripture.\n\nThese are clearly demons, they\u2019re not Cobra attack helicopters.\u00a0 But notice their appearance, verse 7.\u00a0 \u201cThe appearance of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle; and on their heads appeared to be crowns like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men.\u201d\u00a0 You see how John keeps say it was \u201clike\u201d?\u00a0 It was \u201cas\u201d, he talks about their appearance, he talks about their heads.\n\nVerse 8, notice what it says, \u201cThey had hair <u>like<\/u> the hair of women, and their teeth were <u>like<\/u> <em>the teeth<\/em> of lions.\u201d\u00a0 He\u2019s talking about first of all their appearance and then their heads, verse 7; verse 8, their hear and their teeth.\u00a0 Notice, if you will verse 9 as he continues to describe the appearance of these entities that have come forth out of the abyss to torture people for five months.\u00a0 Verse 9, \u201cThey had breastplates like breastplates of iron;\u201d and look a this, \u201cand the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots, of many horses rushing to battle.\u201d Breastplates, he even is describing the sound of these entities and how it sounds like multitudes of multitudes of multitudes of flapping wings.\n\nBut what tortures people is what\u2019s in the tail, just like a scorpion, verse 10, \u201cThey have tails like scorpions, and stings; and in their tails is their power to hurt men for five months.\u201d\u00a0 Now it talks about their tails, it talks about the sting that they inflict, just like a scorpion.\u00a0 Notice it doesn\u2019t say kill, it says \u201churt\u201d because God already put parameters on them, they can\u2019t kill anybody.\u00a0 And you\u2019ll notice that this is going to take place again for a specified duration of time, \u201cfive months,\u201d showing that God is in control of the judgment itself and the time period of the judgment.\u00a0 God always retains His sovereignty in the midst of these judgments.\u00a0 You say why not six months?\u00a0 Why not seven months?\u00a0 Why not a year?\u00a0 Why not a year and a half?\u00a0 I have a simple answer to that, it\u2019s called grace.\u00a0 God is graceful even to unregenerate humans that completely reject Him.\u00a0 He even demonstrates His grace to them in the midst of judgment itself.\n\nNow these demons, coming forth from the abyss, apparently have a leader and the leader of these demons is described in chapter 9 and verse 11, and notice what it says.\u00a0 \u201cThey have as king over them, the angel of the abyss; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek he has the name Apollyon.\u201d\u00a0 Why is he giving the Greek name and the Hebrew name?\u00a0 Well who is the original audience of the Book of Revelation?\u00a0 Remember, Revelation 2 and 3?\u00a0 The seven churches in Asia Minor.\u00a0 And that\u2019s a Greek speaking audience so when he uses the Hebrew name he\u2019s got to tell them that this is Hebrew because they may not understand that given the fact that they are Greek speaking.\n\nAnd I think here in verse 11 is more proof that these are not literal locusts; they are \u201clike locusts\u201d but they are not literal locusts.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because these entities that are \u201clike locusts\u201d have a king and they have a ruler over them.\u00a0 Now jot down the Book of Proverbs chapter 30, verse 27, it\u2019s very interesting.\u00a0 It says, \u201cThe locusts have no king, yet all of them go out in ranks.\u201d\u00a0 Proverbs 30:27 says locusts, literal, don\u2019t have a king or a ruler over them, yet these entities have a king or a ruler over them.\u00a0 So apparently they are not literal locusts but they are \u201clike locusts,\u201d they are fallen angelic beings.\n\nSo you\u2019ll notice that within the realm of the fallen demonic angelic kingdom there is a hierarchy.\u00a0 There is a ranking system because these demons have over them some sort of lead demon or king demon.\u00a0 And this hierarchy ranking system in the angelic realm, specifically here we\u2019re talking about the fallen angelic realm, fits very nicely other passages of Scripture.\u00a0 Ephesians 6:12 says, \u201cOur struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against\u201d who? \u201cthe rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.\u201d\u00a0 Do you know that the fallen angelic realm itself is organized like an army.\u00a0\u00a0 You\u2019ve got rulers, you\u2019ve got powers, you\u2019ve got forces, doesn\u2019t that sound like military regiments, military battalions?\u00a0 And it\u2019s interesting that on the Israel trip we spent some time on the Sea of Galilee, going across on a boat, in fact the boat ride was so expensive now I understand why Jesus decided to walk across the sea.\u00a0 [Laughter]\n\nBut near the Sea of Galilee is a place called Gadara and Gadara is the home of a man that was possessed by demons.\u00a0 Now how many demons were inside this man.\u00a0 It\u2019s in Mark 5:9, \u201cAnd He was asking Him,\u201d Jesus, \u201c\u2018What is your name?\u2019 And he said to Him, \u2018My name is\u201d what? \u201c\u2018Legion; for we are many.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 Study the concept of a legion some time.\u00a0 The Ryrie Study Bible defines \u201clegion\u201d in Mark 5:9 as follows: \u201cThe largest unit of a Roman army, three thousand to six thousand strong indicating that many demons possessed the men.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 You can see why that man was in such bad shape.\u00a0 If legion is the equivalent of a Roman legion he had there at Gadara probably 3,000 to 6,000 demons inside of him.\n\nAnd so you find this concept of legion relating to demons, a Roman army or hierarchy.\u00a0 You find \u201cwe wrestle not against flesh and blood but against rulers, against the powers, spiritual forces,\u201d the army of organization in the demonic realm.\u00a0 You find here this demonic horde that comes forth out of the abyss is being orchestrated by a higher demon, a lead demon, a ruler demon.\n\nAnd it\u2019s interesting, who is this leader\u2019s name?\u00a0 We have the Greek and Hebrew name, his Hebrew name is Abaddon, or Abadan, in Greek it\u2019s Apollyon.\u00a0 Now when you look up those words in either Hebrew or in Greek what do they mean?\u00a0 They mean destruction.\u00a0 Some would say that this leader is Satan himself.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know if I would go that far, to me he seems like a lead demon in Satan\u2019s army, a General demon.\u00a0 But it\u2019s interesting that his name itself means destruction.\u00a0 And I want us to understand something, whether you comprehend it or not, whether\u00a0 you embrace it or not, you have as a Christian a very real enemy whose whole design is to destroy your life.\u00a0 If he can\u2019t kill you because God won\u2019t allot it then he can at least cause you to fail to such an extent that you become totally ineffective for the Lord.\u00a0 And this entity that fights against us is Satan and the third of the angels that fell.\n\nJohn 10:10 says, \u201cThe thief,\u201d that\u2019s Satan, \u201cThe thief comes only to\u201d do what? \u201cto steal and kill and destroy;\u201d Jesus says, \u201cbut I came that they may have life, and have it to the full.\u201d\u00a0 Christ\u2019s point in coming into the world is to give us abundant life but just as real as that plan of God is the adversary, Satan, has a counter plan on your life to do what?\u00a0 To steal, kill and destroy.\u00a0 In fact, 1 Peter 5:8 says, \u201c[Be of sober spirit, be on the alert.] Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a\u201d what?\u00a0 sweet pussy cat\u2026.\u00a0 \u201cYour adversary the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to\u201d have a glass of iced tea with, NO, \u201cseeking someone to devour.\u201d\n\nThis is why we need to understand the Word of God and we need to be putting on daily the armor of God.\u00a0 When I was in Campus Crusade we would evangelize this way: God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life.\u00a0 That\u2019s all true but let me give you the other side of the equation. Satan hates you and has a terrible plan for your life.\u00a0 You are caught, as a Christian, in the middle of a spiritual war where the adversary is out to render\u00a0 you a complete failure and make you totally ineffective in the service of God.\u00a0 That\u2019s his goal.\u00a0 He can\u2019t take your soul into hell because your sin debt has been paid for by Christ Jesus.\u00a0 Hallelujah!\n\nBut that doesn\u2019t mean he can\u2019t wage war perpetually against you, against\u00a0 your business, against\u00a0 your ministry, against your marriage, against\u00a0 your family, \u201cFor we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high <em>places<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0 The lead demon over these demonic entities coming out of the abyss, the very name of this leader, both in Hebrew and Greek, is destruction itself.\n\nAnd finally we come to verse 12 where we\u2019ll conclude. It says after this judgment is complete \u201c The first woe is past; behold, two woes are still coming after these things.\u201d\u00a0 Now this is trumpet five, which is bad.\u00a0 Next week we\u2019ll be looking at trumpet six which is bad.\u00a0 But then in trumpet seven there\u2019s going to be a pause in the action.\u00a0 So you\u2019ll notice it says, verse 12, \u201cThe first woe is past; behold, two woes are still coming,\u201d the first woe would be trumpet five, the next woe would be trumpet six, but why is trumpet seven called a woe when it only represents a pause in the action?\n\nThe answer is the seventh trumpet is the worst of all the judgments in the trumpet series because it has the function of unleashing the what?\u00a0 The bowl judgments, just as seal seven unleashed the trumpets the seventh trumpet will unleash the bowls.\u00a0 That\u2019s why it\u2019s called a woe even though it too, like seal seven, represents a momentary pause in the action.\u00a0 Yes, there\u2019s a pause in the action, there\u2019s a moment of grace but at the same time that seventh trumpet is also a woe, perhaps the worst woe because it will unleash the worst series of judgments described in the Book of Revelation, chapter 16, the bowl judgments.\n\nAnd this is evidence that these judgments sort of pull out like a telescope, they move chronologi\u00adcally but seal seven unleashes the trumpets, and seal trumpet unleashes the bowls and when we move next week into the sixth trumpet judgment, chapter 9:13-21, I challenge you to, I encourage you to read that this week in preparation for next week.\u00a0 We\u2019re going to learn about another army; this army is not coming out of the abyss, this army is coming out of the east.\u00a0 The one we\u2019ve been studying today is the demonic army; this next one that\u2019s coming is a human army and it will be responsible for destroying a third of the earth\u2019s population.\u00a0 So we\u2019ll take a look at that next week.\n\nYou say well, this is not really a happy clappy kind of church is it?\u00a0 [Laughter]\u00a0 I mean, I want some of your best life now stuff.\u00a0 Well, I would say this, this is a truth oriented church.\u00a0 What did Jesus say?\u00a0 \u201cYou shall know the truth and the truth shall\u201d what? \u201cset you free.\u201d\u00a0 To quote that great theologian, Jack Nicholson, who said in one of those movies, \u201cyou can\u2019t handle the truth,\u201d remember that?\u00a0 That\u2019s why a lot of churches aren\u2019t teaching the truth, there\u2019s a fear you\u2019re going to drive people away and it does; truth does that.\u00a0 But at the same time truth, as hard as it is to swallow many times does more to liberate the human soul than any other single thing I can think of.\u00a0 And God is love, and gracious, but He\u2019s disclosed also these horrific judgments that are destined to come upon the earth in these last days.\n\nAnd you say well how can I escape these judgments?\u00a0 What does the Book of Proverbs, chapter 18, I think it\u2019s verse 10 say? \u201cThe name of the LORD is a strong tower; The righteous runs into it and is safe.\u201d\u00a0 The only escape from these horrific judgments is the \u201cstrong tower\u201d of Jesus Christ Himself who stepped into the line of fire and absorbed the wrath of a holy God in our place.\u00a0 And if we will simply receive as a free gift, by way of faith, which is the only way to receive a gift from God, if we will receive as a free gift by way of faith what Jesus has done in our place then you have a promise.\u00a0 It\u2019s Romans 8:1, where \u201cthere is no\u201d what, \u201c?\u00a0 \u201ccondemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.\u201d\u00a0 Are you afraid of these judgments?\u00a0 I am.\u00a0 But being afraid is not necessarily a bad thing is it, if it can cause you to embrace the solution; the solution is Jesus Christ.\u00a0 Judgment is coming to this planet, God in His holiness can\u2019t just ignore sin or wink at sin and pretend it doesn\u2019t exist.\u00a0 It will be judged but He\u2019s given us a refuge, He\u2019s given us a way of escape because God the Son, the second member of the Trinity absorbed the wrath of God in our place.\u00a0 And so our exhortation here at Sugar Land Bible Church is to embrace Jesus Christ, even while you\u2019re seated there you can do this simple thing.\u00a0 You can place your trust, not in yourself, not in your education, not in your life experiences, not in\u00a0 your church, not in your denomination, not in what your parents believed, but you can place your trust exclusively in Christ.\n\nIn fact, the Spirit of God has come into the world, John 16:7-11 describes this, to convict men and women of their need to do this.\u00a0 [John 16:7-11, \u201cBut I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. [8] \u201cAnd He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; [9] concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; <a href=\"http:\/\/biblehub.com\/john\/16-10.htm\">[10]<\/a> and concerning righteous\u00adness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; [11] and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.\u201d]\n\nIn fact, this same spirit I believe was alive and well in Noah\u2019s day, for a hundred and twenty years.\u00a0 Genesis 6:3 says, God says, \u201c[Then the LORD said,] \u2018My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is mortal and his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.\u2019\u201d\u00a0 So right now in the same way the Scripture is striving with man, it won\u2019t be there forever.\u00a0 It\u2019s striving with man, convicting man, persuading man, humanity, to accept by way of faith as a gift Jesus Christ and the fact that He bore the sins of the world in our place.\u00a0 He stepped into the line of fire and absorbed the wrath of a holy God in our place so we wouldn\u2019t have to experience these judgments.\u00a0 But if a person rejects that refuge, rejects that solution, then sin will be paid for; God\u2019s holiness demands it.\u00a0 So we would encourage people, either here in the building or listening via streaming or what not, as they come under the conviction of the Holy Spirit to trust in Christ and Christ alone for salvation.\u00a0 It\u2019s not necessary that you walk an aisle to do this, pray a prayer to do this, send money to do this, join a church to do this, it\u2019s a matter of privacy between you and the Lord where the Lord, the Holy Spirit convicts you, and the best you know, in the quietness of your own thoughts and heart you believe or trust in what Christ has done in our place.\u00a0 You can do that right now as I\u2019m talking.\u00a0 If it\u2019s something that\u00a0 you need more explanation on I\u2019m available after the service to talk.\n\nShall we pray.\u00a0 Father, truth is sometimes hard to swallow but You have seen fit in\u00a0 Your Word to disclose truth in this fifth seal judgment.\u00a0 Help us to grow in terms of our understanding of Your ways and Your Word and Your Character as we continue to move systematically through the Book of Revelation.\u00a0 We\u2019ll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory.\u00a0 We ask these things in Jesus\u2019 name, and God\u2019s people said\u2026. Amen.","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t<!-- All in One SEO 4.9.10 - aioseo.com -->\n\t<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"max-image-preview:large\" \/>\n\t<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/revelation-028-the-reality-of-demons\/\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"generator\" content=\"All in One SEO (AIOSEO) 4.9.10\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"es_ES\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sugar Land Bible Church - Bringing the Bible to Life\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Revelation 028 \u2013 The Reality of Demons - Sugar Land Bible Church\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/revelation-028-the-reality-of-demons\/\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cdn.slbc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/22075101\/SLBC-Logo-Square_10pct.jpg\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:image:secure_url\" content=\"https:\/\/cdn.slbc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/22075101\/SLBC-Logo-Square_10pct.jpg\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-02-17T06:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-01-12T23:16:05+00:00\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/facebook.com\/sugarlandbiblechurch\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Revelation 028 \u2013 The Reality of Demons - 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