January 5 Sermon: Mark by God or Marked for Judgment?
What does it mean to be “marked by God” or “marked for judgment”? Revelation 9:1-12 reveals the terrifying consequences of rejecting God and the immense security found in Christ. Discover the reality of divine judgment, the protection of God’s people, and the devastating power of sin’s consequences. Let this passage lead us to gratitude, warning, and urgency to share the gospel.
Contemplate these questions as you listen to this message:
What does the seal of God represent, and how does it offer security to believers in the midst of judgment?
How does the description of torment in Revelation 9:1-12 deepen your understanding of the consequences of sin?
In what ways does this passage motivate you to share the gospel with those who are “marked for judgment”?
Transcript:
Thank you for joining us for this week's sermon from First Reformed Church in Edgerton, Minnesota. Each week, we dig into God's Word, trusting that the Holy Spirit will continue the good work of sanctification in us. Imagine with me a very devastating fire.
Flames roar, and they're consuming everything in their path. Furniture, family heirlooms, cherished photographs, all of this stuff is reduced to ashes by the fury of the flames. But after the smoke has cleared, you can see something amongst the ashes that is untouched. There's all these charred remains, but in the middle of it, there's something that stands firm. There's a fireproof safe.
And inside that safe, the contents are secure. Valuable documents, precious keepsakes, and other important items. And those contents that are inside there have been untouched by the devastation that surrounds everything else. That is what that safe was built for. That is what it was meant to do.
To endure the heat. To eat and protect what matters most. And this is why the owners of the home would have purchased it in the first place. To keep those precious items safe through the absolute worst of circumstances.
Now, imagine the safe not as a metal box with earthly valuables inside, but instead as the seal of God on His people to protect them. And in today's passage, we're confronted with one of the most terrifying images of judgment in all of Holy Scripture. The abyss is open, smoke rises, and locusts swarm. And they torment those who do not have the seal of God upon them.
For those who are marked by God, there is safety, even in the face of overwhelming destruction. But for those who are not marked, there is torment. So as we explore Revelation 9 -12 today, we see a vivid contrast. Those marked by God, sealed for His protection, and then those who are marked for judgment. And this isn't just a story filled with ancient symbolism. It's a warning. And it's a call for us today as well.
So the question that we approach this text with today, what we need to ask ourselves is this. Are we saved? Are we safe in the hands of Almighty God? Or are we vulnerable to the torment of His judgment? So as we consider these questions, we're going to dig into the passage, and we're going to have our three points again today to help us navigate the passage.
And the first thing that we're going to see is the reality of divine judgment. Now we've repeatedly seen this truth in the book of Revelation, but we are reminded of it again as the judgments continue to unfold, and they continue to escalate. Second, we see the security that the people of God have. Wrath is everywhere in this passage. But there is a means by which some escape the judgment, and that is done by being marked by God, being sealed by Him.
Finally, there is the power of sin's consequences. The imagery here of God's judgment, judgment is powerful as we look at this fifth trumpet, but it is not random. It's not haphazard violence. It is deserved judgment because of humanity's rebellion against a holy God.
So let's turn to verse 1, and we're going to see how this judgment begins with a star that has fallen from heaven and a key that unlocks the depths of destruction. And so here, here, in this passage, we see the fifth trumpet. Well, last week we saw the first four trumpets, and there was very little detail on what was happening when each trumpet was blown. But with the fifth trumpet, we're going to see some expanded detail unlike the first four.
Now, before we start, I want to quickly remind us of our approach to the book of Revelation here. This last installment in the Bible is often approached with fear and approached with trepidation. But that isn't the goal of the book. It's to provide comfort to God's people and hope in the midst of persecution and tribulation. And I believe that so much of our apprehension about the book of Revelation comes from rampant speculation about the imagery that is in Revelation. Speculation about the type of stuff that we read this morning. From the first part of chapter nine.
Now, I'm going to kind of tell on myself this morning, I don't usually tell people about the strange hobby that I have. I like to collect old prophecy books that made predictions about the end times and they didn't happen. In fact, it's what the first thing I normally do when I walk into a thrift store. One time we were in Hastings, Nebraska, while we were visiting my wife's family, and we were in a thrift store. My wife was on the other side of the thrift store from where I was. The bookshelf was over here. She was looking at some clothes over there. And I found a book I'd been looking for for a long time. And I said, Yes. Yes. Loud enough that she heard me on the other side of the thrift store. But,
I'm guessing most, if not all of you, know the type of predictions and books that I'm talking about. I want to share some of my collection here with you today. This is the oldest one I have. This is the oldest one I have. This is probably one of the older books I own. This is a copyright 1926. It's called, Is the Antichrist at Hand? And the subtitle of it is, What of Mussolini? Guess what? It wasn't Mussolini.
Most of you are probably familiar with the late great planet Earth. Between 1974, when it was first published, and 1999, it sold 35 million copies. The author said, if the end didn't come by 1988, he was a bum. One of the other crown jewels of my collection, 88 Reasons the Rapture is in 1988. Unfortunately, I don't have a copy of the book he wrote a year after, 89 Reasons.
2001, On the Edge of Eternity. This one is interesting. Originally, Armageddon Oil in the Middle East Crisis. I don't have a copy of the 1974 version. This is the revision when things started to heat up during the first Gulf War in 1990.
When nothing came to pass that was predicted, it was revised for the second Gulf War. It was released in 2007, kind of in the height of all that. Oh, just so you know, the author died in 2002. Now, I don't bring this up to share my collection. It's not show and tell time. But I want to make a point about our interpretation of Revelation.
Because as the vivid imagery from John's vision, expands here, we're prone to making assumptions and speculations that are not helpful. We need to be careful what we do with these images. Because rampant speculation isn't fruitful. At best, it does harm to the kingdom at worst. Because people see this and is the Bible clear? How can we know anything about Scripture if we're making all these predictions and they never come to pass? We want to avoid that.
So as we look at the fifth trumpet, we want to approach the passage as it was intended. This is apocalyptic imagery. It's written for a first century audience who has experienced tribulation and persecution. So we're not going to try and make predictions, but instead consider how this provides comfort for the people of God and gives them hope as they're facing hardships. This imagery makes us nervous. But it's meant to give us hope and comfort.
And so the fifth angel blows his trumpet and we see that John saw a star fallen from heaven to earth. Now, the English Standard Version does a really good job of translating this here. Notice that it says the star has fallen. It has happened. When I read this normally, I think I read this as falling. And I imagine a star or a meteor coming across the sky and crashing on the earth. Well, that's not what's happening here. This has already happened. It has fallen.
We're not watching it come with a trail and seeing a big explosion. The idea in the text here is that this star had fallen from heaven before and there it is and now John is seeing it. So once again, we need to read Revelation as apocalyptic literature. This isn't an actual star that has fallen from the sky. It traversed across the universe and crashed into the earth. That's not what it is. A star would consume the entire planet, right?
So what is this? Well, in this type of literature, stars represent angelic beings. So once we slow down and think about it, we can come to a conclusion of who this fallen star is. Who is an angelic being who has fallen from heaven? So what we're reading here is that Satan is given a key to the bottomless pit and the idea here in this imagery is that this is a place that is completely forsaken by God. It's a realm of evil demons, a place that is meant for you and I to shudder when we even think about it.
So our first point here this morning is the reality of divine judgment and we get a vivid picture of this as the passage continues with the key being used to open this abyss leading to absolute chaos and destruction. So as the shaft is opened, smoke rises. So the biblical imagery here is one of judgment and of wrath coming from God. Now what comes to mind when you think of smoke and judgment and wrath is probably the idea of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, right? The smoke that would have risen from that wrath from God.
And so the smoke, that he's seeing here, isn't just smoke. It's to let us know that this bottomless pit is not just a place of black emptiness. It's a place of God's wrath, of his destruction. And the image that John sees shows us just how great that wrath against evil is with the fact that the smoke is billowing out and there's so much of it that the sun and the air are darkened. So the message that's being sent to the original readers of Revelation, and to us here, is clear. The judgment of God is very real. While his people are experiencing persecution and they're being called to endure it, punishment does in fact come to those who are in rebellion against him.
And this idea continues to build here in the next verse. So what follows the smoke of God's wrath are locusts. Now as we read this, we need to stop and think back to the Old Testament. This is meant to do more for us than just make our skin crawl imagining it, right? All the locusts. It's meant to do more than that, make us just shudder at the thought of so many bugs. It's drawing on something from the Old Testament, one of the greatest examples of God's wrath that we find in the book of Exodus, the plagues. Remember that. Remember the plague of the locusts that would have destroyed vegetation and created famine.
And so what John sees here brings us to a higher level of wrath and judgment. We're meant to feel this is like the ten plagues. These are not just locusts. We also see that they have the power of scorpions of the earth. And let's be honest about how terrifying that image is. A scorpion is a scary creature, but it's over there. Right? It isn't going to fly at me.
When I was a manager with Toys R Us, I was sent for two weeks to do a store remodel in Scottsdale, Arizona. And we would work overnight. And so on our breaks, we went outside because in June at 2 a .m. in Scottsdale, Arizona, the weather was fantastic. So we all went outside for every break. And one night, one of our fellow workers found a scorpion. Now I tensed up immediately and was frightened. And then I realized it was 20 feet away from me. And if I, you know, took a little walk towards it, I could get really close to it and it wasn't going to harm me. It's a scary thing, but it doesn't come at me. It wasn't going to get me.
Now imagine that tail on a locust. Not only can it fly and come near me, but you rarely get a lone locust, right? It's not often that you find one. They are known for being in swarms. And so I'm sure you feel what I'm driving at here. This is meant to be a terrifying image. But we see some interesting details here that move us to our second point of the security that the people of God have. These locusts aren't harming the grass or the trees, but only the people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. The people of God are marked. They have a seal. The people of God are spared from the plague.
Again, take your mind back to the Old Testament. Take your mind back to the plagues. Think about the ten plagues. The Egyptians are affected by the plagues, but the Israelites were not. And your thoughts probably just immediately went right to the seal on the door for the Israelites on the Passover. And that's where your mind is meant to be drawn to here.
We're meant to find assurance in this that the people of God are protected from His wrath. Even though it's happening all around them, there are swarms that are tormenting. The people of God are protected because they are marked. They are sealed. So take a moment and imagine this moment and this scene that John is seeing here. The fallen angel unlocks the bottomless pit. The smoke of the judgment of God darkens the sky. Swarms of locusts so thick it would likely darken the sky even more than it already was. And then put the tails of scorpions on those locusts. Absolute chaos and doom.
That's the picture you should be seeing in your mind as you animate those images and you imagine it. You likely have people running everywhere in every direction in complete fear. Now imagine that through all of this there is a group of people who are secure and are safe. The whole scene seems completely random but it's not. The people of God are protected because God is completely and totally in control. This is not random. It is not haphazard. It is the judgment of God on those who are marked for judgment and safety given to those who are marked with his seal.
And so the message being sent to those receiving this book which includes us is that God is in control. God is sovereign. While there have been those who have been martyred for Christ and many were still being persecuted as this book is being written there will be a judgment that will come upon the wicked. God is in his power. He is going to flip the story. Those who were tormenting the Christians shall become the tormented. Just as in Exodus the people of God are spared from this plague.
Think back to other images from Revelation. Most importantly the one who is on the throne who is sovereign and in control of all things and that immediately after that what did we see? We see the Lamb who had overcome by his blood. And the people are secure in the midst of the chaos of this judgment because they've been sealed by the blood of the Lamb. They're not marked for judgment. They have been marked as Christ's own.
And you can see then why this book is so applicable. For those in the first century who are facing this hardship they can know that their salvation is secure because of God's sovereignty and the victory of the Lamb. And you and I can face the future with this absolute same certainty that God is in control and Christ has overcome. Just as believers in the first century were marked we have the same seal upon us.
And this is the heart of the Gospel here. The seal of God is not something that we earn. It's a gift of grace through the work of Christ. And just as the Israelites in Egypt were marked by the blood of the Lamb on the doorposts so are we sealed by the blood of the Lamb Jesus Christ. And this seal guarantees our safety not from trials or persecutions in this life but from the eternal judgment of God. When chaos reigns around us we can rest secured because we belong to Him and nothing can separate us from His love.
So let us stand firm in this truth knowing that our God is faithful to protect His people. And this should give us great confidence because we are those who have been marked by God. But the passage doesn't stop there. As the description of the fifth trumpet continues we see what happens to those who are marked for judgment. The torment that they receive is not random or purposeless it is the consequence of their rebellion against a holy God.
So as we move on to our third point the picture that John paints of this vision vividly describes the consequence of sin for us. And here we see the idea of the scorpions brought about again. And we get the idea that the torment is long five months. But in this torment they don't die. It's like a scorpion sting that isn't fatal we're told. It's persistent pain continual suffering and such suffering that people will want to die but we're told that death will flee from them. They will want a release from their suffering. But their suffering won't be enough to actually end their lives.
And so these demons are described even further as the imagery of the fifth trumpet continues. We see that they're outfitted for battle. And there are different descriptions to them. We won't get into each and every one of them. But the idea here is that this is a multitude. This is an army. They are an evil army of torment upon the wicked. And just like the armies of the world we find that these soldiers follow the orders of a king. And the king is the angel we saw mentioned earlier in the passage. The angel of the bottomless pit. And he is known as Abaddon in Hebrew. And in Greek he is Apollyon. Well both these names in both languages literally mean destroyer.
So what's the idea? The locusts are an army of destruction that is commanded by the destroyer himself. And this is an awful thought.
Especially for those who are outside the covenant. Those who live in rejection of the authority of the one on the throne and the lamb. They experience torment so great that they wish they could die but instead they continue in the suffering that they're experiencing. And this is dreadful. And we should deeply consider the truth of this as we think about those who reject Christ as Lord. The description of this torment is a sobering reminder for us of the gravity of sin and the holiness of God. The suffering that we see isn't haphazard and it isn't cruel. It's the rightful consequence of rejecting the one who is holy and just. The destroyer and his army of destruction they bring relentless pain but they are under the sovereign control of the hand of God. This army is acting as an instrument of the judgment of God. And this is more than just a future warning. This is a stark picture of the spiritual destruction and pain that comes with rebelling against God both in this life and in the life to come. And so as we conclude I hope this passage causes you to do some research. Some deep reflection. And from there move us to action. The first thing I want us to think about from this passage is that it calls us to gratitude. Because we have been marked by God through the blood of the Lamb. God's grace saves us from this torment that's described here. We are secure in the love of God as his people. We should have gratitude that we do not have to experience this. We are sealed. We are marked. We are set apart. We are safe in Christ. Second, it's a warning to those who have not turned to Christ. We need to remember this. The torment described here in the fifth trumpet is a glimpse of what happens when we are outside of God's covenant. When we're separated from his mercy and under his judgment. This is a terrible thing. And finally it's a wake up call for the mission that we have been given to go into the world and make disciples. There are many around us that are marked for judgment instead of being sealed by Christ. And this is why we are called to proclaim the gospel of Christ and him crucified with love and with urgency as we point them to the only one who can save us from the wrath of God. We must have an urgency to share the gospel so that people might hear and believe by faith and be marked safe from the judgment. So may we depart from this place today with gratitude, assurance, and a deep desire to share the good news of the lamb who was slain so that he might mark his people for safety spare them from the wrath of God. Amen. Let us pray. Almighty and everlasting God we thank you for the gift of your word that in it here we see how you protect your people. We pray that we would live in confidence knowing that you protect us but that this passage would remind us of the urgency of the gospel. That we need to proclaim it that people might hear and that your Holy Spirit might work in them and give them the gift of faith that they might be secure as well. Help us to leave here today with gratitude for your saving work with assurance of the strength of your saving power and an urgency to share the gospel. It's in the name of Jesus that we pray. Amen.
