Join us in this reflective episode where biblical teacher David Hawking guides us through the formidable scenarios described in Revelation 8. Amidst vivid imagery of destruction and darkness, the conversation evolves to touch upon existential themes of repentance and redemption. Discover how these ancient texts resonate with contemporary issues, offering both a warning and a hopeful invitation to seek salvation and a deeper connection with the divine.
I was interviewed about Earth Day a couple of years ago. One of the things that we were talking about was pollution. They asked me what I thought about pollution, and I said, pollution is a terrible thing. It’s terrible. And I mentioned my own city, where I live, just awful. You know, you need little water softeners and everything. It’s just terrible, the pollution. And the junk and the problems we have, who knows what diseases we have are the result of the pollution we have in the water. And it’s a terrible thing, but I said, it’s going to get worse. In fact, it’s going to be so bad that many, many people are going to die. How do you know that?
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This is Hope for Today. And today, as we bring our study called Trumpet Judgments to a powerful close, the final blasts shake the world. A mountain of fire is hurled into the sea, waters turn to poison, the sky goes black, and the earth is struck by disasters that leave no place to hide. This is righteous judgment of a holy God, revealed in Revelation chapter 8. And Bible teacher David Hawking takes us there next on Hope for Today. First, as we come to the end of the month here, let me ask you, if Hope for Today has strengthened your walk with the Lord and helped you understand the Bible more clearly, would you consider praying for us and also helping us to keep it going strong with a financial donation? Thank you for joining us today. Call 800-75-BIBLE, that’s in the U.S., or 888-75-BIBLE in Canada. You can also make a donation online at davidhawking.org. Every gift matters. And together, we bring the whole Bible to a world desperate for truth. And here’s David.
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Follow along as we read Revelation chapter 8 on the first four trumpet judgments. Four terrible judgments that are coming to planet Earth. Revelation 8, beginning at verse 1. And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who stood before God and to them were given seven trumpets. And another angel came and stood at the altar having a golden censer. And it was given unto him much incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar, which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand. And the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and cast it upon the earth. And there were voices and thunderings and lightnings and an earthquake. And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. The first angel sounded and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood. And they were cast upon the earth. And the third part of trees was burnt up and all green grass was burnt up. And the second angel sounded, and as it were, a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea. And the third part of the sea became blood. And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea and had life died. And the third part of the ships were destroyed. And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as though it were a lamp. And it fell upon the third part of the rivers and upon the fountains of waters, and the name of the star is called Wormwood. And the third part of the waters became Wormwood, and many men died of the waters because they were made bitter. And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars, so that the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise. And I beheld and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels which are yet to sound. The opening six verses give us the preparation for these terrible, awesome judgments that are coming on the planet. Verse 6 mentions the seven angels again, just briefly. Again, they are the seven spirits who are standing before the throne, whom God sends into all the earth. Chapter 5, verse 6, they stand before God. Chapter 8, verse 2, and now they’re ready to sound. In verse 7, judgment number 1, plant life devastated. For those of you who have a biological background, you can only imagine what’s going to happen here. Number 2, in verse 8 and 9, marine life destroyed. The third judgment, verse 10 and 11, drinking water defiled. And then the fourth one, in verse 12, natural light diminished. The second terrible, tragic judgment hitting the tribulation period, I personally believe we’re still in the opening phases of it. It’s getting worse. Marine life is destroyed. Look at verse 8 and 9 of chapter 8. according to this passage, it’s going to be, in John’s words, like a great mountain was burning with fire, and it was cast into the sea, and a third part of the sea becomes blood, third part of the creatures in the sea had life died, and a third part of the ships were destroyed. Jeremiah 9, look at verse 13. It says, the Lord saith, Because they have forsaken my law, which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice, neither walked in it, but have walked after the imagination of their own heart, and after Baalim, which their fathers taught them. Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink. I will scatter them also among the nations or heathen whom neither they nor their fathers have known. And I will send a sword after them till I have consumed them. So when God describes the judgment that he’s going to bring, he’s going to give them wormwood to drink water with gall in it. Some people connect this with the death of our Lord Jesus Christ, as you probably know what they gave him on the cross. Look at chapter 23, verse 15 of Jeremiah. You’re still there. Chapter 23, verse 15. God often describes his judgment with this wormwood imagery. In Jeremiah 23, 15, he talks about the terrible thing he’s seeing in the prophets. Of God. Horrible thing. All their wickedness. They’re like Sodom and Gomorrah. Verse 14. Verse 15. Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets. Behold I will feed them with wormwood. And will make them drink the water of Gaul. For from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaned has gone forth into all the land. He’s going to bring his judgment. Wormwood is associated with the judgment of God. And when he describes this third tragedy, he says the name of the star that comes is Wormwood. If you’re Jewish, you’re not looking at this as a blessing. I’ll tell you that right now. Wormwood is talking about the judgment of God and the bitter effect of it. It’s like taking the most awful tasting drink you have ever tasted, and it’s going to be fatal. It’s going to be poison. It’s going to kill you. And God says, that’s what I’m sending to you. Amazing. A third part of the waters become wormwood. They’re bitter, polluted. And it isn’t a light matter, folks. Verse 11, many men, it says, died. Not a few, but many died of the waters because they were made bitter. Yes, pollution is going to get worse than it is in any one of our communities. And many people are going to die. The fourth judgment’s in verse 12, and that’s natural light is diminished. And you cannot help but remember the plague in Egypt. Look at it again, verse 12. The fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, third part of the moon. Now some people, you know, they take the sun as 12 hours of the day, moon 12 hours a night, and then divide it by three. So four hours of a problem, but eight hours of a blessing. I don’t see it that way. I believe there’s a diminishing of the power of the sun and of the moon and the stars all the time. So whatever the natural light is, whatever its effect is, it is reduced or diminished by God one-third. A third part of them was dark, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise. The last phrase is what causes some people to say it’s only going to be for a certain amount of time. But I’d like you to go back to Exodus, please, chapter… Exodus chapter 10. Interestingly, one of the most awful judgments that God brought on Egypt was darkness. In Exodus chapter 10, verse 21, it says, The Lord said unto Moses, Exodus 10, verse 21, The Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt. Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven, and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days. They saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days. But all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings. What a miracle. Turn to Luke 21. In the Olivet Discourse, Jesus makes quite an interesting statement. Luke 21 says, as it relates to this. Verse 25. To show you the effect of it, it says in Luke 21, 25, there shall be signs in the sun and in the moon and the stars. Those are the three things mentioned in that judgment. And upon the earth, the result of this is distress of nations with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring, men’s hearts failing them for fear and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth. For the powers of heaven… Now, here’s where people get fanciful. Powers of heaven, some believe, are referring to earthly leaders that are falling, collapsing and being knocked over and assassinated and killed and all that. There’s lots of commentaries that deal with that. I don’t believe that. Some believe the powers of heaven here are referring to principalities and powers, angelic hosts, demons. and all of that, or maybe just the fact that they’re being shaken up by the enormity of what God’s doing. But because it’s not principalities and powers, God doesn’t try to trick us. The powers of heaven are exactly the ones in the context, the sun, the moon, and the stars. What’s happening is they’re being shaken. Everything is getting out of order, and then the Son of Man is going to come. But everything is just getting all messed up. Natural light is diminished. In fact, the number one term of the tribulation period is that it is a day of darkness. Isaiah uses it. Jeremiah uses it. Ezekiel uses it. Joel uses it. Amos uses it. Zephaniah uses it. They all say that. That’s what it is. It’s a day of darkness. And darkness is so awful. It is felt by people. Several years ago, on the way back to college, Boy, this is a long time ago. Whoa. But anyway, we did have cars. But anyway, on the way back to college, we stopped at Carlsbad Caverns. How many of you have been there? Yeah. A very interesting experience. You go about 750 feet below the level of the ground and see these beautiful rock formations. And you remember that little area they call a little chapel area where you sit on the rocks and they give you a lecture. And they usually turn the lights out at that point. They tell you that you cannot see, the human eye cannot see at all. And they invite you to put your hand in front of your face, you know, and you can’t even feel the motion of your hand. And they tell you not to move around because you’ll lose all sense of direction. Of course, everybody tries. I remember that, and I remember the feeling of it, being lost. And you know what God says of those who turn their backs on Jesus Christ and want nothing to do with him? He says he’s going to cast them into outer darkness where they’ll be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. I didn’t say that. God did. Interesting, when we were at Carlsbad Caverns, the guide told us that if a person was left down there for one solid week without the lights on, he would be totally insane. That’s their view of total darkness. Weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. No, hell’s no party time. Hell’s no picnic. God calls it outer darkness, weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. A place of torment, the Bible says. A taste of the final judgment of God. He’s going to give a taste of it in the tribulation period. That’s why it’s called the day of God’s wrath. Awesome. Well, there’s one more verse there, Revelation 8.13. Before we wrap it up, one more verse. Revelation 8.13, some of you have an eagle flying around, and others of you have an angel. It says, I beheld and heard an angel. How many have Bibles that say angel? How many have Bibles that say eagle? Angels win. Well, there is some manuscript difficulty here. There are a number of manuscripts that read eagles. And I don’t have any problem with that being an eagle, except that angels are used throughout to proclaim God’s coming judgments. Why would it be different here? So I stick with the King James. I believe it should be an angel. Those are the ones he uses to announce judgment in the book of Revelation. What I’d like you to focus on is two things here. Look at the target of these judgments. It says, woe to the inhabitants of the earth. The earth dwellers are the unbelievers. Chapter nine, verse four, it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree, but only those men who have not, who have not the seal of God in their foreheads. Verse 13 of eight says, woe to those who are inhabitants of the earth. So they are obviously not hurting those with the seal of God. So the judgments are hitting who? Unbelievers. Is everybody following that logic? The inhabitants of the earth, the earth dwellers of Revelation, are unbelievers, not believers. And they’re going to experience some terrible, terrible judgments. We’re going to see a plague, a locust plague, that is hard to believe. Hard to believe. And it’s going to hit unbelievers in a powerful way. But I think not only the target of these judgments is interesting, but the trials apparently are going to be more severe. It says, woe, woe, woe, by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound. It’s going to be worse. By the way, if you’re a Greek speaking person, you’ll identify with this. The word woe in English, I mean, sometimes we think about, you know, to a horse, woe, stop. That is not it. We’re talking a terrible sound. And in Greek, excuse me for bringing it up, but the sound of Greek is what a person uses when they are extremely frightened over some terrible tragedy that’s going to happen, when panicked. It’s the word why, and you say, why, why, why? Like it’s the most awful thing I’ve ever heard, or I’m so scared, what is going to happen now? And those are the words God uses to say, Three more are coming that are worse than what I just told you. And the thing that struck me was in the Old Testament, God uses that word to warn nations that he’s going to judge them. Woe to those who dwell in Moab! And translated into the Greek New Testament, which translates the Old Hebrew, they use that same word. It was also interesting to me that Jesus used it constantly. Constantly. kind of struck me pretty hard when I read, Woe unto Chorazin! Woe unto Bethsaida! Why, it will be better for Sodom and Gomorrah than it will be for you. You’ve had the evidence, but you didn’t repent. See, sometimes we read the Bible and you can’t, excuse me for being dramatic, but you can’t get that. And it’s very important to understand it. There’s warning here, terrible warning from God. Not only how awful the impending judgments are going to be, but a warning to people now to repent. He used this word seven times in Matthew 23 in talking to the scribes and Pharisees. Woe to you for what you have done. He was describing the terrible and awful judgment of hell itself that would fall on religious leaders. who had been hypocrites, he called them, and snakes and white and sepulchers. It’s amazing. Jesus often used this word. And it’s a cry that there is the most terrible judgment coming, but the cry is also a warning to warn those who are about to face it to repent and to turn to the Lord. Believe me, I think Revelation is one of the most important evangelism books in the New Testament. God is warning us throughout this book. These things are going to take place. Repent. The coming of the Lord is drawing nigh. Father, we are aware when we read this that this symbolic and metaphorical language that we read in Revelation can sometimes be passed off lightly. But we know that a symbol is really less in intensity than that which it represents. So only you, Lord, know how awful these things really are. Help us, Father, to understand that soon this terrible, awful time will be put upon this planet by the living God. Help us to take the warning and turn to the Lord before it’s too late. Help us to repent of our sin, to confess it to you. Help us to run to the cross of Jesus Christ and know that their sin was cared for, everything we’ve ever done. Thank you, Lord. for your salvation, your grace, your mercy. As you said in Romans, you stand all day long with your arms outstretched to a disobedient people. You invite us to come unto you. Oh God, help us to flee to the Savior before it’s too late. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
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If you want to know how to go to heaven, or be born again, or to really get saved, you need to go to the Bible. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Have you put your trust in the only one who can save you from sin, death, and hell? He’s the one, not a church, not an organization, not a bunch of works that you might do to please God. No, it’s the work of God that we believe on His Son. He has paid for our sin with His own precious blood. and the grave couldn’t hold him, the third day he rose again. He’s alive. He ascended into heaven, and he’s coming back for those who have put their trust in him. Why not open your heart to him right now? Just say, Lord, I confess my sin to you, and I believe that our Lord Yeshua, Jesus, he died for my sin and paid for it completely. And he will forgive me if I open my heart to him. So I do that right now. Come into my heart, Lord Jesus.
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God bless you. Well, that’s Bible teacher David Hawking. And if you’d like to know more about what it means to have a personal relationship with Jesus, let us send you David’s free booklet, What is Christianity? And also a free Bible study by mail. Call 800-75-BIBLE in the U.S. or 888-75-BIBLE in Canada, and we’ll send them your way if you don’t yet know Jesus, if you’re not yet a Christian, or if you’re new to the Christian faith. Again, 800-75-BIBLE in the U.S. or 888-75-BIBLE in Canada, or you can simply go to our website, davidhawking.org. And just before David returns, Matt Hawking is here, and together we’re going to tell you about an outstanding resource for you.
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Visions of the Future. It’s a study guide through Zechariah. Gen Part 1 is titled The Eight Night Visions and reveals marvelous prophecies showing the role and ministry of the Messiah in His first coming and the future second advent that will mark the beginning of the Messianic Age. Part 2? Covering Zechariah 7 and 8. Yeah. has four essential messages to God’s people on rebuke, repentance, restoration, and rejoicing.
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And then in part three, your dad investigates the prophecies given to Zechariah, revealing two burdens for the future, the rejection of the anointed king, and the return and reign of the king. And also in this section, we see teaching on the second coming and more. Well, discover some outstanding treasures in Zechariah with David’s book, Visions of the Future, just $15. You can purchase it at davidhocking.org or when you call. The numbers to call if you’d like a copy of Visions of the Future, 1-800-75-BIBLE in the U.S., 800-75-24253, or 888-75-BIBLE in Canada. That’s 888-75-24253. And if this program has been a blessing to you, would you prayerfully consider helping us keeping it on the air? As we mentioned at the top of the broadcast, your support makes it possible for us to bring the whole Bible to people all over the world, free of charge, every day. You can send your gift by mail to Hope for Today, Box 3927. Tustin, California, 92781. Or in Canada at Hope for Today, Box 15011, RPO, Seven Oaks, Abbotsford, BC, V2S 8P1. You can also call 800-75-BIBLE in the U.S. or 888-75-BIBLE in Canada. And of course, give online securely at davidhawking.org. Here’s David.
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Well, we sure appreciate you following us in Revelation. We are in chapter 8 on the seven trumpet judgments, and we’re looking at the one that tells us the third part of the waters become wormwood, and that many men died of those waters because they were made bitter. Wow! Well, chapter 8 of Revelation is certainly fascinating as it talks about the trumpet judgments. And we’re told that a star called Wormwood falls, and a third of the waters on planet Earth become Wormwood, and many men died of those waters. When the fourth angel sounds… A third part of the sun was smitten and a third part of the moon and a third part of the stars. So they were darkened and the day showed not for a third part of it and the night likewise. and then an angel flies through the midst of heaven. The last verse of chapter 8 says, whoa, whoa, whoa, three times, to the inhabitants of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels which are yet to sound. Well, plan to be with us. We’re going to keep going.
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God bless you. Thank you, David. And next time on the broadcast, you know, we’ve all had to break out the bug spray from time to time. But when the abyss opens and the locusts from hell come pouring out, all the raid in the world won’t even put a dent in the onslaught. They don’t eat plants. They go straight for people, bringing five months of unimaginable agony with no escape, no death. This is straight from the pit. And we’ll see it with day one of David’s message, Locust from Hell, right here on Hope for Today.
Join us in this reflective episode where biblical teacher David Hawking guides us through the formidable scenarios described in Revelation 8. Amidst vivid imagery of destruction and darkness, the conversation evolves to touch upon existential themes of repentance and redemption. Discover how these ancient texts resonate with contemporary issues, offering both a warning and a hopeful invitation to seek salvation and a deeper connection with the divine.
