Steve Webb: Everyone has been waiting for this moment.
It's the Lifespring! One Year Bible coming to you from
Riverside, California, and podcasting since 2004, (and just
a little bit late with this episode) I am your OG Godcaster,
Steve Webb. It's Prophecy Friday, and our reading today is
Revelation 7 through 11. I'm back from my surgery, and this
episode is well over twelve hours late. And I'll give you a
brief account of things after the reading and the commentary
today. The website is lifespringmedia.com, and I'll
have contact information at the end of the show. Before we read,
let's pray. Our heavenly Father, Lord, we love you, and we thank
you for your Word. We thank you, Lord, for giving us a heads-up
as to the End Times. And I pray God that as we read you would
teach us. I pray this in Jesus' name, amen. Okay, are you ready?
Let's begin.
Revelation chapter seven. After this, I saw four angels standing
at the four corners of the Revelation, chapter 7. After
this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the
earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, so that no
wind would blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree. And I
saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having
the seal of the living God; and he cried out with a loud voice
to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth
and the sea, saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the
trees until we have sealed the bond-servants of our God on
their foreheads.” 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: from the tribe of Judah,
twelve thousand were sealed, from the tribe of Reuben twelve
thousand, from the tribe of Gad twelve thousand, from the tribe
of Asher twelve thousand, from the tribe of Naphtali twelve
thousand, from the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand, from
the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand, from the tribe of Levi
twelve thousand, from the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand, from the tribe of
Joseph twelve thousand, from the tribe of Benjamin, twelve
thousand were sealed. After these things I looked, and
behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every
nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing
before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes,
and palm branches were in their hands; and they cry out with a
loud voice, saying, “Salvation to our God who sits on the
throne, and to the Lamb.” And all the angels were standing
around the throne and around the elders and the four living
creatures; and they fell on their faces before the throne
and worshiped God, saying, “Amen, blessing and glory and
wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to
our God forever and ever. Amen.” Then one of the elders answered,
saying to me, “These who are clothed in the white robes, who
are they, and where have they come from?” I said to him, “My
lord, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones who come
out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes
and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. For this reason,
they are before the throne of God; and they serve Him day and
night in His temple; and He who sits on the throne will spread
His tabernacle over them. They will hunger no longer, nor
thirst anymore; nor will the sun beat down on them, nor any heat;
for the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their
shepherd, and will guide them to springs of the water of life;
and God will wipe every tear from their eyes.”
Revelation, chapter 8. When the Lamb broke the seventh seal,
there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. And I saw
the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets
were given to them. Another angel came and stood at the
altar, holding a golden censer; and much incense was given to
him, so that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints on
the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke
of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before
God out of the angel’s hand. Then the angel took the censer
and filled it with the fire of the altar, and threw it to the
earth; and there followed peals of thunder and sounds and
flashes of lightning and an earthquake. And the seven angels
who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound
them. The first sounded, and there came hail and fire, mixed
with blood, and they were thrown to the earth; and a third of the
earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and
all the green grass was burned up. The second angel sounded,
and something like a great mountain burning with fire was
thrown into the sea; and a third of the sea became blood, and a
third of the creatures which were in the sea and had life,
died; and a third of the ships were destroyed. The third angel
sounded, and a great star fell from heaven, burning like a
torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of
waters. The name of the star is called Wormwood; and a third of
the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the waters,
because they were made bitter. The fourth angel sounded, and a
third of the sun and a third of the moon and a third of the
stars were struck, so that a third of them would be darkened
and the day would not shine for a third of it, and the night in
the same way. Then I looked, and I heard an eagle flying in
midheaven, saying with a loud voice, “Woe, woe, woe to those
who dwell on the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the
trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!”
Revelation chapter 9. Then 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. He 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. Then out of the smoke came locusts upon the
earth, and power was given them, as the scorpions of the earth
have power. They 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. And 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. And in those days men will seek death and will not
find it; they will long to die, and death flees from them. The
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. They had hair like the hair
of women, and their teeth were like the teeth of lions. They
had breastplates like breastplates of iron; and the
sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots, of many
horses rushing to battle. They have tails like scorpions, and
stings; and in their tails is their power to hurt men for five
months. They 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. The first woe is past; behold, two woes are still
coming after these things. Then the sixth angel sounded, and I
heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which
is before God, one saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet,
“Release the four angels who are bound at the great river
Euphrates.” And the four angels, who had been prepared for the
hour and day and month and year, were released, so that they
would kill a third of mankind. The number of the armies of the
horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of
them. And this is how I saw in the vision the horses and those
who sat on them: the riders had breastplates the color of fire
and of hyacinth and of brimstone; and the heads of the
horses are like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths
proceed fire and smoke and brimstone. A third of mankind
was killed by these three plagues, by the fire and the
smoke and the brimstone which proceeded out of their mouths.
For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their
tails; for their tails are like serpents and have heads, and
with them they do harm. The rest of mankind, who were not killed
by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so
as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver
and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor
hear nor walk; and they did not repent of their murders nor of
their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts.
Revelation, chapter 10. I saw a mighty angel coming down out of
the sky, clothed with a cloud. A rainbow was on his head. His
face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire. He
had in his hand a little open book. He set his right foot on
the sea, and his left on the land. He cried with a loud
voice, as a lion roars. When he cried, the seven thunders
uttered their voices. When the seven thunders sounded, I was
about to write; but I heard a voice from the sky saying, “Seal
up the things which the seven thunders said, and don’t write
them.” The angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the
land lifted up his right hand to the sky and swore by him who
lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things
that are in it, the earth and the things that are in it, and
the sea and the things that are in it, that there will no longer
be delay, but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when
he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as
he declared to his servants the prophets. The voice which I
heard from heaven, again speaking with me, said, “Go,
take the book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands
on the sea and on the land.” I went to the angel, telling him
to give me the little book. He said to me, “Take it and eat it
up. It will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it
will be as sweet as honey.” I took the little book out of the
angel’s hand, and ate it up. It was as sweet as honey in my
mouth. When I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter. They
told me, “You must prophesy again over many peoples,
nations, languages, and kings.”
Revelation, chapter 11. A reed like a rod was given to me.
Someone said, “Rise and measure God’s temple, and the altar, and
those who worship in it. Leave out the court which is outside
of the temple, and don’t measure it, for it has been given to the
nations. They will tread the holy city under foot for
forty-two months. I will give power to my two witnesses, and
they will prophesy one thousand two hundred sixty days, clothed
in sackcloth.” These are the two olive trees and the two lamp
stands, standing before the Lord of the earth. If anyone desires
to harm them, fire proceeds out of their mouth and devours their
enemies. If anyone desires to harm them, he must be killed in
this way. These have the power to shut up the sky, that it may
not rain during the days of their prophecy. They have power
over the waters, to turn them into blood, and to strike the
earth with every plague, as often as they desire. When they
have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of
the abyss will make war with them, and overcome them, and
kill them. Their dead bodies will be in the street of the
great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where
also their Lord was crucified. From among the peoples, tribes,
languages, and nations, people will look at their dead bodies
for three and a half days, and will not allow their dead bodies
to be laid in a tomb. Those who dwell on the earth will rejoice
over them, and they will be glad. They will give gifts to
one another, because these two prophets tormented those who
dwell on the earth. After the three and a half days, the
breath of life from God entered into them, and they stood on
their feet. Great fear fell on those who saw them. I heard a
loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here!” They went
up into heaven in a cloud, and their enemies saw them. In that
day there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the
city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake,
and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.
The second woe is past. Behold, the third woe comes quickly. The
seventh angel sounded, and great voices in heaven followed,
saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the Kingdom of
our Lord and of his Christ. He will reign forever and ever!”
The twenty-four elders, who sit on their thrones before God’s
throne, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying: “We give
you thanks, Lord God, the Almighty, the one who is and who
was, because you have taken your great power and reigned. The
nations were angry, and your wrath came, as did the time for
the dead to be judged, and to give your bondservants the
prophets, their reward, as well as to the saints and those who
fear your name, to the small and the great, and to destroy those
who destroy the earth.” God’s temple that is in heaven was
opened, and the ark of the Lord’s covenant was seen in his
temple. Lightnings, sounds, thunders, an earthquake, and
great hail followed.
You remember that back in chapter 5, the book with the
seven seals was introduced. No one in heaven or on earth was
able to open the book or look into it, and John wept. But then
one of the elders told him to stop weeping because the Lion
from the tribe of Judah, who is Jesus, was able to. And then in
chapter 6, the first six seals were opened and only one
remained. But today in chapter 7, there was an interlude, and
144,000 from the 12 tribes were sealed as the bondservants of
God, and a great multitude from all over the Earth began to cry
with a loud voice, praising God and the Lamb. Now in chapter 8,
try to picture the scene in your mind's eye. There is a great
multitude of people in heaven before the throne. Some are
those who have believed in Jesus and 144,000 of them are from the
12 tribes of Israel. There's a multitude of angels and there's
the Lamb, the Son of God, sitting at the right hand of
God, who is at the center of it all. And then the seventh seal
is opened. Everyone has been waiting for this moment.
Everyone is focused on the book, The seal is opened, and there
was silence for half an hour. For thirty minutes, everyone was
still, waiting. What will happen with the breaking of the seventh
seal? But before anything happens, there is silence.
Listen to silence...
That was just 15 seconds, imagine 30 minutes. Can you
imagine a scene like that with all of those beings possibly
millions and there is *silence*. There was such an anticipation
and wonder at what a breaking of the seventh seal would bring.
And the next thing that happens brings a powerful message. After
the silence at the peak of anticipation when you know all
eyes were on the throne, an angel came and stood at the
altar with incense and the prayers of the believers along
with the incense went up before God out of the angel’s hand.
Listen, do you think prayer is important? Do you think God pays
attention? Absolutely, he does. Imagine the focus of all of
heaven here. Every eye is observing the scene at the altar
and no one knows what the breaking of the seventh seal
will bring. And they're all watching closely. And a very
special angel brings your prayers, and mine, and lifts
them up to God at this eternally important time in history. It is
the prayers of God's people that precede the final moments of the
history of this world. T. F. Torrance, the 20th-century
Scottish theologian said, "More potent, more powerful than all
the dark and mighty powers let loose in the world, more
powerful than anything else is the power of prayer set ablaze
by the fire of God and cast upon the earth." Do you think your
prayers aren't important to God? Well, from what we've seen here,
I would say that God considers prayer as vitally important. Let
me know if you have thoughts or questions, send a boostagram or
call the Lifespring Family Hotline or go to the comments
page or write an email to me. I'll tell you how to do all that
at the end of the show. Tomorrow will be Gospels Saturday, and
we'll read Acts 23 and 24.
Our Executive Producer today is Kevin Dills. Thank you, Kevin.
God bless you. He sent in his monthly $50 donation. And
someone sent a 75,000 sat boostagram from - I forgot which
app now - but they just said, "Anonymous." So Anonymous, thank
you for the 75,000 sat boost. He or she sent that on the Nehemiah
10 through 13: Striving for Faithfulness episode. Thanks
again. God bless you.
Jingle: Lifespringmedia.com/support
Steve Webb: So here's a semi-brief rundown on my surgery
and why this episode is late. So the surgery on Wednesday
actually went fine. Went in on time. They put me asleep. They
did what they needed to do. It was a laparoscopic procedure.
And I'm told that it took about 45 minutes. And when I woke up,
I was a little sore in the area that they worked on, of course,
as expected, of course. And my shoulders were a bit sore as
well. I was kind of puzzled about that, but I thought it
might just be from the general anesthesia. I've never had that
happen to me before. But LeeAnn has had some other things
happen, and she's had soreness after general anesthesia. So I
thought, well, maybe this time it's my turn. Well, I spent the
rest of the day at home, resting, and when I woke up
Thursday after a fitful night of sleep because my shoulder
soreness kept me in, you know, kind of that half-asleep,
half-awake state. I just didn't get a good night's rest. And
later that morning, this would be Thursday morning, I sat down
on my desk and began to put this episode together. And I just
couldn't concentrate because I was just so tired. So I decided
to take a nap. Well, when I lay down on my bed, my right
shoulder felt like it had been stabbed. It just all of a
sudden, just *bam*, right in the shoulder joint. It was just
excruciating. And when I tried to move to another position to,
you know, find someplace where it wouldn't hurt, it just got
worse. I didn't know if I had torn a ligament or pinched a
nerve or just what. And on a scale of one to ten, the pain
was about a nine and a half. I mean it was bad. Long story
short, I called LeeAnn at work to tell her what was going on
and she came home to drive me to the emergency room. They took
x-rays of the shoulder. They put me on an EKG machine to see if
maybe I was having a heart attack. They ran me... through
some range of range-of-motion exercises. And there was just
nothing there. But the bottom line seems to be this during my
surgery which was in the lower abdomen, since it was a
laparoscopic procedure, they had to inject carbon dioxide gas
into my abdomen to make room for the instruments and to see what
they were working on. They just kind of blow your stomach up,
your abdomen. I don't know how much gas they put in. but a
little internet sleuthing taught me that it's common to put one
to two liters of carbon dioxide gas in there. Could be more,
could be less but one to two liters. That's not, you know, an
insignificant amount. So anyway, when they complete the
operation, they, you know, take out the CO2 gas, but it is not
unheard of to have some of that gas remain inside the abdomen
when they stitch you up. And the gas, you know, wants to get out
and it has to go somewhere. And sometimes it migrates to the
shoulders, which causes the pain. So that seems to be what
happened to me. A nurse told me that the best way to deal with
that is to move, take walks, et cetera until the gas finds its
way out in the normal way one expels gas if you get my drift.
I know it sounds weird, right? So right now, as I record this,
the pain is still there. It's not as bad, but it hurts quite a
bit. But I'm taking some pain medication, so at least it's
manageable. I can sit here and do this. But when I move my arm
to move the mouse and stuff, yeah, it gives me some
discomfort. So after I record this episode, and get it
published, I'm going to go out for my second walk of the day,
then come right back into the studio to get Saturday's episode
recorded. And I do appreciate your prayers.
Well as always I do invite your comments and your questions.
There are several ways to get in touch with me. You can send a
boostagram, of course. Or you can call the Lifespring Family
Hotline at +1-951-732-8511. Or go to prayer.lifespringmedia.com
if you have a prayer request or a praise report, which we will
do on Sunday's show. If you have a comment or a question, go to
comment.lifespringmedia.com. Or send an email to me at
steve@lifespringmedia.com.
Thanks to the team: Sister Denise, Michael Haner, Scott
Snider, Jason Paschall, and Sister Brittaney for their
generous donations of time and talent. Thanks to Kevin Dills
for being our Executive... Executive Producer today and
helping to make this episode possible. Beloved, I'll see you
tomorrow. God bless you. Thank you for spending time with me.
My name is Steve Webb. Bye.
Lifespring! Media bringing the message of hope, love, and good
news since 2004.