The Christ in Prophecy Journal

Revelation Chapters 8-12 Discussion

The most frequently requested Christ in Prophecy television show episodes on Revelation have been pulled out of the vault and re-released!

Over the six episodes, Dr. David Reagan and guests Don McGee of Crown and Sickle Ministries and Dennis Pollock of Spirit of Grace Ministries go chapter by chapter through the book of Revelation, explaining that the book of Revelation isn’t difficult to understand, rather it is difficult to believe. But, if you will believe it for its plain sense meaning, you will understand it. For anyone who’s been born again and has the Holy Spirit residing within them, Revelation can become very clear.

We’ll continue on in our journey through the great book of Revelation by getting our teachers back together to discuss Chapters 8-12. Feel free to watch, listen, or read along by clicking one of the icons below.

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Revelation: Discussion of Chapters 8-12

[Read Chapters 8-12 in the NASB version via Biblegateway.]

McGee & Pollock

Summary

David Reagan: The five chapters (8-12) we just covered break into four parts.

  1. Chapters 8 and 9 take the judgments of God to the mid-point of the Tribulation.
  2. Chapter 10 gives us a flash-forward to the end of the Tribulation to assure us of Jesus’ triumph.
  3. Chapter 11 introduces us to two witnesses of God who will call the world to repentance during the first half of the Tribulation.
  4. And then, Chapter 12 reminds us of the nature and purpose of the cosmic battle between God and Satan. It also summarizes the events that will occur in the middle of the Tribulation when Satan tries to take Heaven one last time.

Nuclear Judgments?

David Reagan: Well, Gentlemen, what impresses you most in these five chapters? Let’s begin with you Dennis.

Dennis Pollock: There are a number of things, but one of the things that really stands out to me has to do with these angels that blow the trumpets — the shofars — that bring those horrific judgments that come on the earth. You have such things as the destruction of much of the vegetation that’s on the earth. Much of the life in the ocean is destroyed. Fresh water turns bitter and people die as a result of drinking it. Visibility is reduced. And, at one point, it talks about a third of mankind killed on top of the fourth of mankind that’s been killed that we read about before.

David Reagan: That’s another one and a half billion people!

Dennis Pollock: Again, a great example of “not so hard to understand, but hard to believe.” I mean, who would want to believe the world is going to go through that kind of a thing. One of the things that amazes me and tells me we are getting close is that we have come as a world society to the point where we can bring this on ourselves.

David Reagan: We’re the first generation that’s ever been true of.

Dennis Pollock: Before the last 60 years or so, when people read Revelation they said, “You know, I believe it will happen.” The only choice they pretty much had after saying that was, “God’s up in Heaven just zapping these things down. He’s just going to zap here and zap there.” All supernatural.

Suddenly, we look at some of these things — the destruction of vegetation, the reduction of visibility, billions of people dying — and we’re now saying, “Wait a minute, we could do this ourselves. This could be a nuclear holocaust.” Of course, Hal Lindsey with his book Late Great Planet Earth was one of the first to popularize the idea that maybe, just maybe, this is a nuclear holocaust. One thing we can say for sure, it either is a nuclear holocaust or it is something every bit as terrible.

I think one of the signs of the times is we now have the technology to destroy ourselves. All God has to do is take His hand off and allow us to do what we probably would have done to ourselves long before, and that is begin to destroy one another.

The Fallen Human Mindset

Don McGee: Not only do we have the technology, but we have the human mindset that will allow us to destroy ourselves. Look at what He says in 9:20, “The rest of mankind who aren’t killed by these plagues did not repent of the works of their hands.” Jesus had this problem when He was on the face of the earth. He tried to do some miracles in His own hometown in Nazareth, and the Bible says that He could do no miracles there or a lot of miracles there because they didn’t have any faith. Miracles in the absence of faith simply hardens the heart.

David Reagan: I’m glad you mentioned that particular verse because it reminds me of a point that Billy Graham often makes in his preaching. He talks about how the same sun that melts the butter hardens the clay. That will be the same with the Tribulation, with the judgments of God, because for some of the people the judgments will melt their hearts and they will repent and accept Jesus as their Messiah. But, for the vast majority of mankind, it appears they’re just going to cause them to double up their fists and curse God.

Don McGee: They’re doing it now. They’re cursing God now. Look at who is the object of oppression more than any other group in the world. Whether you’re talking about in China, or any Muslim country — it’s the Christian. Even in this country, we are ridiculed, when such ridicule would call down the fires of Heaven if it were another group, but not so with Christians.

Dennis Pollock: We’re not the politically correct crowd, for sure.

David Reagan: One can’t say anything against homosexuals or against Muslims, but for Christians — open season!

Don McGee: That’s right, license always.

An Angry World

Dennis Pollock: One of the things that really strikes me in this chapter is a very short little statement that every time I read it, it just hits me so hard. It says, “The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come.” We’ve seen the anger of the nations. We live in an angry world. You see anger everywhere. You see it on the streets. You see it on the freeways. You see it on the news. You see it with Palestinians throwing rocks and suicide bombers attaching bombs to themselves, I mean, we live in a very angry world. The day is coming when we’re going to see the wrath of God. The difference being, God’s wrath is always just, it’s always perfect, but it’s going to be poured out. The nations are angry, but the Scripture says, “Now your wrath has come.”

The Persistent Adversary

David Reagan: Aren’t you amazed at the persistence of Satan? It says he knows Bible prophecy, and yet he still is fighting and trying to do everything he can to overthrow the throne of God. In the middle of the Tribulation he tries one last time to take God’s throne.

Don McGee: He knows his time is short.

David Reagan: You talk about self-deception, now this is self-deception!

Dennis Pollock: It’s a great example of how you can be extremely intelligent, I mean, Satan’s intelligence is probably off the charts, and yet, utterly foolish. He’s just a total fool.

Don McGee: Condition of the heart, that’s the key.

David Reagan: It really is, and there are so many people who are like that in so many different ways.

The Blood of the Lamb

David Reagan: I hope that everyone will take a moment to read Revelation 8-12 and let God speak to your heart about what He wants to tell you, because, remember, the word of God is “alive and active and sharper than a two edged sword.” God will bring some of these passages alive and quicken them to your heart as you read them.

I would like to emphasize a comment that is made in Revelation 12:11. That verse says there will be some people in the midst of the Tribulation who will be able to overcome Satan “because of the blood of the Lamb.” What in the world does that mean?

Don McGee: The term refers to the blood of Jesus Christ. The Bible teaches from the beginning to end that there is no forgiveness of sin apart from the shedding of blood. In Old Testament times, people sacrificed animals to atone for their sins, but these sacrifices were insufficient. There was no way that the blood of an animal could atone for the sins of a man. The sacrifices served merely as acts of faith that reminded them of their need for a Savior — a perfect Man who would serve as their sin substitute.

Each year at Passover, they would sacrifice a perfect lamb — one without any blemishes. That sacrifice pointed prophetically to the day when their Messiah would come and live a perfect life and then die for their sins. That’s the reason that John the Baptist proclaimed Jesus to be “the Lamb of God.” Jesus was crucified at Passover. He was our perfect sacrificial lamb, for He had no sin. Our sins were placed upon Him and He became our substitute, dying in our place for our sins. That’s why no one can be saved apart from faith in Him.

David Reagan: Dennis, how in the world can a person apply the blood of Jesus to his sins today?

Dennis Pollock: The process is so simple that most people find it hard to believe. Basically, what one must do is put his faith and his trust in Jesus as his Savior. That is done by confessing to God that you are a sinner, asking God to forgive you, and then receiving Jesus into your heart as your Lord and Savior. When you do that, your sins are placed under the blood of Christ, and they are forgiven by God and they are forgotten. They will never be held against you again.

David Reagan: Wow! That is really something. That is really salvation by grace through faith! You don’t just earn it. You just simply reach out and you receive it by faith.

Dennis Pollock: That’s right. For anyone who is unsaved, pray right now for salvation. Pray these words: “Lord, I confess to you that I am a sinner. I ask you to forgive me of my sins. I accept Jesus right now as my Lord and Savior. Apply His precious blood to me that I might be born again and become a child of Yours with the promise of eternal life. Thank you, Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”

David Reagan: If you prayed that prayer, please seek out a Bible believing and Christ exalting church where you can witness your faith in public confession of Jesus and water baptism.

In the next part on this series on Revelation, we’ll roil at how the world will suffer under the oppression of the Antichrist and his False Prophet in Revelation 13.

Resource

Revelation RevealedRevelation Revealed DVD
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Dr. Nathan E. Jones

As the Internet Evangelist at Lamb & Lion Ministries, Nathan reaches out to the over 4.5 billion people accessible over the Internet with the Good News of Jesus Christ. He also co-hosts the ministry's television program Christ in Prophecy and podcast The Truth Will Set You Free.

6 CommentsLeave a Comment

  • maranatha ya'll.
    well I really like 8:3 how this verse makes mention of the prayers of the saints. How so precious our prayers are to him, both now and during that judgement time.

  • yet another sign to us now and during that hour, we have hope in Christ, even during our darkest hour we have the Lord oh praise God!!! I also like 8:8 well if your a so called green christian, or a follower of environmental faith movement, ya'll don't like this verse. No wounder the false green bible and brian mclaren don't read from Revelation. green bible doesn't even have book of Revelation on it's internet version to read. Than again, most churches are like that about prophecy anyway, Lord help them!

  • Nathan said, "Mitchell, you weren't commenting, you were prosylitizing, so I deleted your articles (which should have been comments)."

    Ok, well my comment will be this. 🙂

    In Revelation 10 where we find the last trump and the mystery of God being finished we have a perfect harmony with the two most popular rapture passages in the Bible – 1 Thess 4:16 and 1 Cor 15:51-52. There is no doubt in my mind that Revelation 10 is describing the rapture.

  • Additionally, I now believe that the temple referred to in Revelation 11 may not be a physical temple, as I had always assumed. (I explain my reasoning here.) This view becomes more evident when the whole of Johannine literature is examined.

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