This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Welcome to Day 5 of our Look Together Through Revelation, Chapter 8. We're
looking at the trumpet calls of God. It's interesting, even as I'm teaching
this, right next to me there's somebody practicing a trumpet.

So I'm hearing this beautiful trumpet playing, and as I think about these
trumpets, I realize there's not a lot of beauty in them. There is the judgment
of God in them. The only beauty that's in them is that I might have turned to
him.

And if you have turned to him, the beauty is you don't have to face this
judgment of God. Instead, you face an eternity with him. The fourth trumpet call
of God, Revelation, Chapter 8, Verses 12 and 13.

The fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a third
of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them turned dark. A
third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night. As I watched,
I heard an eagle that was flying in mid-air call out in a loud voice, "Woe, woe,
woe to the inhabitants of the earth because of the trumpet blasts about to be
sounded by the other three angels.

" We'll look at those trumpet blasts next week, and the reason the eagle says
"woe" is because those are going to come more directly against people. But in
this fourth blast of the trumpet, it's the sky, it's the sun, it's the moon
that's struck. Everyone sees this world is not all there is.

Someone on our research team wrote about this chapter, "I always feel pretty
overwhelmed by Revelation, and I feel pretty poorly equipped to grasp it. " I
noticed in this chapter they said that when an angel sounded his trumpet, a
result was a third of the earth and the stars were destroyed. Is this so that
people who have not yet accepted Christ will have one more chance as they see
that the world and the universe are being destroyed?

Well, for a person who feels overwhelmed by Revelation and poorly equipped to
grasp it, yes, you have grasped it. We want to see that this world is going to
pass away, and also its lusts, and that we're looking forward to a new heaven
and a new earth. If you want to picture what's going on here, picture that
you're living in a house on the edge of a cliff, and I tell you that one day
that cliff is going to collapse.

You better not trust in that house. You need to move. You need to get in a
different place, but you don't believe it.

There come rumblings under that house. There are earthquakes under that house.
Everything shakes a time or two.

But you still say, "We're OK. The cliff is still here. We're still safe.

" Those are maybe the seals that we looked at that were broken. Those are the
first problems that come upon this world. But then a third of the house falls
with a third of the cliff into the sea.

At that moment, what do you do? At that moment, do you still hang on? The only
reason to still hang on at that moment is if that house is all that you have.

If you have nothing else but that house to live for, then you'd stay in that
house at that moment. But God's writing this to tell us you have something else
to live for. This world is passing away.

A third's falling away at a time. Don't miss it. You have something else to live
for.

You see, if you see this world as a scary place, it's falling apart. Revelation
is comforting. It's full of hope.

But if you see this world as a place in which to place your hope, Revelation is
a very scary book. Now, as we read these verses about what's happening, we've
read through this last part of chapter 8, we've read some pictures of what God's
going to do. And in these pictures of what's going to happen with the sun, with
the sea, I just want to remind you of a very important truth to grab onto in the
book of Revelation.

It's very important when studying prophecy to see this. You have to distinguish
between three things, prophetic revelation, prophetic interpretation, and
prophetic speculation. As we walk through these things that God is doing, you've
noticed that these first four judgments, first four trumpets, they've had to do
with nature.

Next week we're going to see that the last three focus more on people. As you
walk through these judgments, it's inevitable to start thinking about what do
these mean? What does it mean that a mountain falls into the sea?

What exactly does it mean? God puts a mountain on fire. Is it a volcano?

Is it a meteor? Is it some kind of spiritual symbol? Is it, some people have
said, a nuclear bomb?

What is God talking about here? Maybe the most important thing that we look at
as we look through the book of Revelation is this very point we're looking at
right now. To really come to grips with what the book of Revelation teaches us,
you have to understand that in all prophetic studies of what's going to happen
in the difference, you have to understand the difference between prophetic
revelation and prophetic interpretation and prophetic speculation.

They are three different things. When you think of prophetic revelation,
prophetic revelation means that God has revealed himself clearly. We know
exactly what he's going to do.

There's no doubt about it because he says this is the revelation. He has given
it to us. That's clear.

But we have to interpret that revelation. Prophetic interpretation means there
may be two or three ways or ideas that Christians have had over the last 2,000
years of looking at a particular way that God has revealed himself. We know
what's going to happen, but we say, well, maybe it could happen exactly this way
or maybe it could happen exactly this way.

Both of them accomplish what God said he was going to do. There may be two ways
to interpret this passage. I'll show you some examples of this in a moment.

But you have to distinguish between prophetic revelation and prophetic
interpretation. And finally, there's prophetic speculation. That's where you
say, well, I think this could mean this based on some headlines that I read
today.

This is a thought I have about what this could mean. It's just enjoyable to talk
about what maybe this could mean. Let me tell you what I mean by these.

Prophetic revelation is Jesus is coming again. There is no doubt about that. The
Bible is incredibly clear about that.

Anyone who reads the Bible and believes the Bible has to believe that Jesus
Christ is coming back because he says he is and reveals that he is. He's coming
again. Prophetic revelation.

Prophetic interpretation would be he is coming back before to get his church, to
rapture his church, before or after this time of tribulation. Some people
believe before. Some people believe after.

There are great Christians who have great hearts for the Lord who believe some
before, some after, some even in the middle of the tribulation. It's a matter of
interpretation exactly when he's going to come and gather his church. And we as
believers should interpret the Bible and look and try to understand these things
and see.

You know, there are two or three different ways to look at this one. Based on
what I see in scripture, this is what I believe. And I've shared with you what I
believe as we walk through this.

That's prophetic interpretation. And then there is prophetic speculation. If I
said to you, I believe Jesus Christ is going to come back before the year 2020
based on the events that I see and the numerology that I've added up in the book
of Revelation, I say sometime in the year 2020, that's when Jesus Christ is
coming back.

That is pure speculation. That is speculation based on a false teaching in that
case. Now, there is speculation that's also based on what could this possibly
mean?

Not a false teaching, but just a curiosity. Let me just walk through this with
you because it's important to understand. Prophetic revelation is God will judge
the world with destruction.

That's clear in both the Old and New Testaments. There's going to come a time of
destruction and this world will end. Prophetic interpretation, whether the
judgments in the book of Revelation occur at all the same time or they occur one
after another.

People interpret that in different ways. Good Christians, people who love the
Lord, interpret that in different ways. Prophetic speculation would be the means
for this destruction based on what I see him saying about a mountain of fire is
he's going to use a nuclear explosion.

That's what this is picturing. That's what some books have said. You read these
things about water becoming bitter and the sea turning to blood and people say,
"That's a picture of a nuclear bomb.

" That's just speculation. There's nothing in the Bible that tells you that.
It's just a matter of speculation, not interpretation, not revelation, just
speculation.

Now, by the way, even in interpretation, I have problems with a nuclear bomb
theory. Could be, but I don't happen to believe we're going to destroy
ourselves. God could choose to allow us to destroy ourselves, but that's not the
feel I get from Scripture.

These judgments are not those that we bring upon ourselves at the end. They're
the judgments that God brings upon us. And there are those who seem to act as if
we're going to do it all to ourselves by some nuclear explosion.

We have hurt ourselves and will again. There's no doubt about that. But in the
end, it's going to be God's plan.

God was able to wipe out Egypt before we even understood the atom a long time
ago. He's in charge of this world. He will do whatever he wants.

You have to understand the difference between revelation, interpretation, and
speculation. We want all three. You just have to understand the difference.

The church believers will be raptured by Jesus Christ. Is that revelation,
interpretation, or speculation? It's revelation.

The Bible tells us that will happen in the book of Thessalonians. The order of
the end time events, whether tribulation happens before or after the rapture, is
that interpretation, speculation, or revelation? That's a matter of
interpretation.

And it's okay for Christians who are looking into digging into God's Word to
have differences of opinions about that. A book series like the Left Behind
series, which is very enjoyable to read, we still need to understand what it is.
Is it interpretation, or revelation, or speculation?

It's speculation. There's a reason the series is in the fiction part of the
bookstore. Is it okay to read fiction?

Of course it is. There's nothing wrong with reading it. There's nothing wrong
with speculating based on God's Word, as long as it doesn't lead to false
teaching.

It's important to understand that. It's just important to understand that
speculation is different than interpretation. Now, I've taken a long time with
this today, not focusing just on the verses because I believe it's so important.

Because I would say that in the United States and much of the world today,
people are more interested in speculation about the book of Revelation than
interpretation about the book of Revelation. And to me, that is sad. How many
Christians have read the Left Behind series compared to how many have read the
actual book of Revelation recently?

Oh, that one can hurt. We're just more interested in speculating than
interpreting. It's a little easier.

It's a little more interesting to satisfy our curiosity. I believe that
interpretation has to come first. It's more work.

But when you get interested in interpreting God's Word, it changes your life. It
changes your heart. This is serious business.

If you don't have interpretation and revelation, all you have is speculation.
And then a teacher can lead you anywhere that he or she wants. There are some
fine Christian teachers out there who are speculating about what the book of
Revelation teaches who are not going to lead you astray.

Thank God for those kind of teachers and those kinds of books. But be careful if
all you do is speculate. The reason to walk through this book and understand it
for yourself is so that you won't be led astray by some false teacher who
speculates in a way that leads you down the wrong road.

As you read through the stories of what happened and hear about a mountain that
falls into the sea and what God's Word says and the picture that it gives us,
you can speculate and say, could it be an asteroid? Could it be a nuclear bomb?
That's interesting to me.

But it's not vital. What's vital to me is this world's going to end and God has
a new heaven and a new earth. What's vital to me is I don't want to trust in
this world because in the end it is not trustworthy.

What's vital to me is even as problems come into my life and even as this world
falls apart in the end, it's not because God doesn't have a plan. It's not
because God's plan is failing. It's because God is accomplishing His plan, even
through the problems that we bring upon ourselves.

Prophetic revelation and interpretation, that's why you're digging in. And
you're already to chapter 8. I applaud the fact that you're studying the book of
Revelation, that you're focusing on what does it mean for my life today.

Let's take a few minutes to talk to the Lord. And Jesus, as we talk to you, we
thank you. Thanks for a few moments today just to think together about the truth
you've given us, and that the way we study that truth can make all the
difference in our lives.

Help us to be people who devote our hearts to understanding your word so that
you can change our hearts, change our lives for your glory. Lord, thank you for
this book. I don't always understand it and sometimes I'm disturbed by it, but I
thank you for it because I know it's your word and I pray it would change our
hearts and lives.

I pray that it would give us hope as we study through it. It'd help us to hold
on a little less to this world and hold on a lot more to you. And we ask this
together in Jesus' name, amen.

Well join us next week, we're going to look at Revelation chapter 9, continue to
see how God is in control as we look at the last three of the seven trumpets.