I'd like you to take your Bibles today and turn with me to the book of the Revelation. We are studying in the book of the Revelation. And a passage that I would like to read today is in Revelation chapter 6. And the verses that I'm reading today is from verse 9 to the end of the chapter. The reason that I have chosen to sing that song "Give Thanks with a Grateful Heart" is because we who know the Lord Yeshua the Messiah ought to give thanks to Him because we belong to one that has loved us and gave Himself for us, paid a price for our sins, forgave our sins, and gave us a hope beyond this world.

Because there is coming a day when this world is going to be judged in righteousness by that very same God, who is today the Messiah rejected by men. But there is a coming a day that those who rejected Him will have to experience the judgment of rejecting the Messiah of Israel, the Redeemer of this world. And in Revelation chapter 6, we see these judgments that are going to fall upon this world in the tribulation period, what we call it in Hebrew, Tzarat Yaakov, the Jacob's trouble that is mentioned in Jeremiah chapter 30 and verse 7. So please turn with me to Revelation chapter 6. If you have a Bible, please turn there and I begin to read from verse 9.

"And when He had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?" "And white robes were given unto every one of them, and it was said unto them that they should rest yet for a little season until their fellow servants also and their brethren that should be killed as they were should be fulfilled." And verse 12. "And I beheld when He had opened the sixth seal, and, Lord, there was great earthquake, and the sun became black as a sackcloth of hair, the moon became as blood, and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree cast her untimely figs.

When she is shaken, when she is shaken of a mighty wind, and the heavens departed as a scroll, when it is rolled together, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places, and the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captain, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every freeman, And the great men hid themselves hid themselves in the dens and the rocks of the mountains. And they said to the mountains and to the rocks, "Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb." "And the great day of His wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand?" And I stop here with the reading.

Revelation 6 verses 9 to 17. We are studying the book of Revelation that shows us now not only the past experience of John as he saw the glorified Mashiach, Messiah, as a judge there glorified in the presence of God in heaven. Also, we have looked in chapter 2 and chapter 3 of Revelation, and we saw the church age, chapter 2 from Ephesus all the way to chapter 3 at the end, the age of Laodicea, and we saw the seven churches that shows us the whole history of the church age. And then we have been taken to heaven in chapter 4 and chapter 5 of Revelation, and we have seen this beautiful sight of the worship of the Creator and the worship of the Redeemer.

And the question, if you remember, was risen: "Who is worthy to take the scroll and to loose the seven seals thereof?" And no one was worthy. Not in heaven. Not in earth. Not under the earth. No one was worthy to even, not only to open the book, but not even to look upon that scroll. And this scroll in the hands of God the Father is the title deed to this universe that was lost by men when sin entered into this world. And so, praise God, one of the elders in Revelation chapter 5 said to John, "Come and see. the Lion of the tribe of Judah and the root of David, he has prevailed to open the book and to loose the seven seals thereof." And as John, turning around to see that Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, what does he see?

He see a lamb as it had been freshly slain. What does he see? He see the Messiah in the character of his redeeming character that he finished the work. He was freshly slain. He was the only one that was able to open the seven seals, the loose stem of that book. He was the only one that could take the rightful place, the rightful title deed to this universe, which was lost already in the Garden of Eden when Adam violated the Word of God. And so, as he took this scroll from the hand of God the Father, we began in chapter 6 and he began to loose those seals.

And as he opened those seals one by one, we can see that every seal that is open, it is a judgment of God that is going to fall upon the face of this universe. And he opened, if you remember, in our last ministry meeting, we have already discussed those first four seals that have been loosed. We saw the first seal was open in chapter 6 verses 1 and 2. We saw in verses 3 and 4 the second seal that was open, the third seals in verse 5 and 6, and the fourth seal was open in verses 7 and 8. And we could see that every seal that was open in those first four seals are really representing something and someone that will come to this world and be the counterfeit Messiah who will first of all come on a white horse to appear as if he is coming in peace.

And then later on, the second seal, he is actually coming on a red horse and he is really showing to us that he is a man that seeks to take away peace from this world but ultimately to have war in this world. And then thirdly, we saw the third seal in verses 5 and 6. He is riding on a black horse. And we see that this world will experience famine and much need of food in this world. Everything is going to rise up in cost here in this world. And then fourthly, we see that one quarter of the human population are going to be destroyed. In verses 7 and 8, it tells us here that they will be destroyed, they will be killed with the sword, with the hunger, with death, and this is pestilence, and also with the beasts of this earth.

So by the time we arrive here to verse 9 where we began our reading today, we have already seen that the Lamb of God, Yeshua the Messiah, He opened already four of these seven seals. The remaining of chapter 6, dealing with another two seals that the Messiah is going to open right now. And brothers and sisters, I tell you, as we were singing this song, give thanks with a grateful heart. Give thanks because of what the Lord has done for us. It shows us that we who are believers in the Lord are forgiven. And we have been redeemed by His precious blood. And we have an assurance that we belong to Him.

But those that have not come to know Him, going to experience in the tribulation period, the judgment of God, the wrath of God that will fall upon the nations of this world. And so, brothers and sisters, we can see now in the next verses that I began in my reading today, verses 9, 10, and 11, we see the fifth seal is being opened. And what do we see? Notice the Lord is now opening that fifth seal. And it says, and when He, the He here, is the Lamb that took the scroll from the right hand of God the Father, who was sitting on the throne in heaven. And He had opened the fifth seal.

And what does John see? He says, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they have held. What John is seeing right now, in glory, he is seeing in his vision, he sees that when the Messiah Yeshua, the Lamb, opened the fifth seal, as the seal was opened, he sees the souls, very interesting, underneath an altar that is found in heaven, in glory, the souls of them that were slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they have held. Apparently, brothers and sisters, already in the earlier part of the tribulation period, there will be a beginning of the persecutions of believers whom we understand to be tribulation saints.

And they who would live here on earth while we, the heavenly company and glory in heaven, we see that they already have experienced persecution. We know from history of the church that is the first person that had been a martyred individual was Stephen, which we read of him in Acts chapter 7. You remember, he was a Jewish believer in his Messiah Yeshua. And because of his testimony to his own brethren, to the Sanhedrin, concerning the Messiah, he had been stoned to death. And he had been persecuted and he died for the testimony that he had given concerning the person of Yeshua HaMashiach. What do you think is going to happen here during the tribulation period?

There will be those believers from among the nation of Israel and other nations of the world who will live here on earth during the tribulation. And those individuals will experience persecution that will be tremendous persecution. It's not yet the climax, even in the earlier part of the tribulation period. We just read in verses 5 and 6, there will be famine. We read in verse 7 and 8, the fourth seal that one quarter of the world population gonna lose their lives. One quarter, can you imagine? One person out of every four individuals, according to verse 8, will be killed with the sword. They will be killed with hunger. They will be killed with pestilence.

They will be killed by the fact that even the animal kingdom, out of hunger, will end up to cause death upon the human race. And many of them, dear brothers and sisters, will be saints of God. They will be believers in the Messiah. But they will experience persecution by those who, by the Antichrist, the counterfeit Mashiach, and those who follow him. And they will end up to lose their lives. Now, why do they lose their lives? Notice it says here, in verse 9, it says here, "I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain." And notice why they were slain. "For the word of God and for the testimony which they have held." In other words, they will be those that will be testifying here on earth for the person of the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah.

And they will give a testimony in their lives. By the way, the word "testimony" in Greek is the word "martyria", which comes from what we get the word "martyr". In other words, when they will give a testimony to God, they will be martyred for the name of the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah. And what John is seeing, is seeing their souls underneath the altar in heaven. Now, you and I think about what today is an altar in heaven? Well, apparently, if you remember, when Moshe, the lawgiver of our nation Israel, when he has gone to the mount, God has given him a pattern of the tabernacle to be built.

And the pattern that he received is according to the pattern that is found in heaven. Now, I do not know. I am sure there is a special way in which God presented to Moshe, to Moses, the pattern of the tabernacle, the altar and the lampstand and all the articles that we have in the tabernacle and later on in the temple. But apparently, notice it says that the souls were under the altar. Those were the souls of the believers who were slain because they gave testimony to the person of the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah. Now, why do we have in the Bible an altar? If you remember, for a moment, just turn with me to Leviticus chapter 4, just for a moment.

And I want you to see the altar was given by God to our people of old Israel, in order that upon the altar, the blood of the sacrifice will be spread. And so the altar, the sacrifice will be laid upon the altar, the blood will be sprinkled there, because then God can give forgiveness of sins to the nation of Israel. Well, we can see, dear brothers and sisters, in Leviticus chapter 4, that the blood of the bullock for the sin offering had to be spread at the bottom of the burnt offering altar. Look what it says in Leviticus chapter 4. It says in verse 7, And the priest shall put some of the blood upon the horns of the altar of the sweet incense.

This is one altar before the Lord, which is in the tabernacle of the congregation. And look what it says in the second half of this verse. And he shall pour all the blood of the bullock at the bottom of the altar of the burnt offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. So there were two altars. There was the altar of incense. It was further in, in the holy place. But there was the altar of the burnt offering on which the blood had to be poured. And according to Leviticus chapter 4 and verse 7, The blood was poured at the bottom of the altar of the burnt offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

And so when we think about blood, blood speaks of life. And the blood that had been shed, it speaks of the sacrifice that was given. It speaks of offering. And what we see here from this verse 9 of Revelation chapter 6, that those believers, saints of the tribulation period, was willing to offer their lives as a sacrifice, if you will, to offer their lives for the testimony of the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah. And so we see their souls, the soul of them that were slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they have held. Now, one more thing to mention about the soul. I know we often have a problem to understand.

What does it mean John see a soul? You know, can you see a soul? Well, the question is this, is that we as people, we have spirit and soul and body. According to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 23, every individual have the spirit, the soul and the body. The body is the house which house the soul and the spirit. Each one of us, when I look at you this afternoon, I can see your body, that one third part, if you will, of your being. I can see your house. Some of houses are tall, some are short, some are skinny, some are wide. And we can see only the house which we house the soul and the spirit.

But the soul, it's the seat of the emotion. It's the seat of the person. In other words, every one of us, the seat of our feeling, the seat of our emotion, the seat of our experience, the seat of our intellect. This is the soul, this is the personhood of each and every one of us. And every one of us, that today looking at me this afternoon, you have a soul which is your personhood. When you feel sad, it's your soul who experiences sadness. When you feel happy, it's the soul that experiences happiness. When you think, and all this, what is known to be the personhood of each and every one of us.

But we also have the spirit. And the spirit is relating us to a living God. An animal have only a soul and a body. A plant have only a body but no soul and no spirit. It is only that a human being have spirit and soul and body. And so the spirit is the human spirit which relate us to a living God. It's only a man and a woman that can say, God, I thank you this morning for giving me a good night rest. And I pray to you that you will give me a good day in the next day. Only the human race can do that.

No animal can get up in the morning and say, God, I'm going to speak with you. I want to tell you something. No plant can get up in the morning and say, God, I want to tell you something. Only the human race. But that's why, beloved brothers and sisters, because we have an eternal soul and spirit, it is man that his soul or her soul never dies. And when a person died today, leave the scene, the body goes to the ground from which it came, and the spirit and the soul returning to the God who gave it unto us. And so, here's believers. Those believers in Yeshua, the Messiah, saints of the tribulation period.

And here we see now that because they gave a testimony to the Lord, Yeshua, the Messiah, a testimony of the word of God, they end up to lose their lives and end up that their bodies was back to the ground, but their souls is in the presence of the Lord in glory. And so, it is so beautiful to see this, dear brothers and sisters. If you just turn to Revelation chapter 20, at the end of our book of Revelation, look what we read about those souls later on, future time. It says in Revelation chapter 20 and verse 4, "And I saw thrones, and they that sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them." And look, verse 4 of chapter 20, "And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the testimony of Yeshua and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands, and they lived and reigned with the Messiah for a thousand years." Now, those are tribulation saints' souls, who were martyrs for the testimony of Yeshua the Messiah during Jacob's trouble in the future day, in the tribulation season.

So, we can see them now in glory, John sees them in glory, after they have suffered death because of the persecution of the Antichrist. And so, now we are moving to verse 10, and notice something that those believers saying in heaven, look at what the cry of these souls. It says here in verse 10, it says, "And they cried with a loud voice, and they say, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell upon the earth?" You see what they are doing, brothers and sisters? They are speaking to God, and speaking to the Lord, and they ask Him, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood?" Now, this is interesting.

How do we distinguish those souls from people such as ourselves in the church age? You see, nowhere we are exalted in the church age to pray for God to avenge our blood. In other words, if somebody does something wrong to the believer in this present-day dispensation, we will never be right with God and saying, "Lord, this person harmed me, I wish you please to harm him back." That will be not in accordance with the present-day dispensation in which we live in. But you can see that these individuals who died on earth, and their souls have been taken to heaven, you can see that they are from a different dispensation.

And when I use the word different dispensation, they are somehow connected with the dispensation of the law in which God had given to our people, Israel, as a nation. And those are the ones that are crying to God and they said, "How long, O Lord, how long, holy and true, dost not thou judge and avenge the blood of them that dwell upon the earth?" In other words, they was asking, in a sense, for God to come in justice, and to deal in justice with those that persecuted them and killed them, and also persecuting other believers that will live here during the tribulation period. Now you know very well that from the teaching of the Lord, and now I would like you to turn with me to the Gospel of Matthew for a moment in chapter 5, and you will see that in chapter 5, Yeshua is teaching his disciples how to relate to their enemies.

Yeshua came to this world, he was born in a manger in Beit Lechem, he is now, he lived in Natseret, and now he is teaching his disciples how to live here in this world. And so look what he is telling them in chapter 5 of Matthew in verse 10. He says to them, "Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice! And be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so persecuted they the prophet which were before you." Then verse 43.

Now look what he is saying to them. "Ye have heard that it had been said," this is under the law, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, love your enemy, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you, that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven. For he maketh the sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and he sendeth the rain on the just and on the unjust." You see, when Yeshua the Messiah entered into this world, just before he is going to the tree, to the cross, he taught his disciples, and he began to teach them how they are to behave.

And you notice that he says under the law, it says you should love your neighbor but you should hate your enemy. You know, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. But not now. I am here. I am the bridegroom. I am the one that came to this world to deal with the question of sin, and he is introducing the age of grace. And he is saying, "Listen, I say to you, you should love your enemies. You should bless them that curse you. You should do good to them that hate you. You should pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you." You see, this kind of language that those souls in heaven are asking for God for justice is not the language that the believers in the church age are exhorted to have.

We are exhorted exactly to do the opposite. We are exhorted to love our enemies. We are exhorted to pray for those who persecute us. Now, I know it easily said and talked about, but we know from experience that it is extremely hard, and without the help of the Lord, one cannot do so. Nevertheless, it is clear from the scripture that this is the language that we are called to have today, and the heart that we are called to have is the heart that is simply praying for our enemies, blessing our enemies. Those who persecute us, we are to pray for them. But here, those souls, who are also believers, but they are part of the tribulation period, which is the 70th week of Daniel.

They are part of the nation of Israel, if you will. They are still not in the age of the grace in which you and I live in today. They are just in the last 70th week of Daniel. And they say to God, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge, listen, judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell upon the earth? In other words, they are asking for God to deal in justice, in righteousness, upon those that have persecuted them, and persecuting those that are persecuting those believers of the tribulation. You remember earlier, we read in our reading, Psalm 137. And you remember in Psalm 137, the psalmist was actually praying a prayer that is very unusual.

Because you remember what he said, that Levite, that he was there by the rivers of Babylon. He said in Psalm 137, at the end of the psalm, verse 7, he said, "Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom, in the day of Jerusalem, who said, raise it, raise it, even to the foundation thereof." He says, "God, remember how they sought to destroy Yerushalayim. Remember this." And then you remember what he said here in verse 8, he said, "O daughter of Babylon, who art thou to be destroyed, happy shall be he that rewardeth thee as thou had served us." And then he said at the end in verse 9, something that you and I might not even imagine to think, and yet God shows us in the scripture how the law demands justice.

And it says in verse 9, "Happy shall be he that taketh and dashes your little one against the stones." Now that is not a New Testament language, brothers and sisters. That is not a "brit hachadasha" language. That is a language of the law that demands justice. Now God is merciful, and yet we understand that in the age of the law that God had given our nation Israel, justice demands to be given to men. And that's why when somebody is trying to get forgiveness on the basis of law keeping, he or she will find out very quickly that if they want justice, and if they want to be right with God on the basis of law keeping, they will find out that they will always come short of God's law demands.

And that's why we needed grace, and the Messiah has come to provide for us this grace. And so now we see that fifth seal being opened, we see the souls in heaven underneath this altar, and their cry is for justice. Now look what one is telling them right now in verse 11. "It was given unto them white robes, every one of them received that white robe, and it was said unto them that they should rest for a little while, for a little season, until their fellow servants also, and their brethren, that they should be killed, even as they were killed, until the time will be fulfilled." In other words, these souls in heaven of the tribulation saints that were crying for justice, they had to learn, wait a minute, there is still more to happen here in this world.

There is still those others, your brethren, and often time when we think of the word brethren, Achim in Hebrew, it has a reference of the Jewish brethren. There will be many Hebrew brethren who are going to be here in the tribulation period, who will lose their lives for the name of Yeshua, the Messiah. And he is saying to them, in verse 11, he says, "You know, you rest for a little season, until, look, your fellow servants, and their brethren should be killed, just like you have been killed." Apparently, the Lord is telling them, "Listen, there is coming more. There is an additional tribulation that is coming.

This is just the beginning. There will be many others of your own brethren and fellow servants, that they will also experience martyrdom for the testimony of Yeshua, the Messiah. They will also lose their lives for the name of Yeshua, the Messiah." But you notice it says that they receive white robes. Every time the scripture speaks of white robes, it speaks of salvation. You know, we read in Isaiah about the future of Israel, Isaiah 61, "I rejoice in the Lord. I gladly rejoice of the Lord, for He has given me the garment of salvation, the robe of righteousness." And so we see these white robes represent to us the righteousness of those saints.

They have been forgiven. They have been delivered by the Messiah Himself, who would provide for them a righteousness. And so we can see, dear brothers and sisters, that there is coming a time in the tribulation period, where there will be persecution of souls, of individual believers in Yeshua, the Messiah, and many of those believers are going to lose their lives, here upon the face of this earth. Now quickly, if you turn to chapter 11, just for a moment, and notice that, chapter 11 and verse 7, Revelation 11:7, "And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them and kill them." This is a future martyrdom during the tribulation period.

You see this? Look at chapter 12 again in verse 10 and 11. Revelation chapter 12 verse 10, "And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, "Now is come salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of His Messiah, for the accuser of the brethren is cast down, which accuses them before our God day and night, and they overcame Him by the blood of the Lamb, by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives even unto death." Here we see, during the tribulation period, as time is going on, there will be additional believers who will lose their lives for the testimony of our blessed Lord Yeshua the Messiah.

I'm just going to read one more portion chapter 14 of Revelation verse 13. It says there this way, "And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, "Write, blessed are the dead, which died in the Lord. From henceforth, yes, sayeth the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, and their works will follow them." You see that? The voice came, "Blessed are they, are the dead, which died in the Lord." There will be those tribulation saints, who because of their testimony for God, will end up becoming martyrs for the name of the Lord Yeshua the Messiah. So this is the fifth seal that is open here in Revelation chapter 6.

Now let's move on down. And now in Revelation 6 from verse 12 to 17, we have the sixth seal is being opened. And what is the sixth seal? Look, beginning in verse 12, there will be a worldwide catastrophes that will happen here in this world. There will be convulsions, there will happen here such catastrophes that no one has experienced, no one has experienced since the foundation of this earth. Look what it says, "And I beheld," verse 12, "And when I opened the sixth seal, and lo, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood, and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as the fig tree casts her untimely figs when she is shaken of the mighty wind." Look at verse 14, "And the heavens departed as a scroll when it is rolled together, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places." You see, when the sixth seal is being opened, what we find out, brothers and sisters, that there will be catastrophes here in this world such as never have been before.

Now since for the last few years, here we're here in a world in which we live in, so many things that were unbelievable. Just recently, we saw the tsunami in Japan, and what have happened, the devastation that have happened there in Japan, and how the sea entered into shore and destroyed everything on its way. You saw big cars and big boats pushed just the same like a little toy being pushed by the power of the sea, that the sea has entered into shore. We have heard of earthquakes. Just in Haiti, just not too long ago, a quarter of a million people lost their lives. We see those catastrophes that happen, and you and I are amazed.

I mean, when I was a young boy, I never heard those things as much as I hear just recently. As much as you and I are hearing today of events that are unusual, that are happening today. In the United States, we hear of all these winds and all the things that are happening. It is amazing, dear brothers and sisters. But I want to suggest that this is nothing compared to what's going to happen in a coming tribulation period. Jacob's trouble. Sarat Yaakov mentioned in Jeremiah 30 in verse 7. And you can see there are five things that are mentioned here that are going to be amazing during the tribulation period.

Look at this. First of all, as he opened in verse 12, he opened the sixth seal. The first thing we find out there will be an earthquake, a great earthquake. Apparently, this will be the first earthquake of the tribulation period. If you will look a little bit later in the book of Revelation in chapter 11 in verse 13 and chapter 16 verse 18 and 19, there will be additional two earthquakes during the seven-year tribulation. Can you imagine this earthquake that is going to happen during this tribulation time? Earthquake where everything that is standing is going to be shifted and moved and destroyed. Secondly, look at this. The second thing that is going to happen in verse 12b, the sun became black as sackcloth of hair.

The sun, apparently, there will be a complete blackout during the tribulation period. A blackout with the sun becoming black. Now, here we are today. Thank God. We look outside the window. We have light that we have received that actually coming from the sun. The sun is shining and God created the universe for the benefit of mankind. And we can enjoy the sun today, giving us heat by day, giving us light when we need it. But can you imagine when there will be a blackout? Just recently in our own home area, there was blackout in the whole town. And I'm telling you, we're always starting to search for matches, for candles, for all kinds of flashlights and so on.

So we'll be able to do something in our own home to just move about a little bit in the house and to function and to do our own things that we need to do every day. But can you imagine when there will be a complete blackout in this world? And the sun simply became black as if God turned the switch off and completely allowed no sun to be provided for the human race. Do you know what that's going to do to the people around the world? There will be chaos when such a thing like this is going to happen. Look, thirdly, what we find here that the moon became like blood.

Look at this verse 12. It says, and the moon became like blood. Now, all of a sudden, even the moon that's supposed to give light by night, the moon itself turned to be red like blood. And the light that was supposed to be provided for men, even this during the evening, during the night, will not be provided for men. There will be, brothers and sisters, as we have mentioned in these verses, there will be a tremendous chaos that will exist here during the tribulation period. Then we read in verse 13, the fourth thing that is going to happen, the stars of heaven will fall unto the earth just the same like a fig tree when the fig tree cast the untimely figs when she is shaken of the mighty wind.

Now, I don't know how to describe this. All what I can tell you, dear, beloved brothers and sisters, there will be all sorts of convulsions and catastrophes that will happen here during the tribulation period, which will cause a lot of chaos here in this world. And fifthly, it says here in verse 14, that the heaven, look at this, verse 14, the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together. And every mountain and island were moved out of their places. There will be, if you will, rearrangement of the mountains. The heavens will be rolled like a scroll. I mean, who can imagine, who can understand it?

As I was preparing for this message, I was reading the passage in the book of Psalm. And I was reading Psalm 19. And I was amazed how God, as a creator God, can do as he please, beloved brothers and sisters. It says here, the heavens declare the glory of God. And the firmament showed his handiwork. Day unto day, he uttered the utter speech. And night unto night, they show the knowledge of God. There is no speech, no language where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth. And their words to the end of the world. In them, he has set a tabernacle for the sun.

Which is as a bride room coming out of his chamber. And rejoices as a strong man to run a race. His going forth is from the end of heaven. And his circuit unto the ends of it. And there is nothing that is hid from the heat thereof. I was just amazed reading this passage in preparation for this message. And I'm thinking, listen, God who created heaven and earth. And may the star, the moon, the sun, provided it for mankind. And he can do as he pleases. He can roll the heavens as a scroll. He can remove the light from the sun. He can black out the moon.

He can cast down the stars. He can cause all this terrible condition to come upon the human race. And all this is coming because man rejected the will of a holy and a righteous God. And God will have to come in judgment upon the human race. And so this is what we read here concerning the sixth seal. Will you please turn with me to the prophet Isaiah, please. And I want to read just a couple of verses there in Isaiah chapter 34. Whatever is written in Revelation is not something that is new in connection with the tribulation because already the Hebrew prophets of all, our own people of all have prophesied this in the Tanakh, in the Old Testament.

And so in Isaiah chapter 34, we read what Isaiah have said. Look what it says in verse 1. "Come near, ye nations, to hear and hearken, ye people. Let the earth hear and all that is in them, the world and all things that come forth of it. For the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations, and his fury upon all their armies. He has utterly destroyed them. He has delivered them to the slaughter. Their slain also shall be cast out, and their stink shall come up out of their carcass, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood. And all the hosts of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll.

And all their hosts shall fall down, as a leaf fallen off from the wine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree." You see the resemblance of Isaiah 34 with Revelation chapter 6? You see what we can understand from these passages? The connection between what God had promised that he's going to do in the coming day of Jacob's trouble, that he's going to judge this world in righteousness. And what Isaiah saw as a vision from the Lord, Yohanan, John, has seen as a vision from the glorified Messiah. And it is speaking about the same events that are going to occur during the tribulation period. And how God is going to come in judgment upon this world.

I'm just going to read, since we are talking about it, I'm still going to read just one more verse in Isaiah. If you turn back to chapter 13 and verses 9 and 10. Look at this. "Behold, the day of the Lord is coming, cruel both with wrath and with fierce anger, to lay the land desolate, and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and the constellation thereof shall not give their light. The sun shall be darkened in his going forth. And the moon shall not cause her light to shine." You notice what we read? That it is called the day of the Lord.

Every time you read in the Tanakh, in the Hebrew scripture, the day of the Lord, it has to do with that day of tribulation period. It's not one single day, but they speak about seven years of Tzarat Yaakov, Jacob's trouble. And that one period in which God will pour out his wrath upon the human race, who rejected the Messiah and rejected the grace provided by God. So, we are back now, brothers and sisters, to Revelation chapter 6. And look at the conclusion of this sixth seal open. You would think that now man will turn to God. Notice what it says in those next verses. We read verse 12, 13, 14, the five catastrophes that are going to happen on earth.

Now in verse 15 of our chapter, he says, "And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every barnman, and every freeman, hide themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains." Do you know in a time like that, there is no room for pride? All those that are lofty and proud are going to end up to experience the righteous indignation of a holy God. I don't know if you have experienced this, but if you have ever ridden a plane, and all of a sudden you find the plane shaking, and there will be turbulence in the skies, all of a sudden all your pride fell to your feet.

All of a sudden you are no longer, your ego is not so great. All of a sudden you are not high and mighty. Oh, I know everything and I can do everything. And I tell you, brothers and sisters, when God is going to come in judgment upon this world, all the human race will have to learn righteousness. Pride of men will end up to be brought down. And that's why notice, the kings, it speaks of power. The great man speaks of elevation. The rich man speaks of wealth. The chief captain speaks of authority. The mighty man speaks of might and power. All these men, with all the highest position and power and what they have.

And this is men and women, people. They will end up hiding themselves in the dens of the rocks and of the mountains. That's what's going to happen. Not only them, dear brothers and sisters, even the bondmen, meaning those slaves and servants. And even the free men, those who are free and everything seems to be fine with their lives. All of a sudden, their might and power and authority will be totally disappeared. When God is going to cause these five judgments that we hear in this chapter, those verses. We read the catastrophe that's going to happen. Men are going to have to recognize that he is nothing before God.

That he is totally dependent upon this God. In other words, that he cannot hide from him. Because even when he is going to hide himself in the dens and in the rocks of the mountain. Thinking that God cannot reach them there. They will have to learn to deal with a holy and a righteous God. And you see, when we have sang earlier. Give thanks with a grateful heart. Give thanks to the Lord. Because you and I are not better than those men who are going to be there in the tribulation. In the tribulation period, we deserve the very same righteous judgment of God because of our sins.

But someone came and paid a penalty for our sins. His name is Yeshua. He redeemed us. He forgave our sins. He paid a penalty for our sins. He was judged the just for the unjust. But these ones here have rejected him. They did not accept him. They have set him aside. And now when all of a sudden they experience all these conversions. When they experience all these catastrophes. And they find out that there is no place to hide. So they are asking the mountains. Now notice in verse 16. They said to the mountains and the rocks fall on us. They are asking for the mountains to fall upon them.

That they will be hid from the wrath of the one who sits upon the throne. And for the wrath which is the wrath of the Lamb. You see, dear brothers and sisters. We find here that these kings, great men, rich men, chief captains, mighty men, bondmen, free men. Are seeking to be hid from the judgment that is going to fall upon the face of this earth. They are crying. And they said, can you imagine? They are talking to the mountains now. And they are asking from the mountains. Please. Fall on us. Rocks. Fall on us. And hide us from the face of him that sits upon the throne.

And from the wrath of the Lamb. Now it is amazing. The expression, the wrath of the Lamb. You know, what does that mean? The wrath of the Lamb. We read in the book of Matthew chapter 11. Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden. And I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, Yeshua said. For I am meek and lowly in heart. You see, the Lord in his first coming came as a lamb that was led to the slaughter in meekness and humility. That's the first coming. But here we are anticipating the second coming of the Messiah.

His coming in judgment and in righteousness. And here the very same lamb. Who is meek and lowly. But he is also righteous and holy. And demand righteousness. And so he is going to come. And he is going to pour this righteous indignation against men. And now, brothers and sisters, just before we are going to close. You would think that men on earth will turn to the Lord now and cry for mercy. If you just turn to chapter 16 of Revelation for a moment. And we are going to close here. And you notice that, what it says there. It says in verse 9 and verse 11. Those are the final judgment bowls that are going to be poured in the second half of the tribulation.

But I am going to read it a little bit ahead of time. Look what it says. When the fourth bowl was poured in verse 8. And the power was given unto them to scorch men with fire. Then it says in verse 9. And men were scorched with great heat. And look what they do. They blasphemed the name of God. Which has power over these plagues. And they repented not to give him glory. You would think. After all the judgment of God. Men would turn to God. Look what it says in verse 10 and 11. When the fifth vial was poured. Now in Revelation 16. It says in verse 10b. It says they gnashed their tongues for pain.

And verse 11. And they blasphemed the God of heaven. And they repented not of their deeds. You know what that tells us? That man by nature. That man by nature. Men lovers darkness. Rather than light. Don't you ever think for a moment. That you and I came to God. And we say God I love you so much. I want you in my life. Give me more of Jesus. You know what you and I probably said? I don't want to hear about him. I don't want to hear about God. I don't want anything to do with God. It was God's spirit. Who worked in our hearts. And touched our conscience.

And showed us that we are in a deep need. And that we need forgiveness from him. And that he plowed our souls. To bring us about. To the time when we are going to cry. God be merciful to me. A sinner. Because if he wouldn't have done so. We would have been exactly the same. Like those that we see here. In Revelation 6. In Revelation 16. God is coming in judgment. And the conclusion of the sixth seal. Is verse 17. For the great day of his wrath is come. And who shall be able to stand? No one is going to be able to stand. When God is going to take his rightful place.

In judgment upon the face of this earth. And so brothers and sisters. Here we are going to stop today. In this fifth and sixth seal. That being opened by the Messiah Yeshua. The Lamb of God. And we are going to move on. In the will of the Lord. In our next ministry meeting. To Revelation chapter 7. And in Revelation chapter 7. We are going to find out. How there were souls saved. During the tribulation. How they came to know. Since forgiving. During the tribulation. We are going to find this out. In Revelation chapter 7. Before the final seal is being opened. In Revelation chapter 8. In verse 1. And Lord willing.

If you take your time to read. Revelation chapter 7. You will see how precious. It is the ways of God. Even doing the Jacob's trouble. He is still reaching out. To his people. Israel. To the people of this world. And he is giving them. The message. Of the gospel. Of the kingdom. He is presenting. The message. Of the gospel. Of the kingdom. As he is sharing. And raising men. To preach. This message. During the tribulation. May the Lord. Bless those thoughts. To all of us. And encourage us. To be thankful. For what Yeshua have done for us. Can you say amen? Amen.