2026-03-11 Revelation 5 Wednesday Part 3

0:00Today is the day you have. Welcome to Today in the Word with Pastor Bob Larson, of Calvary Chapel Caldwell. Pastor Bob will be with us in just a few minutes, but first we'd like to let you know that Calvary Chapel is located on the corner of 10th and Everett across from the library in downtown Caldwell. We have two Sunday morning services at 9.30 and 11.30. If you prefer Saturday nights, we have a Saturday night service at 7 p.m. We also have a midweek service Wednesday night at 7 p.m. You can watch Today in the Word on Sunday mornings at 10 a.m. on ABC channel 6.1. Join us as we broadcast Calvary Chapel Caldwell's Sunday morning church services. Where Pastor Bob teaches you how to apply the truth in your Bible to your everyday experiences, so that you might enjoy better life. He goes on his day on 7. And when he opened the fourth seal and I heard a voice on the fourth living creature saying, come and see. So I looked and behold a pale horse and the name of him who sat on it was death and Hades

1:01followed with him. And the power was given to them over a fourth of the earth to kill with a sword with hunger with death and by the beast of the earth. So here when we see this fourth horse and its name is pale, the pale horse, right? And the word pale in Greek is translated chloros, which is where we get the word chlorophyll, right? Remember plants, chlorophyll, greenish, yellow, right? And so in other words, this is a really ugly horse, right? It's like greenish, yellow, that's pretty ugly. And it speaks of sickness and death, right? Whenever you see somebody and they don't look good, what do you say? They look green, right, whatever. And so he's saying, look, this is going to bring death. And you know, if World War III breaks out, there's going to be a lot of that. Now, we don't know that's exactly what's going to happen. Just in my mind, it's easy to think that all this is coming. I mean, it's pretty reasonable to think this could happen. So he says, by the beast of the earth, now some commentators think that beast speaks of pestilence, right? Just of disease. But when you think about, as a Christian, you see all the stuff that's going to happen.

2:02And how should we live, right? If we're living in these times, well, first of all, it's 5, 6 says this, therefore, let us not sleep. In other words, wake up. Don't be thinking that things are going to continue on as ever, as they've always. Therefore, let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep sleep at night and those who get drunk at night, that hasn't changed for thousands of years. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love and as a helmet of hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to attain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, here's the good news. All this bad stuff we just read about that's coming in chapter 6 that the Bible says, God has not appoint us to wrath. And this is God's wrath. So what do we do? We need to be obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. So the good news is that if you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you don't have to worry about this stuff. You don't have to try to figure out how to filter your blood with iodine tablets, right?

3:03Which seems crazy to me, but all you need to do is make sure you're ready, right? Make sure that you have a relationship with Jesus Christ. And that's so important as we read through the book of Revelation. It should stir us up to want to think about, man, these things could happen. I mean, just some months ago, Russia was saying that they were gonna use nukes in Ukraine, right? And what he was more disturbing to me is our last president was giving Ukraine missiles to launch into Russia. Now, if I was Russia and some country was giving Ukraine missiles to launch into my backyard, I might wanna launch some on them, right? That's us. And so, I mean, you just see that these things are coming. And so, he says in verse 9, when he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. Then we talked about that on Sunday. Who were these people? These are the people that get saved during the seven-year tribulation period. So people are gonna get saved, people who you witness to, maybe friends, coworkers, and after the rapture happens,

4:04they're gonna realize whatever you said to them and other Christians in their life have said to them, they're gonna realize, oh, this is true. Can't buy or sell without a mark. And then when everybody come check in and get your mark on your hand, they'll be like, I'm not gonna do it, right? And so, they're gonna get martyred. Verse 10. And they cry with a loud voice saying, how long, O Lord, holy and true until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth. Now, they're gonna be martyred and they're gonna be people who know enough about the Bible and about what's going on to realize, oh, this is what the Bible predicted, right? And verse 11, then a white robe was given to each of them and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who would be killed as they were would be complete. In other words, the Antichrist is going to kill a lot of these people who don't worship him, right? When he says, you gotta buy or you can't buy or sell without a mark. And so, you should never feel bad about witnessing to friends or family members or relatives

5:04telling them about, hey, you know what, Jesus is coming, that it's coming. There's gonna be a one-world government. Now, a lot of people know about the one-world government, but when you tell them that the Bible says, when the one-world government is in full swing, the leader of it is gonna deceive people and be thinking he's great, but he's really the Antichrist, right? And he's really gonna go into the temple and proclaim that he is God and proclaim that they need to worship him as God, right? And so, you should never regret sharing with your friends the gospel because once this happens and once we're in heaven and these things are going on, you might regret not sharing with them, but you wanna share with them, right? You wanna tell them, hey, you know what, you think the world's crazy now, it's gonna get crazier. See, some people think that it's gonna get better. There's actually some doctrines in the Christian church where some people think that as Christians, we're gonna witness to everybody and people are gonna love what we're telling and then everybody's gonna get saved and then everybody's gonna be nice and everything's gonna be peaceful and then Jesus can come back to a peaceful earth because everybody's nice now. Now, if you believe that, you need to get out more

6:07because that's not happening, right? Now, people are getting saved, right? And I love that, but the reality is is that things are getting worse. I mean, I remember when I lived in California as a kid, it wasn't that bad. I mean, I remember, well, what do you wanna tell you, it wasn't that bad, I mean, things were much better. I mean, now, I mean, honestly, if I lived in New York, I would carry like not one sig, I'd carry two. I mean, like, and then it'd be big rounds, 45. I mean, it'd be like, I mean, I wouldn't be walking around like, yeah, I'm an America, I mean, no, it's scary place, right? And so, he said in verse 12, I looked when he opened the sixth seal and behold, there was a great earthquake and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair and the moon became like blood. Now, I don't know if you can imagine this, but, you know, scientists, they looked at the possibility of this, the history channel looked at the end time prophecies of the Bible and what is the probability that could happen and they said that the world

7:09could blow up with any of these things, right? And they said, all of these things are terrible. Lots of people have done research about, could this really happen? And they're like, oh, yeah, it could happen. And that's why I think a lot of people realize something's coming and a lot of people think, oh, in case the apocalypse and, and I don't know why they locked on to zombies, right? There's the zombie apocalypse and I never watch those shows. It's my wife is scared of them, but anyway, so, but you just think about, somehow they think everybody's gonna turn into zombie and eat you and anyway, but, but people know something weird's coming and so he goes in verse 13 and says, and the stars of heaven fell to the earth as a fig tree drops its late figs when it's shaken by a mighty wind. Now, these could be asteroids, they could be rockets. I don't know, we don't know what's good, but we know as it says, stars fell from heaven. So, we know that asteroids, I'm surprised and asteroid hasn't hit the earth already, right? You just think here we are floating out in space, you guys ever look at the stars? I'm gonna stuff float, never we're out there. I mean, and why isn't one crashing the earth yet? Well, because God is watching out over us.

8:09In fact, in 1989, a large asteroid came within 10 hours of hitting the earth and they saw it after it went by and then they told us, and this happens, like, you know, every 20, 30 years, they're like, oh, this big asteroid could hit us. Why didn't he tell us? Well, we didn't see it till after it went by, but anyway. And then they think they're gonna shoot a new cat and blow it up, but they gotta be able to see it ahead of time. Anyway, it goes on in verse 14, it says, then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up and every mountain in island was moved out of its place. So the sky receded as a scroll. That could be a lot of things. I mean, it could be a hydrogen bomb. It could be a volcano, right? You ever seen a volcano go off, like, shh, right? And in 1980, Mount St. Helens erupted and they said it was a 50 megaton blast and the sky was black for days and the moon was blood red for days and night and it was a very creepy kind of experience. But we know that this is a real thing. Now what's amazing, this was written 2,000 years ago, and to say this is gonna happen

9:10during this seven-year tribulation period, verse 15. And the kings of the earth and the great men and the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave, every free man, hit themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, right? So there's gonna be no safe place for someone who chooses to go through this tribulation period in rebellion to God. There's no amount of money that's gonna protect people from it. And so it doesn't matter if you have a bunker in Montana or in Oregon or whatever, an iodine pills and a filtering system for your water, this is gonna be a terrible experience. And so you don't wanna be here. So he says in verse 16, and said to the mountains and the rocks fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of his wrath has come and who is able to stand. So whenever someone says to you, well, pass about what makes you think this seven-year tribulation period is God's wrath? We'll just tell him verse 16 and verse 17, for the wrath of the Lamb. Now we know who the Lamb is, right? Jesus is the Lamb. For the great day of his wrath has come

10:11and who is able to stand. So the wrath of the Lamb, right, is God, it's Jesus. And his wrath has come. And so when you think about what are the unbelievers gonna do when this happens, well, it tells us. They're like, let's go hide. And then they're like, let the rocks fall on us. And it's amazing that they know it's the wrath of God and yet they still won't repent. They're like, we're not gonna repent. We, anything but that. And so here's the thing. God doesn't want anyone to go through this. And as we're gonna see as we keep reading through the revelation, book of revelation, he's gonna continue to bring people to preach the gospel, but the best way to go is to receive Jesus now, right? And to be taken out. And God is providing opportunity for people to repent before the tribulation begins. Thessalonians 5.9 says this, for God did not appoint us to wrath. I love that. So you shouldn't be fearful as we read through the book and we read about this stuff and maybe you go home and turn on the news and they're like, oh, Iran got a nuke. And now they're sending it our way, right? Or whatever, because you need to know it says, God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

11:12So when you have Jesus, as your Lord and Savior, when you confess your sins and receive Jesus into your heart, then you can have peace. It doesn't matter what happens, right? Some years ago, my brother was in Hawaii. And I don't know exactly what happened, but they told the people in Hawaii that rockets were coming to blow them up. I don't know if they said they were from where they were from, and there were people who had heart attacks. They actually went to the hospital just in the thought, but rockets never came, right? But everybody was freaking out. And there's the thing, God doesn't want people to freak out. He doesn't want you to live in fear. He wants you to live in peace. Knowing that, hey, whatever happens, you're saved. You're going to heaven. And the Bible tells us we're gonna read on about heaven is a great place where there's no more pain, no more sorrow, so awesome. No more goofy bosses, right? I mean, he says, like, you don't have to go to work every day, we're gonna worship the Lord. So if you're not sure about where you are in your relationship with God, you want to be sure. You want to invite Jesus into your life. And so we're gonna give you an opportunity to receive Jesus into your life tonight. So let's pray, and we're gonna bow our heads, let's pray.

12:13Well, we thank you for your word, and we thank you Lord for telling us what's coming, and that Lord that you love us, and that Lord we can receive forgiveness of our sins through Jesus Christ. And we pray tonight, if there's anyone here who is not sure whether they're saved or not, that they would invite you into their life, so they would receive you as their savior now in Jesus name. Amen. Thank you for joining us for today in the worth. We'd like to share with you a couple of things that are going on here at Calvary Chapel. Calvary Kids of Caldwell Daycare is now hiring. Calvary Kids is a Christ-centered daycare and a state licensed childcare facility that is open Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Part time and full-time positions are available. If you enjoy working with children from infants to kindergarten, give us a call at 208-454-5136. For more information or to apply online, please go to calvarycaldwell.com. Calvary Chapel Caldwell would like to invite you to our Saturday night service at 7 p.m.

13:15This is an alternative for those who cannot make it to our Sunday morning services. Like us on Facebook at Calvary Chapel Caldwell or check out our website at calvarycaldwell.com. You can watch today in the word on Sunday mornings at 10.30 a.m. on the CW channel 2.2. Join us as we broadcast Calvary Chapel Caldwell Sunday morning church services, where Pastor Bob teaches you how to apply the truth in your Bible to your everyday experiences so that you might enjoy a better life. If you would like to listen to Pastor Bob's message today in its entirety, you can visit our YouTube page. Just search Calvary Chapel Caldwell and you can see all of the latest messages from Pastor Bob. Make sure to click the notification bell so you know when. We post new content. If you are not currently attending a church and are in the Caldwell area, we'd like to invite you to one of our services. We're located on the corner of 10th and Everett across the street from the library in downtown Caldwell. You can also visit us on the web at calvarycaldwell.com. If today in the word has ministered to you and you would like to support this radio outreach ministry, we encourage you to pray for us. You can also partner with us financially.

14:17Simply visit calvarycaldwell.com to make a donation. Thank you for joining us for today in the word. May the Lord bless you and may you have a great day. Today is the day you have made.