4th Trumpet - The Light of The World

(Rev 8:12-13 KJV) And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise. {13} And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!

The warning from the fourth trumpet angel is to live in The Light of The World. Do not try to mix darkness with the light for when you do, your light goes out. You become confused and those that follow you become confused. As Christians we are to be the light of the world.

(Mat 5:14-16 KJV) Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. {15} Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. {16} Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

As a Christian you are the _light____ of the _world___. The light of the Sun representing the light of the New Testament, The light of the Moon representing the light of the Old Testament and the light of the stars representing the ministry shines through you. As you live according to the understanding or light of the Word of God, Old and New Testaments, the light of hope and redemption shines out through you to all you come in contact with. You become a witness of the saving and keeping power of God that has been extended to man.

If you grow cold, indifferent and lukewarm to the Word of God and begin to ignore select portions so that you can justify living a sinful life, then your light becomes darkness. Instead of allowing the light of the Gospel shine out through you, you block that light with the sin that you choose to commit. Remember that the trumpet angels are warning you of the impending danger to your soul and to the souls of those that you influence. Your enemy, the devil, is going about as a roaring lion seeking to deceive you.

Let us review the symbols of our lesson. The sun, moon and stars are symbols of avenues of light.

(Gen 37:5-11 KJV) And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: and they hated him yet the more. {6} And he said unto them, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed: {7} For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf. {8} And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words. {9} And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me. {10} And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth? {11} And his brethren envied him; but his father observed the saying.

Note that Joseph’s Father and Brothers knew the meaning of his dreams. They recognized that the Sun symbolized the Father, The moon symbolized the Mother and the stars symbolized Joseph’s brothers. The use of symbols to represent things is nothing new. In fact we do it all the time in our everyday life. We talk of rats, foxes and snakes when referring to certain people. We talk of a “Silver Bullet” meaning a solution that would be effective, etc. The greatest mistake people make in trying to understand the Revelation is attempting to literalize the symbols. To do so makes no sense at all and leads to mass confusion.

(Mal 4:1-2 KJV) For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. {2} But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.

In this passage Malachi is prophesying of the coming of Christ and the effect his coming will have. To those that repent He is as The _Sun___ of righteousness with healing in his wings. More use of symbolic language to describe the power and working of the Lord.

(Mat 13:33-43 KJV) Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened. {34} All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them: {35} That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world. {36} Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field. {37} He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; {38} The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; {39} The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. {40} As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. {41} The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; {42} And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. {43} Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

In this passage we see Jesus using parables to preach His message. He often used parables and in studying the Gospels you will learn a lot about symbolic language. Jesus said that the righteous would shine forth as the _Sun____.

(Rev 1:16 KJV) And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.

Here we see the countenance of Jesus shinning as the _Sun_. Jesus is our light, He is our sun and as Christians His light shines through us.

(Rev 21:23 KJV) And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.

So we understand than when our text tells us that a third part of the sun was smitten that it means that a part of the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been darkened. Instead of the light and understanding of the Word of God going forth to deliver people from sin and turn them to righteousness, the Word is interpreted in such a way as to encourage people to indulge in sinful practices while still claiming to be Christians. This same explanation applies to the use of the moon also as a symbol of light.

(Heb 10:1 KJV) For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.

Here the writer is explaining that the law or the Old Testament was a shadow of the New Testament. Those things that were done in the Old Testament had their fulfillment in the new. The moon does not have a light of its’ own but is a reflection of light from the sun. So the Old Testament is not a light of its’ own but a reflection of the light from the New Testament. When the Word of God is misinterpreted to teach man to sin, the light of the Gospel is darkened. People are confused and instead of following the Lord in paths of righteousness, they stumble along in sinful living.

(Zec 14:6-8 KJV) And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark: {7} But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light. {8} And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be.

In this passage the prophet, Zechariah, tells of a time when the light is not clear. It is not _Day_ and yet it is not _Night__. Such a time exists today. The Gospel is so misrepresented and misunderstood that multitudes of people have no clear understanding of what it means to be a Christian. Our land is filled with confusing doctrines. We are being told that we have to sin and that we cannot help ourselves when the Word of God clearly teaches us that our Lord has all power and He instructs us to go and sin no more. His word teaches us that our God leads into paths of righteousness and peace and joy. We are being told that once we are saved that we cannot backslide, but the Word of God tells us that

(Ezek 33:13 KJV) When I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity, all his righteousnesses shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it.

(Acts 1:25 KJV) That he may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place.

But, the Word of God is being ignored, explained away and misinterpreted to such a degree that multitudes of souls desiring to live Godly Christian lives are confused by the mixing of light and darkness. When you attempt to mix the light of God’s Word with the sin on the flesh, you bring a cloudy and dark day which leads to total darkness.

(John 12:35-36 KJV) Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth. {36} While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them.

Jesus says to walk while you have the light so that darkness does not come upon you. Jesus teaches us that we must live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. The Word of God is not a condensed book. It is all as important as your daily bread. Too many are being taught to pick and choose living only to those scriptures that are to their liking. Such teaching is directly contradictory to the teaching of Jesus our Lord. The only way for you to live in the light and understand clearly the requirements of God is for you to walk in all the light. When you fail to walk in all the light that you have, you go into darkness.

Our text tells us woe, woe, woe to the inhabiters of the earth because of the messages of the three trumpet angels which are yet to sound. Inhabiters of the earth is a term referring to those that have chosen to live after the fleshly man and not after the Holy Spirit. The prophet Isaiah describes the three woes.

(Isa 5:20-25 KJV) Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! {21} Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! {22} Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink: {23} Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him! {24} Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. (25) Therefore is the anger of the LORD kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them: and the hills did tremble, and their carcases were torn in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

Notice how Isaiah explains that there are those that are so mixed up that they are calling good evil and evil good. They are calling light darkness and darkness light. They put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. And Isaiah says woe unto them. When you become so confused in your own mind that you cannot discern between good and evil, between light and darkness and between sweet and bitter, you are in a very dangerous place. How will you repent? You don’t know what is evil! No wonder that the angel proclaims woe unto you.

(Ezek 44:23 KJV) And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.

As preachers, teachers and leaders in the Christian faith, we have a responsibility to teach people the difference between the holy and the profane, the unclean and the clean. Too many leaders have failed and are failing to do so. Thus the darkening of the Gospel causing the people to stumble and fall for lack of a clear light.

The second woe Isaiah explains is to those that are wise in their own sight. They have so much knowledge and understanding that they don’t rely on the Word of God for direction and counsel. They think that they can make their own judgements. They disregard the Word of God to the simple minded and to those that don’t know any better.

The third woe is pronounced on those that are deceived by strong drink. They justify the wicked to be rewarded and they take away the righteousness of the righteousness. They are the ones that are preaching that everyone must sin, that there is none righteous and to claim to be righteous is to be a bigot.

Isaiah proclaims the judgement of God on these telling us that they have cast away the law of God and have despised the Word of God. There is no other way to teach such contradictions of God’s Word. Indeed man is prone to sin, but that is where the power of God comes in. Through the power of the Holy Spirit operating in your life you can live righteous and holy in this present world.

(Titus 2:11-12 KJV) For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, {12} Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

This is why Jesus came into the world, suffered, bled and died. So that you could be forgiven of your sin, so that you could receive the Holy Spirit in your life, so that you could have the power to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, so that you could live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world. This is the pure light of the Word of God. It is clear and unclouded by sin and the lusts of the flesh. Jesus wants you to confess your sin, repent of it, forsake it and let His light fill your life. Then you can let the light of the Gospel shine out through your life as a city that is set on a hill.

In the midst of a world that has darkened the Word of God; you can find the true light by turning to Jesus and to His Word.

(Mat 6:33 KJV) But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

(Mat 5:6 KJV) Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

Yes, if you really want to live a righteous life, you can. Jesus gives you the formula, seek first above all else the Kingdom of God and his righteousness. Hunger and thirst after righteousness and you shall receive it. Too many people in our present world are not obtaining righteousness because they are not putting forth the effort to get it. Instead of hungering and thirsting after righteousness, many are trying to darken the Gospel by telling us that we cannot do it. One thing is for sure, you cannot do it if you fail to put forth the effort.

The sun, the moon, the stars have been smitten. The avenues of light have been obscured by the false teachings of men who have fallen from the righteous estate that God has for every Christian. Our land is filled with muddy, darkened doctrines that obscure the true light of God’s Word. Multitudes have been affected to the point that they cannot discern the difference between good and evil. They are confusing light with darkness and sweetness with bitterness.

There is a cure. God’s hand is outstretched still. If you are one that has been affected and confused by this cloudy and dark Gospel, there is hope for you if you will turn to the pure Word of God. Seek above all else the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. Hunger and thirst after righteousness and you shall be filled. Not only is it possible, but it is the very reason that Jesus died to pay the penalty for your sins. Not that you should continue on living in sin, but that you could be redeemed from sin and follow Christ into a life of righteousness. If you will put forth the effort, then God will empower you with His Holy Spirit giving you the power to live a holy life of righteousness and peace and joy!