Beloved radio friends, we greet you in the ever-precious and the worthy name of our beloved Savior, the Lord Jesus, and give you another welcome to the study of God's precious word in relation to the stories we are finding in the book of Exodus. We thank God that all these things that were written aforetime, according to the New Testament, were written for our learning. upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Our study concerning the plagues which God visited upon the land of Egypt long ago reveals to us great similarities in relation to the world in which you and I live, and the coming day of divine visitation when God will visit the whole world in great judgment. We have mentioned, and repeat again, the plains were a divine visitation of judgment upon the gods of Egypt, not only upon the gods of Egypt, but also upon the king or the pharaoh of Egypt, together with all the Egyptians. They knew not God. They had built up their great empire without God, and in the knowledge of heathen idolatry, They were steep in superstition and things so far away from God. But together with that, they were also manifesting their authority and power over God's earthly people and had them in subjection and under great tyranny. Now we repeat, the world is a place where Satan is the God of this age and the prince of this world manifesting his authority over the human race. sin with all of its affected wickedness and all of its penalty and all that it produces is rampant upon every hand giving plenty of evidence men and women are under the dominion and under the power of sin and Satan we need a deliverance nay shall we not further say we need a deliverer and there is only one deliverer That one is the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins, according to the will of God, even our Father, to deliver us out of this present evil world. Now we have noted these plagues in the land of Egypt, upon the Egyptians, upon their gods, have a similar application in the New Testament story of the Gospel. And I would suggest to my listeners who are interested to realize as well as to do some research for yourself and find that in the book of the Revelation we have a counterpart, but in a much greater way we have a counterpart to the stories of judgments recorded in the book of Exodus. The book of the Revelation is a book of judgment. You will find a series of judgments. You will find seven distinct seal judgments, seven trumpet judgments, as well as seven vile judgments. These series of judgments, increasing as they do through the book in their intensity, are coming judgments that God will pour out upon this world in which you and I are now living. Now may I add, and with a plea, Remind my listener, we need to be delivered from those coming judgments. And there is only one to whom we can safely go and put our confidence and trust in His redeeming grace and power to deliver us from the judgments to come. That one is our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins. Now we look particularly in the book of the Revelation at a counterpart of the plague of locusts, which we read in our preceding message and mention, found in the book of Exodus as we read it in chapter nine, chapter ten rather. Now we would look at the counterpart for very vividly we have an illustration of the judgment, one of the judgments yet to come. in the ninth chapter of the book of the Revelation. And strange to say, it is a plague of locusts. But let me first of all declare, as we shall see, that this plague of locusts, which we have recorded and described in the ninth of Revelation, are not, I would say, literal locusts. But, oh, there is a great meaning of judgment in the impending disaster that God will visit upon men. coming they because of their ungodliness and wickedness and departure from him and following the ways of sin and Satan I would like to read if you mind don't mind chapter nine verse one let me read down through verse twelve or verse eleven the fifth angel sounded and I saw a star fall from heaven under the earth and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit and he opened the bottomless pit There arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace. And the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. And there came out of the smoke, locus upon the earth. And unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth had power. And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree. but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months, and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion when the strike of a man. And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it, and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them. And the shapes of the locust, were like unto horses prepared unto battle. And on their heads were as it were, crowns like gold. And their faces were as the faces of men. And they had hair as the hair of women. Their teeth were as the teeth of lions. They had breastplates as it were breastplates of iron. The sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle. And they had tails like unto scorpions. There were spings in their tails. Their power was to hurt men five months. And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless bit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is of Adam. But in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollion. Now here are the details. And I would be very careful and clear by God's grace. to give the details concerning a coming judgment that is to be upon the earth poured out in God's day of visitation. Now this day lies in the future. This will take place after God has taken his church out from the earth and translated the believing body of his people to heaven above. By that wondrous event we call the rapture. But this will be one of the great trumpet judgments that with intensity will be visited upon men upon the earth. Now we confess immediately the details that we have thus read, they are very obscure, they have mysterious and symbolic language. But the general result, a judgment of destruction, seems to be very evident. And we do confess, without apology, these trumpet judgments in the book of the Revelation may present great difficulty in giving minute exposition than perhaps any other judgments. But we have in the opening verses one and two the declaration of a person that John says in the vision, I saw a star fall from heaven onto the earth. and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. Now who is this fallen star? It is actually, without question of doubt, a person. For it says at the end of the verse, to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. Now there are two possibilities, and we would indeed suggest the two possibilities to who the person is It can either be a reference to Satan himself and either to the Antichrist, who will be his great human instrument in the closing days of the age. But now here is a clue as to what he will do. He is given the key of the bottomless pit, and that key symbolizes that he is given permission to exercise authority. And it is the authority of what the bottomless pit contains. Now we might declare that in the book of the Revelation you have a reference seven times to the bottomless pit. And in each connection it is relating to judgment. But now let us please note It is not blessing that comes out of the pit, but rather it is darkness and delusion. For in verse two he opened the bottomless pit. There arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. Beloved, let me just state this. As this introduces us to the plague of locusts, described in the book of the revelation a counterpart to the judgment we have read on in the book of Exodus we realize here is a greater judgment the permission by God of satanic hosts and satanic delusions to come as it were out of the pit of evil and to darken and to delude the world by reason of the smoke of the pit the sun and the air the light together with the breath that men breathe, the air that they breathe, is affected by the smoke and the darkness from this pit. Now, let me just conclude our message today by saying, Satanic delusion and satanic darkness is indeed appearing upon and over the minds and hearts of many today under the realm of satanic wickedness and power. Oh, how we should realize This is the permissible hand of God to visit as He will in His coming day of judgment. But we must close and consider the rest as God enables us in the next message. Shall we pray? O Father, please remind us that the day is coming of divine judgment upon this earth, and may sinners flee to the Savior to be saved. In His own name we ask it. Amen.