Unrepentant Hearts: Revelation 9:13-21 | The Tragic Consequences of Hardened Hearts

Watch the Sermon “Unrepentant Hearts”

Have you ever seen stubbornness lead to destruction? In Revelation 9:13-21, we encounter a vivid portrayal of humanity’s unrepentant hearts, even in the face of God’s terrifying judgment. This sobering passage reveals three profound truths: the precision of God’s judgment, the devastating power of sin, and the tragedy of hardened hearts. Join us as we explore how this passage calls us to humility, repentance, and faith in the Lamb who was slain. Be encouraged to reflect on your own heart and the mercy God offers to those who turn to Him.

📖Scripture Reference: Revelation 9:13-21

✝️Sermon Points:

📌The Precision of God’s Judgment

📌The Destructive Power of Sin

📌The Tragic Stubbornness of the Human Heart

First Reformed EPC is a Confessional Presbyterian and Reformed church emphasizing Christ-centered preaching and scriptural fidelity.

💬 Connect With Us: https://connect.efrc.me

Full Transcript of This Sermon:

Imagine a young child and they're trying to fix a toy that is broken. And they're putting it back together as best they can, but the pieces they're trying to put in a particular spot don't fit. And the screws won't tighten.

And you can imagine, right along with me, the child's frustration growing and growing with this process. And so a parent steps in. They offer their help. But the child refuses, stubbornly insisting, I can do it myself. Well, and despite the mess that they're making, the child doesn't acknowledge their need for help.

And we've all seen this kind of stubbornness. I'm seeing a little spark in some eyes this morning who I can tell are imagining their children doing this in the past. This is common. Maybe we've seen it in our own children, in other people's children. But if we're honest, we've probably done this ourselves and we still do it in some ways.

Well, now imagine that type of stubbornness on a cosmic scale. In today's passage from Revelation 9, we see humanity's unrepentant hearts vividly displayed for us. Even after experiencing God's judgment through the terrifying imagery of this sixth trumpet that we read about today, people are still refusing to turn from their sin. Like the child with the broken toy, humanity clings to its rebellion, rejecting God's mercy and continuing in sin.

And this passage is a sobering reminder to us of the depth of sin's grip and the human heart's resistance to repentance. So as we explore the text, we're going to consider three truths. The precision of God's judgment, the destructive power of sin, and the tragic stubbornness of the human heart. And the question that I want us to come to this passage with this morning is, that we sort of ruminate on as we consider the passage.

Will we learn from this warning in the text? Will we listen? Will we turn to God in repentance? Or will we too harden our hearts? So as we start out today, we're going to look at verses 13 through 15, and we're going to see the precision here of God's judgment.

So John continues to describe his vision here, and we see the movement from the fifth trumpet that we saw last week into the sixth that we read about today. And as the trumpet is blown, John hears a voice calling from before the altar. And we see the precision of judgment begin to show itself with the fact that the whole point of what is being said here

As I've said multiple times as we've been going through Revelation together, what we see in Revelation often seems to us like chaos. But it isn't. It's ordered. It's under the control of Almighty God. In His sovereignty, He has ordered out the specifics of these judgments.

And remember last week, we had the terrifying image of the locusts with the tails like scorpions. And the image of those creatures in swarms seems like the definition of uncontrollable chaos. Beasts that you can't even begin to imagine. They're in swarms flying around. That seems like the definition of something that is out of control.

But we read there that they were not allowed to harm those with the seal of God upon them. God was in control. There was restraint. And here, in this part of the passage, we see the precision of God's judgment spelled out in yet another way as well. The four angels are bound at the Euphrates.

Now for the Roman Empire, and anyone who ever has occupied that land, there was always a fear of an attack. The Euphrates is at the eastern border, and so that's the largest border there. There were small and narrow borders of the north and the south, and you have the Mediterranean to the west. So the idea being expressed here in the text is that they were right to have a fear.

And the fact that they haven't experienced invasion yet is because God was showing restraint. He was holding this back. An invasion army is being held back until a very precise time. And not only are they being held back, but they have been prepared for the purpose of acting as God's hand of judgment.

So the message conveyed here by this, above all things, is that God is in control. No matter what is going on around these people who are experiencing tribulation and suffering, the Christians who are being persecuted for their faith, regardless of what's going on around them, they are safe because this judgment is coming upon the wicked. They are the ones marked for judgment. Those who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, they are sealed for salvation.

And so the precision here is again spelled out for us as they are prepared not for just some random event that will happen whenever. We're told they're prepared to be our to the day, the month, and to the year. So what's being expressed here is this specific play. You can't miss the precision here. And what we read is about to happen is they are to be released to kill a third of mankind.

And that is a staggering statement there at the end of verse 15 here. A third of mankind is an alarming number. And as we look at this, we have to remember back to the first four trumpets that we looked at just two weeks ago. Remember, we saw that the whole of earth was experiencing this judgment of the trumpets. So we had the earth, the trees, the seas, and the sun were affected by those trumpets.

But if you'll remember back, there was just a third of them of those things that were affected. When the smoke rose, a third of the sun was blocked out. So once again, we have a third. And in the fifth trumpet last week, those who were marked for judgment were tormented by the demonic locus scorpion hybrids, but they did not die. There was restraint. It was limited.

In those previous judgments, where a third of this effect went over all of nature, humanity wasn't affected at all. Then we have the scorpions, and they were not dying. Remember, they were being stung. They wanted to die, but they would not receive that release. So, what we have here is apocalyptic imagery. to understand here.

That all of this terrible judgment is happening and finally judgment arrives at the killing of a third of mankind. And again, that is harsh to hear. But the understanding that we have here is that this is a just punishment from God against those who have been rebelling against Him. This is judgment for standing against the purposes of God.

And images of judgment are always hard. But we need to make sure we don't lose sight of what the passage is telling us. And more importantly, what it's trying to do in us. There is something that we're meant to understand and feel here. And what it's doing is it's showing us our second point for today. The destructive power of sin.

Now we don't like the harshness of judgment. But these judgments are pointing us to the seriousness of sin and the absolute holiness of God. That's the point. And we see this in verses 16 through 19.

So as we slide into these verses here for our second point, I want to remind us of something important that should affect how we read the book of Revelation. As I've stated many times, the point of the book of Revelation is hope. But how do we come to it? We approach the book of Revelation with great anxiety many times today.

We come to it, and we read it in such a way that it's like we think that the book of Revelation is showing us a checklist of things that need to happen before the end. We go in looking to check off boxes. How can we interpret this in such a way that it has or has not happened? I would say that we try to find hope.

We understand that there's supposed to be hope in Revelation, but we find hope in thinking we know what's going to happen. Instead of finding peace in the fact that God is in control, we try to find peace in the fact that, well, at least we can keep track of what's going to happen. We can know in some way what's going to come.

But I don't think that's what Revelation is trying to do in us. saying that these descriptions of these things have happened or have not happened. That's not the point. I'm saying when we read it that way, when we focus on it as some sort of checklist or trying to find signs for the end, I'm saying we're missing the point. Because this is apocalyptic language meant to do something in us. And that is to cause us to turn to Christ in repentance and faith. That's the goal here.

And so the reason I bring this up is because there's so much speculation as we come to this part of the book of Revelation. Especially with this sixth trumpet. Because we're giving this image here of 200 million mounted troops. Just so you know, that's roughly 140 million more horses than there currently are on the planet. And they are all condensed into one spot for this battle.

And there are so many different interpretations of this part of the passage. So many different speculations. And I'm not going to get into those, not only for time's sake. That's not what we're meant to see here in the text. The point is that God is using this army for the purpose of his judgment against those who have rejected him, those who refuse to turn to Christ in repentance and faith.

And this vision is a rather amazing vision to imagine. There's a lot of amazing stuff to try and put together in your head in the book of Revelation. But this is one of the more outstanding ones. Because the horses and the warriors here are completely decked out. The breastplates, the color of fire, along with sapphire and sulfur.

We also have the fact that the horses have interesting heads. They are like a lion. They produce fire and smoke, and sulfur comes from their mouth. Now, I'm not an expert in equestrian studies. And I don't think there's any horses that anyone has ever seen that look anything like is not that these are some freakishly terrifying horses out there somewhere that we haven't seen yet.

We're not meant to feel fear of them themselves. We're meant to feel terror of the judgment of God. That's the point. We're meant to feel that this judgment being described here is awful. And remember, it's a judgment upon those who are opposed to the Lamb and to the one on the throne.

And like I said just a moment ago, this image of judgment is meant to get us to clearly understand the destructive power of sin. This judgment is so severe. And it's showing us the severity of sin as well. Because sin is an affront to a holy God. And it requires absolute judgment.

And the idea is you're not going to stop the coming judgment of 200 million mounted horsemen. And then when the horses start spitting fire and sulfur, you're even more unlikely to survive the judgment. Right? This is strong. It is unstoppable. And we're meant to see this in such a way that we understand that judgment is coming. And there's nothing that you can do.

And the judgment is not capricious. It's not arbitrary. It is not random and for no reason. It is coming because of sin. It is coming because the people have rejected God. In so many ways, we have lost sight of the severity of sin. We realize we're guilty. We realize we're sinners.

But we've decided we are not as bad as others. And how we should be judged is on a sliding scale. With a mild punishment for us, because we understand we're guilty... But the bad judgment is for those people over there. They get the severe consequence of judgment.

But the imagery here in Revelation... By having the seal of God. Except by being covered by the blood of the Lamb, there is no other escape. The judgment is precise. It was being held back, but now we see in this section of the passage that judgment and destruction are coming and there's no stopping it.

Are you sealed by God or marked for judgment? The point here is to make us realize that nothing of this earth can protect us. And so we need to turn to God in repentance and faith. But as our passage for today closes up, we see that hardness of heart continues in humanity. Even in the face of this image, even in the face of unavoidable judgment,

Humans are totally depraved. We will not soften our hearts to God even in the face of judgment. We need the grace of God. So as we turn to verses 20 and 21, I want to remind us of last week. I drew out the imagery here that we find in Revelation calls our minds back to the plagues of Exodus.

And once again, today, my mind is called back to the book of Exodus as we see the response to the plagues as well. Because we read that two-thirds of the people survive, but they don't repent of their works or of their worship of demons and idols. And the reason it calls my mind back to Exodus, remember the hard heart of Pharaoh through the ten plagues. His heart was still hard to God. So much so that they ended up in the Red Sea, drowned in the judgment of God.

Pharaoh is not the only one with a hardened heart in the face of the judgment and wrath of God apart from God's saving grace we are stubborn in our sin we will not turn to God in repentance because all these things are happening around them and you would think that if anything would get people to turn from their sin and idolatry it would be a third of humanity suffering judgment that is clearly from God, that is unavoidable, you would think that would get people to repent.

But we read here that instead of trusting in the Lamb and trusting in the one who is on the throne, humanity digs its heels in. And this is the sobering truth of today's passage. Without the work of the Holy Spirit, we will never have hearts and flesh that will worship God. We are stubborn in our sin. Even in the face of clear and unavoidable judgment, humanity refuses to turn to God here.

And the vision in Revelation 9 shows us not only the devastating consequences of sin, but also the depth of our need for God's mercy. We need Him to soften our hearts. We need Him to lead us to repentance. But here's the good news. while we can't change our hearts on our own. God has given us His Son. He has provided a way through Jesus Christ.

Through His life, His death and resurrection, the Lamb has made it possible for us to be sealed by His blood, protected from judgment, and restored to fellowship with God. And today, the Lord's Supper reminds us The body that was broken by us. The blood that was poured out for our salvation. That we might be marked and sealed for salvation and spared from the wrath of God.

And so I urge you today. We have experienced the grace of God. But when we are convicted of our sin... We need to make sure that we do not dig our heels in like those described here in Revelation 9. Don't resist the work of the Holy Spirit in your life that is calling you to repentance and faith.

Come to the table today, not in stubbornness or in relying on your own works. But in humility, trusting fully in Christ's finished work, come to the table and taste and see the mercy of God. Let this meal today be a reminder of God's mercy that He has shown you. This means of grace that not only reminds you of the mercy, but it builds you up in faith, working with the Word and the Spirit to move you to holiness.

So let this passage today stir our hearts to respond to God's mercy with humility and repentance. May we not leave here today unchanged, but may we walk forward with hearts that have been softened by God's grace. knowing that we are saved because we have been harmed by him for salvation. Amen.

Fuel Your Faith Throughout the Week

Discipleship doesn’t stop when Sunday ends. Dive into more opportunities to grow—watch sermons anytime in our sermon archive, explore short Dwell in the Word devotionals, or read reflections and updates on the church blog. Can’t join us in person? Worship with us online via our livestream. Don’t forget—you can subscribe to our weekly email to have everything delivered right to your inbox.