[0:00] I don't know about you, that was good for me. It's not about me, but it was still good for me. It was good to refresh. You know, even when God doesn't do what we want him to do, you know, there's faith, right?
[0:18] There's waiting upon him. Well written. All right. Take out your Bibles.
[0:30] Turn with me to Revelation chapter 6. 6. Right? Yeah, we're going to slow down.
[0:43] We've been able to do the last two chapters in one setting, which James thought was way too fast. But we are not going to be able to do that with chapter 6.
[0:55] Now it starts to get what? Terrifying?
[1:07] Complex? Mysterious? Scary? All words apply. We have seen Jesus speak to the seven churches.
[1:22] Jesus. And then in chapter 4, John was shown a new vision. He was, he saw a door that was open in heaven and he was asked to come, not asked, told, to come and see what must take place after these things.
[1:41] And before he hears and sees what must take place, he sees the throne room of God. He sees the one sitting on the throne and everything else is defined in reference to the throne.
[1:54] So the throne is central. He sees these strange beings, these four different creatures who worship God. And he sees these 24 elders who fall down and worship God, the creator on the throne.
[2:09] And so chapter 4 ends with worthy. Worthy is the one who sits upon the throne. Why? Because he is the creator.
[2:21] And because we exist by his will alone. So he's worthy as creator. And then chapter 5 opens with a continuation of that very same throne room.
[2:36] But now the one sitting on the throne is holding a scroll. And it's sealed with seven seals. And a mighty angel says, who? Who is worthy to open the scroll and to break its seals?
[2:51] And no one can be found in heaven or on earth or under the earth or anywhere. Who is worthy to open the scroll? It's like, no one? And then one of the elders says, no, no, no, don't cry, John.
[3:02] Don't weep because there is one. It's the lion from the tribe of Judah. It's the root from Jesse, the root of David.
[3:15] You know, the Messiah. And so John hears about a lion and he turns to look at the lion and what he sees is not a lion at all.
[3:27] A lamb. And not just a lamb, but a lamb that's slain, bloody, beaten. But it's not just any lamb.
[3:37] This is a lamb with seven powerful horns, which means he's powerful. Seven eyes, which are his omniscience, where he sees everything.
[3:51] And then heaven breaks out in another worship session. Worthy is the lamb who is slain. And why is he worthy? Because he's purchased people from every tribe and every language and every nation and every kind of people.
[4:12] An international people to be kings and priests like him. Kings and priests to God.
[4:25] And so this is all preceding, right, the opening of the scroll. But it's important for us to understand the one who opens the scroll.
[4:37] And it's important for us to understand how important the scroll is. He alone is worthy. He is uniquely worthy to open the scroll, which is about the things which must take place.
[4:52] About the entire future and destiny of the world. So as we open the scroll here in chapter 6. Well, we partially open the scroll.
[5:03] We break the seals. We still will have some time before we actually see what's in the scroll. Okay? Which tells us about the end.
[5:14] We're just warming up. And it starts to get serious right away. Okay. I don't know where all that came from.
[5:25] It just came. So let's read first. I'm going to go ahead and read the whole chapter of Revelation 6. So if you're able, please stand and let me read Revelation 6.
[5:38] John says, And out came another horse, bright red.
[6:24] Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth. So that people should slay one another. And he was given a great sword.
[6:38] When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, Come. And I looked. And behold, a black horse. And its rider had a pair of scales in his hand.
[6:50] And I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, A quart of wheat for a denarius.
[7:02] And three quarts of barley for a denarius. And do not harm the oil and wine. When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, Come.
[7:18] And I looked. And behold, a pale horse. And its rider's name was Death. And Hades followed him.
[7:31] And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth. To kill with sword, with famine, with pestilence, and by wild beasts of the earth.
[7:44] 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 witness they had borne.
[8:00] They cried out with a loud voice, Oh, sovereign Lord, holy and true. How long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell upon the earth?
[8:16] They were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer. Until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete.
[8:30] Who were to be killed as they themselves had been. When he opened the sixth seal, I looked and behold, there was a great earthquake.
[8:45] And the sun became black as sackcloth. And the full moon became like blood. And the stars of the sky fell to the earth.
[8:56] As the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up. And every mountain and island was removed from its place.
[9:16] Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful. And everyone slave and free hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains. Calling upon the mountains and the rocks.
[9:28] Fall on us. Hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne. And from the wrath of the lamb. For the great day of their wrath has come.
[9:43] And who? Who can stand? So reads his word. Let us pray. Father grant us some insight today as we look at these.
[9:53] These. These. Vivid images. Grant us to be able to grasp at least in general what's going on. We know we can't get everything.
[10:05] And we know it's a vision to make an impression on us. So help us get that impression. But help us to walk away as well. Not terrified by what is to come.
[10:17] But knowing that the lamb is in control. The lamb is on his throne. And what we experience today.
[10:28] What we will experience in the future. Is not unbridled chaos. But is planned. Is controlled. Is initiated.
[10:41] By the lamb. Grant our faith to be increased. Through hard times. We pray in Christ's name. Amen. So.
[11:00] You know what we do. Whenever we hear about end time revelation. What's our question? When? When? When? I want to know when.
[11:11] When is it? You know. You know. When? Well we're not alone. You know. When Jesus told the disciples.
[11:23] They're standing outside the temple. And they're looking at the beautiful buildings. And he calls their attention to the beautiful buildings of the temple. That was rebuilt by Herod.
[11:34] Right? With all the gold. And they're all just magnificent building. And Jesus says. You know. Within one generation. Not one stone will be left upon another.
[11:45] And they're like. What? And their first question is. When? When? When? When? When? When? And Jesus is more interested in answering the why than the when.
[12:01] Jesus is more interested in telling us about the trends and the patterns than the ultimate when. Because when they asked that.
[12:12] Jesus began to give an answer. He did not answer when. Except with the general time frame of. That will be destroyed within a generation. Which was fulfilled 40 years later.
[12:23] In 70 AD. But Jesus began to talk about. Well. There will be false Christ. And false apostles. There will be wars and famines.
[12:35] There will be kingdoms against one another. Kingdoms will come and go. There will be earthquakes. And then there will be more false witnesses again. More false Christ.
[12:45] More. More. And then he said. But this is not the end. These are just the beginning. These are just the beginning birth pangs.
[13:01] And Jesus goes on in Matthew 24. As well as also Luke 21 and Mark 13. Where this last discussion is recorded. He talked about why.
[13:13] Why do these things happen? Why are they happening the way they are? Well one. He said. Is to fortify us to endure. Those. It's the one who endures to the end. That will be saved. So endure.
[13:25] And then he says. This gospel of the kingdom. Must be preached. Throughout the world. Oh okay. So. We're waiting for that. Because he says.
[13:35] Then the end will come. But first the kingdom. The gospel must be preached. Throughout. The world. So. That's one of the reasons for delay. Have we reached.
[13:47] The end of the earth yet? No. They're discovering new languages. And tribes. And things all over the place. And then finally.
[13:58] He said. It's to awaken us to vigilance. Because we don't know. When. We need to stay awake. We need to stay sober. Because even the sun. Doesn't know when the day is.
[14:10] We need to be. We need to be. We need to be. So we must be vigilant. So. So that's Jesus. That. You know. You know. We ask him a question.
[14:21] He usually. Brings us a question back. Right. He wants us to think. He doesn't give the short win. Oh. Well. It's going to be in. 2021. October. Whatever.
[14:32] No. He doesn't give us that. So here we come to chapter 6. Where the lamb begins to open the scroll. This scroll.
[14:43] Okay. It's really important. It's in the father's hand. And who's worthy to open it. And finally. We see that the lamb is. And the lamb comes forward. And takes the scroll. From the. Hand of the one who sits upon the throne.
[14:56] And now. In chapter 6. He's going to begin to. Open those seals. So we have a scroll. A rolled up scroll. With seven seals.
[15:09] On the edge of the scroll. And he's going to. Start to break. Each one. And as he breaks each one. Something happens. The question.
[15:21] Becomes. You know. Where'd the scroll come from? Where's. How did the scroll get there? What's this scroll? That sounds very interesting.
[15:32] You read back in the. In Daniel. And one of the last things. Told the Daniel. You ladies know. Right? You studied Daniel. So one of the last things. Daniel's told is.
[15:43] In Daniel 12. 4. You Daniel. Shut up the words. And seal the scroll. Oh. There's a sealed scroll. Why?
[15:54] It's going to be sealed. Until the end. The time of the end. So there's a scroll. At the end of Daniel. That's all sealed up. That's not to be revealed.
[16:05] Until the end. So it's likely. That this is the scroll. That Daniel was told. These things. But not. Don't reveal them yet. It's not time.
[16:15] It's for the end. And now. Now it's revealed. A scroll about the last days. So I. Just by introduction. I want you to.
[16:27] Realize a couple of things. In the opening of the scroll. Opening of the scroll. The breaking of the seals. We have an introduction. To judgment. Now notice.
[16:38] We're not yet revealing. What's in the scroll. The scroll's about the end time. We're just breaking the seals. And yet things start to happen. As the seals are broken. And I want you to notice.
[16:48] There's a pattern. In Revelation. There are seven seals. Then we will have seven trumpets. And then we will have seven bowls. Okay.
[17:00] Each one has a pattern. The first four of each one. The first four seals. We have four horsemen. The first four trumpets. We have things related to disasters on earth.
[17:13] And then the last three trumpets. Are separate. Because they're called the three woes. So you got four and three. Four and three. And you come to the bowls. Same kind of thing. You got four and three.
[17:24] They're just different. They're kind of grouped that way. So we have fours and threes. There's a pattern. Okay. And then it builds. The seals. We find out in the third seal. That the damage is to be limited to.
[17:38] No. Sorry. The fourth seal. The killing is to be limited to one fourth. Of the earth. Right. So it's not a total disaster yet. But it is a very big disaster. One fourth of the earth are to be killed.
[17:51] Through these plagues. Then you go to the trumpets. And it goes from. Builds from one third. And the seals too. Now it's one third. Now it's one third. So it's greater percentage.
[18:02] Because one third is bigger than one fourth. Even though it doesn't. Wait. How is three bigger than four? No. Okay. It works. Trust me. Talk to a math guy. Okay. And then we come to the bowls.
[18:17] And the bowl. And it says when God pours out his wrath in the bowls. The seven bowls. His wrath is complete. So it's the end of the end.
[18:28] Okay. So we have a building. In other words. Going on. So we see that pattern. The other thing we're going to see. Is that certain elements are repeated. In the seals. And the trumpets. And the bowls. For instance.
[18:39] We will see. Mountains disappear in the seal. And yet they come back. Mountains are. We see rivers and seas.
[18:50] And we see the sun and the stars and the moon. Right. Those things. They all disappear in the seals. Like we read at the end. Right. They're all gone. Then they're back. Oh.
[19:02] Okay. Hmm. And of course death. So just. There's patterns. And so. We have to kind of. As we jump in.
[19:12] We can't get so in. That we forget. The forest. We forget. There's patterns going on. Okay. I just want you to know that. The other thing I want you to notice. Is there's parallels. To Revelation chapter 6.
[19:25] As I just. Described. From Matthew 24. And Mark 13. And Luke 21. Jesus talks about. The destruction of the temple. Which will lead to these birth pangs.
[19:37] And everything he describes. In the birth pangs. Are the same things. That happen in the seals. In these seven seals. Or the first six. Hear what he does.
[19:50] In Luke 21. Got to mark it. Luke 21. Matthew 24. Luke 21. Mark 13. They're all.
[20:00] They're all parallel. Descriptions of Jesus. Talking about the end times. So. In Luke 21. Just. Just see what he describes here. 21 verses 8. Verse 8. So.
[20:12] They're asking. You know. He tells about the destruction of the temple. Teacher. When will these things be? Verse 8. He says. See that you are not led astray. For many will come in my name. Saying I'm he. The time is at hand.
[20:24] Do not go after them. There's a lot of people saying. Oh the end is near. He says. Nah. Nope. Nope. Nope. Don't believe him. There will be.
[20:36] Great earthquakes. And in various places. Famines. And pestilence. There will be terrors. And great signs from heaven. So.
[20:48] He talks about the same kind of things. Earthquakes. Terrors. Signs in heaven. Signs in the heavens. Right. Famines. Pestilence. All these things are mentioned in these seals.
[21:01] What does that tell us? When Jesus describes those things at the end of those gospels. He says. These are just the beginning. These are not the end.
[21:13] They're just the beginning of birth pains. They're just the ongoing throughout history warnings. They happen from time to time.
[21:25] It's not constantly going on. But every once in a while we get lots of earthquakes. We get famines. We get disasters. We hear of disastrous earthquakes around the world.
[21:35] We hear of famines and food shortages. We hear of pestilence. Pestilence is. The spreading of disease.
[21:49] Or maybe an epidemic. Those kind of things. Okay. Our pandemic. Okay. So I believe.
[22:04] I believe. You don't have to buy this. But I believe the seals are simply preparatory. We're not in the scroll yet. I think the seals are describing things that happen throughout the history of the world.
[22:18] From the time of Christ. Until the scroll. Actual contents of the scroll start to be happening. Okay. That's just me. Because I see the parallels.
[22:30] So here's the seven seals. Preparing to see the scroll. We're peeling it back. So this morning we're just going to look at the first four.
[22:42] The instruments of judgment. The seals are the four horsemen. The seals are the four horsemen. They become the instruments. They become the means by which God brings judgment.
[22:55] A seal is broken. One of the four living creatures calls for something to come. And then a different horse is revealed with each seal.
[23:09] And with each horse we're described a different color of the horse. And then we're described a rider who has either has something or is given something.
[23:21] Okay. Or does something. Or is called death. Right. Well only one has a name. But they're each described a little different. Okay. So what do we learn here?
[23:35] Well one we learn that God uses instruments and judgment. We're going to see that all the way through Revelation. God uses angels. Angelic characters. You know we have big angels that say something.
[23:45] We have big angels that come down to earth and unlock something. You know or announce something. We have God using angelic creatures. Holding the winds back.
[23:56] Right. Controlling weather apparently. And judgments. So God uses instruments for his judgments. So here are the first four.
[24:08] In seal one we see in verses one and two the first seal is opened. The lamb opens one of the seals. And he hears one of the four living creatures say with a loud voice like thunder.
[24:20] I can't do thunder. Come. That's not very thunderous. How do you do it? How do you do it? Yeah. I don't know. And maybe the you know that a four living creatures. So remember we got a lion. Maybe this is the lion.
[24:31] I don't know. Come. And then he looks or he sees. Remember it's a vision. He sees and hears. He sees.
[24:42] What does he see? Behold. Look. Look. Look. A white horse. And his rider has a bow and a crown is given to him. And he comes out conquering and to conquer.
[24:53] So we have a conqueror here. A white horse whose rider has a bow and is given a crown. So of the four horsemen, this is the most difficult to know for sure what it is.
[25:11] Okay. Most scholars are agreed on two, three, four. They're fairly easy to interpret. One could be one thing or another thing.
[25:21] And they're completely different. So let's. I want to take a little more time with this one. So first he sees something. He sees a lamb. The lamb is the one opening the scroll.
[25:32] The lamb about which we had a whole chapter five leading us up to his worthiness and why he's worthy to do this. So. So don't lose the sight of the lamb opening the scroll.
[25:46] Okay. He's the one that opens each seal. However he does that. I keep doing this as if, you know, just pop that seal. I don't know. Maybe you have to. I don't know how you do that. I don't have a scroll.
[25:58] I was going to get one. I was going to borrow Zach's stamp, you know, wax stamp thing and try to make one and see what it looked like. But I forgot. But the lamb is the one opening.
[26:09] Okay. He's initiating each thing. He's in control. That's the whole point of the buildup in chapter four and five. He now takes from the father's hand. He now controls the rest of the judgment.
[26:27] To him is given the authority to set things in motion. He does this. He's in control. He is reigning. This is not chaos.
[26:39] If you see nothing else in Revelation six, see that Jesus Christ, the lamb is in control of history. Okay.
[26:49] He is in control. No matter how bad it looks out there. And as we see in this, in this chapter, it gets bad, but he's in control of this. Okay. He decides when, where, how.
[27:04] Okay. So what do we see? We see some symbols here. We have a white horse, which in Revelation, 14 different times, things are described as white.
[27:14] And overwhelmingly, they mean the righteous acts. Right? The elders are wearing white. The saints are wearing white. Right? Jesus has white hair, right?
[27:26] White hair. And the throne is white. Everything, you know, white always means righteous. So, okay. White. White horse. The rider has a, excuse me, rider has a bow.
[27:38] Bow in the Old Testament referred to military power. So it's a conqueror. So it's a military power. So picture a conqueror coming in with a bow.
[27:50] Interesting. In the first century, Rome only had one threat in the first century. To the, to the east of them were the Parthenians and the Parthenian army was renowned as archers.
[28:03] They had bows. And so some at the time took the, oh, Jesus is saying that the, Rome's going to be overthrown by the Parthenians. And Rome was legitimately afraid of them because they were quite good.
[28:16] So much for the Roman sword when you got arrows coming long range. So, and then he's given a crown.
[28:27] Crown, you know, we, we were promised, the churches were promised, right, a crown. Right? We will get crown. Paul talks about there's a crown laid up for me.
[28:38] So crown is a sign of victory. I have overcome. Right? So to each of the churches are said to the one who conquers, to the one who overcomes a crown. One of the rewards in heaven.
[28:50] So crown simply means victor. And notice that it's given. He doesn't have it. It's given. So this first one is a conqueror. Now, two views.
[29:02] Two views. Who is this writer? First view, very, very popular, very common. First view is this is Christ. He's on a white horse. White is good. Revelation 19.
[29:16] We see unquestionably it is Jesus Christ in chapter 19 who's on a white horse. He's even named King of Kings, Lord of Lords.
[29:26] Oh, yeah, I know who that is. It's Jesus. Clearly it's Jesus on a white horse. And Revelation 19 describes the final return, right?
[29:37] He comes. The difference is the only commonality between chapter 6 and 19 is there's a white horse. That's where it ends. Because instead of a bow, he has a sword coming out of his mouth.
[29:53] Different. Instead of a crown being given to him, he already possesses many diadems. Not crowns, but, or not wreaths, but diadems.
[30:06] True ruling crown. So could still be Jesus here in this verse. Doesn't rule it out. He's conquering. Talks about this is a conqueror.
[30:16] Well, at least twice in Revelation, we're told the lamb conquers. Chapter 5, verse 5. It's the lamb or the lion who has conquered. And then again in chapter 17, the lamb will conquer.
[30:30] Okay? So he, so some view this as the, as the, is this first writer is Christ himself conquering symbolically through the church, right?
[30:44] With the gospel. Conquering with the gospel through the church. That's entirely possible. That could be what's going on here. Then the other, the other view is that it's not Christ at all, but rather a counterfeit Christ.
[30:59] A, we're told in 2 Corinthians 11 that Satan disguises him as a, himself as an angel of light. He disguises himself as a servant of righteousness.
[31:12] You know, wolf in sheep's clothing. He can wear white, look white. So white could possibly not be for righteous acts, but for a cloak.
[31:26] And, and in the first century, it was known that, that conquering generals like, well, when Caesar, Julius Caesar conquered, he came riding in on a white horse.
[31:39] So it was a known image of victory. So that's possible. The satanic deceivers in Revelation, we're going to hear a lot about that.
[31:50] Chapter 12, the dragon is a deceiver. And then the dragon employs other deceivers like the beast. And he's going to be a deceiver. And he's going to look righteous.
[32:02] In fact, he's going to be a counterfeit Messiah because he's going to have a deadly wound and then come back to life. He's even copying Christ, which some false religions do that.
[32:13] They copy because, oh, that's a good model. I'm going to do that model. So we see Satan as a deceiver.
[32:24] He uses, he uses instruments who deceive. Jesus himself said in Matthew 24, before the wars and the rumors of wars and all those famines and things come, the first, first thing to be warned about is false Christ and false Messiahs who come and say, I'm the Christ who say, this is the end.
[32:40] He says, don't believe them. There will be counterfeits that come all the time as part of the birth pangs. So here we go. So we have two views.
[32:52] Which one's right? Is this first writer Jesus coming with the gospel? Well, that makes some sense.
[33:04] Is it a counterfeit Christ who brings military power that leads to the other things that happen after this?
[33:16] It's the killing and the plagues and the death. I lean toward the second view. Also because these are four horsemen.
[33:31] They act as a group. Remember the trumpets and the bulls, the first four are grouped together. They're similar. So here, would we have one that's a, one horse is a good horse and the other ones are judgment horses?
[33:47] Possible. I'm not going to die for this, but it makes more sense that this is maybe a counterfeit Christ that comes and leaves in his trail some other things.
[33:57] Let me show you something else. In Zechariah, we have horses. Horses. So why horses? You know, all of a sudden we have a vision with horses in it.
[34:09] The four horsemen. Right? Movies are made based on this phrase and books are written based on this phrase and we can go nuts with horses.
[34:20] I like horses. But why horses? So why horses in a vision? What do they show? So we have some, fortunately, some Old Testament passages that refer to horses in visions.
[34:33] So we go to Zechariah. You could look at chapter one or chapter six. Let me look at chapter six. How do they relate to apocalyptic visions? How are horses used in visions before John?
[34:45] Okay. So here we have one for Zechariah. Chapter six, verse two. He says, here's what I saw. The first chariot. Now it's not just horses, but chariots pulled by horses. So the first chariot had red horses.
[34:56] The second, black horses. The third, white horses. See some similarity there? Three of the colors are the same. And the fourth chariot had dappled horses.
[35:07] Okay. So it's not an exact match. All of them strong. Then I answered and said to the angel, talk to me. What are these, my Lord? Okay. Here we get to go.
[35:18] Here we get to know what the horses are for. What are these? And the angel answered and said to me, these are going out to the four winds of heaven. After presenting themselves before the Lord of all the earth, the chariot with the black horses goes toward the north.
[35:36] The white ones go after them. The dappled ones toward the south. Get the picture? Going toward the four winds, going toward the four corners of the earth. They're universal.
[35:48] They're going out into all the earth. Okay. When the strong horses came out, they were impatient to go and patrol the earth.
[35:58] He said, go patrol the earth. So they patrolled the earth. Then he cried to me, behold, those who go toward the north country. Watch this now. Those horses that went toward the north country have set my, capital M, capital S, spirit at rest in the north country.
[36:18] What does that mean? Because those horses have gone to the north, God's spirit now is at rest.
[36:30] Which means before they went, his spirit was not at rest. These horses, chariots went and took care of something. Brought some judgment on that northern land.
[36:43] Okay. You know, you can read Zechariah chapter one and get the same impression that they make a difference. They go patrol the earth. In other words, they go. They're sent by the Lord to go and accomplish something.
[36:57] And they affect something. The impression is that they are instruments of judgment. Okay. They all, so here, what do we have from this?
[37:08] So from Zechariah, what do we learn? Well, here's a group of four different kinds of horses. A group of four. And they have different colors. Okay.
[37:20] Don't know from Zechariah what the colors mean. In Revelation 6, it's a little easier to match, you know. White with conquering. Red with bloodshed. Right.
[37:31] Black with famine. Pale green with death. Okay. The colors seem to jive in Revelation. We don't know what the purpose here is.
[37:41] But anyway, they're the same. And they're explained as these horses are going to the four winds. They go out to the parts of the earth. They work together. They do God's bidding to set his spirit at rest.
[37:54] So it seems to me like that's what's happening in Revelation 6. Is that the horses are instruments of judgment who are sent to do God's bidding. And they accomplish different tasks.
[38:06] Okay. So let's look at the second seal. Now that we got the first one resolved. Right. It's either this or that. Okay. Second seal. Now we can breeze. Now we can fly. All right.
[38:16] The second seal. Verse 3. When I opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, come. And out came another horse. This one bright red. Its rider was permitted.
[38:28] Literally, its rider was given the authority to take peace from the earth. So that people would slay one another. And he was given a great sword.
[38:40] So we have a red horse. The rider given a sword and the authority to take peace from the earth. So if the first seal is a counterfeit conqueror, like the beast later in Revelation that comes and begins to rule.
[39:02] Right. Through empire. Through heads. Through rule. If the first one is war. Because he comes with a bow. He comes to conquer. If that's war. This one is the effects of war.
[39:15] The violence. The civil unrest. The rebellion. He brings a sword. So he brings to come take peace from the earth. So there's peace. So he's removing peace. So that what?
[39:25] People start killing one another. There's violence. One of the results of war. Of conquer. Is civil unrest. And civil.
[39:36] People get. Confused. And. Start to spread. The killing among themselves. Okay.
[39:48] Seal three. Verses five and six. When he opened the third seal. I heard the third living creature say come. And I looked. And behold a black horse. And the rider had a pair of scales.
[40:01] In his hand. You know scales. Like. Balancing scales. You know. To measure. The worth of something. It's scales in his hand.
[40:13] And. Then I heard. So. It's interesting. This one's a little different. Then I heard. What seemed to be a voice. In the midst of the four living creatures. Saying. In other words. Interpreting. Apparently. What the seals.
[40:24] What the scales are. A quart of wheat for a denarius. And three quarts of barley for a denarius. You know what a denarius is? What it's worth?
[40:35] A day. A denarius is a day's labor. In the first century. So what. Your whole. What you earn for a day. So in other words. He's saying. For one denarius.
[40:46] For one full day's work. You can buy one quart of grain. That's. At least. An 800% market. And that's just for one person.
[40:59] So. One day's work. For one day's. Bread. For one person. Okay. So it's a future. It's a famine. And then he says. Well. Barley's a little cheaper.
[41:11] So you can get three quarts of barley. To feed your family. To feed three people. In a day. For a day's work. So you get to choose. Whether you. You have a full thing of. Bread. For the day.
[41:21] Or your family gets. Enough bread for the day. Interesting. So. In other words. The results of war. And disorder. And violence.
[41:33] Comes a famine. A scarcity. Of the basics. Of life. That are sold. At inflated prices. And yet. There's limits. Notice. This isn't total famine.
[41:43] He says. Do not harm. In verse six. Do not harm. The oil. And the wine. Okay. Whatever that means. And there are different ideas.
[41:55] What that means. Oil and wine. Oh. Oh. That's religious symbols. So that could mean. Protection of. Those who are Christian. Could be. Could mean that. Or it's just. It's not a total famine.
[42:07] I don't know. Then. So. Then we come. To the fourth one. And you get the impression. As this is read. It's just like. Boom. Boom.
[42:18] Boom. Boom. One. Two. Three. Four. So we got war. We have. We have violence. And we have famine. And now.
[42:30] Obvious result of that. Is death. The fourth. Seal is open. In verse seven. I heard the voice of a fourth. Living creature say. Come. And I looked. And behold. A pale horse.
[42:42] Which. Is. Probably. A pale green. Because. The term means green. But probably. A sickly green.
[42:54] Which. The power of death. Okay. Color of a. Corpse. So. Pale green. And it's writer's name. Death. And Hades.
[43:04] Followed. For. Him. Hades. Is. The Greek word for. The grave. Not hell. It's not the Greek word for hell. And if the movies like to quote hell.
[43:16] Yeah. Hell follows with him. Tombstone. Right. I'm coming for you. All right. Anyway. One of my favorite movies. So.
[43:29] The grave. So. Right. Death. And then. The grave. Obviously. Follows with him. And now they're given. What? Authority. Given authority over a fourth of the earth.
[43:40] Just a fourth though. To kill with sword. Famine. Pestilence. And wild beasts of the earth. Four kinds of disasters. Some of them are repeating what happened before.
[43:51] Sword. We've already seen a sword. Famine. We've already seen famine. Given authority to kill with sword. Famine. Pestilence. And wild beasts. So what happens when all.
[44:04] All control is gone. You know. There's killing by war. There's killing by famine as a result. Of. Of. Food shortages.
[44:16] That leads to. Pestilence. Disease. Right. Lack of control of. Things. And then what happens. Then. Then come the wild beasts.
[44:26] We can't even protect our borders from. The beasts. It's become. A devastated land. That's the picture. So the summary results of.
[44:40] Of war. And disorder. Famine. Is death. By those four plagues. And note the limited. That's. It's interesting. Because. Just like in CO3.
[44:50] There was a limit to the. To the. Shortage. Don't touch the oil. And the. Wine. Here. There's a limit to the death. One quarter. One fourth of the earth.
[45:04] So how much is a fourth of. Population. What's the population today. Just to kind of get a. Just to kind of get a context. Now granted. The population in the modern world.
[45:15] Is way. Hugier. Is that the right term. Than it. What used to be in the old days. Okay. But now. It's. We have an enormous population. Anybody know what.
[45:26] The latest. I looked it up. So I know. Seven billion. Some estimate. Closer to eight. Possibly. But last count. Seven billion.
[45:37] So what's 25% of seven billion. It's a lot of numbers. 1.75. Very good.
[45:47] I had to calculate. I didn't know. You guys remember. 1.75. So. To give a context to that. Okay. So. 1.7.
[45:59] Almost two billion people. Out of. Right. Die. That's. That's. Devastating. That's. Really bad. Okay. We're in it.
[46:10] We're in an epidemic. How many people have died. From COVID. Too many. Okay. Let's not. Not belittle that. Three million.
[46:20] Three million was the last. That I found. Three million. What is the percentage of three million. Related to seven million. Not even one percent.
[46:33] That doesn't say it's not serious. It's serious. It's bad. It's too much. We call it an epidemic for a reason. It's worldwide. Or pandemic. I guess we go.
[46:45] But. It doesn't even compare. To this. Okay. So. So. A COVID kind of thing. Could. Could enter into.
[46:57] The other things. And make it bigger. Right. So. Because he talks about four plagues. That are happening all at once. Sword. Famine. Pestilence. And.
[47:08] Wild animal. Okay. That makes. And. And what he's saying. I think. Is that. Throughout history. These are the kinds of things. That will be happening.
[47:18] To give you warning. That the end is coming. Because there are times. In the world. Where. Huge. Numbers of the population. Are killed. Because of war.
[47:29] Because of famine. Because of pestilence. We can. We know our history. That's. Just. True. And to think about it. In terms of today.
[47:41] That's just. You know. Astronomical. Kind of numbers. It's hard to think about it. Yet. It's simply. Foreshadowing.
[47:52] The end. The scroll's not. Yet. Even open. And these are the kind of warnings. That are coming. The same kind of things. That Jesus said. These are the beginning of birth pains.
[48:05] Watch for these things. They're coming. But that's not the end. Just be vigilant. When you see these kind of things. Know. That those are. Four warnings. It's not even the big show yet.
[48:16] Okay. I think that's what the seals are doing. They're just saying. Little picture. Little foretaste. Or kind of a big foretaste. In some respects.
[48:29] So what's the. The role of the four horsemen. Is very similar. To God's judgment throughout history. I want you to. When we read. Revelation 6.
[48:39] And then we read. Ezekiel 14. It's like. Okay. These are two different guys. Talking about the same things. And in Ezekiel 14. He's describing. Times in history.
[48:50] Of disastrous acts. Which are God's judgment. And they're the same four. Same four disasters. That are mentioned here. In Revelation 6.
[49:01] Here's what Ezekiel saw. The word of the Lord came to me. Son of man. When a land. Sins against me. By acting faithlessly.
[49:12] Now just notice how God starts it. He doesn't just say. When my people. He says. When a land. When a country. When a people. Sins against me.
[49:23] By acting faithlessly. And I stretch out my hand against it. And break its supply of bread. And send famine upon it. There's one. And cut off.
[49:35] From it man and beast. Even if these three men. Oh. This is interesting. Noah. Daniel. And Job. Even if these three. Big righteous dudes.
[49:46] Noah. Daniel. And Job. So we know who the top guys are. In the Old Testament. Were in it. They would deliver. But their own lives. By their righteousness.
[49:56] Declares the Lord. If. Two. I cause wild beasts. To pass through the land. And they ravage it. And they make it desolate. So that no one may pass through. Because of the beasts.
[50:07] Even if these three superstars. Or whatever. These three men were in it. As I live. Declares the Lord. They would deliver. Neither sons or daughters. They wouldn't even deliver. Their own family.
[50:19] Because everyone's accountable. For themselves. They alone would be delivered. But the land would be desolate. Or third. If I bring a sword. Let's say I bring a sword.
[50:30] Upon the land. And say. Let the sword pass through the land. And I cut off from it. Man and beast. Though these three men were in it. As I live. Declares the Lord. They would not deliver. Sons or daughters.
[50:40] But they alone would be delivered. Or fourthly. If I send a pestilence. Into that land. And pour out my wrath. Upon it. With blood.
[50:50] To cut off from it. Man and beast. Even if Noah. Daniel and Job. Were in it. As I live. Declares the Lord God. They would neither. Deliver son or daughter.
[51:02] But they would deliver. But their own lives. By their righteousness. For thus says the Lord God. How much more. How much more.
[51:13] When I send on Jerusalem. My four disastrous. Acts of judgment. All at once. Sword. Sword. Famine. Wild beasts. And pestilence.
[51:25] To cut off from it. Man or beast. Here's the same four. That we have in Revelation 6. Sword. Famine. Wild beasts. Pestilence. Interesting. Almost an exact quote.
[51:37] God is warning. God is warning. Back in Ezekiel. Throughout history. I will judge lands. There will be a time limit. I will begin to send.
[51:48] One or another kind of disaster. To warn them. And only the faithful will be. Only those who trust in me. Only those Noah types. And Job types. And Daniel types.
[51:59] I dare to be a Daniel. And only those kind of folks. Will survive. Or will be delivered. Whatever that means. No one else. So in other words.
[52:11] He's telling us. The purpose of judgment. Is twofold. And I think the purpose of judgment. In Revelation 6. Is the same. One. Clearly.
[52:22] It's to bring deserving judgment. On those. Who have rebelled. Against God. Who have sinned. Against God. Not because. Just their sinners. But because they have defied God.
[52:33] They have rebelled. Against God. They have suppressed. The truth. And turned away from him. And they know that. But. Okay. So he's bringing judgment.
[52:44] What difference. Does that make for believers? Well. Notice. That in these plagues. He said. Even if these three. Righteous men. Were there. So in other words.
[52:55] Righteous people. Will be affected. By God's judgments. Will be there. As much as I want to believe. In a rapture. And I'm all for it.
[53:09] The tendency of scripture. Seems to say. No. We go through persecution. And I'd be. Really glad to be wrong. About the rapture. I think it's talking about the end.
[53:21] But. So the second purpose. Of judge. Of these. Acts. Of judgment. Is not just to bring judgment. Upon those who deserve it.
[53:32] But. To purify and test. Those who act faithfully. I mean. We saw that with the churches. The letters to the churches. There are.
[53:42] There are people who are suffering. There are people who are persecuted. There are people who are afflicted. It's. He says. I'm testing. I'm testing. I'm testing. Trials are for our testing.
[53:54] Bringing out our endurance. Bringing out the fruit of the spirit. So. So. Hang in there Noah. Be vigilant Job.
[54:10] Daniel. Keep going. Because. That's you guys. I'm not Job. I don't want to be Job. I don't want to be Daniel.
[54:25] Hmm. But you are. Daniel wasn't perfect. Job.
[54:38] He got strained pretty good. Didn't he? We saw another side of Job. All the saints. The scriptures are so good to us.
[54:49] To. To show the other side. Noah. Had a drinking problem. Okay. Right. Scriptures tell us that. Oh.
[54:59] I just got to test the wine. Yeah. Uh huh. Got you in trouble. Didn't it? So. Don't think. Oh. I'm not a Job. I'm not a Daniel. I'm not a.
[55:09] I'm not a. Noah. Yeah. You can't. You are at times. You are when you abide in Christ. Yeah. You are. Okay.
[55:23] They are what they were. Because they trusted God. Okay. Because they were something special. So. Revelation.
[55:33] God is pouring out judgment and wrath. But the other thing we're going to see. And throughout this book. We're going to see a lot of this. Judgment. The seals. And the trumpets. And the bowls. But in the middle of that.
[55:45] Sprinkled in there. In chapter 8. In chapter. 16. In chapter 11. There are these. Rejoicings. Of salvation.
[55:56] Of the. There's this multitude. Of saints. There are the altar of souls. In heaven. In their prayer. I mean. Mixed into all this.
[56:07] There are. People who are saved. People who are delivered. In fact. The next seal is going to tell us. How long before you avenge our blood? Well. You got more brothers. That I'm bringing.
[56:20] Wait a little longer. You're okay. You're here. You're okay. It'll come. Well you got people just like you. That need to get here too.
[56:33] So there's that picture. Okay. It's not all about wrath. It's also about salvation. That's what I want you to see. It's also about salvation. It's not all about salvation. And the main point of Revelation 6.
[56:44] Is to show Jesus the lamb. Is on his throne. And he is ruling. He's controlling every moment. He knows what's going on. In fact. He intends what goes on.
[56:56] He puts limits on it. He restrains it. Until it's time. So. Let us be fortified to endure. Be emboldened to evangelize.
[57:09] And let us be awakened to vigilance. Because we do not know the time. Are you ready? Are you?
[57:21] Okay Lord help me get ready. Yeah. That's right. Let's pray. Father thank you for your word. Thank you for the glimpse.
[57:33] Of the lamb. And whatever you're doing father. We know ultimately. There's the picture. That you are in control. And that you have. Actually you've given control.
[57:44] To your son. Who is worthy. And. Part of us. As those who have been saved.
[57:54] By that lamb. Love that. We love that you've delivered. All control to your son. To our master.
[58:05] To our Lord. To our lion. And to our lamb. To him we give praise. Forever and ever. Amen. Amen.