All right, as we continue in
verse 7 of Revelation chapter 6, this is the opening of the
fourth seal. Remember these seals, this sealed
book, Christ himself is the only one worthy to open the book and
read, reveal therein. So we know that the revelation
of God in any capacity comes through Jesus Christ, the revelation
of God to man. And it says, And when he had
opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast
say, Come and see. And I looked, and behold, a pale
horse. And his name that sat on him
was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto him
over the fourth part of the earth to kill with sword, and with
hunger, and with death, and with the beast of the earth. Now this
fourth seal, the pale horse, which is death, and it says hell
followed, or hell was with him, followed with him. Hell here
is the grave. That's what the word hell is.
It's the word Hades. You've heard of the Greek word
Hades. And that's what it's talking
about, the grave. And so there's a minor controversy there between
some theologians. Is he talking about eternal damnation
or is he just talking about the grave itself? It really doesn't
matter because the issue here is death. Death. The scripture
tells us that the soul that sinneth must surely die. Back in the
garden when God issued the The commander Adam, he said, in the
day that you eat thereof, you shall die, or dying thou shalt
die. That's what that literally means.
We talk about the wages of sin is death, so death is the issue
here. The grave is the resting place
of these physical bodies, which are dead because of sin. The
body is dead because of sin. And that shows us that the issue
of death because of sin is what seals in our hearts, our minds,
our affections, and our will the need for righteousness that
demands life. And so when we talk about, for
example, Romans 5.21, for as sin hath reigned unto death,
Even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life
by Jesus Christ our Lord. The wages of sin is death, but
the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ. Romans
8, 10, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life
because of righteousness. So the only thing that can conquer
death is Christ the Lord our righteousness. And that's how
we see the grace of God working in us. But here the pale horse,
he comes and we can talk about physical death. Comes in many
forms, look at it in verse 8. It says here, Behold a pale horse,
death was with him. He talks about to kill with sword,
with hunger, and with death, and with the beast of the earth.
All of this shows that death comes in many forms. It doesn't
come to all of us in the same form. Some die young, some live
a long life. Abel was cut down with, you might
say, with the sword. We don't know what cane used
to kill him, a club or something like that, but we see he was
cut down in his youth. Methuselah lived to be 969 years
old. But what's common to both of
them is they died. In fact, that's the real scriptural
commentary on Methuselah. You know, you'd think a fellow
who'd lived 969 years, they say the oldest ever, that he would
have accomplished something that was worth noting. But it just
simply says he died. And he died. So people today,
they're trying to extend our lives here on Earth. I heard
a scientist say that within so many years, people will live
on average 150 years. I don't believe him. But what
if they do? What if they extend after the
150 years, what's going to happen? They'll die. Death comes to us
all in that physical realm. It comes to believers. It comes
to unbelievers. Unbelievers, we're told in the
book of Revelation, Revelation 20 and verse 14, will experience
what the Bible calls the second death. And what that is, is eternal
death, eternal separation from God. And that death has absolutely
no power over believers. We won't experience the second
death. You can read about that in Revelation 20 also. We have
Christ who is our life. We stand righteous before God
in Christ, and that's life. So the power of death, what's
represented here, and it says, you know, when we talk about
these seals, and this is the book of God's plan, God's purpose
through death, death has a limited power, death and hell. have a
limited power. It's controlled by the Lord God
Almighty. Just like this horse, you know,
you put a saddle on a horse and you put the reins on the horse. God's controlling this. The devil has no power over death. Look over at Hebrews chapter
2. And you know, we can see so many,
we can go to so many passages of scripture like that. that
show God, Christ has the keys of death and hell, we're told. Not the devil. Job said, the
Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of
the Lord. Now he was talking about his
stuff that he'd lost, but he's talking about his family too,
they died. Look at verse 14 of Hebrews chapter two. It says,
for as much then as the children, that is the elect of God, are
partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took
part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that
had the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver them
who through fear of death were all their lifetimes subject to
bondage. Now what power of death does
the devil have? He doesn't have the power to
kill you. You remember when he came to God about Job, and God
said, you can't touch his soul. I'll let you afflict him, but
you can't kill him. The devil doesn't have that power.
So what power of death does he have? Well, we won't turn there,
but in Revelation 12, and in other passages, we're told that
one of Satan's main names, like the devil, Satan means adversary
and he is represented as the accuser of the brethren. He accuses. Now it's kinda like this, if
you commit a murder for example and the state says that murder
deserves capital punishment and someone comes along and accuses
you of the murder and the charge is true and it sticks That accuser,
in essence, has the power of death over you. He can't kill
you. He can't take your life because he doesn't have that
power. But his charge sticks. They prove that you're the murderer
and you deserve capital punishment. Well, the devil is the accuser
of the brethren. Now, when the devil accuses someone
who does not stand in Christ, washed in his blood and clothed
in his righteousness, you know what happens? The charge sticks.
and death follows. But when he accuses the brethren,
what happens? The charge doesn't stick. Who
shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? And so that's
what we're talking about here. There's death on earth. The grave
has victory over unbelievers. But death and hell have no power
to condemn us because we stand in our surety and substitute.
Now, here, death and hell have no power over anyone but that
which is given them by Christ, and I've got a reference in Ezekiel
for you, you can look that up. All men will die, but not in
the same way. All will eventually die, but
God allows a lot of people to live on. as he accomplishes his
will. Now, there's going to be sword,
there's going to be war, there's going to be fights, there's going
to be hunger, there's going to be death. But the point is, is
that as long as God's in control, and rest assured, he'll always
be in control, we don't have to fear death or hell. Look at
1 Corinthians 15. I know this is a passage that's
familiar to all of you, but we'll just read it. Look at 1 Corinthians
15, look at verse 50, let's see, go over to verse 51. He talks about, he says, behold,
I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we
shall all be changed. And that's the way death, physical
death for a believer is always called sleep in the scripture.
That's why some denominations believe in soul sleep, but I'm
not going to get into all that this morning. It'll take too
long. But what he's saying is that
death does not have the victory over us. He says, verse 52, in
a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, for
the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible,
and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put
on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when
this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal
shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass
the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. And then the familiar passage,
O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
Notice this in verse 56. The sting of death is sin, all
right? Why is there death at all? Because
of sin. Because of sin. And all death
can be traced ultimately to sin. Isn't that right? I mean, I know,
you know, we talk about the scientists, the health food people, they
say, well, you've got to take care of yourself. And you should.
And we should. You've got to exercise. But who, when they
die, when people die, ultimately all death is traced to sin. The
sting of death is sin. And verse 56, and the strength
of sin is the law. Now, what does that mean? The
strength of sin is the law. What law is he talking about?
The law of God. Well, how is the law the strength of sin?
What he's saying is the power of sin to condemn a sinner is
because of the law of God. The law of God pronounces the
death sentence where sin is imputed. In other words, if you stand
before God having sin charged to you, the law of God says death. So the only hope of getting out
from under this strength of sin is to not have sins charged to
us. That's why David said, blessed
is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. That's why we need Christ, because
our sins were charged to him, his righteousness charged to
us. So in verse 57, but thanks be to God, which giveth us the
victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my brethren,
be you steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work
of the Lord, for as much as you know that your labor is not in
vain in the Lord. So in other words, the fact that
death prevails over this world, go back to Revelation 6. Here's
this pale horse, here's death, here's the grave. And power was
given, and look at verse 8 again, power was given unto them, that
is death and hell, over the fourth part of the earth. Now, what
is he talking about the fourth part of the earth? The Lord always
gives us the issue of death as being a conquering of the world. And some translations will vary
here. Some say that it was, it's not
just a fourth part, in other words, just not a small part
of the earth, but that it's, just speaking of death and all
over the four parts of the earth, that's what the other translations
say. So we don't know, but as time
grows in the New Covenant age, and as we get closer and closer
to the end, you're going to see more devastation, it looks like,
over the earth. And we don't know what form it
comes in. Like I said, death comes in many forms, a sword,
hunger. It could be a world, it could
be a famine over a fourth part of the world, actually a quarter
of the world. It could be some kind of conflict
that consumes a fourth part of the world. We don't know, because
he doesn't give us the exact. But it could be that, or it could
be the four parts of the world, which means this is worldwide.
We know this, that all will suffer in some form or another death.
And we know this, that Christ is the remedy. That's what we
know. All right? Look at verse 9. Here's the fifth seal. He says,
and when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the
souls of them that were slain for the word of God and for the
testimony which they held. This is the fifth seal talking
about those who were martyred because they preached Christ,
because they stood for the truth against the false religions and
the false philosophies of this world. They were persecuted.
They were martyred for righteousness' sake, as it says in Matthew chapter
5 and verse 10. Blessed are those who are persecuted
for righteousness' sake. They stood firm for the glory
of God and the testimony of the gospel of God's grace. It says
their souls are under the altar. I saw under the altar. The altar
represents the death of Christ. upon which he was slain as the
Lamb of God. That shows us that they were
slain for this specific gospel message that preaches salvation
by the grace of God through the blood and the righteousness of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Slain for the word of God. Preaching
the truth. Telling sinners what we don't
want to hear by nature. That our deeds are evil. Telling
us that there's only one way of salvation. One way, and that
way is the way of God's grace through Christ, the testimony
which they held, their testimony of the gospel that sets forth
Christ. Verse 10, it says, they cried
with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true,
dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell
on the earth? Crying out for vengeance. And
they cry out for vengeance from God. That's what they're crying
out for, that God would avenge them. And I think it's significant. We need to understand they're
not just crying out for their own personal vengeance. You know,
the Bible says vengeance belongs to God. Crying out for justice. All who persecute Christ's people
persecute Him. And we cry out that God will
be avenged. Now, that doesn't mean we don't
desire the salvation of other people. We do. In fact, we're
told to pray for the salvation. Paul prayed for those who persecuted
him. He said, I could wish myself
a curse for my brethren in the flesh in Israel. He said, my heart's desire and
prayer for Israel is that they might be saved. But here's the
point, when it comes down to the end of all things, that God
is going to get, he's going to be just in whatever he does,
and that's what we pray for. Cry out, they cry out for justice
according to the glory of God. Because by the grace of God,
we put our trust and our hope in Christ, and he's our security,
so we know that the issues of salvation for us are the same
issues of damnation for those who die without Christ, who stand
before the judgment without Christ. So God's gonna be avenged. So
I think that's significant. He says, look at verse 10. He
says, yeah, verse 10. How long, O Lord, holy and true
dost thou not judge and avenge our blood? Talking about their
murder. They were actually murdered for
the gospel. And he says, on them that dwell on the earth. A lot
of times you're going to see in the book of Revelation talking
about them that dwell on earth. All right? And there'll be a
distinction between believers who are still on earth and those
that dwell on earth or what sometimes they're called earth dwellers.
And what that's talking about is people who are so connected
to this world That it's their hope, it's their goal, it consumes
them. They're of the world. You remember
Christ said, you're not of the world. You're in the world, but
you're not an earth dweller. You don't dwell on the earth.
Your citizenship is in heaven. And you're separate. You're sanctified
from the world in that sense by the grace of God through the
blood of Christ. You stand before God justified.
You have life. They're walking dead people.
And so they're earth dwellers, and that's what he's talking
about. Look at verse 11. He says, And white robes were
given unto every one of them, and it was said unto them that
they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow servants
also and their brethren that should be killed, as they were,
should be fulfilled. Now you know what the white robes
are. That's the righteousness of God in Christ in which we
stand before God justified. And it's given to them in the
sense that it's recognized that that's what they are. This is
a recognition. In other words, they didn't have
to get to heaven to get this. It's been imputed to them all
along. But it's recognized. You see, it's kind of like this.
Why does the world persecute the people of God? Well, they
persecute the people of God basically because they see the people of
God as being outcast. They see the people of God as
being criminal. They see the people of God as being cursed
of God. When they persecuted the Lord on the cross, what did
they call Him? They called Him a blasphemer.
They called Him a malefactor. That's a criminal. They called
him, well, some of them went so far as to say he was of the
devil. And that's why they kill. That's why they kill his people.
And remember, to persecute his people is to persecute him. He
takes that personally. I can't remember which preacher
it was, I heard he said, when you kick his children, he feels the pain
in that sense. What he's talking about here,
these white robes that are given them, is a vindication. of themselves
and their cause. What the world thinks of them,
they are the opposite. The world thinks of them as evil,
as blasphemers, as criminals. But here's the reality. They're
clothed in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. They're
justified. They're the people of God. They're
the blessed of God. Look at the situation I can't
remember, it may have been in last week, maybe in this week's
bulletin, I can't remember now. I wrote an article called, we
talk about blessings in disguise. Is that in today's bulletin,
curses in disguise? That's today's, okay. I write
these articles ahead of time and put them in and I forget
when they're gonna show up. But curses in, we talk about
blessings in disguise and believers, we go through things all the
time that going through the experience of them, we see them as bad.
And sometimes we may even lapse into such a state of mind, we
think, God, am I cursed? But we find out that it's really
a blessing. And I always go back to old Joseph
on that. Here he is down in the bottom
of a well. and then he'd bring him up out of it, and then he
goes into Egypt, and he becomes somebody in Potiphar's house,
and then he ends up in prison, you know, and all that. Well,
all of that was a blessing to Joseph and to the people. But
to the world, it seemed like, Joseph, you're cursed, you know,
you need to change things, all right? Well, what about when
the heathen prosper? Why do the heathen prosper? And
they think of it as a blessing. Well, God's blessing me. I've
got plenty of money. I've got good health. I've got
obedient children, all of these things. I'm being blessed. Well,
my friend, without Christ, it's all a curse, isn't it? That's
really what it is. And what we're seeing here in
the people of God who were killed, martyred for the cause. is that
it ends up being a blessing. Blessed are you when men persecute
you, revile you, say all manner against you. All of that. And
those who are prospering, who don't know the Lord, who don't
know Christ, who don't care anything about Him or His righteousness,
they're cursed. Here's the vindication of it.
And this is what he tells them. It was said unto them that they
should rest. we rest in Christ for all salvation. And he says, yet for a little
season, that means until the time of judgment, the time of
the end, when all the saints of God will follow them into
the kingdom as we are all glorified together and we're totally free
from the persecutions of the world, we're totally free from
the presence, the contamination and influence of sin, He says,
until their fellow servants also and their brethren that should
be killed as they were should be fulfilled. When God's people
who stand for the truth are martyred for the faith, and I'll tell
you what, that's something to think about. You know, we've
been so blessed, and we really have been blessed in our day
and age, haven't we, that we live in a country where we have
a constitution that allows us to come here and to worship the
Lord as he directs us, as we see fit, without persecution
from the government, without persecution from the state. And
I know people today are talking about, well, that may change.
It may. I know this, if it does change,
and we're ever put in a position, we or our children or our grandchildren
are ever put in a position, that we have to choose life or death. I'll tell you this much, it's
going to take a work of God's grace for us to stand. And don't
you believe that? I do. And I think every martyr
would say that. Because every martyr, their testimony
was not, well, boy, I really made it, did good on that issue. No, it's worthy as the lamb.
But it would take an act of God's grace for us to do that. I hope
it doesn't come to that in our lifetime or the lifetime of our
children and grandchildren. It may. But we pray to the Lord
that he'll continue to enable us to preach the gospel throughout
this last age. All right.