Opening the Seven Seals

It is indeed a fitting thing that we should come to remember the Lord's death till he comes again as we are studying through the book of the Revelation, which is a revealing of the one who did that. It's a very common thing, in the United States, especially in the South, to hear about Jesus Christ dying on the cross.

I'd venture to say that the vast majority of the population has heard these things many times. But that which is important is not to have heard this. It's not to have been taught these things, but it is to have these things revealed to the heart. So that as you read about the revelation of Jesus Christ in this book, you can rejoice therein. Not simply just hear it, and be educated about it and think about it as a significant occurrence that took place in the world, surely it was. The life of Jesus Christ is the very hinge upon which the ages of the world turns.

They've done everything they can in modern times to negate that. We've spoken of this many times before, used to, that the time was divided into two sections, B.C., which was before Christ, and A.D., Anno Domini, in the year of our Lord. Now a few years back, I'm not sure exactly when, the wise and learned scholars of the world determined that that was not sufficient, that we would divide the time not before Christ and in the year of our Lord, but we would divide it by saying before the current epoch and the current epoch. You know, so it's B.C., but it's not before Christ, it's before the current epoch, and C.E., which is the current epoch. So now when you see official documents, as a general rule, they will have, if there's a necessity to put that, they will put C.E. behind that. Now I ask, what is the current epoch? It is the year of our Lord. It is the day of salvation. It is that point in time wherein the Lord has revealed himself absolutely and clearly in such way that he cannot be denied.

Now that does not... Yes, that's a good thing. to say, I wish that that was what men had in their mind when they read that, that's a good point, a very good one. For he is exalted, and that's what this book is about. It's about the exaltation of Jesus Christ. And so it is that as we read these chapters and about these prophecies, That's what we're looking at. We're not trying to find out what's gonna happen 25 years from now, 100 years from now, or whenever. We're seeking to learn of Christ. And he sets forth himself very plainly in this book. And so we're looking at the sixth chapter. We've read through the chapter, and we'll read some more of it today.

It says, and this is chapter six, and I saw when the lamb opened one of the seals, which the seals, speaking of the seals on the scroll, calls it a book, but we know that they did not have books as we know them like this, but they had scrolls where it was rolled up. And the scroll that the Lord Jesus Christ took from the hand of the Father was written within and on the backside. That means there wasn't anything else that could be put there. It was a closed book, number one. It was rolled up and had seven seals on it. It was perfectly sealed. It was impossible that a man could have any understanding of God apart from this revelation. Now men are not satisfied with that.

And you will often hear it said that it really doesn't matter which God you serve. Of course, you've got these people over here that they're just as sincere as you are. That may be true. In fact, I believe there's probably a lot of them more sincere and dedicated into what it is they believe than a lot of people that claim to believe in the Lord.

But the fact of the matter is there's one Lord There's one savior, there's one mediator between God and man, and that is the man Christ Jesus. And that's who this book is about. And the Lord said, you cannot say that Jesus Christ is a good man and a prophet, but there can be other gods beside him. Because he's the biggest liar that ever lived. If any God will do.

If you can sincerely worship God and be serving God, apart from knowing and serving and loving Jesus Christ. Because he said this, he says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me. He said to the Pharisees, he said, if you had known me, you would have known my Father. He said, but because you don't know me, you don't know the Father. Because had you known the Father, had you known who God was, you would have fallen down and worshiped me. And so it is.

Now that's a very unpleasant truth to the world's religions and it causes men to want to kill one another many times over. I mean much of the current conflict in the Middle East is over this very question, who is God? And who is his prophet? Now his prophet is the one about whom this book is written. God, who at sundry times in divers manners spake in time past by the prophets unto the fathers, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son.

And so, as inconvenient as that truth may be to world peace, or to, you know, what we call fellowship among men, you know, we're all just headed for the same place and all that kind of stuff. as men would like to say. Simply not the truth. God's people are separate from the world. And the Lord said he came not to bring peace, but he came to bring a sword. And there is a sword of division in Christ. There is an offense of the cross. Very offensive to men to think that Jesus Christ had to die to pay the price for the sin of men in order for them to come into the presence of God.

Because men naturally feel like they can go to God anytime they get ready. I mean, isn't it natural for men when they're in trouble to cry out, oh God, help me? Sure it is. But then when the troubles pass, what happens? Well they forgot all about that because you see it was not a thing which was prompted in them by the spirit of the living God. But it was just a natural consideration because men can't escape the fact that there is a God in the heavens. They can't escape that. Now I know there's a lot of people say they don't believe that. But what they really mean is they don't want God to rule over them. It's not that they don't have questions and wonders about these things, because a man cannot look at the heavens and all of the creation of God and not know there is a God in heaven. And he's done according to his will. And he's created all things as he sees fit. So as we look here and we see when the Lamb opened one of the seals, of that scroll. He says, I heard, as it were, the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see. And I saw, and behold, a white horse.

And he that sat on him had a bow, and a crown was given unto him, and he went forth conquering and to conquer. And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, come and see. And there went out another horse that was red. Power was given unto him that sat there on to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another. And there was given unto him a great sword. And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the beast say, come and see. And I beheld, and lo, a black horse. And he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.

And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, a measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny, and see thou hurt not the oil and wine. 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 them over the fourth part of the earth to kill with the sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth."

And we'll stop right there. And we've already talked about some of this, but I want you to understand that the opening of this scroll, the loosing of the seals, and all of those things that we read about here as these seals are opened are simply the unfolding of the purpose of God in a panoramic vision. This is not a a prophecy about things that are going to take place in time, but they are, is a revelation of what Christ came into the world to do and the manner in which he would do it. And that's what we see. We see that throughout this book.

Not in a chronological fashion, but simply as a picture. Because you see, God, when he, As he views his creation, he's not waiting to see what's gonna happen. You know, when an artist paints a picture, they know what the picture is. You could ask an artist, what is this stroke here? What were you doing when you were painting this stroke? He knows what he was doing. He knows what's there.

Now, as you go and you look at a painting, you'll see a lot of different things. You can go look at a painting and you'll see the general picture. But if you look at that painting closely, you'll see things that the next time you look at, you'll see something more clearly. And so it is that In the purpose of God, all of creation is like a painting.

I mean, he's performed all these things. This is a done deal with God. There's no beginning, there's no end. They're just, he said, I am. Now, you can't comprehend that, neither can I. I mean, when we think about Anything we think about the progression of time, and I believe we'll always be in that way because we can't, we're creatures. See, we're not eternal. We have been given eternal life in Christ, but we are not eternal. Nothing in the world is eternal about any man that's ever been born. He's dust. He was created just like God wanted him to be. And he made us. And so, as all of these things unfold, we understand that they're all unfolding as God ordained these things to be. Now that's a glorious thing if we rest in him. It's a most disconcerting thing to the man that's determined to go his own way. Because you see, a man that's determined to go his own way, he cannot stand the concept that all things are determined by God.

He doesn't like that. Because he'll say, well, that's not fair. That's not right. Nay, but O man, who art thou that replyest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Now that's, I can't think of anything that really and truly stirs up the old Adamic nature to rebel against God than to hear those words. I don't want to hear that. Oh that's, I wouldn't serve a God like that.

Well, you might not. You might not, but one day you will bow down and give praise to him. You know, you may do it with his foot upon your neck. as you're cast into the lake of fire, that may occur. I don't know. And I don't say that to scare you. I'm just telling you the truth of what it is. Because you can tell people about the destruction of hell all day long and it won't do anything for them. It won't help them. It won't move them unless the spirit of God awakens them.

Now, I believe this, you know, when the Spirit of God awakens a man, and he, just like David, you see, David, he was in the very, he could feel the fires of hell burning around him. And he said, oh God, cleanse me. Take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Because he knew he should, he knew the Lord should destroy him. But he had but one thing he could do, and that's cast himself on the mercy of God like the old publican. God be merciful to me, a sinner, like the Philippian jailer. Sirs, what must I do to be saved? See, that's the work of the Spirit of God.

In men, as the Lord reveals himself, And he might use the terrors of hell to do that. But I know this, he'll always use the glory of Christ. Because you see, the fires of hell testify to the glory of Christ. The destruction of the wicked testifies to the glory of Jesus Christ. And we're gonna read about that as we look at this book.

Now we know that there are four horsemen here. And a lot of men have taken and tried to define these horsemen as being different ages of the earth and various things. I mean, you can read all kinds of stuff that people speculated about that. And I don't claim to know any more than anybody else does about this, except I do believe that these four horsemen are but the revelation of Jesus Christ and his purpose in the earth, the things that must shortly come to pass, those things that he has designed for the earth to be. And so we see, first of all, and this is the most important, horseman, because he is the horseman who controls all the other horses in the world. That one who he says, The lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were, the noise of thunder, and one of the four beasts said, come and see.

And I saw, and behold, a white horse. And he that sat on him had a bow, and a crown was given unto him, and he went forth to conquer and to conquer. That's what this book is about. That horse, that man seated on that white horse, clothed in linen, pure and white. with a sword in his hand going forth to conquer.

Because you see, the kingdoms of this world have been given into the hands of Jesus Christ. He's the king. He has a, when the prophet Isaiah prophesied of his coming, he said of the government shall be upon his shoulders and his kingdom shall have no end. What a glorious Savior He is. But what a glorious God He is. Because He would manifest Himself as that one who is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. And so then He moves from there. That horseman there is, I think, pretty clear and easy to understand that this is speaking of Christ. That's right, absolutely, crown on his head.

And so these other three horsemen, they are not necessarily representative of individuals. In other words, this is not, when it says there was a rider on the, went out another horse that was red, and power was given to him that sat there on to take peace from the earth. Now, the one sitting on the red horse just has reference to the fact that this is the unfolding of God's purpose, and he's illustrating it by the use of this man on this red horse. It doesn't refer to anyone in particular. but it refers to that which he speaks about.

The power was given to him that sat there on to take peace from the earth, that they should kill one another, and there was given unto him a great sword. Now, I believe this, you see, any time that the Lord manifests his glory in the earth, he does so through his people, and quite often, and I believe, as the suffering of his people as a separate people in the earth. That's what he said. I didn't come to bring peace. He said, well, I'm sending you out as sheep among the wolves.

The world is not a friend to the people of God. The world does not love the people of God. The world hates the people of God. And so that's what these other horsemen are the unfolding and showing of that which the Lord has ordained. Now men say, well, that doesn't make any sense. Well, that's the means whereby the Lord has been pleased to preserve his people and demonstrate who his people are and to work in them both the will and to do of his good pleasure. Didn't Paul say, all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution?

And you know, if a man sets himself against the ways, mores, and thoughts, and deeds, and all the things that the world counts as beneficial and helpful, he will be hated. Oh, he might not be openly persecuted, but he'll be, people will snicker behind their backs.

You know old so-and-so, he's kind of a stick in the mud. He's kind of one of these guys that, he's just strange. He's peculiar. He's not like us. Best thing that can ever be said about you by your friends that are in this world is that you know he's an oddball. because that's what God makes his people, peculiar people in the earth. Now we don't set out to be peculiar. You know, some people like being peculiar. I don't wanna be peculiar, but I believe this, that a man who will stand for the things of Jesus Christ as he sets forth in his book, he is going to be peculiar.

People are gonna be uneasy around him. They're going to say, you know, I don't know if I really like him all that much. He's kind of too religious for me or whatever they want, the term they might use. You know, he's a little off the deep end. And I'm not talking about going out here trying to be odd. But you're going to be odd if you follow Jesus Christ. Just the way that it is.

And so it is that It was given to him that sat there on to take peace from the earth that they should kill one another and there was given unto him a sword. Many of the people of God who have suffered for Christ's sake been slain for the cause of Christ.

Do you have something else to say? That's right. And so this is that sword, that's a good point. This is that sword that the Lord speaks about. It's a sword of division. It's a sword of trouble for the people of God. And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, come and see. And I beheld in low a black horse, and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. Now we know in the, I think it's in the Supreme Court, And this is, of course, in other places, too, in copy of that. But there is a figure that's standing up there with a balance in her hand, and she has a blindfold on. And, of course, what that's telling us is that justice is blind. Now, justice is blind among men, should be. Sadly, it often is not. But it should be blind. and it should be just what it is. But with God, justice is not blind. Justice is on purpose.

And the just sentence of God is given because he will be just, and he'll do what he will do. And so, there's a scripture, as we read here, and it's on with the parable, and considering about this judgment. The scripture says, judgment must begin where? the house of God.

Are we our brother's keepers? Sure we are. You know, if a brother be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering yourself, lest ye also be tempted. So you see, we, there is justice among the people of God, but there's also justice in all things.

The man who seeks God with all his heart is not gonna be cast away because he manifests the very justice of God in drawing him unto himself. Now, because a man makes up a thought in his own mind and he says, well, I'm serving God. Doesn't mean he is. I mean, if you ask any Arab in the world if he was serving God when those guys that blew up the Twin Towers or did any of these things, if you ask them if they were serving God, they'd tell you absolutely.

But you see, they're absolutely wrong because the Lord never sent us to do such things as that. The Lord said that if a man takes away your coat, give him your cloak also, if he sues you at the law. If he compels you to go with him a mile, go with him too. If he does evil to you, pray for him. See, that sets men apart, but that's the justice of God. Those in the seventh chapter of Matthew, and the Lord said he'd tell them to depart from it.

He said, well, when didn't we feed the sick, or feed the hungry and visit the sick? When didn't we do these things, Lord? And he'll say to them, when you didn't do it, unto the least of these my brethren. But God's people say, When the Lord says, enter into the joy of the Lord, they say, well, when did we ever do anything that was more than what we should have been doing? He'll say, because you did it unto the least of my brethren.

So you see, that's justice in the kingdom of God. He moves his people to be obedient to his way. And he judges that. He judges that. Now it's not on the basis, you see, as men think, that they came up with it. It's God who works in you, both the will and to do of His good pleasure. He's bringing about these things according to the good pleasure of His will. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, a measure of wheat for a penny and three measures of barley for a penny. And see thou hurt not the oil and wine. Now that's kind of a, but keeping with the idea of justice.

You see, the men who love the riches of this world, they think they're entitled to that. You know, men say, well, buddy, I got everything I got by the sweat of my brow. I worked hard. And buddy, I just picked myself up by my bootstraps and I did it. And so therefore I deserve everything I've got. But the reality is that everything we have comes from the hand of God.

Even that man who is concerned with the measure of wheat for barley. See that word there as it's speaking about measure of wheat for a penny and three measures of barley for a penny, a penny was that which was the normal payment for a man's work. In other words, a day's wages was a penny. Now, of course, we think of, well, a penny, I mean, that wouldn't buy anything. Surely it wouldn't. They've done away with the penny. But it just means that this amount of money that a man could buy his very sustenance with.

And so that the sustenance of God's people is that which the Lord provides And we are, as Paul said, having food and raiment, therewith let us be content. Because that is that which God has promised to provide. Now, the rich, on the other hand, often, as I said, they become accustomed to the comforts. And we are all, in this respect, We've all become accustomed to all the comforts of the world. I mean, if the air conditioner breaks down, we think that, I mean, we've just been the worst thing that could possibly happen to us. What we gonna have to do without air conditioning? How would that be? And hurt not the oil in the wine. The oil in the wine is like an added thing. And see, the natural man, he looks at the oil and the wine as being that which he has to have. But the Lord gives men whatever they have.

And so it has often been true down through the ages that men have taken advantage of other men in order to build bigger barns And as James talks about, don't take advantage of those that work for you. That doesn't mean that every job is worth the same amount of money, but it just simply means that if the Lord has blessed you with plenty, you need to bless other men with it. You know? You shouldn't make your money off of the taking advantage of others. Again, like I said, it doesn't mean you pay everybody the same thing, but it does mean that you don't take advantage of them. you pay them what a man is worth. You don't begrudge it.

I've been reading a book about early life here in Florida and this particular character in this book He would have these people on this sugarcane plantation, and they'd go out and work for him. And, of course, these were remote areas. And he would, you know, take care of them during the time I was working for him. And then they would—with the promise that they were going to be paid at the end of the season, you know, when the sugar cane was sold and everything. Well, what he'd do is go out and he'd kill them at the end of the thing.

And, of course, these were people that were like runaways from, slave runaway, not necessarily slaves, but people that were running from the law. And, I mean, these weren't the upscale people of society, but he would take advantage of them. Now, down through time, men have taken advantage of the people of God. And this is just the way of the world. And it is, I believe, what he's speaking about here, when he's speaking about the measures of barley for a penny, and hurt not the oil and wine. In other words, there's a, men think of a different thing. Some men think they're worthy of having the oil and wine. But we are to be content with such things as the Lord gives us, and be fair and just in all of our dealings with one another. And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard 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. That's Death and the grave. That word Hell is Hades, which means the place of the dead. Death and Hell. That's the expectation. that all men have. See, all men, scripturally, all men will go to hell in the sense that they are going to Hades, the place of the dead. That's the place where the dead abide.

Now, this is figurative language. We don't know. See, when a man dies, it's hard for us to consider that he just ceases to be. But apart from man being given eternal life, that's exactly the way that it is. And so it is, and I'm not gonna spend a bunch of time on that, but suffice it to say that death in hell is a common occurrence to all men. It's appointed unto men once to die. After this, the judgment.

Now did that happen? by, is that just an evolving thing? That creatures die? I mean, why aren't men living longer now? I mean, isn't it the tenet of evolution that men, these creatures keep, you know, improving their self? You know, if they need a wing, and they only got an arm, well, given enough time, they'll grow a wing, because they needed a wing. Well, why wouldn't they live longer? I mean Methuselah lived to be 969 years old, 6,000 years ago. Nobody lives that long now. See men, the whole idea that men are improving is foolishness. Death awaits us all.

And he says, I looked and behold a pale horse. Now you know it's interesting, that word pale. It occurs in the scripture four times. It's only ever translated as pale this time. And the word that is most often translated and which the word actually means is green. Now I think it's very appropriate that death is riding on a pale horse. You ever seen something that's dead? What color it is after a while? When it's sat there for a little while, especially out in the sun or whatever, it starts turning green. That's not a pretty picture. Nobody likes to think of that. But these are all those things. The Lord said, I kill. and I make a lie. I, the Lord, do all these things. And so those are somber thoughts.

And these horsemen that are set forth here and these horses, they're not meant to cause us to jump up and down and, you know, think frivolous thoughts and all this stuff, but to be sober, to be mindful of that which the Lord's doing in the world. See, he has ordained that the gospel of Jesus Christ go forth in the earth to accomplish that which he set out to do, and he has ordained that God's people be a separate people, and he has ordained that God's people be a peculiar people to the world, and a people that the world does not embrace. You know, The world does not embrace the people of God at a New Year's raucous celebration, do they? I mean, you know, when men want to celebrate the coming in of the New Year, they don't want somebody coming in there telling them, let's worship the Lord, let's give Him praise for another year, no. What do they want to do? They want to get drunk and they want to do all the things that people do. And anybody that came into one of those celebrations and said, let's pray and give God praise for giving us another year, what would they say to him?

Get out of here. We didn't come here to do that. Well, see, the Lord made his people be odd. And that's what he does. He works in his people, both willing to do of his good pleasure, and sets them in disarray before the people of God. I mean, before the people of this world. just the way that he is, and his purpose.

And these things, everything about the gospel is not causing us to be happy. Now that's the world, that's what the world thinks about the gospel, isn't it? Well you need to find Jesus so you can be happy. Because we want everybody to be happy. Now I don't want anybody to be sad. But I know this, that when the Spirit of God moves upon a man and convinces him of what he is by nature, he'll become sad. The gospel makes him glad.

But it's not just a frivolous way of thinking that the world has. That's not the purpose. The purpose that the Lord saves men is not to make them happy. It's to make them free from sin. And what a glorious thing. I can't think of anything that would make the true children of God happier than the thought that their sin is taken away as far as east is from the west and he remembers it no more. And that's what we come this morning to break bread and to drink this wine in remembrance of him.

Opening the Seven Seals

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Opening the Seven Seals

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