as I chose the hymns this morning
that we would sing, and then I looked back on them, I noticed
that I had chosen at least two of them. It seemed to deal with
that one we just sang, Hiding in Thee, and Jesus, Lover of
My Soul. And they dealt with Christ protecting us in times
of trouble. And that kind of surprised me.
I thought, why is that on my heart that those songs have come
to my mind and attracted my attention? And I realized that's exactly
what this chapter six of Revelation is about. I've been studying
it and thinking about it and experiencing a little bit of
it in my own heart and realized that these hymns speak on the
very theme in this chapter. Now, as we come into this chapter,
Let's remember what has happened. The whole church represented
there in chapter 4 by these elders, 24 elders around
the throne of God, and all the preachers represented by those
four living creatures gathered round the throne of God and remember
this is a symbolic vision which John received. He's not speaking
of things as they literally are in heaven. How do I know that?
Because he saw God and you can't see God. God is called the invisible
God. It says plainly no man has seen
God at any time and yet John says I saw him who sits on the
throne and that's God. So these are symbolic representations
of reality, not literal descriptions of them. But God is seated on
His throne, the church is gathered around worshiping Him, the elders
are declaring His holiness, His power, His creative works, and
then in chapter 5 the Lord Jesus Christ shows up. And it brings
worship to even a higher fever pitch. Now we may worship God
in his essence. We worship him as the creator
over all. We worship him as that thrice
holy God. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord
God Almighty. But really our worship begins
in earnest when we see God in Christ. Here is where we may
approach God and find safety there. Someone said, I dare not
approach God absolutely considered. I dare not come before Him without
a mediator between me and Him. And so Christ shows up in chapter
5. There is a scroll in the hand of God, a scroll sealed with
seven seals, and we learned last week that that scroll represents
God's purpose throughout the ages, in particular, His purpose
to glorify Christ and save His church. But it's sealed up with
seven seals, perfectly shut up. It can't come to pass. There's
nobody worthy. John says, I went because there
was no one found worthy to loose those seals and open that scroll
and bring those things to pass. And one of the elders came to
John and he said, Don't weep. That's the Lord Jesus Christ. He won. He met the enemy. He defeated him. He bore the
sins of God's people and he put them away. Every impediment Every
hindrance to the eternal purpose of God in the gospel has been
removed. He is worthy to take that scroll
from the hand of God and to loosen those seals and to bring to pass
those things which God has purposed for the good of his people and
the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it says, John turned and
what did he see? Did he see a lion? He said, no,
I saw a lamb looking like it had been slain, standing in the
altar on that platform, not the altar, standing on the throne,
that platform where the throne of God was. And all the worship
just, worthy art thou, cried out all of heaven, worthy art
thou for you were slain and has redeemed us to God out of every
kindred, tongue, tribe and nation. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain
and He is one and the same with the line of the tribe of Judah
who prevailed. And then we come to chapter 6
and we see this worthy one who has taken the scroll from God
and he begins to loose those seals. and to bring to pass this
purpose. He alone has the right because
he was slain. He has the authority to sin and
to recall any power or force, any king, any demon, yea, Satan
himself. All power, says the Lord Jesus
Christ, in heaven and earth is given unto me. And that's what's
represented by Jesus Christ being worthy to take the scroll and
to loose its seals. Now, in chapter 6, Christ opened
six of those seven seals. Now these seals and the opening
of them do not refer to specific and identifiable points of history. That's where many people go so
wrong on the book of Revelation. The book of Revelation is not
describing to us a detailed account of the history from the time
of Christ until the day of judgment. It teaches us about the things
that are going to be going on all the time. until Christ comes. That's why I said earlier, I
said you want to know what's going to happen in 2008? It's written
right here in Revelation chapter 6. And you want to know what?
It happened in 2007 too. And in 2006 and the year before. It's been going on all along. Notice this first of all. Now we read these things and
some of them probably sound pretty scary. I want you to notice who
it is that opens these seals. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. We
read here about war. We read about economic disaster. We read about death and the grave
and plagues. We read about vengeance. Who
is it that brings these things to pass? It's Christ who opens
them. It says here in verse 1, I watched
the Lamb, or as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals.
Verse 3, the Lamb opened the second seal and on and on it
goes. All these things that happen, happen by the will and power
of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, the Lamb of God is very
different from what people suppose Him to be. They think He's some
sweet and nice guy who wouldn't do anything to harm anybody.
I'm sorry. That's just not who He is. As we pointed out that description
given of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Chronicles of Narnia.
The children ask about that lion who represents Christ in those
books. They said, is he safe? And the person that knew that
lion said, oh no, he's not safe, but he's good and he's the king. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
not safe. He may be our safety. He may
be our salvation. But don't kid yourself to think
that the Lord Jesus Christ is some kind of patsy. That the
Lord Jesus Christ, as Brother Don Fortner likes to talk about,
He's no wimp. He brings to pass everything
that happens. It was He that did it. No matter
what these seals represented is Christ the Lamb of God who
opens them and brings to pass the events associated with them.
We may face any event in the course of our lives with the
sure and certain knowledge and comfort that that event comes
from the hand of the Lord Jesus Christ. I remember watching a
special on tornadoes once and they were filming a church's
memorial service after a tornado had come through the town. They
were out there at the grave site, I guess, where some of the victims
were being buried, and there stood a woman preacher. I knew
things weren't going to go good once I saw her standing there
in her robes, talking, you know. And she quoted a verse, utterly
misused it, and she says, God wasn't in that tornado. And I
thought to myself, oh, how pitiful it would be if I ever have a
tornado come through and take someone I love, or even me. And
I cannot with confidence say, the Lord sent it. Brethren, I
don't want trouble. But when trouble comes, it's
good to know that it is Christ my Savior who sent it. For he
will not send anything that will destroy me. Every one of these four horsemen
of the apocalypse come at the will of the Lord Jesus Christ
and all those seals bringing whatever it is they bring come
by the will and power of the Lord Jesus here's the third thing
to notice about these seals Believers are not exempt from the experiences
described here. Now I was raised in a religion
that said before any, before quote, the tribulation comes,
God or the Lord Jesus Christ will return and take the church
out of the way so it doesn't have to suffer these things.
I was brought up in it. You know, once you're brought up in it,
you just kind of believe. And then I remember when I was in
college and had those, Those thoughts challenged, not by the
college I went to. They were in full agreement with
them. But some of the students there had some differing opinions
about it. And I started reading some stuff about it. And then
the thought occurred to me. I'd heard all about this great
tribulation that was going to come and all the things that
were going to happen. And they said, but before that
ever happens, God or Christ is going to come and take the church
out of the way. And I started thinking about what our early
brethren suffered. They suffered the loss of all
their property. They suffered cruel tortures. They were thrown
to beasts. They were crucified, some of
them. And at the time that the book
of Revelation was written, or at least when tradition says
it was written, about 95 A.D., All the apostles except John
had been killed for their testimony for Christ. I ask you, what more
could happen? How much worse can it get? I
think of our brethren back in the days, particularly of the
Reformation and the time of the Spanish Inquisition, when they
hauled in people and accused them of heresy. And these were
people who simply believed the gospel. And they stretched them
out on racks, and they burned them with white-hot pokers. And they crush the life out of
them. I ask you, what could get any worse than that? My friends,
believers are not exempt from tribulation. They never have
been. They never will be. These horsemen of the apocalypse,
as they're traditionally or famously called, people think that they're
coming sometime in the future. Friends, they've been here. In verse 11 we read this about
some of our brethren. Then to each of them was given
a white robe and they were told to wait a little longer until
the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed
as they had been was completed. Believers are not exempt from
the troubles of this world that God sends even in judgment. They're not exempt from those
troubles, and they even have troubles the world knows nothing
about. Spiritual troubles. The world can't have spiritual
troubles because it's spiritually dead, and the dead have no troubles. We are called into these troubles
with a thunderous voice. Notice here in verse 1. The Lamb
opened the first seal, then I heard one of the four living creatures
say in a voice like thunder, Come. We who are called to the Lord
Jesus Christ are called to suffering. He who would live godly in Christ
Jesus, says the scriptures, will suffer persecution. Over in Acts
chapter 14, it says that the apostles, as they were preaching
from place to place, one prominent aspect of their message was this,
we must, through much tribulation, enter in to the kingdom of God.
This elder, excuse me, one of the four living creatures, again
he represents preachers. I was looking at that and I just
suddenly thought, huh, we're creature preachers, but that's what we
are. We who preach, we're these four living creatures. And when
those who have been called to preach the gospel go out and
preach that gospel, they're calling people to Christ, they're calling
the church to Christ, and to suffer with Him. He says, Come. We may resist it. We pray that
God would not lead us into temptation but deliver us from evil. And
yet we must realize that we are called to suffering. It's a thunderous
voice because we resist going in to trouble. We may be believers,
but I tell you, we're also in our flesh, aren't we? And we
don't want these things. And nothing but the thunderous
voice of Christ in the mouth of a gospel preacher can strengthen
our hearts to go right into these events with confidence and certainty. Now we'll look at these six seals
that are opened here in the book of, in chapter six. It begins
with four of them that are commonly referred to as the four horsemen
of the apocalypse. Now remember, the word apocalypse
does not mean disaster. You know, that's what has come
today. You say, oh, the apocalypse is upon us. People think that
it means that the world's about to be destroyed. The word apocalypse
simply means revelation. That's why this book is called
Revelation. Because the first word in it,
or the title of it in the first line is the apocalypse, that's
the Greek version of the word, the apocalypse of Jesus Christ,
the revelation of Jesus Christ. So when we talk about the four
horsemen of the apocalypse, we're talking about the four horsemen
of the revelation of Jesus Christ. Now here's the first one. I looked,
verse 2, and there before me was a white horse. Its rider
held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a
conqueror bent on conquest. Now we know who this is. The
lamb who opens the first seal is the rider on the white horse. This is our Lord Jesus Christ.
He's on a white horse. symbolizing his purity and his
victory in all that he does. Whatever it is he's going to
do on that white horse, he's going to be righteous in the
doing of it, and he's going to be victorious in it. Christ's
garments are white. He sits on a great white throne,
the Scriptures say. He gives his people a white stone
of acquittal. All these things represent his
righteousness, his justice, and whatever He does. It'll be right. Sometimes God's dealings, both
with the world that I'm close to, my friends and family and
community, and the world at large, sometimes they confuse me. I
don't understand, well, why would He do that? I'll be honest with
you, sometimes I think to myself, why does it seem like that very
few of this world are being saved, and that the vast majority of
them are being born, growing old and dying without ever hearing
the name of Christ, much less believing it, and they die and
go to hell. Why is God doing things that
way? Why, if I was God, I'd be doing
it differently. Well, that's why I'm not God. But then I pause and I think,
you know, I may not understand why God's doing things the way
he's doing them, but I can be sure of this, whatever he's doing,
it's right. We meet up with this same figure
in Revelation chapter 19. He said, I saw heaven open, and
behold, a white horse. And he that sat upon it was called
Faithful and True. And in righteousness he doth
judge and make war. You can be sure of this, friend.
Whatever God does, it's the right thing. Whatever Christ does,
it's the right thing. It may not be pleasant, it may
not be easy to bear, but it's right. And it will honor Christ,
it will honor God, and it'll be good for everyone who trusts
in Him. That's our confidence in this
life. My confidence is not that for believers things will be
easy. My confidence in this life is that everything for believers
will be good. And there's a big difference
between easy and pleasant as opposed to good. This white symbolizes his victory.
It is said that in ancient times when armies would go forth to
war and have their battles, upon returning the commanding officer,
if he lost, he rode back on a dark horse. If he won, he rode back
on a white horse. And our Lord Jesus Christ goes
forth on a white horse. In Hebrews 9, verse 28, it says,
He shall return, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to
all who wait for Him. Our Lord Jesus Christ rides forth
on this white horse, not as one waiting to see if he will be
the victor, but as one who's already the victor. He comes
back from his battles and goes forth to his battles on a white
horse. He has one weapon in his hand,
a bow. Now I don't know if what I got
out of this is really what the Lord intended. So I just put
it out there and if it blesses you good and if not just forget
it. But the only weapon our Lord has is a bow. Now in other places
it talks about him having a sword but in this vision it's just
a bow. Why a bow? Do you remember how when it described
God's throne and he that sat on it and it said around him
was a rainbow? And what did that signify to
us? It signifies God's covenant because God there in the days
of Noah gave this token of the covenant, the rainbow. And when
our Lord Jesus goes forth to battle, what's he got in his
hand? Well, now the word isn't specifically rainbow here, but
it is bow. And you get both of them here.
Here is a powerful weapon, and yet even in that weapon is a
symbol to you and me who trust in him that he goes forth according
to his covenant of the gospel. When it speaks of out of his
mouth goeth the sharp sword that with it he should smite the nation,
that sharp sword is the gospel. And as he rides forth in this
vision, he has a bow in his hand. Once again, the covenant of the
gospel by which he both destroys his enemies and saves his friends. One weapon does them both. Also
he has a crown. You remember in the Greek language
there's two words for crown. The word diadem, which means
the crown of a king. And then there's the word Stephanos,
which is the crown of a victor. Somebody ran in the Olympics
and won, that is those ancient Olympics, they gave him a Stephanos. And it was generally speaking
a laurel wreath or something like that. This one is that crown
of victory. Now here's something interesting.
I know that at this point our Lord has already won the great
victory at the cross. But it says he's going riding
out as a conqueror bent on conquest. Now why has he already got a
crown of victory if the battle is yet ahead? Very simply this. There's two reasons. He's already
won the major battle. Second, it's already certain
that he shall win every battle he engages. Imagine the Olympics. Modern Olympics. You got five
or six guys stretched across the track. 100 meter dash. And
they're getting ready to start. Somebody says, wait a minute.
And they go out there with that gold medal. And before the race
even starts, they put the gold medal around the neck of one
of those guys. He said, what in the world you doing? He hadn't won yet.
Yeah, but I've seen him run. He's going to win. You might
as well put the gold medal on him now. And our Lord Jesus Christ,
as He goes into this world through His preachers, through His church,
He rides out conquering, bent on conquest, and He goes out
so certain of victory, He's already got the crown of victory on His
head. He shall not fail, says the Scriptures. Isn't that good news? How weary
of hearing about this Jesus that wants to do something, but you
won't let Him. There is no such Jesus. He's a figment of the
imagination. God has big dreams. He's got
great purposes, which Christ is bringing to pass. God loves
you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Well, God has
a plan for your life, but I don't know if it involves His love
or anything you'd call wonderful. I don't know. I'm not saying
that it won't. I'm just saying we don't know what his plan is
but we do know this about his plan. It shall come to pass. Do you know what the gospel is
according to Isaiah? It said, it amounts to this,
summarizes this. It's talking about how beautiful
upon the mountains are the feet of him that brings good news.
That's the definition of the gospel. The word we translate
in the Bible and translate at gospel is the word that simply
means good news. It publishes peace. It brings
good tidings and all this. And the summary of that good
news and all this is this. Thy God reigns. That's the good
news. Christ rules. That's the good
news. He who died, he who is the lamb slain from the foundation
of the world is the lion of the tribe of Judah that prevails.
He's the rider on the white horse that rides forth bent on conquest
and he goes out having already won. Now how good is that? That's as good
as it gets. It's as terrifying as it gets
for those who are opposed to him, but it's as good as it gets
for those whose trust is in him. He will save all his people.
He will destroy all his enemies. The whole creation will confess
him as Lord. It's written. It's done. It'll
happen. Now this horseman on the white
horse is given to us first to keep us from too much fear over
the next horseman. Verse three, when the lamb opened
the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, come.
Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was
given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay
each other. To him was given a large sword. People say, yeah,
there's a great war coming. Friend, there have been great
wars going on ever since man rebelled against God. I guess
it was, you might call it a small war in terms of how many people
were involved, but Cain killed Abel. That was a little war. I watched a special last night
about the Battle of Thermopylae, where those 300 Spartans and
1,000 other Greeks withstood or made a last stand against
thousands upon thousands of the Persian army. Slaughter everywhere. The world's been like that all
the time. This horseman's been riding out
all the time. This red horse is a familiar
horse in this world. It's a familiar horse right now,
isn't it? It's going on. Our Lord said that when he comes,
there'll be wars and rumors of wars. He didn't mean that it
would start then. Here's what he was telling his
disciples. They said, what will be the signs of your coming and
all that? And he said, well, there's gonna be wars and rumors of wars and nation
rising up against nation and all this. What's he saying? He
says, when I come, things are gonna be going on just like they've
always been going on. There's always been wars and
rumors of wars. There's always been nations rising up against
nations. There's always been people betraying
each other. That's why he says, because when
I come, it's gonna be like a thief in the night. Because things
are gonna be happening just like they've always happened. Because
this red horse and the dark horse and the pale horse, They've always
been out there. War's a horrible thing. But see if you can deal with
this. And maybe this is why it had to say in a thunderous voice,
come. Who do you think it is starts
wars? Verse three, when the Lamb opened the second seal. Jesus Christ it is that brings
about war to serve his purpose. Who raised up Hitler? Jesus Christ
did to bring about his purpose. He read to us there in Romans
9 that the scriptures say to Pharaoh, I raised you up for
this very purpose. Who was it that brought down
the World Trade Center? The Lord Jesus Christ did. Oh,
He had some agents do it. Who do you think it was that
raised up Osama Bin Laden? Do you think that was a surprise
to the Lord Jesus? Who do you think puts Hussein,
Saddam Hussein, in power? And who do you think it is that
took him out of power? Who do you think's going to decide
who's President of the United States next year? He who opens
the seals. That's who. And you know, when the Lord Jesus
Christ opens this seal and the red horse rides forth, believers
often suffer. When wars come, sometimes believers
are called to fight in them. And some of them get wounded
and maimed. Some of those believers come
back from war mentally disturbed at the things they've seen and
they never really get over it completely. Some believers die
in wars. Whatever happens is from the
Lord. The thunderous voice has come.
Accept this truth. Some believers get killed as
soldiers. Some get killed as victims. There are believing
women that lose their husbands. And yet in all this, it is the
Lord that does it. And He does it for His purpose.
He does it for His glory. And He does it as part of that
grand work of God that brings salvation to His people. Do you
realize you can look out on this world and I don't care what's
going on. Somebody said, what's that? What's
that all about? He said, well, that's God saving
his people. Does the rain come down and softly
water the earth and cause the food to grow? What's that? That's God saving his people. Does the thunder rumble? The
rain comes down in a torrent and floods the valley and kills
people and destroys crops. What's that? It's God saving
His people. That's God honoring His Son.
That's God vindicating His name. Does war rise up? Does a nation
rise up against another nation? Are many people killed? Oh, that's
sad. And yet here's what it is. It's
Jesus Christ bringing to pass God's purpose in the salvation
of His people. It's scary, but we need not fear. We need not fear that war and
all the losses associated with it shall ever separate us from
the love of God. Look back here at Romans chapter
8 beginning here in verse 35. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Shall trouble, or hardship, or
persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, for your sake
we face death all day long. We are considered a sheep to
be slaughtered. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors
through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither
death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present
nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor
anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from
the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. our country is
involved in a war right now people getting killed though gladly
not as many of them now as was a year ago but still people are
dying more wars might come I don't know but I know this whatever
it is it's from the Lord and it'll be alright we'll not be
separated from His love and then you go on down here We're going to have to hurry
through this. I'm going to do it in detail this evening because there's
a lot more here and it's such a blessing. But let me just outline
them quick. The Lamb opened the third seal.
I heard the third living creature say, Come. And this horse comes
and it's a black horse. He's got a pair of scales in
his hands. And what he declares is this, economic disaster. You've
got to work all day long to get a quart of flour. Just enough
to survive that day. Maybe three quarts of barley
if you've got a family. A lesser nutritious grain. And that happens to believers.
They go bankrupt, belly up. They lose it all. They suffer. But notice this. Right here at the end of verse
6. And do not damage the oil and the wine. You know, when
the Lord Jesus Christ sends forth these things, opens these seals,
and sends forth these troubles, He puts a limit on it. Just like
with Job, he told Satan, yeah, you can touch his body, but you
can't touch his soul, can't have his life. And it says here, the
food, the natural food of the day, it's gonna come in short
supply, and sometimes believers suffer on that, but look here,
don't touch the oil or don't damage the oil and wine, what's
that? the oil of the Spirit of God and the wine of the blood
of Christ. Brethren, no matter what happens
to us in this life, we will never lose the precious gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit of God who lives in us to preserve
us and keep us. God will never let your soul
be touched if you're in Him. He opens a fourth seal, and this
is death and the grave. And you know, there are plagues
that come on the earth, wars that come on the earth, famines
that come on the earth, troubles that sweep on the earth, and
you know, believers even get caught up in that. I think about
AIDS, you know, when it first came out, and there were so many
that would say, well, this is God's judgment against homosexuals.
And maybe it was, but you know something? Some believers died
too. Some believers caught that disease, maybe through a blood
transfusion or whatever, you know. Believers caught it and
died. Even when God sends out his judgments
into this world, believers sometimes suffer in them, in temporal things. And he opened the fifth seal.
And here's where we see about those who have been martyred,
who died for the testimony of Christ. And then the last part
of the chapter, we see the Lord Jesus Christ as he takes vengeance
on the world for their opposition to him and to his people. And
again, we're going to go, you know, I'm going to finish up
the notes that I've got up here this evening. But let's skip
here to the end. And it talks about those who
suffer from the wrath of God, the wrath of the Lamb. It says,
they call to the mountains and rocks, fall on us and hide us
from the face of him who sits on the throne. and from the wrath
of the lamb for the great day of their wrath has come and who
can stand. I want to read to you a quote
I found about this particular scripture this particular scripture
here. Someone said in that great and terrible day there will be
a strange prayer meeting men will pray but the men praying
will not be saved men but unsaved men. They will pray not to God
but to the mountains and rocks. They will pray not for life,
but for death. And they will pray not that they
may see Christ, but that they may be hidden from Him. The judgment of God comes to
men one by one. And I'll tell you this, when
the wrath of God falls upon a man, he sees Christ for who he is.
The greatest desire he has in his heart is that he can be hidden
from that one. I've heard people say hell is
the absence of God. Everybody in hell wishes God
weren't there. Everybody in hell wishes Christ weren't there.
Do you know it's God, it's the presence of God in Christ that
makes heaven to be heaven, and it's the presence of God in Christ
that makes hell to be hell. But we yet live. We may yet call on Him who rides
the white horse and sends all the other horses. We may call
on Him who in righteousness doth judge and make war. There's something
wondrous about this Conqueror. He's merciful to everyone who
bows the knee to Him, to everyone that calls Him Lord. to everyone
that gives him his right, he is of more mercy than you
can imagine. It will be of no consequence
how many sins you have committed. He will forgive them. For he
who rides the horse, the white horse, is the lamb slain. But if you stand in opposition
to him, it won't matter how many good works you've done. Peter, I believe it was, said
in that day, or now, he said, do all in your effort to be found
of him in peace, reconciled to him. What will happen in 2008? Jesus Christ shall ride forth
to conquer and bent on conquest. There will be wars. There will
be economic distress. There will be famine and plague
and death. There will be martyrs. And there
will be judgment. And there will be salvation.
And for those of us that trust in Him, it'll be a good year,
no matter what happens.