Category: Bible studies

She grew up in a good home, loved by her parents…They gave her everything they could afford. They tried their best to discipline her well. They offered every incentive to do right… but evil’s enticements seemed too strong for their efforts. She slipped away from them – they could see it happening. Like a bad dream, she repeated one failed strategy of rebellion after and another, and from every thing in her life that she declared as a “freedom” became a new prison. It was obvious to those around her, but it was impossible for her to grasp what she was doing to herself and her family. Her choices, each one, were excruciating for her parents. They would do just about ANYTHING to get her to wake up. They tried counseling, doctors, medication, intervention and a regular amount of pleading – but nothing helped. Their once obedient child simply didn’t want to do right anymore. They tried balancing love with a careful amount of applied disciplinary measures… yet the slide away from their grasp seemed sealed. Other families didn’t understand their “tolerance” of all her antics. They whispered behind the back of the family members that they were far too easy on the wayward child. Sound familiar? It does to God as well...I am not talking about any parent in the room. I am not talking about any parent that I have read about. I am making a direct, if feeble, analogy to the God of Creation as He deals in patience toward lost men and women – because He loves them.

Believers have asked down through the centuries the question of the martyrs under the altar of the fifth seal, found in Revelation 6. Last week, as we looked through the record of the seven seals broken by the Lamb that released judgment upon the earth from Heaven, we stopped for only a moment and peered back into the throne room – gazing under the altar. What caught our attention (and John’s attention) was the sound of human voices.

Revelation 6:9: “When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; 10and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” 11 And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also.”

The question was respectfully posed, but incredibly simple: “How long are you, God, going to put up with the injustice of this world that brought about our martyrdom? How long will you let evil seem to win against good. How long will you allow the abuse of your Word and your people by unprincipled and lecherous children of wickedness?

Frankly, if you’ve been paying attention in the last fifty years, you are probably, at least on occasion, tired of God’s patience. It took no effort to pull stories from this week’s news to illustrate God’s patience with the evil around us:

• Vicious banter continues about the “damaging influence” NFL football player Tim Tebow is having on the sport by “trying to drag church onto the field of football”. “It is just offensive to many of us that want to watch our favorite pastime without have GOD thrown in our faces.” One fan said. My reply: “Yes, I can see that Tim showing his own personal faith should be seen as a blow to an American sports scene so filled with illegal steroid use, dog fighting, gambling, and illicit sex, with teams that destroyed record numbers of motel rooms by raucous team players in the various leagues – it is obvious that the bowing of a quarterback to Jesus will just ruin the sport if we don’t put a stop to it!

• Also this week, the GOP tries desperately to define a conservative position on the family by choosing from among men who have been accused of philandering (which have been removed from the contest) and men who have actually been caught philandering (who are still in the contest). Don’t get mad, I am not declaring a political position – just illustrating the funny way we have been led to compromise on the most important parts of our lives.

• The USMC is now deeply involved in a video of alleged marines urinating on corpses of the Taliban. Deeply embarrassed at the alleged breach of well-known discipline in the ranks – the part of the discussion that caught my attention was NOT the marines that have been accused, but the number of people, some who claimed to know Jesus, who thought that such actions “served them right” for being our enemies. We seem to have forgotten that how we treat our combat enemies in our society will open the door to how our captured US soldiers will be treated.  We seem to have lost touch with the fact that such behavior is always wrong.

• Penn State University President Rodney Erickson was desperately trying on Friday to distance the school from the sexual abuse scandal that has rocked the campus by saying: “It grieves me very much when I hear people say ‘the Penn State scandal.’ This is not Penn State. This is the (Jerry) Sandusky scandal,” he said. Yet crowds “booed” as he tried to explain why Assistant Coach Paterno, who knew of the abuse and allegedly did not immediately bring the details to light, was still on the payroll as a full tenured faculty member.

Now don’t get mad at me if you think that Paterno is innocent, the Marines are falsely accused, the divorced and remarried politicians are the best for the next election, or you just don’t like the look in the eyes of Tim Tebow – you will have missed my point. We are being bombarded daily with stories of moral compromise on the one hand, and attack on any kind of godly testimony on the other. These were just pulled off the banner of CNN this past Friday morning.

Don’t you just get tired of all this? Why… why in the world, why in the universe is God content to let evil men wax worse and worse? Why doesn’t he MOVE IN and cut the timeline. If you are not sure… ask any parent of a wayward child. It is a flawed analogy, I know, because God knows what broken hearted parents do NOT know. At the same time, the point is valid – God is a patient parent. He is a LOVING parent. He longs, hurts and hungers for His wayward Creation to return to His arms. In fact, God loves men so much, that He has TOLD US as believers TO MAKE THEIR RESCUE OUR TOP PRIORITY!

Key Principle: God values the eternal life of the lost of the earth more than He values the comfort of the saved. If that were not true, Christianity would lack not only martyrs – but missionaries.

Watching as His creation kicks and pulls away to its own destruction is no easier for Him than for any parent – it is agony. It is for that reason, that God continues to offer salvation to a humanity hell bent on pulling away. His patience comes from a parent’s broken heart.

If you have found rescue in Jesus Christ, He has asked you to GIVE YOUR LIFE for the Gospel, whether in faithful service or in painful sacrifice. That is not a theory – that’s in daily choices of our obedience. He truly wants YOU and I to put the call to reach others above the call to LIVE WELL and RETIRE IN COMFORT.

Let me explain from the Scripture. In any dramatic series, you are introduced to characters before there is a complete explanation of who they are and what they are all about. Revelation introduced the martyrs of the Tribulation, but only after gives you their “back story”. In Revelation 7, we get the fuller picture of who these martyrs are, and what God did in their lives. Who are these people? In Revelation 7, John focused in to tell their story for a few verses before the seventh seal opened to silence and the distribution to TRUMPETS for the second round of judgment. In these first few verses, we are able to pick put some of the details about the identity of the people referred to in this passage. Before we know their parentage or purpose, we know about their PROTECTION.

A Protected People

Revelation 7:1 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, so that no wind would blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree. 2 And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God; and he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, 3 saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the bond-servants of our God on their foreheads.”

Revelation 7 is chronologically set at the beginning of Revelation 6 – BEFORE the angels were positioned at the compass points of the winds of the earth, holding back the judgment of God that was about to blow down from Heaven. The angels were to reap the harvest of judgment, as Jesus promised in Matthew 13… the angels are the reapers. Yet, in Revelation 7:1 they are held back by the command of God. Revelation 7:3 reveals clearly and concisely that GOD HOLDS THE TIME OF JUDGMENT under His command. No less than the “Author of Patience” Himself holds the briefcase with the button of final destruction.

Look closer at 7:3. God is almost ready to let the judgment fly, but something isn’t quite ready… He still has witnesses positioned to share rescue in the final hours. Who but an agonized parent would still hold out a life line to an angry, nasty and boisterous sinner? He is not unwilling to judge the earth, but He wants one last round of rescuers that will share His love before the curtain falls.

A Particular People

The chapter continues with the specific identity of the witnesses:

Revelation 7:4 “And I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred and forty-four thousand sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel: 5 from the tribe of Judah, twelve thousand were sealed, from the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand, from the tribe of Gad twelve thousand, 6 from the tribe of Asher twelve thousand, from the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand, from the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand, 7 from the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand, from the tribe of Levi twelve thousand, from the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand, 8 from the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand, from the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand, from the tribe of Benjamin, twelve thousand were sealed.”

God’s team of rescue messengers sent into the time of Great Tribulation are none other than men and women taken from the hated Jewish people – the object of current world anger and future world hatred. If you were to arrive on planet earth from Mars today and access the records of legal proceedings of the UN, you would be amazed to discover that Israel is a place barely the size of New Jersey – especially in light of the fact that overwhelmingly the most UN resolutions ever enacted for sanction are against them. In 2006, for instance, the UN passed on making a condemning resolution against Sudan in spite of the Darfur genocide, but put forward no less than nineteen anti-Israel resolutions.

Don’t misunderstand what I am saying – I am sure the Israelis may do some things that are not “kosher” (their own democratic free press says so) – but I hardly think a case can be made that they have proven themselves to deserve more than three quarters of all the condemning admonitions of the UN resolutions  – when that same illustrious body has failed to cite the violations of North Korea at all and –until recently, wouldn’t consider one against Iran or Syria. Anyone who argues the UN doesn’t have an unbelievable bias against Israel simply isn’t reading the sheer volume of resolutions and balancing them against real global threats. One of the evidences for the LITERAL RENDERING of the prophetic Scriptures is simply that God says that as the end approaches, more and more hatred will mount against Israel… soon you may well see many in the church world chiming in.

Nevertheless, look at the verses closely. There are 144,000 people that are chosen from the tribes of the Jewish people. Some may argue that “we don’t know the tribes of the Jewish people today.” That would be a true observation. Yet, the seal wasn’t determined by a human committee – it was placed by God’s emissaries on the heads of the “chosen-chosen”! A number of commentators take the time to share that they are not sure these people are Jews – but rather represent “Christians throughout the ages”. I can only say this: God isn’t on a cat and mouse game. He took the time to speak of things in the future, and I believe the clarity of reference to Jewish people by taking the time to name tribe after tribe is laborious EXACTLY BECAUSE He knew how much clarity people would need to get the identities correct. If He is NOT trying to say JEWISH PEOPLE, this isn’t only picturesque – it borders in misleading. I think it is clear by the fourth or fifth named tribe – these are JEWS set to witness in the Tribulation.

Now that presents its own problem. Why would God choose His witnesses from among the very people that are the object of so much wrath during these seven years on the earth. If you stay with the series until the end, you will see the incredible anger and wrath of earthly nations against Israel. Why not choose people who were more likely to get a hearing among the lost world’s elite? The answer to that question can be found in God’s “modus operandi” throughout the ages:

1 Corinthians 1:26 For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; 27 but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, 28 and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, 29so that no man may boast before God.

God isn’t interested in choosing men and women that can claim that others followed BECAUSE OF THEM. Let that sink in… God isn’t simply interested in making us more popular or famous to get the attention of others. He wants us to put our full attention on HIM and allow Him to direct our steps to the path that He will use in our lives. We don’t have to be TALENTED or the smartest kid in the room. We have to be surrendered to His purpose, and in love with His receiving the glory!

A Praised People

The thanks of Heaven will be exclaimed over these witnesses. Those who have been abused on earth will be lauded in Heaven! They have suffered on earth, but they will be like the selected Levites and Priests in the fabulous Temple of Heaven. The martyrs of the earth are Heaven’s best servants – for they gave their lives like the Savior and will be exalted in His work! Drop down to verse 13 and take a closer look:

Revelation 7:13 Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, “These who are clothed in the white robes, who are they, and where have they come from?” 14 I said to him, “My lord, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 15 “For this reason, they are before the throne of God; and they serve Him day and night in His temple; and He who sits on the throne will spread His tabernacle over them. 16 “They will hunger no longer, nor thirst anymore; nor will the sun beat down on them, nor any heat; 17 for the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of the water of life; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes.”

These are martyred men and women. They have passed through judgment in 7:13 (because verse seventeen says they are wearing white robes – and Revelation 19 reminds us “for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.” They are clearly believers, and they gave their lives IN THE TRIBULATION period – as is demonstrated in 7:14. They suffered during their earth lives. Some were hungry, some thirsted, some were burned by the sun, some tortured by physical heat – but all of them shed tears. They suffered for the testimony of the Cross. They bled and they perished, but they were prepared to celebrate the One they bore in Testimony.

They weren’t the first Christian martyrs – but they were going to be the last. Go back and thumb through the history of the church, and the company of martyrs is no small one. The New Testament opened the subject with Stephen, a deacon preacher killed for preaching the cross. The first Roman documented case of imperially-supervised persecution of the Christians began with Nero (ruled 54–68 CE). After the great fire of Rome in 64 CE that destroyed portions of the city and economically devastating the populace, Nero fastened guilt on a hated class called Christians. The Annals of Tacitus XV reported:

“…a vast multitude, were convicted, not so much of the crime of incendiarism as of hatred of the human race. And in their deaths they were made the subjects of sport; for they were wrapped in the hides of wild beasts and torn to pieces by dogs, or nailed to crosses, or set on fire, and when day declined, were burned to serve for nocturnal lights.”

In the Tribulation, such barbarism appears to be revived. Yet, we should not be surprised… the number of martyrs in the modern period has been steadily increasing around the world. During the Tribulation, God has a particular and protected people that He has suited for His search and rescue operation in the Tribulation. They will, for a time, be protected. Then, as the Tribulation moves forward, many of them will lose their lives in the struggle to bring people to God and to freedom from the grasp of sin’s destruction.

When they die, those in Heaven will not blame God. Heaven will not curse the enemy. Heaven will understand. God is a parent that will not let go without a fight. Men and women of all ages will stand before the throne. How many parents will condemn? Not one. They’ll get it.

Look at the record of the future, as secure as if it had already happened:

Revelation 7:9 After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; 10 and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” 11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying, “Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen.”

Can you see it? Heaven understands that God’s rescue team was expendable on earth – because the value of ONE SOUL to God was worth it all. Heaven didn’t weight the “time they lost” because of their death. That isn’t the point of life– to have more time on earth.

Down through the ages, believers have surrendered this life for the call of Heaven… and Heaven is calling still. God is looking for those who want to rescue others from a world lost in sin. He isn’t asking if you will consider being a missionary – because if you know Jesus,  and if you have tasted the freedom from sin that you got when Jesus washed you white as snow, YOU ARE A MISSIONARY. The only thing Heaven is waiting for is for YOU to acknowledge your identity.

• A man is LOST even if he grows up in the shadow of a mega-church. He is LOST if he doesn’t ask Jesus to come into his heart, wash away his sin and take what remains of his life to use for God’s glory. In other words, Jesus died to make SALVATION AVAILABLE. Yet, many do not know it is available, so they do not grab onto it. They remain lost.

• In the same way, many Christians are unaware of their calling to rescue the lost with the Gospel. They may have heard they should care, but many have come to believe that God saved them to keep their body healed, their bank full and their blessed life fulfilling. They have lost track of Heaven’s impulses. They have forgotten they were BLESSED to be a BLESSING to their lost neighbors and their dark communities. They have taken refuge in “fortress church” and become annoyed at the needy lost neighbors who keep mucking up their country with pluralism and relativism. They aren’t only unaware of their mission, they are annoyed at the object of God’s affection.

Men and women, God is calling a generation to step out and become uncomfortable. He is turning up the sound of marching hoof beats and sending signs in the sky. You can hear the hoof beats in the winds of the strange weather of our time. You can feel the rumble beneath your feet in the moral decay splashed across the pages of our newspapers. The thunder of the hoof beats can be heard in the desperation of America’ broken families and floundering family courts. We can tremble with the cadence of the rising hatred against Israel – a nation still in their unredeemed state, but with an unshakable promise.

You see, when the fifth seal was broken –  no horseman roared forth. No Living Creature thundered. All that was heard was a loud group of voices crying out for JUSTICE over the COST of their testimony. They were found beneath the altar in the Heavenly Temple –  a place where ashes fell in a sacrifice. They wanted to understand something about God’s plan. They wanted to know HOW LONG it would be until their cruel martyrdoms were remembered! They were affirmed when they were given white robes – a representation of their judgment as “righteous” and then told to be still for yet a little while – the killing fields were not yet full.

• God longs for lost men and women to return to His arms.
• God waits for believers who will feel the burn inside their heart for lost people around them.
• God aches over each one who is desperately struggling to live a life on their own. We cannot find what we are looking for apart from Him!

I read to my students this quote from The Confessions of Saint Augustine the other day as a reminder: “Sin comes when we take a perfectly natural desire or longing or ambition and try desperately to fulfill it without God. Not only is it sin, it is a perverse distortion of the image of the Creator in us. All these good things, and all our security, are rightly found only and completely in him.”

We cannot be well without the Savior at the center of our lives. Lost men are held in lonely bondage when He is not enthroned in them. Saved men are rendered senseless – absent from their true purpose of love – working as Heaven’s hands, feet and voices to rescue others.

Someday soon the response of Heaven will show that they understand God’s patience with men. We will not fret about God’s patience with evil. We will know that God was RIGHT … even to put witnesses in the killing fields – that some souls would be harvested to GLORY. My God values the eternal life of the lost of the earth more than He values the comfort of the saved. Watching as His creation kicks and pulls away to its own destruction is no easier for Him than for any parent – it is agony. If it doesn’t hurt US, we may have lost our hearing… the sound of the hoof beats is approaching. Why is God patient with the evils of our world? Ask any parent what length they would go to in order to bring their straying child back home.”

In 1898, America was in the grips of the Spanish-American War, though its troops were decimated after the Civil War thirty years before.  The United States Army enacted the “First United States Volunteer Cavalry” that history would remember as “Roosevelt’s Rough Riders.” President William McKinley called upon their 1,250 volunteers to fight in the Cuban war for independence. The Rough Riders were comprised of native Americans, college athletes, cowboys, and ranchers. One of the training exercises that Buffalo Billl used in his wild west show years later was attributed to Roosevelt and the Riders. The men were to form a line and charge on horseback over the barricade of the enemy lines, firing from their pistols in both directions. It had both the unnerving effect of collapsing a barricade wall and starling the men inside their fortification, causing them to scatter. The resulting dust and dirt, along with the confusion, often meant the enemy ended up shooting many of his own in friendly fire confusion. The men would approach at high speed, and just before breaking over the wall, they would cry out, according to some scholars, something like: “Incoming rider!”

Today, I want to move our eyes from Heaven to the earth, and charging the barricades of mankind, a wave of attacking “incoming riders” pummeled the earth. They were not sent by President McKinley – but by the Creator of the Universe. We begin to look at the period in the book Bible students call “The Great Tribulation”.

The writings of the Apostle John are structured in specific plans. His recorded Gospel included seven “I Am” statements of Jesus, along with seven “I Do” miracles of Jesus to give evidence to His Divine claim. In this book, their appear to be seven views of Heaven, along with seven views of earth and its activities. In the opening chapter of Revelation, we saw the first EARTH SHOT, with John on a penal colony island called Patmos, when Jesus appeared before him. The earthly view continued through chapters two and three – as John wrote down letters from Jesus to the seven churches of western Asia Minor, addressing them in the order of the ancient postal route.

By chapters four and five, our eyes were moved from the first view of Earth to our first view of Heaven. John was pulled into the magnificent throne room scene we have been reveling in for two lessons – one in Revelation 4 and one in Revelation 5. In that first HEAVEN SHOT, we saw seven personages in the almost indescribable throne room: 1. John; 2. Father on Throne; 3. 24 Elders: Representative, regal (stephanos), redeemed and resurrected; 4. Seven spirits; 5. Four seraphim; 6. Michael (5:2 cp. Dam 12:1) ; 7. Lion – lamb

Heaven froze for a moment when a great question pealed through the throne room: “Who has attained the right to open the scroll of the end?” John wept, and an elder corrected him for doing so. Gazing to one who stood before the believers near the throne, a wounded Lamb cames forth to open the scrolls and unfold the time of the three profound waves of judgment shared carefully in chapters 6-19. The scroll contained the three judgments of the Tribulation Period, called “The Seal Judgments” (Revelation 6:1-7:3 and 8:1), “The Trumpet Judgments” (Revelation 8:6-9:15 and 11:15) and finally “The Bowl or Vial Judgments” (Revelation 16).

Why did God tell us about the coming judgment in such detail? There are multiple reasons. First, God wanted people who pass into these events as witnesses, to have God’s Word as evidence of the events surrounding them to increase the effectiveness of their witness. Second, believers down through the ages – just like you and I – need the ability to keep the end in view.

Key Principle: God pulled back the curtain of the future to change the way we live in the lost world today.

Look at the story of the Seal judgments:

The First Seal—Dominator

6:1 Then I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of thunder, “Come.” 2 I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.

When the first seal was opened, the THUNDEROUS sound of one of the four living creatures peeled loudly – COME. One was being ordered out of the midst of all others. He was a Conqueror, but not the Rightful Righteous Lord of Creation. Both Jesus and this conqueror are introduced as garnering a white horse – Jesus (in Revelation 19:11) and this conqueror. It is as though this one WANTED to look like the Savior, but he was not. The details would not escape anyone in the Roman period, as the Roman populace was familiar with the POMPA Processions of Caesar after a conquest. In ancient Rome, the pompa circensis (“circus parade”) was the official procession to the ludi (“sponsored games”) held in the circus as part of religious festivals and commemorative occasions. Julius Caesar added to the imagery by joining the procession – usually in a chariot drawn by a white horse with a crown held above him and an archer beside (an addition to the simple rider on a white horse). The route of the procession was added to and adjusted over the next one hundred years, but by the time of John, such processions were commonplace and as well known as fireworks on the fourth of July. The procession meant a conquering hero, celebrated by the crowds for a new area brought under Roman rule. Here it is a conqueror, called out to destroy and take captives. He comes with a bow, but no arrows – suggesting he expanded his acquisitions without the use of force – by treaty.

Clearly the one was CALLED by the Living Creature, and the victor crown (stephanos) was given to him – God GAVE him authority. Why do I say “God gave it to him!” ? Look at Revelation 17:17 “For God hath put in their hearts to fulfill his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.” God will directly or indirectly convince some of the the rulers of the world to give a pact of power to the conqueror. In my view, this one is the Antichrist – a figure familiar from both Daniel and 2 Thessalonians as well as Revelation 13, 17 and 18. We will take more time to investigate his workings in another study – he will take some time. For the moment, just remember this: When the church is removed, the trouble starts when the Antichrist makes an agreement and gains power. We’ll call him the “Dominator”.

The Second Seal—Division

6:3 When He broke the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, “Come.” 4 And another, a red horse, went out; and to him who sat on it, it was granted to take peace from the earth, and that men would slay one another; and a great sword was given to him.

In the wake of the Dominator, comes the reaction of the world in Division, as the red horse was called and dispatched. Though the dominator comes with a covenant of peace, not everyone is content with that peace. In fact, the stirring of the world pot comes from on High. The RED HORSE is reminiscent of Mars, the god of war. Remember, the Romans called themselves “sons of Mars” since the War god was the mythical father of Romulus and Remus – the founders of Rome.

At the point that the Dominator makes a treaty, the church is already gone. The Biblical world view is all but a memory for most in power. The message of Jesus becomes totally passé – a relic of failed western powers. The work of the Spirit – the Comforter and Restrainer is no longer commonplace. Brutality and hatred become the order of the day. The family bonds disintegrate. There is confusion, chaos and conquest by sword – as the earth finds itself unable to work out problems peacefully.

The Third Seal—Depravation

6:5 When He broke the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, “Come.” I looked, and behold, a black horse; and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. 6 And I heard something like a voice in the center of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not damage the oil and the wine.”

The black horse is summoned to inflict the earth, as a blistering time of economic disaster and starvation spreads across the world. The ability to exchange, buy and sell represented in the scales of the Roman market show scarcity. A measure (khoy’-nix: less than a quart of dry measure) of wheat or three measures of barley will be measured against a Roman coin worth 53 grams of silver – a common designation for the standard day’s wage for a Roman soldier by the early first century. In essence, during the tribulation scarcity will force a full day’s labor just to cover the cost of that day’s bread. If that seems strange to you, more than one third of the world is living in this situation RIGHT NOW.

Great protection seems to be afforded the “oil and wine”. Whether these are LUXURIES or a reference to HEALING DRUGS is uncertain. What is certain is that the horseman was told not to be careless with these items.

The Fourth Seal—Death

6:7 When the Lamb broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, “Come.” 8 I looked, and behold, an ashen horse; and he who sat on it had the name Death; and Hades was following with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth.

The fourth horseman was summoned to break forth onto the earth. He was simply called DEATH. He was “pale” (“chloros” from Greek word that underlies both chlorine and chlorophyll today. It is a pallor of ghastly green … like a rotten and decaying body. At his arrival, one fourth of the world’s population will succumb to death. If it were today, that would be “one and three quarter billion” people. That would equal ALL of modern China PLUS all of the US. They will die of WAR, FAMINE and some of even “natural” means – like living beasts or organisms.

• Dr. Frank Holtman, Univ. of Tennessee’s bacteriological department said, “While the greater part of a city’s population could be destroyed by an atomic bomb, the bacteria method might easily wipe out the entire population of the earth within a week’s time.”

• George Borgstrom in Hungry Planet said, “It is sobering to realize that no part of the world, in the event of serious crop failure, is more than 1 year away from critical starvation. And even in the rich United States, with all it’s surpluses, we are not more than 2 years away.” (from Pastor Jerry Shirley at Sermon Central illustrations).

The Fifth Seal—Doubt

6:9 When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; 10 and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” 11 And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also.

The fifth seal was broken and this time no horseman roared forth. No Living Creature thundered. All that was heard was a loud group of voices asking in harmony a single question. They were found beneath the altar in the Heavenly Temple –  a place where ashes fell in a sacrifice. They wanted to understand something about God’s plan. They wanted to know HOW LONG it would be until their cruel martyrdoms were remembered! They were affirmed when they were given white robes – a representation of their judgment as “righteous” and then told to be still for yet a little while – the killing fields were not yet full. We will be looking at these dear future brothers and sisters in our next study, but let me only remind you of this one truth: God values the eternal life of the lost of the earth more than He values the comfort of the saved. If that were not true, Christianity would lack not only martyrs – but missionaries. He has asked you to GIVE YOUR LIFE for the Gospel, whether in service or in sacrifice. That is not a theory – that’s in daily choices of our obedience.

The Sixth Seal—Destruction

6:12 I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; 13 and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. 14 The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. 15 Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; 16 and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; 17 for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

The sixth seal seems to unleash at least three types of destruction: first, the earth’s crust is moving; second, the sky is darkened with particles that block the sun and discolor the moon’s glow; third, a pummeling from the heavens of what appear to be heavenly bodies. This may be atomic war and its reaction, or a God ordained natural phenomenon – there is no way to really tell. What is clear is that it causes DREAD and people seek SHELTERS below ground – consistent with either scenario. The destruction appears to FOLLOW the mass death of the fourth seal, and may add to that fraction of one fourth.

Before the seventh seal, there was a regressive look at some people God wanted to protect in chapter 7– His holy witnesses – but we will look at more thoroughly in our next study. For now, keep reading and we will see the seventh seal emerge

The Seventh Seal – Distribution

Revelation 8:1 When the Lamb broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. 2 And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.

The last seal was opened and SILENCE fell upon Heaven. No more stars were cast to the earth. There was a time of calm. All heaven awaited God’s next move. Seven trumpets were handed out – they were to be the next round of devastating judgment – worse than what we have just seen.

The second EARTH SHOT that began in Heaven as the scrolls were opened and judgments leapt to the earth in the form of “Incoming Riders” – ended in a massive physical and environmental disruption that caused men to move to shelters below ground. By that time the church was already removed from earth, and the restraining influence she had before was removed from the ethical debates, the political parties and the educational tenets. God’s representatives on the earth were removed in a moment – leaving a Christ-less world to imagine its own moral standards.

Jesus warned in Matthew 24:21 “Then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world, unto this time, no, nor ever shall be.”

Think of all the pictures and videos of wars you have ever seen! Peel open books on the trenches of the WWI. Look at the Time photo series of the aftermath of death camps and bombing blitzes of WWII. Gaze into burned out tanks in the Iraqi desert and look at the destroyed bits of an Afghani cave. Follow the images of swollen bellied children and the leveled earth in a tsunami aftermath. Think of human atrocities that have become part of human history from the time of Adam and Eve until today…and Jesus said none of it compares to what the world is about to experience in The Great Tribulation.

What is the unbeliever’s response to this message? Consider this: God takes no delight in pummeling His Creation. He will violently take back what has defected away in self centered mutiny. At the same time, you should know the truth – God is not WEAK and He is not UNENGAGED with your affairs. He knows you and I. He knows what we are doing. Let me say it plainly: The purpose of history is for God to tell HIS STORY – Who He really is – and He is not the “mamby pamby” harmless chaplain “do gooder” above that He has been played out to be – an emasculated and harmless dotty old man in the sky.

He is the God of the Prophet Nahum:

Nahum 1:7 The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and He knows those who take refuge in Him. 8 But with an overflowing flood He will make a complete end of its site, and will pursue His enemies into darkness. 9 Whatever men devise against the LORD, He will make a complete end of it. Distress will not rise up twice.

Why does God tell us this? Because of His nature… Nahum 1:3 The LORD is slow to anger and great in power, and the LORD will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. In whirlwind and storm is His way, and clouds are the dust beneath His feet.

But that is not the only person that needs to hear about the end. What about the believer? As we look over the edge and peer into the end, what is the believer’s response to the end times prophecy that we are looking at? First, we should be able to identify both the descent into paganism of our world. Second, we should be able to spot the apostasy of the church around the world.  We must be able to pick out the changes from the small to the great. We must be vigilant but not caustic and negative. We are not the people of NO!

How do we keep from such negativity?

• We rely on the magnificent power of God! No church can defeat the enemy. No parent can fell him. No country can destroy him. God, and God alone has put the end of the evil one in His plan. When we are discouraged by his inroads and advances, we fall back into the arms of our God and remember that He is inside us and He is greater in power.

• We stand wholly on the absolute truth of the Word of God. It isn’t theory, it is God’s practical letter of what He wanted us to know. We learn it, memorize it, study it and measure all ideas and ethics against its timeless truths. We examine the message of naysayers, but don’t entertain their criticisms as equal to God’s Holy Word. We learn truth and answer compromise and deception with truth.

• We rest in the peace of the Holy Spirit – for God is not caught off guard in the rising tide of evil in our world. In the midst of sharply learning His Word, we don’t become ungracious or unduly aggressive. People are the object of God’s affection, not an argument to win or a project to be brought in line.

• We practice a circumspect faith – that is we look at what God is doing in many places, not just keep out eye on evil and its advance. The sun may be setting in some parts of the west, but God is raising that same sun in powerful ways in parts of the east. We look at the whole board – not just our part of it. When God raises Japanese believers by the hundreds to take the Gospel to the lost of Asia, we celebrate their valor and applaud their faithfulness.

• We practice a tough faith –one that is joyful (trusting God) and resilient rather than defensive and angry. We don’t try to argue people into the Kingdom – but that simply won’t work. We don’t gripe at every wave of immoral legislation that afflicts our once more Biblical founded country – we challenge false ideas with truth and live in such a winsome way that people desire to hear our answers.

• We make it our increasing priority to keep the end in front of us – shaking us out of the lulling influences of our own comfort. Jesus is coming soon. All pleasures of earth are fleeting. This devastating and deceptive idea that we should engage in every pleasure possible rather than sharing Jesus with others is challenged in our minds and hearts. Our lives are NOT just about our families – they are about a lost world and a coming Christ. Our work is NOT just about our provision – it is about sourcing God’s Kingdom.

• We face the reality that time is running out and plan to make a difference daily among unbelievers – showing love in practical ways, while learning and using new ways to make the Gospel plain. We don’t keep believing that we will do it when it seems convenient – because we know the master deceiver will always place an obstacle. We will open our mouths today for our Savior, for the eastern sky is gathering its clouds soon.

• We keep our eyes on the long view – the eternal perspective. We talk about Heaven, and share about the joys Jesus is preparing for us already. We know that it is a certainty of the next like, but we don’t try to make life HERE and NOW into Heaven. We KNOW that No election will stop the Gospel. No political move will change the sinfulness of men. We participate that we might be faithful to HIM, not that we may fix the problems with political solutions. We also know that some things won’t happen until we finally reach our homes. We fight injustice, but we know that it will not be defeated until the King clears it all away.

• We pray more and more for the work of God in our families, our church and our community. We know that God has called us to ask Him for His enabling. We cannot plan our way into growing a healthy church without praying all the way through each step of the plan. We don’t want to simply teach about prayer, admonish people about prayer, talk about prayer, share about prayer… we need to PRAY! Our families, our church, our community, our county, our State and our nation are our opportunity to collaborate with God’s Spirit and prayerfully and dependently push ahead in love.

• We spend more time practicing righteousness and supporting righteousness than complaining about unrighteous deeds of those around us in the world. The world doesn’t understand moral thinking and doesn’t care what we don’t agree with – they want to freedom to destroy marriage – though they lack the ability to pay the bill for broken homes and they lack to understand to deal with the tsunami of broken children coming from them. They want to freedom to destroy purity – though they have no idea how to cope with the devastating emotional fallout of the brutal families that emerge from the lust-fest. We MUST live differently, or we blunt our message and silence our advance.

In the end, We are God’s church. We are the Body of Christ – the hands and feet to this time and this place. We are called to worship deeply, surrender thoroughly, pray fervently, love sacrificially,  and hope unflinchingly. We are God’s church – and He isn’t done with us until the door to Heaven opens. We cannot rest in the warmth of luxury while the neighbors home is consumed in blazing flames. We can do more, we must do more and we will do more… by God’s grace and in God’s power. God pulled back the curtain of the future to change the way we live in the lost world today.

When I was young, we used to watch the original series “Kung Fu” with David Carradine. A TV series of the early 1970s, the story followed the wandering travels of a Shaolin monk named Kwai Chang Caine. This monk traveled the American West in the time of the cowboys, armed only with his spiritual training and his skill in martial arts. The journey was driven by Caine’s search for his half-brother in a west that held only disdain for the Chinamen that built the railroads for the great rail companies of yesteryear. What impressed me most about the part that Caine played was his “quiet power” – in the simple robes of this humble spirited monk lay the power of a mighty warrior. In virtually every episode, Caine was sorely provoked by men who were entirely unsuspecting of his power – until his feet and hands were released to form an unstoppable force. His patience was mistaken for impotence- until he showed the truth.

There is a scene in the book of Revelation that is just as surprising as Caine breaking into a fight before the dull sensed cowboys of the old west… it is found in Revelation 5. In that room, a lamb that was wounded and abused by Creation begins to roar like a full grown and massive lion. The time for evil’s victory was about to be crushed. The High King of Heaven had been patient long enough. It is a story of encouragement.

Key Principle: There is a reason to hold up our heads in the midst of a rising tide of darkness – it is temporary and our Savior’s victory is secure. It has already been revealed!

I confess that I am not rushing to Revelation 6 to get to the juicy details of the earth’s pummeling… I am walking deliberately through this passage concerning Heaven. We are in no rush, because there are profound lessons in Heaven’s throne room Heaven is our HOPE and our PROMISE. It is our encouragement to live with light tracks on this earth – trusting in another place as our home. The great lessons of Heavenoffer the deepest encouragements – and secure God’s people through waves of darkness.

Surfers learn the rhythm of the waves of the sea. The worst thing a surfer can do when caught under the punishment of the down thrust of a powerful wave is PANIC. If they pull in their extremities, hold tightly their breath and wait… sometimes in what seems an eternity… the power of the thundering wave will pass by – and they will be able to make their way to the surface again.

In the same way, the Bible makes believers aware of times of evil domination, on our way to eventual righteous relief. I mention this because in my lifetime many believers have expressed increasing dismay at God’s patience with evil. They keep longing inside (and occasionally expressing outside) for overwhelming displays of God’s power so that people will see that WE are on the winning side. Strangely, God appears content, much of the time, with the appearance of weakness. How do we respond when it appears that evil is winning and most people are on evil’s side? How can we be encouraged when God appears weak in the face of profound and rising evil?

If these are your questions… you have found a place in God’s Word to draw encouragement! In the chapter before this one, John struggled as he described his view of Heaven  – beyond any words he could easily form or share. He saw the Most High God, seated on the throne at the center of the Heavenly throne room. He sat unchallenged and unmatched as the Supreme Ruler of all the universe. All might, power and authority emanated from that single place. Surrounding that throne were four strange looking living beings that John could not adequately describe from within his own earthly experience. He encountered the believers of the church age, fresh from their Bema seat of judgment – and experienced worship that overwhelmed his senses! He continued in the description of this passage with a series of encouraging words:

Encouragement #1 (5:1): God alone will initiate final judgment.

Revelation 5:1 I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a book written inside and on the back, sealed up with seven seals.

The plan is in God’s hand of authority. Man will not define the final steps of the planet, nor determine the timing and method of the end – it comes from the only wise God, perfect in knowledge. The scroll of history is detailed (wrote before and behind) with much information. Note also it is multiply sealed awaiting God’s move in time and God’s appointed opener.

The term for the scroll (βιβλίον) simply means a roll, scroll, or volume. It is variously used: (a) to denote Torah law, Hebrews 9:19, 10:7; (b) the Book of Life, Revelation 17:8, 20:12, 21:27; (c) the Seven Letters, Revelation 1:11; (d) certain legal documents, as a bill of divorce, Matthew 19:7; Mark 10:4.

Note the similarity to another prophetic scroll described in the prophet Ezekiel’s commissioning scroll: Ezekiel 2:8 “Now you, son of man, listen to what I am speaking to you; do not be rebellious like that rebellious house. Open your mouth and eat what I am giving you.” 9 Then I looked, and behold, a hand was extended to me; and lo, a scroll was in it. 10 When He spread it out before me, it was written on the front and back, and written on it were lamentations, mourning and woe. 3:1 Then He said to me, “Son of man, eat what you find; eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.” 2 So I opened my mouth, and He fed me this scroll. 3 He said to me, “Son of man, feed your stomach and fill your body with this scroll which I am giving you.” Then I ate it, and it was sweet as honey in my mouth. 4 Then He said to me, “Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with My words to them.”

The obvious conclusion is that the scroll is a legal document that is owned by God. In the coming chapter, we will see a correlation between opening the seals of the document, and judgments that are declared upon the earth. This scroll was evidently the things which “would shortly come to pass” in Revelation 1:19 – but they could not come to pass before the judgment against the earth was fulfilled. God wouldn’t keep going with things as they were – but demanded legal judgment to be levied. Why do we consider this judgment idea an encouragement? Because God is in control:

• Man can’t force God’s hand into doing things – we need to humbly bow to Him Who is on the throne. The end is not focused on man and his sinfulness, but on God and His Righteousness. As we study the book, we must constantly remind ourselves that we are to understand Jesus better – the book reveals HIM as well as the future.

• Man cannot unlock all the details of the Word’s final judgments – we need to be humble in our pronouncements of understanding of the coming writings of the book. As we study the book, we must admit that we know only what God has revealed – and that is limited by the words and our comprehension of them. The big parts of the truth are not so much in question, but beyond the largest fixtures revealed we must be careful not to arrogantly assert that we understand all that is contained therein. It is ok to admit we don’t see it all clearly!

Consider the words of the Bible commentator Matthew Henry: “We need not weep that we cannot foresee future events respecting ourselves in this world; the eager expectation of future prospects, or the foresight of future calamities, would alike unfit us for present duties and conflicts, or render our prosperous days distressing. Yet we may desire to learn, from the promises and prophecies of Scripture, what will be the final event to believers and to the church; and the Incarnate Son has prevailed, that we should learn all that we need to know.”

There is one over-riding fact that offers both comfort to the afflicted and courage to the broken… there IS a scroll. There IS a plan. It resides for the moment in the right hand of the Master of the throne room. Soon it will open because of the gentle tug of a bloodied lamb. Seals will break open. The end will come. There IS a plan, and there IS One worthy to complete its final demands. “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus’ name. On Christ, the solid Rock I stand… all other ground is sinking sand.”

Take courage, dear friend. Man will not pollute the planet into oblivion. The Mayan calendar notwithstanding – no “natural” calamity will cause the destruction of this beautiful and fascinating planet. God will determine the end of time, just as He did the beginning of it. It is a true statement: “Our times are in HIS HANDS”.

Encouragement #2 (5:2-5): God has deemed worthy an agent to bring final judgment.

Revelation 5:2 And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the book and to break its seals?” 3 And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the book or to look into it. 4 Then I began to weep greatly because no one was found worthy to open the book or to look into it; 5 and one of the elders said to me, “Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals.”

God has chosen the right person to bring about the end.  The specific agent God will employ to finish human history is the very One that redeemed man – the Messiah. His intimate knowledge of the struggle of physical life amid the fallen system under the wicked prince and his minions uniquely qualifies Him. His perfect sacrifice on behalf of fallen men uniquely qualifies Him. His intimate bonding of Heaven and earth as God-man uniquely qualifies Him. In other words, it is not only God that finishes the program, but God does so through His Son – He who died to purchase fallen and estranged Creation.

When we read carefully verse two, the question is not “Who should reveal the destinies of God’s people?” Rather the question is this: “Who has the Divinely ascribed POSITION to initiate judgment and thereby open the future of creation?” The answer is offered by a knowledgeable elder of the room: “Jesus the Messiah, called the lion of the tribe of Judah, alluding to Jacob’s prophecy (Gen. 49:9-10).

Genesis 49:9 “Judah is a lion’s whelp; From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He couches, he lies down as a lion, And as a lion, who dares rouse him up? 10“ The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes, And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.”

Jacob foretold that One of Judah would bring judgment. He would wait patiently as a lion waits. The line of rulers would be long, but the scepter would be passed into the Lion’s hands. He would eventually show up, and people would obey Him. Keep your eyes on the skies… for this is on its way.

At that time in the passage, a problem arose: John began to weep because it appeared no one was worthy to open the scrolls. He knew HE was not worthy. He was drawn in to the scene as we can be tear-filled in a sad movie – he could not help the scene, but he hurt over it. As he wept, he was told there was a CONQUEROR – an overcoming lion. He turned to look for this Great One, but what he saw was something other than he anticipated… a wound filled lamb. One that bore the marks of slaughterers upon Him.

Pastor Rodney Buchanan wrote it well: “John immediately turns to see this great lion that has just been described to him, but he does not see a lion. He sees a lamb. And not just any lamb, but one with death wounds. John can see the blood and the open wounds with which he has been inflicted. What a shock it must have been for John to look for this great lion who would rip the seals with his great claws, only to see a small wounded lamb. But it is the lamb who walks up to the One seated on the throne and takes the scroll. A paradox is a seemingly contradictory statement that may nonetheless be true. Here is a paradox. How can a lion be a lamb? The two are opposites. One is the hunter and the other the prey. One is placed in a cage with iron bars; the other in a petting zoo. (The answer lies in this one truth): God’s strength is disguised as weakness.”

God disguised His power many times! Don’t you recall how men treated the Messiah?

Matthew 27:27 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole Roman cohort around Him. 28 They stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him. 29 And after twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head, and a reed in His right hand; and they knelt down before Him and mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 30 They spat on Him, and took the reed and began to beat Him on the head. 31 After they had mocked Him, they took the scarlet robe off Him and put His own garments back on Him, and led Him away to crucify Him… 35 And when they had crucified Him …38 At that time two robbers were crucified with Him, one on the right and one on the left. 39 And those passing by were hurling abuse at Him, wagging their heads 40 and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” 41 In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking Him and saying, 42 “He saved others; He cannot save Himself. He is the King of Israel; let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in Him. 43 “HE TRUSTS IN GOD; LET GOD RESCUE Him now, IF HE DELIGHTS IN HIM; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” 44 The robbers who had been crucified with Him were also insulting Him with the same words.

Peter later boldly proclaimed after a man was healed in the Temple:  Acts 3:13 “The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus, the one whom you delivered and disowned in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release Him. 14 “But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, 15 but put to death the Prince of life, the one whom God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are witnesses. 16 “And on the basis of faith in His name, it is the name of Jesus which has strengthened this man whom you see and know; and the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect health in the presence of you all.

Let me renew the question I posed earlier: “Why does God not simply WIN all the time? Why allow evil such a path of victory?” Perhaps immediate victory does not suit His ultimate purpose… is that possible? Sure it is! Think of it this way… What if good always triumphed and doing the right always paid tremendous dividends? It seems obvious that most everyone would flock to God and follow him. At the same time, we must consider that people would come to God because it benefitted them personally – a selfish motivation. Would they love God for Who He is or for the benefits of standing beneath the warmth and light of His power? God’s weak appearance in the face of evil sifts out those who want to use God for their own purposes.

We may think of a small, young lamb as harmless – but not this One! Observe what happens when the Lamb opens the fifth seal: “Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. They called to the mountains and the 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?’” (Revelation 6:15-17).

Don’t forget… His patience in opposing evil is a temporary condition. God has deemed One worthy to pull the judgment scroll open… and open it He will! Despite evil’s rage, judgment is coming. Wrong will be made right. Abusers of the weak will be held accountable. The power of the mighty will fail them before the Father’s ultimate power… God has chosen well the agent of the end.

Encouragement #3 (5:6-14): The Messiah’s visible qualities that show His entitlement will be completely understood.

Revelation 5:6 And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth. 7 And He came and took the book out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. 8 When He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. 10 “You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.” 11 Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.” 13 And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever.” 14 And the four living creatures kept saying, “Amen.” And the elders fell down and worshiped.

People won’t second guess God when they see His judgment. When John tightened his focus on the qualities of the Son that made Him the righteous choice (worthy to open the scroll with seven seals) – it became OBVIOUS that He alone was the right choice to do so.

• First, He stood as the intermediary between the throne of God and the elders – the mediator of the saved. Revelation 5:6 And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing…
• Second, He appeared with the wounds of payment – a lamb slain. Revelation 5:6b “…as if slain…”
• Third, He appeared in full and complete authority – horns denoted full authority. Revelation 5:6b “…having seven horns…”
• Fourth, He was fully encompassed by and in harmony with the Spirit of God –minutely aware of the happenings of the earth. Jesus (who began the story in Colossians 1:16-17) paid for the right to finish the story. Jesus was granted all authority from His Father to do so after His act of obedience (Matthew 28:18). Revelation 5:6b “…seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth.”
• Fifth, He knew His role, and at the appointed time – He took the scroll to unfold it. Revelation 5:7 And He came and took the book out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.”
• Sixth, all Creation acknowledged the choice God made in giving Him the scroll – no one opposed His claim. This included the Elders (5:8-10), the angelic host (5:11-12), every created being in Heaven, earth, beneath the earth, on the sea and from beneath the sea (5:13-14)!

The lamb stood alone at His beating. He was nailed alone at the Cross. He had no one intervene on His behalf…. And one day soon, He will stand alone as JUDGE. It is the reason He stood silent before his captors.

His humility was born out of confidence in the truth… and so it YOURS. He could be silent for a time when He knew the end of all things…. And so can YOU! We don’t have to WIN right now, because He will win for us in the days ahead. Sometimes we look around at the world and it seems like evil is winning, but we forget that God has the scroll, and He wins in the end. God is in control. Current appearances are deceiving.

“On October 30, 1974, Muhammad Ali and George Foreman squared off in the boxing ring in Zaire. Ali had dubbed it “The Rumble in the Jungle.” Foreman was heavily favored, and considered the hardest puncher in heavyweight history. Ali did something in that fight that no other fighter had ever dared to try. He held up his arms against his face and leaned back against the ropes allowing Foreman to punch away at him for eight rounds. The strongest boxer in history beat on Ali until he could punch no more. When the right moment came, Ali bounced off the ropes and knocked out Foremen, sending him into retirement. Ali called his technique “rope-a-dope.” Even though it looked like he was losing the fight, and losing badly, he was in control the whole time. He took all those punches because he knew he would deliver the final blow.” It appears as though God may be using Ali’s “rope-a-dope” technique on the evil world and its prince of darkness.  (Rodney Buchanan, Sermon Central illustrations).

God need not be overly interested in appearances today – because the power of evil is only a fleeting illusion. God deals in the REAL.  Consider this: “For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength. . . . But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things — and the things that are not — to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him” (1 Corinthians 1:25, 27-29).

Look closely at the bill of goods evil is serving – its ultimate power is only an illusion. It is a counterfeit power. The Lion stands at the ready to emerge and bellow its roar. Read the end…The Lamb wins. There is a reason to hold up our heads in the midst of a rising tide of darkness – it is temporary and our Savior’s victory is secure.