“THE KING WHO RULES HISTORY: PART 3
Revelation 6
This week there will be another cataclysmic celebration all around the USA.
It brings us to another July 4th holiday, otherwise known as Independence
Day. The day will culminate with fireworks displays that totally fill the sky
with wonder, spectacular kaleidoscopes of colors, and enough explosions to
rival artillery echoes in the middle of war. In order to do this almost every
community in this land will “shell out” thousands of dollars. People who
even rarely go to public events will honor this tradition as we remind
ourselves of the freedoms we so lavishly enjoy!
Last week, in Revelation 5, we finished the chapter with one of the most
glorious events in all of Scripture. There we uncovered the worship which
goes to the One who possesses the right to bring about the end of human
history as we know it in this world.
First there are the 24 elders and the 4 living creatures falling down before
the Lamb and singing. “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its
seals, because you were slain.” Then, added to their mighty voices, is
added a chorus of a hundred million angels singing, “Worthy is the Lamb,
who was slain.” As if that was not enough, added to all those beings of
Heaven are the voices of every living creature on earth, singing; “To Him
who sits on the Throne AND to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory
and power, for ever and ever!” This is all aimed at the Lord of history as
He stands glorified in heaven. There will not be one single voice (in all of
creation) not singing. Jesus rules history by reason of being its creator, by
right of being its redeemer, and THIRDLY, by being the Lord who will wrap
it all up!
Having established and explained the right Jesus Christ has to break open
the seals, now, in chapter 6, the seals are, themselves, opened! One by one
He breaks them off the roll. If the scroll is the blueprint of the events of
the end: the blueprint which will include, (as we shall see), the salvation of
God’s people, the judgment of the wicked, overthrowing evil and gathering
His redeemed; then the seals represent forces that will be operative
throughout the church’s history to bring about the opening of the scroll.
The first 5, parallel closely the message of Matthew 24, and are a group of
activities spanning the whole history of the church. The 6th leads to
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cosmological disturbances which immediately precede the revealing of
Christ. Let’s trace, then, this breaking of the seals in Revelation 6 as the
Lord of history unleashes the forces!
The 1st seal sends a white horse with a Rider racing across the earth. He
carries a bow and is given a crown. He is a conqueror bent on conquest.
Who is this? We are not told with specific certainty, but “white” all through
the book of Revelation relates to Christ and His followers. You DO note that
this first horse brings no indication of woe or destruction? I believe that Dr.
George Ladd is correct when he draws a parallel between this white horse
and the promise of Mark 13 and Matthew 24, “the gospel of the kingdom
must be first preached in all the world and then the end shall come.” Dr.
Ladd interprets this white horse as THE MARCH OF THE GOSPEL
THROUGH THE WHOLE WORLD, AS CHRIST GOES FORTH
THROUGH HIS WITNESSING PEOPLE TO BRING SALVATION INTO
EVERY CORNER OF THE GLOBE.
* REMEMBER! The breaking of these seals does not create sequential
events taking place one after another, but releases forces which, operating
simultaneously, lead to the final events of history! *
The breaking of the 2nd seal releases the red horse of war. His rider has
power to take peace from the earth. He produces what Matthew 24 describes
as “wars and rumors of wars”. This rider on this horse brings men into
conflict with each other. Who can let loose such forces of destruction? Only
one who loved enough, as did the Lamb, to lay down His life for these
warring, dying people.
The 3rd seal is broken; there is a black horse racing throughout the world, its
rider bearing scales in which a meager day’s allowance of food is measured
out in return for a day’s labor. While the rich continue to enjoy their money
and things, the multitudes of humanity experience want and need! So it is
and has been throughout history. Christ, the Lord of history, has used
“scarcity and want” to move nations, people, and kingdoms.
The 4th seal is broken and a pale horse dashes out across the planet. Its rider
is named Death. Hades follows close behind him. “To them is given power
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over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine, plague, and the wild
beasts of the earth.” AGAIN, without chapter 5, chapter 6 would make no
sense. Who has the right and power to unloose such forces, forces that only
lead to death? THE ANSWER: He who has redeemed and offers victory
by faith as a gift! If Hades swallows up people, it is because they have
refused to accept life. This Lord has already said, “I came that you might
have life and have it more abundantly.” He, then, has the right, and He
exercises it to set free the powers of death. THROUGHOUT THE
PRESENT AGE WE SEE THE WHITE HORSE OF THE CONQUERING
WORD RIDE! But the other three horses are riding as well!
This present age is NOT an age of peace. That must wait for the King!
Nations will rise and fall, their armies will march back and forth across
bloody battlefields. But even as the horses of destruction hasten over the
earth, the white horse and rider also ride, touching people with life. For
multitudes, history can only mean the pale horse of death and its
accompanying Hades, YET NOT SO FOR ALL! He who loosens the seals is
He who went to the cross that men might live.
The 5th seal, described in verses 9 and 11, is the activity of “martyrdom” as
part of the plan of history. Note well that believers die through all the book
of Revelation. The people of heaven are the people who die. That is not to be
unexpected. Jesus has said, “If anyone will come after me, let him take up
the cross and follow me.” So throughout history, the church is ever dying,
yet death does not mean the King has lost control of the reins. This process,
too, must go on to completion!
Finally, in verses 12-14, there is the breaking of the 6th seal. Here, we
encounter a recurrent theme throughout history. It is that AT THE END OF
HISTORY, beyond its wars, rumors of wars, earthquake, and famine: there
will be cosmic cataclysms! The sun turns black, the moon turns to blood,
the stars fall, the sky is rolled up, and the mountains and islands have
moved. In the picturesque description of prophecy: Joel, Haggai, Isaiah,
Jeremiah, Matthew: this same theme constantly recurs.
The end of history will be accompanied by a disruption of the cosmos
and the breaking up of the fixed patterns of the heavens. All of this takes
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place by the hand and the will of the King of history. He will bring history to
its end in spectacular fashion. JESUS IS THE LORD OF HISTORY!
This, then, is Our Lord! How shall we live in light of what we are learning in
this revelation of Him? (First) let us recognize the process that is taking
place. Let’s read our daily newspaper or watch TV news and see the forces
turned loose by the Lord’s breaking of the seals. See how the red horse of
war still flies, the black horse of scarcity continually brings mankind into
dependence and need, while the pale horse of death gallops across the
globe. These are not merely tragic coincidences or cruel mechanical forces;
THEY MOVE AT THE WILL OF THE LORD OF HISTORY! These vents
are the fruit of His design. Watch the news and see your king at work!
(Second) if He is the Lord of history, then YIELD TO HIS WORK! Verse
17 asks, “For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can
stand?” Who can stand when the Lord brings an summation of this earthly
existence as we know it? Only those who have their names “written in the
Lamb’s Book of life and allowed Him to be their Lord” will be able to
stand.
(Third) Because Christ offered Himself for humans in history, we are to live
redemptively. He has the right to break open the seals because he entered
history and DIED TO REDEEM! I am troubled that so many study the “end
times” and go to prophecy conferences as they voice their longing for the
Lord’s return. Yet, they sense no need to precipitate the end of time. If we
follow Him, we must live redemptively. We have no right simply to be
watchful spectators longing for the end to come unless we willingly join the
redemptive process. We are called to “die that men might live”.
If we simply offer the prayer “Come quickly Lord Jesus” in order to
escape AND we do nothing IN THE PRESENT to seek to deliver lost
people, we are prophecy parasites!!!!! We have already mentioned this but it
bears repeating!
(Fourth) we face the Lord of history in order that we would live life
confidently! As I read these chapters filled with thunder lightning and storm,
I think of my Mom when we were small, taking us out to the back porch
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when the dark thunderclouds rolled up black outside. With lightning
cracking all over the sky bringing rolls of thunder she would take my sister
and me, hold us in her arms, look out at the heavenly fireworks and laugh
and laugh and laugh. Why did she do it? That we might understand that we
need not fear the storm; IT IS THE HANDIWORKOF GOD!
God help us do the same! As the storms gather, let us understand that we are
in the arms of the Lord of history (if we have believed in Him in faith)!
Look at the storm and laugh in the face of the wind, laugh at the lightning of
life, laugh at the torrential downpour. All these are but traces of the
handiwork of the master as he marches his troops toward the final victory of
history.
JESUS IS THE LORD OF HISTORY, THE LORD BY REASON OF
CREATION, BY REASON OF REDEMPTION, BY REASON OF
BRINGING IT ALL TO AN END: SOMEDAY, IT MAY BE SOON!
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