Revelation 6 & 7 June 14, 2009
Summer Sermon Series on The Revelation of Jesus Christ, Part 4
“Not the Bad News Bears”
Rev. Meagan M. Boozer
In any sermon series, it is always best to take a few minutes each week to recap where we’ve been. That’s just not going to happen with this series. Because I am committed to reading aloud every word of two chapters each week, I am very aware of the time needed to explain and preach the text. So, if you miss a week, I encourage you to pick up a sermon copy in the hallways. If you can’t find a particular week, write a little note and put it on my desk, or give us a call, asking for one. We’ll make sure you get it. Also, you can go to our website and read each sermon there, or print them to read later.
Let us pray: O Father God, your words are so wonderful. In these chapters that are particularly difficult to understand, help us to glean the truth that will make us more faithful, more committed, more what you desire that we would be in this world today. Send your Holy Spirit now in fullness and in power to anoint the one who speaks and those who hear. Let us hear what the Spirit is saying to the church. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Revelation 6
1Then I saw the Lamb open one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures call out, as with a voice of thunder, “Come!” 2I looked, and there was a white horse! Its rider had a bow; a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering and to conquer.
3When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature call out, “Come!” 4And out came another horse, bright red; its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people would slaughter one another; and he was given a great sword.
5When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature call out, “Come!” I looked, and there was a black horse! Its rider held a pair of scales in his hand, 6and I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a day’s pay, and three quarts of barley for a day’s pay, but do not damage the olive oil and the wine!”
7When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature call out, “Come!” 8I looked and there was a pale green horse! Its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed with him; they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, famine, and pestilence, and by the wild animals of the earth.
9When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slaughtered for the word of God and for the testimony they had given; 10they cried out with a loud voice, “Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long will it be before you judge and avenge our blood on the inhabitants of the earth?” 11They were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number would be complete both of their fellow servants and of their brothers and sisters, who were soon to be killed as they themselves had been killed.
12When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and there came a great earthquake; the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, 13and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree drops its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. 14The sky vanished like a scroll rolling itself up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. 15Then the kings of the earth and the magnates and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, 16calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb; 17for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”
Revelation 7
1After 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 could blow on earth or sea or against any tree. 2I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to damage earth and sea, 3saying, “Do not damage the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have marked the servants of our God with a seal on their foreheads.”
4And I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred forty-four thousand, sealed out of every tribe of the people of
5 From the tribe of Judah twelve thousand sealed, from the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand, from the tribe of Gad twelve thousand, from the tribe of Asher twelve thousand, from the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand, from the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand, from the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand, from the tribe of Levi twelve thousand, from the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand, from the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand, from the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand, from the tribe of Benjamin twelve thousand sealed.
After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. They cried out in a loud voice, saying,
“Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, singing,
“Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.” Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?” I said to him, “Sir, you are the one that knows.” Then he said to me, “These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. For this reason they are before the throne of God, and worship him day and night within his temple, and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them. They will hunger no more, and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them,
nor any scorching heat; for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd,
and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
Fifteen years ago, a young man named Vernon Howell, also known as David Koresh, with over 100 followers, held police and federal agents at bay outside a heavily armed compound near
The images we have read about in Revelation 6 & 7 are disturbing – and can become, as was the case with Koresh – fuel for the undisciplined human imagination. Most of my study on these and subsequent chapters have included statements like this: “Danger. Handle with care.” “Tread carefully.” “Read with restraint and reverence for the sense of hiddenness.” And so, we remove the caution tape, stay close to our counselor, the Holy Spirit, and watch our step.
Today, we don’t have the bad news bears; we have the bad news horses, who are sent onto the earth as a result of the opening of the first four seals of the scroll we read about last week. Let’s remember this very important fact: Jesus, and no one else, has been holding the seven-sealed scroll from the moment he took it from the hand of the one seated on the throne. It seems that with the breaking of each seal, something foretold comes to pass. We don’t hear until chapter 10 that the scroll has been opened and so we must wait until then to hear what has been sealed by these 7 seals.
As the Lamb opens each of the seals, one of the living creatures (with eyes all around) gives the command, “Come!” With each simple command, a horse and rider go forth, apparently on earth. It is clear that actions in heaven are determining events on earth.
Many quickly assume that because the first horse is white and is being sent to conquer, this must be Jesus – and certainly if we jump to the back of the book to chapter 19, we find a white horse and rider there that definitely point to Jesus - the connection is logically made between the two. However, other parts of the Scripture point to something/someone entirely different. In Mark 13:5-8 we read, “5Then Jesus began to say to them, “Beware that no one leads you astray. 6Many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray. 7When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come. 8For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birth pangs.” In v. 22 of that same chapter in Mark we read, “And if anyone says to you at that time, ‘Look! Here is the Messiah!’ or ‘Look! There he is!’—do not believe it. 22False messiahs and false prophets will appear and produce signs and omens, to lead astray, if possible, the elect.”
Most likely, the first rider’s identity is the fulfillment of Jesus’ words that we read in Mark. This rider with his bow is probably the symbol of a false messiah or a false prophet (remember how the church was warned against false prophets in the letters from chapters 2 & 3?). The horses and riders that follow, as well as the first one were given power over a quarter of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague. Jesus said that such disasters were the beginning of birth pains. They must happen, he said, but the end is still to come.
In Psalm 45:5 we read about the sharp arrows of judgment sent against the nations, and in Deuteronomy 32:23-25 and in Ezekiel 5:16,17 we read about the arrows being sent even against God’s own people. (Deut. 32:23-25 - I will heap disasters upon them, spend my arrows against them: wasting hunger, burning consumption, bitter pestilence. The teeth of beasts I will send against them, with venom of things crawling in the dust. In the street the sword shall bereave, and in the chambers terror, for young man and woman alike, nursing child and old gray head.) All of this helps to connect the first rider and his bow with the three terrible riders that follow. The 2nd, 3rd, & 4th riders are like arrows in the bow of the first rider. This vision confirms that those who fall for the teachings of false prophets like the Nicolaitans and Jezebel, who urge compromise not commitment to God’s instructions, are those who are responsible for all the other troubles to come.
Let me stop here and ask this question: When is it that we find ourselves in turmoil? When we are truly following the Lord, living the life he calls us to live – or when we are compromising our faith, saying something like, “It’s not going to hurt anything if I do this or that, I know what I’m doing. I know when to stop” . . . all the while, knowing that we are living a counterfeit truth – not the truth that sets us free. When our lives are in chaos, we can blame anyone or anything we choose for our slow slide from peace – the quarter of the earth will blame the horsemen from whom the disasters seemed to emerge. They are indeed the bad news horses, but the bad news is that it is our own twisting of God’s truth to our own selfish truth that makes it necessary that these riders come at all. And we have not even gotten to the great conflict between good and evil in this book. That doesn’t even start until chapter 11! Let’s remember, these riders were sent out by command of the living creatures around the throne. These riders are riding out not at Satan’s command, but at the command of the Lamb. He has set limits to their destruction: only a quarter of the earth will be afflicted; there are terms to the spread of the famine as announced from the very throne of God. God’s power over all, in all, and through all is very much unchallenged here. He has commanded the horses and riders. Out of mercy, He has limited their range of destruction for plans and purposes beyond what we can now see.
When the fifth seal is opened, we are surprised and probably disturbed by what John sees under the altar. It is not clear at all where the souls of those who had been martyred for their testimony of Jesus are – whether they are still on earth or in heaven is unclear. What is clear is that they are seen and their cries heard, and that the white robes they are given is an important means of comfort and identification for what is to come. In Luke 18:7, Jesus says, “And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? 8I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them.” The prayer of the martyrs, “How long will you delay, O Lord?” is their appeal for justice; the same appeal we make every time we pray the prayer of Jesus from Matthew, “Thy Kingdom come,” or “Deliver us from evil.”
J. Ramsey Michaels in his commentary on Revelation writes the following, “What is striking in the book of Revelation – and strange, perhaps to the modern reader – is that the wrath is the wrath of the Lamb. The slaughtered Lamb of sacrifice in the center of the throne is no passive victim, but “the Lion of the tribe of
In chapter 7, we receive our answer when John sees four angels standing at the corners of the earth in order to preserve a group of servants of our God from destruction, and also sees an innumerable multitude standing in the presence of God and the Lamb. There are those who will stand in the day of wrath. But they (we) must be prepared and protected.
On Wednesday morning, Bonnie and I came into the sanctuary to pray. We both just needed to pray for each other, for this congregation, and for the church as a whole. In case you haven’t noticed: the world is coming apart. The 88 year old man who strode into the
(I am not about to speak about someone in particular. To my knowledge this is a purely made-up story. Any similarities to any actual event can be blamed only on the Lord.)
Let me set up a scenario: Let’s say you go to the Legion and there you see one of your fellow church members not simply having a mug of beer with friends, but falling down drunk, making a fool of him or herself. As a fellow church member, you’re probably embarrassed for this person, you wonder what is going on with them, maybe you lose a little sleep over it, but you expect to see them in church one Sunday soon, and even on that Sunday you make eye contact with a little wave, maybe a wink, during the passing of the peace.
But what if you go to the same place and your pastor is there at the bar – completely drunk, making an absolute fool of myself? How embarrassed would you be then? How much more sleep would you lose? Would you even be able to come to church on Sunday and look at me while I preached a message about following Jesus and living life on the narrow pathway?
Folks, help me here: What is the difference, really? Why do I have to make choices other churchgoers don’t feel they have to make? Why are some churchgoers allowed to compromise but I’m not? Why do I have to stand, while others are allowed to fall without apology, and perhaps even without consequence?
The answer is: because this is what we are being fed by false prophets and teachers in this world: Compromise. Compromise. Compromise. We like to justify it this way: The pastor is expected to live the best life of anyone in the church, and those in the pews are expected to fall short. That’s just the way it is. We have an escape route, but the pastor does not simply because of the gift the pastor has been given within the body to be the pastor. But I have a problem with this, not because I don’t want to live up to a standard, but because I do not believe the Bible teaches that I’m supposed to be alone there. In Romans 12:1-2, Paul writes, “1I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Right after these verses, Paul moves into teaching about the different members of the body and the part we are all called to fill.
Jesus set a standard of holiness for each of us – a life of order and purity – a life lived well with one purpose: To bring honor to God for what he has given to us, a life filled with thanksgiving for his promise of the gift of eternal life.
Thank God for the four angels in chapter 7 who show us God’s mercy in holding back the winds until “a seal is put on the foreheads of the servants of our God.” We are given a list of who make up the 144,000 – but within this very chapter, the 144,000 (from Israel’s twelve tribes) is added to with a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb (v. 9).
In all of Revelation, the one who writes, who has been drawn up to Heaven in the Spirit, never asks a question. In chapter 5, it was the mighty angel who asked, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” Here in chapter 7, the elder both asks and answers the question about those in the white robes. “Who are they, and where did they come from?” “These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”
The effect of the angel’s question, and the elder’s question and response on his own confirms that this is not simply John’s opinion, this is not John’s own interpretation or conclusion. God has spoken – and the answer can be trusted – just like his promise to the cries of the martyrs can be trusted. Here we see their release: standing in their white robes, washed clean in the blood of the Lamb, along with twenty-four elders who reside in heaven in their white garments.
John is eager to tell what he hears and what he sees, for his charge from the author of the revelation, Jesus Christ, is to write it all down and give it to the churches in Asia (and thereby, to us). His obedience as Jesus’ faithful disciple has sent him to a place of exile on the
Our obedience, folks, will do the same. It is a copout and a compromise to put any of our brothers and sisters in Christ on a higher plane of accountability than we ourselves are willing to stand. It is a tool of the devil to create such categories or levels of obedience – somehow giving some churchgoers permission to fall and fail, while at the same time giving others nothing but judgment.
The bad news is that judgment comes in our lives in the here and now. It comes in the form of consequences for choices that we glaze over saying, “I couldn’t help myself.” And I say, Baloney! 1 John 4 proclaims, “1Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. And this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming; and now it is already in the world. 4Little children, you are from God, and have conquered them; for the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 5They are from the world; therefore what they say is from the world, and the world listens to them. 6We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us, and whoever is not from God does not listen to us. From this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. Take your stand, church. Choose life and walk in it! God will be glorified, and you and I will be at peace.
God is still in charge. God always has been and always will be in charge – no matter how far we fall from his grace. No one is beyond his reach.
The good news is that God’s mercy is new every morning.
The good news is that God’s love is everlasting. As far as the east is from the west, that is how far our transgressions have been removed from us!
The good news is that we can be honest with each other, and give grace to each other, and reach out a hand to help each other up, and encourage one another. We can cry together, wail together, laugh, and rejoice together. As the elder called forth the horsemen with a single word, “come,” we can call each other to greater faithfulness with the same word: “Come. Let’s take our stand together. Let’s take delight in God’s preparation of us as the Bride of Christ, fully aware of the wrath and the mercy of the Lion and the Lamb.” Amen.
