True to its name the last book of the Bible
contains a wonderful “Revelation of Jesus Christ.” He is revealed as the lamb slain from the
foundation of this world; as the lion of the tribe of Judah, the
mighty overcomer. Yes, it is a wonderful revelation of Jesus in
all the fullness of His redemptive work.
He is pictured as:
"…the faithful witness.”
"... the first begotten of the dead.”
"... the prince of the kings of the earth.”
"... the Alpha and Omega.”
" .. the Son of man.”
“…the Lion of the tribe of Judah.”
"... finally as the Lord of Lords and King of
Kings.”
Once again St John looks beyond the curtains
of time and space, and he takes us through the turbulent history of
the Christian church right down to the very end of time.
Seven Seals
The vision opens with the Father seated upon
his throne, while in His hand there is a book that is closed and
sealed with seven seals.
John the Revelator is deeply concerned over
that book. He is the last of the apostles, all the others are dead
and now he himself is in exile unable to carry on the work of
building up the church. The church was threatened by false teachers
from within and bitter persecutions from without. Who will shepherd the flock? Who will settle its problems?
Then he hears an assuring voice saying, “Weep not: behold the Lion of the tribe of
Judah the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book and to
loose the seven seals."
Revelation 5:5
Yes, the crucified and ascended Christ,
touched with the appeal of the beloved discipline, would reveal to
him and the struggling church “…the things which must shortly come to
pass."
1st
Seal
And now He opens the first seal, and what
does he see in that opened seal?
Revelation 6:1,2 says; "And I saw when the Lamb
opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of
thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see. And I saw and behold a white horse; and he
that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he
went forth conquering, and to conquer.”
A White
Horse
A White Horse; now what does that mean?
That prophet Zechariah was told that horses
symbolized the ".....spirits of the heavens, which go forth from
standing before the LORD of all the earth."
Zechariah 6:5.
God’s Spirit is seeking for those who will
give it full control in their lives. The white horse which
symbolized the apostolic church, was blessed with the mighty power
of the Holy Spirit. This was the Pentecostal Church; the church
of the apostles.
It was a white horse and white stands for
purity which was truly a fitting description of the Church that
was led by the apostles themselves. It held to the pure teachings
of Jesus it upheld the word of God.
The crown stood for victory. A crown was
given to him that sat on the horse and he went forth
"....conquering and to conquer."
Victory was written upon every move of the
disciples. In prison with their backs lacerated; their songs of
praise and thanksgiving brought victory and resulted in the
conversion of souls. Peter was sentenced to death, shut up in
prison, but that last night in prison was a victory, for the angel
of the Lord brought deliverance.
It was a militant church striking right at
the very heart of paganism and false worship. The church waged war against the powers of
evil. Within 30 years the gospel had gone to every creature.
As the great historian Edward Gibbon writes
in his ‘History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' Chapter 15, par. 54; "The progress of
Christianity was not confined to the Roman Empire, but the new
religion, within a century after the death of its divine author,
had already visited every part of the globe." Truly it went forth, "conquering and to
conquer."
2nd
Seal
And now the second seal,
Revelation 6:3,4 says; "And when he had opened the
second seal, I heard the second beast say, come and see. And there
went out another horse that was red; and power was given to him
that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they
should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great
sword."
A Red
Horse
A Red Horse; red represents sin, and so we see
a change take place from the purity of white to the red of sin.
The church which had sacrificed its life for the sake of the
gospel began to compromise the truth of God. The church turned its
eyes from Christ and became greedy for power and for rich rewards.
Just like the Balaam parable of the 7 churches.
Satan had failed to accomplish his purpose by
persecution but now he succeeds by flattery. You see a great
change took place, the persecuted became popular.
Emperor Constantine, professing Christianity,
showered favours upon the priests and bishops and in doing so he
placed a great sword in their hands.
The church compromised with paganism and
adopted many of its errors and superstition. Then it used the
‘sword’ of Imperial Rome to enforce its authority and to crush all
opposition.
The ‘falling away’ from the snow-white purity
of the gospel foretold by the apostle Paul was now taking place,
and the ‘grievous wolves’ of apostasy were leading the church
farther and farther from the fold of the Good Shepherd.
3rd Seal
And now the Third Seal.
Revelation 6:5,6 says; "And when He had opened the
third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I
beheld, and lo a black horse and he that sat on him had a pair of
balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four
beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of
barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine."
A Black Horse
A Black Horse this time. The colour black is
in striking contrast to the white of the first horse.
Constantine decided at this time to become a
Christian. In order to get the people in with him he offered 12
pieces of silver as an inducement to become Christians. The people just swarmed in, it is very easy
to imagine the result. It was in this period that many pagan
ceremonies and customs came into the church and sad to say they
are still in many Churches of today.
The worship of saints and of relics and of
images found its way into the Christian Church. The worship of the
Virgin Mary was introduced. Sunday keeping was substituted for the Bible
Sabbath and such beliefs as that the soul never dies, purgatory,
penances, celibacy of the clergy, monkish virtue, and many other
pagan traditions became widespread.
Scales and Balances
But what did the scales and balances mean? Well we usually associate scales with
commerce; the Church had become commercial. The sale of relics began.
Historians tell
us that there are enough pieces of the cross to build a ship the
size of Queen
Mary.
The good things of religion were sold at a
price:
- at (the birth) of a child,
- when he was (sprinkled),
- when he
was (confirmed),
- when he was (married),
- when he went to
(confession),
- and when he (died). The price must be paid.
- even after his death there was other payment
to the clergy; to pray him out of purgatory.
And all these things came with the Black
Horse. Things are getting progressively worse. I wonder what we
will find in the next seal, the fourth seal.
4th Seal
Revelation 6:7,8 says; "And when he had opened the
fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and
see. And I looked, and behold a pale horse; and his name that sat
on him was death, and hell followed with him. And power was given
unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword,
and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the
earth."
A Pale Horse
It has been well said that "death of the
spirituality of the church and of the martyrs gave this horse its
ghastly hue.”
With the establishment of the Papacy, the
creed of the church was regarded as the law of the land and to
profess or to practice true Bible religion became a crime. Severe
laws were enacted against dissenters. The inquisition was set up, and armies were
marshalled, and crusades were made against the so called heretics. Entire nations who refused to bow to the
papacy were either subjugated or exterminated. It was during this reign of apostasy and
death that millions of martyrs were slain.
Whenever the church is clothed with civil
power, force is brought into operation in order to subdue those
who stand out against error.
Some people, when they have read of these
terrible things have wondered why that God did not step in and
prevent such terrible cruelty during those Dark Ages. But the view given to St John shows that
Christ suffered in the person of His Saints.
At the time of the crucifixion, angels were
restrained from rescuing the Saviour from His agony. It was suffered to be so for the time that
the greater glory might be seen later.
So in the martyrdom of the middle ages and in
any form of persecution, Christ identifies Himself with the
sufferer, and all heaven stands ready to succour him.
5th Seal
And now the fifth seal.
Revelation 6:9-11 says; "And when He had opened
the fifth seal. I saw under the altar the souls of them that were
slain for the Word of God, and for the testimony which they held
and they cried with a loud voice, saying how long, 0 Lord, holy
and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that
dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of
them; and it was said unto them that they should rest yet for a
little season, until their fellow-servants also and their
brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be
fulfilled."
Yes, when he opened the fifth seal, John saw
under the alter the souls of them that were slain for the Word of
God and for the testimony which they held.
God does not forget those who have suffered
for his name; their names are written in the Book of Life.
The Lamb in the tabernacle service was slain
on the earth. Christ left the courts of Heaven, and the Earth
became the alter where His blood was shed. And so the Earth has
drunk the blood of the martyrs and their bodies lie buried in its
bosom. Men such as Huss, Jerome, Ridley, Cranmer and
Latimer suffered for the Word of God.
Just as the blood of Abel cried out to God
for vengeance, so the blood of the vast host of Christian martyrs
(have) sent up its mighty pathetic appeal for deliverance and triumph.
When the history of the nations was revealed
to Daniel, the angels of heaven cried, "How long O Lord, how long
till the end of these things.” The whole creation suffers because of the
curse which sin has brought.
White Robes of the Saints
When he asked why there is such longsuffering
on the part of God, John saw the White Robes of Christ’s
Righteousness that clothed these saints of God.
They had been despised, they had been
rejected, they had been killed by men, but on the record books of
Heaven, every sin is covered by the character of their Lord. And their numbers will be increased by those
who are called to suffer a similar death in the period of time
preceding the Second Coming of Christ.
What was done under the cover of darkness in
the middle ages will be repeated when the sun is at its Zenith. All who are slain for conscience sake, sleep
together in their graves until called forth by the trumpet tones
of Him who is the Resurrection and the Life. Then will the white robes be given to them
together with palms of victory.
6th Seal
And now the Sixth Seal,
Revelation 6:12-17 says, "And I beheld when He
had opened the sixth seal; and, lo, there was a great earthquake;
and the sun become black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became
as blood; and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a
fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty
wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled
together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their
places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the
rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every
bond man, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in
the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks,
Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the
throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of His
wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand."
A Great
Earthquake
By the middle of the 18th Century the
bitterness of religious persecution had ceased in most of the
European countries. And just at that time, as foretold by the
prophet, there occurred on November 1, 1755, a great earthquake in
the city of Lisbon, Portugal, in which 60,000 persons are said to
have perished. Half the world felt that convulsion, and it
is declared to be ‘the most notable earthquake in history.’
The Dark Day
The second event in this prophecy was the sun
to become ‘black as sackcloth of hair’ and the moon was to appear
as ‘blood’. The fulfilment came in the remarkable dark day and
night of May 19, 1780. One writer says of that day, "The darkness of the following evening was
probably as deep and dense as ever had been observed since the
Almighty first gave birth to light." During the day “... A sheet of white paper held within a few
inches of the eyes, was equally invisible with the blackest
velvet.”
The prophet Isaiah gives a very important
point. He says, "The sun shall be darkened in his going forth,"
that is in the morning.
Isaiah 13:10 And the dark day came just as prophesied.
The Falling
Stars
Next there came the falling stars. The great
shower of stars took place on November 13, 1833. It has been
recognized as the most marvellous display of celestial fireworks
ever seen by man. In the American Journal of Science and Arts I
read, "The extent of the shower of 1833 was such as
to cover no inconsiderable part of the earth’s surface; from the
middle of the Atlantic on the east to the Pacific on the west, and
from the northern coast of South America to undefined regions
among the British possessions of the north, the exhibition was
visible, and everywhere presented nearly the same appearance."
It has been estimated that 200,000 stars
fell per hour at the maximum fall. God was hanging out His sign in the skies to
show that the days were moving towards the end.
The Heavens Departed as a Scroll
The heavens departed as a scroll. We stand
between verses 13 and 14.
And now it speaks of the kings of the Earth,
the great men, the military men, the mighty men, and every bondman
and every freeman. They run to the mountains. They know what it means; that it is the
coming of Christ. For they say to the rocks and the mountains, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him
that sitteth on the throne and from the Lamb."
And now we read of the wrath of the Lamb.
Unless you are covered by the blood of the Lamb then you will receive the wrath of the
Lamb.
The question that comes to each one tonight
is, are you covered by the blood of the Lamb? Are you at peace with your maker?
People say, "What about royalty, the Kings?” Why,
it is the kings that run to the rocks. If you are looking to Royalty then you had
better be careful.
What about the great men? Why, it is the great
men who will rush to the mountains and give that terrible cry.
Prayers on
the Day
There is going to be two prayers on that day;
a mass prayer to the rocks and to the mountains. What a picture it
is, a prayer from destruction (the Second Coming).
There will be another prayer on that day, a
prayer from God’s people, "This is our God, we have waited for Him and
He will save us.”
Yes two prayer bands. Which will you be in? It will be wonderful to be in the company
that pray to God.
7th Seal
And now we come to the Seventh Seal,
Revelation 8:1 says; “And when He had opened the
seventh, seal, there was silence in Heaven for about the space of
half an hour."
Silence in
Heaven
Silence in Heaven? Why? After all the other
great events; the great earthquake, the dark day, the falling
stars, the heavens torn apart, why silence?
Matthew 25:31 says; "When the Son of man shall come
in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit
upon the throne of His glory."
All heaven will be emptied! All the angel
hosts will accompany the Saviour. All the Inhabitants of the other worlds will
attend His Coming. It will be the greatest event of all the ages.
The Father will remain alone.
Seven Days
Travel
But did you notice that the silence is
half-an-hour.
Half-hour:
1 day = 1 year.
½ hour = 1/48 day.
1 Bible year = 360 days.
1/48 of 360 days = 7
½ days.
½ hour is 7 ½ days.
Yes, one day soon we are going to travel
through space. I am not interested in going to the moon; there is
nothing to see there. But I am interested in that journey through
the universe, through the Milky Way, and through Orion. Seven days travel.
Yes, one day soon Jesus is going to usher us
in to the great city, the New Jerusalem. We will see the wonderful Father. He will
recognize you and He will recognize me. Then all the heartaches of the past will be
gone and joy and peace will be ours forevermore. God help us to be there on that day. That is
my sincere and earnest prayer.
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