Sermon Central
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End Times Posse: The Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse Series
Contributed by Jerry Shirley on Aug 3, 2006 (message contributor)
Summary: Israel, the Mid East, Iran, and the "Magog connection" of Ezek. 38-39. Signs of the times are everywhere. Thank God Jesus is coming back for His own before these 4 ride into town! Link included to formatted MS Word text and PowerPoint Presentation.
End Times Posse
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
Rev. 6:1-8
http://gbcdecatur.org/sermons/4Horsemen.html
The next event on God’s prophetic timetable is the rapture of the church. But after the church is taken out of here, meanwhile…back on earth, there will follow a 7 year period like this earth has never experienced before. The Bible calls it the Great Tribulation. Chapters 6-19 paint for us a graphic picture of this gruesome period…it is so terrible / frightening / horrible that you will think I’m exaggerating, overstating the matter, until you see these verses for yourself.
But remember what Jesus said about the tribulation back in
Matt. 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.”
That is an amazing statement when you think of all the wars/famines/diseases/earthquakes/tornadoes/hurricanes/volcanic eruptions. You think of all the atrocities that have taken place all over this earth from the time of Adam and Eve, even until now…and Jesus said, add it all together, and none of it can compare to what the world is about to experience in the great tribulation.
In the OT, Jeremiah said this about the tribulation: “I see every man w/ his hands on his loin as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness. Alas, for that day is great, so that none is like it, it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble.”
These verses teach us that in the tribulation, men will wrap their arms around themselves like women giving birth, and that everyone’s faces will be ashen gray at the terrible, frightening things happening on this dust ball earth…and the whole world will be focused upon what happens in the nation Israel.
Daniel 12:1, “And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that same time, and at that time, Thy people shall be delivered, everyone found written in the book.”
What God gave to John in Rev. 6-19 is a vision of unspeakable horror.
Chapter 5 tells of a 7 sealed scroll…the title deed to the earth. The question was asked, Who is worthy to open that scroll, and reclaim ownership of the earth from Satan? We find that Christ alone is worthy! The Lamb is also the Lion!
Now, in ch. 6, the scroll begins to be peeled back…and 1 at a time the seals are broken. And as the seals are broken, the horrors of the tribulation are turned loose upon the earth, and they unfold before our very eyes.
The first four seals involve the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse. Let’s look at them one at a time:
1. As we open the first seal and look at the first horseman on the white horse, I want you to think of the word Dominion.
v. 1-2 “thunder”=indicates a storm is coming. It’s the sound of heavy hooves galloping this way!
Who is this rider on the white horse, unleashed on the earth at the beginning of the tribulation? Some might think it’s Jesus Christ, but it’s not…that doesn’t come until the end of the tribulation.
Rev. 19
11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. 12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns
That’s Jesus Christ coming at the end of the tribulation…but that’s not the description given here in ch. 6. Matter of fact, the only similarity is the white horse.
So, if the rider on this white horse in ch. 6 is not Jesus Christ, then who is he? I believe him to be the anti-christ…a phony!
In the Bible, a white horse symbolizes conquest. A bow is a symbol of power and warfare, and a crown symbolizes dominion. There is coming one last and final dictator to this earth…he’s the antichrist…he’s coming on a white horse as an imitator of Jesus Christ. He is Satan’s great imitator/deceiver…and his deception is so convincing, that even the Jews, many of them, will believe him, and will think that their Messiah has finally arrived.
He will come on a platform of peace, (notice: no arrows, just a bow) but this last world dictator will bring death and destruction to this earth.
You say, how is that possible? How is this going to happen?
v. 2 “given unto him” Yes. His power and his dominion are given unto him. They are given to him by God. It is God who will allow it to happen.
Listen to Rev. 17:17
17 For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.
