Revelation Study Series 11 - God’s Mysterious Plan Fulfilled (Chapter 6)
01/09/22
Message…
In the OT Daniel was given a vision, a vision of the future…
Daniel 12:1-4 The Time of the End
1 “At that time Michael, the archangel who stands guard over your nation, will arise. Then there will be a time of anguish greater than any since nations first came into existence. But at that time every one of your people whose name is written in the book will be rescued.
2 Many of those whose bodies lie dead and buried will rise up, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting disgrace.
3 Those who are wise will shine as bright as the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness will shine like the stars forever.
4 But you, Daniel, keep this prophecy a secret; seal up the book until the time of the end, when many will rush here and there, and knowledge will increase.”
This book could be the scroll spoken of in Rev. ch. 5.
We are definitely in the times of “rush here and there”, increased knowledge (information, not necessarily Truth/wisdom).
In Matthew chapter 6, Jesus taught the disciples how to pray…May Your Kingdom come soon. May Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Matt. 6:10
Rev. ch. 6 is the literal fulfillment of that part of that prayer!
We last spoke of a scroll with seven seals. No one was worthy to take the scroll from the One on the Throne and break the seals. Then, the Lord, the Son of God, the slain Lamb came forward and took the scroll (the title deed to the earth). He alone was worthy to take it and open the seals.
Each of the seven seals represents a specific time with specific events...that all occur and culminate to the day Jesus physically returns to earth (Second Coming).
(Most of what we are reading today probably takes place in the very early part of the Tribulation period.)...
Revelation 6:1 As I watched, the Lamb broke the first of the seven seals on the scroll. Then I heard one of the four living beings say with a voice like thunder, “Come!”
When one of the four living beings cries out “Come”...the command of events contained within that first seal will be poured out and will come to pass.
What’s in that scroll, what is to come…will greatly affect mankind and this place we call earth.
So, let’s understand what it means for His kingdom to come...for His will to be done!
Again, in the Gospel of Matthew, as the Lord sat with the disciples He explained/revealed what the end would be like...(they too had questions)...
Matthew 24:3-8
3 Later, Jesus sat on the Mount of Olives. His disciples came to Him privately and said, “Tell us, when will all this happen? What sign will signal Your return and the end of the world?”
4 Jesus told them, “Don’t let anyone mislead you,
5 for many will come in My name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah.’ They will deceive many.
6 And you will hear of wars and threats of wars, but don’t panic. Yes, these things must take place, but the end won’t follow immediately.
7 Nation will go to war against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in many parts of the world.
8 But all this is only the first of the birth pains, with more to come.
There is a day coming, at a specific time...when the Lord will come in the air...which we call the Rapture (that term is not technically in scripture, but it means “caught up”).
The rapture is when the Lord will call His own to heaven. It has not happened yet, it is yet to happen, and it can happen at any moment...
1 Thessalonians 4:16 For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves.
17 Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever.
After the rapture, with the opening of this first seal comes the beginning of the Tribulation.
The Tribulation is a seven year period beginning from the coming of the Lord in the air...to the coming of the Lord to the earth physically again.
At the end of the Tribulation Jesus will descend from Heaven to the Mount of Olives, the very place He sat and discussed all this with His disciples.
The Tribulation will be an awful time for those who are living in it.
The Tribulation has been summarized by author Tim Lahaye this way...
“...the Tribulation will be a holocaust of major proportions...it combines the wrath of God, the fury of satan, and the evil nature of man run wild.”
“... Even if you could imagine such a horror, it wouldn’t approach the mind-boggling terror and turmoil of the Tribulation.”
As awful as the Tribulation will be, it has a purpose. That purpose is to draw as many to the Lord as possible before His second coming.
John saw the Lamb of God break the first seal...
Revelation 6:2 I looked up and saw a white horse standing there. Its rider carried a bow, and a crown was placed on his head. He rode out to win many battles and gain the victory.
We are told that he went forth conquering...so we may see him as someone of war. However, as Tim Lahaye points out, he has no arrows for his bow.
Yes, he conquers...but, he does not conquer with war, he conquers with diplomacy and peace. The rider is the antichrist.
After the rapture, as the Tribulation period begins...the world will be in chaos, all Christians will have been raptured. People are going to wonder what happened. They will be looking for someone who they can trust. They are going to look for someone to lead them. Someone who seems to have the answers. Someone who can appear to bring/want peace.
The antichrist will do that. He will rally the world together. He will be all about peace. (Yet, he is a deceiver...he is anti Christ!)
There will be a short period of peace. A deceptive calm before the storm as the deceiver lures the people of the world into his web of lies.
Paul wrote about these things...
2 Thessalonians 2:1-4
1 Now, dear brothers and sisters, let us clarify some things about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and how we will be gathered to meet Him.
2 Don’t be so easily shaken or alarmed by those who say that the day of the Lord has already begun. Don’t believe them, even if they claim to have had a spiritual vision, a revelation, or a letter supposedly from us.
3 Don’t be fooled by what they say. For that day will not come until there is a great rebellion against God and the man of lawlessness is revealed—the one who brings destruction.
4 he will exalt himself and defy everything that people call god and every object of worship. He will even sit in the temple of God, claiming that he himself is God.
In order to bring peace...he is going to have to bring the world together. How can you have peace in the Middle East, between Israel and Palestine?
he is going to have to negotiate an agreement. The Jews will demand a Temple be built. he will help them build it.
But, midway through the seven year tribulation he will show his true colors. he will demand worship of himself. he declare himself God! It will all be a lie! And people will have to make a choice as to what/whom they believe…
2 Thessalonians 2:5-12
5 Don’t you remember that I told you about all this when I was with you?
6 And you know what is holding him back, for he can be revealed only when his time comes.
7 For this lawlessness is already at work secretly, and it will remain secret until the One who is holding it back steps out of the way.
8 Then the man of lawlessness will be revealed, but the Lord Jesus will kill him with the breath of His mouth and destroy him by the splendor of His coming.
9 This man will come to do the work of satan with counterfeit power and signs and miracles.
10 He will use every kind of evil deception to fool those on their way to destruction, because they refuse to love and accept the truth that would save them.
11 So God will cause them to be greatly deceived, and they will believe these lies.
12 Then they will be condemned for enjoying evil rather than believing the truth.
Revelation 6:3-4
3 When the Lamb broke the second seal, I heard the second living being say, “Come!”
4 Then another horse appeared, a red one. Its rider was given a mighty sword and the authority to take peace from the earth. And there was war and slaughter everywhere.
The rider on this red horse is given the authority to conduct war. No more peace as the inhabitants of the earth enter into a bloody world war.
It’s recorded that there have been over 15,000 wars throughout history. None of them will compare to what is coming! -(Tim Lahaye; Charting the End Times)
Revelation 6:5-6
5 When the Lamb broke the third seal, I heard the third living being say, “Come!” I looked up and saw a black horse, and its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand.
6 And I heard a voice from among the four living beings say, “A loaf of wheat bread or three loaves of barley will cost a day’s pay. And don’t waste the olive oil and wine.”
The third seal is broken, the scroll is rolled out a little more to reveal a black horse. This rider does not have a weapon of any kind. No sword, or bow...but a set of scales in his hand. This judgment brings famine.
If you are left behind...you will work all day just to eat. And, if you can work all day to eat...you will be lucky.
Living, will be merely trying to survive. Common staples will become luxuries!
Revelation 6:7-8
7 When the Lamb broke the fourth seal, I heard the fourth living being say, “Come!”
8 I looked up and saw a horse whose color was pale green. Its rider was named Death, and his companion was the Grave. These two were given authority over one-fourth of the earth, to kill with the sword and famine and disease and wild animals.
1/4th of the people on the earth will be killed at this time.
(With today’s estimation of just over 7 billion people on earth with 1/4 of them being killed=1.75 billion. All from war, famine, and disease. ?COVID has killed 5.5 million and look at the panic in the world!)
Revelation 6:9-11
9 When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of all who had been martyred for the word of God and for being faithful in their testimony.
10 They shouted to the Lord and said, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you judge the people who belong to this world and avenge our blood for what they have done to us?”
11 Then a white robe was given to each of them. And they were told to rest a little longer until the full number of their brothers and sisters— their fellow servants of Jesus who were to be martyred—had joined them.
The fifth seal is opened, revealing believers who were martyred for their faith during the Tribulation. These are not believers who were left behind to enter the Tribulation.
All believers were raptured before the Tribulation began. These are those that came to believe during the Tribulation, those that will not side with the antichrist, but those that will trust in the Lord. And, thus killed.
The Lord tells them to “rest a little longer until the full number of their brothers and sisters—their fellow servants of Jesus who were to be martyred—had joined them.”
Only the Sovereign Lord knows who the last one is and when the last one to die will die. We know the Tribulation is seven years...but, only the Lord knows who will endure unto the end, or their end.
Revelation 6:12-14
12 I watched as the Lamb broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake. The sun became as dark as black cloth, and the moon became as red as blood.
13 Then the stars of the sky fell to the earth like green figs falling from a tree shaken by a strong wind.
14 The sky was rolled up like a scroll, and all of the mountains and islands were moved from their places.
Some passages in Revelation are figurative/symbolic ...these verses are not...they are to be understood literally.
These catastrophic events will take place during the Tribulation and you will not want to be here!
Revelation 6:15
15 Then everyone—the kings of the earth, the rulers, the generals, the wealthy, the powerful, and every slave and free person—all hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains.
No one will be exempt from this judgment from the Lord.
Rich/poor, strong/weak, every race, tribe, every man/woman...will try to find safety. They will flee to caves or mountains. But, they will not find safety.
So catastrophic will these events be that fear and despair will grip mankind and the only way to find relief will be to beg for death!
Revelation 6:16-17
16 And they cried to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the One 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 survive?”
They won’t blame mother nature, global warming, or overpopulation. They won't blame Democrats or Republicans, no president, earthly king or dictator.
They won’t blame any mythological gods.
They won’t blame allah, mohammad, buddha, or karma.
It will be the wrath of the Lamb they are trying to escape!
And, this is only the beginning of the seven year Tribulation!
After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name.
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
Mat 6:9-10
His Kingdom will come!
