Two Journeys

Turn in your Bibles to Revelation 10 to continue our study in the book of Revelation. The word revelation means unveiling; it pulls the veil back between the physical and spiritual world as no other book of the Bible does. As we peer into the invisible spiritual world, we see more than we could have conceived with our unaided imaginations. Certainly the most significant invisible reality we see by the book of Revelation is the glory of the triune God — the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God the Father seated on a throne of eternal glory. God the Son, Jesus Christ, pictured as a lion and as a lamb, or as a high priest walking among seven golden lamp stands. God the Spirit pictured as a seven-fold light blazing, shining, a lamp stand with the fire of holiness. No book in the Bible so powerfully reveals the hidden nature of the triune God as does Revelation. But that is not all the book of Revelation unveils about the invisible spiritual realms. For there are awesome created beings that we would never know about, what they are like, if it were not for this book. That includes beings we commonly call angels.

Today we will encounter through the text an angel that I believe still lives and is every bit as glorious and powerful now as he was 2000 years ago, who encountered the Apostle John to give him a commission. This encounter will give us a broader sense of the universe in which we really live, invisible realms that we did not know were around us at every moment. It will give us a better ability to live for the glory of God in this physical world.

Let us set the context. The Apostle John was the human instrument for the book of Revelation. He was in exile on the island of Patmos for the testimony of Jesus. Patmos is a tiny, rocky, deserted island off the coast of modern day Turkey. On that barren island, Jesus Christ communicated a revelation of himself to John. John heard the voice of Christ, and he saw a door standing open in the heavenly realms. Christ called on him to ascend from earth to go through that doorway into the heavenly realms.

He was empowered by the Spirit to do that, and he was promised that he would be told things about the future. “I will show you what must take place after this.” [Revelation 4:1] As he went through the doorway, the first thing he saw was a throne in heaven with someone seated on it. That throne, the throne of Almighty God, is the central and most important reality of the universe; it shows the glory of God, who  is seated there. He is celebrated there in Revelation 4 as the glorious Creator of the universe, all things visible and invisible. He is worshiped there by twenty-four elders seated on their thrones, and by four living creatures, and by 100 million angels. Revelation 4 celebrates God the Creator.

In God’s right hand, as he sits on this throne, is a scroll sealed with seven seals. A mighty angel calls out, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” [Revelation 5:2] No one is found worthy until Jesus Christ appears. He is portrayed as the Lion of the tribe of Judah and also as a lamb looking as if it had been slain. He takes the scroll from the right hand of him who sits on the throne. When he does so, cascading worship erupts in heaven for Christ the Redeemer, who by his blood purchased people for God from every tribe, language, people, and nation.

In Revelation 6 he breaks open the seals one at a time. As he does, judgments come on the earth. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse ride on the surface of the earth bringing judgments and suffering. Martyrs,  people who have been slaughtered for the testimony of Christ, cry out for justice and vengeance. The sixth seal brings the end of the physical universe as we know it — the sun, moon, and stars falling, and every mountain and island removed from its place.

When the sixth seal is opened, the inhabitants of the earth flee from the wrath of God, looking for a refuge. They cry to the mountains and to the hills, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can withstand it?” [Revelation 6:16-17] It is an incredible question, and something that we need to heed now. Where will there be a refuge from the wrath of God?

Revelation 7 seems to answer that question. The refuge is Christ. Those who flee to Christ, including 12,000 who are sealed from each of the 12 tribes of Israel, and a multitude greater than anyone could count from every tribe, language, people, and nation, seem to be the answer to the question “Who shall be able to stand?” We who are sinners will be redeemed and saved by the shed blood of Christ. We will stand fully forgiven in white robes celebrating the salvation that God alone can give.

The Lamb breaks open the seventh seal as Revelation 8 begins, which seems to contain seven trumpets judgments. They start to flow, bringing a level of suffering and judgment on earth such as we can scarcely imagine. The first four trumpets in Revelation 8 are terrifying judgments on the ecology of the earth: on the green vegetation, burning up all the green grass, a third of the trees, and a third of the earth; on the oceans, turning a third of them into blood and killing a third of all the aquatic creatures in the ocean; on a the fresh water, turning a third to poison so that people cannot drink it; and on the sun and the moon and the stars, reducing their light by a third.

In Revelation 9, the fifth and sixth trumpets unleash a demonic horde, which billows from the nether regions, coming up out of a shaft from deep in the earth. It is a demonic assault on the human race likened to a plague of locusts and the attack of scorpions. People are in agony for five months, crying out for death, which will elude them. This is followed by an invasion of a demonic army, either of humans incited by demons, or actual demons, 200 million strong, bringing death to one-third of earth’s population.

We come in Revelation 10 to a dramatic pause in the action before the seventh trumpet sounds, similar to the pause in Revelation 7 between the sixth and seventh seal. A respite is needed; the judgments are overwhelming in Revelation 8 and 9. John has a vision of a mighty angel with a little scroll. He comes to recommission John to speak future words of sweetness and bitterness that we desperately need to hear and eat; the angel’s message connects, with the two witnesses in Revelation 11, as we will see. Revelation 10 contains the timeless witness of the Word of God from the angel through John, as he testifies by writing it down. Then the two witnesses provide a temporal verification in space and time, proclaiming the truth of God. That is the combination of truth flowing from God, through Scripture and through verbal human witness to the generations that need to hear it.

We begin looking now at Revelation 10:1-4 with a description of this mighty angel. Before we do that, let’s say a few words about angels. What is an angel? The word “angel” is a transliteration of the Greek word “angelos,” which is a messenger; here meaning someone who comes with a message from God. But they do more than deliver messages. Angels are created spiritual beings, different from human beings in that they have no body, no physical existence. They have no birth, do not age, and do not die. They have no flesh and blood; they are spirits. There are good angels who serve God and wicked angels called demons who serve their king, Satan. Angels are active throughout the Old Testament, but their activity is greatly enhanced and focused on in the New Testament, even clearer and more dramatic.

For example, angels were present at the birth of Christ in Bethlehem. The shepherds were outside the city of Bethlehem, watching their sheep at night, and an angel of the Lord appeared. The glory of the Lord shone around, and the shepherds were terrified. The angel brought the message to the shepherds of the birth of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.” [Luke 2:11] Then suddenly, with the angel, a huge army of angels appears, praising God, glorifying him, and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom God's favor rests.” [Luke 2:14]

Angels were there at the beginning of Christ’s earthly life, and then they were there at the end. The angels came down to the tomb where Jesus had been buried. The appearance of one was overwhelming, like lightning with clothes as white as light. When the Roman guards at Jesus’ tomb saw him, they were so terrified of him that they shook and became like dead men. The angel rolls back the mighty boulder from the mouth of the tomb and sits on it. He says to the women that are there to finish the burial rites of Jesus, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, He has risen!” [Luke 24:5]

Angels are there at the beginning and the end of Christ’s life, and even as Jesus ascends to heaven. His apostles watching him ascend higher and higher into the clouds. God dispatches an angel to send them back to Jerusalem to wait for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. “This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” [Acts 1:11] So we see angels throughout the New Testament, in the book of Acts as well as other places. Hebrews 1:14 says, “Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?” They serve us in many invisible ways that we cannot understand.

What are the benefits of studying angels in Scripture? I am a verse-by-verse expositor. The main idea from a text is the main point of my sermons. Angels are hardly ever the main point of any sermon text except today. We have the opportunity to zero in on angels to understand them.

Why we should study them? First, we should know how protected we are by angelic warriors, that angels fight and do other things for us in ways we do not see and can hardly imagine. We need to be aware of that. Second, it helps us to know more of the complexity of the true universe, both the spiritual and the physical in which we live. These beings were created by God because he wanted them to exist, and they glorify God in marvelous ways. We should be joyful about that.

Third, we study angels so that we can imitate their obedience to God. It says in the Lord’s prayer, Matthew 6:9-10 “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Who does God’s will in heaven but the angels? For us to study their prompt obedience and their eagerness and zeal to obey everything that God tells them to do, their willingness to serve in every way, they are role models for us in serving God.

However, there are dangers in studying angels as well. We human beings are constantly drawn after created beings in an idolatrous manner. I believe every false religion and every cult in the world has had evil angels behind them, supernatural forces that have set up those false religions. It is dangerous to focus too much on angels and supernatural beings.

I am fascinated by artistic renditions of angels, like the fat little baby in a diaper with bow and arrow, or in current popular culture, beautiful women with long hair. Your angel ornaments, even from Christian suppliers, probably look like that. But angels in the Bible, if they are given any of human form, are pictured as young men and warrior types, like in our chapter today. It is best not to use our imaginations to draw artistic renditions of what angels look like. If that causes you to rethink some of your ornaments, that is between you and God.

Angels are supernatural beings that are often depicted as surrounded with awesome displays of supernatural light; therefore people are tempted to worship them. Even the Apostle John is tempted twice at the end of the book of Revelation to fall down and worship an angel that was interacting with him. Revelation 19:10 “At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, ‘Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God!’”

Paul specifically warns against the worship of angels in Colossians 2:18. Satan and his demons take advantage of this human tendency to worship angels; he is said in 2 Corinthians 11:14 to “masquerade as an angel of light.” Much of the new age mysticism probably stems from spiritual experiences such as supernatural encounters with fallen angels, or demons. People can focus too much on angels and forget they are only created beings, servants like us as, the angel tells John. To spend a huge amount of time thinking about angels is misplaced focus.

How are angels especially active in the book of Revelation? 73 of the 188 references to angels in the New Testament are in the book of Revelation. They are extremely active in this book. Since Revelation is all about the unveiling of the invisible spiritual realms of the future, it is not surprising that angels figure so prominently. Angels are depicted around the throne of God; their home base is there, worshiping God. They delight in the worship of God.

But they are also active in unleashing wrath on planet earth. One angel in Revelation 8 takes live coals from the altar of God, puts it in a golden censer, and hurls it on the earth. In Revelation 8 and 9, angels sound the seven trumpets, bringing the terrifying judgements on earth. In Revelation 12, we will see the battle between good angels and evil angels in the heavenly realms, and the ultimate king of the evil angels, Satan. Revelation 16 shows the angels pouring out the bowls of God’s wrath on the earth, and celebrating the justice of God in, for example, turning water into blood because of the shed blood of God’s servants. God has given them blood to drink as they deserve. “You are right for doing this.” They delight in this display of God’s justice. So they are actively involved in the unfolding events of the book of Revelation.

Perhaps the most important role of these heavenly messengers is to bring the Word of God from God to prophets and apostles to communicate to us. Angels are active mediators of that message frequently. In Revelation 1:1 it says, “The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John.” The angel was in between Jesus and John, delivering the book of Revelation. We learn in the New Testament that the entire law of Moses was mediated through angels.

Angels often carry messages from God to the prophets. Probably the clearest parallel to Revelation 10 is Daniel chapter 10. Daniel seeks insight and wisdom from God about the future of the Jewish nation. He is praying and fasting and seeking God. God dispatches an angel to bring him the answer. Daniel 10:5-8 says, “I looked up and there before me was a man dressed in linen, with a belt of the finest gold around his waist. His body was like chrysolite, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude [an awesome display of an angel]. I, Daniel, was the only one who saw the vision; the men with me did not see it, but such terror overwhelmed them that they fled and hid themselves. So I was left alone, gazing at this great vision; I had no strength left, my face turned deathly pale and I was helpless.”

This angel in Daniel 10 was dispatched by God to answer Daniel’s prayer for wisdom about the future. He says in Daniel 10:14, “Now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future, for the vision concerns a time yet to come.” The angel’s job was to bring an answer to the prophet about the future. The angel in Daniel 10 had the same function that this angel has in Revelation 10, to bring God’s word to a man, a prophet, to proclaim it to the whole world.

The angel’s appearance in Daniel 10 was so overpowering that Daniel was knocked to the ground. In Daniel 10:16-17,  “I said to the one standing before me, ‘I am overcome with anguish because of the vision, my lord, and I am helpless. How can I, your servant, talk with you, my lord? My strength is gone and I can hardly breathe.’” He was so overwhelmed by the presence of this glorious being that he could not breathe — he was on the ground. This should give us some sense of the overpowering strength and might of the angels of God; so also this one in Revelation 10.

Look how he is described in chapter 10:1-3: “Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven. He was robed in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs were like fiery pillars. He was holding a little scroll, which lay open in his hand. He planted his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, and he gave a loud shout like the roar of a lion.” Here is another mighty angel, like some of the other angels John has already seen in his vision. John describes him as mighty, a sense that he is a warrior, powerful, ready to fight, strong, able to do anything God commands.

He is depicted as coming down from heaven to earth — meaning John is to be back on earth in his vision after having ascended through the doorway, signaling a reset — to bring a message to John. He is robed in a cloud. Often in the Bible clouds represent judgment from God. In Psalm 18, God is depicted as coming with the clouds of heaven, with wrath coming out of the clouds. Often in Scripture gathering clouds represent the unleashing of a storm of God’s wrath.

Yet there is also a rainbow above the head of the angel, which hearkens back to Noah’s flood, with the rainbow as a sign of God’s covenant never again to destroy the world by a flood. We think of the words “In wrath remember mercy.” [Habakkuk 3:2] With all of this display of wrath, there is still the sign of God’s mercy. His face is like the sun, shining with radiance of God, like the angel the night that Jesus was born in Bethlehem in a brilliant heavenly light.

His legs are like fiery pillars, like the pillar of fire or the pillar of cloud that led the Israelites, especially at night. That pillar of fire kept the Egyptian army with all of its power and chariots away from the people of God and protected them, and then led them through the dark path, through the Red Sea. It is a picture of death and then resurrection on the other side when the sun came up. They moved down across the Red Sea then back up and out, a picture of death and resurrection. The fiery pillar gave the light that they need to make it through the Red Sea. These pillars of fire are the angel’s legs.

He is holding a little scroll which lay open in his hand. The scroll is the point and focus of this whole vision, the reason for the angel coming from heaven to earth. It is called “little” based on the Greek word for scroll with a slight grammatical twist. Perhaps it looks little compared to the massive size of the angel, but of the two, the scroll will have a bigger impact on redemptive history than the mighty angel. That is the power of the Word of God. It is like comparing a tiny little acorn to a vast forest of oak trees that would come from that acorn: though it looks small initially, it will have a massive impact.

It lay open in the angel’s hand. Some have concluded that this might be the scroll that was sealed with seven seals, but I do not know that we can certainly connect the two. On it is writing from God; it lays open so that John can read it. This shows God’s willingness to reveal things to us. He has some things to show us, to tell us. Daniel was told to seal several of his visions for the future. Their meanings would be hidden until the right time. Now, this is a very important idea. The book of Revelation is written in difficult language; it is hard to interpret and there are many different ways to interpret it. God intended it that way. He could have written more clearly if he chose to. He intended to write a message that would be immediately relevant for 20 centuries of church history but with particular details relevant only for the final generation. It is amazing how he does both. Every generation, not knowing whether they are the final generation, can read it, but there are yet future things, details that have yet to be revealed. We will see that here in this chapter. The scroll lying open is that which God is willing to reveal to us right now.

Daniel was told, for example, in Daniel 12:4, “But you, Daniel, roll up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end.” Daniel did not understand the meaning, but he was told it was not for him but for a distant generation. In this open scroll before John lies the revelation of mysteries that God is intending to grant now to his people. But there are future insights that will come only at the end of the world. Verse 7 says, “But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets.” In those days, God will reveal more. How? Not through a 67th book of the Bible but by current events that line up with the language of Scripture. It will not be clear to us unless we are in that final generation living through it. When you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel then you should do this. When you see this current event happen, you will know that Daniel has been fulfilled, and you should run for your life. Of this sequence, God is revealing some things to us now and some things only then.

The angel takes a mighty stance on the surface of the earth in verses 2-3, “He planted his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, and he gave a loud shout like the roar of a lion.” The stance is one of a mighty warrior. He cannot be moved from his position, as though taking his stand on the battlefield. He plants one foot on the dry land and one foot into the sea. John actually tells us that his right foot is on the sea and his left foot is on the land. Why does he designate that? I have no idea. I always invite people to give me their opinion but that is all it will be, opinion. Regardless of why we are given that information, this stance gives a sense of the awesome power of the angel.

Even more, though, the message he brings encompasses every realm that God made. It will affect all the creatures in the heavens, for the angel’s head reaches up to the clouds and his face is like the sun. It will affect the earth because his left foot is there. It will affect the sea because his right foot is there, with the word of God lying open in his hand, small though it may seem, will have a huge impact on all those realms. It says in Psalm 33:6, “By the word of the LORD were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth” and as Jesus said in Matthew 24:35, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” The angel’s voice is likened to the roar of a lion. Often when God brings his message, like at Mount Sinai, he gives overwhelming radiant light and terrifying sound so that we take the message of God seriously.

In verses 3-4, we have the seven thunders: “…he gave a loud shout like the roar of a lion. When he shouted, the voices of the seven thunders spoke. And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven say, ‘Seal up what the seven thunders have said and do not write it down.’” We do not know what the seven thunders are, nor do we know what they said. Obviously, they spoke intelligible words that John understood and could have written down or he would not need to be forbidden from writing them down. There is real information from the seven thunders.

But the words are sealed up. He is not allowed to reveal these things that we could know but God does not want us to know yet. Why? Perhaps knowing them would affect the flow of events in ways God does not choose. For example, Jacob thought his son Joseph was ripped to shreds by wild animals because his brothers who had sold him into slavery brought back his colored robe with blood on it. For many years, Jacob was under the misunderstanding that his firstborn son from Rachel was dead, but he was not. God could have revealed to him that his son was alive and flourishing as second-in-command in Egypt, but Jacob would have gone early, perhaps before he got to that position, to buy him out of slavery from Potiphar. He did not know until God was ready to reveal that his son Joseph was alive in Egypt. There are some things that are not for us to know now, though they are knowable.

So he has forbidden John from writing down what the thunders say. Deuteronomy 29:29, it says, “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever.” In our text, the division is that the secret hidden things are the seven thunders and the things revealed are the open scroll. God divides future things into what we definitely know is coming and what we do not yet know.

To sum up, the angel is awesome, glorious, mighty and massive. He comes to bring an open scroll revealing secrets and mysteries through John to planet earth. Every nation and language and king will hear about these things concerning the end of the world which he will finally reveal, first through the rest of the book of Revelation to us and then second through the unfolding events of history in the future.

What is the message from the angel? The angel takes an oath stance to some degree and gives a solemn oath. Verses 5-6 say, “Then the angel I had seen standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven. And he swore by him who lives for ever and ever, who created the heavens and all that is in them, the earth and all that is in it, and the sea and all that is in it, and said, ‘There will be no more delay!’” The angel takes this oath stance with his right foot left foot, as we've noted, and he raises his right hand up to heaven and takes an oath. The taking of the oath, we are told in the book of Hebrews, is to give us a sense of certainty about what he's talking about.

He swears by the eternal God, the God who lives forever and ever, whose kingdom never changes. He swears by the creator God, the King of all creation, the text looks at all the spheres of creation, of heaven and earth and sea and extends to all the creatures that go in those spheres, it extends to everything. The God who made the heavens and the earth and the sea, the eternal King by that God, I swear.

What does he swear? “There will be no more delay!” The unfolding of God’s plan seems to take forever. When will this happen? We always want to know. When, when, when? Maybe it will start tomorrow with the eclipse. (Be careful; do not burn your eyes, read safety tips about it. Your sunglasses are not enough. I looked through the polarized strip on my windshield with sunglasses on to do a trial run on the sun yesterday. Tomorrow the sun will be really interesting and dangerous. Watching a video might be safer.) We are always asking how long. When will all these things come about? In Daniel 12, an angel actually asked it. “One of them said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, ‘How long will it be before these astonishing things are fulfilled?’” The martyrs under the altar ask, “How long until we're avenged? How long, O Lord?”

But there will come a time in human history when things will rapidly come to an end. In the book of Revelation we are between the 6th and 7th trumpets. Think of what has already happened to planet earth — the ecology is damaged, the demonic armies have brought suffering and torture, killing a third of humanity. When those terrifying things happen, the time is very short; there will be no more delay.

Jesus said it will be so terrible in those days that “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.” [Matthew 24:22] I would add that, for the sake of the elect, those days are numbered, and the number has been revealed to us. We will get to that in future, so that adds suspense. I will talk about the 1260 days in a few weeks. God has numbered those days why? Because it will be so horrible to go through that time that the saints will need to know how many days to expect. We who are not living through them now do not need to know to that level. But when these things happen, there will be no more delay.

Verse 7 clearly identifies the timing: “But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets.” The mystery of God means those things that are part of God’s overall redemptive plan down to some detailed levels that have not yet been told to us. The mystery of God will be accomplished in those days. One example of a mystery passage is Ephesians 1:9-10, which says, “And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment— [that is the end of the world] to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.”

That is the mystery, the big picture. He will destroy all evil or convert it and bring together into one head everything he has made to create harmony together under Christ, so that we are all worshiping, giving glory to God. The problems in our country and our city will be gone; we will be perfectly one. The time for the mystery to be accomplished will be short when the seventh trumpet sounds.

The book of Revelation represents the final stage of prophetic unfolding of the mysterious plan of God in writing ahead of time. In the days of the seventh trumpet, the end of all the messages ever given through the Old Testament, New Testament, prophets and the apostles will be accomplished, fulfilled, and the day of the Lord will have come at last. To that end, the angel has come to re-commission the Apostle John to finish his writing, the rest of the book of Revelation.

Verse 8 says, “Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me once more: ‘Go, take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.’” The reason the mighty angel came down to visit John was to give him the scroll so he could proclaim its message to the nations of the earth. While Daniel was absolutely overwhelmed by the vision of the angel, John does not seem to be laid out in the same way. He is able to function, but he has to be commanded to get the scroll.

Verse 9 says, “So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll.” But the angel told him something about the scroll and the effect it would have not only on him, but also on every faithful believer who reads the book of Revelation, the things God commanded John to write.

Continuing in verses 9-10: “He said to me, ‘Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.’ I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour.” The angel told John to eat the scroll. As I read through this with my children, we pondered whether he literally chews and swallows it. I do not know, but it is at least a visionary language. As he eats it, it tastes sweet in his mouth.

Eating God’s Word or prophecy is well known and happens a number of times in the Old Testament. It is clear in Ezekiel 3:1-4, “And he said to me, ‘Son of man, eat what is before you, eat this scroll; then go and speak to the house of Israel.’ So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat. Then he said to me, ‘Son of man, eat this scroll I am giving you and fill your stomach with it.’ So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth. He then said to me: ‘Son of man, go now to the house of Israel and speak my words to them.’” Ezekiel was told to go only to the Jews but that they would not listen to him, though if he went to the rest of the world, they would listen.

Eating the scroll represents the total absorption of the Word of God into your inner being. Chewing, swallowing, digesting. It comes inside and fills you. John is to take this message in his mouth, chew it up, taste it, digest it and proclaim it.

The sweetness of the Word of God is established in so many places. Psalm 19 says that God’s Word, his Law, is sweeter than honey from the comb. It is a beautiful picture. But John’s experience would be a mixed one — sweet in the mouth, but bitter afterward, as though it gave him a stomach ache and he wanted to vomit. This represents that the message of the book of Revelation is a mixed one for us. It is difficult to hear.

The bitterness is related to the fact that many people will die under the wrath of God, not as believers in Christ, and that this beautiful world that God made will be completely destroyed as by fire. Moreover, the process of going through that will be grievous. It will be difficult to watch; people will die unrepentant under the wrath of God.

There is a sweetness that comes from knowing that God’s ultimate purpose is good, and that in the end, Revelation 21-22, there will be a radiant church and a new world and a glorious experience with God. That is very sweet. But now we have some bitterness to go through, not different than Jesus weeping over Jerusalem or the Apostle Paul having “great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart” [Romans 9:2] for the Jews who do not believe in Jesus. It is bitter and sweet.

John is then recommissioned to preach to the nations in verse 11: “Then I was told, ‘You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings.’” Eating the scroll results in John writing a prophetic message that the entire world must hear. He must prophesy; it is absolutely necessary that he write the message for the world. John is called by God and he has no choice. It is unclear in the Greek whether he is to prophesy about many nations, in the ESV, against many nations, or before many nations, in the KJV. I think it is all three. He will preach about, in front of and against nations.

John gives a common description of the nations such as “peoples, nations and languages,” but has here added “kings.” People from all over the world need to hear John’s message, but especially kings. Later in the book of Revelation, the kings of the earth will organize their power and regimes under Antichrist and gather at the battle of Armageddon to fight against the people of God, triggering the Second Coming of Christ, which we will cover in Revelation 17, God willing. The kings of the earth need to hear this. But before those days come, there will be some kings who will hear and heed the message of the Word of God and repent.

Isaiah 40:23-24 “He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing. No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner do they take root in the ground, than he blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.” But some kings, some rulers, some movers and shakers, even in our day, will hear the gospel and repent and believe. As it says in Isaiah 52:15 “…so will he sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him. For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand.”

What applications can we take from this incredible chapter? 

This chapter is awesome even as an interlude, a break, from the overwhelming action in Revelation 8 and 9. We need to step back as we read through the book. We have seen the destruction in Revelation 8 of planet earth at levels we can scarcely imagine; and we have seen the destruction of the human race, up to one-third of the population of the earth, at levels that have never happened before in human history. These terrors are so overwhelming that we, the readers, need an interlude to catch our breath. But the vision is not merely a throw away or an intermission. God is saying, “I have more to say to you and you need to listen to the rest. It will be sweet, ultimately, for you, but there are some bitter aspects.”

It also shows the grace of God in unrolling the scroll of time in his own way, at his own pace. When we finish, you will walk out and the world will look like it always does. You will see the sun shining and feel the breeze on your face. You will see birds flying and the green grass. You will feel the heat of an August Sunday afternoon. And you will be tempted to think, “Where is all this that we have been reading about in the Revelation? Everything goes on as it always has.”

Whether you think that or not, I guarantee you, non-Christians are definitely thinking those thoughts. If they knew anything about these things, they would reject them out of hand, and think they are ridiculous. We need to read the words of the unsealed scroll, the Word of God, about the future that is coming. We need to take it to heart. We need to eat it and bring it into ourselves and say, “I believe that everything I see with my eyes is temporary and will some day be destroyed by the wrath of God. That needs to affect the way I live.” 2 Peter 3:11-12 gives us two great applications for this kind of meditation. “Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? [First] You ought to live holy and godly lives as you [second] look forward to the day of God and speed its coming…” by the proclamation of the Gospel.

Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation. “He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” [2 Peter 3:9] We are entrusted with the ministry of reconciliation. Though racism is a weighty topic, this is a far bigger issue. It has to do with the eternal judgment of people on Judgment Day, in which the outcome will be eternal Heaven or hell. We are responsible to be holy ourselves and to preach the Gospel.

I would urge you, parents, walk through this with your kids. Teach them eschatology, end-time doctrine. Teach them about angels. Teach them about what God says is coming so that they can be aware and live accordingly.

Understand angels. Understand how much they fight to protect us. Do not worship them, but be grateful for them, for the ministry that they carry on. Imitate their obedience so that God’s will would be carried out in your life as it is by the angels in heaven.

Finally, absorb the Word of God. Take it in, eat it, swallow it, let it affect the way you live your life.

Close with me in prayer. Lord, we thank You for the Word of God. We thank you for the way it teaches us so many things. And, Father, we pray that You would strengthen each one of us to welcome its message, to absorb it into ourselves and to heed it. Oh God, give us courage for the facing of this hour. Help us to be willing to stand strong against evil, against darkness, and to speak the truth, but to do it in love, hopeful that those that are holding destructive wrong views might be rescued and brought over into the Kingdom of Light. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Turn in your Bibles to Revelation 9. As we continue in our study in the Book of Revelation, I come to this chapter, which is one of the most dreadful chapters in the entire Book of Revelation, and therefore, I think, in the entire Bible. We come to it with a sense of seriousness and weightiness of what is in this chapter, as I believe it is a prophecy of the future. Many people wonder constantly why the world is as bad it is — the level of human suffering in an average day is incalculable. The hospitals are filled with emergencies and terminal patients. The nursing homes contain countless lonely people who are living out their final days in isolation and misery. Every day CNN and other news outlets report things like terrorist bombings, beheadings, saber-rattling actions of rogue states like North Korea with missile capability, and more. Several times a year, natural disasters such as an earthquake, a hurricane, a tidal wave, a flood, or a tsunami rock some part of the globe with death and destruction, which we are able to see by means of technology and thus able to understand the kind of suffering that these disasters bring.

Beyond those things that make it up onto the news feeds, we are aware that millions of normal people are utterly miserable with their private struggles — addictions to drugs and alcohol, marriages foundering on the rocks of adultery and abuse, teens wandering off into rebellion in predictable, recognizable patterns. Hundreds of millions of people live below the poverty line and struggle every day to scrape out an existence, earning dollars a day, trying not to starve to death.

Biblically trained, spiritually sensitive people are aware that behind all of this human misery and suffering is an intelligent, deeply malevolent force — personal, devious, powerful, invisible. It goes by many names: Satan, the devil, that ancient dragon, that serpent, the king of darkness, the god of this age, the prince of the power of the air. His invisible empire dominates the human story in ways we can hardly calculate or fully appreciate.

Satan and his fallen angels, or demons, roam freely throughout this world and allure people toward sin, deceiving people and moving them to do utterly despicable things. He is a liar and a murderer. He masquerades as an angel of light. Several key passages in the book of Daniel imply that Satan is actually ruling the minds of non-Christian heads of state around the world. He was the secret power behind the throne of the Persian empire and, by extension, since he claims in the temptation of Christ that all the kingdoms of the world have been given to him and he can give them to anyone he wants, that he actually rules in some way, with dark power. His dark hatred for the human race is immeasurable; his implacable desire is to see every last human being, all of us who are created in the image of God, suffering incalculable torment. His commitment to the misery and destruction of the human race is unshakable. It is greater than we can possibly imagine.

If this is true, we begin to realize that the real question about this present age is not the one I posed at the beginning: Why are things as bad as they are? Rather, the question is: Why are things not infinitely worse than they are? Why do the average human beings around the world on an average day enjoy so much happiness, laughter and pleasure? How can we find joy in natural beauty — sunrises and sunsets and mountains and rivers and ocean, soothing breezes, refreshing rains in season that guarantee another fruitful crop and enough food for another year? Why are there so many happy times — joys and delights of family life, special occasions like weddings and other celebrations with dancing, laughter and joy? Why is there actually so little war? Why do the overwhelming majority of people go through the overwhelming majority of their days without experiencing violent crime or bodily harm? Why are there, statistically, so few people murdered, tortured, tormented? Why is there relatively so little pain and suffering if Satan is that powerful and hates us that much?

It cannot be because Satan is showing us some kind of mercy, that he has some kind of pity, that he somehow feels sorry for the human race and is letting up just a little bit. Nor can it be that his power is waning in any way, that he is losing his grip. Not at all. The answer that comes from the Bible is actually very soothing and comforting. And that is that Almighty God is restricting Satan’s malevolent actions — every day, every minute — restraining his powers to inflict harm on the human race, restraining Satan and his demons from doing all that they could and would like to do to us. This is not limited to godly people, though God does do that in reference to the godly. In the Book of Job, Satan complains to God concerning Job: “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has?” [Job 1:10], implying, “I would get at him, but you won’t let me. You have been a wall, a barrier between me and what I’d like to do to Job.” 1 Corinthians 10:13 says, “God is faithful; he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you can bear.” He is limiting Satan’s ability to tempt the godly.

We will see clearly in this chapter of Revelation that God has been restraining Satan from doing all the wickedness he would do even toward unbelievers and rebels and sinners, not only the godly. God is actually holding Satan back from harming them as well, and reserving the full disclosure of Satan’s power and wickedness for the end of the world. But friends, it is coming, as we will see in this chapter.

God does this restraining work out of mercy, even to the rebels who actively serve Satan, though they do not know it, who are called in scripture, “sons of the devil.” God does this so that some of them may eventually be rescued from the dominion of darkness and brought over into the Kingdom of the Beloved Son, the Kingdom of Light. God restrains Satan and his demons from all the violence they would do, in order to rescue some from his dark kingdom.

Throughout history, God has allowed a little more freedom to Satan and his demons from time to time. It is hard to know when they were, but you can imagine some of the events of the 20th century — the cataclysms of World War I & II, for instance. I zero in on the German invasion of the Soviet Union, when the Nazi army went up against the Red Communist army — there was so much godlessness on both sides of the equation, resulting in a death machine that killed millions of people.

Truly, that shows Satan’s hatred for both the Germans and the Russians. Neither side was righteous in their cause — not saying that there were not any saved people in either of those armies; I am referring to the cataclysmic death and destruction. Honestly, though, that was a mere dress rehearsal, for Revelation 9 depicts the sounding of the fifth and sixth trumpets by the angels, unleashing a level of demonic terror and destruction and death that we can scarcely imagine even in our deepest, darkest nightmares.

Let us step back and get some context. The Book of Revelation, the Apocalypse, is so called because it pulls a veil back. It unveils things that are hidden from our physical eyes, things that we would not be able to see — the invisible spiritual realm that surrounds us all the time, of God on His throne, of Christ at the right hand of Almighty God, of the Holy Spirit active throughout the world, of angels and godly people surrounding the throne in constant worship up in Heaven. It also reveals in a powerful way the existence, the reality, of the power of Satan and his demons with their wicked plans and actions.

Beyond this, the Book of Revelation also unveils the mystery of the future, something we cannot see with our own physical eyes, something we would have no way of knowing was coming if God did not tell us. James 4:14 says, “… you do not know what tomorrow will bring…” except that God reveals it. The Apostle John, who was the human author of the Book of Revelation, was in exile on the island of Patmos for his ministry in the name of Christ. He was invited on an amazing spiritual journey to ascend by the power of the Holy Spirit, up from that rocky, tiny island off the coast of modern-day Turkey, to ascend through a doorway in the heavenly realms, to see Almighty God on His throne, and to see the future. It says in Revelation 4:1-2, “After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.’ At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it.” He was given a clear revelation, not only of the immediate spiritual world that we cannot see with our eyes, but of the future.

That scene in Heaven is essential to everything that follows. Revelation 4 depicts the incessant worship of heavenly beings, in concentric circles around the throne of Almighty God, praising Him for being God, the Creator, giving Him worship for creating and sustaining all things.

Revelation 5 depicts, in the right hand of the one who is seated on the throne, a scroll with writing on both sides, sealed with seven seals. A mighty angel cries out, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” but no one is found worthy. Then Jesus Christ comes, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, a Lamb, looking as if He had been slain. He has the right and the responsibility to take the scroll from the right hand of Him who sits on the throne. When He takes it, there is tremendous praise and worship. Revelation 4 is about praise for God the Creator and Revelation 5 for Christ the Redeemer.

In Revelation 6, the Lamb, Jesus Christ, begins to break open the seven seals. In so doing, He unleashes judgments from Heaven on to earth — the first six seals bring the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, a river of martyrs’ blood, and the shaking of the physical universe. Then comes a break, an interruption, between the sixth and seventh seal.

Revelation 7 gives a vision of the the redeemed from every tribe, language, people and nation, standing before the throne with white robes and palm branches in their hands. They are celebrating their final salvation. They are there in answer to the question that is asked at the end of Revelation 6, “The great day of [the] wrath [of Almighty God] has come, and who can stand?” Revelation 7 gives the answer — the redeemed from every tribe, language, people, and nation will be able to stand when God’s wrath is poured out on the earth.

Revelation 8 begins with the prayers of the saints rising to the altar and to the throne of God. The prayers in context are clearly for justice and vengeance against their enemies, who have shed their blood, and have treated them so shamefully. An angel places the coals from the altar together with the prayers that have ascended to God for deliverance and justice into a censer and hurls it to the earth. That is a picture of God’s wrath pouring out in answer to what these people have done and what the demons have done to God’s own chosen people. The things that follow the seven trumpets are clearly portrayed, then, as the wrath of God protecting His beloved bride, His people.

The seventh seal is broken and seven angels emerge, just as we will see later with the seventh trumpet, the seven bowls emerge. There is a telescoping effect. The seventh seal gives way to the seven trumpets. The seven angels with seven trumpets come and prepare to sound them. In Revelation 8, the first four angels sound their trumpets in succession. With each trumpet, stunning judgments flow from Heaven to earth, ripping apart the ecology and the natural order of the earth. They include judgments on one third of the trees, the growing plants, and all the green grass; judgments on the sea, resulting in a third of the living creatures in the sea dying; the sea turning to blood; judgments on the fresh water, the rivers, and the streams, and the ponds, turning one third of them into poison so that if anybody drank them, they died; judgments even on the celestial lights — the sun, moon, and stars — so that a third of their light is struck.

This one-third language of the four trumpets reveals the restraint God is showing to planet earth. He could do far worse than that. These are the greatest ecological cataclysms that have ever come on earth, but God can do far worse. God stated to Pharaoh in the midst of the plagues, in Exodus 9:15, “For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with a plague that would have wiped you off the earth.” The one-third language is God saying, “I am restraining myself. I could do more.”

At the end of Revelation 8, after the first four trumpets have sounded, we have this awesome event. Look at it in Revelation 8:13, “As I watched, I heard an eagle that was flying in midair call out in a loud voice: ‘Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels!’” It is as though with all of the disaster of the first four trumpets, the eagle is warning the people of the earth, saying, “You haven’t seen anything yet. It will get vastly worse.”

Today we will learn what that eagle meant. I feel to some degree that we as Christians are to play that eagle role. I am not saying there will not be a literal eagle doing this, but through this text we are aware of what the Bible says is coming on the earth, and our job is to make others aware by proclaiming the woes that are coming on the earth. We should not begin our evangelistic encounter with the fifth and sixth trumpets, but if we believe that the scripture is true, and is, as Revelation 4:1 says, a prediction of what is yet to come on the earth, we need to warn people of the judgments that are coming.

Let us look at the fifth trumpet, depicted in 9:1-12. Look at verses 1-2: “The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss. When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss.” We see the same thing with the seven bowls that we saw with the seven seals and will see with the seven trumpets: Heaven always initiates everything and then events happen on earth. Here the fifth angel sounds his trumpet. The suffering, therefore, that is about to be unleashed is a display of the just wrath of God. God is not passively amazed that this is happening. The angel is summoning these things to happen by the trumpet, by God’s authority.

We need to try to understand who or what is this star that fell from Heaven to earth that unlocks the shaft to the abyss with a key. There are many interpretations of this mystery. Some commentators do not try to determine what the star is. Other commentators, like John Calvin, do not even try to do anything with the Book of Revelation but avoid it entirely. Some pastors say, “That is wise, so why are you going verse by verse through Revelation?” But all scripture is God-breathed and useful for us. And though I cannot understand all of the details, it is still valuable to try. The star clearly has intelligent powers; it is not an inanimate object. The star unlocks a lock with a specific key, with a specific purpose in mind, showing that this is a personal, intelligent being.

In the Bible, often stars represent angels, as in the Book of Job when God speaks of creation and the laying of the foundation of the earth. He says in Job 38:7, “while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy…” The morning stars are singing, indicating that they are personal and worshipping along with the angels. But this star is depicted as having fallen from the sky to the earth. The Greek verb tense is perfect: a completed action in the past. This is the star that had fallen in the past. Now this star unlocks the abyss, allowing a demonic horde to billow out like smoke from its shaft.

Satan is called in Isaiah 14:12 “morning star, son of the dawn,.” The King James version famously translates that “Lucifer.”  “How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!”

Revelation 12:9 depicts him as a dragon that was thrown to the earth. “The great dragon was hurled down-- that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.” We will see in Revelation 12 that with his dragon tail, he sweeps a third of the stars from the heavens and throws them to the earth. The stars, then, represent fallen angels, or what we know as demons.

Jesus said in Luke 10:18, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” This language of falling or being cast down is repeated again and again. Later in verse 11, the king over this billowing cloud that wreaks havoc on the earth is called destroyer, Abaddon and Apollyon. It seems clear that the star is Satan.

The star, Satan, is given a key to unlock the shaft to the abyss, which had been locked before. The smoke has not been allowed to billow out. The word “abyss” in the Greek literally means “bottomless,” a pit so deep it has no bottom at all. This word is used seven times in Revelation to refer to the prison of demons. The word shaft conjures a narrow neck coming up from the pit, somewhat like a mining shaft. This prison for demons is a place where it seems especially corrupt and wicked demons are punished before the end of the world. Unlike other demons, their freedom is restrained. They are not allowed the freedom to roam over the earth like Satan is. God said to Satan in Job, “Where have you come from?” and he answers, “From roaming over the earth.” Other demons wander through arid places seeking rest; they do not find it, but they are restlessly roaming the earth. The demons in the pit seem to be restrained as if they had been thrown in a prison, so they are not able to roam on the earth.

Jesus confronted the demon-possessed man of the Gadarenes. In Matthew 8:29, the demon says, “‘What do you want with us, Son of God? … Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?’” There is a torment that comes on demons before the final end of the world. Luke 8:30-31 describes the same encounter: “Jesus asked him, ‘What is your name?’ ‘Legion [6000 Roman soldiers]’ he replied, because many demons had gone into him, and they begged him repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss.” It seems clear that the abyss is a holding place for demons, gathered and thrown there by the power of Almighty God. Jesus would have that power as well. Their freedom is restrained, but it is not their final judgment. They are being held under restraint for final judgment. 2 Peter 2:4 says, “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell [the NIV’s translation of the Greek word “tartarus,” which again is a deep pit], putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment” It appears that some demons were especially bad; not all were equally evil or powerful. These that are especially bad are gathered by the power of God and locked in this pit.

When this fifth trumpet is sounded, Satan unlocks this deep pit. Out billows a cloud of black smoke. It is implied that these are the worst demons possible. They have been locked up until that moment, and now have been released. The effect of this terrifying black cloud of demons is to darken the sky. Imagine if some particularly evil warlord somehow took over power and unlocked all the prisons in the United States, setting free every prisoner to roam the streets at will. Every town and city in America would be infiltrated by people who had been incarcerated —  serial murderers, rapists, thieves, arsonists — utterly lawless, godless people roaming free to do whatever they found to do.

If you heard that had happened, what would you do? Where would you run to hide? There would be no refuge. There are presently 2.2 million people behind bars, 1.5 million for violent crimes. In my analogy, however, they are merely human beings. These in Revelation 9 are demons, supernatural and far more powerful than any human being, able to do more damage than we can imagine. They are particularly evil and vicious, locked up in a pit for thousands of years. They are now unleashed with freedom to roam and bring unspeakable misery to planet earth.

Verse 3 begins to describe them: “And out of the smoke locusts came down upon the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth.” There are two natural analogies being given to help us understand what they can do: a combination of a swarming invasion like that of a locust plague and torment through stings as those of scorpions.

The Book of Joel describes a locust invasion unlike any in human history. Locusts are grasshoppers, usually solitary, but under particular circumstances they become gregarious and group together overwhelmingly, with thousands, tens of thousands upon thousands of other grasshoppers. These then swarm and travel over long distances, devouring every green thing in their path. Joel 1:4, 6-7 describes them:“What the locust swarm has left the great locusts have eaten; what the great locusts have left the young locusts have eaten; what the young locusts have left other locusts have eaten. … A nation has invaded my land, powerful and without number; it has the teeth of a lion, the fangs of a lioness. It has laid waste my vines and ruined my fig trees. It has stripped off their bark and thrown it away, leaving their branches white.”

The description continues in Joel 2:2-10, “Like dawn spreading across the mountains a large and mighty army comes, such as never was of old nor ever will be in ages to come. Before them fire devours, behind them a flame blazes. Before them the land is like the garden of Eden, behind them, a desert waste-- nothing escapes them. They have the appearance of horses; they gallop along like cavalry. With a noise like that of chariots they leap over the mountaintops, like a crackling fire consuming stubble, like a mighty army drawn up for battle. At the sight of them, nations are in anguish; every face turns pale. They charge like warriors; they scale walls like soldiers. They all march in line, not swerving from their course. They do not jostle each other; each marches straight ahead. They plunge through defenses without breaking ranks. They rush upon the city; they run along the wall. They climb into the houses; like thieves they enter through the windows. Before them the earth shakes, the sky trembles, the sun and moon are darkened, and the stars no longer shine.”

Revelation 9 gives a similar image, only now they are told not to touch the green things. Instead, they go after people. They do not miss anybody except those that are sealed with the seal of God on their foreheads. Those are protected by the sovereign power of God, and the demons not allowed to touch them. John reaches for another image as well, that of scorpions — a deadly desert predator with a stinger in its curved tail with poison, usually not enough to kill, but enough to torment.

This unimaginable demonic horde is roaming but still restricted. Even during this final era of human history, even at the sounding of the fifth trumpet, God is restraining demonic activity.

Verses 4-5 say, “They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. They were not given power to kill them, but only to torture them for five months. And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes a man.”

These demons are given four limitations. First, unlike the locusts described by Joel, they are forbidden from harming green and growing things. They attack humans. (Notice that the green grass has recovered from the first trumpet. It may look like a contradiction since all the green grass was previously destroyed. But grass is pretty resilient — within a season, it has grown back, but the the demons are not allowed to touch it.)

Second, these demons are restricted specifically to what people they can attack, They cannot attack all people. They are not allowed to harm the elect, those marked with the seal of God on their foreheads. This hearkens back to the image in Ezekiel 9:4 of an angel sent through the city of Jerusalem to mark everyone who grieves over the wickedness of the city, which protects them from the coming judgment. That mark is the seal of the indwelling Holy Spirit of God on believers, those who have crossed over from death to life, The seal protects them from the demonic attacks.

The third limitation is that the demons cannot kill people but only torment them. The fourth limitation is the timeframe — they are given five months to do their work. These limitations demonstrate God’s sovereignty through great wickedness.

Verse 6 depicts a terrible effect: “During those days, men will seek death, but will not find it. They will long to die, but death will elude them.” Some commentators liken it to hell on earth. In hell, people suffer torment but cannot escape through death. Hell is the second death and final death. Mark 9:47-48 speaks of  “hell, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.” At the time of the fifth trumpet, when these demons are swarming over the earth stinging the unrighteous with poisonous stingers, the agony will be immeasurable — perhaps the greatest level of cumulative suffering that the human race has ever experienced in history. People long to die, but they will not be able to. They will not even be able to commit suicide to escape the pain. Medical science will not be able to alleviate their suffering; there will be nothing that can be done for them.

In verses 7-10, the demons are described, as I said, in language that challenges our imaginations. “The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces. Their hair was like women's hair, and their teeth were like lions' teeth. They had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle. They had tails and stings like scorpions, and in their tails they had power to torment people for five months.” Paul says that in Scripture, we “see through a glass darkly…” not yet face to face. Language can only bring us so far. It gives us everything we need for life and godliness, but it is hard to describe what these demons are like. John is trying his best with comparisons and analogies — “look like,” “had something like,” or “resemble”.

The demons are like horses, powerful, mighty, bold, and ready to charge into battle. They have crowns representing their power and authority. They are invincible and all-conquering. They have faces like humans — they are rational rather than mindless. They know exactly what they are doing; they possess intelligence. They have an alluring beauty — woman’s hair. Just as Satan masquerades as an attractive angel of light, so these demons are in some senses attractive or seductive.

They have teeth like lions, ready to rip and shred flesh. They have breast plates like iron, meaning no weapon fashioned against them by humans will prevail. They cannot be killed. They have thundering, deafening wings, indicating mobility to move wherever they want quickly. There will be no escape from them — nowhere to run or hide. They have tails and stings like scorpions. Their sole purpose is to inflict agony on human beings, to torment for five months, the length of time restricted by God’s command. As it is now, so it will be then — the demons are subject to the sovereign control of Almighty God.

Satan is revealed in Verse 11: “They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon.” These words both mean the same thing — Destroyer.

Satan is invisible; as the prince of the power of the air, he prefers to do his work behind the scenes, but here he is, unveiled, so we can see him and know what he is doing. Amazingly, he will also be thrown into the abyss, beginning the millennium of Revelation 20. In Verse 12, we have a terrifying warning of what is yet to come. The first woe is past and two other woes, worse than the first, are yet to come.

Verses 13-14 describe the sixth trumpet: “The sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I heard a voice coming from the horns of the golden altar that is before God. It said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, ‘Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.’” The sixth angel blows his trumpet and the next woe comes on the earth. The altar in Heaven, the true altar, of which the Mosaic altar or the altar in the temple of Solomon was just a type and a shadow, is the altar from Revelation 8 where the martyrs have fled for refuge. This judgment is coming as a response to the cries of the people of God for deliverance, for vengeance and for justice.

The voice from the altar gives the heavenly command to release four angels who have been bound in chains at the great river Euphrates. Jesus said that hell was made for the devil and the fallen angels. Since these four angels have been bound and restrained, they cannot be good angels; they must be wicked angels. They are chained up for this exact moment in history. The great river Euphrates is a symbol which the Jews would have recognized as the northern boundary of the promised land, beyond which is the land of the Gentiles.

And from that river pours in the invasion of the Assyrians or the Babylonians. Jeremiah likened it to a pot, boiling with water, poured down that crosses the Euphrates. So there's a sense of a boundary, and then they pour over and start to invade.

A terrifying army will invade, numbered in this text at 200 million warriors. Look at verses 15-19: “And the four angels who had been kept ready for this very hour and day and month and year” [the timing is perfect because God has planned exactly when it will happen at a set moment in time] “were released to kill a third of mankind.” [One third of the human race killed by this army.] “The number of the mounted troops was two hundred million. I heard their number. The horses and riders I saw in my vision looked like this: Their breastplates were fiery red, dark blue, and yellow as sulfur. The heads of the horses resembled the heads of lions, and out of their mouths came fire, smoke and sulfur. A third of mankind was killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke and sulfur that came out of their mouths. The power of the horses was in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails were like snakes, having heads with which they inflict injury.”

What does this army represent? Unlike the previous black cloud of demons that comes billowing up out of the shaft of the abyss, this army of 200 million does have the power to kill. The carnage is immense — a third of mankind dies in the slaughter. This could be a human army under satanic, demonic control, or it could be all the existing demons unleashed at this point to the end that they kill a third of mankind. I see it as a demonic army. The description of the mounted troops is again like demons in the earlier visionary chapter. It stretches language to the breaking point. The colors described — fiery red, dark blue, yellow with sulfur — seem to represent the very suffering of hell itself. Heads like lions show power, with the ability to breathe fire from their mouths; tails like darting vipers, able to lash out with deadly venom.

The ultimate point here is what they do. They are able to kill one-third of mankind. Think about the carnage of World War II, a vanishingly small percentage of the world’s population, which was 60 million at the time, compared to perhaps 3 billion or more living on earth at the future time. This is one third. This morning, my kids asked, “Will Christians have to go through this?” I believe that earlier in this chapter we have a clear sense of protection from the actual judgments, but we are not protected from living through it. We Christians are a merciful and compassionate people. When there is a natural disaster we mobilize to care for those who are hurting and suffering. It will be a horrific time, even if we are protected by the power of God, because we will care about those who are suffering and dying.

Look at the ultimate tragic outcome here in this chapter in verses 20-21. “The rest of mankind that were not killed by these plagues…” Stop there.

“These plagues” means all of them from the beginning until this point are cumulative. The plague on the trees and the vegetations and the grass, the plague on the oceans turning to blood, the plague on the fresh water, the plague on the sun, moon, and stars, the demonic five-month scorpion strike, and now this. It is cumulative. The level of suffering on planet earth will be incalculable. One would think it would be the greatest possible inducement to flee to Christ while there is still time, for no matter how bad things are on earth, hell is infinitely worse.

Verses 20-21 say, “The rest of mankind that were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood-- idols that cannot see or hear or walk. Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts.” They did not repent. All of these judgments were pressing on them to repent and flee to Christ, to flee the wrath to come. Instead, they are worshipping demons, the very ones that are tormenting them.

This tells me that repentance is a gift of God’s grace that He gives as He chooses. No physical or circumstantial pressure and inducement automatically brings people over to repentance and faith. It is a gift of God. Isaiah the Prophet was told this when he was sent to Israel about how long he would preach. It says in Isaiah 6:9-10, “Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.' Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”

This exact passage in Isaiah 6 was used to explain why the Jews didn't repent at the river of grace and miracles that came through Jesus. So, here you have the opposite extremes, a river of kindness shown through Jesus Christ. Every kind of disease healed. Their empty stomachs filled with the bread of Heaven. He raised the dead, He healed lepers. He showed such a tender grace and kindness, they still didn't repent. They still didn't repent. And now, the other end of the spectrum, we have the most horrific physical trials anybody could ever go through, they still don't repent. God grants repentance and mercy. As it says in Romans 9:15-18. “‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.’ It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: ‘I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.’ Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.”

What that means ultimately, friends, hell itself will produce no converts. Our penal system and its institutions are given hopeful names like reform school or reformatory or correctional facility or penitentiary, where criminals can become penitent — some are converted and saved from those institutions — but none of that will happen from hell. Despite what Rob Bell and other false teachers have said, hell is not a place of reformation. 

What applications can we take from this chapter?

First, flee to Christ while you can. John the Baptist said, “Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” What we have read in Revelation today is part of the wrath to come. The greater wrath is hell. Flee to Christ. The gospel is that God sent Jesus to die in our place, to drink in this kind of torment in our stead, that we might be free from condemnation and live forever in the peace of God. Not by works but only by simple faith can you be free from all condemnation. You can cross over from death to life, so do that now. Let today be the day of salvation for you.

Turn away from wickedness and sins, from sexual immorality, from darkness and hard heartedness and turn to Christ while there is still time. Right now, these words are only ink on a page (now I must add “or pixels on a screen”). Is it true? You must believe that these words are not merely human words, but are actually the words of God telling you what is to come.

Second, understand Satan’s present limitations and the daily protection that God gives to the human race, and thank Him for it. Non-Christians will not thank Him. They will continue asking, “Why are things as bad as they are?” But realize the goodness and kindness of God to His enemies. He causes His rain and sun to fall and shine on the wicked. Every day He protects us from mad, insane regimes in North Korea as they fashion intercontinental ballistic missiles, from terrorist cell groups, from diseases that would spread, from demons. We ought to thank God for His protection every day.

Third, use this account of the coming terror to preach the gospel. Perhaps tomorrow you will have an opportunity to talk to some non-Christians. When they ask you what you did over the weekend, tell them everything you did, that you came to church on Sunday. Allow for conversation about what you heard, at least to say, “We talked about Christ, how He is our Savior from the wrath of God.”

Fourth, thank God for His mercy to you, a sinner. Do you realize that you deserve to suffer these punishments, these torments? It is hard to us to believe that, but we must. We deserve to be treated far worse than this. Do you not see the grace that God's showing you in Christ? Thank God that He does not treat us as our sins deserve.

Close with me in prayer. Father, thank you for the word of God. Thank you for the things that we have learned today from this sober and staggering chapter, Revelation 9. Help us, O Lord, to be evangelists, to spread the good news of deliverance from the wrath of God. Help us, O Lord, to speak to people who are perishing and tell them that there is life in Christ. In your name, Lord Jesus, we pray. Amen.

Open your Bibles to Revelation 8. This is a very sober chapter. The wrath of God, as we see here poured out on the earth, is one of the most terrifying and unsettling aspects of His character. The overpowering aspect of it — the sheer scope and magnitude of the destruction that flows out from the sovereign actions of God here — are deeply disturbing to our mindset, even for those who have been Christians for a long time. As we begin to see these seven trumpet blasts from Heaven and see the devastating effects on Planet Earth of these judgments, it is not unusual for even the most mature Christians to shrink back in some sense, to recoil with horror, and perhaps cry out, as Moses did in Exodus 32:12, “Turn from your fierce anger, O Lord.”

We need to keep something constantly in our minds as we embark on twelve chapters of this kind of destruction, laid out in detail, chapter after chapter, explaining what God will do to Planet Earth because of human sinfulness. We live now in the era of Gospel grace. This is the time in which God is willing to be gracious to sinners and give them amnesty and welcome them back, forgiving all of their sins. In this era, we are commanded to love our enemies, to turn the other cheek, to cry out to God for the forgiveness of even the most bitter opponent of the Gospel, even for those who viciously persecute us. We must be willing even, as Paul was, to trade our own salvation that they might be saved.

Many verses teach this. 2 Corinthians 6:2 says, “For he says, ‘In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.’ I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation.” That refers to our current era. Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:39-41, “But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. If someone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.” In verses 44-45, he says, “But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” From the cross Jesus cried out, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”

Acts 7:59-60 says, “While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Then he fell on his knees and cried out, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them.’” When he had said this, he fell asleep. Ephesians 6:12 tells us that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Paul encountered unbelieving Jews, to whom he wanted to preach in the synagogues, who rejected and persecuted him in every town and village that he visited. These were his consistent sworn enemies, some of whom even fasted until they could assassinate him. In Romans 9:2-4, he said, “I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, the people of Israel.”

All of these verses show us the proper attitude to have right now toward the enemies of the Gospel. In this present era of grace, when there is still time for sinners to repent and find forgiveness in Christ, no sinner is beyond redemption. No sins are too great for the ocean of God’s grace to cover. We are filled with hope as we preach the Gospel in all of these settings.

However, looming above all of the grace we are to show to our enemies, we have this statement, very well known, in Romans 12:19: “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay,’ says the Lord.” A deep desire for vengeance, an outcry for justice, is depicted in the book of Revelation — this attitude is right as well. We see in Revelation 6:9-ll, when the fifth seal is broken by Christ, the souls of those who have been martyred for their faith in Christ dwelling under the altar in Heaven,. They have taken refuge at that heavenly altar and cry out for vengeance in Heaven. Though they are told to wait a while, they are not told that such a cry is inappropriate. They are instructed to wait until the full number of the martyrs comes in.

In this chapter, we will begin to see the outpouring of God’s wrath through the first four of the seven trumpet judgments, followed by the seven bowls judgments. These will come in direct answer to the prayers of the anguished people of God for justice against their enemies. As their prayers ascend to Heaven, God hears them. His wrath is flung like a fire ball to the surface of the earth in answer to those prayers. In this present era of the Gospel, we are restrained from taking vengeance, for we are not God. It is not our place. We leave room for the grace of God to have effect, for we know that His grace is able to transform anyone. The bitterest enemy can in one day repent under the sovereign influence of the grace of God and become a precious brother or sister in Christ. Such grace worked on Saul of Tarsus, who woke up that morning breathing out murderous threats, dragging people to prison, but by that evening was believing in Christ and loving Him and his new brothers and sisters, no longer an enemy but an eternal friend. This can happen at any point — we trust and hope and pray for it.

But God has said, “Vengeance is mine. I will repay.” When the wrath of God is poured out with unremitting fury on the surface of the earth through the seven trumpets and the seven bowls, millions — possibly billions — of people will die. This is called the “strange work of God” in Isaiah 28:21: “The LORD will rise up as he did at Mount Perazim, he will rouse himself as in the Valley of Gibeon-- to do his work, his strange work, and perform his task, his alien task.”

We should not imagine that God is squeamish or embarrassed about this or will in the end somehow feel ashamed of it. Not at all. He is telling us plainly what He will do. He is not hiding this — He will do it in full view of all His children. But as we go carefully through these upcoming chapters, do not be surprised if it is too much for you. It is overwhelming to try to grasp what will happen, like a circuit breaker that trips when overloaded. We are commanded to be gracious to our enemies and to believe in the power of the Gospel to convert them, but we must not shrink back from this careful, meticulous display of the wrath of God that is coming on the earth. We need to understand it. When all is said and done, we will drink from a river of the water of life that will flow down through the center of the New Jerusalem from the throne of God. But before we experience that, there will be, based on Daniel 7, a river of fire flowing from that same throne. We need to embrace both because they are openly taught in Scripture. 

 This chapter begins with silence. Look at Revelation 8:1: “When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.” To review, the seal that is broken is on a scroll that has been in the right hand of the one seated on the throne, Almighty God, the Ruler of the Universe. John has been transported through a doorway to this throne room. Christ, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Lamb that was slain for our sins, is the only one who has the right to take the scroll.

In Revelation 6, He takes the scroll and begins to break open the seals. The first four seals unleash what is known commonly as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The fifth seal reveals the martyrs in Heaven crying for vengeance. The sixth seal depicts the beginning of the end of the physical universe: every mountain and island is removed from its place; there is a massive earthquake; stars fall from the heavens. Everyone on earth flees, looking for some refuge. They cry out to the mountains and the hills, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can withstand it?”

Revelation 7 brings an answer to that question: 144,000 sealed from all the tribes of the sons of Israel, along with a multitude greater than anyone could count from every tribe, language, people and nation standing before the throne in front of the Lamb, wearing white robes, holding palm branches and saying, “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” They are able to stand in the great day of the wrath of God.

Revelation 8 and subsequent chapters will depict and unfold what the great day of the wrath of God is, what it will be like. It begins with silence in Heaven. What is the significance of this heavenly silence? Heaven is ordinarily a place of ceaseless praise — a joyfully noisy place of continuous thunderous praise, day and night. The inhabitants never stop praising the One who sits on the throne, never stop casting their crowns and crying out “Salvation belongs to God!” They celebrate all the time.

But here at the beginning of the seven trumpets, the seventh seal instigates this silence in Heaven for half an hour. It is stunning. It continues for a very long time, too. (If I were to stand silent at the pulpit, how long would it be before it would feel uncomfortable?) Heaven is a timeless place, but there is a sense that John felt the passage of time as he was observing. 

What did it signify? Other silences in Scripture happen in reference to God, even at His command, in light of His eternal power and divine nature, and His plan as it moves forward to highlight the infinite gap between God the Creator and what He has created. Habakkuk 2:20 says, “The LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him.” The whole earth is commanded to silence when God rouses Himself to execute judgments on the earth. Zechariah 2:13 says, “Be still before the LORD, all mankind, because he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.”

Silence also implies submission to God’s judgments, that we cannot answer Him back. We could not answer back one charge in a thousand. Romans 3:19 says, “…so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.” Even Job, a godly man, says after encountering God in the whirlwind, “I am unworthy—how can I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth.” It is like a dramatic calm before the storm, which can be effective, like in music: first a climax, then a pause, then a crescendo. The pause signals and initiates the drama that ensues.

Yet, this is not an earthly silence. This is silence in Heaven. The heavenly worshippers, the angels who are watching the events, long to look into these things. They are interested in the unfolding plan of God. They are rendered silent for what is about to be unleashed on the earth.

Following the silence, verse 2 says, “And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets.” These seem to be special angels. All of the angels who serve God in Heaven are holy and glorious, but they are not all equally radiant or equally powerful. They do not all have equal positions, just as star differs from star in glory. Some are called archangels or ruler angels. There are two named angels in the Bible, Michael and Gabriel, but these seven also have special access to the throne of God. Each of these receives a trumpet.

But first, another angel comes to connect the wrath of God to the intercessory prayers that have gone up to God throughout twenty centuries of church history. Look at verses 3-5: “Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all God’s people, on the golden altar in front of the throne. The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God’s people, went up before God from the angel’s hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.” 

These verses depict a heavenly altar. Moses was commanded in the Old Covenant to make a tabernacle with an altar, but it was only a type, a shadow, of the heavenly reality. This is the heavenly reality, the true tabernacle with the true altar. This is the very place revealed in Revelation 6 where the martyrs, when Christ breaks open the fifth seal, cry out for vengeance; they are told to wait until the full number of martyrs, who were to die as they had, is completed.

This angel, different than the seven that are about to sound their trumpets, makes his appearance with a golden censer in his hand. As an altar boy in the Roman Catholic church I was raised in, I assisted in some of the ceremonies in which incense was used. The censer is a metal container connected to a chain, with a little door in the side. The priests would put orange crystals of incense on coals that were already burning inside the censer, which would create fragrant smoke. The priest would swing the censer back and forth, and at the apex of its swing, puffs of smoke would come out. In this way, the whole place would be filled with the aroma of this incense.

This angel offers up the smoke of the incense together with the prayers of all the saints. The martyrs revealed in the fifth seal of Revelation 6 should not be narrowly limited to tribulation martyrs, those who will die in the future in the last seven years of history. I would extend it over all of human history, because of the broad context in Revelation 8 with the use of the word “all”: all of the saints, all of their prayers going up before this altar. Not just the small number of martyrs who will be killed during the great tribulation, but the totality of God’s people who have cried out in every generation against their tormentors, crying out for justice and vengeance, not understanding why — it seems — God does not answer those prayers. The fragrant smoke of these passionate prayers rises up before the throne of God, begging God to do something about these wicked opponents of the Gospel, pleading with God to intervene.

It reminds me of Jesus’ parable of the persistent widow. The widow goes day after day to a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. (This could be the worst thing ever said about a judge in history, every day breaking the two great commandments.) But he becomes weary of this widow who comes day after day, hoping to wear him down, which she does eventually. So he gives her what she wants. What does she want? Justice against her adversary. The widow represents the Church, as we go to God pleading. Jesus says this in Luke 18:7-8, “And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. But when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?” Jesus’ point is that those who cry out to God for justice will receive it quickly.

Many seemingly unanswered prayers have risen to God’s throne across twenty centuries of church history. Prayers for believers in communist countries in the 20th century behind the Iron Curtain. Prayers now in communist countries for pastors who are arrested and hauled away in the middle of the night, for their release and protection, who instead are tortured and executed. Prayers for missionaries in dangerous jungles in Africa or South America, who, instead of being protected from the hostile ways of the people they were trying to reach, were seized by chieftains or head hunters or cannibals and killed. Prayers for deliverance, for rescue, of those captured by Islamic extremists, who instead are beheaded. Prayers for martyrs during the Roman era, back at the very beginning of the Church, that they would be set free by their Roman captors, but were instead killed in the Colosseum, or burned by Nero to light the garden for his dinner guests. Prayers for Dietrich Bonhoeffer in the final days of World War II, that he would be set free, but instead was killed by a command personally signed by the monster Adolf Hitler in one of his final acts, just days before the end of the war in Europe. All those prayers have been seemingly unanswered throughout the centuries.

You say, “Where is the justice? Why doesn’t God hear our prayers?” The spirit of all those blasphemous tyrants and persecutors will be distilled and, in a wicked way, perfected in the anti-Christ and the final form of human government. It will become much, much worse. This cry for justice will become that much more acute at that time.

So the prayers of the saints rise continually before the throne of God, and He hears every one of them. The angel mixes the prayers of all the saints for justice and vengeance, and fills the golden censer with coals of fire from the altar, then he hurls it down on Planet Earth. These verses send a very clear message, with a clear symbol of the connection between the wrath, which we see in this and following chapters, and the prayers of God's people for deliverance and for justice.

We may wonder why God does not answer those prayers. We are told in 2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” God is patient, but the very next verse, 2 Peter 3:10, says, “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.” Most opponents of the Gospel do  not vigorously, violently oppose the church. They do not have the energy or the concern to do it. They just do not care. Whenever the church might interact with them, they might resist with a snide comment or something similar, but they do not tend to organize any kind of persecution. They are simply against the Gospel. However, there are some people in positions of government, key leaders in communities, who have used their position of influence to do what they can to stop the spread of the Gospel and to make life miserable for Christians. 

We know those people will receive a personal judgment, standing before God. Romans 2:5-6 says, “… because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. God will give to each person according to what he has done.” That passage refers to individuals receiving judgment. In private, God’s wrath is poured out on individuals after they die. We do not see it, though we believe that wicked men like Hitler and Stalin who persecuted Christians are judged and are condemned in hell when they die. There is no public vindication of the justice of God in this present age. But here in the Book of Revelation, we see an open public display of the justice of God, the public vindication at the end of the world of God’s justice.

Thus, the angel takes a golden censer, fills it with coals and hurls it to the earth. And the earth reacts with peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake. Now come the actions of God through the angel. Verse 6 says, “Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to sound them.”

The rest of the chapter reveals the first four trumpets. The first three are judgments on the ecology of the earth. The earth was entrusted to the human race as a stewardship. We were put on the planet to serve the earth and see it come to its full fruition, as God commanded in Genesis 2. Instead, man fell into sin, Adam ate the forbidden fruit and the earth was cursed because of him. Genesis 3:17-18 says, “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you.” As a result of Adam’s sin, the earth has been groaning under a curse in bondage to decay, we are told in Romans 8:21-22. 

Many people in our society are extremely concerned about the environment. Some are fanatically committed to ecology and the careful balance of ecosystems. There is a sense in which, without going over into idolatry, Christians should lead the way in this. We should say, like the hymn, “This is my Father’s world” — this was entrusted to us by God. We should be good stewards of the environment. People talk about global warming due to the destruction of the ozone layer caused by the burning of fossil fuels. People are concerned about landfills and fracking and their effect on groundwater. People worry about air and water pollution. People tell stories about the destruction of the rainforests and the effect that will.  have on the future of the world. People focus on the disposal of nuclear waste. People monitor the extinction of specific species like the giant panda, the Sumatran tiger or the Javan rhino.

People are worried about these things, but nothing man has ever done or ever could do to destroy Planet Earth and its ecosystems is anything compared to what God will do before the end of the world. God will rip it to shreds. In Jeremiah 45, God said, “I am about to destroy what I have planted.” Think about that. He loves the earth and He loves the plants and the animals on it more than we can possibly imagine, but this is what He will do to it. 

Look at verse 7: “The first angel sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down upon the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.” This brings a powerful reminder of the plague that God brought on Egypt under Moses, the hail that pounded the lushly irrigated fields of that bread basket of the ancient world, Egypt. But this plague also includes fire and blood.

Hail is simply precipitation that starts as little granules of dirt or ice. It happens when turbulence occurs, through which tiny droplets freeze then gain larger and larger layers of ice, like layers of an onion. They can grow fairly large. It is common for them to be up to half an inch in diameter, but they can get a lot bigger than that. They bring terrible destruction on car roofs and windows and crops, especially standing grains like wheat and corn and soybeans. The largest in history was almost eight inches in diameter coming down from the clouds with the force of a missile. But again, this hailstorm in the Book of Revelation is no ordinary one. It is mixed with fire and blood. Perhaps the blood flows because of the injuries caused by massive falling rocks of ice. 

The hail alone would beat down all growing things, but the fire seems to do the real damage. The earth is burned up, a third of the trees are burned up, all of the green grass is burned up. I cannot imagine the ecological effects of this. It is staggering. What is the largest forest fire in history? What percentage of the world’s trees burned in that? 0.000 something percent; and you can imagine the smoke billowing for miles around that huge fire. But this is a third of all the trees on Planet Earth.

Repeatedly in this chapter, we see this one third language. What does it mean? It means God is holding Himself back. It is not a full display of everything He could do. He leaves two thirds each time a judgment unfolds. God said to Pharaoh in Exodus 9:15, “For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with a plague that would have wiped you off the earth.” I think God is saying that to the final generation: “I could do far worse than this; this is effectively your final warning.”

The second trumpet brings a fiery mountain crashing into the sea. Look at verses 8-9, “The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.” Just as the earth is trying to recover from the staggering impact of the first trumpet, something even more devastating comes down — again and again, these judgments come from Heaven to earth, always from up down. This thing like a massive mountain or a huge chunk of rock, all on fire — maybe a massive meteorite, or some kind of asteroid — comes hurtling down through the earth’s protective shield, through the atmosphere, and ignites. It lands in the ocean with massive force greater than a nuclear bomb. 

The issue is not only the massive burning mountain, but also the effect it will have on the seas and oceans and therefore on Planet Earth. God created the oceans to be a continual source of blessing to mankind. Through the continual cycle of evaporation, condensation and precipitation, the oceans supply the Earth with the overwhelming majority of its rain water. Also, much of the Earth's oxygen comes from the phytoplankton and the algae that grow abundantly in the oceans. While 28% of the oxygen in the world comes from rainforests, 70% comes from marine plants. Both of these first two trumpets have a profound effect on the things that generate the air that we breathe. Beyond this, the text says, a third of the sea was turned to blood, perhaps from the death of a third of all living creatures in the sea. Ecologists campaign and otherwise work hard to protect marine life. Yet in one moment, in a cataclysm we can hardly imagine, a third of all whales, and squid, and sharks, and mackerels, and orcas, and porpoises, and schools of tropical fish — a third of all of the living creatures in the sea — perish.

In addition, a third of all the ships were destroyed, probably from the massive waves that occur when this mountain ploughs into the ocean. No aircraft carriers, container ships, or huge oil tankers can withstand the force of these waves, so a third of the shipping is taken out. This will cause widespread economic chaos. We cannot imagine the ramifications if a third of shipping were destroyed, or a third of the life in the oceans is killed. And yet God still restrains Himself, with one third rather than all. The earth will recover somewhat and its inhabitants will regain some equilibrium, albeit with a radically a new normal.

But then the third trumpet comes. This time it is a falling star that pollutes the fresh water. Look at verses 10-11: “The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water-- the name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter.” Again, we see a falling object coming from Heaven to earth. This time it is something like a large star, again a meteorite or perhaps something that has no name that we have never seen before, like a blazing torch, falling from Heaven to earth to bring judgment from God.

But this time, the judgment is on fresh water, which we absolutely must have in order to survive, and a third of the rivers, ponds, and lakes are turned bitter, poisoned by wormwood. The Greek is “apsinthos”, which is a bitter substance but not usually poisonous. In this case, it will be poisonous, because many people who try to drink the poisoned waters will die from what they drink. It is hard for us to imagine ahead of time what these plagues will do to the human race, the level of social upheaval. Imagine if a third of the population of the earth had no fresh water, but other parts of the world did have fresh water. Imagine the migration of people seeking water — the chaos, the violence that would happen at that particular point; imagine the governments coming together to solve this. It's gonna be incredibly difficult. The suffering and deaths from these judgments are more an indirect effect. The direct attack on human beings happen in the next chapter, Revelation.

With the fourth trumpet, a third of the heavenly lights are extinguished. Look at verse 12: “The fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them turned dark. A third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night.” The first three trumpet blasts all strike, as I said, the ecology of the earth. This one, however, goes up into the heavenly realms. It affects the sun, moon, and stars. These were not entrusted to our stewardship. We are not lord or king over the sun, moon, and stars as we were entrusted under God to be kings and queens over Planet Earth. Yet the sun, moon, and stars, we are told in Genesis 1, were created to give light to the earth and to mark seasons and days and years. They have an earthbound purpose. When the events on earth reach their climax and their conclusion, the heavenly beings will be affected. I do not fully understand what it means  that a third of the sun was struck and a third of the moon. It may be like a dimmer switch, where the light goes down a certain amount.  As I have said many times before, I do not know, when it comes to details.

I do know that the light from the sun, moon and stars will, in some sense, be reduced from the sun, and this will be a terrifying phenomenon to the people on the earth. The prophets of old predicted these effects on celestial beings. We see it in so many prophetic places that it is not just some metaphor or symbol. It will actually happen. Isaiah 13:9-11: “Behold, the day of the LORD is coming--a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger-- to make the land desolate and destroy the sinners within it. The stars of heaven and their constellations will not show their light. The rising sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light. I will punish the world for its evil, the wicked for their sins.” 

Ezekiel 32:7-8: “‘When I snuff you out [what a striking phrase that is], I will cover the heavens and darken their stars; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not give its light. All the shining lights in the heavens I will darken over you; I will bring darkness over your land,’ declares the Sovereign LORD.” Jesus Christ Himself spoke of these heavenly signs. In Luke 21:25-26, He said, “There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. Men will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken.” Jesus is talking about the psychological reaction that people will have when these things start to happen. They will have no idea what to think or do about any of it.

Joel said it as well, very plainly, in Joel 2:30-32, “I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the LORD has said, among the survivors whom the LORD calls.” Meditate on that and you can see that when these judgments start coming on the earth, some of God's elect will repent and cross over from darkness to light. You can see, therefore, the grace of God and marvel, perhaps, that it took all that to convert them. Even in the midst of all of this suffering, God extends grace and mercy.

Verse 13 is the warning of woes yet to come: “As I watched, I heard an eagle that was flying in midair call out in a loud voice: ‘Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels!’” A speaking eagle in mid-flight is mind-blowing. This is one of the few talking animals in the Bible, for all of you CS Lewis fans — many talking animals in his stories. Here is this speaking eagle in mid-flight, but what a terrifying message it is entrusted with. “Woe, woe, woe.” He speaks a word of prophetic warning: “What you have just experienced, what you are experiencing, is nothing compared to what is about to be unleashed on you.” We will get to that, God willing, next week in Revelation 9. The most terrifying thing that God  has ever done on planet Earth is depicted in Revelation 9.

Let us now look at how to apply these truths to our lives. First, when you leave here in a few moments, it will look normal outside — you will hear the birds, you will see the bright sun, the clouds, the green grass, the trees. Perhaps you will see with new eyes, realizing how temporary it all is, but it will all look essentially the same as always. You must believe by faith that the things I have talked about today will come in the future. I pray that God has brought some here today who are as yet unconverted who will be warned and flee to Christ while you still have time. This is a narrow window of opportunity. This is the day of God's salvation. This is the time of His grace before He starts unleashing these events. Flee to Christ. Believe that God sent His son, born of the Virgin Mary, to live a sinless life. He did great signs and wonders to show His compassion and care for people, but also to show that He is God. He came especially to die a bloody death in our place on the cross as a substitute, to drink in the wrath of God on the cross for us, so we do not have to experience it — that we might have forgiveness of sins. God raised Him from the dead on the third day and if you trust in Him, apart from any good works, just by simple faith, all your sins will be forgiven; you will be able to stand on the day of judgment. I am pleading with you. As you listen to this warning, flee to Christ while there is time.

For you who are Christians, take seriously that this is going to happen. Your non-Christian co-workers and family members are not thinking about this. They do not think it will happen. Our job is to spread this message of the Gospel with its warnings to people who do not believe yet. You may say, “Pastor, that will make me look weird.” Put it on me. Say, “You will not believe what we heard yesterday in the sermon. Now, what do you think about this? It said in Revelation 8… And the pastor seems to think it will actually happen. And so do I.” Start a conversation around the coffee pot during your three minutes’ break. Your co-workers will go back to their cubicles thinking about blood and fire and billows of smoke. It is coming and it is our job to warn people.

 Second, see the connection between human sin and ecological disaster. We were put in charge of this planet. See what God will do to His beautiful planet because of human sin. The first great display of the cost of sin is the cross of Christ — see what He did to His only begotten Son. The second is what He will do to this beautiful world that He made. That is how much He hates sin.

 Third, we are messengers of this, so we must be like Noah in the days when the ark was being built. He was called a preacher of righteousness. We are told in 2 Peter 3, “In the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, ‘Where is this “coming” he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.’ But they deliberately forget that long ago by God's word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.” Our job is to be like Noah — preachers of righteousness — to warn people of what is coming.

Fourth, the call is on us to live a holy life in light of these things. It is because of the sins that we ourselves commit that the wrath of God is coming. Colossians 3:5-10 says, “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.” We are told in detail what sins are bringing the judgment that is coming. We must put those sins to death. Do not walk any longer in sin which will bring this kind of judgment on the earth.

Close with me in prayer. Father, we thank you for the warnings that you give us in Scripture. The book of Revelation is filled with detailed warnings of what you will bring in the future on Planet Earth. It is more terrifying, more dreadful, than anything we can imagine. We read about it, but our souls recoil. But Lord, we do not do so in a way that we do not trust you. We know that you are a loving God. We know that you are powerful. We know that you are holy. We know that you are working out a plan of salvation. O God, thank you for Jesus. Thank you for our salvation. Thank you that you have rescued us from darkness and brought us into light. And now, Lord, empower us. Father, I pray that you would pour out your spirit on this church and make us messengers so that we see more and more baptisms. Just like we saw earlier today of people that have been rescued from the coming wrath. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

I have had the privilege of worshiping all over the world in local churches. It has been an incredible, rich blessing to me to be able to see what our brothers and sisters in Christ are doing in local churches all over the world. My first mission trip was in 1986 in Kenya. I will never forget worshiping in the Rift Valley, a very hot valley in the center of Kenya, with converts among a tribe of Maasai people. The Maasai were some of the most hostile to British rule and they fought the British right to the end when the British finally gave the country over to the Kenyans. As a people, they are very hostile to the West and to the Gospel. But a small number of them had been brought to faith in Christ and we were sitting on these wooden benches under a tree worshiping together.

The next summer when I was in Pakistan, we worshiped with a small handful of converts from the Muslim faith from Afghanistan who had fled the Russians. We were going back to some of the refugee camps on the border in Peshawar, Pakistan to minister to them. It was a very small group of people, but it was amazing that there were any at all when you think about the hostility of Afghan Muslims to the Gospel, to see some of them come to faith in Christ and be able to worship with them. It was incredible.

I went with Ron Halbrooks to Shanghai where we worshiped in a high rise building in this sprawling Chinese city of twenty-four million people. We had spent the day before traveling on the railway system there. I felt we could travel on that railway for a month and not cover the same track. It went on forever. I have never felt so small. Then we went up the elevator to a floor really high up. There was a small cell church there with a dozen people, maybe more, in folding chairs. We listened to worship songs on a cassette tape player and we sang. After it was over, we fellowshipped, with this tiny, little cell church with a heart for their city.

The largest assembly I have ever preached to was in Pune, India. There were perhaps a little less than 5,000 people present. That was a huge number for me, but the population of Pune is 3 million. The church that Christi and I served in Tokushima in Japan was the smallest church I have ever preached to on a Sunday morning. There were eight people; I do not remember if that included Christi and me and our two children. I have had the privilege of ministering all over the world to Christian congregations of various sizes.

One thing I have noticed is that in every place, the church body is outwardly, visibly unimpressive. Outwardly, it seems insignificant to the surrounding culture and city; it seems to be drowned by its non-Christian setting. All over the world the Church seems to be dwarfed by the world of unbelievers. After 2,000 years of the powerful advance of the Gospel from Jerusalem through Judea and Samaria and now heading toward the ends of the earth, under the powerful guidance of the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, the Church is still weak, unimpressive, small in the locality where it gathers. This is a challenge to our faith. If Jesus Christ really is God, if he really is the only begotten Son of God, if he really is the only Savior of the world, then why is his church so unimpressive after 2,000 years? Why so small? Why so weak? Why so flawed and so hindered by sin?

This is an especially acute problem for cross-cultural missionaries who have left everything and made great sacrifices to serve Christ in challenging locations, saying goodbye to a comfortable Western lifestyle. They settle into a whole new and much more difficult pattern of life in some distant location, a third world city, perhaps, or a Muslim capital city in a Muslim country or near a refugee tent city or in some remote mountainous location. They learn the language and the culture and slowly build relationships with the people. After a couple of years they may have a handful of people who are marginally interested in their message. That is happening all over the world.

It is easy to become discouraged at the outwardly unimpressive progress of the Gospel and the display of the local church. Even more troubling, when you become a member of a local church and you start to get to know the people, they are rather unimpressive as well, except in the fact that they are so imperfect. The church is divided and there are struggles and sin. We need God to give us a vision of the Church in all its glory, of all of its radiant perfection, when all is said and done. No book of the Bible does that better than the book of Revelation. We have it in this famous passage in Revelation 7 and even more so at the end of the book, in Revelation 21 and 22, when we will see the bride of Christ fully dressed for her wedding day, descending from heaven, glorious and beautiful. We need that vision from the Book of Revelation.

The word Revelation means “an unveiling” — a pulling back of the veil so we can see something that was hidden before. What is unveiled in Revelation? First and foremost, we have unveiled for us the glorious Christ. It is the revelation of Jesus Christ; we see him unveiled, glorious. We see him moving through the seven golden lamp stands representing local churches, and we see him ministering to them. He is radiant and glorious and powerful. We also see the throne of Almighty God unveiled; He is seated on His throne ruling Heaven and earth. The future is unveiled and as this book progresses, we will see the wrath of God poured out on the rebellious nations of the world. But what is finally unveiled is the church of Jesus Christ — the glory of the redeemed from every tribe and language and people and nation. This unveiling is the climax of the Bible, and the fulfillment will be the climax of history.

When I was growing up, every year we watched the movie The Wizard of Oz. I found it terrifying and creepy with its flying monkeys and more. As an adult I have watched it with new eyes, and it is even creepier. At the climax, Dorothy and her three friends, the tin man, the scarecrow, and the lion, are standing before the great Oz, with his terrifying, booming voice and disembodied, larger-than-life head made of mist and smoke. They have finally killed the Wicked Witch of the West and have brought her broom as proof so that they can receive from the Wizard of Oz what he promised, help for each of them on their quests. But again he defers them: “Go away and come back tomorrow.” They are discouraged, but Toto, the little dog, pulls the curtain back to reveal a little old man speaking with a big voice into a microphone. As he suddenly realizes that he has been unveiled, he booms, “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.” But they are not deceived and they immediately begin to berate him. “You're a humbug,” they accuse. “You're a fraud.” And so he was.

The effect, when we finally die and go to Heaven and experience the reality of what this book is talking about, will be exactly, infinitely the opposite direction. We will realize how greatly we underestimated Almighty God and His glory, His Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and the glory of His church and how beautiful she will be when she is finally perfected. We have underestimated the greatness of all this. We need this vision. If we are going to be faithful in the Great Commission that God has given to us, we need to be reminded again and again that we are going to win — that we will be successful — because it is so outwardly unimpressive. 

We have the command of God in Matthew 28:19-20 to “‘go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.’” In Matthew 24:14, Jesus prophesies that the preaching will happen: “‘And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.’” The mission will be accomplished; it will be finished, but will it be successful? The answer, overwhelmingly, from both the Old Testament prophets and in Revelation 7, is absolutely, “Yes! The preaching of the Gospel will be overwhelmingly successful!” That is what we will look at today. 

Let’s establish context here in Revelation 7. Five weeks ago, my last time preaching, we came to this magnificent passage, which I know I have quoted dozens and dozens of times in various sermons over the years. Today I get to preach on it in a patterned, exegetical way, but since we are right in the middle of Revelation 7, I want to provide our context first.

Revelation 7 is an interruption, a glorious, majestic interlude, in the middle of breaking open the seven seals in the scroll that was taken from the right hand of Almighty God by Christ. To understand what that is about, we have to go back to the beginning of the book and get an overview. The Book of Revelation was written by the Apostle John, who was an exile on the island of Patmos. He is sent there for preaching the word of God and the testimony of Christ. He has a vision on the isle of Patmos, first of Christ, then of a door, standing open in heaven. He hears the voice of Almighty — of Christ — telling him to come up and go through that doorway, which he obeys by the power of the Spirit. As he goes through the doorway, he sees the throne of Almighty God. Surrounding the throne, he sees concentric circles of worship, people and angels praising God for His creation, saying “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”

In Revelation 5, we have, in the right hand of Almighty God on His throne, a scroll sealed with seven seals. A proclamation goes out, asking, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” But no one is found who is worthy to take the scroll and open its seals. John weeps, but he is told, “‘Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.’” When He does so, all of Heaven breaks out in worship and praise to God. Revelation 5:9-10 says, “And they sang a new song: ‘You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.’”

In Revelation 6, Jesus commences to break open the seals. The first four seals that he breaks open unleash what's known as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. These horsemen ride across, initiating events on earth. First, a false peace, followed by war and famine and death. When He breaks the fifth seal, the souls of those who have been slain for their faith and testimony — martyrs, under the throne of God in heaven — cry out for vengeance, for justice. With the sixth seal comes, in symbolic language, the end of the physical universe. Every mountain and island is removed from its place, and the stars fall from the sky down to the earth. The inhabitants of the earth are screaming and running and trying to find refuge, a place where they can escape the wrath of God and of the Lamb. So, “They called to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” I want that question to burn in your mind, because Revelation 7 seems to hold the answer to that question. 

Revelation 7 gives us a break between opening the sixth and the seventh seals to answer that vital question, “Who will be able to stand when the wrath of God is poured out on the earth?” It is a glorious interlude, because it is the point of everything. The answer is, “The redeemed from every tribe and language and people and nation, including the Jews.” As Paul says, “To the Jew first, then to the Gentile.” We have a vision, which I talked about last time, of 144,000 who were sealed, 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes that are listed there, the sons of Israel. There is a very Jewish picture of salvation. 

Now we move to today’s text, Revelation 7:9-10. “After this I looked and there before me was 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. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: ‘Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.’”

The 144,000 are sealed and protected from the judgments that come on the earth. It is an earthly protection. But the multitude mentioned here gives us a picture of heavenly reward. Unlike the 144,000, this number is so vast that it cannot be counted by any human being. The redeemed come from every nation, tribe, people, and language. These are the various divisions of the human race on earth — distinctives, or descriptors, or different ways of describing people. All of these distinctions arose after the flood of Noah, biblically. At that time, every human being on earth was descended from one man, Noah, just as we could also trace every human being further back to Adam. The Apostle Paul said in Acts 17:26, “‘From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.’” 

From one man, Adam, and also Noah, came all of these nations, these distinctions. God, in His sovereignty, in His providential control of history, has ordained that people live in different places all over the world. They are the ones we are commanded to go find and proclaim the gospel to, as it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.” They are scattered all over by the will and the providence of God. The people of earth, in an arrogant, boastful effort to make a name for themselves so they would not be scattered over the earth, were building a tower known as the tower of Babel. Because of this, God confused their languages, and people began to separate and move out. The sons of Noah were Shem, Ham and Japheth, and their sons settled in different places on the earth. Some would settle, perhaps, in secluded mountain valleys, or distant plains and grasslands. Some of them became nomadic; some settled down in other areas near fertile rivers, where they could plant crops. Others settled on distant coast lands; some became maritime peoples who made boats and went out to the islands. Thus, people were scattered all over the entire surface of the globe, and they settled there. As they settled, they developed their own languages, cultures, dialects, customs, patterns of life, technologies. 

From every nation will come redeemed people. The word “nation” can generally be seen as a political division, with boundaries on a map, a unified government, an army, and other aspects of nations. “Tribe” refers to genetic divisions that come from having a common human ancestor, like Noah, Shem, Ham and Japheth. It would start as a nuclear family but then would multiply, with extended family and into descendants from a common ancestor.

“People” most likely refers to cultural distinctions — the way they dress, cook, their architecture, poetry, songs, expressions of emotion, and other various cultural aspects. “Language” obviously refers to the way people speak. Speech — communicating abstract ideas by language — is closely tied to being created in the image of God. Humans all over the world have this gift, this ability, because we are all created in the image of God. Wycliffe Bible Translators estimates that there are 6,800 different languages. Drew Maust, who preached here a number of weeks ago, and his wife Emily and their team are working with Wycliffe Bible Translators in Cameroon, trying to bring bring the New Testament to a handful of the 6,700 languages.

That is what is meant by every tribe, language, people, and nation. God’s vision is that some from every possible human distinction and connection will be represented in Heaven as trophies of His sovereign grace. It is magnificent. Out of the complex, churning mass of the sea of humanity, God by his Gospel will call the elect — He knows who they are. We cannot see who they are ahead of time but He knows, and they will survive the great tribulation of human history. They will come out of that and be redeemed. This is the sure and certain vision of the success of the Great Commission. We must keep this image uploaded in our minds constantly lest we become discouraged as we pursue evangelism and missions. 

Their ethnic distinctives are perhaps obvious to John in his vision. They are dressed in white, so it is not likely that they were wearing traditional cultural dress, but perhaps they had different cut of cloth or headdresses or still retained genetic differences in facial structure or skin color. It is reasonable to assume that they retain their amoral, genetic distinctives in Heaven; otherwise, why would God show these distinctions to John? There is a beautiful, glorious story to be told; more on that in a minute. This is a large part of the glory and the achievement of the cross, that people from such widely varying backgrounds all believe in and worship and fall down and give the same Jesus credit for their salvation in the exact same way. It seems to be one of the greatest proofs of the truth of Christianity. The text says that they are standing before the throne, and in front of the Lamb. Here at last, you have the sweet and awesome answer to the question, “Who will be able stand when the hurricane of God’s wrath comes sweeping though?”

These will be able to stand. For the Lord is able to make them stand. That standing is a picture salvation, of vindication. As Psalm 1 says, “The wicked will not stand in the judgement, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.” The wicked will be swept away, but the righteous in Christ will stand on that day. They are wearing white robes, which is a clear symbol of their purity and their holiness. They are free from their sins, they are atoned for by the blood of Christ. They are pure, and only the perfectly pure can be in Heaven. 

It says further that they are holding palm branches in their hands. Palm branches in the ancient world were a symbol of military victory. They were held by the populous when the returning conqueror would come. There would be a procession through the city, a victorious parade, and they would lay these palm branches down in front of the conquering king. This is a very familiar image to us — in the week before Jesus was crucified, in the triumphal entry, this is exactly what the people were doing: they were saying, “Here is the coming king.” Now, in Heaven, they are holding the palm branches. Akin to the image of casting crowns, here they are casting palm branches. They are ready to give credit to Christ and to God for their salvation. Verse 10 says, “And they cried out in a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.’” They are calling out to the glory of God and to the Lamb, Jesus Christ. To God alone is the glory for their salvation.

This is the whole purpose of everything. This is the purpose of missions. As John Piper said very plainly in his book Let The Nations Be Glad, “Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exist because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man. When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more. It is a temporary necessity. But worship abides forever.”

 Here in Revelation 7, they are saying, “Salvation belongs to God.” They are praising Him, giving full credit for their salvation. At this present time, our world is sadly, tragically ripped apart by these kinds of divisions. Tribe, language, people, and nation are severed and ruptured along racial, ethnic, national, socio-economic, political, cultural divisions. In the wretched history of the human race, sin nature has made it such that when people gain positions of power, they exploit, dominate, hurt, and tyrannize the people they rule. The oppressed people remember that with bitterness, and when they have power, they turn and do the same. It has been going on since the beginning of time. I have traced out this bitterness before. The only possible remedy is, as Paul said in Ephesians 2, that in Christ, the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, is abolished. The two opposing sides are made one new man in Christ. The genuine unity that is brought about by the supernatural work of the Gospel is the only answer to the divisions we see in our world today.

This is the hope. Not the United Nations, not diplomacy, not education, not social justice or any of these other things, however much they might help ease temporary sufferings on earth. Those are valuable, yet they will not bring about a genuine heart reconciliation between feuding peoples. But the Gospel can. Not only can it, it will. This multitude from every tribe, language, people, and nation will be in perfect unity in Heaven, loving one another and worshipping Christ. How beautiful is that?

Here is our encouragement, because missions can be outwardly discouraging and seem so pathetically small and unimpressive. These missionaries encourage us when they tell of the small things they are doing; we are blessed to partner with them in prayer. The International Mission Board (IMB) accounts for approximately 3,800 missionaries. They are doing faithful work all over the world, leading people to Christ and planting churches. The churches are small. They are like little sparks. We are believing Christ that the bruised reed He will not break, and the smoldering wick, He will not snuff out. He is able to blow those sparks, that ember, into a flame that may bring that community, that town, that village to Christ.

If it were not for the vision of Revelation 7, we would think this whole endeavor is a colossal failure. Oh, but it is not. We need to see, with eyes of eternity, what God is actually doing. Keep this in mind: Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd, never loses a single one of his sheep. Never. Once you cross over from death to life, you will never be lost to the Good Shepherd. That has been the case for 2,000 years. This assembly John is seeing must be very big if Christ has not lost anyone. It is never reduced by a single soul; it never takes a single step backward. It only grows bigger and bigger. Think about how Jesus proved the resurrection to the Sadducees. They said, “There is no resurrection.” Jesus said, “‘Now about the dead rising-- have you not read in the book of Moses, in the account of the bush, how God said to him, “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob”? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!’” He is saying, “I am Abraham’s God” right now.

If you could ask Abraham, “Who is your God?” he would say, “My God is the God who called me from Ur of the Chaldees.” You could have that conversation because he is still around. God did not lose Abraham or Isaac or Jacob. Or consider those who have believed since the day of Pentecost — those who have heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ and have crossed over from death to life. He has not lost a single one. Except for those who are alive today, all of those have died. Though they are absent from the body, they are present with the Lord. He has not lost any of them, not one. It keeps getting bigger and bigger all the time. Jesus said in John 6:39-40, “‘And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.’” He does not lose anyone. 

The last winter that Christi and I were in Massachusetts, the winter of ’92-'93, we went through five major blizzards, starting in the middle of December. We kept getting pounded. I had to shovel the driveway, and toward the end of that whole ordeal, probably sometime in February, I had nowhere to put the snow. I was carrying it one shovel full at a time diagonally across to a vacant lot, dumping it there, then walking back to get another shovel. The pile of snow was around nine feet high. Pulling out of my driveway was an adventure. I could not see left or right — I had to go out and look, run to my car and edge out, go out, look some more, and then get out, lest I get hit. That snow is a picture of this constant accumulation that has been going on for 20 centuries. It has yielded this multitude, greater than anyone is able to count.

Picture the largest assembly of people you have ever seen with your own eyes. Someone I was talking to this week has been to a University of Michigan football game; they call their stadium “The Big House” — 100,000 people assembled to watch a college football game. Many Hindu festivals are bigger than that. It is hard to see that number of people. This is a vast number. I do not know how many people have ever lived, but since the population is increasing, we can assume that most people that have ever been alive are living right now. We can estimate roughly that 10 billion people have lived in all of history.

Jesus said that the ongoing work of those who find the Gospel would be small, percentage-wise. He said, “‘Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.’” (Matthew 7:13-14) Who but an MIT engineer like me would try to set that verse to statistics. What ratio would that be? Those who study worldwide missions estimate that 7% of the world’s population is evangelical Christian. If we round that up and say, in the end, that 10 billion people have lived on this earth, that would be 1 billion people saved, redeemed. That would fill 10,000 University of Michigan football stadiums. That is a very impressive achievement for Christ, for God.

In Revelation 7:11-12, the angels joined the celebration. “All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying: ‘Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!’” If one sinner converting sets off such a celebration in Heaven, how much more the final completion of that work? God will receive full credit; the angels know this very well, and they know that only by the sovereign power and love and grace of God has this vast multitude from all over the world been redeemed. When they say, “May strength be to our God and power be to our God”, they are not attempting to give God anything. That would be like attempting to return heat and light to the raging sun that first gave those to us. The angels are listing His attributes, ascribing what is true of Him: praise and glory and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and power be to the God who could do something like this. The angels are celebrating. 

Look at Revelation 7:13-17 as we look at the rewards of the righteous. They get a place of eternal worship, protection and provision: “Then one of the elders asked me, ‘These in white robes-- who are they, and where did they come from?’ I answered, ‘Sir, you know.’ And he said, ‘These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore, they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’”

This part of the chapter begins with one of the elders. This is one of those interesting moments in the book of Revelation where John has a conversation with somebody standing nearby. Sometimes it is an angel or a living creature or one of the elders, of whom he often asks questions. This time, however, the elder initiates with John: “This vast multitude — where do you think they came from?” 

Someday I hope to write a book about the topic of heavenly memories. Where they came from, what their stories are, individually, are interesting and worth telling. They trail with them, and we will have a chance to recount them. This may give you pause: there is a multitude greater than anyone can count — more than a billion individual stories, not to mention the interconnections and unseen spiritual dimensions to each story — we will need time. Friends, we will have time; we will have all eternity to go back over what God did to save this multitude. Where did they come from? What is their story? John somehow understands their cultural background, and it is relevant, but the elder is referring to each one’s story: How did they get here? John gives a cagey answer, “Sir, you know.” It is a good answer. He is saying, "Why don't you tell me?”

It is amazing to think that we will retell our stories, even the most painful, shameful aspects. Everything must be told. How could we tell the full story of Saul of Tarsus without saying what he was before his conversion? But in Heaven, there will be no pain, death, mourning, crying in pain. We will experience no shame, no pain, no difficulty in the telling, just a glorious, truthful account that will show how God’s grace saves sinners like us. It will be awesome.

The elder tells the story: “These are they that have come out of the Great Tribulation.” They have escaped the Great Tribulation with their souls. They were shielded by God’s power, and their faith endured. 

There are different strategies for reading the book of Revelation. Some read it as a future account — in other words, everything from Revelation 4 on is future, not just to John, but to us as well. Thus, this is a future multitude of those who are not yet converted but someday will be. Many of these interpreters point back to the 144,000 from every tribe of the Jews, whom they call “Tribulation Saints,” saved after the Church is raptured, or taken up to be with Christ. The only ones left are the two witnesses, whom we will discuss in when we get to Chapter 11. These two share the Gospel, and win some Jewish converts and then some others whom some call “tribulation saints”. That is possible, but I do not think it is the only way to read Revelation 7. These interpreters focus on the phrase “the great tribulation,” citing Matthew 24:21: “‘For then shall be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.’” They point to one Great Tribulation, which they say will happen in the last seven years of human history.

I think that interpretation is too restrictive for Revelation 7. Instead, I believe this is a picture of the entire work of the Gospel in redemptive history. These saints are those who will be redeemed, who have all come out of a great tribulation. I view the onset of the Great Tribulation not as though a switch were thrown, as though everything was awesome for the church of Jesus Christ then suddenly became very bad. Friends, I hope you know that is not true. I hope you know that our brothers and sisters are suffering all over the world. We ourselves are aliens and strangers in this world. No — tribulation has been a given all along. True, it is not always equally difficult for everyone in all localities; but suffering is on a dimmer switch rather than an on/off switch. In the last period of time, under the final anti-Christ, that tribulation will ramp up to such a great level it will be unbearable, and if those days were not cut short, no one would survive.

These are all of the redeemed, from all of human history, who have come out of the suffering that the world, the flesh and the devil put us through — some more, some less. It says of them, “They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb.” This refers to both their positional holiness through faith in Christ (justification) and to the process of becoming perfect after justification (sanctification). They were justified and made white. If you are not made white, cleansed, by the blood of the lamb, you cannot be there. All of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We must be washed. Jesus said to Peter, “Unless I wash you, you have no place with me.” These have been washed by the blood and they are clean. But it says they have washed their own robes and made them white in the blood. That seems to imply sanctification, an ongoing and increasing purification that we seek in order to make our lifestyle line up with our position in Christ. 1 John 3 says, “Everyone who has this hope in him, purifies himself, just as he is pure.” In this way they show themselves to be genuine Christians.

These tribulation saints will share their stories, and we will want to hear them. You may be picturing infinite testimony night, sort of like campfire testimony — “Is it my turn?” “No, you’re up in 10,433 years, hang in there. Get your story ready, then it will be your turn, your moment in the spotlight. We will all listen to you, all 1 billion of us.” I do not think that is how it will be, but think of it this way: you will be so greatly transformed in heaven that even if that did happen, you would be delighted and eager to hear this Brother’s or Sister’s story. You would be captivated because it is the glory of your Savior. It does not matter whether it is your story or someone else’s — it is still Jesus who saved them. You will want to hear how Jesus was glorious in each person’s life. You will be so filled with charity and love that you will be desiring to hear every detail of every story. 

When I was at my last IMB trustee meeting, we were given two sheets reporting the progress of field work in 2016. One presented numbers: Gospel presentation (to approximately 1.9 million people); people who had come to faith in Christ (175,290); water baptisms (93,922); church plants, and more. On the other sheet were vignettes of specific people and groups who had come to faith in Christ. Both pages were interesting to me but I especially loved the stories. They were stripped of details such that they were pale reflections of the true story. We cannot have full details because of the dangerous political situations that many of them are in, but in these summaries, there is still a glory that shines through in a filtered sort of way. However, I cannot wait for the full, robust, red-blooded story. 

Here are some of those stories:

I cannot wait to hear the full stories of this multitude. We will have eternity. Look forward with me to eternity to hear these stories. 

Now let us take a look at their rewards. First they receive access to God and continual opportunity to worship him. Verse 15, “they are before the throne of God and serve [that means worship Him] day and night in his temple.” So the night and day in His temple is earthly language that just helps us understand — there are not night or day experiences up in heaven — but it is describing continual worship of God as their reward.

Also they have protection. Look at Verse 15-16: “…and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat.” This is a picture of sovereign protection by God from all suffering that people can experience, including extreme climate such as 110 degree, scorching heat. The spreading of a tent over is like a picture of husbandly, betrothing love. In the book of Ruth, she asks Boaz in Ruth 3:9 to “‘Spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a kinsman-redeemer.’” “Marry me,” she is asking, according to the custom of that time, “for you are my kinsman redeemer.” Boaz, joyful at that gesture, had said to her in the previous chapter, Ruth 2:12, “‘May you be richly rewarded by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.’”

Psalm 36:7-8 says “How priceless is your unfailing love! Both high and low among men find refuge in the shadow of your wings. They feast on the abundance of your house; you give them drink from your river of delights.” That is heaven, friends.

Refuge, protection, and provision. Look what he says in Verse 17. They are free from hunger, thirst and heat; nothing can harm them. “For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” Do not miss the significance of the Lamb at the center of the throne. This alludes again to the deity of Christ. He is Almighty God; not only the Lamb who died for them but also their Good Shepherd who will lead them, provide for them, protect them. At some point, He will wipe every tear from your eyes. There will be no more death, mourning, crying, or pain, and you live with Him forever.

What applications can we take from this? First, come to Christ. I prayed this morning, as I was practicing the sermon, “Oh God, please bring some people here today who are outside of Christ and need to hear the gospel.” You have heard the gospel, but I will say it again very very clearly: Almighty God who created the heavens and the earth, who gave us laws by which we are to live our lives, who is offended at our sins and who is going to bring a fiery wrath on the earth because He is offended by those sins, is offering to us sinners amnesty, forgiveness through faith in Christ. All you have to do is trust in Jesus. No works are needed nor welcomed. Simply trust in Him and all your sins will be forgiven. Your robes will be instantly washed and made white from all of your sins. Come to Christ and trust in Him. He is the only refuge. There's a hurricane of wrath coming. You are deceived if you think there is not. There is one and only one refuge, come to Christ.

Second, I say to Christians, delight in that refuge. Celebrate it. Thank God you fled to Jesus. I was talking to my daughter about this the other day. Romans 6:17 says, “Thanks be to God that though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed that form of teaching to which you were entrusted.” I preached a sermon on that text once, entitled “Thank God You Obeyed.” Think about that. That will blow your mind the more you think about it. Thank God you obeyed the Gospel. Thank God you fled to Jesus for refuge. Give Him full credit; give Him full honor for your salvation. Say “Salvation belongs to our God.”   

Third, be humbled at how God-centered the inhabitants of heaven are. Stop all your boasting. Do not boast about your works, about your intelligence, about your money or your achievements — do not boast about anything. “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.” Salvation belongs to our God. 

Fourth, delight in the multi-ethnic diversity of heaven. I do not mean diversity the way some people define it these days in order to deal with the guilt of their unbiblical, sinful lifestyles. I am talking about a diversity within God’s moral boundaries that He has woven into the genetic complexity of the human race and all the cultures that flowed from that. Celebrate that God delights in that. Among the redeemed will be people from each one of those cultures. We will retain those diverse elements in heaven. Delight in that!

Fifth, be encouraged about missions and evangelism. It will be successful. You may think, “Pastor, I have shared and shared and shared, and no one has ever come to Christ.” Share again. Share the Gospel with a co-worker, someone in Durham, someone on the street. Talk to the elders about different outreach opportunities — there are outreaches on Wednesday nights, Friday nights, international connection ministries at various times. We have many opportunities for evangelism. Remember that in the big picture, it will work; we will win. The elect will all be converted. Praise God.

That leads, finally, to our last application: commit yourself to missions. Commit yourself again to pray for missionaries whom you know about. When missionaries like the Maugers come, be there to encourage and pray for them and tell them you love them. I am going this week to Bulgaria to meet with some missionaries to pray for them and encourage them and to preach to them, and my desire is that they return home more energized and ready than ever before to serve God. Pray, give, go — those are our commands. 

Close with me in prayer. Lord, thank you for the time that we have had to study your word today. We thank you for the beauty of the word. We thank you for the things that we have learned. Thank you for the final success that we will see of the Gospel. We look forward to seeing that with our own eyes and to being part of it as we, as missionaries, share the gospel in other cultures, or as evangelists, with people in our own culture. Lord, please give us fruitfulness; give us faithfulness. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Please turn in your Bibles this morning to Revelation 7. This will be the first of two sermons I will preach on this magnificent chapter.

On October 2, 2016, Hurricane Matthew slammed into the little island of Haiti, devastating towns and villages with 100-mile-an-hour winds and torrential rainfall. Entire communities were completely wiped from the map, devastated by this terrible storm. Yet, in the midst of that nightmare came a story of surprising refuge. Some residents of a town called Lacadonie had the presence of mind to scale a mountainside nearby their town and find a small cave system in that mountain where they rode out the storm. When aid workers came several days later and saw what the hurricane had done to that town, they assumed that there had been no survivors. But that cave system had been salvation for 550 blessed survivors who had hunkered down there for four days and four nights. 

That true story provides an image of Revelation 7. Think about what we have just seen in Revelation 6 — the terrible, devastating storm of judgment and wrath that is about to come in creation, in the universe. The devastation that the sixth seal will unleash on the earth is so overwhelming that everyone will be crying for refuge, for a place of salvation where they can survive that storm. Look again at Revelation 6:15-17. It says, “Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. They called to the mountains and the rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?’” 

That image of a refuge in a terrible storm is on my mind as we come to Revelation 7. There is a storm of wrath coming. No cave system on Earth will be able to protect anyone from it, but there is, in fact, a refuge, a shelter from the coming storm, and His name is Jesus Christ. That is the joy that we have in Christ, in the Gospel: we have found a refuge. We have the responsibility of letting other people know about it, and that is ultimately what this chapter, Revelation 7, is all about.

There is a haunting question that echoes down through history, but it has not been uttered yet; it is for the future. Every generation that has read the book of Revelation has heard it at the end of chapter 6. A storm of the wrath of God is coming, and people will universally seek refuge; and this question will ring out: “The great day of the wrath of God and of the Lamb is come, and who shall be able to stand?” Revelation 7 is an interlude that answers everything, so we must understand the flow of this amazing vision.

The Apostle John, as we have noted, is in exile on the island of Patmos for the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus. He has been exiled there, rather than executed. God, in His sovereignty, arranged that this apostle should be there, because He knew that He would give him this book of Revelation on that little rocky island. John has a vision of a doorway standing open in Heaven. The voice of Christ speaks powerfully, commanding him, “‘Come up here and I will show you what must take place after this.’” As I have noted before, it is a command that is impossible to obey, apart from the sovereign intervention of the power of God, but that is exactly what the Apostle John gets. At once he is in the Spirit, and by the Spirit he can obey the command to travel through the heavenly realms, through that doorway into the very presence of God. The first thing he sees when he goes through that doorway into Heaven is the most important reality there is in the universe: Almighty God seated on His throne, a radiant, glorious throne of power and of glory. Almighty God is the central reality of the universe.

In Revelation 4, we have a heavenly scene of worship. There are 24 other thrones with 24 elders seated on them, surrounding the throne of God. Day and night, they worship God the Creator, praising Him for His creation. Revelation 4:11 says, “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.” This is a picture of the throne of God and worship of God the Creator. 

In Revelation 5, the scene shifts dramatically. In the right hand of the one seated on the throne, there is a scroll sealed with seven seals with writing on both sides. A mighty angel cries out in a loud voice, “‘Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?’” But no one is found in Heaven or on earth or under the earth who is worthy to take this scroll from the right hand of Almighty God and break open the seals. John weeps and weeps because no one is found. There is a yearning inside John that someone would be able to do this. John is told, “‘Do not weep! Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.’ Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne.” This is an incredible picture of the deity of Christ and a reference to the atoning sacrifice of Christ. He is the lamb who gave up His life for the sins of the world.

Then worship flows for Christ the Redeemer — from the four living creatures, to the 24 elders, to the 100 million angels and every creature in Heaven and earth and under the earth — cascading, ever-expanding worship for Christ, the Redeemer. Revelation 5:9-10 says, “And they sang a new song: ‘You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.’” 

In Revelation 6, Jesus commences to break open these seven seals. As He breaks open each one of the seals in progression, events unfold on earth. Christ initiates, and then things happen on earth. In the first four seals we saw the famous Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse unleashed, bringing a series of escalating trials on the earth — a white rider with a bow but no arrows, interpreted as a deceptive peace that is the precursor to bloody warfare, then famine and death.

The breaking open of the fifth seal shows a heavenly scene of martyrs who had given their lives for Christ. They are crying out for vengeance, and they are told to wait a little longer, until the full number of martyrs comes in. Then, as we have mentioned, the sixth seal brings a cataclysm of justice, of the wrath of God, that is hard to put into words.

Look at Revelations 6:12-17: “I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as late figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. The sky receded like a scroll, rolling up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. They called to the mountains and the rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?’” This final haunting question — who will be able to stand when the wrath of God is unleashed? — is what Revelation 7 seeks to answer. It is absolutely vital for us to understand the answer to that question. How are we to stand in the day of judgment? How are we to stand when the court is seated and the books are opened? How are we to survive the wrath of God?

Revelation 7 is somewhat of an interlude here, in between the sixth and the seventh seals. The sixth seal has been opened; the seventh seal unleashes the seven trumpets, which, in turn, opens the seven bowls. Therein, we see the cascading, unfolding plan of God. But before the seventh seal is opened, we have this interlude in chapter 7 to answer the question of who will be able to stand in the day of judgment. The answer is that 144,000, sealed from the tribes of Israel, and that multitude greater than anyone could count, from every tribe, language, people, and nation will be able to stand.

The first vision, the 144,000, is one of protection on earth, and the second is one of final reward and protection and provision in eternity in Heaven. These two groups fit together beautifully to comprise the ones who will be able to survive the terrifying day of the wrath of God and of the Lamb that is coming on all the earth. There is only one refuge, and that refuge is faith in Christ. Thus, Revelation 7 is about how God creates a refuge from His own wrath for the elect, the signed, the sealed, the delivered chosen people of God, both from Israel and from every nation on Earth. 

Look at Revelation 7:1, “After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree.” The vision begins with supernatural restraint by these angels, who are depicted as standing on the four corners of the earth. The image is one of the entire surface of the earth — the four points of the compass, north, south, east, and west, are in view. These angels have the power to hold back or restrain the four winds of the Earth. The purpose of their restraining these winds is so that they cannot damage the surface of the Earth — the land, the sea, and the trees. 

What does it mean? The big picture, the main themes, which we see repeatedly throughout the book, are clear and vital. The details such as this one are sometimes difficult to understand. What are the four winds of the Earth? Clearly they have, in some way, power to bring destruction on the face of the Earth. Thus, they are restrained in order to prevent the destruction that they would bring if they were not held back.

We should note that the control of winds is quite beyond human power. As Jesus said in John 3:8, “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.” Not only can we not tell where it comes from or where it is going, is quite beyond human capability to cause it to blow or stop blowing. I Googled “wind control” and found nothing real, no scientific answer to controlling the wind. Harnessing wind power, yes, but not controlling it.

Commentator Henry Morris said, “The circulation of the atmosphere is a mighty engine, driven by energy from the sun and from the earth’s rotation. The tremendous powers involved in this operation become especially obvious when they are displayed in the form of great hurricanes and blizzards and tornadoes. These winds of the earth make life possible on earth throughout the hydrological cycle, transporting waters inland from the ocean with which to water the earth.” So these winds are essential to life, but they are unpredictable, incomprehensible, invisible and powerful. Satan is called “the prince of the power of the air.” There is, in Revelation 7, a sense of the wind being powerful forces on earth that move.

Daniel and Revelation are strongly connected in many ways. In Daniel 7, Daniel has a vision of the four winds moving over the surface of the sea, churning up the sea and leading to four great empires. These empires arise out of the churning sea like four beasts, one after the other, depicting terrible, wicked empires that dominate the inhabitants of the earth. In Daniel 7:2-3, Daniel said: “In my vision at night I looked, and there before me were the four winds of heaven churning up the great sea. Four great beasts, each different from the others, came up out of the sea.” That sounds very much like our image in Revelation 7. The sea represents the churning mass of humanity and its random, chaotic, demonic rebellion against God. The four beasts that come up represent evil empires that slaughter and crush and tyrannize.

The number four frequently connects to earth and nations and empires and people: four words in the phrase “every tribe, language, people, and nation,” four winds, four compass points. The image here is of powerful wind, like a hurricane or tornado, that first ravages the earth and the sea, and then produces empires. That should be on our mind from Daniel 7.

The four winds might also in some way refer to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse we just studied. Look at the similarity of the language in Zechariah 6. The image of various colored horsemen riding over the surface of the Earth, bringing judgments of God, was first seen by the prophet Zechariah. He says in Zechariah 6:1-7, “I looked up again — and there before me were four chariots coming out from between two mountains — mountains of bronze! The first chariot had red horses, the second black, the third white, and the fourth dappled — all of them powerful. I asked the angel who was speaking to me, ‘What are these, my lord?’ The angel answered me, ‘These are the four spirits of heaven, going out from standing in the presence of the Lord of the whole world. The one with the black horses is going toward the north country, the one with the white horses toward the west, and the one with the dappled horses toward the south.’ When the powerful horses went out, they were straining to go throughout the earth. And he said, ‘Go throughout the earth!’ So they went throughout the earth.”

There is a sense of an unleashing of straining forces on the peoples on the nations of the earth that will bring terrible judgments. That is the image in Daniel 7 and Zechariah 6. Perhaps the four angels represent the four winds of Heaven, held back by either good angels or demons, until God gives them the permission to unleash the wickedness that they want to unleash. Either way, ultimately, these are devastating forces that will come on the Earth.

 For now, these forces are held back. Held back until what? Look at verses 2-3: “Then I saw another angel coming up from the east, having the seal of the living God. He called out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea: ‘Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.’” This is a proclamation of sovereign secret protection of the servants of God before the devastation is unleashed. 

It is vital to understand what this sealing is, to understand how anyone can stand in the presence of the impending winds? The answer is that if you are sealed, and only if you are sealed, you will be protected. And the only ones who are sealed are the servants of the living God.

The seal on the foreheads of the servants of the living God is a powerful display of both protection and ownership. It reminds us of an earlier moment in prophetic history in the Book of Ezekiel. (By the way, as I preach through the book of Revelation, we will refer repeatedly back to the Old Testament. There is no other New Testament book, besides Romans, that so clearly connects back to and depends on Old Testament Scripture.)

The idea of moving through and sealing certain ones in the society comes right from Ezekiel. At that point in redemptive history, the prophet Ezekiel was ministering to the Jews right before they went into exile to Babylon. Judgment was about to fall on the nation of Judah for their wickedness and their sin, so God gave Ezekiel a vision of a very important moment in the heavenly realms: the sealing of a chosen remnant before the judgment falls. In Ezekiel 9, these warrior angels came with weapons at their side, ready to kill people. But they were told to wait. He called on them to stand by while He summoned another angel, clothed in white, with a writing kit. Ezekiel 9:4 says, “‘Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it.’” In other words, mark the broken-hearted, repentant, righteous seekers of God, the true ones, with a mark. The angel with the writing kit went throughout the city of Jerusalem to put a mark on the foreheads of all those who were deeply grieved over the wickedness of the city. Interestingly, the mark that he put on the heads of those people was, in the Ezekiel text, the Hebrew letter taw, the last letter in the alphabet. Back in those days, it would have been written like a cross.

After marking the remnant, the Lord commanded the six angels with swords, “‘Follow him through the city and kill, without showing pity or compassion. Slaughter old men, young men and maidens, women and children, but do not touch anyone who has the mark. Begin at my sanctuary.’ [This is a backdrop for Peter saying, “For it is time for judgment to begin with God's household…” 1 Peter 4:17.] So they began with the elders who were in front of the temple.”

Thus, the mark on the foreheads is a mark of sovereign election by God for protection. God has elected and chosen a godly remnant in the wicked city whom He will spare from the destruction to come. It can also be likened to the blood of the Passover lamb: earlier in Israel's history, when they were being rescued from slavery to Egypt, as the tenth plague in Egypt was about to unfold, the Passover lamb was sacrificed and the blood applied to the doorposts of the Israelites’ houses. The angel of the Lord saw the blood and passed over; He did not bring judgment on that house. 

Ultimately, it represents the election of God and salvation through faith in Christ. Ephesians 1:13-14 says, “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession — to the praise of his glory.” Every genuine believer in Christ is sealed, marked with the Holy Spirit. The sealing is a mark of authenticity and implies ownership. You belong to God. 2 Corinthians 1:21-22, “Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” Revelation 22:3-4 says, “The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.” This is a beautiful picture of ownership: “You are mine; you were bought with a price, and you belong to me.”

God’s seal is in direct contrast with the mark of the beast, which we will see in Revelation 13. When the beast, the Antichrist, comes up out of the churning sea — again, that strong connection to Daniel 7 — and takes over the whole world; he has a mark to distribute as well. In Revelation 13:16-18, “He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name. This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man’s number. His number is 666.”

As those marked with the seal of God are delivered, rescued from the wrath of God, those who receive the mark of the beast are directly under the wrath of God, and they will suffer wrath for all eternity. Revelation 14:9-11 says, “A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: ‘If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand, he, too, will drink of the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment rises for ever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and his image, or for anyone who receives the mark of his name.’” This is no light thing, this sealing, or marking. It is light and darkness, wheat and weeds, good fish and bad fish, the separation of the sheep and the goats. It is the essential issue at that time.

People will face their own martyrdom during the reign of the Antichrist when they refuse to receive the mark of the beast. Revelation 14:12 says, “This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God's commandments and remain faithful to Jesus.”

We know who is sealed — they are called “the servants of God”. But verses 4-8 goes a little deeper. Here we come to 144,000 sealed from the sons of Israel. 

Verses 4-8 say, “Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel. From the tribe of Judah 12,000 were sealed, from the tribe of Reuben 12,000, from the tribe of Gad 12,000, from the tribe of Asher 12,000, from the tribe of Naphtali 12,000, from the tribe of Manasseh 12,000, from the tribe of Simeon 12,000, from the tribe of Levi 12,000, from the tribe of Issachar 12,000, from the tribe of Zebulun 12,000, from the tribe of Joseph 12,000, from the tribe of Benjamin 12,000.” A total of 144,000 were sealed from all the tribes of the sons of Israel.

Who are these people? Right away, we can reject the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ interpretation of this passage. For decades, they have taught that these are the selected, anointed holy ones throughout 2,000 years of history, who alone are spiritually qualified to spend eternity in Heaven with God. The rest of the faithful witnesses who are not among the 144,000 godly and faithful ones, according to their theology, will spend eternity in a restored paradise on the new earth.

Eliminating that interpretation, there is still an array of possible interpretations for the 144,000 from all the tribes. As with so many passages in Revelation, we would like to have a higher level of certainty on the details, but God in His wisdom allows us to have more certainty on some issues and less on others. There is no less sense of truth; but interpretation of Scripture is challenging. Some things are crystal clear, like the brightness of the Son, the deity of Christ, the unity of God, the Trinity, salvation by grace through faith in Christ alone. But other things are not so clear.

One wing of evangelical thought adopts a consistently futurist interpretation, asserting that the events in Revelation from chapter 4 on will happen in the final tribulation, the final seven years of human history. Dispensational, pre-millennialist interpreters tend to see John's ascent from earth to Heaven through the doorway as a picture of the rapture of the church, such that the church is removed at that point from history. According to this interpretation pattern, the narrative moves forward from Revelation 4 following the moment of the rapture of the church, signaling the beginning of the final seven-year tribulation. Thus, it is future not only to John, but also future to us as the readers of the text. Evangelicals seek, as best we can, to follow the grammatical historical or literal approach. It is challenging to do this in the Book of Revelation, given the saturation of symbolism. But literal and futurist interpretations identify the 144,000 as Jews who will be converted at that final phase of human history (not all the Jews will be saved), sealed for a mission, specifically, to be missionaries or evangelists. 

John MacArthur said this, “These Jewish believers and evangelists are the firstfruits of Israel, which as a nation will be redeemed before Christ returns. The 144,000 are not all the Jewish believers at that time, but a unique group selected to proclaim the gospel in that day.” This futurist interpretation pattern further holds that the multitude, greater than anyone could count from every tribe, language, people, and nation are as yet unconverted from the Gentiles, what they would call tribulation saints. That is actually a faithful interpretation of the text, but not the only one. 

One point on which all evangelical interpreters seem to agree is the weight of the definite possibility of a future great in-gathering of Jews at the end of the world. Zechariah predicts in Zechariah 12:10, “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.” This is a prediction of an outpouring of the Spirit on the inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judah to the end that they look on Christ, the one they pierced. It is a beautiful prediction. John quotes it in his gospel about the piercing of Jesus.

Even more poignantly, in Romans 9, 10, and 11, Paul asks why the overwhelming majority of Jews are rejecting the Gospel. He provides an elaborate three-chapter answer, as a Jew converted to Christ, concerning God’s purpose. It has to do with God’s sovereign election, with Jacob and Esau, with the simplicity of hearing the Gospel. He asserts that they have heard and it is not difficult; it does not require a trek to Heaven to obtain it. The word is near, in their mouths and in their hearts; the preaching is going out, they can hear. Further, he says, there is a chosen remnant in existence as he is writing — Jewish Christians. Paul says he is one of many making up the remnant that God has reserved. At the end of that section, he says in Romans 11:25-27, “Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, [powerful statement] as it is written: “The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.”

Many conservative interpreters of take that to mean there will be a mass revival among the Jews. Friends, if that happens, do you not see how glorious that will be? I was in an airport in Milan on my way to Romania to do some ministry there and saw a group of men and boys of various ages belonging to a particular sect of Jews — with wide-brimmed black hats and certain beards and hair. As they walked past me, the first thing I did was to pray for them. “All Israel will be saved” does not mean every Jew; it does not mean that no Jews will be in Hell (remember Judas, who was a Jew). It does mean that the final generation will be transformed, the veil over their hearts will be removed, and they will turn — what a glorious thing that will be. Is that who the 144,000 are? Perhaps.

Others believe that these represent the totality of all the saved of God, Jew and Gentile alike, in Jewish language. This is the church, Jew plus Gentile, portrayed, as the text is literally interpreted, as sons and daughters of Abraham. This would be a standard non-dispensational or literalist, futurist interpretation, that the 144,000 from every tribe and the multitude greater than anyone can number are the same group of people described differently.

John MacArthur might say, “How do you divide the Gentile Church into tribes?” I am from Irish background so what tribe am I in? Issachar? Levi? It seems odd; it doesn't fit. We, through faith in Christ, are all sons and daughters of Abraham, grafted into the Jewish tree. Galatians 6:26-29 says, “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.” That is powerful. What I do know is that God will save the Jews in amazing ways at the end of redemptive history, and there will be a multitude from every tribe, language, people, and nation that will be in-gathered — how beautiful that will be.

A few more things about the 144,000: The number looks symbolic to many evangelical interpreters. By this, I mean that the number 144 is 12 squared, 12 times 12. The number 1,000 is 10 cubed. It imparts a sense of the perfection or completion of the elect of God — no one will be missing. Other interesting features of the list of tribes are cited by these interpreters. First, the tribe of Judah is listed first, which is not common. Judah was the fourth of Jacob’s sons. The commentators believe it is listed first because Jesus came from the tribe of Judah. The second interesting feature to note is that the tribe of Dan is not mentioned is omitted. Many commentators say this is because of gross immorality, but if you read anything about the history of Israel, you will see that all the tribes had aspects of gross immorality, so it is hard to zero in on that. Also, notice the half-tribe of Manasseh is mentioned, but his brother tribe, Ephraim, is not. Even stranger, their father Joseph is mentioned — a father and son in the listing — each given a tribe. What is the tribe of Joseph that is not the same as the tribe of Manasseh? I do not know. Things like these present some of the challenges in interpretation, especially when the text says that some are sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel.

This branch of interpreters also assert that the Jewish imagery as a whole is fulfilled in the church. There is validity in that as well. Revelation 1:5-6 says, “To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father-- to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.” That language comes straight from Mount Sinai, from what God said to Israel. Exodus 19:5-6 says, “‘Although the whole earth is mine, you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.” We may never fully settle these debates, but we know the people who are sealed by the sovereign grace of God will survive the wrath of God.

 That is who will be able to stand. There will most certainly be an in-gathering from every tribe, language, people, and nation. Verses 9-10 say, “After this I looked and there before me was 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. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: ‘Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.’” Next time I preach on Revelation, we will pick up right here and talk about this great, glorious in-gathering. 

Let us move on to some applications. First, I must plead with all of you who are outside of the grace of God to come to Christ. There is one, and only one, refuge. You may ask, “Refuge from what?” When we go out from here into the bright, beautiful sunshine and normal life, it will be hard to believe, but you must believe based on the Scripture that judgment is coming. You cannot see it by any scientific means nor by reading current events. You just have to believe it is coming. 

If you do not believe it is coming, you will not seek a refuge. Believe the wrath of God is coming — not just generally but coming specifically for you. You will be required to give an account of your life. If you believe that it is appointed for you to die and after that, to face judgment, and see that you are not ready to give account, you will see your need for a refuge from the wrath of God, from His justice regarding all the works you have ever done in violation of His laws. Friends, there is a refuge. There is a Savior and His name is Jesus! I urge you while there is time — this is the day of salvation! Flee, hide yourselves in Christ. You do not need to do any good works for the forgiveness of sins. As a matter of fact, you must do no good works for the forgiveness of sins. We are justified, forgiven, made righteous in the sight of God by faith in Christ. So trust in Him.

Second, Christians, delight in that refuge. Thank God for it every day. Thank God that you have found safety and security here; not in a cave somewhere, but in the beautiful, glorious Son of God. In Christ, you are safe. The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and they are safe. Thank God for that.

Third, be humbled by the sovereign grace of God, who alone can save us and rescue us. Be humbled that you have no way to rescue yourself. Look how humble they are in Heaven, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb” — not to us. I saw a picture of Mohammed Ali’s headstone. It reads something like, “Service to others is the rent we pay on earth for our heavenly home.” That is a clear description of salvation by works — you pay for your sins and earn a place in Heaven by serving others. We Christians know that is not right. We know that our service to others horizontally can never pay for our forgiveness vertically with God. But if we have been forgiven, then we will most certainly be motivated to serve others — it will flow to others horizontally. Thank God for the salvation of His grace.

As I was praying with Kevin Schaub recently, the dog park across the street from our church came to mind. You have seen it — the chain link fence, a little bench, colorful silhouettes of dogs on the fence. I am not a dog owner nor particularly a dog lover. As a runner and bike rider, dogs have frequently been my enemy. But I know that some of you really love dogs; I understand that. I had the thought that it is a great place to witness. If you have a dog, you could bring your dog there and let it play with other people’s dogs while you sit on the bench and talk to people about Jesus. It helps that you can see the church right up the hill. “I go to that church right there.”

From that came the thought to provide ideas for venues for evangelism and outreach. Like that old Mission Impossible TV show: “Your mission, should you choose to accept it… is this card.” We came up with 50 different ideas and placed them randomly. You may get a card that has nothing to do with your life at all. If so, trade it, like a baseball trading card. Families can choose one to do together. It would be easiest to throw your card away or leave it on the bench. But whatever you do with the card will not change the fact that God holds us all accountable to be evangelistically active. We are providing these to help you be faithful, to get you into habits of outreach. It is not as hard as you might think.

This is the one that started it all and I think I will do it: “Take your dog to the dog park and meet other dog owners.” My daughter Daphne got this one; I asked her for it. I do not have a dog, but I am going to borrow someone’s dog… (People will now volunteer their dogs. I will find out how much you love me — or not — by what kind of dog you give me and what it might do in my car as I drive to the dog park.) I will go, and be honest and say, “I'm dog-sitting. I don't know the first thing about dogs. Tell me about dogs.” And they will. People who love dogs are willing to talk about dogs. This gets us into a conversation. Then I can point to the church and say, “I'm the pastor of that church; do you have a church of your own?” (Ross pointed out that it literally says, “Take ‘your’ dog to the park,” so he says I can't do this one.)

Here is another one: workplace evangelism. “How did your weekend go?” Satan puts up obstacles in the form of objections to talking about God at work — “Oh, you can’t do this; can’t, can’t can’t…”  Cut though through those obstacles and do something. We want to hear from you, so write on the card what happened. Success, failure, doesn’t matter; attempting is faithfulness. Tell us the story. A comedian (perhaps Jerry Seinfeld?) tweeted this: “If you write a book on failure and it doesn’t sell well, have you succeeded?” If you try, if you are bold and get shut down, I am telling you, you succeeded. We want to hear those stories too.

 Close with me in prayer. Lord, thank You for the time that we have had to study Your word. Thank You for the insights it gives us. And Lord, we pray that You would give us zeal for this multitude greater than anyone could count. Zeal to see them converted, to see them rescued while there is still time before the wrath falls, to see them transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. Oh, God, give us boldness. Help us not to be self-protective. Help us not to be cowardly or lazy. Help us instead to step up. If the suggestion on the card is not relevant to us, help us to do something like it. Oh, God, I pray that the people of this community will hear the Gospel from this church. In Jesus’ name, amen.

I desire every week that you would come hungry to have an encounter with the living God and Christ through the words of the text that we are studying. Faith is the eyesight of the soul by which we see invisible spiritual realities past, present and future. While Revelation is one of the most complicated and difficult books in the Bible to interpret with any sense of certainty and accurate understanding, no book of the Bible unfolds these mysteries as clearly. It is also one of the greatest books for revealing the glories of Christ. The first statement in the book says, “The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants who He is, and also, those things that must soon take place…”

The Apostle John was in exile on the Island of Patmos off the coast of modern-day Turkey as punishment by the Roman Empire for his testimony about Jesus Christ. In the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, he had a vision of the resurrected and glorified Christ moving among seven golden lamp stands, representing his active, daily concern for local churches around the world. Revelation 2-3 are letters to the seven churches in Asia Minor — real churches that existed at that time but also represent various types and themes and patterns of local church ministry throughout all of church history.

John is invited to take an incredible journey detailed in Revelation 4. He sees a doorway and hears the voice of Jesus commanding him to “Come up here and I will show you what must take place after this.” He could never have obeyed that command by his own strength and power, but by the Spirit, he is able to obey. He goes through the doorway and sees a throne in Heaven — the central reality of the universe — on which Almighty God is seated. Twenty-four elders, four living creatures, and 100 million angels surround the throne; day and night, they celebrate and worship the greatness of God the Creator, the Sustainer of all things:“You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”

In Revelation 5, God holds a scroll in His right hand, sealed with seven seals. A mighty angel proclaims loudly “‘Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?’ But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. Then one of the elders said to me, ‘Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.’ Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders.”

This shows the greatness and power of the Lamb, Jesus Christ and also his submission, willing to die, to have His blood poured out, for his Father’s purposes. A wave of celebration erupts as concentric circles of created beings praise Jesus in cascading worship “because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.”

In Revelation 6, Jesus begins to break open the seals on the scroll to initiate unfolding events on the earth. Jesus promises that John will see things that “must soon take place,” — the future. There are two different approaches to these chapters that reveal the future. One is to see everything as future only, both to John and to us; things that will come in the final seven-year Great Tribulation but have not yet begun. That is a valid way to interpret these events. However, the events described in the seals lend themselves to more depth and nuance that Jesus taught in Matthew 24 about the end times.

In Matthew 24, Jesus, in the final days of his ministry on earth, was in the middle teaching his disciples in what is known as the Olivet Discourse, or the Little Apocalypse. They emerged from the temple and the disciples, impressed with the massive stones of the temple and the magnitude of the temple itself, remarked about the stones. Jesus replied, predicting the destruction of Jerusalem, “‘Do you see all these things?… Truly, I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.’”  Later they asked, “‘…when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?’” The triple question makes Matthew 24 a difficult chapter to interpret. Some parts of Jesus’ answer seem to refer to events related to the burning and destruction of the temple, while some parts seem to stretch across all of history to the end of the world.

As we compare the things he says in Matthew 24 to the opening of the seals, we see a helpful connection. In particular, in Matthew 24:37, Jesus says, “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.” This is a key verse for interpreting eschatology, or end-times teaching: “As it was… so it will be.” In other words, historical events reflect events that will happen on a larger scale right before the Second Coming of Christ and the end of the world — not only the flood but many other cataclysmic events occur repeatedly.

The first four seals contain the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. In these events, we see a connection with things that Jesus prophesied. For example, in Matthew 24:6-8, Jesus said, “You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.” I call these “uncertain signs” because they happen in every generation. There has not been a single generation in which there were not wars and rumors of wars, famines and earthquakes in various places.

Jesus’ point is to encourage the church, that when we see these things, we should not conclude that redemptive history has gone off the rails. God is in charge; He said these things would happen. Jesus told his disciples, “I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am who I am.” [John 13:19] He wants us to trust in him and to know that he is on his throne and everything is right on schedule. There are connections to events that will occur repeatedly throughout history, but also unique details that go beyond anything we have ever seen in history, especially with the trumpet and bowl judgments. This gives us the “already/not yet” framework.

The first seal is broken and the first rider is unleashed. Revelation 6:1-2: “I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, “‘Come!’ I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.” The Lamb that was slain, Jesus, who alone was found worthy to open its seals, holds the scroll that was in God’s right hand. Now, with his sovereign power, his right to rule history, he breaks open these seals successively. As he breaks open each of the seals, he initiates events on earth.

These Horsemen are mounted enemy warriors, bent on destruction. Imagine the terror of a foot soldier feeling the ground shake under his feet and seeing a half-ton beast approaching at 20-30 miles per hour or more. Yet, this first Horseman is different than the others — dressed in white, similar to the description of Christ’s Second Coming in Revelation 19 — which leads some interpreters to believe this horseman represents the spread of the Gospel. Jesus said in Matthew 24:14, “This Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations.” That is true, but I do not think we should interpret this first Horseman that way. Rather, the Four Horsemen should be seen together as judgment by God on the human race. It would be strange to pick out the first one to make him intrinsically different than the other three.

The big themes in Revelation become more clear the more one studies them: God’s sovereign power, His holiness, His hatred of sin, His protection of the Church, His love for the redeemed, their final salvation. The details are the difficult part. When I say “I think…” regarding any detail in this book, it is my interpretation, but I see a connection with some subtle but important themes from the book of Daniel with the imagery here.

This first horseman, dressed in white, wearing one crown, holding a bow but carrying no arrows, seems to line up with the deceptive nature of the antichrist figures in the book of Daniel. In Daniel 11, one particular precursor to the Antichrist stands out. Here, the principle of  “as it was, so it will be” is especially clear and true with the antichrists. There are antichrists in every generation, and there will be a final Antichrist.

Two types of antichrist have prevailed throughout history: doctrinal antichrists, cult leaders who teach false doctrine; and political antichrists who use their power and authority to suppress and oppress and persecute the Church. Sometimes they are combined: religious leaders may gain political power, or political leaders may require religious devotion. Those are all antichrists. Many antichrists are coming, but a final one is coming.

Antiochus Epiphanes, a specific descendant of those who followed after Alexander the Great, acts out many satanic antichrist type characteristics that Daniel 11 predicts. He takes over a kingdom by guile and treachery, deceptiveness and lies, without a single arrow shot being fired. We have seen this pattern throughout history. Hitler took over Czechoslovakia without a shot being fired with the Munich Accords. This rider brings a similar deceptive peace. Soon after, the second horse appears and the promise of peace is broken, bringing war.

The second rider, War, is on a red horse. Revelation 6:3-4 “When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, ‘Come!’ [Chain of command: Jesus acts or speaks, another heavenly creature acts and then things happen.] Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other. To him was given a large sword.” The false peace gives way to open warfare which makes sense because the Antichrist will take over the whole world. Revelation 13:7, says “He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them. And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation.”

If you know anything about the history of the world, tribes, languages, people and nations do not give up power easily. They will fight, but in the end they will lose and there will be one ruler over the entire earth. Given this red horse, he gains power by warfare. There are already wars and rumors of wars, false Christs, wicked rulers, rise and fall of empires one after the other in every generation, but those are not yet signaling the end. They are dress rehearsals for the final act with the second horse.

The third seal is broken and the third rider is unleashed — Famine. Verse 5-6 say, “When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, ‘Come!’ I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand.  Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, ‘A quart of wheat for a day's wages, and three quarts of barley for a day's wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!’” This is clearly a picture of famine, which makes sense. The connection between warfare and famine is clear: people are unable to plow fields, sow seeds, tend crops, harvest, and distribute. They are either terrified or dead, and famine results. However, the detail of the oil and the wine may refer a future detail of wealth and luxury in which those at the highest level of the economic scale are protected from this famine, but others without such means will suffer.

The fourth seal is broken. This rider is Death. “When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, ‘Come!'  I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.” Again, see Christ initiate, unleashing death on the earth. He holds the keys of death and the grave. To us he is Lamb — gentle, tender, kind-hearted; he shed his blood for us and protects us. But to unbelievers, the wicked, he is Lion. Therefore, at the end of this chapter is the strange phrase, “the wrath of the Lamb.” Jesus has the right and power to unleash death on earth at a scale unprecedented in history.

This horse is pale — the Greek here is chloros, meaning “yellowish-green, from which we get “chlorine”, which is pale yellowish-green at room temperature, and “chlorophyll”, which makes plants green. This horse has a pale sickly greenish tint of death. The grave, Hades, follows close behind, bringing immeasurable slaughter — one quarter of those who live on earth. The estimate of the death toll of World War II is 60 million — about 2.6% of the world's population, though some may have died from disease rather than directly from war. That shows how great the carnage from this horse will be — roughly 10 times that level of carnage with an even greater world population will bring much more than 10 times the death toll. It is staggering. Yet as terrible as all of this is, Jesus says, Matthew 24:8 “All these are the beginning of birth pains.” The judgments that follow, with the trumpets and the bowls, will be far worse than any of these things described up to this point.

Matthew 24:9-10 continues, “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other…” Jesus is talking about persecution of his messengers, which brings us to the fifth seal. Revelation 6:9 says, “When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the Word of God and the testimony they had maintained.” Again, the Lamb initiates these events. He opens the fifth seal, resulting in the slaughter of His own people, martyrs whose blood soaks the earth. It is mind-boggling, hard for us to conceive, but true. They are slaughtered because of the Word of God and the testimony they maintain, testifying to their faith in Christ. Death is their earthly reward. They were hated by their message.

This is a major theme in the Book of Revelation — the witnesses of Jesus courageously standing before satanic opposition, testifying to Jesus Christ and the Gospel, suffering. The Lord is vigorously motivated to bring justice as a result of their suffering; the martyrdom of His precious people is of intense interest to him. It is part of His sovereign plan for the advance of the Gospel. Jesus said to Pontius Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world.” It is a different kind of kingdom, so it will not advance the same way all the other kingdoms advanced.

Jesus gave the principle of Kingdom advancement in John 12:24, speaking first of Himself, but then of all of us who are is His witnesses. He says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” This kingdom advances not by killing but by dying, starting with Christ. Much fruit flows from the death of His messengers and servants. It has advanced throughout history where people have been willing to die. Relatively few witnesses are physically martyred, but Paul says in another place, “I die daily.” It feels like death all the time to be a faithful witness to Jesus Christ, even if you don't physically die as a martyr.

Romans 12 says we are to present our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing God. Witnesses for Christ experience ongoing death, and Paul celebrates it. He says it is a glorious thing. Colossians 1:24 says, “Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ's afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church.” He does not mean there is anything lacking in the atoning work of Christ. He accomplished our redemption on one day in history, shedding his blood for everyone who would be saved in every generation. But that atonement is applied by messengers that are filled with the Spirit and go out and are willing to suffer and die.

That is how the church has advanced for 20 centuries. Martyrs have shed their blood in every generation for the love they had for Christ, for the courage of their bold witness for Christ. Tertullian said early on in the struggle against the Roman Empire, the very ones that were persecuting the Apostle John, “The blood of martyrs is seed for the church.” The more of us you kill, the more of us there will be. However, at the end of the world there will be an exponential increase in this kind of suffering. The price of simple faithfulness to Christ will increase exponentially. The Beast from the Sea, the Antichrist, will require people to get the mark of the beast to buy and sell. Those who are not willing to receive it face oppressive economic disadvantage and eventually death.

Daniel 7 depicts the concept of “already/not yet” with the figure of the horn and one of the beasts on the shore, also pictured in Revelation 13. Out of the sea come four beasts, one after the other, which represent massive world empires, and at last, one final empire. Daniel seeks to understand the fourth beast and the horn that conquered the other horns and behaved strangely. He receives this answer in Daniel 7:20-22: “I also wanted to know about the ten horns on its head and about the other horn that came up, before which three of them fell-- the horn that looked more imposing than the others and that had eyes and a mouth that spoke boastfully. As I watched, this horn was waging war against the saints and defeating them, [absorb that thought; this is why Jesus told us ahead of time, so we will not be stunned when the Antichrist slaughters thousands of Christians] until [praise God for that word] the Ancient of Days came and pronounced judgment in favor of the saints of the Most High, and the time came when they possessed the kingdom.” Amen. Hallelujah.

But there is a hard journey to travel between now and then. Daniel 7:24-25 says, “After them another king will arise, different from the earlier ones; he will subdue three kings. He will speak against the Most High [words of blasphemy], and oppress his saints and try to change the set times and the laws. The saints will be handed over to him for a time, times and half a time [three and a half years].” The kingdom of the Antichrist will be a reign of terror for the saints of God alive at that time. They will run for their lives and hide in caves and other locations to survive. Jesus said, “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect, those days will be shortened.”

They will refuse to receive the mark of the beast, so they cannot buy or sell. They will be men and women of whom the world is not worthy, as Hebrews 11:38 says: “…wander in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.” But these, in this fifth seal, are dead. They have been killed. The slaughtered saints are seen under the altar in Heaven. This picture is well known to any students of the Old Testament. Anyone in trouble, running for his life, could hold on to the horns of the altar and cry out to God for protection and mercy. The saints under the altar are pleading in the same way to God for mercy and for protection.

They did not receive the miraculous protection and deliverance they sought on earth. They died, and there they are up in Heaven crying out to God. They are already under a blessing that Jesus said in Matthew 5:11-12, “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

Verse 10 says, “They called out in a loud voice, ‘How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?’” They yearn for vengeance. This has long been a cry of God’s suffering people. Many Psalms ask the same question. God’s providence is difficult to interpret; His ways are beyond tracing out, and it is painful to wait. Psalm 94:3 says, “How long will the wicked, O LORD, how long will the wicked be jubilant?” Or Psalm 74:10-11 “How long will the enemy mock you, O God? Will the foe revile your name forever? Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand? Take it from the folds of your garment and destroy them!”

A cry for vengeance seems wrong on the surface, but it is not unworthy to seek it for wicked persecutors of the Church. These martyrs are not admonished or told they should have a higher view or a better outlook. It is completely appropriate. It is understandable to struggle to comprehend the clear depictions of the outpouring of God’s wrath. We genuinely yearn for Him to show grace and mercy to our enemies. Jesus, even on the cross, said, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Stephen, when he was dying said, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”

Jesus taught us to pray for our enemies and those who persecute us. He taught us to turn the other cheek. The Apostle Paul, persecuted viciously, mostly by his own countrymen, said, “I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race…” That is completely right, but so is this. On Judgment Day, we will have clarity — the wheat and the weeds will be exposed — and yearn for the wrath of God to be poured out on those who will not ever repent and believe and follow.

The fact that prayers for deliverance seem to be unanswered presents another acute challenge. Severe persecution of the Church has been and continues to be the norm: arrest, torture and death by beheading and other means. Believers pray and pray for deliverance but they are not set free. Family members, friends and the worldwide Church wonder why God does not deliver them.

A parable in Luke 18 makes the question more acute: “Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: ‘In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought [not a good characteristic for a judge]. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, “Grant me justice against my adversary.’” For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, “Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!”’ And the Lord said, ‘Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly.’”

Twenty centuries of suffering, twenty centuries of blood, twenty centuries of crying out, asking “Why?” and “How long?” The desire for justice and vengeance is completely godly. We must embrace it as a major theme in Revelation to avoid recoiling from or softening its message. It lines up with the very thing God is planning to do, to vindicate His suffering people. Romans 12:19-20 says, “Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; [a famous statement] I will repay,’ says the Lord. On the contrary: ‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.’ In doing this, you will heap burning coals [of wrath] on his head.’” We could add the idea that he might be converted in the process. Saul was breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples, but the kindness of Stephen and of those he dragged off to prison put goads in his heart that led him to salvation.

God has promised He will repay. Nedo book in the Bible so clearly depicts God repaying the wicked for the way they attacked and murder the righteous as does the book of Revelation. Revelation 16:4-6 says, “The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood. Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say: "You are just in these judgments, you who are and who were, the Holy One, because you have so judged; for they have shed the blood of your saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink as they deserve.’” It is a clear link between the wrath that comes and the persecution of the Church.

These martyrs under the altar are aware of the events happening on earth. They are tracking and they know that vengeance has not come yet. (We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses; the things we do are in full view of a heavenly audience.) God refrains from punishing the wicked, not only because some of them are elect and will later come to Christ, but als because He is displaying His unlimited patience. Romans 9:22 says, “What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath-- prepared for destruction?”

He is bearing with their wickedness with great patience. The purpose of His patience is to lead them to repentance and salvation through faith in Christ. 2 Peter 3:15 says, “Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation.” Some of the elect begin as vicious persecutors and end up as brothers and sisters in Christ. We hope for that, but these wicked people do not use the patience of God properly. They only harden their hearts and store up more wrath. Romans 2:4-6 says, “…do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance? But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. God ‘will give to each person according to what he has done.’”

In verse 11, the martyrs are comforted and partially rewarded. “Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed.” The white robe represents the atoning work of Jesus Christ. Even these martyrs, heroes of the faith, still were sinners saved by grace. They still had sins needing to be cleansed, they still had nakedness needing to be covered. They are given the gifts of imputed righteousness and forgiveness and atonement.

Heaven is a place of waiting. The saints in Heaven are not fully saved, not fully rewarded yet. All dead saints are absent from the body, present with the Lord. They are waiting for resurrection bodies, which is the final piece of salvation. But these are also waiting for their vindication against their murderers. The Lord tells them they are to wait until the full number of martyrs comes in. Math, orderliness, is a reflection of the character of God — He is the great mathematician and ordains the exact limit of everything. He has numbered everything, including the hairs on our heads. “All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be.” [Psalm 139] The martyrs are numbered too. When that full number comes in, the end will come.

The sixth seal is broken, bringing the end of this Heaven and earth. Revelation 6:12-17 says, “I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as late figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. The sky receded like a scroll, rolling up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. They called to the mountains and the rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?’”

These sights are breathtaking and overwhelming. This is the end of the universe as we know it. The earth itself is shaking from under their feet, and the sky — the sun, moon, and stars — is rolled up like a scroll. Copernicus was astronomically correct in the 16th century that the earth revolves around the sun, not the other way around. But when it comes to purpose, to history, even the celestial bodies, sun, moon and stars are earth-centric. They were created to mark seasons and days and years and to give light to the earth. Genesis 1:14 says. “And God said, ‘Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years…’” But when the events of human history have run their course, the sun, the moon and the stars will end their existence in the heavens. The universe exists for an earthly purpose.

Here at the end, the sun turns dark, the moon turns blood red, the stars fall from the sky like figs from a fig tree. This is difficult to imagine. The stars are incomprehensibly distant, but we know that God numbers each of them and calls each by name. Because of His power, none of them is missing. He can do what He wants with His stars. He has that kind of power.

The great day of God’s wrath is terror to earth’s inhabitants. God has an active wrath against sin, not a mild indifference toward it. He is angry, enraged. Psalm 18:7-13 says, “The earth trembled and quaked, and the foundations of the mountains shook; they trembled because he was angry. Smoke rose from his nostrils; consuming fire came from his mouth, burning coals blazed out of it. He parted the heavens and came down; dark clouds were under his feet. He mounted the cherubim and flew; he soared on the wings of the wind. He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him-- the dark rain clouds of the sky. Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced, with hailstones and bolts of lightning. The LORD thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded.” That is the wrath of God against earth for the sinfulness of the human race.

Scripture tells us that God expresses His wrath every day, but we cannot discern it whether an event constitutes His wrath. Two people die in a hospital; one is a saint going to Heaven, the other is receives the wrath of God for sin. We have no way of knowing, but it happens every day. In this passage, we see a full open display of the wrath of God. Nobody wonders about it. God patiently defers the full display of His wrath on the earth’s wicked inhabitants, reserved it for this day, when His righteous judgment will be revealed. As the sixth seal is opened, the inhabitants of the earth recognize that it has come at last, and they are terrified of it.

Every unconverted person on the face of the earth, across all socio-economic and government levels, cry out one vast pagan prayer to the mountains and the rocks, not to God. Revelation 6:15-17 says, “Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man [This is everyone: leaders, pillars, kings, princes, generals, rich and mighty = elites; every slave and free man = everyone else] hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. They called to the mountains and the rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?’”

There is only one refuge and they missed it. They are calling to the mountains to hide them, to give them refuge, but the earth will disclose the blood shed upon it. It is not their ally to hide them in their wickedness; no one can hide from the eyes of the Lord. The God we worship is omni-present — He is everywhere fully. He is omniscient — He knows everything fully. He is omnipotent — He can do anything He wants with His creation. He has that kind of power. There is no escape.

Amos 9:1-6 says, “I saw the Lord standing by the altar, and he said: ‘Strike the tops of the pillars so that the thresholds shake. [From top down like an earthquake.] Bring them down on the heads of all the people; those who are left I will kill with the sword. Not one will get away, none will escape. Though they dig down to the depths of the grave, from there my hand will take them. Though they climb up to the heavens, from there I will bring them down. Though they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, there I will hunt them down and seize them. Though they hide from me at the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent to bite them. Though they are driven into exile by their enemies, there I will command the sword to slay them. I will fix my eyes upon them for evil and not for good.’ The Lord, the LORD Almighty, he who touches the earth and it melts, and all who live in it mourn — the whole land rises like the Nile, then sinks like the river of Egypt — he who builds his lofty palace in the heavens and sets its foundation on the earth, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out over the face of the land-- the LORD is his name.”

The mountains and rocks and caves will not be an escape from the great day of the wrath of God and the of the Lamb. We must believe by faith through hearing this Word on this beautiful sunny Sunday, with everything continuing as it always does, that judgment will come, or we will not seek refuge. Nothing will prove it in advance. There is only one refuge, and his name is Jesus. Those who believe in and flee to Christ will be able to stand. He is our lightning rod that takes the strike of the wrath of God and carries it safely away from us. Now is the time to flee, before these things happen. Romans 3:24-25 says, “Sinners are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. God presented Him as a propitiation [a sacrifice of blood that satisfies and removes His wrath] through faith in His blood, to demonstrate His righteousness.” Proverbs 18:10 says, “The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.”

The sixth seal is a key interpretive text to the rest of the book. At the end of the sixth seal, the sky, mountains, and islands are gone. How, then, can this happen in Revelation 8:12? “The fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them turned dark. A third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night.” Revelation tells the whole story and circles back to tell the same story with more detail, and then again with even more detail. 

First, understand the sovereign power of Jesus Christ over the unfolding of redemptive history. There are so many distressing events daily — suffering, pain, death. The evil is unspeakable. When a perpetrator of evil dies, what can be done? God has the answer, but remember: His plan is on schedule; Jesus will initiate these judgments on earth at the right time. Trust in that.

Second, see the pattern of “already, not yet.” We will experience some things in our lifetime that mirror some of the events in Revelation, even if Jesus does not return for another 200 years. “As it was… so it will be.”

Third, prepare for the end of the universe. 2 Peter 3:11-12 says, “Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.” That is the internal journey of holiness and sanctification and the external journey of evangelism and missions. Those listening should be ready to tell people who are lost that there is a refuge and a need to flee to it. They will not see it — regular every day life seems to continue — but the wrath of God is coming, and now is the time to flee.

Fourth, recognize the place of martyrs in God’s plan. Do not wonder where He is when martyrs die despite the prayers of the Church. It is true that Peter was delivered by the prayers of the Church, but in that same chapter, James was beheaded. God did not love one more than the other. He has different plans for each person, including using the blood of martyrs to spread the Gospel. Be willing to die daily. We will probably not die as physical martyrs, but we can die to self when we share the Gospel with an unsaved relative, a neighbor, a co-worker, or a total stranger.

Fifth, embrace the doctrine of the wrath of God for sin. God is not mild about this. He has an aggressive anger about the way that the world treats His church and the way that sin goes on.

Finally, to those of you who know that you are outside the grace of God, I have preached the Gospel to you today. I plead with you, today is the day of salvation. This is the time, when everything looks normal, to believe that this is coming. This is the time to flee to Christ.

Father, thank you for the things that we learned in this incredible chapter, for the grace of the Holy Spirit who gives us clear instructions and interpretations that tell us what kind of lives we should live. Father, help us to hate the sin that will bring this wrath on the earth, sins of sexual immorality, sinful pride, anger and idolatry. Help us to hate these things in our lives and to grieve against them and to fight against them by the power of the Spirit. Help us, O Lord, to reach out with boldness here in Durham, Chapel Hill, Raleigh, wherever we are, to share the Gospel with people who are as yet on the outside. Help us to have compassion on them and bring them in. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

For most of my adult life, I have been a student of military history. Until the advent of the explosive power of gunpowder-based weapons, the most terrifying sound heard on the battlefield must have been the sound of the approach of enemy cavalry — mounted warriors. It must indeed have been beyond terrifying for foot soldiers, trained to stand their ground, to feel the earth shaking beneath their feet from an army of half-ton of animals traveling as fast as 30-40 miles an hour toward them. In Job 39:21-25 God boasts about the horse in military terms: “He paws the ground fiercely and charges into the fray. He laughs at fear, and is afraid of nothing. In frenzied excitement, he eats up the ground. He cannot stand still when the trumpet sounds.” The horses alone would have been terrifying, to say nothing of their mounted warriors.

The first four seals bring to us one of the more famous images from the Book of Revelation: the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Here, we will see for the first time in the Book of Revelation the judgments of God unleashed on sinful Earth. His judgments will be a dominant theme throughout the rest of the book of Revelation.

In Revelation 1, John, who was in exile on the island of Patmos, has a vision, which he introduces as “The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him to show his servants the things that must soon take place.” It is an unveiling of Jesus Christ, first and foremost, and of future things that we would have no other way of knowing. In his vision, he sees the resurrected, glorified Christ dressed like a priest, moving among seven golden lamp stands which represented seven contemporary local churches, but also His Church across history, showing a constant, active interest that Jesus has for local churches around the world.

Those seven churches were the focus of the seven letters which make up Revelation 2-3. In these letters, we learn both what Christ loves and is attracted to in churches, and what He hates or wants to see destroyed in them. This brings forth the beautiful balance of that which is part of healthy church life — hard work, discipline, diligence, orthodox doctrine, a genuine love for God and for one another, and a willingness to expose and to shun false doctrine. It also reveals His hatred for lukewarmness, for secret sin, and even for tolerating sin among a local body.

In Revelation 4, John saw a door standing open in the Heavenly realms, and he was invited by Christ to ascend and to go through that doorway to see what was going on there. Of course, he could not obey that unaided, but the Spirit moved him from the Earth through the doorway into Heaven in a spiritual flight. He immediately saw the central reality of the physical and spiritual universe — Almighty God, the Creator on His throne. Surrounding the throne were 24 other thrones with elders seated on them, pouring forth beautiful, powerful, continual worship for the Creator who created all things; day and night they praised Him. By His Word, they were created, and by His word, they are sustained, or continue to have their being.

As that scene unfolded before John, we saw last week in Revelation 5, the Creator God held in His right hand a scroll. The scroll was sealed with seven seals, with writing on both sides. A mighty angel cried out a challenge to all creation: “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” No one was found in Heaven, or on earth, or under the earth who was worthy, and John wept and wept as a result. One of the elders told him, “‘Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.’”  He heard this about the Lion, but turning, he saw instead a Lamb looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, a clear declaration of his deity. Jesus is the Lion and the Lamb, possessing a beautiful combination of attributes. His triumph is the victory of the cross: By His blood, He has purchased people for God from every tribe, and language, and people, and nation. When Jesus had taken the scroll from the right hand of Him who sat on the throne, worship for Him exploded and cascaded from those around the throne.

Now we come to Revelation 6. This chapter unfolds with the breaking open of six of the seals on the scroll. Because of the difficulty of interpreting the words of this and following chapters, many pastors shrink away from preaching verse-by-verse exposition of the book of Revelation. Certainty flees; at best one can render godly opinions. With careful study of other people’s opinions and interpretations, I will do my best to manage the specific challenging details. However, the large, central themes are crystal clear and we will see those repeatedly: God’s sovereign control and power over the events on earth; His active, aggressive wrath crescendoing at the end of human history, in the days, weeks, months, and years preceding the Second Coming of Christ; His love for His people; His desire to protect them from persecution or to avenge them where He allows it; and the ultimate destination of both the righteous — the redeemed, and the unrighteous — the wicked. 

We can approach the seven seals in two different ways. On one hand, we could see everything described from a future perspective that none have happened yet — that John’s words describe the events at the end of redemptive history, future not only for him but for us as well. This future time is known as the Great Tribulation. Jesus described a time of tribulation — the Little Apocolypse — in Matthew 24, which can be seen as an interpretive key to the Great Apocalypse. In Matthew 24:21-22  “…then there will be great distress [or great tribulation], unequaled from the beginning of the world until now — and never to be equaled again. If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.” There is yet to come a terrible tribulation, unlike any that has ever been seen in human history. That language sets it apart. In this view, these events, beginning with the seven seals, are nothing we have ever experienced before; all are tied to the Great Tribulation.

A second approach, one that I personally favor, is that the events described, especially in the first five seals (though, you could extend it to the sixth seal as well, depending on how you read prophetic language) represent recurring patterns of wrath, judgment, and suffering that will happen, again and again throughout redemptive history, all over the earth. But they will find their last and greatest and most dreadful fulfillment in the events leading up to the Second Coming of Christ. Matthew 24:6-9 says, “You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains. Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.” During the unfolding of redemptive history that God has ordained, there have been and will continue to be regular patterns of what we will see with these first seals, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: peaceful conquest as with the White Horse; war as with the Red Horse; famine as with the black horse; and death as with the pale horse.

While all this suffering occurs in every generation, the Gospel of Jesus Christ will continue to spread to every nation and language on earth. Matthew 24:14: “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” The rise and fall of wicked rulers and the general hatred of the human race for the Gospel result in much persecution of the messengers of that Gospel, suffering in every generation, leaving an unbroken trail of blood throughout twenty centuries thus far of church history. This includes the apostasy of many false believers who buckle under the pressure of persecution going on in their lifetime, in their generation. Jesus said in Matthew 24:9-10, “…you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other.”

The fifth seal unveils the ever-growing number of martyrs who will have paid the price in their own blood for the spread of the Gospel. Revelation 6:9-11 says, “When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. They called out in a loud voice, ‘How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?’ Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed.”

We see the events of the first five seals repeated in church history, again and again, just as Jesus said we would. He said they would continue until the end of the world, but at the end of the world, in the final phase of human history under the Antichrist, we should expect a great consummation of intensified conquest, war, famine, death and martyrdom. Jesus Himself gives us permission to use this perspective in Matthew 24:37, when He said, “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.” For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came, and took them all away.” That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.” I take that phrase, “as it was, so it will be” (or already/not yet) as a guide to look for repeated patterns of these events until the end.

I do not think this holds true throughout the book of Revelation. When we get to the trumpet judgments and the bowl judgements, we will see events described that have never happened in human history. Nothing approaching the carnage and ecological disaster of Revelation 8 or the demonic army and the subsequent suffering of Revelation 9 have ever occurred from the beginning of time until now. But we are at the beginning of the story as Jesus takes the scroll and begins breaking open these seals.

We believe that God is actively involved in maintaining the universe He created. We are not Deists, thinking that God has left us alone to our own devices and things are running by their own forces. He actively intervenes in everything, including displaying His wrath every day. In Romans 1:18, it says, “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness.” But though it is presently displayed, the final outpouring of God’s wrath will hit levels such as we have never seen before nor even imagined. That final tribulation will begin by following the pattern unfolded in these seals.

Let us now do the best we can to understand each of these seals in detail. The first seal is broken, and then the first rider is unleashed, bearing some kind of peace. Revelation 6:1-2 says, “I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, ‘Come!’ I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.”

The Lamb Initiates Everything

The first thing we notice, which I will repeat because it bears repeating, is that the Lamb, Jesus Christ, initiates every event that is described. Human rulers may think they are in charge, that they are making judgments and rendering decisions that will change history — that they are the movers and shakers — in reality, ultimately they are the ones moved and shaken. They are pawns in God’s overarching plan.

In Isaiah 14:26-27, we read this refrain:“This is the plan determined for the whole world; this is the hand stretched out over all nations. For the Lord Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?” God has a plan; His hand is omnipotent. He sets the course of human history from beginning to end. We see this as Christ breaks open each seal; events start to move in Heaven first, and then on earth.

As He breaks open the first seal, one of the four living creatures is cued to cry, “Come!” His voice sounds like thunder. Often, voices from Heaven have overwhelming volume. It seems that John could feel it in his chest, like the sound of thunder, and flashes of lightning, and an earthquake, and the sound of many waters like a mighty, roaring waterfall. He imparts a sense of a stunning level of power among these angelic beings. In Isaiah 6, when the seraphim were crying to one another, “Holy, holy, holy”, the door posts and thresholds shook, and the temple was filled with smoke — at the sound of their voices, not God’s. These are powerful created beings; they show us how weak and puny our voices are. As the first creature cries “Come!”, the First Horseman of the Apocalypse is unleashed.

The First Horseman Described

John described this horse as being white, implying in some sense that it was physically attractive, alluring, appealing. The word “white” is generally associated with godliness and righteousness in the book of Revelation, as we see with the robes given to all of the redeemed from every tribe, language, people, and nation. The rider carried a bow, but had no arrows — no open weaponry. “He rode forth like a conqueror bent on conquest.” He sought to build an empire, but by means other than the usual military conquest. Yet, we could argue, that the bow in his hand implied the threat of a war.

The First Horseman Interpreted

Many solid, godly commentators believe that this first Horseman represents Jesus Christ and the spread of the Gospel. Their strongest scriptural is in Revelation 19:11, when Jesus is depicted at the Second Coming riding a white horse and wearing many crowns. That is compelling and not off-base to say that the first horse represents the spread of the Gospel. In Matthew 24:14, as we saw a moment ago, Jesus said, “This Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world, as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.” When Pontius Pilate asked Jesus if He was a king, Jesus replied, “You are right in saying that I am a king. For this reason, I was born, and for this I came into the world: To testify to the truth.” His Kingdom is built by the testimony of the truth. He said to Pilate, “My Kingdom is not of this world.” It is not an earthly Kingdom, so it does not advance in the usual way. However, I do not think that is the best way to interpret this first horse.

First, it seems unlikely that the Lamb in Heaven would break open a seal and then show up as His own response, especially since He is coming in response to the living creature giving the command to come, as though the horses are unleashed by the order of the living creatures. Second, and more significant, in my opinion, is that the Four Horsemen should be seen together as one whole package of judgment and wrath on the earth. This first Horseman only appears to be righteous and delightful and alluring, but in truth is not. These four Horsemen bring death and judgment on the earth together. This beautiful Horseman a counterfeit Christ, looking like Christ but without His holiness or power. This theme of counterfeiting is seen throughout the book of Revelation. It will resurface in Revelation 13 with the rise of the beast from the sea, who ends up playing an Antichrist, or substitute Christ. Together with the dragon and the beast from the earth, the three comprise an unholy, ungodly trinity, which is a mocking counterfeit to the true Trinity the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.

The Temporary Success of the First Rider

This carries out the theme of already/not yet as well. A kingdom is being advanced by subtle, even treacherous means, that are different from what is expected, but extremely effective: sly treachery and a deceitful peace, rather than by warfare, though with the threat of war thinly veiled and ever-present. In Matthew 24:24-25, Jesus said, “…false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect-- if that were possible. See, I have told you ahead of time.” He spoke in the plural, not the singular, implying that we would see repeated patterns. Throughout history, there have been devious, wicked, sly politicians, who have skillfully conquered lands by evil and by treacherous treaties and false diplomacy which they later break.

This is seen clearly in the Book of Daniel. In Daniel 11:21, Daniel prophesied about one of the successors of Alexander the Great, a Greek king who was to come, in this way: “He [the previous king] will be succeeded by a contemptible [meaning of low birth] person who has not been given the honor of royalty. He will invade the kingdom when its people feel secure, and he will seize it through intrigue.” What is intrigue? It's treachery. It is being a sly politician, possessing charisma and savvy to be able to draw people in under false pretenses in order to gain control.

Further, Daniel 11:23-24 says, “After coming to an agreement with him [another king... There's a king of the north and a king of the south who are always battling each other in Daniel 11], he will act deceitfully, and with only a few people he will rise to power. When the richest provinces feel secure, he will invade them and will achieve what neither his fathers nor his forefathers did.” He will conquer by treachery, by deceit, by lulling the people of those lands into a false sense of security.

One of my favorite verses in Daniel is 11:27. This is what I picture when I think of the United Nations or discussions between ambassadors of two pagan nations. “The two kings [king of the north, king of the south], with their hearts bent on evil, will sit at the same table and lie to each other, but to no avail, because an end will still come at the appointed time.” This happens often in the political world and other realms (such as business). There is treachery, but one king is much better at it than the other one. This man in Daniel 11 represents an actual king, Antiochus Epiphanes, who was a symbol of the future Antichrist. That is why so much detail is given to him in Daniel 11. He was a real ruler; he rose politically through treachery and intrigue; he made covenants and broke them. He set a pattern that we see acted out in history, again and again.

We saw the same pattern with Adolf Hitler in Munich, when Neville Chamberlain, afraid of a coming cataclysm, terrified of repeating World War I, sold Czechoslovakia up the river to get a piece of paper signed by Hitler, saying that Germany would never go to war against England again. In retrospect, we can see what a liar Hitler was. He was happy to sign the false treaty and send Neville Chamberlain home waving the piece of paper on the tarmac, saying, “We have peace in our time.” That lasted for another 10 months before Germany took over the Sudetenland of Czechoslovakia and the whole country. No one could do anything, and within a year, they invaded Poland, setting off World War II. That is one example of many throughout history that depicts conquest through deception and treachery.

This is a recurring theme in history, but will be ultimately fulfilled right before the Second Coming of Christ. The Antichrist will come initially by appearing beautiful and attractive, but his heart is treacherous. He advances and is given a crown and “[rides] forth like a conqueror bent on conquest.”

The Lamb Initiates Again: the Second Seal is Broken

This leads to the second seal being opened, because the unloaded bow is short-lived. Revelation 6:3-4 says,“When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, ‘Come!’ Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other. To him was given a large sword.” Again, the Lamb initiates, and then, when He has broken the seal, the living creature cries, “Come!”

The Second Horse and Rider Described and Interpreted

When the living creature has given this order, the second horse, the fiery Red Horse, is unleashed. There is no doubt how to interpret this one — this is simply open warfare. The color red must signify the flow of blood, especially since the rider is given a sword to wreak massive slaughter. Whatever treaties, whatever promises of peace have been made have all been swept aside, and now, there is open warfare.

As we have already seen, warfare has long plagued the human race, stampeding and trampling down the pages of history with bloody red footprints. In Matthew 24:6-7, Jesus says, “You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.” Warfare, with one nation fighting another nation, demonstrates two things. First, Satan hates all human beings; he wants all of them to die outside of Christ. When Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union, it was the Nazis fighting the Communist soldiers. I doubt there were many born again soldiers on either side; the ideologies represented were satanic. Millions and millions of Germans and Russians died in that conflict.

Second, this pattern is judgment from God against sinful individuals and nations. Isaiah 34:2-3 says,“The LORD is angry with all nations; his wrath is upon all their armies. He will totally destroy them, he will give them over to slaughter. Their slain will be thrown out, their dead bodies will send up a stench; the mountains will be soaked with their blood.” The blood-red carnage begins with the breaking open of the second seal. There will be an end-time fulfillment of this when the beast from the sea is given power to rule over the entire earth. No human ruler has ever ruled the whole earth. Genghis Khan conquered a quarter of the land mass of the earth, the highest of any nation in terms of real estate. But this beast from the sea will have it all.

The people of the earth will not give up their land and power easily, once they realize the intrigue and treachery that have taken place. The Antichrist will be forced to show his military power. Revelation 13:7 says, “He was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer them. And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation.” The second Horseman, ultimately, represents the bloody conquest by a final world ruler, who will begin his conquest through deception, intrigue, and false diplomacy, but who will end his conquest by warfare, the swinging of a large, bloody sword given to him for a short time.

The Lamb Once Again Initiates the Next Horse and Rider

Following this bloodshed, the third seal is broken and the third Rider, Famine, is unleashed. Revelation 6:5-6 says, “When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, ‘Come!’ I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, ‘A quart of wheat for a day's wages, and three quarts of barley for a day's wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!’” Once again, the Lamb initiates events by opening the seal. A living creature responds to the Lamb’s initiative by calling out, “Come!” and the third horse and Horseman come.

The Third Horse and Rider Described

This horse is black, which, technically is not a color but rather the absence of light. It is darkness. The Rider is holding scales, which were associated with merchants in that era for weighing merchandise and money — a rod with platters or plates hanging by chains. The merchants would weigh out their goods and then calculate the currency and weigh it against standardized weights. The picture we are meant to see is that of buying and selling of merchandise. As this black horse and its Rider move across the earth, John hears a voice coming mysteriously from among the living creatures. John does not know who speaks, but the voice is like that of a merchant calling forth his price for his commodities. He is calling for the careful weighing of a quart of wheat for a full day’s work. People will work all day to get a quart of wheat to take home to feed their families. That qualifies as famine. The barley, a little more available, was a lower-quality grain, but three quarts was still not enough. Famine is truly a logical consequence of war. When armies are running roughshod over the countryside, farmers cannot plow, plant, and reap. Consider the famine going on in East Africa right now. Human warfare, resulting in anarchy, has been responsible in large part for that. The same thing happened after World War II; if it had not been for the Marshall Plan and other wealthier nations helping out, there would have been worldwide starvation in a scope scarcely imaginable. 

BUT the Famine is Not Universal

Jesus said that there would be famines in various places. This famine is not universal. The voice that called out the famine conditions limited it, saying, “Do not hurt or harm the oil and the wine!” — referring to olive oil. This famine is not as bad as it possibly could be. It is possible, as some commentators believe, that the more wealthy will be able to obtain provisions but the poor will suffer, since items like oil and wine can be considered luxuries in times of famine. That is possible, though I do not know. This limitation perhaps lends a future aspect to this seal — in the Old Testament, when famine came, no one was able to get any food, no matter how rich. People could not eat their silver or gold. No food meant no food for anyone.

Now Comes the Fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse!

Finally, the fourth seal is broken and the fourth Rider is unleashed. Revelation 6:7-8 says,“When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, ‘Come!'  I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.” Like the other three, the initiative is with Jesus. He breaks the seal, the fourth living creature says, “Come!” and the pale horse rides forth.

The Fourth Horse and Rider Described

Where this horse is described as pale, the Greek uses the word “chloros,” from which we get the word “chlorophyll.” It is a greenish tint, what we might describe as a ghostly green. There is a sense of decay and death. The rider is clearly identified: his name is Death, like the decaying of a corpse. Hades, the grave, follows right after him. The horse and rider together are given power from Heaven to kill one quarter of the population of the earth, not only by sword, with military might, but also by famine, plague, and wild beasts. We truly do not comprehend how much God restrains animals and birds from attacking the human race, but imagine if He did not, how terrifying that would be. Note also that the sword, famine, plague, and beasts are the standard plagues given in Old Testament prophetic books about what would happen to Israel with the invasion of an army.

The horror escalates with each subsequent horse. The slaughter of one quarter of the earth’s population is absolutely mind-boggling. Every generation has experienced war, famine, and death to some degree, but this is a scope never before experienced in history. The death toll connected with World War II, including from fighting, collateral civilian casualties, death from diseases that were otherwise curable, and other factors, was at the highest between 60 and 70 million people. The population of the earth in 1940 was 2.4 billion. That is a total of 2.6% of the world's population. This carnage is 10 times that.

A literal interpretation of one quarter of the earth’s population from these first four seals renders this a definite futurist interpretation of what will happen right before the end. And yet, Jesus says in Matthew 24:8 “All these are the beginning of birth pains.”

Persecution follows with the next seal, but we will cover that in the next sermon, God willing. As a preview, Matthew 24:9-10 says, “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other…” Betrayal, persecution, and martyrdom.

Understand the Sovereign Power of Christ Over Events on Earth

Here are some quick applications.

First, understand the sovereignty of God over all things. The events of today and the future do not happen by accident. This is part of God’s plan for the ultimate consummation of the new Heavens and the new earth, the salvation of the righteous, and the condemnation of the wicked. We must understand the sovereign power of Jesus Christ over these events. He has the right to ordain and initiate these events. He is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. All authority in Heaven and on earth has been given to Him. He owns the earth; the title deed to the earth is His by right. As he breaks open each seal, the judgments that follow are his righteous reactions to the sins of the human race. As a Christian, do not fear that the world is spinning out of control, even as we see the beginnings of birth pains: wars, rumors of wars, famines, earthquakes in various places.

See the Pattern of “Already/Not Yet”

Second, see the pattern of already/not yet in world events that unfold each day. We may even see them escalating, but still the end is not yet come. It is not imminent in that way, though we need to be ready for death and for the Second Coming at any point. Most of these terrors are still in the future.

Prepare for the End of the Universe by Living a Holy Life and Spreading the Gospel

Third, 2 Peter 3:11-13 tells us how we should think about the end of the world: “Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.” It is because of sin that these judgments are coming. Ephesians and Colossians corroborate this: because of the sins of sexual immorality, of rage, and anger, and covetousness, and idolatry, these judgments will come. We Christians should flee them. We should put sin to death by the Spirit, and live holy and upright lives. As we look forward to the day of God, and speed its coming through evangelism and missions. We must take these themes out to people in the Raleigh-Durham area and share the Gospel. Many people believe these things will not happen, but we know that these words are true, and that beyond these events will come Judgment Day.

Embrace the Doctrine of the Wrath of God for Sin

Embrace the doctrine of the wrath of God for sin. We will see it many more times in the book of Revelation. It is not an embarrassing or dirty secret that God does this kind of thing; it is just and righteous for Him to bring judgments on the sinners of the earth.

Once More… Flee to Christ NOW!!!

And then, finally, at the end of Revelation 6, everybody is looking for refuge, for a cave or some other hidden place to flee the wrath to come, but they will not find it. This is an appeal to you who are outside of Christ, that you would realize that the time for fleeing is now. The refuge is available now in the Gospel. Flee to Christ. God sent Him, His own Son, into the world, to live a sinless life and die in our place on the cross, that we might have forgiveness of sins. You can escape the wrath to come, not by works — by what you do — but by trusting in Him.

Father, thank you for the words of the Book of Revelation and what we have learned through studying these words today. It's enough to make us tremble, oh Lord, to realize the kind of terrors that will come on the earth. They will be even worse than I have described here. I pray, oh, Lord, that you would please give us strength to read this, and strength to believe it. I pray that we who have already fled to Christ, who we have been delivered from the wrath to come, would realize we have a responsibility to those who have not yet trusted in Christ, to share the Gospel with them, and a responsibility to You to be holy. Thank you for the Word of God, and for the chance we've had to study it. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

The Psalmist says, “O magnify the Lord with me, let us exalt His name together.” The word “magnify” means “to appear to make greater”. We may well wonder how we can possibly make an infinitely majestic God greater or glorify Him in any sense of adding to His glory — of course we cannot do that. In the 17th century, when Galileo viewed Saturn and its rings through his telescope, he did not make Saturn any bigger or do anything do anything to add to what it already was. However, it appeared far greater to him. He was able to partake of the breathtaking beauty and then study the details because of the instrument he used to view it. In the same way, we can think of the Word of God like a telescope: through exegesis, through study of nouns and verbs and paragraphs, God’s Word allows us to view the glory of Christ. We see through a glass darkly, not clearly and perfectly like we will someday, but better than without it. My goal today is to magnify and exalt the name of Christ together with you, to make Him appear greater to all of us.

I believe I can safely say that there is not one person here today who has a proper estimation of Jesus, even among those who have been believers with a healthy Christian walk for dozens of years, even decades. We all underestimate Jesus. It is my privilege to help all of us estimate him in His true worth a little bit more with each sermon I preach, to enable you to see His greatness and majesty. There are few chapters equal to Revelation 5 to do that for us.

As we began last week, we will continue following the Apostle John from the rocky island of Patmos off the coastline of modern day Turkey in the Aegean Sea. He was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day, and he heard a voice behind him commanding him to come up to where the voice was speaking from. He had no natural ability to obey, but as he was lifted up, he saw a doorway standing open in Heaven.

Revelation 4:1-2 speaks of this Spirit flight: “After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in Heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, ‘Come up here and I will show you what must take place after this.’ At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in Heaven with someone sitting on it.”

We will continue following John by the ministry of the Spirit, by the ministry of the Word of God, through the inner eye of faith up into that Heavenly court. We will see the throne of God, and Almighty God Himself seated on His throne. We will also see the resurrected, glorified Christ in His victory over sin and death right there in the throne room of God.

Last week we began by unfolding a scene of the surpassing greatness of Almighty God, the creator of Heaven and Earth, seated on His throne. Surrounding that throne were twenty-four other thrones with elders seated on them. There were four living creatures surrounding the throne as well, continually — day and night — worshipping Almighty God. As we saw last week, the focus in Revelation 4 is on worship of God, the Creator: “Worthy are you, the creator of all things, because you created all things and by Your will, they were created and have their being.” In Revelation 5, the focus is on worship of Christ the Redeemer.

When we step back with these two emphases in mind, we see that Revelation 4-5 should be seen together as one vision. They provide a helpful theological division of God the Creator and Christ the Redeemer, which enhances our understanding of the worth and value of God in that division.

As we look at Revelation 5, four things will focus our attention: first, the scroll in the right hand of God; second, the proclamation of the mighty angel about that scroll; third, the lamb receiving the scroll; and fourth, the honor and glory given by all creation to the lamb because of the scroll.

The Scroll Described

Verse 1 says, “Then I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides, sealed with seven seals.” The Greek word for scroll is biblos, from which we get Bible or bibliography — in modern terms, we would translate it as “book”, but most likely, it was a rolled-up scroll. This scroll was in the right hand of the one who was seated on the throne, the ruler of the universe who is God Almighty, God the Father, God the Creator of the ends of the earth. John saw Him seated on a throne proclaiming His sovereign right to rule over all the universe. He is absolutely sovereign over Heaven and Earth, and He is sovereign over the events of Heaven and Earth as well. Not only did He originally create all things, but by His will and by His word, they are continually upheld in their creation. Creator God makes a continual decision and commitment to keep them existing. There is no independent existence from this Creator God, even now.

This scroll must have been a precious and valuable thing indeed, because it was in the right hand of the one seated on the throne, and because it was the focus of so much attention. In some way, it was revealed to John — there is no other way he could know since the scroll was rolled up — that there was writing on both sides, a fact which he shared with his readers. Perhaps, as we know in a dream that a thing is true, he knew without question; or perhaps in some way he could see the writing on both sides even with the seals. Regardless of how he was able to know, the writing on both sides signified that the document was a complete account. As a full account, completely covered with writing, there would have been no space to add to it; nor, since it was most certainly the writing of God, would anyone have the right to take away from it.

John noted that that the scroll was sealed with seven seals. The seal was an indication of kingly authority, or the authority of a ruler. It implied ownership and forbade, by implication of its presence, anyone who did not have the right to break the seals to open and read it.

There were seven seals, indicating a complete and perfect sealing of the scroll. Its contents were a complete mystery prior to being revealed to John. No one could pry up a corner of it to look inside — you could imagine some servant often did so back in the day trying to peek at a letter that he had no right to read, to satisfy his curiosity with just a few words before smoothing it so the master wouldn’t be able to tell what he had done. With this scroll, with the complete and perfect seal, there was no way to look ahead to know its contents until the one with the right to open it revealed it.

Further, based on Revelation 6-8, which describes the unfolding account of the seven seals being opened, the scroll was probably, in some sense, progressively sealed. Each seal was broken in turn, revealing one event at a time, so perhaps this scroll was rolled up and sealed, rolled up a little more and sealed, until it contained seven seals.

The Scroll Interpreted

As is common throughout the book of Revelation with its many symbols and signs, John did not reveal the significance of the scroll, or exactly what it represented. One commentator who, in my opinion is trustworthy, says it is the title deed for the earth, conveying ownership. Others view it as being the unfolding redemptive plan of God, which naturally results in Christ coming to own or rule over the earth. Regardless of its exact identification, this scroll contains the sovereign, predestined plan of God written out in His hand before the creation of the world; the writing on both sides is set — nothing can change it, the ink is dry.

The plan is determined, but what was written on the scroll was mysterious to us before God revealed it and John shared the revelation. As the seals were broken, the plan unfolded and became clearer and clearer. Thus it is with God sovereign plan — we cannot predict it. It is written before the foundation of the world. Deuteronomy 29:29 says, “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever.” As the seals were broken, the plan of God was revealed successively to us.

The Nature of the Proclamation

After John saw the scroll, he heard the angel’s proclamation in verse 2: “And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, ‘Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?’” The proclamation was a task assigned to a mighty angel, noteworthy for his immense power — he ”proclaim[ed] in a loud voice. The message could be heard all across creation, it seems — a public announcement, meant for everyone to hear. The proclamation was a question, rhetorical and challenging in nature, seeking to identify the One “who is worthy…”

The legend of King Arthur centered around Excalibur, a powerful, magical sword stuck in an anvil, embedded in a boulder. On that sword was inscribed this caption: “Who so pulleth out this sword of this stone and anvil, is right-wise born king of all England.” It was the means of qualifying who had the right to rule over England, as well as identifying who the one person was. The task could be accomplished only by the true and future king of England. Many tried to pull the sword out to no avail. One day a young squire helping his knight Sir Kay prepare for a jousting tournament realized he had forgotten Sir Kay’s sword. He went in search of a sword and found one sticking in a stone which he had never seen before. Without any effort, he pulled it out of the stone and took it to Sir Kay. Sir Kay took him back to the stone, put it back in, and tried unsuccessfully to pull it back out. The squire, who was Arthur, the future King of all England, was able to remove the sword as before, with no effort at all.

That legend gives us a good picture of the spiritual reality of the meaning of the proclamation: whoever could take the scroll from the right hand of Him who sits on the throne will achieve something far greater than we can possibly imagine. He will be the rightful King, not only of one land, and not only for a few decades until he should die. He will be the rightful King of the entire universe for all eternity. He will be the King over all kings, the Lord over all lords.

The Purposes of the Proclamation

The angel accomplished several purposes with his proclamation. First, it displayed the impossibility of just anyone taking the scroll and opening its seals — it was a great and daunting task. Taking the scroll from the right hand of Him who sits on the throne implied the right to rule over Heaven and Earth. Opening the scroll seal by seal implied the right to govern the development of God’s plan for the redemption of His elect and the judgement of sinners on Earth. It was a weighty plan. The rights and privileges of taking this scroll and opening it were greatly dramatized by the pomp and circumstance of the setting and the mighty angel’s loud proclamation.

Second, the purpose of the proclamation was to display the disqualification of all creation from this task. After the angel made his loud, bold proclamation, silence and stillness ensued, and, it seemed, failure. Verse 3: “But no one in Heaven or on earth or under the Earth could open the scroll or even look inside it.” This includes every human being that has ever lived. All of the mightiest emperors are disqualified: Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Caesar Augustus, Genghis Khan, Napoleon. The wisest philosophers are not worthy: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Kant, Descartes, all the great thinkers of the human race. The greatest scientists and inventors are eliminated: Archimedes, Pythagoras, Da Vinci, Newton, Edison, Einstein, every last one of those great scientists and inventors. When I was a student at MIT, there was a wall forming a ring of honor, etched with the names of those who had contributed to the advancement of science, big letters for the big, famous heroes, smaller letters for the lesser known but still significant ones. Many had the ambition of having their names written on the wall someday. Occasionally, someone would do it with a spray can — clearly no honor in that. The authentic names had been there for a century. All of those people are disqualified from the task of opening the scroll.

Even the humble unknowns, unsung heroes of the faith, about whom we as Christians may be more aware but who are mostly anonymous to all but God, are excluded from qualifying: the widow who gave the two copper coins to the synagogue, which was all that she had; all the common, humble, meek, lowly, gentle people are not worthy.

Even the godliest of men throughout scriptural and church history do not meet the criteria: Abel, Enoch, Job, Abraham, Moses, David, Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, John the Baptist, the Apostles, Peter, Paul, the holy martyrs whose blood was shed for the kingdom of Christ, missionaries who left their homes and their families and made immense sacrifice, whose children died from tropical fevers, whose own bodies were broken by their exertion for Christ — all out of love for Christ and love for His kingdom — were all disqualified.

The godly Apostle John himself, who is receiving this revelation, knew very well he did not deserve the honor. He would never have walked forward and taken that scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. You and I are most certainly among the list of those who are disqualified, who are not worthy. Not one of us would be so bold as to start to walk forward across that Heavenly floor to the Heavenly throne to take that scroll from the right hand of God. We are disqualified.

Why is there no one to be found to take the scroll? Romans 3:23 says plainly, “… for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…” We are all sinful, and thus disqualified.

However, I will take it one step further. Even the holy angels, who are not disqualified because of sin, are not worthy to take the scroll: the seraphim in Isaiah 6, for example, who are holy, have never violated any of God’s laws and have only passionately served him with all of their being, are not worthy. They are created beings and did not shed their blood to atone for sinners. Not one man, woman, child, angel, demon, living creature or being of any kind has the right to step forward and take that scroll from the right hand of Him who sits on the throne. Here the entire human race finds its humility: we are simply not worthy to take the scroll, much less to open it or to look inside.

The third reason for the proclamation was to heighten John’s sense, and through him, our sense of grief and perhaps anticipation. Verse 4: “I wept and wept, because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside.” This was an appropriate reaction to the apparent fact that no one was able to take the weighty word of God to administer His rule over the Earth. He had a sense that someone needed to do this, and experienced grief over the loss that resulted.

Fourth, the proclamation ultimately displayed the greatness of Christ. This was the primary intent of the angel, to put Christ front and center. This futile search in Heaven and earth and under the earth served to heighten the greatness of the one who finally did boldly stride up to the throne to take the scroll from the right hand of Almighty God. The angel’s proclamation and the resulting unworthiness of the entire universe emphasized the infinite worthiness of Christ, as we see in verse 5: “Then one of the Elders said to me, ‘Do not weep. [Behold] the Lion [Isn’t that powerful?] of the Tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.” This was the lion who had triumphed and would have some terrifying great appearance and display of dreadful, overwhelming power.

One recurring aspect of John’s vision is that there was often a difference between what he heard and what he saw. It is an interesting interpretive theme — I invite you explore and study these things for yourself. Here, it is instructive and helpful: he hears about a lion, but he sees a lamb looking as if it had been slain. This is powerful: If you had been alive in Jesus’ day, would you have seen a mighty eternal lion ruling over Heaven and Earth and under the earth? Even more, as he was dying on the cross, would you have seen glory? Though there was glory in His life and in His death, you would not have seen it except with eyes of faith. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him; he had nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. We must be instructed about His greatness by the Word. If you had seen him only with the eye, he would have looked like a dead Jewish carpenter on a cross.

But we know the truth; we know who he really is. In verse 6, we have this shocking word: “Then I saw a lamb, looking as if it had been slain.” John’s conquering hero, the one who had the right to open the scroll, was a lamb. First and foremost for us, He is a lamb on the cross.

The Lamb Predestined

We are told later in the Book of Revelation that this lamb was predestined before the foundation of the world. Revelation 13:8 calls him, “…the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.” He was chosen by God the Father for this role to be the Lamb from before the foundation of the world. Before God said, “Let there be light,” the Father and the Son made this covenant — the Son would be the Lamb who would die for the sins of the world. God worked out the salvation plan in its entirety, to its last detail, before the world began. He did not “work it out” in a human sense, studying the problem, after it had arisen, from all angles, considering and selecting from among possible solutions. There was only one solution to the problem which God foreknew before He made the world, and the solution likewise had its origin with God.

The Lamb Predicted

Then, from the beginning of time, through unfolding centuries of redemptive history, God planted prophecies into His spoken Word through His chosen prophets and apostles. He provided predictions about this Lamb who would come and die for the sins of the world. In Genesis 49, Jacob blessed his sons as he was nearing the end of his life. Typically the eldest son would be the one who held the place of highest honor and blessing from the father. However, Jacob reserved the greatest blessing for Judah, the fourth of his sons, honoring him with these prophetic words: “Judah is a lion’s cub; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down; he crouched as a lion and as a lioness; who dares rouse him? The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.” As we look back with knowledge, we see a prophecy of Jesus. All they understood then was that somehow a descendant of Judah would come who would deserve to rule over the nations. Now we know that Jesus is that Lion of the tribe of Judah.

He is also called the Root of David. We see in Jeremiah 23:5-6, again centuries before Jesus was born, this prophecy: “‘The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The Lord our Righteousness.’” Jesus is the Branch or the Root of David, and He has also been given this name: The Lord our Righteousness.

Prophecy identified him beforehand, but to understand the significance of the Lamb who was slain, we must understand the animal sacrificial system. In the Garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve sinned, their eyes were opened to realize their nakedness, and they tried to cover themselves, inadequately, with fig leaves. Instead, God killed an animal and made garments of skin for them to cover their nakedness. This was a predictive picture of redemption, of imputed righteousness through sacrifice of an innocent animal, but was temporary and meant only to foreshadow the permanent gift of righteousness later given by Christ on the cross. Animal sacrifice was later commanded by God and became firmly established in Jewish history. Noah offered up some of the clean animals after the flood and the fragrant offering went up before God. Abraham and Isaac and Jacob offered up animal sacrifices. Moses established and codified the practice to cover the sins of the Jewish nation.

Through the Levitical priesthood, the administration of animal sacrifices at the tabernacle and the temple repeatedly depicted three lessons. First, all sin deserves the death penalty — there is no other way to interpret the fact that an animal died and had its blood poured out. Second, the death penalty can be paid by a substitute — the priest would put his hands on the head of the animal and confess the sins of the people to transfer their guilt. The animal would die and the people would go home alive. Third and most important, the substitute cannot be an animal — the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away human sin. The whole thing was meant to be a symbol, a lived-out prophetic picture of what was to come, not a permanent removal of sin.

The Lamb Presented

The Lamb was predestined, the Lamb was predicted, and then at the right time, the Lamb was presented. Christ was born of the Virgin Mary, sinless. He grew up away from the public eye until He was ready to be presented to Israel and to the world as the Messiah. This happened at the Jordan River where John the Baptist was carrying on his prophetic ministry, baptizing people for repentance with water. He saw Jesus coming toward him, pointed at Him, and said, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

He was presented to Israel in that manner, but most significantly, God presented Christ to His human enemies and then to Himself for our redemption. Romans 3:23-25 says, “God presented [Jesus] a sacrifice of atonement [propitiation], through faith in His blood.” He presented Him for death at the human level to the Jews and the Romans, but then ultimately He presented Him to Himself to pay for our sins — the Lamb of God.

The Lamb Punished

Finally, He was the Lamb punished. Three phrases speak of the punishment of the Lamb. Verse 6: “Then I saw a lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne.” Verse 9: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God.” Verse 12: “In a loud voice, they sang: ‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!’”  It is as though Heaven is obsessed with the bloody death of this Lamb.

The doctrine is clear here: The essence of Christ’s lamb-like behavior was that he allowed himself to be slain. No one took His life from Him, but He laid it down freely. What a mystery! Almighty God in the flesh, the Creator of the universe, with more power in His hand than the power of all human emperors throughout human history multiplied by more than a billion — inconceivable power — meekly submitted to arrest, an unjust trial, mocking, spitting, beatings, flogging, humiliation down the streets of Jerusalem, the hideously painful death on the cross in full view of the citizens of Israel. How could He be so lamb-like to submit to such treatment, restraining and suspending His power so meekly? How could He behaved so weakly? How could He allow these sinners to mock Him while He suffered for others on the cross?

Isaiah 53, written centuries prior, answers these questions. Isaiah 53:5-7 says, “He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him and by His wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”

The Lamb on the cross was truly a Lion on our behalf, destroying sin, crushing death, tearing apart Satan’s dark kingdom as a lion would rip apart his prey. Jesus was as savage as any lion has ever been. But in from a human perspective, it required the meekness of a lamb. This was the lamb’s punishment, though not for anything He had done. He had committed no sin; there was no deceit in His mouth. No, He did this for things that we had done; He did it for the sins of the world, the wretchedness of all of God’s children who would ever believe in Him to take away their sins.

The Lamb’s Purchase

We see the lamb’s purchase in Verse 9: “And they sang a new song: ‘You are worthy to take the scroll and open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.” This is the purpose of the Lamb’s sacrifice — to make an infinitely costly purchase, to buy sinners out of slavery to sin, out of Satan’s dark kingdom, out of death and Hell. With His blood, he purchased sinners — people like you and me, bought out of slavery by the payment of a blood price — purchased by the price of His blood. These sinners were purchased to be God’s own possession, from every tribe and language and people and nation, from all over the world.

The Nature of the Lion

Throughout Scripture, lions are portrayed as terrifying foes — 600 pounds of muscle and ferocity, utterly fearless and merciless. They dominate everything that surrounds them. They advance and never retreat. They tear their victims limb from limb. Their roar can be heard five miles away. Isaiah talks about a lion approaching with multiple shepherds gathered around, banging their sticks and yelling. The lion was not deterred at all, not impressed with their noise, just prowling, waiting for the right moment to pounce and devour and win. This is the picture to keep in mind as we see Jesus, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, attacking sin and death.

The Triumph of the Lion

This Lion was triumphant. Verse 5 says, “Then one of the elders said to me, ‘Do not weep! [Behold], the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.’” He has won a victory and conquered His enemies. His fierce adversary has been defeated, utterly vanquished, and the plunder is His to take. He has earned the right to take the scroll and open its seven seals. This triumph is nothing less than Jesus’ triumph at the cross and at the empty tomb — victory over Satan, demons, death and the grave. In John’s Gospel when Jesus says, “It is finished!” He was giving a victor’s cry — everything needed for our redemption was accomplished at that moment. This was the lion’s roar from the cross. The spoils of victory are evident in verse 7: “He came and took the scroll from the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.”

The Power of the Lion

Verse 6 depicts the power of the Lion: “He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.” This is clearly symbolic language. The horns represent kingly power and might, power to conquer and rule. The number seven represents perfection and completeness. The seven horns, then, show us Christ’s perfect power, or omnipotence. He had seven eyes. The eye is the lamp of the body; with it, we gain knowledge, the whole body is full of light, truth flows in, and we are able to see what is around us. Seven eyes, then, shows us perfect and complete knowledge, or omniscience. The seven spirits of God, as we have noted before, can more accurately be called the sevenfold Spirit. This presents the ministry of the Holy Spirit, which administers the power of Jesus to individuals. By the Holy Spirit of God, Christ extends His presence and His power everywhere, all over the entire globe. The Holy Spirit brings Jesus to us the way that Jesus brought the Father to us. Thus the Spirit is able to fulfill Jesus’ promise to individual members of the church who are going all over the world to preach the Gospel: “Behold, I will be with you always, even to the ends of the Earth.” He brings perfect presence, or omnipresence. Omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence are divine attributes.

The Position of the Lion

Note the position of the Lamb in verse 6: “Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders.” He stood in the center of the throne. Who would ever have the right to do that except Almighty God? Who can share the throne but God Himself? Here we have the mystery of the Trinity: the Father and the Son equally God. Christ shares the highest place with His Heavenly Father, Almighty God.

This image is strengthened later in verse 13, where we see the Lamb being worshiped:“To Him who sits on the throne and to the lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, forever and ever!” The lamb was receiving equal worship with the Father, Almighty God. This is the doctrine of the Trinity: Father, Son, and Spirit, equally worshipped as God.

The Lasting Image:  Lamb not Lion

He is a Lion on the throne, but the image that remains is that of a Lamb. This is a mystery. Perhaps the sermon is mis-titled, “Lamb on The Cross, Lion on the Throne.” As far as I can see, Jesus is never again called Lion in the book of Revelation, but He is called Lamb 29 more times. This is fascinating, given that He behaves like a lion through the whole book, terrifying to His enemies. But the Book of Revelation was written not to Jesus’ enemies but to His children, His servants, those who love Him; it is for their benefit that John maintained this image. Multiple verses speak of the throne of God and of the Lamb; as the deity of Christ established again, it is always as the Lamb.

Even when He is terrifying His enemies, like ripping the universe to shreds when the six seal is opened: Revelation 6:15-17: “Then the kings of the Earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. They called to the mountains and the rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?’” If it weren't so awesome and terrifying, the picture would be laughable. The wrath of a lamb? Imagine a lamb doing its best to be angry; it would elicit a humorous and sarcastic response: “Wow, what a fierce and terrifying lamb. I need to run for my life.”

Why such a mysterious and odd phrase, “the wrath of the lamb”? Here is a thought: To our enemies, He is nothing but lion, but to us, the elect, His children, He is always tenderhearted, merciful, lowly, and meek in everything He does. Think of CS Lewis’ choice of Aslan as a lion, but he always lamb-like, gentle and tender, in his interactions with the Pevensie children in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. In that story, it would have been hard to picture a lamb acting lion-like, but John did see the exact opposite, always the lamb acting as a lion against His enemies.

Worship:  “You Are Worthy…”

Now, this Lion and Lamb was worthy of universal and eternal worship. In verse 9, when He took that scroll from the right hand of God, indescribable worship and praise began to flow: “And they sang a new song: ‘You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals…’”

Universal Worship

The central issue of worship is the worthiness of the one whom we worship. In Revelation 4, we see the worthiness of God, the Creator: “You are worthy because you created all things.” Now, in Revelation 5, we see why Jesus is worthy: “You are worthy, Jesus, because you shed Your blood.” The worship poured out and cascaded and grew, starting with the four living creatures. He is the only one in history who was qualified to take the scroll from the right hand of God Almighty. Then the twenty-four elders, holding harps for music and bowls full of incense, began to worship. Then 100 million angels surrounding the throne took up His praise. Finally, every created thing in Heaven, on Earth, under the Earth, in the sea — everything that exists — took up the theme and joined in. This is universal worship, well-earned by Jesus Christ.

Worship Based on Christ’s Accomplishment

He is worthy based on His accomplishments. Verses 9-10 say, “And they sang a new song: ‘You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. [That is why you are worthy.] You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.’”

So Jesus’ death on the cross and His resurrection victory were the greatest achievement in human history. He deserves to be praised for it. His blood the most infinitely precious substance that ever existed. Its power to cleanse us of our sins is infinite. There is no sin you have ever committed or ever will commit that the blood of Jesus is insufficient to cleanse you from. By it a countless multitude from every tribe and nation was purchased to be God’s own special possession.

The power of Christ’s ministry is infinite because it forever changes our future. We deserved eternal torment in Hell, and instead He has made us to be a kingdom and priests for God. We will reign on the New Earth; the New Heaven and the New Earth will be a beautiful realm of perfect nature, the eternal home of righteousness. We will rule like kings and queens under His perfect rule forever.

Eternal Worship

We see universal and eternal worship in verses 13-14: “Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: ‘To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, forever and ever! [It’s universal and eternal worship.] The four living creatures said, ‘Amen,’ And the elders fell down and worshiped.” In Christ, it will be our privilege to worship Him for all eternity. Jesus, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Lamb of God, whose blood atoned for our sins, will be eternally worthy of our praise.

Come to Christ… Know Him as LAMB so you need not fear Him as LION

Let us now apply what we have learned from our text today:

First, to anyone here who is outside of Christ, perhaps you came for the baby dedication, perhaps you do not claim to be a Christian, or perhaps you are a nominal Christian (you go to church but you do not really have a relationship with God, you have not really been walking out your life giving Him control and praise and glory): This time in history is an era of grace, of amnesty, in which the king is extending to us who have sinned against Him a pardon — free to any who will simply repent of, or turn away from, their sins and believe in Jesus. Today you have heard about the greatness of Christ; you have heard an explanation of substitutionary atonement by His blood. I have proclaimed His resurrection from the dead. You need no additional knowledge to turn away from sin, to turn toward Christ — if you ask Him, He will save you from your sins. Full atonement for all sin is available in the death of Jesus Christ. He is the Lamb of God, whose takes away the sin of the world. His blood is infinitely precious. His manner with repentant sinners is infinitely gentle.

Anticipate His Full Glory Being Revealed to You

Second, for all who are Christians, I urge you to anticipate. Remember that our perspective is like that of looking through a telescope at Saturn’s rings. Today was exegesis, an explanation of words. How much better will it be to grasp the meaning of these words face to face, when we are no longer looking through a glass darkly — to see the full glory of the resurrected Christ looking like a lamb that has been slain, the innocent sacrifice for our sins. We will see the full display of His lion-like power throughout redemptive history. In our interactions with Him we will see just how lamb-like and tender He is toward us. We will see the two qualities juxtaposed, knowing He could have been a lion to each of us. His lamb-like demeanor will be all the more precious knowing we deserved Hell but receive Heaven instead. We will have a sense of the great depths of our sin — of exactly how much we have been forgiven and what we have been freed from, and how infinitely joyful we are as a result. For this purpose, we will remember our sin, but without any shame or grief or misery. We will bask in His work for us. We will fall down in His presence and be overcome with emotion and feel a burning ardor of love and admiration for Him that will grow and grow over time. We will worship Him forever.

Thank Him NOW for His Sacrificial Death and His Powerful Resurrection

Thank and praise Him now, today, for His sacrificial death for you. No doubt you have already done this, perhaps even many times already today. Do it again. Thank you Jesus for dying for me. Thank you for giving Your blood for me. Thank you. For you, He is a gentle Lamb. For your great enemy death, His is a terrifying Lion.

Jonathan Edwards: Marvel at the Wondrously Diverse Excellencies of Christ

In 1738, Jonathan Edwards preached one of the greatest sermons in American history, in my opinion, using this text, Revelation 5, called “The Excellency of Christ.” I urge you to read it; it is free online. He meditated on the Lion and Lamb dichotomy. He preached, “There is an admirable conjunction [or joining together] of very diverse excellencies in Jesus Christ.” In other words, Christ is overwhelmingly worthy of worship because he has perfect attributes, diverse and seemingly contradictory, as part of His essence. In this way, Christ holds our attention and is forever worthy of worship.

For example, we see His infinite highness and His infinite condescension. He has gone through the Heavens into the highest of the Heavenly realms. He has the right to sit at the right hand of the Almighty God. The Seraphim cover their faces before Him. He is infinitely elevated above creation. And yet, He shows infinite condescension. He lowers Himself to be with people who are beneath Him. None are so low or inferior but that Christ’s condescension cannot reach lower still.

He delights to be with perfect and holy creatures like the Cherubim and Seraphim, who never sin. That in itself is an infinite gap through which He lowers Himself to interact with them. The angels love Him. They are involved at His resurrection. They desire to look into what He is doing. One angel, later in Revelation, tells John, “We are fellow servants with you.” They have a relationship with Jesus.

He stoops lower than that. He condescends to be with human beings who are flesh and blood. He lowers Himself below the depths of our imagination to lift up the lowest on earth who call on His name. We see in 1 Corinthians 1:28 that “God chose the lowly things of this world, and the despised things — and the things that are not — to nullify the things that are…” In God’s eyes, in Christ there is neither Barbarian, Scythian, slave, or free — human distinctions do not matter. Those who are rejected by the world or thought little of — children, the poor, outcasts, widows and orphans — will be elevated in His eternal kingdom. He loved to be with children and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them.” Beyond even that, He is willing to associate with rebels and sinners who have violated His laws.

Another example of His “diverse excellencies” in the book of Revelation is His infinite justice: we will see in future weeks how committed He is to exact justice, and yet how incredibly merciful He is willing to be. We will spend eternity celebrating this lion who went to the cross for us and who for us always is tender-hearted, gentle, and patient. The more we can meditate on Him now, the richer and fuller our worship will be this side of Heaven.

Close with me in prayer. Father we thank you for the study we have had today and the greatness of the person of Christ. Oh Lord, I pray that you would take this text that we have studied today and open it up to us. Help us to see with the eyes of faith. Help the eyes of our hearts to be enlightened to see the greatness of Christ and to esteem Him properly. Help us to be moved, even melted, by how meek and lowly and condescending He has been to us, He who is infinitely above all creation. Help us to realize He will fight for us as a mighty lion against all of our enemies and we need fear nothing, but we can rest in His shadow and know we are protected. Toward us He will always be tenderhearted and gentle and merciful. He is meek and lowly of heart. Help us to remember that we can come to Him and lean on Him and rest. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

I cannot wait to preach this sermon. I have had a rising feeling of electric excitement all morning in anticipation of unfolding this incredible chapter of Scripture with you.

I have said that many times before that faith is the eyesight of the soul. By faith, we are able to see into invisible spiritual realms with the same level of clarity, though different in nature, that physical vision gives us of the physical world.

On some level we have a constant awareness that we are surrounded by the glory of God in the visible, physical realms — in the radiant glory of a sunrise or a sunset; in the pounding of the surf along the coastline, especially after a big storm; in a hurricane or other large-scale natural event; in the grandeur of trees that soar 100 feet up above the forest floor; in the intricacies of a little wild flower that seems insignificant but contains perfect symmetry and beauty. God has woven beauty and power and wisdom and love into all of these things; the sights and sounds of creation testify to the existence and wisdom and goodness and power of a Creator. God, who made all things, chose to display His invisible attributes in creation. That glory streams into us, mostly by our eyesight, but through all our senses. John Calvin called physical creation the “theater of God’s glory.” God is putting on a show of His glorious nature all the time.

Normal vision which healthy eyes present to our minds of the glories of God in creation is similar to a higher vision, that of faith, which Almighty God grants to believers. The vision of faith is the ability to see not only the physical worlds as created by an invisible Creator so we see it differently, but also to see a spiritual realm beyond the barrier between us and that world. By faith we are able to penetrate the realm in which He lives, in which He rules, in which He is continually worshipped. This spiritual vision is granted as a gift by the sovereign grace of God. It is based on Scripture. Faith comes by hearing the word, which testifies to us of the invisible realms of the Spirit world that is soaring infinitely above us all.

This spiritual vision of faith is what will allow us to follow the Apostle John on an incredible journey that he took almost two millennia ago. John describes a stunning miraculous journey by the Spirit, from the surface of the earth, upward through the realms of the atmosphere, through a mysterious doorway, into the very throne room of God. We, by faith, will follow him to see what he saw. From that lofty heavenly perspective, we will see the earth and all of its events, including our own lives, in a wholly different light, with a new perspective. We ourselves will be humbled, if we read and listen rightly. We will be empowered to serve Him with great courage and energy rather than fearing man or any of our enemies, including Satan and his demons. We will be empowered to do great things that will last and have significance for all eternity.

The rest of the Book of Revelation will unfold from this heavenly perspective. Revelation 4-5 — amazing chapters — should be read as one unit. They give us an unprecedented glimpse into the throne room of God and the purpose of all creation, which is the worship of God the Creator in all His glory —His infinitely majestic person and His astonishingly great achievements. That is why we exist, that we might worship such a God. Revelation 4 focuses on God the Creator, and Revelation 5 exalts Christ the Redeemer. Creation and redemption together form redemptive history. Both these visions will culminate in heavenly worship and will invite us up out of our immediate mundane lives to be lifted up by faith, through the Spirit, into the heavenly realms, so that we might render to God a sacrifice of praise of worship continually, even while living our earthly lives.

Revelation 4:11 ends with these words: “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.” Revelation 5:9-10 ends these words: “And they sang a new song: ‘You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.” Both chapters end in worship, and they both flow from the worth of the one being praised — of God, the Creator and of Christ the Redeemer. The essence of worship is the worthiness of the one being worshiped. The old English word “worship” is really “worth-ship”. These two chapters impart a deep sense of the worthiness of God and Christ.

“After this”

These two chapters begin with a timeless invitation through the Holy Spirit to join the Apostle John on a spiritual flight, a journey no one had ever made or described before. The invitation is given: “Come up here”  —  an invitation into the heavenly realms. Verse 1 says, “After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in Heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, ‘Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.’” It starts with these words, “after this” referring to the vision of Revelation 1-3; Revelation 4 introduces the next vision.

Let us first review those three chapters: The Apostle John was in exile on the Island of Patmos because of his faithful, bold proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as a tender shepherd of the churches of Christ. He was punished by exile, not by death, on the rocky island of Patmos, off the coast of Asia Minor, modern day Turkey. He was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, worshiping, when he heard a voice behind him like a trumpet. When he turned around, he saw the resurrected, glorified Christ, radiant, moving among seven golden lampstands, which represented seven real local churches in Asia Minor: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. Jesus’ movement among them represents His ongoing care for local churches, with the number seven representing perfection throughout the Bible. In this part of John’s vision, He is communicating that He cares for every local church, though the letters specifically focus on these seven.

In Revelation 2-3, we have His direct addresses to the seven churches, through which He speaks to all churches through time. We know this because each of the seven letters ends with the same command, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says [collectively] to the churches.” The first vision is established, from which will flow myriad mysteries as the continuing vision unfolds. The ultimate point of John’s vision and the book of Revelation is the glory of God and the salvation of His people — the preparation of the church of Jesus Christ for final perfection in glory, free from all sin. It is right for us to begin with Christ and His church, because that is the point of everything that the Lord is doing in redemptive history.

What John Saw: An OPEN DOOR in Heaven

After the first vision, what did John see? He says, “Behold.” First, he instructs us to “Behold the door” and soon after, “Behold, the throne.” As a reminder, the word “Behold” imparts a sense of unveiling or revelation. In other words, John was describing something that he had never seen before, and suddenly now he was seeing it. Verse 1: “After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in Heaven.” The word “door” indicates a passageway into the heavenly realms, and the door was standing open for him. Isaiah 64 says, “O that you would rend the heavens and come down.” When Jesus was baptized, there was a tearing of the heavens. It seems, then, that there is a type of membrane or barrier between the physical, five-sense world that we live in and perceive as reality, and the spiritual realm beyond it that cannot be perceived by science or the five senses but which believers know by faith is there. There are many more verses that speak to this barrier. In this wall, this barrier, suddenly, behold, John sees an open door, lofty, above him up in the heavens. This is a picture of the infinite loftiness of God. Though God is certainly omnipresent —  below us, around us, in us — He is above us positionally, greater than us, ruling all over us, authoritative. When Jesus prayed, He looked up. John sees a lofty door into Heaven above him.

What John Heard: A Voice Like a Trumpet

What did John hear? Verse 1 also tells us, “… and the voice I had first heard speaking to me like trumpet, said, ‘Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.’” In addition to the vision of the open door, John hears a powerful invitation from the voice that had first spoken to him. We read this to be the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ, because when John turned around, he saw Jesus, and there is a strong implication in those verses that the one he saw was the one who had spoken. John says “the voice … speaking to me like a trumpet,” giving the sense of it being loud and clear and piercing.

The Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14:8, “… if the trumpet does not sound a clear call, who will get ready for battle?” The voice John hears possesses clarity and volume, and perhaps beauty and musicality. Jesus alone, as the Son of Man, can give this invitation to “come up here” to mortals. The command is clear. It is an invitation from Jesus Christ to a sinful human being to rise up and leave the surface of planet earth and come to Heaven to partake in the heavenly life. Notice also the promise that Jesus gives: “I will show you what must take place after this.” We have noted many times before, especially as we studied the book of Isaiah, that only God knows the future, because only God can decree, announce, proclaim, or in human terms, predict the future. When Jesus makes this promise, he is not speculating about what might take place but is declaring what most certainly will take place.

God is a king. His kingly sovereignty is the key to His predictive power. In Isaiah, God frequently declares His sovereign power over the nations; He challenged the idols to predict the future but they could not, because God alone is sovereign. God rules over all the nations, not just some of them. He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and all of its people are like grasshoppers. God’s throne is mighty. The nations are like a drop from the bucket and like dust on the scales. He says in Isaiah 14:26-27, “This is the plan determined for the whole world; this is the hand stretched out over all nations. For the Lord Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him? His hand is stretched out, and who is able to turn it back?” God has a plan, and He has sovereign power.

The Book of Revelation speaks in great detail about the things which must take place “after this”. We are presented with a great deal of prophecy about the future in Revelation. We will see the terrible future of the final phase of human sin and rebellion against God the king, culminating in the wickedness and the blasphemous reign of Antichrist, who will somehow try to take the place of God enthroned and demand worship as God. We will see the terrible future of the Great Tribulation, a time of distress unlike any seen before in history which will be poured out on planet earth, consisting of devastating plagues and judgments displaying clearly the wrath of God. We will see the clear prediction of the Second Coming of Christ in great power and glory to destroy His enemies in justified wrath, and to judge all the earth. We will see the thousand years, the new Heaven, the new earth, the eternal state, Heaven and hell, all of these future events.

The Power of the Spirit

Jesus has given John an invitation, or more accurately, a command, to do something which John has no native power to do. He tells John to rise from the surface of the earth and go through a doorway, standing far above him, and to enter the heavenly realms. John cannot obey this command unaided. Therefore, God sends the Holy Spirit to lift him up. He says in verse 2, “At once I was in the Spirit…” This is very much like the Spirit journeys taken by the prophet Ezekiel during his ministry. Ezekiel 8:3 says, “He stretched out what looked like a hand and took me my by the hair of my head. [I have always found that interesting.] The Spirit lifted me up between earth and Heaven, and in visions of God he took me to Jerusalem.” This demonstrates the same kind of experience, a Spirit journey with spiritual vision.

The First Thing John Sees: A Throne in Heaven… and Someone Seated On It

Verse 2 continues: “At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me […Behold!] was a throne in Heaven with someone sitting on it.” We have come at last to the glowing center of the universe, Almighty God on His throne — the center of everything. It is the first thing John saw. Again the concept of something new— “Behold!” — a throne in Heaven and one seated on it. There are abundant stories told by people claiming to have had near-death experiences, in which they encounter a tunnel of light or other surreal or supernatural visions. Scripture does not lend its authority to these experiences, so I remain skeptical when I hear these accounts; I certainly would not build a theology around the concept. Other religions have their own vision of Heaven. Islam depicts a paradise for men, with virgins feeding them grapes piled on silver platters. For Christians, John has given us our vision of Heaven, which is God enthroned.

The Bible gives only a few visions of Heaven. Ezekiel presents one in Ezekiel 1 that stretches language to the absolute breaking point. I will not read it now but I encourage you to read it this afternoon — you will read about wheels within wheels, coals and fire, an expanse above him and a throne above that. You get the sense that Ezekiel was wrestling with finding accurate words to describe what he was seeing. In Daniel 7, Daniel describes a clear and powerful vision very similar to the one we will study today. (There is a strong connection between the book of Daniel and the book of Revelation.) The Apostle Paul was caught up to the   Third Heaven one day, where he heard “…inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell.” He saw a vision of Heaven, but he was not allowed to talk about it. (I find that fascinating. Can you imagine how hard that would be? “What did you see, Paul?” “I can't tell you.”) It is amazing that John, on the other hand, was allowed to describe what he saw through the Spirit. He described for us what is the most important reality in the universe — the awesome truth that there is one God and He sits on a throne of power, ruling over Heaven and earth.

The Central Reality of Heaven… of Earth… of the Future… and of Your Life

This is the central reality of Heaven, of earth, of the past, of the present and of the future, and should be the central reality of your life as well. Nothing is more important than God enthroned. As we shall see the word “throne” is mentioned 38 times in the book of Revelation. Seventeen of those references are in these two chapters, Revelation 4-5. It is as though God’s first order of business is to establish His clear sovereignty over all the dreadful and glorious events that will be unfolded in the coming chapters. God enthroned is the central reality of Heaven, and the inhabitants of Heaven all know and worship God for this fact. God enthroned is the central reality of the unfolding history of earth, but the rebellious human inhabitants of earth deny almost universally this fact. They are either indifferent to God enthroned or hostile to Him. God enthroned should be the central reality of every day, every moment: of your marriage, your family, your career, your time, your studies as a student, your life as a teenager. The throne of God should be the center of everything. Is God enthroned in the center of your life? I encourage you to think honestly about the answer to this question.

God is Described in His Blinding Glory

Imagine the challenge John faced trying to put into words what he saw surrounding the throne, coming from the throne, and before the throne. Thanks be to God for plenary verbal inspiration through the Holy Spirit. We can imagine the Holy Spirit saying, “Here John, try these words.” Verse 3 says, “And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian. A rainbow, resembling an emerald, encircled the throne.” Unlike Paul, John is allowed to try to describe God in His blinding glory, to put his vision into words, but the description is brief  and somewhat elusive and puzzling. In a nutshell, overpowering light and overpowering sound seem to sum up his sensory experience. Jasper is as a polished stone of pure internal color, often with a transparent layer and usually green or red, emanating intense, fierce light. Carnelian is a fiery red stone which perhaps depicts the wrath of God, or even the blood of Christ. John also sees an unusual rainbow surrounding the throne, resembling an emerald, predominately green. I am not sure how to make sense of this, but one scholar said that green might remind us of the vegetation on which all life depends, and God as Creator is a dominant theme of this chapter. Another scholar pointed out that green and red are the predominant colors of the rainbow, and if God Himself gave the appearance of green and red stones, His brilliant reflection might have shown up as a glittering, transparent green from John’s perspective. There are many theories, but we can say that John saw radiant, unfathomable glory and majesty when he looked at the throne.

Surrounding the Throne

John next presents the image of a continuous encirclement of the throne. He clearly depicts the centrality of God in Heaven — everything is focused on and revolves around Him. Consider the sun as the center of the solar system: it has 330,000 times more mass than Earth and 1,100 times more than the second most massive thing in the solar system, the planet Jupiter. Altogether, the sun has 99.8% of all the mass in the solar system, holding everything in its orbit with its irresistible gravitational pull. In Heaven, we will have that same sense of orbit and pull, with concentric circles around the throne of God as the center of all the succeeding events.

Around the throne are twenty-four other thrones. Verse 4 says, “Surrounding the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on them, were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads.” A person seated on a throne with a crown evokes kingship. These are created beings, invested by God with the right to rule within spheres of influence and authority delegated to them by God. Here is a true picture of the beautiful phrase “King of kings and Lord of lords.” God is the King with a capital “K”, and there are kings with a lower case “k” around the throne. Delegation of power is central to the way God chooses to rule His universe. He does not need the twenty-four elders to do these jobs he has assigned to them; He is not dependent on anyone for anything. He needs no one to serve Him, because He Himself gives all men life and breath and all that they have. He does not need them but chooses to delegate His authority and power to them.

Who are these twenty-four elders? There are many theories. (I will claim a sanctified “I don't know” many times over the next number of weeks and months as we work our way through this book, but I will do my best to interpret the symbols we encounter.) The theories include identifying these elders as archangels, exalted Old Testament saints, angels representing both Old and New Testament saints, Old and New Testament saints themselves, which the number twenty-four lends support to — the patriarchs of the twelve tribes of Israel from the old and the twelve apostles of the new. We do not know for sure. It is not likely that they are angels — angels do not age but these twenty-four seem to have an appearance of age and experience and are called “elders”. Their white robes imply the clothing of righteousness and purity, given to the redeemed later in the book of Revelation. Their crowns imply authority but also achievement and an innate glory. They are not independent, but they have their own glory, power, achievements and purity. For the purpose of understanding Revelation, it does not much matter who they are — that will be revealed to us in due time — but to some degree they represent all of us. They are created beings around the throne, and we have a connection with them, even though we are ourselves are not seated on one of those twenty-four thrones. Those crowns and their position on the thrones give them an opportunity to give a unique gift of worship to God, which we will discuss in a moment.

The Sights and Sounds Emanating from the Throne

John also describes the sights and sounds emanating from the throne. He says in verse 5, “From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder.” These signs are repeated several times in the book of Revelation. It imparts a sense of the awesome power of God which is meant to evoke dread and terror — He is ready to respond with judgement for any who would oppose Him in an eternal way. It reminds me of a hot, windy, late afternoon in August a few years ago. I was at home in Bahama when an awesome electrical storm gathered in the area. I love a good storm. I was standing out on the stoop of the door of our house when suddenly, right in front of me and around me, there was a strange smell in the air, followed closely by an almost simultaneous combination of a blue-white lightning flash and a deep-throated, “Boom!” that resonated inside my chest cavity and seemed to engulf me where I stood. As I said, I like a good storm, but that was a little too good for me. I was inside in a split second, thinking, “If I watch the show, I might soon become part of the show.”

God used these same sights and sounds at Mount Sinai to terrify the Jewish nation. It says in Exodus 19:16, “On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled.” Hebrews 12:21 comments further on this: “The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, ‘I am trembling with fear!’” He and the Israelites were in absolute terror, and that is what emanates from the throne in John’s vision.

The Spirit of God

Verse 5 says next, “Before the throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God.” Perhaps a better translation is “the sevenfold Spirit of God.” This is the same blazing representation of the Holy Spirit of God that we have seen before. It is not a flickering candle, like a sevenfold menorah, but seven raging torches, burning together as one to make the sevenfold fire of the Holy Spirit. The number seven is the number of perfection. By that light, the Holy Spirit is saying, “Apart from me, you, readers would know nothing about this.” By the revelation of the Holy Spirit alone can we see the light of the glory of God in Heaven now. Though for now we see through a glass darkly, the light that we do see comes by the ministry of the Holy Spirit through the written word of God.

The Sea of Glass

Verse 6 says, “Also before the throne there was what looked a sea of glass, clear as crystal.” The sea was a source of terror to the Israelites — they were pure land-lovers. Look at the Book of Jonah: one scholar pointed out that in the Hebrew, Jonah does not use proper technical nautical terms; reading it in Hebrew is reported to be humorous. This scholars explanation was that the Israelites were simply land-lovers. They had a deep abiding fear of the ocean because of the great unknown. To them, the ocean was a deep, dark, unfathomable, terrifying abyss, from which beasts like Leviathan emerge. Daniel 7 depicts a dark, churning sea out of which successively come four great beasts which represent four world-dominating empires, one after the other. We see the same image in Revelation 13 as the dragon Satan stands by the shore of a turbulent, wind-ripped, churning sea and calls forth the final beast from the Daniel 7 empires, who is the Antichrist. It is reasonable to understand that sea as humanity, billions and billions of people — peoples, nations, tribes, languages — in a churning rebellion and disorder, fighting against Almighty God. Isaiah 57:20-21 says, “But the wicked are like a tossing sea, which cannot rest, whose waves cast up mire and mud. ‘There is no peace,’ says my God, ‘for the wicked.’”

In contrast, the sea before the throne of God is as placid as a mill pond, absolutely flat and still, like a mirror, reflecting His radiant glory. It shows the power of Almighty God to pacify the nations as He will, to subdue their rebellion, to cause them in  to be placid. Such power reflects His own glory, as when Jesus was awakened by His disciples in the midst of the raging storm, stood up, stretched out His hand and commanded the wind and waves, “Peace, be still.” There was immediate obedience to His command.

The Living Creatures

Verses 6-8 describe the living creatures: “In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings.” These amazing spiritual creatures are mysterious and awesome. The symbolism is not completely clear. John describes them, but it is not clear whether we are meant to interpret them or simply accept their appearance as he has presented it. In a way, it is like trying to figure out why a person’s ears or nose look a certain way; generally, we tend to accept appearances rather than attempting to analyze meaning behind someone’s appearance. However, it is reasonable for us to attempt to interpret the appearance of these creatures since interpretation is a part of reading the book of Revelation. Keep in mind that while we may attempt to interpret the meaning of their appearance, we cannot know with certainty what the Lord has not clearly revealed; we can make our best attempt based on what He did make clear to John.

Because this chapter celebrates God’s awesome work as Creator, it is likely that these noteworthy beings represent different orders of creation. The first is like a lion — a powerful animal like a king of the wild beasts. The second, like an ox, is, as one commentator noted, a powerful domesticated beast. Whenever the ox is mentioned in the Bible, it is noted for its massive strength. The third is like a man, created in the image of God and given power over all natural realms. The fourth is like an eagle in flight, as a king of the birds, with outstretched, soaring wings. To some degree, they represent the natural created world, including humans as creatures, though lofty above other animals. These creatures are covered with eyes —  a fact that John mentions twice for emphasis — implying that they are endowed with a special knowledge, enlightened though not omniscient. They each have six wings like the seraphim in Isaiah 6, which enable them to fly to do God’s will. Thus, they are able to move around, to see and understand what God has done, to deliver messages — to serve God as He wills.

Incessant Worship: Day and night, they never stop!!

The heavenly scene is now set for the “chief employment of Heaven”, to quote Jonathan Edwards, meaning praise and worship. Verses 8-11 say, “Day and night they never stop saying, ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come. Whenever the living creatures give glory, and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne and who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and worship Him who lives forever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and they say: ‘You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.’” We are witnessing cascading, incessant, pulsating worship. Day and night the worship never stops; it flows over and over, like a mighty waterfall. It is not a static, steady state but pulsates in response to the unfolding events; when something happens, worship breaks out in response; then some other thing happens, and they rise up and worship. It is alive, flowing and re-flowing.

In Isaiah 6, the seraphim are calling to one another, as though they are saying, “Do you see what I am seeing? Do you see the holiness of God?” Their voices in Isaiah 6 are so powerful they make the door posts and threshold shake, and the temple is filled with smoke. They cry out to one another with invitations to “magnify the Lord… [and] exalt his name together.” (Psalm 34:3) They call, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord Almighty… the whole earth is full of his glory.” God is ever worthy of their praise. Their esteem never takes a single backward step. However worthy of worship He was an instant before, He is still worthy of worship now. It never stops.

The Focus of the Worship: The Greatness of God’s Person and Achievements

The focus of the worship is the greatness of God in His person — His holiness — and the greatness of God in His achievements — first in creation and then in redemption, as we will see in chapter 5. The creatures cry, “Holy, holy, holy!”; the threefold repetition brings specific focus and emphasis to God’s holiness. They also celebrate the power of God, calling Him “Lord God Almighty”; and they celebrate His timelessness and eternality — “who was, and is, and is to come.” God is the same always, He never changes — the theological term for this is immutability. He is also the God of history: He did great acts in the past, He is doing great acts right now, and He will finish those great acts in the future.

The Interconnected Cascading Worship

The cascading, pulsating worship is interconnected; it builds and grows from its foundation. It starts with the quartet of the four living creatures. Then it expands to include the twenty-four elders. In Revelation 5, it expands to include golden harps, then thousands upon thousands of angels, 10,000 times 10,000 — that is one hundred million angels. Finally, the climax at the end of chapter 5 comes when every creature in Heaven, on earth and under the earth join in, praising, worshiping God the Father on the throne and the Lamb of God who redeemed the people with His blood. It continues to grow bigger and bigger. They spur one another on by what they say about God.

Casting Crowns

After this, the elders cast their crowns before the throne. Verses 9-10 say, “Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on throne, and who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne, and worship him who lives forever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne.” Remember, we have the picture of mighty kings seated on thrones, possessing glorious crowns. At some point, something moves them to do two very significant symbolic acts: first, they arise from their thrones and prostrate themselves before the throne of God; and second, perhaps simultaneously, they take off their crowns and cast them before the throne of God. In these two acts, they are completely opposite of Satan, who, as we see in Isaiah 14, tried to ascend to the throne of God to make himself like the Most High — he sought to topple the Almighty God from His throne. That was the essence of his rebellion against God — he was jealous and desired to replace God. But these powerful rulers, created beings, are exactly the opposite. They cast themselves down and throw their crowns before the throne, both acts of great humility in recognition that all their glory and power and position comes from God Himself and is nothing compared to or without God’s glory and power and position.

Celebrating God the Creator and Sustainer of All Life

In verses 10-11, they celebrate: “They lay their crowns before the throne and say: ‘You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their beings.’”  The focus of their praise is God’s direct activity in creation; God the Creator. God is worthy of worship because He is the Creator of the universe. He deserves to receive glory and honor and power. He is worthy of it. Understand that this does not mean that we can add to God’s glory in any way, as though God Himself needed something from us that He does not already possess. When we give glory, honor, praise and power to God, we are not giving Him anything; rather, we recognize what He already has. In other words, we grow in ever-expanding recognition of how glorious, how filled with honor, how powerful He is in and of Himself. His appearance to us becomes magnified; we begin to esteem Him rightly for who He already is, always has been, always will be.

God’s will is essential to the creation of all orders of life. By His will alone, everything exists. God willed, at the beginning of the universe, what orders of species, both spiritual and physical would inhabit Heaven and earth and where their places would be. He spoke them into existence by His word of creative power. There is nothing in all the universe that He did not create out of nothing, by the word of His power. Furthermore, as the Greek implies here and other verses openly teach, it is by His constant active will that they continue to have their being. Take that personally: God constantly, actively wills that you exist. He has created a universe which is absolutely dependent on His ongoing will to sustain it.

Jonathan Edwards made much of this fact in his preaching. He may have gone a little too far in that he implied that God continually gives forth the word for creation. The problem with that is that the Bible elevates that instantaneous moment of creation; after that moment, Scripture supports God’s work in sustaining what He has finished creating. That small point aside, Edwards sought to emphasize what we tend to forget: that apart from God, at any instant, nothing can exist. That includes Satan, demons, wicked men, godly men and women, every leaf, every blade of grass, every tree, every rock — continually upheld by the word of God’s power, as Acts 17:28 tells us: “For in him we live and move and have our being.”

Now it is time for applications. Do you sense that you might want to apply some of these things to your life?

Stand in Awe of Christ’s Salvation… and Follow Him to Heaven

First, stand in awe of Christ’s salvation. Verses 1-2 are a parable of human salvation. See all the amazing ingredients listed there. Revelation 4:1-2: “After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in Heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, ‘Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.’  At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in Heaven with someone sitting on it.” John’s journey from rocky Patmos to Heavenly glory is a picture of the salvation of sinners. There is only one doorway to Heaven, and it stands open only by one means: the atoning work of Jesus Christ alone, the shedding of His blood on the cross to take the penalty of death in our place, as our substitute, because of our sin. It is only by faith in this work, in the person of Jesus, that we have access to God. Hebrews 10:19-22 says, “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body [His body is our doorway], and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.”

We also see in Romans 5:1-2: “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, [that is, made righteous in God's sight, forgiven of our sins] we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.” Again, we see the concept of access as through an open doorway, which is Jesus. He is the only one with the authority and the right to say “Come up here,” to invite sinners to rise up from planet earth to go through the heavenly realms and into Heaven, into the presence of God. He does say that to any of you who are outside of Christ, right now; through the Gospel, Christ invites you to rise up out of spiritual death, out of rebellion to God, out of the muck and filth of sin. He invites you to follow Him, to be purified and cleansed by His blood by faith. He alone can do this. 

We are rebels against the laws of God, the king. We cannot take it on ourselves to enter His presence. We do not have the right. Queen Esther was the beloved wife of the King of Persia, but even she was not to enter the king’s throne room unbidden. But she took her life in her hands when she went before him to intercede on behalf of her people, the Jews. The king could have chosen to have her executed for her boldness, but he was pleased to see her and extended his scepter to her, which pardoned her offense and welcomed her before his throne. We do not see what she did as a sin, but she violated a law of the kingdom nonetheless and could have been held accountable for doing so. To a much greater degree, we have violated the laws of the King of Heaven. We have not broken every commandment or even any of what we may think of as the most obvious, such as murder. But Jesus said that anger toward another, even in our hearts, is the same as murder, and lusting in our hearts is the same as adultery, as far as defining sin. We deserve death as payment for our sin, but Jesus paid the penalty in our place. Instead of being condemned to death, we are forgiven and cleansed, and through Jesus we are able to go through the open doorway into Heaven. Jesus stands there and calls, to anyone who will listen, to “Come up here.”

John 7:37 says, “On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood [with tens of thousands of Jews surrounding him] and said, ‘If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.’” That is an invitation to “Come up here.” And in Matthew 11:28-29, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me…”

Remember that this command is impossible to obey unaided. We have no power to fly, to ascend through the air and pass through a spiritual doorway. We have no more strength to respond than a paralyzed man has to get up and run or a blind person has to see the glories of the Grand Canyon or a dead person has to arise and walk out of his tomb. Arminian theologians strongly emphasize human free will and ability; they say that if God gives a command, we are able to do it, implying that on our own, we have the native ability to obey commands like repent and believe in Jesus. We do not have that kind of power. But if God extends the Holy Spirit to us, and if He takes out that heart of stone and gives us a heart of flesh, we will most certainly believe in Jesus. And we will follow Him to Heaven. Such has He done for a multitude greater than anyone could count, from all over the world.

John says in verse 2, “At once, I was in the Spirit” and he moved directly into Heaven. The Holy Spirit of God takes the finished work of Christ and applies it to the souls of the elect when they hear the gospel. He convicts us of our sins. He makes Christ appear gloriously beautiful. He gives you the life and power to rise and follow Jesus.

The destination of this journey is the foot of the throne of God. There, we take on Jesus’ kingly yoke, stop rebelling and start obeying. Our lives are completely transformed from that moment — that is salvation. Come to Christ, follow Him, fly with Him in your heart up through the open door to the throne of God. Follow Him, believe in Him, worship Him and love Him. I do not know what happens for believers at the moment of death, but it is easy to imagine that we might hear Jesus saying to us, “Come up here.” Would that not be sweet? How could you say no to such an invitation?

Delight in God’s Sovereign Throne

Second, delight in God’s sovereign throne. Do not fight or resist it anymore. Humble yourself; cast yourself before it. Isaiah 66:1-2 says, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you will build for me? Where will my resting place be? Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?’ declares the LORD. ‘This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.’”

Submit to His rule in your life. The natural man hates God’s kingly rule and wants to fight against it and be his own master. But the essence of our salvation is delighting in God, the King. Rest in God’s providential control over earth’s events. Rest in His sovereignty over the unfolding of human history. He is the God who was, and is, and is to come. He was King in the Old Testament, governing the rise and fall and course of kings and empires. He is alive today, ruling over Heaven and earth. He is to come, ruling as King over the future.

He sustains everything. That means nothing happens to you except by the will of God in some mysterious way. Jesus said in Matthew 10:29-31: “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” In light of this awesome sovereignty of God, why do you ever worry about anything? Why are you ever anxious about anything? Rest in God's sovereign power.

Understand also that everything flows from the throne of God. The Book of Revelation depicts awesome judgments that flow from His throne. Christ will break the seven seals, and judgment will flow. Seven trumpets will sound, and judgment will flow. Seven bowls will be poured out on the earth, and people will die. It is a display of the justice and wrath of God. The Bible reveals that both death and life flow from that throne. Daniel 7:9-10 says, “His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze. A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before Him.” That is wrath and judgment. But at the end of Revelation, we will see the throne of God with a river of life cascading from it, down the streets of the city. Death and life flow from the same sovereign will of God.

Live to Worship God Every Day: “On earth as it is in Heaven”

Third, live to worship God every day “on earth as it is in Heaven.” Our text says, “Day and night, they never stop [praising].” I come and go, wax and wane. I have times of fervent praise and times when it is lacking. Honestly, it depends greatly on how things are going for me. But God never changes. “Day and night, they never stop saying, ‘Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord Almighty.’” God is holy. He is infinitely above us. He is the Creator and we are the creature. He is holy and He hates sin and evil. He is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. We must learn to worship like the heavenly beings do. As Jesus taught us to pray, “Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be your name… May your kingdom come, and may your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.”

Stand in Awe of God’s Creation

Fourth, stand in awe of God’s creation. I have been reading John Calvin’s Institutes to my son Calvin; now we are in the natural theology section, which discusses the majesty and glory of God woven into every vast and minute detail of nature. On the way into church this morning, I stopped and picked a blade of grass and studied it for a moment. It is there for us to see, if we will take the time to look for it: God has woven wisdom and power and goodness even in this single blade of grass.

Think about various national parks and other natural wonders and beauty: Yellowstone, with Old Faithful, the geyser that spews 8,000 gallons of hot water as high as 106 feet in the air every 45-125 minutes; Smoky Mountain National Park, with its lush old-growth forest and its musty smell that evokes a sense of power and age; Acadia National Park (one of my favorites) with its rocky coastline and incredible fall foliage — something about the minerals in the ground in New England gives the leaves vivid colors there; the Carolina coastline with rolling ocean and sand dunes. God made all that.

Think about all the wildlife you have seen, both in person and in pictures. I have been to a Kenyan game preserve where I saw lions and rhinos and the most deadly wild African animal, the hippopotamus, which kills more people there than any other animal, in their native habitat. Visit a zoo and you will see a staggering variety of animals and birds of all sizes and behaviors and mating habits and capabilities. Who would ever make an ostrich to look like that? God openly boasted to Job about all the varieties of animals that He made.

Think about weather patterns — hurricanes and breezes, and zephyrs and sirrocos, the hot desert wind and the wild nor’easter. As I was flying to Cameroon, I went over the North Africa coast and saw the Sahara desert for the first time with my own eyes. Even from the airplane, it was seemingly infinite, miles of nothing, and completely awe-inspiring.

Think about the starry host. In low humidity, go out where there are few city lights and you look up to see the Milky Way. So many stars.

And think ahead to the New Heaven and New Earth and how beautiful it will be when there is no more decay or death.

Heavenly worshipers delight in creation. They stand in awe of what God has done.

Draw Near to the Throne of Grace in Prayer

Fifth, draw near to the throne of God — the throne of grace — in prayer. In Christ, we have an open door to the throne of God. Lay your needs, your problems, your issues down before Him. Hebrews 4:16 says, “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Cast Your Crowns Before the Throne

Finally, cast your crowns down before God — what a powerful image. The crown is yours. You did the works — it was your achievement, your throne, your crown before you cast it. That is what Peter must have meant when he told Ananias that the money was his before he gave it. But realize that every good thing you have ever done was possible by the power and the strength of God alone. In recognition of that, fall down before the throne; cast your achievements and everything that you think is great about you before the throne of God — give Him the glory and the praise. Humble yourself and worship Him for all of the good things that you have ever been or done.

Close with me in prayer.

Father, we thank you for the beauty, the majesty, the staggering truths that flow from these eleven verses, and the time we have had to touch on them. It is hard to believe. There is so much more we could say. Father, I pray that you would strengthen each one of us to worship you as you truly deserve. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Please turn in your Bibles to Revelation 3:14-22. This is the last of the letters from Christ to the seven churches. I have said with each letter we have studied, but this applies particularly with this letter to the church at Laodicea: We should all come, individually and corporately, with a sense of fear and trembling. This is arguably the worst-off of the seven churches in Revelation — the lukewarm church of Laodicea; this letter terrifies me the most as pastor of this church.

Many godly leaders say that there is a spiritual disease, a contagious blight that is working its way through or spreading its way through the Lord's orchard of the churches in America. They say that the Laodicean church captures what has happened to so many churches in the West and in America. John Stott in commenting on this, puts it this way: “Perhaps none of the seven letters is more appropriate to the 20th- [and 21st-] century church than this one. It describes vividly the respectable, sentimental, nominal, skin-deep religiosity which is so widespread among us today. Our Christianity is flabby and anemic. We appear to have taken a lukewarm bath of religion.”

The dread disease that Christ diagnoses this church with is nominalism, lukewarmness, a tepid pattern of religion in which outward forms are maintained without any real power. They were going through the motions, checking the “God” box through outward observances, while denying the life-changing, transforming power that genuine faith in Christ produces.

The cause in Laodicea of their lukewarmness — the most terrifying aspect of this letter for me — is linked to their wealth, their prosperity. The result is spiritual complacency. The lukewarmness of the church at Laodicea was nauseating to Christ. What He has to say to them should terrify us out of any spiritual complacency in our lives; it should make us cry out to God against ourselves, to plead with God to save us from Laodicean lukewarmness.

Jonathan Edwards wrote many great theological works, but none has affected me so profoundly as his classic Treatise on Religious Affections, which he wrote in defense of the powerful effects of the First Great Awakening, a revival of religion during the mid 18th-century, from its cultured critics. Whitfield, Tennant, Edwards and other preachers were preaching the fiery Gospel of the new birth, which was yielding conversions with outward, visible manifestations, physical effects of the preaching and the ministry of the Word on sinners who were being moved and affected by what they were hearing. These signs included outcries of overwhelming, bitter sorrow over sin, terror at the coming wrath of God, and shouts of soaring joy over assurance of salvation with genuine forgiveness and a right relationship with God. These critics were mostly cultured, aristocratic church leaders who denigrated the public display of “enthusiasm” and emotion, which they considered to be a negative thing. The critics had likely never experienced any of this before, and they stood on the outside bitterly criticizing the preachers of the Awakening for what they deemed excesses.

Treatise on Religious Affections bears a powerful, timeless connection with Christ’s nausea over Laodicean lukewarmness. Edwards wrote this: “True Christianity consists in a great measure in vigorous and lively actings of the inclination and will of the soul or the fervent exercises of the heart.” True Christianity is lively and fervent. “That religion which God requires and will accept does not consist in weak, dull, and lifeless wishes, raising us but a little above a state of indifference: God, in His Word, greatly insists upon it, that we be good in earnest, ‘fervent in spirit’, and our hearts vigorously engaged in religion. Romans 12:11, ‘Never be lacking in zeal, but be fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.’ If we are not in good earnest in religion, and our wills and inclinations be not strongly exercised, we are nothing. The things of religion are so great, that there can be no suitableness in the exercises of our hearts, to their nature and importance, unless they be lively and powerful. In nothing is vigor and in the actings of our inclination so requisite, as in religion. And in nothing is lukewarmness so odious [that is, hateful]. True religion is evermore a powerful thing; and the power of it appears, in the first place in the inward exercises of it in the human heart.”

Thus Edwards felt, in preaching that he should do everything he could to raise the affections — the love and passion — of his hearers as high as he possibly could concerning these things. In a sermon on Song of Solomon 5:1, which says “Eat, friends, drink, and be drunk with love!” he preached, as many commentators do, beyond marital relations, into the spiritual realm of Christ and His church to illustrate passion for God. He drew the following doctrinal conclusion: “Persons need not and ought not to set any bounds to their spiritual and gracious appetites.” In other words, there is no such thing as spiritual gluttony. “Eat, and drink, and be drunk with love for God, dear friends.” He admonished his hearers not to set limits or boundaries to their appetites when it came to Christ. “Rather, they ought to be endeavoring by all possible ways to inflame their desires and to obtain more spiritual pleasures… Our hungerings and thirstings after God and Jesus Christ and after holiness can’t be too great for the value of these things, for they are of infinite value… [Therefore] endeavor to promote spiritual appetites by laying yourself in the way of allurement…” What an interesting statement: Put your heart in the path of enticement. If you are feeling distant and cold, be allured, be enticed. “There is no such thing as excess in our taking of this spiritual food. There is no such virtue as moderation in spiritual feasting.”

This morning, I will challenge you to feed your zeal and your appetite for Christ. Feed the fire, brothers and sisters. In a nutshell, the Laodicean lukewarmness caused by prosperity and spiritual complacency is deadly. It should make us tremble at the affluence and comfort of our American lifestyle.

We will be looking at the final letter of Christ to the seven churches. With God’s help, we trust that the Lord Jesus will work this warning into us, and that we will heed His warning, His counsel, and obey His commands and drink in both now and for eternity the sweet rewards that He promises.

First, let us review our context of the first three chapters of the Book of Revelation. This sets the stage for the entire book. In Revelation 1, the apostle John, in exile in the island of Patmos, has a vision on the Lord’s Day of the resurrected, glorified Christ, dressed like a high priest in a white robe reaching down to His feet. He is moving among seven golden lampstands, which are probably about like floor lamps, about chest-high. He is trimming the wicks, working on the fires, symbolizing Christ tending the seven golden lampstands, which represent seven literal, physical local churches that existed at that time in Asia Minor. The number seven is the number of perfection and gives us a sense of Jesus’ active daily ministry in local churches all over the world; He cares about local churches and He is ministering as our great high priest.

How to Read these Letters

In Revelation 2 and 3, He composes seven literal letters, one to each of those seven churches, but cumulatively, they speak a message to all churches worldwide in the 20 centuries that have followed. At the end of each one of the seven letters, He says, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” We are meant to take in the cumulative effect of these seven letters, to heed the warnings, to drink them in as a healing tonic. Jesus spoke these words twenty centuries ago to a specific church in Laodicea at a specific moment in time, but through the Spirit and by the ministry of the Word, He speaks now to us. As it says in Hebrews 3:7-8, “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts…” “He who has an ear, let him hear.”

We must approach these seven letters, especially to this seventh letter, with great humility. Christ gives us grace so that we can humbly take in the stern word of warning contained in this letter. James 4:6 says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Isaiah 66:2 says, “This is the one I esteem, he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and who trembles at My Word.” This word should make us tremble. Woe to any of us who say, “Spiritual lukewarmness could never happen to me,” or “First Baptist Durham could never become a Laodicean church.” Woe to us! We are well on our way to becoming so if we say that. We have the same sin nature they did. We are under the same pressures they were. We have the same challenges facing us. We should read with an ear to hear ways we need to grow in grace, ways that we are weak, and ways that we are sinning and deficient. Even if the Lord would speak a word of encouragement to us, we would hear it honestly as a word of exhortation, not as a point over which to puff up with pride: “You are doing this good thing, and I urge you to do it more and more.” Let us each humbly pray in our hearts, “Oh, God, speak to me.”

In many ways, this letter to the church at Laodicea is the most terrifying of them all. Christ speaks not a single word of encouragement to this church, not one good about them at all. John MacArthur points to evidence in verse 20, depending on how you read it, that there was not a single born-again person within the walls of the church; Jesus was on the outside of the church, looking for someone, anyone who might open the door. If that is true, it was a very bad situation for that church.

How does the resurrected, glorified Jesus Christ, our Great High Priest who was ministering to the seven churches, describe Himself in this final letter? Look at verse 14. He says, “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation.’” (Some translations read “the source of God’s creation.”)

The Amen

First, He calls himself “the Amen.” We speak this word at the end of all of our prayers, maybe even thoughtlessly, as though it is simply the word used to let the people around you know that you are finished praying. The word is related to the Hebrew word for “standing,” but it came to be connected more with “truth.” In Deuteronomy 27, when the blessings and curses of the Old Covenant were read, the people were supposed to say “Amen” at the end of each one. It is a Hebrew word which translates to “Truly, truly” (or “Verily, verily, I say unto you” in the King James).

As New Testament believers, we say “Amen” to give assent to a powerful truth. At the beginning of this book of Revelation, we see this very word: “‘Look, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of Him.’ [And John mixes in,] So shall it be! Amen.” In other words, “I want that [Second Coming] to happen soon.”

Then at the end of the book, in Revelation 22:20, we get the same message: “He who testifies to these things [Jesus] says, ‘Yes I am coming soon.’ [Then John says,] “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.” In the final verse of the entire Bible, Revelation 22:21, John says, “The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen.” Now you know — the last word in the Bible is “Amen.”

Jesus, who is God’s Amen, is God’s final word to the human race, the word of truth. Jesus speaks only the truth, for He is the truth. He says in John 14:6, “I am the way and the truth and the life…” Beyond that, Jesus is effectively the Amen that God speaks to all of the promises and all of the truth of the Old Covenant. 2 Corinthians 1:20 says, “For all the promises of God in Him are yes, and in Him Amen.” In Christ, all the promises of God find their fulfillment. In effect, Jesus is saying “Amen” for us to all the promises of God.

The Faithful and True Witness

Jesus says He is the faithful and true witness. Everything He says is true; it is dependable and accurate. He testifies to His churches what is true, and we must hear Him as He speaks. He is also faithful, first and foremost vertically to God, His Father. He was faithful in everything God entrusted to Him. He is faithful to God, but also faithful to us: He will always testify solemnly to what we most need to hear. He loves us. He is our faithful high priest.

The Beginning of the Creation of God

Furthermore, He is the beginning of the creation of God. This phrase causes trouble for some because it seems to say that Christ is a created being. The Jehovah’s Witnesses have run with that false doctrine for a long time, that Jesus is the first of God’s creations. “There was when He was not — there was a time He did not exist, and then God created Him.” That is a heresy. That is not what this phrase means. Jesus is calling Himself the originator, or the source, of all of God’s creation. Paul makes this clear in Colossians 1:15-17, “He [Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” He is the source of everything.

Application: Cure from Lukewarmness Comes from Right Estimation of Christ

I want to stop for a moment to give you an application as we are talking about lukewarmness. Lukewarmness is cured by drinking in the greatness of the person of Christ. We greatly underestimate His greatness and would do well to give ourselves a daily boost of the knowledge of Him. Picture what it must have been like in the upper room with the apostles when Jesus came in through the locked doors. Picture him showing His hands and His side, His nail marks, and saying, “Peace be with you.” How could you possibly be indifferent and lukewarm at that moment? The more you just drink in the person and the achievements of Christ, the more that lukewarmness is banished. The central cause is failing to esteem Christ, your Savior, as the radiant, majestic Lord of the universe; failing to see His beauty, His glory, His attributes, His person high above the heavens; failing to see Him as the source of all creation. The remedy must be to read these words and let them soak in to you. Savor His glory based on His word. Rescue from lukewarmness comes from Christ-centeredness. Seek Him.

Jesus is about to give His church a clear diagnosis and prescribe a powerful therapy. What is the diagnosis? He says they are “lukewarm … [and therefore] wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.” 

The Church at Laodicea

Geographically, Laodicea was close to Colosse, to whom Paul wrote the letter of Colossians. It was located in the Lycus Valley, about one hundred miles east of Ephesus. It was the southernmost of the seven churches, about 40 miles from Philadelphia. Laodicea was almost impregnable against direct assault because it was built on a wide plateau several hundred feet above the valley floor. However, because it had to pipe in the water for the city by aqueducts from several miles away, it was vulnerable to siege; invaders could easily sever the water supply.

Three aspects of the Laodicean economy were noteworthy: money, wool, and eye medicine. First, money: Laodicea was strategically located in terms of commerce and trade. It stood at the junction of two important highways. There was an east-west road leading from Ephesus to the interior of Asia Minor, and then there was a north-south road going from Pergamum down to the Mediterranean Sea; those two roads crossed there at Laodicea. It was a powerful, wealthy center of finance, banking and commerce. It was so wealthy that when the earthquake I have mentioned before hit, and Rome offered to help rebuild Laodicea, they rejected the offer; they had no need to accept money from Rome. They possessed the means to rebuild the city with their own resources.

Second, wool: Laodicea was famous for soft, glossy, black wool, which was woven into carpets and used for luxurious black clothing. This was a significant source of revenue.

Third, eye ointment or salve: Laodicea supplied a Phrygian ointment that was known throughout the Roman world. It was useful in curing certain eye diseases; people came from all over the world to get the eye treatment, and it was also exported all over the Roman world.

These three industries — finance, wool, and eye salve — will come directly into play in Christ’s stern words to this church.

Christ’s Diagnosis

Christ says in His diagnosis in verses 15-17: “I know your deeds, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm — neither hot nor cold — I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.” So He begins with the statement, “I know your deeds.” He is going to talk about their heart condition of lukewarmness, but starts with their deeds. This is a regular pattern: “By their fruit, you will know them.” Matthew 12:33: “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit.” Their deeds truly expose their heart.

What is this lukewarmness all about? The word “nominalism” keeps coming to mind. What is the essence of nominalism? It is assenting to the right doctrine, Orthodox Christianity — “Yes, yes, yes, that is all true” — but without corresponding heart passion stirring them to sacrificial action. Jesus actually starts with the actions. He says, “I know your deeds…” “I see what you do. You are lukewarm.” He says, “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm — neither hot nor cold — I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”

Some scholars and preachers interpret this in the context of the experience that all Laodiceans would have had with their water coming from miles away. Some nearby towns had hot steam baths, and others might have had cold water as from a mountain stream. The water in Laodicea was not good for refreshment or bathing. It most likely would have been tepid, foul-smelling, cloudy and repulsive. I heard of a South Carolina preacher who likens it to preferences of tea temperature, as though Christ were speaking in terms of beverage preference, saying that anything except lukewarm would be acceptable: “Some love hot tea. Some prefer sweet tea. I like cold tea. No one wants lukewarm tea.” I will not go in that direction, friends; it is best not to push it to that extreme, as though Christ were saying “Hot water is good, and cold water is good… but lukewarm water is useless.” He is not talking about different beverages like wine and milk and water, as in Isaiah 55.

Rather, Jesus is speaking metaphorically, as He did with His parables. What is the essence of the temperature, of hot, lukewarm, and cold? I believe heat refers to zeal, passion, fire, ardor, love for the Lord. How can I, as a pastor, exhort you to cold for Jesus? If you came to me saying, “Pastor, I want to be cold and refreshing for Jesus, what should I do?” I would exhort you to love Him with all your heart. But that sounds like passion — like heat.

Scripture, overall, supports heat as that which pleases God. God is passionate, so the strong emotions ascribed to him appear as heat — His wrath or anger as well as His motivation, His zeal. A human example would be the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. In Luke 24:32, Jesus opened the Scriptures up to their hearts and minds. After He left, “They asked each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while He talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?’” Jesus says of John the Baptist in John 5:35, “He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.” It is said of Jesus in Psalm 69:9, “…zeal for your house consumes me [has burned Me up].” Romans 12:11, which we've already quoted, urges us: “Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.”

Conversely, coldness is generally handled in Scripture as a negative condition, including, I believe, in our passage. We see a clear example of this in Matthew 24:12. Jesus was speaking about the end times, saying, “Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold.” So how can I exhort you to grow cold? I will not do that.

Then why is it better to be cold than lukewarm? My thought is this: a cold person is dead in his transgressions and sins, unconverted, perhaps has never heard the Gospel; he is on the outside, cold and dead, like a corpse. This is better than being lukewarm because a spiritually cold person makes no pretense at all to follow Christ. He knows he is on the outside. But in that state, he is easier to reach for Christ than someone who has heard the great things of God and responded with a lukewarm, nominal commitment to Christ, with its requisite ritual church attendance on Christmas and Easter, or even the habits of baptism and church-membership with no true godliness that are common in the Bible Belt. There have been many revivals over the years, resulting in many churches increasing greatly in membership and many others being planted; but at some point, people start going through the motions of evangelical Christianity without real power. Thus, this is a warning for all of us.

In a parallel verse, 2 Peter 2:21, Peter talks about people who employ a self-indulgent, grace-as-license type of Christianity under false teachers. They are feasting and reveling and getting drunk and acting sexually immoral, and Peter  admonishes them that such license is not the Gospel. “It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. Of them the proverbs are true: ‘A dog returns to its vomit,’ and ‘A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud.’”  The Gospel did not change them but now they were in real trouble since they heard the true Gospel, which had no effect on them. It would have been better if they had never heard it than to conduct themselves in such a manner.

I see the same reasoning here — it is better to be cold than lukewarm. John MacArthur says this: “Smug, self-righteous hypocrites are far more difficult to reach with the Gospel than cold-hearted rejecters. The rejecters may at least be shown that they are lost. But those who self-righteously think they are saved are often protective of their religious feelings and unwilling to recognize their real condition. They are not cold enough to feel the bitter sting of their sin. Consequently, no one is further from the truth than the one who makes an idle profession of Christ but never experiences genuine, saving faith. No one is harder to reach than a false Christian.”

Christ found the Laodicean church nauseating, saying he would vomit them out of His mouth. The Greek is like the word for “emetic.” “So, because you are lukewarm — neither hot nor cold — I am about to [vomit] you out of  my mouth.” Nominal Christianity, then, is utterly repulsive to Christ.

Their Self-Assessment is Totally Wrong!

In verse 17, He speaks to their self-assessment, which is completely wrong. This is where they put themselves in danger. They evaluate themselves by comparing themselves to the churches and individuals around them, saying, “That is not me — I am  fine.” Verse 17 says, “You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.”

The Cause of Spiritual Lethargy: Their Material Wealth

The cause of their spiritual lethargy was their material wealth. They lived in a wealthy city, and they were wealthy people. That wealth had made them complacent and self-sufficient. Any biblical Christian should react to their statement of self-sufficiency by recoiling with horror. They are saying, “I do not need anything from Jesus.” Imagine yourself saying that; it is appalling, isn’t it?  The proverb says, “The wealth of the wealthy is like a strong tower, and in it, they imagine they are safe.” They have a sense of safety or security in their wealth.

But they forget another image that Jesus provided. In John 15:5, He says, “I am the vine; you are the branches… If [you] remain in Me… [you] will bear much fruit; apart from Me, you can do nothing.” The more you vigorously we grow into spiritual maturity, the more we will feel acutely just how needy we are, unable to carry out one iota of obedience without His help. “I cannot do anything today without Jesus. He must be in the center of my day, of my life. The only thing I can do apart from Jesus is sin. I do not want to sin! I want to be close.” If we are to do anything that the Lord delights in, we must abide in Christ. Apart from Him, we can do nothing. But here, these Laodiceans are congratulating themselves, saying, “I am wealthy. I do not need anything.” They are self-reliant. This is a great danger in America as well, with overwhelming prosperity such as the Christian world has never seen in history. Wealth among evangelical people is at an unprecedented, widespread level in church history, and it is dangerous state to be in.

Their Real Condition:

Instead, the “Amen, the faithful and true witness” was preparing to deliver the truth, as a physician would a patient, saying, “I have the results of your tests and you need to know your condition. You may feel fine, but you do not realize that…” and then come the words that render the diagnosis. Only a fool would not listen to such a diagnosis. What does He say? “You do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.”  How terrifying, to have one’s self-assessment be so different from the Lord’s.

I do not think you can say those words over genuinely born-again people. First of all, they are wretched and pitiful. They are not to be envied but pitied, spiritually like a homeless beggar shivering out in a blizzard. They are poor, impoverished though materially wealthy. They are in the exact opposite position of the persecuted church at Smyrna, who were poor from having much of their material possessions confiscated. But Jesus said to them in Revelation 2:9, “I know your poverty, yet you are rich!” The Laodiceans are blind in spirit, they're unable to see the truth to understand who Christ really is. Faith is the eyesight of the soul. They do not see the invisible spiritual realms properly. And finally, they are naked, shameful in their sin patterns, in need of covering, of an atonement.

Amazing: The Lord of Heaven and Earth Gives Advice

Christ — the Lord of heaven and earth, God the Son — could have simply shut down this lukewarm church and disposed of them on Judgment Day. Instead, he humbles himself to give them sound advice. “I counsel you…” Amazing! This is Jesus, exalted to the highest place by Almighty God, sitting on the right hand of the throne of God, perfect in wisdom, awesome in holiness, saying, “Let me give you some advice.”

Buy FROM ME…

What is the advice? “Come to me and buy what I am offering.” Jesus was the source of everything that they needed. They greatly underestimated Christ, paying Him lip service, lukewarm worship, token prayers. It was time they understood their poverty and Christ’s riches, which He would supply. They needed to put to death forever this repugnant self-reliance, and understand that He is the vine, that apart from Him, they were dead.

Why did He say to these destitute, spiritually empty beggars — “wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked,” — that they should come to Him and buy from Him? What currency would they use? This same idea is expressed in Isaiah 55:1: “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.” The currency is the same in that passage: total emptiness, inability to do anything of eternal value apart from Christ. They were to bring that and say, “Here is my money — my emptiness. I am poor. Save me — help me — heal me.” That is how you buy from Jesus when you have nothing. It is not a small thing; most people are not willing to look at their resources, at their lives and conclude, “I really am poor, I really have nothing to offer and no ability to do any good thing in and of myself.”

Jesus began the Sermon on the Mount with these words in Matthew 5:3: “Blessed are the poor in spirit [spiritual beggars — in Greek, “ptóchos,” meaning ‘have nothing’] — for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” Bring this currency to Jesus and humbly lay it at His feet, He says “Buy, I will give you everything you need.”

What Should they Buy from Christ?

Verse 18 says, “I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.”

First, “I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by the fire, so you can become rich…” This is like the treasure hidden in the field, worth selling everything to obtain. This is the genuine spiritual wealth of salvation in Christ, the wealth of heavenly joy, the Kingdom of Heaven. “I will give you real gold which will last for all eternity — gold that was refined by the fire of my suffering on the cross, the free gift of wealth in Me. You will be rich.”

Second, He counseled them to bring their nothingness, their nakedness, to Him. In return, He promised to clothe them with “…white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness…” This is a symbol of atonement, of the imputed righteousness of Jesus, given as a gift by faith in Christ. He perfectly obeyed the laws of God; you did not. In doing so, He wove a beautiful white robe of righteousness for the purpose of clothing our nakedness with it. On Judgment Day, we will stand in that righteousness and be truly righteous before God because of it.

Third, He counseled them to buy “…salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.” He is speaking of the gift of the eyesight of the soul, spiritual sight, which is genuine faith — the ability to see the spiritual world as it really is, things in the spiritual realm that they had never seen before. “I counsel you to bring your blindness and I will touch your eyes,” — like the man born blind in John 9. “I will touch your eyes and you will be able to see. You will behold the glory and holiness of God; God the King sitting on His throne; Me sitting at the right hand of God, interceding for you; your shameful condition as it really is; Me on the cross, having atoned for your sins; the empty tomb and My bodily resurrection; the coming wrath of God as it will be; your future glory of walking in the new heavens and earth; the present world and its terrible status under Satan’s dominion; people enslaved in sin. For the first time, you will see things as they truly are. You will see and flee to Christ; you will turn from darkness to light, and from lies to the truth.” Christ alone can give all these things.

John Stott said, “Here is welcome news for blind beggars! They are poor, but Christ has gold. They are naked, but Christ has clothes. They are blind, but Christ has eye salve. Let them no longer trust in their banks, their clothing factories, and their Phrygian eye ointment! Let them come to Him! He alone can enrich their poverty, clothe their nakedness, and heal their blindness! He can open their eyes to perceive a spiritual world of which they have never dreamed. He can cover their sin and their shame and make them fit to partake of the inheritance of saints in the kingdom of light. In a word, He can save them!”

Christ’s Loving Discipline

Verse 19 is a timeless word to all genuine believers and to every church: “Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent.” Christ cherishes us as genuinely born-again people, too much to let us wander off. Hold on to this truth, because we all have lukewarm days, perhaps even weeks. But if Christ is active in our lives, He will come after us, draw us back to Him; He will rebuke and discipline us if we drift into this kind of coldness. Though it is a stern word of warning, it is truly a comfort to those who love Him. It proves that we are genuine children, sons and daughters of God. He will speak in a way to get our attention, sternly, perhaps even harshly, when we are sinning. He will not give us over.

Christ’s Clear Command “Be earnest and repent”

True children of God will inevitably take these warnings to heart and repent. Christ calls on this church, “Be earnest and repent.” In terms of temperature, “Be on fire and repent. Get some fire inside of you; stop being tepid, lukewarm and weak in thought, word and deed. Get serious about what is happening and repent.” “Repent” means to turn away from all these old patterns, away from the sin, to see it for what it really is, grieve over it, feel ashamed of it. Moreover, it means to come to the light, on the path toward a vigorous walk with Christ. Remember the process that Thomas Watson outlined, which we covered in the sermon on the letter to the church of Thyatira: Sight of sin; sorrow for sin; hatred of sin; shame for sin; confession of sin; and turning from sin.

The Most Famous Verse in the Seven Letters

To those who open the door, Christ promises fellowship and feasting. Look at verse 20: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with Me.” This verse is frequently connected with evangelistic tracts. When I was a new Christian, I was trained by Campus Crusade for Christ to share my faith using a tract called The Four Spiritual Laws. Revelation 3:20 is one of the first verses I ever heard in my life and one of the first I memorized. In the Campus Crusade outline, those evangelizing would first go through the foundational doctrine of “God, man, Christ, response.” Then this verse is used to seal the deal: Jesus is here saying, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. It is the door of your heart and He wants to come in. If you will get up and open the door, He will come and live with you forever.”

While this use of that verse is valid — ultimately, every individual person needs to have this kind of personal relationship of fellowship and intimacy with Christ — we must be careful not to push it into doctrinal error, implying that only we can open the door, that there is no means for Jesus to open it from His side. No, if we respond by opening the door, it is the Holy Spirit who moves our spirit and body to open the door; we can never get ahead of the Holy Spirit. He has made you born again so that you hear His voice and you get up. The Spirit is involved in that action; that is what regeneration is all about. Use this verse in evangelism, but use it correctly.

Hearing His Voice

The essence is the hearing of faith, “He who has an ear, let him hear…” If you are not yet a believer, perhaps you are hearing the knocking, hearing His voice speaking to you from the words of Scripture, personally calling you to follow Him. You know He is outside of your heart. If you hear Him knocking, know that it is a hearing power that only the Holy Spirit can give; only the Holy Spirit can cause you to open that door and let Jesus in.

Open the Door to Him

Therefore, open the door. There is an openness to faith, a desire to be open to Christ, to have Him enter and live within you. Christ said to the church of Philadelphia, “Behold, I have set before you an open door which no one can shut.” But human tendency is to set before Jesus a closed door and challenge Him to pry it open. No — open the door to Him. It is a heart response of love, of seeing that He is worthy of loving above all else, which should cause us not to challenge but to embrace what He is offering.

Jesus said in Matthew 11:28-30, “Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” The yoke is His kingly authority. Our response, our desire to open the door, to invite Him in, indicates that we desire for King Jesus to come in and rule our lives; we submit to His kingly authority, His just and loving rule; we declare our loyalty to Him. We are open to whatever he would do with us.

The Promise: I will Come In to Him and Eat with Him and He with Me

Jesus uses an image here of feasting: those who open the door will sit at table with Jesus. He belabors the point somewhat: “I will come in and eat with him — and by the way, he will also eat with Me.” That seems redundant at first glance. The repetition is intensive: He wants to feast with you, to sit at table with you; He desires your fellowship as much as we should desire His.

In the ancient Near East, to sit at a table with someone implied intimate fellowship and friendship, like a covenant signified by breaking bread together. Jesus repeatedly enjoyed intimate times with His disciples around the table. John 1:35-39 says, “The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God!’ When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, ‘What do you want?’ They said, ‘Rabbi’ (which means Teacher), ‘where are you staying?’ ‘Come,’ he replied, ‘and you will see.’ So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour.”

The inclusion of this account is puzzling. John kept out almost every one of Jesus’ miracle stories — he included seven miracles and seven extended teachings. How did this account make the cut? One scholar posited that the apostle John was one of those two disciples, and that was the first time he ever heard Jesus speak. It was the first time he had Jesus look at him, and they shared a meal together. Though he does not mention himself by name in the whole gospel, He includes many of his own significant moments with Jesus, His Lord and Savior. In John 13:23, we read that at the Last Supper, the disciple “whom Jesus loved” was leaning against Jesus’ breast so as to feast with His Lord sitting as close as possible to Him. What a picture. Are you experiencing that kind of intimacy of fellowship with Christ?

We can experience it now by the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit. In John 14:16-17, Jesus said, “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever — the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for He lives with you and will be in you.” When you open the door of your soul to invite Jesus to come in by the Spirit, you can feast with Him now in a foretaste of a feasting all believers will experience for eternity in Heaven.

Fellowship with Jesus… and with God

Our fellowship is not only with Jesus the Son and with the Holy Spirit, but also with the Father. 1 John 1:3 says, “…our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ.” We have fellowship with the triune God.

In Every Case, Jesus Has Promised Lavish Rewards to the One Who Overcomes

How does Christ reward those who overcome? Verse 21 says, “To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with Me on My throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on His throne.” He who overcomes, who fights the good fight of faith against the world, the flesh and the devil, will receive lavish praises and rewards. I like to go through the seven letters and collect in one place all of the rewards given to him who overcomes; I meditate on this list and marvel that we will receive them all. These are not only for the Ephesian or the Smyrnan or the Sardis overcomers. We are also the overcomers; we are also more than conquers.

We will eat from the Tree of Life. We will receive a crown of life; protection from the second death; the hidden manna; a White Stone with a new name written on it; the authority to rule the nations; the morning star; white garments; the honor of having Christ confess our name before God the Father and the Holy Angels in Heaven. We will be made a pillar in the temple and will never leave it. We will have written on us the name of God, and the name of the new Jerusalem, and the name of Christ.

What reward here? Ruling with Christ on his throne

In the letter to the church at Laodicea, we see that we will reign with Christ on His throne. We will sit with Him on His throne, just as He overcame and sat down with His Father on His throne. John Piper gives us a rather awkward but appropriate and amazing image: We are in Jesus’ lap, and He is in His Father’s lap, running the universe. Christ is the King of kings and Lord of lords, and He will reign forever and ever in the New Jerusalem. The conquerors will rule with him in the New Heavens and New Earth. If we overcome, we will not only sit at table and eat with him, we will sit on a throne and rule with him. This is amazing grace!

Let us quickly look at a few applications:

To the Lost: Jesus is Calling to You Today…

If you are cold, you are on the outside. You know that you are not a Christian nor claiming to be one. You may not know, though, and I want to tell you today, that you are dead in your transgressions and sins. You have heard the Gospel here today — you are a sinner, naked and shameful, like all of us. Like the Prodigal Son, you have been wandering in sin, seeking fulfillment in earthly pleasures, and becoming more and more spiritually impoverished — cold, dead, distant from God. You cannot survive Judgment Day on your own. Jesus’ diagnosis of the Laodicean church — “wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked,” — applies to you; if you could see yourself in light of eternity, would see that that is true. Hear the promises that Jesus is able to solve each of those problems. Christ’s death on the cross can pay for all your debt and cover you. He can clothe you with garments of righteousness. Christ is offering you an incredible gift: full salvation, intimate fellowship. He can make you eternally wealthy. He can take away the wrath of God, and give you eternal life. You only need to hear His voice in this sermon — it is not just the voice of the pastor, but that of Christ, urging you to repent of your sins and open your soul to Him and allow Him to be your King, your Ruler, your Savior. If you do, He will come, and He will feast with you through the Holy Spirit. He will come into your life forever. Trust in Him.

Beware of Lukewarmness

To you who are already Christians, beware of lukewarmness. Do not think it could never happen to you. Perhaps are aware that it is already happening. I believe the Laodiceans were unregenerate. I am not saying that you are unregenerate; all of us go through lukewarm patches. We are wired to drift. Just be aware of it. It is not okay to be cool or lukewarm toward Jesus. You must fight hard to maintain the passion, the fire, the zeal for Christ.

Look at your life. Is your private devotional life characterized by fire, by passion? Do you worship Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit? Do you sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, making music in your heart to the Lord? Are you thankful for everything in the name of Christ? Do you read the Scriptures passionately and accurately and personally, as though the Lord Jesus Christ were speaking to you directly? Is the outflow of your life characterized by cheerful, sacrificial service to God and to others?

Conversely, do you see Christian things, Bible-reading, prayer, church attendance as a burden? Do these things weigh you down? Are you holding on to religion because you have a tradition and a habit of it, but in truth, you are not moved in your heart toward these things? If you are more excited about a ballgame or a hobby or a vacation or a movie on Netflix than about anything spiritual, and you are only going through the motions, take heed; see the danger signs.

Do you place your confidence in your wealth, and success, and health? Do you feel like you do not need anything? Or do you have a sense of how spiritually poor you are, which stirs a passion in your heart toward Christ? It is my duty to stir up your affections as high as I possibly can as a preacher. But my sermons will pale in effect compared to your sermons to yourself. Preach to yourself: “Why are you so… downcast, lethargic, listless, cold, distant… oh, my soul? Put your hope in God.” Do not allow your heart to grow cold and distant; do not accept lukewarm expressions of your Christian walk.

Prayer: O. Hallesby

I would also commend prayer. In 1931, Norwegian pastor named Ole Hallesby wrote a book simply called Prayer. He began this little booklet on prayer with an exposition of Revelation 3:20: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him and he with Me.” He said this captures the essence of prayer. We open our nothingness and emptiness and hunger to Christ by opening the door; we bring Him into all of that in prayer.

Hallesby says this: “It is not our prayer which draws Jesus into our hearts. Nor is it our prayer which moves Jesus to come into us. All He needs is access. He enters of His own accord, because He desires to come in. To pray is nothing more than to open the door, giving Jesus access to our needs and permitting Him to exercise His power in meeting them. That requires no strength. It is just a matter of our wills. Will we give Jesus access to our weakness and needs or not?” Start here in your prayer life.

One final thought: In the book of Isaiah, we have a picture of Jesus, quoted in Matthew 12: “A bruised reed, He will not break, and a smoldering wick, He will not snuff out.” The smoldering wick is a fire that is about to go out. Jesus has the power to fan it into a flame. Ask Him to do this in your life.

Close with me in prayer.

Father, I thank You for the things we have learned today in Revelation 3. I fear for my own soul, I fear for the church, fear for individuals that are here. Oh, God, deliver us from lukewarmness. Help us to read the Scripture passionately. Help us to pray as needy, broken, empty sinners, opening the door to Jesus. Help us to learn to feast with Christ, to realize that we have been enriched with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms, and to quote those and to feel that we are rich in Christ, and that all of our nakedness has been clothed in the righteousness of Christ, and to celebrate, and to have fellowship with God the Father, and God the Son, and God the Spirit. Help us to feast. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.