The Lamb’s Wrath Summons Sword, Famine, Plague & Beasts
6 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!” 2 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. (Ezek.14:21 – my four awful judgments… cf.33:27; Jer.14:12
3 When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make people kill each other. To him was given a large sword.
5 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. 6 Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, “Two pounds[a] of wheat for a day’s wages,[b] and six pounds[c] of barley for a day’s wages,[d] and do not damage the oil and the wine!”
7 When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” 8 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.
Point 2: The Lambs Wrath will Avenge the Blood of His People
9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls (intermediate state; not yet resurrected bodies) of those who had been slain (Rev.5:6) because of the word of God (1:2; 1:9; 12:17; 20:4) and the testimony (first example of witnessing = martyrdom) they had maintained. (cf.Rev.19:10; 20:4) 10 They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth (earth dwellers (lit. earth dwellers 3:10; 8:13; 11:10; 13:8, 12, 14; 17:2) and avenge our blood?” (cf avenge – Rev.19:2, Rom.12:19 how long – Ps.6:3; 13:1; 35:17 etc etc Schreiner) 11 Then each of them was given a white robe, (cf.Rev.7:9; 13, 14; cf 3:4-5) and they were told to wait (rest – ajnapauvsontai; cf.Rev.14:11-13) a little longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers and sisters,[e] were killed just as they had been.
Point 3: The Lambs Wrath will Bring Everything and Everyone to an End!
12 I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake (in the land of Israel; Gog/Magog – Eze.38:19; Rev.16:18). The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair (Isa.50:3 – certificate of divorce), the whole moon turned blood red, 13 and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind (Joel 2:10-11). 14 The heavens receded like a scroll being rolled up (Isa.34:1-4), and every mountain and island was removed from its place (Rev.16:20).
15 Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and free, hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. (Ezek.7:16) 16 They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us[f] from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17 For the great day of their[g] wrath has come, and who can withstand it?”
Rev.7:3 “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.”
Hierocles, the Stoic (On Duties, 1.3.54, C2nd AD); “Pestilence and drought, and also deluges of rain, earthquakes, and everything of this kind are for the most part produced by certain other physical causes, but at times they are caused by the gods when it is critical that the sins of the masses be punished publicly and generally.”
Tacitus, Annals 15:4 – Under Nero, Christians were “torn by gods and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames and burnt.”
Eze 22:3 and say: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: O city that brings on herself doom by shedding blood in her midst and defiles herself by making idols,
Eze 23:37 for they have committed adultery and blood is on their hands. They committed adultery with their idols; they even sacrificed their children, whom they bore to me,
Eze 23:45 But righteous men will sentence them to the punishment of women who commit adultery and shed blood, because they are adulterous and blood is on their hands.
Eze 33:4 then if anyone hears the trumpet but does not take warning and the sword comes and takes his life, his blood will be on his own head.
Eze 33:5 Since he heard the sound of the trumpet but did not take warning, his blood will be on his own head. If he had taken warning, he would have saved himself.
Eze 39:17 “Son of man, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: Call out to every kind of bird and all the wild animals: ‘Assemble and come together from all around to the sacrifice I am preparing for you, the great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel. There you will eat flesh and drink blood.
Eze 39:18 You will eat the flesh of mighty men and drink the blood of the princes of the earth as if they were rams and lambs, goats and bulls—all of them fattened animals from Bashan.
Eze 39:19 At the sacrifice I am preparing for you, you will eat fat till you are glutted and drink blood till you are drunk.
Big Idea: Gods Day of Wrath is being Directed by Jesus
Intro: Well morning church family. My name is Matt Johnson and today we continue our study of Revelation – the last book in the Bible. This is a book that tells the church to remain faithful witnesses to Gods Word and the gospel, despite persecution because Jesus is coming back…
PRAYER:
Well friends, last week, a number of people said to me “Woah!”. They said, they were loving Revelation, but could I slow it down a bit. Let me say – I hear you. I will try. But please don’t be OVERWHELMED by the CONTENT of these sermons. Just let the word of God wash over you. Like most sermons – I think you’ll only remember 5-6% of what I’ve said. But that’s ok – the Holy Spirit will bring back to mind the things you need to remember, at the right time.
Also remember – Revelation 1:3 says “Blessed is the person who reads aloud the words of this prophecy…” So we are simply reading aloud the words of this PROPHECY and (like a tour guide) I am pointing out some of the things I’ve noticed – especially all the Old Testament parallels. I think there are some things to learn from these parallels because Scripture interprets Scripture.
But you don’t have to grasp every point I’m making – because its not like we are deciphering SOME SECRET CODE in Revelation. Its not like I’m going to suddenly say; “And that’s how I know Putin is the antichrist”. (Seriously) NOR am I saying if you grasp this point in Ezekiel + this point in Daniel + this point in Revelation – you’ll see Jesus is coming back on the 29th February 2031. (Now for anyone taking my words out of context – let me say that date does NOT exist because 2031 is not a leap year). Friends we are NOT deciphering a hidden code. Like all biblical books Revelation is written to produce FAITH and faith comes from hearing Gods word. And Revelation is written to bring about real repentance from sin – because Jesus is returning to judge the world. Like all prophecy Revelation is about faith and repentance from sin.
Now the letters to the seven churches (at the beginning of this book) – kind of tell us who Jesus is addressing in this book. Its Christians. Jesus wants Christians to be faithful to him – until he returns. THIS MEANS “churches” that are dabbling with idolatry and sexual immorality – need to repent. “Churches” that have lost their first love, become lukewarm and materialistic – need to repent. Now Jesus also says that if they do not repent there are going to be consequences. Jesus is coming back for his faithful bride. Jesus is not coming back for a harlot church who has been committing spiritual adultery with the kings of the earth. RIGHT FROM THE BEGINNING Jesus was clear such an apostate church will be numbered among the unbelievers…
So I’d say this makes Revelation one of the most important books for today. Not because I know Jesus’ return is around the corner (although I hope it is). But because I see my own church leaders beginning to bow the knee to 1) the secular state, 2) woke ideology and 3) the shedding of innocent blood. The first love of many churches is no longer Christ. Their first love is the WORLD and being FRIENDS WITH THE WORLD is more important than faithfulness to Jesus. This is the beginning of harlotry and where there is harlotry – judgment must come because Jesus is jealous for his bride.
Point 1: The Lamb’s Book Summons Sword, Famine, Plague & Beasts
Show: Rev.6:1-4 (READ)
Explain: Well I’d say the first few seals on Jesus’ scroll may have been opened as early as 30AD. After dying on the cross for our sins, rising again and ascending into heaven – Jesus received the scroll. The book of life or the book of truth became Jesus’ and he started opening the seals…
The point is – THE FIRST SCENES in Revelation 6 are not necessarily the very end of time. (Let me explain). As Jesus opens the first FOUR seals on the scroll – we see four different horses given power to bring death to the world. This sounds very mysterious. But Zechariah 6 has a similar picture of 4 different coloured horses proceeding from Gods throne AND in Zechariah 6 we are told the horses are SPIRITS or ANGELS. So in Revelation it’s likely that the horses also represent angels. BUT WHAT ARE THEY DOING? Well God’s judgments always begin with these four horsemen. You can see what they are doing half-way through verse 8. Look with me (Rev.6:8b Slide 4). So four angels are given POWER to kill with 1) sword, 2) famine; 3) plague and 4) wild beasts 25% of people on earth. Now interestingly, even today, we know famine and plague (think infectious diseases) cause about 21% of deaths globally, every year. So throw in war and wild animal attack and 25% of people dying from these four things is about right. This is already happening every year.
When people begin to stray from Gods Word – Gods judgment always begins with famine, pestilence, sword and wild animals. It all stems back to THE SONG OF MOSES in Deuteronomy 32. Lets look at what God says (Slide 5; Deut.33:23-25). As you can see the same four horsemen are listed; 1) FAMINE; 2) PESTILENCE OR PLAGUE; 3) WILD BEASTS & 4) SWORD. Now Moses says these judgments are coming because of idolatry or what we might call apostasy.
We see the SAME FOUR HORSEMAN in Ezekiel. Let me show you Ezekiel 5 (ENTER; Ezek.5:16-17). Again we see the same four judgments – famine, plague, sword and wild animals. In Ezekiel 5 – we are again told that these judgments are coming because of Israel’s idolatry and apostasy. These are Gods normal judgments.
Now let’s pause for a moment. A couple of weeks ago – I suggested Revelation 1:5 forms a good framework for this book (Slide 6; Rev.1:5). These are the titles given to Jesus. I think Revelation 1-11 focuses on Jesus being this faithful witness – first to the seven churches and then to the entire church as he tells us what is coming. The middle of Revelation (chapters 12-15) focuses on Jesus being the firstborn from the dead. The idea is that if the state kills you and you die like Jesus (as a faithful witness), you’ll also rise like Jesus who was firstborn from the dead. So don’t stress it. And then, the end of Revelation (chapters 16-22) really focuses on Jesus’ final victory as ruler over the kings of the earth. That’s the big shape of this book…
Now “THE FAITHFUL WITNESS” section in chapters 1-11 looks a bit like this (Slide 7 – Commentary). Now I know you’re thinking “AHHH too much content again”. But don’t stress it. Just remember Jesus is the faithful witness to the churches. He begins by telling the seven churches what he wants them to do – repent and believe (or judgment is coming). The seven churches represent the total church. Then Jesus is commissioned as King of Kings to protect the church and control history. So in Revelation 6-11 Jesus begins to tell the Christian church what to expect as history unfolds. Jesus is telling us about the judgment that is coming on the world and the church if they do not repent of their sins…
But there are also so many PARALLELS between Ezekiel 1-13 and Revelation 4-11 that I don’t think they can be ignored. Now as I show you the parallels please note you don’t have to remember this.
I only want you to ANSWER one question. Are all the parallels pure coincidence? (Slide 8 – Parallels). Now I think it’s hard to say all these PARALLELS are pure coincidence. But if they are not coincidence – what does God want us to learn from them? I think one of the things we are meant to realise is that Jesus is filling the role of A WATCHMAN like Ezekiel. Ezekiel was commissioned to be a spiritual watchman for Israel. The role of a watchman in ancient cities was to stand on the city wall and look out for danger. If the watchman saw danger he would blow the TRUMPETS to wake everyone up in the city. And in Revelation 1-11 Jesus seems to be the faithful witness or watchman for the church. He begins by telling us about the danger on the distant horizon. Then as the danger gets closer – Jesus starts blowing the trumpets and straight after the seventh trumpet is blown in Revelation 11, Satan and the antichrist appear in Revelation 12-13.
But I think the connections between Ezekiel & Revelation also explain why judgment is happening. In Ezekiel 8 – (ENTER) which has no parallel in Revelation God opens Ezekiel’s eyes to see that there is an “IDOL OF JEALOUSY” set up in Gods temple. Ezekiel sees 70 leaders of Israel are bowing down to this idol. God shows Ezekiel the women are worshipping the goddess Tammuz and the men are bowing down to the sun-god Ra. God’s judgment is coming because of Israel’s apostasy. I wonder do we see what God sees? What would God say about the modern, western church?
Apply: Well returning to the four horsemen of famine, plague, sword and wild animals – I wonder how much of the church would still RECOGNIZE these things as Gods judgment? These days – we tend to write off such things as MISADVENTURE or a SPOT OF BAD LUCK. We go through a worldwide pandemic and no one even stops to consider if this might be Gods judgment. No one repents. We have significant wars and no one even stops to consider whether God might be angry at our sexual immorality or abortion of full-term babies. So how will we REPENT of anything, if we don’t recognize the wake-up call is a wake-up call?
Point 2: The Lambs Book will avenge the blood of the Martyrs
Show: Rev.6:9-11 (READ)
Explain: Well first off, Revelation 6 is one of the reasons I believe that when Christians die – their souls go straight to be with God. In this passage we see the souls of deceased Christians communicating with God from under the throne and God is communicating with them. We also see that they are given a white robe (perhaps to keep their souls warm) until they receive their resurrection body. Now I suspect that this picture is very important in Revelation – because if you are about to be martyred as a Christian – its helpful to know where you are going.
Now as we unpack these words we know THE DECEASED are Christians because they have died because of the Word of God and the testimony they have maintained. Now the phrase “the word of God and the testimony” gets used FOUR TIMES in Revelation. In the other 3 instances it is A) the Word of God and B) the testimony of Jesus (1:2; 1:9; 20:4; cf.19:10). So this group of people have been killed because they have stood up for A) the authority of Gods Word and B) the gospel of Jesus. So they’re Christian martyrs. As I shared with you a few weeks ago – the root Greek word for TESTIMONY or WITNESS is marturion, from which we get the word martyr. These people are Christian martyrs with a special honour.
In Revelation 5 we saw Jesus was the Lamb who was SLAIN. Like Jesus, these Christians have been SLAIN. The word slain – means to be killed violently. It means to be butchered or murdered with violence. Now thankfully the Australian government has not yet reached the point of SLAYING Christians who are faithful witnesses for Jesus. But the Australian government has passed a law saying it is illegal to personally call “an LGBTQIA person” to repent of their sexual sin. Now that is curbing the gospel. So should Christians obey that law? The government is also saying Christian institutions must accept things like euthanasia and LGBTQIA ideology or face prosecution. Should Christians compromise and accept these laws?
The state is even trying to control free speech – with their MISINFORMATION AND DISINFORMATION BILL. The idea that this will lead to a government run ministry of truth is truly alarming.
But sadly, it appears that Archbishops, bishops and church leaders are beginning to bow their knee to these state demands. So two years ago I seconded a motion at Synod asking the Doctrine Commission of our Diocese when the church should disobey the state? The official report came back to Anglican Synod a week ago (and as best I can understand it) – it says we should only disobey the state if; 1) they forbid the preaching of the gospel OR 2) they make us worship a false god. Mmmm. The problem with this position is Hitler never forbid the preaching of the gospel or demanded apostasy. So should the church of remained obedient to him even as he committed genocide?
Friends, the reason there are MARTYRS in the church is because sometimes Christians MUST disobey the state, their employer, their school or their denomination to remain faithful to Jesus. When the church starts giving to Caesar what belongs to God – we are beginning to commit SPIRITUAL ADULTERY AND HARLOTRY with the kings of the earth. Martyrdom of any sort usually requires disobedience of the state because only the state has the power to shed blood, incarcerate and or penalise disobedience. So Revelation is encouraging us to remain true to Gods Word and true to the gospel even if it leads to martyrdom.
Apply: Now in Revelation 6 – the martyrs cry out to God “How long before you avenge our blood?” This is a huge problem. When Christians are unjustly persecuted, penalised and martyred – we want VENGEANCE. OR to put it another way we want JUSTICE. But we need to be very careful we don’t take justice into our own hands. The Song of Moses says (Slide 12; Deut.32:35-36; Rom.12:19; Heb.10:30). The song of Moses also finishes in Deuteronomy 32 with these words (Slide 13; Deut.32:43).
Now please note – THE FOUR HORSEMEN of – sword, famine, plague and wild animals took us to the Song of Moses. Then, THE THEME of avenging our blood also took us to the Song of Moses. Faithful witnesses must trust God to avenge our blood AND not take matters into our own hands. Now interestingly, in Revelation 15 – we find Christians beginning to sing the Song of Moses because God begins to avenge their blood. Let me show you.
Show: (Slide 14; Rev.15:2 – Song of Moses). Shortly after the people sing the Song of Moses we start hearing about the avenging of blood. Have a look (Slide 15-16; Rev.16:5-7). This is Jesus avenging our blood generally against the world. But Jesus also avenges our blood spilt by the apostate institutional church. Have a look (Slide 17; Rev.17:6; 19:1-2).
Apply: Friends, please remember God does eventually answer our prayer for justice. The worse persecution and injustice becomes the more we are tempted to take it into our own hands. But we must wait for God to avenge our blood (and for many men this is going to be hard, especially if we see our family or friends threatened). There will come a time (perhaps soon) – when it is right to disobey the state, your boss at work and your denominational leaders. Naturally this will bring SUFFERING. So Revelation calls us to remain faithful and patient while we wait for God avenge our blood…
Point 3: The Lambs Book will Bring Everything and Everyone to an End!
Show: Rev.6:12-14 (READ; Slide 18-19)
Explain: Well all these cataclysmic events have direct links to Old Testament passages that talk about Gods final judgment. The great earthquake occurs in the Gog and Magog battle of Ezekiel 38. The sun turning black like sackcloth occurs in Isaiah 50 where God is giving his adulterous wife a certificate of divorce. The moon turning blood red occurs in Joel 2 – as a precursor to Gods day of wrath. The stars falling to the earth like figs and the sky rolling up like a scroll occurs in Isaiah 34 where it says “God is angry with all nations, his wrath against all the armies of the world.”
The point is we know from Scripture 1) how Gods judgment BEGINS with sword, famine, plague and wild animals AND 2) we know how the story ENDS with the complete falling apart of God’s creation. The final verses in Revelation 6 – are basically saying that when that day comes (it doesn’t matter who you are) – there will be no where to hide. It will be the scariest thing imaginable and there will be no where to hide.
Apply: So here’s some BASIC APPLICATIONS. FIRST, if you are not a Christian – you need to hide yourself in Jesus now. (GOSPEL) Don’t try to hide from God later. Hide your sin now. You are a sinner and you need God’s forgiveness. If you die without Jesus OR Jesus returns before you become a Christian – you will fall into the hands of an angry God. God is angry with your sin. But God has given you A SECOND CHANCE in Jesus. When Jesus died on the cross he took the punishment for everything you have done wrong. He did this because he loves you. So, if you ask Jesus to take away your sin and pay for it at the cross – it will be gone. It will be hidden forever. But if you don’t deal with your sin now – you’re going to be looking for a place to hide when Jesus returns and there will be no place to hide.
Second, if you are a Christian, you know 1) how the story begins and 2) how the story ends. But sadly, the time in between is often very painful for Christians. In this time we must not take vengeance into our own hands. We must wait on the LORD to avenge our blood, our persecution and suffering. I suspect the biggest temptation for many Christians in the last days – will not be apostasy or the mark of the beast, but taking justice into our own hands. Revelation calls us to remain faithful to Jesus (and wait for his vindication) – with a special promise in Revelation 20:4 (Slide 20-21; Rev.20:4-5). Now however, you conceive the millennium these words mean something to the martyrs. They are promised a special honour.
FINALLY, I admit all this is pretty heavy. So as we complete the first seven seals of Jesus’ scroll – we need to remember Jubilee is coming. In the Old Testament – God had a special law – that brought FREEDOM from slavery and CANCELLING of debt every seven years. But then after seven lots of seven years – came the year of the Lords favour, the year of Jubilee. It was a special time – when everyone rested from their work, toil was gone, debt was cancelled and people had true Sabbath with God for an entire year. Unfortunately, there is little evidence that the Jews ever really practiced Jubilee or enjoyed Gods perfect rest. But it appears the book of Revelation is built on the pattern of seven lots of seven ending with Jubilee. After seven lots of seven struggles (n Revelation) – all Gods people, those whose names are written in the Book of Life – will enter into Gods perfect Sabbath rest and He will wipe away every tear from our eye. So hold on. Be a faithful a witness and don’t take justice into your own hands (whatever happens)…
