chapter one and chapter six, the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant, John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy and blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written in it. for the time is near. John, to the seven churches that are in Asia, grace to you and peace from him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. to Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood and made us a kingdom, priests to His God and Father. To Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of Him. Even so, amen. Now I watched when the lamb opened one of the seven seals and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, come. And I looked and behold a white horse and its rider had a bow and a crown was given to him and he came out conquering and to conquer. When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, come. And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth so that people should slay one another. And he was given a great sword. When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, come. And I looked, and behold, a black horse, and its rider had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, a quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not harm the oil and wine. When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, come. And I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And its rider's name was Death, and Hades followed him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth to kill with the sword, and with famine, and with pestilence, and by wild beasts of the earth. When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who have been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, O sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been. When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth. The full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. than the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, fall on us and hide us from the wrath of the face of Him who is seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come. And who can stand? The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. Let us pray. Eternal God and Heavenly Father, we come before you. We open your word and we seek your spirit, that your spirit might give to us understanding. Not only that our minds might understand and comprehend, but that our hearts would love you and would seek to walk before you in obedience. and in faithfulness to the glory and honor of your holy name. For it is in Christ's name that we pray, amen. The book of Revelation opens by telling us that it is the revelation that God the Father gave to Jesus Christ, his son. And it is the revelation that Jesus Christ gave to his angel, and that his angel gave to John, and that John has given to all the servants of God, to all the faithful in Christ Jesus, so that we may know of the things that will take place. And then God pronounces that he will bless all who read and all who hear and all who obey the commands of this revelation. And then the triune God, the one God in three persons, gives a greeting to all the servants of Jesus Christ in verses four and five, which say, grace to you and peace from Him who is, and who was, and who is to come. In this world of sickness, and this world of evil, and this world of trials, how greatly we need God's grace, His mercy for our sins, to forgive our sins, and His peace, our peace with Him. Peace that our sins are forgiven and that he is our father and the one who cares for us and works out everything in this world for the good of his people. And this, the triune God offers to us. And we hear also grace and peace from Him who is, and who was, and who is to come. This is a reference to God the Father. Note that the Father is presented to us as Him who is, which means that He is timelessly present from eternity to eternity. He is the one The triune God is the one who is above and beyond all time and who is eternally present in all that time and sees all things as one. The Father is also presented to us as him who was, which means that before this world, before this earth, before this universe, before anything was created, God existed. He was there, he was present. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were there as one. And the Father is also presented as him who is to come, which means that the Father will come to earth in the person of the Son to judge all who are wicked and to usher all those that Christ has redeemed into eternal glory. And then the second of the three persons of the Holy Trinity is mentioned, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne. Don't allow yourself to be disturbed by this or spend time trying to figure out who these seven spirits are. This is a symbolic reference to the one Holy Spirit of God. The number seven is the number of perfection and of completeness and the one Holy Spirit is being pictured here as being seven, as being complete and perfect and being able to be present in all places and all times. In fact, in an infinite number of places at one time. in order to perfectly carry out the work of the father. And then thirdly, he mentions, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. Jesus Christ came as the God-man to earth and was faithful even to the point of death. He witnessed to the truth, he witnessed to the Father, and he witnessed that the Father had sent him to bring about redemption for all who trust in him. He calls us to be faithful witnesses to the truth too, even unto death, and he promises us eternal life with him if we will be faithful even until the end of our lives. to our Savior and God. And Jesus is called the firstborn. The firstborn, not like a human being, born in time, but the one, the eternal one, who took on human flesh and is the preeminent one to rise from the dead. Yes, there were some in the Old Testament that were raised from the dead, but they were raised from the dead because Jesus rose from the dead. He is the one who by his death and resurrection has conquered death and holds the keys to death and hell and holds the power of life to raise us up from physical death. That power comes only through Christ and because he is risen from the dead, we who trust in him shall also be raised up. from physical death, to physical life, to spiritual life, to glorified life, to eternal life with him. Is there any greater promise and glory than to know Christ and have this hope of eternal life? There is none greater. And he is the ruler of the kings on earth. The book of Daniel tells us that how Jesus, after he completed our redemption, rose to heaven and entered into the presence of the ancient one. And to him was granted dominion over all the earth and all kings and all nations. He rules all and he rules all for the good and blessing of his people. But the problem that comes to us is if Christ is ruling over all, how can it be that we are yet suffering, that we are under tribulation, that we are under hardship? And the book of Revelation will answer that question for you. The book of Revelation speaks of the trials and tribulations and suffered them and even martyrdom that Christians must go through and yet it assures us that it is those in Christ who shall triumph over all and be able to stand in the presence of the Savior in heaven and dwell with him for all eternity while God's judgments upon the earth shall fall upon all those who are wicked and evil. and all those who persecute his people. And they shall suffer eternal judgment away from the presence of God forever. Jesus reigns. And because he reigns, even though we suffer, we can have the assured hope that we too shall live and reign with him forever. That is the message of the book of Revelation to the people of God. We should note that the Old Testament repeatedly refers to God the Father as the one who rides on the clouds. Now God doesn't need a means of conveyance because he is everywhere present at all times, and yet he is pictured as the one. who travels on the clouds, for he is in the heavens. And he comes to a nation that is wicked, and in coming, he places his judgment upon it. Isaiah chapter 19, verse one and verse 16 say, behold, the Lord is riding on a swift cloud and comes to Egypt. And the idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence, and the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them. In that day, the Egyptians will tremble with fear before the hand that the Lord of hosts shakes over them. You see, God was prophesying judgment to the Egyptians for their wickedness and their rebellion against the one true God. They worshiped gods, but the gods they worshiped were false gods. And they attacked God's people They had attacked the apple of his eye, those who worship the true God, and God said he would judge them for that. And Isaiah prophesied that God would judge a long list of nations. You may find yourself bored reading from chapter 10 to chapter 19 in Isaiah and say, but what do I need to know of all these nations that no longer exist? You need to know that they were judged and destroyed before the first coming of Christ because of their wickedness, their rebellion against God, and their persecution of God's people. That is what you need to know. But now the book of Revelation shifts its focus to Jesus Christ. Notice that the second half of verse five, Revelation 1.5 through the end of verse six says, to him who loves us. Well, the whole Trinity loves us, but here the focus is on Christ. To Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood, by His blood that cannot be said of the Father, that cannot be said of the Holy Spirit. It can only be said of Christ who took on human form and shed His blood, who died for our salvation. He has freed us from our sins by His blood. and made us a kingdom. We are a kingdom, we are a people, all who are in Christ are in the kingdom of Jesus and ruled over by our king, who is the king who rules over all the kings of the earth. He has made us a king and he has made us priests. Those who may approach God with our prayers and besiege him for his mercy, we may come into the throne room of God through prayer. We are priests to his God and Father. To Him be glory and dominion forever and ever, O man. We are called upon to give glory and praise and to attest to the dominion and rule of Jesus Christ to all, and to do that forever and ever. And it concludes, amen, truly, fairly, so let it be. All this speaks of the person and work of our Savior Christ, who took on human form, who shed his blood on the cross to save all who trust in him, and who made all believers to be his kingdom and to be his priests, to offer sacrifices of praise and service to God. And for all that Jesus has done, all glory and absolute rule over all belongs to him. Forever. And having now focused our attention on Jesus Christ, the book of Revelation now gives us a key verse that sums up the message of the entire book. In verse 7 it says, Behold He, Jesus Christ, He is coming with the clouds. And every eye will see him. Every eye. Every eye upon earth will see Jesus Christ when he returns. There will not be any question. No longer will people say, oh, Jesus has returned. Come, we will show him to you. You don't need to go with any person to any place to see Jesus. Every eye on earth will see him when he returns. even those who pierced Him. He will raise even those who pierced Him up from the grave, and they will stand before Him and have to answer to Him for their wickedness in crucifying Him. And all the tribes of the earth, all the kindreds of the earth, all of them will wail on account of Him. Even so, amen. Many will wail because they fought against Christ and He is the ruler of all and now they will be judged. Others will mourn and weep in thankfulness and praise that their Savior has returned and will set all things right. This takes the words and message of God coming to judge the nations and it applies it to Jesus Christ, identifying Him as the one who judges all nations. Revelation 1, 1 through 8 concludes this section with Jesus proclaiming, I am the Alpha and the Omega. I am the first and the last. I am the beginning and end. I am the eternal one. I am Yahweh God, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty. Jesus is the eternal God, and he shall come for his people. One of the things that Revelation does over and over again is to take all the titles and all the works of the one true God and apply all of them to Jesus Christ. Those who say, well, the Bible never says that Jesus is God. They haven't really read the Bible. They haven't really read the Gospel of John. They haven't really read the book of Revelation. And if they have, they really haven't paid attention to it because it's all over the place. Jesus is the eternal God. But how can both the Father and the Son be the one who comes at the end of the age? And the answer is that the Father is fully present in the Son, and the Son is fully present in the Father, just as the Spirit is fully present in the Son, and the Son is fully present in the Spirit who dwells in us, so that it can be said, as the Spirit of God dwells in us, that Jesus dwells in us. All persons of the Trinity are fully present with all other persons of the Trinity. Revelation 1-7 is quoted in Zechariah 12. And it's a very interesting chapter in the Bible to read because first in that chapter, God identifies himself as the one who is speaking. And then in verse 10, God says something absolutely astounding and that seems impossible to be true. It says, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him as one mourns for an only child and weep bitterly over him as one weeps over a firstborn. This is amazing. God is saying that people will pierce him. The word pierce usually means to stab with the sword and kill the person. And then after God says that they will pierce me, he goes on to say that they will mourn for him whom they have pierced. The implication is he will die. He will be lost. There will be those who will mourn. It appears at least those who looked to Christ to save them mourned when He died on the cross. How can this be? How can it be? The Old Testament passage was beyond understanding before Jesus Christ came, not until the first coming of Jesus Christ. And the New Testament unfolding of the doctrine of the Trinity, that is one God in three persons, who are all equal in power and glory and substance, only then does this become understandable, that Jesus Christ is the eternal God in human flesh. And he was pierced for our sins, and he died. in our place. And John the Apostle quotes Zechariah 12.10 in John 19.37 and states that this verse was fulfilled by the death of Jesus, the eternal God, who became man and died on the cross for his people. Jesus is the one who all people will one day see coming on the clouds and will mourn over either in repentance for their sins or in grief over the judgment for their sins. Jesus will come and sit in judgment over all. Revelation 1, 7 also corresponds very closely to the words of Jesus in Matthew 24, 30, which says, then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man. And then all the tribes of the earth will mourn. And they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. Jesus comes as the eternal God to make all things right and to judge all wickedness. Both passages tell us that Jesus is coming to raise the dead. He's coming to judge all people. He's coming to create a new heavens and a new earth for his people. And Revelation 19 gives us an awesome account of the second coming of Christ to earth at the end of the world. But there is something more that we should understand about the coming of Jesus Christ to earth. just as the father came repeatedly in judgment within history to judge the wicked, Jesus is now doing the same thing. Jesus reigns over all and he reigns for the blessing of his people. And though we are often tested and tried to see if we are true to the Lord by the afflictions of this world, yet nothing is out of the control of Jesus. And when the people of this world so severely afflict his people. Jesus, too, is grieved by that. And Jesus judges those who do not know him, even now, even in this world. Yes, there are many who are exalted by this world and do great evil. But how suddenly, often, they are brought down. How suddenly those who are mighty, their lives are ended and they are gone. Disappeared from this world and gone to eternal judgment Revelation chapter 2 and verses 4 through 5 Jesus there gives a warning But this warning is not one of the warnings to the wicked or to those outside It is the warning to those in the church. It is the church in Ephesus Jesus First commends them for those who love him and faithfully serve him. But then he says, but I have this against you that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen, repent and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent. Jesus is warning the church in Ephesus that if they do not repent of their spiritual deadness, he will spiritually come in judgment and put an end to their church. And Jesus does many times allow churches to go on for a time in apostasy. But he does so being gracious to them, giving them opportunity to repent. But Jesus will not allow any apostate church to stand forever. He will bring it down because it is a great blot and shame. And he will remove it, and he will raise up in its place other churches that are faithful to him. So Jesus will come physically at the end of the world, but he also comes spiritually in judgment upon the wicked during the history of the world. And he also comes spiritually in blessing to each and every believer at the time of your death to take you to dwell with him in heaven. Revelation has much to say about Jesus coming in judgment upon the wicked of this world throughout history. There are the seven seal judgments, the seven trumpet judgments, and the seven bowl judgments. Interestingly, these three sets of judgments are greatly parallel, and they really fit one right on top of the other as depictions of the same things. And the final judgments in each of these three series predict the second coming of Jesus Christ. These judgments all take place during the history of the world from the time of Christ's first coming to the time of his second coming. The events of these judgments correspond with the events predicted by Jesus in Matthew 24 in the Olivet Discourse and also found in Mark 13 and in Luke 21. Jesus predicted the coming of wars and famines and earthquakes and persecutions of the church. And there are many, when they look around today, they see wars, and they see famines, and they see earthquakes, and they see persecutions, and they say, ah, look, the signs of the times, the signs have been fulfilled. Christ is going to come back now. He's going to come back this day. He's going to come back this year. He's going to come back very soon. And there have been many who have said that. Even genuine Bible believers have set dates in the 20th century. I remember 1989 was a date Jesus was supposed to come back, and he didn't. And they shifted it a bit and say, we were off a little. He's going to come back this day. He didn't. You see, these are not signs of the end. These are not signs of the end of the world and the return of Christ. And Jesus said that himself. Jesus said that these were not signs of the end of the world, but signs that he was in control of all history, to bless his people and to judge the wicked. We read in Matthew 24, verses four through eight, that Jesus said to his disciples, and Jesus answered them, see that no one leads you astray, for many will come in my name. That's why we had to be warned, don't be led astray, because many will come and claim to be Jesus. Be careful, don't listen to them. Many will come in my name saying, I am the Christ. And they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed. Aren't we alarmed every time there's a war and a famine and an earthquake and persecution? Aren't we alarmed? This can't be, how can the Lord allow this? He says, don't be alarmed. These things are going to happen. They're going to continue to happen because he is judging the world. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed for this must take place. But the end is not yet. For nations will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. But all these, all these are but the beginning of the birth pains. These are the beginning, not the end. These things signify the beginning of the age, not the end of the age. And they are found all through the age. So the judgments in Revelation chapter 6 through chapter 18 refer to events that take place in history from the very first coming of Christ till his second coming. In Revelation 6, one through eight, we see the first four seal judgments and we see they are also symbolized by four horses or four horsemen. The first seal judgment and horse, a white horse, symbolizes conquest. And hasn't it been true throughout all world history? Men have sought to make themselves great by conquering the whole world and ruling over all of it. And one empire after another has arisen and has fallen. It depicts all those people in the history of the world. This one seal judgment, this white horse, depicts all those people in the history of the world who have had grandiose plans to conquer the entire world, such as Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Genghis Khan, Napoleon, and Adolf Hitler. This really makes us wonder whether Christ is ruling the world or not. But Jesus assures us in Revelation 6 that he uses even the wickedness of men to serve his holy purposes. When the brothers of Jesus sold him into slavery to get rid of him, God raised Joseph up to be the second highest ruler in the land of Egypt, and he used Joseph to deliver his people from famine, and later to deliver the people of God from the tyranny of the Pharaoh. And God made this deliverance a picture of the greater deliverance that Jesus Christ would bring to all who trust in him, from even greater tyrants, from Satan and sin and death. We as Christians, we tend to put our hope in men of this world, in politicians. Our hope is not in politicians. We can be thankful that God is the one ruling all. And God, Jesus, can even use wicked politicians and men who do not know the Lord to do good things. And we can thank him and praise him for that. And we are instructed in the word of God to always pray for all our leaders, whether they are godly men or wicked men, because God can use them for good, or he can remove them. Jesus is the one who rules over all. And throughout all time, there have been those who have brought great conquest and war and hardship upon the world. And though it might look to us like Jesus is not ruling, he is. He allows and uses all those things, even to upset the hearts of the proud and powerful and confident and humble them down to the earth and to cause all in such distress. to turn to Christ, who is the only one who can guarantee to them eternal peace and blessing. It is found only in Christ. Likewise, Acts 2.27 tells us that the evil desires of Herod and Pontius Pilate to put Jesus to death were part of God's eternal plan by which God delivered us from the judgment due for our sins through the death and resurrection of Christ. The second seal judgment, another horse goes forth, and this horse is a fiery red-collared horse. We have a white horse, we have a red horse. And this one symbolizes war and violent death and bloodshed, the shedding of much blood. But Jesus assures us that he is still on the throne. He overrules the evil desires of men and he uses their atrocious wars to bring down nations that are persecuted and killed his people and to bring judgment upon them. Jesus predicted in Luke 21 that the Roman Empire would destroy Jerusalem and 40 years later in AD 70, that is exactly what happened. Luke 21, 20 through 22, Jesus there warned Christians to flee from Jerusalem when they saw Jerusalem surrounded by armies. The Jews stayed and fortified to fight against Rome and to seek to overthrow Rome. and to have their independence. But Jesus said to his people, get out, run, flee, hide. And they did. All the Christians got out of Jerusalem. And as a result of his prediction and the obedience of Christians who fled from Jerusalem, God kept the Christians safe from the judgment that God brought upon the apostate Jewish nation. And through the scattering of the Jewish people, their ability to continue to persecute God's people was broken. The third seal of judgment is a black horse. And just as red is pretty easy to see what it symbolizes, it symbolizes blood. So black's pretty easy to see what it symbolizes. It symbolizes death. It symbolizes famine. Famines throughout the history of the world have caused great hardship, but they also break the hard hearts of people who are fighting against God. and they open them up to the loving care that Christians have provided for those in need. Christians today are in a thousand places around the world, in tens of thousands of places around the world, providing food and clothing and medical care for those who are destitute and in need. And along with these things, Christians are bringing the gospel to these people. The loving care of Christians has brought the gospel to millions of people. Finally, the fourth horse, a ghastly pale green one, symbolizes death. Those in this world who are fighting against God are repeatedly jarred by the death of their loved ones, no matter how hard they try to forget God and live their lives for pleasure, Death keeps shaking their world. And death repeatedly raises the question of whether or not there is life after death. And whether there is a God who will hold them accountable for how they have lived in this world. Death is a fearsome enemy, a terrible enemy. All must face it, none can escape it. But we as Christians do not need to fear it. If we trust in Jesus, death is but a door for us into the presence of God. Jesus said in Philippians 121, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. I am living for Christ and when I die, I will gain him. I will be with him face to face. Death is but a door into his presence, where there are no evil desires of men, where there are no wars, no famines, no plagues, no death, but only eternal blessing for those who are faithful followers of Jesus Christ. Jesus says in Revelation 3, 19 through 20, those whom I love, I reprove and discipline. Do you feel yourself reproved and disciplined? Do you feel yourself abandoned by God? He has not abandoned you, though he will chastise you. He will reprove you, he will discipline you. He says, so be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and eat with him and he with me. The one who conquers, that is to say, the one who overcomes the temptation to turn from Christ, who overcomes it by remaining faithful to Christ throughout all of life. He says, to the one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne. as I also conquered, that is, just as Jesus overcame Satan by being faithful to God to the point of death on the cross. Yes, Jesus died, but he was raised to glorified human life, divine life and glorified human life. And so too shall we be if we are in him. We shall be raised to glorified human life, not divine life, we are not divine. but to glorified, sinless, immortal human life. And he says, and he sat down with my father. I sat down with my father on his throne. And he invites us to sit down with him on his throne in heaven. Are you ready for Jesus' coming? We know that we will die, but when we are young, The end of our life just seems so far away. When we're 5 or 10, it's like, yeah, I know I'll die, but I'm going to live to be at least 70, maybe 80, maybe even 90. That's just so far away. It seems like it'll never happen. It's never coming. It's so far away. But it is coming. It's coming for all of us. And we're not even guaranteed that any one of us will still be alive tomorrow. Severe illness could take us. A car accident could take us. A tornado could take us. All kinds of things can take us. We have no guarantee of our life, even tomorrow. But Jesus says that if you listen to him as he is speaking to you, if you turn from your sins, and if you trust in him alone for salvation, then he will enter into sweet fellowship with you right now. And on the day of your death, He will take you into His presence to dwell with Him forever. Let us pray. Eternal God and Heavenly Father, we thank you and praise you for our glorious King and Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior and the one who rules over all things and disposes all things for the good, the eternal good, the eternal blessing of His people. May we delight in our Lord. May we cling to him and trust in him and find our joy and peace in him in all things. For this we pray in Christ's name, whom to know is life eternal. Amen.