As you remain standing, please turn to Revelation 6. We've been away from Revelation for a little bit. We'll cover Chapter 6 in two or three weeks. We'll get as far as verse 8 today. So I want us to read Revelation 6, verses 1-8. Please hear the Word of God as I read Revelation 6, verses 1-8. Now I saw when the lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a voice like thunder, come and see. And I looked, and behold, a white horse. He who sat on it had a bow, and a crown was given to him. And he went out conquering and to conquer. And when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, come and see. Another horse, fiery red, went out, and it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, and that people should kill one another. And there was given to him a great sword. When he, the lamb, opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, come and see. So I looked, and behold, a black horse. And he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, a quart of wheat for a denarius, which is a day's wage, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not harm the oil and the wine. And when he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, come and see. So I looked, and behold, a pale horse And the name of him who sat on it was death. And Hades followed with him. And power or authority was given to him or given to them over a fourth of the earth to kill with sword, with hunger or famine, with death or pestilence, and by the wild beasts of the earth. This is the word of God. May God, by his spirit, teach us and convict us according to his will this morning. You may be seated. When you hear the phrase, the four horsemen of the apocalypse, what comes to mind? It's probably not joyful thoughts. Maybe there's thoughts of hooded shadowy figures riding out on the earth to bring death upon its heralding coming doom in the end of the world. It is interesting that the word apocalypse actually means revealing or unveiling or disclosure, even revelation, which is why sometimes the book of Revelation is referred to as the apocalypse of Jesus Christ, the revelation of Jesus Christ. But today we'll begin Revelation chapter six, and again, it will take us two or three sermons to cover it. And we will see Jesus Christ, the lamb who is slain, sending out the four horsemen as he opens the seals of the scroll. And I really want to go back and read chapters 4 and 5 because we've been away for so long. I really think we should have sung James Boyce hymn on Revelation 4 and 5 to remind us, because it's been too long since we've been there. But I want you to remember, because it's key, that what we just read in Revelation 6 is a continuation of the visions of Revelation 4 and 5. And there, John was invited with the words, come up here and I will show you things which must take place. And he was taken up in the spirit in Revelation four to a vision of the throne room of God, the father is judge. And there. The father had in his hand and his right hand, a scroll that was sealed, the seven seals, but no one, you remember this, I hope no one was worthy to open it or even take it from his hand. And that scroll contained. God's purposes, his plans for redemption and judgment and the consummation of all things. But no one was worthy. No one had the authority to open it, which means no one had the authority to open it, to reveal its plans, and then to enact what it says to carry them out. You remember what John's reaction was to this, that no one was worthy? John wept. And the wording was, he wept a lot. And you think, well, why was he weeping? Well, unless one was found who could take the scroll and open it and enact it, God's purposes of salvation and judgment could not be enacted. There is no hope for God's people. There's no hope for mankind. There's no hope for creation itself. If no one was found to unseal the scroll and to read it and to carry it out, the purposes in the scroll could not be carried out. The plan of redemption and the recreation of all things could not be executed. And then men would remain condemned already in their sin, deserving wrath, and creation would remain groaning forever, unsatisfied and enslaved to the bondage of decay. But, if you remember in Revelation 4 and 5, the lion who is a lamb who was slain was indeed worthy, and he alone was worthy. because he died for sin. He was raised to new life. He ascended to the throne to take the scroll. And I even think the picture is the ascended, redeeming Savior now coming to the throne to take the scroll and to open it. He had secured redemption of God's people to enable the fulfillment of this scroll. And therefore, if you remember in Revelation 5, all the angels, the four living creatures, the 24 elders, and all creation joined in a swelling praise For the one who is seated on the throne and the Lamb who is slain, who could take the scroll and open it? That was Revelation 4 and 5. So now the scroll would be opened. And one seal at a time, they'd be taken off or broken. And God's plans for redemption and judgment would be revealed and enacted and brought to pass. But did you notice in Revelation chapter 5, one thing, everybody was happy. but the scroll had not yet been opened. So now we get to Revelation chapter six, and the scroll will be opened. And now you have a start of a whole new section in the book of Revelation. Now we'll see that the four seals, as they were broken, different horsemen were sent out with the first four seals, which is what we just read in verses one through eight in Revelation chapter six. And so though we could take the whole chapter perhaps, I think it's wiser to take the first four seals being open, which we just read, where the four horsemen are sent out, take this as a unit, and we'll cover this today. One reason is because the first four seem to be combined together. And we have the same pattern with the seven trumpets and the seven bowls as well, because there is a repetition of things, a recapitulation of the same thing, but from different perspectives. With these first four seals that we just read, you'll notice a lot of similarity that the other three do not have. The lamb opens the seal, and then a corresponding living creature announces, come and see. Then a horse of a different color appears with a rider who is given or granted a task, and we assume then by the lamb himself. And then the contents of the scroll corresponding to that seal are enacted on the earth. And we see the same pattern of the first four grouped together in the seals, just as we will with the seven trumpets and the seven bowls later. The first four are grouped together, the next three are different. And so we're going to walk through then verses one through eight, and these four horsemen that correspond with the four seals. And I've appreciated Pastor Jason Walter, of California, how he can take difficult things and make them simple without making them too simple. And I appreciated his presentation. So I'm going to follow that pretty much. One thing that's hard in the book of Revelation is not just talking about it or teaching it, but preaching it in a way that would make sense and would be helpful. And I want to follow basically his pattern of asking three questions. If you look in your bulletin, you'll see the outline for what we'll see this morning. First of all, what do the horsemen represent? Then when do the horsemen ride? And then why are the horsemen relevant to us today? What do they represent? When do they ride? And why are they relevant to us today? I think it will help us to have a good understanding of chapter six. It will also help us as we move ahead in the book of Revelation as things are a little bit different in the first five chapters. So first of all, what do the horsemen represent? When we get to Chapter 6, this is really the area where good men and women can disagree about a lot of things with the Book of Revelation. So I'm glad that Conrad spoke about doctrinal unity this morning with our church covenant. There are several things we can disagree when it comes to the Book of Revelation. There are some things we can't. But here's where you can get into disagreement. But one thing that's for sure I would like to think with these horsemen in these first four seals would be that these are clearly agents or instruments of God's judgment being set out to the earth. These are agents or instruments of God's judgments in different forms, but yet that's what they would be. But still, the question would be, what do they represent? Well, let's just ask a few questions, and you will see this in your bulletin. First of all, why horses? Why are we using horses at all here? I think it's helpful to see And we can look to the Old Testament to see what a reader of this in the first century, with some sort of a Jewish background in particular, would be thinking about when he's reading these things. So turn to Zechariah chapter 6. I think this gives us a help on why the horses. Zechariah is an important book in understanding the book of Revelation. We've already seen Zechariah chapter 4 with the vision of the golden lampstands and the seven lamps. We've seen that used importantly in the first few chapters of Revelation. If we had time we'd look through Zechariah chapter 1. In Zechariah chapter 1 you have the first of eight night visions given to Zechariah. In Zechariah chapter 6 which we will spin our wheels a little bit at, we have the last of eight night visions given to Zechariah and they are good bookends because they deal with horses and chariots and they deal with patrolling the earth in judgment and justice. In Zechariah chapter 1 you have three colors of horses mentioned, red, sorrel, and white. It says then they're sent out by the Lord to patrol the earth and they found that the earth was at rest and still. I think the implication is that the Gentiles seem to be at rest because the The horses are out patrolling the earth and executing justice and things are at peace. The immediate context is that the Israelites were not at peace. They were in chaos and they were, what's going on? Why are we having so much trouble? And yet the Gentiles seem to be at peace. But then you get to Zechariah chapter six, and you might want to look at verse one is where we'll actually start. But in Zechariah chapter six, you have the last of these eight visions. And now the vision turns to horses and chariots. I think Zechariah chapter 6 is what someone would think of when they read Revelation chapter 6 for the first time. What we see is these horses and chariots are meant to go bring out God's judgment now on the enemies of his people in Zechariah chapter 6. And what we'll read here, the north and the south countries represent those who had invaded and taken some of the Jews into exile. And so the four sets of horses are sent out. And really, the only thing that's different is one color of the horse. We have a dapple horse instead of a pale horse. Otherwise, the colors are even the same. And they're sent out to patrol and to bring God's judgment on the enemies of God's people. Let's look at verse 1 in Zechariah chapter 6. Then I turned and raised my eyes and looked, and behold, four chariots were coming from between two mountains, and the mountains were mountains of bronze. With the first chariot were red horses, With the second chariot, black horses. With the third chariot, white horses. And the fourth chariot, dappled horses, strong steeds. So there's four horses, four different colors. The only thing that's different, we have a dappled horse instead of a pale horse. I will bring to mind in Revelation, the pale horse really is a greenish kind of a thing. It means sickly. Near death is what that's representing. I'm not sure what dapple here means or if it matters as much in Zechariah. Then I answered and said to the angel who talked with me, what are these, my Lord? And the angel answered and said to me, these are four spirits or depending on your version, these are four winds of heaven. And the four represents a universality over the earth who go out from their station before the Lord of all the earth. The one with the black horses is going to the north country. The white are going after them and the dappled are going toward the south country. Then the strong steeds went out, eager to go, that they might walk to and fro throughout the earth. Another way of saying it, they might patrol the earth in justice and judgment. And he said, go walk to and fro throughout the earth. And in case you didn't get that, so they walked to and fro throughout the earth. And he called to me and spoke to me, saying, see, those who go toward the north country have given rest to my spirit in the north country. I think it's the idea of judgment and justice being carried out. So we have four horses, four different colored horses, going out and patrolling things in the earth. In this case, I think it's against the enemies of God's people in Zechariah. And I would contend that this is what would be brought to mind to a reader of the four horses in Revelation chapter 6. So this is one reason why we'd have horses, but now the next question would be, why four of them? Why four horses? Well, I think we spoke of this earlier when we were in the earlier chapters of Revelation, but four represents Really, two things, the number four. It represents the earth, and it represents all of it. The totality of it, the universality of it. We often hear of, in the scripture, the four corners of the earth. That means everywhere. Are there corners on the earth? No, there are not. It is actually a round thing. But four corners of the earth actually means it's all of it. And here, even in Zechariah chapter 6, which we just read, There are four winds or four spirits of the earth. That means all of it. There's four directions of the earth. There's north, west, south, and east. So there's four directions, even though you can actually go in more than just four directions. But there are four directions that represents all of it. And even we said earlier with the four living creatures around the throne, that represents all the earth. Because even creation is groaning for its redemption. And so four represents the universality of the judgment and the control of our God in all four directions over the earth. And the four horses announced are announced by the corresponding four living creatures, meaning over all the earth. Maybe some with some help about the four. We've looked at Zechariah. Let's look at Ezekiel at this point in time to see what the Old Testament prophetic scriptures would say. Ezekiel chapter 14. I think it might help if you go there. It will keep you awake. Ezekiel chapter 14. We've already seen how Ezekiel is helpful. Ezekiel chapters 1 and 2 would be helpful for us in the first few chapters of Revelation with the visions of the throne room of God and the visions of Christ. But now we get to Ezekiel chapter 14, starting in verse 12. Now what we have is that God executes four types of judgments on the earth on God's people. Before in Zechariah, it was more in the enemies of God's people. Now it's God's people because of their unfaithfulness. And it's interesting that if you read in verses 1 through 8 in Revelation chapter 6, the summary of the judgments that are shown in the fourth seal, the summary of the judgments were sword, and famine, and pestilence, and wild beasts. I think you might see the same thing as we read in Ezekiel chapter 14, starting in verse 12, that the judgments being exacted, and this is on the people of God in Old Testament Israel, famine, and wild beasts, and the sword, and pestilence, and that's all summarized at the end And it mirrors what we see in Revelation 6. Look at verse 12 in Ezekiel 14. The word of the Lord came again to me, saying, Son of man, when a land sins against me by persistent unfaithfulness, I will stretch out my hand against it. I will cut off its supply of bread, send famine on it, and cut off man and beast from it. It has this odd verse in verse 14. Even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, They would deliver only themselves by their righteousness, says the Lord God. The point is, Noah and Daniel and Job were pretty good people. They were those who were redeemed, those who were righteous. And so it's like, even the best of men, if they were here, they could not cast this judgment away from you. You would not change. They might be saved from it, but you would not because of your unfaithfulness. But notice how it's mentioning famine, the first one. Number two in verse 15. If I cause wild beasts to pass through the land, and they empty it, and make it so desolate that no one may pass through because of the beast, even though these three men were in it as I live, says the Lord God, they would deliver neither sons nor daughters. Only they would be delivered, and the land would be desolate. So we're going to go from famine to wild beasts. And then we have a third judgment on the earth, verse 17. Or if I bring a sword on that land, and say, sword, go through the land and cut off man and beast from it. Even though these three men were in it, as I live, they would deliver neither sons nor daughters, but only they themselves would be delivered. In verse 19, the fourth one, again, the fourth, the completeness of the judgment, or if I send a pestilence, a pestilence, and really In verse 8 of Revelation 6, when it speaks of death, some of your versions will say pestilence. It's the idea of death coming by plague or death coming by pestilence, the result of the pestilence. If I send a pestilence or a plague into the land and pour out my fury on it in blood and cut off from it man and beast, even though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it as I live, they would deliver neither son nor daughter. They would deliver only themselves by their righteousness. So the point is, we have four general expressions of God's judgment that's used to represent the whole of his judgment upon the earth, the sword, and famine, and wild beasts, and pestilence. And what do you see in verse 21? Well, it's summarized. For thus says the Lord God, how much more it shall be when I send my four severe judgments on Jerusalem the sword and famine and wild beasts and pestilence to cut off man and beast from it. Yet behold, there shall be left in it a remnant." We'll stop there, but the remnant theology is wonderful throughout all of scripture, that God saves his people in spite of their sin, and it's still going on now through the church. And so what you have with Ezekiel is four, but four essential judgments that represent the universality of God's judgment on the earth And in Zechariah, he was against the enemies of God. In Ezekiel, he was against his people in Jerusalem, which I think is important, because that's what we see in the book of Revelation, that there's judgment upon the earth, and both believers and non-believers suffer as a result of it. And I think that's basically what you see in the whole book of Revelation, for that matter. But it gives us some insight about horses, and four of them from Old Testament Now we actually want to get into what are the four horsemen in Revelation chapter 6. What are the four horsemen? Well, the first one, as we walk through the four, the first one is the one that has the most debate on, and you have even the best of men disagreeing widely. There are some who would say the first horseman is Christ. There are some who says the first horseman is the Antichrist. I'm not sure you can get much different from that, much of a disagreement from that. And part of the first one makes it seem different than the others. The rest of them are clearly judgment on the earth. The first one doesn't seem quite as judgment-like. It says, now I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a voice like thunder, come and see. And I looked, and behold, a white horse, You might think, why would someone think this is Christ? Who sat on it, and he had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer. It doesn't seem like judgment. It seems like conquering, but is that judgment-like like the rest of them are? Well, first of all, let's look at maybe what the wrong views would be. So those who would think this would be Christ, and there's some really, really good, even good men who I love dearly today who would say this would be Christ. It doesn't make you a heretic. I just don't think it's the best understanding. They would say that because he's dressed in white. The horse is in white, I should say. He has a crown. And he's conquering, not judging. And the idea would be that this first horse going out represents Christ going out with the gospel through the church and conquering with the gospel. which is actually what happens when you see in the book of Acts. You see it happening spiritually. And they would look to Revelation chapter 19. You can look there if you'd like to. Revelation chapter 19, verse 11, where we clearly see Christ in Revelation chapter 19. In verse 11, we see, now I saw heaven open and behold a white horse. But really, that's the only point of connection between the two that I can find. And he who sat on him was called Faithful and True. This is obviously Christ. And in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns. He had a name written on it that no one knew except himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and his name was called The Word of God. And the armies in heaven clothed him in fine linen, white and clean followed him on the white horses. Now out of his mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it he should strike the nations. Now you think of Psalm 2. And he himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He himself treads the winepress of the fierceness of wrath of Almighty God. And he has on his robe and on his right, on his thigh, a name written King of Kings and Lord of Lords. If we read further, we find out that Christ and his armies go out to defeat the beast and his armies. So clearly Revelation 19 is Christ, but really the only connection visually between Revelation 19 verse 11 and following and Revelation 6 verse 1 with the first horseman would be the white horse. And really, the white horse doesn't have to signify anything more than victory. In the Roman Empire itself, a white horse would signify victory, one who's conquered. But you notice the weapons are different. You have different weapons with Revelation 19 versus the bow that you have in Revelation 6. And even the crowns are different. In Revelation 6, when it says he has a crown, it's the Greek word of stephanos, which means a common crown or a wreath that would be given for victory or award. You can think of even an athletic event and you'd be getting a crown of victory. But the word for crown that's in Revelation chapter 19 is diadem, which speaks of the royal sovereign crown. And he has many crowns, it says in Revelation chapter 19. Even the crown, I don't think, makes them be the same person. They look like they're different. I even think in the Old Testament context, When we saw it in Zechariah chapter 1 and Zechariah chapter 6, that all of these riders of horses were doing the same things. They were going out in judgment. There's not one that was different. And it seems like to fit with what we see in the Old Testament, that all four of the horses would be representing the same general thing of judgment. And you'd think the first rider would be the same. I also think that with the lamb sending out the four horsemen, I realize it's a vision, so anything is possible. but it seems like with the Lamb sending out the four horsemen, that it's less likely to be sending out himself in this matter, that instead he's sending out four horsemen of judgment upon the earth. So I don't think it's Christ, although you can hold that view and not have to be kicked out of the church. It wouldn't cause you to be a heretic. Some would say who have a different mindset of revelation probably entirely would hold that this is actually Antichrist, and the reason for that would be This is like Satan appearing like an angel of light, even though he's being deceptive. This is one who's dressed to look like Christ, who's deceiving the nations. But even that I don't think would seem to fit the rest of the horsemen that the lamb is sending out because he's sending out judgment. I think when you look at the rest of the cycles of seven with the trumpets and the bowls, it's similar with those two cases as well. The first four are judgment being sent out. There's not one that's unique. So I think The best idea is that all four of these horsemen represent judgment and different types of judgment in general. So what is this first horseman, then? What would be the right view? I'm trying to be humble when I say it. I have to take one. I think we're talking about warfare in general, but warfare with the idea of conquest, the idea of conquering and going out to conquer. And the white horse in the crown would be the idea of someone who comes and he's victoriously conquering So I think the best understanding would be this is warfare, yes, but in the sense of victorious military leaders or tyrants that go forth, like foreign leaders that go out and conquer large sections of the earth, if you will. But realize that because the lamb is sending them out, and all of these seals that we see and all of these horsemen, the lamb is sending them out, and so it's divine judgment. It's the God who's in charge of all things, who's in control of all things as well. And don't we see us throughout the whole of history where nations have risen and fell, and tyrants have risen and fell, and even with the Roman Empire and the things we've seen up to this point, which I think the book of Revelation is written in the 90s AD, that we see us all throughout history of the rising and falling, not just of warfare, conquering and being conquered and military leaders and tyrants and foreign domination. I think that's what this is in general speaking of. I do think we have to be careful. We don't have to have all of the details for these judgments because I don't think we're given it. I think these four horsemen are talking about general types of judgment that God uses divinely in his judgment against sinful man because of his holiness against the earth until Christ comes. The second horseman, We see in verse three, when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, come and see. And now another horse, fiery red, and that has the idea of being red like fire, like blood red, but fiery red, went out. And it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth. We see this pattern of the land grants them the ability to do something in his divinity, his sovereignty. But now to take peace from the earth, which again is this universality of all things. It's not just one area, but it's the earth. And that people should kill one another. The word for kill means slay. And there was given to him a great sword. So Lem gives him the ability to do this, and he gives him a great sword. It's the idea of judgment. I think here is warfare without the conquering and the tyrancy, if you will, if that's the way you say that. But perhaps civil conflict within countries, conflict between man to man, warfare within a country, bloodshed and warfare. He's taking peace from the earth. And this should make us stop and think. We are citizens of perhaps the greatest country ever as far as freedom and wealth and the blessing that God has given us. We have a tendency to think that America always wins. Just look at the Olympics. We always win. America is not going to last forever. America deserves judgment as well. our sins of abortion in our country would be enough for God to wipe us off the face of the earth, even today. God is gracious with us. But nations rise and fall because, yes, they have warfare against them from the outside, but they war from inside because it's full of sinners. And so here you have warfare within the country and bloodshed and civil strife. And the Lamb sends this horseman out to take peace from the earth. in judgment against the sin of mankind on the earth. The third horseman, we get to verse five, when he opened the third seal, I heard the living creatures say, come and see. And so I looked and behold a black horse, a black horse, and black represents scarcity, famine, And he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand, balances. Why would they be scales? Because in that day and age, we're talking about commerce and not justice. This is not the scales of justice. This is the scale of commerce. You would buy food by weighing it out and buying it by how much was weighed out. And even in the Roman Empire at the time, many were on food rations. And they would get what they could get by what was rationed out through scales. In verse 6, and I heard 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 the wine. That seems kind of odd. Well, a quart of wheat is not very much. And that's the point. A quart of wheat is probably enough for you to make enough bread to survive for one day. It's like the bare minimum that you could have for sustenance for you and perhaps your family. A quart of wheat would be one day's bare minimum of nutrition to get by to the next day. And what's a denarius? Well, it stands for a day's wage. So you work all day to make enough money just to have enough to buy enough food to get by with nothing left over. This is speaking about famine. This is speaking about scarcity. and three quarts of barley for a denarius as well. It's not a lot. It's just enough to get by, but to still be hungry and have nothing left over. It speaks of scarcity and famine. And it says, do not harm the oil and the wine. The point of it is, well, for the luxuries, we're not going to worry about that. The rich will probably be able to take care of themselves, but the normal person, it doesn't matter how much the oil and the wine is, they can't afford it anyway. They're still stuck with a quart of barley or wheat I think the context is in first century Asia Minor. And if we had time, we'd go back to the seven churches that we talked about. Many of those cities that these churches were in, they had a lot. They were profitable. There was a lot of wealth there, but their wealth not by farm products, wealth with other things. And so it does strike us maybe how we are. I don't know what would happen if a pandemic would happen. Would everybody go crazy? Maybe the supplies would be cut off from things that are being imported from other countries. Maybe that would happen at some point in time in our life. I don't know. But that would happen in Asia Minor. Yeah, maybe you could be selling your fancy clothes, or your jewelry, or whatever they had in these cities. But if there is a drought in Egypt, the grain would not be imported, and the people would go hungry. It's difficult then to eat and live, no matter what you have for a business. Then we get to the fourth horseman. Then he opened the fourth seal. And I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, come and see. So I looked, and behold, a pale horse. Again, for pale, it's the idea of green, which maybe doesn't fit your thinking. But it's a pale, grayish green. I think some of your versions might say ashen. But it has the idea of sickliness. Someone who's near death. If someone eats something they shouldn't have, they say, oh, you look green. You understand what that looks like? And there's almost a sense there with this last seal, with the sickly and deathly. It's like death by way of all of the above, because it says, and the name of him who sat on it was death. And Hades followed with him. And power or authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth. to kill with sword, with hunger, which would be famine, with death, which some of your versions would say pestilence, and by the wild beasts of the earth, which matches Ezekiel. It's a four that represents the summary of God's general judgments on mankind that's ongoing because of their sin. There's a census. Last one is death by all of the above, the devastating effect of all of these things that we just talked about with the first three seals, the summation of it. The pale horse represents death and sickness. Warfare causes famine and scarcity. And that causes pestilence and disease, and that causes death. And now you have an accumulation of all of that with this fourth seal. And you think of plagues and pandemics throughout history. Even the Roman Empire would suffer that not long after this was written. It's an interesting phrase. It's just kind of hidden there, but it says, he who sat on it was death, and Hades followed with him. You have a picture of death riding on the horse with Hades falling behind him. Hades is the abode of death. Death is the dying. Hades is where they go. It has the idea of death going forth, and then Hades coming and scooping up the dead bodies as a repository, is what this picture is. Because of judgment, please don't forget this point, because of judgment on the earth, because of sin by a holy God with a lamb who is worthy to open up the seals. I think those are the four general ways to understand these four horsemen. I think that's all the farther you really have to go. We see these things happening throughout all of time in various places, at various times, at various levels, throughout all of human history, between the first advent of Christ and the second one that's coming, which then I just tipped you off on what you think, what I think the book of Revelation is talking about. The point here is, do not miss, is that these judgments on the face of the earth are not accidents. This wasn't just a result of some mean tyrant that decided to be evil and kill a bunch of people. These are results of opening the scroll and executing the judgments of holy God, carrying out judgment on the earth by the God who is sovereign over all things, whose control of all things, whose divine judgment now is seen against sin and rebellion against him. At the same time, notice how much grace and mercy there is here. Did you notice the very last one, the worst one? over a fourth of the earth, that means three-fourths is left unscathed by grace. God is patient, and he's gracious, he's merciful. There is a coming judgment. And so this is a warning to repent and turn to Christ before that coming judgment comes. That was the first one, the first point. Which is, what do these horsemen represent? Now I'd like us to understand, at least try to understand, when do the horsemen ride? When do the horsemen ride? Well, there's different views, and obviously at this point, however you look at the book of Revelation is going to flavor how you try to understand what's being said here. And it's almost impossible not to have some presuppositions that flavor how you think of these things. But I think the three main views in the order, well, not in the order of, the last one will be the one that I think is best. But the three main views that would be looked at would be, first of all, the preterist view. And the word preter means past. And so one who takes a preterist view on the book of Revelation would see most of the things in the book of Revelation have already happened. And they're wrapped up, they're pointing to and wrapped up to AD 70 when Jerusalem is trashed and the temple is destroyed. And so they look at these things that we just saw in Revelation chapter 6 of things that have happened largely in Judea in the time before AD 70 coming up to the destruction of the temple. And there were these things in some parts. There was war. Certainly the Romans were at war with the Jews. There was famine. Read what Josephus says about what happened in AD 70. It's awful. There's pestilence. But I don't think it fits for many reasons to think this is a preterist view. This is something that's already happened in AD 70. Because what we did see, I think, in looking through verses 1 through 8, that these judgments are universal. This is not merely Judea. These are universal judgments on the earth. If you read all of chapter 6, you'd see the earth, the earth, the earth. Even a little bit later, we would see more, speaking of judgments on the whole earth. But even in what we did see in verse 4, take peace from the earth, was what one horseman was said. Another horseman in verse 8 was to have this carried out to the fourth of the earth. Throughout the earth, there's four seals, there's four judgments, there's four living creatures representing the universality of the judgment on the earth. And in general, there have to be some questions to be asked. If this was merely for Judea in AD 70, then why would this be written to the seven churches in Asia Minor if it really had nothing to do with them? Besides, we said in the first couple of chapters that the Book of Revelation is not just written to the seven churches in Asia Minor, but the churches of all time. And so it wouldn't have much of anything to do with us either then if this was somehow secluded to AD 70. And I do think the best evidence for the writing of the Book of Revelation is after AD 70, in the 90s. Another view that would be often taken, maybe the most popular view, would be what we call the futurist view, where most of Revelation speaks of things that have not yet happened, but it'll happen at one big culmination at the end with a seven-year tribulation and then a judgment of some sort after that. And so with that view, which I don't think is right, Revelation 6 in particular would be picturing a point in time, I think, is how this would be seen, after the church is supposedly raptured, and then a final tribulation period would occur before Jesus returns. And so the war and the famine and the pestilence would be an increase of tribulation levels in this final part before we get to the judgment at the end. And then the rest of the book of Revelation is somehow in chronological order, just like chapter 6 would be in chronological order as well. But I don't see that makes sense from my point of view. I don't see that there's some sort of event or something that's happened in Revelation chapter six and like, okay, this happened and now everything's, it's just the seals are being opened up and it's just describing what happens throughout all of time. There's no specific period or chronological event that's being referenced here. And if we get to the sixth seal, we'll clearly see that the sixth seal represents final judgment starting. But yet we repeat this cycle again with the trumpets and the bowls. I think it's better to see this as Christ is ascended to the throne. He takes his place. He alone is worthy to open the scrolls. And then he takes the scroll. He opens it. And now this is what's happening in the last days. The last days represent the time between Christ's first advent and his second coming in the church age. And we see these things that are being described in verses 1 through 8 throughout all of time in this age. And we see a recapitulation of these things with the seven trumpets and the seven bowls as well, but from different perspectives. And I think, like the preterist view, if the futurist view is right, then really the vast majority of the church, it has nothing to do with her. It's just for those who maybe are around. Actually, if the church has raptured before us, it really doesn't affect them much either. I would hold the idealist view, which I think is the best way of seeing Revelation chapter 6 and actually the rest of Revelation. The idealist view is that Revelation is prophesying here in Revelation chapter 6 general events and patterns and judgments that we see throughout the last days, the age that we live in, the church age. I think it really helps us to keep it simple, Saint. If we just take the scriptures of Revelation, rather than trying to read a bunch of things into it, if we just take it for what it says, I think it, when you keep it simple, it makes the most sense out of it, and it has the most effect on it as well. I think the most sense out of this text is just that Christ has now ascended, he's taken his rightful place, and now the church age has started, the last days have started, and this is what is going to be characterized. And according to our confession, According to what we say, we want to use Scripture to interpret Scripture, that the difficult things of Scripture are best understood when we look at the easier things in Scripture. And so I want us, now that we've compared some views, I want us to compare some Scriptures. I want you to turn to Matthew chapter 24. A while back, we went through the Olivet Discourse in Matthew chapter 24 and 25. I think, in my mind, what you see in Revelation 6 is striking. a striking parallel to what Jesus teaches in the Olivet Discourse. And so if you could turn there to Matthew chapter 24. We won't read all of it, but I just want to show the beginning of it to show you the parallels that we have here. In Revelation 24 verse 1 and 2, Jesus went out, departed from the temple, and his disciples came up to show him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said to them, do you not see all these things? That phrase, these things, is key to understanding the Olivet Discourse. Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another and shall not be thrown down. So he's saying, do you see these things? He's pointing to the temple. It's going to be leveled. And the temple is the pride and joy of the Jew. It was everything to them. And so verse three, the reaction from the disciples, now they're finally on the Mount of Olives, which is why they call it the Olivet Discourse. The disciples came to him privately at the Mount of Olives, and they said, tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age? And so they thought they were asking one question. When will these things be, and when will be the end of the age? And Jesus makes it clear that no, they've actually asked two questions. These things about the destruction of the temple is separate from the end of the age. They're not the same. Now, when the temple is destroyed, it would be like the end of the age for the Jewish person. The whole world has come to an end, but Jesus then takes all of it discourse and he speaks about both things and it's admittedly not always easy to understand the difference, but I think the best understanding when he went through this a few years ago is Jesus uses three cycles to first start with these things of the temple being destroyed, which would be AD 70, but then he moves on to the end of the age, the final judgment when he returns. So if you look at verse four, And Jesus answered and said to them, take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name saying, I am the Christ, and deceive many. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you're not troubled. For all these things, these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet." So yes, there is a destruction of these things in AD 70, but it's not the end. Then I think what he's saying here from verse 7 through verse 14 is now speaking more so towards the end of the age. But he's describing how it's going to be before Christ comes back, between his ascension and his coming back. He says, for nation will rise against nation. That seems to be warfare. Kingdom against kingdom. And there'll be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places, which seems to match up with what Revelation 6 is speaking of, the same judgments upon the earth that we've read about. And these are the beginning of sorrows. It's the birth pangs, but it's not the final judgment. It's the contractions. And it hurts, I hear, but it's not the thing. And what he's trying to do is get them to understand, stop being alarmist. Don't be looking for signs and writing books about how Jesus is coming next week because these signs are in the sky. Don't do that. You don't know when it's going to happen. This is the way it's going to be until Christ comes back. So he says, then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you. And you'll be hated by all nations. Notice the universality of it, for my name's sake. And then many will be offended and will betray one another and will hate one another. then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound and love of many will grow cold, but he who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world. The gospel goes out through all of this seemingly turmoil, but Satan is fettered so the gospel can go forth as a witness to all the nations and then the end will come. Then the end will come. And that gets to the end of the first cycle of the Olivet Discourse. But we see the same thing, that there's judgments on the earth, and believers and non-believers will suffer as a result of it. Yes, there's martyrdom and there's persecution, but the gospel advances during this church age until the final judgment comes. And so the carrying out of the contents of the scroll by the horsemen in Revelation chapter 6 match up with the Olivet Discourse, and it represents what has been and what will be going on in this age. Wars and famines and pestilences at various times and various places at various levels. And again, these are limited. These aren't final judgment. So there's still time to repent, and we see the grace and the mercy of God. So the question is, when will these horsemen ride? Well, the answer is, they are riding right now. They are riding right now. And they have been since Christ's ascension. So our last question. Why are the horsemen relevant? And in particular, why are they relevant to us now? Maybe this seems kind of gloomy. What's the point? Wow, there's judgment going on. I can't do anything about it. God's in charge. Maybe I should go and watch the Chiefs. I was waiting for some boo. I think it's helpful to understand many things from understanding what we just tried to explain Revelation 6 with. It's helpful for us to understand that wars and famines and plagues and so on are general judgments of God upon sinful mankind because of his holiness. We are not deists. We don't think God just winds up the clock and then goes to bed and we just leaves us alone. He's in charge of all things. The Lamb of God is sending out these judgments by opening up the scrolls. These are divine judgments that were written on the scroll before the beginning of time. And now they're being carried out by our sovereign holy God. And we need to recognize our sovereign holy God and the rebelliousness of man. These are things that will always happen. It's not necessarily that every bad thing is a direct judgment on some specific sin. It could be. We could think of many things in our country that could be being judged right now because of their sin, or should be. I think even the candidates we have for office, either side of the aisle is judgment on our country. But these judgments are just consequences of mankind's sin against holy God. These are consequences of mankind's sin against holy God. And so we need to keep this in mind. Believers died of COVID. Believers died of AIDS. Believers died on 9-11 or even believers died in Israel a year ago. Believers are not kept safe from physical danger and harm when judgment is on the earth. Remember what Jesus says in Luke chapter 13, They were present at that season. Someone told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answered him and said, do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered such things? I tell you no, but unless you repent, you will all likely perish. This is a call to nonbeliever. When these judgments occur, it's a reminder of our sin. It's a reminder of our holy God. Christians can be comforted because Our God is in control. He works all things for his glory and for our good. And we're safe. But for a non-believer, it's a warning to repent. Jesus says in Luke 13, or those 18 on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you no, but unless you repent, you will likewise perish. Repent, or else something like this could happen to you, and you would deserve it. It's helpful for us to think of a black horse when we hear reports of famine. It's helpful for us to think of a red horse when we have reports of war. This is the judgment of God, but it's the sovereign God who's in control of all things. So it's despairing, but we don't have to despair because God's in control of all things. And there's a purpose for these things. And these things will always be with us. All nations will deal with this internally and externally because of the sinfulness of man. It's not that we don't care, we don't try something like, well, let's just roll over and just give up. No, no, no, no. Not at all. We are pilgrims and strangers in this earth, but we are members of the common kingdom as well, and we're called to love our neighbor and to love our God and to be the best citizens we can and work for the good of our country and the good of our neighbor. We don't know what God has in mind or when Christ may come. It could be that there'll be revival in the land. There'll be a time of peace. There'll be a recovery even in our country and a movement towards morality and even valuing the things of Christ in our country again. But as a Christian, we have the answers. We have the gospel that has the power to change hearts. We have prayer and obedience as a means to change the circumstances. And we're called to be faithful in these things and see what God would do. But for the non-Christian, the answer is, Repent before it's too late. When you see these things, repent, for it may be too late soon. So how do we respond? Well, for believers, we respond with humble faith, recognizing that God is in charge. God is a good God. Look at His mercy. Look what He could be doing to us as a country. Look what He could be doing on mankind because of our sin. But He's patient. He's merciful with us. And we look at these things with faith and not fear. We don't fear a pandemic. We don't fear election results. Our God is in control. These are God's divine and sovereign judgments. The seals are opened and the horses are riding even now, but God is in control. And all of this was written on the scroll before this. So we're called to respond with humble faith and to persevere, to hold fast to Christ in the face of war, plague, or famine. These seals are for the punishment of the sinner and the purification of the saint. Which again is a theme of the book of Revelation. The punishment of the sinner and the purification of the saint. For the sinner, such judgment, such punishment should drive you to Christ. Worse is coming, so come to Him. For the saint, Such purification should drive you to Christ all the more He is coming. He has come and He is coming. So we cling to Him now and promote Him and to love Him and make Him known. As we started before we turned to Revelation chapter 6 and we sang from Psalm 22, we sang of the judgment that Christ took in our place and it's sobering. So we want to close with that same thought that Christ is taking on in his flesh what we would deserve, the wrath of God and the judgment of God for our sin. So why would anyone choose to shoulder this judgment, this eternal wrath, that's just hinted at with these judgments in Revelation chapter 6, instead of turning to Christ and having Him take the judgment that our sins deserve? If you're outside of Christ, we urge you to come to Him today. Let us pray. Dear Heavenly Father, this is a heavy chapter. Difficult things to wrestle with. And I pray, Lord, that whatever is said would not be something that would put believers in despair and feel like a fatalist. Not at all. Lord, when we think we know what you're going to do or what the future holds, we steal from you. And that's what leads to worry and despair. We steal from you because the future is not ours to know what the details are. But we've been given new hearts, been given guaranteed inheritance. We've been given a guaranteed adoption into the family of God with all of the blessings that we have now and for eternity in that. And we're called to love you and to obey you and to make you known, to be a good neighbor to those around us, be a good citizen, even more so to be a good member of the church, to love one another in the church. Help us to do so. All the more knowing that you're in charge of even the worst of things or the best of things. You're in charge and we should not be surprised when bad things happen. But we rejoice that Christ has taken the worst. And we have nothing to fear because Christ has taken the worst and redeemed us from our sin and imputed to us his righteousness and given to us a destiny and a new heart that cannot be taken away. And we pray for those who are outside of Christ that today would be the day of salvation for them, that yes, this would lay even more heavily and despairingly upon their shoulders, that they're really quite blessed in this day and age. Even though there's judgment abounding, But judgment will come. It will be final. And whatever we see, even the book of Revelation, the reality of final judgment is worse than we can understand. So we pray, Lord, that you bring a realization of sin on those who are outside of Christ today. Help them to see the vileness of their sin and the depth of what needs to be done to pay for it and the depth of your holiness. that they would run to Christ, their only hope, the only one who is worthy not only to open the scroll, but the only one who's worthy to save a soul. And he will do it, the one who comes in repentance and faith. It's in Jesus' name we pray these things. Amen.