All right, morning, everyone. Before we get started, I just want to make an introduction. A friend of mine from college, Rick Blalock, or Rick Souther, sitting with his wife, Maria, came to visit this morning. So I was pleasantly surprised to see him. I graduated in 2000, and I think we started there at Florida in 1996. So almost 20 years of friendship. So it's good to see you. Thanks for coming. I still don't really know why you're here. You said to see me. I know that can't be the reason you flew across the country from Florida. But anyway, if you guys talk to him or introduce yourselves out of service, maybe you can find out why he's here. But whatever the case is, I am privileged that you came to visit Rick. So it's great to see you and Mariah. Let's open in prayer. Father, we thank you for your word. Thank you for the Olivet Discourse that we've reached in Luke's Gospel, the longest sermon that you preached on the end times. And so I thank you for the revelation it gives us of the future. I thank you for the end times. I know there might be debated amongst scholars, but I think that the things we'll be looking at are pretty clear, Lord, as you laid out about the future for us. I pray they give us an exalted view of Christ as He's the one who opens these seals and unleashes these judgments on a Christ-rejecting world. Give us healthy reverence and fear and even awe of what the future entails for the unbelieving world. Give us faith in Christ. I pray that you would use this time to sanctify us, give us familiarity with the end times, which can often be neglected, but are important. It's recorded for us, and so help us to understand these things, especially if there's individuals who are unfamiliar with them. I pray that you provide even a supernatural understanding for this morning, for these truths to be understood and taken with us. Lord, we pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen. So famous horses seem to fall into three categories. And the first category is racehorses. Let's see if we can guess some of the famous racehorses. Oh, that was a lot more guesses than I thought. Okay, I think I heard one. What was one of them over here? Seabiscuit, I thought that'd be the first one. Yeah, Seabiscuit made famous by the 2003 film showing his underdog story. That was number one. What other ones were there? Secretariat, yes. Secretariat won the Triple Crown, the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes, and still holds the fastest time records in all three of those races, and Secretariat received his own film in 2010. Any guesses? Any other guesses? What's that? What? Man of War, is that a racehorse? That didn't make the list apparently, Bill. I'm sorry about that. At least not the list I saw. I have third is Frankel. Any Frankel fans? Known as the unbeatable wonder horse because he was unbeaten in his 14-year career. The second category is famous television horses. Oh, slow down, slow down, okay. Okay, I've got Trigger. Trigger's on the list. Slow down, please. I can only, man, I thought we didn't have any guesses here. Trigger was the horse of singer, actor, and performer Roy Rogers. What else did we have? Mr. Ed didn't make the list. Yes. Okay, keep going. There's some other big ones here. Whoa. Okay, we've got silver. Yes, the Lone Ranger's horse. Thank you, Audrey. Okay, cartoon fans. I'm looking for one. Cartoon fans. Quick Draw McGraw. The anthropomorphic white horse wearing a red Stetson cowboy hat, a red holster belt, light blue bandana, and occasionally spurs. I got to be honest, as a Lord of the Rings fan, I was hoping Shadowfax. Gandalf's horse was going to make the list, but he wasn't present. The third category is warhorses. I'll be surprised if anyone guesses any of these, but we'll give it a shot. Warhorses. Napoleon's horse, yes. Do you know the name? Then you don't get credit. Because his name isn't Napoleon's horse. His name is Marengo. He fought in such battles as Austerlitz, if I'm saying that correctly, Waterloo. Interesting fact, Marengo's skeleton is displayed at the National Army Museum in London. So if you ever go to London and want to see the skeleton of a horse, you can see Napoleon's. OK, what else? Any other guesses? What's that? Artax? Oh, that's good. Yeah, that's really good. But no, Phil. No. These are fictional ones. What's that? He was fourth. Yeah, Alexander the Great's fourth. Okay, so I've got Sergeant Reckless, who achieved the military rank of sergeant for her bravery and service during the Korean War. I've got Comanche, who was Captain Miles Keough's horse, and part of Comanche's fame comes from being the lone survivor of the Battle of Little Bighorn. So if I ask for the most famous horses in scripture, what are people going to say? Yeah, the four horsemen of the apocalypse. So on Sunday mornings, we've been working our way through Luke's gospel verse by verse, and we reached the Olivet Discourse, and you might wonder what the four horsemen of the apocalypse have to do with the Olivet Discourse. Well, I've known for months that when I reached the Olivet Discourse and we discussed the birth pains, I was also gonna show you how the birth pains parallel the four horsemen of the apocalypse in Revelation 6. So to say this clearly, when Jesus Preaches the Olivet discourse and he discusses the birth pains those early judgments They mirror or they parallel the four horsemen of the apocalypse so I was planning my sermon and I'm gonna have show you guys the parallels between Luke 21 and then Revelation 6 and then you'll never guess what happened I Couldn't get it all in one sermon. Could I the story of my life as a preacher here? I But I still wanted you to see that material, and so it worked out to have the Olivet Discourse in one sermon. And now you kind of have a foundation for the Four Horsemen, if you can remember the birth pains from the previous sermon in the Olivet Discourse. So, as we look at each of the Four Horsemen, I will give you the parallel prophecy from the Olivet Discourse so you can see how they mirror each other. Before we jump into the book of Revelation, let me give you some context. So in Revelation 4, John finds himself, you could say raptured up to heaven. He serves as a picture type of the church in heaven, absent from the earth when these judgments are poured out. And then Revelation 4 gives this incredible, unique description of the throne room of God. And then after describing God's throne room, Revelation 5 zooms in to something in the hand of Him sitting on the throne, or in the hand of God the Father. And what's that? a scroll. So then Revelation 5 is about this scroll that's in the hand of God the Father and he calls out who is worthy to open the scroll, you know, how many people, whether it's Alexander the Great or any other dictator throughout human history who have wanted to control the world or who have wanted this scroll but wouldn't be worthy. And then John weeps because nobody's found worthy to open the scroll until the Lamb who was slain is found worthy and then the Father gives the scroll to God the Son, or to the Lamb. And then the Lamb, or Christ, begins opening the seals on this scroll. And then every seal that he opens unleashes another judgment on the earth, or unleashes another birth pain. And the first four seals unleash the four horsemen of the apocalypse. So, that gives us the context. If you want to look with me at Revelation 6, verse 1, here's the first horsemen coming up. Now I saw when the Lamb, when Christ, opened one of the seals and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a voice like thunder, come and see. These four living creatures are exalted angelic beings or cherubim. They appear repeatedly in Revelation and there's one living creature associated with each of the four horsemen. So whenever one of the seals is opened, one of these four living creatures invites John to come and see. And that's what the book of Revelation is. It's a record of what John saw. And so one of the most common words in the book of Revelation is the word like. Why would that word occur so much in Revelation? Because John's describing the best he can what things look like, right? They're heavenly, eternal things. They're not necessarily earthly things. And so, in a, I'm sure, inspired way, he describes what these things look like to him. And so, a living creature, each time a seal is opened, invites John to come and watch. And then John records what he sees, so it's written in the first person. If you look at Revelation 6-2, here's the first horseman. John says, I looked, Behold, there's a white horse, its rider had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering and to conquer." This rider is almost universally recognized as the Antichrist. And this follows the way that the Olivet Discourse began, because if you remember, Jesus preached about false Christ or false Messiah's coming. So in Luke 21, eight, Jesus said, see that you're not led astray, for many will come in my name saying, I am he, and the time is at hand, do not go after them. And this brings us to the first part of lesson one, the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, part one, the white horse is the Antichrist. Antichrist might be one of the most misunderstood individuals in scripture. I think there's this belief that he's the opposite of Jesus. And so the way that Jesus went around teaching and doing good, the Antichrist is going to go around teaching and doing evil. The problem is that the Bible presents the Antichrist as a man of what? Or at least someone who comes promising or offering what? Peace, that's right. That's right. It would be better for us to think of the Antichrist as Christ came to offer peace. That's one similarity or parallel between Christ and the Antichrist. And we should understand that the Antichrist is more of a counterfeit Christ or an imitation of Christ. The prefix anti-, it can mean instead of, and we should see the Antichrist as the instead of Christ, because he'll be the Christ that's chosen by many instead of Jesus. He'll be embraced as the world's savior instead of the real savior. Listen to these verses that describe Satan as the great imitator. 2 Corinthians 11 3, Satan's servants disguise themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan himself disguises, or even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. And so we see this propensity or desire of Satan to be an imitator or counterfeiter. And I want to show you how much the Antichrist imitates Christ by asking you eight questions. So, first, who comes riding on a white horse? That's it, right? You can say Jesus. Or you could say the Antichrist, Jesus in Revelation 1911, then I saw heaven open and behold a white horse. The one sitting on it is called faithful and true and in righteousness he judges and makes war. So we've got Christ coming on a white horse to make war. We've got the Antichrist in Revelation 6 too, coming on a white horse to make war. It's rider had a bow, a crown was given to him. He came out conquering and to conquer. Second, who's part of a whole, who's part of a trinity? Let me say it like that. Jesus is part of a trinity. God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, the Antichrist is part of the unholy trinity. Satan imitates God the Father. Before Satan's rebellion in heaven, he said, Isaiah 14, 14, I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will make myself like the Most High. So Satan imitating, desiring to be like God the Father. The Antichrist is also called the first beast in Revelation 13. He imitates Christ. The false prophet, also called the second beast in Revelation 13, completes this satanic or unholy trinity as he imitates the Holy Spirit. Jesus said in John 16, 14, the Holy Spirit will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. Well, if you're familiar with Revelation 14 or if you want to say the false prophet's ministry, this is what he does. The false prophet seeks to glorify or exalt the Antichrist. Next question, who's given power, authority, and a throne from his Father? So you can see where this is going. We know Christ is, but listen to what it says about the Antichrist. Revelation 13, two, the devil gave the Antichrist power and his throne and great authority, the same thing that God the Father did for God the Son. Now here's one that might surprise you. Who dies and comes back to life? Christ does, but it also describes that happening with the Antichrist. So listen to this, Revelation 13, 3. So I can't tell for sure if the Antichrist suffers a mortal wound and comes back to life because it uses the word seemed. one of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound. So I don't know if it means he seemed to die, but its mortal wound was healed, and then at least the whole earth is convinced that the Antichrist is raised back to life because it says that the earth marvels at the beast. Fifth question, who's worshiped because of his holiness or his set-apartness? We know Christ is, the Lord is. Holiness is the one attribute that God uses, or excuse me, holiness is the one attribute of God that's used in a thrice-fold fashion. We know primarily from Isaiah 6 when the angels fly around the throne, they call out holy, holy, holy to describe God's separateness from the rest of creation. Well, throughout the Old Testament, the phrase, who is like him, occurs. For example, Exodus 15.11, who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders? Psalm 35.10, O Lord, who's like you? Psalm 71.19, O God, who's like you? Psalm 113.5, who's like the Lord, our God? Well, that phrase, who is like you or who is like our God, that's used to praise God for his what? For his holiness or his set-apartness, right? His separateness from all the rest of creation. Well, in Revelation 13, listen to what they say to the Antichrist. Verse 4, people worshiped the beast, again, that's the common title in Revelation for the Antichrist, saying, Who is like the beast and who can fight against it? So the same praise previously reserved only for God now being reserved for the Antichrist. Who is like him? Who could contend with him? He's so invincible. Who could fight against him? Nobody or people will think that there is nobody who's like the Antichrist. Sixth question. Who puts a mark on his people's foreheads? The Lord does, Revelation 7.3, seal the servants of our gods, or seal the servants of our God on their foreheads. The Antichrist, famous for the mark, most commonly known as what? The mark, yeah, 666, or the mark of the beast. is put on the foreheads of his followers. He seals his followers as well, Revelation 13, 16. He causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or on the forehead, just like the servants of God are marked on their forehead. So perhaps during the tribulation, there will be individuals with marks of God sealed on their foreheads, and there will be individuals with Satan's mark or the Antichrist's mark sealed on their foreheads. And it kind of, if you take your minds to Daniel 70 weeks, I was thinking about that, because if you can remember a previous sermon on Daniel 70 weeks, Christ is referred to as a prince. Who else is referred to as a prince in Daniel 70 weeks? The Antichrist is. Daniel 9, 25, know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the command to restore and to build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, and we know that has Christ in view, and that means from the time that the command goes forward to restore and rebuild Jerusalem will be the 483 years until Messiah the Prince or until Christ makes his triumphal entry. But the very next verse says, after 62 weeks, the Messiah shall be cut off, but not for himself, the people of the Prince. Referring to the Antichrist, who's to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuaries. So both Christ and the Antichrist identified as princes. Last question, who makes a covenant with the Jews? We know the Lord did. Jeremiah 31 31, Behold the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. And the Antichrist makes a covenant with the Jews. We just read it, or actually, in Daniel 70 weeks, the next verse, I didn't read it yet, but I read Daniel 9.25, 9.26, and now here's 9.27, that he, the Antichrist, shall make a strong covenant with many, the Jews, for one week. And that's referring to the covenant of peace that he makes with them. So throughout who knows how many centuries or millenniums, nobody, no political leader has ever been able to bring peace where? And no political leader will ever bring peace to the Middle East. I remember some years ago watching the West Wing, and that seemed to be the great accomplishment of President Bartlett. So they got to make a fictional account of someone who can bring peace to the Middle East. the Middle East. It would be the greatest accomplishment of any political leader's career to be able to do that because nobody's ever been able to establish peace there. That's what the Antichrist will do when he makes this covenant with the Jews and he's able to bring peace to the Middle East. And that's what this covenant is referring to, allowing for the rebuilding of the temple, allowing for the reintroduction of sacrificial worship. It might be hard to believe that the Jews would receive the Antichrist instead of Christ. But Jesus prophesied that this would happen. John 5, 43, Jesus said, I have come in my Father's name and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him, referring to the Antichrist. And there are different accounts. I had to cut a ton of material out of this sermon. I did entertain even having two sermons on the four horsemen, but I wanted to get back to Luke 21. But there are multiple accounts in the Old Testament that prefigure or foreshadow the Jews embracing the wrong Messiah, and I'll just give you one of them. Remember when the Jews chose Absalom as their king? over the true and greater King David, who serves as the picture type of Christ. Or I should say, David serves as the picture type of the true and greater son of David, Jesus. And so in the Old Testament, the Jews completely willing to abandon King David to embrace Absalom. When Absalom came to power, he had his own false prophet. where he had his own Ahithophel, 2 Samuel 16, 23, the counsel that Ahithophel gave was as if one consulted the word of God. I mean, that's an incredible statement that Ahithophel could, his counsel, his wisdom could be compared with the counsel or wisdom of God himself. So was all the counsel of Ahithophel esteemed by both David when Ahithophel served David before betraying him to join Absalom. But one account that I want to remind you of or take your minds to that really prefigures or foreshadows the Jews embracing the Antichrist as the Christ occurred with Barabbas. So many translations point out that Barabbas' full name was Jesus Barabbas. So keep that in mind. Barabbas' full name, you'll see footnotes or asterisks in your Bibles to identify Barabbas' first name as Jesus. So his full name is Jesus Barabbas. Barabbas means son of the father. Bar means son of. When I say, who do we know was identified as a Bar? Simon bar Jonah right in Matthew 16 17 Jesus tells Peter and one of the times that Peter opened his mouth and hit a home run That Jesus is the Christ and then cry and then Jesus tells Peter. He says Simon bar Jonah The Holy Spirit has revealed this to you and to call to call Peter or Simon Simon bar Jonah simply means Simon son of Jonah, so bar means son of Abba means what? Father. So Bar Abba, or Bar Abbas, means son of the father. And so putting this together, Bar Abbas is full name, Jesus, Bar Abbas means Jesus, son of the father. When Jesus was talking to the religious leaders, he said, in John 8, 42, if God were your father, you would love me. But you are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you wanna do. He was a murderer from the beginning, he's a liar and the father of it. Barabbas was also a liar and a murderer. He was of his father, the devil. And so when the Jews had to choose between, you could say, two Jesus sons of the father, when they had to choose between Jesus and Barabbas, they were presented with two Jesus sons of the father. They had Jesus, who had God as his father. They had Barabbas, who had Satan as his father. And then without hesitation, what did they cry out? In an unimaginable moment, They cry out to have Barabbas released. They immediately chose the wrong son of the Father. And just like the Jews chose Barabbas over Jesus, that whole account with Barabbas to me, pre-figures or foreshadowing the Jews' tendency to choose the wrong messiahs and reject the messiahs that are sent to them. I mean, that was the point of Stephen's sermon that got him stoned, that every time God sends a deliverer to the Jews, they end up rejecting that deliverer, persecuting them. They have a long history of that, whether it's in the prophets or whether it's deliverers like Moses. That was Stephen's point, that we would expect you to reject Jesus because that's been your pattern throughout all of your history. to reject the Messiah sent to you. We'd be surprised if you actually did receive the Messiah sent to you. And continuing that pattern will be the reception of the Antichrist. Now look at the second horseman. Revelation 6, 3, when he, the Lamb, or Christ, opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, come and see. So John's invited again to watch. Verse 4, another horse, fiery red, went out. And it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, and the people should kill one another. And there was given to him a great sword. So the second living creature invites John to watch as the world breaks out in war, and this follows what Jesus said in the Olivet Discourse. The next verse in the Olivet Discourse, Luke 21 9, when you hear of wars and tumults, do not be afraid. These things must first take place, but the end will not be at once. And then he said to him, excuse me, then Jesus said to them, the disciples who are listening on the Mount of Olives, nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. Now, you don't have to go back too far in human history, probably about 110 years, I guess, to find people who would find it unbelievable that there could ever be a world war, right? Or here's what I'm saying. If you were to read the verses that I just read to you, a little over 100 years ago, wouldn't people scoff at the idea of a global war or a world war? Wouldn't people find that too difficult to believe that there could be an entire global conflict with nations against each other? But then we had one, and then we had a bigger one. So, in the 20th century, we had two world wars, and then suddenly, these verses look very what? Very realistic or very believable. Now, I want to ask you a question, and this is important. In those verses, does the second horseman bring war? Does the second horseman bring war? No, he doesn't. What does he do? He takes peace. That's right. And I'll explain why that's important. This brings us to the next part of lesson one, the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, part two, the red horse removes peace. You could read a commentary or you could hear Bible teachers, this isn't very controversial, these horsemen. There's not among solid biblical scholars, these are pretty agreed upon interpretations. But unfortunately, when individuals talk about the second horseman, they'll say, this is the horseman that brings war. And I cringe at that, I have a real problem with that. Not just because the text doesn't say that, The text says he removes peace, but because of what it communicates, and here's what I mean by that. If I say that the second horseman brings war, how does man look? Huh? Looks pretty good. Man's getting along well with man. There's no conflict, there's no turmoil. It's kind of like this. It's kind of like, you know, if God would just leave man alone, and not introduce war, then there wouldn't be any war. There would just be peace. Essentially, man is good. Anne Frank was a young Jewish girl who grew up in Nazi Germany. And she kept a diary documenting her life, hiding from Nazi persecution. And she became famous when her diary was published in 1947. When I was growing up, and I don't know if this is still the case or just something in California, it seemed like Anne Frank's diary was required reading. And here's part of it that probably made it, or probably the most famous entry in her diary. She wrote, It's really a wonder I haven't abandoned all my ideals. They seem so absurd and impractical, yet I cling to them because I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart. So we can imagine why her diary, and especially this excerpt, would receive so much attention, because you've got this young, sweet Jewish girl who's witnessing more horrific events than any of us can imagine, yet she still is able to conclude that man is inherently good. Now, sentimentally, that's something all of us want to believe, isn't it? But you can't really get much further from the truth to say that man is good. Genesis 6-5, the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight. The earth was filled with violence. The flood comes. The waters recede, they get off the ark, and then listen to this, nothing changed, Genesis 8, 21, the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth. That was God's observation after the flood, because the global flood is discipline, it's judicial. Punishment does not change hearts. And I don't know if there's anything in all of human history to better show that punishment doesn't change hearts. The only thing that changes hearts is what? Yeah, the gospel or Jesus Christ or the gospel of Jesus Christ. I mean, could anything be more evidence of, and that's why penitentiaries don't change hearts unless the gospel is being preached in them, but if a global flood, if that can't change man's heart, if he can be filled with violence and wickedness before the flood, a global flood comes, and then he's still filled with violence and wickedness after, it tells us that punishment doesn't change. We punish or discipline our children to restrain a moral behavior, but we do not believe that when we discipline them, that changes their hearts. We know they must come to Christ. We must preach the gospel to them for their hearts to be changed. So there are two reasons that it's important to interpret the second horseman correctly. First, To understand that the horseman removes peace is a terrible indictment against man's depravity. We are prone to violence. Second, to understand that the second horseman removes peace is a remarkable commendation of God's goodness. God is the one who keeps us from doing what? destroying ourselves, you might say. It's kind of like the language in 2 Thessalonians 2. I was thinking about how the Holy Spirit is that restraining influence against this tide of wickedness just pouring over the earth. And that's what comes to mind when I read about this horseman removing peace, that the only reason there is any peace or there's any goodness is because of God's grace. Man is not good without God. Instead, the only good associated with man is from God. Man only has peace because of God. In the absence of that peace that God provides, man breaks out in terrible war against himself. Now the third horseman, Revelation 6, 5, it says, when he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, come and see. Again, John's invited to come and watch. He says, so I looked. Behold, there was a black horse, and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. Verse 6, and I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying that a quart of wheat, that would be the amount one person would need for one day, would sell for a denarius, and three quarts of barley would sell for a denarius, and do not harm the oil and the wine." So this is picturing a worldwide famine, which I'll explain in a moment. Here's Jesus' parallel statement in the Olivet Discourse. There will be great earthquakes, and in various places, famines and pestilences. And this brings us to the next part of lesson one. The four horsemen of the apocalypse, part three, the black horse's famine. Because we read about the horseman chronologically, they can look independently, or they can look independent of each other, as though there's this, this happens, then this happens, then this happens, but they don't really have anything to do with each other, it's just that this seal is open, and then it moves from this to the next one to the next one, but they're all related to each other. The Antichrist comes offering peace, represented by the first horseman. People believe that the Antichrist is the world's savior, they enter a covenant with him. Then the Antichrist breaks the peace covenant with the Jews. Daniel prophesies of that. Daniel 9.27 in the 70 weeks, in the 70th week, describes him breaking this covenant in the middle of the week or three and a half years through the tribulation. He breaks his covenant with the Jews. The world erupts in war. represented by the second horseman, then people will be removed from agriculture to focus on the war effort, destroying the food supply, famine results, represented by the third horseman. The black horseman has a pair of scales in his hand. Scales were used for purchasing in the ancient world. So whatever you bought, it had to be weighed. And the scales indicate food scarcity leading to rationing and to food lines. So picture a little, you almost picture people in line and a little bit of food being weighed out for each person. Price is determined by supply and demand. So a shortage leads to high inflation. And as supply goes down, so hence the statement that a quart of wheat and three quarts of barley cost one denarius. To put this in perspective, a denarius is a typical day's wage. So it would cost one day's wage to buy three quarts of barley to feed three people or a quart of wheat to feed one person. Wheat costs more because it's more nutritious. Barley was often fed to livestock. And so when it's talking about man being forced to eat the food that animals eat, does any other account come to mind where we see something like that, an individual being forced to eat animal food? Yeah, I thought about the prodigal son. And so the idea is that it reminds me that the prodigal son had reached such a low point in his life that he's forced to eat pig food. And it sounds like food will become so scarce during this famine with the agricultural neglect and everyone just focusing on the war effort that people are going to be eating basically what animals eat or experience the same terrible conditions the prodigal son experienced. The third living creature said not to harm the wine and the oil because they would still be available. Those are luxury items versus necessities. And it's kind of a supply and demand issue, right? So when people are starving, they don't care about luxury items. It's like all the valuable wealth on the Titanic, right? really coveted by people until the Titanic's sinking and then life jackets become infinitely more valuable than the pearls and the gold jewelry. And so when it talks about oil and wine, it's talking about luxury items, but they're not necessities. And so when the angel says to leave the oil and the wine alone, I just take that to mean that they will be left alone. There will be plenty of them because people don't care about them. They're gonna be unaffected during the famine. Now the fourth horseman, Revelation 6, 7. It says, So you've got death is the pale rider on the horse, and then Hades following death. Notice how they're personified here. They're capitalized or pictured as persons Power was given to them to death in Hades over a fourth of the earth to kill with sword hunger death and by the beasts of the earth This word for pale. It's chlorosis chlorosis does that sound like one of our English words a Yeah, chlorophyll, it means, this word for pale means green or yellowish pale. It describes the ashen green paleness characteristic of a corpse's decomposition. And so this horse has this unearthly color, and I suppose in this context also a ghastly color. And this brings us to the next horseman. Part four, the pale horse's death. The pale horse's death. Now if we continued reading Revelation 6, we would see that the fifth seal is persecution, and when we pick up in our next sermon in the Olivet Discourse, we will see that Jesus starts describing what? Persecution. And so my point is, even though we're stopping here, because I didn't want to cover more of the seals in this sermon, the parallels do continue. So when we're in the Olivet Discourse, and if you just wanted to read it on your own or notice this, or maybe I'll mention the verses in Revelation 6, as we continue through the Olivet Discourse, the Olivet Discourse continues to parallel Revelation 6. Jesus describes persecution, and then the next seal is persecution. There's no parallel in the Olivet Discourse for the fourth horseman, for this horseman, because Jesus describes judgments in the Olivet Discourse, but the fourth horseman is not a judgment. The fourth horseman is more a description of what happened because of the previous horseman. So 25% of the world's population ends up being killed because of the previous horseman. So these people, the one out of four, or 25% of the world's population, they're not killed in addition to war and famine. It's not that war happens, famine happens, and then 25% of the people are killed. The idea is these 25% of the world's population are killed because of the war and famine. And I suspect that based on the second sentence in Revelation 6-8. If you want to look there with me, look at the second sentence in Revelation 6-8. It says, power was given to them to death in Hades over a fourth of the earth to kill one fourth of the world's population. And then notice this, it says, what do they kill with? They kill with a sword. The sword's referring to what? War or the second horseman. And then it says, they kill with hunger. Hunger is? famine or the third horseman and then it says with death that'd be the fourth horseman and then by beasts of the earth, which I'll Explain now so in a second But the point is it seems like the fourth horseman is more describing the percent or number of people That are killed because of the war and the famine and then later there's another judgment where one-third of the earth is killed and so if you got one-fourth of the earth that's killed leaving three-fourths Just do some simple math here. And then one-third of the earth is killed after that. Now you've got half of the world's population that's killed within a few years. And it seems the world's conditions are so bad that man regresses to having to defend himself from animals. Notice there it says, by beasts of the earth. So there's lots of people being killed by animals. Now that's not a threat to us, but for many times in human history, animals did constitute one of the most dangerous threats to people. And perhaps in some uncivilized parts of the world, they still constitute one of the most dangerous threats. So the point is, civilization will regress to such a point that animals will again be a threat to us. Now let me share something. I knew... that when we reach these sermons on the end times or on the Olivet Discourse, that there wouldn't be as much application, and it's important to understand the end times. So I've been looking forward to this, but as my wife would probably say, you know, how does this help me in my day-to-day life to know about these horsemen or to understand the birth pains as a wife and as a mother and as a father and husband and child, and I can understand that, but it's still important. But there is one essential application from these verses, and I want to build up to it by asking a question. When are we most tempted to doubt God's sovereignty? And I'll give you two situations. When are we most tempted to doubt God's sovereignty? Is it when things are going well or when things are going poorly? You said well? You think that? Why is that? Okay, well that's fair. I think most people said poorly, though, which is the answer I was looking for, Johnny. Okay, so I suspect for many of us, except for perhaps my son Johnny, which is fine, I did ask him, and there's not necessarily a right or wrong answer to this, I'm just suspecting that for most of us, When things are going well, we're confident in God's sovereignty. That's when we're walking around, we're saying, hey, praise God, praise the Lord. We share about good things happening. People say to us, praise God. Or we're thanking God for our blessings, right? That's pretty much what we thank God for. How many of us are thanking God for our trials? How many of us are being disciplined and thanking God for that? Okay, let me ask this. Should we thank God for our discipline? Yes, we should. It produces repentance. Should we thank God for our trials? Yes, because it sanctifies us and helps us become more like Christ, but maybe all of you are way more mature than I am, And you do thank God for those things, but I have a little more trouble thanking God for the trials and discipline in my life. But the point is, when good things are happening, blessings, we're thanking God, we're confident in His sovereignty. When bad things are happening, we doubt God's sovereignty, we wonder, we say, has God lost control? How could this happen? Did God really let this happen? Is He sovereign on the throne? Did this kind of just somehow reach me without passing through the throne of God first? There will never be another time in history when things go as badly as they do during the tribulation. Or there will never be another time in history when things look as chaotic, or let's say when things are going as poorly as they are during these judgments that we're reading about. But to encourage us to trust God's sovereignty, I want you to consider this phrase in Revelation 6, 8. over a fourth of the earth, just that phrase, over a fourth of the earth. What is that phrase about? When it says over a fourth of the earth, what is that phrase primarily about? That is about God's sovereignty. Over a fourth of the earth is entirely about God's sovereignty. Do you see why I'm saying that? It is about his sovereign control over what's happening. It shows that no matter how terrible or out of control the world might look, it is still entirely under God's control. And this brings us to lesson two. God is sovereign when things look the worst. Now, you might do this, I might offer you this encouragement for when you're reading God's Word to look for themes. We shouldn't build our theology or we shouldn't build lessons or major points of application from isolated events or incidents, typically. But when we see patterns or themes, I believe those are important. And listen to this. The precision of the judgments is a theme in Revelation. Here are a few more examples. Revelation 8-7, one-third of the earth is burned up. Revelation 8-8, these are different judgments, seal judgments, then the trumpet judgments, then the bull judgments. Revelation 8-8, one-third of the sea became blood. Revelation 8-11, one-third of the rivers are poisoned. Revelation 9-18, one-third of mankind is killed. The way it happens is there's seven seals, the seventh seal contains the seven trumpets, and then the seventh trumpet unleashes the seven bulls, and seven bull judgments, and the seven bull judgments are poured out on the earth, and as these judgments are unleashed, we see this incredible precision. It's one third, it's one fourth, nothing is random. It is precisely the amount that God wants to be affected. These are the judgments that Christ himself is unleashing as he opens the seals on the scroll. Now, to inhabitants on the earth, how do things look? It looks like God's fallen off his throne, right? The world couldn't look more chaotic. Things couldn't seem more disastrous, spiraling out of control. But according to heaven's plan, everything is unfolding exactly the way that God has designed. And the application for us is if God can be sovereign over worldwide judgments down to the number of trees that are burned up, or the amount of water that becomes blood, or the number of rivers that are poisoned, or the number of mankind, the exact number that's killed, 1 3rd or 1 4th, then it tells me that he can control what happens in our lives. Now, if you wanna move from the global or worldwide to the individual, or to us personally, let me ask you to think of someone in scripture whose life seemed to be spiraling out of control, and who would that be? That would be Job. You've never known suffering like him. Your life has never seemed as out of control as his, as each new messenger runs in with more horrible news about all the things that are happening to him. Now you might quickly say, well, didn't Satan do these things to Job? And so isn't Satan really the one who looks sovereign in those two chapters early in the book over what's happening? I would say no, and this is why. Listen to what Satan said to God. Job 110, I suspect Satan sounds angry or frustrated when he says this. Have you not put a hedge around Job and his house and all that he has on every side? So what was Satan saying? I can't do any more than you let me do. You are protecting him too well. Now, to be honest, if you're like me, you might wish the hedge that God had around Job was a little bigger or stronger, right? And you can hope that the hedge that God has around your life is more robust than perhaps the hedge that God had around Job. But there's no denying that God was sovereign over what Satan could and couldn't do to Job. Or another way to say it is there's no denying that God was sovereign over what happened with Job. You might not like it, you might be uncomfortable with parts of it, it might cause you to question some of the same things that Job questioned. But the one thing you cannot deny or argue is that God wasn't sovereign over what was happening to him. And so let me say it like this, no matter how terrible or no matter how chaotic things might seem in our lives, whether that's with our children, whether it's with our marriages, whether it's with our health, whether it's with our home, whether it's with our finances, God is still what? He is still sovereign. Everything is unfolding according to his plan. I was on the phone with Pastor Nathan sharing something with him. I had shared in a previous sermon something discouraging and happened in our lives. I shared with him and his point, a good valid point that I believe God used him to encourage me was that God's using us for his glory. God is working things out for his purposes. That is a constant encouragement that we must remember or should be a constant encouragement to us, I should say. Now let me conclude with this. Death and Hades, they're mentioned together because death leads to Hades. You'll see them in scripture together. It's like they're like siblings, right? Well, what did death and Hades have to do with each other? Well, when people die, they go to Hades. So death kills many, and then Hades seems to follow along, picking up the dead, is how they're presented. God desires so much for us to see his sovereignty over death and Hades that he personifies death and Hades as entities or persons to be defeated. That's why they're capitalized in Revelation 6, 8, but listen to this. Revelation 20, verse 14, it says, death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire, which is what we know of as hell. This is the second death, the lake of fire. So God has so much control over life and death that right before eternity begins, he casts death and Hades into hell itself. And then it says, Revelation 20 verse 15, if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. So unsaved people will follow death and Hades into hell. We avoid being cast into hell with death and Hades by having our names written in the book of life. Any reasonable person says, well then how do I have my name written in the book of life? And we have our names written in this book by repenting of our sins and putting our faith in Christ. So if you desire to have death and Hades as a defeated foe, desire to have your name in the book of life, you repent of your sins and put your faith in Christ. If you have any questions or I can pray for you in any way, I'll be up front after service and I consider it a privilege to speak with you. Father, I thank you for your word. I thank you for the end times and what you spelled out about the future to us. I thank you for your graciousness in allowing us through Christ to avoid many of these judgments, and I pray that if anyone isn't in Christ, that today would be the day of salvation for them, that you would grant us faith in Christ, repentance from our sins, And I thank you for your sovereignty over what happens with us. Thank you for your sovereignty over what happens in our world, and thank you for your sovereignty over what happens in our individual lives, with our families, our marriages, our children. I think that's one of the greatest encouragements when we're suffering, and we're either in trials or we're heading toward trials, Lord, so help us to keep that in mind as we continue to live, hopefully, for you. And we pray all this in Christ's name, amen.