Revelation 6 verses 1 through 8, these are God's words. conquering, and to conquer. When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, 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 opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, Come and see. So I looked, and behold, a black horse. 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, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not harm the oil and the wine. 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 was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth. Amen. So far, the reading of God's inspired and inerrant word. In this second sequence of visions now, we come to the seals on the trumpets and the bowls. We'll see the biblical reasoning for this, and we'll begin to see it in a little bit, and throughout the section with all three of those, but the seals are those things that happen throughout the time between Jesus's first and second coming, and the sixth seal and the trumpets are especially those things that happen during that time that point to Jesus's second coming, but they do not mean that necessarily that he is about to come. Remind of the wrath of the Lamb that Jesus is not sitting idly by While his people are persecuted and then when we get to the bowls those are the things that are poured out at the second coming and you see a Increasing, you know, particularly what we just read about in the fourth seal with a quarter of the earth in the vision being affected. You see this escalation. There's things that happen throughout the time affecting a quarter in the vision, reminding us that the whole of the creation is subject to this groaning, and it's not just the misery of the creation and the cursedness of the land on man's account, but also the wickedness of man in the earth. And then when you get to those things that point especially to the wrath of the Lamb avenging his church, it gets upgraded to a third. These are things that belong not merely to the fallenness and the misery of the world in its present state, but the active defending and responding by Jesus in behalf of his church. And so there's an intensification there. And then of course, that which belongs to the last day, to the day of wrath, when you get to the bowls, it's on everyone. But the seals in particular, these four seals that we have in our passage today, are those things that are just the beginnings of sorrows. To use Jesus's own words, from Matthew 24 when he distinguishes between those things that are just the ordinary way that the world will be between his first coming and his second coming. The beginnings of sorrow is not at all an indicator that he is doing something unusual or invading history, interrupting the ordinary flow of history in any way. And we'll come to these in more detail, but basically you have war and murder in the second seal, and you have poverty and inflation in the third seal, and then you have all sorts of death in the fourth seal, things that happen either by what is commonly referred to as natural disaster or plague. or even as a result of war or tyranny within a land or oppression. These are all things that happen during this entire age. You remember in Matthew chapter 24, it begins with the disciples having been very impressed with the stones out of which the temple was built. Jesus saying not to be impressed with either the temple or its stones because the day was coming when not one of those stones would be left upon another, and they assume that this is connected to Jesus's coming in His glory and the end of the age. So when Jesus says, not one stone shall be left here upon another that shall not be thrown down, In Matthew 24 verse 2, they ask him in verse 3, when will these things be? What will be the sign of your coming in the end of the age? And Jesus' answer is, take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, saying, I am Christ, and will deceive many." And then he describes things that do not indicate that Christ is returning or that it's the end of the age. And he says, you'll hear of wars and rumors of wars. Nation will rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom. So, 2nd seal, there will be famines, 3rd seal, pestilences and earthquakes in various places, 4th seal. And then he says in verse 8, all these are the beginning of the sorrows. And then he refers to the persecution that they will suffer in verses 9 and 10. and false prophets in verse 11, and the love of many growing cold, things that we see are already happening in the book of Revelation, the false prophecy, the false teaching, and the love of the church growing cold. These are things that were already occurring and were addressed in the seven letters in chapter two and chapter three. So these are not end timesy things, unless by end timesy, you mean between the first coming of Christ and the second coming of Christ. Then Jesus goes on to tell them the indicators of the fall of Jerusalem, that Jerusalem is about to be destroyed, that the temple is about to be destroyed. What does indicate that the temple will be destroyed? And he gives them a couple things to watch out for and tells them to flee. But even then, after the destruction of Jerusalem, He says in verse 26, Therefore, if they say to you, Look, he is in the desert, do not go out, or look, he is in the ruins, do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. So the coming of the Son of Man is not going to be like the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. The destruction of the Temple is going to be predictable and escapable. the coming of the Son of Man is going to be unpredictable and inescapable. And Jesus' then vengeance is announced or looked forward to by the sorts of signs that are in verse 29 in Matthew 24. The sun will be darkened. The moon will not give its light. Stars will fall from the heavens. The heavens will be shaken. Those are sixth seal things. Those are things that point forward to the coming of the Son of Man as a sign of the Son of Man But then when it comes to the last trumpet and the actual return of the Lord Jesus and reporting out of the bowls of wrath, then it says, He will send his angels out with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together his elect from the four winds. and from one end of heaven to the other. So if we see that the very particular things that are being named in the seals are also the things in the three phases that Matthew 24 teaches us about, then we don't have to be caught up in all of the weird end timesy things. And Thankfully, Revelation chapter 6 doesn't give any indication that these first four seals, which are our subject in the eight verses before us today, any indication that these are future. In fact, they appear to be present because the Lamb is currently on the throne. The Lamb is currently worthy to open the seals. The Lamb is currently opening the seals. And the point is that we ought not to be discouraged and dismayed by wars, or famine, or natural disasters, or tyranny, or the persecution of the church. In particular, because the church, generally speaking, and Christ specifically by his church, of course, the church is his body, the church is his agent in the world, the church is the one on the white horse. that has a bow, which is not just a weapon, it's a sign of the covenant. The one on the white horse is not some famous conqueror from history, Julius Caesar, or Napoleon, or anyone in all of those innovative interpretations. It's the one who has a weapon that is also its covenant with God. and because of the covenant that God has made, not just to redeem all the elect, but this covenant with his church, to build it, and that the gates of hell will not prevail against it, and that the gospel will go forth unbound, and will succeed, and that his church will be established. we know that the church is this one with the bow and with the crown, which immediately ties back into the couple of chapters that we've just heard, the ones to whom the promise of the Lord Jesus, if they overcome, he will give them to sit on his throne with him. And then we see from chapter three into chapter four, the 24 elders representing the church as a whole on thrones round him with his throne. and having their own crowns but casting them down before him, having a kinghood that participates in and is subsidiary of the reign of the Lord Jesus on the earth, and even as they praise the lamb in chapter 5, that he has redeemed us by his blood and he has made us to reign on the earth. So the church reigns on the earth even as the souls of believers when we get to what what people refer to as the millennium and the reigning with Christ for a thousand years. But it's just souls there in chapter 20. It's not bodies. And there is a double reign then. There are those who overcome by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony. They love not their lives, even unto death. And even though their bodies rest in the grave, their souls are reigning with Jesus in glory. But then there is also the inexorable, unstoppable progress of the kingdom, not now a nation in the earth, but the church as it spreads across the globe. And Satan is helpless to stop at the gates of hell, do not prevail against it. So the church in particular, is this one on the white horse with the bow and the crown, and that is conquering and conquering, that goes out to conquer, conquering and to conquer. And this refers especially to what we would call mission work and church planting. And it's occurring despite all of the opposition, all of the persecution. In fact, there have been times in which the worse the persecution was, the more the church spread and grew. Now there have been times also where the church suffered greatly. But these eight verses, then, are an accurate description of what the world is like. It's the stuff that you read in the news in seals two, three, and four. But what you don't read in the news is actually the great news story of this entire age, and that's the first seal, the spread of the church. And that is the main point, the main thing that is happening in this age. So what are these other things that are being carried out by the sovereign will and power and goodness and mercy of God and the Lamb? That's what's being described here. You have God and the Lamb who have created all things, and they're created for Him, and who have redeemed His people for Himself, and made them kings and priests unto God, and are worthy of the sevenfold blessing, power, riches, wisdom, strength, honor, glory, blessing. They are the ones who are carrying out all these things. Yes, those who are wicked do what is wicked. There is an enraged devil doing devilish things. But in all his devilry, he cannot help but be the instrument through which the good that the good God is accomplishing. So the second seal, you have the fiery red one who takes peace from the earth. that people should kill one another, and there is given to him a great sword. God, in his wisdom, often restrains the wickedness of man, and then sometimes gives man over to his wickedness. And it results in murders and wars, which are horrible, horrible things. No one who has been actually in a war takes them lightly or would sanely read or think about them as if they were no big deal. The third seal, the scales in the hand, this isn't straight up elimination of food, but there is inflation of prices, which probably refers to the scarcity of a famine or maybe as a result of a war. or maybe the oppression of those who have power and are hoarding in order to increase their wealth, but it's poverty due to inflation. A denarius in verse 6 is a day's wage, and so a day's wage is buying either a quart of wheat, which is a nicer grain, a finer grain, and a quart is about this much, and you can make a tiny loaf for a day's wages, or If you get barley instead of wheat, you can get three quarts. So a man working just for himself might get himself a loaf of wheat bread. Or maybe he wants something heartier. Or he has a family, and so he's able to make three of those little loaves for his family to share every day. And that's all. his daily wages by. In fact, those things that at that time were considered staples, necessities, oil and wine, there's no point even in thinking about those. There's not a price on them because they can't be bought. That's how great the inflation of the time is. And just think of how timely that is, how often people People are talking about the inflation of prices just in the last couple of months and what's happened to eggs, which, of course, if the government offs a couple hundred million laying hens for pretty much no reason, the price of eggs is gonna go up. But when that happens, we are not to be discouraged or dismayed because these things are happening under the authority of the one who is opening the seals. He does not do the wickedness himself. but it happens under and according to his decree to do good through those who are doing that wickedness. And so you have the inflation, and then you have all of the different sorts of things by which death comes. Yes, it comes by hunger, and it comes by the sword, so there's a little bit of the second seal and third seal considered in countenance in the fourth seal, but it also comes by things like beasts of the earth, or if we're thinking in the language of Matthew 24, which we read and is parallel to this, things like earthquakes, or in our area, especially hurricanes. and tornadoes, the amount of death. But in the entire age between Jesus' first coming and his second coming, people are continually dying. And they are passing into the realm of the dead. They are passing into Hades. Either their bodies are resting in the grave, attended to by Christ, or as their bodies go to the grave, they go to the grave under judgment, and their souls go to torment, even as they wait, as the unbeliever waits until the last day. And so for people who would be tempted to be anxious or discouraged or maybe disincentivized from living faithfully unto God in an age in which all of these different things happen, Revelation 6, 1 through 8 comes and says, yes, The first three seals are what it looks like on the earth to the ordinary, the eye of the body, the eye of sight. But the eye of faith knows two things that are happening. One, the Lamb is on his throne and he is the one who is opening the seals. Everything in history from the first coming of Christ to the second coming of Christ occurs in order to make his enemies a footstool under his feet, occurs in order to gather for himself those whose salvation he has earned, he has bought, and now in his worthiness to receive everything that he has earned and won by his life and death. Everything that happens in history between his first coming and second coming is in order to give him what he has earned and what he has won. So that's one thing that the eye of faith sees. And the other thing that the eye of faith sees is the mustard seed growing into the great tree. or the leaven, expanding until it has leavened the whole lump, knowing that although the church appears to be leaven ineffective and mustard seed small, it is actually a conqueror on a white horse with the bowl of the covenant as its weapon, and it goes out conquering and to conquer. And that's what faith sees. And so when you or I are dismayed or discouraged or anxious or afraid by all the stuff that we see in the news. Let us stop looking so much with the eye of the flesh and instead look with the eye of faith and see that these things are occurring under the authority of and for the glory of the one who sits on the throne in chapters four and five and that his church is actually expanding and succeeding throughout this entire age. The Lord give us then to live with joy and courage and hope and thankfulness and diligence and purpose and all these things that we may have if we see as the seals teach us to see our history, our time in history through the eye of faith. Amen. Let's pray. Our gracious God and our Heavenly Father, how we thank you for giving to Jesus this vision that he trusted to angels to give to John so that we too might see with the eye of faith and might be grounded and established in the certainty of His reign in glory and His presiding over everything that happens on the earth and His work on the earth in the spread of His church. Give us especially then to pray for the spread of the gospel church and her reformation and her revival and her multiplication and give us to participate in it in all the ways that you've given us to do. with confidence and joy, make us thankful, O God, that everything that happens comes to us in the same wisdom and love that gave us Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.