Gaining The Lamb's Perspective

I hope you've appreciated the Gantz that's helping us with our singing today. And you can be sure, you can be sure that with the auditorium as empty as it is, we can easily keep the proper distance. So, we're not going to be the center, the hot spot of another outbreak, I'm pretty sure. Well, let's turn to Revelation chapter 6. We've been talking about, in kind of a mini-series, about how we ought to look at this pandemic that we're experiencing.

And today we come to the last point of that as we consider Revelation chapter 6, which kind of ties everything together. So before we look into the Word of God, let's pray. father we're thankful for your word which gives us clarity which gives us understanding which helps us to live in a way that's distinctive and in a way of hope we are thankful lord that you have given us your word that you have given it to us in order for us to understand what's happening And so, Father, as we look into this chapter, we pray that you would help us as we seek to understand. Help us now, we pray, as we come to you, as you speak to us in your word, and we'll thank you in Jesus' name.

Amen. a pastor recently asked me this question do you think that this pandemic is a judgment from god well i believe that scripture answers that question and the answer is found in revelation chapter 6 so i want you to turn there with me i want you to follow as i read this entire chapter, although our focus is going to be on the first 11 verses, since I think that is particularly aimed for us at this period of time, at this moment in our experience. I'm going to read the entire chapter, so you follow along as I read. Now I watched when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, come.

And I looked, and behold a white horse and its rider had a bow and a crown was given to him and he came out conquering and to conquer when he opened the second seal I heard the second living creature say come and out came another horse bright red its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth so that people should slay one another and he was given a great sword when he opened the third seal I heard the third living creature say, come. And I looked and behold, a black horse and its rider had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, a quart of wheat for a denarius and three quarts of barley for a denarius and do not harm the oil and wine.

When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, come and I looked and behold a pale horse and its rider's name was death and Hades followed him and they were given authority over a fourth of the earth to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth when he opened the fifth seal I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had born They cried out with a loud voice, O sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? They were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been. When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth.

The full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb.

For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand? now as we come to this sixth chapter we need to remember that god gave us this book so that we would see beyond the surface reality of what's going on around us that we would gain heaven's perspective and see the reality behind the persecution and the seduction of god's people as well as seeing behind the events that are transpiring in the world around us and if we embrace that perspective, we will persevere. If we embrace that perspective, we will have hope. We will see beyond the surface.

We will get God's point of view, and we will be distinctive because we will be people of hope. And persevering in the age in which we live requires that this congregation gain the perspective of the Lamb. And you find that perspective, this perspective of the lamb in chapter six. Now, this chapter continues what we read in chapters four and five. Remember, in chapter four, Jesus showed us that God is holy and sovereign.

And with that view, with the fact that God is sovereign and the throne room is calm before him, we gain the idea that God is sovereign and we can withstand whatever comes our way But God holds a scroll and in the events that going on around us God has ordered a plan of judgment and deliverance But who will break the seals? Who is worthy to reveal the plan and purpose of God? Who is worthy to execute the purposes of God?

Only the lamb who had been slaughtered, the lamb who had conquered by his death. he is the one worthy to accomplish the judgments recorded in that scroll. And so now from Revelation chapter 6 verse 1 through Revelation chapter 8 verse 5, you see described there the judgments as the Lamb breaks each seal revealing and accomplishing God's purposes. In chapter 6, we find the first six seals broken.

In chapter 7, we have an interlude between the sixth and the seventh seal describing how God protects and gives rest to those who conquer. By that I mean the ones who are conquered are identified in Revelation chapter 2 and 3 as those people in the congregations who remain faithful to God. They are the ones who conquer. and so chapter 7 tells how God protects and gives rest to those who do conquer in the way that God describes conquering then in chapter 8 1 through 5 the seventh seal is open today we're going to concentrate on verses 1 through 11 these first four seals because that I think addresses us where we are today all of it does of course but this in particular with regard to the circumstances that we find ourselves.

Now, as we seek to understand chapter six, keep three things in mind. We must always keep three things in mind as we look at this. The first is this, that this describes the events of the age from Jesus' ascension to Jesus' return. Now, the reason why I say that is because of the way Revelation is structured. Revelation is one letter written to seven churches in Asia to help them resist the forces of evil.

So God intended the entire book to help Jesus' congregation throughout the world to resist the evil that surrounds them. Okay? Therefore, this book is not about some far off future events. It's about this age. It's about helping God's people resist the evil of this age. You see.

Now, I say that because one of the things that is really clear about this is too often we've approached the book of Revelation this way. the first part we have an introduction and then we have seven letters to seven churches and then suddenly we're off into the future but this book is not seven letters it's one circular letter written to those seven congregations and and the theme of those of those chapters two and three are the one who conquers will have this stand firm stand steadfast and the one who conquers will have this. And then the rest of the book is intended to help them become conquerors. And so because of that, this book is about now.

But this book is about the ascension of Jesus to the return of Jesus. OK, it's all about all the events that happened there. And it's intended to give us heaven's perspective so that we will stand against the evils of this age until the end. Now the first four seals that we've read in those first 11 verses sound much like what Jesus described the coming age was going to be like in Luke chapter 21.

It kind of gives another perspective on that. These events are inaugurated by the conquering death of Jesus and who has ascended to the throne. So the events that we read about here are the result of his rule. Again, there's that perspective we're going to gain. Here's the second thing. The seals reflect the judgments of God.

Now, if we were to go back to the book of Zechariah, you will see these same horses described there. Those horses in the book of Zechariah represent the judgment of God against the nations who are oppressing his people in Judah. now John uses that same imagery to show God's judgment on a universal scale God's judgment against those in the world who oppress the people of God and there's a phrase that's used throughout the book of Revelation it's it's talking about those who dwell on the earth those are the enemies of God. We see that, for example, in verse 10, where the martyrs are asking for vengeance against those who dwell on the earth.

Throughout the book of Revelation, it's talking about that. So those who dwell on the earth who oppose the people of God. This imagery then is used to show God's judgment. Third thing, all of those seals and judgments come from the throne of the Lamb. You must see that. They come from the throne of the Lamb.

The command for each of the four destructive horses and riders originates from the throne room where Christ opens each seal. Jesus rules over what appears to us to be a chaotic world of suffering. The point that the Apostle John is making is that all of this originates from the throne of the Lamb therefore what is the perspective we need That all of this all of what looks like to us on the surface a chaotic world of suffering is actually Jesus accomplishing the purposes of God for judgment and deliverance, you see.

So this morning, we want to look at those first four seals, Because I believe those first four are going to speak to us clearly today. What do we see here? See the judgment of the Lamb displayed. See the judgment of the Lamb displayed. Standing in the throne room, we see the Lamb break the first seal and begin to unroll the scroll. And as he does, one of the four creatures around the throne, those four creatures that are closest to the throne, one of them shouts, come, with a thunderous voice.

And suddenly there appears a white horse with a warrior brandishing a bow and who has been given a crown to wear, a symbol of rule, a crown given by the Lamb. He resembles, to those who were living in that day, he resembles a mounted Parthian archer. who were, the Parthians were the enemies of the Roman Empire in the east, their greatest enemies on the eastern border of the Roman Empire. Here you see the Lamb's judgment in the conquests of the age.

Part of the judgment of the Lamb is unending international strife, the bloody ambition of rulers to conquer. You see the Lamb displaying his judgment on the march of the conquering legion. of the Roman Empire, in the barbarians that eventually overcome and topple the Roman Empire, in the attempt of Napoleon to conquer the whole of Europe in World War I, in World War II. You see it in the fears of a nuclear holocaust during the Cold War.

You see it in ISIS attempting to conquer the Middle East and set up a caliphate. You see it in Russia seeking to gobble up the Ukraine, all the conquests of these ages. Jesus said that nation will rise up against nation in this age, and that has characterized every century since then. The destruction of homes and families, the deportation of entire populations, the reduction of cities to rubble, the starvation of millions, all are expressions of the Lamb's judgment.

All of them are expressing the Lamb's judgment. Now, how is that the judgment of Christ? And again, as you read through the book of Revelation, you see this theme coming through, and that is this. Think for a moment, what brings the judgment on man? You know, it brings judgment from God, looking to idols, to means other than God and to Christ for security, for salvation, for hope, looking to other means.

So what do we have today? We have international law. We have great military forces. We have all kinds of diplomacy. But none of those can save man. None of them have ever worked really well.

Man will always be plagued by the scourge of conquest, a constant judgment on his schemes. and so here is the judgment of the lamb in the conquests of the age and the international strife that we see in the consistent overwhelming always insatiable desires of nations to conquer other nations i mean think about that for example those of you not and some of you aren't history nuts like i am but certainly you all remember what world war one was called you remember what it was called it was called the war to end all wars it was going to be the final war right and after the incredible devastation and ruin and horrible massacre of that war, everyone thought, we can't possibly go through this again. But what did we find? What did we find out?

That World War I, that the peace settlement of World War I laid the foundation for the next war, World War II. The seeds of World War II were laid in the peace imposed upon Germany from the from the first war. There was a League of Nations established. Didn't do any good. And so there's another war and wars go on and on. Why?

Because man does not look to God. And so because of that, the throne, the lamb sends judgment upon judgment upon mankind, showing them again and again and again that what they have tried to accomplish does not work. Let's move on. Verses 3 and 4. When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, Come, and out came another horse, bright red.

Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth so that people should slay one another. And he was given a great sword. Once more we look to the throne room. Our attention is drawn back to the throne room as the lamb breaks another seal, unrolls the scroll, and a second creature that guards the throne calls out, Come! And a second rider appears on a red horse with a sword given to him by the lamb.

He takes peace from the earth as people begin to slaughter one another. Here you see the lamb's judgment in the bloodshed of this age. The international strife and the civil unrest that tears nations apart result in unbelievable bloodshed This age is characterized by the unbelievable shedding of blood Would you not agree? This last epoch of human history that begins at the ascension of Jesus and ends when he returns is the bloodiest era in all of human history.

There was terrible bloodshed in the day that John wrote this. as Roman regiments turned on one another and supporting rival emperors to the throne, killing one another and killing Roman citizens in the process. Some centuries later, the English developed an incredible weapon. It was called the longbow. The longbow, which increased their army's abilities to kill people at long distances, giving them advantage over mounted knights.

That was the end of knights, of mounted knights, was the English longbow. Now they could kill people at great distances. Bloodshed grows. A generation ago, we saw the extermination of 6 million people by the Nazis. A decade or so ago, we saw a little tiny country in Central Africa, Rwanda, where a million, a million people in that little country were slaughtered because they belonged to a rival tribe.

We see it around us all the time, this almost unending bloodshed. Here is the judgment of Jesus on an unbelieving world. No matter how sophisticated we become in solving conflicts, no matter how we work from the individual level on anger management to international peacemaking bodies, we never escape this judgment of bloodshed. In fact, as we grow more sophisticated, we think in solving conflicts, we become even more sophisticated in developing more weapons that can kill people more efficiently.

Isn't it amazing when you think about that? Man puts his hopes in his methods while ignoring the living Christ, and so he experiences the judgment of Christ. Let's move on. Verses 5 and 6. when he opened the third seal i heard the third living creature say come and i looked and behold a black horse and its rider had a pair of scales in his hands and i heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures say a quart of wheat for a denarius and three quarts of barley for a denarius and do not harm the oil and wine we turn back again once more we turn back again to the throne room.

We see the seal broken, the scroll unrolled a little bit more by the lamb and a third guardian creature shouts, come. And we see another horse, this one black and the rider holding scales in his hands. But this time we hear the voice of Jesus because his is the voice that comes from the midst of those creatures. This is the voice of Jesus himself saying this about the cost of food, the cost of grain.

He commands this writer to charge only so much for wheat and barley and to leave the wine and oil alone. Again, a reminder that all of these judgments are coming from the throne of Christ, from the lamb on that throne. Christ is sovereign in the events that happen in this world. Well, what is happening? This is the land's judgment of famines in this age.

A quart of wheat was one day's supply for one soldier, and a denarius was one day's wage for a laborer. Thus, a worker's entire day's wages would be consumed in his allotment of bread. Essentially, the price quoted here is basically 800% inflation of grain prices, if you can imagine that. The barley here is enough for one person for three days or for one family for one day.

But the cost of these necessities are so high that no one will be able to afford the wine and the oil. Famine. Do we see famine in the world? It's interesting that about a year within the writing of this book in 1892, a great famine struck the Roman Empire. Today we see famine in places like Sudan and North Korea. Swarms of locusts.

I don't know if you've been watching this, but a swarm of locusts has moved from East Africa up and is now headed toward the Midwest, just destroying all kinds of crops. All right? You know what I read today? I read this very day that there is a second swarm forming. That's 20 times the size of the first one, now forming in East Africa. Okay?

And now it's devouring the crops that have just been planted and are just now starting to make their way through the soil. Okay? And you know what? Because of this pandemic, the experts who might be able to help them can't get there. Cannot get there. Because all these countries are closed.

All the countries can't fly anywhere, right? The climate change that's now occurring all over our globe, we are told will produce famines in parts of the world. Now, I don't know if that's going to happen, but if that does happen, what can you say? If that does happen, if the climate control or the climate change, I should say, the climate change is really happening, and those famines do occur because of the change in the climate in different areas of the world, if that happens, what can we say?

You know what we can say with confidence? This is the judgment of the Lamb. hasn't happened yet but we can say that if it does happen this is the judgment of the lamb that's the lamb's perspective again no one can escape the judgment of the lamb Jesus orchestrates these things to show that your hopes in the schemes of man will never deliver you from the curse of sin. There will always be only one truly effective king, and there will always be only one truly effective savior and deliverer from these things, and his name is Jesus.

Verses 7 and 8. when he opened the fourth seal i heard the voice of the fourth living creature say come and i looked and behold a pale horse and its rider's name was death and hades followed him and they were given authority over a fourth of the earth to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth now again we turn our attention to the throne room We see the lamb again breaking the fourth seal, unrolling the scroll, and the fourth living creature shouts, come. And in response to the summons, there appears a pale or a green horse. And the rider's name is Death.

But this rider has a companion running behind him. It is Hades, the realm of the dead. the horse is actually green and in greek like english when you say someone appears green you're saying they don't look well or they look dead and you remember at the opening vision if you want to turn back to revelation chapter one the opening vision of the lord jesus as this um again symbolized with um a long robe a golden sash hair is really white like snow and his eyes like a flame of fire and bronze feet and so forth all symbolic represent jesus does not look like that but that's a symbolic representation of him and it says in verse 17 of chapter 1 when i saw him i fell at his feet as though dead but he laid his right hand on me saying fear not i am the first and the last and the living one i died and behold i am alive forevermore and i have the keys of death and hades again just a little bit of a confirmation that this horse with hades running behind it right is coming from jesus because he's the one who has the keys of death and Hades and so has the authority to summon and to limit what they can accomplish. He has the keys.

So the green horse is death with Hades running behind him. Here you see the lamb's judgment in the death of this age. This seal is a summary of the other three. For sword, famine, and pestilence often follow war, although they're not exclusively connected to it all right so it's that which follows war that which just happens but what about these what about these um wild beasts um that are mentioned here what about the wild beast what's that all about john again is using Old Testament imagery symbolism to tell us something First of all these reflect the curses that God announced in the old covenant So now let's turn back to Leviticus 26.

Leviticus 26. You can kind of see a parallel here. Now again, this isn't God bringing the curses of the old covenant down on the earth, but it shows you the connection between the book of Revelation and the Old Testament that John uses that kind of symbolism to communicate something. So in Revelation 26, you remember, the people are entering into covenant with God, and he tells them the blessings and the curses of that covenant.

So look at Leviticus 26, verse 14. But if you will not listen to me and will not do all these commandments, if you spurn my statutes and if your soul abhors my rules so that you will not do all my commandments but break my covenant then I will do this to you I will visit you with panic with wasting disease and fever that consume the eyes and make the heart ache and you shall sow your seed in vain for your enemies shall eat it okay starvation and death all right look at verse 21 then if you walk contrary to me and will not listen to me i will continue striking you sevenfold for your sins and i will let loose the wild beasts against you which will shall bereave you of your children and destroy your livestock and make you few in numbers that your roads shall be deserted okay look at verse 25 and i will bring a sword upon you that shall execute vengeance for the covenant and if you gather within your cities i will send pestilence among you and you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy when I break your supply of bread. Ten women shall bake your bread in a single oven and shall dole out your bread again by weight and you shall eat and not be satisfied.

So again, he's drawing on the symbol. He's drawing on these things. He's talking about death and pestilence and starvation and so forth. That's what God uses in judgment. Okay. what about those wild beasts too i mean he mentions wild beasts here that's what's going to happen that's a sim that's how god was going to judge his old covenant people look at ezekiel 14 you see the same sort of thing used there ezekiel 14 beginning in verse 12 and the word of the lord came to me son of man when a land sins against me by acting faithlessly and i stretch out my hand against it and break its supply of bread and send famine upon it and cut off from it man and beast even these three men noah daniel and Job even if these three men Noah Daniel and Job were in it they would deliver they would deliver but their own lives but by their righteousness declares the Lord God if I cause wild beasts to pass through the if I cause wild beasts to pass through the land and they ravage it and it be made desolate that no one may pass through because of the beast even if these three men were in it as I live declares the Lord they would deliver neither sons nor daughters they alone would be delivered but the land would be desolate or if I bring sword upon that land and say let a sword pass through the land and I cut off from it man and beast though these three men were in it as I live declares the Lord God they would deliver neither sons nor daughters but they alone would be delivered or if I send pestilence into that land and pour out my wrath upon it with blood to cut off from it man and beast even if Noah Daniel and Job were in it as I live declares the Lord God they would deliver neither son nor daughter they would deliver but their own lives by their own righteousness for thus says the Lord God how much more when I send upon Jerusalem my four disastrous acts of judgment sword famine wild beasts and pestilence to cut off from it man and beast so you see John's drawing on these these old ways of God expressing his judgment to in a symbolic way speak of Jesus vehicles of unrelenting death emphasizing that the curse of God falls on all mankind because of their sin.

Again, you see the judgment of Jesus. Within a century of this writing, during the reign of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, a smallpox epidemic hit the Roman Empire, and it lasted for, okay, you ready? 15 years. We're five weeks into this thing. That lasted 15 years and wiped out one-third to one-quarter of the population of the empire. Okay?

In the 14th century, you remember what happened? The Black Death, the bubonic plague, swept across Europe, wiping out about a third of Europe's population. Now, what do you see today? We see this pandemic. And what can we say? this is the lamb displaying his wrath in the judgment of death that visits every nation and every people through famine war and pestilence whatever it is we can see this is coming from the throne of the lamb that is the lamb's perspective and so finally gain the perspective of the lamb in the midst of all of this you now have the perspective that these judgments including this pandemic that's afflicting us now.

These are the Lamb's providential pre-judgment justice. They are providential, happening in all these events surrounding us. But they're not the final, ultimate judgment of God. The four horsemen are the symbols of the dangers and the disasters that shatter and dismantle arrogant civilizations and the sophisticated godless schemes of men. They are the pre-wrath expressions of wrath, the foreshadowing of the last judgment of God when God's victory over his enemies will be complete.

And you can persevere, you can have hope, because what you see are evidence of the king's justice in the world. You can have hope because instead of seeing a chaotic world of suffering, you now have the heavenly perspective that such suffering is the purposeful judgment of the Lamb. In this vision, Jesus gives you an explanation of what's happening around us. and you can persevere, you can live with hope because the world is already experiencing the judgment of the Lamb This perspective of the Lamb helps us to see that our security will never be found in laws or governments or systems or plans in this world So to answer the question, is this pandemic the judgment of God?

And the answer is yes. one of the many that he unleashes throughout this age judgments that remind us that our hope is not found in governors or governments but only in God and his king listen having heard this having understood this from revelation chapter six none of us should be putting our hope in the governor although most of us would agree the governor our governor de wine has done a tremendous job right but don't put your hope in when the governor or what other what what a any kind of governing body says, this date, everything's okay. You can come back to church again. Don't put your hope in that.

Don't put your hope in that. Don't put your hope that all the things that we're doing will eliminate these things. They won't. So you should not despair. as we look at the suffering in the world we surely can grieve we cannot take pleasure even in the suffering of those who are God's enemies but we can have hope because the Lamb reveals His justice look around and get the Lamb's perspective on what's happening in this world we are not the victims of some pandemic that has suddenly appeared.

This is Jesus working in the world. We are seeing the justice of God. We are getting a view of what justice is like from God's perspective. Gain the Lamb's perspective today. Father, we are thankful for this day. We are thankful for your word.

We are thankful that we are not lost in a chaotic sea of suffering, but rather we are seeing an expression of your justice. Lord, we look around and we see that lives are being taken. And yet, Father, this is just a foreshadowing of the fact that those who do not look to God and to Christ will face judgment. Father, help us to see these things rightly, that we do not lose hope, and that we might be able to speak the truth into a world that has no idea what's happening.

God, help us to put our hope in our King, the Lord Jesus. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.