Unveiling the Seven Seals: Insights into the Last Days - Glorious Hope | Studies in Revelation

I've always wanted to be fair whenever we were looking at Revelation,

as I said right at the very beginning, over eight weeks ago,

that Revelation is a book that easily divides.

I'm very aware of that in how we understand it and how we interpret

it.

And in many ways, getting through the first number of chapters

was actually the lighter part of the journey.

But as we get deeper into it, we're gonna come across things that

some people may never have heard of, some people will know very

well and agree with, and others may find a different perspective

and interpretation.

And in understanding, we are going to keep going with Revelation

once we get to January, right through to the end of June.

So there's many months ahead of us yet.

As I've been praying for Revelation and praying of how we

would approach it, I only offer you simply my understanding

of what God's word says as we approach it in what I have done here

since I came seven years ago, chapter by chapter, verse by verse.

My prayer is that as we get to the end of each of these passages,

whether you agree with me or not, I hope that each of us will

look more to Jesus than we did before, because that's what Revelation

is pointing us to.

Revelation is pointing us to the risen Lord Jesus.

That day by day, as we await his return, we will trust more and

more in him.

And so what we're entering into now from the perspective of

how I have read Revelation and understand it, is what we're going

to see repeated a number of times in the book.

And so we're going to pick up themes that are going to tell us

of who we are to be as God's people in these last days.

And to help us get into thinking of that, remember back to

where we were last week, we had a scroll, and that scroll had

seven seals.

Now, tonight we're going to look at six of them.

Then, whenever we get into January, we come to possibly what

is one of my favorite chapters in Revelation, Chapter seven, which

actually takes us a break before we get to open the seventh

seal in chapter eight.

So we're going to look at the six tonight and then pick it up again

in January.

So what is a seal?

Well, the best modern understanding of a seal that I could

think of.

I remember describing to you the wax that splurted everywhere

in the man's carpet because of that old wax seal that we would have

known.

So I thought, well, how can I make it more modern?

And maybe you've seen these lock boxes on various doors.

Indeed, you might have one at your house.

This is the latest in a long history of how to store your spare

key in case you get locked out of your house.

For years, if you wanted to get into somebody's house, what did

you have to do?

Just scurry around the flower pots and see where the key was underneath.

And probably by the time you got to it, it was quite rusted.

Whenever I was growing up, we had a wee magnetic box that went

under the metal oil tank.

Who would ever have thought of looking under an oil tank?

My father was very astute.

But now we have these four digit coded lockboxes that allow

a spare key to be placed securely and held securely inside.

And we share the code with those who need access to our homes.

Now, there was one house in Belfast when I was an assistant that

I visited that had been developed into apartments.

And I was faced with six of these lock boxes.

And I presume that each box was holding a key to a door inside

the house.

And if you needed to get in, you couldn't just go to any one of

them.

You needed to know which box box to go to and you needed to know

the specific code that would allow you into that box.

Because each box, when opened, it let you into a house.

But it was a different perspective or a different house

than what you were in before.

And so last week in chapter five, we saw that when the question

was asked as to who could open this scroll with its seven seals,

the answer came resounding in heaven to no one could.

It wasn't until the Lamb came forward and took the scroll from

the right hand of the Lord Almighty that we were then told that

he was the only one who could open it.

And his credentials for doing this was his sacrificial death for

the punishment of sin.

And so as we now go into chapter six, we see the seals are

open so that the scroll can be read on.

And what the scroll is, it contains the decrees of God concerning

the unfolding of God's plans for judgment and salvation that were

established before the foundations of the world set in motion

by the death and the resurrection of Jesus.

Well, verse one opens as if all of heaven is silent and they're

waiting with bated breath as the Lamb opens one of the seals.

And John hears one of the four living creatures command loudly to

come as the seal is opened.

And this is an invitation for whatever is contained within the

seal to come out.

And this is what John sees in verse two as the invitation is accepted.

And I looked, said John, 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.

Now, we're going to be given a series of images here.

And rather than wondering, well, where are we going?

Or where have we been?

What I'm going to put on the screen for you now is a table that

helps you understand what the seals are.

So we have the seven seals.

We'll come to the seventh whenever we come to January.

But for now, the first six seals where we have a white horse,

a red horse, a black horse, and a pale horse.

Then we have souls of the martyrs and a final earthquake.

And what we have then on Seal 1 is about war and dominion.

Seal 2 is about strife amongst humanity.

Seal 3 is famine.

Seal 4 is rampant death.

Seal 5 is the cry of the martyrs for justice, but also a call

for patience.

And then tonight, as we look at it, that final earthquake in Seal

6, as the present creation comes to an end, and ultimately,

judgment.

And so what we're seeing in this chapter is already what John

has told us.

And so we have to go back to chapter one and verse one, where

he said, the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him

to show us, to show his servants the things that must soon

take place.

And he made it known by sending his angel to his servant

John.

So remember what I said last week as we moved into chapter five.

What has gone before us in Revelation will prepare us for what's

to come.

And right here in verse one, we've been prepared already for the

opening of these seals, because it's God has given us this

revelation to show us his servants the things that must soon

take place.

And so what we're seeing is what God is telling us, what soon

must happen.

Now, these things must take place because God has told us they

will, and he's showing us to them, but not necessarily in any

chronological order or system.

But all of these things will happen in these last days before

Jesus returns.

And so as we read chapter six and the seven seals, although we'll

only get to see six of them, as I said this evening, what we're

saying is we need an ability to accurately interpret what they're

showing us.

And so as we come to seal one on this white horse, our instinct,

because of our human history and because of what we know of great

battles in the past, is to assume that this rider is the champion,

the one who defeats everyone else and therefore represents Christ.

And many respected theologians believe that.

And Indeed, in Revelation 19, Jesus will be represented as a rider

on a white horse leading the armies of heaven to conquer.

But if we read this passage in the context of the other, in this

series of sevens, that we're going to come to the seven trumpets,

the seven bowls of wrath, as well as what Jesus himself said about

what believers should expect.

In passages like Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21, it becomes more

likely that this horse and rider symbolizes the many poor, hungry,

self glorifying warmongers who come out conquering and to conquer

throughout history.

If you want to label them, you could call them Antichrists.

They are against Christ, they are against what he stands for.

They are looking out for themselves, wanting to conquer, and

are conquering throughout history.

And your war and conflict are nothing new to humanity.

Even within living memory, we have those who experienced the Second

World War, the Cold War, the Falklands War, and the wars in the

Balkans, Iraq, Afghanistan, and now Ukraine.

In fact, in this past week alone, There have been 7,585 active

conflicts in the world.

7,585 active conflicts this week.

So when Jesus said in Matthew 26, verse 4 that we would hear of

Matthew 26:4

wars and rumors of wars, he wasn't pointing us to a system of

working out when he would return.

Rather, during these final days, humanity would always be in

conflict with those who think they know better, leading the charge

for dominion over others when they had no right to do so, placing

themselves as God and demonstrating that they are truly

Antichrist.

And these leaders promise to take the side of the people and claim

to know the true way, but are simply misleading for their own gain.

And haven't we seen this throughout history?

Well, as we move from the first seal, we go to the second seal

as it's opened and a second living creature calls out to another

horse to come.

And in verse four we're told, and out came another horse, bright

red, 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.

And so here we see with a red horse, we see the strife of humanity.

This is not the war and conflict of nations against nation,

where there is someone who wants to be dominant over others.

But this is humanity at war with itself.

Families and communities that tear themselves apart because of

selfish ambition or dominance.

Again, this is something we've seen throughout human history, be

it in the Roman Empire tearing itself apart as it expanded, or through

our own troubles in Northern Ireland and the countless civil wars

that have taken place and that are ongoing.

So there's human strife, and again, haven't we felt it locally

and don't we know of that strife amongst all of humanity where

things are twisted so that indeed man will be against man, woman

against woman.

And what is it all for?

Pointless conflict, never looking to the Savior is the one

who can rescue.

The third seal is opened, and again we hear the invitation of the

third living creature for whatever is to be shown to us to

come out.

This time we have a black horse, and its rider has a set of

scales in it, in its hands.

And often when we think of a set of scales in the hands, we think

of lady justice, who stands above the Old Bailey in London.

Lady justice is blindfolded, and in one hand she has a set of

scales, and in the other hand she has the sword of justice.

She's blindfolded so that she is impartial.

All she can do is hear the evidence.

She will weigh up whether there is innocence or guilt, and

her sword of justice will fall on the guilty.

That's the image we're presented here.

And all too often we think of those scales.

But I'm not too old to remember a set of scales where a

weight was put on the back and when you asked for a quarter of cherry

lips, it weighed out with the little dial springing forward.

And I can even admit I remember scales in an old meal barn

where they would be weighed as a balance of putting together what

meal needed to be weighed out for animals or for another farmer.

See, we're so far away from this sense of weighing in the old

way.

We actually don't realize that those scales were not about justice,

but were actually used as part of commerce.

And so these scales, as now told by John and seen by John, would

have been used in the practical day to day life and duties

of the people who were hearing this because they were used to measure

quantities for purchase or for distribution.

So this is what we're told about them.

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.

So what's going on here is food is being measured out for man,

but it's woefully lacking.

It seems that there is a famine and the need is great.

A denarius was a day's wages, but there is scarcely enough food

if one can buy only a quart of wheat with a day's wage or three

quarts of barley for the same.

And a quart amounted to about 1.7 pounds or 750 grams.

It's not that much if you have to feed a family.

But look what spared wheat and barley were needed for day to day

living.

But olive oil and wine were the more luxurious products of the

day.

And what are we told about them?

We're told to keep them back.

And so the sparing of the olive oil and wine may mean that

the rich continue to consume luxury items, or that the famine

doesn't touch all the necessities of life.

Well, it's difficult to decide between these two.

But what we're seeing here is something of injustice and unfairness,

with the poor getting poorer and the richer getting richer.

And Jesus predicted, as we know, that famines would take place

before his coming in Matthew 24:7.

Matthew 24:7

And what John is doing here, what he sees, is reinforcing that

message that Jesus gave.

The fourth seal is opened, and we hear the fourth living creature

pronounce the invitation to come that we've been so familiar

with.

And what John sees is completely ghastly.

Verse 8 describes the harrowing image.

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.

This fourth horse's peel, it's sickly.

It may be even the color of a corpse.

We're told that the name of the rider of the horse is Death.

Death from warfare, from famine and disease.

And death is followed by Hades.

Hades is the place of the dead, and therefore death is followed

by that very place.

Notice that it isn't all pervasive death, though, it's only

a quarter of the earth.

And this tells us that there is a limit to this death and that

it is not an exact number to be calculated.

And we're going to see that as we move through the seven seals,

bowls and trumpets which are going to show us the same time period

of history from different angles, Death and destruction are

going to increase.

Yes, truly, the days will get worse.

And when we come across this again, we will see that the visions

are going to increase in their intensity so that we will know what

is in these times.

So with these four seals so far, what we have seen in their opening

is the reality of humanity throughout all of time, in these

last days.

There's been no time in history when war and dominion, strife,

famine and rampant death haven't taken their toll across the

globe.

All we have to do is open our history books and see the numbers

of people impacted by these things.

Simply because we can catalog these things happening in this most

technologically advanced time in world history doesn't mean that

they weren't happening before.

What we're seeing here is a symptom of what is the sinful condition

of the fall that has led to humanity's selfishness?

And after all, isn't that what is at the root of all of these things?

The root of war, the root of strife, the root of famine and the

root of death, Man's selfishness.

But there's an image to come.

As the fifth seal is opened.

There are no more horses coming this time.

There's no horsemen riding out.

Rather, as the fifth seal is opened, John's attention is drawn

to the altar.

Look at these powerful words telling us what he sees in verse

nine.

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 borne.

John sees the souls of those who had been martyred because their

testimony and their allegiance to the word of God.

The use of the term souls here indicates the day of resurrection

hasn't come yet.

So why are the souls onto the altar?

And which altar here is in view?

Well, the reference could be to the altar of incense that will

be mentioned again in Revelation and comes from the tabernacle

in Exodus 30.

Or it is the altar of burnt offering where burnt offerings were

sacrificed twice a day in the temple.

The blood underneath the altar suggests that it is.

The latter is in view here.

And that the death of Christians was a pleasing sacrifice

to the Lord, not that he was longing for it, but what it meant

that they stood firm because of their faith in him.

And we see a similar reality in Revelation 20 in verse 4, when

we read, I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the

testimony of Jesus and for the word of God.

But here in Revelation, under the altar, we hear their cry, and

their cry is a question.

And they're asking the Lord to answer.

How long?

How much longer must this go on?

How long until it will be judgment time, when those who have

gone about in their arrogance and who have martyred the people

of God will face their punishment.

And the answer comes in verse 11.

And John simply tells us that the judgment will not come until

the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should

be complete who were to be killed as they themselves had been.

Here we're told that there is a determined number of brothers and

sisters in Christ who are going to have to face some of the

same things they have faced.

And this is why those reading the letter are going to need patient

endurance.

The content of this letter that they've received from Jesus

is not a promise that their suffering is going to decrease or

disappear.

Instead, this letter is intended to gird them for the fight

of faith that is going to define the rest of their lives.

And that's what they're going to have to face.

And so, as we come to this last section of this chapter, in

verses 12 to 17, we see from the martyrs the sixth seal opened.

And this one might give us some of the answers that they're

looking for.

John is very descriptive in what he sees and tells us in verses

12 and 13.

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 opening of this sixth seal is a revelation of the final judgment

day.

It is the day that the saints under the altar have been praying

for.

And reading through the Bible, starting in Genesis, we know that

there have been many precursors or foretelling of this

great final day of judgment.

Remember, there were 40 days of rain that destroyed all but Noah

and his family.

There was the day when sulfur and fire rained down on Sodom and

Gomorrah and destroyed all but Lot and his family.

There was the night when the Lord passed through Egypt and killed

all the firstborn except those hidden safely inside homes that were

marked by the blood of the Lamb.

But all of those were just previews for the great and final

day of judgment that the sixth seal reveals to us.

John is showed or is demonstrated here and tells us, using

language and imagery that Isaiah, Ezekiel, Joel, and indeed

Jesus himself used to describe the final day of judgment.

They all speak of the earth shaking, of the sun darkening, of

the moon turning red, and the stars of the sky falling.

It is as if the lights are being turned off in the universe

because its day is done.

And they're all using symbolism to draw a picture for us

of the terror of Judgment Day, the sense of everything of permanence

being shaken.

And we're meant to feel the horror of this scene.

We're meant to be filled with a sense that when this day comes,

nothing ever will be the same again.

And as we read through and continue on into verses 14 and 15,

even those who thought themselves secure, perhaps pictured

for us in the four horses and the horsemen, they will flee and

try to hide, but they won't be able to hide from the Lord.

They will know the day of judgment has come upon them.

And they will know that day of judgment to be one of wrath.

And as we sang this morning in our closing hymn, on that day, on

that day of the final judgment, who will not tremble when

he stands, Christ the victor.

If you've ever wondered why I love it so much and why we're singing

it so much, it's for this very.

These very lines.

Because it's the reality of a day that is ahead of us.

A reality that Jesus is coming and that those who do not know him

as Savior indeed will shudder with fear and try to hide and will

even cry down the rocks around them so they will not face his judgment.

But they are foolish and mistaken because the judgment must

be faced.

And so we have the wicked trying to save themselves not into

eternity, but trying to save themselves away from that very judgment

of God.

And they go to these extremes.

What do they say?

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?

This is the wicked saying this.

These are the words of those who can't stand before him because

of the judgment that is about to be heaped on them.

And so there is a reality for us here.

As these seals are opened, Jesus has come and brought salvation.

So that.

Or so what should we as Christians expect?

But what are to we expect in our life on earth?

Well, life will be radically different now that this Messiah has

come to defeat the devil and to forgive sins.

And John wants to tell us of this, but he doesn't want us to believe

that there's going to be heaven on earth, that somehow we

can avoid this.

We can't.

Yes, the gospel will be proclaimed to the ends of the earth.

Christ will triumph throughout the world.

And every tribe and tongue will be reached with the message

that liberates and that frees us from sin.

And still the gospel will be spread amongst fierce or amidst fierce

opposition.

And believers will be slain.

They'll be persecuted for their allegiance to Jesus.

And our vindication won't come during this present evil age.

War and strife, famine and hunger, disease and pestilence will

characterize life on earth.

Life on earth is significant and what we do matters.

But we won't create heaven on earth.

Yet we should still work for justice and peace during this present

Evil age proclaiming the gospel.

But there is no room for utopian visions.

As anyone who has studied the last 2000 years of history will know,

we'll never get peace on earth.

Believers are not promised health and wealth in the present

age.

In fact, we are promised suffering, persecution, and even

martyrdom.

That's what we're seeing in these seven seals, or these first

six open to us.

And so we could well ask the question, is this Christian life

worth it?

Is it?

If this is what's going to come in this present age, and we

will know no relief until we are taken to be with the Savior,

is it worth it?

Well, I hope the cries of the martyrs have assured you that the

answer is a firm yes.

Because soon the day of judgment will come and the Lord Almighty

and the Lamb will pour out their wrath on the wicked.

Because the question of how long?

The answer is, well, it's not going to last forever.

A day of reckoning is coming, a day when the wicked will be punished

and the righteous will be vindicated and forever.

That is the Christian's hope in Jesus.

When we see Jesus, we won't fear judgment because we will know

him as our Savior.

But this should make each of us stop and think.

If we truly know Christ, there is no doubt that we see the world

around us as it is.

And we are getting a glimpse of how it is and will be and continue

to be until Christ comes.

In chapter six of Revelation, the world is not going to get any

better, and it will go from one crisis to the next, and we will

perceive that as going from worse to worse.

Revelation 6 causes us to look beyond the present age and look to

the risen Lord Jesus as He now is, so that we can trust and rest

in Him.

That's why we've sung those two middle hymns of all I once held

dear.

And I heard the voice of Jesus say, they're both calling us to look

to him and to him alone in this present age.

Because it's not going to change.

This is how it is, and it's not good.

And so we must look to Him.

And again, I want to turn to these beautiful verses that that

hymn 410 come from, because they're the very words of Jesus himself,

who says, come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I

will give you rest.

Well, whenever you look at these six seals and they're telling

us the reality of the life, particularly the first four of the

life we're living, doesn't it want to make you look for rest?

A good Word for this world in describing it is relentless.

The world is a relentless place filled with sin.

But Jesus invites us to look to him, saying, take my yoke upon

you and learn from me.

Let me take care of you, Jesus is saying, because he is gentle and

lowly in heart, whenever we trust in him, what will we find?

Well, we will find rest for our souls.

And that rest for our souls is eternal salvation, for his yoke is

easy and his burden is light.

You see, however we interpret these opened seals, whatever idea

we have of what they mean, ultimately they all bring us to Jesus,

saying, we need Jesus more each day so that we can stand as

the days go from worse to worse, as we long for him and cry

with the martyrs, how long?

But it's not going to last forever, because a day of judgment

is coming, a day of reckoning.

And only those found in Jesus Christ will pass through the judgment

and into an eternity in heaven.

So will you accept this invitation that Jesus offers so that

you will be certain of eternity and of rest in him?

Will you respond tonight by doing what our closing praise speaks

of, as it says now on my Savior, I fix my eyes.

My life is his and his hope is mine.

For he has promised I too will rise.

Because tonight will you stand in the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

The Gospel is the message that brings us unto him for salvation.

But the Gospel message is not something for a moment in history.

The Gospel message must influence us each and every day as

we continue to live by it and assured in it that it continues to

bring each of us to Jesus so that we will see him and not these

four riders on horses.

That we will hear the cry of the martyrs and hear, hear the answer.

How long?

Well, just a little bit longer, but not forever.

Because that day of reckoning, that day of judgment is coming.

And only those in Christ who have known the gospel will know that

eternal rest that he offers you and me tonight.

Find it in Christ and in him alone.

For there is no other way that we can have glorious hope both now

and forevermore.

Let's pray.

Father, we do thank you for this, your word.

And we will admit that in our human thinking and understanding

we may have different approaches to what this means.

But Father, whatever approach comes our way, however we are convinced

and convicted, each one will lead us to Jesus because we need

Him.

And so, Father, help us all to open our eyes and our hearts to know

that.

That as we sing these words, we will know the truth that he has

promised that we too will rise as we stand in that beautiful and

wonderful gospel of Jesus.

So may this be all our hope this night as we go into this raging

world, ever sure that.

How long?

Well, just a little bit longer.

Because a day is coming when Christ will come and take us home.

So may we find rest in him this night and indeed forevermore.

Amen.

Sa.