Living with Coming Wrath (Revelation 6:1-7:17)

 

Living with Coming Wrath (Revelation 6:1-7:17)

MAD Magazine's
Four Horsemen of the Metropolis

 

I once saw a flyer pinned to a cubicle wall that said, 

“Jesus is coming! Look Busy!”

 

Of course, the humor is poking fun at tactics used by some to frighten people into obedience. It’s like that favorite Christmas song for children. You better watch out! You better not cry! You better not pout? I’m telling you why! Jesus Christ is coming to town! He knows when you’ve been sinning. You know that He can tell. You better straighten up right now, or you’re gonna burn in hell!

 

John had a vision of the very throne of God. God held a scroll sealed with 7 seals, completely shut and secret. But remember, Jesus brought John to heaven to reveal what is to take place. Jesus revealed God’s message with each crack of a seal.

 

The vision of the seven seals is told with great drama. As Christ breaks each seal, one of the four living creatures calls out with a loud thunderous voice, “Come!” With the breaking of the first four seals, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse appear.

 

White Horse- War/Conquest

Red Horse – Violence/Murder

Black Horse - Food/Financial Instability

Pale Green Horse – Death and Hades

 

The white horse represents nations engaged in war to take land and property, to dominate and enslave. Some see the rider with a crown and a bow to be a world leader with conquest in mind. Russia attacked Ukraine without provocation. China threatens Taiwan and commits daily cyber-attacks upon US businesses and government computers. According to the Geneva Academy, there are over 120 armed conflicts in the world right now. The white horse brings war and conquest.

The 2nd rider with the red horse takes peace away from the earth, inciting violence between neighbors. With the absence of peace in our hearts, violence erupts and we slaughter each other. We all know of the assassinations this year, a CEO of a major healthcare organization, a Minnesota politician and her family, and most recently a conservative evangelical activist. Mass shootings have become so commonplace we hardly notice. According to the FBI a violent crime occurs in our country every 26 seconds, a rape every 4 minutes, a murder every half hour. The red horse rides, taking away our peace.

 

War interrupts food supplies and other necessities. Supplies become more expensive and difficult to find. Corruption and greed breed want and poverty. Gangs steal from stores, and stores are shuttered. The 3rd rider on the black horse brings hunger, poverty and peril.

 

With food and financial insecurity comes disease and other health vulnerabilities. The fourth horseman is Death, riding a pale green horse, the color of decay. Hades follows behind Death, opening wide its mouth to swallow up all who perish. When the fourth seal was broken ¼ of the world’s population died.

 

The 1918 Spanish Flu infected 1/3 of the population, killing over 5%. In those dark days, some spoke of God’s punishment and called for repentance. Some predicted the end of the world. World War 1 was the white horse, the red horse of violence is always with us, unstable financial markets were the black horse, and the Spanish Flu pandemic, the pale horse.

 

Throughout the history of the church, there have been those who announce the end of the world. John’s four horsemen of the apocalypse are just vague enough to fit all kinds of scenarios and just believable enough to invite a doomsday attitude. Beware any who proclaims a message of hopeless doom.

 

 

The four horsemen are followed by a vision of martyrs, those who have sacrificed their lives for their faith in Christ. Caesar Nero persecuted the Church in the mid first century. Christians were imprisoned and tortured. They were fed to lions and slaughtered by gladiators for entertainment. On one occasion, Nero reportedly impaled Christians, setting them on fire to light a garden party. Barbaric persecution by an evil empire.

 

John saw the souls of those martyred under the altar. This is the first mention of an altar in heaven’s throne room. In Jerusalem, there stood a large bronze altar in the temple court. Sacrificed animals were offered there. I think John is seeing heaven’s version, the true altar of sacrifice. It seems an appropriate way to introduce faithful Christians who sacrificed their lives for the name of Jesus Christ.

 

The martyrs cried out for justice. “How long before you avenge our blood?” they ask the Lord. They are told to rest a while longer, until the full number of the faithful have died. More persecution is coming for the Church. More saints will die. The martyrs were given white robes signifying the purification of their souls by their faith in Christ.

 

Then the sixth seal was broken, and the entire cosmos is shaken. There’s a great earthquake. The sun is blotted out. The moon turns blood red. Stars fall from the sky and crash into the earth. The sky splits apart and rolls up like a scroll. Mountains fall from their places. Islands shift and sink. I can hear Bill Murray from Ghostbusters, “Cats and Dogs living together… mass hysteria!”

 

The rich and powerful, kings, judges, military leaders, and everyone else hide. They cry out in despair, asking for the mountains to fall on them and hide them from the face of God and the wrath of The Lamb.

 

Like I said, “Jesus is coming! Look busy!”

 

Then the breaking of the seals is put on pause. Four angels stand poised to bring destruction from the four corners of the earth but are held back.

The four winds stop blowing. It is deadly still. It’s like the tense moment before an army charges into battle. Everyone waits with bated breath.

 

Another angel carries the official seal of the Lord Almighty, to mark the foreheads of the servants of God. God marks his own to protect them from the coming destruction. They number 144,000. 144,000 is 12 x 12 x 10 x 10 x 10. 12 represents Israel. 10 represents a complete work of God, the sum of 7 (completeness) and 3 (divine action). 144,000 is symbolic of the restoration of all Israel.

 

Then John saw a vision of a countless multitude of gentile believers, from every nation and language. This countless multitude is you and me and everyone who trusts in Jesus Christ. They stood before the throne of God and the Lamb and were dressed in white, for they had washed in the blood of the Lamb. In other words, they were saved by their faith in the gospel. They remained faithful through every trial and tribulation.

 

They praised God! “Salvation belongs to our God who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb!” And the elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshipped.

 

“Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom
and thanksgiving and honor
and power and might
be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

 

Seven words of praise symbolizing that all praise belongs to God and Jesus Christ.

 

And the worship ends with promise for those who are facing persecution and oppression because of their faith. They too will be clothed in white and worship God and the Lamb in glory and eternal peace. The Lamb will care for them. Jesus will guide to springs of living water. God will wipe away their every tear. How beautiful!

 

The apostle Peter said that this earth will burn, giving way to a new heaven and earth, where righteousness is at home. (2Pt 3:7-13)

 

Destruction and redemption are how God is reclaiming His fallen creation. His sin-corrupted world is destroyed to make way for a new heaven and earth. New creation began with the resurrection of Jesus. We become new creations, ourselves, through the indwelling Holy Spirit. We die to our old lives when sin ruled us. And we rise with Christ into new life empowered by the Holy Spirit.

 

The Day of the Lord is terrifying for those who choose a sinful life. Peril and destruction come with judgement. Those too invested in this world also fear the Day of Wrath. Afraid to lose what they love; they desire the world more than God. And those complacent in the Church feel uncomfortable with the notion that God will judge them for poor stewardship and a lack of good deeds.

 

Paul said God’s judgment will be like a refiner’s fire. Some build the Church with lasting things. Some build the Church with weak things. Some do nothing to build up the Church.

 

…fire will test what kind of work each has done. ¹⁴ If what someone has built survives, he will receive a reward. ¹⁵ If someone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss. He himself will be saved, but only as through fire. (1^st Corinthians 3:13b-15)

 

The vision of the 7 seals sends a message. God is shaking this world to its foundation in order to birth a new one. Wealth, power, and popularity will not help you to withstand the Day of The Lord. Nothing but the blood of Jesus, and your faithful response to Him, will help you to stand before the Judge of all souls.

 

When John Wesley formed small groups of Methodists to watch over one another in love, he told prospective members the only qualification to join was an earnest desire to flee the coming wrath of God.

 

How do we live with the coming wrath? Faithfully. Jesus said we do not know the hour when the master will come to settle accounts. The good and faithful servant will be found going about the master’s business. The wise and faithful will be doing what Jesus did, teaching hope in the gospel, caring for the sick, and lifting the burdens of the poor and oppressed.

 

May we each be given grace to be about our Father’s business. For we are sealed in the Holy Spirit as a foretaste of what is to come. Our true home is with God, where sin is no more, violence and war are no more, want and need are no more, death, crying and pain are nor more. For God is wiping away what is broken, and making all things new, starting with you, and me, and all who love Jesus.