The Opening of the 7 Podcast
There's A Man Going 'Round Taking Names • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Hello and welcome to this episode of Pastor’s Corner. I’m Thomas Hogan Senior Pastor of Amazing Grace Church of The Nazarene in Walla Walla Washington.
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Also pleases watch the sermon video The Book with The Seven Seals to stay on track with what we are talking about in this Podcast.
So in the sermon we went through the seven seals and saw God is allowing certain things to happen as part of his plan to reconcile the world and bring salvation to His creation.
N.T. Wright wrote: “What happens when the seals are opened is that the forces of human conquest and oppression are allowed to do their worst, before divine purpose, which is to deal with the world’s ills, can be read from the scroll.”
This is all part of God’s plan. We are also being shown from God’s perspective what human power and empire does to people they conquer.
So the four riders then are symbolic for the basic ills humans inflict upon one anther.
How does understanding the 4 horsemen this way fit with what we know about God and human relationship?
Bruce Metzger provides some insight: “God is absolute ruler of the world. But, because God gave humankind free-will, there is always the possibility that we might misuse the portion of power entrusted to us.”
One of the truths the Bible seen in the world is that man misuse of power always brings on suffering and disaster.
I want to take another look some of the symbolism of the rider to deepen our understanding.
The First Rider Revelation 6:2
2 And I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him; and he went out conquering, and to conquer.
Many see this rider as Jesus, but how can it be Jesus when He is opening the seals of the book.
Also Jesus is never seen with a bow, but a sword.
The bow is a key I think to understanding this who this rider might symbolize.
There was another empire in the world just across the eastern boarder of the Roman Empire in what is today Iran and Iraq. The Parthian Empire.
A characteristic of the Parthian warriors was the bow. Parthia was a formidable neighbor on the Easter Boarder of the Roman Empire.
Also, “conquering and to conquer,” is what Rome was known for. Perhaps we can see this first rider as symbolic of Rome’s expansion as an empire.
3 And when He broke the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, “Come.”
4 And another, a red horse, went out; and to him who sat on it, it was granted to take peace from the earth, and that men should slay one another; and a great sword was given to him.
There can be no doubt that the second rider is war and bloodshed. Maybe taking peace was a stab at the Pax Romana, or Roman Peace. This peace was much celebrated in the Roman Emperors.
5 And when He broke the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, “Come.” And I looked, and behold, a black horse; and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand.
6 And I heard as it were a voice in the center 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.”
Usually a denarius was a day’s pay, and this could purchase eight to sixteen more grain than those mentioned here.
In other words imperial expansion and civil war followed by inflation and famine.
There is some historical significance here. The reference is to Roman Asia and the conditions there during the Reign of Domitian.
Large landholders had converted more and more of their land to vineyards and olive groves, to access more profits from international trade.
This would then greatly diminish the supply of grain thus inflating the prices beyond what a commoner could afford.
The fourth horse and rider here, is the result of war, famine, and pestilence, and the final devastation when wild animals overran what was once the habitat of people.
This kind of imagery was seen before in Zechariah 1:8
8 I saw at night, and behold, a man was riding on a red horse, and he was standing among the myrtle trees which were in the ravine, with red, sorrel, and white horses behind him.
All of this results from working outside of God’s laws
Gordon Fee states: “John goes to some lengths to make sure that the reader does not miss what they represent conquest, war, famine, and death.”
I put this with what I know about God
16 “Then in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.”
There seems to be two things
The evil symbolized by the four horsemen must reach its height with the death of more believers
That death will be part of the means of God’s judgment. This is how the lamb’s victory is worked out, as we shall see.
Now let’s deal with Revelation chapter 7. Bet you thought I was going to skip over this part.
1 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, so that no wind should blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree.
2 And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God; and he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea,
3 saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the bond-servants of our God on their foreheads.”
What is about to transpire is the sealing of the people of God.
We know from the New Testament that this is now both Jew and Greek.
In this vision John is given the number 144,000. He is told that the calculation for this number 12 x 12,000. 12,000 for each if the 12 tribes mentioned in the list.
The list of the tribes is interesting to consider.
Judah is mentioned first - The tribe of the Messiah
It includes Joseph and Manasseh are listed Ephraim is not.
There are 18 different lists in the Old Testament and this list matches none of them.
Levi is included and Benjamin is last.
Judah and Benjamin are the southern tribes and we last to go into captivity, which is interesting.
John is given the number 144,000 then turns to see and tells us that they are too many to count.
There is no break between what he s told and what he sees.
Thus it is possible symbolically that they are the same people.
Scott McKnight: “The 144,000 is clearly symbolic. The calculation of 012 x 12,000. Then is listed the 12 tribes of Israel. So it follows that the 144,000 represents a perfect or complete number of Israelites. The unnumberable multitude reminds the readers in the seven churches and us as well that our numbers are not as small as we might think.”
What if these two symbolically represent the church as a whole?
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
10 but glory and honor and peace to every man who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
Reminding the seven churches and us of the importance of the Jews those sealed by God, first as their place in God’s plan.
The second unnumberable multitude are every tribe, nation, people and tongue.
Is it possible?
Under the rule of Domitian the church has faced great persecution. One of the seven churches was warned it was going to get worse. To bring hope to the 7 churches John is shown what has happened to those who have died in Christ.
14 And I said to him, “My lord, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
15 “For this reason, they are before the throne of God; and they serve Him day and night in His temple; and He who sits on the throne shall spread His tabernacle over them.
The great tribulation then must be tied to the persecution of the John’s day, of which he stated he was a partaker.
9 I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos, because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
John seems to have in mind here the great trial that the church of his day was experiencing. Something that he has already said would get worse before it gets better.
Gordon Fee offers this: “These words seem intended to reassure the churches that any who have been, or will be, martyred because of their being followers of the Slain Lamb, are to be understood as already in the Divine Presence.
For all that the church has suffered John is shown something beautiful
16 “They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; neither shall the sun beat down on them, nor any heat;
17 for the Lamb in the center of the throne shall be their shepherd, and shall guide them to springs of the water of life; and God shall wipe every tear from their eyes.”
Doesn’t that give us hope as well? Isn’t that where we all want to be.
I end our time today with a couple of things.
Remember I am coming into Revelation not seeking new information about salvation and Christ. What revelation does offer is the same information told in a different way.
It is not necessary that you agree with me.
I have been asked are you post-trib or pre-trib?
Well neither I guess as the tribulaiton so far talked about by John has already happened.
That is where I am in this so far. Could that change? Possibly I have made no conclusions here.
3. All I ask is, in what I have shared ask yourself, is it possible?
I hope that you take all this and study further for yourself.
I pray you have a wonderful week and thank you for joining me in the Pastor’s Corner.