Revelation 6:1-8:1 - The Seals Are Opened

Introduction

As most of you know, I was absent last Sunday. I was preaching in Abilene, at Redeemer Church. My friend, Jason Gray, is the senior pastor there, and he invited me to come and preach during his annual July out of the pulpit. It was a joy to bring that congregation greetings from us, and I had a great time of fellowship with Jason and another pastor friend of mine in Abilene.

Since I wasn’t here, I didn’t get to hear Barry preach through Revelation 5 last Sunday. But I have read through his preaching notes… and it seems that he has stolen all my thunder in the first point of his sermon last week.

Barry already told us about the content of the scroll. He already told us the main question of Revelation 6-7. And he already told us the profound answer, in the second half of ch. 7. That’s all I’ve got today!

Well, I trust we can still consider all of this a bit more, and I trust that we can feel the weight of it heavier upon us as we spend time on it this morning.

Very briefly, though, let me remind us of some potential problems we will face if we’re not intentional about our study of and our conversations about what we read in Revelation… including in our passage this morning.

One problem we face is our inclination to look to Revelation for a timeline of end-time events.

There simply is not a timeline to be found there, and the more we look for one (or the more we think we see one) the more likely we are to miss the whole point of what Revelation is teaching.

Brothers and sisters, let’s resist the urge to need a timeline and to know where we are on it… and let’s try to become more familiar with what the text actually teaches.

Another problem we face is our interest in the symbols over our interest in what they represent.

In Revelation, there are horses, riders, swords, scales… even beasts and a dragon… but these are symbols, not actual figures we should expect to see on the stage of human history. We do expect to see what these symbols represent, some of which we will get into during our study today.

Yet another problem we face (like the timeline problem) is our deep desire to connect what we read in the Bible to specific events in our day.

As I’ve tried to warn us already (when we started preaching through Revelation back in April), we ought to read Revelation in light of the OT, not in light of current news events.

This last week, I was listening to a news podcast, and I heard a country music celebrity giving his take on the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. July 13, 2024, was a huge event in American life. Political assassinations (and even unsuccessful tries) are shocking… they are troubling… and they usually have a pretty significant impact on the trajectory of our nation (for better or worse).

The country music star pointed to Trump’s narrow escape from death as a sign that God is on Trump’s side and that the coming of Jesus Christ is near (Apparently, the singer just released a song called Revelation).

Now, whether you love Trump or you hate him, the reason he is alive today is ultimately the gracious providence of God. But, of course, I am not saying that Trump has God’s blessing. God’s providence governs all of the affairs in creation; and God uses and spares and raises up and puts down wicked men just as He does righteous ones. Just because Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt does not mean that God is “on his side.”

Remember what God told Joshua of old when Joshua asked, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” (Joshua 5:13). Joshua was God’s commissioned leader of the Israelite people, but God said, “No… I am the commander of the army of the LORD” (Joshua 5:14). In other words, “I’m not for you or for them; I’m for me, and you’d better get in line.”

I’m so thankful that God spared Donald Trump’s life a couple of Saturdays ago, but not because I think Trump is our great American hope. I’m thankful he didn’t die because murder is a sin, because Trump is a person (just like any other) who ought to be able to speak his mind without fearing the threat of physical violence, and because I fear what might happen to our nation if any presidential candidate were to be removed by force.

I pray that God would spare us from any more civil unrest than what we are already experiencing.

There are many Americans who are reading more into current political events than I think we can possibly do. And this is not unusual. American Evangelicals are notorious for telling people what God means by unfolding events. But, brothers and sisters, we just don’t know what God means by His acts of providence. The Bible teaches us that God “works all things according to the counsel of his will” (Eph. 1:11), but we don’t know what to make of the details unless God reveals His intentions to us.

The unfolding of events in our day are certainly according to God’s plans, but God has not told us any details about twenty-first-century American history in the book of Revelation. What God has told us is that Christ reigns supreme now and forevermore, that God’s judgment has and will come upon the whole world, and that God knows exactly how to preserve His own people through the midst of tribulation and even through the coming wrath that the Lamb Himself will unleash in full.

In fact, this is exactly what our passage is telling us this morning.

In Christ Jesus, God is now and will in the end deliver perfect justice; and only those who repent and believe in Christ (and persevere in repentance and faith) will stand before the throne of God on the last day.

Let’s stand together as I read the passage, and let’s consider how we might hear and believe… and apply ourselves to what we see and hear.

Scripture Reading

Revelation 6:1–8:1 (ESV)

6:1 Now I watched when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, “Come!” 2 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.

3 When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 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.

5 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. 6 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!”

7 When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” 8 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.

9 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. 10 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?” 11 Then 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.

12 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, 13 and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. 14 The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.

15 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, 16 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, 17 for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”

7:1 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow on earth or sea or against any tree. 2 Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, 3 saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.”

4 And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel: 5 12,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed, 12,000 from the tribe of Reuben, 12,000 from the tribe of Gad, 6 12,000 from the tribe of Asher, 12,000 from the tribe of Naphtali, 12,000 from the tribe of Manasseh, 7 12,000 from the tribe of Simeon, 12,000 from the tribe of Levi, 12,000 from the tribe of Issachar, 8 12,000 from the tribe of Zebulun, 12,000 from the tribe of Joseph, 12,000 from the tribe of Benjamin were sealed.

9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

13 Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?”

14 I said to him, “Sir, you know.”

And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 15 “Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.

16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. 17 For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

8:1 When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.

Main Idea:

In Christ Jesus, God is now and will in the end deliver perfect justice; and only those who repent and believe in Christ (and persevere in repentance and faith) will stand before the throne of God on the last day.

Sermon

1. Calling Forth Judgment (6:1-8)

Our lengthy passage today is all about the breaking or “opening” of “seven seals” (Rev. 6:1). And the “seals” are referring to the “scroll,” which we first heard about in ch. 5. There (in ch. 5), the prophet John told us that he saw a vision of a heavenly throne-room where the resurrected and glorified Christ was proclaimed to be “worthy” to “take the scroll” and to “open its seals” (Rev. 5:9).

· That heavenly throne-room is where our passage begins and ends.

o We were told back in Rev. 4 that “from the throne came flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder” (Rev. 4:5).

o And Rev. 5 concluded with a glorious scene, where “every creature” in all creation is praising God and the Lamb, saying “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” (Rev. 5:13).

o And we read at the top of our passage that the “voice” John heard “when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals” was “a voice like thunder” from “one of the four living creatures” who worship around the God’s throne (Rev. 6:1).

o So too, our passage ends with a “great multitude” of people gathered “before the throne of God” both worshiping God and being comforted by God and by the Lamb (Rev. 7:9, 15-17).

· This cyclical pattern is repeated in the seals, the trumpets, and the bowls.

o Each one begins and ends before the throne of God…

§ God sending out judgment upon sinners,

§ and God gathering His people to Himself as a demonstration of His glorious power to save.

· Judgment comes first, from the throne of God, and that’s what we see here with the first four seals – the four horsemen of the Apocalypse.

o Once again, it is “the Lamb” who is opening the “seals” (Rev. 6:1).

§ John says, “Now I watched as the Lamb opened one of the seven seals” (Rev. 6:1).

§ And he repeats himself each time: “When he opened the second seal…” (v3). “When he opened the third seal” (v5). “When he opened the fourth seal” (v7).

· It is clear that Christ is the one – the “Lion of the tribe of Judah” who is also the “Lamb [who was] slain” (Rev. 5:5-6) – Christ is the one opening up or distributing the contents of the “scroll.”

o And what are the contents of the scroll that “come” when the seals are opened and the summons from heaven is given (“Come!”)?

§ The first is a “white horse” with a “rider” that “came out conquering” (v2).

· He has a “crown,” and he is able to “conquer” (v2).

§ The second is a “horse, bright red” with a “rider” that “takes peace from the earth” (v4).

· He has a “great sword,” and he is able to provoke murderous war among humanity (v4).

§ The third is a “black horse” with a “rider” that has “a pair of scales in his hand” (v5).

· This one seems to indicate economic disaster.

o The prices of “wheat” and “barley” (which were staples for the common folk) are astronomical, but the “oil and wine” (which signal prosperity) are not harmed (v6).

o The rich do alright, but everyone else barely scrapes by… as happens with crazy inflation.

§ The fourth is a “pale horse” with a “rider” named “Death,” and we read, “Hades” (or “the grave”) “followed him” (v8).

· This terrifying duo of “death” and “the grave” kill with “sword,” “famine,” “pestilence” (literally, “death”; i.e., deadly disease), and “wild beasts” (v8).

§ Q: How might we summarize these?

· A: Tyranny, war, economic disaster, and death of all kinds.

§ Q: But isn’t this normal life in a post-Genesis-3 world?

· Certainly, times and locations are not all the same, but when has there ever been the absence of tyranny?

· When have all wars ceased?

· When has economic chaos been eliminated, where the poor no longer suffer and the rich only use their wealth for good?

· When has death and the grave ever been slowed in their unquenchable appetite for more, more, more?

· A: Friends, whatever we might say about our expectations for life under the sun as the day of Christ draws near, we must admit that the judgment of God has already been called forth upon creation.

o I believe it’s best to understand these four horsemen as symbols of God’s judgment that has been and will continue to be unleashed on the world between Christ’s first and second coming (or advent).

§ It may get worse in the future (as many Christians believe), but all around us we can see evidence that the Lamb has already called forth judgment upon this present world… and it will keep coming.

And what are saints praying for amid this flurry of God’s judgment? They are praying for justice, for vindication, for retribution.

2. Praying for Justice (6:9-11)

The opening of the “fifth seal” is not like the first four (at least in one sense). There is no angelic or divine voice calling forth judgment from the throne-room. But (in another sense), this fifth seal is yet another call for judgment or justice… Only this time it’s coming in the form of a prayer from those who have died as faithful witnesses of Christ (Rev. 6:9).

Some Christians think that these saints are specifically those who have been martyred for their faith in Christ, but I think there is reason to believe that this picture is representative of all faithful Christians… all those who have remained faithful to the end, and suffered the various afflictions this world has to offer for those who believe and obey the “word of God” (v9).

At the very least, we can agree on two big features of this fifth seal – (1) a question in the form of a prayer, and (2) a response (apparently from the Lamb).

· First, the prayerful question.

o These witnesses who died in faith cry out, “‘O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?’” (Rev. 6:10).

o This prayer acknowledges…

§ that the Lord God is the “sovereign” or “king” or “ruler” of all creation.

§ that “those who dwell on the earth” are blameworthy or guilty for their opposition to Christ and His people.

§ and that God’s justice ought to be poured out upon the earth-dwellers (at least in part) because of their opposition to Christ and His people…

§ This is a call for vindication.

o Friends, Christians believe that Christ is King, that the gospel is true, and that Christ Himself promises blessing to those who repent and believe.

§ But, so often in this world, Christians are not apparently blessed… Christians are frequently despised, they are mocked, and they are pushed out of those places of power and wealth and influence.

§ Therefore, those who don’t believe the gospel… those who don’t submit themselves to Christ and His good rule… they seem to have good reason to think that the way to advance in this world is to avoid association with Christ and His people… and even to persecute those who do.

§ But one day, the way things truly are will be revealed.

· Those who trust and obey and cling to the Lord Jesus will be vindicated (theirs was the right choice and posture all along)…

· And those who treat Christ and His people with indifference or with overt hostility will be judged (theirs was the wrong choice and posture all along).

o It is a sobering thought to imagine that those who have died in faith before us are pleading (even now) for God’s righteous judgment to come upon the unbelieving world.

§ Friend, have you considered that someone God loves and exalts right now might be praying for your judgment?

§ If you think little of Christ, or have no love for Christ’s people, then what will become of you on the last day?

· The second big feature of this fifth seal is the response.

o In response to their prayer, the witnesses who pray for justice are “given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete” (Rev. 6:11).

o This response teaches us (at least) a couple of things:

§ First, that the promises of Christ are (in some sense) already possessed by those who have died in faith.

· They have now received the “white robe” which Christ promised to those “who have not soiled their garments” and who “conquer” or “persevere” through the tribulation of this life (Rev. 3:4-5).

o Friends, our loved ones who believed and trusted and followed Christ unto death in this life are still awaiting the final resurrection along with the rest of us…

o but they are not in some purgatory, and they are not left to wonder where and what they shall be on the last day…

o They are clothed with the righteousness of Christ at this moment, and they are with Him.

§ The second thing this response teaches us is that God knows exactly who His people are.

· There are more “servants” or “brothers” (i.e., Christians) to die in this world before the end, and God knows exactly who they are and what the “number” will be when it is “complete” (v11).

· Brothers and sisters, this should give us great comfort!

o God knows each of us… just as well as He knows the saints who have already gone before us… those who are already in His presence.

o And very soon, we shall join with them.

We see here (with this fifth seal) that the saints already in glory (at least some of them, but I think all of them) are praying for justice, and we also see that God fully intends on bringing it… But God also intends that those who are faithful to Christ should live and die in the afflictions of this world… for just a bit longer.

But God’s perfect justice is coming in full… just as sure as you and I are breathing right now… God’s justice is coming… and there is a critically important question that all of us should consider.

3. The Critical Question (6:12-17)

Our tendency in Revelation 6:12-17 (at least the tendency that many of us probably have) is to make much of the terrifying description of things in v12-14. When “the Lamb” “opened the sixth seal,” it is obvious that what John saw was more judgment from God. In fact, we might say that he is describing climactic judgment… This is the end (Rev. 6:1, 12).

· And how do we know that this is the end?

o Well, look there in v16 and 17.

§ The earth-dwellers – great and small, “kings” and “great ones” and “generals” and “the rich,” “everyone, slave and free” – they all say, “the great day of their wrath [that is, the wrath of “him who is seated on the throne” and “the wrath of the Lamb”] has come” (Rev. 6:17).

· This is the vindication (the judgment) that the saints are praying for in the fifth seal.

· The earth-dwellers are finally feeling the full weight of God’s judgment.

o The language of v12-14 correspond to that of the 6th and 7th trumpet (Rev. 11:13, 19) as well as the 7th bowl (Rev. 16:17-21).

§ And all of the imagery of judgment in Revelation is an echo of what we read in the OT.

· For example, God spoke of His judgment through the prophet Isaiah, saying, “the LORD is enraged against all the nations, and furious against all their host; he has devoted them to destruction… All the host of heaven shall rot away, and the skies roll up like a scroll. All their host shall fall, as leaves fall from the vine, like leaves falling from the fig tree” (Is. 34:2-4).

o Whatever else we might say about v12-14, we must recognize that the point of it all is to tell the reader that what is being highlighted here is the final unleashing of the wrath of God and of the Lamb.

· And what is the hanging question for the reader/hearer of this message?

o Look there at the very end of v17… “the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”

§ Long ago, the prophet Joel wrote, “the day of the LORD is great and very awesome; who can endure it?” (Joel 2:11).

§ So too, another OT prophet wrote, “Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the heat of his anger?” (Nahum 1:6).

· Friends, in Christ Jesus, God will in the end deliver perfect justice.

o Even now we see the evidence around us that God’s judgment is unleashed (at least in part) upon this sinful and rebellious world.

§ Wickedness abounds – bad people conquer, and good people are trampled underfoot all day long.

§ War is a constant – nations rise against nations, and civil unrest is rampant all over the world.

§ Economic turmoil persists – no nation on the planet is without their poor and destitute, and while there are many factors that contribute to poverty, one cannot deny that every economy has its winners and losers.

§ Death and the grave are just as ravenous as ever – there is no negotiation, no argument, and no power that can avoid them.

o If these are evidence of God’s judgment right now, what will be the terrors and pains of the last day?

§ What would cause even the kings of the earth to want to die in an attempt to avoid the wrath of God and the Lamb?

In light of this dreadful and awe-full reality, we must consider and apply ourselves to that critical question – “who can stand?” (Rev. 6:17) – and we must come to know and believe and live in keeping with the answer.

4. The Glorious Answer (7:1-17)

The entirety of chapter 7 is the answer to our hanging question. And it is no coincidence that this first cycle of seven (that begins and ends in the throne-room) lays so much emphasis on this critical question and its glorious answer.

· The answer to this question is what Jesus has been calling for in the letters to the seven churches.

· The answer to this question is what John highlighted when he proclaimed his first blessing in this apocalyptic book.

· The answer to this question is critical and fundamental to everything God intends for the reader to hear and keep in the book of Revelation.

In Revelation 7, we get two descriptions of the same answer to that critical question… and the answer is glorious.

· “Who can stand?!” First, they are described as the “servants of our God” from “every tribe of the sons of Israel” (Rev. 7:3-4).

· “Who can stand?!” Second, they are described as “a great multitude… from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages,” those who “have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Rev. 7:9, 14).

· The first description is one John “heard” (v3-4), and the second is one John “saw” (v9)… and both together teach us what we must do and what we can expect.

Let’s get at the main point of Revelation 7 by asking and answering three questions: first, our critical question, “Who can stand?”; second, a practical application question, “What must we do?”; and third, a question of incentive, “What can we expect?”

· Who can stand?

o In short, these are believers in Christ from both ends of our Bibles.

§ If you want to discuss the exegesis of this chapter with me later, then I’d love to point out to you all the reasons why I have concluded what I have here… but I’m trying to preach a sermon this morning, and not just to give a running exegetical commentary.

o Those who stand on the last day are the remnant of true Israel from the OT, the descendants of Abraham who really believed God’s promise to save by His own power and by His gracious grace.

o Those who stand on the last day are the ones from every ethnicity and language who trust that Jesus is the Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

o Those who stand on the last day are the ones who repent (or turn from their sin) and believe (or trust) in the Lord Jesus Christ… and who endure right through to the end… even through the tribulation this world has to offer.

o Friends, the answer to this critical question is the same as the fundamental doctrine and practice Christians go on about every day of their lives…

§ We will sing of it again in just a bit…

§ Here I raise mine Ebenezer, Hither by Thy help I'm come.

§ And I hope by Thy good pleasure Safely to arrive at home.

§ Jesus sought me when a stranger, Wandering from the fold of God.

§ He to rescue me from danger, Interposed His precious blood.

· What must we do?

o We must come to the Father… through the precious blood of Christ… and we must do this by the help of God’s Spirit.

§ We must become like those described here in Rev. 7!

§ The only reason that anyone is able to stand on the last day… to stand before the throne of God without fear of judgment… is because Christ Himself is “standing” before the throne (Rev. 5:6)… and He has promised to bring those who trust Him into the throne-room on the basis of His own authority… His own merit… His own name.

o Friend, are you coming to God the Father… through the precious blood of Christ… by the help of God the Spirit?

§ Happy to talk more with you about this after the service if you’d like. Just come find me and ask me about it.

· What can we expect?

o The final words of Revelation 7 are a description very much like what we will read at the end of this whole book.

o The first cycle of seven concludes back in the throne-room with a description of what life will be like in glory for those who stand on the last day.

o Because they have “washed their robes” in the “blood of the Lamb,”

§ they are “before the throne of God, and serve [or worship] him day and night in his temple” (v15).

· In other words, they are in the immediate presence of God, and they live and walk with Him always.

§ “and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence” (v15).

· “They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore” (v16)… They will suffer none of the lack of this world.

· “the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat” (v16)… They will suffer none of the pains or the curse of this world.

· “For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes” (v17)… In other words, a full restoration of what was lost in the original Garden… only better… because the better Adam will lead and guide us, and He shall never fail to keep that which is under His charge.

Brothers and sisters, those who repent and believe in Christ (and persevere in repentance and faith) will stand before the throne of God on the last day… and our blessing shall be more glorious than words can describe. What we can say is that we shall be with Christ, and He will be with us!

5. The Awe-struck Expectation (8:1)

The final seal is opened in chapter 8, verse 1, and yet again it’s the Lamb doing the opening. The result is “silence in heaven for about half an hour” (Rev. 8:1), and the sense we get as we read to this point is both awe and expectation.

All heaven, as it were, stands in awe of the great salvation and the righteous judgment that God has completed in the person and work of Jesus Christ. The Lamb has opened the seals, and God’s plan of redemption as well as His final judgment have been gloriously depicted through the rich symbolism of all that we have read over the last two chapters.

But there’s also an expectation. The revelation of all that we’ve seen here has not yet come in full in the world. Therefore, there is an implication here for all of us today – If all of this came to an end today, where would you and I stand?

On that last day, there will be no more evangelizing… there will be no more turning from sin and coming to Christ… there will be no more arguments… and there will be no more pretending.

Friends, in Christ Jesus, God is now and will in the end deliver perfect justice; and only those who repent and believe in Christ (and persevere in repentance and faith) will stand before the throne of God on the last day.

May God grant us repentance and faith today… and may God help us to keep on repenting and believing… so that we will be those standing on the last day… entering into God’s blessings and not facing His wrath.