The Seven Seals Sermon
Notes
Transcript
1 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
2 And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.
Who is the Lamb that opens the seals?
From the previous chapter we clearly see that it is Jesus Christ who was worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof, for He was slain, and has redeemed us to God by thy blood out every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; and hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on earth. .
It was the Lamb, who was first represented as One who was worthy in heaven and earth to open the book, for He is the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David. .
John the Baptist acknowledged Him as the Lamb when he announced Him on the river banks as “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”
29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
The apostle John first sees a white horse, and the One that sat on the white horse had a bow; and a crown was given to Him, and He went forth conquering, and to conquer.
What does the white horse represent?
The symbol of white represents pureness, holiness, no blemish or defilement, righteousness.
References to white representing a pure and holy state, especially in reference to Christ.
2 And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.
1 And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.
2 And after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart by themselves: and he was transfigured before them.
3 And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them.
4 And there appeared unto them Elias with Moses: and they were talking with Jesus.
29 And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering.
14 His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;
15 And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.
Rev
10 My beloved is white and ruddy, The chiefest among ten thousand.
The word here for white is not the same as generally used in the Hebrew and Greek when talking about the actual colour, but here it denotes, “Radiant beautiful; Beauty that is perceived similarly to the pleasing sense of radiant light.”
White = Pureness, holiness, without blemish or defilement, radiant beauty.
What does a horse represent? Especially as we see that in the first four seals we see a person riding on a horse.
A horse is almost always associated with war and conquest in the Bible.
Therefore we see a that in the first four seals there is a conquest going on.
In the first seal, we see that a white horse is used to symbolize a campaign or conquest of the gospel. The person riding the white horse represents Christ and the early apostolic church for their faith and mission was a pure and holy one. It began with Christ, the Cornerstone, on earth and continued with the disciples who were the foundation of the church to propel the gospel into all the world.
War-horses are used in Zechariah to illustrate “the flock” being the “house of Judah”.
3 “My anger is hot against the shepherds, and I will punish the leaders; for the Lord of hosts cares for his flock, the house of Judah, and will make them like his majestic steed in battle.
God first says that He has “visited His flock the house of Judah”, and will make them as His majestic steed.
What was first as humble sheep when the disciples followed Christ as their Shepherd, He during His ministry and after His ascension made as “majestic steed” in battle.
A steed is a stud horse which can also be used for a stallion; especially does it mean “a spirited horse (as for war).
The horse is the mount of a warrior. When Jesus walked this earth in the lowly garb of humanity, He rode into Jerusalem on an ass indicating the lowliness and humility of His work on earth, for He came to the earth the first time as the “Prince of Peace.”
The Hebrew word there for “majestic” means “The quality of a person or thing which inspires awe or reverence in the beholder; can be related to size, strength, power, or authority.
Christ made this humble group of men, who were oppressed by the false shepherds of their day as a “majestic horse” ready for war and to use as His means of spreading the gospel.
He gave them strength and power through the gift of the Holy Spirit and conferred upon them authority against the powers of darkness and to spread the gospel in His name.
18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
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15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.
16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
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6 Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.
7 And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans?
8 And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?
4 Out of him came forth the corner, out of him the nail, Out of him the battle bow, out of him every oppressor together.
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Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi: An Introduction and Commentary c1. Jubilation and Restoration (10:3b–11:3)
The metaphors pile up, emphasizing initiative and yet stability in leadership: war horse, cornerstone, tent peg, battle bow, all of them figures of speech from earlier writers. The introductory words in each line out of them represent the repetition in the original, though the Hebrew has ‘out of him’, referring probably to Judah, but just possibly to the Lord. Cornerstone (Job 38:6; Isa. 38:16) symbolizes the steadfast strength on which a whole edifice can depend. It is used figuratively for ‘ruler’ in Judges 20:2 (Heb.); 1 Samuel 14:38 (Heb.); Isaiah 19:13, while in Psalm 118:22, which speaks of the rejected stone becoming the chief cornerstone, the rejection of the ruler is implied. This is a theme to be developed by the prophet in the next section. Tent peg. Probably this is the meaning here, though the Hebrew yātēd also means ‘a peg on which to hang things’, like Isaiah’s ‘peg in a sure place’ (Isa. 22:23), applied to a coming leader in Judah. In both cases the figure aptly depicts endurance under the strains implicit in leadership. The battle bow, the figure representing conquest, had already been pronounced obsolete in the universal kingdom, but it serves to symbolize fearless initiative in the Lord’s cause (2 Kgs 13:17; Rev. 6:2). The last line plainly states out of them every ruler; Judah will be the tribe to supply future leadership. The Targum interprets this verse as referring to the Messiah. ‘Ruler’ (Heb. nôgēś) had the meaning ‘oppressor’ in 9:8, but it is used in a good sense here; it implies a man of action, determined to achieve his goal.
The Church was to be as bow in the hand of Christ, the Captain of the Lord’s hosts in its conquest to spread the good tidings of salvation to the ends of the world.
They were to have fearless initiative in the Lord’s cause.
17 And he said, Open the window eastward. And he opened it. Then Elisha said, Shoot. And he shot. And he said, The arrow of the Lord’s deliverance, and the arrow of deliverance from Syria: for thou shalt smite the Syrians in Aphek, till thou have consumed them.
17 And he said, Open the window eastward. And he opened it. Then Elisha said, Shoot. And he shot. And he said, The arrow of the Lord’s deliverance, and the arrow of deliverance from Syria: for thou shalt smite the Syrians in Aphek, till thou have consumed them.
18 And he said, Take the arrows. And he took them. And he said unto the king of Israel, Smite upon the ground. And he smote thrice, and stayed.
19 And the man of God was wroth with him, and said, Thou shouldest have smitten five or six times; then hadst thou smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it: whereas now thou shalt smite Syria but thrice.
The horse is the mount of a warrior. When Jesus walked this earth in the lowly garb of humanity, He rode into Jerusalem on an ass indicating the lowliness and humility of His work on earth, for He came to the earth the first time as the “Prince of Peace.”
However in Revelation Christ is addressed as King of kings and Lord of lords, and now no longer rides on an ass, but as a King and mighty Warrior, He rides on a white horse, with a bow in His hand, conquering and to conquer.
11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.
12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.
13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.
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The crown given to Christ represents the victory the apostolic church had in the first century and the delight that Christ took in the early church, for they were as a “crown of glory in the hand of the LORD.”
1 For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace, And for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, Until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, And the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth.
2 And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, And all kings thy glory: And thou shalt be called by a new name, Which the mouth of the Lord shall name.
3 Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, And a royal diadem in the hand of thy God.
4 Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; Neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: But thou shalt be called Hephzi-bah, And thy land Beulah: For the Lord delighteth in thee, And thy land shall be married.
5 For as a young man marrieth a virgin, So shall thy sons marry thee: And as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, So shall thy God rejoice over thee.
6 I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, Which shall never hold their peace day nor night: Ye that make mention of the Lord, Keep not silence,
10 Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; Cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; Lift up a standard for the people.
11 Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; Behold, his reward is with him, And his work before him.
12 And they shall call them, The holy people, The redeemed of the Lord: And thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken.
Isa 62
6 In all your dwellingplaces the cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate; that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, and your idols may be broken and cease, and your images may be cut down, and your works may be abolished.
7 And the slain shall fall in the midst of you, and ye shall know that I am the Lord.
8 Yet will I leave a remnant, that ye may have some that shall escape the sword among the nations, when ye shall be scattered through the countries.
9 And they that escape of you shall remember me among the nations whither they shall be carried captives, because I am broken with their whorish heart, which hath departed from me, and with their eyes, which go a whoring after their idols: and they shall lothe themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations.
10 And they shall know that I am the Lord, and that I have not said in vain that I would do this evil unto them.
11 Thus saith the Lord God; Smite with thine hand, and stamp with thy foot, and say, Alas for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel! for they shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.
12 He that is far off shall die of the pestilence; and he that is near shall fall by the sword; and he that remaineth and is besieged shall die by the famine: thus will I accomplish my fury upon them.
13 Then shall ye know that I am the Lord, when their slain men shall be among their idols round about their altars, upon every high hill, in all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the place where they did offer sweet savour to all their idols.
14 So will I stretch out my hand upon them, and make the land desolate, yea, more desolate than the wilderness toward Diblath, in all their habitations: and they shall know that I am the Lord.
1 Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord God unto Jerusalem; Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan; thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother an Hittite.
4 And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all.
5 None eye pitied thee, to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee; but thou wast cast out in the open field, to the lothing of thy person, in the day that thou wast born.
6 And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live.
7 I have caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field, and thou hast increased and waxen great, and thou art come to excellent ornaments: thy breasts are fashioned, and thine hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare.
8 Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou becamest mine.
9 Then washed I thee with water; yea, I throughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil.
10 I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badgers’ skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk.
11 I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck.
12 And I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head.
13 Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver; and thy raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and broidered work; thou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil: and thou wast exceeding beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a kingdom.
14 And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord God.
Eze 16
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3 And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see.
4 And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.
Now the horse is red, no doubt representing a fall in the church from it’s purity and holiness. Here is the introduction of heresies into the church.
It also denotes bloodshed and martyrdom suffered by the true and faithful.
The church now takes peace from the earth instead of imparting peace through the gospel of peace.
For peace to be taken from the earth, there must have been a withdrawal of the Good News.
13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?
17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
36 The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all:)
In this period of time of time there was seen great persecution of the Christian church by the Roman empire, which saw them as a secret society and prohibited their gatherings for worship. While this in itself was a blessing to the church, to suffer for the name of Christ, and the blood spilled watered the seed of the word of God in the hearts of bystanders to carry forward the light of the gospel, it also led the church to entertain ideas of securing peace from the state, even considering to lower its principles of faith to obtain. This apostasy crept in over the next couple of centuries until around 300 A.D.
5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.
“Tertullian could exclaim to the heathen: ‘All your ingenious cruelties can accomplish nothing; they are only a lure to this sect. Our number increases the more you destroy us. The blood of the Christians is their seed.’” History of the Christian Church, vol. 2: Ante-Nicene Christianity. 100 A.D.-325. Philip Schaff.
nothing; they are only a lure to this sect. Our number increases the more you destroy us. The blood
of the Christians is their seed."
This not surprising that this apostasy crept in the church so suddenly and prominently.
1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
2 And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.
3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.
1 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,
2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
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18 Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.
3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
From all these statements from three apostles, we see that this “mystery of iniquity” was already working in their time, during the first century, and therefore is no surprise that when these standard bearers fell, there was seen the tares to overtake the wheat in the church and corrupt it through doctrine and unity with the world.
Not only was there a corruption of the church in its teachings , but it became itself to “kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.”
This killing
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7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.
9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:
10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
11 And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.
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12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;
13 And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.
14 And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?