From the Ascension to the End, The Great In-Between

Introduction

I want you to think really hard. I mean, I want you to really put your mind into this question I’m going to ask because it’s pretty important to what we’re going to talk about today. Can you ever remember a time when something somewhere in the world was going wrong in some way? When you stop and think about it for just a few minutes, I don’t think any of us can legitimately recall a time when things weren’t messed up somewhere in at least some way. Now, that sounds pretty strange when you consider the last words Jesus said to his disciples as he ascended into heaven. Let me remind you of what Jesus said, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” When you hear those words of the risen Jesus, especially the part about him having “all authority in heaven and on earth”, it almost sounds like wishful thinking, especially from the perspective of human eyes, and yet that’s what he, Jesus, told his followers, and it’s what he tells us today. When you think about, and take a good look at, the world around you, things don’t really look that good do they? And the first question we ask ourselves, especially considering the fact that Jesus does have all authority, is why are things the way they are? (Pause) What would you say if I told there was a portion of Scripture that actually gave you the reason(s)? What would you say if I told you this passage actually gave you a brief snapshot of the whole period in which we now live, all the way up to the second coming? The passage we’re going to take a look at, Revelation 6:1-17, I believe, does just that. In these verses John describes the period from the ascension to the end, the great in-between. Let’s pray and then look at this amazing text.

Revelation 6:1–17 NASB95

1 Then I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of thunder, “Come.” 2 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. 3 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 would slay one another; and a great sword was given to him. 5 When He broke the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, “Come.” 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 something like 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 damage the oil and the wine.” 7 When the Lamb broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, “Come.” 8 I looked, and behold, an ashen horse; and he who sat on it had the name Death; and Hades was following with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth. 9 When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; 10 and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” 11 And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also. 12 I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; 13 and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. 14 The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. 15 Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; 16 and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; 17 for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

When Horsemen Ride, and Martyrs Die!

Illustration: One of the movies my kids love to watch around Halloween each year is the 1949 Disney classic, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. It’s actually the cartoon version of the classic Washington Irvin short story that bears the same name. I’m sure most of you have probably watched the film at some point, you remember right, it was narrated by Bing Crosby. One of the things that amazes me about this short 30 minute film is all of the twist and turns it has in the plotline. In the story Ichabod Crane, an old-time schoolteacher comes to upstate New York to the small town of Sleepy Hollow. Ichabod isn’t the most handsome man, but he’s still pretty good with the ladies and so he soon wins the eye of a wealthy farmer’s daughter, Katrina Van Tassel. The only problem is that the town jock, Brom Bones likes her too! On Halloween night Katrina’s father, Baltus Van Tassel, invites everyone in Sleepy Hollow to his home for a big party, and it’s here that Brom notices how superstitious Ichabod is, and tells a ghost story about a headless horseman who roams the woods outside Sleepy Hollow once every year on Halloween night. The story terrifies Ichabod who has to ride through the forest on his way home, and it’s here that he has a harrowing encounter with the headless horseman. Ichabod’s story reaches its climax when he crosses the covered bridge where the horseman’s power ends only to get a fiery jack-o-lantern in the face. The next scene shows Brom Bones at the alter with Katrina Van Tassel! Now, there’s a lot of twists and turns in the plotline of this short story, and you’re left wondering at the end if maybe, just maybe, that headless horseman wasn’t old Brom dressed up so he could scare off Ichabod in order to win the girl. When you stop and take a look at human history over the last two-thousand years I think we could legitimately say that there’s been times when it certainly seemed like the plotline of a suspenseful movie! There’s been quite a few twists and turns, and it really does make you wonder sometimes what’s going to happen next. That said, I’d like to start here by looking at the first 8 verses of chapter six, what many have often called the four horsemen of the apocalypse. Now, I think it’s highly likely that John gets his imagery here from the OT book of Zechariah, and many interpreters will say that these verses in Revelation 6 describe the first portion of the last seven years of human history. While I respect that interpretation, and I have good friends who hold it, I don’t think that’s what John is describing here. Instead, I’d be willing to argue that the first 11 verses of Revelation 6 present us with what happens in the period of time between the ascension and the second coming of Christ. In other words, what’s happening right now, and has been happening over the last 2000 years of church history. (Passage Breakdown) Here’s how I think the passage breaks down. Verses 1-8 give a symbolic description of the events of the church age, and then verses 9-11 present a symbolic picture of what happens to many, though not all believers, during this time. The whole section, vv.1-11, is divided into five short visions marked off by the phrase “and I saw (kai eidon)”.

Let’s start with the first vision in v.1. John says that he saw the Lamb (that’s Jesus) open one of the seven seals. This introduces us to the scene and what’s going to be taking place in the verses that follow. It also, by the way, shows us that Jesus is in sovereign control of all that’s going to unfold in these verses as well. The next vision begins in vv.2 when John actually sees what’s contained in the first seal. A white horse gallops forth whose rider has a bow and a crown. Now, out of all the seals, this one is the most controversial. Many interpreters, even some of the early church fathers like Irenaeus, understand this horse and rider to be symbolic of Christ going forth as a conqueror through the power of the gospel message. If John is making an intentional reference here to Psalm 45:4-5 then this interpretation may well be correct. Psalm 45:4-5 reads as follows, “4 In your majesty ride out victoriously for the cause of truth and meekness and righteousness; let your right hand teach you awesome deeds! 5 Your arrows are sharp in the heart of the king’s enemies; the peoples fall under you.”. So, there you can see why some hold that this first seal is representative of the power of the gospel. However, on par, I don’t think that’s correct and here’s why. The next vision marked off by “and I saw”, doesn’t begin until v.5, which is the third seal. That seems to mean, at least in my mind, that seals one and two are related to each other in some way. In seal two a red horse whose rider is granted the authority to take peace from the earth and bring war rides forth, and when he does he brings with him war which is represented in v.4 by the fact that the rider on the red horse is given a great sword. Now, all of that’s important, but the clincher for me is this. Do you remember how I told you that John, in Revelation, often sees something and then he hears something (or vice versa), but both are the same thing just from a different perspective? (Remember, in ch.5 John hears that the Lion of the Tribe of Judah has conquered, but then he sees a slaughtered Lamb.) That’s what I think is going on here in seals one and two, John sees a white horse (v.2), but then hears about a read one (v.3). The point is that sometimes leaders, especially military and political leaders are really appealing, but in the end, they turn out to be bad apples. Take for example, Adolf Hitler. After Germany had been ravaged by WW1, sanctions were placed on the country that had driven the German people pretty well into poverty. When Hitler came to power the people there looked at him as if he was the savior of the German people, but when it was all said and done, after World War 2 and the Holocaust, people certainly thought otherwise. In fact, if you look at the last 2000 years since the ascension of Christ you won’t find a period of human history where at least the threat of war wasn’t on the lips of someone somewhere. You see, things are not always what they seem to be, so you’ve got to be very careful where you place your allegiance and trust when it comes to leadership. I believe the Olivet Discourse that’s presented in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke all parallel the verses we’re looking at here in Revelation 6, and there Jesus gives his disciples a couple of warnings that are echoed here in Revelation. In Mt. 24:5 and 6 Jesus said, “5… many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. 6You will hear of wars and rumors of wars …” (NIV). Friends, the only leader who will ever bring true peace, the only leader you can really trust is Jesus Christ, and my question for you is have you placed your faith in him today?

After seeing the white and red horse, whose riders bring death and destruction to the earth, John next sees a black horse, v.5, whose rider is given a pair of scales. (Think of the balance held by the statue of Justice) He then hears a voice say, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not harm the oil and wine.” This describes the third seal, but what does it mean? The first thing of importance I think we should note is that, economically speaking, the price given for the commodities spoken of here is roughly twelve times higher than the normal rate for the time in which John lived. This means that the inflation would drive those seeking food into famine conditions very quickly but note that the oil and wine aren’t harmed. Why? What this would seem to indicate is that although conditions might be bad, they’re not as bad as they could possibly be. When you take what’s said here concerning the third seal and the conditions of war brought about by the rider on the second horse, you’ve got a situation that’s ripe for a famine. You see, when Revelation was written invading armies moved slowly across the land, and as they moved that ate up the majority of the food that was in their path, both men and livestock had to eat. The resulting conditions could be devastating to any community, and so it has been throughout the last 2000 years, war leading to famine and famine leading to war. That said, one of the blessings of living where we live here in the USA is that this is something most people, even the poorest, don’t experience very often, but overseas what’s described here with the rider on the black horse is a common experience, and it’s one that our brothers and sisters in Christ experience on a regular basis. (Do you pray for these people?) After that in vv.7 and 8 John sees another vision and a Pale/ashen horse comes riding out. The color of this horse should automatically tell us something. In the Greek the word that’s used here is χλωρός (chlōros) and it actually refers to a pale almost translucent greenish gray color, and what does that make you think of? Death(!), and that’s exactly what John says this rider brings. I prefer the way the old King James renders this verse. John says, “8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him …” (Rev. 6:8, KJV). Of all the visions John has seen up to this point, I believe this one is the scariest because the rider on this horse isn’t Clint Eastwood in Pale Rider who comes in riding high and tall in the saddle to save a town full of people. No, we’re told here that this rider is given authority to kill one quarter of all the inhabitants of the earth, and notice, he’s allowed to do it with the “sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beast of the earth (those are epidemics).” Did you catch the fact that this includes all of the other three seals we’ve talked about so far? That, in and of itself tells us that these seals are not necessarily chronological. In other words, they don’t have to follow one right after another. (It also makes you stop and think about the situation we’re in right now, with the pestilence of COVID-19, and also things like HIV and aids.) Now, all of that said, it brings up a huge and important question, where are you placing your faith? Is it in some ideology or the next fad that comes along, or are you placing your faith in the one who truly saves to the utter most, the one who is sovereign over all of these things, Jesus Christ?

The last portion of this first section, the fifth seal, is found in vv.9-11, and I guess you might say that it gives a description of what happens to many followers of Christ during all that’s gone on throughout the previous four seals. In other words, I would argue that seal five shows us how many, but not all, believers are affected by wars, famines, and pestilence as they spread the gospel of the Kingdom. Verses 9-11, the fifth seal, presents us with a picture of the martyrs, that’s those who give their life in service for the faith. The people talked about here are the Jim Elliot’s of this world. The text tells us that “they cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘How long O Lord, holy and true, will you refrain from judging and avenging our blood …?” Then, surprisingly, they’re told to wait, why(?), because there are more martyrs to be killed for the faith. Friends, do you realize that there’s been more Christian martyrs in the last 100 or so years than the previous 1900 years combined? Let me tell you, a day is coming when almighty God is going to say enough, and if you’re in Christ, then you’ve got nothing to worry about because every judgement that’s described in this book falls on only the unbeliever. I want you to ask yourself where you are in relationship to the Son of God, is he your Lord and Savior? If not, I want to invite you to make that so today!