We should notice Chapter 1 very quickly:

Whose Revelation is it?  It’s not John, even though it says “The Revelation of St. John the Divine”, at the top.  It says, the first five words:

Revelation 1:1  “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:”

The first five words of the book, chapter 1:1.  Remember God gave Him lots of things.  As Jesus Christ walked the earth, He said, “What I have spoken I have not spoken of my own, but I have only spoken what God gave Me.” So, God gave it to him. And why?  “…, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass.”

You say, “Well, that was back in 30 AD or something” – or 60 or 90 AD, or whenever it was written.  It was, some say, 96 AD.  My Bible says in the 90’s AD.  “Nothing bad came to pass.”  But brethren, remember a day as is as a thousand years with God.  So, God says, “I’ll see you tomorrow”.  You won’t be around.  1000 years.  God does not look at time like we look at time.  Keep that in mind.

John is identified as a servant – great title.  Then, it talks about what he did about “the word of God, the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that He saw.”  It is important to keep in mind that he tries to describe what he sees in the Day of the Lord, which is the end time, by language that he understands in his day.  So how do you describe a tank if you’ve never seen a tank?  How do you describe a jet plane if you’ve never seen a jet plane?  How do you describe a telephone or a television if you’ve never seen one?  How do you describe any number of modern weaponry, flame throwing devices, and all the rest?  How do you describe that?  Missiles being shot up into the air.  How do you describe that if you’ve never seen it?  John is forced to use the language of his time to describe events that are going to take place maybe in some of our time.  The end time.  So keep that in mind when we are going through it.

Revelation 1:3 “Blessed is he (or she) that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.”

God pronounces a blessing on you just for hearing what we have to say tonight.  He pronounces another blessing on you if you pay attention and are reading with your eyes.  He says, “…blessed is he who reads and they that hears the words of this prophecy.”

So I think it is pretty significant God promises you a blessing just for reading this book.  It’s about the end time.

Revelation 4:2  “And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.”

John was in the spirit on the Lord’s day, not on Sunday.  The Day of the Lord.  These events are about what is going to happen when God begins to intervene in world affairs.  They build up to that as we shall see.

Chapter 4 – they have already gone through – the pRevelationious presenters – verses 1-6, I understand,  but just let me give you an overview of this.

In this chapter there is a lot of symbolism which you have to understand throughout Revelation.  You have to be careful you don’t take everything literally.  Sometimes they are intended to be taken literally and other times they are not.  So, please keep that in mind.  Again the door was open in heaven and throne of God was exposed.  He talks about the colors.  There was jasper, which is like rock crystal, diamond like.  Sardine, which is like blood-orange, or blood-red.  There is emerald which is a predominant color, bright green.  And there were 24 seats around the throne with 24 elders.

Oh no!  Who are these elders?  Probably look like men.  Did God know what a man looked like?  He must have.  He made them.  And if He looked into the lake and had a reflection, what would He look like if He were to appear?  A man.  So, did God know what they look like?  Yes.  He knew what a man looked like.  Were these human beings?  No.  Jesus Christ said “no man has ascended to heaven.” How could they be human beings?  They were beings and they were likely advisors and counselors.  Who do you have sitting around you?  We meet as a management team upstairs once a week now and Mr. Luker sits at his desk and the rest of us sit around him.  There aren’t 24 of us.  There are only 6, ¼ of that number but we are not all gray haired.  But these were elders and you don’t usually call animals elderly or elders. You do call those who look like men “elders”.  Did God know what a man looked like?  Well, one of the faces of the cherubim that had four (faces) was a man.  “You mean there was a spirit, angelic being that had the face of a man?”  Yes.  And when angels appeared in Scripture, what did they appear as when they came from spirit and manifested themselves?  They appeared as men? So God knew what men look like.  But it didn’t mean they were “human being” men, okay?  So, keep that in mind.

It doesn’t mean that people go to heaven.  It doesn’t say they are human.

Seven lamps.  Seven spirits.  We see that.  You’ve already had that explained to you.

Revelation 4:6 “And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind.”

If we saw something like this it would be pretty scary; to have eyes all over the front and to have eyes all over the back. (You would hate to get pinkeye.  Oooo would you be sore, it would be going throughout all these eyes.  It’s a good thing they are not physical.)  But they probably didn’t know if they were going or coming.  Because if they are behind, well you are seeing behind you, you’re seeing in front of you.  That would be confusing to us as human beings.  They are not human beings.

So he talks about what they were like.

V.7  “And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle.”

So you had each one of these different beasts, these different creatures living creatures, each one of them had one face.  We will see later on that these are seraphim.  These are not cherubim.  Cherubim have four faces, four wings.  Seraphim have one face, six wings.  So these were seraphim.  Each one had a face.  But it is interesting that the cherubim have the same four faces.  They call it ox instead of calf but they have the same four faces except they have all four of them.  Not one face each.  So, going on, he says,

V.8  “And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.”

Now, if you check Isaiah 6, you will find that the seraphim, then, are called seraphim, or they are called “burners”.  Seraph, “flaming creatures”.  Anyway, they had six wings.  Each one had six wings about him and they were full of eyes within and, of course, they had them behind, too.  And they rest not day and night saying, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty which was and is and is to come.

Isaiah 6:2  “Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.”

Isaiah 6:3 “And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.”

Could you imagine their job?  It says “they don’t rest”.  They say this day and night.  Before the throne of God.  I am impressed because I take from that that those who are nearest God really love Him, adore Him, and worship Him.  And they think so highly of Him that they say, “Holy, holy, holy…”  Now if somebody stood before you, every minute of every day, told you how handsome you were or how beautiful you were, you would probably get a “big head”.  Now God doesn’t get a big head because God is love.  And all the attributes we could give to Him, the accolades that we could hurl upon Him would never be enough to indicate just how great He is.  So, I just thought I would share that part with you.

It is interesting, too, that the Catholics, when they use this verse, they use it to say, “See, there is a trinity.  One “holy” for the Father; one “holy” for the Son; and one “holy” for the Holy Spirit.”

But, just because they use it three times, it doesn’t mean they are talking about three different beings.  In fact they say this before the one being, not before three.

V.9  “And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever,”

God does live foRevelationer and ever.  You can look at Ps. 102:12

Psalm 102:12  “But thou, O LORD, shalt endure for ever; and thy remembrance unto all generations.”

Just a few Scriptures in the Psalms that you might want to relate to this verse.

V. 27  “But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end.”

Psalm 93:2  “Thy throne is established of old: thou art from everlasting.”

Malachi 3:6  “For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed”

Hebrews 13:8  Paul wrote, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.”

So we have the same foRevelationer.  As long as you are alive today, you are going to be the same foRevelationer, too.  So, just to give you some background.  It does talk about the greatness of God and He sits on His throne and lives foRevelationer and ever.

V.10  “The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying,”

They want to make sure that you know that God is permanent.  There is no such thing as… Years ago there used to be a “God is dead” movement.  He is no longer around.  And I understand the Democrats left God out of their original platform but they, somehow or another, decided to put Him back in when they heard a lot of ruckus.  They left His name, God, out of some of their introductory statements. Now they put them back in.  The world would like to say, “God is dead.”  The secularists would like to say, “God is dead.  There is no such thing as God.  Nobody could establish truth way back then and keep a truth foRevelationer.  Why truth is on this sliding, slipping scale.”  Wrong!  God IS foRevelationer and ever.  And those people will have a come-uppance when they have their day in court when they have to appear before Jesus Christ and explain to Him why they said He was dead and no longer alive.

So the four and twenty elders, when they see this; when they hear this adoration given by those creatures, notice what they do.  They “cast their crowns before the throne”.  Crown is a symbol of rulership.  A crown is a symbol of victory and majesty.  They cast their crowns before the throne of God.  He says,

V.11  “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure (or Your will) they are and were created.”

You created them. You made them.  You’ve made all these things.  So the twenty-four elders worship God.  The four beasts worship God.  And they are right by God; near God.  Because God is worthy of worship.

Unfortunately one of the angelic beings who was right near God, probably thought he could do it better.  He said, “I am beautiful and I am wise and I am perfect and I can probably do it better.”  His name was Lucifer.  He rebelled against God.  He said, “I will be like the Most High.”

Isaiah 14:14  “I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.”

And he was cast back down to this earth and he became Satan, Adversary.  And, to this day, he is still the god of this world.  But he will be replaced as pictured by the Day of Atonement.  So that is an awesome day coming. 

Just out of chapter 4 you want to understand that these angels, these various angels and I’ll share with you all about angels in a minute.  But these angels really think a lot about their boss.

Chapter 5 – we are going to see there are 100 million angels and millions more.  And God’s throne room area must be heavily trafficked because, constantly going back and forth you have the 24 elders; you have the four beasts, standing with their eyes looking all over the place.  I don’t know but I guess they have eyelashes blinking, eyelids, and they are blinking, and they are looking all over.  And you’ve got all this traffic going on.  And you have these sounds going on.  You’ll see they even have singing going on, in the next chapter.

Let me give you a quick overview about angels.  Who are angels?  What are angels?

What are angels?

Hebrews 1:13 “But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool?”

Talks about them being ministering spirits.

Ezekiel 28:14-15  “Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.  Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.”

Talks about them being created.  He talks about the cherub, the great covering cherub. They were before creation.

Job 38:4-7 - “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof; when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?”

It says they, the “sons of God”; it calls them “sons” by creation.  They “sang” at the creation.

And where is their home?  Heaven.

Luke 2:15  “And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.”

Job 1: 6-7  “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.” That is their home.  Heaven.

Characteristics of some of the angels?

They appear as men.

Genesis 18:2  “And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground,”

They cannot die.

Luke 20:36  “Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection.”

Their voices are like thunder.

John 12:29  “The people therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it thundered: others said, An angel spake to him.”

They are holy.  Holy angels, set apart by God.

Matthew. 25:31  “When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:”

They have power over the wind.

Revelation. 7:1  “And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.”

They serve God.

Psalm 103:20  “Bless the LORD, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word.”

Their job is to serve God and to minister to His people. They do not marry.

Matthew 22:30  “For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.”

And they oversee the nations, sometimes intervening on our behalf.

Daniel 10:12-13; “Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words.”

Daniel 10:13  “But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me; and I remained there with the kings of Persia.”

Daniel 12:1  “And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.”

So there are some of their characteristics.

How many?  100 million

Revelation 5:11 “And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands.” And millions more.

I’ll see if I want to share anything more.  I’ll just give you some of the names. There are archangels.  We believe there were three great archangels and this is based on the fact that we know that the one who became Satan took away one third. We find only three angels named in Scripture.  Gabriel and Michael are both called archangels.  There is only one other, Lucifer.  So archangels are ones that are the angels above the others, a higher ranking angel and could have been a cherubim; could have been a cherub.  It could have been whatever that archangel was but you see that the other two are named in Scripture.  So there are three names:  Gabriel, Michael and Lucifer.  Only three angels that we know of that are named.  If you find another one, please let me know.  Only three.

Twenty four elders are probably a class of angel.  Seraphim are a class of angel.  Six wings, one face.  Cherubim are a class of angels, four wings, four faces. 

Ezekiel 1:6  “And every one had four faces, and every one had four wings.”

Ezekiel 1:10  “As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side: and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle.”

You have the seven spirits, or seven spirits that go wandering throughout the earth.  I guess in the spirit realm you would see this giant eyeball rolling… I don’t know…. What does an eye do?  Takes in information. Observes.  So there are seven of them. 

Regular angels.  Just an ordinary angel. Like one of the troops.

And there are fallen angels. Jude 6 talks about fallen angels which became demons.

Jude 1:6 “And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.”

There is another category called the watchers.

Daniel 4:13  “I saw in the visions of my head upon my bed, and, behold, a watcher and an holy one came down from heaven;”

So there are quite a number of angels; different categories of angels in the Bible.  They all are there to serve God and help Him fulfill His will except the ones who rebelled against Him.

They are called “stars” in Revelation.  Remember a star is considered an angel and you had those stars that fell away, that were drawn away by the Great Satan himself.  So, apparently, he infected 1/3 of all the angels by his attitude and his approach.

Let’s go to Revelation, chapter 5.  I could give you Greek and Hebrew for these but I don’t think it’s necessary for the names.

In chapter 5 we are going to see the throne of God.  And in chapter 5 we are going to see that we have this scroll.  I made one up.  It’s not as big as it could be, but I’ve made one.  This scroll is written on both sides.  But nobody is found worthy to open this.  John gets quite into this.  He actually cries.  “Who’s going to open this new scroll?”

I’ll leave that for David to open because he is going to be talking about the seven seals.  The six seals of Revelation and then the seventh one. 

Revelation 5:1  “And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals.”

Now, if you look up on the internet “seven seals”, they will have seven seals across the top here.  Now let me explain something.  There is no way you can open this document if you open one seal.  If you open one seal, that is all you can see; if you open two seals, that is all you can see; if you open three seals, that is all you can see.  So they have them across the top.  They said that is the way an official, business type document, or deed, was sealed.  That is seven seals across there.  But, for you to be able to open the one seal and read it, what’s in there; you couldn’t do that.  You’d have to open all seven at the same time.  So, what I’ve done, I’ve taped this to the green.  There’ll be 1, 2, 3, 4, hopefully they will open that way.  I used matted tape so it would be easy to open. (He has his knife there so he can slit it.)

As you open it, you read what is there.  Then as you open the next one, you read what is there, and it ends up rolling out like a scroll and each one that is open continues to stay open.  You don’t open it and close it.  It stays open all the way through so he will be explaining that.  Anyway, he has this scroll and, apparently, it was about fifteen feet long.  At least the scroll it would take for the Book of Revelation.  I think they said it would be fifteen feet long. 

V. 2 “And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?” Who’s going to open this?

V. 3  “And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon.”

If you check the Greek word, it actually means “no one” in heaven, not “no man”.  No one.  We can’t find anybody.  No one in heaven nor on earth.  “Neither under the earth…”  Those that are under the earth, they can’t open it for sure.  Anyway, “neither to look thereon”.  So nobody can open up.  What’s in this Book?  John was really into this, right?  He really wanted to see what’s in this Book.

V.4  “And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon.”

I was crying.  What’s in this book?  That God, the One that is sitting on His throne is holding in His hand.

V.5 “And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not:” So one of the 24 elders gets into the picture.  He must have had his crown thrown already because he was supposed to throw it every time they say, “Holy, holy…”.  They are saying “Holy, holy” continually.  He must have thrown it and after his worship of God, he talks to John.  “behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath pRevelationailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.”

So He is the One who has pRevelationailed and who is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah?  Judah, as spoken of in Genesis 49:9 would be a “lion’s whelp”, a cub of a lion.

Genesis 49:9 “Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?”

So, Judah is associated with a lion.  The root of David meant before David.  David came out of Judah and David was like a root and Jesus Christ was like a shoot that came off of that root; a sprig that came out of it.  Jesus Christ was the One who came out of David.  So He is the root of David, has pRevelationailed, to open the Book and to loose the seven seals thereof.  So He came out of David’s roots. He came from David.  David is in His lineage.  He has pRevelationailed.

And notice, we identify Him in Verse 6.

V.6 “And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts,” the word ‘beasts’ there, living creatures “and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes”  Who is this Lamb?  Again symbolism, “which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.”

These seven eyes.  He has these seven spirits that are there.  Are they synonymous with Chapter 1:14 and 20?  The angels to the various churches?  Is that what they are?  Or, are they seven spirits like the seven eyes of God that are sent forth, that roam throughout the earth?  It is just a question that we have to ask and I have that in Verse 8, here.

Revelation 1:14 “His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;”

Revelation 1:20 “ The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.”

Who could this be?  Well, we’ll see as we go down, it will help us understand more.

V.7 “And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne.”

So who is worthy?  The Lamb.  Who is the Lamb?

John 1:29  “The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”

A lamb is not a typical manly title.  If somebody walked up to you and said, “You’re a lamb of a man”, you wouldn’t feel good.   You’d like them to say you’re a lion.  He’s a tiger.  He’s a beast.  You don’t want to be called a lamb.  Most men would not think that would be a very distinctive or flattering title.  But, for Jesus Christ, it was because He became the Lamb of God, the sacrifice for us, John 1:29.  And when John saw Him, they said, “Behold there is the Lamb of God.”  And who is the Lamb? Jesus Christ. 

So who pRevelationails to take it? Jesus Christ.  So He comes. The Lamb took that scroll from the hands of God. 

V.8 “And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps,…”   There you go.  You go to heaven and you’re going to get a harp.  It’s probably where they get that from.  They had harps.  Harps are nice to play.  We had one harpist.  I call a harpist a “harpoonist”. Just teasing .  Anyway, they have harps.  So these are the ones up in heaven, the angelic beings.  And he says “every one of them harps and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.”

I have no idea what this means for sure.  I do have a question but that would be anthropomorphizing God, to say “How does He hear all of our prayers at the same time?  How does He personalize that?  Of course, God has unlimited mind power so you can’t understand God by my human mind.  But, let’s say if I am a person listening to ten people, I’m not going to hear them all but I might say you might give your message to this person and I’ll read them afterwards.  And, by the way, if any of you on the webcast have any questions you want to send in, please file them into us at our address.  I don’t have it up here but anyway.  You can send it into us.  I think Aaron or somebody will get it up to me and I will do it.  Or he can break into the thing (the study) if he has a mic back there and tell us.  Anyway, if you have any comments or any questions, please send them in.  We’d be happy to try to deal with them afterwards. 

They have these golden vials full of the odors which are the prayers of the saints.  So, do angels collect the prayers of the saints and give them to God?  I don’t know.  Is that what this is saying?  Or is it just saying that lots of prayers came in.  Or, are these the answered prayers or unanswered prayers?  I don’t know. But, if you use it as symbolism, here are the prayers of the saints.  We find in chapter 8:3, if you hold your place, another reference to that.  We see here…

Revelation 8:3 “And another angel came and stood at the altar,” this is talking about the seven trumpets now, “..having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.”

So prayers to God were like gold.  What is it, Proverbs 15:8, the prayer of the upright is God’s delight?

Proverbs 15:8 “The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright is his delight.”

God loves it when we pray to Him?  He loves to hear from His children.  So you see this pictured. These four and twenty elders and these beasts have these harps and they also golden vials full of the prayers of the saints.  I don’t know why.  This is symbolism saying that those prayers are getting to God for sure.

Revelation 5:9  “And they sung a new song,” They like singing in heaven,  They sang a new song.  It wasn’t the one that the 144,000  sang.  This wasn’t sung by the 144,000.  This was being sung by the four and twenty elders and the beasts. “…saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof:” It was probably a made up song.  Right there.  I don’t know what type of music they put to it.  They made up this song; this new song that had not been sung before.  It wasn’t on the hit parade.  It was just new.  It was brought in but it was good that they were worthy to take the Book; to open the seals “… for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed” “us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;”

Old King James (version of the Bible) says “us”; other translations say, “them” They’re not singing about themselves being redeemed.  They are singing about those who were humans being redeemed.  We know these are angels and angelic beings.  Not saying, “you redeemed us”. No.  In fact I have a translation here, a New Revelationised Standard Version.  It puts it this way.

“You are worthy to take the scrolls and to open its seals for You were slaughtered and by Your blood You ransomed for God’s saints from every tribe and nation and…”

V.10 “And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.”

So they put the word “they” instead of “us”.  Because they are not singing about them. Now whoever did King James probably these four and twenty elders were human beings in heaven and therefore they put “us” in there but it should be “them”.  Moffatt translation, Revelationised Standard, this is New Revelationised Standard and other translations say “them” not “us”.

So he says, “You are worthy to take the Book, to open the seals, for You were slain and have redeemed them to God, (that is the human beings) by Your blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation.  Any you have made them to our God kings and priests and they shall reign on the earth, they will be the kings and the priests,” the ones that You have redeemed.  The ones that You have bought back with Your blood.  That’s what V. 10 is telling you.  Beautiful verse.

Matthew 5:5 says, “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.”

Zechariah 14:9 says, “And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.”

That is where the kingdom is going to be.  It’s not up in heaven, it is down here on the earth. 

V. 11 “And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne” I told you God’s throne room is busy. .“and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands;”  Around the throne He heard the voice of many angels.  How many? 10,000 X 10,000.  By the way, add that up.  A thousand thousand is a million.  10 X 10 is 100 million angels and thousands of thousands, millions more

God has quite a few angels on His side and it only takes one.  Remember it only takes one to slay the army of the Assyrians.

V. 12 “Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.”

Jesus Christ is worthy.  We’ll see later on in Chapter 11, where they praise God saying, “We’re so glad You’ve taken power and have reigned.”  I get from this that these angels really love God.  You know what that tells me?  That I should love Him too.  They really adore Him.  I should too.  They praise Him incessantly.  I should be willing to praise Him in my prayers.  Don’t make it, “I don’t want to be talking too much to God, telling Him how great He is.”  You might get a big head, God does not get a big head.  You can’t tell Him enough how great He is; how awesome He is. 

V. 13 “And every creature” it means any created being “which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.”

So everything that has breath.  You can read that in Psalms, I think, 150.

Psalm 150:6 “Let everything that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.”

V.14 “And the four beasts said,” The four beasts now, right, the seraphim, said, "Amen.” That’s true.  “And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever.”

And that is God.  So you see the throne room of God, a very busy place.  A lot of angels going back and forth doing God’s bidding, keeping an eye on things.  Could God do it all?  Yes, God is all knowing and omniscient.  Does He need these things?  No, but God shares the load.  God delegates.  Does God need to have seven watchers going throughout the world?  Or seven eyes spread throughout the world?  What is it?  What do they bring out?

Zechariah 4:10  “For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth.”

Revelation. 5:6  “And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.”

He doesn’t need to have those do it.  He could do it all Himself.  But He has them helping.  He has them serving.  He has them working.  And He works as a team.  I think that’s pretty awesome.  God could do it all, couldn’t He?  He doesn’t need us either, does He?  But He wants us and that is pretty awesome.

I get, from chapters 4 and 5, God’s pretty awesome and if the angels worship Him and adore Him, so should I.

Mr. Jones, here is the scroll.

Thank you, Mr. Antion.

So now we know that Christ is the only being who is worthy of opening the scroll that John has described to us.  In chapter 6 we are going to get into.  To me it has always been a fascinating chapter and I believe that it has captivated the imaginations of mankind since it was written.  I grew up in the church and I remember watching Mr. Armstrong and the World Tomorrow telecast.  He would talk about prophecy and they had these artists who draw these incredible pictures of – some that are from prophecies, like from Daniel – the beast with multi-heads and different wings and the body of, you know, it’s all different, mixed.  It was incredible to me and amazing that, as a kid, it was hard to understand. 

But when he talked about Revelation 6, where there are horses, that I could visualize – that I could see.  I think that is something that the people who have read this and most of them don’t understand it, but they can visualize these horses and people have written about it, you know you can look at it.  I think years ago there was a football team that had the lineman on their team that were so devastating to everyone that they played, they would just wreak havoc on them and on their offense.  They called them the “Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse”.  You think, “Wow, you’re using God’s prophecy for your football team.  That’s gutsy.”  Even throughout my youth and stuff, I remember the Clint Eastwood movie “Pale Rider”.  It shows this girl reading from this passage and behind her there is an open window and you see Clint Eastwood.  He rides into town and the horse stops and you hear this ominous sounding music.  And she says, “And here was the pale horse and hell followed after him….”  And you are like “woooooo”.

Well, people are fascinated by this.  But they don’t really understand it and just what it is going to mean for them and for us.  So, as we get into chapter 6, we know what is coming, these horsemen. As Mr. Antion provided the scroll for us, we know that Christ is going to open this now and He is the only one who has proven to be worthy to do so.

As was stated there are seven seals.  Some of you might have seen TV shows, or whatever, where they seal a document and they dribble wax on it and press it with a signet ring or something so it was official.  That is kind of how I have always envisioned it; that we have these seals.  Not as was stated historically they would seal it seven times on the outside.  In order to even get to the first seal, to Revelationeal it, you would have to break all seven seals.  So, therefore the seals must be within the scroll itself so that, as the scroll is unraveled, you Revelationeal the first seal.  In order to see the second one you have to break that one and roll it out continuously. 

I brought one of my pocket knives and we will go ahead and break the first seal.  To give an example, when this would roll out, and what would be here is the first seal.  But the rest of it is still bound.  It cannot be seen yet until Christ breaks those seals and opens them and loses that upon the world.

We will go ahead and start with verse 1.

Revelation 6:1 “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.”

Some of the commentators will actually say, and the Greek translation, this is more of a calling forth, not just “Come on, John.  Come and look at this.”  They are summoning this horse and this rider. 

V.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.”

Some of you might even have this marked in your Bible that this is the false Christ.  Typically we do agree that this either the false Christ, the Anti-Christ, or simply false religion that will spring out and be loosed upon the world.  It will be a power that will dominate.  I think that we will clear up the part of whether those who believe that this might actually be Christ because some of the imagery is similar to what we read later on.  Let’s go ahead and turn over to Revelation 19.  Because Christ is going to come and He is going to be on a white horse.  And He is going to come to make war.  But there are some differences here.

Revelation. 19:11  “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.”

Revelation 19:12  “His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns” – back here in chapter 6:1, this false Christ has only one crown.  Christ is the LORD of Lords.  He has many crowns, not simply one. “…and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.”

Revelation 19:13  “And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.”

It goes on to describe Him that He does have a sword, a sharp sword coming from His mouth.  But it never mentions a bow.  Historically, many times and within the Bible, the bow is an example of military might – the power of armies – except, Christ doesn’t need the power of armies to smite His foes.  His word is enough.  As Mr. Antion said, “How many angels would it take?”  He’s got millions of them.  Well, it only took one.  It only takes Christ.  He doesn’t need armies backing Him though He does have them as angels. 

So one of the things we do want to look at is kind of the Olivet Discourse or the Olivet Prophecy because it is going to follow this pretty closely to what Christ actually told His disciples.  If you want to go ahead and move the ribbon in your Bible to Matthew, chapter 24, we are going to be flipping back and forth quite a bit.  They are going to be asking Christ, “How do we know?  How do we know when You are going to be coming back?” 

Matthew 24:3-5 “And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.”

It is because someone is coming who is going to deceive them.  That first seal that is broken is the false Christ, the Anti-Christ. “For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.”

He is warning them that this is coming.  And now we see this is many years later that John actually sees this vision and writes it down. He sees that first seal and here we have the false Christ, the false religion being loosed upon the world.  It says, “and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.”

This is going to bring us to the second seal. 

Revelation 6:3 – “And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see.” Again, this in Greek, would be, “Come. Come forth.”

V.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, of course, you know, after that first horse, on white, “conquering and to conquer”, how do you do that?  We don’t think people just willingly be conquered.  Just that word and we think of violence.  To be conquered is not to just, “We just give up.”  There is some resistance but it is overwhelming what this first horse does.  So with him comes war.

It also interesting that this horse, the red horse, is often discussed as being “fiery red” or the color of blood.  Let’s turn back to Matthew 24, and look at what Christ has to say about it.

Matthew 24:6  “And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.”

Matthew 24:7  “For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.”

That first seal, again, was the false religion.  The second one is war.  So now we hear of the kingdom against kingdom; nation against nation.  So now there is all this chaos going on in the world.  We think of, well, what is our normal religion in the United States?  It is certainly not God’s word.  It is not His holy days that are practiced.  And how many wars are there going on?  Does anybody even have a number for how many wars are going on?  We know of Afghanistan.  We know of Iraq.  Those are wars that are happening that our country is fighting in.  But how many wars is our country involved in that isn’t in the news.  You know we’ve got secret armies and we have elite soldiers who can be anywhere in the world, involved in all sorts of things that aren’t talked about on the nightly news.  Some of these things we would wonder if they are not already happening. 

Let’s turn to Isaiah. This is a prophecy against Egypt in the end time.  And the way I read this is not that Christ is going to come back and do this, but this is what’s going to happen to them in the end time.

Isaiah 19:2-3 “And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.  And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards.”

So, even in the midst of this, are they going to turn to God?  No.  They won’t.  They will again turn to their pagan practices even while going through all of this. 

So, of course we have gone through war.  We’ve looked back at Revelation.  And, you know, as I was growing up, I remember, at the time, it was the wars in Africa.  All the small nations and Ethiopia and which war lord was conquering which war lord.  They would set up a dictatorship ad he would prove to be corrupt.  Then another general would rise up and he would become a dictator.  They had these constant wars.  Then, inevitably there came famine.  After this one general would suddenly become the Revelationolutionary leader shortly thereafter we would have commercials on television asking for relief because people were starving where these victories had taken place.  War inevitably disrupts how man lives, disrupts how we plant our food; how we sow and gather; how we reap it.  So, inevitably, we come back to the third seal which is famine.

Revelation 6:5 – “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.

V.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.”

Again we can look back at Matthew 24 quickly.  We will break into the middle because we have already talked about the “kingdom against kingdom…”.

Matthew 24:7 “…and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.”

So now things are really falling apart and yet He kind of gives us an idea of what this is going to look like because He gives us something very specific.  “A quart of wheat for a denarius”,; Wheat sometimes is referred to as corn or that it is one and the same.  A denarius, for that time period, would have been the equivalent of one healthy man’s wages, what he would earn for working for an entire day.  We might think of, I don’t know, a carpenter.  He might make $150-$200 a day, depending on what he is doing.  If he is paying for his materials and everything else.  We’ll just say $150 a day, working all day long.  Now normally, yes, he is going to provide his food and sustenance but some of that also is going to go to all that he has.  His home, his family, his clothing, gas, car, all of this.  It’s not all going to be taken with just what it takes for him to live on.  Except, at this point, he is going to work all day long for just the simple amount of food that it is going to take to live that one day.  With nothing more, nothing less.  Now, corn and wheat were a little more expensive than barley.  Let’s say he has a family and he needs to be able to provide for them.  They have to eat something as well.  Well barley was not nearly as expensive as corn or wheat, but it was also not as good for you.  So, you could buy more, but you could share. You could take some home.  Your wife could eat a little bit.  Your children could have something but it is not as nutritious.  Also in doing that there is nothing left over for anything else.  There is no milk.  There is no butter.  There is no vegetables or fruits to be brought home. It’s just barely sustaining them.  This is what he can make all day in laboring.

Another thing in Leviticus, God trends the covenant breakers and says that they “will eat their bread by weight”.  You know we have this black horse, and the one who rides on him has the scales and this is the measure, the weight.  So we think of how much gold does it take simply to buy bread.  Today we like our bread really light and fluffy.  But it is not really that nutritious for us, it doesn’t really sustain us that well.  This is the gold that would equal how much weight in bread.

Ezekiel 4:16 “Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care; and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment:”(KJV)

It states, “And he said to me, Son of man, I am about to cut off the food supply in Jerusalem:  the people will eat rationed food in anxiety and drink rationed water in despair.”(NIV)

Ezekiel 4:17 “That they may want bread and water, and be astonied one with another, and consume away for their iniquity.” (KJV)  “For food and water will be scarce.  They will be appalled at the sight of each other and will waste away because of their sin.” (NIV)

That is from the New International Version (NIV).  I wanted to pick that one because I think it describes it a little more vividly.  Can you imagine that this is people that are working and this is the food that they have – it is barely enough to sustain them.  But they are wasting away in front of one another’s eyes.  So much so that, when they look at their neighbor, they are shocked.  They are shocked at how emaciated they look.

I might mention too that typically a person with one penny could buy between 8 and 16 measures of wheat but the scarcity of food he is only able to buy one measure of wheat for a penny.  But, normally, they could buy between 8 and 16.  One of the commentaries brought that up. 

There is, again, you know we finished that verse 6.  But it says, “…do no harm to the oil and the wine…”.  That’s also going to show that, with these famines, with these wars that have gone one, there is still going to be some luxuries which, I think it was actually mentioned this weekend, they talked about, even in hard times, have you ever noticed that the people in the palace seem to be still eating pretty well?  The people outside are starving but the rulers – the governors, the politicians that are corrupt – they are still fat. They are still healthy. They’ve got the wine. They make things with oils. They’ve got the pastries, the cakes – all of that.  They are still growing fat off the other people’s sufferings.  And I think it is interesting that it has to state that again at the end.  That, while all these things are happening, man is still not really going to turn back to God.  They are still going to be living as they choose, doing what they choose and how they choose.  And those who are in power, well, they are still going to have what they want, like when we talked about some of those African nations where you saw those dictators.  Once they got into power, I think, Mr. Rhodes was talking about his time in Africa.  He said, while they were a general and a soldier, they were just stick thin, just as lean as they could get.  Then, within about a year of them becoming ruler or dictator, they continuously just got bigger and bigger.  Those were also then the commercials that I saw growing up.  These Ethiopian children that, if they were larger, they were bloated because of starving and malnutrition. Other than that, they were starving.  We’ve all seen some of those images of the baby who is dying and the mother is holding it and they are wasting away.  This is what is brought on by war, what’s brought on by those white horses that are out conquering and to conquer.  

Now we get to the fourth horse.

Revelation 6:7 – “And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.”

V.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.”

At this point, you know, we’ve already gone through the first seal, the false religion.  We are unrolling things.  We’ve got one and two.  We’ve got a third seal that’s Revelationealed and that rolls open.  And now there is a fourth seal.  As those seals are opened, the other ones don’t close.  Those things are still loosed upon the earth.  They are still running around wreaking havoc.  False religion is power is growing in power and in might.  Wars are getting bigger, consuming more resources, more lives.  We have famines that are getting bigger and spreading throughout the world as all these things are affected.

Now we come to the fourth horse.  That is death.  Now the death toll starts to rise and it starts to climb.  And it’s kind of like the horses that have been loosed upon the world already, now things are starting to compound and get really bad.  But some of these things that are mentioned are new.  We are talking about the earthquakes and the beasts of the field.

Let’s turn back to Leviticus 26. Yet I think it is important, when we read these things that is not just that these are the consequences of what man is doing, but that these are things that are sent by God. 

Leviticus 26:18-19 – “And if ye will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.And I will break the pride of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass:”

So, basically, it’s no rain is going to come and the earth is going to harden and dry.

 

Leviticus 26:20-22 “And your strength shall be spent in vain: for your land shall not yield her increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruits.And if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me; I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins. “I will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number; and your high ways shall be desolate.”

You know, in our life, I’m not worried about walking out into the parking lot and being eaten by a Grizzly Bear.  We don’t think about those things. It’s not something we have to worry about if you let your children out to play in the yard that something is going to come along and eat them, carry them off.  But, at this point, by the time that this forth horse is loosed upon the world, things have deteriorated so much that now wild animals are a problem.  That is hard for us to imagine.  I used to live in Montana and one of the things that people thought would be great, because we have messed with our ecosystem so much, they thought, well, we need to bring back wolves.  Because they were hunted out in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s because, well, they were wolves and they would prey, not only on the wild game but, as man was taking over and encroaching on territory, they would prey on livestock.  And they could decimate a rancher’s herds, be they sheep or cattle.  Men can’t really manage things as well as God can so we’re always out of balance.  The herds of wild deer and elk would either; they’d get too numerous because we weren’t culling them and then there’d come a drought and they’d all die of starvation or they’d have disease sweep through.  So they thought, we should bring back wolves and that will help the balance.  Well, they didn’t bring back the Rocky Mountain Timber Wolf because those are almost extinct.  They decided, well we’ll go up into the Arctic and we’ll look at these Arctic Gray Wolves and we’ll bring them down to Colorado and Yellowstone and Montana and Wyoming.  They don’t breed very much because only the Alpha Male and the Alpha Female, they are the only ones in the pack that will breed.  What they didn’t realize is that they were essentially transplanting a Great White Shark into a pond full of Guppies.  Arctic Gray Wolves are twice the size of the Rocky Mountain Timber Wolf and the only reason that they weren’t breeding prolifically in the Arctic was because there wasn’t as much food.  So, they could only support one litter at a time.  So, only the Alpha’s mated.  Well, here in the Lower 48, they all mate.  They all breed.  And now we have a huge wolf problem out West that, where we live, we had a neighbor; you see their house and they had an Arabian Mare in their front yard.  We had a baby, a brand new baby and we’d go outside with her and stuff while this pack of wolves came down and killed this mare right in her corral, about 50 feet from the front door of their house.  And there is nothing they could do about it.  And then, its things like this that are going on.  Things that we don’t hear about in the news.  They are also wanting to reintroduce more Grizzly Bears, bring them back because, well, they deserve to be there more than man does.  These things can happen and they happen very quickly but it’s hard for us to imagine.

There was a movie a long time ago.  It was kind of weird.  It was a Bruce Willis movie and it’s like the world changes, some epidemic comes along and he goes back in time.  In New York City there is lions roaming around because the zoos were all evacuated.  People died and then the animals got out.  Again, it is hard for us to imagine and Hollywood will once in a while try.  But these are things that are going to be coming upon the earth, things that God is going to send, that He is going to inspire to happen.  Not just because of our mismanagement of things but because of our sins.  This is what is coming.

In these first four seals you’ll notice that all four of the living creatures, the beasts, get a part in it.  So number one, it said, “I saw this one… and I heard…”  and “I saw one of the four beasts”.  And another one said, under Verse 3, it says, “I heard the second beast”.  And Verse 5, it says, “… and the third beast…”.  And then this one, he opened and the fourth beast, so all four beasts get a part to play in the opening of these first four seals. So each one of them says, “Come see what is here”.

And now we go to the next seal after this; you’ll see a difference. So the fifth seal.  Again, this isn’t a horse anymore.  Here we are getting to the martyrs. We will begin in verse 9.

Revelation 6:9 – “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:

V.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?

V.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.”

I have to go back up to verse 9 because it says, “I saw under the altar the souls of those who’d been slain.”  Now this is the place where they are crying out, the base of the altar.  We don’t have time to go into all the details but the base of the altar was the where the blood of the sacrifices was poured out.  This is the blood of the martyrs was poured out as a sacrifice to God.  We oftentimes look at Christ and we know that He was the ultimate the sacrifice and He shed His blood for us and for our sins.  But there are also others who die in the name of God.  Shortly after Christ was crucified we had Steven in the Book of Acts who was martyred for preaching Christ and preaching His word.  From that point on, many, many were killed.  Most of the Apostles died by being crucified.  They were martyrs.

I think Barclay says one of the things I actually liked.  Barclay’s, on Revelation, Volume 2, Page 11, ends by talking about these martyrs.  He says that “there is a great and uplifting truth here.  When a good man dies for the sake of goodness,” just like Christ did, “it may look like tragedy, like the waste of a fine life, and like the work of evil men.  And indeed, it may be all of these things but every life laid down for right and truth and God is ultimately more than any of these things, it is an offering made to God.”

We hear about, “If a man has not greater love than that he lay down his life for his brethren.”

But what about those who lay down their life for God?  Lots of people have sacrificed things; have sacrificed jobs, relationships, for the Truth, for the Word of God.  And I think that, sometimes it’s easy for men to think of, “Well, I’m sacrificing some things so that I can do something else.  You know I’m giving up”, in the world maybe, “cigarettes so I can get cheaper insurance rates.  I’m making a sacrifice.”  Except that’s not a sacrifice because a sacrifice has to hurt and it has to have blood.  This is what it is to be a martyr.  It is to die for the Word of God and to die for what is good and pure.  Typically, it is not a pleasant death.

We can look again; go back to Matthew 24, where Christ is explaining this to His apostles. 

Matthew 24:21-22 – “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.”

Again, we have heard the martyrs who have cried out.  “When?”  “How long?”  “Well, not yet.”  There is still more work to be done.  In the end time we know that there will be a great number who will turn to God; who will do what is right.  And, out of that group that will endure the tribulation, that will not have been taken to the place of safety, there will be a number who will win the white robes; who will win their salvation and their place in God’s Kingdom.  But, it will not be an easy way.  It will be through death because they refuse to turn against God as everyone is trying to make them.

Then we get to the sixth seal.

May I make a comment on that fifth seal and then, maybe, we ought to answer these two questions.  But, anyway, I’ll let you finish number six as well.

On the fifth seal, you will notice he’s talking about the time period we also would liken to the great tribulation.  We also know that these people here are not alive in heaven doing this; that he’s seeing this in vision.  People say, “How long are you going to wait before You avenge our blood?”  “How long are You going to wait before You take action against those who hurt us?”  And then what follows after that are the heavenly signs as God says, “Okay, you’re going to see what do.  I am going to intervene.”  That’s what follows after this.  So we see that period of time as Mr. Jones aptly wrote, a time of persecution; a time when things are going to be so bad on this earth that, unless God intervenes, nobody will be saved alive.  But what happens to the church at this time, the church is going to be persecuted. People are going to be persecuted.  Probably the Laodiceans will be left behind wherever God’s church is: Philadelphia, supposed to be protected from these difficulties if you are a Philadelphian you’ll likely be protected.  But, if you notice

John 16:1-3 – “These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended. They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me.”

We are increasingly getting into a secular world.  A world that does not recognize God and does not recognize Godly people and the persecution can start from there.  Plus, when that great church begins to hold sway and begins to try to pressure people to become a part of it, then you either a witness or a martyr, or both because witness and martyr mean the same thing.

As we go from there, to the sixth seal, and I’ll try to speed things up so we can get through with the chapter, it says,

Revelation 6:12 “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;”

V.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.”

V.14 “And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.”

Again, I think that is one of those things that it is so hard for us to imagine.  Some of you may have seen fires.  I remember years ago when Yellowstone burned.  We can look at pictures of California and Oregon and Colorado, this last year of the raging wildfires.  And this is something that we can look in that area and, where we are, we have blue skies and everything is beautiful.  But there, if you are close to a wildfire, it is incredible.  It is hellish and otherworldly.  It is hard to describe because the smoke is so black that the sky turns black.  But you still lit with the flames, the red, the orange, the smoke, the ash.  It changes even how you breathe.  But it is not going to be localized in just one area.  It’s not going to be on the news in California or Colorado.  It’s going to be the entire world.  It’s going to encompass everything and that is, again, hard for us to imagine. 

V.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;”

V.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:”

V.17  “For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?”

Here they are, the great men, those leaders, those dictators, who’ve taken over the world.  Those who were going out to conquer and conquering; those who’ve waged war; all of them are going to try to hide because the end time is coming.  The day of the Lord is at hand.  Not only them, but those who are free and those who are slaves, who have not turned to God; who have not changed their way.

And it strikes me as interesting here that they are asking for the stones to fall on them and cover them.  It seems like they prefer death because the Day of the Lord implies judgment.  And I think even in our own lives, how many times have we had something that we are ashamed of; something we’ve sinned; something we’ve done, and we just don’t want anybody to know about it?  I would rather die than have something be found out.  Well, these are those who haven’t repented and yet they are asking for death rather than judgment, for it to be known and to stand before God and answer for it.  And while this ends in a very climactic and powerful and scary way, as we read it, Mr. Antion talked about when he started the Bible Study tonight that God is love.  It’s hard for us to put that together when we read about these seals being broken and these horses and all this chaos being let loose upon the earth.  But it is punishment and, just like some of us who are parents, when your children are doing something wrong, if you didn’t love them; if you didn’t care; you’d just let them do it.  “So what?”  But it is because we love them that we do discipline because we don’t want them to make mistakes; we don’t want them to be hurt.  We want them to live a good life.  It does say “God chastens those whom He loves.”  So even while we read all of this, and it is horrible, it is done out of love.  God will go after these men and punish them but it is because He loves them.

I will finish with that and just say thank you.

Matthew 24:29-30 – “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”

Immediately after the tribulation you have the heavenly signs.  And the heavenly signs seem to be what we read in the sixth seal.  Please remember too, when did these seals get opened?  It seems like the intensity of it hasn’t come yet but has there been false religion?  Yes.  Have there been wars?  Yes.  Have there been famines?  Yes.  But not worldwide.  So, when these things start to happen, they’re not going to just affect one little area.  It’s going to affect the whole world.  Remember, too, up through the Tribulation, is the mankind doing his thing and God allowing it.  Mankind’s and Satan the Devil’s influence.  God allowing it but, come the sixth seal, is when God begins to intervene because He is the One now that’s going to say, “Wake up because there is some trouble coming your way.”  And He has these great heavenly signs:  stars falling, astro bodies falling through the heavens, getting man’s attention before He intervenes in world affairs.  And you have that occurring, you have Matthew 24:29-30 saying, “immediately after the tribulation” you will have those heavenly signs.  Then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man.  When God begins to take a hand in saying, “Okay, now it’s My turn.  I’ve given you guys a chance.  You’ve made a mess of things. You continue to make a mess of things.  Now, I’m going to intervene and stop it.”

So, those are the six seals that we had open.  We still have the seventh one to come.  Remember, the whole book is about seven seals.  The seven seals have the seven trumpet plagues and the seventh trumpet plague has the seven last plagues.  So you have a series of sevens and, in fact, there are quite a number of sevens in this book.  I don’t know if it was brought out to you but there are 54 times the number 7 is used in the Book of Revelation and 20 different words are attached to 7.  7 lamps.  7 spirits.  7 stars.  And so on.  So there are 54 times the word seven is used in the Book of Revelation.  I think God is saying something to us.

Alright two questions came in.  You might want to take a quick look.  I think you’ve already answered that one but you might want to answer that one anyway. 

Question:

Revelation 5:10:  What will be the difference between kings and priests and their functions?

Easy.  A king is more of a ruler, more of a civil ruler.  A priest is one who serves God and teaches people to serve God.  So, yes all kings should be serving God but the kingly side of it is more the rulership side.  The priestly side would be more the teacher’s side. And it is interesting that Jesus Christ is not just coming back as King of Kings.  He is also coming back as Lord of Lords. We read what we are called to be.  And certainly even could be called a foretaste of it, could be called that now.  But this is what He is planning for us to be.

1 Peter 2:9, “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:”

You are not just a priesthood. You are royal too. That is the kingly side of it, “… a royal priesthood.” People called – treasured. We know that God has given us rulership – Revelation 20:4 – a, but He has also called us to be priests, to teach people the way of God.  To lead people to God.

Revelation 20:4  “And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.”

This was just a question about the Revelation 6:6.  I have heard it stated that this means food prices, at that time, saying, “A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny” that food prices at that time would be 12 times higher.

Revelation 6:6  “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.”

I don’t know that I’d say that is necessarily twelve times.  I’m not sure where that number gets picked up from.  But, if you figure how much food someone normally eats on average; what the cost is per day, and you figure out what they are earning on averages that day, you could kind of come up with something.  But I don’t know that there is anything specific spoken of anywhere.  It would just be, for me, speculation.

It would probably be from a particular commentary that would have said that.  As I said, it could be normally one penny would buy 8-16.  So, if he is figuring now 1 penny is only buying one; so it’s going to be significant.  You’re going to be paying a lot more for one than you would later on.  So, prices are definitely going to go up.  Prices have already gone up? Ever go to the store and buy the things, put them in your basket?  You go to check out and they say, “It’s a $100!”  (Shocked!)  “What did I get here?” You get your various vegetables, and you get your apples, and you get your fruit and various things and you come up with a hefty amount.

Anyway, we have come to the end.  Thanks to Mr. Jones for bringing out his portion of it and thank you for paying attention.

We have one more Bible study before the Feast of Tabernacles, September 19th.  Mr. Meyers and, I think it’s Mr. McNeely, or Mr. Eddington will be back to do the one on September 19th, just before everybody will be getting ready to depart for the Feast.  Anyway, I just thought I’d let you know that will be in two weeks, right back here.  See you back here, same time, same station and thanks for coming.  Good night.