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And so in our last session, we did talk about a portion of the Bible that Antichrist has

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wanted to do away with, wanting to do away with God's law, because if you remember, God's

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law points us to the character of Jesus, and it tells us about who Jesus is, and if we

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look at the law, we see our sinfulness, and if we see our sinfulness, then we're reminded

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of our need of a Savior, and so it drives us to the foot of the cross.

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And so a question was asked about, what about the statement that says, we're not under law,

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we're under grace?

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So that is actually in Romans chapter 6.

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Romans chapter 6 is where Paul writes about that, in Romans chapter 6, and that chapter

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ends in verse 23, where it says, the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal

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life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

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So that's a very famous verse.

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But the verse under question is verse 15, verse 14, it says, for sin shall not have

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dominion over you, for you are not under law, but under grace.

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So Romans 6, 14, you are not under law, but under grace.

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And so some would say, well, that means that we don't need to keep the law.

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The law's done away with, it's not relevant anymore because we're under grace now, we're

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not under the law.

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But notice the very next verse, what does Paul say?

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He says, what then?

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Shall we sin because we're not under the law, but under grace?

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And then the very next phrase, he says, certainly not.

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Or in the King James Version, it actually says, God forbid.

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So no, that's not what it's saying at all.

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And sin, according to the Bible in James, it says sin is the transgression.

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I think I'm dropping out again, am I?

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No?

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Okay.

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So Paul is not saying that the law's done away with, but he's saying that it's not

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the thing that is most powerful, the thing that is most important in our life.

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Because if we're under the law, that means we are trying to save ourself.

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And that would be the mindset that if I can just live my life perfectly, then I can save

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myself.

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So are we under the law as a means of salvation?

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No, we're under grace as a means of salvation.

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Shall we sin?

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Shall we break the law?

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By no means, God forbid.

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And then it says, do you not know that to whom you present yourself, slaves to obey,

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you are that one slave whom you obey?

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Whether of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness.

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And so we are supposed to be not a slave to the law because we're living under grace.

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But that doesn't mean that we're to forget God's law because God's law, as we saw, is

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simply a mirror.

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And as we look at the Ten Commandments, I see times that I have fallen short, as it

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says in Romans 3 23, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

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And if I recognize that I fall short of God's glory, then I recognize that I am in need

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of a Savior.

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And if I see I'm in need of a Savior, then I'm going to go to the cross and I'm going

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to recognize and confess my sins.

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And like it says in 1 John 1 9, if we confess our sins, God, He is faithful and just to

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forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

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So thank you for that question.

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Did you pass out the ones?

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Okay, you've already got the response cards.

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If you have any more questions, please fill those out.

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If you have any prayer requests, please write those on the back as well.

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And I do have an announcement for scheduling.

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So we are meeting tonight, Revelation 7 seals, tomorrow night, Revelations worship war, and

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then we're meeting Saturday night, the keys to death, and then Sunday night, we're going

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to look at the characteristics of the mark of the beast.

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Excuse me, not the mark of the beast, but the beast.

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And then the one after that, we'll look at the mark of the beast.

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But we are going to add a session just because our meetings are short.

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And so Saturday morning, this church meets for church on Saturday morning, and we're

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going to have a session.

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We're going to do part of this series Saturday morning at 11.

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So if you can make it Saturday morning at 11, we would love for you to join us as we

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want to fit in another topic in our Forecasting Hope series.

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But we're going to get started now on Revelations 7 seals.

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So let's bow our heads for a prayer.

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Dear God, we thank you so much that you have promised us grace.

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You have given us an incredible gift, and Jesus died for our sins.

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And Lord, as we gather here tonight, we recognize that we are sinners, and we're desperately

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in need of the blood of Jesus that was shed on the cross.

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We thank you for that and that law that points us to you.

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And Lord, as we open up your Word tonight, as we dig into Revelation, just help us to

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see again a new picture of Jesus and of all that you have in store for us.

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In your name we pray, amen.

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So they've done studies, and they've tried to figure out what people worry about.

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Because if you're like most people, we tend to worry about lots of different things.

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And so as they studied what people worry about, they found out that about 40% of the things

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that people worry about never end up happening.

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We may worry about it, but it doesn't happen.

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And then another 30% of things that we worry about are things that happened in the past.

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They've already occurred.

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And then 12% of the things we worry about actually involve we worry about what other

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people think about us or say about us.

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And so if you add that up, that comes to about 82% of the things that we worry about are

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actually out of our control.

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We can't change something.

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We can't do anything about something that's not going to happen.

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We can't change something that has already happened.

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And whether we like it or not, we really can't change what other people say about us or think

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about us.

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So 82% of the things that we worry about, we can't control.

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They're out of our hands.

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It's something else that's causing those things.

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And so tonight we're going to look at Revelation's seven seals.

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And the Bible gives us some good news because we're going to see in Revelation that even

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though so many things are out of our control, that things often are always in God's control.

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And God can foresee and know what's going to happen.

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And even when bad things happen in our life, we know that God says He's never going to

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leave us and He's never going to forsake us.

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So we don't have to worry because we can recognize that God is in control and we can have assurance

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and confidence that no matter what happens, we know that God is with us.

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So I invite you to take your Bible.

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We're going to go to Revelation chapter five.

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Revelation chapter five.

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Most of our time tonight is going to be in Revelation chapter six, but we have to start

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in chapter five in order to get a context, in order to set the scene and recognize what

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is going on.

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And just a reminder, the very first verse of Revelation, Revelation one, one, it begins

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with the words, the revelation of Jesus Christ.

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And so all that we're looking at is really pointing us to Jesus.

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And so in Revelation five, it's a picture of a throne room.

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Revelation four and Revelation five is this throne room of heaven.

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And we're going to see God here taking a scroll and this is what John sees in vision.

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So I want you to kind of just maybe try to picture this.

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Imagine what John saw.

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So we're going to pick up the story in Revelation five and verse one.

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The Bible says, and I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne, a scroll written

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inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals.

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So you can picture a scroll, you know, a rolled up piece of paper or perhaps parchment or

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skin or something like that, that they would use to communicate, that they would write

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messages.

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And then this particular scroll has seven seals.

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Now perhaps at some time you have received something in the mail that was fancy or important,

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maybe a wedding invitation or a Christmas card sometimes.

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And sometimes those are sealed with a little bit of wax and perhaps somebody has stamped

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their initial into it.

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Mine would be an H, you know, for Hudson.

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And it's stamped into that sealing that envelope.

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And so this particular scroll, it says it has seven seals.

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And then it says, I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the

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scroll and to loose its seals?

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And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to

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look at it.

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And so this is John writing and it says, so I wept much because no one was found worthy

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to open or read the scroll or look at it.

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But one of the elders said to me, do not weep.

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Behold the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David has prevailed to open the scroll

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and to loose its seven seals.

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So there's a lot of symbols here.

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So we've got to take a moment and try to unpack what's going on here.

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We've got God the Father, he's sitting on the throne and in his hand he's got this scroll

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and it's got these fancy seals on it, seven different seals.

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And the focus of this vision seems to be on the scroll.

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And there's a concern here because it says no one in heaven or on earth or under the

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earth.

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No one is able to open the scroll and this really upsets John.

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And in fact, as we read, it says that he wept about it.

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He wept much.

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We're in Revelation chapter five, because no one is able to open this scroll.

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So it seems as if this scroll is important thing for God's people, for the church.

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And it upset John that they were unable to open it.

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As I said, he wept much, so it must be something important.

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But then finally, someone realizes that there is someone who is able to open the scroll.

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Verse five, as we read, it says, the lion of the tribe of Judah or the root of David.

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What are these?

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What is this about?

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Who do you think this is?

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Who is the lion of the tribe of Judah or the root of David?

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Now we're going to find out tonight as we've done night by night that in Revelation, at

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least 50% of the verses, 50% of the passages actually reflect the Old Testament and they're

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drawn from the Old Testament.

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And so these two phrases, the lion of the tribe of Judah and the root of David, these

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are both Old Testament phrases which point forward to the Messiah that was to come.

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So they point forward to Jesus.

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So in John's day, of course, Jesus has already walked on this earth.

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He's already lived.

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He's already died on the cross.

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He's already ascended back to heaven.

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So these Old Testament phrases point John and point us to show us that there is someone

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who is worthy to open the scroll and that someone is Jesus.

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Why is Jesus worthy to open the scroll?

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Most of this chapter tells us why.

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We're not going to read it all, but you can just kind of scan down through there and it

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says in verse 9, you were worthy to take the scroll to open its seals for you were slain

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and have redeemed us to God by your blood.

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Seem in verse 12, worthy is the lamb who was slain.

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Jesus is worthy because he died for our sins on the cross of Calvary.

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That's good news here.

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And so John sees this lion of the tribe of Judah and he also sees him as a lamb.

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So this is an interesting concept that we see here and we see it several times in the

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book of Revelation.

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Several times John hears one thing and it says he turns and looks and he sees something

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else, but it's the same thing even though it's given a different name or a different

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title.

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For instance, here in verse 5, it says, I heard and they said the lion of the tribe

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of Judah, the root of David.

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And then in verse 6, he says, I looked and behold, there stood a lamb.

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So this lion of the tribe of Judah and this lamb, well, they're both talking about Jesus.

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He heard the name one way and he turned and saw something else, but in essence, they're

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the same thing.

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And as I said, the rest of this chapter shows us why Jesus, the lamb of God, the lamb who

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was slain is worthy to open the scroll because he died for our sins, because he came to this

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earth to save fallen humankind.

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Jesus is worthy to open the scroll and that is good news.

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And that's why we can carry on and see in Revelation chapter 6 that these seals begin

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to be open.

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Now, in Revelation 1, it tells us several times that the visions that John receives

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are to tell him things that must shortly take place.

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And we're going to see in this vision of these seals that God is proclaiming ahead of time

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a prophecy in advance, history in advance.

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We saw it the other night as we looked at Daniel chapter 2.

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In our very first night, I believe it was.

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And it started in the days of Babylon.

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And Daniel said to Nebuchadnezzar, you are that head of gold.

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And then we saw the different kingdoms, the Medes and the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans,

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and then the divided kingdoms.

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And then this rock came symbolizing the return of Jesus.

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And that prophecy foretold history.

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And many of the prophecies in Revelation do the same thing.

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They describe history in advance.

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And we're going to see in Revelation chapter 6 that these seven seals foretell the history

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of the Christian church.

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So from our day, it's going to reveal things that have already taken place.

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It's going to reveal some things that are yet to take place.

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And then it's going to kind of show us where we are in this prophetic history.

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So just a preview of what's to come.

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The first four seals are going to talk about the early church.

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Church from the first century down through the Middle Ages.

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And then the fifth seal is kind of going to focus on persecution that took place in the

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Middle Ages.

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And then the last two, six and seven, are going to look at some signs of Jesus' coming.

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And then finally, the last one at the end of six and seven is actually the coming of

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Jesus himself.

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And so that's the background.

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So turn over maybe just one page or look to the next column.

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And we're going to jump into Revelation chapter 6 as we're going to begin to look at these

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seven seals.

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We're going to go to Revelation 6 and verse 1.

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And the Bible says, Now I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard one of

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the four living creatures saying with a voice like thunder, Come and see.

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And then verse 2 says, And I looked and behold a, what do we see here?

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A white horse.

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He who sat on it had a bow and a crown given to him, and he went conquering and to conquer.

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So perhaps you have heard people talk about the four horsemen of the apocalypse.

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Anybody ever heard that phrase before?

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The four horsemen of the apocalypse.

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That phrase comes from the first four seals here in Revelation chapter 6, because we're

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going to see four riders on different horses.

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And each one of these horses we're going to see is actually a different color.

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So what do we have here in this first seal?

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So we've got a horse.

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What color is the horse?

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It's white.

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And then somebody sitting on it.

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And what did he have in his hand?

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He's got a bow and probably an arrow as well.

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And he's wearing on his head or he was given a crown there.

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And that is a Stephanos crown.

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So in the Bible, there's kind of two different crowns.

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If we usually think of a crown that a king would wear, we would think of a golden crown.

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And that word is diadem.

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That's a diadem.

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That's what kind of crown that is.

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A Stephanos crown is typically made of like branches, perhaps olive branches.

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If you recently watched the Olympics, I enjoy watching the Olympics.

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In the ancient Olympics, when the people won the event, they did not get a gold medal.

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They got a Stephanos crown.

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They got a laurel wreath made out of olive branches.

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And that symbolized the victory that they had.

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And so here we have this rider on a white horse with a bow wearing this crown of victory.

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And it ends by saying he went out conquering and to conquer.

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Everywhere he went, this rider on the white horse was being victorious.

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This rider was winning.

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And so we have to ask ourselves, what is this?

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What's going on here?

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Who is this rider?

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Is this real?

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Is this symbolic?

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Well most of the things, most of the prophecies in Revelation represent something.

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Most of them are symbolic.

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So we would need to figure out who is this rider on the horse.

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And we could all probably throw something out, throw out ideas.

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But as we've been wanting to do night by night, we want to let Scripture interpret itself.

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We want to let the Bible interpret itself.

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Now there's some who would say that this rider is the Antichrist power.

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But I would have some challenges with that because nowhere in Scripture is Antichrist

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represented with anything white, clothes or horse or whatever.

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In the Bible, the color white represents purity and truthfulness and righteousness.

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So I would suggest that this rider actually represents not the Antichrist, but represents

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Jesus Christ.

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Now I don't want to just say that.

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I want to explore that.

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So let's turn over to Revelation chapter 19.

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We're going to look at verse 11, Revelation 19 and verse 11.

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Notice what it says in Revelation 19 and verse 11.

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It says, Now I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse.

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And he who sat on him was called faithful and true.

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Does that sound like an Antichrist power?

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Faithful and true?

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And then it says, In righteousness he judges and makes war.

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So a righteous judge who's called faithful and true, it goes on and says his eyes were

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like a flame of fire and on his head were many crowns.

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So this seems very much like the same rider.

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A difference though we must point out is the crowns that this rider is wearing are the

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diadems, the golden crown, whereas the other rider was wearing the victory crown.

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But you can see in verse 16 that this rider in Revelation 19, he's actually named.

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He's called the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

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So I think that pretty clearly shows who this rider is.

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And I think that it's the same rider that we see back in the end of the first seal in

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Revelation chapter six.

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And so what we have is a picture of Jesus leading the early church, the New Testament

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church when the disciples were still alive, those who had spent time with Jesus, those

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who had ministered with Jesus, those who had listened to the messages of Jesus, those who

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Jesus had sent out and had actually worked miracles in the name of Jesus.

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And as later in the book of Acts, they were beginning the New Testament church, they were

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following the pure word of God.

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They were accepting the righteousness of Jesus.

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And in fact, in the book of Acts, they're described as saying that they turned the world

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upside down.

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And it even says that the entire world had heard the message of Jesus.

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Now we know that's talking about the entire world there in that Mediterranean region.

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But even in those early days, they were turning the world upside down, being victorious, not

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with swords, not with battle, but with the gospel of Jesus.

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And so in that case, this first seal in Revelation six would represent this pure church, this

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victorious church that's sticking with the word of God, the pure word of God.

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And it would go from about approximately 31 AD when Jesus was on this earth, when about

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the time Jesus died on the cross, down to about 100 AD.

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And that's about the time that the last living disciple or apostle died.

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Does anyone remember who was the last living apostle, the last living disciple?

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It was John, the one who wrote this book of Revelation.

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He's the only one of the 12, the only one of the 11 of Jesus's disciples that died a

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natural death.

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All of the other disciples laid down their life and died as a martyr.

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But John, the revelator, died about 100 AD after he had written Revelation, after he

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had written the gospel of John, after he had written the letters, first and second and

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third John.

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And so he died about 100 AD, the last of those who led the church victorious as it went proclaiming

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the gospel of Jesus.

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So this is a really awesome seal here.

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But let me just warn you that it's kind of all downhill from here.

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This is kind of the high point.

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It begins a slide from this time as the church begins to fall away, the pure word of God.

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And so we're going to see that as we jump into the second seal.

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That's going to be in verse three, Revelation chapter six and verse three.

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So it says, when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying,

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come and see.

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And another horse, what color is this one?

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Fiery red went out and it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth

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and that people should kill one another and there was given to him a great sword.

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So before we even take the time to try to interpret this, reading that, does that seem

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like a positive thing or a negative thing?

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It seems a little bit on the negative side because peace is taken from the earth and

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people are killing each other and there's a great sword.

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It doesn't sound like a good situation.

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And so here we have a rider on a red horse.

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He's got a sword.

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He's taking peace away from people and because of that people are killing, slaying one another.

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So that word, slay or kill, is actually kind of talking about the idea of butchering or

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sacrificing, kind of a sacrificial killing, almost like a martyrdom is taking place.

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And what we're going to discover is that the next time period of the church as they were,

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as those early disciples and apostles had passed away, it was a time of great violence,

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of great persecution.

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So this horse is red.

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And in the Bible, red often represents or symbolizes blood.

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And so this is a time period when the church of Jesus is going to enter a time of bloody

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persecution, when the sword will be used against those who are standing for Jesus and there'll

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be many martyrs who give their life for Jesus.

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And if you were looking at historical time periods, this would go from approximately

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100, 100 AD down to about 313 AD.

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And this was an era of great persecutions.

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Do you remember who was ruling the land during this time, the second and third centuries?

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If you look on this one, it would be the legs of iron.

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So it would be the Roman Empire.

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And at that time in the Roman Empire, it was illegal to even be a Christian.

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If you were a Christian, you were the enemy of the state.

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You were the enemy within.

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You would be considered a criminal and you could lose everything.

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You could even lose your life.

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It was during this time that the Roman Empire determined that they were going to try to

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stamp out Christianity forever, no matter what the cost.

376
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And so it began to usher in a time of bloody persecution.

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Anybody know what this structure is?

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This is the Colosseum in Rome.

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Anybody have been there?

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00:29:57,600 --> 00:29:58,600
I've never been there.

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A few people have.

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So this was an incredible structure and they say it seats about 60 or 70,000.

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So if you think of a NFL stadium or a major league stadium with the World Series starting

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soon, it would be about that size, except on the field of play, on the arena floor,

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they were not trying to hit home runs or score touchdowns, but they were actually trying

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to take people's lives.

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Maybe it was gladiators fighting each other, but oftentimes it was ending the life of criminals.

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Ending criminals out there to be killed by gladiators or by a ferocious beast, by lions.

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And who did I say were considered criminals?

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Those Christians, those followers of Jesus.

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And so Rome would throw the criminals down onto the floor of this arena and 60,000, 70,000

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00:31:00,960 --> 00:31:08,520
people would cheer for some gladiators to strike them down, for some lions or leopards

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or other beasts to come and devour them.

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And that was the entertainment as these fans, as this crowd screamed out to see the blood

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of Christians shed.

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And yet so many of these Christians stood their ground in the face of death, in the

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face of a sword, in the face of a lion.

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They remained faithful to Jesus.

399
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One ancient church historian, Yatsubius, notes what he says.

400
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He writes, we saw the most marvelous inspiration, a force which was truly divine and the readiness

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00:31:50,620 --> 00:31:54,800
of those who had faith in the Christ of God.

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00:31:54,800 --> 00:32:00,760
Immediately, when sentence had been pronounced on one group, another group came before the

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00:32:00,760 --> 00:32:08,280
tribunal acknowledging themselves to be Christian and remaining unmoved before dangers and torments

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00:32:08,280 --> 00:32:09,640
of all kinds.

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00:32:09,640 --> 00:32:15,860
Indeed, they reasoned with joy the final sentence of death.

406
00:32:15,860 --> 00:32:22,900
And they sang hymns and offered thanksgiving to God of all until their last breath.

407
00:32:22,900 --> 00:32:29,080
So it's as if when they took off one group to be killed, the next group said, yes, we're

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00:32:29,080 --> 00:32:30,760
Christians as well.

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00:32:30,760 --> 00:32:39,880
And we will go to our death with joy as we sing hymns and offer thanksgiving to God.

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00:32:39,880 --> 00:32:47,260
They looked the swords down, they stared down the gladiators, the lions, whatever it was,

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and they stayed faithful to Jesus.

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They chose not to deny him, not to deny his teachings.

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Do you think we need Christians like that in the world today?

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00:32:58,360 --> 00:33:02,880
They're willing to stand for God no matter what?

415
00:33:02,880 --> 00:33:09,780
So often in our world today, if we face any kind of persecution, oh, somebody might laugh

416
00:33:09,780 --> 00:33:10,780
at us.

417
00:33:10,780 --> 00:33:16,680
They might say, why do you believe those fairy tales, whatever it is?

418
00:33:16,680 --> 00:33:22,240
We're like, God, why is this happening to me?

419
00:33:22,240 --> 00:33:26,640
Just because somebody's snickering at us or making fun of us.

420
00:33:26,640 --> 00:33:28,640
We make excuses.

421
00:33:28,640 --> 00:33:31,600
We make reasons to straddle the fence.

422
00:33:31,600 --> 00:33:35,160
We make reasons to not believe.

423
00:33:35,160 --> 00:33:38,320
But what if we could be like those early Christians?

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00:33:38,320 --> 00:33:41,720
No matter what, they were willing to stand for God.

425
00:33:41,720 --> 00:33:46,200
I think we need to be willing to say that in our world today.

426
00:33:46,200 --> 00:33:48,440
It doesn't matter if I'm in the minority.

427
00:33:48,440 --> 00:33:50,600
It doesn't matter what people say about me.

428
00:33:50,600 --> 00:33:52,760
It doesn't matter if it's inconvenient.

429
00:33:52,760 --> 00:33:54,800
Jesus, I want to follow you.

430
00:33:54,800 --> 00:34:01,960
I want to trust in you no matter what, in good times and in bad times.

431
00:34:01,960 --> 00:34:03,820
What if we could all say that?

432
00:34:03,820 --> 00:34:11,560
So this second seal perhaps makes us ask a question about ourself.

433
00:34:11,560 --> 00:34:14,880
Am I a fair-weather Christian?

434
00:34:14,880 --> 00:34:16,960
Have mercy.

435
00:34:16,960 --> 00:34:22,680
Am I only following Jesus because it's easy right now?

436
00:34:22,680 --> 00:34:27,360
What if following Jesus were to cost me something?

437
00:34:27,360 --> 00:34:35,000
Do I truly love Jesus with all of my heart and all of my soul and all of my mind?

438
00:34:35,000 --> 00:34:38,640
Is Jesus first in my life?

439
00:34:38,640 --> 00:34:44,600
And so that's kind of the thought, the idea of this second seal that represents this time

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00:34:44,600 --> 00:34:48,580
of bloody persecution during the second and third centuries.

441
00:34:48,580 --> 00:34:56,800
So let's move on to the third seal here in verse 5, Revelation 6 and verse 5.

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00:34:56,800 --> 00:35:03,240
It says, When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, Come

443
00:35:03,240 --> 00:35:05,300
and see.

444
00:35:05,300 --> 00:35:09,080
So I looked and behold, now what do we see?

445
00:35:09,080 --> 00:35:10,840
A black horse.

446
00:35:10,840 --> 00:35:15,080
And he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand.

447
00:35:15,080 --> 00:35:20,640
And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, A quart of wheat

448
00:35:20,640 --> 00:35:28,120
for a denarius and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not harm oil and the

449
00:35:28,120 --> 00:35:29,120
wine.

450
00:35:29,120 --> 00:35:34,560
Okay, this one's got some quite a few little symbolisms here.

451
00:35:34,560 --> 00:35:37,420
We've got to unpack some of the imagery.

452
00:35:37,420 --> 00:35:42,340
So we see this rider, this third rider in the third seal.

453
00:35:42,340 --> 00:35:45,380
He's on a black horse.

454
00:35:45,380 --> 00:35:48,760
What does he have in his hands?

455
00:35:48,760 --> 00:35:50,400
Some scales.

456
00:35:50,400 --> 00:35:53,680
So what do you do with scales?

457
00:35:53,680 --> 00:35:57,920
You weigh things, you measure something, you're comparing something.

458
00:35:57,920 --> 00:36:03,880
So if we think this through, the first seal was on what color horse?

459
00:36:03,880 --> 00:36:07,360
A white horse, and it represented truth and purity.

460
00:36:07,360 --> 00:36:13,200
So now we've got a rider on the opposite color horse, a black horse, a dark horse.

461
00:36:13,200 --> 00:36:19,560
So if the white represented truth and purity, what do you think this black horse might represent?

462
00:36:19,560 --> 00:36:27,480
Not truth, but air, not purity, but impurity, darkness.

463
00:36:27,480 --> 00:36:34,560
And so in this third seal time period, we're going to see that the church, believe it or

464
00:36:34,560 --> 00:36:42,740
not, the church is going to enter an age of darkness and compromise as they begin to slide

465
00:36:42,740 --> 00:36:45,380
away from God's Word.

466
00:36:45,380 --> 00:36:50,140
But before we look and see what happened, there's a couple other symbols we've got to

467
00:36:50,140 --> 00:36:51,700
look at here.

468
00:36:51,700 --> 00:36:58,440
Because it talks about some weights and some monetary things.

469
00:36:58,440 --> 00:37:05,920
Verse 6, a quart of wheat for a denarius and three quarts of barley for a denarius.

470
00:37:05,920 --> 00:37:07,560
What is this talking about?

471
00:37:07,560 --> 00:37:12,460
A denarius in the Bible is a monetary unit.

472
00:37:12,460 --> 00:37:17,920
And so it would be how much money you got when you went and worked a day.

473
00:37:17,920 --> 00:37:21,340
So that would be your wages for one day.

474
00:37:21,340 --> 00:37:27,180
If you went and worked for someone, you could expect to receive one denarius.

475
00:37:27,180 --> 00:37:33,160
And so for that one denarius, for one day's work, you're going to get a little bit of

476
00:37:33,160 --> 00:37:37,400
wheat, a little bit more barley.

477
00:37:37,400 --> 00:37:43,360
So that's about enough to make bread for one person.

478
00:37:43,360 --> 00:37:48,860
So you're going to work the whole day and you're going to have just enough to buy food

479
00:37:48,860 --> 00:37:52,500
for one person for that day.

480
00:37:52,500 --> 00:37:59,980
Not for your family, not for any other expenses of life, just enough to make enough for one

481
00:37:59,980 --> 00:38:00,980
day.

482
00:38:00,980 --> 00:38:07,580
And by the way, this is almost like famine time because the wheat and the barley, there's

483
00:38:07,580 --> 00:38:09,000
inflation going on.

484
00:38:09,000 --> 00:38:12,140
They cost more than they usually do.

485
00:38:12,140 --> 00:38:19,580
And so this seems to be referencing some kind of famine taking place here.

486
00:38:19,580 --> 00:38:24,440
Now in the Bible there were actual famines where there wasn't enough food.

487
00:38:24,440 --> 00:38:27,700
But as we've been seeing, this is symbolic here.

488
00:38:27,700 --> 00:38:34,700
So I think that again, Revelation is drawing from another part of the Old Testament.

489
00:38:34,700 --> 00:38:39,500
Like I said, 50% of the verses are referencing some other part.

490
00:38:39,500 --> 00:38:42,020
So we're going to go to the book of Amos.

491
00:38:42,020 --> 00:38:45,540
Amos, I'm going to give you a little bit of time to get there.

492
00:38:45,540 --> 00:38:52,540
So Amos is after the book of Daniel, between the book of Daniel and the beginning of the

493
00:38:52,540 --> 00:38:53,540
New Testament.

494
00:38:53,540 --> 00:38:57,860
You're going to find Daniel, Hosea, Joel, and then Amos.

495
00:38:57,860 --> 00:39:04,460
It's about four little books right after Daniel, which we've been to before.

496
00:39:04,460 --> 00:39:09,340
So Amos chapter 8 is what we're going to look at.

497
00:39:09,340 --> 00:39:14,860
So Amos is actually a prophet and he was a farmer.

498
00:39:14,860 --> 00:39:18,460
So he would have known about planting, he would have known about famine and different

499
00:39:18,460 --> 00:39:19,460
things like that.

500
00:39:19,460 --> 00:39:25,860
So we're going to look at Amos chapter 8 and we're going to read in verse 11.

501
00:39:25,860 --> 00:39:28,340
Notice what's going on here.

502
00:39:28,340 --> 00:39:31,660
God is talking to his people of Israel.

503
00:39:31,660 --> 00:39:36,820
This is actually one of the time periods where they are moving in the wrong direction.

504
00:39:36,820 --> 00:39:39,420
They're neglecting following God.

505
00:39:39,420 --> 00:39:42,680
And notice Amos 8, 11.

506
00:39:42,680 --> 00:39:49,900
The Bible says, behold the days are coming says the Lord, that I will send a famine on

507
00:39:49,900 --> 00:39:58,580
the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the

508
00:39:58,580 --> 00:39:59,720
Lord.

509
00:39:59,720 --> 00:40:04,140
So there's going to be a famine, but it's going to be a famine for the words of the

510
00:40:04,140 --> 00:40:05,140
Lord.

511
00:40:05,140 --> 00:40:10,460
And then in verse 12, it says, they shall run to and fro seeking the word of the Lord,

512
00:40:10,460 --> 00:40:12,980
but they shall not find it.

513
00:40:12,980 --> 00:40:21,220
So there's going to be a famine, not about food, but a famine from the word of God.

514
00:40:21,220 --> 00:40:27,620
And so Amos here is saying that if the people weren't following the words of God, that he

515
00:40:27,620 --> 00:40:31,940
was going to stop sending those words through the prophets.

516
00:40:31,940 --> 00:40:38,140
So there's a spiritual famine taking place and that seems to be what's happening back

517
00:40:38,140 --> 00:40:46,420
in Revelation, that the church is going to enter into a period where it's not truly following

518
00:40:46,420 --> 00:40:47,900
the word of God anymore.

519
00:40:47,900 --> 00:40:55,580
There's going to be a famine for truth because the church begins to follow errors instead

520
00:40:55,580 --> 00:40:56,580
of truth.

521
00:40:56,580 --> 00:41:04,180
Remember, we said that for every truth that Jesus has, Satan has some sort of counterfeit.

522
00:41:04,180 --> 00:41:07,380
And we see this time of spiritual darkness.

523
00:41:07,380 --> 00:41:17,860
And this third seal goes from about 313 down to 538 when this church becomes compromised

524
00:41:17,860 --> 00:41:22,420
and kind of begins to stop following the word of God.

525
00:41:22,420 --> 00:41:28,440
So let's examine some history and see if that's what really happened.

526
00:41:28,440 --> 00:41:36,420
So in 313, a gentleman by the name of Constantine, he's the emperor of Rome.

527
00:41:36,420 --> 00:41:41,860
And in 313, Constantine becomes a Christian.

528
00:41:41,860 --> 00:41:50,560
So before that, Christianity had been illegal and Christians had been considered criminals.

529
00:41:50,560 --> 00:41:53,340
So you might think, well, that's the best thing that could ever happen.

530
00:41:53,340 --> 00:41:57,420
Now the emperor's a Christian.

531
00:41:57,420 --> 00:41:59,960
Not necessarily.

532
00:41:59,960 --> 00:42:02,900
Before this, Constantine had been a pagan.

533
00:42:02,900 --> 00:42:09,540
He participated in the pagan ceremonies, the pagan rituals, he followed the pagan religious

534
00:42:09,540 --> 00:42:10,540
teachings.

535
00:42:10,540 --> 00:42:16,960
And so when he becomes a Christian, suddenly Christianity is no longer illegal, but now

536
00:42:16,960 --> 00:42:19,920
it's an accepted religion.

537
00:42:19,920 --> 00:42:26,600
And in fact, it wasn't long before Christianity became the official religion of Rome.

538
00:42:26,600 --> 00:42:29,220
So you would say, great.

539
00:42:29,220 --> 00:42:32,160
Well, not necessarily.

540
00:42:32,160 --> 00:42:36,360
Because Constantine wanted to unite his empire.

541
00:42:36,360 --> 00:42:42,260
So he had Christians, he had pagans, and he wanted to bring them all together so they

542
00:42:42,260 --> 00:42:50,980
could be a happy nation with him as the all-important emperor that everybody loved.

543
00:42:50,980 --> 00:42:58,260
And so Constantine began to take some of the pagan teachings, the pagan philosophies, and

544
00:42:58,260 --> 00:43:02,460
began to bring them into the Christian church.

545
00:43:02,460 --> 00:43:09,260
For every truth that God has, there's some sort of error, there's some sort of counterfeit.

546
00:43:09,260 --> 00:43:12,140
So let's look at an example here.

547
00:43:12,140 --> 00:43:17,420
Eusebius, we already read him, the church historian.

548
00:43:17,420 --> 00:43:21,800
Notice what he says about Constantine.

549
00:43:21,800 --> 00:43:28,500
We are told by Eusebius that Constantine, in order to recommend the new religion to

550
00:43:28,500 --> 00:43:36,060
the heathen, Christianity to the heathen, he transferred into it the outward ornaments

551
00:43:36,060 --> 00:43:39,860
to which they had been accustomed in their own.

552
00:43:39,860 --> 00:43:48,640
So in order to win, to convince, to woo these heathen, he put in it into Christianity many

553
00:43:48,640 --> 00:43:53,440
of these concepts of the pagan religion.

554
00:43:53,440 --> 00:44:00,340
He brought many of these things in, not to be evil, not to be wicked, but because he

555
00:44:00,340 --> 00:44:02,700
wanted people to be united.

556
00:44:02,700 --> 00:44:08,780
So it seemed like a good thing, but slowly but surely these teachings and traditions

557
00:44:08,780 --> 00:44:13,480
of men began to be mixed with the word of God.

558
00:44:13,480 --> 00:44:18,980
So let's look at an example, just so it's not just me talking up here.

559
00:44:18,980 --> 00:44:22,740
So Sunday night we talked about the Ten Commandments.

560
00:44:22,740 --> 00:44:27,260
Remember, we read those, we saw, yes, they're relevant.

561
00:44:27,260 --> 00:44:31,100
They're in Exodus chapter 20, Deuteronomy chapter 5.

562
00:44:31,100 --> 00:44:35,160
So the second commandment, for instance, let's just look at that one tonight.

563
00:44:35,160 --> 00:44:42,180
The second commandment in Exodus 20, verses 4 and 5, you can turn there if you want to,

564
00:44:42,180 --> 00:44:46,740
that's where the Ten Commandments are found in Exodus 20.

565
00:44:46,740 --> 00:44:50,540
The first commandment says, you shall have no other gods before me.

566
00:44:50,540 --> 00:44:56,020
And the second commandment in Exodus 20, verse 4, the Bible says, you shall not make for

567
00:44:56,020 --> 00:45:03,540
yourself a carved image, any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in earth

568
00:45:03,540 --> 00:45:09,340
beneath, or that is in the water under the earth, you shall not bow down to them, nor

569
00:45:09,340 --> 00:45:10,980
serve them.

570
00:45:10,980 --> 00:45:18,700
So we've heard that before in God's Holy Ten Commandment law, God clearly forbids graven

571
00:45:18,700 --> 00:45:21,980
images, statues, and different things like that.

572
00:45:21,980 --> 00:45:29,580
Why would you want to worship something that you've made when you can worship the Creator?

573
00:45:29,580 --> 00:45:35,360
In fact, Isaiah, the prophet Isaiah, kind of has a humorous way of looking at it.

574
00:45:35,360 --> 00:45:40,260
He says, you know, you go to the woods and you chop down a tree, and you take half of

575
00:45:40,260 --> 00:45:45,580
the tree and you chop it up into firewood and you cook your bread, and then the other

576
00:45:45,580 --> 00:45:52,020
half of the tree, you carve it into an idol and you worship it.

577
00:45:52,020 --> 00:45:58,380
So half the tree you're using to cook your food, and the other half you're worshiping.

578
00:45:58,380 --> 00:46:01,300
God says, don't do that.

579
00:46:01,300 --> 00:46:11,340
But it was during this third seal time, this black horse period, that images and statues

580
00:46:11,340 --> 00:46:16,860
begin to make their way into places of worship.

581
00:46:16,860 --> 00:46:21,460
Now I'm going to show a picture here, and I want to be sensitive because I'm not trying

582
00:46:21,460 --> 00:46:29,140
to talk about people, about individuals, but what we're looking at is through history,

583
00:46:29,140 --> 00:46:35,220
and we're seeing how history fulfilled different Bible prophecies and how these compromises

584
00:46:35,220 --> 00:46:36,340
came in.

585
00:46:36,340 --> 00:46:41,880
So this is in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

586
00:46:41,880 --> 00:46:47,420
So if you were to go to St. Peter's Basilica, there's a massive statue there, a massive

587
00:46:47,420 --> 00:46:52,460
image, and they would say that that was designed as Peter.

588
00:46:52,460 --> 00:46:54,620
That's Peter, St. Peter.

589
00:46:54,620 --> 00:47:00,700
You can go, if you were to go there, you might see that the toe, one of the toes is almost

590
00:47:00,700 --> 00:47:06,740
rubbed off because when people walk by, they want to rub that toe and receive the grace

591
00:47:06,740 --> 00:47:12,580
or blessings or they kiss that toe of Peter.

592
00:47:12,580 --> 00:47:18,620
Except if you were to research a little bit more, you would find that this statue was

593
00:47:18,620 --> 00:47:28,620
not originally designed as Peter, but it was originally designed as the pagan god Jupiter.

594
00:47:28,620 --> 00:47:35,180
And at a time down in history, they took that pagan god Jupiter, they put it into the church,

595
00:47:35,180 --> 00:47:41,220
into the Basilica, and they said, well, we'll just use this same statue, this same image,

596
00:47:41,220 --> 00:47:43,300
and we'll call him Peter.

597
00:47:43,300 --> 00:47:52,780
And so this pagan god Jupiter has literally been placed in St. Peter's Basilica and renamed.

598
00:47:52,780 --> 00:47:58,700
That's one example of paganism creeping into Christianity.

599
00:47:58,700 --> 00:48:02,000
So we could say, well, how did this happen?

600
00:48:02,000 --> 00:48:09,740
If that commandment says don't have any graven images, then why, if you go to different places,

601
00:48:09,740 --> 00:48:13,540
why do they have these images?

602
00:48:13,540 --> 00:48:18,820
So this is again something that happened through history.

603
00:48:18,820 --> 00:48:25,260
There's some different versions of the Ten Commandments.

604
00:48:25,260 --> 00:48:27,300
Let me show you an example here.

605
00:48:27,300 --> 00:48:28,300
You can see that.

606
00:48:28,300 --> 00:48:33,020
It's kind of small, I know, but on the left-hand side, the left-hand side is what it would

607
00:48:33,020 --> 00:48:36,220
say in Exodus 20.

608
00:48:36,220 --> 00:48:37,780
You shall have no other gods before me.

609
00:48:37,780 --> 00:48:42,900
The second commandment says you shall not make for yourself a graven image.

610
00:48:42,900 --> 00:48:49,180
The right-hand side has the Church of Rome, their version of the Ten Commandments.

611
00:48:49,180 --> 00:48:55,380
You could find this in catechism or different places where they teach.

612
00:48:55,380 --> 00:48:59,580
And notice it says you shall have no other gods before me.

613
00:48:59,580 --> 00:49:04,300
But if you read the second, it says you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in

614
00:49:04,300 --> 00:49:05,300
vain.

615
00:49:05,300 --> 00:49:08,140
Well, that's not the second commandment.

616
00:49:08,140 --> 00:49:11,900
The second commandment is don't make a graven image.

617
00:49:11,900 --> 00:49:15,020
That's the third commandment.

618
00:49:15,020 --> 00:49:16,340
So what happened?

619
00:49:16,340 --> 00:49:23,220
Well, they took that second commandment and they just hit the delete button.

620
00:49:23,220 --> 00:49:24,420
They erased that one.

621
00:49:24,420 --> 00:49:26,100
They wiped it out.

622
00:49:26,100 --> 00:49:28,500
But you've got to have ten commandments, right?

623
00:49:28,500 --> 00:49:33,740
Well, so the tenth commandment, the ninth and tenth commandment, in the Bible it says

624
00:49:33,740 --> 00:49:40,780
you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, your neighbor's house, donkeys, and so forth.

625
00:49:40,780 --> 00:49:45,540
But in the version from Rome, they divided that out.

626
00:49:45,540 --> 00:49:49,420
The ninth commandment says don't covet your neighbor's wife.

627
00:49:49,420 --> 00:49:55,300
And then the tenth commandment says don't covet anything that is your neighbor's.

628
00:49:55,300 --> 00:50:04,300
So that's just one example of changing, allowing these different compromises to come in.

629
00:50:04,300 --> 00:50:11,780
God in prophecy was trying to warn His people that coming down at some point in history

630
00:50:11,780 --> 00:50:15,780
there was going to be compromise, there was going to be error, there was going to be these

631
00:50:15,780 --> 00:50:18,980
pagan teachings in the church.

632
00:50:18,980 --> 00:50:25,140
We read a verse the other night from Daniel 725 talking about the anti-Christ power and

633
00:50:25,140 --> 00:50:29,820
Sunday night we're going to study this chapter in much more detail.

634
00:50:29,820 --> 00:50:37,460
But it talks about the anti-Christ power that they shall think to change times and laws.

635
00:50:37,460 --> 00:50:43,220
And this is just one example here from God's commandment that one of those laws has been

636
00:50:43,220 --> 00:50:45,340
pulled out, has been erased.

637
00:50:45,340 --> 00:50:54,860
And so that third seal represents from 313 to 538 this period of compromise.

638
00:50:54,860 --> 00:51:02,460
So it's kind of a summary there, the first seals, the pure church, the pure faith conquering

639
00:51:02,460 --> 00:51:04,700
and going out to conquer.

640
00:51:04,700 --> 00:51:09,520
And the second is this time of persecution that the church faced.

641
00:51:09,520 --> 00:51:15,680
And then the third is this time of compromise as error begins to come into the church.

642
00:51:15,680 --> 00:51:17,260
There's one more horseman here.

643
00:51:17,260 --> 00:51:18,900
There's a couple more seals.

644
00:51:18,900 --> 00:51:24,620
So let's look at the fourth seal in Revelation chapter 6.

645
00:51:24,620 --> 00:51:28,620
Let's go back to Revelation chapter 6.

646
00:51:28,620 --> 00:51:32,540
Let me find it here, Revelation chapter 6.

647
00:51:32,540 --> 00:51:40,940
The fourth seal begins in verse 7 and the Bible says, when he opened the fourth seal,

648
00:51:40,940 --> 00:51:46,460
I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, come and see.

649
00:51:46,460 --> 00:51:55,940
So I looked and behold a pale horse and the name who sat on him was Death and Hades or

650
00:51:55,940 --> 00:51:59,520
the grave or hell followed with him.

651
00:51:59,520 --> 00:52:05,780
And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth to kill with sword, with hunger,

652
00:52:05,780 --> 00:52:09,860
with death and by the beasts of the earth.

653
00:52:09,860 --> 00:52:13,540
So does this sound positive or negative?

654
00:52:13,540 --> 00:52:15,260
Once again, it doesn't sound very good.

655
00:52:15,260 --> 00:52:17,540
It does not sound very positive.

656
00:52:17,540 --> 00:52:24,220
And so we can break this down and we see that the rider, he's given a name.

657
00:52:24,220 --> 00:52:26,700
He's called Death.

658
00:52:26,700 --> 00:52:28,780
One who sat on it was Death.

659
00:52:28,780 --> 00:52:36,140
He's got a pale horse, the color of someone who's near death or who's dying.

660
00:52:36,140 --> 00:52:40,740
And he's given power over the earth.

661
00:52:40,740 --> 00:52:44,360
And there's violence that's involved with this.

662
00:52:44,360 --> 00:52:49,460
And so the theme of this seal seems to be Death.

663
00:52:49,460 --> 00:52:56,620
And I think it's describing a time in church history when there's physical death, but also

664
00:52:56,620 --> 00:52:59,860
a time when there's spiritual death.

665
00:52:59,860 --> 00:53:07,340
There's physical death for those who believed in different ways, but there's spiritual death

666
00:53:07,340 --> 00:53:08,820
for the church.

667
00:53:08,820 --> 00:53:15,460
This is the time period that we would refer to as the Middle Ages, or sometimes that time

668
00:53:15,460 --> 00:53:25,320
period is referred to as the Dark Ages, because during this time period, the Bible was forbidden.

669
00:53:25,320 --> 00:53:28,020
You and I couldn't have a Bible.

670
00:53:28,020 --> 00:53:33,380
And if you believe what the Bible said, well, the church would not appreciate that.

671
00:53:33,380 --> 00:53:38,660
If you believe that you should go by the Bible instead of tradition, well, you would be considered

672
00:53:38,660 --> 00:53:40,100
a heretic.

673
00:53:40,100 --> 00:53:45,100
And if you were a heretic, there's little things called like an inquisition.

674
00:53:45,100 --> 00:53:47,200
You could be burned at the stake.

675
00:53:47,200 --> 00:53:49,660
You could be tortured on the rack.

676
00:53:49,660 --> 00:53:52,260
You could lose everything.

677
00:53:52,260 --> 00:54:00,000
So during this time, the church not only suffered from an intensification of violence, but also

678
00:54:00,000 --> 00:54:05,120
an intensification of spiritual death.

679
00:54:05,120 --> 00:54:12,540
Because if you or I leave the Bible behind, if we set it aside, eventually we're going

680
00:54:12,540 --> 00:54:15,440
to focus on ourself.

681
00:54:15,440 --> 00:54:21,340
We're not going to focus on Jesus anymore, and we're going to begin to spiritually die.

682
00:54:21,340 --> 00:54:30,340
And so this time period is from about 538 down about 1,260 years to 1798.

683
00:54:30,340 --> 00:54:36,060
This was a time when church and government, church and state were united.

684
00:54:36,060 --> 00:54:38,540
That's never a good thing when that happens.

685
00:54:38,540 --> 00:54:41,180
And traditions were lifted up.

686
00:54:41,180 --> 00:54:46,880
And if you wanted to follow the Bible, then you would be persecuted.

687
00:54:46,880 --> 00:54:55,620
And so this is described as a time of death, a pale horse of death, as the traditions of

688
00:54:55,620 --> 00:54:58,100
men became more prominent.

689
00:54:58,100 --> 00:54:59,900
Well, what are some of those traditions?

690
00:54:59,900 --> 00:55:03,060
Well, let's look and see.

691
00:55:03,060 --> 00:55:06,700
One is something called appenance, appenances.

692
00:55:06,700 --> 00:55:14,580
So appenance would be if you were to come to your spiritual leader and confess your

693
00:55:14,580 --> 00:55:19,120
sins, then you would be told to do appenance, an act.

694
00:55:19,120 --> 00:55:25,180
And if you did this action, then you would receive grace or you would receive forgiveness

695
00:55:25,180 --> 00:55:29,440
because you did that action.

696
00:55:29,440 --> 00:55:32,100
But that's not what the Bible says.

697
00:55:32,100 --> 00:55:37,860
You don't need to come to any kind of spiritual leader, not a pastor, not a parson, not a

698
00:55:37,860 --> 00:55:38,940
priest.

699
00:55:38,940 --> 00:55:41,420
Where do we go to get forgiveness?

700
00:55:41,420 --> 00:55:43,060
We go to Jesus.

701
00:55:43,060 --> 00:55:49,740
We already read this verse, 1 John 1,9, if we confess our sins, he, Jesus, God is faithful

702
00:55:49,740 --> 00:55:55,660
and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

703
00:55:55,660 --> 00:56:02,860
I'm so glad you don't have to come to a religious leader, but that you can go straight to Jesus.

704
00:56:02,860 --> 00:56:09,240
So something very similar to appenance is something called an indulgence.

705
00:56:09,240 --> 00:56:16,980
So if you've ever read anything about the Reformation, individuals like Martin Luther,

706
00:56:16,980 --> 00:56:24,380
these were some of the things that they opposed because they were priests and they opposed

707
00:56:24,380 --> 00:56:26,900
appenances and indulgence.

708
00:56:26,900 --> 00:56:34,020
An indulgence was like appenance except instead of doing an action for an indulgence, you

709
00:56:34,020 --> 00:56:40,060
paid some money and you could get forgiveness or you could pay some money and get someone

710
00:56:40,060 --> 00:56:47,580
else out of purgatory or out of hell or buy their way into heaven.

711
00:56:47,580 --> 00:56:49,660
How could people believe that?

712
00:56:49,660 --> 00:56:54,620
Well, during that time, they didn't have access to the Bible.

713
00:56:54,620 --> 00:56:58,700
The Bible was often chained up to the church wall.

714
00:56:58,700 --> 00:57:00,580
You couldn't read it for yourself.

715
00:57:00,580 --> 00:57:04,900
You had to trust what someone else was telling you.

716
00:57:04,900 --> 00:57:11,700
And so just in review of these, as we've traced down church history here, the pure church

717
00:57:11,700 --> 00:57:17,940
down to about 100 and then that time of persecution during the second and third centuries and

718
00:57:17,940 --> 00:57:24,300
then about 200 more years of compromise and then a longer period during the Middle Ages

719
00:57:24,300 --> 00:57:31,940
or the Dark Ages where there was doctrine, bankrupt and spiritual death taking place.

720
00:57:31,940 --> 00:57:35,300
God knew it and God prophesied about it.

721
00:57:35,300 --> 00:57:36,300
But that's not the end.

722
00:57:36,300 --> 00:57:38,100
There's a couple more seals.

723
00:57:38,100 --> 00:57:45,740
So let's look at the fifth seal because the fifth seal kind of pauses here and it reflects

724
00:57:45,740 --> 00:57:50,140
a little bit more on that persecution of the Middle Ages.

725
00:57:50,140 --> 00:57:53,700
So notice the fifth seal starting in verse nine.

726
00:57:53,700 --> 00:58:00,300
It says, when he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who

727
00:58:00,300 --> 00:58:07,460
had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held.

728
00:58:07,460 --> 00:58:15,420
And they cried with a loud voice saying, how long, O Lord, holy and true until you judge

729
00:58:15,420 --> 00:58:19,780
and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth.

730
00:58:19,780 --> 00:58:25,820
And then a white robe was given to each of them and it was said to them that they should

731
00:58:25,820 --> 00:58:30,900
rest a little while longer until both the number of their fellow servants and their

732
00:58:30,900 --> 00:58:35,180
brethren who would be killed as they were was completed.

733
00:58:35,180 --> 00:58:39,700
Okay, so that's kind of a long scenario there.

734
00:58:39,700 --> 00:58:47,700
Their souls under an altar crying out to God for justice, to avenge their blood, and they're

735
00:58:47,700 --> 00:58:53,940
given white robes and then they're told to wait just a little bit longer because there

736
00:58:53,940 --> 00:58:58,260
was going to be more martyrs on the way.

737
00:58:58,260 --> 00:59:05,220
So again, we have to ask ourselves, is this literal or is this something symbolic?

738
00:59:05,220 --> 00:59:12,140
Well, we're in this section, it's mostly symbolic here, and I think the imagery once again comes

739
00:59:12,140 --> 00:59:17,140
from the Old Testament and this time from the Old Testament sanctuary.

740
00:59:17,140 --> 00:59:24,280
That was the sanctuary or the temple where the animals would be brought, which pointed

741
00:59:24,280 --> 00:59:30,540
forward to Jesus, and those animals would be sacrificed on the altar and the blood of

742
00:59:30,540 --> 00:59:35,940
that sacrifice would trickle down under the altar.

743
00:59:35,940 --> 00:59:41,060
And that the lamb pointed forward to Jesus and the blood of the lamb represented the

744
00:59:41,060 --> 00:59:44,820
sacrificial death of Jesus.

745
00:59:44,820 --> 00:59:52,600
And so I think when the Bible is talking about these souls under the altar, it's talking

746
00:59:52,600 --> 01:00:00,180
about their sacrificial killing, that these martyrs, their blood would be shed during

747
01:00:00,180 --> 01:00:06,820
this time of the Middle Ages, and these souls, these martyrs are saying, God, are you going

748
01:00:06,820 --> 01:00:07,820
to let this happen?

749
01:00:07,820 --> 01:00:11,580
Are you going to avenge us here?

750
01:00:11,580 --> 01:00:16,820
So again, it's getting language from somewhere else.

751
01:00:16,820 --> 01:00:19,740
The other night we looked at a story.

752
01:00:19,740 --> 01:00:23,420
Anybody know what this story might be?

753
01:00:23,420 --> 01:00:27,700
Cain and Abel, so two brothers, they both brought a sacrifice.

754
01:00:27,700 --> 01:00:31,580
One brought a sacrifice of an animal, as God had instructed.

755
01:00:31,580 --> 01:00:37,500
The other brought the work of their own hands, fruits and vegetables, and God accepted Abel's

756
01:00:37,500 --> 01:00:38,500
sacrifice.

757
01:00:38,500 --> 01:00:44,300
And Cain did not appreciate it, and Cain killed his brother Abel.

758
01:00:44,300 --> 01:00:47,900
Now notice what it says in Genesis 4.

759
01:00:47,900 --> 01:00:51,820
God says to Cain, what have you done?

760
01:00:51,820 --> 01:00:58,460
The voice of your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground.

761
01:00:58,460 --> 01:01:03,780
The voice of your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground.

762
01:01:03,780 --> 01:01:10,300
Now do we imagine that this pool of blood suddenly gets a little mouth, and it says,

763
01:01:10,300 --> 01:01:13,620
help me, God, avenge me.

764
01:01:13,620 --> 01:01:16,220
I don't think that's what it's talking about.

765
01:01:16,220 --> 01:01:19,220
God is saying, I know what happened.

766
01:01:19,220 --> 01:01:23,060
I know that injustice was done.

767
01:01:23,060 --> 01:01:26,700
And God's saying, I'm going to make things right.

768
01:01:26,700 --> 01:01:30,900
And Cain, in that story, was punished.

769
01:01:30,900 --> 01:01:34,860
And so God sees the martyrs that have died.

770
01:01:34,860 --> 01:01:39,020
He sees those who gave their lives for the gospel.

771
01:01:39,020 --> 01:01:45,820
He knows those who have been sacrificed because they stood for Jesus, no matter the cost,

772
01:01:45,820 --> 01:01:50,260
that they were burned at the stake, that they died on the rack.

773
01:01:50,260 --> 01:01:56,340
And God doesn't just, it's not just for the Middle Ages, but he sees everyone who has

774
01:01:56,340 --> 01:02:00,060
sacrificed something for him.

775
01:02:00,060 --> 01:02:07,620
Some give their life, others their family, or a job, or money, or whatever it might be.

776
01:02:07,620 --> 01:02:13,100
And God recognizes that injustices have been done to his followers.

777
01:02:13,100 --> 01:02:19,620
And God is telling these individuals, their families, I have not forgotten.

778
01:02:19,620 --> 01:02:28,780
I one day am going to make all of these wrongs will be made right, and justice will be done.

779
01:02:28,780 --> 01:02:35,980
So if you've ever suffered for Jesus, maybe you're suffering right now, God knows it.

780
01:02:35,980 --> 01:02:41,940
If you've ever lost something important because you want to be faithful to God's Word, God

781
01:02:41,940 --> 01:02:46,540
recognizes that God has made a record for that.

782
01:02:46,540 --> 01:02:51,620
And we don't have to fight against our persecutors because God says, I'm going to do that for

783
01:02:51,620 --> 01:02:52,620
you.

784
01:02:52,620 --> 01:02:54,780
I'm going to take care of these issues.

785
01:02:54,780 --> 01:02:59,020
He's going to avenge that in our place.

786
01:02:59,020 --> 01:03:02,780
And did you notice what these martyrs received?

787
01:03:02,780 --> 01:03:09,900
Verse 11, then a white robe was given to each of them.

788
01:03:09,900 --> 01:03:18,780
A white robe in scripture represents eternity, represents salvation.

789
01:03:18,780 --> 01:03:25,260
These martyrs are guaranteed, they have an assurance of salvation.

790
01:03:25,260 --> 01:03:32,340
It represents the righteous, the perfect life of Jesus that covers our sins.

791
01:03:32,340 --> 01:03:38,460
But then it says they're told to rest a little bit until the number of their fellow servants

792
01:03:38,460 --> 01:03:42,260
who would be killed is completed.

793
01:03:42,260 --> 01:03:47,140
That tells me that there's more that will give their lives for Jesus.

794
01:03:47,140 --> 01:03:53,020
And we can recognize that even in our world today, there are places around this globe

795
01:03:53,020 --> 01:03:59,900
where people are imprisoned and tortured and persecuted and even killed because of their

796
01:03:59,900 --> 01:04:01,900
faith in Jesus.

797
01:04:01,900 --> 01:04:08,980
And even though we live in a place where we can gather in freedom and talk about God,

798
01:04:08,980 --> 01:04:13,700
we recognize that not every place in the world can do that.

799
01:04:13,700 --> 01:04:21,740
So perhaps we need to ask ourselves the question, am I willing to die for Christ?

800
01:04:21,740 --> 01:04:25,500
Am I willing to die for Jesus?

801
01:04:25,500 --> 01:04:31,860
That question was asked of Dwight Moody, the famous preacher from a long time ago in Chicago

802
01:04:31,860 --> 01:04:34,300
at the Moody Bible Institute.

803
01:04:34,300 --> 01:04:38,140
And the story is told that when he was asked that question, do you have the faith to be

804
01:04:38,140 --> 01:04:39,380
a martyr?

805
01:04:39,380 --> 01:04:42,980
His answer was, I don't know.

806
01:04:42,980 --> 01:04:48,740
But I do have trust in God that if I ever need that kind of faith, that in that moment

807
01:04:48,740 --> 01:04:51,500
He'll give it to me.

808
01:04:51,500 --> 01:04:59,440
And we could ask ourselves the question, how many times do you die for God?

809
01:04:59,440 --> 01:05:07,460
Just once, you make that choice and horrifically your life is ended and you die for Jesus one

810
01:05:07,460 --> 01:05:08,460
time.

811
01:05:08,460 --> 01:05:15,380
But how many times do we have to make the decision to live for Jesus?

812
01:05:15,380 --> 01:05:22,380
That's a choice, that's a decision we make every day, maybe multiple times a day.

813
01:05:22,380 --> 01:05:24,940
So am I willing to die for Christ?

814
01:05:24,940 --> 01:05:27,820
Am I willing to live for Christ?

815
01:05:27,820 --> 01:05:28,820
Let's go on.

816
01:05:28,820 --> 01:05:31,860
Let's look at the sixth seal here.

817
01:05:31,860 --> 01:05:39,420
And this is actually the longest description, but it comes down to the time of the end here,

818
01:05:39,420 --> 01:05:40,580
the coming of Jesus.

819
01:05:40,580 --> 01:05:44,300
So Revelation 6, we'll start in verse 12.

820
01:05:44,300 --> 01:05:49,940
It says, I looked when he opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake,

821
01:05:49,940 --> 01:05:55,860
and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood, and the stars

822
01:05:55,860 --> 01:06:02,060
of heaven fell to the earth as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a

823
01:06:02,060 --> 01:06:08,240
mighty wind, and then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain

824
01:06:08,240 --> 01:06:13,660
and island was moved out of its place, and the kings of the earth, the great men, the

825
01:06:13,660 --> 01:06:19,980
rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave, every free man, it's talking

826
01:06:19,980 --> 01:06:25,660
about people from all economic levels, the important people, the seemingly less important

827
01:06:25,660 --> 01:06:26,660
people.

828
01:06:26,660 --> 01:06:31,740
They hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains and said to the rocks

829
01:06:31,740 --> 01:06:38,420
on the mountains, fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and

830
01:06:38,420 --> 01:06:45,180
from the wrath of the lamb, for the great day of his wrath has come, and who is able

831
01:06:45,180 --> 01:06:47,420
to stand?

832
01:06:47,420 --> 01:06:51,080
So this time period, I'm going to step down and grab some water here.

833
01:06:51,080 --> 01:07:01,220
The sixth time period describes this time right before the coming of Jesus, and there's

834
01:07:01,220 --> 01:07:02,220
some signs.

835
01:07:02,220 --> 01:07:04,700
Did you notice what those signs were?

836
01:07:04,700 --> 01:07:12,420
It lists four different things, an earthquake, the sun turns black, the moon becomes like

837
01:07:12,420 --> 01:07:16,300
blood, and then the stars fall.

838
01:07:16,300 --> 01:07:18,820
So we have to once again ask that question.

839
01:07:18,820 --> 01:07:20,420
Is this literal?

840
01:07:20,420 --> 01:07:23,500
Is this symbolic?

841
01:07:23,500 --> 01:07:28,940
Now so far, everything we've said so far has been symbolic, but I'm going to throw out

842
01:07:28,940 --> 01:07:33,600
a twist here and suggest that this is literal.

843
01:07:33,600 --> 01:07:34,980
Now why would I say that?

844
01:07:34,980 --> 01:07:37,540
We're letting scripture interpret itself.

845
01:07:37,540 --> 01:07:40,660
Let's go to Matthew chapter 24.

846
01:07:40,660 --> 01:07:46,800
Matthew chapter 24, because we're going to see Jesus in this chapter about the signs

847
01:07:46,800 --> 01:07:53,180
of the times, he lists these exact same four different things.

848
01:07:53,180 --> 01:08:00,300
Matthew chapter 24, we're going to pick up the story in verse 29.

849
01:08:00,300 --> 01:08:08,840
Now notice, it says, the Bible says, immediately after the tribulation of those days, he's

850
01:08:08,840 --> 01:08:15,020
talking about this time of the persecution, the middle ages, the dark ages.

851
01:08:15,020 --> 01:08:23,020
After this time of persecution, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light,

852
01:08:23,020 --> 01:08:29,380
the stars will fall from the heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

853
01:08:29,380 --> 01:08:37,380
Jesus is saying that these things will occur after this tribulation time, after this persecution

854
01:08:37,380 --> 01:08:40,700
of the fourth and fifth seals of the middle ages.

855
01:08:40,700 --> 01:08:48,620
So we looked at those numbers from 538 down to 1798, and it's at that time when church

856
01:08:48,620 --> 01:08:58,220
and state were separated forcefully, that that persecution begun to end around that

857
01:08:58,220 --> 01:09:04,620
time right before and after that time when that church of Rome lost its governmental

858
01:09:04,620 --> 01:09:12,820
power and religious freedom became more prominent, such as, that's around the time that our own

859
01:09:12,820 --> 01:09:19,140
nation was formed in the late 1700s, giving religious freedom.

860
01:09:19,140 --> 01:09:25,780
So if these signs come after this time of persecution of the middle ages, then it would

861
01:09:25,780 --> 01:09:31,600
be around this time of the late 1700s or early 1800s.

862
01:09:31,600 --> 01:09:38,580
So let's look and see if we can find some things in history that match up to that.

863
01:09:38,580 --> 01:09:41,660
We'll go through these kind of quickly here.

864
01:09:41,660 --> 01:09:45,780
So 1755, there was something called the Lisbon earthquake.

865
01:09:45,780 --> 01:09:48,900
Lisbon is in Portugal.

866
01:09:48,900 --> 01:09:56,140
Most of us have not heard of the Lisbon earthquake, but at that time, it was the biggest earthquake

867
01:09:56,140 --> 01:09:58,540
that had hit in modern times.

868
01:09:58,540 --> 01:10:01,940
It was eight and a half or nine on the Richter scale.

869
01:10:01,940 --> 01:10:05,140
Eighty-five percent of the city was destroyed.

870
01:10:05,140 --> 01:10:14,740
Ninety thousand people died across Europe, across the Mediterranean into Africa.

871
01:10:14,740 --> 01:10:19,020
Church bells rung for miles and miles around.

872
01:10:19,020 --> 01:10:28,000
And so that is right around this time period as this time of the middle ages is coming

873
01:10:28,000 --> 01:10:30,900
to an end.

874
01:10:30,900 --> 01:10:36,300
And it's also a time when people were beginning to study Bible prophecy.

875
01:10:36,300 --> 01:10:41,060
They were beginning to open up the books of Daniel and Revelation like they never had

876
01:10:41,060 --> 01:10:42,060
before.

877
01:10:42,060 --> 01:10:46,620
So what was the next one after an earthquake?

878
01:10:46,620 --> 01:10:48,200
The sun would turn to darkness.

879
01:10:48,200 --> 01:10:55,360
So this is around that same period in 1780 in New England, in our country.

880
01:10:55,360 --> 01:11:00,820
You can look this up online, you can look this up on Wikipedia, wherever you want, and

881
01:11:00,820 --> 01:11:04,260
you can find information about this dark day.

882
01:11:04,260 --> 01:11:09,940
In the middle of the morning, darkness, when the day is supposed to be getting brighter,

883
01:11:09,940 --> 01:11:11,860
the day became dark.

884
01:11:11,860 --> 01:11:14,300
And the rest of the day, it was dark.

885
01:11:14,300 --> 01:11:19,500
The chickens came into roost, the cows came back from the field, the people meeting in

886
01:11:19,500 --> 01:11:21,160
their government houses.

887
01:11:21,160 --> 01:11:22,220
They had to make a choice.

888
01:11:22,220 --> 01:11:26,300
They could either bring in candles and continue working, or they could go home.

889
01:11:26,300 --> 01:11:30,820
They had to decide, where do we want to be if we think the world's about to end?

890
01:11:30,820 --> 01:11:35,780
And so this was in New England, Canada, throughout that part of the nation.

891
01:11:35,780 --> 01:11:42,900
And notice, shortly after that, there's another sign about the stars falling.

892
01:11:42,900 --> 01:11:49,680
Actually, I forgot to mention that dark day when the sun was gone, but when the moon came

893
01:11:49,680 --> 01:11:53,860
up that night, the moon was red, like blood.

894
01:11:53,860 --> 01:11:55,140
That was the next thing.

895
01:11:55,140 --> 01:11:59,540
It was supposed to be an awesome full moon over the next few nights, so check that out.

896
01:11:59,540 --> 01:12:03,340
But that particular night, it was a blood-red moon.

897
01:12:03,340 --> 01:12:10,080
And then in 1833, the sixth seal said that the stars would fall.

898
01:12:10,080 --> 01:12:16,420
And in 1833, there was a meteor shower, such as had never been and has never been since

899
01:12:16,420 --> 01:12:18,380
in recorded history.

900
01:12:18,380 --> 01:12:23,180
I enjoy looking out at the night sky and seeing different things.

901
01:12:23,180 --> 01:12:25,380
There's a comet you can see if you look to the west.

902
01:12:25,380 --> 01:12:28,260
I don't know if anybody has seen that.

903
01:12:28,260 --> 01:12:31,940
But sometimes you'll say, oh, there's going to be a meteor shower.

904
01:12:31,940 --> 01:12:34,260
And you'll go out, and they'll be like, it's going to be a good one.

905
01:12:34,260 --> 01:12:35,660
There's going to be 10.

906
01:12:35,660 --> 01:12:38,260
You'll see 10 meteors in an hour.

907
01:12:38,260 --> 01:12:40,340
And you go out, and maybe you'll see two or three.

908
01:12:40,340 --> 01:12:42,380
And like, wow, that's pretty neat.

909
01:12:42,380 --> 01:12:47,740
But in this particular one, in 1833, notice what was written about it.

910
01:12:47,740 --> 01:12:54,100
Only no celestial phenomenon has ever occurred in this country since its first settlement,

911
01:12:54,100 --> 01:12:59,260
which was viewed with so much admiration and delight by one class of spectators or with

912
01:12:59,260 --> 01:13:02,620
so much astonishment and fear by another class.

913
01:13:02,620 --> 01:13:09,500
The reader may imagine a constant succession of fireballs resembling skyrockets radiating

914
01:13:09,500 --> 01:13:12,980
in all directions from a point in the heavens.

915
01:13:12,980 --> 01:13:17,900
The fireballs, as they traveled down the vault, usually left after them a vivid streak of

916
01:13:17,900 --> 01:13:18,900
light.

917
01:13:18,900 --> 01:13:25,580
And just before they disappeared, they exploded or suddenly resolved themselves into smoke.

918
01:13:25,580 --> 01:13:27,140
You couldn't miss it.

919
01:13:27,140 --> 01:13:29,380
Millions of stars fell.

920
01:13:29,380 --> 01:13:33,700
And so right around that time period, there was earthquakes.

921
01:13:33,700 --> 01:13:34,940
The sky turned black.

922
01:13:34,940 --> 01:13:36,860
The moon became like blood.

923
01:13:36,860 --> 01:13:42,000
And in 1833, the stars fell from the heavens.

924
01:13:42,000 --> 01:13:50,180
And so there's one more part of this sixth seal, and that's verse 14, where it says,

925
01:13:50,180 --> 01:13:54,940
the sky receded as a scroll and every mountain and island was moved.

926
01:13:54,940 --> 01:13:58,020
That's talking about the second coming.

927
01:13:58,020 --> 01:14:01,020
That's the next thing in this time prophecy.

928
01:14:01,020 --> 01:14:08,420
So you could say in essence that in verse 13, we are living in that punctuation of the

929
01:14:08,420 --> 01:14:14,340
period at the end of that verse 13.

930
01:14:14,340 --> 01:14:16,180
But notice what happens in verse 15.

931
01:14:16,180 --> 01:14:25,460
It says there's a group of people, rich, poor, generals, slaves, and it says they all flee

932
01:14:25,460 --> 01:14:27,700
to the mountains.

933
01:14:27,700 --> 01:14:34,700
They hide in the caves and they say, fall on us and hide us from the Lamb.

934
01:14:34,700 --> 01:14:40,140
Jesus is coming, and yet there's a group of people that don't have anything to do with

935
01:14:40,140 --> 01:14:41,140
it.

936
01:14:41,140 --> 01:14:45,020
They don't want to see their Savior coming.

937
01:14:45,020 --> 01:14:51,260
Think how awful that would be to look up and see Jesus returning in the clouds of glory

938
01:14:51,260 --> 01:14:54,740
and to know that my heart is not ready.

939
01:14:54,740 --> 01:14:59,920
And instead of being excited about it, I'm running in the opposite direction.

940
01:14:59,920 --> 01:15:08,300
And so this sixth seal calls me to ask myself, am I living for Christ today?

941
01:15:08,300 --> 01:15:12,380
Because if I'm not living for Christ today, there's a good chance I'm not going to be

942
01:15:12,380 --> 01:15:19,700
living for Him tomorrow, unless I make a choice, unless I do something different.

943
01:15:19,700 --> 01:15:27,740
So there's one more seal, the seventh seal, and that is in Revelation 8 and verse 1.

944
01:15:27,740 --> 01:15:31,940
Now notice there's a whole chapter in between there, Revelation 7.

945
01:15:31,940 --> 01:15:33,340
What's going on?

946
01:15:33,340 --> 01:15:40,700
Well, Revelation 6 ends with a question, for the great day of His wrath has come, and who

947
01:15:40,700 --> 01:15:43,140
is able to stand?

948
01:15:43,140 --> 01:15:47,980
And Revelation 7 answers that question.

949
01:15:47,980 --> 01:15:53,620
Revelation 7 describes a group of people who are excited about Jesus coming.

950
01:15:53,620 --> 01:15:55,820
It gives them a couple different titles.

951
01:15:55,820 --> 01:16:02,500
Just like we said, He heard one thing, He heard 144,000, and He turns and looks in verse

952
01:16:02,500 --> 01:16:07,540
9, and He sees a great multitude which no one can number.

953
01:16:07,540 --> 01:16:13,420
And it says they're clothed in white robes, and they say salvation belongs to our God

954
01:16:13,420 --> 01:16:16,260
who sits on the throne and to the Lamb.

955
01:16:16,260 --> 01:16:21,420
We don't have time to get into all that, but chapter 7 answers that question of who is

956
01:16:21,420 --> 01:16:26,940
able to stand, who is ready to see Jesus when He comes.

957
01:16:26,940 --> 01:16:31,300
And then we look at chapter 8 and verse 1.

958
01:16:31,300 --> 01:16:38,060
It's just one verse for this seventh seal, but notice what the Bible says, when He opened

959
01:16:38,060 --> 01:16:45,660
the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about a half an hour.

960
01:16:45,660 --> 01:16:47,400
That's it.

961
01:16:47,400 --> 01:16:49,300
What is going on?

962
01:16:49,300 --> 01:16:55,460
Now there's many different potential things that people have said, but the one that I

963
01:16:55,460 --> 01:17:04,500
think reflects the best is that there's silence in heaven because all of heaven has come to

964
01:17:04,500 --> 01:17:08,740
earth to rescue God's people.

965
01:17:08,740 --> 01:17:13,340
We saw the other night, Saturday night, that when Jesus comes, there's going to be the

966
01:17:13,340 --> 01:17:18,060
voice of the archangel, there's going to be the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ

967
01:17:18,060 --> 01:17:19,420
will rise first.

968
01:17:19,420 --> 01:17:25,300
And I think there's silence in heaven because all the heavenly hosts have come to rescue

969
01:17:25,300 --> 01:17:29,640
God's people, to come to this planet to bring us home.

970
01:17:29,640 --> 01:17:36,860
And so for a short time, heaven is empty because Jesus has come to bring us home.

971
01:17:36,860 --> 01:17:44,820
So these seven seals describe what the church would go through from the time of the cross

972
01:17:44,820 --> 01:17:50,020
all the way down to the time when Jesus would come.

973
01:17:50,020 --> 01:17:54,020
And so it's not enough to say, oh, that's some interesting information.

974
01:17:54,020 --> 01:17:59,380
I now know what the seals represent, but we need to learn some lessons.

975
01:17:59,380 --> 01:18:03,740
So four lessons very briefly as we close here.

976
01:18:03,740 --> 01:18:07,320
The first lesson we can see is that God is in control.

977
01:18:07,320 --> 01:18:10,140
God has the future in control.

978
01:18:10,140 --> 01:18:17,660
Jesus says He had all of history in mind, He knew it, He has our future in control.

979
01:18:17,660 --> 01:18:23,260
A second thing we can see that God loves and cares for all of His people, those martyrs,

980
01:18:23,260 --> 01:18:31,260
those standing for Him, those who were persecuted, those who were at risk of compromising their

981
01:18:31,260 --> 01:18:37,020
faith, God loves His people, and He's not going to leave them.

982
01:18:37,020 --> 01:18:43,720
Then we see that one day all of the wrongs of this world are going to be made right.

983
01:18:43,720 --> 01:18:46,020
God is going to bring justice.

984
01:18:46,020 --> 01:18:49,940
God is going to make things right in this world.

985
01:18:49,940 --> 01:18:56,180
And finally, I think we can see that each one of us need to make a decision for Jesus

986
01:18:56,180 --> 01:18:57,180
today.

987
01:18:57,180 --> 01:19:04,020
Because after Jesus comes, after that seventh seal, there's no more time, there's no more

988
01:19:04,020 --> 01:19:05,340
opportunity.

989
01:19:05,340 --> 01:19:12,260
The choice that we make up to that point is the choice that we make for eternity.

990
01:19:12,260 --> 01:19:15,460
So we need to make a choice today.

991
01:19:15,460 --> 01:19:18,340
I don't know where you are with God.

992
01:19:18,340 --> 01:19:24,780
I don't know what God is calling you to do, but if there's anything that comes between

993
01:19:24,780 --> 01:19:29,620
you and God, you need to say, Jesus, let me walk with you.

994
01:19:29,620 --> 01:19:38,020
Jesus gives us an invitation in Hebrews chapter 3 verse 7, the Bible says, today if you hear

995
01:19:38,020 --> 01:19:42,660
my voice, do not harden your heart.

996
01:19:42,660 --> 01:19:45,960
We need to make sure that we're listening to Jesus' voice.

997
01:19:45,960 --> 01:19:49,780
We need to make sure that we can say, Lord, I love you with all of my heart, with all

998
01:19:49,780 --> 01:19:53,020
of my soul, and with all of my mind.

999
01:19:53,020 --> 01:19:54,900
And I want to surrender to you.

1000
01:19:54,900 --> 01:20:00,220
And I hope each one of us can say, Jesus, I want to surrender to you tonight.

1001
01:20:00,220 --> 01:20:02,540
Let's bow our heads for a prayer.

1002
01:20:02,540 --> 01:20:05,940
Dear God, what a passage here.

1003
01:20:05,940 --> 01:20:12,460
We've seen you at work throughout the years of history.

1004
01:20:12,460 --> 01:20:17,780
We've seen you guiding your people, protecting your people, avenging your people.

1005
01:20:17,780 --> 01:20:20,740
And we see you coming soon to take your people home.

1006
01:20:20,740 --> 01:20:23,500
And God, I want to pray for each one of us here.

1007
01:20:23,500 --> 01:20:29,580
And may we all in our heart say, Jesus, I want to follow you today.

1008
01:20:29,580 --> 01:20:31,460
I want to follow you tomorrow.

1009
01:20:31,460 --> 01:20:34,040
I want to follow you for all eternity.

1010
01:20:34,040 --> 01:20:35,540
In Jesus' name we pray.

1011
01:20:35,540 --> 01:20:55,100
Amen.