Revelation 6:1-2
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[00:00:00] But through kind of Samuel and I first, and then Mike just wait for it
Hopefully it's, uh, hopefully it's working. Uh, I'll go ahead and open us in prayer, and then we'll, uh, start. Uh, all right, let's pray. Lord, thank you so much, uh, for your Word. Thank you, uh, that we get to study it, that we can grapple with it, uh, and that it's, it's just... It's not a one-time thing, Lord, but a- actually it's a lifelong thing, and we can learn and we can add to that knowledge and make better application as we get older and hopefully wiser.
So Father, I just pray that you'd help us understand this book. Help us understand it properly so that we can apply it properly
Father, I just pray that, you know, if we have questions, we'll ask. If we, if we're confused, we'll, we'll, we'll ask. And, uh, uh, just again, help us [00:01:00] understand these words. Uh, we know they were meant to be understood. So we ask all this in Christ's name. Thank you. Amen. Amen.
All right. I wasn't really planning on doing a ton of review. I was gonna start with a couple questions, and then, uh, if you guys have questions on the last couple of weeks. In the last couple of weeks that we met, um, we went over millennial views. So my question for you is, how many different, not schools of thought, but major millennial views are there?
Three. Three. Three? Four. Four. Or four. That's-- Most people will say that, and that's a, a good answer. Um, three or four, and the reason we say three or four is because there's two versions of the what? What's your- Dispensational. Of the pre-millennial. Pre-millennial view. Okay. There's two versions of the pre-millennial view, and you named one of them, dispensational.
What's the other pre-millennial view?[00:02:00]
Historic pre-mill. All right, historic pre-mill. So you have the historic pre-mill, the dispensational pre-mill. What are the last two millennial views? Am-amillennial Close. Post-millennium. How about that? That's easy. Post-millennialism. Amillennialism. And amill- amillennialism. So, um,
obv- obviously we, we looked at that because we're looking at the Book of Revelation. So who remembers which, uh-- And again, this isn't 100% all the time. Well, the first one is, uh, but the other three, there's some variations. But in the dispensational, uh, premillennial view, who remembers what is the common, uh, view or way of looking at the Book of Revelation?
In the premil-- Uh, no, I'm sorry, I said that all wrong. Premil dispensational view. I'm thinking- Interpret the Bible future? All right, it's a futurist view. [00:03:00] A futurist view. And, um, real simply, who can tell me what's meant by premil? What's the simplest way of understanding the a, the pre, and the post? It's in the future It is in the future, yes.
But I'm, I'm, I'm trying to narrow it down just so that we understand timetables. We know it's in the future, but what is meant by pre-mil, say, over against post-mil? What's the pre referring to? Pre-tribulation. Nope, that's one school of thought. The, the when the- Well, the pre-millennial would be the thousand-year reign.
Okay, they all have a thousand-year reign. But this
is- Like a return ... the reign happens- Jesus comes before- Pre-mil is the thought that- Before ... Christ The m- the reign No, he's ascended. So, uh, Randy's got it. So the
pre-mill means that Jesus returns pre-millennium, okay? So Jesus is gonna [00:04:00] return before the millennium because in the dispensational pre-mill view, he literally rules from the throne of David in Jerusalem, uh, for a literal thousand years, okay? And then the historic pre-mill view is, to the best of my knowledge, 'cause that's probably the weakest view, uh, s- or I have the weakest knowledge of that view because it's simply not that popular today, although there's a very good church in town that holds to a historic pre-mill view.
Um, but they-- to my knowledge, they are usually futuristic, too, in terms of how they interpret the Book of Revelation. So what about the a-mill view? What's the standard school of thought? And again, there's some variation, but what's the standard school of thought in a-mill?
That would be the idealist view or the recapitulatory view. So the, [00:05:00] uh, and you can call it either name, but the idealist or the recapitulatory view, again, breaks the Book of Revelation into seven parts, and according to that view, each one of the seven parts takes you from the first coming of Christ to the second coming of Christ.
Okay? So that would be the recapitulatory element. The idealist element is because it takes you from the first to the second coming, and it does it seven times, it basically presents spiritual principles as to how we should live in this world. Okay. That's the a-a-mil? That's the a-mil, but specifically it's their, how they usually interpret the Book of Revelation.
So we're really doing two things here. One is a millennial view, and one is how do they typically interpret the Book of Revelation, because there are preteristic a-mils out there. Mm-hmm. There are some amillennialists who would take more of a preteristic view of Revelation, but the standard, more historical view is a-mils are [00:06:00] typically idealist/recapitulatory.
So like OPC is amillennial, typically. Uh- How- Typically, yes, although I know several OPC pastors that aren't, but- Okay ... Fonston was an OPC pastor. John Frame was an OPC pastor. Neither one of those were a-mil. So Steve. Rushdoony. What was the year, word you used? You said idealistic/something view.
Recapitulatory. Okay. And again, so basically you got seven parts of Revelation, and they each recap the same material. Okay. That's where the recapitulatory comes in. Okay, and then what is the correc- I mean, the last view? Uh- Postmillennialism. Okay, postmillennialism. And then postmillennialism usually takes or historically has taken which view of the Book of Revelation?
Preterist. Okay. Uh, either a, uh, full or partial preterist view. Um, and the partial [00:07:00] preterist view basically sees the majority of the book as having been fulfilled around the time of 70 AD. Um, again, there are some variations there, um, and then, uh, there are elements in the last several chapters that are yet future.
Okay. And I say there are variations because most preterists that I know of understand the book as dealing with the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Greg Bahnsen held the view that the first half of the book dealt with the fall of Jerusalem. The second half of the book actually dealt with the fall of Rome and finished and coming to pass around 325 AD.
So there are some slight variations in that, in that view. And just for the sake of people not misunderstanding or being confused on where we're going, what view do I hold? Post. Partial preterist. Okay, post partial preterist. That's very good. Postmillennial partial preterist. Okay. Any other questions on any of the millennial views or anything that we've [00:08:00] kind of done up till now?
What would be an example of a full preterist? So full preterist, and it, it'll be difficult to wrap your heads around it, but it is an interesting view. Number one, they would say the entirety of the Book of Revelation has been fulfilled. Hmm. Okay? So they would see the coming of Christ-- I, I've spoken, and I don't wanna confuse anyone, but I have spoken, and I've said that Christ came in 70 AD.
But when I use that language, I'm talking about a judgment coming, and you can s- find multiple judgment comings of Yahweh in the Old Testament, and it is usually described as coming in the storm or coming in the clouds. The day of the Lord. And if he's-- What's that? The day of the Lord type. Yes. Yes. And there, there's harbingers in the Old Testament to the day of the Lord language, okay?
Um, so when I say Jesus returned in 70 AD, I'm talking about a spiritual [00:09:00] coming in judgment upon Jerusalem and, and closing down, wiping out, shutting down the old covenant system, okay? But a full preterist would say, "No, that's actually the second coming. That was the second coming. There actually was a resurrection.
It should be understood spiritually. Um, and you know, we're, we're in the new heavens and the new earth full-blown, but it's gonna grow and get better in time." So where I would argue, yes, I think we're in the new heavens and the new earth, I would argue we're in the new world, but we're not in the consummate form, and that will come with the return of Christ.
I do believe things will get better. I do believe that when Christ returns, he will return to a Christian world. Somebody asked me about that, uh, after Bible study the last time, and the best way I've ever been able to explain it is if you go to an airport today, and you're sitting in the airport, chances are when you look around, the majority of the people [00:10:00] there are probably non-Christians.
Okay? I believe that prior to Christ's return, if you went to that same airport, the majority of the people sitting there would be believers. It would be odd to run into an unbeliever, where now you're often surprised when you run into another believer. Pleasantly surprised, but it's like, "Oh," you know. So, um, that's kind of the illustration or the analogy that I would give, so.
That's why you call it's an optimistic view. Yes. It's an op-optimistic view. Um, and amillennialism can be optimistic, too. Historic amillennialism was always optim-optimistic. Um, but there is a view of amillennialism today typically referred to as the two kingdom view, and kind of the home of that view, believe it or not, is Westminster West, uh, in Escondido.
Um, but that is a much more pessimistic view of the future So like I said, there are definitely variations on [00:11:00] the different schools of thought. So any other questions before we start with Revelation chapter six?
All right. Uh, open up to Revelation chapter six. And we'll go around, and we'll just have everyone read. So, I mean, I'm not gonna twist your arm, so if you don't wanna read, you can pass over it. But, uh, we'll start with Matt and just read two verses at a time, and we're just gonna read through all of Revelation chapter six.
And I'm just gonna warn you right now, uh, in order to understand chapter six, we're gonna have to back up, and we're gonna do a little bit of reading today 'cause we gotta look at some Old Testament passages. So Matt, if you would start And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four [00:12:00] beasts saying, "Come and see."
And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he's, he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer. All right, pause for a minute. What ver- Oh, you've got the King James. King James. Okay. Did you notice... How many of your versions say, "Come and see"? What version do you have?
It's New King James. New King James. Okay. Anybody else? Okay. Well, I'll address that when we get to it. Uh, but just to help you as you understand, I think it's simply come. So the way I would interpret that, and I think the textual evidence points, that's why I know it's King James, um, is the angel that op- the, the, the angel-- Jesus opens the seal, and then one of the mighty angels tells, and I believe it's a demon, "Come, and do what Christ has predestined you to do."
But we'll get into the details momentarily. So go ahead, Brock. When he broke the [00:13:00] second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, "Come." And another, a red horse, went out: and to him who sat on it, it was granted to take peace from the earth: and that man would slay one another: and a great sword was given to him
When he broke the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, "Come." I looked, and behold, a black horse, and the one who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard something like a voice in the center of the four living creatures saying, "A quart of wheat for denarius and three quarts of barley for denarius, and do not damage the oil and the wine."
When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, "Come." And I looked, and behold, a pale horse and its rider's name was Death, and Hades followed him, and they were given authority over a fourth of the k-- of the earth to kill with a sword, and with famine, and with pestilence, [00:14:00] and by wild beasts of the earth.
When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice saying, "How long, O Lord, holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell
Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been When they opened the sixth seal, I looked and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun came-- became black as sackcloth.
As the moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell [00:15:00] to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. The sky was rolled up like a scroll, and all the mountains and islands were moved from their places. Then everyone, the kings of the
earth, the rulers, the generals, the wealthy, the powerful, and every slave and free person all hid themselves in caves and among the rocks and the mountains. Calling to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us."
Mike, go ahead. Pick up, Mike, if you don't mind or, or, uh Becca, uh, uh, the first three verses of chapter seven After those I saw four angels
be for or against any
Then I saw another angel ascending from [00:16:00] the rising of the sun with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, saying, "Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the sev-- the servants of our God on their foreheads."
Okay. So, uh, one question I have, um, what seal does chapter six end with?
The sixth? The sixth seal. So he hasn't opened all seven. So he ends, chapter six ends with the sixth seal, and then again, just a little review to make sure that we understand what's going on here, um
John is writing in the late '60s, okay? But he has a vision on the Lord's Day, and Jesus brings him into heaven. And I have argued that in this vision, he's taken back in time. [00:17:00] So approximately what year or what event is going on when John goes to heaven and sees this vision? And again, I'm not trying to test you or quiz you, but I wanna make sure that we're re- on the same page and w- we remember what's going on here.
The falling of Jerusalem. Okay, not yet. Oh. Jesus ascending to- Okay ... the throne. John goes back to about 30 AD in this vision. 30 AD. Okay? Because in chapter five, uh, chapters five and six, they're looking for somebody to open the scroll, and there's nobody in heaven who can open the scroll. And then all of a sudden, one like the Son of Man approaches, and all of a sudden everyone's rejoicing in heaven 'cause, hey, he's worthy to open the scroll.
So what I've argued for is chapter five and six, the scene in heaven corresponds to the scene in Daniel seven. It's the ascension of Christ. Okay? So John's vision takes us back-- And I'm not gonna nitpick on years because I'm not sure that [00:18:00] Revelation is meant to be understood that way. But I think we can follow the general outline.
John sees a vision, and basically he's beholding the ascension of Christ, and Christ coming to the throne of David, okay? And part of Christ receiving the throne of David is he's given a scroll, and he's gonna open it up because he's going to bring judgment on the old covenant system, which should have gone away at his crucifixion, but it didn't, okay?
Because there were those in, in Israel that rejected him. So he's going to judge that system and take it out of the way, and he's going to pour out the judgments promised, as we will see all the way back in the Pentateuch, upon his old covenant people, okay? If you remember, again, the brief history of Israel, he's already divorced the northern kingdom.
He sent the northern kingdom into captivity, and he gave them a certificate of divorce, okay? Now he's [00:19:00] going to divorce the southern kingdom, okay? Um, and in a sense, in a weird sense, so you're gonna have to follow me here, but in a weird sense, he's going to divorce the southern kingdom, but then he's gonna remarry her.
But according to the law, can you do that? According to the law of Moses, if you divorce your wife and she remarries, which is why he's divorcing Judah, because Judah has entered into idolatry and has married foreign gods, can a man then remarry his wife according to the law of Moses
No ... if she remarries If, if you divorce your, your wife for the wrong reason and she goes and remarries, then Jesus' words are you've, you've basically caused her to become an adulteress. Okay? Um, or-- and if you do-- Well, I'll just leave it at that for now so that we don't get too far afield. Okay. Uh, [00:20:00] well, basically, according to the law, if a man divorces his wife, and he gives her a certificate of divorce, and she remarries, he is not allowed to remarry her.
So let's say she divorces her new husband, he can't remarry her. Okay? Um, but what would enable the man to remarry anyone he wanted? Her death. Widow. Her death. Yeah. Yeah. Only in this case- Death ... the man dies because Jesus dies on the cross. So it frees him- Oh ... to come in in a new sense- Oh ... and marry, remarry Israel because the church is grafted into Israel, only now it's a new covenant and a new relationship and a new marriage and a new bride.
So all of that-- One light bulb went off, so I'm happy. Um, so all of that is built into this, so we can see that the entire Bible talks about this. Okay? [00:21:00] Um, but anyway, we got the sixth seal. Who's opening the seals? The Lamb. Jesus. Jesus. Okay. So Jesus is opening the seals. And then who's calling forth the content of the seals?
One of the living creatures Okay. The one of the living creatures, so mighty angels in heaven. Okay? So Jesus is opening the seal, and then, uh, empowered by Jesus with authority, the angels, the living creatures are call- calling forth the contents of the seal. Okay? And chapter six ends with seal number six, and then when we get to chapter seven, there's a pause.
And we'll-- I'll explain the pause and everything momentarily, but jump to chapter eight
Okay, so in chapter eight, when the Lamb broke the seventh seal, so now we come back to the seals, okay? [00:22:00] When the Lamb broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about a half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. So the seventh seal opens up the seven trumpets.
But there's an interesting thing here in chapter eight. When the Lamb broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about a half hour. And most scholars and Bible commentaries, uh, have come to the conclusion that men actually go to heaven first, and women don't come for another 30 minutes.
Just seeing if you're
listening. That's what the pie slaughter is for. Just making sure you're tracking with me. I don't want this to get too heady on you, so. And obviously Danny's heard this before. I understood that one.
All right, my apologies. Okay, so we're gonna back up um in your handout [00:23:00] on the back page of your your handout there is a chart that looks like this
And I just want to give you a quick rundown, and then we'll start going... Well, we're gonna back up and do some, some background reading. But what I've tried to do here is I've tried to bring together, and I won't go over this in detail, because you can look at it when you go home. But I've tried to go over, and what I've tried to do is coordinate what is-- what I believe Jesus is talking about in Matthew 24, which is the Olivet Discourse, with what's going on in Revelation chapter 6 through 8, and tie it to what the background information.
So this isn't simultaneous. Matthew 24 and Revelation, that's going on simultaneously. The Ezekiel passages, chapter 1 and chapter 6, that's background information that's gonna help us understand what's going on here. Does that make sense? Okay. [00:24:00] So why don't we, in order to get some background information, why don't we, um, turn to Zechariah chapter 6?
And so Zechariah chapter six, and we are gonna read, uh, verses one through eight. Okay? Um, so, um, let's see. Where'd we stop reading? Paula? Yeah. Would you like to start? No. I haven't found it yet. I'm still looking. He has it also on the paper. Yeah, but we're gonna read the first six verses, so we're gonna read more than that.
Oh, okay. So
say what, where, where we're going again? Zechariah six. Chapter six. Ze- Zechariah chapter six. Zechariah comes towards the end of the minor prophets. Chariots one through [00:25:00] eight. And what I'm-- Remember what I said early on. All the symbolism, uh, that's going on in the Book of Revelation, if we're gonna understand it properly, the first place we wanna look is the Old Testament.
Do we find this same symbolism anywhere in the Old Testament that can give us a clue as to what's going on? And- Second to last book. So- Yes. Oh, yeah. Zechariah six beginning in verse one. Okay, I'm almost there. I'm a little slow. Got dirty glasses, that's my excuse. "Now I lifted up my eyes again and I looked, behold, four chariots were coming forth between the two mountains and the mountains were bron- were bronze mountains.
With the first chariot there were red horses, with the second chariot black horses."
Rich? Oh, okay. With the third chariot, white horses, and with the fourth chariot, strong spotted horses. So I responded and said to the angel who was speaking [00:26:00] with me, "What are these, my lord?" And the angel answered and said to me, "These are the four spirits of heaven going forth after standing before the Lord of all the earth.
And with one of which the black horses are going forth to the north country, and the white ones go forth after them, while the dappled ones go forth to the south country." And they went forth, and sought to go that they might walk to and fro through the earth: and he said, Go, get you hence, walk to and fro through the earth.
So they walked to and fro through the earth. And he cried-- Then cried he upon me, and spake unto me, saying, Behold, these that go toward the north country have quieted my spirit
That is it. Okay. So let me, uh, explain or let me lay out how I understand this passage, and I think contextually if you read it. So what we have here... Well, even before I do that, we have four [00:27:00] horses and horsemen in the Book of Revelation. So what are some of the differences between what we read in Revelation and Ezekiel?
The order. What's that? The order.
Hoarder of horses? Order Order of horses. Okay. In terms of color, you mean? Yeah. Okay. All right. So, um, all right, what else? You, you are correct. What else?
Okay, we have chariots. So one would assume two to four horses, okay? And although the text doesn't say it, with chariots usually there's a charioteer. So, you know, we would assume there's somebody driving the horses. Uh, any-- Did anything else jump out at you? Everything is Okay. No, I don't think so, but we'll, we'll see in a minute.
Um, at least one of the colors is different. [00:28:00] Dappled. Dappled. Okay, dappled, where in the Book of Revelation, most translations will say sickly or pale, I'm gonna argue green. The actual Greek says green, and most translators don't want to translate it green because most horses aren't green. Hmm. But these aren't real horses.
Okay? So- Ashen. But the tech-- Yeah, a lot of it, they'll say ashen or pale, but the, the word, and it's used elsewhere in the New Testament, and everywhere else it's ever used, it's translated green, 'cause that's what it means. So it's a green horse. All right? And what I would argue that what's going on in Zechariah, and this is kind of important because what we find in the Book of Revelation is gonna be a twist.
But what's going on in Zechariah, and again, bringing in some Old Testament background and bringing in the Book of Daniel, Israel went into captivity, and at the end of captivity, Israel returned to her land, but she never really regained her kingdom. I mean, she was a vassal kingdom from that time onward, even [00:29:00] to Rome.
Okay? And I think that what's going on in the Book of Daniel is Daniel talks about these four kingdoms that are gonna arise, and the purpose of these four kingdoms is basically to create a safe place for Israel. So Babylon created a place, Daniel became a leader. Uh, at the end of that, uh, Persia took over.
Israel was allowed to go back to their land. But basically, these pagan nations, these, uh, um, the Goyim, the pagan nations, were supposed to create a space for Israel to be safe, Israel to recoup, Israel to heal, Israel to start being a blessing, blessing to the world. Okay? So what God is doing here in Ezekiel 6 is He's got His charioteers, and He's sending them out to the four corners of the earth to see what's going on.
And we know from reading, when one of these nations turns on Israel, what happens to the nation? They're judged. [00:30:00] Okay? Persia, at first, was friendly to Israel, but then they started to turn. We read the story in Esther. Okay? The nation's judged. And then Greece takes over, and at first, Greece historically is friendly to Israel, but then we get, uh, Antioch Epiphanes and some other characters, and they turn on Israel.
Greece is defeated. And then Rome comes on the scene, and Rome is supposed to protect Israel, but we see Rome turning on Israel as well. Rome will ultimately be judged. Okay? So what we have in Ezekiel is, I think these are good angels going out to patrol the world to protect Israel and to judge pagan nations.
Does that make sense? Question. Yes. Who is Israel? In the Ezekiel passage, it would be the southern kingdom that returned from exile from Babylon. Would it be the same that the Romans are dealing with? Yes.[00:31:00]
Uh, what was his question? The second part of the question? Who, who is Israel in this context? The southern part. In the southern part. And would it-- Would-- Is, is it the same, uh, Israel that Rome is dealing with? Okay. And your answer was? Yes. Yes. Does that make sense? Does that answer your question? It did. Okay.
Um, so that's one thing we have going on. Now turn back to, um, Leviticus 26
So are you saying these are like two separate occasions? Yes. What I'm saying is Ezekiel is giving us some background information on how we should interpret the horses in the Book of Revelation. Leviticus, what, 26 did you say? Yeah, Leviticus 26, and we are gonna start... Let me read, uh [00:32:00] Well, actually, uh, just to shorten it, and you can go home and read this on your own, um, but, uh, Brock, would you read verse 18?
And then Randy verse 21, and then Andrew verse 24, and then Yoshi verse 28. "If also after these things you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins." Seven times more for your sins. Okay, verse 21. Yep. "Yet if you show hostility towards Me and are unwilling to obey Me, I will increase the plague on you seven times according to your sins."
Seven times. Verse 24. Of chapter what? Uh, Leviticus 26, verse 24
Is that me? Yeah
Leviticus 26:24. Uh, "Then I also will walk contrary to you, and I will [00:33:00] punish you yet seven times for your sins." Okay. And then verse 28. "Then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury; and I, even I, chastise you seven times more for your sins." Okay. So we have this predicted all the way back in the Book of Revelation-- or in the Book of Leviticus, and then we get to the Book of Revelation.
How many seals do we have? Seven. How many trumpets do we have? Seven. How many bowls of wrath do we have? Seven. Seven. Is there another seven in the Book of Revelation that might correspond to what Leviticus is saying There is, it's just easy to miss. And it's an, it's an odd-- And when we get there, we'll, we'll try to talk about it more.
But in chapter 10, verses one through four, there are seven thunders. But the odd thing in the Book of Revelation is John is about to write it in a book, and God tells him not to write it. That's so weird. That he's gonna seal it up. Okay? But [00:34:00] basically, we have four sets of seven in Leviticus, and when we get to book, the Book of Revelation, we actually have four sets of seven: seven seals, seven trumpets, seven bowls, seven thunders.
So what's happening is God is carrying out His covenant threats, His, um, His covenant curses upon the nation of Israel, who has crucified her Messiah, rejected her Messiah, and continues to offer temple worship, which is now blasphemous and pagan because the Messiah has come. The divorce? Sorry. The divorce
wouldn't have had happened at this time yet though, right? Not back in Leviticus. Can you just say what were the verses in Leviticus 26? I didn't catch them. So I, I would encourage you read the entire chapter, but the specific verses that talk about a sevenfold punishment are [00:35:00] verses 18, 21, 24, and 28
Okay. Now go to the little... Well, no, we already did that, so that's fine. Any-- Have I lost you? 'Cause I don't wanna lose you. So say again, I'm sorry, what those four v- verses were indicating. A sevenfold curse. And what I'm saying is-- What I'm t- what I'm trying to do is I'm trying to give you background information to help you understand what's going on in the Book of Revelation.
So first of all, we have God promising that, "If you disobey me in the future," and Moses makes it very clear you're gonna do this, okay? "But if you disobey me in the future, I will punish you sevenfold," and he repeats it four times. When we get to the Book of Revelation, [00:36:00] we see this sevenfold punishment, and we see four sets of sevenfold punishment, just like we see in the Book of Leviticus.
Then when we get to the Book of Ezekiel, we see a little-- I'm sorry, Zechariah, but we see a little in Ezekiel as well. When we get to the Book of Zechariah, we see these horsemen, okay? And the horsemen are clearly identified in the Book of Zechariah. They're angels. They're angelic beings, okay? They have color to them, all right?
Part of their purpose is to go patrol the world and punish any nation that's a threat to Israel. Now we jump all the way to the Book of Revelation, so you can go back to Revelation chapter six, and what I would argue is going on is Israel now has become Babylon. Israel now has become the apostate nation, and now Jesus is opening these [00:37:00] seals.
The living creatures are calling forth demonic beings, and these demonic beings are gonna go and begin judging Israel. That's the picture that we have in Revelation chapter six. You've said before that, um, people living at that time seeing these events or reading this would have known based
on the Old Testament. Right. So like for them, they made all these connections. Right. Okay. And so- How do, how do we know that?
Because when, when, when John is writing, John says, um, this is meant to be understood. Hmm. And so what, what, uh, what I am arguing for, and, and most preterist commentators that I know of would argue the same thing, the original readers, because this is a very Jewish book, he's-- I believe he's writing, he's writing to the church.
Um, but [00:38:00] remember, the first century church was birthed from Israel. So the ones understanding it would be the Christian Jews? Yes. Similar to like the parables where the, like the ones who are not going to hear and understand wouldn't understand it. Right. Okay. Yes. So it would have been the Christian Jews.
I dare say the 144,000 that he's gonna talk about in the next chapter. Okay. Um, I dare say, and I, I, I hope, and I hope I'm not getting too far ahead of myself, but I hope this will be helpful when we put Revelation 6, 7, and 8 together. Remember the passage in, uh, Peter? Um, and it's a very difficult passage, um, and those that aren't Calvinists love to refer to it.
So if somebody can remember it, 'cause I'm drawing a blank on the verse, but basically, um, it's the verse with the 1,000 years, a, a day is like 1,000 years, 1,000 years like a day, because God is patient, not wishing for any to perish. Do you all remember that verse? Mm-hmm. Okay. Well, what I would argue for [00:39:00] is that verse is dealing with the same topic as chapter seven of Revelation Jesus has been unsealing the scroll.
The living creatures have been saying, "Come, do your damage." But at the-- at-- after the sixth seal is opened, all of a sudden, stop. There's gonna be a pause. And when you look at Revelation chapter 7, what's the pause? God seals a hundred and forty-four thousand Jews to be saved. And until those... And I'm, I'm not saying it's a literal number, I think it's figurative.
But until that number comes in, the judgment is on hold, or at least it's only coming out in a trickling form. Until that hundred and forty-four thousand, whatever number it refers to, until they come in, God is patient, not wishing for any to perish. [00:40:00] I think it helps explain other verses if we understand the Book of Revelation the way I think John meant it to be understood
All right. Um, All right, Revelation 6:1. Let's, let's walk through the different verses. Um, and what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna walk through the seven seals, and I'm gonna give you the general understanding of these seals, okay? And I would argue that in some form or another, um, almost everyone sees it this way.
Uh, the difference is in the timing, okay? So we're gonna walk through the first four seals, and then we're gonna back up, and I'm gonna try to be a little more specific in what these seals m-might be. So Revelation 6:1. Uh, "Then I saw the Lamb," Jesus. He's already been identified as the Lamb in verses-- in chapters four and five.
[00:41:00] "Then I saw the Lamb. Then I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures," these are the living creatures that are around the throne of God, "saying with a voice of thunder, 'Come.'" And I would argue that the Greek text, the best we-- the best evidence that we have, that's where it ends.
It's a command to come, okay? And what the angel is doing is he's calling forth the rider. All right? And then in verse two, "And I looked," this is John speaking. "I looked, and behold, a white horse. And he who sat upon it had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer." All right?
Um, in the past when you've studied this book or whatever, do you remember what you've been taught as far as what is this white horse? What is this person riding the white horse? What do we got going here?[00:42:00]
Wouldn't, wouldn't some say it's Jesus? Yeah. Some have argued that it's Jesus. In fact, that was Bonson's view, that the firstborn, and I think it was Rushdoony's too, but I could be wrong. Uh, they would argue that it was Jesus. Yeah. Okay? Now- Sometimes I think the same as other people ... with the Zechariah background Where, where do you, where would your mind go?
Huh?
Angel. It's an angelic being Epiphanies Okay. Only I would argue that in the, the, the difference is in the Zechariah passage, they appear to be good angels. Here, they are wicked. They're wicked angels. They're fallen angels, okay? And they're operating under the authority and the sovereignty of Christ. Where are you drawing that from?
Because of what they do. Okay. [00:43:00] Okay. Not only because of what they do, but I'm gonna try to identify them a little more specifically in a moment, and it corresponds to the beast. So the beast is a fallen angel. He's a beast, but he also appears to be an empire, and he also appears to be a man. So there's, there's some coming together of the, these symbols, okay?
So here, I would argue, um, Jesus is opening the seals. The good angels are commanding them to come forth, and when these spiritual beings come forth, they don't do anything good. Okay? It's all wicked, and it's all evil, and it's judgment against Israel. So I would understand these as demonic beings. But I, I also think that it's possible That they correspond to certain individuals.
Hmm. But that's what we'll explore. But what I am sure of is they're demonic, and this first one has [00:44:00] something to do with, I think, Roman imperialism or Rome, Roman expansion. Okay? A lot of people would say war, and a lot of, uh, commentators would agree on that. The question is: When does the war take place?
That's where the commentators disagree. With this one being on a white horse and having given-- being given a crown, um, conquering and to conquer, so there's victory involved with this being? No. I w- I would say not so much victory, I would say intent. Intent? His intent is to conquer and to conquer. So it also seems like this being has leadership maybe in a grander way than the others.
Okay. Being given a crown and the others- I like that ... don't have a crown. Would this be a-- the Antichrist? Okay. So, um, I'm glad you brought that up 'cause [00:45:00] we'll-- let's take a pause on this, and let's, let's talk about what this might be. So, um, some commentators, some really good commentaries-- commentators have argued that this is Christ, okay?
Because in the Book of Psalms, if you're, if you wanna write notes or whatever, in Psalm 45, uh, the King of Israel is pictured as riding a white horse. Uh, in Revelation 19 as well as Revelation 14, uh, Jesus is pictured as wearing a crown. Um, he's also, I believe, in 19, uh, riding a, a white horse. Um, this creature is, and you picked up on this, he's commanded to conquer, to go out and conquer, and Jesus is described as conquering in chapter three verse 21, chapter five verse five, chapter 17 verse 14.
Okay? Um, and again, Jesus is depicted as being on a white horse. Okay? So some commentators have argued that this, this, this is [00:46:00] Jesus
He went out conquering and to conquer. Yeah. Yes. But I would argue that the, the grammar is, it's simply showing intent. Okay. Okay? I'm not saying he's not successful at all. We'll look at that in a minute. Mm-hmm. But it's mostly showing intent. All right. Now let me give you some reasons why I don't think it's Jesus.
Okay? Um, the beast is described as conquering. Same exact Greek word. Okay? So just because this person is conquering doesn't necessarily mean it's Jesus. It could be the beast or an evil spirit. And in chapter 11 and 13, the beast is described as conquering. Okay? In Zechariah chapter 6 and chapter 1, our background chapter, all the horses are of the same nature.
Okay? So if the first horse is Jesus, then the other four horses need to be divine if we're sticking with our [00:47:00] background information. All right? Um, in Revelation chapter 12 and 3, the evil spirits are described as wearing white because they're counterfeit Christs. Yeah. They're mocking, all right? In, um, Mark chapter 13, Matthew 27, Luke chapter 21 is-- which is the Olivet Discourse, which I have argued this is John's version of the Olivet Discourse, false Christs come.
False Christs go out into the world. Um, this kinda is, is the same as what I said about the Ezekiel and the four, uh, the horses all being of the same nature. But there, there seems to be a quartet here with the first four seals. We see the same thing with the first four trumpets, and we see the same thing with the first four bowls.
Okay? And they all seem to be evil spirits performing evil. Um, I don't find this overly convincing, but a lot of people do. Christ is opening the [00:48:00] seals, and in the view that this is Christ, you have Him opening the seal and going out. Yeah. Okay? In addition to that, and to me, this is the, the-- to me, more important, Christ is opening the seals, and then you have an angel commanding.
What angel's gonna command Christ? The angel commands the rider to come forth. No angel's in a loud voice, authoritatively gonna tell Christ to come forth. Yeah. Would, would they just say that's the la- or that's the literal-
Yes and no. It, that-- you'd have to make a textual argument for that. So there, a lot would go into that argument to make that argument. Uh, but yes, that would be, uh, that would be one line of thought that, you know, [00:49:00] "Well, you got it wrong, Mike. It's come see," and it's addressed to John. Mm-hmm. Okay? And, you know, this is not a hill to die on.
If, if you're dead set this is Christ Jesus, okay, fine. I think it, I think it breaks up the pattern, though. Okay? Well, if, if it was Christ, who would give him a crown? Exactly. Eh- It's like it-- that doesn't seem to make sense. Right. Christ already has the crown. He has a crown. Yeah. Because here- And nobody else has crowns
yeah, that's very good. So look at, uh- Well, I think he says coming though ... um, if you look at all the horsemen, and just look at verse two, but if you look at all the horsemen, you're gonna see the same thing. "I looked, behold, a white horse. He who sat upon it had a bow, and a crown was given to him." And with all the horses, their power is given to them.
You don't give Christ power. What's that? You don't give Christ power. You don't give Christ power. You don't command Christ to come forth. So again, I just think it breaks up the pattern when you start to look at the pattern. But some really good men that I respect highly still see it as Jesus Christ, okay?[00:50:00]
Uh, Greg Bahnsen, Doug Wilson, um, and others would see it as Jesus Christ. So,
um- And where are these riders being called out of? If they're being called to come, where are they coming from? A- again, I don't think the book of Revel-- I, I don't think that's the point- I know, but I'm curious ... of what we're-- I, I would say- A portal ... wherever- A portal. So again, this gets a little tricky 'cause there's some-- there's a lot of theology that would be involved.
But wherever evil spirits are prior to 70 AD Wherever, and I, I know that sounds vague, but that's because when Christ conquers the old covenant, I think C- Christ also conquers more of the demonic world. And I think by the end of Revelation, some demons are being bound. Yes. Okay? So wherever evil spirits dwell at this time would be my best answer [00:51:00] Because again, I think it changes with the new covenant and Christ setting up his kingdom.
So another one, 'cause I know we're running out of time, and I really apologize. If I've confused you, let me know 'cause I'll start over. Not tonight. Maybe. Oh. I saw all your eyes roll simultaneous. No. Um, okay, others would argue this is the Antichrist. Others would argue this is the Antichrist. Well, here's my biggest problem with the Antichrist view.
The Book of Revelation doesn't mention an Antichrist. We have so misinterpreted the Antichrist. There is no one single Antichrist. Nowhere is a single Antichrist mentioned in scripture
I think- Yeah, that's- No [00:52:00] I agree with you. No, because there are amillennials who would argue that it's antichrists as, as well. Um, but I think the influence of premillennialism has taught us to think in a way that's not biblical. Okay. So for instance, you write these verses down. You don't need to turn there, I'll read them to you.
Who knows the only place in the Bible where the term antichrist is used? Anybody? Uh, Matthew. 1 John. Nope. Okay. The Epistles of John. They're used in 1 John and 2 John. Okay? And the first mention of the antichrist, is it singular or plural? Plural. Plural. Plural. Okay, so in 1 John 2:18, John is writing, "Children," get this 'cause this is important, "Children, it is the last hour."
So Jesus, Peter talked about the last days, but John, who's writing probably somewhere in the 60s, John says, "Now it's the last [00:53:00] hour." Not the last days anymore, last hour. So something's getting close. "Children, it is the last hour. And just as you heard that antichrist," singular, "is coming, even now many antichrists," plural, "have appeared.
From this we know it is the last hour." Okay? So you should be scratching your head. Who's this antichrist? What is an antichrist? John answers the question. First John chapter 2 verse 22: "Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Messiah? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son."
So would that be anybody that denies- Anyone that denies- Even- ... the divinity of Jesus is an antichrist. But even today. Even today, yes. And even if you twist stuff around to make it seem like you're a quote, unquote Christian- Right. Yes ... you would be considered an antichrist. Yeah. Sort of chant[00:54:00]
Generally
I never understood it that way as a corporate reference to Old Testament Israel. Again, because John goes back and forth between the singular and the plural, singular being the concept or the idea, plural being there's a lot of people that qualify as this. Okay? So again, 1 John 2:22: "Who's the liar but the one who denies Jesus is the Christ," denies that Jesus is the Messiah.
This is, uh, this is the Antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. 1 John 4:3, "And every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of Antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world." So even if you thought this Antichrist was, you know, this powerful demonic [00:55:00] figure, he's already in the world in John's day.
He's not a future person. He's already in the world in John's day. And then 2 John verse 7, uh, John writes, "For many deceivers have gone out into the world," present tense. "Many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh." So the Antichrist denies that Jesus is the Messiah, but he also denies that Jesus is the ar- incarnate God-man.
Deny that Jesus has come in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the Antichrist. Okay? So John presents it as both a concept that is fulfilled by a multitude of people. What was that verse? The 2 John- 2 John 7. So if you deny that Jesus is Messiah, you're an Antichrist. If you deny that Jesus is incarnate, has come in the flesh, you're an Antichrist.
Okay? Antichrist is never used in the [00:56:00] Book of Revelation. It's never used of a single, all-powerful, almost all-powerful being. We've just been taught that for so long that we think that way It's like what fruit did Adam get to eat- Yeah, we think it's an apple ... yeah, did Eve give Adam? Yeah. Everybody says apple.
But no, it doesn't say apple. It says fruit. In fact, I don't think-- And honestly, 'cause that's an interesting, uh, thing, but I don't think the fruit that Eve took and gave-- I don't think the fruit exists on earth right now. Okay. It was from a very special one-time created tree. Okay? But that's my... It's not a hill I'm gonna die on, but...
Um, other options on this first horse is simply the preached gospel, um, Roman imperialism, which is part of the view that I take. Uh, some would say war. Um, and then, uh, because we're out of time, let me-- I'll let [00:57:00] you in on where I will go next time. I believe it is Tiberius Caesar. Okay? The timetable fits. If Tiberius Caesar, and this is kind of important, and we'll end with this, but Tiberius Caesar was the third Caesar in the Roman Empire.
So here's a question, and you might think it's a trick question: Who was the first Roman emperor? What's that? Julius, diaclesian. Nope. Julius. Julius. Okay, you say Julius. Anybody else? Dominic Augustus and then Tiberius. Okay. So, um-
Ancient historians are divided. Um, most modern-day historians would argue that Augustus was the first Caesar, the first emperor of Rome. Okay? Ancient historians tell a different story. So, um, Suetonius counts Julius as the first Caesar. [00:58:00] Um, Josephus counts Julius as the first Caesar. Several other that I don't know off the top of my head, they're in my notes somewhere, but would count Julius as the first Caesar.
And I would argue the Book of Revelation counts Julius as the first Caesar. When you put it all together, when we get to the later chapters, and we got these seven hills, there were seven kings, and you count them all up, and we're here, and when this one dies, we got three, but they're only here for a short time.
It all fits. Julius is one, Augustus is two, um, Tiberius is three, uh, then I think it's Gaius- Caligula ... which is Caligula, and then Claudius. Claudius. And then the fourth seal will be Nero, which brings us back up to the time of John's writing. Okay? And I think that when we explore a bit of the life of these Caesars, um, I think it starts to make sense.[00:59:00]
Um, and yes, if you've ever read Suetonius, The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, these were demonic, inbred people. What was the book? Suetonius' Life of the Twelve Caesars. I've never seen that book. It's actually a very fun read. It's actually a very easy read. Huh? Um- Suetonius? Suetonius. Suetonius. It's The Life of the Twelve Caesars.
I'm sure there's not a lot ... What? I didn't hear what you said. I'm sure-
He was trying to spell it ... there's probably not that many books out there with that title. It's S-E, I think it's S-E-U or S-U-E, I can't remember. Suetonius. And then onius.
Yeah. I'm pretty sure I have a picture of it on my phone. Holy- Tacitus- Don't trust my spelling. Would Tacitus say Julius is the same as- Tacitus? Tacitus. T-A-C- I think it's pronounced Tacitus. Okay. Okay, because Tacitus wrote the annals. Right. We know. Yeah. Tacitus, uh... It's hard to inter- And this is where you get into trouble because [01:00:00] you've got your secular scholars interpreting, you got your Christian scholars interpreting.
Tacitus begins, uh, the dictatorship with Julius- Right ... but he never calls him a, a prince. He doesn't begin using that language until Augustus. So it's actually a matter of interpretation, but he still starts it all off with Julius. Yeah. So- 'Cause after Julius, there's just a humongous civil war. Yeah. And the interesting thing is with Julius, it's the Julio-Claudian line- Right
which ends with guess who? Nero Nero The fourth seal. That's just a preview for what's coming up. Um, Mike, will you end us in, in prayer? Yeah. And I'm sorry, and seriously, if I confused you, ask me questions. Um, that was a lot of information. Dear Father, thank You for today, and thank You that, that we all could gather here.
Um, pray that [01:01:00] You let, um, Pastor Mike's teaching sink in, and, uh, if question arise, that we'll be able to, uh, take them-
Just, um, always information and new
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