* All scriptures within this study are linked to BibleGateway.com using the "NIV".
In the last Prophecy Chat, the Seals were opened and the Four Horsemen descend on the earth.
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse represent a global developmental shift in politics, culture, religion and economics. Nothing is the same on planet earth after the Antichrist and his Beast system take complete control. His platform of peace fails to bring Utopia to the earth. Instead, his programs foment global wars, famine, inflation and death. The cumulative effects of this New World Order of Antichrist is the loss of one-fourth of the world's population.
The Revelation, the final book of the Bible, is beautifully designed and perfectly ordered to reveal Jesus Christ in the fullness of His deity because we have not yet seen Him operating in the fullness of His offices. At His first coming, we saw Him in the office of our high priest, sacrificing His own blood for our sins [Hebrews 9:11-15]. We saw Him as prophet, speaking prophecies of His return and fulfilling all prophecies concerning His first coming [Matthew 24; Luke 24:25]. The Revelation now reveals Christ as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, who is coming to judge and to reign. This book is designed to DISPLAY Christ as the coming King with the authority to judge. This design is evident in the outline of the Seal Judgments because we see the immediate result of the first wave of judgment:
| * The Four Horsemen represent the first four Seal Judgments, and the fifth and sixth Seals are a response to the first four to demonstrate God's mercy and justice in judgment. He delivers the saved but He will destroy the lost in the testing of the Tribulation. * Dispensationalists point out that every dispensation is a different test of man's response to God; the Tribulation tests man under wrath conditions, God's last approach to bring man to Himself before the Kingdom. * The response to the first four seals reveals the two responses of man to God's truth just as daily trials expose true spiritual condition! |
"If there is a God in Heaven, why doesn't He interfere and put an end to the bungling of the nations? If God is sovereign, why does He allow all the violence and suffering and despoliation? Why does He permit wars, the bombing of whole cities, hospitals, and children's homes, laying waste whole countries and spilling the blood of countless thousands of innocent victims who had neither part nor voice in bringing it about?... We believe the Bible gives the answer. God is going to let man himself prove the utter depravity of human nature, the incorrigible wickedness of the human heart, the absolute failure of man's efforts to govern himself, the utter uselessness of all man's efforts and highest achievements to abolish war, crime and disease, and the impossibility of bringing in an age of peace and prosperity by man's efforts. Man must be brought to the end of himself; he must be convinced of his hopelessness without God. God today is proving man's failure with a vengeance. After centuries and millenniums of our flaunted civilization, and boasting of human progress, with its advance in education and reform, scientific evolution, the heart of man has not been improved one bit. The unregenerate heart of man is not changed by all these developments. In fact, the potentialities and possibilities of wickedness in the natural man are increased and augmented by culture and education, instead of being improved. The more educated a sinner is, the more dangerous he becomes. An educated criminal is more to be feared... than a dumb one... No wonder God is said to laugh at it all [Psalm 2], for God's program calls for all these things to continue, till God steps in. Nowhere in the entire Bible is there a single verse to support the contention that this world will become better and better until at last by the efforts of man in the field of education, science, and the preaching of a watered-down, social 'gospel,' man will finally learn his lesson and the age will climax in a great world-wide revival, and then wars will be abolished, and the nations live in peace. No! No! My friend, the Bible knows nothing of such a program! Instead the Bible teaches without exception that the world will grow worse and worse. It warns us that in the last days perilous times shall come and this age will climax in the most terrible war of all history...In speaking of the closing days of this dispensation [the Tribulation], Jesus says: 'And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved' (Matthew 24:22)" [M. R. DeHaan, pp. 112, 113. Emphasis and bracketed information mine.] That, my friends is another revealed truth in the Tribulation-- that man and his pragmatic and humanistic solutions are doomed to failure. When God steps in, His holiness will be revealed against the blackness of man's defeat SIDE NOTE: In the book of Daniel, an exponential increase in "knowledge" and frantic activity is given to the prophet as a sign of "the time of the end." [Daniel 12:4] Although the last century saw an increase in human knowledge greater than all the ages before it, knowledge is not wisdom. Without the ability to apply knowledge through spiritual wisdom, human knowledge is a deceptive TRAP. It inflates human pride in our own ability, as DeHaan points out. BELIEVERS CAN PRAY FOR THE ABILITY TO ANALYZE KNOWLEDGE IN THESE DAYS THROUGH THE LENS OF GOD'S SPIRITUAL WISDOM BY PRAYING AND APPLYING JAMES 1:5--"If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting..." This prayer is an excellent way to begin the year 2011--asking and receiving spiritual wisdom and discernment for the times in which we live! --------------------------------------- The next time someone asks "How could a loving God allow this to happen to the innocent?" answer this: No one is innocent. We are all born into sin and death and fall short of the glory of God. There is no difference between man; there is no one who is innocent before a holy God. [Romans 5:12; 3:22-23] The question is rather: Why does a holy God deem to save anyone at all? Praise God that He mercifully chooses to do so! [See Psalm 14:1-3] Does man worship God for His sovereign control, or will he question God's motives? The Tribulation will reveal everything. Satan tempted Eve to question God's motives in the Garden of Eden [Genesis 3:4], and we see where that decision led. Satan led her to believe that God was jealously preventing her from being "god" like Him. But the truth was that God was saving her from death. Her decision to bite of that apple plunged mankind into sin and death. Satan is still in the business of deceiving gullible man into believing he can be god and control his own destiny. Now we see in the reaction to the first four seals how heaven and earth reveal the only two options available--God or Satan : |
| * FIFTH SEAL: HEAVEN RESPONDS The Fifth Seal is a graphic picture of the consequences of Antichrist's Beast System on the earth--the wholesale slaughter of true believers of Jesus Christ. These martyrs, who were killed for their testimony of Christ and His Word, appear now in a place of divine shelter in the throne room of heaven. Their souls have been delivered. * Why are they "under the altar"? This is a figurative term to represent a place of high honor in the center of God's glory. In the Old Testament sacrificial system, the redemptive blood of Christ was foreshadowed in the blood of sacrificial animals. This blood was poured out at the base of the brazen altar in the Tabernacle [Leviticus 4:7, 18, 25, 30]. In Old Testament imagery, blood represents life [Lev. 17:11]; the life is in the blood by God's design. So, here the souls of the martyrs are under the altar to indicate that their lives were given sacrificially to God's glory. * WHAT IS THEIR TESTIMONY IN HEAVEN? They do not question why their death was allowed. No greater love offering could they give to Christ than their lives. The alternative would be to worship Antichrist, and they chose death over denial of Jesus. When we have a heavenly perspective rather than an earthly one, like Paul we willingly allow ourselves to be "poured out as a drink offering" in this life, if it honors our Lord [2 Timothy 4:6]. That is true spiritual maturity. * Their question is not WHY. Their question is WHEN: "How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" This question is in-line with God's will because justice for His martyrs vindicates His holiness. Warren Wiersbe asks, "...is it 'Christian' for these martyred saints to pray for vengeance on their murderers? After all, both Jesus and Stephen prayed that God would forgive those who killed them. I have no doubt that, when they were slain on earth, these martyrs also prayed for their slayers; and this is the right thing to do." [See Matthew 5:10-12, 43-48]. [Wiersbe, p. 65] But now the response of heaven is a prayer for justice against evil to be done. The great question the martyrs now ask is not whether their enemies would or should be judged, but WHEN. "How Long, O Lord..." has been the cry of God's suffering people throughout the ages [See Psalm 74:9-10; 79:5; 94:3-4; Habakkuk 1:2]. * God's answer is "not yet." They must rest a little while longer, until the number of those predestined for martyrdom is completed. Wiersbe states that "God made clear to these martyrs that their sacrifice was an appointment, not an accident; and that others would join them. Even in the death of His people, God is in control (Ps. 116:15); so there is nothing to fear." [Wiersbe, Ibid.] * When Christ's wrath reaches its fullness, He will take vengeance: Romans 12:19--"Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, 'Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,' says the Lord." * The martyrs of the Tribulation echo the Old Testament prayer for justice in Psalm 94:1-3: "O LORD God, to whom vengeance belongs-- O God, to whom vengeance belongs, shine forth! Rise up, O Judge of the earth; Render punishment to the proud. LORD, how long will the wicked, how long will the wicked triumph?" WAIT FOR IT--VENGEANCE IS COMING! God's timing is perfect and ultimately SATISFYING. |
| * SIXTH SEAL: EARTH RESPONDS IN THE PRECEDING SEALS, GOD USES SATAN AS A VEHICLE TO ADMINISTER HIS WRATH. NOW, HE INTERVENES DIRECTLY BY UNLEASHING HIS CREATION UPON MAN. This is poetic justice. Our Lord uses His creation against man like a weapon or instrument of judgment because man refuses to worship God as the Creator. What better way to demonstrate that only God can control creation. [Natural disasters such as volcanic eruptions, seismic activity, and weather anomalies are radically increasing even now as a prelude to the Tribulation--called "the beginning of sorrows" by our Lord in Matthew 24:8.] * Creation reacts to the Four Horsemen producing worldwide convulsions, natural catastrophes and the first of three great earthquakes (6:12; 11:13; 16:18-19). The upheaval is so great that "every mountain and island was removed from its place." In the Indonesian tsunami, the islands in the area of the tidal wave and earthquake were dislodged from their foundations. One article reported that TIME shifted by a few seconds due to interference with the rotation of the earth. Imagine the global disruption from the cumulative effects of three great earthquakes. Creation will seem to go into labor--like a woman giving birth to a child. Just as physical birth pains increase in frequency and intensity, so creation will convulse in steadily increasing violence until Christ returns to lift the curse on the physical universe. The Second Coming will redeem both the physical universe and mankind when the curse is lifted. Romans 8:19-20] The analogy of birth pains is used by our Lord in Matthew 24:8 as well. "The beginning of sorrows" was a euphemism for labor pains. The signs accompanying Christ's return are like birth or labor pains that increase in frequency in intensity. We will see in the Trumpets and Bowls how the judgments increase in intensity and scope from one to the other. |
The Lord demonstrates how fruitless man's attempts are to control an environment they did not create or to determine its destruction. The Creator alone maintains the Universe and determines its lifespan. To demonstrate His ownership, He bombards man with natural disasters and "acts of God" that they are helpless to defend against. [Read also Isaiah 13:6-13 for a prophetic foreshadowing of The Day of the Lord.]
Although the Tribulation devastation is extensive, man need not fear the total destruction of the earth. The earth will survive as the Lord promised in Genesis 8:22. After Christ's return, He will restore the earth as a habitation for the living remnant of believers. Its condition will be similar to the Garden of Eden for the duration of the Millennial Kingdom reign [Ezekiel 36:35]. Only then will the Creator of the Universe speak a new heaven and a new earth into existence [Revelation 21:1; 2 Peter 3:7; 10-12]. The new universe will exist, unpolluted by the curse, for eternity.
| * The specific results of these natural disaster/acts of God are speculation. John described literal judgments in first century terms, using descriptive words with which he was familiar. It may be that atmospheric debris from volcanic eruptions as a result of the earthquake could cause the sun's light to be obscured, turning it black. The same atmospheric dust can cause the moon to look red, as happened in the great Krakatoa [Krakatau] eruption in Indonesia that killed 36,000 people in 1883. The dust created by the eruption was so dense, it spanned the globe for months, carried along by the Jet Stream, and causing atmospheric anomalies reported extensively in London, England. [Krakatoa, Indonesian Volcanoes] Stars falling to the earth could be the result of volcanic eruption debris, or it could describe meteor showers. A volcanic eruption also causes an effect similar to a nuclear blast where the atmosphere is sucked out and then comes crashing back in a blast of immense proportions--like the "sky" receding like a scroll, rolling up. Or, it could refer to an actual nuclear blast as a result of escalating war. The scroll effect would be as John, a first century man, would describe such a blast. * Although the earth will survive, the natural disasters described in the Sixth Seal are so overpowering, men's hearts fail them for fear [Luke 21:26]. Widespread heart attacks result from the terrible expectations of those things God allows to come upon the earth. * Note that the description of the earthquake and the signs in the sun, moon and stars are very similar to the signs that accompany Christ's physical return in Matthew 24:29. Christ's coming occurs at the end of the seven year Tribulation [Revelation 19; Zechariah 14:4] and causes confusion as to the timing of the Sixth Seal. John MacArthur in his commentary says this: "The previous 5 seals will be precursors to the full fury of the Day of the Lord which will begin with the sixth seal (v. 17). The events described in this seal unleash the seventh, which contains the trumpet judgments (chaps. 8, 9; 11:15ff.) and the bowl judgments (chap. 16)." [MacArthur Commentary, p. 2001] |
| * MEN OF THE WORLD RESPOND The response of men of the world is quite different than the response of the redeemed martyrs in heaven. Not only are the earth dwellers filled with fear, in desperation they "pray" to the mountains and rocks to "Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!" [Revelation 6:16] They perceive that these judgments are of Biblical proportions, a term that is becoming more frequently used even now by our main-stream media. But the men of earth do not pray to God for deliverance. Instead, they put their trust in mountains and rocks, hiding themselves in caves. The number of people investing in bomb shelters and survival shelters is on the increase. It was common during the Cold War to build bomb shelters because of the threat of nuclear attack from Russia. So today men are becoming frightened, knowing something is coming, but still trusting in their own ability to prepare for survival. * Those who speak to the mountains and rocks represent the lost. They are earth dwellers with their focus on earth, rather than heaven. They are men of all classes and races with one thing in common. They are unsaved and in fear of their lives. While the lost focus on the earth, the focus of the redeemed is on heaven. In Philippians 3:18-21, Paul speaks of those who are the enemies of the cross of Christ as men doomed to destruction because they "set their mind on earthly things." He describes the believer as one whose citizenship is in heaven, which is understood as our true home. Earth for the believer is temporary. Our focus is continually on the sky, waiting for the imminent return of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our faith is in His deliverance, not earthly answers. Note that Christ delivers His own through martyrdom and death in the fifth seal, but it is deliverance none-the-less. For believers, our ultimate destination is heaven and all men die, except those taken in the Rapture. Death is not permanent to the believer; it is merely a temporary state until the resurrection of the body. |
Chapter 6 ends with an obvious question. After the natural disasters of the sixth seal, "...who is able to stand?" Is it possible for any person to survive or live through the Tribulation? Chapter 7 will reveal that a remnant of believers is delivered ALIVE THROUGH the Tribulation.
Next time--The Sealing of the Remnant.
In Him We Wait, Work, and Watch,
[Luke 12:35-59]
Sharon
[Prophecy Chat is a weekly commentary of current events in light of Bible prophecy. Sharon L. Clemens is an evangelical, premillennial, dispensational teacher of eschatology. She can be reached for comment or questions by e-mail at farmgrove@frontier.com]
REFERENCES:
Be Victorious, Warren W. Wiersbe, Victor Books, 1985.
The MacArthur Study Bible, KJV, John MacArthur, Author and General Editor, Word Bibles, Nashville, TN, 1997.
Coming Events in Prophecy, M. R. DeHaan, M.D., Radio Bible Class. Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1967. [I highly recommend this book for an understanding of the relationship between the first coming of Christ and His return. This book is out-of-print but may be obtained through Amazon.com or other outlets as a used book and/or through libraries. I have not contacted Radio Bible Class to see if they have any copies available.]
Indonesian Volcanoes: Krakatao.
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