Revelation 4-6
Tape #C2641
By Chuck Smith
Revelation
chapter four begins with the Greek word “meta autos”. And the first verse
begins and ends with the same Greek words. The words literally from the Greek
are "after these things". So
as we come to this phrase, "after these things," our minds should
flash back to chapter 1:19, where the book of Revelation was divided into three
basic divisions. “Write the things which you have seen, the things which are,
and the things which will be after these things”, “meta autos”. So obviously we
are coming into the third section of the book of Revelation, after these
things. After what things?
Well, it
seems to me that it would be quite apparent and obvious. It would be after the
things that he was just talking about. And the things that he was just talking
about were the things of the church; so, after the things of the church. For we
had in chapters two and three, the messages of Jesus to the seven churches of
Asia, which as we pointed out represent seven periods of church history.
So, after
these things, the things of the church,
I looked, and,
behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice I heard was as it were
of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will show you
things which must be after these things (4:1).
I believe
that when the church has completed its purpose upon the earth and has finished
its witness, or as Paul describes, “when the fullness of the gentiles is come
in,” that the Lord is then going to catch away His church into heaven.
Paul said,
“behold, I show you a mystery. We are not going to all sleep, but we are all
going to be changed in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye. The trump of God
shall sound, the dead in Christ shall be raised incorruptible.” First
Thessalonians 4:16-17, Paul said, “For the Lord himself shall descend from
heaven with a voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead
in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught
up to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”
So, I
believe that the church is to be raptured. And I believe that the point of the
rapture in the book of Revelation is in here in chapter 4:1. I believe that
John was taken by the Spirit unto the day of the Lord and experienced through
the Spirit the rapture of the church. When the Lord had completed His messages
to the churches, then the call to John was “come up hither and I will show you
things, which must be after these things, after the things of the church”.
So as we
enter then into the fourth chapter, we enter into the post-church era upon the
earth. We will be coming back to the earth in chapter six, but it is the
post-church era, when God now judges the world for its ungodliness and
unrighteousness and for its rejection of His Son. But the church, with John
here in chapter four caught up into heaven,
And immediately
I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat upon
the throne. And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and sardine stone:
and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald (4:2–3).
So the
basic color that emanates from the throne is a green, along with the sardine
red, along with the jasper which is a clear crystalline-type of a stone with a
purple hue.
Now, Paul
told us in Timothy that God dwells in a light that is unapproachable by man.
And here in heaven, even in our glorified bodies, we only see the radiance of
the glory of God as it emanates from His throne like a brilliant light, the predominant
color being green, the rainbow about the throne like an emerald, green in
color, with the sardine red color and the jasper stone in brilliance in
coloring and light.
And round about
the throne there were twenty-four lesser thrones: [thronus in Greek translated seats] and upon the seats I saw four and
twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads
crowns of gold (4:4).
The
twenty-four elders clothed in white raiment are representative of the church
according to most Bible scholars. These twenty-four elders are representative.
The fact that they are in white robes is the church is to be clothed in white
robes, the righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ.
Jesus said
to the church of Laodicea, “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me
in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his
throne”(3:21). The twenty-four lesser thrones. Now we see the heavenly scene
sitting in white robes upon their thrones.
And out of the
throne [that
is the throne of God]
there proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven
lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God (4:5).
Now again
it is important that we place in our mind the tabernacle that Moses built in
the wilderness, because we are told in the book of Hebrews that the tabernacle
was actually a model of heavenly things. If you want to know basically what
heaven is going to look like, you can go back to the tabernacle and you can get
an idea of what the throne of God is like in heaven.
And there
in the tabernacle we remember when the priest came into the holy place on the
left-hand side, there was the seven candlesticks coming out of the one base.
And these seven golden candlesticks, we now know from the book of Revelation,
are representative of the Holy Spirit and the presence of the Holy Spirit there
before the throne of God, the seven-fold work or the complete work of the Holy
Spirit. We remember that in the Holy of Holies there was that Ark of the
Covenant that Moses made covered with the gold lid, which was the mercy seat,
upon which there was carved these golden cherubim with their wings touching the
corners of the Holy of Holies of the tabernacle.
And so as
we go on in the reading of the description here of heaven, we next come to
these cherubim. These angelic beings created by God who seem to be the highest
order of angelic beings.
And before the
throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the
throne, and round about the throne, were four living creatures full of eyes in
front and behind. And the first living creature was like a lion, and the second
was like a calf, and the third had a face as a man, and the fourth was like a
flying eagle (4:6–7).
Now, there are
those Bible scholars that see in this the four phases of Christ as represented
in the Gospels. The first, Matthew, presents Jesus as the lion of the tribe of
the
These
cherubim were first mentioned in the book of Genesis. When God drove Adam out
of the garden after his sin, He put the cherubim at the gate of the garden lest
man should return to the garden and eat of the tree of life and live forever in
a sinful state. The cherubim are again mentioned in the book of Ezekiel, as in
chapter one and in chapter ten. Ezekiel had a vision of the throne of God,
which parallels the vision of John here in the book of Revelation. As Ezekiel
saw the cherubim, each had the four faces, so on each side a face, and the
faces of the ox, and the lion, and the man and the eagle in the vision that
Ezekiel had. And for background you should probably read Ezekiel one and ten to
find parallel passages to John’s vision here of the throne of God in heaven.
And it is Ezekiel that names these creatures as the cherubim.
Now from
the book of Ezekiel, also we know in the twenty-eighth chapter that that was
the position that was once occupied by Satan. That the Lord speaks of him
declaring that he was one of the anointed cherubs. So he had a place that was
very close to God, for the cherubim are about the throne of God in their
worship of God. And Ezekiel tells us that at one time Satan was one of these
anointed cherub.
Again in a
parallel passage Isaiah six, Isaiah also saw the throne of God. And when he got
the vision of the throne of God, he said, “Woe is me, I am a man of unclean
lips. I dwell amongst a people of unclean lips” (Isaiah 6:5). And he saw a
seraphim, which is probably in the order of the cherubim. Cherubim is only the
plural of cherub. So you have heard of cherubs, so the plural of cherub is
cherubim, as the plural of seraph is the seraphim. The “im” is a plural in the
Hebrew.
So he saw
the seraphim, who came to the altar of God with a live coal and touched his
lips and said, “Now, are you clean.” But we find here in John’s vision of them
that,
each of them
had six wings; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and
night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is
to come (4:8).
And so they
are there around the throne of God declaring the holiness of the eternal God.
And when these
living creatures give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the
throne, who liveth for ever and ever, [the eternal God] four and twenty elders fall down
before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and
ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord,
to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and
for thy pleasure they are and were created (4:9–11).
And so here
we see the first scene in heaven. And this will probably be one of the first
scenes that you will observe in heaven as John did; the throne of God and the
cherubim about the throne of God, and the worship of God as He sits upon the
throne.
And then
the response to the declaration of the holiness of God made by the cherubim are
the twenty-four elders responding saying, “Thou art worthy to receive glory and
honor and power.” Why? First of all, because You have created all things, not
that You have allowed all things to evolve. You created all things. And not
only that, but it is for Your pleasure they are and were created. Here is a
statement of fact that is important for us to accept. I was created for God’s
pleasure. That means I was not created for my own pleasure.
Thus, I
should not seek to please myself, because then I am not answering the purpose
of my existence. I should seek to please God; then I am answering the purpose
of my existence. But the interesting thing is when I live to please God I find
great pleasure myself. Therein is happiness. Therein is satisfaction. Therein
is fulfillment when I live to please God. “If any man seeks to save his life,
he is going to lose it, but if he loses his life for My sake,” Jesus said, “you
will find it”(Matthew 10:39). And to really find what living is all about, you
have got to just live for His pleasure. Thus, you are answering the purpose of
your existence and thus your life is fulfilling and rich.
Chapter 5
And I saw in
the right hand of him that sat upon the throne a scroll that had writing both
within and on the backside, and it was sealed with seven seals. And I saw a
strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open this scroll,
and to loose the seals thereof? And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither
under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon. And I
sobbed convulsively, because no man was found worthy to open and read the book,
neither to look thereon (5:1–4).
What is
this book that has such a strong reaction upon John when no one is found worthy
to open? This book is nothing other than the title deed to the earth. Under
Jewish law whenever you sold property in the deed there was always a redemptive
clause. You always had the right to buy the property back within a specified
period of time providing you could fulfill the terms and the requirements that
were written in the deed.
So wherever
there was the sale of property, there was always two deeds that were drawn up.
One deed was sealed and it was put away in a safe deposit. The other remained
open and was kept by the person who sold the property. And in the time of
redemption you would bring both deeds, the one that was open and the one that
was sealed. And by the open deed you would prove that you were the one that had
the right to redeem it. And in the redeeming of it, you would break the seals
of the closed deed and you would fulfill the requirements therein, and thus,
the property would revert to you.
In the book
of Jeremiah thirty-two, we find Jeremiah is in the prison. He has predicted
that
Now, here
you are. The Babylonian army is outside of the city. It has now put the siege
around the city. They are about ready to conquer the city and here is Jeremiah
sitting in the prison, because he has encouraged the people not to resist
because they are going to fall. But he has also prophesied we are going to have
this land again.
So the Word
of the Lord came to Jeremiah and said, “Look your uncle’s property is coming up
for redemption. Go ahead and redeem it.” Now there was this clause in these
contracts that if you personally could not redeem your property again, then one
of your relatives could step in and redeem it for you so that the property
remained in the family.
So the Word
of the Lord came to Jeremiah that Hanameel’s field is coming up for redemption.
“Go ahead and redeem it.” His uncle was unable to do it himself. So in order to
show his faith to the people in the promise of God that they were going to come
back and have this land again, Jeremiah went ahead and redeemed the field.
The next
day as he was there in the dungeon, his cousin came in and said, “Hey, my dad
wants you to redeem the field. The right of redemption is yours. He can’t do
it. He wants you to redeem it. Jeremiah knew it was the Word of the Lord that
came to him saying, “Redeem the field of Hanameel.” So he said, “I took the
instruments and I sealed the one.” And He gave them to his scribe and he said,
“Now bury these in a jar so that when we finally come back into the land. So
keep the two documents, the one that is sealed and the other, and bury them
both together in the jar, and when we come back into the land we will claim this
field which is ours.” So you can read that in the thirty-second chapter, the
two deeds that were written up, the one that was sealed and the other that was
open.
So, here we
find in the scroll of the right hand of Him who was sitting upon the throne, a
scroll that is sealed with seven seals. It is a title deed. It is the title
deed to the earth.
Originally
the earth belonged to God by creation. “The earth is the Lord’s and the
fullness thereof and all they that dwell therein” (Psalm 24:1). When God created
man, God gave to man the earth. He said to Adam, “have dominion over the fish
of the sea, the foul of the air, over every moving and creeping thing for I
have given it unto thee. It is yours”(Genesis 1:26). So God gave the earth to
man. But Adam turned the earth over to Satan when he disobeyed God and obeyed
the suggestion of Satan. He forfeited the earth over to Satan and it became
Satan’s. We sing this is my Father’s world. Yes, in a technical sense. Yet, in
a very practical sense at the present time it is Satan’s world. Paul said, “He
is the god of this world. He has blinded the eyes of the people” (2 Corinthians
4:4). Jesus twice or three times called him the prince of this world.
You remember when Jesus came; what was the purpose of His
coming? It was to redeem the world back to God. And what was the first thing
Satan did? He took him out into the wilderness and tempted Him. The first was
to turn the stone into bread. But the second, he took Him up unto a high
mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world. And he said, “I will
give these all to you and the glory of them, if you will bow down and worship
me, for they are mine and I can give them to whoever I will”(Luke 4:6–7).
What a boast Satan is making. “Hey, the whole world is mine.
I have the capacity to give to whomever I will.” And Jesus did not dispute that
claim. It's right. The world is in Satan’s control. The world is in rebellion
against God. Satan indeed is the god of this world, and when you receive Jesus
Christ, you become an alien to the world. Jesus said, “If you were of the
world, than the world would love you, because the world loves its own, but you
are not of the world”(John 15:19). This world is under Satan’s power and
control. That is why it is so obviously wrong to blame God for all the problems
that exist in the world today; yet, man wants to blame God for all of the
suffering that is going on in the world.
If God is
the God of love, than why are there people starving in
And I am
certain that if we could have a vote, and we placed on the ballot “Who do we
want to rule over the world? God or Satan,” Satan would win by a landslide. Now
you may challenge that statement. But just put Satan in the guise of the flesh
in which he comes, living after the flesh or living after righteousness, and
you don’t have to go to the ballot. People express their vote by the lifestyles
that they live. And I dare say that those that are living after the flesh far
outnumber those that are living after the Spirit. So, the person casts his vote
by his lifestyle and obviously Satan has won by a landslide.
Living a
righteous life, living after the Spirit is not the popular life. It isn’t the
life that is applauded by the world nor even admired by the world. So Jesus
came to redeem the world back to God. He paid the price of redemption. And what
was the price of redemption? His blood shed upon the cross. And whenever you
read of redemption in the New Testament, it is always related to the blood of
Jesus Christ. That was the price that He paid to redeem the world.
When Adam
died, he died for his own sin, because God declared that the soul that sinneth,
it shall surely die. He said to Adam, “In the day that you eat thereof, you are
going to die”(Genesis 2:17). When he died, he died for his own sin, and so with
every other man since Adam with the exception of one. There was only one man
who died for the sins of others not for his own. Jesus was without sin. Peter
said, “We are redeemed not with corruptible things like silver and gold from
our empty manner of living, but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ who was
slain as a lamb without spot or blemish” (1Peter 1:18–19). So in the innocent
one dying, His death then was the price paid for the redemption of the world.
Jesus said,
“ The kingdom of heaven is like unto a man going through a field and
discovering a treasure, and who for the joy thereof immediately goes out and
sells everything that he has in order that he might buy that field so he can
obtain the treasure”(Matthew 13:44). And the parable, the field represents the
world. Jesus said, “ Now the field is the world.” Who gave then everything to
purchase the world? Jesus Christ. And for what purpose did He purchase the
world? That he might take the treasure out of it. And what is the treasure? His
church, the body of Christ, you who have come to believe and trust in Him. And
He redeemed the whole world that He might take you out of it.
So, as we
come now to the heavenly scene, we are coming now to that time of redemption.
There was always the appointed time when the property was to be redeemed. And
of course there was another specification within the law. If you or your family
members were unable to redeem the property at the time of redemption, then you
lost the rights of the property forever and it remains now perpetually in the
new family ownership that has taken control. You have lost your rights forever.
You had the one chance to redeem it and that was it.
In most
cases the redemption period that was set was that of seven years, which
corresponded also to the time of redemption for a man who was sold into
slavery. You could not remain there for more than seven years. Interesting to
me that just about six millennia ago, man was sold into slavery to sin and the
world was sold over to Satan and he took control and has had control for almost
six thousand years. For Adam forfeited the earth just about 4000 years B.C. and
we are coming out to the 2000 years AD
I
personally believe that this year of redemption is coming up very soon. And
what we are reading about here in the book of Revelation will take place within
twenty-five earth years. I believe that God has established that six thousand
years, the six in one pattern, and that it will be fulfilled in the big overall
view, when Satan will have had his reign for the six thousand years and the
earth is now coming up for redemption.
And here is
the heavenly scene and we observe it here with John. An awesome scene, there on
the throne God sits with all of His glory, as the cherubim worship Him, and as
the twenty-four elders respond to the worship declaring the worthiness of God
to receive it. And now the scroll in His right hand and the angel proclaiming
with this strong loud voice, “Who is worthy to open this scroll, and to loose
the seals.” And then the notation, “No man was found worthy.” What does that
mean? No man has the capacity to redeem the world.
Now every
four years we have men stand up and tell you that they can save the world. And
if you will just vote for them, they have got a program and a plan of
redemption. And man has been trying to redeem mankind, but no man is found
worthy. No man can redeem himself, much less the world. So, no man was found
worthy. And this of course then brings on John’s weeping. Why? Because if
nobody redeems it, it stays Satan’s domain forever. That thought is more than
John can bear. It wipes him out. He begins to sob convulsively with a horrible
contemplation that the world will forever be under Satan’s control and power and
the misery will reign on and on through that.
And I wept much
[literally
sobbed convulsively],
because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look
thereon. And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the
tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose
the seven seals thereof. [Don't worry, John, it is not all lost. The Lion of the
tribe of
It is
interesting to me that the elder declares to John, “Behold, the Lion of the
tribe of
It could be
that your first view of Jesus in heaven will be a very shocking experience. For
in our minds we have envisioned in looking upon the face of Jesus of seeing
someone who is just perfect in beauty, glory, standing in awe of that beauty.
But in the prophecy of Isaiah fifty-two and fifty-three, he said, “And as many
as looked upon him were astonished.” They were shocked. For his face was so
marred you could not recognize Him as a human being. “And we hid as it were our
faces from him.” In other words, it was so shocking we could not bear to look.
But then he went on to say, “But He was wounded for our transgressions and
bruised for our iniquities.”
These
wounds that he bears are the wounds that he suffers for you when He paid the
price of your redemption, when He took the judgment for your sins, when He died
in your place. And it could very well be that our first view in heaven, prior
to this completion of the redemptive act, that our fist view of Jesus will be a
very shocking experience as we see Him with the marks of the sufferings that He
bore for us in order to redeem us.
I turned
and I saw him as a Lamb that had been slaughtered there in the midst of the
throne among the living creatures, the cherubim, and in the midst of the
twenty-four elders, there stood the Lamb.
And when he had
taken the book, the four cherubim, living creatures and twenty-four elders fell
down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of
odours, which are the prayers of the saints (5:8).
When in the
Old Testament the priests went into the holy place of the Tabernacle each day,
he bore a little golden bowl that was attached to these golden chains. And he
would have incense in this little golden bowl, and when he would come past the
altar where the sacrifices had been offered, he would take a burning coal from
the altar and would place it in this little bowl of incense. And of course, the
smoke of the incense would begin to rise. And he would go into the holy place
where they had the altar of incense, and he would wave this little golden bowl
of incense before the altar and the sweet savor of smoke would ascend up before
the veil, behind which dwelt the presence of God. And it was the offering of
incense unto God, which was representing the prayers of the people. And there
are scriptures that refer to our prayers ascending as sweet incense before God.
So at this
point these twenty-four elders act, as do the priests when they take these
little golden bowls full of odors, which are the prayers of the saints, and
they offer them at this point before God.
Now our
redemption is not yet complete. The price is complete. It has been paid. Jesus
died once and for all. But, Paul the apostle in Romans eight said, “And we and
all creation do groan and travail waiting for our redemption, to wit, the
redemption of this body.” So in the mean time, my body is not yet redeemed. I
am longing for that day. I am waiting for that time.
In the
meantime, God has given to me the Holy Spirit as a down payment, as an earnest
of my inheritance until the redemption of His purchased possession. So God has
shown that He is earnest in His intentions of redeeming you, and to show you
that He gave to you the Holy Spirit. He has sealed you with that Spirit of
promise until the day of redemption. And Paul talks about that in the first
chapter of the book of Ephesians. One of the glorious blessings that we have in
Christ, in heavenly places, is that after we believe we were sealed with the
Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the
redemption of the purchased possession. The Lord has purchased you. He has paid
the price. He hasn’t yet picked you up. He has paid the down payment, but He is
coming to get you one of these days. He says, “Hey, they are mine. I paid the
down payment. This is it.”
Now we are
told in Hebrews that God has put all things in subjection unto Him, but we
don’t yet see all things in subjection. That isn’t yet the reality. We still
see a world that is in rebellion against Him. It is not submitted to Him. The
world is in rebellion against Him. So we do not yet see all things in
subjection unto Him, but we do see Jesus who was made a little lower than the
angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, and He is
waiting until the Father brings all things into subjection. He is resting in
His finished work and now the Father is going to bring all things into subjection
unto Him and He is going to establish Him then as the King of kings and the
Lord of lords. But the redemption is not yet complete, for He hasn’t yet laid
claim to that which He purchased.
It is like
you going in to buy something from the department store and you realize you
don’t have enough money for it right now, but you want it, so you put a down
payment on it and you would like them to hold it for you. So they will write up
the contract and put it on hold and you have a specified period of time to come
in and pick it up. In the meantime it belongs to you technically. No one else
can come in and buy it. Someone else could come in and say that they want it,
but they would say, “Sorry, we sold the last one. They put the down payment on
it.” So that is the earnest. You showed that you are earnest. You are intending
to buy it. That is what it is all about. You just haven’t picked it up yet. So,
we have the Holy Spirit, the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of
the purchased possession.
So as they
offer these little bowls, odors before the throne of God, the prayers of the
saints. How many times have you prayed “Thine kingdom come, Thy will be done in
earth as it is in heaven”? That is an unanswered prayer up to this point. Now
the church has been offering that prayer for centuries, but that is still an
unanswered prayer. Now it doesn’t mean that God does not intend to answer it.
God does intend to answer that prayer. It is just a matter of timing, which of
course is one of the problems with a lot of our prayers.
The time is
now come and so the prayers are now brought before the throne of God, the
prayers of the saints, the prayers through the centuries, “Thy kingdom come and
Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven”. And soon God’s kingdom will be
coming and soon the will of God will be done here on the earth even as it is in
heaven. And you won’t have the rebellion against God, which is destroying our
planet, but you will have a planet all in obedience and subjection to Him. Oh,
what a glorious place this could be if everybody lived as God wanted us to
live, if we lived together in love, in righteousness and peace. For the
The earth
can produce enough food for everybody. It is just that we are using the
resources and managing the resources very poorly. We are using them for the
wrong purposes, but when Jesus comes and establishes His kingdom, then shall we
see the earth that God intended and righteousness upon the earth covering the
earth as the waters do cover the sea.
And they sang a
new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals
thereof: for you were slain, and you've redeemed us to God by your blood out of
every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation (5:9);
So,
redemption. ”Thou art worthy to take the book and loose the seals for you have
redeemed us by your blood, out of every kindred, tongue, people and nation”.
Now the
question: Who can sing this song? Is this the song of redeemed
Which
brings up a very interesting point. Inasmuch as the Tribulation does not begin
until chapter six and the church is there in heaven declaring the worthiness of
the Lamb to take the scroll and loose the seals, the Tribulation does not begin
until the seals are loosed. It precludes the church being on the earth during
the Great Tribulation period. Surely the Lord is not going to send us back down
to go through the Tribulation and then rapture us again.
And have made
us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth (5:10).
Jesus,
again to the overcomers, promised that they would be able to reign with Him, in
His kingdom, and that ruling with Him with a rod of iron, that is to Thyatira.
And I beheld,
and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the living
creatures and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten
thousand, and thousands of thousands (5:11);
Now what is
ten thousand times ten thousand? One hundred million. Thousand of thousands
would be millions more. How many are redeemed and will be there in heaven? I
don’t know, but a good-sized crowd. All one in Christ, all declaring the glory
of our Lord.
Saying with a
loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and
wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing (5:12).
So that
chorus of angels joining in with the church. You see, they can’t sing the
verse. They only can sing the chorus. They don’t know what it is to be redeemed
by the blood of Jesus Christ. But when we come to the chorus and we begin to
declare His worthiness to receive power, riches, wisdom, strength, honor, glory
and blessing, they can join that chorus and they do.
And every
creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as
are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour,
and glory, and power, be unto him that sits upon the throne, and unto the Lamb
for ever and ever. And the four cherubim said, Amen. And the twenty-four elders
fell down and worshipped him that lives for ever and ever (5:13–14).
So, this
scene in redemption in the heavenly places.
Chapter 6
Now in
chapter six, He begins to open the scroll.
And I saw when
the Lamb opened one of the seals, I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one
of the four living creatures saying, Come and see. And I saw, and behold a
white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him:
and he went forth conquering, and to conquer (6:1–2).
And so the
first thing that takes place upon the earth once the church has been taken out,
the moment this first seal is broken, the antichrist comes forth on a white
horse. He is the false Messiah, the false Christ. And he begins to conquer over
the earth, bringing the earth under this sphere of his power and control.
Because we are told, and again to prove that Satan is still in control of the
world, we are told in Revelation thirteen, that Satan will give to Him his
throne and his authority. So He is going to turn the earth over to the
antichrist, but we see his emergence here, the first thing after the church is
gone.
Now
according to Paul in second Thessalonians two, talking about the antichrist, he
cannot come forth until the church is out of the way. “For that which hinders
shall hinder until it is taken out of the way and then shall the son of
perdition be revealed.” So he can’t be revealed until the hindering force is
removed, which is the Spirit of God within the
Jesus said,
“You are the salt of the earth”(Matthew 5:13). What is salt? It was a
preserving influence. It was a preservative. Jesus is saying the church is
preserving the world. They use the salt in the meat in those days to kill the
surface bacteria, because they didn’t have refrigeration. So the meat was
salted to keep it from rotting, from putrefying. So when Jesus said to His
disciples, “You are the salt of the earth,” they understood that we are an
influence to keep the world from getting rotten. But He said, “If the salt has
lost its savor than it is good for nothing and will be cast out and trodden
under the foot of man”(Matthew 5:13). And if you will look at those nations
that have fallen to communism, in every one of them the church had died. As far
as its influence was concerned, it was dead; the salt had lost its savor.
The church
is the only preserving influence in the world today. If it were not for the
church, even the
If we cease
to be that preserving influence, we will cease to be. If the salt loses its
savor, it is good for nothing. The Lord is saying you are only good for one
thing and that is preserving the world. The moment the church is removed, that
preserving influence is gone and right on the scene comes the antichrist. “That
which hinders shall hinder until it is taken out of the way and then shall the man
of sin be revealed, the son of perdition who goes forth with all deceiving and
lying” and so forth.
So right in
order, the church is there in heaven having been caught up. The first seal is
opened, which is really one of the first orders of business in heaven, and the
antichrist comes forth conquering to conquer, bringing the world under his
control. Now for the first three and a half years he is going to be hailed as a
savior. The world is going to say, “Aha, you see. We told you all the time the
problem was those rotten Christians. They kept us from all the prosperity and
everything else.”
Of course,
all the wealth of the Christians will be left here and be divided up by the
world and everybody will be having great days as they come in to plunder the goods
of the Christians. And the antichrist will offer his new economic programs and
his new peace proposals and they will say, “Yes, the church was responsible for
all of the wars. Now that we got those warmongers out of here, we can have
peace here on the earth.” And he is going to come in with peace and prosperity
and the big program and they will think that this guy is it. This guy has saved
the world. The world was ready to go down the tubes, but this man has saved the
world. He will be hailed as the Messiah or the savior. “He goes forth
conquering and to conquer”, but after three and a half years things change.
And when he had
opened the second seal, I heard the second creature say, Come and see. And
there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat
thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another:
and there was given unto him a great sword. And when the third seal was broken,
I heard the third living creature say, Come and see. and I beheld, and lo a
black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I
heard a voice in the midst of the four cherubim say, A measure of wheat for a
penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil
and the wine (6:3–6).
So the
third horse unleashes the famine which follows the war. Of course, if such a
horrible thing should take place, and I think that it possibly will, a nuclear
holocaust, I do not believe the church will be here when it happens, but I
believe that such a thing is probably in the books for the future. One of the
byproducts would of course be the tremendous fallout, which would destroy the
crops, as far as they’re being edible, and thus what is happening in
Hey, if you
want to be the richest man in the Tribulation, just go buy a bunch of wheat and
store it. When this takes place, just take it out of storage and you could be
the richest one in the Tribulation. You may even end up the richest man in
hell, if that is any consolation.
And when he had
opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say,
Come and see. And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on
him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over
the fourth part of the earth, to kill with the sword, with hunger, and with
death, and with the beasts of the earth (6:7–8).
And so in
these plagues, one fourth of the earth’s population will be wiped out. Now let
us assume that when the church is taken out that it leaves maybe four billion
people upon the earth, which means in the first four of the horsemen, or the
second through the fourth, one-fourth or one billion people will die. That is
awfully hard to conceive.
And when he had
opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain
for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with
a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, do you not judge and
avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given
unto every one of them; and it was told them, that they should rest yet for a
little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should
be killed as they were, should be fulfilled (6:9–11).
So here is
a group, not the church, who have been martyred during this period of the reign
of the antichrist.
Now when
the antichrist comes forth to reign upon the earth, he will make war against
the saints and prevail against them, the scripture tells us. They could not be
the church, because the gates of hell can’t prevail against the church. But
when the church is raptured, I believe the earth is going to experience one of
its greatest revivals in its history. Think of all your friends that you have
witnessed to and they have been laughing and making fun of you, but when it
actually takes place, these things that you have been sharing with them, it is
going to be a sobering day for them and they are going to realize what a fool
they had been. And when the antichrist begins to establish his reign, his
authority, his power, hopefully they will have enough sense to resist him,
which will mean their death, because he has the power to put to death those
that do resist. That is those that refuse to take the mark or worship his
image, but through their martyrdom at least they will be gaining their
salvation.
And here is
a great number of souls that are under the altar. And they are crying, “Lord
how long until we can come in, before we can take our part in the heavenly
scene?” And they are given white robes and told to wait a little while until
the rest of them are slain, as you were slain, until the full numbers of
martyrs has been complete. And then they will be brought into the heavenly
scene, which we do see them in the later portion of chapter seven.
And I beheld when
he had opened the sixth seal, and, there was a great earthquake; and the sun
became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; And the stars
of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree cast her untimely figs, when
she is shaken with a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it
is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their
places (6:12–14).
We read
this and are reminded really of the parallel things that will be taking place
in the sixth vile that is poured out upon the earth. And it could be that these
are parallel judgments that are coming, that they will come in parallel with
each other; the great earthquake, the islands being moved out of their places,
and tremendous cataclysmic upheavals, as the earth probably will go through
again a polar axis shift, which will have as a result each of the things that
are described here, with the exception of course of the meteorite shower, and
yet that could be what perpetrated the polar axis shift.
They think
that the polar axis shift could have possibly been caused by a meteor striking
the earth and putting it out of tilt. The force of the meteorite hitting the
earth at the right trajectory, and all, could twist the earth around so that
suddenly a shift of maybe sixteen hundred miles would put the subtropical
climate under the massive polar air, which the air would of stayed stabilized
by the earth being hit by a meteorite. And they think the one that hit in
Arizona, that meteorite crater out of Windslow, would be sufficient if the
meteor hit at the right trajectory to bop the earth in a tilt, which it is at
twenty-three and a half degrees, and would create a constant wobble of the
earth from then on, which this wobble effect is there.
And that
accounts for the mammoths that were encased in solid ice up in
Now here we
find the meteorite shower, the stars falling from heaven like a fig tree dumps
it untimely figs in a strong wind. Here you find a tremendous earthquake. Here
you find mountains and islands disappearing. It is a tremendous cataclysmic
upheaval.
And the kings
of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and
the mighty men, and every bond man, and every free man, hid themselves in the
dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And they said to the mountains and the
rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sits on the throne,
and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who
shall be able to stand? (6:15–17).
Notice,
this is called the “Great Day of His Wrath”, the wrath of the Lamb. It is
comforting to note in first Thessalonians 5:9 that “God has not appointed us
unto wrath”. Paul also declares that in Romans 5:9, “that we have not been
appointed unto wrath”. The day of His wrath has come, which means we cannot be
here, because we have not been appointed unto wrath. But the earth is going to
experience this great cataclysmic judgment as the day of God’s wrath does come
upon the earth.
And so we
see these awesome scenes, that I believe, I personally am convinced, will
transpire within the next quarter of a century. But when it gets down to this
stage, I don’t expect to be here. Don’t look for me here.
Jesus said
when He was talking of these very same things in Luke twenty-one—He's talking
of these very same things, the heavens being shaken and the meteorite showers
and the cataclysmic things that would transpire along with them, Jesus said,
“Pray always that you will be accounted worthy to escape all of these things
and be standing before the Son of man.”
Expect to
see me standing before the Son of man. I expect to be with that crowd in the
fifth chapter, singing “worthy is the Lamb to take the scroll and loose the
seals for He was slain and He has redeemed us by His blood”. And by the grace
of God, that is where we shall be. God has not appointed us unto wrath, but to
obtain salvation through Jesus Christ.
Father, we
thank you for the promises of God that they are to be trusted. And Lord we
thank you tonight for Your Word that it is true. And Lord even as you told
Daniel similar things to what John is recording here, you said to Daniel,
"And these words are true." Lord help us that we will live in all
sobriety. That we will not be caught up in the snares of the enemy in these
last days, so that the Day of the Lord would catch us unaware, but being
children of the light. Lord, help us to walk as such in all holiness, and
righteousness, and godliness. In Jesus' name, Amen.
Next week,
we'll move on into chapters seven, eight and nine. And so we encourage you to
read them over and next Sunday night we will continue our study of this
extremely fascinating book, the book of the things of the future, the book of
Revelation as we see what will be coming to pass very shortly upon the earth.
May the
Lord now be with you and bless you, and you be the salt in this corrupting
world around us. And may the Lord use your life as a purifying influence in
your class, on your job, in your home, in your neighborhood. And may you walk
in fellowship with Him, enriched in the things of the Lord day by day. In
Jesus' name.