The Seals Are Broken

AI Transcript

Amen. Amen. If you have a Bible, you can go to the book of Revelation. Again, the last book of your Bible, chapter six is where we're at. We've been the last five weeks working our way through this last book, this apocalypse. And I've been I've been deeply encouraged by it. I've never taught through preach through this before. So it's given me time to dig deeper than I have before. I've been encouraged by the vision of Jesus standing among his churches, defending them, encouraging them.

wooing them. I've been encouraged the last couple of weeks in chapter four and five of God on the throne worship by all creation. The lion of Judah, who is the lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world also worshiped. I've been encouraged by all that. I've been encouraged by many of you. Many of you have shared. Hey, I really enjoying this. last week after I finished preaching, one of you came up to me and said, Hey, I'm really digging this.

Revelation series. Thank you so much. And I knew where we were going the following week. And so I said, well, just keep that same energy. Because in the book now we're going to shift a little bit. It's going to get apocalyptic. It's going to get in some ways difficult. But it is a good word for us and to us. We say often with this book, we have to realize that actually it wasn't

written to us, but it was written for us. was written to the church at the end of the first century that were facing all sorts of persecution, trials, and temptations in their life. so we've said that the book of Revelation cannot mean to us what it did not mean to them. So that's our first kind of point of interpretation, but I'm getting ahead of myself. So yeah, keep that same energy, because if we were on an airplane right now,

And the flight would be smooth sailing so far, but this is the point where the captain would put on the fasten seatbelt sign and he would come on and he's, this is your captain speaking. Yeah, the flight deck has told us that there's going to be some turbulence. It's going to get bumpy. We're surrounded by thunderstorms and we can't go around them, but we'll go through them. We'll make it, but just buckle up.

I think that's what the captain would say to us if we were to do that. again, we come to this book, this book that was meant to encourage, literally to put courage into the saints. And they needed it at the end of the first century. These small churches, this small movement called Christianity, facing this giant of an empire that has now set its

aims to destroy this movement and they are dying for their faith. They are feeling all sorts of pressure from their own family members that aren't Christians, feeling pressure from their pagan neighbors, but feeling internal pressure like, hey, why don't I just compromise or why don't I just be silent about my faith in Jesus? That way I can have it all. I can get to heaven when I die, but no one will really

persecute me and I get to participate in all the blessings of the Roman Empire. This would be the temptation that they face when you start to understand that you like. We get we get nervous if we think our co-worker might look at us funny if we mention that we're a follower of Jesus. These people were dying for their faith. So the temptation was real. so Jesus comes in and gives John who's on the island of Patmos this vision he's on the island because he's been

persecuted for his faith and he's going to spend his last days there. But in that moment Jesus gives him a vision and he shows him I am standing among my churches. I am fighting for you. He gives him a vision of ultimate reality that we looked at over the last couple of weeks that that just on the other side of the veil right here in our midst that there is God on the throne. The line of Judah the lamb who was slain he is being worshipped by all of creation. This is what's

actually true. And so I don't know about you. Again, I was deeply encouraged by that scene of ultimate reality, that what we live in is actually the shadowlands, but that is the real life. But I imagine as they read that and heard that, they said, that's good, that encourages me. But it's really hard for us to get beyond our five senses.

It'd be really hard if you're like, man, I know God is on the throne, but my wife was just dragged off by the Roman authorities yesterday. That's what feels real. I know God is on the throne. Maybe you're here today, but I just got this call from the doctor and things don't look well. That's what feels real. And so what do we do with this tension? One of the themes of the book of Revelation is that

Not all is as it seems. There's more going on than meets the eye. More happening than we can diagnose with our five senses. And this is going to be true in our passage as well. Starting this week and really for the next several months, there's some truths that we're going to have to grapple with. And we'll start today and I won't even pretend to say, well, we'll answer all the questions that come up today.

We live in a time where you have 140 characters to explain theology and that just doesn't work. But there's some truths that we do need to begin to grapple with and we will today to some degree. We have to grapple with the truth that God is sovereign over all things. Not just things we like but over all things that the sovereignty of God we have to wrestle with that. We'll have to grapple with God's judgment and wrath are necessary.

Again, we live in a time and a place where we don't like to think about judgment and wrath, but we're going to get a lot of judgment and wrath for the next few months. And we're going to see that they are necessary. And beyond that, number three, God's judgment and wrath are good. It's actually a very good thing that this is who God is. And so with that, fasten your seatbelts and turn with me to Revelation, Chapter six. Last time.

we saw that there was a search out in heaven for who was worthy to open the scroll to break the seals. And we found that it is the Lion of the Tribachuta. It is the Lamb of God. And so he begins to break the seals. In chapter 6, says this. And now I watched when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, Come. And I looked, and behold, a white horse.

And its rider had a bow and a crown was given. Keeping my underliner highlight was given. This is going to become important. A crown was given to him and he came out conquering and to conquer. This begins the introduction to what's known as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. They show up in different ways in our culture and our

movies and video games and songs and poets. But who are these four horsemen? Well, again, this is a vision given to John to help explain, hey, there's more than more going on behind the scene than meets the eye. Yes, God is on his throne. Yes, he is being worshipped for all creation. But the four horsemen kind of represent the chaos, the suffering, the sickness, the persecution that is

being unleashed all over the world. Now, of the four horsemen, the first one, the rider on the white horse, is the most difficult to interpret and understand. And I think that's intentional. Some scholars and people in church history, church fathers, they say, well, the first one must be, it must be Jesus.

Because the only other time we see a rider on a white horse is Revelation 19. And Jesus, it is Jesus. He comes riding on the white horse to conquer at the Battle of Armageddon. And so this must be Jesus. But in those scholars and church church history, people are much smarter than me. And I read those. And in fact, it was the first one I read this week. I was like, OK, let's go. I think that's Jesus. But then I began to read all the other commentaries. I no, this is not Jesus.

This is a counterfeit Jesus. This is a false gospel. And you begin to think, actually that makes sense. And so the rider on the white horse is a false Jesus, false gospel. That's the first thing that we see. Now, why do I say this? Well, a few reasons. First of all, this passage, again, the book of Revelation is steeped in imagery and allusions to

verses of the Old Testament. We could go and trace all these down and look at the horses and Zechariah and all this stuff. But again, we tend to read Revelation in one hand and like the news or newspaper in the other hand. the first readers would have read Revelation in one hand and the Old Testament in the other. And that's how they would have made sense of it. But we actually don't even need to go to the Old Testament to make sense of this. Matthew 24, Jesus actually

In his teaching on how the end times are going to roll out, it parallels Revelation six. So in Matthew 24, as as his disciples asked Jesus about the end times, Jesus begins to answer. in verse four of chapter 24, he says, Jesus answered them. He says, See that no one leads you astray, for many will come in my name, saying, I am the Christ, and they will lead many astray.

And then at the end of his teaching, at end of chapter 24, he says, if anyone says to you, here is the Christ or there he is, do not believe it. false Christ and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. Jesus's first teaching about the end times is there's going to be false messiahs, false gospels, and it's going to lead people astray.

this makes sense. Paul says Satan appears as an angel of light. This is one of his greatest tactics, to show himself as good but to twist the truth. So, anytime we add to the biblical Jesus or subtract from him, now we've got a different Jesus, a Jesus that cannot save, a Jesus that is not reigning and ruling. This happens throughout every century.

You know, of the 27 books of the New Testament, all of them to at some level explicitly explicitly call out false teaching. This was a problem in the first century and the second and the third and the fourth and today. Right. So one of the most historic, famous examples of this is Mohammed goes goes and he gets a vision of an angel of light. And this angel tells him, hey, this is the way. And Jesus is not the savior of the world. He's a great prophet. That's a false Jesus.

And it's a lie from the pit of hell. You fast forward to America in the 1700s, East Coast, Joseph Smith gets a vision from God and it says, this is what Jesus is. And it's adding to and subtracting to the biblical Jesus. It's a false Jesus. It's from the pit of hell. It's the rider on the white horse. Jehovah Witnesses, the same thing. anytime, anytime Jesus is presented as something that he is not,

The rider on the white horse is riding. And we see this all over in churches all over the place. There's false Gospels. There's the health, wealth and prosperity of gospel straight from the pit of hell. This tells you that if you just have enough faith, then God will make you healthy, wealthy and prosperous no matter what. And if you don't have enough faith, then that's why you don't have those things. That's a lie. It's the.

The opposite is true as well. The false gospel of the poverty gospel. God only wants you to be poor and to have no attachment to this world. That's a false gospel. There's the false gospel of the word of faith movement that that your words have power and you can manifest reality into your life by what you say. And so be careful what your words say. No. God's words have power but you are not God.

Your words don't manifest reality. That's a false gospel. We could go on and on. The false gospel of self-actualization. I can dream it, do it, believe it. If I have enough faith, it's going to happen in my life. The false gospel of self-affirmation. Whatever I desire, especially when it comes to my sexual ethics, whatever I want, God must bless that and affirm that. It's a false gospel. That's the rider on the white horse. A false gospel of a Jesus who is just your

personal life coach who comes alongside you to affirm you and encourage you in whatever you want to do. That's a false Jesus. And all of these are the rider on the white horse meant to lead you astray. No, we worship the true Jesus, the one that we find in Scripture. So this is the first rider. Now let's go on to the others. Number two, when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, come.

Mark Oshman (14:22.74)

and out came another horse bright red and its rider was permitted that's an important phrase again was permitted to take peace from the earth so that people should slay one another and he was given a great sword this is the rider on the red horse this represents anger rage war this rider has been riding since the ascension of christ to

to dominate God's people, also dominate all image bearers to ride across the planet. We see this on a global scale, right? No matter how many advances we have in humanity, no matter how much we think we've grown as a people, no matter how many peace treaties are signed, this rider continues to ride. I we just have to look at the last hundred years and look at the massive

Massive genocides and tragedies and six million Jews or or 10 million Ukrainians that were starved to death by Stalin. We can look at the 60 million that died at the hands of Mao Tse Tung. We can just keep going on and on and on and on and see that this writer is writing. He rides on a global scale. He rides on an individual scale. He fuels anger and rage.

in our hearts that boil over. It destroys communities, it destroys families, it destroys ourselves. Are we not a people given over to anger and rage? Right? I mean, as the first readers read this, they would have thought immediately of the Roman Empire, who dominated their enemies through intimidation, terror, and violence. The cross was not just an execution instrument, it was a terror instrument. It was a torture instrument.

It was used by Rome for the sake of Rome's enemies. Don't mess with us or this is how you will die. But not just for the enemies. Violence in Rome was used to placate its own people. It was used as entertainment. Philip the Colossum. We have the barbarian games. You get to see blood and violence and you get to be entertained by it. You get to be desensitized by

the red horse. Are we not? Are we not that people as well? Right? Are we not a people given over to rage and anger and we're told that it that's just the way it is. Right. You know there's these things called rage rooms. I looked it up. I found no less than a half a dozen rage rooms in Colorado. These are places where you can go and you can fully venture rage. The first one I looked at was called All Out Smash in Denver.

And this is on their front page. This is what it says. Don't just manage your stress, channel it. Imagine stepping into our Denver Rage Room armed with a sledgehammer or a baseball bat, ready to demolish everything from office printers to a framed photo of your ex.

Mark Oshman (17:35.534)

Some of you are like, what was the place called again?

And then says, it's all about breaking things and breaking free. If you could just release your rage, you'll be fine. But that's not the way. fact, medical professionals have showed us like giving yourself over to rage actually changes the chemistry in your brain. changes you. It's not good. It's not for your health. But the rider on the red horse, we hear hits hoof beats on the planet and even in our own hearts and lives and homes.

This is the rider on the red horse. Let's look at the next rider. Verse five. he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say come. I looked and behold a black horse and its rider had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying a court of wheat for a denarius and three courts of barley for a denarius.

Do not harm the oil and wine. What is going on here? This is the black horse. The black horse represents famine, but also injustice. Famine. So it says a quart of wheat for Denarius and three quarts of barley for Denarius. So Denarius was a day's wage for the average person in the first century. And so they're saying it's going when this rider rides, there's going to be famine, but it's not a

It's not a natural disaster caused famine, happens, drought or flooding or other things. notice because why? Do not harm the oil and wine. Those are luxuries. So it's a scene of people can't get the essentials for their daily bread, but the wealthy and the rich have all that they need. They have an abundance or not what they need or what they desire that they have their oil and wine. This is a picture of not having

enough of what we actually need and having an abundance of what we don't need. Again, this described the first century, but it certainly describes us as well. Isn't that what we live with now? We have so much more than we actually need, but what we, I'm sorry, we have so much more than what we don't need, but what we actually need, there's a kind of famine behind it. One writer who writes under a pseudonym,

In an article I read by called his name pseudonym was Elijah del Megito Says this the brutal painful fact is this the average person living in a western country Increasingly has nothing to live for he has little family few friends No neighborhood no community and no God he exists mostly as a ritual of economic activity a number on a balance sheet

It's this overabundance of what we don't need and a scarcity, a famine of what we do need. Let's go to the fourth horse. Number seven, verse seven. When he opened the fourth seal, I heard a 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. Again, were given.

They were given authority over a fourth of the earth to kill with the sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild bees of the earth. The pale horse literally translates the green horse or it's the color of gross. It's the color of someone fighting and battling and losing to a disease. This is what this horse looks like. It's this picture of sickness, suffering and

Death. And since the ascension of Christ, this horse has been riding all over. No matter how many medical advances we get, this horse is undefeated. Everyone dies. This horse goes throughout the whole earth. It is riding even today. Well, these are the four horsemen of the apocalypse. And then with the fifth seal, something shifts.

The view shifts back to the throne room of God. And in verse nine, it says, he opened the fifth seal, saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had born. So he sees that the souls that this is they don't have their resurrected bodies yet, but they're under the altar. So the altar in the temple was the place where twice a day the priest would go and make sacrifices.

to God and the blood of the sacrifice would drain down and go under the altar. he gets this vision, this apocalyptic vision of the souls under the altar because they had been slain. They'd been martyred. Because of their faith in Christ and their perseverance to the very end, they have lost their lives. Verse 10. They cried out with a loud voice, O sovereign Lord, holy and true.

How long is this question that has been asked by God's people since the dawn of time when they've encountered the brokenness of this world and of their lives? How long? How long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? Now, these souls are sinless. They've been delivered. They're in the throne room of God. They're not sinning when they're asking this

question. They're genuinely confused. They're genuinely wondering how can God who is sovereign, notice that, sovereign Lord, how can God who is holy and true, how can this God put up with this level of injustice in the world? It's the question Job would ask. It's like, Lord, what are you doing? It's a question of Abacuk asks, what are you doing?

It's a question many of the prophets and many of the people, maybe many people in this room have asked when faced with the brokenness of this world, Lord, here's what I believe is true about you and there seems to be a massive disconnect. And this is what they're saying. You're sovereign, you're holy, you're just, and you just keep letting your people die. How long ago?

And like with Job and Habakkuk and maybe you, the infinite one doesn't try to explain to the finite ones all of his reasoning. And that can be very dissatisfying. That's where we have to remember some things about who this God is.

We'll come back to that in a moment. Here's how God answers in verse 11. God just says, just wait. Not all the martyrs are here yet.

There's a set number of martyrs and they haven't filled up the number yet. Okay. Well, it's with the sixth seal that we start to see the answer to the cry of the saints under the altar. Verse 12. When he opened the sixth seal, I looked. Behold, there was a great earthquake and the sun became black as sackcloth at the moon.

The full moon became like blood and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. The sky vanished like a scroll that was being rolled up and every mountain and island was removed from its place. What in the world is happening here? If you're just visiting a redemption park and you're like, what is this church? What are they talking about? Again, this is apocalyptic imagery.

that rooted in Old Testament apocalyptic imagery. This is the end of the story, the end of the world as we know it. This is de-creation. It's a reversal of Genesis 1 and 2 where things are in chaos and coming to order. This is the end of time. So again, remember in Revelation, there's these windows that we look through. They don't happen in chronological order, but in the window, we get to the very end of history several times.

This is the first time we get to the very end of history. The earth is disintegrating. is metaphoric language. This isn't actual. Like, it says a third of the stars of the sky are thrown to earth. Like, one star into our solar system destroys everything. So that's not actual language. It's this picture of at the end, when God decreates to recreate, and it's also the time.

the prophets would speak of what's called the Day of the Lord. The Day of the Lord. The time when God brings history as we know it to a close and in His righteousness, He brings His justified wrath against sin. All sin. And notice who is judged. Everyone. Starting in verse 15, from great to small.

Says, the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, everyone who thinks that they're above it all, that they can do whatever they want. And everyone, slave and free, covering all the bases, they hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains. Notice they don't call to God.

They don't turn to the Lamb and ask for His mercy to fall on them. No, they're calling to the mountains from the caves that they're in. Calling to the mountains and rocks. Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who is seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. That's an image. Right? The wrath of the Lamb?

the great day of their wrath has come and who can stand?" This is the answer to the cry of the martyrs below the throne. I will bring history to an end. I will respond with my judgment. Did you see what they asked for? They appealed to the character and nature of God. He's sovereign. He's holy and true and they're asking for

God to judge, to avenge their...

The great day of wrath has come and who can stand? Next week, the answer comes more fully. But let's deal with some things here. What I said at the beginning, we're going to deal with three truths we must begin to grapple with throughout the rest of the book. That God is sovereign over all things. That God, not the horsemen who ride, who seem to be in control, is actually God who is in control. This is

the passive language was given, was permitted, were given authority. See, the horsemen that are sent out are still under the sovereign reign and control of God. He's allowing them to rage war, to revolt against it for a time, but they're on a leash. All evil is on a leash. It falls under his sovereign reign. Sometimes we think, well,

It'd be better if God wasn't sovereign over evil because then it would just be kind of this cosmic battle that we hope God wins. we couldn't, you know, we couldn't make any accusations against God. No, God is not the author of evil, but he is able to use evil to bring about ultimate good. This is what Paul says to the Romans in Romans chapter eight. For those who love God and are called according to his purposes, he works together all things for their

good. It doesn't necessarily answer every detail of how this is going to be worked out for your good, but there is one massive example that we must always turn our eyes to to know, even if we can't understand our own circumstances and our own suffering and how the horses are riding over us right now. There is one massive example. In fact, it is the worst atrocity that the world has ever seen, the greatest injustice that the world has ever seen, when the Holy One

The one who took on flesh, the perfect one, the one who was without sin, went to the cross. It was the most evil event in the history of humanity. And on the cross, he's tortured. And on the cross, he bleeds. And on the cross, it becomes the place of our salvation, the greatest good that the world has ever seen. God is sovereign. He's sovereign over evil. He's sovereign over what the doctor says to you.

He's sovereign over car accidents and everything else. He's working it all together for good. doesn't always answer us every detail of every suffering we face, but we can look to the cross and know He is sovereign overall. The victory of the Lamb is absolutely secure. So that's the first thing. We're going to have to wrestle with God's sovereignty over all things. Number two, we have to wrestle and grapple with the truth that God's judgment

and wrath are necessary. Because as the martyr said, you are sovereign, you are holy, and you are just. When the end of history comes, there will be zero injustices left hanging in the universe. He will deal with it all. After all, what kind of universe would we live in and what kind of God would we worship who turns a blind eye?

the brokenness and injustices of the world. Every single one of them. Every single one of them. This is why the victory of the Lamb is absolutely secure. This is why the third point is that God's judgment and wrath are good. And the reason we struggle with that as a church in 21st century America is because we're so disconnected.

from the reality of what so many of our brothers and sisters throughout the ages and even in the world today are facing these great evils that are persecuting them. For example, are you aware right now of the silent genocide going on in our world right now? It doesn't get much news time. But since 2009 in Nigeria, Christians have been under massive persecution.

Since 2009, 19,100 churches have been burned to the ground in Nigeria. 100 churches a month from Islamic Boko Haram movement. Christian persecution. Can you imagine that happening in America? 100 churches being burned down every month? 62,000 or more Christians have been put to death in Nigeria since 2009.

In 2025 alone, this year, over 8,000 Nigerian Christians have been kidnapped. And who knows what is happening to them right now.

Now, if you are a Nigerian and you've seen your wife taken away by Boko Haram and you've seen your children put to death,

and you open up your Bible and you turn to Revelation 6 and you hear the cry of the martyrs, you say, yes! Yes, Lord, how long before you avenge their blood? You're crying out for God's judgment and wrath to come because it's right and good because God is love. Wrath is necessary.

And that's just one example. I mean, we could talk about what's happening in northern India, Iran, North Korea, parts of Asia. We could go on and on and on and on. This is why for the first century Christians and for Christians under persecution today, the Book of Revelation is such a treasure for them. It's not entertainment. It's not speculation of how things are going to happen. It's life for them. And they, with the martyrs, cry out, so the judgment of God.

and his wrath are good. So two responses two responses that we should have as God's people here in this time and place to Revelation 6. Number one we should remember rehearse and share the gospel. Remember rehearse and share the gospel. We've said this all the time but it's true. We have to remember what's true that that Christ did die for us to the question who can stand. It's no one no one can stand unless they first fall before.

Christ now. Like the only way you stand at the end of time before the throne of God is if today you fall before the feet of the Lamb and you trust in Him. You come to Him. You plead His blood over yourself. You remember the gospel. You rehearse the gospel. You're reminded that He is sovereign over all. He controls history and the universe. And then that should also fuel us to share the gospel.

How will your family member or your coworker or your neighbor or your a stranger that you come to, how will they stand at the end of time? It's because you will share the gospel and they will fall before Christ as Lord and Savior. That's the only way they can stand. So this is meant to encourage us to share the gospel, remember the gospel, rehearse the gospel. And then secondly, a second response I think to Revelation six is that we do not need to be surprised.

We need to keep the end in mind. We need to know that God is sovereign. He controls history. We win in the end, right? We know that the riders on the horses don't have the last word. We know that Russia doesn't have the final word. Iran, North Korea, they don't have the final word. Terrorism doesn't have the final word. Kim Jong-un, Vladimir Putin, Hamas, Hezbollah, they don't have the final word. We know who has the final word because we saw it. It's the

only one who is able to open the scroll. It's the lamb who was slaughtered because he controls everything. We're not on the losing team. So church, let us be encouraged to live out what we believe, amen? Let me pray for us to that end.