Discovering Revelation Part 17
Revelation Part 17 “What’s Coming!”
We are studying through the Book of Revelation there are six striking features about the Book of Revelation!
1. It is the only Prophetic Book written in the New Testament!
• There are 17 Old Testament prophetic Books !
• Only this One in the New Testament !
• Clearly a reason we need to read and heed this book!
2. The Apostle John reaches farther back into eternity past than does any other writer in Scripture!
• He opens his Gospel with John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”
• Then he moves up to Creation in verse three John 1:3 “All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.”
• Then John writes the Book of Revelation, he reaches farther on into eternity future and the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
3. There is a special blessing which is promised to readers of this Book: Revelation 1:3 “Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near.” Also, there is a warning given at the end of this book issued for those who tamper with its contents!
Revelation 22:18-19
18 I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book; 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book.
• This should make all of us Stop, Look, and listen!
4. This Book is not a Sealed Book! Daniel is told to seal the book until,the time of the end!
• Daniel 12:9 But John is told: Revelation 22:10 “And he *said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near.”
• It’s not hard to comprehend when you take your time through it!
• As we have been doing Amen?
• It’s probably the best organized book in the Bible!
5. It’s a series of visions expressed in symbols which deal with our reality!
• The literal interpretation is always preferred unless John makes it clear otherwise! He spells it out to us when he uses symbols of something!
6. Revelation consummates and concludes that which has begun somewhere else in Scripture!
• There are over 500 references or allusions to the Old Testament in Revelation, and that of its 404 verses, 278 contain references to the Old Testament.
• So, over half of this book depends upon your understanding of the Old Testament!
• That’s why I said that to understand Book number 66 we need a good working knowledge of the 65 other books preceding it!
• Last week we concluded with Chapter 5 on the worship that takes place in Heaven.
• What we will experience as Gods children in Heaven when that day comes for all of us!
• Today, however is the beginning of the judgments of God which will unfold in our studies of this prophetical interesting book!
• The things that we will be reading will happen just as the things that have already happened in our past as we have studied this great Book called the Bible!
• I have spend a good portion of my last four years sharing with you the prophecies of the Old Testament concerning the coming of the Messiah! Jesus Christ Himself! 240 OT prophecies determine who, when, where this Messiah Jesus Christ would come from!
• How He would be born, how He would heal and deliver people who were sick, possessed, lost without hope in the world! Amen?
• We have exhausted in many cases the evidences of His death, burial, and resurrection!
• We as a church have walked through verse by verse all of the Book of Acts and what the church looks like in the world!
• We have together been ministering to our community by loving them exposing the Gospel and saving Grace of Jesus Christ.
• And yes there are many deaf ears that Christ love falls on as they pass at times through our doors and events. Amen?
• But listen we must never give in or give up that call for us to Believe God, that call to belong together, that call to become His servants to the world!
• We have a mandate and mission given to us by Jesus Himself make disciples worldwide beginning right here in our own backyard reaching out.
• We must not ever consider giving in or giving up.
• Our time to be with the Savior is coming quickly where we will be ushered into His presence! Amen?
• When that happens my prayer is that He finds each and everyone of us doing exactly what God has inspired and equipped us to do for the Glory of God and for the furtherance of His Gospel to Beverly Hills and the ends of the earth!
• Now we begin at the beginning of the end for this world and this world system!
• We must pay attention, for these things will come to pass just as the former things have come to pass!
• As we see the judgment of God that is certainly coming, let us think of our family and friends who will die without Christ for all eternity separated from Holy God!
• Let our hearts be burden to encourage us even more diligently to reach them for Christ for their sake! Amen? That is a part of why we are here! Amen?
What’s Coming?
• Before we dive into the Scripture!
• John sees judgments on the earth!
• We will see today 4 Horses who will bring this judgment to the earth!
• There are different colors for every horse! White, Red, Black, Pale Green
• What we will see here is like a movie trailer in this chapter for the rest of Revelation!
• Chapter 6 essentially is a summary of all that will follow from here on out in our study of Revelation!
• You see back in Chapter 4&5 the scene was in Heaven!
• The Throne and the Scroll was in Heaven! In Gods right hand!
• No one could open the scroll but Jesus!
• Jesus takes this scroll and begins to break open the seals
• This is “Thee beginning” of the Tribulation starts here!
• The Tribulation is the third most talked about topic in our Bible next to #1 salvation and #2 Second Coming of Christ!
• A difficult time is coming like no other in history of our world!
Jeremiah 30:7
‘Alas! for that day is great, There is none like it;
And it is the time of Jacob’s distress, But he will be saved from it.
Daniel 12:1
The Time of the End
“And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; !!!!
and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued.
Matthew 24:9
“Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name.
Think about the worst moments of world history!
• Hitler and Holocaust, Japan Hiroshima & Nagasaki, WW1/2, the Great Plaque the Tsunami 2004 with 227,898 deaths! All at once lives taken! Can you imagine????
These Judgments are going to be worse than anything history has known!
• They will be Progressive!
• They will increase in intensity an severity as they unfold!
• There is a Pattern
• 7 Seals, 7 Trumpets, 7 Bowls all judgments! When done its done!
• So let’s get to it and read!
Revelation 6:1-8
The First Seal—Rider on White Horse
1 Then I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of thunder, “Come.” 2 I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.
• We see a White Horse!
• So in the movies we always think of the guy on a white horse as the what? Gooood Guy! Right?
• Here he comes to put and end to all the trouble! Right?
• Some people think this is Jesus answer at first glance it’s easy to think that! But it’s not! Amen?
Illustration! When I would fly to South America guys would buy counterfeit fake Rolex watches! They look like the real thing but they are not!
• Some people are fooled with His identity here!
• You see Jesus comes at the end of Revelation Chapter 19!
• He comes to end the bloodshed and war!
• This rider here at the beginning of the Tribulation starts the Bloodshed and war!
• Revelation 19 Jesus has many Crowns! Diadamata in the Gk. Or the Crowns of Rulers and Kings!
• The Rider here has a crown but a different kind of crown, a temporary crown, a winners crown, in Gk Stephanos , a crown made of leaves showing the victory for a certain race.
• Revelation 19 Jesus has a Sword! Dipped in His enemies blood!
• This Rider has a Bow and no arrows! Genesis 10 symbol of the hunt!
• Remember Nimrod the mighty hunter or bows man!
• He lived and reigned during the time of Babel or Babylon!
Ephesians 6:16
in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
• But, here he has no arrows! Hmmmmmmm!
• He comes as a Diplomat trying to be the hero on a white horse with all the answers! Amen?
• He is actually the ultimate Wolf in Sheep’s clothing!
• He will bring a false peace, a temporary peace!
• Between and Arabs and Israelites!
• But in the middle of the 7 year period he will break that covenant!
• All the people will see the imposter as the Big Bad Wolf he is!
• Hitler was a type of Imposter with false peace to Chancellor Neville Chamberlain met with Hitler signed a peace treaty!
• But, Winston Churchill saw the imposter of peace!
1 Thessalonians 5:3
3 While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape.
• You see this rider also has friends coming too! Let’s read!
The Second Seal—War
3 When He broke the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, “Come.” 4 And another, a red horse, went out; and to him who sat on it, it was granted to take peace from the earth, and that men would slay one another; and a great sword was given to him.
• We see a Red Horse! - Devastation comes with this horse!
• Fiery red color means blood bath - Terrorism - Carnage!
• Revelation 12 we see a Red Dragon, Revelation 17 a Red Beast!
• Vs.4 there’s a great sword! All about destruction- War! Peace is Gone!
Matthew 24:4-5
4 And Jesus answered and said to them, “See to it that no one misleads you. 5 For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many.
• This is the same thing we see today! There are always Wars! There have always been wars!
• Our Politicians will always claim peace peace they are trying to secure peace but it never happens! Right?
• In the world did you know there has only been 1 minute of true peace in 4 years on average!
• This all culminates to the “Battle of Armageddon” in Revelation 14!
• Listen, this is so relevant in the world to which we live today! Why?
• Because we can destroy the entire planet in Nano second! We can!
• Nine countries possess 12,700 warheads in the world!
• Hey that’s down from 70,300 in 1986 during Cold War!
• The power of the bombs have also increased since Hiroshima and Nagasaki from 12-13 Kilotons warheads to 475 Kilotons warhead! 950 Million pound vs 26 Million pound bomb of Hiroshima!
• The Bible tells us the mens hearts will fail them for fear!
• Let’s look at the next horse on the scene!
The Third Seal—Famine
5 When He broke the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, “Come.” I looked, and behold, a black horse; and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. 6 And I heard something like a voice in the center of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not damage the oil and the wine.”
• We see here the Black Horse” - See a Pair of scales for rationing food! Famine in the world!
• Ever been hungry? In reality we have never been starving!
• But the world has areas that are starving! There are 800 million people malnourished in the world today!
• 1 out of 9 people in the world of 8 Billion people go to bed hungry! In the world!
• Quart of wheat was the daily allotment for a soldier in the Bible!
• Severe famine because of War!
• From the beginning of Noah to 1850 = reached 1 Billion people I. The world!
• From 1850 - 1930 = we reached 2 Billion in world population!
• From 1930 - 1960 = 3 Billion!
• 1975 = 4 Billion! 1999 = 6 Billion! 2022 nearly 8 Billion!
• Amount of people on the earth! Amen?
• Add to that the contamination of nuclear fall out!
• What would that do to all the food supplies?
• Raptured saints gone, think about this no more missionaries overseas passing out boxes of food and supplies!
Matthew 24:7
For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes.
• Let’s look at the 4th horse!
The Fourth Seal—Death
7 When the Lamb broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, “Come.” 8 I looked, and behold, an ashen horse; and he who sat on it had the name Death; and Hades was following with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth.
• Here we see the Pale Green Horse! Death and Hades or Hell followed him!
• Notice Hell and Death is riding together!
• One quarter of the population will be taken out at once! 1.86 Billion people gone!
• A population greater than the country of China gone!
• Wild Beasts they prey upon the weakened people!
• Beast are the most destructive creatures on earth!
• Rats were the cause of a quarter of the population of Europe!
• The Black Plaque or Bubonic plaque caused this disease from Rat fleas!
• England lost half of it’s population in the 1300’s!
• Hey everyone welcome to the Cross! Amen?
• This is all going to happen one day sooner than we think!
• You and I because of the circumstances of the day in which we live can see how that possibility can happen! Amen?
• We come to church and see what the anti-Christ produces!
• Of which I say come to Jesus! The Faithful and true God!
• Jesus promises everything that is life!
• We all need Jesus the Son of the Living God!
• I want to see everyone of you in Heaven!
• This is exactly why we preach the Gospel!
• We all want peace and need peace in our life!
• May we all find it in Jesus Christ!
• Then Prince of Peace!
• You have all heard the story in the scriptures of the wheat and tares?
• Where wheat grows but among the wheat are the tares that look exactly like the wheat!
• Hard to tell the difference!
• This also happens in the church some of you have been coming to church for a very long time.
• Some of you have never put your faith and full trust in Jesus and His death on the Cross!
• Some of you have not receive Jesus for salvation by accepting His death on the cross for,the penalty of your wickedness and sin! Amen?
• If that’s you The Lord is talking to this morning with every head bowed and no one looking around if that spoke to your heart this morning and you want Jesus to Save your soul and you know you are a tare please let me know by raising up you hand! Amen and Amen