Intro/Outro: Welcome to Garden Church Podcast. We're in a series in the book of Revelation. We're gonna spend the next 26 weeks doing a deep dive into both how to read and how to interpret this amazing book. Enjoy.
Darren Rouanzoin: 10 AM. How are we? Alright. Outside. How you doing?
There's a lot of lot of people outside. Couple of pastoral things, come to our prayer room 7 PM, Tuesday night, as well as Wednesday morning. Love to see you guys praying with us. We moved our prayer room Wednesday into this room because there's a lot more people. So please keep coming.
Help us create a space, a church that wants the presence of god. Also, we are launching a garden school of ministry. So, yep, that's starting. I don't think we have a slide for it, but you'll go to our website. This has been something I've dreamt of for years.
I just wanna be a community that raises up a new generation of pastors, missionaries, and leaders that carry the culture that we've cultivated for 15 years as a church, and that's gonna launch in January. So if you wanna be a part of our 1st class ever, sign up for that. Also, this has already been mentioned, but this Friday, we have a wild at heart screening, a men's night. Please sign up right now. All the dudes, come on.
Don't look for permission with your ladies. Go just sign up right now. Get back to that masculine journey. I'm pretty overwhelmed right now. I I I I'm having a hard time.
I couldn't find a seat. So I was worshiping outside with everyone, which was that was great. Love you guys outside. But I feel a little overwhelmed because what I what I get to do is awesome, and I feel called to it. But then, you know, I see the room packed, and it it caused me to tremble a little bit.
You know, I I don't wanna get things wrong, and I don't wanna preach, you know, myself. I wanna preach the word, and and so I'm I I'm trembling, you know, having to preach now. So I, I just wanna share that with you because, you know, maybe I I might look like I have it all together. I definitely don't. I need grace, and I probably need a lot more grace than you, knowing myself better than you know me.
Like, I tell Alex every year, you know, I feel like I'm consuming more grace because of the incongruence I see in my life. And every Sunday I get the privilege of receiving communion and I choose to do every service because, that's the only way that we live in this world. The way of the lamb is through his blood and all night I just had I feel like list of accusations. Amen to the babe. Just a list of accusations.
And it's, you know, I come even before the 8 AM. I'm just that list is ever so present, and then how do I combat it? Blood of the lamb. Not by works, not by practice, not by, getting it right today, but because of his grace. And I think so many of you don't know that.
That we have these machines that become church that churches that become machines, and we forget it's run by grace. And we get good at being Christian and we forget we run by grace. And the only way is humility and reliance on that. So, just to wanna wanna remind you that I still am fueled by the grace of Jesus Christ and sometimes I have to do out of obedience. You ever have that where you show up and you just I gotta do what he he asked me to do.
I have to preach revelation 6 today. I get to preach revelation 6 today. I wanna do this. I'm gonna, so here's what I'm gonna do. I I'm gonna give you a framework of what's what how how do we play the game?
Like, I was Ramin gave me this great example for this service. He's like, if if you're ever gonna play a board game, you see all the pieces. The first thing you do to tell people, you don't just have them jump in to play the game. You give them a framework for how to play the game. Right?
Like, it the perfect illustration actually because my my son will try to teach me a new game he learned, and he'll just start talking about the things, but not tell me the purpose of the game. I'm like, oh, I gotta win this way. Okay. So I'm gonna give you the purpose and the framework of Revelation 6, then I'm gonna talk about the meaning. And the problem is many of you have a distorted view of the meaning already, which I'll talk about.
And then I'm gonna teach you how to respond. So that's what today is all about. So let's pray. Jesus, we've done a lot of praying already, but man, we really need you. And no, you know, scripted prayer or articulate sermon can do what you wanna do in the lives of my friends here today.
And I pray that in the power of your spirit that you would unlock a healthy vision of your kingdom, an accurate view of who you are, a passionate love for your word, but Jesus, would you transform us? I just think there's so many captives in this room who have been held captive by the dragon, by Satan, and they long for the freedom that you offer. Would you just make it happen today? In the name of Jesus, amen. Revelation 6.
Let's just jump in. Yeah? There's no other way to do this. I watched as the lamb opened the first of the 7 seals. Then I heard one of the 4 living creatures say in a voice like thunder, come.
I looked and there before me was a white horse. Its rider held a bow and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest. When the lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say come. Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make peep, to make people kill each other.
To him was given a large sword. When the lamb opened the 3rd seal, I heard the living creature say, come. The 3rd living creature say, come. I looked and there before me was a black horse. Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand.
Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the 4 living creatures saying a kilogram of wheat for a day's wages and 3 kilograms of barley for a day's wages. And do not damage the oil and the wine. When the lamb opened the 4th seal, I heard the voice of the 4th living creature say, come. I looked and there before me was a pale horse. Its rider was named death, and Hades was following close behind him.
They were given power over a quarter of the earth to kill by sword, famine, and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth. Word of the lord. Really? Alright. So a couple of thoughts before we jump in to the meaning is first of all, we believe the Bible is authoritative at this church, amen.
That it holds the highest, authority in our life, in the matters of the church. We hold a high view of scripture, which means when we make exegetical leaps or interpretive claims about a passage, our goal is always anchored in the author's intent to our best ability. What that means is this, scripture is first God's word to whom it was originally written to. For it to be God's word to us, we need to know what it meant to them. K.
I've taught a lot of this throughout the years, But this is why for us, context matters, historical or literary context, genre, structure, language, symbolism, metaphor, all these things shape our interpretation of the scripture, especially revelation. This was written as we've talked about lots of way, in lots of sermons already that this is a unique genre and it requires an imagination for our translation to make sense, okay. 2nd, I just wanna make sure you understand that in this church, we will not divide over the views of the end times. Can I get amen on that one or you're like no, we're gonna it's not a divide issue, right? You we all know that Jesus is coming back, amen.
How that happens, we can have disagreements on how that happens, when it happens, all sorts of things. The point is we're gonna be humble and we're gonna agree upon the main things and we're gonna fight for the main things and unify around the main thing, Jesus. So as we quickly get into some very interesting ideas, and if you've never read these or you haven't been plagued by some of the bad interpretations I would say, I just wanna say you can have whatever view you want in our church because the main thing is Jesus, and the story ends with him winning. K. Cool.
Now quick review before we talk about 6. This is part of chapter, chapter 6 comes after chapters 5 and 4. Does that make sense? Yes. Great.
So good. I'm so glad doctor Seuss preaching up here. What comes before chapter 6, chapter 5. And John in chapter 4 sees a door open, and that word open is like, you clicking on a mouse and a window pops open. It's a new vision of something else going on.
So chapter 6 is connected to 4 and 5. And in chapter 4, we see a throne, we see angels singing holy is the worthy is the one who was slain. Holy, holy, holy. Chapter 5, we're introduced to this scroll. So the scroll symbolizes God's redemptive plan.
This is last week. The true meaning of history and his ultimate purposes for humanity and creation. God's purposes would remain veiled and unrealized without somebody worthy to open the scroll. And so John weeps seeing the scroll, and the elder says don't worry the lion. And then he turns to see the lion and he sees a lamb.
And we see that Jesus has the authority to unlock the scroll, to open the scroll. Now the question is when was the scroll rolled up? Well, I'll side note, just to let you know, I spent a few hours this week combing over this sermon with a theologian from Western Seminary. He's a biblical scholar and I I am happy to submit you know, my theological preferences to biblical scholarship. I hope all of us are worthy or are willing to submit to authority.
So this was scrolled over by, I mean, I got 65 comments from my paper. So anyways, from a professor theologian, Gary Bashir, and he said, you didn't mention in your sermons of the past where the scroll got sealed up. I'm like, well, I've read lots of commentaries, almost 17 commentaries in Revelation. I never saw that. He's like, it's scroll it's rolled up in Daniel chapter 12 verse 4.
I'm like, what do you mean? Daniel 12, pull out your bibles. It says this, you will, but you, Daniel roll up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end. So John was very aware of this passage, very aware of the reality of what's being presented to him in a vision from heaven. And the seals on the scroll are signs of ownership.
In the 1st century, documents were sealed not to prevent their contents from being known, but to say that only the one authorized by the author could open them. That is Jesus Christ. So the lamb opens the first scroll and it says, an angel, one of the 4 living creatures cries out come, And it says, I looked and there before me was a white horse. Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest. Now, we are introduced to this figure, this white horse with this bow, this image which has produced widespread speculation.
This chapter in particular is one of those chapters where many of us have a, a very strong conviction about what's about to unfold in the apocalyptic nature of the story of Revelation. This is part of what we call the 4 horsemen. Have you heard that phrase before? Now with chapter 6 comes all sorts of concepts, some fun ideas associated to it. For example, there are all these words.
By the way, I didn't tell this to you Seth and those, doing the lyrics and I changed a lot of the content from the 8 am, okay. So skip that slide and go to the next one. Here are some of the words that we're gonna read about that you get from this rapture, tribulation, millennium, left behind. That's not in the Bible. That's just a very popular series.
Mark of the beast and dragon. Now before we go into answering some of these things, can you just raise your hand if you've read Left Behind? Raise your hand. Or you have studied teachers like Hal Lindsey, Chuck Missler or you went to Calvary Chapel in Southern California. Okay.
So those categories, I'm gonna give you a phrase, some categories. So that way of interpreting revelation is primarily a dispensationalist, pre tribulation, pre millennialist view, okay. That's who you are, yeah. So dispensational, so dispensationalism is a, of all the theologies, the newest. So I like ancient theology, but that it came around because of John Darby in around in the 19th century as they, John Darby took a literal view of prophecies of the old testament would not apply the exegetical style of research that we apply at the church to biblical narratives and stories and try to calculate, the dispensations which would be the way God works in society or in history as like chapters of time.
So that's dispensationalism. Pre tribulation and premillennialism is something else, I'll get to that in a second. But the word, it's all connected to the second coming, rapture, tribulation, and millennium reign. So the word rapture is not actually in revelation. A lot of people, oh yeah, end times.
It's not a concept in revelation at all. Dispensationalists, pre tribulation, pre millennialists believe that the rapture happens and then the tribulation happens, and then the millennium reign happens which I'll define in a second. These are all categories. Don't worry. Can you guys be theological for a second?
Yes. Good if not, I'm gonna teach in a way that even you know, 5th graders can understand because I believe this stuff is important. But it's not gonna just, it's not gonna shape how we interpret the text. It's just gonna give you a framework, alright, for why I'm interpreting things the way I am. So the rapture, is this idea of being caught up.
It's not in Revelation. It actually comes from 1st Thessalonians chapter 4. Paul writes to this church that it has an over realized eschatology. They think this Jesus is coming back today, so they quit their jobs. They stop working.
They're relying on people's resources, to get by thinking that Jesus is immediately coming back because of their view. And Paul corrects their view. He's like, get to work. And then he says this, like it's not gonna be, you're not gonna miss it. He says, for the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a loud command.
The voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, the dead in Christ will rise first, so those who have died will rise. Then after that, we who are still alive on earth when the second coming happens, are left will be caught up. That's the word raptured or seized or snatched away together with them in the clouds to meet the lord in the air, And so we will be with the Lord forever. So that's the idea of rapture. The idea of rapture is those who are living when Jesus comes back will be caught up.
You with me? And we'll talk about that in a little bit with this text because it's so important. Remember, chapter 6 is connected to chapter 5. And who sits on the throne? The suffering lamb.
The lamb who suffers, who suffered. So the question, will the church experience tribulation and suffering? Well, it depends on your theology of suffering, your theology of faithful witness. Alright. So the word tribulation refers to a time of great suffering, trouble that happens on the earth.
And this is all over the old testament. It's all over the prophetic text of the old testament. It's also in Mark, it's in Matthew. Jesus talks about this in the scriptures. The second coming refers to the time when Jesus returns as king and he makes things right.
He restores things once and for all. That's Revelation 19. The word millennium is a period of a 1000 years found in Revelation chapter 20 verse 4. Now this is a time of peace where Jesus rules on earth. Some see this as a literal 1000 years.
Like he will reign for literally a 1000 years. So the dispensational is pre trip, pre millennial, they take it as a 1000 years. They take tribulation as a literal 7 years. Some see this as a symbolic time of Jesus' rule here on earth right now as he sits on the throne in heaven. There's lots of perspectives on this.
There's premillennialism, postmillennialism, and amillennialism. Now I was gonna go through some things. I'm not gonna do that. Let's jump back into the text. Is that alright?
So those are some defining terms. But let's go back to Revelation 6. Now here's what I wanna say. Those of you that already have a predetermined expectation of what's about to happen, can I challenge your perspective and say biblical theology is more important than systematic theology? So our systematic theology needs to take a second chair to biblical theology.
What does the text say? Now when I say what does the text say, it doesn't say what someone told you. What it says is not based what you on the left behind series, which is a dramatic retelling of revelation from a bad theology, I'm gonna say. A lens of theology that's not shaped through the biblical exegetical process. It takes these imaginative ideas that are part of the apocalyptic nature, right?
So a genre style, and it makes this storytelling really dramatic and fun. It terrified me as a child, right? Anyone else gets scared into being like, am I gonna get left behind? I don't know. Those are terrifying.
So, I wanna challenge all of you to have a humble perspective. I know some of you, this is a really big deal, and it is a big deal. And I'm gonna show you that through the text, but what I think is the big deal is missed when we have, a view of end times that's not shaped perhaps by the intention of revelation. Does That make sense? So again, I could be wrong so you can disagree.
I'm gonna be consistent though. This is one thing I'll challenge you. I will be consistent in teaching Genesis, in song of songs, in Psalms, in epistles, in Revelation. I will be consistent in my approach to scripture. And if you I wanna ask the question, will you do the same?
Cool? So, Revelation 6 is not a sequence of apocalyptic events to simply anticipate. It is a vivid depiction of current present realities, human suffering, the misuse of power, systemic injustice, and the inevitability of death that stems from humanity's sin and evil rebellion working against God's good and beautiful world from Genesis 3 on. Each seal reveals a particular aspect of this brokenness, and together they point to a world desperately in need of divine intervention. A world that if left to its own sinful nature, left to the cosmic evil forces working against God, they are going to end in disarray, chaos, and utter catastrophe which is why we need a savior.
I do not believe these are to be taken as literal people or literal writers. These are not sequential judgments that come one after another. Rather this is powerful imagery and storytelling to get you to see that these 4 horsemen reveal the human consequence of our rebellion. The seals each unveil what happens when humanity chooses to live apart from God. They are not arbitrary punishments.
They are the outcomes of life disconnected from God's good and beautiful order. Death, destruction, and chaos and suffering is not God's design or hope for creation. God, in the midst of chaos, death and destruction will remain sovereign till the end. And the seals are opened at Christ's command. He releases them, indicating that God's sovereignty even in a world marked by violence and suffering will still meet Jesus at the end of the day.
So let's go through this. Can we talk about each meeting? Are you okay? That's my prelude to the Here we go. The first is the white horse.
The white horse symbolizes humanity's drive for conquest and control which will always lead to empire. This is not a holy quest, but a symbol of human ambition that ultimately yields to divine authority. This is not a force unleashed by God. This is a reflection of our human nature. Eugene Peterson says, the rider of the white horse is the spirit of conquest.
The compulsion to always push further, to subdue and to conquer. It reveals the emptiness that comes from conquest for its own sake. An ambition that ultimately leaves us isolated and fractured. This is not a victorious force. It is a portrayal of how our conquest too often undermine the very peace we seek.
So some believe that this is Jesus on the white horse. I don't think it is. Some believe that this is the antichrist on the white horse. I do not think it is. I think this is a symbol of human condition driving us forward which always leads to the empires we see.
Did it happen in the past? Absolutely. Is it present? Absolutely. Do we see the effects of human conquest?
Is it in your own heart? Is there a compelling nature inside of you to drive to the bigger, the better, the shinier, to drive you away from the way of the lamb? Do you see what's going on? The second, the red horse represents war or humanity's tendency and resolution to resolve conflict. The further we get away from God's heart, the further we get away from God's intended life, the more centered we are in our self destruction and violence.
And if you look at context, when was this written? During the Roman Empire, the the Romans had something called the Pax Romana. Roman peace. How did the peace of Rome spread throughout the empire? Conquest and violence.
Peace through death. Peace through the sword. They gave you peace as a newly conquered territory as they destroyed you as a people, and you were forced into their peace through the sword. And so we see that the devastation currently through war has impacted humanity like never before. The beginning of 20th century, the 20th century was one of the most violent seasons in history.
More deaths than ever before. And you see well, there's technological advancement. There's so much hate and despair and still in our current setting, we see war and people warring together like the North Koreans are partnering with Russia against Ukraine. We see the stuff going on in the Middle East against Israel. We see all the the cataclysmic nations rising against each other.
This starts in Genesis with brothers, Cain and Abel. And it leads to the kind of the empire nation's warring against nation that we see present. You with me on this? The black horse with its rider holding scales, it symbolizes the economic disparity and scarcity often exacerbated by human greed and the systems of inequality. This seal exposes the imbalance that drives poverty and hunger.
The black horse and its rider holds the scales and declare specific prices for basic food. It reveals a world where materialism and inequality create a system that sustains the wealthy and pushes the poor into further poverty. The black horse is an indictment on the human systems that prioritize profit over people and perpetuate a cycle of greed. It's as Eugene Peterson says, a critique of the empire. It's a portrait of the world where abundance exists alongside starvation, revealing a fractured moral economy.
We have the wealthiest season, we are the wealthiest world that's ever existed currently, and we have more slaves in slavery today than any other time in history. All of us have phones that most of our phones and the technology used for our phones are used, are are dug out in places in other play in apart around the world by slaves and children. The batteries we use in our phones, the technology for the glass, and the technology we have for the lithium and all the things that we produce, and the things we need for AI are being produced in countries by the biggest companies in the world in ways that will make you feel sick to your stomach if you just do a little investigating. This is the black horse. It might feel easier than to wish for an antichrist in 7 years of tribulation than to recognize we are living in the tribulation if we have eyes to see.
This is not about your guy winning or your gal winning. This is about Jesus and the kingdom of darkness that is ever present. Every time the angel says come, there is a pushing back of dragon as the dragon releases his anger towards the people of God. This is where the story goes, by the way. Are we alright?
It feels better than 8 AM, I'm just gonna say. Then the 4th horseman comes. The ultimate sign of humanity apart from God is death. This is the greatest tyrant of God's good and beautiful world. This is the greatest tyrant that Jesus had to go against straight on as he went to the cross.
He took on Satan, he took on sin, but he wrestled death and he won. GK Beal says, death is the natural outcome of rejecting God's covenant. This is Genesis 3. Right? We're made to live forever.
Adam and Eve were designed to live in Eden with God forever. Death was a grace given to humanity because we weren't supposed to live in a perpetual state of disconnect from God. It would be anti human to live outside of the presence of God. So grace, banned us from Eden in order for God to redeem us once and for all through Jesus on the cross. Do you see this storyline?
But the story is the writer is given a name. His name is death and following behind him is Hades. That word Hades is a place for those who die, go, it's the grave. So death and Hades are riding together in the personification of this gathering corpses, through all sorts of mechanisms, making people, vulnerable and limited. I love what Eugene Peterson says.
He says death rides pale and relentless, stripping away any illusion of invincibility or self sufficiency. That is the term for our modern society, self sufficiency. This is the finality that awaits all. Unmasking humanity's desperate need for redemption, the 4th seal is a sobering moment, a reminder that life is fragile and our days are numbered. The seals are all connected.
1 says, if we do not go the way of the lamb, there will be greater and greater conflict that drive us to conquer. Seal 2 says, if we do not go the way of the lamb, there will be greater and greater violence. Seal 3 says if we do not go the way of the lamb, there will be greater and greater injustice and hunger, longing in the world. Seal 4 says if we do not go the way of the lamb, there will be greater and greater sickness and death. So the question then in reading this is, well, will the church be raptured up before this kind of suffering?
Will some of you be left behind? I'm gonna say no declaratively. That there's no way I can read the book of revelation. There let me say this. There's no way I can read Genesis to revelation, the gospels of Jesus Christ, the epistles of in the new testament, and the book of revelation and say the church is spared from suffering.
That seems anti the way of the lamb. Right? So that idea is just I I understand how you can get there based on some of the text, but it does not make sense in the mission of God and the story of God. We are called to be faithful witnesses unto our death, which we will see with seal 5 in just a little bit. It's a very logical conclusion.
He's on the throne. All this suffering's going on. What do we do? Remain faithful. But do I believe in a rapture?
Absolutely. How can I deny first Thessalonians chapter 4? But what is the rapture? It's not some special time where we get caught up and we're gone and then he suffering happens with the rest of the church. It's when Jesus comes back once and for all.
He those who are living are caught up and brought right back down. Okay. And here's why I know that. Because the phrase, this language of first Thessalonians is Roman language for what would happen if Caesar or a general came into a new territory. The city officials would come and meet that general or Caesar before they entered the city.
If they came by ship, they would meet them in and take them into the harbor. If they came by foot, they would meet them outside the city and they would walk him in as a special guest into the town. This is the language Paul used for what happens when Jesus returns. No one's gonna miss it. There's not gonna be a secret second coming.
The world will stand still in the existence of Jesus, the lamb who was slain coming back to fulfill his promises. He's gonna marry the bride. Heaven marries earth once and for all. You with me on that? K.
Can we keep going? I like 10 AM better than 8 today. Just today. You're doing good. Verse 9 says, when he opened the 5th seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained.
They called out in a loud voice, how long sovereign Lord, holy and true until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood. They're crying out, how long must this injustice take place? The souls of the martyrs are under the altar. This location of their souls represents their martyrdom as an act of worship. A costly offering to them, of themselves to God who is worthy of all devotion.
This 5th seal teaches the importance of patient endurance in the face of suffering. In this sense, their lives point other people to their land, to the land. Their death, and if you study early church growth I'm laughing now. I shouldn't laugh. Coming out of all hallow's eve, all saints day, and all souls day, which was Halloween, the first and the second.
I know many of you don't understand the significance of this. Halloween was a celebration for Christians to worship or to celebrate god and what he's done and the the faithful saints, that that died as martyrs. All the other, oh man, I don't know, all the other like festivals we see like Christmas and Easter, those were pagan holidays we took over. Halloween was a Christian holiday taken over by the pagans. Let's do some research on this.
Obviously, there's other cultic practices and there's witchcraft, all that's real, but Christ conquers. Christ conquers. And in the end, we're gonna there is only one god. So take territory in the name of Jesus. This, this seal though is is so important because it's it's drawing to the the the radical conclusion that what happens then as the lamb sits, stands at the center of the throne, all this suffering is happening with the 4 horsemen.
And they're seeing all this injustice and they're crying for God to come and establish his kingdom once and for all. And if you study early church early church, martyrdom was one of the most effective ways for growing the church. It still is. I met a guy. I don't wanna get off topic.
We have stories that are present of people who have been raised from from death to life in places around the world that brought whole villages back to faith. Of people's death and the way they died was so honorable that the entire village except Jesus as a result of the martyr. This is the, this is our story. And the question is Lord, when will you bring justice? And, and then it says, how long?
And then each of them were given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers and sisters were killed just as they had been. So as this was written to a group of people being persecuted, you're like, yes, this is the moment. Let's go, justices, avenge our blood. He's like, just wait. Be patient.
I am a a god who is paid. What is he waiting for? What is God waiting for? He loves his kids. He wants people to repent and turn to him.
Do you know that? Like there's this ex there's this like bubbling up of urgency. A little longer, some of you who are reading this for the first time in in Rome through John or one of the 7 churches are hearing, I might die. Keep going. I know it's hard to preach that because you know, we pull out our phones and just live in comfort.
We're like, oh, I'm being persecuted. I have to wear a mask. Seriously. We think that's what's no. Come on.
That's not persecution. That's not what what's going on. That's a cult that's a cultural war. We're talking about life and death. Faithful witness to Jesus.
Now there are political tones in this, because he's resisting the way of empire. How do you resist the way of the empire? The way of the lamb. Just let that sit for a second in our way of taking territory and victory as I just shared. It's not any other way other than self sacrifice and love.
Alright, I'm a keep going. So this is the 5th seal. And then we get to the 6th seal. K? We're gonna read this.
You ready? I watched as he opened the 6th seal, there was a great earthquake. The sun turned back like sackcloth made of goat hair. The whole moon turned blood red, and the stars in the sky fell to the earth as a fig drops from the fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. All these have apocalyptic tones that are used at the old testament as well as the new testament.
This is the this is a future thing. This is gonna be This is language of natural disasters, epic events, judgment, and wrath. The day of the Lord that's finally coming is here. That's what's going on. You with me?
The heavens receded like the scroll being rolled up and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and free, hid in caves among the rocks of the mountains. They called to the mountains and the rocks, fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne, and from the the wrath of the lamb. For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can withstand it? The word of the Lord.
This imagery is a dramatic display of God's power over all things. For Beal, the the commentator, this seal marks the dismantling of the old world order to make way for God's kingdom, and the destruction of those who persist in that order. They would rather be crushed by the rocks than yield to the way of the lamb. People of the earth that are watching, this is a future event, so the other ones are always present. This is clearly a division of something that's coming.
This final judgment, this epic moment where God is now going to roll out the justice to bring out the justice based on those calling out when will you event just a little longer, and then the 6th seal comes and this judgment comes in the people who have relied on power, who have relied on wealth, who have relied on systems of the world, they will resist the lamb to the point where they call out, fall on top of me mountain. As mountains and islands shift to leaders and commoners alike hide in caves, this seal strips away any false sense of security. If you rely on power, wealth, consumerism, your body, yourself, those things will make you vulnerable to God's sovereignty that's coming. It highlights that nothing can keep you. Nothing will be a refuge when you're confronted with divine, justice.
This presents this represents not merely natural disasters, but the collapse of worldly security, and it exposes humanity's vulnerability. And if we are reading this, what we should feel is a sense of reverence, awe, and repentance. This catastrophic imagery is designed not just to terrify you, but to wake you up. To get your life realigned with what's coming into the future. This seal is what happens when God's justice finally breaks forth.
It's an imagery of that divine intervention that each seal is longing to see, and he brings it justice, and it's in the shape of wrath and judgment. This is why I carry this sermon so heavily. You wanna know why? Because I was corrected in my theology this week by a biblical scholar. He said, because I was gonna teach you something about judgment and wrath.
And he's like, Darren, that's judgment now. Romans chapter 1 talks about what God's judgment and wrath being poured out on the world looks like right now. It's when people reject God and they have ingratitude towards God, and they begin to worship their idols. And that idolatry leads to immorality and that immorality leads to enslavement, and then God out of his his loving judgment, hands you over to your appetites and desires in ways. Judgment is him releasing control.
You see, mercy is his is his discipline in your life. Mercy is him saying, don't go this way. It's like you're doing what your parents told you not to do and you feel this conviction. I know I'm doing something wrong. That's God's mercy.
It's his holy spirit convicting you of sin, convicting you of living a life outside of his ways. Judgment is you keep rejecting his prompts, his mercy. And so he goes, okay. I'm gonna let you have your desires. So in the church, judgment on the church right now is if we worship celebrity pastors and they fall apart.
The judgment is this, you worshiped it. If you worship politics and your team doesn't win, you're handed over to division over those systems of policies. But if you worship Jesus, you're aligned with him. Do you see what's going on? He hands you over.
Judgment now is him releasing, Which is what we see in the ideology of the world. You keep worshiping this ideology and it's gonna collapse from the inside out. That's what's happening in our culture. That's what's happening. When we look at what's going on and it's crazy out there.
Well, this is where are the logical conclusion of the progression of our belief systems lead us to being eaten alive from the inside out. Because nothing can hold weight. We don't believe anything anymore. You can be whatever you wanna be. We take down the ancient boundary lines.
We take down god created order. And as a result, society will collapse. That's god going, alright. But judgment in revelation 6 is not that judgment. It is god acting.
We'll read about this in revelation. The lamb of god will judge the world. There is not just a handing over, he will destroy the evil in the world. That's good news. He will destroy those who work against his good and beautiful creation.
He will destroy the cosmic evil that is opposing your health, the cosmic evil that wants to destroy children today, the cosmic evil that is ever so present that every time we say come, let your kingdom come, the dragon's kingdom opposes. You will destroy the dragon. You will destroy the beast of the sea. You will destroy the unholy trinity, and he will destroy all those who oppose his work. Humans, which should terrify us.
Yeah. Which should cause us to cry out, to not just pray come Lord Jesus, but to do the work of the church. To spread the good news, to let people know not just that life is about a blessing, and it's about your fasting and your practices and becoming like Jesus. It's about the mission of Jesus because people are held hostage by the dragon's will. And we are called to enter into the world, not to hide, not to be raptured away, but to enter in and free and liberate those held hostage.
But I'm afraid that the church is asleep from its task. We're asleep, we think that our job is to go home, to watch our shows, eat our food, have postmates deliver, make everything comfortable. Meanwhile, our neighbors are suffering at their dragon's will. And I don't remember the last time my neighbor preached I preached the gospel to my neighbor. There is a judgment coming and it's lighting a fire inside of my heart.
That there is a wrath coming. There is a judgment coming. It's not just handing them over to their ways. It's not just skipping our way singing kumbaya so we can play with Jesus. It is a battlefield, and we are called right into the middle of it.
Right in front of the giants of this age, right in front of the principalities that are wreaking havoc on our friends and neighbors. And we say not on our watch. Yeah. It's messing me up. Yeah.
Told you I came with fear and trembling. I can't let you off the hook if you're new to our church. So glad you're here. Sorry, there's no seat for you. He wants you so desperately to know who you are, not so you can face the rest of your life singing identity songs, but that you'd be released.
There's no retirement in the kingdom of God. There's no I'm taking a season off to do me time. That's a whisper from Satan. Yes, have boundaries. Yes, practice Sabbath.
But if you're not serving, if you're not out witnessing, what are you doing? Maybe your soul won't be under the altar. I want mine to be. The 7th seal is in chapter 8. So after the judgment comes, we'll do chapter 7 next week.
Things are heating up. The 7th seal, verse 1, when he opened the 7th seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. Remember, angels are singing endlessly, holy, holy, holy. The they hear this the the elders hear this, they throw down their crowns, and they say, worthy is the lamb who was saying. They sing the heaven song for eternity, but now there's silence.
And I saw the 7 angels who stand before God, and the 7 trumpets were given to them. Another angel who had a golden sensor came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all God's people on the golden altar in front of the throne. The smoke of the incense together with the prayers of God's people went up before God from the angel's hand. Then the angel took the sensor, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it onto the earth, and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashings of lightning, and an earthquake.
It's this dynamic, decisive act. But there's 30 minutes of silence. This signals the fulfillment of god's plan. It's a moment of suspense suspenseful reverence that precedes the ultimate revelation of God's purpose for creation. The 7th seal is unique.
Instead of unleashing more chaos, it brings silence in heaven. And in that moment, heaven itself waits, acknowledging for what God is about to do. It's profound. It needs a moment. It needs a break.
Silence in the room. This silence calls believers into a posture of humility, recognizing God's way is above and beyond human capacity to grasp. The silence is a transition moment from judgment to unveiling God's redemptive purposes. Eugene says the silence is not an absence, but a fullness. A moment pregnant with divine meaning that words cannot contain.
In the silence, we encounter the holiness of god in a way that words or judgments alone cannot express. A quiet that holds both the weight of sorrow and the promise of redemption. Revelation 6 reveals a world that's unraveling. It's suffering because we're living apart from God's way. Conquest brings division, violence will escalate, injustice widens, death feels inevitable.
These judgments are not simply punishments. They revealed the reality of life away from God's love and wisdom. If ignored, this is the way. So what's our role? How do we respond?
Number 1, we pray. It's the prayers of God's people that unleashed the last unveiling of his scroll. It's the collection of his prayers that will tip God to act in human history. God is waiting with expectation for his people now to pray his reality here. We pray and we work.
Number 2, we work right now for God's kingdom on earth. We don't make this about us. We make it about him, and he's desperate for his kids. And right now, you're living in proximity to people who are suffering because of the dragon. It's time to go into the dragon's lair and bring them out.
Wake up to that neighbor that's causing offense. Pray Christ's life into their existence. Love them the way of the lamb. Open arms. Stop judging them because of their sign or their hat or whatever spectrum you're on.
Start loving them the way Jesus loved them. And 3rd, we cry out like the angel, come. Scholars will say, what are they calling for? Some suggest they're calling for John to come and see this vision, but he's already there. He's in the same place in heaven.
He's already seeing this. Others suggest that the 4 living creatures calling for the 4 horsemen to come and destroy creation, but that doesn't make sense. Why would they call for creation to be restored? What most scholars say is they're calling for the lamb at the center of the throne to come and establish his kingdom. It's the second part of the Lord's prayer.
Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. It says in scripture over and over again in the book of revelation, he is coming. I'm coming quickly. I'm coming quickly.
Yes. I am coming. Revelation 1 to Revelation 20. So we stand in the gap as priests who say with all of our heart and being, come, lord Jesus. Come, lord Jesus.
Come, Lord Jesus, into the areas of my heart that don't wanna submit to your way. Come, Lord Jesus, into my mind that regularly struggles with insecurity and fear. That's plagued with anxiety and doubt. Come, Lord Jesus, into my relationship with my spouse, that we will love each other the way you taught us to love. Come Lord Jesus into my workplace.
That's a place of contention and bitterness and gossip. Come Lord Jesus into my neighborhood. Let it be this in Seal Beach as it is in heaven, In Long Beach as it is in heaven. In Southern California as it is in. Come Lord Jesus, bring your way here and now, which is always the way of sacrifice and love.
And let's pray this together in Jesus name, amen.
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