This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

(upbeat music) Welcome to day two of our look together through Revelation
chapter six. We're going to focus on verses two to four today. And as we begin our
focus on these verses, we're focusing on the opening of the seven seals.

Remember, we talked about this a couple of weeks ago, that this is the opening
of a document that proclaims our inheritance as believers, but our inheritance
is not of this earth. And so this earth must pass away. And we're going to
discover, as we see these seals being opened, it will not pass away easily.

It's going to come with great difficulty. As we walk through this chapter, as we
walk through these chapters to come, one question that may be on your mind is,
how could God let it happen this way? Wouldn't there be some kinder way for him
to let this world end?

The fact that there's so much turmoil as this world ends, and as the new heaven
and new earth are going to be created, shows us a couple of things. First of all,
it shows us the seriousness of sin. And secondly, it shows us the battle that
it's going to take to overcome sin.

Satan will not go down easily. Evil is going to go down fighting. Selfishness and
stubbornness will go down fighting.

Sin will be destroyed, but it will go down fighting. And that's what we're going to
see together in these chapters. And with that in mind, let's look at the opening
of the first seal, the seal that represents a white horse.

Revelation chapter six, verse two. "I looked," John wrote, "and there before me
was a white horse. "It's rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, "and he
rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.

" So here is the first seal being opened. It is the seal of conquest. The living
creature summons the, have been called the four horsemen of the apocalypse.

We're going to have four of these horsemen. First is the white horse, and in a
moment we're going to talk about the red horse. We're going to walk through these
different horses.

And what this horse and rider represent is obvious. Conquest over the earth.
Being ruled by someone else.

Which is a sign of the fact that this world is not what it should be. Now, what
this represents is very clear. Who exactly this represents?

There's a little bit more disagreement about that. Does this ruler represent all
world leaders? Or is this a specific world leader?

Maybe even the Antichrist that we're going to meet later in the book of Revelation.
As you look at this person on the white horse, they appear to be good. They're
on a white horse.

There's some resemblance to Jesus who is presented as somebody who wears white
robes. But he's someone who is exacting conquest over this world. It could point
in some ways to the Antichrist.

But it also clearly points to the world being a place where we sometimes are
conquered. Where we don't have the freedom to live the kind of life that God has
created us to live. As we walk through this description of this leader, I want to
share with you that some people make a point that this leader has a bow but no
arrow.

And they say that that must mean that he conquers by diplomacy. Well, it could
mean that. But as we walk through Revelation, this is a great opportunity to
learn how to study the Bible.

And that argument that somehow he has a bow but he doesn't have an arrow, that's
called in Bible study an argument from silence. It doesn't say he doesn't have
an arrow. It doesn't say the rider held a bow but didn't have an arrow.

That would be very different. It just doesn't say arrow. It couldn't mean arrow
and bow, who knows?

It's called an argument from silence. And anytime you hear somebody making an
argument like that from the Bible, well, Jesus never drank orange juice. Never
says once in the Bible that Jesus drank orange juice.

So we're not supposed to drink the juice of the orange. That's an argument from
silence. It's a weaker argument.

There could be some validity to it sometimes but oftentimes it's an argument
that's used by false teachers. So just be careful of that kind of teaching
especially as we walk through the book of Revelation. There's enough symbols
that are clearly described for me to figure out.

I don't want to start to try to figure out symbols that aren't described somehow
and say that must mean something. This is a leader who is bent on conquest. Now
I know why the person wrote that or many have written that over the years
because the next horse is going to be the horse of war.

So the idea that you have conquest here but you don't have war yet, that could
lead to the idea that there's more the conquest by diplomacy or by trickery or
by some kind of manipulation. There's conquest over the earth. That is part of
what the earth's going to go to as we come to the end of the ages.

The second horse is the red horse. It represents war versus three and four. When
the lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say come and
then another horse came out, a fiery red one.

Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each
other. To him was given a large sword. We make this obvious move from being
ruled by a conqueror, something which no one will stand for for very long, to
war upon the earth.

Now by the way, why horses? We're going to go through four horsemen as we go
through the first four of these seals. Why horses?

One of the reasons is it's a picture that we can understand. It's forces that
are already work among us but they're going to be carried to an unprecedented
extreme in these last days. As you look at this second horse, it represents war
that's going to come upon the earth.

The wars that have always been upon the earth are going to be increased as we come
to the end of time. The conquest that's always been a part of the experience on
this planet, it's going to increase towards the end of time. I want you to notice,
I want you to notice something very important in a phrase as this second
horseman of the apocalypse is talked about.

This fiery red horse was given power to take peace from the earth. Another
translation says that this horse was granted the power to take peace from the
earth. Someone on our research team asked, I'd like to hear that phrase granted
to take peace from the earth explained.

That's a brilliant question 'cause it's at the core of what happens in these end
time events. Who gives the horses and the riders this kind of power? God does.

This is not talking about Satan giving them some kind of power. Everything is
under the control of the mighty hand of God. Even as everything is falling
apart, seemingly to us, everything is under the control of the mighty hand of
God.

Now you and I, we are very uncomfortable with this, but I want you to let you
know as I read the scriptures, God is not uncomfortable with that. He created a
world in which you and I are allowed to have choice. And that choice, that
choice, God allowed it to play out in the beginning of this world.

And Adam and Eve took an apple or some other fruit. We've always traditionally
said it's an apple. And they ate of that fruit of the knowledge of good and
evil.

And by eating of that fruit, they condemned all of us to separation from God,
only solved by the death of Jesus on the cross, his resurrection, the gift of
grace in Christ. He allowed that choice to play out at the beginning. As you
read the book of Revelation, you find out he's going to allow that choice, human
choice, to play out at the end of this world also.

The world's going to more and more fully reap the result of our lack of trust in
God. It's going to become more and more clear what it means not to trust in God.
And God wants us to know.

Now why does he want us to know these truths? Why not just let it happen at the
end and we don't have to worry about it until then? Well, a couple of reasons.

One, to empower our witness. And secondly, to enable our wisdom in the world. He
wants to empower our witness.

He wants us to be real in the faith that we share. Christians, to believe in
Jesus Christ, Christians are not pessimists. We don't look forward to doom and
destruction, but we're also not pure optimists.

We're not always saying, hey, everything's going to be okay. Christians aren't
pessimists or optimists. We are realists.

We are realists about sin and its effect on the world. We are realistic about
judgment and the fact that it will come. And we are realistic about salvation
and grace and God's love and God's power and that it's offered to every person.

God's judgment is inevitable. God judges sin. We have all sinned and fallen
short of the glory of God.

But that doesn't mean I have to live in this world under his judgment or look
forward to an eternity of judgment because of what Jesus Christ has done. Now,
these events that we're talking about are what the world looks forward to. Does
that mean that I just sit back and wait for it to come, all these bad things to
happen?

Of course not. If I hear that I'm sick from somebody or that I've got some kind
of illness, I don't sit back and say, well, the doctor told me I was sick. I'm
going to die someday anyway, so why do anything about it?

Obviously, I try to treat it the best that I can in that moment. Obviously, we
are in a sick world. And these verses tell us that this world is going to die
someday as we walk through these chapters.

But in the meantime, our job is to cause as many to become well as possible, to
show the compassion of Christ to as many as possible. The book of Revelation is
not an invitation to just let the end play out as it would. It is an invitation
to show the compassion of Christ to a hurting world.

That's the invitation in the book of Revelation. God wants more to come to know
him. That's the only reason he's waiting.

That's the only reason he allows events to unfold like they do at the end of
time. He wants more of us to see the compassion of Christ and to come to know
him. So why are we told this?

To empower our witness in the world and to enable our wisdom while we're in this
world. Remember, God is in control. No matter what, God is in control.

Let's pray together. Our Father, we thank you for sharing with us the truth. We
look at our own hearts sometimes and wonder if we're able to handle the truth.

We like to pretend that evil isn't in the world. We like to pretend that
everything's going to stay as it is or that it's even better than it is. But you
tell us the truth.

You tell us the truth about ourselves and our sin and also the truth about
Christ and his willingness to forgive. You tell us the truth about this world
and its end. But you also tell us the truth about a new heaven and a new earth.

Help us to believe the whole truth, nothing but the truth, trusting in you,
Jesus Christ, in the light of any circumstance that you are in control. Thank
you, in your name, amen. Tomorrow, we're going to talk together about the last two
horsemen of the apocalypse.