Introduction

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The movie Tombstone is about real-life lawman Wyatt Earp … and his run in with the outlaw gang who called themselves ‘The Cowboys’.  Rather than matching leather jackets … THIS outlaw gang wore matching red sashes in the movie.  Well in an act of revenge for the gunfight at the OK Korrale … the Cowboys assassinate Wyatt’s younger brother Morgan … and permanently disable his other brother Virgil.  In one of the climactic scenes … 2 Cowboys come to finish off Wyatt.  But Wyatt kills one … then shows the other he’s now a U.S. Marshal.  And he says to him ‘the cowboys are finished … you understand me.  I see a red sash … I kill the man wearing it.  So run … and tell the Cowboys the law is coming.  You tell them I’m coming.  And Hell’s coming with me … you hear.  Hell’s coming with me!’

It’s a chilling line … straight out of Revelation chapter 6.  The chapter we’re looking at today is one of the most famous passages of the Bible.  Now not everyone knows WHERE in the Bible it’s from.  But most people have at least HEARD of the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse.  What’s even MORE surprising is most people understand what the 4 Horsemen are all about.  Like MOST people today … usually get the Bible wrong.  I love watching Jordan Peterson videos.  But when he talks about the Bible … he usually gets it wrong.  But not so with the 4 Horsemen.  Whenever they appear in pop-culture … like the movie Tombstone … it’s usually in reference to judgment.  And that’s what we’re looking at today; God’s judgment.

And the reason this topic is so important is because even though most people UNDERSTAND that this chapter is about God’s judgment … most people DON’T feel the weight of it.  We love HEARING about the ‘The 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse’.  It SOUNDS really cool.  But very few … whether Christian or non-Christian … give this passage the attention and the seriousness it deserves.  The reason I say this is if you and I were to actually grasp the weight of this passage … it would change everything.  Our lives would be radically different to what they are now.  So this is our goal for today.  To FEEL the weight of The 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

Now this chapter kicks off a new sermon series for 3rd term … looking at Revelation chapters 6 through to 17.  The reason we’re beginning in chapter 6 is because we actually preached through Rev 1-5 back in 2014 … not that many of you will remember.  And I’m hoping we’ll come back and look at the closing chapters of Revelation soon.  But we’re doing these MIDDLE chapters of Revelation because they’re thought by many to be the hardest section of the Bible.  A retired minister recently said to me ‘don’t EVER preach through Revelation 6-17’.  So here we are.  Never say ‘never’ to me.

And there are 2 things we need to know about this sermon series.  The first is … God included these chapters in his Bible for a really good reason.  We ignore ANY part of the Bible to our own peril.  The second is … if we can unpack the imagery … the symbolism in Revelation … then we can unpack its message.  And the message of Revelation … spoiler alert … is how to persevere under opposition.  That’s what the book of Revelation is about.  How to persevere under opposition.  And I don’t know if you’ve noticed … but opposition to Christianity is on the rise in the West.  So this message is quite timely for us.  And we BEGIN by looking at the weight of God’s judgment.

And I’ve got 3 points to help us see this today … as your sermon outline shows.  Our first point looks at the first 4 seals … which go together … titled (i) This judgment is God’s (Judgment).  Point 2 will look at the 5th seal … which I’ve titled (ii) This judgment is just.  And point 3 covers seal 6 … which is titled (iii) This judgment is final.  So let’s dive in … and see if we can’t feel the weight of God’s judgement.

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This Judgment is God’s

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And to understand these seals … we need a quick word by way of context.  Revelation chapters 4 and 5 … my absolute favourite part of the Bible … describes a vision the apostle John was given of the heavenly throne room.  In Chapter 4 John sees God sitting on His throne … surrounded by a sea of glass … to keep everyone at arm’s length.  Around the throne are these 4 fantastic living creatures … representing all of creation … and 24 elders … representing the people of God.  And these beings … who have court side seats to the most glorious scene in existence … have determined that there is nothing better for them to do … all day, every day … than to declare how awesome God is.

Revelation 4:11 (NIV) “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power.”

Then in Chapter 5 John sees a scroll in God’s hand … sealed up with 7 seals.  And the seals need to be opened up … to bring in God’s final plans for creation.  And John wept … because no one could be found who was worthy to open the seals.  It looks as though God’s plans are about to go unfulfilled.  Yet one of the 24 elders says ‘do not weep … for the Lion of Judah is worthy’.  And John looks around for this lion … and sees … ‘a lamb, looking as if it had been slain’ … Rev 5:6.  The lion who is a lamb is worthy to usher in God’s plans.  And we pick up the narrative in:

Revelation 6:1 (NIV) I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals.

And the first 4 of these seals go together.  Each of these seals releases an angelic rider … sitting on a different coloured horse.  And each of them are given a different mission.

So the rider on the white horse ‘rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest’.  The bow was the symbol of ancient military power.  His job is to incite world leaders and nations to invade and conquer other nations.

The rider on the red horse is given a sword … and is told to ‘take peace from the earth and to make people kill each other’.  Now this raping and pillaging COULD be part of the conquest from the first horseman.  But it’s just as likely civil unrest.  Riots and murder.

The rider on the black horse is given scales to weigh food.  Now you don’t weigh food when it’s in abundance; you weigh it when it’s scarce.  The black rider brings famine.  2 pounds of wheat was what a grown man ate per day.  In this famine … his WHOLE day’s wages went towards feeding himself … with nothing left over.

Finally the pale horse … or literally the horse that looks like a corpse … is being ridden by an angel named ‘Death’.  And Hell … or Hades followed close behind him … as he’s given power to kill one quarter of the earth’s population.

Now … 3 things to note about the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse.  First … when does this all take place?  Like is this the final half a dozen years before Jesus returns?  Well in Matthew chapter 24 … Jesus says wars and famines and earthquakes will happen the WHOLE time between his first and second comings.  So these judgments are happening right now.  And they will continue to happen right up until the 6th seal … the final Day of Judgment.

Second … notice that these judgments are MOSTLY manmade.  The 4 Horsemen may be inciting them … behind the scenes … but it’s mankind who conquers … kills … and wipes out the enemy’s food supply.  World War I & II … the Rwandan genocide … violent BLM protests … the raping and pillaging of Ukraine … all happened because of the sin and wickedness of humanity.

But third … who sends out the 4 horsemen?  Like these are the most wicked and atrocious acts known to mankind.  War … rape … pillaging … starvation … murder.  Who is responsible for all of this?  Well it’s Jesus.  Each time the Lamb removes a seal … another horseman is sent out to judge the earth.  So the FIRST thing we need to understand about this chapter … is that these terrifying judgments are God’s.  This is not ‘chance’ … or ‘fate’.  It’s not Satan.  It’s not even humanity … though God is using the sinfulness of humanity IN these judgments.  The first thing we need to understand … to FEEL the weight of this chapter … is that This judgement is God’s.  And that should make us sit up and listen.

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This Judgment is Just

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The SECOND thing we need to understand is WHY is this happening?  And we see this when the lamb opens the 5th seal:

Revelation 6:9 (NIV) When he opened the fifth 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.

So these are Christian martyrs in heaven.  These are believers who have been killed simply for their allegiance to Christ.  And they’re pictured here ‘under the altar’ … to symbolise that they’ve been sacrificed for Christ.  And we read:

Revelation 6:10 (NIV) 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?

Now how do we feel about this?  Are these martyred saints a tad blood-thirsty … crying out for God to release the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse upon their enemies?  They’re literally saying ‘can you please hurry it up O Lord … and send them all to hell.’  Like how do we feel about that?  How does that sit with our sensibilities over our very merciful and kind God?  Well if we DO have a problem with what these martyrs are crying out … perhaps it’s because WE don’t see God clearly enough … or don’t see ourselves clearly enough.

So to begin with … we may not see that God’s justice is PART of God’s love.  Now ‘yes’ … God is very merciful and kind.  His mercy is seen in all those passages that speak of God forgiving those who truly repent.  And his kindness is seen in all those passages that speak of God pouring out immeasurable blessings upon His people.  Yet if we restrict God’s love to mercy and kindness … we end up with a 2-dimensional view of God.  It’s a view that forgets all those passages that speak of God demanding obedience … and that speak of speak of bringing the disobedient to justice.

Did you know that there are over 2,000 unsolved missing person’s cases in Australia?  That’s tens of thousands of grieving spouses, parents or siblings … who will all go to their grave never knowing what happened to their loved ones … most of whom were probably kidnapped … raped and murdered.  And that’s just Australia.  Friends … there is nothing loving about God letting wickedness like that go unpunished.  We should REJOICE … that we have a God who treats righteousness and wickedness properly.  To see God clearly … as these martyrs do … is to call out for God to display his loving justice.

Yet a second issue may be that we don’t see ourselves clearly enough.  We’re fine with God bringing rapists and murderers to justice.  But what about my family or neighbours … who’ve never done anything REALLY evil like that.  Is God really going to bring THEM to justice too?  The problem with THIS notion … is we’ve forgotten just how offensive sin is to God.  We’re not looking at people the way God does.  Let me explain.  Picture a sailor … who always does the right thing.  He always obeys his captain … always stays awake on duty … is always back on board early … is always quick to perform his duties.  He’s the model sailor.  But he works on a pirate ship.  The thing we all too often forget is it doesn’t matter how good a sailor you are.  What matters is what flag you fly under.  And most people are being the best pirates they can be … flying under their own flag.

What these martyrs are crying out … and what WE should cry out too … is ‘how long do we have to wait Lord … until you act?  How long do we have to wait Lord … until the earth will know that you are just?’  The second thing we need to understand about this passage … is that This Judgment is Just.

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This Judgment is Final

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The third and final thing we need to understand is that This Judgment is Final.  The 6th seal … in v. 12 … ushers in the Day of the Lord.  The sun turns black … the stars fall from the sky … the heavens are rolled up like a scroll … and every mountain and island is removed from it’s place.  This is every disaster movie rolled into one.  This is Deep Impact … meets Armageddon … meets 2012 … meets The Day after Tomorrow … meets Jurassic World.  And everyone left on earth … from kings down to slaves … are utterly terrified.  They …

Revelation 6:15-16 (NIV) … hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. 16 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 wrath of the Lamb!

Being caught in an avalanche is preferable to even seeing a glimpse of the face of the one who will haunt them for all eternity.  And that is how EVERYONE will respond … who meets Jesus as their judge.

Those who have accepted Jesus’ offer of forgiveness will instead meet Jesus as their saviour.  Christians will be spared the 6th seal.  The list in v. 15 … of princes, generals, slave and free … is an all-encompassing list of people who have sailed under their own flag.  Those who sail through this life under God’s flag … we’re told elsewhere will be spared this final judgment.  But for the rest of humanity … time is up once the 6th seal is opened.  It is too late to repent then.  This world will is being de-created … ready for the new heavens and earth.  And our passage ends on a very fitting note:

Revelation 6:17 (NIV) For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can withstand it?”

This judgment is God’s.  This judgment is just.  And this judgment is final.  There’s no higher court to appeal to.  If you leave this life without Jesus … either through death or through the great day of wrath … you are lost for all eternity.

The final question we need to ask is … what impact should a passage such as this have on us?  Is this just a cool image for pop-culture?  Or has God given us this vision for a deeper purpose?  What impact should a passage such as this have?  Well let’s put ourselves in John’s shoes to find out.  Imagine this was you.  Imagine you were able to go forward in time … to the end.  Imagine God were to let YOU see the faces of those hiding in caves … SEE the looks of infinite horror on their faces … as it sinks in that they are going to hell for all eternity.

Then imagine you can see heaven.  You can see the place of infinite and eternal bliss … where everyone is wearing white robes … like the Martyrs in v. 11.  The ‘white robes’ symbolise righteousness.  It means their sin … their iniquity … their days of sailing on a pirate ship have been forgiven.  And the reason they’ve been forgiven is because Jesus took the punishment for their sin.  Do you remember that when Jesus was hanging on the cross … there was a huge earthquake … just like v. 12.  And the sun was turned black … for 3 hours.  That was symbolic of ‘the great day of wrath’ being poured out on Jesus.  As our regulars know … the only way to get into Heaven is to have your sin atoned for … taken away by Jesus.  And imagine you got to see what heaven is actually going to be like.

Then imagine you came back here and now … and lived out the rest of your life.  What would change for us?  Well let me recommend 3 things by way of application as we close.

For starters … I hope we would FEEL the weight of God’s judgment.  I hope we would feel the seriousness of flying under our own flag … rather than God’s.  Friends there may be people here today … or listening on line … who are yet to have their sins forgiven by Jesus.  If this is you … then I implore you … please do not leave here today with the wrath of the Lamb upon you.  For who can withstand that wrath?  Please … come and talk to me … or Scott … about how to accept the Lamb as your saviour and Lord.

For the Christians among us … here’s what I want US to do.  So imagine you’ve JUST returned from a billion years into the future … and you’re given a big sheet of red stickers … and a big sheet of green stickers.  And you’re asked to go out today … and put a red sticker on everything that DOESN’T last into eternity … everything you DIDN’T see there … and put a green sticker on everything that WILL last into eternity.

So you go out and put a red sticker on your car … and your house … and your phone … and your TV.  You put a red sticker on your career … and your sporting abilities … and your looks … and facebook.  Now how much of our time and our energy and our money are we going to invest in these things … KNOWING they will one day be rolled up like the heavens … or removed from their places like the mountains?  It is by very definition ‘idiocy’ … to invest all our resources in a company that we KNOW is about to go under.  Now that’s not to say we cannot ENJOY things with a red sticker on them.  They are God’s gifts … given for our enjoyment.  But there’s a big difference between enjoying these things … vs. thinking these things will give our life meaning … and investing our all in them.  So the second way the weight of God’s judgment should impact us is in what we live for.

The THIRD way it should impact us is in how we relate to non-Christians.  If we were to go out and put GREEN stickers on those things that WILL last into eternity … we will put stickers on things like our spouse … and our kids … and our friends … and our neighbours.  And every time we see those green stickers … it should remind us that without Jesus … these people will one day be calling for an avalanche to cover them … rather than face the wrath of the lamb.  Friends … the people of this city have everything that is unimportant … and nothing that IS important.  And we can give them the words of eternal life.  Now telling people about Jesus does not make us popular.  People don’t like being told they’re wrong.  But if you and I had SEEN the wrath that awaits them … wouldn’t we do ANYTHING to warn them?

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Conclusion

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Because friends … we HAVE seen what is coming.  God has revealed it to us in Revelation chapter 6.  Those of us who have received Jesus’ forgiveness will get to spend eternity in paradise … whereas the rest will wish they had never been born.  Friends … God’s judgment is very real … it’s very terrible … and it’s very final.  How are we going to live in light of God’s judgment?