Revelation 6:9-11
The Sure Sign
Earlier in this series of messages, I told you that you would hear me
use the phrase "I believe" often. That is NOT a phrase I use when I
am speaking about the majority of God’s Word. Outside of prophecy,
God says what He means in plain, statement-of-fact language; and He
means what He says. We may not like it, but there is little question
about what God say and what God means.
But in prophecy, God speaks in signs, pictures, and images; then
someone must interpret those images. No matter how certain I or
any other may think they are, we must acknowledge that there are some
things that we just cannot be certain about until the prophecy is
fulfilled.
With that in mind, let me give you a very fast review of this book:
I believe chapters 2-3 contain a prophecy of the church age in
summary. There are seven letters and seven church time periods, each
one given in chronological order.
I believe that we are living in the last church time period. We are
the Laodicean Church, the lukewarm, poor, blind, and naked church,
which thinks it has everything.
I believe John’s translation in Revelation 4:1-2, is a picture of the
rapture of the church. That what John heard, we will hear. That
what happened to John, will happen to us; and that where John was
carried, we will be carried.
I believe the opening of the first seal in Revelation 6:1 is the
beginning of the tribulation.
I believe the first four seals being broken are symbolic and united.
1. By symbolic, I mean that there will not be four literal
horsemen riding across the sky, but that they are picture-
prophecies of the first judgments God will lose upon the
earth.
a. The white horse is a picture of the anti-Christ being
released by God to deceive and conquer the world.
b. The red horse is a picture of peace being removed from
the earth, perhaps by war, perhaps by anarchy, perhaps
by a pestilence, perhaps by something we have never even
imagined.
c. The black horse is a picture of famine destroys either the
food or the food distribution chain or both. That in
turn increases the violence across the whole earth.
d. The pale horse is a picture of 1/4 of the world’s
population dying and since they are lost, going to hell
for ever and ever.
2. By united, I mean they are united in time. These first four
judgments appear to happen near one another, perhaps not in
the same day, week, or even month, but somewhere close to one
another none-the-less.
Now we come to the fifth and sixth seals.
I. \\#9-11\\ The Seal of Revenge
Rev 6:9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I
saw under the altar the souls of them that were
slain for the word of God, and for the testimony
which they held:
10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How
long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge
and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the
earth?
11 And white robes were given unto every one of
them; and it was said unto them, that they should
rest yet for a little season, until their
fellowservants also and their brethren, that
should be killed as they were, should be
fulfilled.
A. Without doubt the breaking of this seal is different from the
first four.
1. There is no introduction from the four beasts.
2. There is no horse or rider.
3. And this event is not even happening on earth but in
heaven.
4. In fact, it centers on an object that John had not
mentioned before, an altar \\#9\\.
B. Four questions came to my mind.
1. What Altar?
a. Very few details are given to us about the altar.
(1) It is referred to as "the" altar.
(2) A heavenly altar is mentioned six times in the
book of Revelation.
\\#Rev 6:9, 8:3, 8:5, 11:1, 14:18. 16:17\\
(3) Either there are two different altars or this
altar is golden and is immediately before the
throne of God \\#Rev 8:3, 9:13\\.
b. To understand the New Testament, we must understand
the Old Testament.
(1) In the Old Testament, there were two altars.
(a) In the Holy Place just in front the place
where God’s presence dwelt, was the golden
Altar of Incense on which the incense was
burned. The incense was a symbol of the
prayers of the saints, and it was offered
24/7, as a reminder that our prayers are
always before God.
(2) But out in the courtyard was the bloody burnt
altar where sacrifices were slain and many of
their body parts burned. The burnt altar
represented death and redemption.
c. The altar these souls are in has been stained by their
blood so would be a picture of the burnt altar.
d. Two important facts about the burnt altar.
(1) All sacrifices were voluntary. No one made you
bring a sacrifice. These martyrs were not
forced to give their lives for Jesus. They
chose to do so, a choice some of us will shortly
have to make.
(2) Of those offerings, it was often said that it was
"a sweet savior" to God. That means God liked
it. God delights when His people understand
that sacrificing for Him is better than to live
prosperously for the devil!
2. What Cause or Reason? Why is this altar there and why are
these martyred souls in it?
Rev 6:10 …how long before you… avenge our
blood?
a. Throughout the Bible, God has told the Christians not
to return anger for anger, wrath for wrath, or
violence for violence. Instead, He promised that He
would take care of revenge for us.
Romans 12:19 Dearly beloved, avenge not
yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for
it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay,
saith the Lord.
b. During those seven years, God is paying mankind back
for all the wrong done against His people.
(1) Some might wonder that nothing happens on earth
when the fifth seal is broken.
(2) Well, I am here to tell you that everything that
happens on earth for next seven years happens
because that seal is broken.
(3) God is not only getting justice for the wrongs
done against Him; He is also getting justice for
the wrongs done against all of His people.
3. What Word?
Rev 6:11 …that they should rest yet for a
little season….
a. God was saying, "More martyrs are coming but it will
soon be over.
b. Sin and the devil’s reign is fierce but their time is
short.
c. So short that you need not mark it on your calendar
but should set it on your watch! Indeed, it may not
be the hour or the minute hand you need to be
watching but the second hand!
4. What Timing?
a. This is perhaps the strangest time to even talk about
the people being martyred for Christ that there could
be.
(1) Many are the people who HAVE died for Christ.
(2) And many are the people who WILL die for Christ.
(3) But at this particular time, probably no saints
are being martyred.
b. Why? Because they were all taken off the earth in the
rapture.
c. But then again, that is the way God is. He deals with
things at the exact moment we think He would not.
II. \\#12-17\\ The Seal Sign or the Tribulation Sign
A. The breaking of the first five seals are not events which
happen in a single day.
1. Seal one, the loosing of the anti-Christ starts on the
first day of the tribulation, but it will take him 3 1/2
years to reach the pinnacle of his power; and almost
immediately, he will start sliding down the other side.
2. Likewise with seals 2-4, sometime may pass between the
day peace is taken from the earth and the time that
death and hell claim 1/4 of the people on the earth.
3. Seal 5 is to be fulfilled in the remainder of the
Tribulation, lasting for seven years.
B. But Seal 6 seems to happen all at once, and it has an
immediate effect on the earth.
1. Notice what happens on the earth.
Rev 6:12 And I beheld when he had opened the
sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great
earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth
of hair, and the moon became as blood;
13 And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth,
even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs,
when she is shaken of a mighty wind.
14 And the heaven departed as a scroll when it
is rolled together; and every mountain and island
were moved out of their places.
a. \\#12\\ A great earthquake occurs.
(1) It is so great that \\#14\\ tells us "every
mountain and island were moved out of their
places."
(2) The book of Revelation mentions five earthquakes
during the tribulation.
(3) Isaiah prophesied them:
Isa 24:19 The earth is utterly broken down, the
earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved
exceedingly.
20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a
drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage;
and the transgression thereof shall be heavy
upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.
23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the
sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign
in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his
ancients gloriously.
(4) We use the term earthquake to describe any event
where the surface of the earth moves; however,
this earth quake will be different in that the
WHOLE earth will quake at once.
(5) Not since the days of Noah has anything like this
happened on the earth.
(6) This one event will decimate much of the world’s
infrastructure.
b. But the greater signs will be in the heavens.
(1) \\#12\\ The sun will become black.
(2) \\#12\\ The moon will become red like blood.
(3) \\#13\\ The stars will go out like a scroll
coming to meet in the middle.
c. This heavenly sign is the one true sign of the
Tribulation.
(1) All of the other visible judgments, as awful as
they will be, are not the sure sign the
Tribulation is underway because there will be a
lot of wars, pestilences, and famine between now
and whenever Jesus returns for the church.
Matt 24:6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours
of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all
these things must come to pass, but the end is
not yet.
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and
kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be
famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in
divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
(2) But the sign of the sky will only happen two
times in the history of the world.
(a) Revelation is telling us it happens at this
point, near the beginning of the
Tribulation.
(b) And Jesus told us it would happen again
later, at the end of the Tribulation.
Matt 24:29 Immediately after the tribulation of
those days shall the sun be darkened, and the
moon shall not give her light, and the stars
shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the
heavens shall be shaken:
(3) Like two bookends, this judgment gives every
soul curious enough to read the Bible the sure
and certain knowledge that Jesus has come and
they are left behind… a truth they missed when
Jesus came and with each broken seal so far.
d. In addition to that, the earthquake and the problems
caused by whatever forces are working in the sky
may well incapacitate every satellite signal from the
sky and on the earth.
(1) Cell phones, radios, televisions, weapons, radars,
self-driving automobiles, monitoring systems,
transportation systems, manufactories,
hospitals and doctor records, and every other
thing connected to and dependent upon the
electronic signal will be worthless.
(2) For those of you old enough to remember Y2K, it
will be man’s worst predictions multiplied by
a million times.
(a) Several have expressed to be the hope that
the US will realize during the Coronavirus
our dependency upon other nations and
people and do something to become more
independent.
(b) I think that such thinking is over-
optimistic and assumes first that people
actually learn from their problems and
second that he has the ability and desire
to fix his problems.
(c) Always, always before God sends the worst of
His judgments, He sends smaller versions of
them with the intent of man repenting and
learning from them, but man does not.
2. Notice the earth’s response.
Rev 6:15 And the kings of the earth, and the
great men, and the rich men, and the chief
captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman,
and every free man, hid themselves in the dens
and in the rocks of the mountains;
16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on
us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth
on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and
who shall be able to stand?
a. Fear - They were afraid.
b. Protection - They wanted protection.
c. Recognition - For a brief moment, they even
acknowledged that the "face" of some being had turned
against them.
d. But notice also what was missing.
(1) There was no repentance.
(2) There was no salvation.
(3) Missing from this account is any hint of either
repentance or of trust in the Son of God as their
Savior.
(4) There was not even a longing to know the God who
is capable of causing such calamities.
e. But dare we mock, disdain, malign these, when we
ourselves are sitting out in a church parking lot
because either a pestilence from God or a hoax from
men has gripped us?
(1) It must be one or the other!
(2) Either some group has determined to collapse the
the economies and governments of the world
through a hoax or God has judged our entire
world with a pestilence.
(3) And what are Christians and churches doing? Like
those alive in this text, we are afraid and
running into the dens and caves seeking our
protection!
(4) Where are the servants of God crying in the
wilderness, "This is a sign of the times. Turn
to God!"
(5) Please know, I am not calling out any church or
pastor. I am calling out every church and
pastor. We are the Laodicean Church and we have
no room to citizen the actions of that
generation.
(6) Indeed, we either ARE that generation or we are
that generation’s parents; and if we would do
what we ought to do today, this event might be
pushed away into the future!
No. It is not their reaction we should criticize. It is ours. It
is time we fell on our knees, turned from our sins, turned to Jesus
Christ, and quit putting God last in our lives.
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