Please turn with me in your Bibles to Revelation chapter 6, Revelation, the last book of the Bible. We're going to be reading the sixth chapter. In the Pew Bibles, you can find that on page 1314. Hear God's word this evening. Now I, that is John, watched when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals. And I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, come and I looked and behold a white horse and its rider had a bow and a crown was given to him and he came out conquering and to conquer. When he opened the second seal I heard the second living creature say come and out came another horse bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth so that people should slay one another and he was given a great sword. When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, Come. And I looked, and behold, a black horse, and its rider had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not harm the oil and wine. When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, Come. And I looked, and behold, a pale horse, and its rider's name was Death, and Hades followed him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth. When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, O sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been. When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth. The full moon became like blood and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains. Calling to the mountains and rocks, fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand? And there ends our reading. So we end with that question, who can stand? Who is able to stand? What does it mean to stand? And have you ever asked yourself this question, am I able to stand? Or maybe, have you ever thought that you can stand on your own? You know, many people do. One notable figure recently in an interview was asked if he had ever asked God for forgiveness. And he answered this way. He said, I'm not sure I have. I just go on and try to do a better job from there. I don't think so. I think if I do something wrong, I think I just try and make it right. I don't bring God into that picture. I don't. Now you hear that, and you think, wow, this person doesn't think they need forgiveness. And we might be tempted to scoff at them for that. We know better, right? But did you know that all of us, to varying degrees, show by our actions that we too think we can stand on our own? Think maybe of somebody who says, well, God could never forgive me. It's the opposite. They say that, and it sounds pious, but really when you say, God could never forgive me, you're saying, God cannot make me stand, but I need to help him make me stand. So there's a similar issue here. Or sometimes when we're facing temptation, we trust in our own strength. Maybe this is not quite as serious in terms of our salvation, but it is a serious mistake. how we view our God. For instance, if you're stressed, maybe you're tempted to give up. But do you turn to God's Word? Do you turn to God in prayer? Or do you turn to other people and other things? Or as is so common in our world today, maybe you face sexual temptation. It comes in all shapes and sizes. When that happens, do you turn to God's Word? Do you turn to Him in prayer? or do you turn to other places? And so you see, all of us in some degree face this question and face this issue, this problem of thinking we can stand on our own. And so the Holy Spirit tonight wants to remind us of our inability to stand. And he wants to point us to the one who enables us to stand. And this is a critical question, brothers and sisters and guests, because the great day of the wrath of God is coming. we heard it in the greeting this evening grace and peace to you from him who is and who was and who is to come and then also in that same chapter revelation one look he is coming with the clouds and every eye will see him this is certain amen and then to the last book our last chapter of revelation second last verse of the entire bible says he who testifies about these things says, yes, I am coming quickly. So the great day of the wrath of God is coming, and that's why we're spending time this evening focusing on this question. Who is able to stand at that day? We're going to first look at the first four seals. There are six seals opened on the scroll in this chapter, and we're going to begin by asking who is able to stand in the face of great catastrophe seals number one through four then we're going to ask who is able to stand in the face of great persecution that's seal number five and finally who is able to stand in the face of the great undoing of the world that's seal number six and so begin with the first seal but before we do that we should remind ourselves of what chapter five is all about if you have your Bible's open, you could glance at chapter 5. John at the beginning of chapter 6, what's happening there flows right out of the previous chapters. And chapter 5 had given us a picture of the throne room of heaven. And all of heaven was looking for someone who was worthy to open the scroll. But we're told that John was in tears. Why? Well, no one was found who was worthy. But then just as John's weeping in sorrow, an elder comes to him and says, Stop it. There is somebody who's worthy. The Lamb is worthy. And so all of heaven is rejoicing, singing songs of praises to the Lamb. And then the seals on the scroll are opened, revealing what is to come. Now, what would you expect would come next? Given all of this praise, this rejoicing. and what do you get judgment you get judgment so why if this worthy lamb takes his place in the throne room why would you get judgment another way of asking that question is why is the world still the site of so much great catastrophe that's an important question and so we're going to answer that this evening but first we look at the first seal and actually these first four seals of judgment are all similar in many ways. They all have a living creature playing a role. The living creature yells, come. There's a horse involved in all of these seals. There's a horseman on the horse, and the horseman goes out. Yet, of course, there's differences too. The horses are colored differently, and they have different purposes, these horsemen. So let's look at the first seal we have we're told verse 2 a white horse and the horseman is one who conquers he had a bow and a crown he went out as a victor as a conqueror ready to conquer what are we to make of this who is this horseman well some people have said that this is the good man on a white horse who comes up in revelation 19 the man who has inscribed on his thigh king of kings and lord of lords christ what we can see where they come from there's some plausibility to that remember these seals reveal judgment so this is no white knight riding in with shining armor ready to save no this horse and its rider are setting out to conquer the nations of the earth and you might even say perhaps this is satan masquerading as he so often does as one who is of the light it's a scene of judgment as are the other seals but i want you to notice something notice here that the crown was given to him so you should be asking well given to him by whom who's in charge here well we'll get to that but in the meantime we keep going we look at seal number two and here we have a bright red horse a fiery red horse and this horseman takes peace from the earth, he slaughters people. This represents war, terrorism, destruction, terrible things. And in the face of all of this catastrophic slaughter represented by this horseman, we can't help but wonder who is even able to survive? Who is able to stand? But again, notice with the second horseman that the power he had was given to him and that the large sword that he had was given to him so despite his aggression and his power he really doesn't seem to be the one who's in control does he well who is we move on to the third seal and as we move to that one we see a shift now in focus from violence to another type of catastrophe here we have a black horse verse five and the rider on it is carrying a set of scales and when we see that image of a scale we're told that tells us that famine is the next judgment being referred to because it's portraying a time when food is so scarce that the food needed to be rationed out and in the ancient world what they would have how they would have done that was with a set of scales and so then we have this phrase shouted out you can imagine in the marketplace a quart of wheat for a denarius and three quarts of barley for a denarius and do not harm the oil and wine what on earth does that mean well it shows the severity of the famine you see a denarius was about a day's wage and this amount of food a quart of wheat and three quarts of barley represented about one to three days worth of food and so that was about eight to sixteen times more than the usual price for this amount of wheat and barley and then two we have the the oil in the wine do not harm the oil in the wine that's the sort of thing you might say about something that is precious but oil and wine were common items staples for the people but now now oil and wine are luxuries and so one of the judgments the world faces is famine so we move to the foreseal also with a horse this horse is pale we're told in verse 8 actually pale green would be a better way to look at that and if you understand that green is a color associated with corpses then it makes sense why this horse is pale green the rider is named death and hades or the underworld is following him and authority we're told is given to him over a fourth of the earth to kill by the sword by famine by plagues by wild animals and so as you hear all of those things there's a sense in which this is a summary of the judgments that have come before it but the important thing to notice here look closely is that this authority was given to him and his judgment is limited to a quarter of the earth yes it gives us chills to think of that sort of judgment but somebody is giving him the authority somebody is limiting the judgment well there are the first four seals what are we to make of this so far what should we be thinking of John's vision well we spent time with the details and it's important to look at these details but one thing you shouldn't do is get hung up on them. Because what's happening here, these are representative pictures of judgment that John is being given. And they should cause us to ask who can possibly survive and thrive? In other words, who can possibly stand in the face of this great catastrophe? Well, as I said, we'll get there. Not quite yet, but we'll get there. But the Spirit wants us to see something here. The Spirit wants us to see our inability to stand, that we cannot stand on our own strength. You know, that bears repeating. I've repeated that because our world says very differently. You can think of politicians as an obvious example. Politicians promise the world. They do this all the time, but particularly at election time, you see this. And then people expect them to deliver. And so there's a sense in which they are viewed as saviors. I remember when President Obama first came in, promising change that you can believe in. And believe people did. But you know, every president, regardless of party, promises big. But you know, the change that actually takes place is nothing close to what they promise. History teaches us this. It's not just America. You can go back as far as you'd like. You can look at whichever country you please. And why is that? Well, that's because the text tells us that that is an overly optimistic view of human progress. It is too high a view of what the powerful people of this world can do. And so these big promises just are not going to happen. Because war, famine, economic ruin, terrorism, death, these are all realities that we do face. They're judgment brought on this world by a supernatural source. And important to note that since this judgment is supernatural, the solution to it will also be supernatural. So this leaves us wondering still, doesn't it, who is able to stand? Who is able to survive? But as we seek to answer those questions, remember that these horsemen were given their power. They don't have ultimate authority, but it comes from somewhere. Well, from where? From whom? Part of the answer to our question comes in the opening of the fifth seal, as we move to the fifth seal, verse 9. This is a different kind of seal. There's no living creatures involved. There's no horses, no riders. Instead, here we have people under the altar. And when we hear altar, we should be thinking, think back a couple sermons ago in our Exodus series, to the altar of incense in the Holy of Holies, in the tabernacle. And that imagery of that altar is to say that these people are in God's presence. They're under his protection and they're offering prayers to him. But there's something else, too. There's blood beneath the altar. These people are slain. And so that should remind us of the altar of burnt offering. So despite being in God's presence, these people are suffering. They've been slaughtered because of God's word, and this doesn't seem right. And so they cry out, they say, Lord, the one who is holy and true, how long until you judge and avenge our blood from those who live on the earth? How long, O Lord? This is the question that would have really resonated with the original audience. You see, those people, those early Christians, were persecuted as members of the Roman Empire. They were still on the fringes. But it's a question not just that the original audience resonates with it, but I would imagine also for you, for me. You see, we ask this question sometimes, particularly when we suffer, when we suffer trials, when we go through what we call valleys. Think of all the people who have been sick of late in our congregation who have surgeries. It's going to be difficult things to deal with. And they may ask that question, how long, oh Lord? Or maybe you're going through a tough time as a student in school. Maybe you're struggling to find your place in life. Maybe you don't really have a sense of direction yet in life and you're wondering. You could be going through a valley and you might ask this question. Or how about marriage? Many of us who are married know that while it is the most beautiful relationship that the Lord has given to us as human beings, it is also the most complicated. And sometimes that leads to marital strife. And so as we're in that, sometimes we can ask this question. But not just then. Maybe you have felt rejection on account of your faith. Maybe seriously so. And then, especially then, you can ask this question, Lord, how long until you bring your judgment? Why are you not intervening and why are you not doing it now? And you know, the psalmist asked this question as well, Psalm 13. Lord, how long will you forget me? Forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long will I store up anxious concerns within me, agony in my mind every day? How long will my enemy dominate me? And, you know, this is, as we reflect on this question, it's a fair question in many ways for the saints to ask. After all, these are his people. And they acknowledge God as holy and true. They know, they say, that he will judge and avenge their blood at the hands of evil people. So it's not as if they're seeking revenge for themselves, but they're seeking God's justice. And it's as if they're saying to him, when will we be relieved of our oppression? When will we be able to stand? And God, if you're holy and true, why don't you show it? Why don't you show it? This question causes us to doubt. It's a cause of great doubt for many Christians. You know, it's estimated that over 100 million Christians face persecution in the year 2015. Thousands of murders have been documented. And as we all know, those are only the murders that have been documented, but undoubtedly there are more that aren't recorded. Particularly, Christians get slaughtered systematically at the hands of radical Muslims. You could think of the work of Boko Haram in West Africa, raping young women, selling women into slavery, particularly women from villages full of Christians. You could think of ISIS in Syria and other places. Haven't we just heard recently of 11 Christians crucified on crosses? A young boy, age 12, his fingertips cut off. Women raped while others are forced to watch. These are horrible things. And so it seems like the judgment that this world is facing is not just for others, but it's also for us. And so we say, what's going on here, Lord? Well, there is a response given. If you look at verse 11, they were each given a white robe, first thing. And second thing, they were told to rest a little longer, a little while longer. That's it. It's not a super impressive answer in some ways as we first look at it. But brothers and sisters and guests, this is a good answer, because what this answer shows us is that a plan is in place. And that plan is firm. It's fixed. That plan is strategic. And we need to hear this, because Satan is trying to destroy our world. And you know what? If we're realistic about it, we look around, and sometimes we wonder, that's exactly what's happening. But that's not what's happening. God is a higher, more ultimate strategy. God is purifying his people. While he punishes the wicked, he's refining us to use that imagery. And so as we grow into maturity, the wicked are punished and more and more of the elect are gathered in. That's important. Until that final day when all of the elect will be gathered in. And then in the beautiful words of our Belgic, Article 37, When that day comes, when the time appointed by the Lord has come, and the number of the elect complete, the books will be opened and the dead will be judged. Then the innocence of the elect shall be known to all, and they shall see the terrible vengeance which God shall execute on the wicked. But they shall be crowned with glory and honor, and their cause, which is now condemned by many as heretical and impious, will then be known to be the cause of the Son of God. And he will wipe every tear from their eyes. That is what's coming. It's going to be beautiful. It's going to be glorious. But it's not here yet. And so we have to wait a little while longer. But yet that day is coming, and that's what the sixth seal refers to. If you look with me at verse 12 and following, we see an astounding picture in the sixth seal of a violent earthquake, of a sun turned black, of a moon turned blood red, Stars falling down everywhere in a furious flurry. The sky separating. Every mountain and island being moved from its place. This is vivid imagery, isn't it? It's quite a picture. Well, what's the point of it? The point is to say that creation is going to become undone. John's seeing the day of judgment, just as Isaiah had prophesied when he said, all the heavenly bodies will dissolve. The skies will roll up like a scroll, and their stars will all fall as leaves fall from a fig tree. And so this provokes a reaction, and that reaction is one of fear and terror. And fear and terror from everyone. The kings, the nobles, the military commanders, the rich, the powerful, the slave, the free. It just about covers everybody, doesn't it? It doesn't matter if you're a small-time farmer in South Africa or Pakistan or the president of Russia or the United States. It does not matter. All those who think they don't need forgiveness, who have loved this world and the things of this world, will react this way with fear and terror. So what are they doing? What will they do in that moment? Well, they'll hide in the caves and among the rocks of the mountain. They're going to say to the rocks and the mountains, fall on us. Imagine these rocks right here, falling. That would probably hurt me. But then imagine a mountain, many mountains. That's an incredibly scary thing to think about. And yet that is what they desire. And why do they desire this? Why do they say this? Well, they want to hide from something specific. They want to hide from the face of the one who is seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. Because the great day of their wrath has come, and that makes everything else that we've seen so far in seal number one through four pale in comparison. And so there our text ends. It ends in verse 17 with this question ringing out. Who is able to stand? How can any of us escape the wrath of the Lamb? And the answer is found in the Lamb. Because he's not just any Lamb, but this is the Lamb who was slain. And because he was slain, he was worthy to open the scroll. And so while John was crying in sorrow because he thought nobody was worthy to open the scroll, the Lamb, we are told in chapter 5 importantly, was standing in the throne room of heaven. So the one who is worthy to open the scroll in chapter 5 is the one who is able to stand, chapter 6. He's the lamb looking as if he has been slaughtered, but now standing before the throne receiving all honor, glory, power, wisdom, blessing. This lamb is Jesus. And after he conquered death, Jesus said these words. He said, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. do you see it christ is the one who has authority all authority nothing happened until the lamb broke open the seals he is the one who gave limited power to the horsemen for judgment and he's coming again to bring the final judgment but because he was slain because he died you do not have to fear death any longer you do not have to fear this judgment any longer well how can this be if you do not know you ask this question don't you how can this be this should be the thing that you are most curious about this is the thing that everyone in our world should be most curious about the key to this lack of fear is to be washed in his blood you can escape the wrath of the Lamb by seeking to be washed in the blood of the Lamb. He was slain to take away the sins of the world, yes, but you must believe this in order for this to be true for you. John 3 says the one who believes has eternal life, hear that present tense, has eternal life, but whoever does not believe the wrath of God remains on him. And so I plead with you, if you do not believe. Hear these words from John 3. It's going to be so terrifying for those who do not believe. They're going to want to find refuge in the rocks, but they won't be able to hide. You know, people have been trying to hide since the beginning of time. Think back to Adam and Eve in the garden when they committed that first sin. They tried to hide from God, but he found them. Now, beautifully, he sought them out, but they did try to hide from him it's a foolish thing though to try hide from god the psalmist admits where can i flee from your presence oh god and the author to the hebrews as well tells us that one day we must all give account and on that day everyone will be exposed without exception No one can remain hidden. And so, you know, we try to hide in other things. We try to find refuge in other things, in people, in possessions, in the pleasures of this world. But it's a fool's errand, my friends. What did we just sing in a mighty fortress? Let goods and kindred go. And actually, even more, this mortal life also. You know, earlier this week on Monday, I bought myself some life insurance. I've been doing a lot of traveling lately. I thought, you know, it's probably a good idea. And my dad was encouraging me to do it. And it was a good experience. I'd advise you to do so as well. And by the way, by term is what I heard. But as much as I'm glad that I did that, and as much as that's a good thing for us to do, and it gives us a certain sense of security. There's ultimately no security in a life insurance policy. What is your only comfort in life and death? Your only comfort. And I'm not my own but belong with body and soul in life and in death to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ who has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood and has set me free from the power of the devil that is your only comfort that is your only security that is your only refuge so christ is the only rock brothers and sisters and guests that you can find refuge in and that's why psalm 2 we sang psalm 2 before the service it warns the kings and rulers of the earth all the powerful people to kiss the son to come near the sun and embrace him lest he in fury scorn you but it doesn't end that way the psalm says at the end all those who take refuge in him will be blessed so take refuge in the sun flee to the lamb you know we who confess christ as the rock of our salvation have found our refuge and so in the midst of uncertainty which which is always there and which is definitely there today as we look around in the midst of all that uncertainty we know that he is our king and that he is ruling and that he is reigning and so wars, famines, oppression, persecution politics, none of it should shake us but instead we should say by faith with the psalmist as we sang earlier God is our refuge and strength, a helper who is always found in times of trouble therefore we will not be afraid though the earth trembles and the mountains topple into the depths of the sea though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with its turmoil christ is our refuge even as we wait for that great day to come and this is what has given brothers and sisters across the history of this world so much hope and this is where we need to find our hope and you know it's not as if we haven't been given a foretaste of this and we'll close with this in revelation chapter 7 we're shown a picture of the multitude gathering around the throne this multitude is the sealed of god there's that language seal every language is represented every every culture every ethnicity every color of skin all in a great multitude standing before the throne. And they're wearing white robes. Remember, the white robes? So that means that those who were persecuted and longing for that day of judgment and salvation in the fifth seal, those whom we saw, they're part of this multitude. And all these people are crying out in praise. Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne and to the Lamb. Amen. Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving, honor and power and strength be to our God forever and ever. And do you know what beautiful thing they are doing as they sing these praises? They're standing, standing before the Lamb, worshiping Him with all their might, forever and ever. Amen. Let's pray. Lord God, Father in heaven, we thank you for the lamb, the lamb who was slain, the lamb who is worthy to open the scroll, the lamb who stands, and the lamb who enables us to stand. Lord, so often we admit we focus on what is seen, the things in this world. Lord, we ask that you will help us to focus on what is unseen. Help us to fix our eyes on Jesus, our rock and our refuge. And, Lord, may we appreciate the hope that that gives us. And may that make us to stand firm. Lord, help us not to be shaken by the things that we see and hear of. The things that we experience. And, Lord, especially we pray this for our persecuted brothers and sisters across this world. And Lord, in these last few years, we think especially of the work of ISIS. We pray that you will strike that work down, Lord. That it will come to nothing. We pray this, seeing earthly might, earthly power. But Lord, we know that the devil will not prevail. The devil's behind this. And he won't prevail. No, you are the one who is in control. You are the sovereign. Your son, Jesus Christ, is the one who has all authority in heaven and on earth. He is the one who is ruling, the one who is reigning. And so, Lord, uphold us, encourage us, strengthen us, give us faith. That faith that looks up to you. And, Lord, when that great day comes, may all who are here be among those who are able to stand. In Jesus we pray, amen.