The Dawn of The End (The 2nd, 3rd & 4th Seals) | Revelation 6:3-8 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Revelation chapter six. Last week, we read from verse one down to verse eight, and we primarily focus on the first two verses. Today, by the grace of God, we will consider verses three down to verse eight. But I'd like for us to read from the beginning in order to recenter ourselves in this incredible vision that John recorded and was given by the Spirit. Revelation six beginning in verse one.

Now I 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 it's right ahead 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. Father, we are completely aware that if you do not help us by the power of the Spirit, we will be left in the dark. We will be confused and even worse, we will dare to interpret these things subjectively.

But Lord, you are the great teacher. Your word promises us that you've given us an anointing, an anointing within to help us know your word. So we pray Lord that we would sense your guidance, that we would know the truth and that it would set us more and more free. We ask these things in the matchless name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Hopefully, you remember that these four horsemen commonly known as the four horsemen of the apocalypse are symbolic depictions of the events that will mark the beginning of the tribulation period. The tribulation period is an era that Jesus Christ himself spoke of in the Gospels. And in essence, they describe the moments, the episodes, the events that will precede the bodily return of the Lord Jesus Christ, and they are characterized by distress and destruction in a manner that the world has never experienced. And as we come here to the Book of Revelation, we are granted by the goodness of God an outline of the tribulation period, and what God does in his wisdom is that he organizes these events in three sets of seven judgments. Three sets of seven judgments.

We're introduced to the first here with the seven seals, and we already started studying it beginning last week. Following the seven seals, we will then explore the seven trumpets, and then after the seven trumpets, we will look at the seven bowls of God's wrath that will be poured out. Leading to what? The culminating point of Jesus Christ coming back to this world, confronting his enemies and claiming everything victoriously. But there's a long journey ahead before we get to that climactic moment in our study, because we have just begun examining the beginning of the end.

Here's what we learned so far. Before Christ returns, Antichrist will appear. We've concluded that the white horse here in verse two is a representation of the man of lawlessness, who will come as a real man possessed by unusual satanic power, and he will influence the world while simultaneously opposing Christ and his followers, as he acts as a counterfeit savior for a chaotic and confused generation. We are not told the exact timing of the arrival of the Antichrist, but we can be sure that he will come at the right time. At a time when there will be such a need for leadership, and while nations are in turmoil.

We will learn much more about the Antichrist in Revelation chapter 13, but what we've discovered so far is that his desire to eliminate true worship from the earth and receive worship to himself will be realized in great part due to his introduction as a universal peacemaker. He will come to seemingly do what no politician or religious figurehead has able to accomplish in the past. Usher in global peace and security. He will be loved. He will be adored.

He will be worshiped. And in great part, because he will seem to bring to rest areas and conflicts that have never known a hint of serenity. That includes peace in The Middle East by the way. Nobody seems to be able to figure out how to bring reconciliation, how to bring calm. Antichrist will do it.

And we'll explore that as we approach Revelation 13. But whatever peace this man will bring, it will not last. And the reason why it will not endure is because the Bible on more than one occasion assures us that there is no peace for the wicked. Paul in his letter to the Thessalonians puts us in his own way when he gives a general comment about the last days, and this is a known passage in first Thessalonians five thirteen. First Thessalonians five three rather.

While people are saying there is peace and security, then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman and they will not escape. Paul foresees a time where everybody will be saying, there is peace, there is security, but he tells the believers and us that whatever peace and tranquility is enjoyed, it will suddenly be broken by an eruption of violence and turmoil. And this general comment perfectly fits the sequence of the seals that we will look at today. We explore the first one. We will complete the rest of the vision of the four horsemen as we continue.

So let's come back to Revelation six. If you're a note taker, be ready to organize your thoughts by using the horses as your headings, And it's important to note this from the outset, not every rider of these horses represents an actual human being that will cause these events. In fact, the second, third, and fourth horses and their horsemen are much easier to interpret than the first one. The first one was a little bit difficult to decode, but once we were able to do some work, we were able to see that it perfectly parallels Christ teaching about the last days in the Olivet Discourse, and that will continue to be the case. But what we find here as we just read is that these horses, these riders symbolize impersonal agents.

They're personifications. They're not distinct individuals, but they are representations of forces and of things that will happen. And the meaning of the bright red horse here in verse three and verse four is quite obvious. Let's read it again. 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. Here's what this horse means. The Lord will permit world peace to disappear and be replaced by worldwide conflict. Again, I can't help but say it, this perfectly corresponds with Jesus' teaching about the signs of the last days in Matthew 24. After Christ told us that there will be false Christs who will emerge and deceive the masses, ultimately leading to the ultimate false Christ, what does he follow it up with?

Well, let me remind you in Matthew 24 verse six and seven, and you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places. So it's a play by play. We see it in Matthew 24 and it lines up perfectly with Revelation chapter six.

Wars and rumors of wars, nations against nations. And I know I can hear the skeptic. We've always had wars. We've even had world wars. Sure.

We're not saying that that's not the case. We're not saying that leading up to the tribulation there won't be great calamities. There won't be skirmishes and battles and civil problems. We know that. But as Jesus qualified, what we will see in the tribulation period will be unprecedented.

It'll be things that we've never considered were possible. And that's what we find here. There are actually things about what Jesus says and what John sees that indicate to us how this will be different. Let's consider a couple of insights. Come back to our main text.

First, consider how swiftly the international violence will erupt. If you look closely, what you'll notice is that every time a horse is summoned, John has the same recorded response, and I looked and behold. Let me prove it. Look at verse two. And I looked and behold a white horse.

Scroll down to verse five. When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say come and I looked and behold. Look down at verse eight. After the fourth seal was opened, and I looked and behold. He does this every time or does he?

For some reason, this is not recorded after the second seal is opened. Look at verse three and four. When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say come and out came another horse bright red. There's no mention of I looked and behold. Why is that?

I believe it's to suggest just how sudden the violence will come and crash into the world as it is enjoying supposed peace. It's as though the red horse is just behind the white one. What that tells us is, this global conflict will not escalate incrementally. You know, everybody's on edge today because we we see wars, but we're also concerned not us believers hopefully, But the general population is is worried that things can reach a breaking point and it seems to be boiling in different regions of the world. I think with this, with the mention of the absence of I look and behold because it was so swift, it was just right there, means that this global war will come explosively.

Almost like overnight. It won't even really make sense. One day, one week, one month, we're all enjoying tranquility. How is this possible? And then the script will change in the blink of an eye.

It will be alarming. It will be shocking. In a sense, it will only be deemed as something supernatural to the discerning eye at least. But a second thing we must highlight is how the rider of the bright red horse was given, look at the last part of verse four, a great sword. A great sword.

Not just a sword, but a great one emphasizing the scale and the severity of this all inclusive conflict. This future world war will bring mass carnage. It will bring battles breaking out in virtually every nation. There will be civil wars and casualties will be realized on a massive scale. And no doubt the weaponry that will be developed by then will make all of this chaos will be the opportunity for the Antichrist to rear his ugly head and to seek and maintain control by using a resolving to violence.

This is where the evil of this man apart from deception will be realized and we'll explore that more in the coming weeks. And while we can spend time trying to speculate all the human reasons for this outbreak of world war and trying to determine the Antichrist exact movements at this stage of the tribulation, we won't. Because there's one truth that is undeniably clear from this. You ready? God is the source and sustainer of peace.

We wanna worship in our series in Revelation. We wanna see the godness of God, if I may use that terminology. What do we take from this? That he is the source and the sustainer of peace. Revisit verse four again and notice the language and out came another horse bright red.

Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth. Permitted by who? We don't have to guess. Here's how this truth should inspire awe in all of us right now. The only reason why we're not seeing bloodshed in every street and are not trying to flee for shelter because nuclear weapons are being shot out into space from coast to coast is because God is gracious.

One of the things about God's common grace that I think we overlook is how humanity is restrained from their iniquity breaking out without limit because of God's grace. Without violating human will and the great mastery of God's sovereignty, he restricts, he holds back from self destruction being a reality on a global scale in a matter of hours. Have you considered that about the grace of God? That he is able to extend peace to an undeserving world, And that while this evil world has incredible potential to destroy itself and accelerate apocalyptic events, any level of serenity and security that we enjoy is a result of God's goodness on any level. And let's not limit this now to the idea of national security or crimes decreasing in our urban cities.

Let's expand our understanding of the mercy of God and how he gives peace. Yes. He supervises the world and he offers peace, but he's also able to grant it on a personal level. The God of peace, the Bible calls him. The God of peace.

See what I take from this and I hope you see it as well is that there is a spiritual dimension to violence. Do you see that? That God permits peace to be removed and it really exposes our depravity. God is not necessarily acting directly. He's just removing his hand and letting us have at it.

And even in this, we see that he doesn't let it go too far. So what we find here is that God himself is peace. He gives peace. He can take peace. But for the believer and the one who wants to be a believer, understand that Christ qualifies the kind of peace that we get to inherit if we trust him.

This is a famous passage. Let me remind you of it. In John 14 in verse 27, peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you.

Let not your hearts be troubled neither let them be afraid. I think most people will be content if Jesus had just said, peace I leave with you. But he gloriously goes on to tell us the quality of this peace. My peace I give to you. Meditate on that.

Jesus says, my peace I give to you. Here's what that means. The peace that Jesus Christ experienced throughout his earthly ministry is something available to you and I. My peace. It's almost too good to be true.

Are you saying that the calm and the composure that characterized Christ's attitude and disposition when faced with threats and slander and danger and the disappointments of his own disciples and the various challenges of ministry is something that I can actually know for myself. Yes. Because Jesus said it. My peace I give to you. Now here's the wonderful thing about Jesus' peace.

We learn how we're able to mature and strengthen it in our own lives. It's found in John. Another famous passage. John sixteen thirty three. Jesus says, I have said these things to you that in me you may have peace.

In the world you will have tribulation, but take heart I have overcome the world. We learn here that the peace of Christ isn't automatically produced in us. It's available, but it's not automatic. And Jesus here tells us that this peace that is in him, that is his, is only experienced and dependent on knowing what he said to us. Did you see that?

I have said these things to you. Why? That in me you may have peace. Here's the main point of this, that the channel by which Christ allows this piece of his to flow into our shaky hearts is by no other than understanding and believing what he already had spoken. I have said these things to you so that in me you may have peace.

You can't have peace unless you know what he said. And he's given us the full counsel of God before us. And so the more I expose myself to these truths and digest these truths and chew on them by faith, it feeds a peace. What kind of a peace? The same peace that Jesus had.

And notice here also that he says, in me you may have peace. The starting point is by first giving your life to Christ. There's so much talk about peace these days on podcast, political platforms, even between leaders in the world today. Peace. Peace.

How do we achieve peace? They're tweeting about it. They're interviewing about it. They're meeting behind closed doors to try to make it happen. And yet, it will never be known unless the Prince of Peace is embraced.

And unfortunately, as we learn here that Jesus Christ will continually be rejected by the world to the point that another will come in his own name and they will receive him. He will come promising peace and they will take the offer not realizing that it will suddenly be shattered because there is no peace for the wicked. And that's what we find here with the third seal. We come back now to Revelation six and read in verse five what happens. 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. So like the red horse, the black one is not so difficult to interpret. He represents famine and this is no natural famine. This is a man made economic collapse. It follows the global war that that we just read about, that we just looked at, and so we see that famine and poverty are often companions and the consequences of war, and that's exactly what we're being told here.

And this will lay an even greater burden on the wider population especially ordinary people. We see here that the international economy will take a devastating blow during the early stages of the tribulation. That's what's coming, and we've seen this in history surely, but the severity of this has to be understood, and that it accompanies the arrival of the Antichrist. Now, before I get there, I want you to consider how this voice among the living creatures determines the prices of goods. He gives the prices for wheat and he gives the prices here for barley.

Now notice here that a quart of wheat is for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius. Now according to Matthew 20 verse two, a denarius was the wage for a full days of an average man's work. So what's happening here? That a man will have to work all day to simplify it just for a loaf of bread. We're talking about intense inflammation here.

We're talking about something here that is extreme. It is radical. It is horrifying. I mean, put yourself in the position of a father or a husband who has to labor day after day, and for all that work every day, he only gets really a small under nutritional meal. What kind of decisions does he have to make for his wife, for his children?

Will he eat most of it so that he can be energized to work the next morning? Promising his family that they will eat the following night? Will he give it up altogether for the for the sake of, the survival of his loved ones? Will he have to succumb to thievery and violence to try to make it another another week? We're supposed to think deeper about the implications of these devastations.

And what we find here is that there will be scarce resources. It will be extremely challenging. And listen, although there are places in the world that are suffering today and I am sure and I know that there are times in history when even more severe famines have been recorded. As I said earlier, what makes this particular season of inflation unique is that it is accompanied by the Antichrist and his leadership. And here's what I wanna make known to you.

He will surely capitalize on this growing economic hardship. He will take advantage of it. It will be leveraged to compel the people to do what? Worship him. This sheds light on how the mark of the beast will gain success over time.

In Revelation thirteen seventeen, we're told there that no one is able to buy or sell apart from having this mark. You think, how is that going to happen? Well, if you have something like this, an all out meltdown, people trying to even find a loaf of bread, long lines, people dying in the streets and homes, then it makes sense. How there will be many who will consider their physical well-being and giving no thought to the eternal consequences of their pledge of allegiance to the Antichrist. It's horrific to think about.

It's devastating. It's heart crushing and if any generation should have zero doubt of the possibility of this concept, it's ours. It wasn't too long ago where for a few short years, you and I had to wear certain things and inject certain things in our bodies if we want to do basic things in life. Say what you want, argue what you want. I seek to interpret the world through the lens of the Bible.

And if that period of time was anything, my conclusion, my conviction is that it was a wonderful dress rehearsal for the tribulation period. This is what we find and it's not so far fetched now, is it? It's very possible. We've seen it. Especially now as we consider the advancement of technology that our resources globally are so interconnected.

What happens in one nation doesn't just affect that nation, it affects the world depending really on the nation. And so we understand how things are becoming more and more connected, and we're not so separate as we thought. And we can't really get off the grid as much as we'd like to. Things are traceable. Things are interwoven.

Things are lining up to the fulfillment of this book. It's all being prepared. And what I find so interesting about what we read here is that the voice that commanded the rider of the black horse to inflate the price of wheat and barley also tells him not to do what? Don't harm the oil or the wine. Isn't that interesting?

Don't touch the oil or the wine. Why? Well, you can imagine the conversations around this. The ideas that have been generated. Here's my goal and I hope it's yours.

I don't want to speculate. I don't want to imagine. I wanna be as close as possible to what God intended by it. And I believe the main point of this is this, that through this, there is a measure of mercy in the midst of judgment. Do not harm the oil and wine.

Why do I say that? Because this happens more than once in the book of Revelation. Let me give you one example. Turn to Revelation seven verse two. This is dealing with another act of judgment that follows what we're reading here Revelation six.

If we honor it chronologically and notice what it said here in Revelation seven verse two. Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun with the seal of the living God and he called with a loud voice of the four angels who had been given power to harm the earth and sea saying, verse three, do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads. Here we have an example of the Lord withholding judgment, one that comes after what we're studying here because he first wants to accomplish a redemptive thing. We still have to seal the foreheads of those who belong to God before we let these things loose. And so I bring this up to suggest that it's possible that similarly, as severe as this man made famine will be, God and his goodness won't allow there to be a total drought to drive the world into complete extinction.

Touch these basic necessities. Don't touch the oil and the wine. And I believe it's totally appropriate to rejoice in the mercy of God in a very unlikely text. That's what we're supposed to recognize here. That God here is merciful.

And God here is giving even in the final laps of human history, drops of grace so that people can taste it and have enough of sensibility to cry out to him. And listen, as we rejoice in the mercy of God in a text like this, we should also not lose sight of his sovereignty. How is his sovereignty shown? It's really shown with every single horse. God doesn't just give and take away peace.

God also is the supreme manager of every asset. Every item in this world, God supervises. God sees. God determines Even with things that we often take for granted. Notice how he determines the quantity.

Right? He's talking about measurements here. A quart of wheat, three quarts of barley. I mean, how much more specific can you get than that? He's talking about the quantity.

He's determining the quantity and the availability. Now listen, here's the point. It's one thing to talk and counsel and sing about how God is in control. It's an entirely different thing when we realize just how much he is in control. This is so specific.

This is so precise and it's something that we have to understand as a means to be in constant awe of Him, and if we don't if we don't see just how God is in control, is sovereign, We are one step closer to being idolaters. Am I exaggerating? I'm not exaggerating. Because that is the very reason, at least one of the reasons why God condemns the people Israel. They lost sight of the true source of every good.

Let me give you the example that I am thinking about. In Hosea, notice what the Lord says to the people Israel, chapter two verse eight. And as you're prepared to hear these words, what were the main resources that he highlights in Revelation six? Grain, oil, wine. Right?

Listen to his words in Hosea two eight. And she being Israel, did not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the wine, and the oil, and who lavished on her silver and gold, which they used for Baal. Israel lost sight that I was the one who gave her the grain that she ate, the oil that they used to prepare their food, the wine to make their hearts merry and to sanitize. I am the one who gave it. Isn't that what he says?

In Revelation six, he's the one who controls it. But notice what he says in Hosea two nine, therefore, I will take back my grain in its time and my wine in its season, and I will take away my wool and my flax which were to cover her nakedness. So he gives it and he can take it. What does it show? That both in the old and new testaments, God is the one who influences, who supervises, who brings change and shifts to the economy of the world, to the things that we see happening.

And here's what else I see, that his control is not a cruel one. Can you imagine being able to control absolutely everything? And yet, what we find here is that even while Israel was worshiping Baal, God gave them grain, oil and wine. I'm still gonna provide for you. I'm still gonna nourish you.

I'm still gonna give you meals and joyful feast even though with much of it, Israel took it and use it to worship false gods. That's grace. That's grace. Keep in mind the holiness of God. Wouldn't he have taken at the moment that they gave a glance to Baal?

And yet for an extended period of time, he still supplied them with what they needed. But what we learned here is that God's common grace will not be so common in the tribulation period. It will be less and less common. And one of the ways we see this is how he will let loose a black horse who will strike the economy of the world and everyone will feel it. An antichrist will take advantage of it and so many other things will follow especially what we see here with the final horse.

Let's come back to Revelation six as we conclude with these two verses. Verse seven, 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 the sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth. Now we might be tempted to see this horse similar in color to the first one. A different shade of white, but we have to understand it in the original text.

When you actually look at the original, the word depicts the color green. In fact, the only time the original word, chloros is used in the New Testament is to describe vegetation. So more accurately, what we're seeing here is a horse that has a pale green hue. The color of a sickly corpse of a dying man. This is what this horse looks like, and immediately we understand here who the rider is.

There's no mystery. The rider on this horse is death. That's his name. And this is of importance because he follows we see the sequence here, global war and global famine. What follows those things?

Inevitably, death on a massive scale. So here's what we learned. In the early stages of the tribulation, there will be incredible death, loss of life, and we're told the exact amount over a fourth of the earth will be killed. Now if we use today's number, the population of the world, 8,200,000,000, then we're talking about at this point, just over two billion people will die in a short amount of time. This is startling and we're told exactly how it will be accomplished By sword and through famine, we already covered that, but there are two things that are added.

By pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth. And perhaps the most curious thing out of the four is the last one. Right? The wild beasts of the earth. Now I think a surface level reading of that would spur the thought of big animals running out of forests and jungles and just chasing people down and devouring them.

But it's a little bit more complex than that. Consider the transmission of diseases from animals even today. Consider some of the greatest plagues in history that have been caused by rodents. Think about what bugs can do like mosquitoes, serpents and dogs, mice. I don't think there's one animal in view here.

I think it's going to be the collection of catastrophes and calamities. You have mass war, meaning there will be bodies. You'll have famine. There will be again, such a lack in many areas including sanitation. So this will invite animals and beasts to invade and to pollute and to bring even more harm to the world as we know it.

The Bible is so specific. And whatever way you look at it, it is absolutely astounding and listen, we're only in the fourth seal of the first set of judgments. We're not even finished the seals yet and this is what we will see. No wonder Jesus said, there will be tribulation, great tribulation like the world has never known. And this judgment by the way is just one of the many reasons why I hold to a futurist interpretation of the book of Revelation.

Because others would see this in a different way. The details of what we just read in these two verses would be applied and taught much differently. For example, the Preterist. Remember, we talked about this in the intro in the overview of the Book of Revelation. The Preterist sees the events in the book of Revelation as something of the past.

More specifically, things that have been happening leading up to primarily seventy AD. And so how would the Preterist interpret a verse like this? Well, well they say it. It's no secret. This is just apocalyptic language.

This is just symbolic imagery to describe the devastation of the Jewish people when they were surrounded by the Romans, and when Rome invaded. And as I mentioned in the introduction, the problem of this is that we fail to consider the global scale that is defined by both Christ and the book of Revelation. Even in the Olivet Discourse, you see Jesus talking about things that will happen on a larger more widespread platform and things that will be more narrow pertaining to the Jewish people. And so all of that is mixed up, all of that is blurred, unless you take it in a historical literal sense, unless you just take it plainly. When when when it says to you that a fourth of the earth will die, it's a fourth of the earth.

To interpret it otherwise, to localize it, to allegorize it is to minimize the severity and the enormity of what's to come. Here's how we're gonna end. The last horseman is unlike the first three in this. He has no accessory. The white horse had what?

A bow. The bright red horse what? A great sword. The black horse, scale in his hand. The rider on the white horse or the pale horse rather, nothing.

But here is also where this horse stands out. Though he possesses no accessory, he is accompanied by someone else, Hades. And Hades followed him. So this is where this vision is unique. Here's this rider on this pale horse and immediately trailing him is Hades.

Was he walking? Was he on his own horse? We're not told. That's not what's important here. What's important is how more than once in Revelation, death and Hades are paired together.

Why is that? What's death? Biblically, death is when the spirit is separate from the body, when it is taken from the body, when the body becomes soulless, spiritless, that is death. What is Hades? Hades is the realm where these disembodied spirits go as they await their final resurrection.

To say that Hades is simply the grave, miscommunicates the actual reality of it. It's not you being buried. It's not the graveyard in your neighborhood. It's it's speaking about a shadowy realm, if I can use that imagery. It's speaking about a compartment in the world to come that will contain the disembodied spirits as they await the sealing of their eternal faith, the judgment of their everlasting destination.

So this is how we make sense of death being followed by Hades. It's so profound when you think about it. What this vision is trying to communicate is that death will come and he will gather people, but death is not the final state of man. Yes, they will cease to live physically, but Hades is right behind death. Meaning, a fourth of the world will not just die, they will slip into eternity.

So if we just read this as, wow, a fourth of the world will die. Yeah. That's tragic, but it's even more tragic. A fourth of the world will enter into a a world more real than this one. A fourth of the world in such a short amount of time will enter into the next world.

They can't change anything. They can't confess anything. However, and whatever they did in their lives will seal their fate. And so we're supposed to sense the gravity of this. Death simply escorts you and I to another world.

One that is more real and permanent than this one. And here's what we have to do. As we're studying about the future, I think it's totally appropriate to pause here and to reflect on our own mortality. You know, the preacher has many many things that he has to do. One of his primary tasks is to regularly remind people about eternity.

And any faithful church will regularly remind the people that come to receive the Word of God of the world to come and how transient this world is and not to lose focus as I alluded to during the announcements. There's many ways of comparing this world and the next. You know, this world is really like a stage. As significant, as important, as as wonderful as it is, by way of comparison is just a play. And we all have our costumes and we all have our roles, but there's a time coming where the play will end.

Where the final scene will be executed. Where you will have your final line. You will give your final performance so to speak and you will go backstage. You will take off your costume. You'll remove your makeup and you will push through a door with an exit sign above it and that's the real world.

So it is with eternity. There's a time coming where we will take off this flesh, where we will leave behind all these props, all the things that we played with, all the things that brought laughter, all the things that brought tears and we will exit through a backdoor, so to speak. And that's where life really begins. Do you know where you're going when you die? It's inevitable.

Look, I'm not trying to scare you. Here, I'll help you. I'm gonna die. Does that help? You can't do anything about it.

And I believe it's one of the greatest apologetics for the truth of the Bible. Only the Bible has the most comprehensive explanation of what death is, what it leads to, where it came from, more importantly, how it was defeated. And so here's the thing, I mean, to be honest, you can get so caught up in the details and trying to be accurate and you have to be when you interpret the Bible, especially with a book like Revelation. You don't wanna get it wrong. Right?

You wanna be faithful. You don't wanna be too fanciful. You wanna be you wanna be right. Sure. But I praise God that even in the midst of this and hopefully and prayerfully by his grace, we remain with the same heart posture.

I wanna take advantage of this study to be as evangelistic as possible. We're talking about the end here. We're talking about the fate of every single one of us. Whether it will occur in our generation or not, death will visit you and I, and Hades is right behind him. But here's the beauty of this book, that we don't have to wonder what will happen with our souls, with our spirits when they leave these bodies.

We, because of Christ, will not enter into a shadowy realm. We don't have to question what's going to happen with our eternal state. No. If you're in Christ, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. That's the hope that we have.

Surely, that is a reason why we can know the supernatural peace. I know where I'm going. Okay. Whatever my fate might bring. Is it sword?

Is it famine? Is it pestilence? Is it a wild beast? Is it a snake bite? I don't know what it is.

But if I'm in him, it doesn't matter because death will escort me into his loving arms and I'll be with him and I'll be more alive, more filled with joy, more captivated by beauty that this world could never portray. And so death is an advantage to the believer. I I just wonder, I really do and I'm I'm ending here, I assure you. Even if one person here doesn't know where they're going, why would you risk it? Why would you gamble with your soul?

As we're studying Revelation, I wanna remind you that this is ultimately about the revelation of Jesus Christ. Do you know Him? Have you made a conscious decision of placing your faith and trust in him? Have you said at any point in your life, I renounce my sin and I choose to be washed by the blood of Jesus Christ? Do you realize that if you're in Christ, you're not destined for wrath and nothing can change your future?

I wanna give you the gospel of the grace of God, the good news of Jesus. Here's what you must do. You must acknowledge that you're a sinner. You must realize that in comparison to God, you fall so short of his glory. It would be pathetic to even try to open your mouth and defend your righteousness.

And at the same time, you also realize the depth of his love. Where the same Christ who opens these seals at a future time before that, long before that, set aside judgment, suspended it, so that he can enter into this world and drink your judgment, and drink the wrath that deserves to be poured on me. Why? Because he doesn't want us to endure these things and he doesn't wanna wanna launch us into an eternal separated state. He wants to embrace you, receive you, forgive you, renew you, and give you life.

You say, but what what do I have to do? You acknowledge your need for him. You embrace him. In that moment, you will understand freedom. You will understand forgiveness and he will impart and infuse in you the Holy Spirit and you will be born again.

That's what is available to you. And so I invite you at this time as we pray that if you don't know Christ that you would call out to him and believe what he has done for you and what he can do for you today. Father, we thank you for helping us thus far. We ask God with whatever was said, it would be retained and it would be used to worship you. We pray for the one who doesn't know you That today would be the day for those who know you, that we would worship you in light of all the things that we saw.

Lord, your absolute sovereignty. How you gave that great sword. How you determined the economy. How you permitted death in Hades to only go so far. Lord, thank you that you are our father.

Thank you that you were not cruel with your control. Thank you, Lord, that you give us so much more than we deserve. And for this, we sing to you with glad hearts. In Jesus' name, amen. Let's give him thanks.