Revelation 6: Seals of War, Famine, and Death (Part 19)

That last week will begin when he -and I ask you who is he? You see, you have to, in studying any, in any language, to find out of whom a pronoun is speaking, you have go back to the last person in context that’s named. Who is the last person in the context before this that was named? The prince that would come, right?

See, I’m not pulling any rabbits out of the hat. By the way, somebody, somebody had a wonderful sense of humor. They gave me a bottle of wine that says rabbit.

It was a rabbit vintage. So here we have it. First, the Church, which is every living believer, is going to be snatched out of the world. Immediately the Antichrist will be revealed, he’ll be unveiled.

And he will immediately mesmerize the world. I think there’s going to be -that the world is really going to be in a turbulent time, and they’re desperate to find some leader that can get them out of it, see? That’s why I see so many things developing right now that I think are gonna explode. Now, the good thing is I read the end of the book, and we ain’t gonna be here.

And I sure hope you’re following me. Because I’m throwing a lot of details at you. And I hate to do that. But I know the Holy Spirit can teach us all.

Look, he taught me. That’s a miracle. Now this here then is going to be the fulfillment of why God created Israel. They’re going to accomplish what he calls.

And one of, you know, one of the other purposes they are going to -they are going to do in seven years what they haven’t done in their whole history. They’re going to evangelize the whole world led by a 144,000 Jewish billy grahams.

’cause they are going to be especially anointed, especially gifted. We’ll see that when I get to chapter 7. And so I believe that it’s very, very important that we understand that that is one of the things they have not fulfilled and they are to do it. The second reason is that God is going to use these terrible events that take place during that seven years to so drive the Israelites to despair that they’re gonna finally look up and see who their real Messiah is.

And in Zechariah 12:10 says, they shall look on me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for me, as one mourns for his only son. It’s all prewritten. And they will see the wounds that they will feel personally responsible for. And that there will be a tremendous number that will be brought to faith in Jesus as their Messiah during this time.

And all of them will become evangelists. Look at verses 2 and 3. Now there’s a lot going on in these verses. I’m not gonna try to deal with everything.

I only want to pinpoint two points. All right, in chapter 11 verse 2, leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles. And they will tread under foot the holy city for how long? 42 months.

How many years is that? Three and a half. All right, then verse 3. And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1260 days, clothed in sackcloth.

How many years is that? Three and a half, 360-day years. So you see, the 42 months, when the Gentiles are going to tread Jerusalem under foot, is the second half of this week. The 1260 days that these prophets preach in Jerusalem, will be the first half.

Now, I’m going to read something that has mystified interpreters of prophecy for a long time. You don’t have to turn there, just mark it and read it later. I’ll read it to you. Daniel 12:11-12.

Here is a conclusion to the prophecies that Daniel was given. It says from the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished, and the abomination that causes desolation is set up, there will be 1290 days. How blessed is he who keeps waiting and attains to the 1335 days. What do you think that is?

All right, now notice we’re talking about the second half of the Tribulation here. Because remember back in Daniel 9:27 it says that the Antichrist would cause sacrifice and sacrifices to stop. So he says here that from the -from the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished, and the abomination that causes desolation is set up, there will be 1290 days. So why is 30 days added?

I can only give you a sanctified guess. I believe that this is when Jesus comes back. The first thing he’s gonna do he said he’s gonna gather all Gentiles together and that’s in Matthew 25. And in Ezekiel 20 he says he’s gonna gather all Israelites together.

The Gentiles will be gathered in the valley just outside of Jerusalem. The Israelites are gonna be gathered. Now, we’re talking about survivors. We’re talking about those who survive this period.

The Israelites are going to be gathered out by mount Sinai and both are going to be judged. The Gentiles in one place, the Israelites in another. See, it’s segregated, which is proof positive the Church is not there. Because if the Church were there, what would be the case?

There’s no difference between a Jew and a Gentile. All right now, I believe that it is the gathering of all these people in the 30 days that is after that seven years take place when the Messiah Jesus comes back. Then it says blessed is the one who waits and attains to the 1335 days. And I believe that is all of those who go through the judgment and it is shown that they’re believers and that’s when the judgment is over.

All who are survivors and believers go into the Millennium, the kingdom. Which is that last age at the end of the chart. It lasts a thousand years. You got it?

All right, now turn with me to Matthew 24:15. Now why we’re doing all of this is going to finally come to the point. Chapter 24 verses 15 through 22, all right. So Jesus speaking and predicting the events that would precede his return.

He says so when you see standing in the holy place, the abomination that causes desolation, spoken of through the prophet Daniel, let the reader understand. Now it’s rare that the Holy Spirit puts a little postscript like that, understand this. It’s like saying, now hear this, okay. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.

Let no one on the roof of his house go down to take anything out of the house. Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers. Pray that your flight will not take place in the winter or on the sabbath.

Why? Because it’s hard to travel in either case. You’re not supposed to go more than 40 yards on the sabbath. For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now and never to be equaled again.

And if those days had not been cut short, no one would be left alive. But for the sake of the elect, which means those who believe during this time, those days will be short. All right, now, why did I go through all of this? Because even some of the greatest Bible teachers I’ve ever known miss a point in Revelation 6.

According to Jesus, and going back through what Daniel said and everything else, according to Jesus, when does war begin in that 70 years? When? In the middle. Has to be, okay.

Because it’s when the abomination that causes desolation is set up and the sacrifices are stopped, okay. Now the abomination that causes desolation, Paul explained what that is. In 2 Thessalonians 2, he said that this man of lawlessness will take his seat in the temple of God and declare himself to be God. That is the abomination that causes desolation.

Because that’s a technical Jewish phrase and it’s only happened a couple of times in history. It means to desecrate the holy of holies. So that will be the ultimate desecration when this Roman Antichrist declares himself to be God in the holy of holies of the temple. All right, now with that in mind now, you’re ready to begin chapter 6 verse 1.

He opens the seal and unrolls the scroll to unleash the first judgment. It says and I heard one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of thunder, not come, but the Greek word means go! Charge! It says and I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow and a crown was given to him; and he went out conquering, and to conquer.

Well, last week I told you all about this. White horse in that day was symbolic of a conqueror. Now this is — strangely enough, general allenby, the british general that finally conquered the turkish ottoman empire and drove them out of the holy land, when he first entered into Jerusalem after the victory in 1917, he dismounted and led his horse into the city. You know why?

He believed the Bible, he didn’t have a right to go into that city as a conqueror. Interesting, isn’t it? When he did that, he ended, almost to the day, 400 years of muslim ownership of Jerusalem. The turkish ottoman empire took it over 400 years before.

Now, the man on the white horse is the Roman Antichrist. He is the prince who is to come. And he goes forth to conquer and he has the -he has in his hand a bow, no arrows, but a bow, which means he has control of military power, and can use it, but he doesn’t have to. Now, when we get through Revelation 13, we will see why he doesn’t have to, okay?

Now he also gets a crown because he goes forth. As soon as he’s unveiled, the world is going to fall down at his feet. They’re gonna worship this man. They’re gonna see him as the Savior of the world.

He is going to in absolutely unbelievable speed solve the insoluble, or it will appear so. And one of the things that, you know, we get a preview of a quote from the news media in that day. Do you know that? Because in Revelation 13, talking about this man, the world is gonna say who is like this man?

He’s called — God calls him by what he is a beast. Who is like the beast? Who is able to make war with him? You see it shows the world is terrified about war.

And this man comes in and he’s strong enough to keep war from happening. All right, now, verse 3, and when he broke the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, go, and another, a red horse, went out; and to him who sat on it, it was granted to do what? Take peace from the earth. So when does this have to be?

The second seal is not open until the middle of the Tribulation. You can’t take peace from where it ain’t.

Texanese.

Now, you see, the rider on the red horse brings war. And I’ll tell you, let me get to my notes here where I translated that. Directly from the Greek because it’s terrifying. When he broke the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, go, and another a red horse went out; and to him who sat on it, it was granted to take peace from the earth, and that men should slaughter one another.

The Greek word that’s translated killed here is not the normal. There are several words, by the way, for killing in Greek. This is the word that means to butcher violently. It means to absolutely dismember something, to absolutely obliterate it.

And so it says that’s the rider on the red horse. This is the second horseman of the apocalypse. This is kind of giving us an overview of what’s coming. So he says he gave power.

And it was granted to take peace from the earth, and that men should slaughter one another; and a great sword was given to him to give to the world. Now, this is the makhaira. The Greek word for sword here is the makhaira. That’s the one the Romans used to conquer the world.

They were ingenious. They didn’t depend on how long their sword was. They depended on the skill of the soldier they trained to use it. So they revolutionized warfare with the makhaira.

It only had a blade of about 24 inches. It was sharp on both sides, both edges and pointed and it was straight. It took five years to train a legionnaire to be committed to battle. That’s how thorough they were.

And that training that he got and this is when Rome was great. They later lost it like all nations do. But in that five years, a Roman legionnaire was trained how to defend two square meters of ground with a makhaira. Next to him was another legionnaire that was trained to defend two square meters.

And next to him was another. And so they would go up against they, usually, the legions always went up against the greater numbers. I mean, nothing for them to go into battle and be outnumbered three, four to one. But they would march in with absolute regimented discipline.

And when these guys would come in swinging an axe like that or they would come in swinging one of those big long swords and so forth, the legionnaire would come at him, he would dodge under. And when that guy is back like this, he’d come right up under him, and he’s a goner. Now the reason I went into that detail, is cause I like swords.

And I also like military history. Particularly, I recommended the men that been in military, most of you probably read it. But read the institutes of the Roman legions by vegetius. The german army officers all had to read that book.

But it’s just a thin little book, and it dates all the way back to the 4th century when it was written. Vegetius, the institutes of the Roman legions. It helped me to figure out, by the way, the resurrection, that’s another story. We’ll save that for Easter.

The point is, the makhaira was to the world of that day a symbol as an ak-47 is to the world today or m16. It was a symbol of weapons of war. But when you put megale in front of it, a great sword was given. It means the rider on this red horse came to turn men loose in all of their fallen nature and let them slaughter each other and God gives them a great weapon to do it.

He lets them do it. Are you following me? No wonder Jesus said when you see the Abomination of Desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, don’t even go down to your house to get your cloak. If you’re in a field, don’t go back to get anything.

Run for your lives. And the reason he said I feel sorry for you if you’re pregnant and nursing is because it’s so hard to run with a baby. But he says run! And every believer will have had explained to them where to run by the one who leads them to faith in Christ.

And that is to run to the mountains of Edom and Moab, and get as many of you as you can get down to an ancient banking town that’s called petra. But everyone who gets east of that mountain range apparently is going to be protected. Daniel 11 that talks about the invasion, and also Ezekiel 38 talks about the beginning of this war. Both say that the armies will spare amman, the children of amman.

Who are they? Jordan. He will cause them not to go in there. Why?

Because his people are gonna be protected over on the east side of the mountain range that is in Jordan. I believe the great sword is already here and we’re about to see great swords proliferate and men are going to slaughter each other. And as we’ll see next time we meet, we can’t meet next week unless we want to be in here in heat and darkness.

But the week following, I guarantee you an exciting time because we’re gonna see how a fourth of the world’s population is wiped out in a matter of a few days. That’s exciting, isn’t it?

Let’s pray. Father, I want every person here to know in his or her heart that they’re not gonna be here. And the big, big reason is if they have simply said, Lord Jesus, thank you for dying for my sins, I confess I have fallen short and broken your laws. I confess I can never be good enough for you to accept.

So I receive the full pardon that Jesus purchased by dying in my place. In Jesus’ name, amen.

If you have the guts to be a real revolutionary come forward right now and accept Jesus Christ as your real revolutionary. And he’ll make a revolutionary that will change lives.

Thank you so much for standing with me as a watchman on the wall. I pray daily that he will reward your faithfulness and protect and prosper you in these difficult times. Thank you again for being a vital part of my team.