Revelation Chapters 1-5 Review /Greg L Bahnsen /Revelation Verse By Verse {Part 22 of 63}

Pray that we would be encouraged by your word this day and that you would make us more faithful to it. We pray you'd forgive us for our many transgressions of your law. That you'd forgive us for our lack of faith. You'd forgive us for our lack of hope, for our not trusting your every promise. We ask you, Father, that by your spirit you would build us up with the word of truth, that you would sanctify us in it, that you'd make our service more acceptable in your sight because of the study we'll have this day. For it's in Jesus name that we pray. Amen. Well, we finished Revelation chapter five last week. We're making commendable progress after somewhat over six months on the first three chapters. I think we've finished off two chapters in three weeks or something like that, maybe four weeks. I think it would be well before we plunge into chapter six, however, to stop and kind of review our progress up to this point. There's a very real sense in which I think you don't understand the book of Revelation unless you keep in mind what has preceded as you go through the various visions John has. The book of Revelation, at least on my interpretation of it, does not work well. You don't understand it. Well, it. If you divide it up into little individual units and study them in isolation. Now, of course, there is a message that you can get in isolation. You know, look at one chapter of this and so forth. But in order to get the point of the book and to see everything in its proper context, you must keep. Must keep track of the drama. You must let everything that has gone before form a background for that which is now being revealed to you. And so from this point on, I will probably be spending a few minutes at the beginning of each lesson trying to catch you up. That is, to make sure you have in your mind what John had in his mind at the time, that a new vision was given to him. And I think that will help you to comprehend what John is trying to tell you, but also will help you to apply more vividly the meaning of the passage for your own life as well. Okay, we've gone through the first five chapters of the book of Revelation. Now, nobody look at your Bibles at this point. Let's just have a little quiz here. First five chapters out of 22. Okay, so not even a quarter of the book, right? If my math is correct, the first chapter dealt with what anybody. Now, I just want kind of a general theme for each one of the chapters. The Chapters are arbitrary. I don't mean to give you any, you know, false, you know, thinking about this. Obviously, somebody came along later and added the chapter divisions, but he added them for some reason. Generally, what do the five chapters deal with? We're not going to go into chapter six until we. Until we have this kind of caught up. Chapter one.

Christ, the Lamb of God being glorified.

Okay. What vision do you recall as being central to chapter one? The way John pictured it. Yes. There was an elaborate picture of Jesus Christ. And what was his location? No, no, not on the throne. Not in chapter one. I'm glad we're doing this. This is necessary. Somebody said something. Yes, that's right. In the midst of the lampstands, seven golden lampstands representing the seven major churches of Asia Minor, Jesus walks in the midst of them. And then, as it's been suggested, there's this glorious portrayal of Christ, and there's a deep symbolism to each one of the points of the way John portrays Christ. Okay, chapter two. Now, what's chapter two get into. Chapter one is one third of the book. Topically, you realize that 22 chapters. But chapter one represents those things which have been seen. Remember the outline, verse 19 of chapter one. John says that. John is told that he is to see things. He is to write the things which have been, the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter. Chapter one finishes off one third of the outline. Okay, what's chapter two, then? Let's not be so shy. Come on, speak up, Greg. Okay, he's writing letters to the individual churches. And chapter three deals with what? I know somebody is saying something, but I can't tell just exactly who and just exactly what. That's right, the same thing. Chapter three continues. Chapter two. In terms of the letters to the seven churches, how many letters are in chapter two? How many letters are in chapter three? I'll let you look that up when you get home. Keep track of where we are. All right. So chapter two and three is another one third of the outline of the book. It's not one third in terms of the literature. That is, it doesn't break down in terms of the number of sentences that way, but it's one third of the outline. So the things which have been seen, Christ in the midst of the churches. Christ writes to the seven churches. And then the things which are to take place hereafter beginning at chapter four. And what do we see in chapter four? God's sovereignty in over creation. Very good. That's the theme of chapter four. It opens with behold, what does John see? The overarching. The key site there in chapter four is what? Yes, the throne. I'm not sure that it's described as the Great White Throne at that point, but it's the throne, that's what's important. Yes. Behold, a throne set in heaven. And then what's surrounding the throne? Can you remember what the heavenly throne room looks like? Let's try to get all the details on this one. What's around the throne of God in heaven, at least as John had it portrayed to him in this case. What? Well, there are four creatures. Okay, what do they look like? They have seven eyes. They are full of eyes, inside and out. How many sets of wings or how many wings? Six wings, full of eyes. And they represent. What do their faces look like? What one looks as a man. Yes, that's the easy one. Like a lion. Like a flying eagle.

Calf.

Calf, that's right.

Very good.

Okay, the four living creatures. But what should we remember even before the four living creatures, what's even closer to the throne? What's that? No, no, no. The 24 elders would be around the four creatures. Okay, they are there. And we'll look at that in a second. What? Well, there is a rainbow around the throne. What color is the rainbow? No, emerald. That's right. It's a green rainbow. Nobody even asked me about that. But I asked, I begged you, I said, now is there anything you don't understand? Nobody even said why the green rainbow? So I. So I'm not gonna. I'm not gonna even tell you. Now I'm rather glad nobody asked me because I'm not sure. Okay, here's the throne. The rainbow about it, but the seven torches, okay, the seven lamps which represent the seven. No, no, no, not the ch. Sevenfold work of the Holy Spirit. The seven spirits which we have interpreted before as the Holy Spirit. So you have the throne, the Holy Spirit. And what else? Before we get to the four living creatures, what spreads out before the throne? A crystal sea. Right. Nobody asked about that either. Alright, so we have the crystal sea, the Holy Spirit, and now the four living creatures, like the cherubim of the Old Testament and the 24 elders. Now the 24 elders represent the old and new dispensation united in heaven. Right? Come on now, wake up. No, that's wrong. Some people think that. And so, I mean, I don't want to be disrespectful to those who do, but I think that in fact it represents an order of angels, a high ranking Order of angels throughout the book of Revelation, they're associated with angelic work in the angelic company. Okay, so 24 elders. What stands around the 24 elders? We find out later in chapter five. A multitude of angels. How many? Myriads and myriads IS 1? Translation? 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands of thousands, which is, I think, John's way of saying they were innumerable. Okay, so you see what the throne room looks like now. What have we forgotten? Don't feel bad, because in a sense, John doesn't forget. But John gives us this description, and then he says, behold, in the midst of the throne, he kind of comes back now to center stage, and he tells us that there is standing there. What is it a lamb or is it a lion? A lion. Okay, that's right. He hears about a lion and he speaks, sees the lamb. Well, what's different about the lamb? Well, he's wounded. That's not so different, especially to a Jew. He would know of the slaying of lambs sacrificially his horns. How many horns? I just didn't hear you. I wasn't. What'd you say? Is that what you said? That's right. Seven horns, meaning all powerful. And how many eyes this is Islam have. I don't mean to. Come on like an ogre. Some of you people are afraid to answer. I'm not going to cut you down if you're wrong. How many eyes? Yeah, it is many, but there's a specific number given. Seven eyes. Right. What do the seven eyes represent? 7 Spirits of God running to and fro throughout the earth. Very unusual image. But Jesus Christ, who has the Holy Spirit in full possession. The Holy Spirit comes at the direction of Christ and does the bidding of Christ. All right, now, what's the problem in chapter five? We see the setting. What difficulty arises in chapter five? What's the drum all about? There's a scroll there. And what's the problem with the scroll? No one can open it. Why is it closed? Already sealed. How? With seven seals. Right. And that gets us to chapter six. Okay, now we're all caught up. You got to have all that in mind for you to understand what chapter six is going to be about. And let's read it. And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying, with a voice of thunder, come. And I saw and behold a white horse. And he that sat thereon had a bow, and there was given unto him a crown. And he came forth conquering and to conquer. And when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, come. And another horse came forth, a red horse. And to him that sat thereon it was given to take peace from the earth that they should slay one another. And there was given unto him a great sword. And when he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, come. And I saw and behold a black horse. And he that sat thereon had a balance in his hand. And I heard as it were a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, a measure of wheat for a shilling and three measures of barley for a shilling, and the oil and the wine. Hurt thou not? And when he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, come. And I saw and behold a pale horse. And he that sat upon him, his name was Death, and Hades followed with him. There was given unto them authority over the fourth part of the earth to kill with the sword and with famine and with pestilence, and by the wild beasts of the earth. And when he opened the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of them that had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a great voice, saying, how long, O master, the holy and true, Dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And there was given them to each one a white robe. And it was said unto them that they should rest yet for a little time until their fellow servants also and their brothers, who should be killed even as they were, should have fulfilled their course. And I saw when he opened the sixth seal. And there was a great earthquake and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and and the whole moon became as blood. And the stars of the heaven fell unto the earth as a fig tree casteth her unripe figs when she is shaken of a great wind. And the heaven was removed as a scroll when it is rolled up. And every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth and the princes and the chief captains and the rich and the strong and every bondman and freeman hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains. And they say to the mountains and to the rocks fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of their wrath is come. And who is able to stand now, we will not get through all of chapter six today by any means. And I will have to cut our lesson a little bit short. I have to leave early this morning to. To get home to some sick children. But I would like to at least cover the meaning of the seals, the opening of the seals, and the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, if we possibly can. As the seals begin to be opened, I would like you to remember that they are opened in a pattern of four seals and then two seals and then the final seal, the climax. And the reason I'm pointing that out is because when the scroll is open and the trumpets of judgment begin to sound, there will be seven trumpets of judgment. They will sound in this order. Four will be sounded, and then two will be sounded, and then one, which is the climactic judgment. And then later in the book, we're going to see seven bowls of wrath being poured out on the earth. And when those seven bowls are poured out, do you have any idea what the pattern will be? 4 bowls and then 2 bowls and then 1. So let's be away with the idea that John is somehow in such a state of ecstasy, there can't be any. You know, it's very incoherent what he's doing. And it's just all these visions and wild imagery kind of running incoherently across the pages of the Book of Revelation. There is a definite order to what's happening. It's a highly structured book, just the opposite of what we're often told. So this four plus two plus one pattern will be followed with the seven seals, the seven trumpets and the seven bowls. Well, the seals are being opened. Yeah.

I'm just wondering what the relationship are you talking about? What's the relationship between. Or is there a relationship between, you know, what's between the horses and the trumpets and the bowls? Do they coincide in reality, or are they harmonically separated?

Yeah, I'm going to be explaining that in the next few minutes. But, no, there are those who think that these seven are parallel to one another. Okay. The seven seals is one way of telling you something. The seven trumpets is another way of telling you the same thing about history. And then the seven bulls, the same. And I find that just not very plausible in light of the way the book unfolds and the way these things are related to each other literarily. Then another view is that you get the first six seals, and then the seventh seal is, in fact the seven trumpets, and the seventh trumpet is, in fact, the seven bowls. And so I don't know if you've ever seen these children toys, you know, like These barrels or the larger one, you know, has the smaller and then a smaller and a smaller. Well, you have to kind of look at it that way. You have six and then you have one that has a lot of have seven in them. And then when you get to the seventh of the one that's in the seventh of the first series, it has seven more. And I find I don't accept that interpretation either. And you'll see how I deal with this as we proceed this morning. What do the opening of the seals represent? Well, I'm going to give you four interpretations and then the one that I at least think is preferable, but you can take a look for yourself when these seals are opened. Some people have thought that they represented a progressive reading of the contents of a gradually opening scroll. Let me go over that again. As each seal is opened, that'll be a portion of the message of the scroll. Progressively more and more of the scroll is unfolded, more and more the scroll is undone. More and more of the content of the scroll is laid out for you progressively as each one of the seals is open. Everybody understand that? Now you open a seal and you get a portion of the book, you open another seal, you get another portion of the book, on and on until the whole scroll is before you. That's right. That's the great difficulty with this. All seven are the seals have to be broken before you can open even an inch of the scroll. Now, of course, we don't have to get into all the details of, you know, folding over a corner and trying to look into it. The idea is a seven sealed scroll is to have every one of the seals broken and then you can undo the scroll and lay it out for all to read. And so this doesn't seem to be true to the literary metaphor that's being used by John at all. We would need to open all seven of the scrolls seals to remove them so that the scroll could be opened at all. A second interpretation says that the seals being opened is just one overview, one scan of history from the first advent of Christ to his final judgmental coming. And when the seals are broken, we see the course of history from the first to the second adventure from the standpoint or focus of the suffering of the church on earth. So chapters four, five, six and seven, the breaking of the seals, represent to us the whole history of the Christian church from the first advent to the second Advent. Okay, so one oversight of history. Now we're going to get a few more oversights of history as we go on through the book, the same period will be covered over and over again, but giving more depth or more detail, expanding or intensifying elements of history between the first and second advents of Christ. The great difficulty with this is not only what we've already seen, but, you see, this has to represent then the unfolding of the scroll, the contents of the scroll, at the same time as we're breaking the seven seals. But even more, we are being told that the breaking of the seven seals represents a chronological order of events, one thing following upon another, following upon another, and so forth. You understand that? Now, what's the difficulty? Well, let's look at these seals and notice what we are told and ask ourselves whether it can be a chronological series of events. It can be a series of events, but can it be a chronological series of events? That is, can it be in temporal order? Seal five points to the waiting of the martyrs for judgment. And they are told what? Be patient. Be patient until all of your brothers who are to suffer the same fate have as well undergone this. Be patient until the vengeance of God in its time breaks forth upon your adversaries. So Seal 5 says, wait for the judgment of God. But when you read Seal 6, immediately the judgment falls. You see the difficulty as you go through this. If it's chronological, wait for the judgment, okay? And so the next seal breaks and the judgment falls. In other words, the meaning of Seal 5 is somewhat undone, if not completely emptied, if Seal 6 is taken in chronological order. But then, more importantly, Notice how Seal 7, which we haven't read because we didn't read the seventh chapter, but when we read the seventh chapter, the seventh seal will show us that the judgment of God is being withheld in order that what can take place? The sealing of the 144,000 saints, okay? Before God unleashes his judgment upon the persecutors of the church, there is, spiritually speaking, a sealing of his saints that must take place. And so at Seal 5, the martyrs are told, be patient, wait God's time. At seal 7, the judgment cannot fall until the saints have been sealed. At seal 6, the judgment has fallen. You see how that doesn't fit into the pattern of 5 and 7 at all. 5 and 7 require a restraint of God's judgment, a withholding of God's judgment, a waiting upon God's judgment. But seal 6 is the judgment of God, and so it clearly cannot be in chronological order. And so it's difficult to accept this interpretation of the breaking of the seven seals as though it were scanning history from the first advent to the second. Because we can see that in fact the seals don't follow a temporal order given the meaning of each one of them. Any questions on that? I don't want to go so fast that you get lost in the maze here. Okay, if there isn't, then a third interpretation says that the breaking of these seals represents the preliminary events which are prior to the opening of the book. So far, that sounds pretty good. It seems the very problem of the previous two interpretations is that it gets us into the contents of the book before the book is actually opened. So interpretation three says these are preliminary events which are prior to the book actually being opened. And the book represents the events of the very end time that is far into the future from John, the very end of, of human history. There are certain things going to take place and this scroll will tell us. And prior to those things actually taking place, there are going to be these things happen which are represented by the seven seals. Anybody not following this? Should we go over it again? I don't see any hands, but I see some faces that say maybe your hand should be up. Let me do it again. Now, here's the scroll. And the scroll itself, not the seals of it, but the scroll itself talks about events which are in the distant future from John, or if you will, future to us. Even these things haven't taken place. But right before they take place, a series of events will occur, and the seven seals show us the preliminary events to the final reading of the scroll. So if the scroll is in the future and the seals are the preliminary introductory events to the scroll, then the breaking of the seals or the events represented by the breaking of the seals are also in the future. Okay, so we're still talking about something that hasn't taken place. It's even future to us. It was future to John. It's future to us as well. Unless, as we'll see in a minute, some people think the scrolls, the seals are beginning to be broken in our own day. Put very simply, this interpretation says that the breaking of the seven seals shows us future calamities that have come upon the earth. Future calamities prior to the end time events, the climactic end time events which is the subject of the book of Revelation. Now, what is the very, very simple but obvious difficulty of this interpretation? Chapter one, verse three. Well, chapter one, verse one as well. No one would know, but by interpretation of this psalm. Well, yeah, but there are signs of the times, and Christ holds us accountable to read the signs of the times. He says we are to recognize that something is going to take place by certain preparatory signs. We may not know the day and the hour, but Jesus certainly tells us that we should know that God is preparing for the final judgment because certain things have happened. Let's look at chapter one, the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show unto his servants the things which must shortly come to pass. Verse 3. Blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the words of the prophecy and keep the things which are written therein. For the time is at hand. These aren't events that are in the distant future to John. In fact, John will be told that he is not to seal up the prophecy of the book. Daniel in the Old Testament had a similar experience, prophecy being given to him, and he was to seal it up. And it was specifically told him he was to seal it because the time was not yet present for the fulfillment of the prophecy. John is told, don't seal up the prophecy of this book. Blessed is the one who reads it because the time is at hand. That is, this prophecy is going to start breaking, is going to start being fulfilled. It's going to break upon the church immediately, shortly to take place. And yet this interpretation of the seals and the scroll require us to believe that these are future calamities at the very end of human history, rather than being close to the age of the early church and John's own predicament and situation. Let's turn to a fourth interpretation before we look at the one which I would prefer. There have also been people who tell us that the breaking of these seven seals represents forces in this general ideological, kind of thematic way. Forces which will be operative throughout history in John's day, in the future day, and all the ages in between. Forces which will be operative throughout history up until the end time. Eventually. Forces which will be operative throughout history in John's day, in the future day, and all the ages in between. Forces which will be operative throughout history up until the end time events. And it's the scroll that deals with the end time events. And so the breaking of the seals are all the themes and the forces, the general principles that are playing in the course of history up until that time.

Okay, you might have dealt with this earlier in terms of Revelations 1, verses 1 and 3. In God's concept of time, of the day being a thousand years and a thousand years being a day. How does that relate to the idea of short reading during the time at hanging?

It's God telling to us that it will be short. He's not saying it will be short as I see things. It will be short as you see things. See, it's a revelation, an unfolding to the church. Now, Peter has to make it clear to us that when we become impatient, what we think is short can sometimes be long as God sees it. Because God can accomplish much in a short time, you know, something we can't do, and time is no limit for him. But I think it is certainly hermeneutically or interpretively improper to be importing that kind of conception, which is to teach us something about God and his nature in relationship to time. When John's trying to tell us something about time, I mean, if we did that with every prophecy of the Bible, it would fail to be a prophecy because it wouldn't give us any indication of depth or chronology or eventuation in history. When John says this is the apocalypse, the unfolding of things, and I can't even seal up the prophecy because it's going to happen, he's not saying it's going to happen as God sees it, but it's going to happen as you see it. It wouldn't be much of a relief to a church in the midst of tribulation right then and there to be told it's going to shortly happen. But of course, that shortness could mean thousands and thousands of years because that's the way God sees shortness. It's God who can experience the shortness as a length of time and a length of time as shortness. It's that God who tells you in terms of your history and your circumstance that it is short. And so that's how I'd answer that. That in fact it just empties the whole comfort of this declaration when we import what Peter has to say, which is proper in its context about the nature of God, into the nature of the historical circumstance of the church. God may see it as long even though we see it as short. He may, but he's telling us for us it's short. Other questions? Yeah.

To make this point seem like there.

Are plenty of other things in the.

Bible where talking about this reverence and second coming, another thing. But I expect. People like serving me shortly, coming back. I didn't need them coming in quickly or soon. And I didn't get early church expect price immediately almost because especially some of these. I'm just thinking that there's plenty of.

Times, it seems to me, with the.

Bible where it talks about, well, people shortly come to pass, but it is that they don't think it's like in reality could be referenced to a long period.

Let's turn to second Thessalonians, chapter two. I think you're right. Many in the early church did conceive of the return of Jesus Christ as being being immediately at hand. It was a problem that led to internal difficulties in the church itself, because people had that conception and operated upon it. They lived as though Jesus was to come any day, any moment. And some of them stopped working, in fact. And Paul said, if people start operating on that mistaken eschatology and they won't work, don't let them eat. You've got to force them to reinterpret the Bible on the basis of the essentials of life eating. But then, at the Beginning of chapter 2 of 2 Thessalonians, notice how Paul declares, under inspiration, we beseech you, brothers, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together unto him, we beseech you to the end that ye be not quickly shaken from your mind, nor yet troubled, either by spirit or by word or by epistle as from us. Paul says, I don't care how you've gotten this information, whatever access somebody's had to you, I don't want you to be shaken in mine as though the day of the Lord is just at hand. Let no man beguile you in any wise, for it will not be except the falling away come first. And then he goes on to explain that there are certain signs that must be fulfilled. Now, Paul says, any man who believes that the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ is just at hand has been beguiled. And he writes an epistle specifically to make sure that our minds won't be shaken with such conceptions. So I think you're right. Some people in the early church did expect Christ to return immediately, but the apostles tried to keep them from believing that. The apostles tried to correct such misinterpretations. And then elsewhere where we do see, like in the book of Revelation, it's not very often the idea that Jesus Christ comes quickly. One must remember that that adverb doesn't mean as to our present time, it will be very short, but rather that when he comes, he will come suddenly and he will come quickly. See, as he comes, it's going to be a surprise to all men. All men will be caught, you see, unaware, in the sense that no man knows the day and the hour, but those are very few in number at that. There are other passages of Scripture that teach us in rather clear terms that the coming of the Lord will be delayed in the parable of the. The wise virgins and the foolish virgins, you will see, especially those who are foolish are foolish because they expected the immediate coming of the bridegroom. And those who were wise were those who expected a delay. So I don't think there's any reason for us. Although dispensationalists and premillennialists have been teaching for nearly 70 years now in this country, teaching so pervasively that even reform people, I think, have lost their moorings on that sort of thing, the New Testament doesn't give us any warrant for the idea that Jesus can return at any time. Jesus can return only after he's accomplished what he declares he shall accomplish in history. Yes, Mickey, Yes, yes. Jesus talks about his coming in his kingdom taking place before the generation of his hearers should pass. But now, if you're a dispensationalist, if you expect the coming of the kingdom to be in the distant future, then of course you've got to reinterpret generation in some strange way. Or if you're not a dispensationalist, you've got to take a rather higher critical view of the New Testament and, and say, well, these people were clearly wrong in thinking that Jesus would establish his kingdom within their lifetime. We as reformed interpreters of the Scripture don't find any difficulty with that because we don't think that it's far in the future. And therefore you have to reinterpret generation to get around that problem. Nor do we think that Jesus failed to do what he said he would do. So you have to have a proper conception of the kingdom and what it means for the kingdom to come.

I must be wrong in thinking that. I read somewhere in several places, perhaps he just talked about how quickly Jesus.

Is going to come back.

I read that somewhere in the Bible.

Yeah, I think the pastor is suggesting that if you come with certain assumptions to those passages, you immediately interpret them as meaning you see the return of Jesus Christ in glory for the judgment of the world or the establishment of a millennial kingdom. But if you go back and look at those passages, you'll find they fall into two different categories. They either talk about the establishment of Christ's kingdom, which we think did take place within the lifetime of Jesus hearers. Jesus in fact, says to the Pharisees that if he's casting out demons in their midst, then the kingdom of God has been established. And of course, after his resurrection, Jesus declares that all power and authority in heaven and earth is his. And throughout the New Testament, the ascension of Jesus Christ is interpreted as his enthronement at God's right hand to begin to rule in his kingdom, to subdue every enemy under his foot. So we believe Jesus did do just what those passages say. Then there's a second category of such passages that have misled people that speak, and they're very few, but there are some passages that speak, speak of Jesus coming quickly, where the Greek word is to be taken in the sense that he will come very quickly when he comes. That is, it isn't going to be a long, drawn out period when Jesus returns to come, you see, there's going to be the breaking of the heavens, and Jesus manifest at that time. And it's going to take place very immediately and suddenly. But that doesn't mean near to us in our time. It means that when it does happen, it's going to take place in a very climactic and dramatic swift fashion. All right, let's try to finish up at least what the breaking of the scroll, I mean, the breaking of the seals of the scroll means. We are on the fourth interpretation that says these are forces operative throughout history. And the difficulty with that is that most people who feel that way nevertheless interpret the sixth seal, the heaven being wrapped up as a scroll, the stars falling from heaven, people crying to the mountains to fall upon them. I would be willing to bet that virtually every sermon you've heard preached on that passage has in one way or another interpreted that as the second coming of Jesus Christ. And maybe I can get you in some sort of anticipation for next week and the following week as we interpret that, because I don't think that's accurate at all. I think, in fact, that took place at the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70. But I'll explain why later. The difficulty is if you think that these are forces operative throughout history and that that is a reference to the second coming of Jesus Christ, then you violated your own interpretation. So it's an internal contradiction to those who approach it that way. But even more importantly, I think, is the fact that that misses the nature of the Book of Revelation is actually giving us a prophecy of events in history. People who hold this are taking what is called the idealistic interpretation of the Book of Revelation. Revelation is not revealing events. It's not giving us history. You can't chart the Book of Revelation in any chronological way. Revelation is simply giving us, in some, you know, almost incoherent, but at least in some fuzzy way, a revelation of a number of principles and ideals and themes that are going to be operative throughout history. And the difficulty is the broader difficulty. The book of Revelation is trying to tell the church specific things that God is going to do to vindicate the saints and to encourage the early church in the midst of its turmoil, spending a lot of time on all these different interpretations. But the reason for that is, after I get done with my interpretation this morning here in the next few minutes, very briefly, we aren't going to be able to go back and keep looking at. Now, if you would have taken. I've given you five, I'm going to give you a fifth in a minute, but five interpretations of the breaking of the seals. Now, as I proceed to expound the book of Revelation, I'm going to go on the assumption that the interpretation I'm giving you now is the correct one. I can't possibly. I mean, if you think six months was a long time in the first three chapters, you can just imagine how long it would take to give you the interpretations and all the variations of interpretations on this, this, this, this, and this approach to the breaking of the seals. Because if you, the way you approach the breaking of the seals determines how you approach the rest of the book, I said, do you understand why this morning we had to spend so much time on these interpretations? Because if you take like five different roads, you can go down and they go to different places. And so if I'm going to try to expound each of the five basic approaches to the book of Revelation, at every point, we're just going to be spending, you know, day upon day trying to get through the maze of interpretations. But it's not nearly so important to understand what all the commentators have said as to understand what John was saying. I mean, the point of the Sunday school class is that you might be nourished just seeing what the word of God is teaching you. So there may be differences of interpretation from point to point, and you may want to see me privately about this particular road we're finally going to be taking. But we just simply, we simply cannot spend the time going over all the variations of the various interpretations of the book of Revelation. And so we'll kind of settle the point this morning, hopefully, or at least will begin to settle it. I would say that the breaking of the seals is not a progressive reading of the contents of the scroll. It's not one scan of history from the first to the second Advent. It's not the preliminary events prior to the establishment of Christ's kingdom at the end of history. And it's not just simple Ideals or themes throughout history. In fact, the breaking of the seals serves, if you will, like a flyleaf to a modern book. You haven't read the book when you've just read the COVID or you've turned inside the COVID and you've read the flyleaf. But what's the flyleaf do for a modern book? It kind of tells you some of the high points of the book. It kind of tells you some of the major themes or forces or principles that will be operative in it. That is, the breaking of the seals is going to introduce the main characters, the main forces, and the main circumstances which are to be dealt with in the book itself. The breaking of the seals is just as you would expect. Break one seal at a time until you can get to the scroll is preparatory to the reading of the book. It prepares us for the action that's going to occur to once the book has finally been opened. And so once the seventh seal has been opened, the scroll itself will then be open. And you'll notice that that interpretation fits exactly what John says. You break each one of the seals, and when the seventh seal is open immediately, what takes place is the first trumpet begins to sound. And what is the trumpet symbolic of? Well, not only throughout scripture, but here in the book of Revelation, the trumpet is a call to action. That is, the action begins when the trumpets begin to sound. We're told of judgment, that a judgment is going to fall. And when God's trumpets sound, the judgment begins to fall. All right, so we break the seven seals, and when the seventh is open so that the scroll can now be laid open, as the scroll is opened, we hear trumpets begin to sound. All right, so what I'm saying is the breaking of the seals is preparatory. It's like the fly leaf of a blood book, to use the modern equivalent. It gives us the main characters, the main principles, the main events that will be covered once you get to the call to action which the scroll itself represents. So seals one to six are nothing more than the general contents, but not in a chronological order, not necessarily in a logical order, just a preview of things that are going to follow. Well, I'm going to have to cut our class short this morning, like I said, and next week I'll open with a period of discussion of these interpretations and then go on to talk about the meaning of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, which has been a popular theme throughout literature ever since John penned this book. Let's pray. Father, we pray that you would give us clear minds, that you would enable us to read your word faithfully, that you would make us to interpret it as it was intended. Father, give us an understanding by your spirit, make us faithful to the context of your word, so that we might be fed with the truth that is found therein. If those things which have been taught have been misleading or untrue to your intentions, we pray that you would indeed overcome. And Father, if we have been true, we pray that you would now prepare us to read your book and to be blessed by it, and to be led to obey it, so that we might indeed hasten that day in which the kingdoms of this world are the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ. For it's to that event that we look it's for that event that we long and pray. In Jesus name you. Amen.