Who Can Stand? (Revelation 6:1–8:1)
Four horsemen ride out. Martyrs cry, “How long?” Kings and slaves beg the rocks to hide them from the wrath of the Lamb. Who can stand? The Lamb who opens the seals rules our tribulation, is coming to judge, and seals his people to stand before his throne. John hears 144,000 and sees a multitude no one can count, standing. “They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” History is in the Lamb’s hand. Look at the throne.
In 1916 Henry Ford told a newspaper, “History is more or less bunk.”[1] When we pay attention to the news, you might agree! Another war, gas prices, a new plague, believers persecuted. What’s the point?
Two weeks ago, we watched the sacrificed-then-resurrected Lamb take the scroll containing God’s plan and purpose for human history from the Father’s right hand (5:7). Only the Lamb was worthy to open it. Now, he breaks the seals, and we see history’s meaning and purpose from the perspective of that eternal throne.
History isn’t pretty. The four horses of the apocalypse charge. Martyrs cry. Earth undergoes cataclysm. It ends with one question: who can stand? (6:17).
Theme
Here’s Revelation 6–7’s answer: the Lamb who opens the seals rules our tribulation, is coming to judge, and seals his people to stand before his throne.
Transition: Let’s watch him open the first five seals.
The Lamb Rules Our Tribulation (6:1–11)
Chapter 6 seamlessly continues the scene of chapter 5: Now I watched when the Lamb (of chapter 5) opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, “Come!” (6:1). Out comes the first of the so-called “four horsemen of the apocalypse.” John borrows from Zechariah’s visions of four horses that patrol the earth (Zech. 1:8–11) and four chariots driven by different colored horses associated with four winds of judgment on the earth (Zech. 1:8–11; 6:1–8).
First, a white horse! And its rider had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering, and to conquer (6:2). Some say he’s the antichrist.[2] Some say he’s Jesus.[3] I take it as neither. This is judgment scene. But while the rebellious world is judged, the Lamb’s church is refined.
Second, a bright red horse whose rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword (6:4). These are the “wars and rumors of wars” (Matt. 24:6) our Lord spoke of. That word slay is the word Revelation uses for the Lamb who was slain (5:6) and for the souls slain for the word of God (6:9). These wars include the world’s sacrificing Christians. “Wherever our Lord Jesus Christ begins to wield His spiritual sceptre, Satan begins to brandish his sword.”[4]
Third, a black horse! And its rider had a pair of scales in his hand. A voice says, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not harm the oil and wine!” (6:5–6). A denarius was a day’s wage. A quart of wheat fed one person for one day. But one quart of wheat only cost one-eighth of a denarius. Meanwhile the oil and wine, life’s comforts, are untouched. Some have plenty; others barely buy bread. Who’s being squeezed? Don’t forget Smyrna: I know your tribulation and your poverty (2:9). If you wanted to sell fish, you had to join the guild (union) and attend their dinners, which meant offering incense to Caesar; if not, you’d lose the business. The red horse kills. The black horse starves them out.
Fourth, 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 (6:8). Wars, famines, disease, and death at the hands of animals were Old Testament covenant curses (Lev. 26). Now they’re coming on the whole world. That means Christians, too, suffer in this age alongside their neighbors. But notice John says this judgment comes on a fourth of the world. Every war, every pandemic has a fence around it: and the Lamb built the fence.
The purpose of this vision isn’t speculation. The scroll that was opened is history from the vantage point of the heavenly throne. History is His-story. And at the center of the story is Jesus. Jesus wins, and he’s still winning.
Application: As we feel like society crumbles around us, don’t be terrified as if your security depended on fragile human law and order, but live in confidence and anticipation: the Lamb is on his throne; God’s plan for history is firmly in his hand.
When the Lamb opens the fifth seal, the scene shifts to heaven: I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne (6:9). The tabernacle/temple had two altars: in the courtyard and inside just before the Holy of Holies. John sees one altar because it’s the reality in the very presence of God. While John was exiled to Patmos (1:9), those slain like Antipas (2:13), were under that altar. They cry, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” (6:10). This isn’t personal revenge. When the world kills God’s people, it scorns God. This prayer longs for God to vindicate his name and people’s witness. He answers is a white robe—signifying holiness—and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete (6:11). When the number is full, the end comes.
Transition: And it will come.
The Lamb Is Coming to Judge (6:12–17)
In our first sermon, I said John tells the story of this age like painting a wall, top to bottom, back to the top, then to the bottom again. Each time John ends his stroke, it’s with Christ’s return. With the sixth seal, the brush hits bottom:
When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place (6:12–14).
Did you notice in how many calamities? Seven. This is the last day when Jesus comes again with final judgment. This scene actually picks back up in 8:1–5 with “peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake” (8:5).
Note who runs: the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free (6:15). All from top to bottom of society hide in caves and beg the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” (6:16–17). Do you see how many groups are judged? Seven.
The wrath of the Lamb! The one slain for sinners is the one sinners will face in the end. Under the fourth seal it was a fourth; here it’s everyone. Gospel Call: On that day the door of grace closes.[5] The rocks won’t hide you. Only the Lamb himself can. Run to him now, while it’s still “a little longer.” Comfort: For you who suffer for Christ, that day answers “how long?” One day you’ll see God’s vengeance on the evil who tyrannized, oppressed, and tormented you (Belgic Confession, art. 37).
Transition: So, who can stand?
The Lamb Seals and Shepherds His People (7:1–8:1)
Between the descriptions of judgment and final judgment in chapters 6 and the beginning of 8, is chapter 7. The seals of chapter 6 and the trumpets of chapter 8 describe condemnation, but chapter 7 describes salvation; chapters 6 and 8 describe havoc but chapter 7 describes heaven.
After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth (7:1). The four winds are the four horses of Zechariah and chapter 6. They’re God’s judgments on a wicked world. But an angel cries, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads” (7:3).
Seals mark ownership and guarantee protection. Kings sealed their letters so recipients know it really was his. The Holy Spirit seals us, identifying us as the Lord’s until the end (Eph. 1:13; 4:30; 2 Cor 1:22). In Revelation, the seal is the name of God, the name of Jesus, and the name of New Jerusalem (3:12; 14:1).
Children: when mom writes your name inside your jacket, everyone knows whose it is; if it gets lost, it comes home. God wrote his name on you in baptism. Remember chapter 1: Jesus doesn’t keep us from tribulation, but in and through it.
John hears how many are sealed: 144,000…from every tribe of the sons of Israel (7:4). These aren’t Jewish converts after the rapture or Jehovah’s Witnesses in the highest heaven. The list is a symbolic census like in Numbers with Judah first for the Lion. John calls them the servants of our God (7:3). That’s what Revelation calls believers (1:1; 22:3). Twelve tribes times twelve apostles, who are depicted as the gates and foundations of the New Jerusalem (21:12–14), times a thousand. This is the whole of God’s people from Old to New Testament.
That’s what John heard. But he saw a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes (7:9)—the same robes of the martyrs in heaven. In chapter 5 John heard “Lion” but saw a Lamb (5:5–6). Now he hears 144,000 but sees a multitude.
What are they doing? Standing. Remember the question: Who can stand? (6:17) The numberless multitude standing before the throne. Who are they? The ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb (7:14). Not seven years at the end, but all the tribulation of this whole age, as we saw in 1:9. The martyrs received white robes in 6:11, made white ironically by red blood.
And the Lamb whose wrath the world fled becomes a shepherd: They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore…For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes (7:16–17). No horsemen of the apocalypse. No caves and rocks. No wrath, No more tears.
Then, at last: When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour (8:1). In the prophets, silence comes before God goes out to judge: “Let all the earth keep silence before him” (Hab. 2:20). Heaven holds its breath. Next Sunday, the brush goes back to the top of the wall as we’ll hear the trumpets.
Conclusion: Who Can Stand?
Go out in confidence with these three takeaways:
History isn’t bunk; it’s in the Lamb’s hand. No rider goes out until he opens the seal. When the news is bad this week, look at the throne.
You’re sealed. You belong to him. The winds can blow, but they can’t carry you off. “We are more than conquerors! Let the trials then come!”[6]
You’ll stand. Not because you’re strong, but because your robe is stained red in Jesus’s blood. This Lamb will Shepherd you and lead you home.
Notes
- Henry Ford, interview in the Chicago Tribune, 1916.↩
- See Chuck Smith, What the World Is Coming To: A Commentary on the Book of Revelation.↩
- William Hendriksen, More Than Conquerors: An Interpretation of the Book of Revelation (1940, 1967; Baker Book House, seventh printing, 1990), 93–97. For the view that it’s not Jesus Christ, see Johnson, 118–120.↩
- Hendriksen, 115.↩
- Hendriksen, 109.↩
- Hendriksen, 26.↩