Revelation 6 - Breaking Seals - Thy Will Be Done
The whole point of the Bible is being prepared - abiding in Christ - so that at Jesus’ appearance, His final return to this earth we will have confidence (not shame) before God (1 John 2:28). In this sixth chapter of Revelation we hear a familiar message. That is, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies is God over all the kingdoms of earth. Christ is King. He who created the heavens and the earth has the power and authority to govern, judge, protect, punish, and bless whomsoever He pleases (Isaiah 37:16).
False teachers claim there are various ways to eternal life with God. They claim God has various peoples and paths. These modern-day prosperity preachers are quite confident they are especially anointed. They are gluttons, hungry men with no end to their appetites. They have no shame. Venezuelan dictators have nothing on them. Like Narcos, they lack nothing and don’t lose a wink of sleep over it. To such false teachers, the Bible has a plain message: repent. The Bible says, “For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you” (Galatians 3:26-29). Do we believe it? Do we trust in the New Covenant sealed by the blood of Jesus Christ (Zechariah 9:11 and Hebrews 7:22)? I'm humbly confident in Christ Jesus this morning because I believe that His church is forcefully advancing and that Light is overcoming Darkness. There is only one way to the Father: through Christ the Son (John 14:6).
Let’s back up with a quick history note before we go forward. At the beginning of the sixth century BC (597 BC), thousands of Judeans were exiled into Babylon by force under the great king, Nebuchadnezzar II (he took over after his dad died in 605 BC and he ruled until he died in 562 BC). During this time of empires and exiles, power transferred from the Babylonians to the Persians. The Persian, Cyrus the Great, defeated the Babylonians in 539 BC and it was Cyrus’ edict that we hear about in 2 Chronicles 36:22-23 where Cyrus authorizes and encourages the rebuilding of the Second Temple in Jerusalem (and the return of the Judeans marking the end of the 70-year exile). Following Cyrus, the Persians were ruled by Darius the Great who had a long reign (522-486 BC). And it was during the reign of Darius that God spoke to the ancient Jewish prophet Zechariah. And it is the prophecy of Zechariah that I'd like to tie into Revelation 6.
Zechariah’s message is a familiar one. It is the message of John the Baptist (Mark 1:4 - repent and be baptized), the message of the Apostle Peter in Acts (2:38 - each of you must repent of your sins, and turn to God and be baptized), the message of the Apostle Paul (we are instructed to turn from sinful living to devotion to God (Titus 2:12), and the repeated theme of the Apostle John in Revelation chapters two and three (repent or I will remove your lampstand (2:5); repent of your sin or I will appear suddenly and fight against you with the sword of my mouth (2:16); I gave her time to repent but she will not turn away from her immorality (2:21); repent and turn to me again (3:3)).
Zechariah, likewise, preaches a message of repentance and grace. Zechariah proclaimed that God does what He says He will do (1:6). He encourages us to take God at His word. God requires us to listen and to pay attention. God’s way mandates accountability and responsibility. In the world of milk and water Christianity, we have a leadership crisis. Our shepherds are constantly reminding us of their titles, their importance, and their position rather than the way James, Paul, and Peter referred to themselves (as slaves and servants of God). Give us a little bit of bread and a circus and we can stay distracted all day. Nowadays we have no end of distractions (if it's not golf, it's the NFL, CFL, NHL, NCAA sports, and a myriad of other pursuits). We want the altar call but we want nothing to do with discipleship. We want fame and fortune - but discipline and right living - not so much.
Okay, off my soapbox. Back to Zechariah. There is a remarkable heavenly vision of riders on red, brown, and white horses (1:7-17). God sends those angelic riders (spiritual beings) out to patrol the earth (yet in the spiritual realm). They are instruments of God - The Lord of Heaven’s Armies. They go out, and then they report back to the angel of the LORD (1:11). We'll talk more next blog about God's authority and the readiness of His angelic beings to go at His command.
In Zechariah, we hear a wonderful grace-filled message. It's a kind and comforting theme. On one hand, we hear justice (God is kind and severe). Yet we also hear a message of mercy. Following the seventy-year punishment period (1:12) God would allow the Temple (destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar II in 587/586) to be rebuilt into a Second Temple. It was a message of God’s goodness, justice, passion, and love. It was a message calling the people of Zion back to Jerusalem after the exile. It was a message that God would rescue his “precious possession” in alignment with His original plan: the plan of salvation through the Son of God. Immanuel, Jesus Christ, would come one day in the future to live among the people in Jerusalem (Zechariah 3:9). And He did!
Zechariah explained the spiritual reality that Satan is the Accuser and that God has the power and authority to judge and to take away sin and cloth us with righteousness - just and right in God’s presence. God explained that the old way (of high priests) was a symbol of things to come (3:8). Through Zechariah, God explained that He would bring forth a “single stone with seven facets.” In Revelation 5 we hear that the Lamb had "seven horns and seven eyes, which represent the sevenfold Spirit of God that is sent out into every part of the earth" (5:6). In that same Zecharian vision God showed, inter alia, seven lampstands (remember the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3!). Truly amazing when we read Zechariah alongside Revelation! God’s message is consistent. He weaves a message of love and redemption and forgiveness of sin. Jesus is the Cornerstone; He always has been and always will be.
Jesus is the foundation stone of His living Temple. He rules and builds and cleanses - by the Spirit of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies.
God is outside time. Yet He rejoices in humble beginnings, and growth from a seed to a giant tree. From a tiny pebble to a Great Mountain that fills the entire earth. In Zechariah we hear of a scroll - a giant 30 by 15-foot scroll (5:2). This scroll contains the curse that is going out over the entire land (5:3). There is writing on both sides of the scroll - there is law and judgment on both sides. On one side it says that those who steal will be banished and on the other side that those who swear falsely will be banished (5:3).
The two-sided scroll we read about in Revelation is the same scroll Zechariah saw. We read that only the Lamb of God can open the judgment or curse if you will. God’s curse written in the scroll “will remain in that house and completely destroy it - even its timbers and stones” (Zechariah 5:4). Starting to sound familiar yet? The Second Temple was destroyed in AD 70 - forever and completely destroyed. Jesus the Lamb of God executed His promised judgment against a guilty and adulterous people - just as He said He would. Here's what Stephen had to say just before the Jewish leaders stoned him to death, "You stubborn people! You are heathen at heart and deaf to the truth. Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit? That's what your ancestors did, and so do you! Name one prophet your ancestors didn't persecute! They even killed the ones who predicted the coming of the Righteous One - the Messiah whom you betrayed and murdered. You deliberately disobeyed God's law, even though you received it from the hands of angels" (Acts 7:51-52). Stephen saw Jesus reigning in heaven (Acts 7:56).
Likewise, we too know Jesus reigns, yet we know the spiritual battle will remain until His final return. We can’t take a day off. If we do we’ll find out the hard way that Satan, while no match for God, still seeks to steal and oppose the way of God. He loves to tear people down. God’s story is a story of creation, love, sin, fall, strife, depravity, mercy, forgiveness, grace, and redemption. It’s a story of salvation, perseverance, renewal, and victory in Christ.
Today we ask God to pardon our iniquity for we know it is great (Psalm 25:11). We know we are sinners. I do. I suspect you do as well. It’s a day to obey the call of God and the message of the prophets and the apostles of the Messiah. It is a day to repent and follow Jesus.
We do not see the spiritual realm - like John and Zechariah got to see it. But we do acknowledge the reality of the battle. We struggle “against the spiritual forces in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 6:12). Put up a fight. Resist Satan. Don't fall for the greed, the bread, and the circus the world offers. Not only that, but we must help each other resist. Find ways to motivate and encourage each other. Oppose the wicked, yes! But let’s stop criticizing and tearing each other down and find a way to help each other. Yield to others. Forgive others. Time is short. Let’s seek the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. God willing and through His grace alone we will all be with Him in Glory (Colossians 3:1-4).
Let’s remind each other this morning that Jesus is the One who wrote on that ancient scroll and who broke the seals. Zechariah saw it. John the Apostle saw it clearly as well. Jesus, the one who sealed the scroll had the power to break the seals and read and command the judgments. He’s God. He never changes. He has the same power today. He still writes. He has the authority to write our names in the Lamb’s Book of Life. “He who makes me stand firm in Christ and anointed me is God, who also sealed me and gave me the Spirit in my heart as a deposit” (2 Corinthians 1:21-22).
Please take our lives today and seal them for your good will and purposes dear Jesus. Please forgive us our sins and please never erase our names from Your Book of Eternal Life. Thy will be done. Amen.
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