The Revelation of Christ – Part 14:
The Second Seal – HOFC
Pastor Bruce A. Shields
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SERMON
INTRODUCTION
The
Book of Revelation, or the Revelation of Christ, is the most difficult book in
the bible.
Because
of this fact, many avoid it, or ignore it all together. Some fear lack of
understanding, others afraid to misinterpret, which I guess it is better to
avoid than dive in and get it completely wrong.
Many
times, when a new believer comes to me for direction, they want to jump right
into Revelation and find out what’s to come.
This
is equivalent to deciding one day to learn Mandarin and sitting down to author
a novel in Chinese that very same day.
Or,
a kindergartener learning how to count, and then trying to calculate quantum
mechanics calculations.
The
words in Revelation have caused much debate on rapture, judgement, even some
who claim John was writing about the events in his day in code rather than
Jesus Christ revealing to him about the coming events and Judgment.
A
special blessing is promised to those who read Revelation.
Although
it may be a difficult book, we could all use a special blessing, reading this
is good for us all, and with the help of the Holy Spirit, we will take the
Revelation of Christ in small portions and gain understanding, little by
little.
SERMON SERIES
THE THINGS WHICH
ARE – The Church Age (Age of Grace)
Part 3 – Ephesus The Backsliding
Church
Part 4 – Smyrna The
Steadfast Church
Part 5 – Pergamos The Immoral Church
Part 6 – Thyatira The Careless Pagan Church
Part 7 – Sardis The Spiritless Church
Part 8 – Philadelphia The Favored Church
Part 9 – Laodicea The Church God Hates
THE THINGS WHICH
SHALL BE – The Coming Judgment
Part 10 – The Throne of God
Part 11 – The Scroll and Seven Seals
Part 12 – The Lamb is Worthy
Part 13 –
The First Seal
Part 14 – The Second Seal
TODAY’S SERMON -
THE THINGS WHICH SHALL BE – The Coming Judgment
Part 14 – The
Second Seal
SCRIPTURE READING
Revelation
6:3, 4
When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the
second living creature say, “Come!” 4 Then
another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take
peace from the earth and to make people kill each other. To him was given a
large sword.
I.
JOHN IN HEAVEN
a.
What was (Always)
i. Revelation
1:2 “The Word of God and
the testimony of Jesus Christ”
ii. John
1:1-5
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through
him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In
him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The
light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
b.
What is (Now)
i. The Lord dictates seven
letters for John to write to the seven churches
ii. These are both literal
churches, and figurative to the time span of the “Church Age”, or the “Age of
Grace” in which the Church (Body of Christ) is now in.
iii. We are currently in the last
of the seven stages of the Church age
iv. Meaning, we are at the
threshold of “What is to come”
c.
What is to Come (The Future)
i. At this point, the Lord
calls John into heaven
ii. Not a “vision”, not a
suggestive thought placed within his head, but a literal calling up in the
spirit to the heavenly realm of God’s Abode.
iii. Why? Because John has been
given the task to record the FUTURE, not possible future, not “what could or
may be”, but what ACTUALLY HAPPENS.
iv. The only way for him to do
this, is to call him up to heaven in the spirit, outside of TIME (Which was
created in this dimension for man in Genesis)
v. Once there, John can
“time-skip” through the future by the command of the Lord and the Living
Creatures to witness the events of our future.
II.
THE FIRST SEAL BROKEN
a.
The Lamb breaks the First of Seven Seals
i. And John hears the Living
Creature say with a voice like thunder, “Come!”
ii. I believe this is where John
“skips” through time to watch the ACTUAL events unfold from the breaking of the
First Seal.
iii. This is NOT a vision, a
“probable future”, but the ACTUAL EVENTS AS THEY TAKE PLACE!
iv. I believe the Living
Creatures saying “Come!” in a thunderous voice is “time skipping” because a few
seconds later another seal is broken, these events do not take place on earth
that quickly.
v. As described in scripture,
the antichrist from the first seal begins as o man of peace, gaining the crown
and submission of nations over time, then he turns to war to conquer. So, the
Second Seal takes place “later” in time.
b.
When the First Seal is Broke by the Lamb
i. A white horse appears
ii. Its rider (the antichrist)
holds a bow with no arrows
iii. Nations give him crowns (or
submit to his authority)
iv. In turn, he gathers his
armies because as the scriptures say “He rode out (meaning from the beginning)
as a conqueror bent on conquest”
1. It was always his intension
to gain trust, build armies then conquer the rest of the nations.
c.
LIT- He went forth overcoming and that he may overcome
i. The antichrist came in peace
to rule the weak and ignorant, then using their armies that he had gained
leadership of, took over the rest of the nations.
III.
THE SECOND SEAL
a.
John sees the Lamb open the Second Seal
i. He then hears the Second
Living Creature say “Come!”
ii. Again, this is a “time skip”
so John can witness the ACTUAL events unfolding!
b.
Another horse appears
i. Fiery red
1. There may be a few reasons
this horse is red
a. Mars is the Roman God of War
i. This may signify the New
Rome
b. Or perhaps fiery red
signifies the burning rubble and blood from terrible war
2. Either way, this second
horse is fiery red…war is coming
ii. Matthew 24:1-8 “Jesus left the temple
and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to
its buildings. 2 “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “Truly I tell you,
not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”
3
As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him
privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the
sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
4
Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my
name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of
wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things
must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation,
and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various
places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.”
c.
Its rider was given the power
i. To take peace from the earth
1. This is what Jesus referred
to in Matthew
24 when the disciples
asked about the end times.
2. Wars and rumors of wars robs
us of peace.
ii. And to make people kill each
other
1. How do you “make” people
kill each other?
2. Soldiers in armies have to
fight
3. People in occupied
territories have to defend themselves
4. Civil wars may break out
across the globe
iii. To him was given a large
sword
1. A large or great sword could
be many armies, or a large weapon of mass destruction, such as a nuclear bomb
CONCLUSION
–
This, the second of the seven seals, opened by
Christ, revealing to John the future which “is”, next, the third of the seven
seals, and another horse.
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