Reviews and Views

…in my opinion.

Book of Revelation – Chapter 6

Jesus Christ has the right to judge and rule the world. Under the seal judgments, we see man ruin the world. Meanwhile, on earth, evil men are growing worse and worse. With the denial of all authority, wicked things invented, with the destruction of the globe at stake, it is time for God to intervene in human affairs. With seals broken one by one, we see any restraint increasingly removed from the earth. Events recorded under these seals are extensions of things that are very evident in today’s world. The chief difference is that the Church will be gone.

First Seal

Release of the rider on the white horse believed to be the Antichrist. He has a crown, a bow without arrows, and goes to conquer. He is all-victorious and wins his victories relatively peacefully through deception. This rider represents the blasphemous philosophies of the last days, those anti-Christian ideologies that prepare men’s minds for the devil’s gospel and the ultimate reception of the strong delusion, the great lie of 2 Thessalonians 2:3-12. (John Phillips commentary, page 96). By the hand of the Antichrist, misery occurs during the four seal judgments. Those coming afterward are not. The one on the red horse breaks any peace that the Antichrist previously brokered. Keep in mind that coming events always cast their shadows before them. The white horse rider is not yet abroad, for the great Restrainer is still here, the book (scroll) is still sealed, and the Church is still on earth.

Second Seal

The second rider is released. He has the power to take peace from the earth, rides a red horse, and carries a great sword. The rider symbolizes the belligerent policies of the last days. He personifies world war on a scale never before known on earth, a war that will make the conflicts of this century seem like scenes in a stilted (unnaturally formal) play. Until the Lord Jesus Christ comes back in power, war must go on and on until at last war itself is personified, mounted on a blood-red horse, and sent forth with a great sword to summon men to the Apocalypse terrible battles. There is a belief that at this time, RUSSIA will attack Israel before Armageddon in Ezekiel 38 and 39. This war of Ezekiel occurs close to or during the Tribulation hour because the facts presented in Revelation tie in harmoniously with Ezekiel’s prophecy.

Third Seal

With the third seal opened, a black horse appears. The rider carries a pair of balances in his hand, symbolizing the blighted prosperity of the last days. After the war of Revelation chapter 6, verses 3 and 4 will come famine and inflation, which usually follow any conflict. Ezekiel 4:10, 11, 16 refer to this. The oil and the wine are luxuries of the rich. Untouchable, the black horse rider proceeds to the staples of the poor, the wheat and barley. These are to be measured out a pinch at a time. This rider symbolizes the blighted prosperity of the last days. We hear the price for wheat and barley. A single loaf of bread will cost an entire day’s wages. Yet hunger will not be satisfied. People will spend everything they have just for the necessities of life. As the Tribulation continues, precious metals will become worthless. A digital system implemented by the Antichrist will replace gold, silver, paper money, and crypto-currencies. Today, the average American dog has a higher protein diet than most people worldwide. Another shortage is firewood along the fringes of the world’s deserts as people search for something to heat what little food they find. This dreaded rider is not yet abroad, but we see his shadow.

Fourth Seal

Now a pale horse appears. The name of the rider is DEATH, and HELL follows with him. This rider is the deadliest. Death destroys the body then Hell swallows up the souls and spirits of those he kills. He has power over a fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, hunger, death, and pestilence or beasts. As this rider moves forth, war and famine continue to plague humanity. Pestilence rise as war and famine move through an area. Epidemics rage the world’s population. Rats carry as many as thirty-five different diseases. A quarter of the world’s population dies through this fourth rider’s brutality taking nearly 1.98 billion people.

Fifth Seal

With our attention drawn to the brazen (or brass) altar, we see the souls of those slain for the Word of God. In verses 9 and 10, they cried loudly, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, do you not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?” Those crying with a loud voice are Tribulation saints composed of elected Israelites and Gentiles converted by the preaching of the 144,000 Jewish evangelists. These persecuted saints and martyrs are not part of the Church, already in heaven. You will notice that souls are saved during the Tribulation hour the same way souls are saved today – through the precious shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because the believers of the Tribulation hour proclaim Christ crucified, they lose their lives. These Tribulation saints cry for vengeance because they are not under grace, which will be appropriate once the age of grace is over and conditions revert to a pre-Christian era. Instead, they want blood. Seeing fulfilled prophecy, this group of saints wonders how much longer their loved ones, still alive, must suffer. The Lord speaks to them about having a little more patience. There will be one more wave of persecution in chapter 20, verse 4. Here is only a preview of the terrible persecutions that will engulf the globe in the coming days of the Tribulation hour. 

Sixth Seal

What follows next is a blind panic and chaos on earth. Why? With the opening of the sixth seal comes a great earthquake. Is this a “great earthquake” Yellowstone or some combination of volcanic eruptions? This earthquake is so vast and destructive that mountains and islands move out of their usual places, a very tectonic movement. So much ash rises, there is a reduction of sunlight, temperatures plunge, and boulders and rocks from the explosion thrown high into the atmosphere now fall back to earth. The earthquake shakes everything stable, including society. With damaged infrastructure, travel stops and utilities quit working. It is so wide-ranging that there is complete panic. Men lose all hope and can find no place to hide from the anarchy that grips the globe. Notice there are four earthquakes in the Book of Revelation:

  1. Here in chapter 6, verse 12
  2. chapter 8, verse 5
  3. chapter 11, verse 3
  4. chapter 16, verses 18 and 19

The first four seals have been under the administration of the Antichrist. The 6th seal begins the judgments from heaven. But we remember that the Church is in heaven during this hour! No wonder half of the world’s population dies through the manifold (many & various) catastrophes that bombard the earth thus far.

The above is a lot to absorb as the scenes of punishment occur. Yet humanity continues to blame God and refuses to repent. If you are willing, join me next in Chapter 7, a parenthesis or pause about the seals.

January 18, 2024 Posted by | Last Days, Life, Religion | , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Book of Revelation – Chapter 3

Sardis was the fruitless church that began in 1520 A.D. and will extend into the Tribulation period. Christ first commended it as He did the previous churches. It had a name but was dead, shining solely by the light of a brilliant past. This church forgot the magnitude of its heavenly calling and its holy character. “It is far better to begin small and grow than begin with great plans, all of which dry up and come to nothing” (John Phillips commentary, page 62). Here we see God calls for a fivefold revival package:

  1. Be watchful or alert, knowing that now it is high time to awake out of spiritual sleep (Romans 13:11).
  2. Strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die. Salvage the little good that remained in their bastion of dead orthodoxy.
  3. Remember or recall the former days of their salvation when filled with purity and zeal.
  4. Hold fast or retain the simple truth of the gospel and discard the excess baggage of pomp and ceremony.
  5. Repent or change their minds. It was a call for the entire church, not just a few individuals.

The problem at Sardis is a similar problem with the other churches in compromising with the world system, the flesh, and the devil. But there were and are a few that do not. They possess a genuine salvation experience that will remain eternally in the book of life.

Philadelphia church covers the years from 1750 A.D. until the Rapture. It was a feeble church but was a missionary-minded one, dedicated to spreading the gospel. Though a minority, for they had “a little strength,” they did keep His name. There was no rebuke of the Lord for this church. He assures the church that it will be saved from that hour by the Lord’s coming in the sky. What is coming will be a situation on earth worse than anything before when the Antichrist reigns and the Great Tribulation period begins. We see in verse 12 the promise to those who are faithful:

  1. They become pillars in the temple of GOD;
  2. They have the name of GOD written upon them, thus identifying them and allowing them access into the city of GOD – the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21 & 22);
  3. They have the (Christ’s) new name written upon them. This new name of Christ entitles them to be His servants, where they shall see His face (chapter 22, verses 3 and 4).

The final of the seven churches is Laodicea. This church covers the years from 1900 A.D. to the Tribulation hour. 

Laodicea church, the “fashionable” church, is where materialism was a perennial problem. It drowns its spiritual influence whenever any church has ridden the crest of material affluence. When Christ called out to “the angel of the church of the Laodiceans,” it was to say that the church at Laodicea was none of His. The Lord never dilutes nor distorts the truth. There is no hiding behind little disguises and safe conventions. Laodicea is a deluded church marked by complete compromise with the world. It is the present-day church’s archetype or very typical example. Only God alone knows how serious the present situation is. This era is a highly prosperous one. Her people have erected elaborate church structures worth millions of dollars. Although buildings are necessary for worship and service, we need to see that they should be humble structures rather than the latest multi-million dollar architectural monstrosities that glorify men. God describes the Laodicean church as:

  • Wretched and miserable and poor, because riches usually make one sad (very unhappy) and pathetic (distressful). 
  • Blind because they cannot see the need of the millions who are dying without the Savior and going into eternal loss.
  • Naked, both now and in eternity, don’t have Christ’s robe of righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Then, Christ gave instructions:

  1. Buy gold tried in the fire from Christ, that you may be rich ( 1 Peter 1:7); where the trial of our faith is more than of gold;
  2. Buy white clothing – a reference to the garments of salvation and the robe of righteousness in (Isaiah 61:10);
  3. Anoint your eyes with eyesalve, that you may see – This speaks of illumination which only the saved share. (1 Corinthians 2:14). 

In verse 20: Christ calls out, “Behold, I stand at the door….” 

Here we have the picture of Christ standing outside the latter-day church rather than the heart of an individual. Overcomers are granted to sit with Christ and His Father in heaven. We have now concluded the last warning to the churches for one last time.

Next, we join John in the future, starting with chapter 4.

January 11, 2024 Posted by | Culture, Last Days, Life, Religion | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Once To Every Man and Nation

Once to every man and nation
Comes the moment to decide,
In the strife of truth with falsehood,
For the good or evil side;
Some great cause, some new decision,
Offering each the bloom or blight,
And the choice goes by forever
Twixt that darkness and that light.
Though the cause of evil prosper,
Yet ‘tis truth alone is strong;
Though her portion be the scaffold,
And upon the throne be wrong;
Yet that scaffold sways the future,
And, behind the dim unknown,
Standeth God within the shadow,
Keeping watch above His own.

James Russell Lowell, 1845
Cited by Paul B. Long in Citizen Soldiers of World War II

I saw this posted on The Watchman’s Bagpipes blog of August 14, 2021 Posted by Glenn E. Chatfield at 10:03 AM

August 15, 2021 Posted by | Culture, Poem | , , , | Leave a comment

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