Revelation 6:1-2 – 2024 Jul 04 – Judgement Begins

Well! Welcome back after our necessary hiatus, which is coming again in a couple of weeks. I am in Delta again on Sunday the 21st, and there are a finite number of hours in the week. I will need that week as prep time for that engagement, and that is important to me. Think of the process of becoming the pastor of a congregation to be like a movie audition. All the actors line up and each week, a different actor tries out the part. The good ones get callbacks. I got a callback, and that is on the 21st of this month. For those who think a pastor is just a couple hours a week, I can tell you’ve not read your bible. You still don’t think it’s a lot of work? YOU plan a worship meeting from scratch and then at least the sermon. It is a great deal more than that, and it is every week. And sometimes, it is VERY difficult and requires a LOT of work. Then you have the obstacles that always inevitably get in the way. People call, and life happens. It is at the very least an exercise in time management, and for the most part, it is a great deal more than that. If you’ve ever worked on a farm, you’ll get an idea of it, because there is always something to do. Anyway, I would appreciate your prayers regarding this. It would also make this bible study a lot easier because I would have bigger blocks of time to dedicate to this, although I may have to do this online for people at times because Delta is 1.5 hours from where I live. However, it will continue in some form if I end up in Delta, so don’t be concerned about that.

Now, remember that for the last several weeks, we have been attending a worship meeting in heaven, where the focus has been on the Lamb that was slain but has risen, and He is the central focus of that worship. He has been the focus of all of creation, and he is about to open the scroll that was in the hand of the Father, and He is the only one who is found worthy. We will see why as we go, but the short version of that is because opening those seals begins the terrifying judgement of God on planet Earth.

It is also time for a bit of a change-up in the way we are studying the Scriptures. We will still be using the inductive method but in an intensely detailed way. We will be looking at the seals one seal at a time, and that means tonight, we are looking at only the first two verses and dealing with the subject matter, the rider on the white horse. It is difficult to summarize two verses, so this may seem like we aren’t holding to the pattern, but we are because we are going to do this on a much finer scale than just the verse. We will do this a phrase at a time, sometimes a word at a time. These are huge concepts and identities to discover and parse, so let’s get right to it.

I have no key verse here because we are looking at only two verses, but I do have a descriptive title and a breakdown of sorts.

The First Seal – The Rider on the White Horse

1-2: Judgment Begins

I know this seems pretty simple, but to be honest, I’m almost afraid of the staggering detail this contains. Let’s just get right into it.

The First Seal – The Rider on the White Horse

There is some debate over the identity of the rider here. Some have claimed that this rider is Christ. This theology can be found among some Pentecostals and Charismatics (I must say not all or even most though the NAR tends in this direction) that interpret this to be the last great revival that they insist is going to happen before the real judgment starts with the next seal or later (with the 6th seal typically, because it is all cosmic levels of damage that cannot be attributed to men). Yes, you heard me. These are more Pentecostal ideas, though they did not necessarily originate there. That is a little harder for me to track without months of research, and I have no time for that at the moment. Also, I’m not really that smart.

I think the identity of this rider can at least be strongly suggested by how he is described, and I do not think it is the Lord Jesus. I will explain that as we go through the text. Rather, I believe this to be the beginning of the final wrath of God against sin and those who will not turn from it in repentance. The reason for my basic disagreement has a lot of layers to it, but people have been attributing the works of God to mankind for a long time. It’s like thinking we as a species can do anything to change the outcome of history. It denies the sovereignty of God, and God often works through men. Let’s get into the text.

1-2: Judgment Begins

The biblical evidence for a classic premillennial position in eschatology is that it is the view of the ancient church, and was in fact the Apostles’ position. Recent research into the manuscripts of Irenaeus shows that he took a classic premillennial view in his eschatology, and was an advocate for the pretribulation rapture position. These manuscripts, according to Dr. Lee Brainard, are not available in English (yet). I say “yet” because he is working on translating them if I understood him correctly. You can find his body of work at soothkeep.info, by the way. The real question here becomes not when the harpazo event we like to talk about occurs, but instead when does the wrath of God begin in earnest. Because we are not destined to go through the wrath of God (cf. 1 Thess. 5:9 in context speaking of this harpazo event), the pretribulation position holds that we will rescued before it begins. Beloved, it begins here.

I know, there are brothers that I love dearly that disagree with my position, and they base this upon what I believe to be a misunderstanding of the wrath of God. The argument goes that we will see the first 5 seals opened, and then before all the cosmic disasters of the 6th seal, we are out of here. They suggest that this begins the demonstrable wrath of God because men cannot possibly claim credit for these works. I respectfully disagree. Men have been claiming credit for the works of God falsely for a long time. Let’s get into the text and see if we can’t shed a little light on this.

1: Then I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of thunder, “Come.”

The very first seal of the scroll has been broken. And who has broken it? It is the Lamb, the Christ of God, our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. Whatever is happening, here in terms of judgement, it is Christ who is sovereignly beginning it by breaking this first seal. Some have said that the first four or five seals (depending on who you talk to) are the result of the wrath or doings of men, or the anger and will of Satan. It doesn’t say that. It says that the Lamb consciously caused this deliberately. By an act of His will, the Lamb has opened the first seal. What happens?
One of the angelic seraphim steps up and calls in a thunderous voice. He bids something or someone to come forward. We must be very clear with what we think about this, Beloved. It is NOT the Christ who commands this, it is one of His seraphic servants. That angelic being speaks with a voice like thunder and commands. I ask you, would a servant speak to His Lord in that manner? I suppose it would depend on the circumstance, but in this one, absolutely not. He is giving an order. It is one of the strongest proofs he is not speaking to Yahweh Yeshuah here. No angel, no matter who he is in the order of heaven, if he is one of the elect angels that Peter speaks about, would ever presume to give an order to the King of all kings, and the Lord of all lords.
An observation of Dr. John MacArthur here is that the contents of the opened seal are not read out but acted out in time and space. And the focus immediately shifts with the result of this from the heavenly scene to the earth once again. A number of bible commentators I have read from Barnhouse to MacArthur have noted the parallel with the Lord’s Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24, and we will look at that as it applies here. We will move on, but we can maybe discuss this later if there are other comments or observations.

2: I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.

Here is where we will be spending the majority of our time this evening, because as I said, there is a suggestion of who this rider may be, and as I have already stated, I do not believe this is Christ. For those that do suppose that this rider is our Lord, they are getting it from Rev. 19:11, where the one who is clearly identified as Christ, the King of all kinging and Lord of all lording is sitting on a white horse. Beloved, there can be more than one white horse, and in this verse, there is. This is not the steed of God.
I can understand the confusion because a white horse in the Scriptures and modern Westerns usually means the good guy is arriving, but I don’t think so here. Horses themselves in Scripture have symbolized glory, triumph, power, and conquest, and that certainly does fit the Christ in Rev. 19. However, the rider’s head gear here says something interesting. The Greek text says that the word we have translated as “crown” here is the Greek stephanos, the laurel wreath given to a winner at the games, for instance. It is not the same as the crown that Christ Himself wears in Rev. 19, the Greek diadēmas, a real bejewelled royal crown. This in itself doesn’t indicate that it is the same person.
The rider is also carrying equipment, in this case, a bow. The Lord Jesus has a sword in His mouth and that is the weapon He will use. Who uses a bow? Eph. 6:16 tells us: “In addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.” Arrows are shot from a bow, beloved. I wouldn’t pin my interpretation on just that, but it is indicative, is it not? An interesting thought here is that the bow is mentioned, but not the arrows. Some have interestingly suggested that this means that this conquering this individual is to do is in the diplomatic arena and is accomplished with words. Again, I wouldn’t pin my interpretation on just that. I first heard this in a conversation between Rev. Gary Stearman and Rev. Mondo Gonzales, both of the Prophecy Watchers organization.
It says that this rider went out conquering and to conquer. The impression I get is that this individual, having great power and ability, is very driven and very deliberate in his conquering. It is his main goal. It will all belong to him, whoever he may be.

What this all means is that the individual on the white horse can tentatively (at least) be identified. Look for a moment at Matthew 24:3-8 for a moment.

As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”

And Jesus answered and said to them, “See to it that no one misleads you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many. You will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.

If you will give me a moment to demonstrate my case, we will discover the identity of the rider presently.

The first thing that Jesus says is not to let anyone fool us into thinking that this is Him returning. “See to it that no one misleads you.” Beloved, this is one of the primary reasons we study the Bible. We need to know what it says and take our direction for living and our choices from that source alone! Otherwise, “Has God really said?” Just like a certain snake in a certain garden speaking to a certain girl. The Lord Jesus, without saying it, is telling us to know HIM! We know Him by reading His Word. He is the Word personified.

Then the Lord Jesus explains that many will come in His name, even claiming to be Him, the Christ, or a Christ, like that. These individuals seek to lead people into their own personal error for power, money, sex, ego, and other things like this. They want the adulation and authority that comes with position. Like the Pharisees of Jesus day, they will have their reward in full, but at a terrible cost to themselves and all who will allow themselves to be fooled into following them. And following them will be easy, especially when it comes to the rider under consideration. He will be the most likeable man in all of history, the most handsome, the smartest, the most inclusive, the “wisest,” the best of the best. He will conquer people with his words, people! Not with swords and knives and guns, but his own persuasiveness. Because what comes next is the rider on the red horse, and we know this as extreme violence. We’ll have more to say about this next week when we consider the second seal and what it unleashes.

The first rider is someone I have named Deception. I believe this is the man of sin himself, but I am not dogmatic on that point. It could be someone he has tasked with this, but knowing what the Scriptures reveal about his personality, I think it’s the evil one himself. He is the great misleader. Jesus is saying here in Matthew not to be fooled by him or anyone else who follows him or any ideology that is not from Christ. Where we do not know, we must pray and study Scripture to learn. It is the main activity of the follower of Christ for this reason. We should be like the sons of Issachar, knowing the times and just how to respond to them from our study of Scripture and our awareness of world events around us.

With that in mind, think about who is in ultimate control of what is going to happen in these days. Right from the outset, it is none other than our Lord Jesus, the Christ of God, our Redeemer and Friend that sticks closer than a brother. We who follow Him are His “bride,” to use His own symbolism here. What kind of husband would declare His own undying love for His bride and then beat the living tar out of her by letting her go through any part of His anger? The Bible says we are supposed to LOVE our wives like Jesus loved the Church, and that our marriage is a type of His relationship with the Church in Ephesians 5, which you can read on your own time. It says He loved the Church so much that He took her place and experienced God’s wrath for us! How then would He allow His own bride to be beaten beyond belief in this fashion? Especially when His servants have directly said otherwise? I don’t think He can, and I don’t believe for a second that He will. He has rescued us from this present evil world, He is rescuing us from this present evil world, and He WILL rescue us from this present evil world before He begins His act of wrath against all sin and those who will not turn away from it. Justified, sanctified, and finally glorified, according to the Scriptures.

You must by now see the importance then of interpreting when it is God’s wrath and judgement will begin. Beloved, we are seeing it in our own nation now, and they are particularly seeing it south of our own border. The very first thing God does in that kind of judgement is that He will give that nation under judgement bad leaders. This doesn’t mean sinners, we are ALL sinners. This means so-called leaders who are not capable of leading, being incompetent at the very thing they are called to do by the people of that nation and the Lord Himself. The problem is that THEY don’t know that, it would seem. This is why, by the way, the Lord tells us to pray for our leaders whether we agree with them or not. It was Paul in 1 Timothy 3 saying that as a pastor to a pastor he was mentoring, Timothy. And HE was saying it about NERO! And where is Rome now? Gone from the earth in their original form at any rate. And all of those who are deceived by these “progressive new leaders” will pay a price, be it in freedom, in health, or in wealth on a personal level. Actually, it isn’t just confined to them, we will pay too, but our trials have a purifying effect, right? That is what Peter tells us. 1 Peter 1:6-7 says, “In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ…” IN us, this purpose is different, and it is for a limited time. It is not so for those who will not turn from sin. It will at some point become permanent. God will give them bad leaders first.

Who is this rider? As I said earlier, I personally think this is the man of sin, the capital-A Antichrist himself. Why? Because it fits the pattern of judgment we see in Scripture. When God begins His judgement of wrath, He will Himself give the planet bad leadership. This man will look like he is the best, but will in reality be the very worst leader any human could have, seeing that this leader isn’t really human and wants to destroy all humans, again, according to Scripture, and we have considered that. Romans, Galatians, and both letters to the Thessalonians, are just some of Paul’s letters that refer to this, and if you’ve been here through some of those studies, you know! Peter, James, Jude, and John ALL talk about it. I won’t take the time to go through it, but I give you the fodder for your own study of these letters to the Church. It begins the pattern of the Judgement of Wrath. Yes, I agree that this can all be attributed to man. God has been working through sinful men who have refused His will and ways to accomplish exactly the outcome He Himself desires for thousands of years. It is my opinion (and I will state it as such, but I warn you it is a strong opinion) that it is incredibly short-sighted to think this is not where the sovereign will of God initiates His wrath on a sinful and rebellious world. I tell you, by this time, all the pre-wrath believers, the church will be gone by this point and watching from what Dr. Chuck Missler used to call “the mezzanine level.” We will not be as the bride of Christ present for these goings on. If you think we will, you are entitled to your opinion, just like I am. If you want to express those opinions, that is your right, and you can go start your own Bible study to do it. Maybe God is telling you to do just that. It isn’t like there isn’t room for that, right? God calls all of us to serve Him in some capacity. I’m just giving you my opinion, but I think my opinion is founded in logic and on the Scriptures, just like Paul in 1 Corinthians 7:40b: “…and I think that I also have the Spirit of God.” I have seen a number of things over the years to persuade me of this in the Scriptures. I have heard and even believed for a period of time, others. But this is where I keep coming back to, and I think it is the Spirit of God leading me into truth at this point.

It is in this way, the final wrath of a holy God begins on the planet. Like we can see parallels in our own world today with this rider, we will see parallels next time with the second rider. And that is what I saw in the first two verses of Chapter 6. It is our plan to go through this one seal at a time. I know that makes it a bit slower slogging, but these are important concepts in Scripture, and we should investigate them thoroughly. With that said, next time we will be looking at verses 3-4, the second seal.