This past Sunday I preached a message titled "When the Terror Comes" from revelation 6-8:5. This message is part of the overall series on Revelation called, "The Lord Wins." In this post I only want to highlight a portion of the first point of the message The Wrath of God Is Unleashed.
The terror that has and is coming is illustrated in the four horsemen unleashed on the world by the four living creatures. What we see in the terror and destruction that comes from these horsemen is to be understood as what takes place when the Lord lifts His hand from sinners and allows them to wreak senseless and exhaustive havoc on all of society. The destruction is fleshed out as deception (v2), division (v3-4), destitution (v5-6), and death (v7-8). This destruction is due to the passive wrath of God which means the wrath we see is not directly by the hand of the Lord, but indirectly due to Him allowing sinners to act in the truth of their depraved and destructive natures.
When the fourth seal is broken we see the pale horse, reflective of death, who inflicts death on the world. This is the culmination of the first three seals - deception, division destitution (famine) - being broken. Death, now, permeates our society and world since death is allowed to have its way because God is judging sinners through it. Their unrestrained sin appears to be winning but the Lord is actually winning. In their sin they are not only reserving judgment for themselves in the last day (Revelation 6:12-17) but they are executing the plan and will of the Lord.
All of this should cause us to feel the weight of the recent attacks on those spas in Atlanta and the Asian community as well as the senseless murder of ten individuals in a grocery store in Boulder Colorado on March 22nd. This would also include the high number of events involving the death of black men in this country. The terror of these events incense all of us and for some, they are grieving the loss of friends and family due to this unrestrained activity of sin. Yes, these events rightly anger us, but the Lord has told us these things would happen because He would lift His hand and allow sin to run its course so that in the end all who reject and disobey Him would suffer the consequence of their actions.
This is not to say that those who died in these events were suffering the consequences of their sin, but it is not a denial of that either. Some who die in situations like these are servants of the Lord whose lives are ushered into glory through the senseless acts of unrestrained sin. They are represented by the souls underneath the altar who cry How long... (Revelation 6:10). Yet, there are some who die at the hands of sinners because it is the judgment of God on them because of their rebellion and rejection of the gospel. The Lamb of God, Jesus, the One we deem to be meek and mild, is pictured differently in glory. He is the one unleashing the wrath on those who oppose the gospel and, far from One who is seen as merciful, He now invokes dread and fear (Revelation 6:16-17).
We should think of these events as tragic and, at the same time, see them as visible realities of the Lord putting the whole earth to notice. To the sinner is sense the Lord to be saying, “My terror has come and is now. You are bearing witness to it as you see it played out on television and on social media. Repent or go the way of your rebellion.” He is also, and firstly, speaking to those who are claiming Him but do not live for Him. As in chapter 2-3, with five of the seven churches, Jesus calls them to repentance. He is telling the churches that the terror of the Lord will begin in the house of the Lord and if you are found merely professing and not practicing, you will go the way of those who actively hated and disobeyed Him.
The terror is come. Yet the end is not yet. Much more disaster will take place in our world and many more Christians will die for the cause of Christ (Revelation 6:11); then the end will come. Then the Lord will come and take vengeance on those who opposed His glory and His Bride. Until then, let those of us who know Jesus rest in the reality that He sealed us before He unleashed terror (7:2-3). We will go through the pandemics that are the consequences of sin, like Covid-19. Our lives will be disrupted, and our bodies just might be invaded by sicknesses; but our souls? - they are sealed and safe. Our sins have been washed in the blood of the Lamb (7:14).
We will suffer, but in and in spite of the suffering, we are winning and will ultimately win because the Lord Has Won.