The Wrath of the Lamb

Have your Bibles with you today. Start with if you would a revelation I would look in chapter 6 verses 12 to 17 when he opened the sixth seal looked in the hall there was a great earthquake. The sun became black as sackcloth the full month moon became like blood in the stars of the sky failed to the earth as the fig tree sheds its its winter fruit when shaken by Gail. The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place in the kings of the earth and the great ones in the generals and the rich and the powerful and everyone slave and free themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains calling to the mountains and rocks, fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb for the great day of their wrath is come, and who can stand spray heavenly father we come before your throne today to thank you and praise you for being our great God for loving us.

Thank you Lord for your great attribute your mercy, your goodness your holiness, your grace, we thank you Lord that you are a God who who lovingly saved our souls when we were yet sinners and and did not deserve any of the grace that we received is Lord as we look at this passage in Revelation. The day we would ask that you help us. It we might understand exactly what it is that you want to get across to us and that father we would not come up with weird and strange conclusions. Like so many duty but that we would understand what your are sharing with us that it might reach down into the heart that Lord we might appreciate you more than our gratitude to you might be greater than our worship to you might be sweeter that we might love you more. Jesus, we thank you for dying for us.

We thank you for the power of your resurrection.

We thank you for the infilling of the Holy Spirit to take this passage today Lord and drive it into our hearts that we might be a better witness for you and it's in Jesus holy and precious name we pray. Amen. You may be seated in my introductory sermon to the book of Revelation. I've shared with you that are spent a lot of time dealing with the subject of apocalyptic literature.

Your and it needs to be understood that the book of Revelation was not written as a history book like we see in first Kings second say things at first Samuel second Samuel, it is not written as a letter from one man to another like Paul's letter to Philemon or Paul's letter to Titus, it was not written as a chronological gospel where we go. Verse by verse and it's ordered by time apocalyptic literature were sealed with symbols and types and pictures and if you start digging into the book of Revelation. You don't realize that you're going to come up with some very bad conclusions. We here at Grace Church believe that the Bible is the word of God is the infallible in errant word of God.

We believe that it is absolute truth.

We believe it in every statement, every word, every jot and every chattel is absolute truth, but their pastors they are theologians who try to just say that to be truth and to be literal is the same thing now that can be a great problem that can be a definite problem.

If an author and Scriptures writing symbolically and you are trying to read it literally, then you're gonna not understand his intention and you're gonna come up with the wrong conclusion. The Bible says it. In this passage here that Jesus is the Lamb. It speaks of the wrath of the Lamb. So if you take that literally what is it me, that means Jesus is a fuzzy, cuddly little animal that you can hold it and Dave talk about the wrath of the Lamb that is a little Landis get mad. Is that what he's talking about. Absolutely not. That misses the intention of the author to speak of Jesus as the Lamb of God is to point us to his redemptive work on the cross as you go through the Scriptures you will find that in almost every book in the Bible there is, is symbolism even in the Gospels. You'll see symbolism where Jesus is teaching the parables. For example, the parable of the of the sower.

He teaches us that the seed is a picture of the word of God and the different souls are pictures of the conditions of man's heart in which the word of God goes into you go over into Psalm 91 and God's picture.

They are as a PN that gathers his chicks her chicks and if you go to two Deuteronomy chapter 32 you will read the symbolism of God being portrayed as a great eagle, so all the way through the Scriptures in almost every book in the Bible you will see some symbolism.

But in the book of Revelation there is a lot of symbolism, look at me if you would again in chapter 1 in verse one, read this from the old King James version alike, a word that the use the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave them to him to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass, and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John, the word signified there. It is a Greek word that means took to use signs and symbols now if you take a hyper literal bar of view of the book of Revelation you're going to come up with some very weird in some various wrong conclusions. I think this is what Hal Lindsay did back in the early 70s when he wrote his is very very successful book forest. The elves of that book called the late great planet Earth went back to Matthew chapter 24 and talked of the, the parable of the fig tree and then he stated that the the fig tree represented Israel that Israel was coming back into its homeland, and that Jesus said that in that generation, he would return. So how Lindsay predicted on on that basis that what what what what would take place is that that Israel would come back into its homeland, and on May 14, 1948 Israel was granted a a us to become a state by the United Nations and that happened May 14, 1948 pieces, then a biblical generation of 40 years and so that would mean that Jesus would have to come back of the rapture of the church would have to take place before 1988 Eric Edgar twisted his conclusions and he wrote a book 88 reasons why Christ must return by the year 1988 I people in my former church at that time was in a different church and they came to me said you ran Edgar Weston's book.

I said no I hadn't sent me is admin.

You gotta read this book based telling us that Jesus is coming back this year. This one is going to come back to when you read it. We want our people.

Jesus is coming back this year.

I said no I won't say Jesus said that no man will know the date and the hour that includes how Lindsay Edgar Weston and Harold camping 1988 has come and gone, and Jesus did not return so folks that what can we say about that. I think what we say is this bad interpretations and crazy prognostications have made Christianity look foolish and & simplistically naïve. So in the light of that, what should we do. I think we need to strive to get the right interpretation. What is the right interpretation. I believe the best way to study the book of Revelation, especially if it's not to be understood that it was written chronologically because I don't believe that it was the best method to use what's called progressive parallelism there. 22 chapters in the book of Revelation you will see them broken down into seven different sections as Revelation chapter 1 through three, Revelation 4 through seven Revelation 8 through 11 Revelation 12 through 14. Revelation 15 and 16. Revelation 17 through 19 and Revelation 2222 each one of those sections is a picture of the same thing but it's into it from a different perspective. Each one of those pictures. Each one of those sections in Revelation is a picture of the church age. On the first coming of Christ until the second coming of Christ. So I like to look at it this way. Given a professional football game and the referees have a hard time figuring out what happened and apply, and so we asked to do up a front for the replay to take place and so you on the big screen you'll you'll see the replay and they'll do the replay from above so you can see it from the top and do it from behind the quarterback in front of the quarterback on the right side on the left side and then you take all of those views and put them together you have a pretty good understanding of exactly what took place in that play. That's exactly how we need to read the book of Revelation you will see seven different sections here of Revelation. They are broken down into seven parts each one represents the same thing from a different perspective. The church age. From the first coming of Christ to the second coming of Christ in our passage today. We are in the second section, the four Horsemen have been released and and they and their woes have been poured out on the earth for those woes. We looked at them last week that they were conquest and violence in and famine, and death. And remember this is not just what to expect. Immediately before Christ returns.

But these things are happening all the way through church history now at the end they're going to greatly intensify and wordlessly that we also saw last week. The fifth seal was was broken and the fifth seal was the martyr seal and we shifted from the from of from the earth situation all the way up to heaven and these martyrs have been killed. As these woes were being poured out a bit kill for Christ sake, and they are in heaven with Christ now who are these martyrs of these martyrs are all the people who had died for Christ sake from the the time of Jesus's death and resurrection all the way down to the last martyr that will die before Christ returns. These are men like Stephen who was stoned to death.

Peter, who was crucified upside down Paul. He was decapitated Polycarp. It was burned at the stake John Huss and William Tyndale all the tens of thousands of Christians who died under the regime of Idi Amin, Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Mary Stamm folks we don't know all their names, but God knows their names and God is going to use them for all of eternity to glorify himself. We saw that those martyrs have a better resurrection then even then then way that did not die for Christ will have his eye.

How could that be have a better resurrection of the calls they are going to be given for their their martyrdom there begin to be given a crown of life. The martyrs crown and they will be able to take that martyrs crown in an act of pure unadulterated worship lay that crown at the feet of Jesus. The martyrs were asking the question of Jesus there often have a nailer asking a question of Jesus and this was the question how long the sovereign Lord until you return and put a stop to this injustice and the Lord tells them to wait a little while, he will not return until the number of the martyrs is complete.

In other words, God has a fixed set sovereign number of people who were gonna die for their faith. They're going to die for Christ sake, and when that last one dies, then the end will come. Then Jesus will return and the injustice will be served three points that I want to consider here in this passage today.

Number one is the disruption of creation. Look at verses 12 through 14 when he opened the six seal I looked, and behold, it was a great earthquake and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood in the stars of the sky fell to the earth as a fig tree shed its winter fruit when shaken by gait by Gail the sky vanish like a scroll that is been rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.

So the big question here is this shoot should we take all of this language symbolically or should we take it literally. There are passages in Scripture that you can go through some in the prophets like in Isaiah and Ezekiel saw men in the book of Daniel lot in the book of Revelation its apocalyptic literature. Your and is meant to be taken symbolically if you go over book of Isaiah. In Isaiah chapter 13, you will see this language that is used here it is used to describe the destruction of the nation of Babylon when the nation of Babel and came to an end. This is the type of language that God used him to tell us that that that the that Babylon was being destroyed the Bible and was going to be no more only ask you this. If that time did the moon really turned to blood did the sun really stop it shining did did the stars really crashed into the earth and the answer that is no, that didn't happen. This is symbolic language to describe what really will happen is a real literal event which was the destruction and and completion of the nation of Babylon, we see that same type of language used to describe other destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. once again the apocalyptic language is used in Matthew 24 and when when Israel Kate was destroyed. What happened Titus of run came and Israel killed 1.2 million Jewish people, the Jews were dispersed to the four corners of the earth and the Scripture describes that is the moon turning to blood as the stars crashing into earth and is the son being blackened did that actually happened in 70 A.D. the answer is none of those things did not literally happen. But Jerusalem was literally destroyed, literally destroyed now only take a moment say some things about dual prophecies, dual prophecies, what is that that that's a situation where you got up a prophecy that is given that prophesies not only one of the but two events and you'll see a situation much like this and and David's writing of Psalm 22, remember that song starts on my God, my God, why is there for me. Don't you know that David was first of all, initially writing about himself about his relationship with God about the persecution that he was going through about the tough times that he was experiencing about how he cried out to God for mercy and so first of all, it initially spoke of David, but primarily it was a messianic prophecy that look down the road a thousand years, and pointed us to Christ, you member from the cross, Jesus cried at my God my God why a sale forsaken me that is a dual prophecy partially fulfilled and David primarily field in Jesus Christ we have the same kind of jewel prophecy in Matthew 24, Jesus was using that same kind of apocalyptic language to first of all tell us about the destruction of Jerusalem that was coming in that generation, and it did come in 70 A.D. he is using that same prophecy to point us to something further down the line, which would be the second coming of Jesus Christ. Oh, Michael Kruger, the president of the of RTS.

I was in one of his is Revelation class and we were studying the acid and that's the view he takes and I believe is exactly right. Matthew chapter 24 list. Look at verse 27 through 31 for the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the West, so will be the coming of the Son of Man immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven, the sign of the Son of Man and all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. He will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from his Four Winds from one end of heaven to the other. So if we see here the shaking of history, God brought down unbelieving Judaism, God brought down the Roman Empire.

God brought down Nazi Germany. God brought it regime of Idi Amin and God is right down he's going to bring it down. He's going to destroy the great rebellion that takes place against him against God's people in the last day what is behind all that. Why does God do this well at it's very interesting what he tells us here that answers prayer. First, the prayers of the martyrs in heaven. The martyrs are praying there with them with we wouldn't let we would think of that is prayer but it is they were speaking to Christ they were requesting of Christ that this time come to an end and then and in Revelation chapter 8 we see the Saints.

The Saints of God, praying and asking Jesus to bring it to an end.

Owner read you what Doug Kelly says here, I thought this was really good. He said one might object. In reply, but things are predestinated it makes no difference what you do as far as praying his concern, but according to Scripture, it does matter exactly the opposite is the case because predestination that is God's sovereign control of all things. From beginning to in including the means to accomplish what God is written in the book which the Lamb opens seal Basile unfolds in accordance with the prayers of the saints. Prayer is one of the major means to accomplish the eternal purpose of God. The Lord has written the effects of the prayers and sufferings of the saints into his book.

That is why when the Saints pray in due season tremendous shaking and amazing events occur in history and does that not make you want, pray, the question arises, this earth that is talking about here in Revelation 6.

Is that a real art or is that symbolic once again you have to look at the Jean or in which it was written the genre in which it was written is apocalyptic literature work I would take this symbolically.

Here is a duck.

What would you take it symbolically here when you would take it literally. In Matthew chapter 27 and verse 54. That's when Jesus died on the cross, Jesus died in the sea said it is finished.

Father, into thy hand, I commit my spirit.

And what happened then the veil in the temple was rent from the top to the bottom and the Scripture says that a earthquake shook the earth at that point in time, take that literally because you were to read the gospel narratives as literal history of her neck's when at the story of Moses, Moses, and during that time, God cast 10 plagues upon Egypt.

One of those plagues was a plague of darkness.

Darkness covered the land. It was sudden deep. You could feel the darkness, and I happen for several days was that literal. Absolutely it was Exodus is written as a literal history then you have Jesus hanging on crops 12 o'clock midday and 12 o'clock midday all of a sudden brightest time of the day. There's a darkness, a deep darkness that covers the entire land was that a real darkness. Absolutely it was because Matthew is written as literal history, but here and name and the verse 14 revelations language is to be used symbolically that the sky rolled back like a scroll. That's a direct quote from Isaiah chapter 34. Isaiah chapter 34 you will read this very same language I think. In fact, that's where John got it from its apocalyptic language in Isaiah 34. It was used to describe the end time and how history would end now. I think this the writer of Hebrews is same pretty much the same thing in Hebrews chapter 12 we read that to the verse 26 to 27. At that time, his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised.

Yes, once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens. This phrase, yet once more indicates the removal of things that are shaken. That is, things that have been made in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain that what is getting shaken. They are in Revelation 6. Revelation 6 is take teaching us that everything that stands against Christ and his church is going to be shaken.

The abortion clinics are coming down Clay Brogdon say man hey man, the porn shops are coming down communism is coming down materialism is coming down. Buddhism is coming down folks there will be a new heaven and there will be a new earth, and there will be no death, and there will be no sin and there will be no false gods. There will be Jesus there will be his people, there that cannot absolutely cannot be shaken like .2 is a dismay of mankind.

Look at verse 15 to 17 then the kings of the earth and the great ones in the generals and the rich and the powerful and everyone slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains calling to the mountains and rocks, fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb for the great day of their wrath is come, and who can stand for the great day of their wrath is come, and who can stand who can stand. Nobody can stand without God look at the categories of people is about the that are about to experience judgment here. Kings great ones generals rich powerful slave free kings think of politicians in our country who mock the law of God, who boast of evolution and deify man look at the leaders of atheistic communist countries who laugh at the idea of a creator God and mocked a valid value of the cross. Look at the government leaders in this nation who called good evil and evil good throughput light for darkness and darkness for light, then he mentions the great ones.

That's the popular ones.

The movie stars they of the millionaire of sports heroes of the TV host abortion doctors who claim that abortion is a woman's right to it. It's her right that have that and in the same breath save the back baby has no value whatsoever. Then there's the generals, the military leaders who have led and massacres of the Holocaust, with no regard for life or principal. Then he mentions the common people. Slave in the free not just the wealthy is not just the highly educated is not just the greatly proclaimed people. It's not just them at all. All of them free and slave have thumb their nose in the face of God. Mitch is the common people, slave and free, not just as wealthy folks there countless billions of common ordinary people who reject the Lord Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and all and and all that. All that he does all the sales and all that he is these verses tell us that there's gonna be a day of reckoning people will give an account for their pride. People get to give an account of their rebellion give give an account for their hatred for God. Richard Phillips did a good job in explaining this encounter with judgment. He said this just made human race responds to the final judgment in two ways. First, it's a vain attempt to flee the people because of the mountains and rocks, fall on us and hide us in this way, they state that nothing is worse than facing the judgment that is come, yet none will be able to escape James Boyce writes that when disaster strikes a country dictators will have deposited fortunes in Swiss bank accounts generals will have planes waiting to whisk them to a safe haven in South that South America, even common people have ways of boarding the disaster, but not when God comes to execute his judgment in that day. All high and low, rich and poor, free and slave will cower before God's wrath and yet fail to escape the universal terror of the day of wrath, coupled with humans attempts to flee is there terror in God's judgment.

This is why they find death preferable to the face of him who is seated on the throne, like Adam and Eve fleeing from God in the garden after they'd sinned the human race is unified in desiring above all to avoid the face of their creator against whom they had so viciously rebelled and his countenance is now revealed in wrath. Here we are shown what sinners dread most is not death, but the revealed presence of God. God is revealed to condemn humanity as he enthroned creator and is the Lamb whose offered salvation was spurned and despised. How total will be there alarm.

The be when the great day of their wrath has come. Who can stand that's the question the lost are asking the kings the generals the powerful politicians, the powerful, the rich, the poor, the free the slave are all facing the same God they see as power.

I see his intelligence I see is all-encompassing wisdom and they see is his mom's mighty wrath. Their lives have been focused on self. They live for personal gratification personal pleasure and personal gain. They refused to take seriously God's word and let me ask you this. What was the problem really just not able to comprehend who this God was it.

Is it that there were just poor people just didn't quite get it.

I just didn't understand how to listen to what Paul said about that in Romans 118 through 25, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth for what can be known about God is plain to them, because God is shown it to them for his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world and the things that have been made, so they are without excuse for although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchange the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among them sales because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever.

Amen those that are running from God's presence are not poor innocent people who just don't know any better. They are rebels against God and they are people who knew truth, who hated the truth and suppress the truth .3 who can stand the next chapter that we can get to.

I can't wait to get to chapter 7 is going to tell us who's going to be able to stand who will be able to stand the believers the children of God who who will not experience the wrath of the Lamb last week we were taking a look at the martyrs in heaven and I shared with you about the fact of the martyrs are said to be dressed in white and the white represents righteousness.

I told you. Be very careful here and understand that these martyrs are not dressed in white because they died for Jesus. They are dressed in white because Jesus died for them and folks we need to understand this we need to understand that the reason that we will not cry out for the rocks to fall on us is because we don't come before God in our righteousness, we come before God closed in the righteousness of we know we are not experience the wrath of Almighty God because of what we have done for God. But what Jesus has done for us on the cross in the light of that truth may ask you a question. Are you safe from the wrath of the Lamb and you trusted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.

If you turn from your sin and and put your faith completely and him have you surrender to his Lordship and if you have not it with all my heart. Let me urge you run to Jesus run to Jesus. He is your only hope. Jesus said on the way the truth and the life no man comes to the father but by me.

But we are all accountable to our creator God. The day is going to come, whether it be by the second coming of Christ. If it happens soon or whether you die but you can stand before God.

You get to give an account for your life when you give an account for your life is the righteousness of Jesus Christ is not covering you than you would experience the wrath of God, which is an eternity in hell forever and ever and ever. But if you know Jesus. He is impeded you his righteousness. And when God the father looks achieve in that last day he won't see you.

He'll see his son Jesus and he will judge you on the basis of not what you did but on the basis of what Jesus did for you who will stand in that day, all those who have been washed in the blood of the Lamb and only those who have been washed in the blood of the Lamb is probably heavenly father we dealt some very deep tough issues today. I pray heavenly father that we will just walk away from this and contemplate what is been said and what you are teaching here in Revelation 6 and the father.

There might be an excitement in our soul about knowing the living God and heavenly father that we might have a deeper concern to witness to people that we know and love who don't know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior help us heavenly father that our witness might be bright and shining that you might take our witness more the word of God that comes from our lips and be able to implant in the hearts of people who don't know you. If they might come to know Christ.

Heavenly father we pray that you would just help us that our lives might reflect more of your glory.

I confess, Lord my own sinful self that I come so short of your glory. Help me father that might my wife might be more like Christ. God and directors heavenly father and all that we do that Jesus Christ would be uplifted and everything we say and everything we do and how we live and it's your holy and precious and wonderful name we pray. Amen