Death Came Riding - Revelation 6:5-8

World famine so we must attach it to the gospel.

Our mission is not solving world hunger. Our mission is spiritual hunger that we can feed or help people physically and use that as a bridge them spiritually inside the double. If the rapture will occur to AAA to break out here to we would be getting food is all we did the people who will actually face the horror and deep-fried vacation off this coming famine will make famine seem like not sometimes look around in our society and the problems faced by our world, and they seem terrible they are, of course, but the time is coming when things will be much worse. The only way to prepare for that future time is to be prepared spiritually in the section of God's word that were studying today. Death is emerging from the water in a grotesque horse galloping toward the earth with demonic speed. It's a terrifying scene today on wisdom for the heart.

Stephen Davey is going to explain what it means, but also explain how we can avoid this lesson is called death came right in Revelation 6. One of you been with us. We reach that point. The first horseman came riding on a white horse is the counterfeit Prince of peace offering a brief time of peace affecting the most part Israel in verse three St. chapter. The second horseman comes writing blood red horse.

He rides into insights global unrest and murder as if a blackout hits the planet rioting and looting break out all over now the Lamb will open the scroll just a little further as he breaks another seal, another writer melts verse five when he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, and to hold the black horse and its rider had a pair of scales is is literally holding a zoo. God sits the metal be from which are suspended to place on either from which they way produce or food products. Now there's no reason. I wonder what these scales symbolize foretold in the middle part of verse six. Look, there quart of wheat for a various, and 3 quarts of barley for dinners.

In other words it's measuring out this weeds and barley for food.

1 quart of wheat in John's day was a little less than R David 1 quart basically the first century represent the daily need for one person to survive with just enough food in areas was a simple Roman silver coin. It represented a days way.

They were typically the common man paid at the end of each day. In other words, there would be enough wheat to feed one man for only one day and would cost the entire days compensation. Let me put that into today's economy. Suppose that you work McDonald's probably feel you're already in the tribulation. But suppose you're there working and you work eight hours tomorrow. I make $6.15 an hour. This minimum wage, not your line of the good news is next summer. It's going up to 725 an hour. But before you get too excited. Imagine it is biblical scene is unfolding now, you would need every bit of Monday's income. About $50 to buy one loaf of bread $50 for a loaf of bread and you can even McDonald's, either because by comparison, a big Mac would cost about $100.

So you get the family around your pay that you brought to do and in you and you realize that you really can't afford to buy a quart of leads just enough bread for one person.

Everybody else in the family sees a decidedly quarts of barley you could feed and perhaps a small family if you had a job and if you get paid if the barley was available. One day at a time. By the way, course barley of the days of John was for animals and extremely poor people. This is an affected runaway inflation figures here. Some of the estimate of about 15, 18 times the normal costs or cost-of-living of following the outbreak of universal war and rioting as we study.

It's no surprise then that earth is sort of flying then into why famine is interesting to note, by the way this little phrase at the end of verse six that indicates the fact that oil and wine would not be harmed – Hades was out to harm this together all of his olive oil and wine would be the luxuries of the rich staples of life, wheat and barley were being weighed out one pinch at a time, but the wealthy were basically unaffected another seal a little later on will cover their own tribulations of this this informs us, then the disparity between the rich and the rest of the world will become more and more apparent. It grows deeper and wider yet very wealthy people and the rest of the world is poor, basically rising with hunger.

This type of disparity is certainly around the day visiting India, the leading scholar of poverty passing people begging to see that everyone was living on their last meal entering the gates of this compound. We are having this conference for leaders in India and literally the gates open. We drove into manicured lawns and the most opulent hotel I have ever to this day ever stated it was all marble and seem to be plated gold outside incredible poverty. That's a picture here of this kind of disparity where most will suffer until the later seals the rich get away with it. The world is teetering on bankruptcy world economies in the scene are shifting and moving how we think our problems meeting the gasoline spike were flooding in the Midwest store but maybe an Asian tsunami that decimated so many people.

These are my own.

These are just sort of distant thunderclaps storm that affects the entire world.

Frankly, the coming black horse representing famine is difficult to grasp even as you try to climb into the scene, especially our culture today were all well for rollover so the document famine regional borderlines because we never going without for the most part some of you have my idea of skipping going let us skipping a snack before bed.

We can have a bowl of ice cream or not, know I'm not great result like I don't your member growing up sitting at the table with the plated. Everything was gone except a few things usually round and release my life. They work, and you know my parents telling their starving kids out there and help it help you.

So are you telling your kids a safe stop doesn't help didn't help me anymore. Love it. So my parents and they would need this either. They were here.

At any rate tragedies in our culture, we represent the royalty and the nobles. There is truth to what her parents told us the average American dog is a higher protein diet half our world today is one of the reasons by the run relief efforts going on right now in China are partnering with Christians not only deliver food to those who are needy, but deliver the gospel to those we understand the only people who are full still die and go to hell as well as people who are hungry so we must attach it to the gospel. Our mission is not solving world hunger.

Our mission is spiritual hunger that we can feed or help people physically and use that as a bridge to feed them spiritually. It's it's a double win we help them temporarily, but we give them greater hell eternally. If the racks were to occur to Tripoli to break out here too we would be getting food. That's all we did the people who will actually face the horror and deep-fried vacation all this coming famine, famine, seem like nothing. There is a coming world famine. Everything we see here and now I believe would be, as Christ said to those who wondered about suffering in his world are warnings to repent and it only gets worse whenever 747 tells us that he then opened the fourth seal when I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, and I looked, and behold a pale horse by the tail was is the word Clorox which gives us our work chlorine is awarded refers to pale something that's pale green packages later revelation for dying vegetation was used by the ancients to refer to the cave that without a doubt, the color is sickly and this can be very unnatural to be the color of the horse is death comes writing and by the way, it's interesting that this fourth and final horse is the only course of which were given the name of its writer. Did you notice that in its writer's name was death and Hades followed and they were given authority over 1/4 of the world's population is bad as it's been as horrific and devastating is here comes death.

Writing a pale green horse and in the wake of this horseman one fourth of the world's population is going to die let that let that strike you a few minutes but I would have never been a time when the results of all four horsemen occurred in overlapping sequences of time.

There's never been a time in world history.

When this kind of world madness with all of these effects was felt universally the same time. Certainly one fourth of the earth's population has not been killed in such a short amount of time, nor has been calculated in history. This is all future is all you have to come but if the tribulation were to begin in our generation.

What this means is that about 1 billion people would die in just a few months stagger what has God destroyed so many people one time one of the secondary causes of his wrath were given four of them in this text were told it is going to be the sword knows the latter part of verse eight in famine and pestilence in wild beasts first cause of death is the sort I believe in many others.

This is reference primarily to death by murder. This is the deadly assault of individuals upon other individuals. Can you imagine a time.

You have nothing to eat.

Can you imagine a time in the world is chaotic it is. It is, it's been struck with selling natural disasters one after another and now there's no food in their dead lying everywhere and you've got eight. Imagine the killing will take place certainly wars the beginner will restart in the wars begin. But it will take the law into their own hands. The second thing mentioned cause of death is famine. This is more than likely the culmination of lingering starvation. It's already begun as those who somehow hung on and foraged enough or maybe another little bit to eat finally run out of options. Start the third cause of death. Here is pestilence record is normal word translated death.

However, easy to use this word to speak. Besides, it is a good 4021 is as place the cutoff man in East is how he uses the work. Can you imagine the effects of worldwide hunger and bloodshed. Loss of civility, the loss of value or respect for human life.

It's the survival of the fittest fastest, strongest, meanest death and disease.

Corpses lying everywhere epidemics this pestilence. He speaks of local spread like wildfire anything.

All activity so far from having to guess myself under control. We just begun to be aware we really don't the optimism of the 70s spell the end of super microbes released to the public on now in the early 80s when the strange new disease surfaced called 80s transmitted through a number of ways, primarily through sexual activity, which is why the media shuts down. Most talk. Think of this. What we are told, I just did some calculations again this week just in the last three years. More people die from AIDS than the live state of North Carolina just in the last three years, 8000 people are dying every day. These are just the beginning days is just the beginning days these are the beginning of birth this is the outset, these are the first three years, yet future. This is just the beginning. Those that believe that the rapture is going to occur somewhere at the midpoint of the tribulation because that's when the real rather got this one that's a really happened on earth have not studied these four enough's is pretty bad. One out of every four people on the planet die one more cause of death little harder to discern what he means. Here John writes of the wild beasts of the earth. You could certainly interpret this as a reference to carnivorous animals that are now loose and on the proud during these kinds of conditions. Some believe that it would be a reference Alliance bears Tigers wild animals that are coming to on a rampage.

My primary objection with that interpretation of the carnivorous beasts will have all you want to eat among the starving and the dead world. Some believe this is a reference to the Antichrist. Given the fact that the word for the feast here in this text. Theory on Jesus throughout the book of Revelation refer to the beast. The Antichrist is false prophet.

I would interpret it that way either civil because it is pointed tribulation in a crisis killing people. He still assuming this is role of peacemaker he still gaining the credibility and the ultimate loyalty of the world. So I believed him I would.

I would place these wild beasts and the weights it structure. Close connection to the preceding cause of death, which is playing animals, bearing plates, wild animals that bring death. Perhaps not for eating people. And again, the reason given you think of the most dangerous animal on the planet. Even today far more dangerous than Lyons tigers and bears is the common rat carries at least 35 known diseases its fleas carry bubonic plague history verifies what can happen is did in your 600 years ago million were killed.

They also carry typhus which is killed an estimated 200 million people over the last 400 years they may very well be these wild animals that John is in mind, brain, great death, so you have sword and you have famine, and you have a pestilence and you have these disease carrying animals that are running loose. Now if you look closely at verse eight.

You'll notice that this pale horse has someone following John writes is the writer's name was dad and wherever death arrives, Hades is like this shadow I believe this is God's way of warning humanity and all those who refused to believe the gospel of Christ death is not the suffering is in the after death.

Hades the place of torment takes the body and Hades takes as it were, so Hades is the Old Testament, the Sheol is the place where even to this day, the souls of unbelievers go after death where they await the ultimate verdict that will occur later on the book of Revelation and then Hades will be emptied into the lake of fire for you as hell. It's a place of conscious self-awareness is a place of physical suffering with an intermediate body or senses capable of suffering torment. Christ described the man suffering and Hades cried out in Luke 1623. I am in anguish in this flying. So Hades, rightly so, because behind death, as it were to take all the souls of the unbelieving who die in the tribulation of these souls along with all of the unbelieving of all of time in human history are even now waiting tormented without appeal, awaiting their final judgment and delivery over to eternal hell and Mary are singing as I don't like coming to church. I like this every time I come you're talking about hell fire and rinsed well I don't talk about it every Sunday because this timing when you show up that I that I do know do you think for a moment that eternal hell is something that I would choose the preacher you think that this is something clergy created to scare people into being nice clock in a church and give a little bit of money to charity.

This is for real and you cannot teach through the Bible without dealing with the subject of judgment. The gospel is the truth. There is a real eternal hell to shine more horrific than we could ever imagine. There is a real glorious new heaven and new earth to enjoying it is more wonderful than we could ever imagine.

In the turnstile that determines which way you spend all eternity is in the form of a cross in the one of quantity paid the penalty for your sin and mine affect the sin of the world listening in the morning. Whoever John the baptizer said has the son has life.

Whoever disbelieves the sun does not have life. The wrath of God remains on him. Imagine the horror of that implication is temporary. This is three and adheres this is seven years. This is forever and ever and ever and ever. I wouldn't believe it is the Bible teaching thundering of these four horsemen becoming world madness will always terrors.

God unleashes his wrath upon the planet is still nothing to compare to having the wrath of God remain. You forever. Perhaps you been brought here.

My friend one more fire and brimstone so that maybe today this is our prayer will Christ. Amen. You just heard the men of people who would pray that that would be so in your own life, you would believe today body and this series on the four horsemen director habitable matter right now you rapid well, as I prop my feet up on my desk in thought through what might be the residual effect of the study hard. I jotted on forwards. If you have four more work for different these four come the first is motivation. The potential of the church age. As we know it ending and in our lifetime causes me to want to communicate the gospel of Jesus Christ. Every means possible in every way possible in the direction evaluation of the End of Days as we know them causes me to not only want to communicate the gospel to to confirm the sincerity of my faith in Christ and yours to use her testimony of carton signs get a camp is because you water in your forehead or on your own whole body and 12 Z or is it is a living relationship today with a living or evaluate yourself all. In fact, told the church in court to examine yourself to see if you're in the Fae is a will you be asking pagans in the church that causes me to evaluate where I stand with God. Anticipation is another word anticipation to cling to the promise of his coming in love and longed for his appearing before a knowing that for these horsemen thunder from the skies we be alive in any rapture to be the Lord in the skies, the longed for that day when we meet him in the Air Force facilities for 70 motivation, evaluation, anticipation and exaltation soon coming of Christ and the glory of his victory in the splendor of his kingdom and in the eternal state. Make me want to.

Even now, honor and exalt and glorify Christ in my life is all that matters. What matters to him doing that in a way that please and whether washing dishes are running the grass fixing computer preachings. This one will soon come. We within and written his vestments on his thighs's name, King of Kings and Lord of lords. So the four horsemen in this world seem which is terrific. As a reminder as we study that all of us have been born into the wrong family. It is cursed. There is nothing we can do to escape apart from Christ and him a lot of those who come to faith in Christ, trusting in his cross work alone. Leave is where the funeral procession which is only going to accelerate in this day and we joined the wedding is a part of a brighter pardon, the bride of Christ were headed for the rapture should die before then our spirit to go immediately to be with Christ, will be reunited with her glorified body which will come shooting out of the grave and ring headed there already are church family has seen several go just in the last few days form.

This welcoming committee for all of us left for thankful for the hope of the gospel and the resurrection and life God offers you, we can face eternity with confidence and that's good news.

You've tuned into wisdom for the heart with Stephen Devi, Stephen pastors Colonial Baptist Church in Cary, North Carolina. As the month of October begins to come to a close, I want to remind you of our featured resource this month.

Early this month. Stephen released his latest volume in the wisdom commentary series. It's the volume called Philippians and is a deep and pastoral look into Paul's wonderful letter to the church in Philippi. We can give you information if you call us at 86 648 Bible.

That's 866-482-4253. You'll also find this resource on our website which is wisdom online.org and while you're there, be sure and look around because we've posted the complete archive of Stevens teaching there.

Have a great weekend and join us Monday for more wisdom for the heart