Revelation 5:13

Revelation 5:13

In Revelation 5:13-14 the Bible says, "And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing and honor and glory and power be unto him that sits upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever. And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him who lives forever and ever." When John saw and heard these things, he went into the future, and for the most part he recorded things that will happen in the future. Evidently one of the amazing things that is going to happen in the future is that all animals will speak. There is one well-known incident in the Old Testament when the donkey of Balaam spoke to Balaam when Balaam was too foolish to understand the will of the Lord, but the donkey understood. In this future day when animals speak, they will not use their speech idly or with gossiping as man so often does. The animals will use their speech to praise God.

There certainly is much for which to praise God. Every day is full of the blessings of God. The Psalmist said, "This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it." One good barometer of your spiritual condition is the amount that you praise God and are thankful to God. We are told in the Bible, "In all things give thanks," and we are told to "rejoice in the Lord always." If we are to give thanks for all things, then that means that we are to give thanks for the bad things as well as the good. "All things work together for good to them that love God, and to them that are the called according to His purpose." When I fail, I can be thankful that God forgives me, and I can be thankful for the opportunity to learn from my mistake so that I might do better next time. When bad things or unpleasant things happen to me, I can be thankful that the all-powerful God who loves me and who knows the end from the beginning allowed this to happen for a reason; and He knows what is best and He can make it fit perfectly into His plan, so that when the final result is known, it will be seen how good the outcome was.

In Revelation 5:13 we are reminded of the most important reason to give thanks to God when Jesus is referred to as the Lamb. Back at the beginning of the gospel when John the Baptist first saw Jesus, John said, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." In order to take away the sin of the world, Jesus came as a lamb to the slaughter. What a contrast Jesus was to most humans! Most of the people who are honored for their successes in this life have been people with big egos and with a lot of aggression and drive who have gone after power and position and fame. But Jesus left the glorious throne of God and came as a lamb, not to gain but to die, and not to die just any death but to die the agonies of the crucifixion. How unlike Him we are, and how worthy He is to receive the praises of the millions of angels, the twenty-four elders, the four beasts who are before the throne, and all of creation!

In Revelation Chapter 6 Jesus begins to open the seals of the book that sets in motion the events of human history that will prove to be the beginning of the end. These things will not happen until God allows them to happen, because God is the One who is in control. Revelation 6:1-2 says, "And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see. And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering and to conquer."

The first major event that will come upon the human race before the return of Christ that is described in this part of the book of Revelation is what the Bible calls the Great Tribulation. It is called the great tribulation because it will be a time of woe and sorrow and death and war and disease and economic turmoil such as the world has never known. Jesus referred to this time in Matthew 24:21 when He said, "For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be."

When the tribulation starts, there will be a central and important human being who will come on the scene to take control of a multi-national government. Undoubtedly this is the individual who is referred to in Revelation 6:1-2 who went forth "conquering and to conquer." This is the antichrist about whom Daniel spoke in the Old Testament. Daniel 7:25 says, "And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time." If we are very close to the end-time, then the antichrist is already on the scene.

Actually, there are many antichrists. Hitler was probably one. There are many people born into the world who turn away from God, and who become willing to lie and murder and do anything else to increase in power. One of these people will be the antichrist that is described in Daniel and Revelation and elsewhere in the Bible. You can study someone like Hitler and get a good idea of what the antichrist will be like, and how he will come into power. Only the antichrist will gain much more power and will do much more harm. We admire the efforts of those who try to keep another holocaust from occurring, but there will be more Hitlers and more antichrists until the worst of them all comes on the scene. It is going to happen just like it is indicated here in Revelation Chapter 6. The antichrist is going to be given a crown, and he is going to conquer.

John saw someone on a white horse who was given a crown. It is probably a white horse because when the antichrist first comes on the scene, he will be welcomed by the populace. He will say all the right things at the right time, and he will appear to have all the answers. Initially he will be admired. If someone knows just the right things to say, but is deceitful and dishonest, and who proves to be untrustworthy, then you have a very dangerous person. If the problems of the world are serious enough, and if the person who comes along is admired by enough people; then it will happen just like it says in Revelation 6:2: he will be given a crown.

Some people spend time worrying about the antichrist taking over, but there is no need to worry. It is going to happen all right, but it is not going to happen until God permits. God is in control. There is nothing to fear. When Jesus decides that it is time to put things in motion, He will loose the first seal of the book that He holds in His right hand, and then the antichrist will come into power.

When the second seal is opened, something else happens. Revelation 6:3-4 says, "And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see. And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword." This horse is red because red is symbolic of blood that will be shed. One of the reasons that people will give power to the antichrist is because he will promise peace, but once he comes into power instead of increasing the peace on the earth, the Bible says in Revelation 6:4 that peace will be taken from the earth. This may very well refer to the fact that this time will be a time of great warfare.

Of all the things that humans have suffered over the centuries, some of the worst are the wars that so easily and so often have erupted with neighbor against neighbor. Most wars are not necessary. Usually there is another solution that could have eventually been found. If you really care about innocent people who are suffering, you can probably find a way to help them without dropping bombs and creating more victims. Why are old men who sit in palaces so willing to send young men to have their heads blown off? If it were their own sons who were dying, they would be much less willing. When will they learn? According to the Bible, they will never learn, because we are told in Revelation 6:4 that in the end-time peace will be taken from the earth and men will kill one another.

There is another circumstance besides warfare that results in humans killing one another, and it is simply the increase of violence. When human beings stop respecting the principle of life, and at the same time when they become preoccupied with violence: anything can happen. Even in our day we see what humans are capable of: serial murderers, gangs, racial hatred, road rage, domestic violence, and more. When human beings do not have the knowledge of God and of Christ in their heart, and when they do not have the principles of the Bible as their daily guide; then humans easily degenerate to an animal-like existence. This will happen more than it has ever happened before once the second seal is opened.

The Bible says in Revelation 6:5-6, "And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see you hurt not the oil and the wine." From a human standpoint one of the worst things that can happen to anyone is to suffer a financial disaster. As bad as wars are, in the twentieth century the greatest human suffering was probably not known during the wars we have had, but during the time of the great depression. Wars often result in economic depression in the period following them. What can be worse for human beings when they lose their savings and their homes, when qualified men and women cannot find jobs, and when parents must stand in long lines just to get a little food for their starving children?

These will be dark days for the human race because this will be a time of the greatest economic disaster that the world has ever known. The policies of the antichrist will not work. They will lead to economic doom. The reason that the person who sat on the black horse had a pair of balances in his hand was because a balance was used in trade and commercial transactions and in buying and selling. In the days of the New Testament, they did not have cash registers or computers, they had balances. When Revelation 6:6 says, "a measure of wheat for a penny and three measures of barley for a penny," the word penny is really the word "denarius." A denarius in the Roman empire was one day’s wages. The implication is that a person would work all day and only receive enough of a wage to buy a little bit of food: no money for anything else.

Notice the phrase that is the last part of Revelation 6:6. It says, "hurt not the oil and the wine." It probably means do not spoil or do not use up the oil or the wine. Anything beyond the bare necessities of life you had better have saved up, because in the end-time things will be so bad there will be no chance of finding anything in the market beyond the bare necessities. Proverbs 6:6-8 says, "Go to the ant, thou sluggard, consider her ways and be wise, Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, Provides her meat in the summer and gathers her food in the harvest." Of course, one of the teachings of the Bible in regards to material things is an admonition to learn to save when you have times of abundance, because you may very well need to rely upon your savings in times of scarcity. The greatest time of scarcity that the earth has ever seen will take place when the third seal is loosed.

Revelation 6:7-8 says, "And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I looked and behold a pale horse; and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them unto the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth." The characteristics of the end-time have been made very clear to us: the coming into power by the antichrist, war and violence, and financial and economic ruin for the masses. Now we are told that the results of these calamities will be a time of great starvation. People will die "with sword and with hunger." Masses of people will die from hunger and no doubt the diseases that will break out when war and hunger have given their horrible consequences. More people will die during this short period of time than have ever died in such a short time before. It says in verse 8 that one quarter of the population of the earth will die. If that were to happen in our lifetime, a billion people would die. If it happens in some future generation when there is even a greater population on the earth, then many more than a billion will die.

People will die in great numbers and they will die by many sources, even by the means of "the beasts of the earth." The hunger and famine on the earth will be so great that even the animals will be affected to the point of becoming killers of men. When this great time of dying and of death comes to the earth, we are reminded in Revelation 6:8 that "hell" follows death. The word that is translated hell in this verse is the Greek word hades, and it refers to the dwelling place of the dead. When we die, we do not cease to exist. Our soul will continue to live somewhere else. The important question for the people who are on the earth during the end-time is the same that we must ask today. Where will you spend eternity? You may not be one of the millions who will die during the Great Tribulation, but you are still going to die some day. Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life. He that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live."

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