In this sermon, the preacher discusses the judgment of God in the whole earth, which is depicted through four horses. The first horse is a white horse, and there is debate about whether it represents Christ or the kingdom of God. The second horse represents famine, which is seen as a sign of the end of an era. The third horse represents pestilence, which is often associated with famine. The fourth horse is pale and represents death, with power given to kill a fourth of the earth. The sermon emphasizes that the world will not become a better place, but will instead experience terrible wars, strife, famines, and increasing evil. The preacher connects this message to the biblical story of David, where God offered him a choice of defeat, famine, or pestilence as judgment. The sermon concludes by highlighting the urgency for things to move forward and for God's purposes to be fulfilled.

Revelation chapter 6. It concludes with the words, The wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of his wrath is come, and who is able to stand? What strange words, the wrath of the Lamb. The Jesus, who took the whip of small cords, and with anger in his heart, went and drove the hypocrites and the defilers of the temple out of God's house, is the one who in the final day is going to be the judge of all. He said, The Father judges no one. He's committed all judgment to the Son. Profound. Now judgment is not a very welcome concept to the modern mind. We all have a tendency to pass over it, as something that's not really consistent with a God of love. You go through this hymn book, you'll find it very difficult to find any hymns about judgment. And what is more, hymns that had verses about judgment, in the revisions, have had those verses cut out. That's just a little indication of how little we like judgment. And I suggest that over the last 50 years, you've heard far more preaching in churches about love than you have about judgment. We've lived in an age of reaction against any father image that involves anger or punishment. Fathers are not supposed to punish their children, neither are schoolmasters. And this is something which has a bearing on the fact that we don't expect God to be a God who has any punitive qualities. You know there is a verse in 1 John that says, God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. And I think we like to say, God is love and in Him is no judgment at all. Or as an old lady once put it, God is nice and in Him is no nastiness at all. Now the early Christians knew that Jesus was Lord. They knew the meaning of Revelation chapters 4 and 5, that there was a throne in heaven and God was on it, and the Lamb was in the midst of that throne. They knew that He had died for the world, and that from His death the purposes of God were going to unfold. The Lamb was taking the book and going to loose the scrolls. That's what we saw this morning in Revelation chapter 5. So the sixth chapter opens, I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals. It's about the opening of the six seals of the book. Now we would suppose that the Lamb who had been slain, the Lord Jesus, when He handles and He brings into effect the purposes of God, when in other words He breaks the seals of the book, that you would find redemptive effects from those seals. That when He broke the first seal so many people would be saved, and when He broke the second so many more would be saved, and it would all be salvation. But it is not so. When Ezekiel saw this book in his vision, he saw it as a book of woes written on the outside and the inside. Lamentations and woes. It was a book of judgment. Now, there are two ways that people have looked at the course of things in history. There's the optimistic and the pessimistic. There are those who have said, now there's going to be a slow pervasion of human society with goodness and peace, and all life is going to be leavened by the gospel, and very slowly the kingdom of God is going to come nation after nation, and people are going to get better and better until the blessed millennium of love and light has come. It's just like someone said, a landscape upon which the sun of righteousness has risen and it's going to be slowly flooded with light until the kingdom of God will be here. Now that's the optimistic view. And there are many preachers and many theologians who held that view. There is the other view that says, oh no, the gospel is going to spread, people are going to be saved from every tribe and tongue and nation, but at the same time evil is going to increase in the world, and judgment is going to be here, and far from the world becoming a better and better place where there are no more wars and no more strife, it is going to be a long series of terrible wars and strife and famines. Now, let's remember that that's what this chapter is about. John, in this vision, is giving an outline of the general features of future world history in movement toward the last times. And this was given to him by revelation. That's why it's called Revelation. But it's based on previous scriptures, both in the Old Testament and the New. As I have said before, especially in the books of Ezekiel, Zechariah, Isaiah, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, and in the New Testament, in the 24th of Matthew, and in 2 Peter, you have the background of this chapter. But the original background of the chapter goes right back as far as the book of Leviticus. And if you take the trouble to look at the 26th chapter of Leviticus, you'll find this, that God had given a covenant to his people, Israel, and he said that if they kept his covenant and were obedient, then great mercy and blessing would come to them. But if they broke his covenant and were disobedient, then judgments would come. So they could take their choice. They could have mercy or judgment. And the judgments would be terrible things, such as invasion, and famine, and pestilence, and death. Now in this chapter, these judgments that were given there to the covenant breakers of Israel, are extended to all mankind in all ages. That those who break God's laws and refuse to repent will face the judgment of Almighty God. And there is no way around it. If we do not repent and come to God for mercy, we will have to face judgment. And this message of judgment runs right through the Bible, from the expulsion of man from the garden in Genesis, right away to the great white throne at the end of Revelation, where all men stand to be judged. We don't like judgment, do we? God is nice, in Him is no nastiness at all. You see, the principle of judgment is not that God is nasty. He is not cruel or unkind. He is, in fact, love. God is love, it says. It doesn't say God is judgment. God is love, but He is holy love. And all judgment is the right reaction of God's holiness and God's love against human sin. He is Almighty God on the throne we saw this morning. That throne which is like jasper, like crystal, it's clear and white, it's holy. And all judgment is the reaction of God's holiness against human sin. And everything that's inconsistent with the principles and the laws of God's throne must be judged. We might say this, first of all, that judgment is an inherent principle within the moral universe. You can't have a moral universe without judgment. If the thing is wrong, it must be judged. If there is a disease, then a doctor is going to deal with that disease and he's going to bring an antibiotic to overcome it. That's judgment. If there's a cancer, he's going to act with surgery and cut it out. That's judgment on the evil thing. So there's an inherent principle. It's often a logical outworking of evil. If we do wrong things, then it sets in motion certain things that bring judgment. It's like a rot or a cancer. It's often necessary to cleanse society, to rectify what's wrong, or to bring to pass the good purposes of God. Just like surgery in a body. If you want the body to be healthy, then you've got to act very, very viciously almost, with the body, and cut out the evil thing so that the body can become right. So God has to do this in judgment. Furthermore, there's a very interesting thing here that judgment issues from the cross. Notice we said this morning, the Lamb breaks the seals in chapter 5. That is to say, through the cross of Christ, things are put into effect. People can be saved in every place and in every age. But at the same time, there's another stream that flows from the cross, not only of salvation for people who will believe and repent, but also judgment for those who will not believe and repent. Remember Jesus said, after the cross, go and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. That's possible of all, but he that believeth not shall be judged. And then these two things come from the cross, salvation and judgment. So when the Lamb who is the crucified Christ in the midst of the throne, the risen Lord, breaks the seals, judgment comes. And I want you to notice something else too. It's very interesting in Revelation that when you look at chapter, say, 5, the worship of the Lamb and the worship of God is worshiped because of the love of the Lamb. See verse 9 of chapter 5, Thou art worthy, they say, when they worship him, because you were slain and you've redeemed us and you've made us. We worship you because of your love and your salvation. The way in chapter 2 he says, Unto him that loved us and loosed us from our sins and made us kings and priests, to him be glory. That's how Revelation starts. But notice, chapter 14, verse 7, as the book moves on, in chapter 14, verse 7, they say, Fear God and give glory to him for the hour of his judgment is come and worship him that made heaven and earth and the sea and the fountain of waters. In chapter 15, verse 4, they sing a new song that they say, Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? For thou art holy and all nations shall come and worship before thee. Why? Because thy judgments are made manifest. In chapter 16, verse 7, And I heard another voice out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments. In chapter 19, verse 1 and 2, I heard a great voice saying, Alleluia! Oh, we say Alleluia when we think of the love of God and the salvation. We praise God for his redemption. But here they say, Alleluia! Salvation and glory and honor and power to the Lord our God for true and righteous are his judgments. For he has judged the great harlot. Do you notice the change? At the beginning of the book, it's Alleluia! Because he's loved us and redeemed us. But there comes a point when it changes and they say, Alleluia! Lord, you are judging the wicked. And this is the point. God in revelation is not only worshipped for his mercies, but he is worshipped for his judgments. You don't just honor and praise the surgeon because he made you feel very comfortable and you were healed. That's salvation. You also praise him because he was radical enough to put you under an anesthetic and take out the cancer with a knife. And that's judgment. And we must remember this. Oh, I pray that we will so see God in his holiness that whatever the judgments of God are, we shall worship God as much for his judgments as we worship him for his mercies. Because mercy without judgment is ineffective. Just as judgment without mercy is harsh. And you will find that these processes of judgment often take place in the ordinary course of things that happen. David had to face them. When the prophet came to David, he said, God is going to judge you. Now take your choice. You can have so long defeat before your enemies, you can have so long of famine, or you can have so long of pestilence. Take your choice. But the judgment is going to come through defeat, military defeat, famine, or pestilence. And that's what leads us here to the four horsemen of the apocalypse. He said when the first beast said, Come. Verse one. One of the four beasts said, Come, with a voice like thunder. What's to come? Is he saying, Christ, you must come? Or, God's purposes must come? But there is this come. Things have got to move on. What happens? The first thing is the horsemen come. Now, we must notice here that horses in the Bible are always figures of strength, terror, war, and conquest. If you saw a modern tank rolling down the street of Waltham, you'd think of strength, you'd think of terror, you'd think of war, you'd think of conquest. Well, the horse, the ancient war horse, was like that. And these four horsemen are taken from the book of Zechariah, where in chapter six they are called the four winds, or the four spirits, that go out to do God's work. If you read the book of Zechariah, you'll find there's two places where it speaks about these horses, and the same colors. White, red, black, and grizzled, or bay. And there's an interesting verse in chapter six, verse eight, which you'll find in the Living Bible, and you'll also find in Moffat's translation, and I believe it's more correct. It says about these horsemen, these have executed my judgment, and quieted my anger. Moffat says, these satisfy my anger against the north country. And they fit in with other scriptures that talk about the judgments of God in these four ways. War, famine, wild animals, and pestilence. Why four? Because four is the picture of the earth, the four corners of the earth, the four winds of the earth. So here is the judgment of God in the whole earth. Now look at these four horses. The first that comes, verse two, I saw and behold a white horse, and he that sat on him had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he went forth conquering and to conquer. Who is this? Well, there are some who say it's Christ, because later on, Christ is seen coming out in a white horse. Or they say it's the kingdom of God that's going to conquer. I don't think so. I think this horse speaks, as the white horse always does, of a conqueror. It speaks of invaders, conquerors, because they've got bows. And in the Old Testament, the people who came with the bows were the invaders. We get that again and again in Jeremiah and Isaiah. And the crown on his head represents that he's been given the ability, the right, to conquer. And so I take this white horse as being the principle or the fact of invasion and conquest that is going to continue throughout the ages and will be significant right to the end of time. You see, John is writing this revelation, and there's the future stretching before. Now what's going to happen? Is the gospel just going to spread and spread and all the world become more and more mild and gentle and loving and fraternal? No, says this. It's not going to be like that. History's going to be marked with invasion after invasion after invasion. This Roman Empire, which you are part, is going to be invaded by the Parthians, who are going to come with their actual bows, and they're going to cause the Roman Empire to collapse. And God is going to allow them to invade the Empire with all the Christians in it. And they're going to suffer. There's going to be invasion. And that's what's going to be the last invasion. This country is going to be invaded by Danes and Angles and Saxons and Normans, and I know not who. And other countries, there's going to be invasion after invasion. It's going to be the whole principle, Czechoslovakia, Vietnam, Cambodia. It's going to go on to the end of time. There's going to be this spirit of conquest, nation, invading nation. The white horse with the man with the bow and the crown. Got it? The world's going to be like that. That's what this is saying. It's not going to be a happy place where everybody's going to live together and they're all going to be friends. So there's going to be the white horse. The second, he says, I saw the next one, and it was a red horse. Verse 4. And power was given to him to take peace from the earth, that they should kill one another, and there was given to him a great sword. Now here is the symbol of world strife that's going to involve bloodshed. There's going to be civil war. There was civil war in the Roman Empire. The whole empire split in two. One half fought against the other. Caesars fought against each other. And all through there have been civil wars. American civil war, British civil war, all over the place. Vietnam, civil wars, men fighting against each other. And growing worse and worse. And the kingdom of God in the world isn't going to stop it. The gospel's been in the world for 1900 years and it hasn't stopped bloodshed yet. Bloodshed's going to be in the world till the end of time. That's what this is saying. Not only in the Roman Empire, but all the way through. And here we are this year. And I read the other day that the US has a stockpile of 615,000 bombs of Hiroshima size. And Russia's got the same. And there we've got this great line-up of nations. Total enough to wipe the human race out many times over. They started to use them. And we're in a world today of strife. As bad as ever. As communism creeps over the face of the earth. And the Middle East upon which the energy supplies depend is still the flashpoint. And there are other flashpoints coming. Uganda. Indochina. This chapter says the end is going to be heralded by universal strife. Not universal peace. Let's be warned. There's going to be the rider on the red horse going out. In consequence, he sees the rider on the black horse. Verse 5. I beheld, and the 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 living creatures say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny. And see thou hurt not the oil and the wine. What does this mean? It means that here's a situation where a day's supply of food for one man is going to cost a day's wages. There'll be nothing for his wife and family. It means that grain has been reduced, it's reckoned here, to one twelfth of its needed supply. It's famine. Now this is one of the most frightful facts in today's world. Famine's always been coming over the world at times. There was famine in the Roman Empire. And the Gospel didn't stop famine coming. It came in the days of certain Caesars. And here there's a world population that's increasing by something like 80 million a year. Most of which is in the underdeveloped countries. 70 million a year in the underdeveloped countries, about 10 million a year in the richer countries. See the disparity? And world food population is increasing at only half this rate. Do you know that the Food and Agriculture Organization says that the rich countries that are developing by 10 million had a 9% increase in food production? While at present the 70 million a year increase in the poor countries is having 0% increase in food production. And in fact last year had a decrease of 2%. And at this rate, 750 million people will starve in the next 6 years. And that's official figures. The most serious thing is this, that there is no country now producing a surplus of grain except North America. In the whole world. And should there be a failure in North America, there'll be starvation right across the world. With all our technology. Last year there was severe drought right across a belt, just north of Central Africa, up across Chad and across to Ethiopia. Terrible drought. And that drought was felt in the United States, to some extent. Do you know why? Because there was a change in the climatic conditions in the northern hemisphere and there was a shift in the trade winds. Which hadn't happened for many centuries. And when last it happened, they said, it went on for years and years. And the question they're asking is this, was last year a freak year? Or is this the beginning of a period that we're going to enter into? Of that shift of trade winds that's going to mean drought and more drought and more drought in a world that is facing increasing food shortage. The fact is that we're living in a world that faces famine. And while you and I have got enough to eat, a vast proportion of the people of the world haven't. And their outlook is bleak. And in the Bible, famine is always one of the preliminary portents that proclaims the end of an era. The last horse is the pale of the livid one. In verse 8, his name that sat upon him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given over the fourth part of the earth to kill. Death mainly through pestilence, because where starvation is, there is threat of plague. I think there's a television series just now called Survival. It's a super horror presentation of what happens in the world when scientists accidentally lose some deadly virus in which they're experimenting. Something that sweeps the world, and there's no remedy against it. That's the terrible possibility we're living with every day. And then the scene changes to the fifth seal. What a change, verse 9. When he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain with the word of God and the testimony they held. You know why? Because there are Christians in this situation, all the time. This is the vision of the martyrs, whose souls are crying to God from under the altar for God's answer to their wrongs. You know what we see? We see this, that wherever there was a totalitarian regime, there were martyrs. Whether it was ancient Rome, where hundreds of thousands died, or medieval Europe, where people were put to unimaginable tortures for their faith. Or whether it is modern Soviet Russia, where we do not know what the numbers are, or in China, who have suffered in some form for their Christian faith. Or wherever communist regimes, or totalitarian socialist regimes, are established in the world, there is to some extent a martyr church. For totalitarianism will never tolerate the freedom of the gospel. And the church age began with martyrs. 250 years of martyrs that cry to God from under the altar. And this may suggest that the church age will end with martyrs. So we better get ready. There are martyrs in Russia, in China, in all Iron Curtain countries, there are martyrs now in Vietnam, there will be in Cambodia, there may soon be in Thailand, brothers and sisters, you well know that, there may be martyrs all over the world before the end comes. And finally comes the sixth seal. It says, wait a while, you must rest a little, because there are others that have got to be martyred beside you, says verse 11. And then comes the sixth seal. And though there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, and the moon became as blood, and the stars of heaven fell to the earth, even as a fig tree casts her untimely figs when she's shaken by a mighty wind, and the heaven departed as a scroll when its row together, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places, and so on. What does this mean? Well of course it's a repetition of the very words that Jesus used in Matthew 24 and Luke 21, when he said this was going to happen. He said heaven and earth was going to pass away. It was going to be a terrible shaking. Now say this, we may tend to pass over such truths, and we say this is inconsistent with the God of love. But the early Christians did not regard it in this way, nor did the Old Testament prophets. To them the picture of a stricken world and a shaken universe was a very real one. It was the inevitable end of things as they saw it, because of the sin of mankind, and they knew that if God was going to establish His order, then the present order had to pass away. You can't superimpose God's order on the corrupt order. Now it's not strange to our modern conservationist prophets, who many of them are not Christians, not believers at all, but they see our skies blackened with pollution, until we can't breathe, and they see our world shattered by atomic explosions, and if all those atomic bombs that I mentioned earlier started going off, there would be a great earthquake. But what Revelation says here of course may not be exactly literal. After all, how can actual stars fall to the earth? That's what it says. There may be a metaphorical message here. There is going to be a great earthquake. This Roman Empire that seems to be the world that could never end is going to go down shattered and break in pieces. So will the Third Reich, and so will every godless system. And the sun darkened means man's hope blackened, till he sees no hope in this world. And there are people living today for whom the sun of this world's destiny will seem a black thing. They can't see what's going to happen ahead. And the fallen stars, well we've seen stars falling, Hollywood stars, and stars of great political leaders, and they seem to shine in their zenith, and then they've fallen and crashed. They pass away. And this is what Revelation says is going to happen. They're all going to fall, these stars. And the picture ends. Maybe literal, maybe metaphorical. The picture ends with people of all classes crying to the hills and the rocks to cover them. A terror-stricken race, in a stricken world, crying to be saved. What from? Not from the effects of inflation, or not from famine, or plague, but to be saved from the wrath of the Lamb. This is strange. That men who haven't cared tuppence about God, who've lived without Him, and have even contributed much to making their world such a holocaust, by their own passions and lusts and evil actions, they realize in this hour that it's God they've displeased. It's a strange thing, isn't it? How men instinctively cry to God when they're in real need. There's an old poster in the war one said, there are no atheists in rubber dinghies. Many of us saw men, when the bombs were falling all around them, praying, crying to God, for whom they never cast a thought, either before or after. But in that hour they cried to Him. And here it is. Men of all sorts. Oh yes, T.S. Eliot has something to say about this. So dark, dark, dark, he says, they all go into the dark, the vacant interstellar spaces, the vacant into the vacant, the captains, merchant bankers, eminent men of letters, generous patrons of arts, statesmen, rulers, distinguished civil servants, chairman of many committees, industrial lords and petty contractors, all go into the dark. And I said to my soul, be still and let the dark come upon thee, it should be the darkness of God. We know that the hills and the trees and the distant panorama and all the bold imposing facade are being rolled away. I said to my soul, be still and wait without hope, for hope would be hope of the wrong thing. And wait without love, for love would be love of the wrong thing. That's T.S. Eliot in his coca. He's describing this scene here. Here it must be so, because I ask you, how is God, who is creator and the rightful Lord of all life, ever to bring home to proud and arrogant mankind who flaunt Him and use God's world just as they like, who oppress others and exploit and spoil for their own ends, how can God ever bring home to them that He is sovereign and in control, unless He wrests His world back again from men and do it by judgment. And if grace and love do not do it, and the preaching of the gospel and all the mercies of God in creation and redemption do not bring men to acknowledge God, then they will have to do it by judgment. Look around our world today and we see the hard faces of people stealing themselves against any influence of the gospel. Realize what's going to happen to these people. How is God ever going to break them? Well, it's a terrible thing. It's the wrath of the Lamb. It's the wrath of the Lamb. It's this One who is the Son of God who died upon Calvary, who is here. His love, His holy inexorable holy love is reacting against the final wickedness of people who will not repent. You know, we need this message in our preaching, because the Bible says it's a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God if you're not right with Him. Our God is a consuming fire. Better fall into Nebuchadnezzar's fiery furnace, seven times hotter, than fall into the hands of the living God when you won't repent and you will not acknowledge Him and you won't get right with Him. And yet there's something else. What is the purpose of all this chapter? Why did John write it? Did he write it just to describe what was inevitably going to happen in the course of history? That there was going to be invasion and conquest and bloodshed and famine and disaster as time went on to the end? The world was going to be like that? Did he write it to warn people? Yes. Did he write it to strengthen believers in their sufferings? Yes. I believe there's something else too. He wrote this to tell us that while all this will happen, and it's happening today, there is another force at work still. That within the midst of judgments, the mercy of God goes on. In chapter 7, when all this is really around, there's a voice that cries, Don't hurt the earth, nor the sea, nor the trees. Wait a minute! Stop! There's work to do till we have sealed the servants of God in their forests. In other words, in this world of war and passion and killing and famine and death, the Holy Spirit is working. Hallelujah! He's always been working. And He's working as much today and more than ever. He's working in the midst of all the fire of Vietnam and Cambodia. The Holy Spirit is working. I put in the magazine this month that was reported to me by a missionary that there were so many people going to the Christians in Cambodia, Phnom Penh, just before it fell, asking the way of salvation. Because God was working. Hurt not till God is sealed. In other words, the end has not yet come. God is always trying to push it back, as it were. To give more time. What for? To seal His elect. To gather His church. Even in the most appalling situations. Come what may. To the very end. Till Jesus comes again in the midst of all this terrible situation. The Holy Spirit will be seeking to save people. The gospel will be going out more and more. And God will be sealing the servants of God until a great multitude of no end can number will be gathered to stand before the throne of God on the land. Hallelujah. Within judgment. There's always mercy coming through. Always mercy. So, I ask you tonight, are you sealed? Do you know that on your soul is that stamp of God's Holy Spirit that you are the Lords? And if you're not, make sure you are tonight. And go out, and whatever comes, whatever you read in the newspapers tomorrow or next week, don't let it deflect you from this one thing. That God's great purpose is to save people wherever He can. And go out with that gospel optimism in your heart. That all whom the Father has given to the Son shall be brought. In every age, in this age, God will seal His people. Even in the midst of a world of judgment. Amen. We shall speak for a moment, quietly, in prayer. Father, we just pray that You will help us to understand that judgment must be. Help us to know it is the wrath of the Lamb, the only one who is worthy. Help us to know, Lord, that the Lamb is the one who alone has the final right to be angry, because His is the only anger that is finally right. Help us as we look at Jesus in all His love and compassion to know that there is another side to love. A love that burns in compassion to the needy and the penitent. It's a love that burns in judgment to the proud, the wicked and the impenitent. Help us, Lord, ourselves, that we may ever bow our proud necks and repent. When Thy chastising hand comes upon us, Lord, for anything, help us to love Thee for Thy judgments as much as we love Thee for Thy mercies. Deliver us from having a one-sided God or a truncated Bible or a lopsided faith. In Jesus' name. Amen.