This sermon by Derek Prince Ministries delves into the messages to the seven churches in Revelation, emphasizing the importance of overcoming evil with good and the promises given to those who overcome. It then explores the throne room of the universe in Revelation 4, highlighting God's holiness, almightiness, eternality, and creativity. The sermon progresses to Revelation 5, focusing on the worship around the throne, acknowledging the worthiness of the Lamb. Lastly, it discusses the significance of the four horsemen in Revelation 6, interpreting them as symbolic representations of Jesus, ethnic conflict, shortage and rationing, and famine and death, urging the urgency of spreading the gospel before judgment falls.

Derek Prince Ministries. Proclaiming the inspired Word of God around the world. Derek Prince is an internationally recognized Bible teacher and author. Through books, audios, videos, and radio broadcasts, Derek seeks to reach the unreached and teach the untaught. In over 50 years of ministry, Derek has reached over 100 nations in more than 50 languages. And now, Derek Prince. Then in the next two chapters, chapters two and three, we come to the messages to the seven churches. The messages contain various main elements. First of all, commendation, praise for what is good. Correction, where things are going wrong. Warning of judgment that may follow. And notice that the promises are given only to one kind of person. You know who that is? To him who overcomes. There are no promises in the New Testament to those who do not overcome. And in John, in Romans chapter 12, verse 21, Paul said, Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. And you only have two options, every one of you, myself included, to overcome or to be overcome. And the only thing powerful enough to overcome evil is good. And right at the end of the book of Revelation, in Revelation 21, verse 7, God himself speaks and says, He who overcomes will inherit all things. And I will be his God and he will be my son. There are no promises of good in the New Testament or in the Bible to people who do not repent. Now I want to go on from this brief overview of the churches to chapter four. Ruth and I read chapter four together this morning, as we usually read a passage. And I was so overcome with the glory of it, I broke into tears. I couldn't read. I've discovered one of the problems of wearing glasses, which I do reluctantly, is that when you shed tears, you smear your glasses. From time to time I have to pass them to Ruth to clean them up for me. But I'm all right at the moment. Chapter four is vital. If you bypass chapter four, you're not going to make the right approach. Chapter four is the throne room of the universe. We just look at the opening verses. After these things I looked and behold a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me saying, come up here and I will show you things which must take place after this. Immediately I was in the spirit and behold a throne set in heaven. What was the first thing he saw? A throne. See again, he did not, he could not look immediately at the one who sat on the throne. But the theme of this chapter is the word throne. If I were to ask you how many times the word throne occurs in this chapter, which only has 11 verses, you might be surprised to know it occurs 14 times in this one chapter. And the theme of the chapter, there is a throne that rules the universe. And everything in the universe is totally under the control of the one who sits on the throne. That chapter reveals four aspects of God's nature. Number one, he is holy. And that is the most important revelation of God given in Scripture. The word holy is the only word that's joined three times with the name of God. Once in Isaiah and once here in this chapter. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. I fear that there is very little understanding or concern about holiness in most of the Christian church in the Western world today. The second revelation is he's almighty. The third is he's eternal. He was, he is, he is to come. And the fourth revelation is he is the creator. He created all things. Take time when you're by yourself to meditate on those four revelations of the nature of God. Holy, almighty, eternal, and creator. See once you get a clear vision of God, the problems on earth take on a different perspective. But without that vision, I want to warn you, most of you will be facing situations and pressures and dangers that you're not ready to face. Now we go on to chapter 5, which is where the scroll, that is really the book of Revelation, is presented. And it was sealed, as you know, with seven seals. In those days they didn't have printed books. But they had long sheets of paper or parchment that were rolled up. And every book was originally a scroll. And this chapter opens with an angel, crying with a loud voice, a very strong angel. And he says, who is worthy to open the scroll and to undo its seven seals? And no one was found worthy in all of heaven. And I'm doing what John did. I'm weeping that no one was found worthy to open this scroll. I believe the scroll is God's plan to close the age. But one of the elders said to John, don't weep. The lion of the tribe of Judah has prevailed. I want to point out to you that when Jesus became a Jew, it was not just for 33 years. Because here he is in eternity. He's still the lion of the tribe of Judah. And Judah, you know, is the name from which we get the word Jew. It's directly derived from Judah. I often think that heaven will be an embarrassing place for anti-Semites. If you think about the New Jerusalem, it had 12 foundations and 12 doors. And every name was a Jewish name. Furthermore, the name above all other names was Yeshua. So how can you feel, if you're opposed to the Jewish people, how could you ever feel at home in the New Jerusalem? So John is told the lion of the tribe of Judah has prevailed. And he looked around to see, expecting to see, I'm sure, a very strong, fierce, warlike lion. And what did he see? A lamb, looking as if it had been slain. I cannot overcome that revelation. The strength of God is not in physical strength. It's not in human strength. It's in a broken spirit. It's a humble life. Brethren, if you want God's power, don't climb upwards. Bend downwards. The great evangelist, Muda, once said, when I was a young Christian, I thought that God kept his gifts on shelves. And the best gifts were on the highest shelves. And I would have to reach up. But he said, I learned later, the best gifts are on the lowest shelves. And I had to stoop down. I'd like to read to you just a passage from 1 Corinthians. Chapter 1, verse 25. Paul says, the foolishness of God is wiser than men. And the weakness of God is stronger than men. So the things that seem foolish to the natural mind, and the things that seem weak, are the things in which God invests his wisdom and his strength. And Paul was undoubtedly talking about the cross. When he spoke about the foolishness of God, and the weakness of God. What is weaker than a crucified man? What is more foolish than to allow your son to be crucified in front of a jeering crowd? And I don't know whether you've ever noticed this. God has never corrected that impression. Jesus was never revealed alive afterwards, except to witnesses chosen before God. As far as the world is concerned, the last they ever saw of him was a corpse on a cross. And God did nothing to correct that impression. The weakness of God is stronger than men. The foolishness of God is wiser than men. I feel this is a lesson of tremendous importance to the contemporary church, and especially the leadership. For this is a faithful saying. For if we died with him, we shall also live with him. If we endure, we shall also reign. See, I have a series that I preached years ago, that had the title, The Way Up is Down. The higher you want to go, the lower you have to start. Jesus said, everyone who exalts himself shall be abased. And everyone who humbles himself shall be exalted. And in Philippians chapter two, after speaking about the humiliation of Jesus, to the ultimate, not merely to death, but to death on the cross, the next word that Paul uses is, therefore. Therefore God has also highly exalted him, and given him the name that is above everything. You see that therefore, why was Jesus exalted? Not because he was a favorite son, but because he met the conditions. And I want to say to each one of you, dear children of God, if you want to be exalted, come down. The lower down you come, the higher God will place you. Today I see in the church, such aggressive self-promotion, so much personal ambition. I was thinking for two or three years, the real problem in the church today is in the ministry, and it's personal ambition. But I thought to myself, I can't find a scripture for that. So I won't say. And then God showed me. That was the problem of Satan himself, Lucifer. He wanted equality with God. He moved to promote himself, and he was thrown down. And dear brothers and sisters, everyone who seeks to promote himself will ultimately be abased. Now we come to the picture of worship. Verse 8, Now when he had taken the scroll, that's the lamb, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. Remember, saints, when you pray, your prayers come up like incense before God. And they sung a new song, saying, you are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals. For you were slain, and have redeemed men to God by your blood, out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation. And have made them a kingdom and priests to our God. And they shall reign on the earth. So the worship started right at the center, with those immediately around the throne. Then he says, I looked and behold the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures and the elders. And the number of them was 10,000 times 10,000, and thousands of thousands. 10,000 times 10,000 I believe is 100 million. And 10,000 times 10,000 is a million. So, I don't know if you can even conceive in your mind what it would be like, look out, over millions of angels. So the worship spread outward from the throne to the angels. And they said with a loud voice, worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. And now, here's the final expansion. In verse 13, And every creature which is in heaven and are on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard say, Blessing and honor and glory and power be to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb forever. So you see the worship had spread outwards from the throne to the angels to every creature in the universe. And they were all united in praising God. This is just a question by the way, I wonder how many of you, any of you know the song that begins, unto him that sits on the throne and to the lamb? I can never listen to that without weeping. Maybe sometime at the end, your musicians are capable of it. Once you start, it's almost impossible to stop. So there's the throne. We've been taken through the picture of Jesus the judge. His concern for the churches first and foremost before anything else. We've seen the throne room of God. And we've seen the worship. Now if you go without, if you go into the future without that vision, I don't think you'll be able to stand what awaits you. I think it's imperative that we see things from this perspective. Now we come to chapter six. And I will simply give you the Prince version. You don't have to believe it. But I believe that God has made this real to me. First of all, there are the four horsemen. We read about each of them. Verses one and two of chapter six. Now when the lamb opened one of the seals, I heard one of the four living creatures say with a loud voice, like thunder, come. And I want to point out to you right at the beginning that every one of these horsemen were commanded from heaven. They're not the result of things that happened on earth. The initiative came from God. You need to know that. And I looked, and behold, a white horse. And he who sat on it had a bowl. And a crown was given to him. That's not a royal crown, but the wreath of a conqueror in the games. Like the gold medal in today's Olympic Games. And he went out conquering and to conquer. Now a lot depends on how you identify that white horse. But I'll say personally for me, over the years, it has become so vivid that the white horse is Jesus Christ riding out through the gospel to all the earth. And I'd like to give you just one passage from Psalm 45, which I think ties in with that. Psalm 45, the first few verses. This is what they call a messianic psalm. In other words, it's a revelation of the Messiah. You just read the first five verses. To me, this is a description of the one who rode on the white horse. He went out conquering and to conquer. He was undefeatable. There was no power on earth that could defeat him. And the psalmist says, My heart is overflowing with a good theme. I recite my composition concerning the king. My tongue is the pen of a ready writer. And then speaking to this king, You are fairer than the sons of men. Grace is poured upon your lips. Therefore, God has blessed you forever. And notice again the therefore. There was a reason why God blessed Jesus. Because grace was on his lips. And if you want to be blessed, make sure that grace is on your lips too. Gird your sword upon your thigh, O mighty one, with your glory and majesty. And in your majesty, ride prosperously. Because of truth, humility and righteousness. Now that's no ordinary human conqueror. Because they are not marked by truth, humility and righteousness. This is a divine conqueror. And your right hand shall teach you awesome things. Your arrows are sharp in the heart of the king's enemies. The peoples fall under you. I believe those are the arrows of Holy Spirit conviction. That can pierce human hearts. And cause people to fall before him. Now going back to chapter six. We come to the second horse. When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, Come. And notice this creature also. This horse also was commanded from heaven. Most important you understand this. Because otherwise you get a false perspective of what's happening on earth. And another horse, fiery red, went out. And it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth. And that people should kill one another. And there was given to him a great sword. I understand that to be ethnic conflict. Something released on earth that makes people of one nation group attack and seek to destroy one another. And this is seen almost all around the globe today. In South Africa, North Africa, Israel, Yugoslavia, much of the former Soviet Union. And I predict that there will be no nation on earth which will finally be spared from this. And I would ask you to consider what it would be like if that red horse began to ride through the United States. With so many different racial groups. We've seen a little of it. Between black and white. And I believe there is more to come. And I want to emphasize this horse was ordered from heaven. It's part of judgment. Remember revelation is in part a revelation of the judgment of Jesus. The third horse in verses 5 and 6 when he opened the third seal I heard the third living creature say come. And I looked and behold a black horse. And he who sat on it had a pair of scales or balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying a quart of wheat for a denarius and three quarts of barley for a denarius and do not harm the oil and the wine. Now this black horse to me is a very obvious picture of shortage and rationing. And denarius was a working man's daily wage. So a working man at that time would get just enough money to feed himself. And then it says do not hurt the oil and the wine. This is my personal understanding. The oil and the wine were reserved for the rich. And in the midst of the shortage there were those who were living in luxury. And basically that's happening in the world today. The poor are getting poorer and the rich are getting richer. And with some wonderful exceptions the rich do not care for the poor. They care for themselves. They are gripped by that spirit of self-love. Now we come to the fourth horse. When he opened the fourth seal I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying come. And I looked and behold a pale horse. And the name of him who sat on it was Death. And Hades followed with him. And authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth to kill with sword, with hunger, with death and by the beasts of the earth. Now that's an obvious picture of famine and ensuing widespread death. And it says actually it would affect the fourth part of the earth. There were two horses. The name of the rider on the first was Death. The second was Hades. Death claims the bodies of men. Hades claims the souls of men. And notice authority was given to them. Where did the authority come? From God. From the throne. Now as I meditate on those four horses there is one conviction that becomes stronger and stronger in me. And it's a message for God's people. The message is this. The white horse has to stay ahead of the other three horses. We have to get there with the offer of mercy through the gospel before these terrible judgments fall on people. And I think I can say that Ruth and I are motivated by a passion to see that white horse get there on time. We've been privileged to see it happen in some places. We were in Yugoslavia as it also was before this trouble broke out. And we reached a number of people and my main books have been translated into Serbo-Croatian and are available there right now. I'm glad we didn't leave it too late. This past May we were in Moscow held a conference for a thousand leaders of the church all of whom had been contacted previously either through my radio program in Russia or my books translated. And at the end one experienced leader who worked in Russia said I've organized many conferences but this was the best that I've ever organized. And he said I think it came at a vital moment because the cost of travel is going up so much that people will no longer be able to come that distance. Some of them had traveled six days by train to get to that conference. And I would like to say nowhere have I ever seen greater enthusiasm than in those young Russian people.