Revelation 6:10-11 con’t

9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. 10 They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”

V. We must realize God always hears our prayers.

6:11 Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.

The martyr’s prayers are not denied. They have been foreshadowed in Four Horse-men’s readiness to ride across the nations of the earth in judgment on rejection of God and persecution of His people.

The answers to their prayers are only postponed. Prayers are mentioned earlier in Revelation 5:8 as prayers of the saints which are incense in the bowls which the angels before the Throne of God have. They will be answered in Rev. 6:12-17 when the prayers finally are presented for fulfillment. The white robe in Greek is the stolê. It is white and stretches to the floor. It was the standard garment of a priest. Saints are Kings and Priests of God who offer prayers to God.

The saints in heaven are said to be at rest (anapausis) cf. Heb. 4:5. This is not inactivity, but freedom from toil and stress of sin and persecution.

God will wait until all the martyrs he has permitted to die actually do die; and then he will take holy and righteous vengeance. He will spare nothing. Better for us to leave judgment in God’s hands than take into ours.

VI. We are called upon to live faithfully by the Holy Scriptures in the Old and New Testaments today!

In Fifth Seal Vision, we met the martyrs who had been dealt mortal wounds for bearing testimony about Christ and maintaining their belief in His truthful Word.

A. One Example of First Century Faith that clashed with Government.

In first Century Roman Asia Minor, holding to God’s revelation of Christ as King of Kings and Lord of Lords could mean a death sentence. Caesar was lord to his subjects.

It is not popular today to hold to absolute truth in God’s revealed Word. In the West we may not be killed for it (not yet, that is). God’s Word is clear about people made in the image and likeness of God. We cannot as a society kill God’s image-bearers and escape judgment.

B. Christians’ Application of the Bible in the Twenty-First Century clashes with government public policy.

We live in a day when legal decisions are based not on the meaning of texts, i.e. The Constitution as written, but on other external factors: modern feelings and sensibilities, “unwritten intentions” read into the text, etc.

“Textualism is adherence to the text of a document—the practice of taking the words, phrases, sentences, and paragraphs as they appear… . Conservative Bible scholars sometimes say ‘When the plain sense makes common sense, seek no other sense.’ (see Textualism below.)

C. One Example of Christians’ application of the Bible to life that clashes with government and Society.

People today bend the Bible to read the way they want to live and think instead of bending themselves to what the Bible teaches. For instance, the abortion issue in law rests not on moral considerations. It is based on modern, psychological “person-hood theory.” (see Personhood Theory below.)

In a First Things magazine article, the idea of Post-birth Abortions is discussed. Since personhood is a value and not a fact, the age when one becomes a person is fluid in the minds of “modern ethicists.” Philip K. Dick wrote a satirical, science fiction short story of the ultimate application of the Roe v Wade decision of the US Supreme Court–“The Pre-persons.”

“Dick imagines a future where the United States Congress has decided that abortion is legal until the soul enters the body. The specific instant is defined by the administration, at present the moment a person has the ability to perform simple algebraic calculations (around the age of 12).” (see Dick below; and Dick, P. K. for the link to read the short story.)

The Basis of the Roe v Wade Decision

The US High Court has ruled that the unborn are human beings, but there is no basis for the claim that they are persons entitled to protection in the womb under the Fourteenth Amendment of the US Constitution (see Pearcey below).

This is a watershed issue since it essentially is decided on the basis of either: (1) what antonymous man thinks; or (2) what the Sovereign Creator has spoken in his Word. God’s judgment continues to fall on those who promote, receive, and practice abortions (unless they repent). We who stand with God are persecuted for believing and acting against the spirit of the age in which we live. After all, persecuters can’t reach God to assault Him directly. His people they can reach! We have the privilege of Hebrews 13:12-13—

12 So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. 13 Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. (ESV)

For those wishing to maintain Biblical truth amidst all the miasma and confusion of modern thought, I wholeheartedly recommend Nancy Pearcey’s book! We do not speak for the unborn only, but more importantly we speak for God in His Word! In the modern age God doesn’t seem to be given a place at the table. We must still maintain our testimony at the public table even if people do not want to hear! The passage in Revelation 6 teaches us persecution is inevitable for the Christian who bears faithful witness to God’s infallible Word.

VII. We need to bend our lives to Christ as Lord and Savior and not to public policy or opinion!

Evan Roberts, a Welsh coal miner-turned-preacher [preaching in] a revival in 1904 saw 100,000 converts in one year. But what’s astonishing about this story is how the revival came about. Even while he dug in the coal mines, Roberts prayed. In essence, his prayer was “Lord, bend them.” For 11 years, his request went unanswered.

Finally, Roberts attended a Christian convention with evangelist Seth Joshua. While Joshua prayed over a group of believers, Roberts heard him say, “Lord, bend them.” Roberts took up the prayer, applying it to himself: “Lord, bend me!” Within six months, Roberts was seeing thousands of souls come to Christ through his ministry. (see Roberts below; paraphrased in places for meaning clarity.)

If ever we needed faithful living-out of the Word of God as written, it is today. The Lord needs to bring us to the place where we want to be bent by Him.

VIII. God will vindicate those who faithfully adhere to and witness to His Word!

The next paragraph in the chapter relates directly to the prayers prayed under the fifth seal. Note the chart below and the relationship between the three paragraphs of Chapter Six.

I have dealt with the Pro-Life witness in this post since it puts us as Bible-believing and -living Christians in the cross-hairs of persecution in the West. Pray, Friends, that God will end this horrible wiping out of His image-bearers!

In the next couple of blog posts, we look into Rev. 6:12-17.

Notes

Dick, Phillip K. (1974). “The Pre-persons” stub article accessed 18 February 2020 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pre-persons
Note: This article gives us basic information about Dick and his literary output.

Dick, P. K. (1973). “The Pre-Persons,” available online at Pro Life New Zealand, December 29, 2012, http://prolife.org.nz/the-pre-persons-phillip-k-dick/
Note. Phillip K. Dick’s works have inspired the following movies: Blade Runner, Total Recall, Minority Report, Paycheck, Screamers, and The Adjustment Bureau. No one even alludes to the “Pre-persons” short story today except Pro-Life groups.

Pearcy, Nancy. (2018). Love Thy Body: Answering Hard Questions about Life and Sexuality. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House.

Personhood Theory. (2012). “Infanticide and the Deadly Threat of ‘Personhood Theory'”. In First Things. Accessed 18 February 2020 from https://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/2012/02/infanticide-and-the-deadly-threat-of-personhood-theory

Roberts, E. (2012). “Lord, Bend Me!” Blog post from Revolutionary Faith: Taking back Christianity Blog. Accessed 14 February 2020 from https://revolfaith.com/2012/11/07/lord-bend-me/
[This story is widespread in different accounts, but I thought this the most succinct telling of it.]

Textualism. (2020). “Textualism: What is It?” Accessed 14 February 2020 from https://www.compellingtruth.org/textualism.html

© 2020 C. Richard Barbare All Rights Reserved

Revelation 6:9-11 con’t

…how long before you will judge and avenge our blood… .

There is a “cost to discipleship,” as Bonhoeffer reminds us in his book by that name.

Photo above from Open Doors. Women from a Christian village in Cameroon recover after having their ears chopped off by members of Boko Haram. 

III. The faithful church must bear witness during turbulent times.

“The Word of God” is the Greek word logos tou Theou indicating the content of the witness these martyrs had. Remember that John in his Gospel used logos in the first chapter to refer to Jesus.

In our day it costs to remain faithful to God’s Word. However, we must witness to God’s image in man. We must defend the Biblical teaching on marriage, which is between a biologically-born-male and a biologically-born-female because marriage is the symbol of the union between Christ and His church! There is no distinction in Scripture between sex and gender! Genesis 1 makes this clear —

26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (emphasis mine.)

“Witness” is the Greek word martyrion from which we derive the English word martyr.

“Had borne” is imperfect tense indicating that this testimony was one that was maintained over a long period of time.

Ideological Colonization.

I have already referred in previous posts to African Bishops crying out against “ideological colonization.” (I will place the link to the full article in the notes below.)

We therefore implore you [the West] to end the filthy campaigns that promote a civilization of death on our continent. …contraceptives, sex education programs fabricated elsewhere, purely technical and deprived of moral content, so-called “safe abortions,” have become commodities that are more accessible to Africans than the way of delivering integral development, of which we have such a vital need.

It can no longer be denied that under the euphemism of “sexual and reproductive health and rights,” such programs are plainly imposed as a condition for development assistance.

Such is also the case of the so-called “gender perspective,” according to which motherhood, the filial and nuptial identity of the human being and the family based on marriage between a man and a woman would be “discriminatory stereotypes.” No! Women and men in Africa are not mere individuals, autonomous from their parents, spouses, children… .

These political and economic pressures have but one objective: the drastic control and reduction of the African population, the planned destruction of marriage and the family. We Africans must categorically say No to this plan, which is killing our continent. (see Fitzgerald below; emphasis mine.)

The African Church is increasingly persecuted partly because they will not give up the Biblical Teaching on the family! You might think, well, that’s over there. How long until Biblical Teaching on gender and the family will be classified as Federal Hate Crimes! (It is currently being considered in Switzerland.) If it becomes law here in America, we will see who is faithful. 

IV. This prayer for vengeance is consistent with Christ’s teaching about “loving our enemies.”

10 They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”

Earth-dwellers is a technical term for those who are at home on the earth and who have no desire for anything more. They stand opposed to God and his will for the earth. The idea of avenging blood is based upon Gen. 4:10. The martyrs are crying out for righteous vengeance. It will not be denied, even if it is postponed!

I have heard on two occasions preachers in the heat of anger call down imprecations upon their personal enemies. One said, “If my enemy opposes me, I pray he has a heart attack.” I do not believe this is justified by Scripture.

The Imprecatory Psalms must be adjusted in application to people today according to redemptive history. Jesus said any thought of holy war is to be waged through evangelism and discipleship. (see Matthew 28:16-20.) 

Tremper Longman issues this caveat about using the imprecatory psalms today —

…The imprecations are not just expressions of anger; they allow us to turn our anger over to God for him to act as he sees fit. These prayers do not ask God for the resources and opportunity to take vengeance on our enemies; they ask God to do so and acknowledge his freedom to act or not act as he sees fit. In this way, the imprecations conform to the advice that Paul gives to his readers: “Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: It is mine to avenge; I will repay, says the Lord” (Rom. 12:17–19; Firth, 2005). (see Longman below; emphasis mine.)

If we pray the imprecations of God’s word, they must be directed against the evil one and his minions behind the scenes pulling the strings of evil people in our world. (see II Corinthians 10:4-5; and Ephesians 6:10-20.) I like the old KJV — “leave room for the wrath of God.”

The Greek word for Lord is despotes from which we get our word despot. It means “sovereign Lord.” It was a title of the Caesars. Here it is applied to the Lord of glory.

Next time we will look into Rev. 6:12-17.

Notes

Alexander, J. A. (1850). Commentary on the Psalms. Riverside, CA: E4 Group. Kindle Edition.

Altar of Souls, The. (2011). Accessed 3 February 2020 from http://www.messianicjudaism.me/yinon/2011/07/28/the-altar-of-souls/

Fitzgerald, R. (2015). “African Bishops Sick of West’s ‘Ideological Colonization’”. Accessed 8 February 2020 from https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/african-bishops-sick-of-wests-ideological-colonization

Hendricks, S. (2016).”‘God is dead’: What Nietzsche really meant.” Accessed 8 February 2020 from https://bigthink.com/scotty-hendricks/what-nietzsche-really-meant-by-god-is-dead

Longman, T. (2014). Psalms: 15-16 (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries) InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition.

Schaff, P. (1910). History of the Christian Church. accessed 8 February 2020 from https://ccel.org/s/schaff/history/About.htm

StudyLight. (2020). Accessed 4 February 2020 from https://www.studylight.org/lexicons/greek/4969.html

© 2020 C. Richard Barbare All Rights Reserved

Revelation 6:9-11

Etching above from The Illustrated History of the World Published by Ward; Lock & Co; 1890 

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9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne.

I. Although the Four Horseman do not ride to punish Christians, they are “fair game” for persecution in times of upheaval.

In Revelation 6:1-8, the judgment of the ungodly nations is portrayed. The Four Horsemen are not riding against Christians! They are riding in punishment of nations that deliberately forget God. Psalm 9:17 (ESV) states — The wicked shall return to Sheol (hell), all the nations that forget God.

J. A. Alexander writes of this verse —

17. The wicked shall turn back even to hell…all nations forgetful, of God. The enemies of God and of his people shall be not only thwarted and repulsed, but driven to destruction; and that not merely individuals, but nations. (see Alexander below.)

Europe’s rebellious nations rejoiced when Nietzsche proclaimed, “Gott ist tot!” (“God is dead”). Nietzsche thought this could be a good thing for some people, saying: “… at hearing the news that ‘the old god is dead’, we philosophers and ‘free spirits’ feel illuminated by a new dawn.” “Nietzsche was an atheist for his adult life and didn’t mean that there was a God who had actually died, rather that our idea of one had.”  (see Hendricks below.)

How has that worked out for them? Are not they dead while God Almighty still lives!

Christians, who still hold to the Scriptures, are caught in the middle between God and His judgment on unbelievers. Unbelievers cannot strike out directly at God, so any true believer nearby often becomes an object for them to lash out at. 

Rarely do unrepentant sinful leaders of nations attribute their sufferings to God’s judgment against them. (See Isaiah 36-37 for an incident where invaders attack God’s people and Hezekiah, King of Judah, humbles himself and repents of sin against God.) Usually godless nations turn upon Christians rather than acknowledge God as Sovereign. 

Modern rejection of God’s judgment.

One modern case is the rejection of God and attribution of climate change to people. (“Green Warriors” usually fly on jet planes to deliver their messages that the common people’s carbon footprint is too large and this is the chief cause of climate change.) I do not recommend wilful misuse of natural resources, but neither do I worship the earth and its ecology.) God brings judgment in the form of climactic calamities. Exodus 9:18 — “Behold, about this time tomorrow I will cause very heavy hail to fall, such as never has been in Egypt from the day it was founded until now.”

Compare this with Revelation 8:7 —

The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth. And a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.

I cannot predict the Second Coming of Christ based on climate change, and I am not trying to. I am saying God is in control and even if the climate is changing, He is still Creator and Sustainer of this world. (see Christian below for a Creationist perspective on climate change.)

Such judgment does not bring people to repentance, but issues in persecution of believers. Christians are often at the bottom of the social order. When times of unrest and scarcity occur, Christians are caught in the middle. Since the four seals apply during the last days between Christ’s First and Second Coming, we see judgment of God falling on nations and Christians persecuted by the ungodly for their faithful witness to God and His Word. 

II. Martyrs are not necessarily murdered, but they bear faithful testimony to God and the veracity of His Word for this they are persecuted.

These witnesses are in the very presence of God and are “martyrs.” They carried their faithfulness to God to the point of death. The Jews spoke of the departed righteous as being under the altar.

Similar descriptions of the heavenly altar and throne are found within rabbinic texts —

The Holy One, Blessed be He, took the soul of Moses and stored it under the Throne of Glory … Not only the soul of Moses is stored under the Throne of Glory, but the souls of the righteous are also stored there … Rabbi Akiva used to say … “Whoever is buried under the altar is as though he were buried beneath the Throne of Glory.” (Avot de-Rabbi Natan 12:4, 26:2). (see Altar of Souls below.)

“Slain” is literally “slaughtered” (sphazô), the same word that is used of the Lamb in Rev. 5. It is perfect tense here. It means “to put to death by violence” or “to deal a mortal wound to.” (see StudyLight below). Note the description of the Confessors at Council of Nicaea —

Some, as confessors, still bore in their body the marks of Christ from the times of persecution… . Patamon of Heraclea in Egypt, had lost one eye in the last persecution; Paphnutius had one eye bored out and his legs cut off during Maximin’s persecution. Another bishop, Paul of Neocaesarea, had had his hands burnt by the red-hot irons. (See Schaff, Chapter 9, pg. 626, below).

These men are martyrs even though they did not die immediately from their torture. Surely their lives were shortened by the persecution of ungodly, unrepentant people. 

More on the fifth seal next post!

Notes

Alexander, J. A. (1850). Commentary on the Psalms. Riverside, CA: E4 Group. Kindle Edition.

Altar of Souls, The. (2011). Accessed 3 February 2020 from http://www.messianicjudaism.me/yinon/2011/07/28/the-altar-of-souls/

Christian, M. (2008). “Global Warming in Perspective”. accessed 8 February 2020 from https://answersingenesis.org/environmental-science/climate-change/global-warming-in-perspective/

Fitzgerald, R. (2015). “African Bishops Sick of West’s ‘Ideological Colonization’”. Accessed 8 February 2020 from https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/african-bishops-sick-of-wests-ideological-colonization

Hendricks, S. (2016).”‘God is dead’: What Nietzsche really meant.” Accessed 8 February 2020 from https://bigthink.com/scotty-hendricks/what-nietzsche-really-meant-by-god-is-dead

Longman, T. (2014). Psalms: 15-16 (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries) InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition.

Schaff, P. (1910). History of the Christian Church. accessed 8 February 2020 from https://ccel.org/s/schaff/history/About.htm

StudyLight. (2020). Accessed 4 February 2020 from https://www.studylight.org/lexicons/greek/4969.html

© 2020 C. Richard Barbare All Rights Reserved

Revelation 6:7-8

Image above is from WikiMedia Commons; “Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse,” an 1887 painting by Viktor Vasnetsov. 

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vs. 7 When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “[Go!]” (ESV; modification of word “come” to “go” by me.)

I. Death and Hades are under the authority of Christ!

Remember what we read in Chapter 1:17-18 —

17 When I saw Him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, 18 and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.”

Before each horse makes its appearance, an order comes forth from the throne room of God for it to appear. The Four Horsemen do not ride until later, but that is not introduced here. Two more seals remain in this chapter and one more in a later chapter. The interlude between the six and seventh seals explains a lot about the church’s circumstances during this time. But, that is for a later post. 

We as believers have no fear of death and what lies beyond. We know our destiny is to live forever with the Lord in the place He has prepared for us!

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vs. 8a And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed him.

The Fourth Rider — The word for “pale green” is chloros (“Clorox” is an English derivative with the idea of killing germs). It is used of grass and greenery in general. Here it is the pale green of a corpse.

If seal one describes conquest, seal two speaks of war, and seal three of economic hardship and scarcity, which follow war; then, the fourth seal speaks of disease, pestilence, etc. that also accompany all the Four Horsemen.

This rider is the grim reaper himself. He is followed by hades — the place where the unrighteous dead go. Hades follows along behind swallowing up the dead.

In the picture above, you can see a hole beneath the fourth rider. This represents hades, swallowing up the dead from conquest, war, and scarcity. The latter part of the verse below describes the means of death that follow the Four Horsemen’s ride.

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II. Christ is Sovereign over all disruptive elements in our world.

vs. 8b And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth.

The “they” refer to all four of the Horsemen and not to the fourth only. 

Authority in Greek is exousia = “the right to take action.” In this case, the riders have the authority over 1/4 of the earth. This is also the second time a limited judgment occurs in the book. The four horsemen are limited precisely to 1/4th of the earth.

Literally, the text says the rider has “authority to kill.” The four judgments mentioned here are drawn from Ezekiel 14:21. They are the means by which the riders kill  their victims.

21 “For thus says the Lord God: How much more when I send upon Jerusalem my four disastrous acts of judgment, sword, famine, wild beasts, and pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast! [ESV]

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III. Modern nations suffer Old Testament calamities if they have known God at one time and later abandon Him.

No doubt Leviticus 26, Ezekiel 14, and the Olivet Discourse of our Lord (Matt. 24) form the background of these four judgments for the nations that stray from God’s commandments and persecute Christ’s Church.

By the sword — The Greek word is different than the one the second rider had — this is rhomphia. It was the large broad sword of the heathen invaders of Rome. This is invasion by one’s enemies. Rome was afraid of the Parthians (Persians) who were like the rider on the first horse. We today fear terrorists from rogue nations who threaten our way of life. Christians trust in God as enemies attack!

By famine — Seal three was scarcity. This is famine to the point of death — little food if all. It is sad, but aid sent by the UN to Somalia today is often hijacked by thugs and sold for profit at a high price to those in famine. (See Somalia below.) God provides for Christians because he is Lord over the climate and resources needed to grow food.

By pestilence — The Greek word is thanatos “death.” However, the rider is death. “To kill someone with death in Hebrew is an idiom meaning disease. Hans Zinsser drew this conclusion about pestilence and Rome —

Again and again, the forward march of Roman power and world organization was interrupted by the only force against which political genius and military valor were utterly helpless — epidemic disease — and when it came, as though carried by storm clouds, all other things gave way, and men crouched in terror, abandoning all their quarrels, undertakings, and ambitions, until the tempest had blown over. (see Johnson below.)

Christ is Lord even over bacteria and germs. He heals Christians in times of pestilence. God always heals disease except for one. The last malady we have that ushers us into our larger life forever with Him.

By wild beasts — With the decimation of populations in the civilized world, wild beasts lose their fear of mankind and roam the formerly inhabited world. They kill those who survived the horrors of war and plagues. Wild animals venture into the human population as their habitat shrinks and their food chain is disturbed by war and famine. I have seen a coyote, several bobcats, and one dark panther in our little town in South Carolina. Christ is Lord over nature and can preserve His people from harm.

On to Seal Five next time!

Notes

Fauci, A. S. (2017). “Three Decades of Responding to Infectious Disease Outbreaks.” Accessed 1 February 2020 from https://www.niaid.nih.gov/news-events/three-decades-responding-infectious-disease-outbreaks

Johnson, D. E. (2001). Triumph of the Lamb: A Commentary on Revelation. Wilmington, DE: P & R Publishing. Kindle Edition.

Somalia. (2009). Corruption eats into Somalia’s food aid accessed 28 January 2020 from https://www.thenational.ae/world/africa/corruption-eats-into-somalia-s-food-aid-1.502144

© 2020 C. Richard Barbare All Rights Reserved