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We’re back in our study of Revelation called The KING is Coming, where we’re taking a verse-by-verse approach to see what the book truly reveals—Jesus Christ Himself. As always, I’m joined by Jamie Harrison, and I’m thankful for the opportunity to walk through this study together. Today, we’ll be turning to Revelation 6, a heavy chapter where the Lamb who was worshiped as worthy in Revelation 5 begins to open the seals of the scroll. As judgment unfolds, this passage presses us to see both the holiness of God’s wrath and the urgency of standing in the grace and mercy of the Lamb. This week’s passage is Revelation 6:
1 Now I watched when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, “Come!” 2 And I looked, and behold, a white horse! And its rider had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering, and to conquer.
3 When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.
5 When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” And I looked, and behold, a black horse! And its rider had a pair of scales in his hand. 6 And I heard what seemed to be 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 wine!”
7 When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” 8 And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed him. 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.
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?” 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.
12 When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, 13 and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. 14 The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. 15 Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, 16 calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, 17 for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”[1]
Keith Harris:
Greetings, sojourners.
This is a heavy chapter, and so I think that’s about all the segue I’ve got there. Jamie, dive in.
Jamie Harrison:
All right. So we pick up with the Lamb, who we talked about in the last episode, being the One who was worthy to take the scroll and open it. And He does take the scroll here, and one of the four living creatures says with a voice like thunder. Now, if you remember back from chapter 4, thunder is a sign of judgment to come, and it’s going to be said several times again throughout Revelation every time a judgment is coming. And so the first thing you see here is a white horse. And a lot of people get interested — excuse me — get confused about this rider on a white horse, because in Revelation 19 there’s a rider on a white horse who is Jesus. But this rider on the white horse is given a bow. It doesn’t say a bow and arrows. It just says bow, which is interesting. But he’s got a crown. It’s given to him. Notice the crown is given to him. And he goes out as a conqueror in order to conquer. So remember, the Jews are looking for somebody who will come and conquer and take over. And so this rider comes in as a conqueror to conquer. And so this is most likely a depiction of the Antichrist who is going to come.
And so the entire world is going to follow him. They’re going to be obsessed with him. He is going to go for a peace in the world. That’s going to be his—we’ll just say—the way he kind of takes power is, “I’ll bring peace to the world, and I can do this and that.” And it’s not going to be through war. We’re going to do it in a peaceful manner through treaties and stuff. And so if you go to Daniel chapter 9, in Daniel 9:27[2], he says:
He will make a firm covenant with many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and offering. And the abomination of desolation will be on a wing of the temple, until the decreed destruction is poured out on the desolator.”
So he’s going to make a covenant of peace. He’s going to do it in a peaceful manner, not by war. But it’s going to be a false peace, which I think is key to point out and talk about. Then you go back to Matthew 24, which is where Jesus is talking about the end times and what that will look like. And in Matthew 24, verse 4, it says:
4 Jesus replied to them, “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and they will deceive many.
And so that’s who we have here—somebody who’s going to deceive.
Keith:
Well, and just in case you’re wondering where we get some of this stuff too, this isn’t just commentary or interpretation that we’re spouting out back to you. You look at the language there—I think it’s in verse 2—where it describes this rider on the white horse. The Spirit of God has told us twice here, like in quick succession, that he is coming to conquer because people aren’t going to realize it. It says, “He came out conquering and to conquer.” That’s what he was doing when people thought he was bringing peace. And I’m speaking of it in past tense, but many believe this is a future thing here. “…conquering and to conquer”—that’s his purpose. And the Spirit of God has to tell us. This is another reason why many look at this to be the Antichrist, because he’s coming imitating Christ. Like Jamie said, he’s also riding a white horse. He’s imitation. This is Great Value imitation here. And he had a crown, and that was given to him because he doesn’t have dominion. Just like the song in Revelation 5: dominion belongs to the Lamb, to Him who sits on the throne. He allows him this opportunity, but He also allows us a glimpse at what he’s really doing—coming out conquering with the purpose to conquer.
Jamie:
And I think there we talk about the rider holds a bow. Again, it doesn’t say bow and arrow. It just says bow, meaning there’s no fight that’s going to take place. He’s going to give this false peace, again by a covenant, like it says in Daniel.
Keith:
Symbolic.
Jamie:
That’s right. And we know it’s false. We know in Daniel it also says there will be a war. Matthew says there will be wars and rumors of wars, and we’ll get into that a little bit more. So we know three-and-a-half years in, that false peace is going to go away, and he’s going to show his true self.
Keith:
You say three-and-a-half years in—that’s referencing the seven-year period known as the Great Tribulation, correct?
Jamie:
Correct. Okay, so the crown that he’s wearing here—I found it interesting that the word here in Greek for crown, and Keith, you’ll have to tell me if I’m pronouncing this correctly, stephanos. Is that accurate?
Keith:
Yes. Reminds me of Stefano from Days of Our Lives that my mom and grandmother used to watch. You know, he was dead and alive and dead and alive and dead and alive.
Jamie:
Yeah, that’s the guy. It’s my cousin. So that is the victor’s crown, okay? That’s like a laurel wreath that they would give you if you were an athlete and you won the race or whatever. So it’s given to you for your victory. It’s a laurel wreath. Again, in Revelation 19:12, the word that’s used for crown is diadēma—the kingly crown. And this crown only belongs to the King. And so that’s how we know that this rider is not Jesus. Not only the fact that he’s coming in order to conquer and to conquer, and he’s bringing about evil—that’s obvious in and of itself—but the fact that the crown is going to be given to him. Which means, most likely, the world is going to elect him as their leader, whether it’s through maybe the United Nations or something and he becomes a leader of that—however you want to look at that. He’s going to become the leader, elected by the people despite the cost—despite what it’s’s going to cost them. They’re going to elect him as leader. So again, I just want to point out: this is not Jesus. Jesus is not given His crown.
Keith:
And to clarify, when you say “elect” there, you’re not trying to make some political prophecy. They’re going to back this guy. He’s coming with his own agenda, in his own way. God’s allowing him to do this to bring about these things that have been prophesied. But folks are just in his corner. They’re going to get what they want.
Jamie:
And I think—I don’t want to spend much time talking about this—but there’s something people forget. Every leader who has ever existed has been placed in leadership, or allowed to be placed in leadership, by God for His purposes. And in Romans, He said, “Pray for your leaders”—all your leaders—because God placed them there. So, you know, we say, “Oh, we need to get back to being a praying nation.” Here in America, I agree with that. We do need to pray more. All of us do. All believers do. And non-believers—first get saved, and then pray. Obviously it doesn’t work in reverse order. But praying is important. God’s going to put in charge who He wants in charge.
Keith:
And in this case right here, He is coming as the Lion, bringing judgment. And part of doing this is giving people what they wanted in the first place. That’s right. I mean, it’s no different than the book of Judges, when there was no king in Israel and people did what was right in their own eyes. Or 1 Samuel, when they wanted a king like everybody else. He’s giving them what they wanted in judgment. And that’s a big part of this.
Jamie:
And what’s really — I’m jumping way ahead of myself here — but what’s really interesting is you would say, “Well, the people didn’t even know that’s what they were doing.” They didn’t know. But it says right at the end of the chapter that they actually cry out to the rocks, asking the rocks to fall on them. And they say, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the One seated on the throne, from the wrath of the Lamb, because the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?” So the people are going to recognize this is the wrath of God and are going to continue to support the Antichrist. They’re going to continue to worship the Antichrist. They’re going to take the mark of the beast willingly.
Keith:
Willingly being tricked.
Jamie:
Correct. And will most likely say some kind of vow that says there is no other god but him — the Antichrist.
Keith:
Which is not a new thing. People have been doing that — going along to get along, getting what they want out of it — for centuries. Roman Empire, Persian Empire, Greek Empire — I know I’m out of order historically — Babylonian Empire. They’re getting what they want, getting what they asked for here.
Jamie:
Which is why people say, “Be careful what you ask for. You might just get it.” So that’s the first seal. The first seal most likely is going to set the course of events in motion. First seal — sorry, I said scroll. There’s only one scroll. The first seal is going to set in motion the Antichrist coming to power. And then we get to the second seal. This is the second seal. He hears the second living creature say, “Come,” and another horse goes out. So these are — a lot of people call these the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, right? This horse is a fiery red horse, and its rider is allowed to take peace from the earth so that people will slaughter one another, and a large sword was given to him. And so obviously this one’s very simple. This rider represents war. I mean, this red—blood, right? People are going to die. They’re going to be killed. And again, back in Matthew 24, they’re going to be killed and kill each other. Verses 6 and 7:
6 You are going to hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, because these things must take place, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines, and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these events are the beginning of labor pains.
So understand that Jesus is telling us this. And right after that He’s going to talk about persecution happening. So I need people to understand that, as we’re looking at these seals, if this happens in our lifetime, we will be here for this. This will happen with Christians present on the earth. According to Jesus, Christians will be here.
Keith:
And this is going to be the point where some of y’all are like, “Hold on. We are pre-trib rapturists.” Now here’s the deal. There is nobody who wants a pre-trib rapture—yes, Lord—more than us two. When we look at this, we’re not trying to fit any of this into a camp. We’re trying to take this verse by verse. Do I want a pre-trib rapture? Yes. But let’s look at a little bit of reality here. And I’m not trying to take a rabbit trail. You need to look at passages like Matthew 24, which is Jesus talking. Jesus trumps your favorite Bible preacher. He does. Jesus trumps your favorite prophecy preacher. Jesus trumps all of that. But I want you to think about some other folks here in the Bible. Look at 1 Peter chapter 5, where he describes tribulation being experienced by the brothers throughout the world. I want you to understand Peter died in the midst of an act of tribulation and persecution in Rome. Paul—the whole idea of a peaceful, prosperous life—it didn’t seem like the apostle Paul, through his service to the Lord, earned health, wealth, and prosperity. You need to understand, as long as there’s been a church, they have experienced persecution. And again, who trumps your favorite Bible preacher? Jesus. He said in John chapter 16, “In this world you will have tribulation, but take heart. I have overcome the world.” So when we look at this, we’re not trying to make a prophetic stance here. We’re just following the text. And it does seem like—
Jamie:
John 16
Keith:
Jamie’s checking my reference here, which is always a good thing.
Jamie:
John 15—that’s what I was looking at. Jesus says:
Remember the word I spoke to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.
And so, you know, it’s this whole section here. Persecution is predicted.
Keith:
And John 16—the one I was talking about—double-checking the reference there—the end of the chapter, verse… Excuse me. Thirty-three. I knew it was a double number there.
I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”
So the idea here is we follow the text. Jesus talks about persecution that is going to come. Now, when it comes to the Great Tribulation here—that’s what Jesus was referencing in Matthew 24. What we’re looking at here with these seals in Revelation 6, like Jamie said, it does seem like the church is still going to be present in this time.
Jamie:
That’s right. So we move to the third seal. When He opens the third seal, the third living creature says, “Come.” And he looks, and this time there’s a black horse, and its rider holds a set of scales in his hand. And he heard someone say, “A quart of wheat for a denarius and three quarts of barley for a denarius, but do not harm the oil and the wine.” And so the idea you get here is that there’s going to be worldwide famine and worldwide war from the second seal. And so you think a natural outcome of a worldwide war is going to be famine. I was just talking yesterday or two days ago — on Thanksgiving Day — asking about my grandmother, who recently passed, had a ration book left over from World War II.
Keith:
Oh, wow.
Jamie:
And I was asking if they knew what happened to it, because it was real cool, you know, just a cool thing to look at, talk about, whatever. But because the world was at war, the people at home were given ration booklets. You know, you could get so much sugar, so much bread, so much butter — whatever it was — and that’s all you could get. And so what’s going to happen here in this third seal is that you’re going to have worldwide famine. The war is going to obviously destroy the food supply, because when you have war — think about in modern times — we’re blowing crap up. And so when you’re blowing stuff up, it is going to harm the food supply, the water supply, all of those things. And it’s going to cause, I’m going to say, rationing by governments, which is going to drive prices up. We’ve experienced that here for sure. Inflation, I think, was up 24%. It’s risen another 2% now. I don’t think it’s rising at the moment we’re talking right now. But still, you go to Walmart — somebody say amen — and you buy one bag of nothing, and it’s $127,423.62. And then you get home and you’re like, “Wow, I didn’t even buy enough to eat a snack.” So — but we’re talking about, like, there’s a country — and I can’t remember the exact name of the country. I want to say it’s Zimbabwe — that they would walk around literally with wheelbarrows full of their currency to buy a loaf of bread.
Keith:
It was like that in lots of places in Europe. I remember reading The Hiding Place, talking about how their currency became worthless. But man, what it reminds me of—and this might be the only economic term I can remember from my high school economics class, Mr. Nez Watson. He told all of us, “Scarcity exists.” And that’s in normal times, right? This is abnormal. So economic scarcity leading to actual scarcity of provisions—that’s a byproduct, like you say, of war. And so extreme measures would have to take place to survive. And I think that’s part of the implication here. Many will not survive.
Jamie:
That’s correct. And so to kind of get, I guess, a little bit more specific, in case you’re wondering where we’re coming up with this, where it says, “A quart of wheat for a denarius.” Remember that a denarius is a day’s wages during this time. So you’re talking about somebody working an entire day to be able to buy one quart of wheat, which would maybe feed one person—definitely not enough for a family. So if you’re a dad, you work an entire day—you know, twelve hours, however long that is. War is going on, so it might be longer. And it’s only enough to buy just enough to feed one person. During this time you would have gotten anywhere from eight to twelve quarts of wheat for a denarius, to kind of put that in perspective. The three quarts of barley—we know that barley is normally fed to animals because it’s low in nutrients. It’s cheaper than wheat, and they’ll eat it. And so here it says that a denarius will get you three quarts of barley. Now that would be enough to feed a small family, but it’s very low in nutrients, so it’s not going to keep you alive very long. So again, back to what Keith said, people are going to start dying. And now, “Don’t harm the oil and the wine.” There’s a lot of possible interpretations here. Maybe the rich people will have plenty of it, or it’ll be some type of luxury that has to be protected because people are going to be killing for it. Oil does a lot. Oil, obviously, you’d use it to make bread. Wine—for cooking, to purify water—all these things. But it’s the idea that “don’t harm the oil and wine.” I lean toward, you’re going to have to protect it because there ain’t going to be much of it out there.
Keith:
Well, it also might be because some folks are going to think, “No, this isn’t really happening.” They’re going to be the people who are more insulated from it. I was reading about a time—this was toward the end of the first century—when the emperor Domitian, because there was a shortage of grain, was going to have the vineyards cut down and use that fertile farmland for planting grain. And the rich gave such a backlash that he said, “Never mind.” Pour it up. Drink up, guys. So this might have some kind of social aspect to it as well. Because it always happens like that. The ones who are most affected in these times are the weaker, the poor, the less affluent. There are some people who are going to think they’re insulated from this. But as we continue, the insulation gets thinner.
Jamie:
So the fourth seal is opened, and this time we get this pale green horse, and its rider is named Death, and Hades is following after him. They’re given authority over a fourth of the earth to kill by the sword, by famine, by plague, and by the wild animals of the earth. So here’s where we get confirmation that death is going to occur. Now notice it says they’re given authority over a fourth of the earth. It doesn’t say that they’re going to kill a fourth of the people on the earth, but they can. It is being allowed at this time.
Keith:
And we’ll see that percentage change, and it’s based on what they’re allowed—what authority is given.
Jamie:
That’s correct. And back in Matthew 24, in verse 7, which we read just a second ago, He says again:
For nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines, and earthquakes in various places.
Some manuscripts and some translations also add in “epidemics” or “pestilences” in various places. Again, Jesus confirms before Revelation is even written that these things are going to happen. He tells us these things are going to happen.
Keith:
And when you say “some manuscripts,” to clarify there, it’s not different versions of the Bible. Some fragments that we have of some manuscripts would have included footnotes or notes in the margin where, more than likely, through pastoral oversight, someone was looking and going, “Okay, Matthew 24, Revelation 6—these go together.” And they probably just kind of jotted down “pestilence” over in the margin, so to speak. And when we get a little piece of a fragment, it’s like, “Oh look, there’s a word there.”
Jamie:
Yep, that is correct. So the word here for “pale green horse” is chlōros, which is where the word chlorophyll comes from. And it basically describes a pale, ashen green characteristic of a decomposing corpse.
Keith:
Yeah, and just to clarify, that word is used four times in the New Testament. Three of those times it’s just translated “green.” This isn’t stuff we’re making up. But yeah, hopefully you haven’t seen a bunch of decomposing corpses. They don’t look good.
Jamie:
Correct.
Keith:
And this passage right here always makes me think of the movie Tombstone, with Johnny Ringo describing the situation: “Death’s coming, and hell’s coming with it.” I mean, people use this like they’re bringing some sort of vengeance. People are victims of these. Ain’t nobody steering the pale rider, so to speak. This is the judgment being poured out—the wrath of the Lamb, as they’re going to recognize later on. This is no joke. Nothing to play with.
Jamie:
Not at all. And so, like Keith has already said, the rider’s name is Death, so death is coming, and Hades is following after him. Hades is seen as the place of the dead. So the idea there being death claims the body, and Hades is going to collect the soul. Not a good thing at all. And then he mentions four means of extermination: The sword—which is obviously war. Hunger—famine. Death by plagues, infections, diseases. And unrestrained beasts of the earth. So there is a lot going on here. And “unrestrained beasts of the earth”—what does that mean? Who knows? I guess the animals start going crazy because of all the war that’s going on. If their habitats are being blown up and destroyed, they start coming into the cities. Who knows what it’ll look like? I just know you don’t want to run up on one of them.
Keith:
A hungry, starving, domesticated animal will go back to its nature.
Jamie:
Correct. And then we get to the fifth seal. Here in the fifth seal you see a group of people under the altar that have been slaughtered because of the Word of God and the testimony they’ve given. So you go to Revelation 5:8, and you see where the saints’ prayers are ascending to God. It’s the same idea. These are the saints who have been slaughtered, most likely during the Tribulation. And they cry out with a loud voice and ask God, “How long until You judge those who live on the earth and avenge our blood?” It’s like, “God, what are You waiting for? Why are You holding off on this?” But here’s the response. It says they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little while longer until the number would be completed of their fellow servants and their brothers and sisters who were going to be killed just as they had been. So there are going to be more believers who are going to be killed for their faith. That number is not completed yet. But also there are going to be more people who are going to be saved. And that number is not completed. Once the number of people who are going to be saved are saved—that’s the end.
Keith:
And so the idea there is God, in His sovereignty, is in charge of this. But you need to look—God, in His grace and mercy, is still in the business of saving people. We could cry out and be like, “You know, we do…” Like I say, “Man, do I want a pre-trib rapture?” But if I had my way, then, “Well, God, You’ve saved enough folks. You’ve saved me. Go on and rescue me.” But in this right here, you look—obviously they’re still going to be here. It says, “Until that number should be complete who were to be killed”—future—”as those who were crying out had been”—past. And so we know this could have happened in John’s day. People had already been martyred in the thousands. We’ve got tens of thousands who have been martyred within the last year. We talked about Nigeria in some news here recently. We know in a lot of Middle Eastern countries, a lot of Asian countries, there are a lot of things going on. That goes back to the 1 Peter passage—that these things have been experienced by the brotherhood around the world. People are being persecuted. People are being killed for their faith. And that’s the thing here. It’s not just Christians who have died. These are people who were slain for the Word of God, for the witness they had borne. Just a reminder there—that word witness. If you go back to the first chapter of the book of Acts, that Greek word is where we get the English word martyr. This is not a passive thing. These people are actively involved in evil, actively persecuting the Lamb, taking it out on those who belong to the Lamb, and killing them. This is not just a passive evil-on-evil sort of crime here. It’s like, “You know what? We don’t want this.” And I think that’s also—and I’m not trying to get ahead again—but we’ve mentioned it several times: The wrath of the Lamb. That’s a weird way of saying it. Because we’ve already talked about that. What they’re getting right now ain’t the Lamb. They’re getting the Lion. But still, man, people have such a hatred for Jesus being who the Bible says He is. They’re all right with Him being a good person. They’re all right with Him being a good teacher. But they’re not all right with somebody being willing to die for their sins. I mean, you take guys like—what’s his name from the American Revolution? Thomas Paine. Man did such great things for the founding of this republic. But you get that dude talking about Jesus, like in his book The Age of Reason. That dude had a hatred for the Lamb of God. He had a hatred for the idea of Him being crucified for sin. He had a hatred for the idea that a holy God could call him a sinner. And he was tame compared to the evil that’s going to be poured out on these martyrs—and soon-to-be martyred.
Jamie:
No doubt. And then we get to the sixth seal. And a violent earthquake occurs to the point that the sun turns black like sackcloth made of hair, the entire moon becomes like blood, the stars of heaven fall to the earth as a fig tree drops its unripe figs when shaken by a high wind, the sky is split apart like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island are moved from their places. Catastrophic. I mean, we could get into the technicalities of all this, but in order for every island and mountain to be moved from its place, all the earth’s fault lines would have to begin to—
Keith:
Yes. Yes.
Jamie:
—all over the world. You’re talking about a global earthquake. And this is just the first of three. There’s three of these that’s going to happen. Now remember, the timeline of Revelation is just what John saw next. So the three that are mentioned—maybe it’s the same one mentioned three times. Maybe it’s three different ones. We don’t know. It doesn’t say. It doesn’t say, “This happens, then this happens, then this happens.” It’s what John saw next. But worst-case scenario, it’s three different earthquakes of this magnitude. The sun becoming black like sackcloth made of hair. The moon turning to blood. I read in several places that this could obviously—an earthquake of this magnitude would cause volcanic eruptions all over the place, which would cause ash and debris to blow into the atmosphere, which could possibly make the sun look like that.
Keith:
And I mean, you think it’s definitely sackcloth made of hair. It’s talking about the sun being occluded. Something in between.
Jamie:
That’s right. And then you’ve got some kind of asteroid or meteor shower that happens with the stars falling to the earth. The sky recedes like a scroll. Who knows what that means? We just know it ain’t gonna look like it looks right now by any stretch of the imagination. And when those earth’s plates begin to shift, the whole earth is going to be realigned in that moment. No island, no mountain—nothing—is going to be in the same place. To the point that the kings of the earth—we’re talking about the rulers of the earth—all the way down to every slave and every free person and everybody in between are going to hide in caves. They’re going to hide among the rocks of the mountains. They’re going to say to the mountains and the rocks, “Please fall on us and hide us from the face of the One who is seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, because the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?” So I just want to go back to the point that the people recognize this is the wrath of God. They recognize, “Okay, Jesus told us this was going to happen.”
Keith:
Well, and recognize the wrath of God—but what specific God it is. They ain’t talking generic.
Jamie:
They know the Lamb. The wrath of the Lamb. And, you know, I’ll just say this. God’s judgment is going to come. You know you can’t withstand His wrath. But that’s not why you get saved. And I hope, if you’re not saved, you’re listening to this. I heard a pastor the other day on a little clip say they had listened to something about what hell was going to look like, and a person came down and said, “I don’t know anything about heaven, but I know I don’t want to go to hell.” And that’s a good first step. Hear me—that’s a good first step. We don’t get saved because we don’t want to go to hell. We don’t get saved because we don’t want to experience God’s judgment. We get saved because we have a genuine love for the Lamb. Right?
Keith:
We talked a little bit ago about how these people are willingly following the leader here in the first seal. People must willingly follow the Lamb. This Jesus isn’t a byproduct of heaven. If you listened last week when we looked at Revelation 5, there’s a reason why we don’t know about the scenery, about anything more than Him who’s seated on the throne. He occludes everything. More so than sackcloth made of hair will occlude the sun in those seals. I think of Paul’s language in Philippians chapter 3, when he talks about the surpassing worth of knowing Christ.
Jamie:
And to jump in there, when we’re talking through Revelation, if you get more excited about what these horses represent, or these locusts represent, or whatever represents, than you do the fact that Jesus is the King of kings and the Lord of lords, then we have to step back and look at our relationship with Christ and ask, number one, “Do I even have one?” Because the joy of heaven is being with Him.
Keith:
And I think, I guess if we’re looking at this in that context… Jamie, if you were living in this time—we don’t want this to happen in our lifetime. Church folks will sing, “Come, Jesus, come,” in a heartbeat. But “Come, Jesus, come”—this comes too.
Jamie:
I’d say all hell is going to break loose. Which actually…
Keith:
It is. But I mean, heaven. Right? And that’s the thing here. When you look at this, if you were living through Revelation 6, which seal would you be found in? Would you be found in the fifth seal, where you have all of these people who have been saved by the blood of the Lamb, who are crying out to their Sovereign Lord, holy and true, knowing that ushering in the judgment He’s bringing about? Or are you in those who are talking about the wrath of the Lamb and you’re not affiliated with Him? Essentially, like Jamie said, it’s not for fire insurance. It’s not to scare hell out of you or heaven into you. Do you look at this Lamb of God and see Him for who He is—the King of kings, the Lord of lords? If you don’t have a relationship with Him, that lordship isn’t to be found when you’re under His boot, so to speak. It’s to be found now. It says in Romans chapter 10, verse 9:
…because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
Revelation is clear. He is the Sovereign Lord. He’s in charge. He gave authority over a fourth of the earth to experience His judgment. Thus far in the book of Revelation, He’s got authority over one hundred percent of everything that’s ever been. The scroll—that’s the deed to everything that is—is His. He can open the seals. Where do you stand in light of the Lord? I think that’s a good place to end. Where do you stand? Because there’s going to come a day where the question is asked here at the end of Revelation 6: “For the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?” It’s better to stand in His grace and mercy now than under His judgment ever. I think that’s it for us. We’ll pick up with Revelation 7 next week.
[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2025), Re 6:1–17.
[2] When Jamie quotes Scripture, he uses the Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2020).
Just Keith Harris 