Revelation 6

Sermon Notes

Revelation: The Hope of Glory

“Through worship there is an immersion in the centering reality of God’s rule and redemption. Christ is the person in whom God’s will is victoriously accomplished. The church is the community in which we know and are known by God. Worship is the action by which we practice and enjoy the presence of the creating and redeeming God.”
Eugene Peterson, Reversed Thunder

Revelation 6

4 popular approaches to interpreting Revelation:

1. Preterist
   The text describes events which correspond to the time of the writing or in its recent past; i.e. persecution of Christians throughout the Roman Empire, presumably under Emperor Domitian [81-96 AD].
2. Futurist
   The text describes events yet to happen in the end times.
3. Historicist
   The text describes events during the ongoing history ofthe church, between the first and second comings of Christ.
4. Idealist
   The text describes events fulfilled in all of the time periods identified in the other three views.

“Though Saint John the Evangelist saw many strange monsters in his vision, he saw no creature so wild as one of his own commentators.”
G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy

Seals 1 – 6:

1. Conquest
2. Conflict
3. Scarcity
4. Death
5. Cry of the martyrs
6. Great Day of God’s wrath

What can we learn from Revelation 6?

1. Refrain from making end-of-the-world predictions.
2. Realize the 4 horsemen have been, are, and will keep riding until God wraps up human history.
3. Recognize and rest in the fact that ALL things are under God’s sovereign control.
4. Remember to lean forward in hope, watching and waiting for the return of Christ.

“Our suffering in this world is under God’s control. It has meaning and a tender, redemptive purpose: God plans to wipe away every tear from our eyes.”
Scotty Smith, Revelation: Hope in the Darkness