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07032016GodsFinalDeclarationOnEvilRev6-7DonRuhl

 

God’s Final Declaration on Evil 

Shall God ever do anything about evil?

Revelation 6–7

Don Ruhl • Savage Street, Grants Pass, Oregon • July 3, In the year of our Lord, 2016

Prelude: 

  1. Evil, evil, evil, wherever we go and whatever we do, 
    1. we eventually confront evil, or evil confronts us.
    2. Evil rules the land.
    3. Do criminals have more rights than you do?
  2. Shall this ever be rectified? 
    1. We are not the first ones to ask this question,

      9 We do not see our signs;
      There is no longer any prophet;
      Nor is there any among us who knows how long.
      10 O God, how long will the adversary reproach?
      Will the enemy blaspheme Your name forever?
      11 Why do You withdraw Your hand, even Your right hand?
      Take it out of Your bosom and destroy them.
      (Psa 74.9–11)
    2. Habakkuk the prophet looked at the evil and crime of his generation, and
      1. he questioned how God could let it go on, and
      2. he questioned when God would do something about it,

        2 O LORD, how long shall I cry,
        And You will not hear?
        Even cry out to You, “Violence!”
        And You will not save.
        3 Why do You show me iniquity,
        And cause me to see trouble?
        For plundering and violence are before me;
        There is strife, and contention arises.
        4 Therefore the law is powerless,
        And justice never goes forth.
        For the wicked surround the righteous;
        Therefore perverse judgment proceeds.
        (Hab 1.2–4)
    3. And the Bible says that in heaven
      1. they ask a similar question about our situation on 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 testimony which they held. 10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” 11 Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed (Rev 6.9–11).
  3. We know 
    1. that Jesus reigns as King now,
    2. that Jesus set up the kingdom in the first century, yet,
      1. it does not look like it.
      2. How can we say the King of Righteousness
        1. reigns now on the Earth
        2. when evil dominates the news?
    3. Truly Western Society appears to be going deeper into rebellion against God,
      1. so much so that we have a hard time seeing the good.
      2. Has God abandoned the church and the world?
  4. Evil like a migraine headache 
    1. makes you think only of it.
    2. The rest of your body is fine.
      1. Yet, the pain in your head so debilitates you
      2. that it overshadows all the good in the rest of your body.
        1. Yes, evil enjoys relative freedom today, but
        2. the number of good things going on
          1. outnumber all the evil;
          2. the news just does not make us aware of it.
  5. The Book of Revelation shows 
    1. that God is quite aware of the presence of evil here, and
    2. that He is dealing with it, and
      1. that evil will have a final reckoning with Him.
      2. The church needs to see God’s Final Declaration on Evil
        1. as recorded in Revelation chapters 6–7.
        2. When you read the Book of Revelation,
          1. You come to chapter 5
          2. you see John in the throne room of God.
            1. John saw God holding a scroll with seven seals on it.
            2. However,

              3 No one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll, or to look at it (Rev 5.3).
    3. Then something wonderful happened,

      6 And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 Then He came and took the scroll out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne (Rev 5.6–7).

      1. The Lamb of God, Jesus of Nazareth was worthy to open the scroll.
      2. Therefore, verses 8–14 show heaven worshiping and praising the Lamb.

Persuasion: 

  1. The Lamb Opens the Seals 
    1. As He does so, and
      1. as we see a mighty vision of people in heaven,
      2. we finally see that God has a plan to end evil.
    2. Look at God making His final declaration on evil:
      1. 6.1–2 – The Lamb opens the first seal and
        1. a white horse and its rider
        2. go out conquering, because
          1. this is Jesus.
          2. He conquers, because
            1. a foe exists that needs conquering.
            2. The three seals show His foes.
      2. 6.3–4 – The Lamb opens the second seal and
        1. a red horse comes forth, and
        2. the rider took away peace and brought war.
      3. 6.5–6 – The Lamb opens the third seal and
        1. a black horse comes and
        2. destroys economies.
      4. 6.7–8 – The Lamb opens the fourth seal and
        1. a pale horse comes
        2. with man’s great enemy, death.
    3. How can the white horse and its rider overcome war, poverty, and death?
      1. As it is written,

        1 The LORD said to my Lord,
        “Sit at My right hand,
        Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.”
        2 The LORD shall send the rod of Your strength out of Zion.
        Rule in the midst of Your enemies!

        5 The Lord is at Your right hand;
        He shall execute kings in the day of His wrath.
        6 He shall judge among the nations,
        He shall fill the places with dead bodies,
        He shall execute the heads of many countries.
        7 He shall drink of the brook by the wayside;
        Therefore He shall lift up the head.
        (Psa 110.1–2, 5–7)

      2. This does not picture Jesus
        1. smelling flowers or
        2. walking on His toes
          1. with His hands turned out,
          2. as some pictures show Him.
    4. Later, the Book of Revelation will picture Him on,

      11 …a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war…

      13 He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood… 14 And the armies in heaven…followed Him on white horses. 15 Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God (Rev 19.11–15).

    5. The Lamb opens the next two seals.
      1. 6.9–11 – The Lamb opens the fifth seal and
        1. we see and hear murdered saints in heaven,
        2. crying to the Lord,
          1. asking how long before He judges their persecutors back on Earth.
          2. The answer comes back that they needed to wait until
            1. the numbers of others who would be killed was completed.
      2. 6.12–17 – The Lamb opens the sixth seal and
        1. there is great upheaval and
        2. the wicked of the Earth
          1. find that they cannot escape the Lamb in His wrath,

            15 And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, 16 and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17 For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?” (Rev 6.15–17).
          2. Who is able to stand before the Lamb?
            1. As the Psalmist said,

              3 If You, LORD, should mark iniquities,
              O Lord, who could stand?
              (Psa 130.3)
            2. It would knock us down to discover the number of our sins.
  2. Christians Can Stand Before the Lamb 
    1. As you move from chapter 6 to chapter 7,
      1. you see angels standing at the four corners of the Earth,
      2. holding the winds of the Earth.
    2. They receive a command to continue holding the winds
      1. until they have sealed the servants of God on their foreheads.
      2. John discovers that 144,000 have been sealed from Israel.
        1. Then see who stands before the throne and before the Lamb,

          9 After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” 11 All the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures, and fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God… (Rev 7.9–11).
        2. Even as angels can stand before the Lamb,
          1. so can those whom the Lamb has saved, Christians.
          2. While the world experiences
            1. war,
            2. economic calamity,
            3. death,
            4. persecution, and
            5. the wrath of the Lamb,
              1. destroying all the things in which the world trusts,
              2. Christians,
                1. right along with angels,
                2. stand before the Lamb.
                  1. They do not fear Him as the world does.
                  2. They celebrate Him!
    3. While the world hardly even acknowledges us in the news,
      1. except to show us as the enemy,
      2. if you can believe that,
        1. we celebrate!
        2. We have the victory!

Exhortation: 

  1. Look what the Lord does. 
    1. He shows grievous evil arrayed against us, but then
    2. He shows evil falling and the church winning!
  2. The world tries desperately to hide from the Lamb (6.15–17), but 
    1. look at the saved,
    2. praising God,

      12 “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom,
      Thanksgiving and honor and power and might,
      Be to our God forever and ever.
      Amen.”
      (Rev 7.12)

      1. We want to see Him.
      2. We want to hear Him. We want to celebrate Him.
  3. Now, consider this: 
    1. The opening of the first seal shows Jesus going out to conquer.
    2. The opening of the seventh seal shows…
      1. oh, that gets into the next topic.
      2. You have to come tonight that I may show you,
        1. God’s Final Declaration on Prayer.
  4. Can you stand before the Lamb? 
    1. Earlier I quoted Psalm 130.3,

      3 If You, LORD, should mark iniquities,
      O Lord, who could stand?
      (Psa 130.3)
    2. Then the psalmist said,

      4 But there is forgiveness with You,
      That You may be feared.
      (Psa 130.4)
    3. That, my friends, is the only way we can stand before the Lamb.