Peter Barnes: Revellation 6 & 7
(11 February 2018)
SERMON NOTES : THE SEVEN SEALS (Revelation 6-7)
Only the Lamb-Lion was worthy to open the scroll with the seven seals – 5:3-4. Rev. 6-7 deal with the judgments of God (Zech.6:1-3).
1. God’s terrible judgments.
– the seventh seal leads into the seven trumpets – 8:1-6.
– the first seal (6:1-2) could be Christ (Rev. 19:11-16) but the context seems to favour that it is counterfeit – it is Antichrist, not Christ.
– war (6:3-4); famine (6:5-6); and death (6:7-8). Are these referring to a specific time in history? It is hard to see that they do.
– Thomas Hobbes: life has always been ‘nasty, brutish, and short’. Socrates (5th century): ‘as long as peace continues, those who desire to write histories will find no materials for their purpose.’
2. Souls in heaven look for justice.
– ‘What about those Christians who have been martyred?’ – 6:9-11. See Luke 23:43; Phil.1:21-23.
– We ask ‘How long?’ on earth (Psalm 79:1, 5), but it is asked in heaven, because Phil.3:20-21 is not yet.
3. The unnecessary wrath of the Lamb.
– 6:12-17. This is the wrath that need not have been.
4. The redeemed are sealed by God forever.
– Rev. 7. The 144,000 is surely symbolic, as are the 12,000 from each tribe, the same as the multitude that no man can number (7:9-10; Gen.15:5).
– the goal of all history – 7:15-17. It is either the terrible wrath of the Lamb or you will have washed your robes in the blood of the Lamb.