Indeed, Jesus does reign and he has given us his word and that word is what we're gonna go to right now. And so I'm gonna ask you out of honor for God's word to please remain standing, to take your Bibles and turn to Revelation, the book of Revelation chapter six. I'm gonna begin reading in verse nine and I'll read to the end of the chapter, which is verse 17. And so it's a little bit bigger portion of revelation today than normally what we have been going through. But remember what we have here in chapter six. Remember we saw in chapter five, God is holding in his hand this book, this scroll, seven sealed scroll. And Jesus is the one worthy to open it. And so in chapter six, we've watched as these seals are opened up. We've seen four seals opened up so far. And each seal was a different colored horse with a different rider, and symbolized different things. The four horsemen of the apocalypse, if you will. Well, now beginning in verse 9, the fifth seal is opened up. And God's word says this, When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained. And they cried out with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, will you refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth? And there was given to each of them a white robe, and they were told that they should rest a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also. I looked when he broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind, and the sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains. And they said to the mountains and to the rocks, fall on us and hide us from the presence of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb for the great day of their wrath has come and who is able to stand. Let's pray. Father in heaven, how grateful we are that you have not left us to grope around in the dark, but you have given us the 66 books of the Bible. Lord, we thank you for your word. We know your word is truth. And Lord, now, as we come to this portion of your word, Lord, we ask that you would be merciful to me, the preacher, that I would handle this text accurately. Certainly, Lord, it is our prayer that if I do not handle this accurately, if what I say is not true to your word, we ask, Lord, that your Holy Spirit would make that known to each one here. And yet, Lord, if what I say is in accordance with your truth, we pray that your Holy Spirit would convict us of these truths. For your glory and for the good of your people, we pray in Jesus' name, amen. You may please be seated. And I should tell you all that this week our church was served with a summons. What that means is we are being sued. And I should say you are all being sued. And according to the summons, the amount we are being sued for is in excess of $2 million. Because I noticed on the last page that the summons says general damages in excess of $1 million, and then special damages in excess of $1 million. And if my math is right, $1 million and $1 million is $2 million. And so this is quite a hefty amount that we're being sued for. Now you're wondering, why am I telling you this? Well, it's just my way of saying, you know, could you put a little extra on the offering plate back there today? Because, you know, preferably about $2 million more because of this lawsuit. Well, no, that's not why I'm telling you that. But this is serious, isn't it? And so you're probably wondering, well, why are we being sued? Well, here's why. Because on March 18, 2023, this is a year ago, last March, At the amphitheater right over here in the park behind us, a lady was going to a concert on a Saturday night and she was walking down the steps. She slipped and fell and apparently must have hurt herself quite extensively. And we're being sued that we didn't keep the steps at the amphitheater clean and that she slipped on that. Now people, when we read that, and when I say we, I mean Jeff and myself and coach, when we read that, you can imagine how we felt. I can't wait. I can't wait for my day in court. I can't wait to stand before the judge and say to the judge, say to the jury, we don't own the amphitheater that's in the park behind the church. And it is not the job of First Baptist Church to make sure that there's no slippery substance on the stairs of the amphitheater when they have a concert on a Saturday night. And so why am I telling you all of this? Well, the reason I bring it up is because we have in the text that is before us today a cry of the martyrs. And it is in a sense, as one man says, a legal plea in which God is asked to conduct a legal process. leading to a verdict that will vindicate his martyred saints. Or we could say it simply, they want their day in court. They want justice to be done on their behalf. And so as the fifth seal is opened, What you are going to see is the martyrs, those who have been killed because of their faith in Christ. You're going to see them crying out for God's judgment upon those who have done this. And that makes the fifth seal very important. Because as Ken Gentry says, the martyr's vindication is crucial to understanding Israel's judgment. The martyr's vindication is why God is bringing his judgment down upon the first century Jews. And once again, people remember what Jesus said in Mark 23. He says, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her? How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. Behold, your house is being left to you desolate. For I say to you from now on, you shall not see me until you say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. And Jesus came out from the temple, very next chapter, came out from the temple and was going away when his disciples came up to point out the temple building to him. And he answered and said to them, do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here shall be left upon another, which will not be torn down. Jesus is saying Israel will be judged for what they have done. And so here's how we will approach today's text. You have all heard that when you're trying to understand something, when you're examining a text, it's always good to ask those questions, who, what, why, when, where. Well, that's what we're going to do. We'll ask those questions. We'll ask who and what and why. And so we're not necessarily in that order, but we're going to try to ask some of those questions. And so the first question we're going to ask is what? Remember in chapter 4, John looks into heaven. Well, here in this fifth seal, we see that John once again looks into heaven. And what does he see? Well, verse nine, look at it. Verse nine, when the lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and because of the testimony which they had maintained. What does he see? He sees the souls of the martyrs. underneath the altar. Very significant, people. And why is that? What happened? What happened to these people? The text tells you. They were slain. And that word slain in Greek is phazo. And it refers to the violent killing of human beings. These souls are the souls of those who have been violently killed. And people asked just what the Jews were doing to the Christians. They were violently killing them. And by the way, remember, one of the main perpetrators of the killing of Christians was Paul himself, before he was converted. And remember, the first martyr was Stephen. And remember, he was violently killed by stoning. And I've said to you before, you know, stoning is a bad way to go. You know, we don't really realize just how bad that is. When they stone you, they put you in a pit, they stand around that pit, and they don't just throw rocks at you, they throw big stones at you. And as those stones come down, you can imagine bones that are being broken and the amount of times you're hitting the head. You end up dying by multiple blunt force trauma. It is a horrible way to go. That's how Stephen was killed. And Act 7 tells us that Saul was in hearty agreement with putting Stephen to death. And Act 7 also tells us that Saul began ravaging the church. entering house after house and dragging off men and women. These are Christians. In fact, in Galatians chapter one, Paul even confesses that he persecuted the church beyond measure. Think of that, beyond measure, beyond any reasonableness, he persecuted the church. So just as Abel's blood cried out from the ground where it was spilled, so the blood of the martyr slain by the Jews. cries out from beneath the altar of the Jewish temple. And that takes us to the next question, and that is why. Why were they slain? Well, you know why. The text tells you. Because of the Word of God. It's the second part of verse 9. In fact, John himself, although he wasn't slain, he was suffering. Well, why was he suffering? He tells you in chapter 1, verse 9. Because of the Word of God. and the testimony of Jesus. Now, people, we should pause here and ask a very important question. Why did the Jews persecute the Christians to such an extent, so violently? Why? Well, remember, we asked that question when we were in Acts. Well, here's why. Because the Christians were going around telling people that Jesus Christ was the Messiah. And of course, the Jews didn't believe that at all. So these Christians are going around lying to people. Not only that, these Christians are going around telling people that Jesus is God. Well, remember, Jews are strict monotheists. And, you know, hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one God. Okay, so if Yahweh is God, and now these Christians are saying that Jesus is God, well, that's at least two gods that these Christians worship. They're saying there's at least two gods. That's polytheism, and that is blasphemy, punishable by death. And on top of that, they were saying that this Jesus, who is God, rose from the dead. And, of course, they didn't believe that for a second. No, he didn't rise from the dead. Well, all they had to do is just produce the body. Just take the body of Jesus and show it, you know, for everybody to see that he didn't rise from the dead. But they couldn't because the body's missing. And so, therefore, those Christians must have taken Jesus' body and hid it. And so not only were they liars, but they're also deceivers. And in their deception, they're bringing people out of Judaism and into the church. And so they believe that God would be pleased for them to violently kill such blasphemers. as these Christians. And that takes us to the third question we ask. And we just answered it, but let's ask it anyway. Who? Who were the ones who were persecuting them? Verse 10 tells you. Look at verse 10. It says, and they cried out with a loud voice saying, how long, O Lord, holy and true, will you refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth? There's your answer. Those who dwell on the earth. Remember, we've said it many times now, remember that word translated earth, in Greek, could also be translated land. They were the ones who martyred these people, the ones who dwell on the land. Who's the ones who dwell on the land? That's the Jews. And so what do they do? They cry out for justice. More specifically, they cry out, how long? And notice they say, how long, O Lord, holy and true. That word for Lord is not the normal Greek word that we see for Lord, which is kurios. The word there is not kurios, it's despotis. Is that word sound familiar to any of you? Despotis? It's where we get the word despot from. What's a despot? a dreaded sovereign, one who exercises absolute authority. But Jesus has absolute authority. He is completely sovereign. Ken Gentry says this, he says, how long? That question, how long, is a crucial question. And it's significant for understanding the entire book of Revelation. Because we see it in John encouraging these readers to persevere. through their trials. We saw it in chapter 1, verse 9, that they should persevere. We saw it in chapter 2, verse 2. We'll see it in chapter 13, verse 10, where John says, here is the perseverance and the faith of the saints. Chapter 14, verse 12, here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. And not only are they encouraged to persevere, they're also promised that their enemy will be judged soon. Remember, we've said it before, all these things take place soon, chapter one, verse one, that they're near at hand, chapter one, verse three. And remember in chapter three, verse 10, we saw it. The church in Philadelphia is encouraged to persevere and they are promised I will keep you from the hour of testing that is about to come on the whole world. I'm gonna keep you from this, this hour testing that is about to come about, he says to a first century audience. And so the martyrs are crying out for justice and they ask how long, how long Lord? Men and women, I don't want you to miss the irony here of that question. I missed it, but fortunately for us, Ken Gentry didn't miss it, because he points out this. In Zechariah 1, Israel, Israel themselves, they are in bondage. And in verse 12 of Zechariah 1, we are told this, that they said, O Lord of hosts, How long, this is Israel speaking, how long will you have no compassion for Jerusalem and for the cities of Judah with which you have been indignant over these 70 years? How much longer, Lord, do we have to go through this? Israel asks. But now it's the opposite, isn't it? Now the prophetic vision isn't for Israel, now it's against Israel. In fact, do you know what an imprecatory prayer is? Or an imprecatory psalm? They're fairly common. It's basically a prayer that God would judge his enemies, that he would vindicate the righteous and judge his enemies. Psalm 7 is an example. Psalm 7, verse 8. The psalmist says, vindicate me. Oh Lord, according to my righteousness and my integrity that is in me. Oh, let the evil of the wicked one come to an end, but establish the righteous. That's basically what these martyrs are praying for here. Or Psalm 35 verse 24, let those be ashamed and humiliated altogether who rejoice at my distress. Let those be clothed with shame and dishonor who magnify themselves over me. That's why they're praying, an imprecatory prayer right here. So now we come to the answer. Here's the answer they receive, it's verse 11, and there was given to each of them a white robe. And they were told that they should rest for a little while longer until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed, even as they had been, would be completed also." What are they told? Rest for a little while. Once again, it's not far away. It's just in a little while. Well, why not right now? Why do I even have to wait a little while? Why not right now? Well, he tells them, there's some more that need to be martyred. Men and women, there's something very important for us right here. Do you see it? First of all, God is sovereign, despotis, but second, he has a plan and he has a purpose for the things he does. We don't always understand him. But God has a purpose. He knows what He is doing. He knows what He is doing and ultimately He is working all things to His glory. Well, that's the fifth seal. Look now as the sixth seal is opened. Look at verses 12 through 14. It says, I looked when he broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake. And the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood. And the stars of the sky fell to the earth as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were removed out of their places. You know, lately, for my personal Bible reading, you know, just in my devotion time, I've been using an old Bible. I actually had it rebound, had a new cover put on it. And so it looks new, it has a new cover on it, but you know, it's really right around 50 years old. And what's interesting is I've been doing my little quiet times. I noticed the comments that I've written in the margin like 50 years ago, almost 50 years ago. And for example, here in Revelation in chapter six, in verse one, I have written off in the margin, the Antichrist. The rider on the white horse, that's the Antichrist. Remember, I told you a couple of weeks ago, no, that's Jesus Christ. Big difference between Jesus and the Antichrist. When you come here to verse 12 of chapter six, I have written in the margin of my Bible, nuclear holocaust. Why? Well, I know I have Antichrist written in verse 1 because that's what Hal Lindsey said, and I wrote that back in the 70s. And if he says it, well, that must be so. And I wrote Nuclear Holocaust here probably for the same reason. And I even remember teaching this. I remember when I was an intern at the church I was ordained at, First Baptist Church of San Antonio Heights. Rich Freeman, who has spoken here, he was the pastor. And he had me teaching a Bible study of college kids, and they wanted to go through Revelation, so I'm teaching Revelation. And I remember, I remember it well, I remember saying to them, oh, this is clearly a nuclear holocaust. I mean, after all, look at this. There was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood. I remember saying, you know, there's this bomb, this nuclear bomb that comes down but it doesn't hit the ground. It blows up right above the city or whatever, and it's called the Dirty Bomb. And why is it called the Dirty Bomb? Because they wrap cobalt around it, and then it blows up, and it intensifies the force of it, but the fallout from the dirty bomb is so intense that the sun becomes dark, and the moon's dark, and so forth. Men and women, I don't know anything about nuclear bombs. I don't even know what cobalt is, but you can see I can parrot that off. It just means I must have heard it somewhere. Probably heard it from Hal Lindsey or somebody like that, and so I'm just saying, well, this is clearly a nuclear holocaust. And then notice, what is verse 13? And the stars of the sky fell to the earth as a fig tree cast its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. And I said, do you ever see those videos of Bikini Island when they were testing nuclear bombs and so forth, with the trees swaying over from the wind of the nuclear test? And verse 14, the sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain has moved out of its place, and you're telling me that's not a nuclear holocaust? Yeah, I'm telling you it's not a nuclear holocaust. Well, if it's not a nuclear holocaust, what is it? Men and women, it's really quite simple. This is just apocalyptic language. This simply portrays Israel's world is coming apart under the wrath of the Lamb. And that type of language, that apocalyptic language, we see it all through scripture. And it's very common when a government is cursed by God to use that language. For example, Babylon, Isaiah chapter 13, verse 10, cursed by God and it says this, for the stars of heaven and their constellations will not flash forth their light. The sun will be dark when it rises and the moon will not shed its light. Egypt, cursed by God, judged by God. Isaiah 32 says this, and when I extinguish you, I will cover the heavens and darken their stars. I will cover the sun where the cloud and the moon will not give its light. Yeah, because of this cobalt nuclear, but no. All the shining lights in the heavens, I will darken over you and will set darkness on your land, declares the Lord God. It's just apocalyptic language. Not convinced? Idumea, Isaiah 34 says, so their slain will be thrown out and their corpses will give their stench and the mountains will be drenched with their blood. Now listen to this, and all the host of heaven will wear away and the sky will be rolled up like a scroll. Where have we heard that before? And their hosts will also wither away as a leaf withers from the vine. One more, Judah, when Judah is judged, Jeremiah 4, verse 14, wash your heart from evil, O Jerusalem, that you may be saved. How long will your wicked thoughts lodge within you? Then a few verses later, he says, I looked on the earth and behold, it was formless and void and to the heavens and they had no light. I looked on the mountains and behold, they were quaking and all the hills moved to and fro. Milton Terry, in his book, Biblical Apocalyptics, writes this, the imagery and style of the Old Testament apocalyptists are most appropriately brought into use. Sun, moon, and stars, and the heaven itself are pictured as collapsing, and the crisis of the ages is signaled by voices, and thunders, and lightnings, and earthquakes. To insist on literal interpretation of such imagery is to bring prophecy into contempt and ridicule. It's apocalyptic language, people. Simply put, as these seals are opened, Israel's world is coming apart under the wrath of the Lamb. Do you remember Luke chapter 23, verse 28? I referred to it last week. Jesus has been beaten, he's been scourged, he's a bloody mess. He's now on his way to be crucified, unable even to continue to carry his cross beam. And Luke tells us this, and there were following him a great multitude of the people and of women who were mourning and lamenting him. But Jesus turning to them said, daughters of Jerusalem, you Jewish women who live in Jerusalem, Stop weeping for me, but weep for yourself and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed. Then they will begin to say to the mountains, fall on us, and to the hills, cover us. People finish the text. Verse 15. Then the kings, of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains. And they said to the mountains and to the rocks, fall on us and hide us from the presence of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb for the great day of their wrath has come and who is able to stand. And so that takes us finally to the application. How do we apply this? You know, it has been said, well, if these events are not in our future, if it's not telling us, you know, about this nuclear holocaust that's going to happen in the future, if it's not telling us about this antichrist that's coming, well, then this doesn't apply to us today, does it? Yes, it does. Certainly it does. In fact, I want you to notice three things that we just saw. First, again, we already saw it, but God has a purpose in your suffering. Remember that. God has a purpose in your suffering. And here in Revelation, John repeatedly urges Christians to be patient in their suffering. Chapter 1, verse 9, John said, I, John, your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ. Later in chapter 13, verse 10, John refers to the patience and the faith of the saints. Chapter 14, verse 12, John says, here is the patience of the saints. Here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. But he also reminds them that God knows all that is going on on earth. Be patient, people. God has a purpose in your trials. He hasn't left you. It's going to work for his glory and ultimately for your good. Second, this text should encourage you in your prayers. What's your prayer life like? You should be encouraged by this because you see here that the prayers of these souls rise to God. And we've seen that before, haven't we? In chapter 5, we saw that scene in heaven with the 24 elders that are holding a harp and a golden bowl of incense. And what's that golden bowl of incense? It's verse 8 of chapter 5. John tells us. What's the incense? He says, which are the prayers of the saints. It's the prayers of the saints. Incense, the smoke rises. It's going up to God. Incense is sweet. It's a pleasant smell. The prayers of the saints rise up to God. They are pleasant and pleasing to God. Men and women, God hears your prayers. But I want you to notice the prayers of the wicked. You see the prayers of the wicked right here. Look at verse 16. We just saw it. And they said to the mountains and to the rocks, fall on us and hide us from the presence of him who sits on the throne. They prayed, didn't they? They prayed to the rocks and to the mountains to hide them. And third, remember these martyrs are crying for justice, aren't they? And God tells them to wait a little bit, but he gives them white robes. And of course the white robes point to the fact that they are righteous. But here's what you need to notice. The gift, the gifts of the robes is distributed to each and every one of the martyrs in verse 11. But notice he doesn't simply say white robes were given to them, but literally the Greek reads this way. It was given to them each one white robes. Why is that important? Well, in other words, God doesn't simply work in mass. It's not even given to the group. He doesn't work in mass, but he works lovingly with individuals. It was given to them each one. He's concerned about individuals. He knows you individually. But if the white robes designate righteousness, How are the people even made righteous? Remember in verse nine, we're told that the martyrs had been slain. And remember that word is phaso, which in Greek remembers a violent killing of human beings. But we had seen that word earlier in this book. Do you know where? We saw it in chapter five, verse six. The lamb that was slain, slazo, violent killing. Remember Christ was violently killed. And why? To be a propitiation for you and me. To satisfy God's wrath. And notice verse 16 refers even to the wrath of the lamb. You know, Robert Godfrey from Westminster Seminary makes a very interesting observation about the book of Revelation. Again, it's one I didn't notice, but he did. And he says this, do you notice in chapter 5, we had a description of Jesus, but the name Jesus didn't appear. In fact, in the whole book of Revelation, the name Jesus appears only 14 times in the whole book. And most of those are either in the very beginning or the very end. of the book. However, Jesus is all through the book, but not by name. But what is highlighted for Jesus is the word Lamb. 28 times we see that. The notion that Jesus is the Lamb of God that has become so common for us today. that we may not recognize that he is only referred to as the Lamb of God just a few times outside of the book of Revelation. And of course, famously called the Lamb of God in the gospel. Do you remember which one? John's gospel. John particularly wants to communicate to us that Jesus is the Lamb of God. And it is crucial to John because it connects the work of Jesus. to the whole sacrificial system of the covenant. The whole Old Testament points to the work of Jesus to show us what the work of Jesus would be, that he is the lamb of God, sacrificed on the altar of God to bear the sins of his people. John particularly wants to highlight that for us in both his gospel and here in Revelation. And that is that Jesus has conquered. Let's pray. Father in heaven, how grateful we are for these words here. How grateful we are for the Lamb who indeed has conquered. For the Lamb who was foreseen in the Old Testament, pictured in the Old Testament, fulfilled in Jesus Christ, who died for us. A violent death for us. Lord, how we thank you for him. How we thank you that in his blood satisfaction has been made. Your wrath has been satisfied. We thank you, Lord, for so great a salvation. And we pray, Lord, that indeed we would flee to Christ and follow him. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.