Beloved radio, friends, we greet you in the ever-precious and the worthy name of the Lord Jesus. We welcome you again to the study of God's precious words and our outline study on the book of the Revelation which we are seeking to manifest. We come to chapter six and begin the prophetic action of the book of the Revelation with chapter six. Here we have the commencement, and may I say it very solemnly and earnestly. We have the commencement of those judgments which are to be poured out upon the world. For we have in our chapter the fact, the Lamb will take the book from the hand of the Almighty upon his throne. And the vast multitudes that are assembled there, and in the midst of the throne, he will begin to unloosen the seals and reveal the awful contents of that book, which contains God's purposes in relation to the world. My beloved, let me re-emphasize. Divine vengeance is to begin. But the instruments of judgment are unable to act until they are so directed by the living creatures that support the throne as we shall see. Verses one and two we have the breaking of the first seal. The first seal is opened and one of the living creatures thunders with a mighty summon saying, Come. And in response a white horse issues forth. bearing a rider who is armed with a bow? This notable equestrian is given a crown? And we read that he comes forth conquering and to conquer. It is not with a bloody slaughter that he sweeps over the world in his path of victory. If the reference is to a mighty imperial ruler who appears after the rapture of the saints, it probably will be without warfare. He brings under his control a vast territory and peoples of the world, in an endeavor to maintain peace and prosperity upon the earth. It may be through the agency of even economy and administration, as one writer may suggest, he will go forth on a mission of great conquest. But the opening of the second seal in verses three and four brings the appearance of a rider upon a red horse. who is given authority to take away peace from the earth and to loose the awful terrors of war. The great sword which is given him plainly depicts the destruction of peace and the plunging of the world into another mighty cataclysm of battle. For in answer to the mighty summons of the second living creature, saying, Come, the world will be plunged into a state of tremendous and extensive carnage. It is impossible to fully grasp the terrible conditions indicated in the apocalyptic revelation, which a righteous God will inflict upon a Christ-rejecting world. The four horsemen of the apocalypse will not cease to ride across the pages of human history until the purposes of God, as they are revealed in His Word, will be fulfilled. The opening of the third scene in verses five and six, the mighty command of the third living creature come, brings a black horse whose rider carries a balance or scales in his hand. Black is the color of mourning, but it is also figurative of death and famine. The scales which he carries, as the confirmation that the probable shortage of food and the limitation of supplies, which will be existent in the world under this judgment, the prices of wheat and barley as they are declared by the voice in the midst of the living creatures, are eight times the normal prices as they existed in the Apostles' Day. Tis very suggestive of the hardships to be experienced by the masses in the world under the judgment of the third seal, for undoubtedly the rich of the earth are typified by the oil and the wine, and they probably will escape the severity of this experience. The fourth seal in verses seven and eight is the commanding voice of the fourth living creature, saying, Come. And a pale horse is seen, bearing the grizzly rider death, who is quickly followed by his fearful companion, Hades. Under the previous two seals, war and famine rage over the earth. Now something infinitely worse appears, for authority is given to these dreadful agents of divine justice. To kill with the sword, famine, pestilence, and wild beasts. Are not these God's foresaw judgments? described as the sword the famine noise and beasts and the pestilence in the prophecy of Ezekiel chapter fourteen and verse twenty one and in the days of this judgment guilty creatures will be delivered over to death and Hades the former seizing the body the latter claiming the soul the fifth seal judgment verses nine through eleven Each of the first four seals is connected with one of the living creatures. But the fifth, however, is not. John beholds an altar under which the souls of martyrs who were slain for their testimony and their faithfulness to the Word of God are seen. In the coming days of judgment, there will be no restraining presence of the Holy Spirit upon the earth, such as exists today. He will have been removed from the earth in his present capacity at the rapture of the saints, so that open allegiance to the Almighty God will bring with it great tribulation, and many will feel their testimony for God in that period of time in death. The souls of these martyrs are calling aloud to God to judge, to avenge their blood upon those who dwell upon the earth. But before their prayers can be and will be answered, and their death will be avenged, it is revealed that they will be given white robes, commanded to rest until others are, who are also destined to fall under the oppressor, have also sealed their testimony in death. Is it not noticeable that their prayer to God for vengeance is a contrary petition to the prayers of this Christian age? Today in the Christian age we are admonished not to pray for vengeance, nor to seek the destruction of our enemies, which is the dispensational responsibility of God's dear people. However, such will not be the prayer of saints during the awful days of these sealed judgments and the events that follow. For with the manifested cruelty of oppression, yet to be shown against believers in that day, the saints will truly cry unto God to deal with the injustice of the earth and which he will do in due course. The last seal, the sixth verses twelve through seventeen, the opening of the sixth seal is marked by what perhaps would be one of the most serious disturbances in the whole structure of earthly economy. It is symbolized by a great earthquake, producing violent disruption in the structures of nature, affecting the sun, the moon, the stars, together with the shaking of a mighty wind. One is well written, a noted Bible scholar by name of Walter Scott to state, a greater quaint denotes a violent disruption of the organized state of things, a complete subversion of all existing authority. Yes, the will of God, having been rejected by men, they will be left to their own devices and the ultimate result, as depicted in the Apocalypse, is the end of all rule and authority. producing the existence of a state of complete anarchy. The beloved apostle sees the material heaven rolled up like a scroll, every mountain and every island removed out of its place. Truly there may be symbolical figures, suggesting the removal of all that is stable and secure upon the earth. For divine restraint will no longer hold human passions in check. Righteous principles and traditions will have no longer weight with humanity. As one writer has expressed it, it will be a universal disruption of society, and it is the picture of a world without God. My beloved me, I solemnly repeat what we have just stated. What we read at the end of these thick-sealed judgments is the picture of a world in all of its terrible universal description. without God. The terrifying effect causes the inhabitants of the earth, wishing to hide in the caves and the rocks, seeking shelter from the face of the Almighty and from the wrath of the Lamb. Note the words saying, the kings of the earth and the princes and the chief captains and the rich, the strong and every bondman and every free man, they're alike in terror. in their dread they even cry to the mountains and the rocks to fall upon them to hide them from the face of the judge icy cold dread will fill every heart and they cry the great day of his wrath is come and who is able to stand now my beloved my obvious and my heart purpose under God in bringing these messages is to bring before your heart and the hearts of all who will listen the terrible judgments that are about to come upon this unsuspecting, Christ rejecting, sin-loving, and God-hating world. It is the day of God's vengeance that is coming, and the consequences that will indeed be poured out. No man shall be able to stop. For when God rises in his wrath after centuries and centuries of patience, there will be no stopping of that wrath. to be the day of his fury and anger. My beloved friend, the terrible consequences to be borne by this poor world because of his Christ-rejecting path, which it is following today. Tell me, my friend, is the world going after God? Is it seeking Christ? Is it renonering the Word of God? Absolutely not. Please let me entreat very earnestly that if you are still out of Christ, may I beg that you no longer refrain from coming humbly and repentant as a guilty sinner before the blessed Savior who is yearning to bestow his pardon and his grace upon you through his atoning work of Calvary's cross. I plead with you to come to him today and make certain that your soul is redeemed so that you shall escape the coming judgments of a holy and of an angry God. Or may God the Holy Spirit illumine the hearts and the blind eyes of many today to see. The rising cloud of judgment is getting nearer and darker for this poor St. Kerswald and the terrifying effect will be eternally disastrous for the many. While it is time, yea, think of the words of the prophet, saying, Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his ways and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him turn unto our God. Who will have mercy and who will abundantly pardon? We beg of you, dear friends, call upon him today. be saved today. Oh, blessed Father, only the Holy Spirit is able to convict souls that sin and righteousness and judgment. May ye do that today with many a sinner, and cause them to come to Christ before the day of judgment falls. Bless the communication of the truth to the saints in like manner for their blessing in Jesus' name. Amen.