The Martyrs Cry Out

Transcript

GR 2008
06/25/2017
The Martyrs Cry Out
Revelation 6:9-11
Gil Rugh

We're in the book of Revelation in your Bibles, Revelation 6. Many events going on in the world, in some ways it seems like there is confusion and uncertainty, we come to God's Word, we find that He is totally in control, working His perfect plan to bring all things to His appointed conclusion. The book of Revelation is a prophetic book. God has given it to the church so that we might learn and understand something of His plans for the future and have our conduct and lives shaped by it. Remember this is the book that promises blessings on those who heed what is written in here. So it is not just to supply information and perhaps give us interesting insights into the future, it is to have an impact on our conduct. We heed it, we respond to it and live accordingly.

We have a chart, put that chart up, The 70 Weeks of Daniel as we usually refer to them. We've put this chart up, probably often enough, I hope, when you close your eyes at night to go to sleep that chart just jumps right up there.

The 70 Weeks of Daniel comes from Daniel 9 as you are aware if you've been here. The first 69 weeks came to a conclusion, these are weeks of years, seven-year periods, 70 of them for a total of 490 years. The first 69 weeks came to a conclusion right in conjunction with the first coming of Christ and about a week before His crucifixion. So you have that pictured there with the coming to earth of Christ and then His death on the cross and ascension. A total of 69 weeks, 483 years.

This is God's plan and program for the nation Israel, you'll remember in Daniel 9. “Seventy weeks, 490 years, are determined upon your people, Daniel,” the Jews and your holy city, Jerusalem. Then after that 69th week the Messiah is cut off, crucified, and He returns to heaven. It says He has nothing. He would have nothing as Daniel 9 prophesied it. There was no kingdom established, Israel was not rescued from their enemies.

Then we have what was not revealed anywhere in the Old Testament and is not part of that 70 weeks, that 490 years, what we call the church age. It begins in Acts 2 and will continue down until the rapture of the church, when the church, all believers saved from Acts 2 down to this point will be caught up to meet Christ in the air and taken to heaven.

Following that, there is an individual coming on the scene who will sign an agreement with Israel and this is all part of Daniel 9, we've been back there. That marks the beginning of that final seven-year period. So, if you will, the clock for Israel, we might say stops here as God's program for Israel is put on hold. He is naturally working with the nation but they are not the focus of His work in the world. His salvation work is not focused in the nation. Here with the signing of that agreement following the rapture, that seven-year period begins to run. We have seven more years in God's program. That will be broken into two 3½ -year segments as we will see, particularly when we get to Revelation 12-13, and then some other references as well.

The rapture occurs after Revelation 3. Then chapters 4-5 transported us to heaven, preparing us for what would take place on the earth. We saw God's sovereignty, He is enthroned in heaven, His Son, the Redeemer, the Lamb, Jesus Christ revealed. There is a seven-sealed scroll and only Christ is qualified to open that scroll because He provided redemption by His death on the cross. When He begins to open the scroll, break the seals, then the judgments begin. There are three series of seven judgments—seven seals, seven trumpets, seven bowls. All are contained in that seven-sealed scroll. So out of the seventh seal will come the seven trumpets, out of the seven trumpets come the seven bowls. So it is like a telescopic movement because that seven-sealed scroll contains everything, including the final redemption of creation and the establishing of an eternal kingdom.

We've looked into Revelation 6 where Christ begins to open that scroll. So every time He breaks a seal you see something happen. They don't read from the scroll, but a judgment comes out.

We've looked at the first four judgments, they are called the four horsemen of the apocalypse because every time a seal is broken a rider on a horse comes out. Why don't you put that chart up on the first eight verses and just to review. The first horse, verse 1, “I saw the Lamb,” referring to Christ from Revelation 5, “break one of the seven seals.” And then “one of the four living creatures” around the throne of God the Father calls the judgment to come out.” And then a white horse comes and we noted this white horse pictures primarily the Antichrist. Jesus in Matthew 24, speaking about this time, said “there would be many false Christs who would come up.” They all will center ultimately in one prime person who signs the agreement to begin the seven years. You'll note “he was riding a white horse with a bow” but no arrows. And he is given by God's intention, power to conquer and he becomes the ruler, first of the western world, the revived Roman Empire, then ultimately the world, as we will see as we move through Revelation.

Interesting all the discussions as you watch the news. Israel keeps getting back in, and we're going to have a meeting with different parties in that part of the world, we think we can bring something, not indicating that that agreement is on the verge of being signed. But it is interesting, that continues to be the desire, we have to get some kind of peace established. Little Israel in many ways that geographically speaking looks like a little place of nothing. Why don't we just forget about it and move on? But the world can't because from God's perspective that is the center of the world. So that desire for peace there.

Then the red horse, the second seal broken, out comes a red horse and you have wars breaking out. The third seal is broken, you have a black horse coming out in verses 5-6 and that depicts famine. And it is pictured by you measure the food, you weight the food. And it tells you, “a quart of wheat,” verse 6, “for a denarius, three quarts of barley for a denarius, don't damage the oil and the wine.” The famine, and those very well off have access to the more desirable foods, have the money to do it. But by and large famine is sweeping the world. The same picture was used in Ezekiel 4 when God told of judgments that would come for Israel and other nations that rebel against Him, and he talks about weighing the food on the scales. Same picture of famines.

Then the fourth judgment is the ashen horse. Awesome as it is, this is death, and death for all kinds of reasons, verse 8. “Sword, famine, pestilence, wild beasts.” A fourth of the earth will die under this judgment. We have just started the seven-year period and now here comes a judgment, someone checked for me this morning and they said we have almost 8 billion people on the earth. Well that means almost 2 billion people die here. And we haven't gotten to the worst judgments, yet because we will have the seven seals, then come the seven trumpets. They are worse than the seven seals. Then come the seven bowls, and they are the worst of all.

So you get an idea when Christ said in Matthew 24 ”if He didn't cut this off by His return after seven years, there wouldn't be a person left alive on the face of the earth.” Here we have one-quarter of the earth dying under these judgments in verse 8 with the fourth horse, then you have the others. We are being reminded that God is serious about this issue of sin.

That is something that the church needs to keep in view as well. God is a God of mercy and love, He has provided a Savior, the Lamb as we saw in Revelation 5, Jesus Christ to pay the penalty for sin. He is a God of infinite love, but He is a God of infinite wrath. That will be demonstrated ultimately by people sentenced to an eternal hell. God cannot be trifled with. We as believers need to keep clear on our understanding of the seriousness of sin and God's attitude toward it. And we present to the world, God is serious about sin. Do you mean there is a God who would destroy 2 billion people on the earth? I don't like to think about God like that. We need to understand how serious sin is and what God will do in dealing with it.

So we are ready for the fifth seal, and this is not a particular judgment but it is a request for judgment and the calling of judgment on the earth. It is the prayer from some of God's people who have been martyred during this seven-year period, the beginning of it, to bring judgment on the earth. And an indication that the judgments that God is bringing and will bring are a response to the prayer of God's people, for God to bring vengeance. Remember God says “vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”

So let's read Revelation 6:9, “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, 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, 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, be completed.”

Now we have the rapture of the church. All true believers in Jesus Christ were removed from the earth at that time. When we begin that seven-year period, there is not a believer alive on the face of the earth. Restraining influence that God has set up is removed. We are told in 2 Thessalonians 2, the Restrainer, we talked about this in our previous studies, the Holy Spirit is removed. He doesn't leave the earth, but in the way He came in Acts 2, and that particular work of the Spirit in convicting the world of sin, righteousness and judgment, and holding back that full outbreak of sin and rebellion and bringing of God's judgment now is removed. But following the rapture of the church, no one is a believer on the face of the earth. People are saved and evidently saved in significant numbers, as we will see. These are martyrs that come out of the tribulation.

Just come over to Revelation 8:9, “After these things I looked and behold a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation, tribe, peoples, tongues, standing before the throne, before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, palm branches in their hands.” And they are declaring and honoring and worshiping God with their praises. And then John is asked, “who do you think these are from all these nations” and so on. Verse 14, “I said to him, ‘my Lord, you know.’ He said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. For this reason they are before the throne of God” and serve Him and so on in His temple.

So there are going to be large numbers of people saved in the tribulation. These martyrs come out of the tribulation. Back in Revelation 6, they were slain. I take it they are slain, having become believers, they have a testimony. They are slain because of the Word of God, and their testimony which they maintain. Well if all believers were raptured at the rapture, who are these? Well they are people saved after the rapture.

Now just a little side trail, the questions sometimes comes up, “will people who have heard the Gospel before the rapture and rejected it be able to be saved after the rapture?” Turn back to 2 Thessalonian 2, usually it is taken from here. And he is talking about this period of time, the tribulation. I referred to the verse, verse 7, “the mystery of lawlessness is at work, only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. Then that lawless one will be revealed.” Talking about, I take it, the removal of the Holy Spirit and the manifestation of the Antichrist, the lawless one, the little horn, other names. We'll see more about this and associated events when we get to Revelation 12-13.

Then this man has power, he is deceptive, and verse 10 you have the activity of Satan behind all that is going on in the world. Verse 9, “this lawless one will come in accord with the activity of Satan with all power, signs and wonders.”

So here is a man who is going to have greater power than anyone preceding him. Of course apart from Christ and those enabled by Him. But he is going to have a special enablement. The restraint on satanic activity has been removed with the removal of the Restrainer. This man will have the power to do miracles, to perform signs. It will be with all the deception of wickedness. Now note this “for those who perish because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so they will believe what is false.”

You cannot trifle with God and here what he is talking about, people hear the truth and continue to reject it, God cuts off the opportunity. He allows Satan to delude, similar to what we read in the Old Testament. God raised up Pharaoh and then hardened his heart and he continued to reject the obvious display of God's power and God's will. When it talks about, the end of verse 10, “they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved,” some say that those who heard before the rapture don't have opportunity after the rapture. I understand this more in the context those who refuse to believe the truth will continue to be deceived and deceived in greater ways. In fact I think it is possible, just like there will be the last person on earth saved before the rapture occurs. Think about that.

Talk about, as Job said, getting saved by the skin of your teeth. You are just out. But there will be people perhaps who have been contemplating it, who have had the Gospel shared with them and they have been giving it thought. I have to go read that tract, that Bible they gave me and see this again. But the rapture occurs and they are not believers. Perhaps immediately following, by God's grace, they do read that. Because we find large numbers evidently saved, even early in the tribulation. I don't want to say that gives any hope.

People say, if the rapture occurs I will know it is true, I'll believe and take my chances. Again, God can't be trifled with. You realize God will send them a deluding influence. So a person who continues to reject doesn't have any confidence they will accept at a later time, but I don't think that verse means that anyone who has heard it earlier because how many times did you get to hear it, did I get to hear it before we believed it. I don't think the rapture has to be a cutoff point, but it is a dividing point between those who will be part of the church, the bride of Christ, and those who will be saved during the tribulation in experience. And some writers believe that most of those who become believers during the tribulation will be martyred.

In fact it is going to be so bad, God intends to bring salvation of the nation Israel. Come back to Revelation 6. When we get to Revelation 7 we are going to find He has to put a special seal on 144,000 Jews to guarantee they are being preserved through the tribulation so you have something to begin the restoration of the nation with the kingdom. All of that to say we have martyrs here, people who are saved after the rapture of the church. They are described as under the altar. “The Lamb broke the seal, I saw under the altar.” Now this isn't a judgment on these who become saved, this seal opens up and God is pouring His wrath on these people. No, He deals with them very kindly. He is going to respond to their prayer; He is going to treat them with His mercy and blessing. This judgment shows God is going to now be responding to the prayers of His people to bring judgment on a world that has so mistreated them.

They are under the altar. Heaven is pictured, and I think this is consistent with the Old Testament, as having a temple in it and then an altar here in the temple. The Old Testament tabernacle and the temple, you remember, it said Moses made it according to the pattern given him from heaven. Probably indicating there from what we have in descriptions in other places that what we had to be built on earth for the worship center of the Jews was patterned after the temple in heaven because here we have God enthroned in heaven, we have an altar for His throne. That is consistent with the Old Testament. God is in a temple that will be here.

Come over to Revelation 11:19, “And the temple of God which is in heaven was opened.” So just as you had the temple and you had the temple grounds, then you had the temple proper with the Holy Place and then the Holy of Holies where God's presence was manifested, here you have the temple of God which is in heaven was opened, the ark of His Covenant appeared in the temple and so on. We'll look at the details, but you see the temple in heaven and it is opened. And here you have the Ark of the Covenant which was also present in the Old Testament tabernacle. I think what we would be talking about here is the Altar of Incense.

Come over to Revelation 14:15, “Another angel came out of the temple crying out with a loud voice, put in your sickle.” See the angel comes out of the temple to give instruction. Verse 17, “Another angel came out of the temple.” So you are in heaven but in heaven there is a temple. Then you have heaven outside, which will be similar to what we have in the new heavens and the new earth where you will have the New Jerusalem which really becomes the temple. And then you will have people outside of that.

We'll get to that, unless the Lord comes, and then we'll get to see it in heaven. But you see the temple, and that comes through. Revelation 15:5, “After these things I looked, the temple of the tabernacle in heaven was opened” and out come the angels. And you have that manifestation of God's presence. But in heaven, when we get to heaven, we think it's just a big area and God is there. No, there is a temple there than can be entered. That's where God's throne is, it is similar to what He had built in miniature in the Old Testament for Israel's worship.

Come back to Isaiah 6, just take one passage. This is the heavenly temple that Isaiah sees as well. “In the year of King Uzziah's death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted,” note, “with the train of His robe filling the temple.” There Isaiah sees God enthroned and He is in the temple in heaven. “Seraphim stood above Him,” we've compared these with the living beings, the cherubim that Ezekiel sees in connection with the throne. And then we saw in Revelation 4 and 5. “They cry out, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of His glory. The foundations of the threshold trembled while the temple was filling with smoke.” We see similar to what happened in the Old Testament in the tabernacle and the temple on occasion when the glory of God filled the tabernacle and the temple and the presence of God is manifested. You see the impact on Isaiah, “woe is me, I am ruined. I am a sinner,” I'm in the presence of a holy God and God provides his cleansing.

Come back to Revelation 6:9, I think the altar here is probably the altar of incense. That's the only altar within the temple there in the Old Testament picture. And it is connected to the prayers of the saints. And that is what we are going to have. The martyrs who are gathered under this altar are offering God their prayers.

Come over to Revelation 8:3, “Another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a golden incense. Much incense was given to him so that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne.” So you see the altar before the throne is the altar of incense, incense added to the prayers which demonstrates they are being pleasing and acceptable to God.

We'll talk about it when we get to Revelation 8. Then in response to the prayers, verse 5, “the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, threw it to the earth,” and you are ready for the seven trumpets as we move to the next series of judgments. Revelation 9:13, “Then the sixth angel sounded, I heard a voice from the four corners of the golden altar,” and that is the golden altar, again going back to the Old Testament. You have the brazen altar, but that is outside the inner portion of the tabernacle there.

So same here, we have an altar, we have the souls. But don't think of these just as like mists or clouds floating around. These are believers who have left their bodies. But they have a visible presence, they are able to speak, they will be given robes to put on. So even though at death we leave our body doesn't mean now we are just some kind of misty cloud-like thing. You know just like angels be here, we don't have the eyes, these physical eyes can't behold them but if it were God's will, they could manifest their presence and we would see them. We have the description of angels who are manifest, we have a description of angels that we have seen already in Revelation. So these souls are the people outside their bodies who have given their lives.

“They were slain because of the Word of God and their testimony for Christ.” What happens when we die? To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. We'll go to one verse that I have just quoted, 2 Corinthians 5:6, “Therefore being always of good courage and knowing while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord.” For us as believers in the church, as long as we are living in this body we can't be in heaven with the Lord. Well, what is best? Look at verse 8, “We are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body or to be home with the Lord.”

It's sort of like this. You are living in Nebraska, it is January and snowing. Would you rather be on a sandy beach in the Caribbean where it is 85? I would rather be absent from Nebraska and be present, I'm not too familiar with the Caribbean…Aruba, is that in the Caribbean? Wherever. Sort of that way Paul talks about heaven. Would I rather be in heaven or on this earth, stuck in this physical body, subject to pain and suffering?

I am of good courage because I walk by faith and not by sight. I prefer that I would leave the body. These martyred saints, it doesn't matter how they die.

The last couple weeks, reading again some of church history, the way believers have suffered and died for their faith, been martyred, terrible excruciating deaths. Then it is humorous, even though it is so serious. Sometimes when those saints have been so persecuted and died such terrible deaths, many years later they will go and dig up their bones and burn them to ashes as though we are not done with them, we have to get rid of them. As though that makes any difference. You know where they are? They are in heaven, celebrating, enjoying, at rest. We are reminded, it really doesn't matter. The process of dying can be terrible, whether it is of a disease, whether it is something very painful.

All of us think and say, I hope the rapture comes. If it doesn't come, I would just prefer to maybe have a quick heart attack and be gone. My dad had a heart attack, he said I don't know what happened. I was cutting the lawn, next thing I opened my eyes and I was in the hospital. They had restarted my heart with those shock things. He said, that's the way I want to go. He didn't get a choice, he had to suffer the pain and agony of cancer and die. It doesn't matter now.

And these martyrs, they are in heaven. Do you think they are saying, I'm missing so much down there? I don't think so.

So it is just a reminder, I study this and I say, Gil, that's my future. I hope it's not to be a martyr, coward that I am, but I believe in dying grace. God gives you the grace for whatever. He is going to bring you through at the time. But look at the end. These martyrs are in heaven and they are in the presence of God. Philippians 1:21-23, Paul says I have a desire to depart and be with Christ for that is very much better. But I think God has work for me here yet, so I have to stay.

Come back to Revelation 6. Why did they die? Why were they slain? Because of the Word of God and the testimony they had maintained. One of the marks of a true believer is perseverance and through their suffering they had been faithful. This is why John is in prison.

Come back to Revelation 1, this is where we started in our study. Verse 2, this revelation is given to John who is a slave of Christ, verse 2, “who testified to the Word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Down in verse 9, “I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus was on the island called Patmos because of the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus.”

It is 2000 years after John whenever this occurs, at least 2000 years now about. They were faithful to the Word of God as the Apostle John had been, they had given their lives because of their testimony for Jesus Christ. We are reminded as we study the book of Revelation, as we study the Word of God the real antagonism and conflict with the world is not that we are arrogant, we are self-righteous, we are the only ones who think we are right. The underlying root antagonism is people are opposed to the Word of God and the message of Jesus Christ. And if you are identified with that, you are an enemy of the world.

Come back to Matthew 10. Jesus is preparing His disciples for what is before them. And He says in verse 24 when He had prophesied coming persecution and so on in the preceding verses, “a disciple is not above his teacher nor a slave above his master. It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher and the slave like his master. If they have called the head of the house Beelzebul,” nothing but the prince of the demons, “how much more will they malign the member os his household. Therefore do not fear them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed,” and so on. “Do not fear those,” verse 28, “who kill the body but can't hurt the soul. Rather fear Him who is able to destroy both body and soul in hell.” A reminder what we have in Revelation. Some of them killed the body of these believing saints, but they weren't able to destroy their soul in hell. You ought to fear the One who can do that.

Come over to John 15, Jesus' last night with His disciples. And you note the contrast here. Verse 17, “This I command you that you love one another.” Love is a defining mark of believers for one another. Back in his first epistle John says, “if you say you love God and you hate a fellow-believer you are a liar,” you don't really love God, because you can't love God and hate the children of God. So you see here this commandment is that you love, He is addressing His disciples, those who were believers in Him. You love one another.

Then immediately, “If the world hates you,” He is not expecting a love relationship with the world, we are not to love the world and the things in the world. We shouldn't expect the world to love us. “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own.” There is the problem. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. We have too much hand-wringing among believers for why the world doesn't love us, why the world doesn't appreciate us. What are we doing wrong? I'm not saying sometimes we as believers don't do foolish and stupid things. But that is not the problem. “If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.” We forget that.

Over the years, many years here, at times I have had different people say, “what is wrong with Indian Hills? Why do people always say such negative things about Indian Hills, as though that is some shocking thing? What do you think the world would say about us? Christ said they hate us because we are not of them, we don't belong to them. The world may not say they are children of God, Satan has you marked out, he knows who you are. He has you marked out as an enemy to be destroyed, as a group that must be destroyed. You ought to have that verse marked and fixed in your mind. Doesn't mean that we don't want to say, “have I conducted myself properly, have I been proper in my speech?” Doesn't mean you walk around telling people you are doomed to hell, you dirty sinner. You deserve it.

I remind myself I was once like them. You are a sinner defiled before God just as I was and I wasn't cleansed from my sin and guilt by my own action. God did something for you and He did for you if you will believe in Him. We want to present the Gospel but don't expect the world to agree. We think if we get involved in social action then the world will see we care. The world sees we care when we bring them the Gospel that can save them. Telling and preparing the disciples, “don't be surprised if the world hates you.”

“Remember the word that I said to you, a slave is not greater than his master,” we just read that in Matthew 10, “if they persecuted Me they will persecute you. If they kept My word they will keep yours also.” It all comes back to the fact that they don't know the living God; they don't know His Son Jesus Christ. Verse 23, “He who hates Me hates My Father.” And you note the order. “They hate you because they hate Me, they hate Me because they hate My Father.” We are a family. So we see the martyrs here, but you know we want to be careful. We don't think, “I'm glad I won't be in the tribulation and have that, I get to have a more comfortable life.” And we do have a comfortable life, but we have to be careful.

Come back to 2 Timothy, Paul's last letter. He is in prison, he is waiting his execution. He is not expecting deliverance. In 2 Timothy 4 he says the process has already begun which will culminate in my execution. But he is writing to Timothy, a young man he led to the Lord years earlier who has been a key part of Paul's ministry. But Paul can see the danger. Here is Paul, Timothy's mentor, he is in prison awaiting execution, things haven't gone smoothly in all the churches that Paul established and Timothy ministered in. But he says in verse 5, “I am mindful of your sincere faith,” and he was privileged to have a godly mother and a godly grandmother.

And Paul says I am sure that you have a settled faith as well. So he says in verse 6, “For this reason I remind you,” 2 Timothy 1:6, “kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you, for God has not given us a spirit of timidity,” cowardice, “but of power, love and discipline.”

He sees the danger. It's like the fire in the fireplace, it begins to die down and you have to stir it up, stir those embers. And he can see the danger for Timothy, maybe to cool down. We get that idea, new believers come on fiery, they settle down over time. We ought to be heating up over time. That's what he is telling him, that spirit of timidity is a spirit of cowardice. It doesn't come from God. God gives us a spirit of power, love, self-discipline. “Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord of me His prisoner. Join with me in suffering for the Gospel.”

Why was Paul so “successful?” He was willing to suffer for the Gospel. We are looking for a balance, I don't want to deny the Gospel but I'm not particularly interested in suffering for it. We like to balance things. That doesn't mean we are courting suffering, so we pride ourselves when we offend somebody. I've been embarrassed by the conduct of some Christians and I don't want to be associated with that. They offended people but I would have been offended if they had dealt with me that way. So I realize the extreme, but we also have to be careful of what is common. Don't be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me in prison. Join with me in suffering.

Down in 2 Timothy 2:1, “Be strong in the grace that is in the Lord Jesus.” Verse 3, “Suffer hardship with me.” Paul didn't see himself as unique. If he came riding into Lincoln he would be encouraging everybody who was a fellow believer, join with me in suffering. We have to get the Gospel out, the Lord is coming. Now is our salvation nearer than when we first believed. We lose, if we are not careful, the sense of urgency. This is important, this matters. There is a holy God, His anger is manifest toward sinners, He will someday sentence them to an eternal hell, He has entrusted us a message of salvation and holds us accountable as watchmen. If we don't tell others, they will perish but we will give an account.

So come back to Revelation 6. Just a reminder, we don't want to just read this and say that's a unique period. This is talking about those who give their life during a unique period, but it is a reminder of what was true of the writer of this letter as we saw in Revelation 1. He is exiled in a Roman penal colony on Patmos.

Paul had to go through the same thing. The danger is we get in a comfortable situation as we have in our society, although you can see the animosity grows, the antagonism toward those who would hold the truth…..we are intolerant, we are unloving. I read this week in the news that California is not going to allow those associated with the government in California to do business in four of the states because of their views on LBGQRVWs that we would say, we have to take a stand against that. You are not people we want to even have dealings with.

You see how it grows. There is an animosity toward truth, toward biblical things. The dividing line is not between those who are moral and immoral, the dividing line is between those who are believers and those who are not. Now I realize some unbelievers are easier to get along with and you enjoy them and you appreciate them. But you understand they belong to the devil, you belong to the Lord. There is the line. When the line has to be drawn, when it comes to that, the whole world will become open. Do you see how our country has become more open to open, sinful practices? We thought we had a moral majority, according to some of the foolishness that went on in the 1980s and so on. No, we stopped looking at what the Bible said about the heart and the spiritual condition. In the tribulation, I was going to say “all bets are off” but that's not a good spiritual expression.

All right we have to move on. Revelation 6:10, “They cried out,” the martyrs, so they have a voice, they can speak, they have an awareness of what is going on. We sometimes wonder what we will remember. They are somewhat cognizant of what is taking place. Things are going on in heaven and they are talking about these things. “They cried out with a loud voice, saying, O Lord, how long, how long, oh Lord, holy and true.”

He is the holy God who cannot tolerate sin, He is the true God who will honor His Word. “How long will you refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth.” “Those who dwell on the earth,” that will become a technical expression through the book of Revelation. We're not going to take the time to look at those, we'll see them as we move along, but it repeats itself, “those who dwell on the earth.” A word that refers to those who are earth-centered, they live in rebellion against God, they are the earth dwellers. We live on this earth but “our citizenship is in heaven,” Philippians 2. We await our Savior's return for us. But the earth dwellers, that's where God's wrath is directed.

So His wrath is not directed toward these who are martyrs, and He is not punishing them for not believing earlier. No, He is answering their prayer to bring vengeance on God's enemies who are their enemies, and they are agreeing with God that they, the enemies of God, deserve to be punished and they were martyred because they belong to God. That's what we saw in John where because we belong to Christ we will be persecuted, because Christ belongs to God He was persecuted. The tie there.

Come back to Luke 18:6, He tells a parable and we'll just get to the point of the parable. “Now the Lord said, ‘hear what the unrighteous judge said.’” Verse 7. “Now will not God bring about justice for His elect,” now note this, “who cry to Him day and night. And will He delay long over them? I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”

See where He carries it to, when He returns and the situation. But God's people, praying to the Lord to intervene. And there are times when we pray, “even so come, Lord Jesus.” We realize the world deserves judgment, that doesn't mean we deal with the unbeliever in an unkind, unthoughtful way. We don't delight to tell them, “you are going to hell, you deserve it.” That is not the attitude, we all deserve it.

This is the day of salvation, but this day will end. We'll get to Revelation 10 and the angels of heaven will announce time has run out, we are ready for the end. We look around and see what is going on in the world and the open rebellion against God and the defiance of Him, the arrogance of unbelievers, and that was me before Your grace, that was me. Well, I never acted like that. No, because God's grace maybe took hold of you before you did that. Some people go their whole life and don't manifest that kind of openness but they are proud and they have established their own religion. And God will bring judgment.

Come back to Revelation 6. He responds to them, verse 11, “There was given to each of them a white robe.” A white robe, it depicts holiness, purity, they belong to Him. He is the holy and true God, these are those who were faithful to the Word of God and their testimony for Christ. And they belong to God and He gives them the white robe and His blessing. They are the redeemed. And He tells them, “you need to rest a little while longer. There is more time that has to go, rest for a little while longer.” Now note this, “until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been would be completed.”

This takes you back, we have to wait, The tribulation, the seven-year period, is not only going to pour out God's wrath on an unbelieving world, bring Israel to the place of their accepting Christ as their Messiah nationally, but it also will conclude when the last martyr gives his life in that seven-year period. That's what he says, “until the number of their fellow servants, their brethren who were to be killed even as they were,” martyred will have been completed. Amazing! The terrible suffering and pains that these people go through, all under the hand of the sovereign God. Not punishing them but working His purpose for their good and His glory and their ultimate glory.

A reminder, sometimes in your suffering, your pain you say, “has the Lord forgotten me? Lord, are you there?” Sort of like Job. “Lord, it seems like you aren't aware of what is happening to me.” But we are reminded, it is all by His appointment. I wish I could pick how I die. “Since I can't appoint the time of the rapture, Lord, I want to preach my last sermon, get to the bottom of the steps and fall over or go have lunch and then die. But quick, painless, healthy.” We don't get to pick. Here God has appointed the multitudes, millions by His grace, and we see in Revelation 8, we'll look into more of that, will be saved and they have to give their lives. And it will be just like at the rapture, the last person will get saved. At the end of the tribulation the last person will give his life and we're ready for Christ to come. A reminder of His sovereignty in it all. He is going to answer their prayer.

So we have returned to heaven from earth, the first four seals were on earth, now we go back to heaven and see God is answering the prayers of His people, particularly the people giving their lives here. He is in control. Let's not look at the way believers are dying, they are being killed as fast as they get saved. What's going on? God's sovereignty, He is in control. We are living out today, God is still on the throne, we belong to Him, we are under His care and His protection. Whatever happens to us is under His control.

But wait, I wish I hadn't drunk that coffee, it gave me this disease. Or I hadn't eaten . . . doesn't mean I can't be careful what I do. I've done everything, I've wanted to be faithful. Why did you bring this pain? This misery? He loves me, He is sovereign, His purposes are being worked. So we are ready to move on to the sixth seal.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for Your grace. Lord, You have given Your Word, You have given opportunity for us to be testimonies for You. How thankful we are that there were faithful servants who brought Your truth to us, that we heard. Parents, children, family members, co-workers, neighbors, strangers, but in Your grace those that were faithful to the truth and with the truth brought the message of life so that we might hear and believe. Lord, may we be faithful, willing to suffer, willing to be misunderstood, willing to be slandered, abused, rejected. But Lord, faithful. Lord, for any who might even be here who have yet to trust Christ, may the truth of Your patience, mercy and love in providing a Savior impact their hearts today. We pray in Christ's name, amen.