SERMON ON REVELATION 6:9-17, October 28, 2007
Reformation Sunday

Dr. Marshall C. St. John, Pastor
Wayside Presbyterian Church
Signal Mountain, TN 37377

Introduction: Today is Reformation Sunday. This coming Wednesday, October 31, will be Reformation Day. The anniversary of Martin Luther nailing his 95 theses on the church door in Wittenberg, Germany. Luther did that because he had been offended by the Pope's selling of indulgences to raise money to build the immense and very expensive Vatican buildings. According to Roman Catholic doctrine (and it is still the same), when a Christian died, he/she went to Purgatory. A please of suffering, like Hell, only temporary. By buying an indulgence, a person could set his dead mother or father free from the flames of Purgatory. Tetzel's sales pitch was: as soon as the coin enters the collection box, the soul flies free from Purgatory. Catholic practice is based on the Catholic doctrine of the "merits of the saints." The saints in Heaven have "excess merit," that can be dispensed to people on earth by the Roman Catholic bishops. Luther, himself a Catholic priest, objected strenuously to this superstitious and money-grabbing abuse of Church power. Three years later he was excommunicated by the Pope for refusing to recant his faith in the Bible, rather than in the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church.

The Reformation represented a return to the authority of the Bible, and the study of the doctrines of the Bible, as opposed to the doctrines of the Church. They should be identical, but are not. One of the primary doctrines of the Reformation, taught by Luther, Calvin, Knox and others, is the Sovereignty of God. This passage in Revelation is about the Sovereignty of God, especially with regard to God's children who suffer for their Faith, God's power over natural disasters, and God's power over all mankind, rich or poor.

Revelation 6:9-17

• 9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained.
• 10 They called out in a loud voice, "How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?"
• 11 Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow-servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed.
• 12 I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red,
• 13 and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as late figs drop from a fig-tree when shaken by a strong wind.
• 14 The sky receded like a scroll, rolling up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.
• 15 Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains.
• 16 They called to the mountains and the 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 their wrath has come, and who can stand?"

Review: Revelation 6:1-8 was about the "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse."

• The white horse -- God is sovereign over war
• The red horse -- God is sovereign over violence
• The black horse -- God is sovereign over poverty and famine
• The pale green horse -- God is sovereign over disease and plague

In Revelation 6:9-17 we see that God is Sovereign in three other areas...

I. God is Sovereign over the sufferings of His people.

• 9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained.
• 10 They called out in a loud voice, "How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?"
• 11 Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow-servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed.

A. The particular suffering mentioned here is MARTYRDOM: being killed for your Faith in Christ.

• The souls of the martyrs are "under the altar."
• They were slain because of the Word of God.
• They were slain because of "the testimony they had maintained."
• They called out loudly for vengeance.

We tend to think of vengeance as an evil thing, but that is obviously not the case. The martyrs cry out for vengeance, and God promises to avenge them. God's vengeance is seen as a good thing in other Scriptures, too.

Isaiah 35:1-6

• 1 ¶ The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus,
• 2 it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendour of Carmel and Sharon; they will see the glory of the LORD, the splendour of our God.
• 3 Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way;
• 4 say to those with fearful hearts, "Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you."
• 5 ¶ Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
• 6 Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.

The key to understanding revenge and vengeance is that God must be in charge. Christians are commanded to refrain from taking vengeance into their own hands. Why? Because we are sinners, and any vengeance that we take is quite likely to be unjust and evil in itself. Only God knows how to repay with perfect righteousness and holiness.

Romans 12:17-19

• 17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody.
• 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
• 19 Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord.

They were given white robes.
They were told to wait patiently for the full number of martyrs to be killed.
Down through the centuries, many millions of Christians have been killed, and are still being killed today, because they are Christians.

Remember three things:

• 1. God knows and allows it to happen for reasons that are good to Him.
• 2. God knows what it feels like personally, in Christ. So He sympathizes with the martyrs.
• 3. God WILL take vengeance on the wicked, and He and the martyrs will be satisfied.

B. Whatever YOUR suffering may be, God knows all about it, and God is sovereign over YOUR suffering, too.

Health problems
Family problems
Financial problems
Employment problems

II. God is Sovereign over natural disasters and the political events of the nations.

• 12 I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red,
• 13 and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as late figs drop from a fig-tree when shaken by a strong wind.
• 14 The sky receded like a scroll, rolling up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.

There was a great earthquake.
There were atmospheric consequences.

2 Kings 23:5 reminds us that the pagans of the earth love to worship the sun, moon, planets and stars:

"And he (King Josiah) put down the idolatrous priests, whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense in the high places in the cities of Judah, and in the places round about Jerusalem; them also that burned incense unto Baal, to the sun, and to the moon, and to the planets, and to all the host of heaven."

The Egyptians worshipped many gods in the form of animals, and even the river Nile. God smote all of them in the ten plagues from Moses' rod.

This is "apocalyptic language," not meant to be taken literally.

God says the same thing about the downfall of Babylon in Old Testament days (Isaiah 13:1-19)...

• 1 The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see.
• 6 Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
• 9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
• 10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
• 13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.
• 17 Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it.
• 19 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.

Isaiah 34:4-5 God's Judgment on Edom used the same language...

• 4 All the stars of the heavens will be dissolved and the sky rolled up like a scroll; all the starry host will fall like withered leaves from the vine, like shrivelled figs from the fig-tree.
• 5 My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens; see, it descends in judgment on Edom, the people I have totally destroyed.

Ezekiel 32 uses this language about God's judgment on Egypt:

• 1 And it came to pass in the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, in the first day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
• 2 Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say unto him, Thou art like a young lion of the nations, and thou art as a whale in the seas: and thou camest forth with thy rivers, and troubledst the waters with thy feet, and fouledst their rivers.
• 7 And when I shall put thee out, I will cover the heaven, and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light.
• 8 All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee, and set darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord GOD.
• 11 For thus saith the Lord GOD; The sword of the king of Babylon shall come upon thee.

In Acts 2 Peter says the apocalyptic language of the Prophet Joel describes what happened on the Day of Pentecost...

• 14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:
• 15 For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.
• 16 But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
• 17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
• 18 And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:
• 19 And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:
• 20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and notable day of the Lord come:
• 21 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Therefore, the point of this passage in Revelation is not that there will actually be a worldwide earthquake, but that God is Sovereign over the affairs of the nations, and certainly over all sorts of natural disasters.

God is Sovereign over the wildfires in California.
God was Sovereign over hurricane Katrina.
God is Sovereign over the great Southeastern drought.
God is Sovereign over all the earthquakes that ever were, or ever shall be.
God is Sovereign over the war in Iraq.
God is Sovereign over the elections in 2008.

III. God is Sovereign over the salvation of all mankind, rich or poor.

• 15 Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains.
• 16 They called to the mountains and the 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 their wrath has come, and who can stand?"

Politically powerful or powerless...
Wealthy or poor...
Free or slave...

God is Sovereign in the life of each individual on the face of the earth, including you and me.

God is Sovereign over salvation. Note the reaction of these people. Do they repent of their sins? No. Do they cry out to God for mercy? No. Do they ask for forgiveness? No. All they do is hide and complain. Why? Why did we come to Christ and not our neighbor? Why did we believe, and our friend did not? What does Jesus say about that?

John 6:35-37

• 35 Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.
• 36 But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe.
• 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.

John 6:41-44

• 41 At this the Jews began to grumble about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven."
• 42 They said, "Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?"
• 43 "Stop grumbling among yourselves," Jesus answered.
• 44 "No-one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him,

John 6:64-65

• 64 Yet there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him.
• 65 He went on to say, "This is why I told you that no-one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him."

I Corinthians 1:26-31

• 26 Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.
• 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
• 28 He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are,
• 29 so that no-one may boast before him.
• 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.
• 31 Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord."

I Cor. 2:14 The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.

Conclusion: God is Sovereign.

God is Sovereign over the martyrdom and suffering of His saints.
God is Sovereign over the natural disasters and the political upheavals of the earth.
God is Sovereign over the salvation of His people.