Soldier On! w/Leroy Garrett   — Occasional Essays

Essay 106 (1-20-06)

TEACHING THE APOCALYPSE (3)

In this series we are examining the Apocalypse thematically – looking into its great themes – rather than the usual approach of a chapter-by-chapter analysis. This method holds promise of showing us what the writer has to say about the great themes of the Christian faith. In the two previous installments we studied some of the passages about God and Christ. We now consider other themes.

  3. Sin and Its Consequences

  The first passage is Rev. 6:1-8 where we read of "the four horsemen of the Apocalypse," one of the more colorful and mysterious symbols of the book. The time was when the backfield of one of Notre Dame’s invincible football teams was described as "the four horsemen of Notre Dame" an obvious reference to this symbol. It is probable that hardly anyone realized that the horsemen of the Apocalypse were summoned by God to wreak doom and destruction upon the earth as a consequence of sin and rebellion against God. Not exactly football, however physical it might be.

  As the Lamb opens the seals, one by one, the four horsemen make their appearance in successive order as each is summoned by one of the four living creatures. The first rider, who had a bow and a crown, was on a white horse. The second mounted a fiery red horse, while the third, who had a pair of scales, was on a black horse. The fourth horseman, whose name was Death and Hades, rode a pale horse.

  This grim picture is designed to show the destructive nature of sin, upon the natural world as well as humankind, and that even the innocent may have to suffer for the sins of the guilty. It is a commentary on the sober truth that "The wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23).

  The white horse stands for war and militarism, and for all the havoc they have caused on planet earth– perhaps including even the evils brought on by the other three horsemen – destruction, terror, bloodshed, poverty, famine, pestilence, death. The writer is saying that sin has been our undoing, that all these evils are the result of humankind’s sin and rebellion against God. The consequences are profound and irreversible.

  Once the white horse spreads war and military might across the earth, the stage is set for the second horseman riding a blood-red horse to bring strife and terror, and the third horseman on a black horse to bring scarcity and famine. The fourth horseman on a pale, livid horse brings pestilence and death. All these are the scourge of war – humankind’s ultimate sin against each other.

  While society generally glorifies and romanticizes war, John in Revelation depicts it for what it is. War "takes peace from the earth," and "causes people to kill one another." War brings hardship, scarcity, famine, and it has the power to destroy "a fourth of the earth with sword, hunger and death." Throughout human history war has killed and maimed multiplied millions, and has made orphans and widows of millions more, bringing untold agony and destruction. The Apocalypse sees war and all its evil as the consequence of sin, particularly greed and selfish pride.

  We can see these four horsemen as agents of God’s judgment both in John’s own time, and for time to come. They are not endtime events, but they lead up to the final consummation.

  The second passage that points to the consequence of sin is Rev. 8:1-6 where "the sounding of the seven trumpets" is introduced. They are a continuation of God’s judgment, but in the case of the trumpets judgment is executed upon planet earth in the form of cataclysmic upheavals and widespread destruction of things earthly.

  When the first trumpet sounds the trees and grass are burned, destroying the amenities of life. At the second trumpet sea creatures are destroyed, along with the commerce on the seas, threatening the food supply – fish being a basic staple – as well as trade between nations. At the third trumpet waters become wormwood, causing death to those that drink it. At the fourth trumpet the sun, moon, and stars are darkened.

  On and on it goes. As the trumpets sound the fierceness of God’s wrath is likened to "the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man" (Rev. 9:5). The judgments are so frightful that John concludes, "In those days men will seek death and not find it; they will desire to die, and death will flee from them" (Rev. 8:6).

  In all this the Apocalypse is describing the fearful cost and penalty of sin. Sin not only separates us from God, but it even defiles the beauty and goodness of nature, The springs of nature from which we should draw joyous blessings --- music, literature, art – are poisoned by sin. Even institutions of learning carry on as if there is no God, and courts of law pervert justice.

  Revelation is telling us that "The way of the transgressor is hard" (Proverbs 13:15). And it tells us why "Babylon" and all workers of evil meet a dreadful end: "For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities" (Rev. 18:5).

  Before the apostle lays down his pen he makes it clear that God has provided an answer to sin, however grievous it may be: "Blessed are those who have washed their robes clean, that they may have the right to feed on the tree of life and come through the gates into the city" (Rev. 22:14).

  4. A Call to Martyrdom

  A key to understanding the Apocalypse is to realize that it implies the inevitability of martyrdom for the Christian. The writer was himself in a prison camp, presumably awaiting a martyrdom that he may have eventually avoided. His exhortation to his fellow Christians was, "Be faithful unto death (martyrdom),, and you shall receive the crown of life (Rev. 2:10). The repetitious "He who overcomes" –included in each letter to the seven churches – is a reference to martyrdom, and in one of them Christ is described as a joint-martyr: "To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne" (Rev. 3:21). When John describes Jesus as "the faithful witness" in Rev. 1:5 he uses the word for martyr.

  That John presumed martyrdom for the faithful is further indicated by what is revealed in Rev. 5:9-11 where the Lamb opens the fifth seal. John was allowed to look into heaven and see beneath the throne of God the souls of those who had been slain for the sake of the world of God, and for the witness which they bore." Martyrs appear to have a special place in heaven. They fulfilled what Jesus had predicted for his followers, " They shall deliver you up to be afflicted, and they shall kill you" (Mt. 24:9,10).

  These martyrs cry out to God, asking how long it will be before he will take vengeance on those on earth who had shed their blood. This may strike us as odd, even sub-Christian, for we would expect them to forgive their persecutors, as Christ had done. But until we endure the terror and horror that they did, we are not in a position to criticize their call for vengeance.

  They are told that they are to rest for yet awhile, until the full number of their sisters and brothers yet on earth are martyred as they were. This shows that in Revelation there is an expectation of martyrdom – for most Christians if not all. In describing the doom of Babylon, the seer writes, "And in her was found the blood of the prophets and saints, and of all who were slain on the earth" (Rev. 19:24).

  The author of the Apocalypse could hardly have imagined such a time in history as ours when believers are actually protected from persecution by the state. While there are still some nations that persecute Christians, even unto death, by and large we are free to serve Christ as we will.

  Revelation is telling us that persecution, even martyrdom, is a very real possibility for any and all believers, even those of us who live in a land where there is freedom of religion. Circumstances can change, and we are always to heed Paul’s assurance that "Yes, and all those who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution" (3 Tim. 3:12).

  In a nation such as ours – that is becoming increasingly anti-Christian -- we are to be realistic about all the secularism about us, and to show moral courage. We are always to have the martyr-spirit, a willingness to die for our faith.

  That is the message of Revelation – to be faithful until death, even martyrdom, if it comes to that.

Note: All these essays are available at www.leroygarrett.org    Click on Soldier on!

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