So you are interested in the book of Revelation, and as a leader it is good and right and proper that you should be interested in Revelation because it will give you insights and understanding which you can get from no other source.
These verses flow from my recent reading and study of Chapter 6 and these words will not disturb or depress those who seek to know the truth of the will of God. They will lift us up and comfort us and fortress our hearts. Do take time and even make time to have a careful and prayerful reading of Revelation. It will benefit you enormously no matter where you exercise your leadership.
If it is in business or banking or finance or education and teaching the lesson revealed in Revelation will help you in ways you never thought possible. After all, it is part of the Word of God.
The night before Jesus Christ went to the cross, Jesus told His disciples the worst. Jesus prepared His men for the worst, and He said, “I tell you this to comfort you – to fortress you – to build you up – so that when it happens you will not be taken by surprise”.
These words and visions and pictures will not disturb or depress those who seek to know the truth of the will of God. They will lift us up and comfort us and fortress our hearts.
Jesus Christ has a book in His hands, and in that book there are seven seals, and as Jesus breaks each of the seven seals, He lets something loose into the world. People in business and finance and economics tell me that something has happened which was not present forty years or so ago. We used to be able to fix the economy but we can no longer do so simply.
There are four pictures of four horsemen. We even call them the four horsemen of the Apocalypse! We give them a nice sounding name that might obscure their real significance.
Revelation means revealing or unveiling, and not obscuring.
Jesus Christ is referring to four tragedies which are going to come upon the earth, and Jesus wants His disciples to know about them, so that they, and we, will not be taken by surprise.
John watches. Now remember John had heard Jesus speak of the last days when Jesus taught on the Mount of Olives, and we have the record of account of that discourse in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark and John. I want to give you as much information as I can.
When the first seal is loosed we see a warrior riding out and galloping out.
It is the picture of someone rising up with a lust for power, and in visionary language this depicts wars and rumours of war.
He is riding out to conquer, as if there is a reference to a world ruler who wants to conquer the globe.
He looks so white and so clean, that this can be deceiving, and he makes his programme so like that of Jesus Christ, that many will be deceived.
Is this the shining purity of God’s justice, against the arrogant power of evil in the world? There comes a time when God says to this putrid world, enough is enough.
Now, we must not press the detail too far. Think of these as principles rather than persons.
John sees Jesus breaking open a second seal, and a fiery red horse rides out.
The red horse may speak to us of blood, as war is depicted here. Is it civil war? Jesus had spoken in Matthew Chapter 24 of nation against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and interestingly the word for nation is ‘ethnos’. Might this be a reference to ethnic races pitting their strengths against one another? We certainly see this going on globally and world leaders need to know the significance.
Presidents and Prime Ministers need to be aware of what they can do and what they cannot do and this book can import insight and understanding and knowledge which cannot be had from any other source of Focus Group or committee!
All Jesus has to do is remove the restraints and to remove any garment of peace and the inevitable result will be war. Is this a very specific sign of battle and bloodshed?
The picture is that of a new dimension of horror and suffering, and a world crisis such as has never previously been experienced.
These visions come from the control room of history, or the great command centre. Nothing usurps the throne of God. Jesus is the Lamb who was slain, and it is because of this fact that Jesus is worthy of opening these seals. The background to all this is explained in the earlier part of the book of Revelation, but now we are dealing with detail and leaders and governments and those is authority need to know something of what is happening across the world.
Nothing is going to defeat the saints of God ultimately! Remember that, because each of these seals is going to mean trouble for the church on earth.
Sandy Shaw is Pastor of Nairn Christian Fellowship, Chaplain at Inverness Prison, and Nairn Academy, and serves on The Children’s Panel in Scotland, and has travelled extensively over these past years teaching, speaking, in America, Canada, South Africa, Australia, making 12 visits to Israel conducting Tours and Pilgrimages, and most recently in Uganda and Kenya, ministering at Pastors and Leaders Seminars, in the poor areas surrounding Kampala, Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu.