Revelation 8:6-7

"Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them. The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth. And a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up."

(Revelation 8:6-7)

The first angel trumpets with the result that there is a storm of hail and fire. Both the hail and fire are seen as having been mixed with blood. This emphasizes their destructive character, and we read that the third part of the earth, the third part of the trees and all the green grass-which includes the herbs-was burnt up. In all probability this first trumpet indicates that throughout the period extending from the first to the second coming, our Lord, who now reigns in heaven, will afflict the persecutors of the church with various disasters that will take place on earth, that is, on the land. That these calamities, of whatever nature they may be, are controlled in heaven, and in a certain organic sense are sent by our governing Lord is clearly indicated by the clause "these were thrown upon the earth."

(William Hendriksen)

Revelation (8:5)

"Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake."

(Revelation 8:5)

The four-fold response to the coals thrown on the earth represents cataclysmic judgment. John’s language is borrowed from the scene in (Exodus 19) when God descended on the mountain to give His righteous law to Israel. [“So it came about on the third day, when it was morning, that there were thunder and lightning flashes and a thick cloud upon the mountain and a very loud trumpet sound, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled… Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the Lord descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently. When the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him with thunder”] (Ex. 19:16-19). 

The just Judge of the universe descended with smoke, fire, thunder, lightning, and earthquake to give His law. The law or the Ten Commandments, express the moral character of God which He has commanded of all those made in His image. Yet the history of the world is the history of breaking God’s laws. John pictures this God who exercises absolute sovereignty over all the earth, descending with His judgment to vindicate His law. That is the judgment of the 7th seal. God will vindicate His righteousness through judgment upon the world. Every believer that has met with persecution, opposition, and antagonism can be certain that not one threat or injustice will pass the severity and totality of His judgment.

(Dr. Phil A. Newton)

Revelation (8:3-4)

"And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel."

(Revelation 8:3-4)

The fact that the smoke of the incense goes up with the prayers of the saints shows that the petition of (Rev. 6:9-10) is now being presented before God. In the Bible, incense is always associated with sacrifice, so that the sacrifice, accompanied by a pleasing aroma, will be acceptable to God. These verses echo (Lev. 16:12-13), where the priest takes the censor full of coals off the altar before the Lord, fills his hands with incense, and puts the incense on the fire before the Lord. 

In (Psalm 141:2) prayer is associated with incense and compared to a form of sacrifice:"Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!" 

The fact that incense is offered from the altar shows that the prayers of the saints who were slain for their testimony (Rev. 6:9) represent the sacrifice of their lives in the cause of Christ, and so their petition for judgement in (Rev. 6:10) has been found acceptable to God. 

(G.K. Beale)

Revelation (8:2) Seven Trumpets

"Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them."

(Revelation 8:2)

Seven angels blow seven trumpets. The trumpets set in motion seven judgments leading up to the Second Coming. The trumpets form the second cycle out of several that depict God’s rule over history from various angles. Like the trumpets used in the battle of Jericho (Josh. 6), these trumpets lead up to the fall of the worldly city (Rev. 11:13) "[And at that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven]" , and in the seventh trumpet the complete victory of God arrives. The trumpet plagues are reminiscent of the plagues on Egypt, signifying God’s judgments on idolatrous power.

The seven seals began with announcements of riders commissioned to bring calamities (Rev. 6:1-8). The seven trumpets, by contrast, contain vivid descriptions of the calamities themselves. The intensity of judgment has moved up. Yet still some things are spared: most of the trumpet plagues fall on a third and not on all; the locust plague of (Rev. 9:1-12) is over after five months; some people survive the collapse of the city in (Rev. 11:13). By contrast, the later judgments with the bowls (Rev. 15:1-16:21) are thoroughly devastating.

(Vern Poythress)

Revelation 8:1 Devotion

"When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour."

(Revelation 8:1)

The OT associates silence with divine judgement. In Hab. 2:20-3:15 and Zech. 2:13-3:2, God is pictured (as in Rev. 8:1) as being in His temple and about to bring judgement on earth. 

That the temple is in heaven is to be assumed from texts such as Ezekiel 1. At the moment this judgment is to be delivered, God commands the earth to be silent. In Zeph. 1:7-18, silence is likewise commanded in connection with the "great day" of the Lord and of His judgment. These announcements of judgement from the Minor Prophets express cosmic end-time expectations, which is explicitly expressed in a universal sense in Rev. 8:1. The thought is that the final judgement of God is so awful that the whole world falls utterly silent in its presence. Thus the seventh seal is a continuation of the sixth. Whereas the first five seals deal with the entire period of the church age, the last two deal with the final judgment. 

The duration of this silence is about half an hour. "Hour" in Revelation often refers to the suddenness of the time of judgement of the wicked, whereas "half" is associated with "times" of crisis and judgement in Daniel 7:25; 9:27; and 12:7. "About half an hour" might not refer so much to the precise temporal duration of the silence (about) but figuratively emphasize the suddenness and unexpectedness of a decreed judgement. 

(G.K. Beale)

Revelation (7:13-14) Great Tribulation?

"Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, "Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?" I said to him, "Sir, you know." And he said to me, "These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."

(Revelation 7:13-14)

What is this great tribulation? John seems to have in mind what Daniel 12:1 and Matthew 24:21 foretold. Both those passages warn of the danger of apostasy through the intense opposition to God. The same warning has already been passed along to several of the seven churches. Ephesus had left their first love. Smyrna was warned it would have tribulation. Pergamum stumbled over false teaching. Thyatira was marred by immorality. Both internally and externally, opposition threatened the churches then, just as it does now. The tribulation is “great” because of “the intensity of the seduction and oppression through which believers pass”. It “includes all Christians who have experienced oppression and persecution everywhere throughout history”. 

The irony must not be lost: red blood turning robes white! It is “the blood of the Lamb,” that is, the sin-atoning, God-satisfying, wrath-propitiating, and justifying death of Christ that makes the robes white. The use of “blood” is not the chemical properties of Christ’s blood that cleanses from sin but His standing in our place to bear the judgment of God through death at the cross. This great multitude stood before the throne because of “the blood of the Lamb.” That’s the only way that any of us can stand blameless before God—because Christ bore our sin and reproach away through His death.

(Phil A. Newton)

Revelation (7:10) Devotion

"And crying out with a loud voice, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!"

(Revelation 7:10)

Here the multitude of believers over many generations, in unison, affirms that salvation is all of God. There’s no self-praise or patting one another on the back for sticking it out or boasting in personal merit. Salvation belongs to our God and to the Lamb! It’s not us—it’s not about us. It’s the Lord that receives all praise and glory.

Here is the song of the redeemed in heaven. Is this your song on earth? Some might try to sing, “Salvation belongs mostly to our God,” as though God has taken care of 90 percent or even 99 percent but we’ve contributed our little part to salvation. If we listen to some supposed gospel presentations this very idea is conveyed. “If you want to be saved, then just walk down this aisle”; so one may be led to think that he has contributed a little part by walking down an aisle. “If you want to be saved, just pray this prayer”; so one may think that by his strong effort to pray a particular prayer that he has aided God in his salvation. There will be no such thinking or boasting in heaven! All boasting will focus on “our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”

(Phil A. Newton)

Revelation 7:9 Devotion

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands" (Revelation 7:9)

"After these things", means that this is the next vision John saw, not that the events depicted therein will necessarily occur immediately after those of the previous vision. In fact, the vision records events following the depiction of the final judgment in (Rev. 6:12-17). The group here pictured is the same as in (Rev. 5:9), the end-time people of God from every tongue and nation prophesied in (Dan. 7:14, 22, and 27). These saints are those of God's people already glorified, for this scene takes place in heaven, "before the throne" of God. Having earned their reward through faithful perseverance in tribulation, they are now enjoying the presence of the Lord in eternity. The "great multitude, which no one could count" is the promise seed of Abraham, the "multitude of nations" (Gen. 17:5), which were "too many to count" (Gen. 32:12 and 16:10). The descendants or the "seed" who would become so numerous according to these Abrahamic promises refer not to the nations in general but specifically to the future multiplication of Israel in Egypt, and thereafter in the Promised Land. The "great multitude" in v. 9 is the fulfillment of the Abrahamic promise and thus yet another way in which Revelation refers to Christians throughout the world as the true Israel. The palm branches allude to the Feast of Tabernacles, in which palm branches were used to build the booths in which the Jews live during the feast (Lev. 23:40-43). The Feast celebrates God's protection of the Israelites during their wanderings in the desert, and in the same way God seals His faithful ones during the present age. The imagery originally applied to Israel is now applied by John to people from all nations, who rejoice in their latter-day exodus redemption, in their victory over their persecutors and in the fact that God has protected them subsequently during their wilderness pilgrimage (Rev. 12:6,14) through the "great tribulation" (Rev. 7:13-14). 

(G.K. Beale)

Revelation 7:4 144,000?

"And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel"

(Revelation 7:4)

Who are the 144,000? They are unlikely to be literal Israelites living at the very end of history during a severe tribulation, nor are they literal Israelites living during the desecration of Israel's second temple in the first century, for in either case God's protection would apply only to ethnic Jews-and a limited number of them-rather than to His people redeemed from every nation, including Jewish believers in Jesus. Such a suggestion would be alien to the teaching of the New Testament, read Galatians, four instance.

A better understanding comes from the context. In (Rev. 5:9), the Lamb is said to have purchased with His blood "men from every tribe and tongue and people and  nation." In (Rev.14:3-4), the 144,000 are said to have been purchased "from the earth" and purchased "from among men." The almost identical language suggests that the two are the same group-the church of all ages. This would explain why, immediately after the vision of the sealing, John sees a great multitude of people from every nation and tribe and people and tongue (Rev. 7:9). 

All Satan's followers bear his mark or name, and all of the Lamb's followers must bear the Lamb's mark or name-hence, all believers in Christ throughout the ages are sealed and must be included in the 144,000.

But why speak of a specific number? In (Rev. 21:13-14), the 12 tribes and 12 apostles together form the foundational structure of the new Jerusalem. Multiplying 12 x 12 equals 144, representing the entire people of God through the ages. Multiplying that figure by 1000 reinforces the notion of completeness.

(G.K. Beale)

Revelation 7:2-3 Devotion

"Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, saying, "Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads." (Revelation 7:2-3)

The picture of the seal here is the same as what we seen by Ezekiel  when the Lord commands the angel to put a mark on the foreheads of those who hate sin before He strikes the city in judgment (Ezek. 9:4-6). This mark protects them spiritually and likely also physically from the coming judgment. This is comparable to the mark of blood on the doors of the Israelites so that they would be protected from God's judgment on Egypt (Exod. 12:7,13,22-28). This becomes significant when we note that this mark protects believers during the period of the trumpet and bowl plagues, which, as we shall see, are closely modeled on the plagues of Egypt.

The demonic powers are forbidden to harm those with the seal of God on their forehead. Uppermost in John's mind is not physical security, but protection of the believers' faith and salvation from the various sufferings and persecutions that are inflicted upon them, whether by Satan or his demonic and earthly agents. The sealing  enables God's people to respond in faith to the trials through which they pass so that these trials become the very instruments by which they are strengthened in their faith. But the trials that purify God's servants result in hardening the ungodly in their response to God. 

(G.K. Beale)

Revelation (7:1)

"After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow on earth or sea or against any tree."

(Revelation 7:1)

Chapter 7, is retelling the story of chapter 6, things to come, the same story, but uses a different image -- winds instead of horsemen. In this way, the imagery is a repetition of the vision of Zechariah 6 where four chariots are horsemen are said to represent the four "winds" (NIV has "spirits", Zech. 6:5). The angels of chapter 7 are given power to restrain the "winds" of destruction. No wind is to blow "on the land or on the sea or on any tree" (7:1). What was attributed to instruments of evil in chapter 6 is now attributed to angels in chapter 7. God is the ultimate sovereign over all events. Even Satan does His bidding in the end.

The question remains: who can stand? It is a question which this seventh chapter seeks to answer in a way that elicits the greatest relief to the people of God. First, the repetition of the verb "to stand" at the end of chapter and the beginning of chapter 7 (6:17; 7:1) tells us immediately that the angels of heaven are unaffected by the turmoil described. They are safe and secure. They are standing firm (7:1,11). Evil, in all its machinations, does not unsettle them of their God-given positions. Throughout the turmoil, they continue to serve and worship (7:11). Heaven is a safe place, and worship continues unhindered even when hell itself breaks lose to destroy the world below.

(Derek Thomas)

Revelation (6:15-17) Devotional

"Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?"

(Revelation 6:15-17)

Now, what is he doing by giving that whole seven-step, strata of humanity? He’s showing completeness, because that’s what the word seven implies in Revelation. It is a totality. It is completeness. It is all of humanity apart from the redeemed. And what does he say happens? They cry out to the rocks and to the trees to hide them. They hide themselves in caves. Can you imagine these great kings trying to hide in a cave, these wealthy men who own land and people, and they’re hiding themselves in caves? You see the picture that John’s giving us? When the Day of Judgment comes, all the things you have, all that you have acquired, all the status that you have in life means absolutely nothing, nothing! All those things that you’ve given yourself to, all of those things that you thought were so important, so that you had no need for God becomes totally unimportant on that great day.

When that day comes, there is the cry, “‘Fall on us, hide us from the presence of God and the Lamb, for the great day of the wrath has come!’” Then they ask this question, “Who is able to stand?” You know the answer. No one. No one; except for those upon whom the wrath of God was spent on Jesus Christ. 

(Dr. Phil A. Newton)

Revelation 6:13 Devotional

"And the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale."

(Revelation 6:13)

What we have here is a symbolic picture of the terror of the judgment day. The symbol, taken as a whole, teaches us just one lesson, namely, that the final and complete effusion of God's wrath upon a world that has persecuted the Church will be terrible indeed.

In the stars of the heaven falling to the earth, as a figtree casts her winter figs when shaken by a violent wind. No doubt John had often seen those winter figs hidden under the leaves until they dry up and come down in showers when a violent wind shakes the trees. In similar showers the stars are seen falling out of their orbits. They fall to the earth. Not comets, or meteors, but stars. You say: how is this possible? The earth is altogether too small for even a single star to fall upon it. Again, we reminded you that this is a picture. In pictures things are possible which are not possible in reality. When we say this, we do not deny, of course, that there will be a most thorough-going dislocation of the heavenly bodies and a rejuvenation of the universe, in connection with the end of this present age. But the main point of our passage is this: it stresses the terror of the day of rest for the wicked. The dissolving elements, earthquake, falling stars, etc., ad terror to the picture.

(William Hendriksen)

Revelation 6:12 Devotion

"When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood,"

(Revelation 6:12)

The scene jumps to the Day of Judgment. I’ve mentioned this before and I will reiterate this from time to time: Revelation is not chronologically precise. If you’ve got your chart out, and you’re going through the chapters of Revelation, and you’re charting everything, and you’re trying to put a date on it, then you are going to be squeezing some square pegs in round holes. John doesn’t operate like that. What he’s doing is helping us to look, to think about the context. He’s helping these struggling Christians. They’re struggling over persevering, over endurance, over pressing on, over being faithful, over living to the glory of Christ, instead of living for themselves and falling back into idolatry. And so he helps them by giving them occasional views of The End. John keeps The End in view without losing sight of the present, and he shows that present endurance will be vindicated in the end. So there’s this overlapping that takes place in Revelation. And so, here we get to the sixth seal, and John shows us The End. Now, he’s not going to stay there, but he wants us to see what happens in The End.

The first thing we notice is that the Day of Judgment is cataclysmic. The language that is used here is borrowed from the Old Testament, as well as the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24 and Mark 13. 

John said, “I looked, when he broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake.” Now these people understood about earthquakes. The folks that lived in Sardis and Philadelphia and Laodicea had already seen their cities totally destroyed by earthquakes. They had heard of what had happened just a decade or so before in the area known as Pompey, when Mount Vesuvius blew its top, and that whole area was shaken by a gigantic volcano and earthquake. They knew about these things. He said, “There was a great earthquake.

He’s using pictures in order to give them some ideas about physical and natural occurrences of tragedy; but he’s showing them something of much greater proportion. John is not trying to give them literal descriptions of what’s taking place. Instead, he is stretching their imaginations and our imaginations. For instance, the stars falling to the earth: now, how big are stars? The sun is a star that’s a whole vastly larger than the earth. Now, we understand that, we know those kinds of things; so he’s not trying to be literal. He’s trying to help us understand that everything is being shaken, that the Day of Judgment is an unrepeatable event, and it is an incomparable event, and when it happens it’s going to affect everything.

(Dr. Phil A. Newton)

Understanding Revelation (6:10-11) Devotion

"They cried out with a loud voice, "O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth? Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been."

(Revelation 6:10-11)

The metaphor of white robes connotes the idea of a purity which has resulted from persevering faith tested by the refining fire of tribulation. Robes are given not only as a reward for purity of faith but as a heavenly declaration of the saints' purity or righteousness and an annulling of the guilty verdict rendered on them by the world. In this picture is an assurance to the saints still on earth that their vindication before God without doubt awaits them. But for the "earth-dwellers" (the standard expression in Revelation for unbelievers: 8:13; 11:10; 13:12. etc.), there remains the terrifying prospect of judgment.

The Saints are told to rest a little longer until the suffering of their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, should be completed also.

The phrase a little longer presents a theological problem, since it appears to allude to an imminent end of history. But from God's viewpoint what may be but a few moments could be a long period from the human perspective, as is evident from comparing the parallels of Rev. 12:12 ("short time") with 20:3 ("thousand years"..also 2 Pet. 3:8-13). 

As we have repeatedly observed, the "latter days" span the entire period from Christ's resurrection to His final return. The exhortation to rest means that the saints in heaven are to be patient in their desire for God to answer their request. The assurance that God will unquestionably punish the evil world becomes a motivation for Christians to persevere in their witness through suffering on earth. 

(G.K. Beale)

Understanding Revelation (6:9) Devotion

"When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne."

(Revelation 6:9)

Underneath this altar John sees the blood of the slaughtered saints. He saw their souls, for 'the soul is in the blood' (Lev. 17:11). They had offered their lives as a sacrifice, having clung tenaciously to the testimony which they had received concerning the Christ and salvation in Him. These are the souls which under the second seal were being slaughtered. These souls are crying for vengeance on those who have slaughtered them.

The question arises, how can we harmonize this cry for judgment and vengeance with Christ's prayer for His enemies (Luke 23:34) and with Stephen's prayer of 'Lord, lay not this sin to their charge'? We answer, these martyrs do not invoke retribution for their own sake but for God's sake. These saints have been slaughtered because they placed their trust and confidence in God. In slaughtering them, the world has scorned Him! Does not God Himself affirm that the blood of His saints cries for wrath? (Gen. 4:10; Heb. 11:4) Insignificant individuals, mere earth-dwellers, have defied the holy, true, and sovereign Lord of the universe. They have challenged His attributes. Unless full retribution be rendered, God's righteousness and sovereignty will not shine forth in its full and perfect luster. No, the saint in glory does not desire personal vengeance any more than Stephen, but he yearns for the coming of that Great Day when the majesty and holiness, the sovereignty and righteousness of God in Christ shall be publicly revealed.

(William Hendriksen)

Understanding Revelation (6:7-8) Devotion

"When He opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, "Come!" And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider's name was Death, and Hades followed him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth.

(Revelation 6:7-8)

The fourth horse is pale, as a symbol of terror. He is named Death, and Hades, the abode of the dead follows him. The fourth calamity is the most terrible yet, and indeed includes many of the features of the preceding three. The four categories, death, famine, pestilence, and wild beasts, echo (Ezekiel 14:21)~{For thus says the Lord GOD: How much more when I send upon Jerusalem my four disastrous acts of judgment, sword, famine, wild beasts, and pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast!}

The calamities grow in intensity, warming up to the final judgment of the Second Coming. But as yet there is still a limit: only a fourth of the earth.

(Vern Poythress)

Understanding Revelation (6:5-6) Devotion

When He opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, "Come!" And I looked, and behold, a black horse! And its rider had a pair of scales in His hand. And I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures, saying, "A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not harm the oil and wine!"

(Revelation 6:5-6)

Some historical background is necessary to understand the meaning of this particular judgment. In John’s day and age, a quart of wheat was an average day’s supply for a soldier, and that amount of wheat usually cost the typical worker one-eighth of a denarius. But after the black horse goes forth, the price of grain is inflated 800%. Barley was much cheaper but was eaten by the poor since it did not have the food value of wheat. Three quarts of barley for a day’s wage was an outlandish price. But notice that the supplies of oil and wine are not effected.

Therefore, what is symbolized by the rider of the black horse is famine and the resulting economic turmoil. Although famine and the related hardships result from God’s judgment, the famine brought about by the third rider on the black horse is not total. God is holy and will punish all human sin. But God is also gracious and longsuffering. This tells us is that God’s judgments are restrained in some sense, and are limited in their scope until the time of the end. This is what is known as common grace. Indeed, things could be much worse if God was not restraining his wrath and his judgment upon the earth. But one day he will no longer restrain his righteous anger and these cycles of wrath will reach their climax when Christ returns in judgment.

(Kim Riddlebarger)

Understanding Revelation Devotion (6:3-4)

"When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, "Come!" And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword."

(Revelation 6:3-4)

Whereas the first horseman introduces the attempt of Satan to gain dominion over the world, the second horseman seeks to take peace from the earth by stirring up strife and warfare among the world's nations. This includes persecution of believers, as the allusion is to Jesus' warning to His disciples that His coming would bring not peace but a sword to the world (Matt. 10:34). The point of the Mathew text is that Jesus' followers should not be discouraged from confessing His name to the world when persecution comes, since such persecution is part of God's sovereign will. Their faithfulness amidst oppression may result in loss of their physical lives, but it will also result in the salvation of their spiritual lives (so Matt. 10:28-39). The gospel itself produces peace, but the attack of Satan upon its progress leads to war. The phrase that men should slay one another points to the persecution of believers, for the word slay is used otherwise in Revelation only to refer to the deaths of Christ and His followers. 

(G.K. Beale)

Understanding Revelation (6:1-2) Devotion

"Now I watched when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, "Come!" And I looked, and behold, a white horse! And its rider had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering, and to conquer."

(Revelation 6:1-2)

The first rider represents a satanic force attempting to defeat and oppress believers spiritually either through deception (the color white alluding to the attempt to deceive  by imitating Christ and to appear as righteous, as in (2 Cor. 11:14) "And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.", or persecution, or both. This first destructive rider, however, is sent out by Christ, for he is commanded forth by the angelic living creature, and a crown was given to him. Since the first set of four judgments of the trumpets and bowls are divinely commissioned, so must be all four of the horsemen's woes. This is confirmed from Zech. 6:7, where an angel of the Lord commands the four groups of horses to "go" and to execute divine judgment. Thus believers can have confidence that, in spite of their present sufferings, God is in ultimate control, working out His purposes in all that is happening. Satan, of course, is intent on destroying the church (and the world), but God's plan includes Satan pursuing his wicked purposes, because only through them can God work out His higher strategy of refining the saints and punishing the wicked. 

(G.K. Beale)

Understanding Revelation (5:9) Devotion

"And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are You to take the scroll and to open its seals, for You were slain, and by Your blood You ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation"

(Revelation 5:9)

 Throughout the Old Testament, a new song is sung as an expression of praise to God for granting His people victory over their enemies. Given the worthiness of the Lamb who was slain, the new song commemorates Christ’s victory over sin and death and the inauguration of the new creation. The words of the hymn clearly express this. Jesus has died for His chosen ones and in doing so purchased a people from every tribe, language, people and nation. The King is vested with an everlasting Kingdom which extends to the ends of the earth and encompasses His elect from every nation. Because Jesus has conquered death and the grave, all of His people participate in His Kingdom rule by virtue of the new creation, specifically the new birth in Christ, which John will later call “the first resurrection.” All those who are Christ’s are said to reign with Him because death has no hold upon them. The Beast may kill them, but they will reign with Christ nevertheless. And then when Christ comes back at the end of the age, God’s people will rule indeed with Him upon the renewed heaven and earth in the age to come.

(Dr. Kim Riddlebarger)