Greetings. This is Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church with the Moment of Truth, where we challenge you to think through an important issue of life and faith. And today, I want to challenge you to think through the issue of the four horsemen of the apocalypse in the book of Revelation and what they portend for the future of our planet and for the salvation of mankind. All the rest of the book of Revelation is going to be taken up then with the breaking of the seals as the seals unfold into the trumpets and the trumpets unfold into the bowls of judgment.

But it all begins here with the breaking of the seven seals in the book of Revelation, where the four horsemen of the apocalypse are loosed. But before we unpack this text from Revelation chapter six, I just want to invite you to come and join us for our Bible study, our community Bible study, the book of Revelation, a community study of the apocalypse. And we have been at this now for a number of weeks. I've lost track of how many weeks we've been at this, but it's been so fun. And we've had a good representation of people, people who maybe don't have a church or they come out from other churches.

There's a few people from our own church, but it's a great mix of people. And we have been studying the book of Revelation bit by bit, chapter by chapter. And I've been doing it in conjunction with Pastor Mike Galea of Share the Sun Ministries. And of course, I am Pastor David Bass of New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church. But we have taken it off of church property, per se, to try to make it more of a community study.

We meet at Starbucks on 17th Street in Idaho Falls. And we've been able to get a good strong cup of coffee, which I love. I will never turn that down. And we gather around the table and there's anywhere from eight or nine of us to 15 or 16 of us. And people are sharing their points of view, their understanding of the book of Revelation.

And then Pastor Mike and myself are guiding those discussions. And we're also giving our perspectives and information from our studies. And it's been a very, very profitable venture for all of us, for all concerned. And so I invite you to join us on Thursday evenings at 7 p.m. at Starbucks on 17th Street in Idaho Falls. We end promptly at 815.

So everybody can get out of there. We have a couple of families with children, too. So we want to make sure they get to bed in time. But of course, this coming Thursday is Thanksgiving. So we will not have a Bible study on Thanksgiving.

But we will then the following week. And that would be December 5th. Thursday evening, December 5th will be our next study. And we will see you then, hopefully. Come on out and join us.

It's been so much fun. And we can always make room for a few more. Well, let's continue then in our study of the book of Revelation thus far. We finished chapter 5 last week. And so we're going to take up chapter 6 this week.

And the title of my message today is Horseman from Revelation 6, verses 1 through 8. So let me read Revelation 6, verses 1 through 8, and give you a sense for the text that is under consideration. Here we go. I watched as the lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, come.

I looked, and there before me was a white horse. Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown. And he rode out, conquering and to conquer. When the lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, come. Then another horse came out, a fiery red one.

Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other. To him was given a large sword. When the lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, come. I looked, and there before me was a black horse. Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hands.

Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures saying, a quart of wheat for a day's wages, and three quarts of barley for a day's wages, and do not damage the oil and wine. When the lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, come. I looked, and there before me was a pale horse. Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine, and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

Oh, the four horsemen of the apocalypse. They have been celebrated, have they not, in art and in sports, too. This is where I'm most familiar with the four horsemen of the apocalypse. Do you know these men? A man named Harry Staldreyer, Don Millard, Jim Crowley, and Elmer Layden.

Oh, these men were, for me, my introduction to the four horsemen of the apocalypse. They were the backfield for the 1924 squad of the Notre Dame fighting Irish football team. Any of you who are sports fans, football fans, you know this backfield, don't you? For two years, they beat every opponent, and they won every game but two, breaking records, and amazing the nation. There's a famous picture of the Mount Horses, too, each holding a football cradle in his arm, and adding to their prestige, of course, they were coached by the famous Newt Rockne.

They were made famous by the sports writer George Strickler of the Chicago Tribune, who penned this lead one day in his sports column. He says, outlined against a blue-gray October sky, the four horsemen rode again. In dramatic lore, their names are Death, Destruction, Pestilence, and Famine, but these are aliases. Their real names are Staldreyer, Crowley, Miller, and Layden. They formed the crest of the South Bend Cyclone, before which another fighting army team was swept over the precipice at the polo grounds this afternoon as 55,000 spectators peered down upon the bewildering panorama spread out upon the green plain below, unquote.

Pretty melodramatic, but that's characteristic of a sports writer, isn't it? And just for your information, I wasn't there to see that in 1924. I just grew up as a young boy in the 50s and 60s, loving all things football. Nothing was more famous in college football, of course, than Notre Dame and Newt Rockne and the four horsemen of the apocalypse. They destroyed defenses that conquered other teams as if they were mere pins before an unstoppable bowling ball.

Well, hearing this and seeing this as a young boy, imagine my surprise when I first encountered the four horsemen of the apocalypse in the book of Revelation. And my first reaction was, wow, the Bible is actually mimicking football. It's describing what God does, just as what Newt Rockne did with his football team. At first, I didn't think it could be any other way. After all, even the sports writer George Strickler had said, in dramatic lore, their names are death, destruction, pestilence, and famine, but these are aliases.

Their real names are Stolder, Crowley, Miller, and Layden. To a young mind steeped more in football than the Bible, and that was my case as a young boy, that's the way it had to be. The four writers of Notre Dame came along before the four writers of Revelation. Their real names are Stolder, Crowley, Miller, and Layden. Yet, of course, dear listener, in reality, it was the other way around, isn't it?

The Bible came first. Notre Dame came some 2,000 years later. But my simplistic experience is also that of so many others who read the book of Revelation. So many modern contemporary readers read their experience into the Bible and assume it is that which was the Apostle John's as well and of what he spoke. It is true the text before us today can mean only what today's headlines tells us it means to so many people.

Wars, famine, pestilence, and conquest can only mean what's going on in the world today. But is that so? Oh, dear listener, might not Revelation tell us something of what Christ was doing in John's own day as well as ours. Well, let's look to our text today to find out. First of all, verses 1 and 2.

Verses 1 and 2, dear listener, we have. Then, verses 1 and 2, it reads, I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. He has the will and testament in his hand now or does, and he opens this first seal. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, come. I looked in there before me.

It was a white horse. Its rider held a bow. He was given a crown, and he rode out, conquering and to conquer. Well, our text opens then with that telltale phrase that indicates a change of venue. Now, I watched when, right, the action of our scene originates in heaven, but issues upon the earth.

This is that process that we call oscillation. We're all through the book of Revelation and apocalyptic literature in general. That means books like Ezekiel or Daniel, the book of Revelation as well. In the apocalyptic, we have this process of oscillation where we go between heaven and earth, and this action of our scene is prompted by all that we've seen that has transpired before.

That is, John, after receiving the messages to the church as a whole and the letters to the seven churches of Asia, remember that John is transported to the heavenly perspective to witness the ground upon which all that precious promise and threats given in those letters to those churches are based. And what is that solid ground? Of course, it is. As we saw last week, the last two weeks, really, the seven-sealed scroll, the will and testament of the father to a son who is worthy to open it and then receive the promised inheritance.

We know this because we know that a seven-sealed document in the ancient world could be none other than a will and testament. You may remember one of my favorite commentators, a man named Zahn, puts it this way. He says, the word biblion itself permits of many interpretations. That was the Greek word for the seven-sealed scroll. Biblion, that word biblion itself permits of many interpretations.

It could be a book of destiny or a book of providence or maybe a deed of purchase to. But then Zahn goes on to say, but for the readers of that time, it was designated by the seven seals on its back. Beyond possibility of mistake, the most simple member of the Asiatic churches knew that a biblion made fast with seven seals was a testament that is a will. And so, the only one worthy to open the seals of such a document was he who earned that right by dying the death of the testator. Remember?

We understood this too. Remember what Hebrews tells us about ancient wills and testaments in the Roman culture of that time. He says, for where a will is involved, the death of the testator who made it must be established. For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive. Right?

Jesus died that death of the testator of a new covenant. And by that death, he bought a people for himself by ransom. Remember, that was the theme of the song of the 24 elders. Because Christ bought a people for himself by ransom from every nation, tribe, tongue, and people. And this is why he alone is worthy to take the scroll from the hand of the Father and begin to take possession of that inheritance and do it now.

Oh, dear listener, from here on, our narrative kicks into warp drive in the model of Joshua and the conquest. Yes, we'll see that unfolds from here on in. Yeshua, that is Jesus, is the new Joshua. And now the conquest is the new paradigm. The conquest of Canaan in the book of Joshua, it is the type, the anti-type, is now the conquest of all creation by the new Joshua.

But that conquest is still the new paradigm. And of course, creation, and not just Canaan is the inheritance now. And it's not only his inheritance, but ours as well. Because the Bible tells us, Paul tells us, especially very affectionately, that we are Christ now. And we are sons, sons by adoption.

And if sons, then heirs, co-heirs with Christ. So John's first observation then is the one worthy opening the first seal. Oh, that first seal pops. Do not run past too quickly. That it's one of the four living creatures, these creatures who preside in the great council, right?

We see the great council, the God, where God is declared to be the God of gods in the Psalms, for example. Or the sons of God gathered together with God to deliberate and to determine what will go on in the world. And the prophets as well. The great council then, one of the four living creatures. One of these then is the one declares what is coming out in the first seal.

He is closest to the throne, which four creatures symbolize dominion over the four corners of creation too. Numbers in apocalyptic are symbolic. And the number four is the number of comprehensiveness. Comprehensiveness either of heaven or of earth or of all creation. And here the number four, the four creatures are comprehensive of the four corners of creation, like the four points of the compass.

And this one whose voice thunders then the summons of the first horseman. And once more, without context, we lose the meaning of the text, don't we? Our Lord is relying upon us to remember what four horses meant in the book of Zechariah, for example, another apocalyptic book, four horses in Zechariah. Go read chapter one of the book of Zechariah, and you'll see where John is relying. In chapter one, these four horsemen were sent, these four horses were sent out to patrol the earth and then report back peace in a pagan world.

And what is promised in Zechariah chapter one is that peace the Lord would promptly remove in judging favor of his city that is Jerusalem. Oh, and then in chapter four of Zechariah, we have, or chapter six of Zechariah, excuse me, we have four chariots with horses. Substantially, these horses are the same color as these here in Revelation. It's a deliberate illusion that's meant to trigger our understanding. And these four chariots went out to the four winds of heaven, that is to the extent of creation, after presenting themselves before the Lord of all the earth, that is being commissioned for the divine council for their task.

Oh, this is the rich tradition from the book of Zechariah upon which John is drawing in his understanding now in the book of Revelation as the four horsemen of the apocalypse are loosed. And the idea of patrolling the earth in Zechariah too. Very important to understand the context for the four horsemen of the apocalypse in Revelation, and they have their roots in Zechariah. And the idea of patrolling the earth in Zechariah is identical with that in Revelation. That is maintaining the interests of the great king and executing his will in judgment.

In Zechariah 6, remember, chariots issued for two mountains of bronze, which fiery metal bronze, fiery bronze, glistening bronze, is almost always associated in apocalyptic literature with a judgment of God. And we had the example earlier in the letters, right, of our Lord's feet of burnished bronze, symbolic of his all-knowing, omniscient sense in which to judge. So these four horsemen will inaugurate the conquest of our Lord's inheritance by bringing judgment upon the present inhabitants, occupying his claim, even as Joshua and Israel expelled and exterminated those dwelling on the land in Canaan and made it Israel, didn't they?

Our Lord and we as the church, as the new Israel, we accompany him, and we are co-heirs. And so we help to take ground from the imposters, from the claim jumpers, if you will, who are inhabiting our inheritance. And then who better to inaugurate that subjection of the land than the Lord himself? This is the first rider, I submit to you. This is the first rider, the rider on a white horse.

And we know this because apocalyptic genre regularly employs the technique of recapitulation. That is, a theme is brought back multiple times to show a different or similar aspect of it. It's like examining the different facets of a fine gem, right? And we see this then, the rider on a white horse here, the white horse symbolic of victory and being a champion and being a king, right? Here, the rider on a white horse with a crown and sword bent on conquering.

The same image is brought back for us for our consideration back in future in chapter 19. Yes, chapter 19, we see this rider on a white horse, do we not? Chapter 19, verse 11 of Revelation, I saw heaven standing open, and there before me was a white horse whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns.

He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe, dipped in blood, and his name is the word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth came a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, right? This rider in chapter 19 then is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ.

All the characteristics of the Lord Jesus Christ we see all through Revelation, and he is also then here in chapter 6 too, because apocalyptic as a genre, as a type or kind of writing, regularly does this. They recapitulate previously established themes. Chapter 19 will do that, and we'll see this also in other places too, where this very same image of our Lord Jesus Christ as a conquering king, riding forth to capture and to conquer, will be reprised as well, but formally and most fully recapitulated then in Revelation chapter 19. Now, other contenders for who this first rider is just don't fit the context.

I'm sorry, especially Hal Lindsey's choice. Dear listener, if you're a follower of Hal Lindsey, David Chilton puts it this way. He says, amazingly, the run-of-the-mill dispensational interpretation claims that this rider on the white horse is the Antichrist. Showing where his faith lies, Hal Lindsey goes all the way and declares that the Antichrist is the only person who could accomplish all these feats, unquote. Oh, really?

The only one? Do you see how important it is to have a proper grasp of a book's genre, its type or kind of writing, and it is apocalyptic. Without understanding its genre, where you have this technique of recapitulation, solidly identifying this rider on the white horse as Christ, without context and without a grasp of a book's genre, you get these egregious errors of interpretation that come to polar opposite understandings, right? That couldn't be further from the truth. One of these has to be wrong.

Either the rider on the white horse here in chapter 6 is either the Lord Jesus Christ or the Antichrist, and he can't get more polar opposites. So important to have a grasp of the genre of apocalyptic, because by its very nature, it is symbolic and spiritual, not literal and plain in its meaning. Let me underline that for you. The genre of apocalyptic, by its very nature, is symbolic and spiritual, as we have seen time and time again, even thus far. And the genre of apocalyptic is not literal and plain in its meaning, as dispensational pre-millennialists like to assert.

So, lest there be any doubt as to his mission, John then erases any doubt with his inelegant Greek. He says, he came out conquering, that is, in the present, and to conquer, that is, into the indefinite future, that is, until everything is in his hands. He will conquer until there's nothing left to conquer. But in this, he is aided by other horsemen. And we have here, then, another horseman in verses 3 and 4, that is, issuing from God's throne conflict and confusion are ordained for conquest in a red horse.

Oh, yes, in verses 3 and 4, now we proceed like good Presbyterians in good order, that is, the form of action is the same. The second seal is opened by the Lamb, and the second creature of dominion on the divine council calls forth a blood red horse, also evocative of Zechariah. There may be chaos and confusion on the earth, but not in heaven. New. All is orderly proceeding.

Red is the color for bloodshed in apocalyptic, and this rider delivers, too. Just as Zechariah's horse and rider in chapter 1 had a mission to take peace from Israel's enemies, so this rider does the same kind of mission on the Lamb's claim. That is all of creation. It's characteristic of a land about to be subdued by a foreign enemy, right? Canaan was thrown into conflict and confusion at the appearance of Joshua in Israel.

The peoples were in great fear, and heretofore unseen alliances were made. Cities shed to one another's blood, like the northern alliance's attack on Gibeon, right? And Jerusalem was thrown into conflict and confusion at the appearance of the Roman legions. In AD 66, Josephus records the rivers of blood that ran in the streets of the city during the siege, when conflict and confusion reigned supreme. Such that, as he says, if the Romans had not cut short those days, no one would have survived.

All the inhabitants would have perished, right? And of course, the entire Roman empire was thrown into conflict and confusion at the appearance of the barbarians on the frontiers of the empire. And for almost two centuries, a battle of attrition ensued, characterized by bloodshed. Once again, the blood red horse of the apocalypse, right? Bloodshed, conflict and confusion then as the Roman empire collapsed.

Revelation will predict both of these calamities. We'll see this in the future. But what will arise in each of these cases is a new order of things, too. Instead of an earthly temple, the heavenly one will reign supreme. Instead of a colloquial Israel, the people of God will be the church purchased by Christ's own blood from every tribe and language and people and nation.

And of course, upon the ashes of the old Roman empire will arise a new civilization based on Christian principles emerging from the dark ages into what we now know as Western civilization. As imperfect as it is yet, right? In each case, though, Christ will have conquered and he will have extended his dominion a little further. Dominion is our destiny, dear listener. This is the theme of revelation.

The conquest is the new paradigm. On and on we will proceed with every new generation, with every child born and baptized, with every new pagan convert and foreign mission established. We'll take a little more ground. Dominion is our destiny, dear listener. Oh, this has been Pastor David Bass at New Geneva Orthodox Presbyterian Church.

We will continue our study then of this precious chapter of the four horsemen of the apocalypse next time we get together. But until then, I invite you to join us on Sunday morning. I'm preaching through the book of Revelation. Join us for worship. We meet for holy worship on Sunday at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard.

Join us. Come cross our threshold. You've been thinking about it for a while. This is a good time then to explore us, to check us out. We're preaching through the book of Revelation.

And we meet for holy worship on Sunday at 10 a.m. at 101 4th Street on the corner of 4th and Boulevard. And you can call us for more information at area code 208-523-0196. That's 208-523-0196.