As I listened to a popular comedian being interviewed, I was happily surprised. Many comedians earn a living being crude. This man was talking about putting God first, family second, and his career third. He spoke of the importance of a day of rest and how he had learned so much more about the way God loved him by comparing it to the way he loved his daughters.

I couldn’t believe how much our convictions were alike. But then, the interviewer asked him, “You don’t believe that God is a God of vengeance, do you?” He answered, “No,” and he explained even more how God is all about love.

As I let his comments soak in, it was evident that he was speaking the theology of the day. Believers and non-believers alike agree that God is all about love. Yet, many who say God is all about love don’t know all about God or His love. To explain God and His love, they are quick to quote 1 Corinthians 13: 4-5, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.” Though this is all true, many forget that verse 6 says, “Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.” That’s why it will be hard for them to understand what Numbers 14:18 or Deuteronomy 7:9-11 say about God’s love:

18 “The LORD is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.”
– Numbers 14:18

9 Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands. 10 But

those who hate him he will repay to their face
by destruction;
he will not be slow to repay to their face
those who hate him.
– Deuteronomy 7:9-10

Many want God’s love to be a caring hug but not a correcting hand. Yet, God’s love is both. Most want God’s love to stand up for you when you’ve been wronged, but not stand against you when you are wrong. Face it, the God of love that many want today is a God that’s all smiles but no substance. He’s nothing more than the grandparent who knows nothing of your life between visits, but never forgets to give you a smile and a hug whenever you drop by. This may be the God many want, but it’s not the way God is.

As we look at Revelation 6, we will explore a side of God’s love many don’t want to see. It’s when the love of God is seen in consequences that are allowed, justice that is rendered, and a wrath that is right. It’s when God’s love is tough.

Love that Allows for Consequences

A brief review is important to appreciate what takes place in verses 1-8. Revelation 4 provides a magnificent vision of heaven’s throne. Through John’s eyes and pen, we are a part of a grand worship experience. Then in Revelation 5, the worship is stopped because of a dilemma. In God’s hand is a scroll sealed with seven seals. It’s God’s title deed to earth. The problem is that God has looked throughout heaven, earth and hell and has found no one worthy to open the seals and enforce the deed. Then in Revelation 5:6-7, Jesus steps forward as the Lamb of God and takes the scroll from God’s hand. Once again, heaven erupts in worship.

Now, in Revelation 6:1-8, Jesus opens the first four seals unleashing what has been called the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. It is the beginning of the consequences allowed by God.

The Consequences of Deception
Revelation 6:1-2 describes a consequence that was foretold by Daniel 600 years before John’s experience and vision. God inspires John to write,

1 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!” 2 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 as a conqueror bent on conquest.

Like the Apostle John, God gave Daniel a vision of the end times. Daniel 9:27 records that the tribulation period will last for seven years. It will begin with the Antichrist coming to assume power. It’s believed that the rider on the white horse in John’s vision is the Antichrist, for he rides out “as a conqueror bent on conquest.” Yet there has been some confusion.

Because John describes Jesus riding a white horse and wearing many crowns in Revelation 19:11-12, some see the one on the white horse in Revelation 6 as Jesus. Yet I believe it’s the Antichrist. Here’s why. Both are on a white horse because a white horse was associated with conquest and triumph. The difference, however, is seen in their crowns. The crown of the Antichrist in Revelation 6:2 is the Greek word stephanos, which was the crown given to those who had won an event. The many crowns worn by Jesus in Revelation 19:12 are not stephanos but diademas. They are the crowns worn by royalty. Thus the distinction is clear. Though the Antichrist may be victorious for a season, Jesus is the one who is victorious forever.

Regarding how the Antichrist will assume power, it will not be by force. Revelation 6:2 explains that though the rider carries “a bow,” there are no arrows. Yet make no mistake, he will assume world power and he will use deception to do so.

Consider the setting of his coming. The church has been raptured. The world is in disarray. As you will see in the other seals to be opened, wars and famines will plague the world as well. In the midst of all this, the Antichrist will come promising peace. According to Daniel 9:27, he will make a seven-year agreement with Israel and others. However, halfway into that agreement he will break it, showing his true colors. As a result, those who remain during the tribulation will endure the consequences of life under a great deceiver (2 Thessalonians 2:8-12).

The Consequences of War
With the title-deed of the world in His hand, Jesus opens the second seal in Revelation 6:3-4.

3 When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 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.

Like the color of the dragon in Revelation 12:3 and the beast in Revelation 17:3, the horse that emerges is red. It’s the color of terror, death and bloodshed. Now the bow has been replaced with a sword and peace with war. It’s a violent time to be alive with a deceiver in power.

The Consequences of Famine
With the deceiver in power a third seal is opened. Revelation 6:5-6 describes a time when you would want your leader to rule with compassion, not deception, for there is a great famine in the world.

5 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 hand. 6 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 the wine!”

War and famine go hand in hand. Farmers can’t tend to the fields and the fields are devastated by war. Consequently, the rider is astride a black horse. Twice in the King James Version, black is the color used to describe a time of famine (Jeremiah 14:1-2; Lamentations 5:10). The rider is carrying scales to show that during the famine a laborer’s daily wages may buy enough food for him but not his family. Therefore, to care for his family, he will have to buy barley instead of wheat. Barley had far less nutritional value, that’s why it was given to livestock. But now, he was buying it to feed his family just so they could survive.

The Consequences of Death
The outcome of deception, war and famine are understood as Jesus opens the fourth seal and the last horseman is summoned. Revelation 6:7-8 states,

7 When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” 8 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.

Literally, the Greek language depicts the pale horse in a greenish-yellow color. It’s the same word used by Homer to describe the ashen color of a face when fear has drained it of all blood. It’s only fitting that the horse is the color of a corpse for its rider is Death and its being followed closely by Hades. The years of deception, war and famine will take their toll as one fourth of the world’s inhabitants will be destroyed body and soul.

As these consequences are described, many today would read them in doubt saying, “A loving God would never allow this to happen.” Yet, they forget the times in history when He already did.

In Exodus 7-11, God allowed Egypt to endure ten plagues the last of which was the death of every firstborn male. God allowed it so that Egypt would know that Israel belonged to God. In 1 Kings 18, God allowed Israel to experience a three-year drought. Israel’s heart was spiritually dry, so God caused the land to become dry until they turned their hearts back to God. In Luke 15, Jesus tells the story of a loving father with a prodigal son. The son leaves home to live his ways not his father’s ways. When the son wastes all his money and a famine dries the land, he finds himself longing to eat the food given to livestock. (This sounds like the famine described in Revelation 6:5-6.) It is then he comes to himself and decides to return home. There he plans to ask his father’s forgiveness and surrender his life to his father’s ways. He has come to this place in his life because his father allowed him to experience the consequences of his stubborn will.

Please try to understand, by rapturing only the church and allowing unbelievers to endure the consequence of the tribulation, God sends a telling message to those left behind. Through the rapture He says, “Those who are no longer here truly did belong to me.” Furthermore, by allowing those who remain to endure the famine in the land, they may come to see themselves as spiritually dry and finally surrender their lives to God. Revelation 7 explains that during the tribulation God will appoint 144,000 Jews to serve as world-wide evangelists. God will still offer His grace in the midst of His wrath. By allowing the stubborn to endure the consequences of their own actions, some might actually be saved.

For the father of the prodigal son, it took amazing love to let his son go and experience his consequences—for there was no guarantee that he would come around and come home. For God the Father, it takes amazing love for Him to allow those left behind to endure the consequences of the tribulation. But, it’s worth it for the hope that some will come around and come home.

Love that is Just

God’s love is not only seen in the consequences He allows, it’s also evident in the action He takes. Benjamin Disraeli, Great Britain’s first and only Jewish Prime Minister, said it well, “Justice is truth in action.” It’s clear in Revelation 6:9-11 that God’s love compels Him to put His truth into action.

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.

An old African proverb states, “Corn can’t expect justice from a court composed of chickens.” As was made clear in our study of Revelation 5, though God still owns the title-deed of earth, this is not the world God hoped it would be. Satan’s deception and our sins have skewed the world’s sense of justice. Thus since the birth of the church, believers have been persecuted and, during the tribulation period, that persecution is elevated to an unimaginable extreme.

Until Jesus returns, believers have been and will continue to be the corn in the courtroom of chickens. Yet when Jesus opens the fifth seal, God’s love takes action. And God will have justice for His martyrs and His Son.

Justice for God’s Martyrs
Verse 9 reports that John “saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained.” Leviticus 4 explains that when an animal was sacrificed in the Old Testament, its blood was poured out at the base of the brazen altar. During the years of tribulation many that surrender to Jesus will be martyred (Revelation 1:2, 9; 11:7; 12:11, 17; 14:13; 20:4). Like the animals’ blood at the base of the Old Testament altar, John sees the souls of those martyred for Jesus’ sake.

What’s moving is that not one of them asks, “Why?” None of them ask God, “Why did you allow me to be martyred?” I’m afraid that many believers today are asking God “Why?” for far less. “Why did you allow my illness? Why did you allow me to be fired? Why did you allow the accident to take place?” Don’t get me wrong. I don’t believe it’s wrong to ask God “Why?” when you are trying to understand how best to honor God in an unwanted and unexpected situation that He has allowed. However, many believers are asking God “Why?” because you think it’s God’s job to protect you from those situations. Actually, as a believer it’s your job to give your life to Him. It’s your job to live for Him and honor Him regardless of what He allows to happen to you. It seems that martyrs understand this.

Yet, they did ask one question. In verse 10 the martyred souls asked God, “How long…until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” Though the question comes from those martyred during the tribulation, their question represents others persecuted for God throughout history. Others in scripture have asked God how long till He deals justly with the actions of the ungodly (Psalm 74:9-10; 94:3-7; 119:84-88; Habakkuk 1:2-4).

Part of God’s justice is being rendered during the tribulation years as life in those days will feel unbearable. Yet, God tells them that His justice will be made complete in just a little while longer. Therefore, He cares for them by placing a robe of glory upon them and asking them to wait. Out of His love for them, God will make it right. He will render His justice.

Justice for God’s Son
If God’s love for His martyrs causes Him to render justice, then His love for His Son demands it. John makes this clear when in 1 John 4:9-10 he wrote,

9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Around 500 B.C. the government of the Locians flourished because of the strict but benevolent leadership of Zaleusus. One of his strict laws said that the eyes of an adulterer must be put out. When his own son became guilty of adultery, Zaleusus didn’t amend his law but neither did he hide his love for his son. He had one of his own eyes put out along with one of his son’s.

Romans 6:23 underscores the law and the love of our heavenly Father when stating, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” God didn’t amend His law for us, but neither did He withhold His love for us. He sent His own Son to die for our sins. And if God doesn’t render justice to those who have rejected His love, then He would have to apologize to His Son for sending Him to die.

God’s love for His martyrs and His Son is too strong not to render justice. I saw such love displayed recently by Loree’s mom. Ganny, as we affectionately call her, has the privilege of keeping her great grandsons a few days each week while their parents work. Mason is three years old and his younger brother Luke is almost one. Mason’s routine once he enters Ganny and Papa’s house is to head for his toy spot. There, he puts on an old towel as a cape, reaches for an old stick that has become his sword and is immediately transformed into Captain Hook. I guess one day he saw his little brother Luke as Peter Pan and pushed him over as he walked by. Ganny quickly picked up a crying Luke and exclaimed to Mason, “Mason, you apologize to your brother.” Slowly Mason turned to his Ganny, lifted his sword to her nose and said, “Captain Hook doesn’t apologize.” With that statement Captain Hook promptly found himself without his sword, sitting in the “timeout chair.” There Ganny told him, “You can get down once you have apologized to Luke.” It seemed that Captain Hook wasn’t ever going to apologize. Then easily he slid from his chair, walked over to his brother and said, “Sorry, Lukie.” At that moment all was well again in Ganny’s Neverland.

I love what Ganny did because it mirrors God’s love. Because Ganny loved Luke, she wasn’t going to let his mistreatment go without justice. And because Ganny loved Mason, she wasn’t going to let Mason get by thinking she would change her ways so he could do whatever he wants. In time, when Mason realized Ganny wasn’t going to budge, he changed his ways to live in her house.

I see God’s love that way. God’s love for His martyrs and His Son will not allow their sacrifice to go without justice. And I believe that one of the reasons God makes it clear that His love will have justice is so that those who think that God will change His ways for them will in time surrender their will, their ways, their lives for Him.

Love that Promises Wrath

To send a strong message of His unchanging ways, God promises that a day will come that His love will be seen in His wrath. You hear this in Revelation 6:12-17.

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?”

As we come to the end of chapter 6, there are two aspects of this chapter that often go unrecognized. One is that in the original manuscripts every verse except verse 17 begins with the Greek word “kai.” It’s our word for “and.” Thus, the chapter doesn’t read as a sequential checklist of end time events. Chapter 6 reads more as one dramatic vision that is continually unfolding before John’s eyes.

When you read chapter 6 with that understanding, you discover an amazing similarity to what John saw and what Jesus said in Matthew 24. In Matthew 24:3, Jesus’ disciples ask Him, “Tell us…when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” In his book, Because the Time is Near, pastor and author John MacArthur places what Jesus said and what John saw side-by-side. The comparison is griping.

JESUS SAID Matthew 24:4-5 Matthew 24:6-7 Matthew 24:7 Matthew 24:7 Matthew 24:9 Matthew 24:29 Matthew 24:37ff

JOHN SAW 1st Seal 2nd Seal 3rd Seal 4th Seal 5th Seal 6th Seal 7th Seal

THE CONTENTS False Peace Worldwide War Famine Earthquakes – death Divine Judgment Cosmic Darkness – physical destruction Cataclysmic Events (the seven trumpets)1

From Daniel’s visions 530 years before Jesus’ birth in Daniel 9…to Jesus’ statements in Matthew 24…to John’s vision over 60 years after Jesus’ death in Revelation 6…to our reading it today, for over 2500 years, God has made it clear what will happen to those who are left behind. He has made it known what the consequences will be and what His wrath will look like. What type of parent would God be if He only gave threats? What kind of children would we be if God never took action?

I remember James Dobson telling the story of a family sitting at a restaurant. The son was acting horribly, so his dad asked him to stop. When the son didn’t mind, the dad said, “Son, if you don’t mind, I’ll have to spank you.” Well, the son continued misbehaving, so the dad walked him outside and spanked him. Apparently, a woman in the restaurant heard the conversation between the dad and his son—especially the word “spanking”—and followed them outside. When the dad finished spanking his son, the appalled woman berated the dad for his mistreatment of his son and stomped away. As she was walking away, the son looked up to his dad and said, “Dad, what’s her problem?”

For the son, there was no problem. His dad had told him in advance what the consequences would be if he didn’t mind. I’m sure his dad had fulfilled his promise before when his son misbehaved. For this boy, his dad’s actions were consistent with his love. However, it would have been abusive if the dad spanked without any warning or without any explanation of the inappropriate behavior and promised consequences.

God has made it clear that He loves you. He has also made it clear that living your life outside His will and ways is unacceptable behavior. Through Daniel’s visions, Jesus’ statements, and John’s vision, God has made it clear. If you don’t surrender your life to Him you will experience His wrath. That’s not a statement of abuse but one of love, particularly when God has given you foreknowledge of what He will do and what you need to do to avoid it. That’s actually love.

A Tragic Response

There are still many today, like the comedian I mentioned earlier, who think God is all about love, not wrath. Yet, I like what A.W. Tozer said. Tozer surrendered his life to Jesus at age seventeen and became a pastor at twenty-two. In his forty-four years of ministry, Tozer published over forty works. Surprisingly, most of his books were published after he died. According to his biographer, James Snyder, what has made Tozer’s works so appealing is that “His preaching as well as his writings were but extensions of his prayer life.” For Tozer, life was all about his sincere desire to know God more, and in knowing God more he believed you weaken God’s love if you take away His wrath. God’s compassion requires both goodness and justice. Tozer wrote,

God’s compassion flows out of his goodness, and goodness without justice is not goodness. God spares us because he is good, but he could not be good if he were not just. – A. W. Tozer²

God is good and He is just. That’s why His love will allow for consequences, justice and wrath. If there were no justice in God, we would take advantage of His goodness. We’d do and live as we pleased and assume God would understand because He is good. Yet because God is just and good, because His love has wrath, we know we can’t get by doing what we want. That’s why it’s best to run to Him now because of His love instead of running from Him later because of His wrath.

In case you missed it, that is the great tragedy recorded in Revelation 6:15-17:

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?”

The first tragedy was that they waited too long to surrender their lives to Jesus and now face God’s wrath. But the greatest tragedy of all was that in the midst of God’s wrath they broke and ran to hide from God instead of running humbled and broken before God.

No matter how much you want to, you can’t change the way God is nor can you change the promises He has made. His love is strong not soft. He is good and just. He allows for consequences to get our attention and has promised wrath when we fail to heed. You can’t change Him to fit your ways, but a loving God is giving you time to change your life to fit His. When you do, you will be so grateful for God’s tough love.