And I saw when the Lamb opened one
of the seals, and I heard, as it were the
noise of thunder, one of the four beast
saying, Come and see. And I saw, and behold
a white horse; and He that sat on him had
a bow; and a crown was given unto Him: and
He went forth conquering, and to conquer.
Revelation 6:1-2
The seals, as was mentioned in an earlier blog, was a scroll, a scroll contained seven sheets and only one at a time could be unrolled, the others remained rolled. This account of seals in Revelations was not the first time they were mentioned for Isaiah wrote about "words that were sealed" in: "And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed" (Isaiah 29:11). When the first seal was opened John heard thunder. What could this mean? Thunder is used throughout Scripture and power is represented by thunder: "And as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel: but the LORD thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines, and discomfited them; and there were smitten before Israel" (1Samuel 7:10). Job adds: "Lo, these are parts of His ways: but how little a portion is heard of Him? but the thunder of His power who can understand" (Job 26:14)? The Psalmist gives more clarification: "The voice of Thy thunder was in the heaven: the lightnings lightened the world: the earth trembled and shook" (Psalm 77:18). To the chief musician: "Thou calledst in trouble,and I delivered thee; I answered thee in the secret place of thunder: I proved thee at the waters of Meribah, Selah" (Psalm 81:7). Isaiah speaks: "Thou shalt be visited of the LORD of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest,and the flame of devouring fire" (Isaiah 29:6). Two of the apostles were called "sons of fire:" "and James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James; and He surnamed them Boanerges, which is, The sons of Thunder" (Mark 3:17). When Jesus prayed there was a sound of thunder and the people present heard the sound: "The people therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it thundered: others said, An angel spake to Him" (John 12:29). One of the ministering living being called John to come up and see what the seal had upon it and what John saw was a rider upon a white horse. There have been many interpretations about the white horse, but to a simple and more direct understanding is that white is a symbol of purity, righteousness and the rider had a bow in His hand. A bow is an instrument to shoot arrows and arrows have long been used symbolically: "God brought him forth out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn: he shall eat up the nations his enemies, and shall break their bones, and pierce them through with His arrows" (Numbers 24:9). God gives this warning: "I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them"....I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh; and that with the blood of the slain and of the captives, from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy" (Deuteronomy 32:23; 42). The Psalmist writes: "But God shall shoot at them with an arrow; suddenly shall they be wounded" (Psalm 64:7). Speaking how God works: "He bent His bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow. He hath caused the arrows of His quiver to enter into my reins" (Lamentations 3:12-13). When a person is convicted of their sin(s) they feel as though they have been pierced by an arrow and this by the word of God leading them to conviction and to repentance. God's arrows are far reaching so no one can escape them even when God is using them as a means of chastising. A crown was placed upon the head of the rider and crowns have long been a symbol and an instrument of victory.
The rider goes forth conquering and to conquer and as long as there are sinners, He will continue to go forth to conquer. As long as the Church is disobedient He will continue to reach out to bring the Church back into the fold for if they do not allow this then they are considered enemies of God. Jesus Christ comes in power, not just for the Church but for the wicked. This work of conquering is not something that happens in a minute, no, the words "go forth" are in the aorist tense in Greek and is indicative, that is, it happens, when is not given, but it will happen and is happening as it is indicative. The conquering will continue until Jesus Christ comes for His bride. This work by Jesus Christ is effective and will happen in His time.
This lesson then is: will you be shot by an arrow or will you duck so as if you could miss the shot? You cannot, for you will either way, believe on Jesus or not, be hit, Jesus does not miss the mark.
Take fast hold of instruction:
let her not go: keep her;
for she is they life.
Proverbs 4:13
Be of good cheer: God loves you
Richard L. Crumb
Richard L. Crumb
No comments:
Post a Comment