That's Just Awful! Rev, 6:1-8

This morning we're going to continue on with our study in Revelation. We'll be, as Helmut read, diving into chapter 6 here, which kind of turns a big corner. So let's join together and look at it. One of the things that's important for us to do, and I'm sure you'll agree, is just kind of make sure that we take a look at the big picture, kind of take a moment from time to time to make sure we know where we're at. So this is just to help us know where we're at.

In our study of the book of Revelation, unlike being swallowed by a snake, we've been through five of the 22 chapters. So the truth is, we've been through less than a quarter of it, even though it was middle September when we started. We've taken pauses at a couple of different places to examine teachings of the scripture regarding, for example, the rapture, the book of Daniel, chapter 9, 24-27. And to keep ourselves oriented this morning, because I think there's value in just kind of keeping the big picture in front of us, we're going to take a look at that as well and get the rats out of the way.

And here in the big picture, we're starting into chapter 6. That puts us right where this kind of green arrow is here. We're right here on the cusp, right at the brink, if you will, of the tribulation period, as we read. And one of the things to note, we've been for chapters 4 and 5 at the heavenly scene. Now things are going to take a turn for the ominous and the severe. And I think it's important to keep our frame of reference there.

There is no question, especially since we've been through chapters 4 and 5 and seen what has lead up to this time, there's no question but what these judgments originate from heaven itself. These come from heaven from an act of the Lamb that's been authorized at the right time by the Father. So they don't just sort of happen on planet Earth. These are God's intentional occurrences here on planet Earth.

So, one other thing to take a look at as we look at that, even though these are God's actions, we will in various places, including what we look at this morning, we will see human agents, earthly agents, that are going to be carrying out the wrath of the Lamb.

So take a look at your handout, and we'll take a look here as well on the overhead. These are what I like to call the three sevens. These three sevens are the seven seals, the seven bowls, and the seven trumpets. Actually, the order is seals, trumpets, and bowls. But in one view here, we have from chapter 6 to 16 all in one view. You essentially have those 11 chapters all in one look here in this chart.

What impresses me as I look at this prophetic masterpiece that we call Revelation is that John is writing very systematically. He's writing very clearly in terms of what's happening. And this chart helps bring out how systematically The Apostle John is writing here as he lays out before us the things that the Lord has revealed to him. Once we've understood the meaning of a word, that meaning also becomes clear to us and helps us to understand again and again what that symbol is in the rest of the passage.

So as we take a look at these patterns in these sections of scripture, Here you can see in the handout, it shows, for example, the judgment comes in three sets of seven. So that's systematic, isn't it? The next thing, each of the seven judgments has an interlude between the sixth and the seventh. I've noted here with this yellow highlighting. In each one of them, there is consistently this interlude between the sixth and the seventh judgment.

The next thing, Between the second and the third set of judgments, there are three chapters that spell out for us some additional things that are outside of these judgments. The prophecies of the woman, the red dragon, the child, the angelic battle, one world satanic rule, the lamb, the 144,000, the gospel angel, doom for the worshipers of the beast, and reapers. That all comes out in this period between the second and the third set of judgments. Then, one of the things to note here is right here where it is in this trumpets releasing and this earthquake that is an interlude there, it talks about two powerful and godly witnesses striking with more plagues than the beast.

That I've included in that section, although the impacts stand way outside of that area. But all in all, you see this is incredibly systematic, and leave it to a former engineer to look at this kind of a chart. Now, something else to note, and it comes out in the chart, the severity of the judgments increases as you go through the tribulation period. It gets worse and worse and worse. Let's take it for example.

In the second set of judgments, the seven trumpets, The third judgment, the falling star, results in one third of the waters being poisoned. See that? Now let's look in this third set of judgments, the seven bowls. The second and third set of judgments make the sea of blood and rivers of blood, all the waters are poisoned. Now no longer a third, everything is poisoned.

So there's an increase in severity and that's just one example. Something else to take a note that stands out as you kind of examine this, and that is that there's an amazing similarity between a number of these judgments and what you saw, the ten plagues that the Lord allowed Moses to bring upon the Egyptians. So let's take a quick look at that, okay? So you notice that in these plagues, Here they are, all ten listed as they show up in the Book of Exodus.

And notice that each of the plagues that were brought against the Egyptians was directly targeting an Egyptian god. Every single one of them was designed to undermine the Egyptians' confidence, and I would submit to you probably undermine the Jews' confidence, in their gods, in the Egyptian gods. You see that? Every single one is targeted to undermine the confidence of one of the Egyptian gods.

Some of these judgments are repeated either verbatim or similarly here in the Book of Revelation, as you can see in the chart. Now, on top of them the ones you see here, there are also, remember, the two witnesses that we'll be looking at more closely in weeks and months to come. These two witnesses also have the power to call down any additional judgments that they might want to bring down. And those additional judgments may bring additional plagues similar or the same as what was brought down upon Egypt when the Jews were liberated from Egypt.

Now, have you noticed today, oh come on, you've noticed it, people are increasingly turning to pagan gods. People are increasingly turning to the various gods of this world. When Nancy and I were in Nevada, we noticed that there is a church in Virginia City that is dedicated to, I'd say it's not on this list, but dedicated to Isis, one of the Egyptian gods. and there's an increasing appeal to paganism out there in the world. It may well be that some of the reasons for bringing these plagues back is to undermine people's confidence in their pagan gods that they're going back to, that they're moving back to.

Now, there's something else Because the focus is now, as we get into the Tribulation period, the focus is now shifting back to Israel. That's likely another reason why these bringing back these plagues again. The Tribulation period and the Millennium are focused on Israel and God's promises to Israel and the fulfillment of those prophecies. As we get into this second coming of Christ, one thing to keep in mind We've talked in the past about the prophecies about Christ's first coming. Talking about everything about where he was born was predicted in the Old Testament. The kind of death that he would die is predicted in the Old Testament. But there are eight times as many prophecies about the second coming as there are the first.

So it's not a minor event. Not a small event in scripture. It's critical, okay? Now, there are some things that this handout that you have in your hand doesn't show you entirely, and I want to focus on that before we move on. In spite of the fact that these judgments are indeed ghastly, I'm not reducing the severity of them at all, they are truly horrible. They're awful judgments.

There are several reasons why the Lord continues to show His mercy throughout this tribulation period that's coming up. He's going to show that in powerful ways that we'll be examining in the weeks to come, should the Lord allow us the time. We should keep in mind that these judgments, like everything else the Lord has done and will do, are consistent with His character.

You get that? It's consistent with God's character. It's also consistent with the character of mankind that remains on planet Earth. and it's also consistent with God's eternal purpose. These are not out of character, if you will, as shocking as they may seem. The Lord still desires that those remaining on planet Earth place their faith in Him for salvation, even as these horrible events take place. The Lord's desire is still that people come to Him, turn to the Savior, He's still looking for that in people's hearts and in people's lives. Even these judgments are carried out with the intent that mankind would realize their condition and be spiritually saved.

See that? It's not just, well, I'm going to do something awful to these people because I'm really mad and they just deserve it. It is for a very hardened people, Last resort to bring people around to their senses and something we're going to see Four times through the tribulation period the phrase did not repent keep showing up four times Did not repent things will get severe But rather than turning to the Lord a great many will still shake their fists at God Continuing to resist and yet the Lord's intent the Lord's appeal is Even his conveying of the gospel message during that tribulation period is all with the intent of turning hearts to him. Secondly, through all this, we who are believers here in this church age, we're not going to be present and subjected to these judgments we'll be reading about. We will have taken, if you will, an exit stage up. We will be with the Lord. Right now, we are seated with Him in our position. Right now, we're seated with Him in our position. We saw, as we read through chapters 4 and 5, how we will be seated with Him in our position and our condition.

What we are reading about here is something that will take place while we are in heaven. I believe from what we can see here, we're going to see those seals be opened. but we won't be here on planet Earth experiencing it. We won't be subjected to the judgment of the Lord. Then, during these earthly judgments, we'll be seated with Him in the heavenlies. That's the place where we will remain.

In our position and in our condition. Now, let's turn our attention to the passage. Chapter 6, verse 1. The scroll opened. This is the very beginning point of the tribulation. Then I saw when the Lamb broke open one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying, as with a voice of thunder, Come! Now John's writing eyewitness testimony here.

He was watching, and I would venture to guess he's doing this watching very carefully. Wouldn't you? He's watching as the little lamb, remember we talked about this word lamb, and it's translated lamb, but in fact the Greek word there means little lamb. A tiny lamb. Isn't that amazing? It's a tiny lamb that is breaking open these seals. He broke open the first of the seven seals.

Now there were seven seals, as we studied in weeks past, these seven seals have tremendous significance. Remember the Romans had seven seals on a will? and you had to open up the seals in order to find out what the contents of the will were. Among the Jews, those who underwent some kind of distress or difficulty and lost their goods would have their goods assigned to this scroll. And there were seven seals put on the scroll. And only the person worthy to open that scroll could do so. and would give the conditions inside the scroll for getting their possessions back. So both the Jews and the Romans had something they could relate to in terms of these seven seals.

So what takes place next? There are four living creatures as we read in chapters 4 and 5. These were before the throne. The first of these four living creatures speaks to John. He invites John to take a look at what's going to take place as a consequence of Christ opening up that first seal.

Now, the Greek word here, just take note of this, the Greek word, even though it's just a simple invitation, is a voice of thunder. The Greek is HOSPHONEBRONTES. It's like a noise of thunder. That's what he's trying to communicate. So the first of the four living creatures didn't say, come. The first of the four living creatures said, come! Okay?

I'd imagine that got John's attention. Don't you think? So there was certainly a sense of command in his voice. It wasn't like, hey John, I think you'd be interested. It was, John! Come here! Look at this! There was this overwhelming sense of urgency in his voice that came across too. It was an invitation that John could not neglect. Let's take a look at the next verse, verse 2. The first seal, okay? I looked and behold a white horse who had sat on it, had a bow and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.

As John looks, he tells us to behold. Remember, as we looked at that word, behold means take a mental picture. Take a mental picture. Now we have to pause to make sure that we're on the right footing here, just to get some perspective, and we'll do exactly that. What we're going to read about, and what Helmut read for us earlier, is these four horses and their riders. Here is what they look like. We have the white horse, which is the first one that we're going to be reading about here.

The rider has a bow and a crown. He's going out to conquering and to conquer. Well, as we'll see next, he goes out and basically takes possession of the globe. Next is the red horse. The rider's possession on that red horse is the sword. He is to take peace. And it'll be men slaying men. Human agents. The third one, the next one, is black.

And that rider has scales. And we'll see the significance of that as we go into it. There's going to be famine on the grain crops, very clearly. The next is an ashen, or it also means a pale horse. And this rider has death. They'll be killing with things that we've seen before, sword and famine and pestilence, but also wild beasts. So those are the four horses we'll be taking a look at here.

Each has a color, each has a rider, and each went forth with an ability. You notice that? As I read these, I see that each horse, each color and possession in hand is symbolic. Yes, they're symbolic, but they represent something literal, actual, and real. The earthly consequence of their release in each case and granting of power isn't figurative. It's real. It's actually to take place.

It's ominous and wretched things that are going to come from these four horsemen. in the days in which John was writing, to have a horse coming at you was a scary thing. How many of you have been hit by a horse? One or two of you may have been through that experience. I wouldn't volunteer for it, again. They weigh a whole lot more than people do. And they come with some speed that people don't have. And it's not fun.

So here's this horse that's coming at them. It was, as John describes it, something that in those days would be a scary thing to ponder. Here's this horse come riding out. Now we've taken an overall look at these four horsemen. Let's return back to the consideration of each one in turn here, back to this verse at hand.

The white horse in those days was ridden basically by two kinds of people. One, it would be ridden by a king, and two, it would be ridden by a military commander, typically a general. The king would ride the horse so that he would be recognized, he'd be given proper respect and regard, and also his servants and the various people given charge would know, this is the person I need to focus on in terms of giving attention. Secondly, a military commander would ride a white horse so that everyone under his command would see him and follow his direction. If he pointed go here, if he directed people there, if he said for this to take place, they knew he was the guy giving orders. So both a king and a military commander would have a white horse. Now, most of the commentators looking at this passage see this white horse as the Antichrist.

And as we studied in Daniel a couple weeks back, the Antichrist would start off the Tribulation period by initiating an agreement, an agreement that would involve Israel. This would be seen, as right now we see the mess over in Israel, as a constant, chronic, troublesome problem, isn't it?

Lots of people have tried to come up with a solution. Many people have tried to come up with some kind of an answer to the problem there. This guy is going to come up with what looks like a miraculous, genius, breakthrough solution. He's going to start it off the tribulation period by initiating that. From an earthly standpoint, that will be what appears. He goes out from that pedestal of having come up with this fantastic breakthrough, this incredible splash of genius. From that standpoint, from that platform, he will go out to conquer. Notice he carries a bow.

Now the best cavalrymen in those days would carry a bow, and matter of fact, this was a picture that they were actually quite familiar with in the eastern part of the Roman Empire, and that is, there was a group of people called the Parthians. Today we're dealing with them and it's called Iraq and Iran. Those people were excellent horsemen and they would ride on a bow. They were so good with a bow that they could ride backwards, shoot bow and arrow very accurately while riding backwards, sitting on the horse backwards and riding at full gallop. They were so good at it that they were scary. They were excellent with the bow. Now, that was the weapon of the day that could cast a projectile the farthest.

And what that's telling us, this is substantial geographical influence. This isn't just influence in a small area. This is having influence in a great area, in the same way those arrows could go a long distance in any direction. The Antichrist, based on his initial victory He, having come up with an apparent solution to the problem with Israel and the neighboring Arabs, would gain incredible power and influence.

This is an example of the time, this is a Parthian king with a bow in hand, and yes, a part of it's broken off, that's because it's old. But anyway, this is a drawing, and this shows them on the white horse and carrying the bow, and this is what they would paint and there was actually, even among the Romans, great fear of these warriors.

Now, he's also given a crown. Now this word is a Stephanos. This is a victor's crown. He wouldn't only just seek power and influence, yes he would do that, but he would indeed gain it. And that's why the kind of unusual wording, to conquering and to conquer, He wouldn't just pursue it as a goal.

He would accomplish it. It was a done deal. If he set out to do something, he did it. If he set out to take over a country, he accomplished it. He did it. So it isn't just a matter of what he tried to do, what he pursued, what he sought after, but it really took place. It happened. He actually did gain the power and influence that he sought.

Next, let's turn to verses 3 and 4. the second seal, war. And when he broke the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, Come. And a red horse went out, and him who sat on it, and it was granted to take peace from the earth, that men would slay one another, and a great sword was given him.

You most likely notice a pattern starting to take place here. It seems that each one of the four creatures was given a turn to introduce one of these four horsemen. But they did so in a commanding sort of way. There were four horses and four horsemen, each announced in turn by one of the four living creatures.

Now, as we look at this, we can avoid just taking a guess at what this color red means, because what does this horseman have in his hand? He's got the sword. And the sword's telling you he's there for slaughter. It pretty well nails it down, doesn't it? We're seeing from this massive global bloodshed in these two verses.

And incidentally, the word combination used here is unusual and significant. The Greek word for sword here, machaira, that was typically by itself used for a Roman soldier's short sword. This was the foot soldier's short sword. Except that it has the word great with it. That makes it different. It's the only place in the New Testament where this word combination is used, and there's a reason for that.

Here is a headstone from a Roman cavalryman. He was killed, as the information goes on, his name is Flavius. He was killed at the age of 46, and so they give him this nice fancy headstone. But one of the things that shows up here is he's got a pretty long sword compared to the size of the cavalrymen and the horse. And it's this sword here that's a great sword.

The Roman cavalrymen would be given a great sword. Why? Because being up on that horse, they needed something that had good length and range and distance on it. And the idea is they'd have a heavy, substantial sword that could hack flesh. It was serious business to be at the business end of that sword. Okay? Nasty. And so he was given a great sword. The idea is, here's this cavalryman. In those days, a horse was the fastest thing you could think of a soldier riding on. And here he is with this great sword, and he is going to hack flesh.

That's the message that comes across here. The slaughter of human flesh is going to be horrific. The magnitude of the slaughter will be beyond our imagination. The tribulation, however, is just beginning. Just starting. There are five more seals to go. There are still seven trumpets and seven bowls to go. But the severity is going to get worse and worse. Let's take a look at verses five and six.

The third seal is famine. And when he broke the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, Come. And I looked, and behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard something like a voice in the center of the four living creatures saying, A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not damage the oil and the wine." As the third horse is released, we're seeing a new element in the growing global catastrophe, famine.

We haven't seen this one. One of the principles of economics in a free market economy is that as the supply goes down, the price goes up. You've seen that yourself. When an item is essential, however, it gets worse because people are willing to pay whatever price because they have to have it. They have no choice. Now, you and I wouldn't get too concerned if there was a shortage or a high price of things like hockey pucks and yo-yos, right? That's not going to bother us. But we're not talking hockey pucks and yo-yos. This is a basic staple. This shortage of this basic grain is going to put most of the world into an economic and humanitarian crisis.

Even though the animals that you think of a lot of the animals these days are not fed out in the open range but are actually fed these grains. So what's going to happen to the price of meat? The price of meat goes through the roof as well. I remember back on my folks' ranch, and we didn't raise a lot of animals but we did have some, daily we'd feed the cows and the pigs and the chickens and we'd give them grain, we'd get sacks of it. What happens when the price goes tenfold and more higher?

So this is the reason why the writer is using the symbol here, he's holding these scales. The scales is a picture of the famine striking the earth. Now in those days, this will give us an idea of what John had in mind when he was looking at these scales and getting the picture there. There's a scale, there's a grain measure, it even has some Latin wording engraved on the side.

And these are a couple of denarius coins. They've been mounted for jewelry purposes, but at least it gives you an idea of what they look like. What this is telling us is that grain will get frighteningly short in supply while the price goes through the roof. The average family for which grains would be a staple, a quart of wheat is not really quite enough. But that's what you got.

A denarius was an average day's wage for a laborer. And the price he's talking about here is better than 10 times the normal price. Exceedingly expensive. I just wonder how we would react if we went to the grocery store and they just had a 10 times multiplier in the front window. That would impact you and me, wouldn't it? Same thing here, only even more ghastly.

They didn't have any credit cards they could put it on. You couldn't just go to the bank and borrow for food. So you can imagine what the release of this horseman will be like. You will be able to buy food because the denarius was a full day's wage, right? You're going to be able to buy not quite enough wheat, not quite enough, and that's all the money you got.

That's it. There's no mortgage, there's no rent, there's no clothes, there's no heat, there's no medical expenses, certainly no cable TV or internet connection, right? There's no money left for anything else. That's it. You have consumed everything that you can make in a day to buy not quite enough food. Not everything your family needs. Unless they dip into savings or go into debt, which those days was hard to do.

What people have typically done over the centuries in times of famine is to go somewhere else where there was still some food left, either by storage or because the famine hadn't struck there, An example, remember here's the story of Joseph in Egypt. And because of the Lord's intervention, Joseph was able to tell them in advance, save up during this time because we're going to be short in supply in the time coming up.

And so what happens in those times though is whatever supply is available gets taken up quickly. Nancy and I, when we lived in Nevada, one of the things we found out was a good percentage of what was available in the stores came over the mountain from California, trucked in. And when the road would get shut down, that was it, until they were able to get a truck through. Happened a few times, and you go into the grocery store, and the shelves would be stripped quickly. Even in this country, it's interesting to note, we have something on the order of about a three-week food reserve in the supply chain.

Not very much if things really get in short supply, huh? Now you can imagine what would it be like here in Denver if suddenly nobody could afford anything but not quite enough food. What would it be like in a month or two? It would get pretty ghastly pretty quick, wouldn't it? Pretty tough. At least the oil and the wine wouldn't be taxed. But who can afford it?

Let's take a look at the fourth seal, verses 7 and 8. When the lamb broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, Come! I looked, and behold, an ashen horse, and he who sat on it had the name Death, and Hades was following him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, and to kill with sword, and with famine, and with pestilence, and by the wild beasts of the earth."

Now, just to make sure we haven't lost track of it, John records that this is the little lamb who was opening these seals. In the prior two cases he just simply says he, but here he returns to and reminds us this is the lamb that is opening the seals all along. With each of the previous horsemen of the apocalypse, the direction has been singular and the extent has been global.

Now we have a change. Do you notice that? Different from the previous three. Now we have variety. Now variety is the spice of life, right? Except when it comes to this. Variety is not welcome. Suddenly novelty doesn't mean very much. Yes, swords we've seen, that's the second horseman. Yes, famine we've seen, that's the third horseman. Now how about a supplement to those first ghastly horrors? Now we have wild beasts turning on people.

A walk in the park isn't as much fun as it used to be. Exciting perhaps, but not fun. Camping in the woods is just simply out of the question. Can you imagine that? Hunting is a whole different thing when you're the hunted. A little different, isn't it?

Many beasts of prey can run twice as fast as a human, or faster. We tend to think of a bear, for example, as being a slow lumbering creature. People have run away from bears and found out otherwise. The Hitchcock movie, The Birds, that's child's play compared to this. These are beasts. The Greek word there indicates these are big critters. These aren't just little things. These are big creatures.

And it's interesting, it's almost a reverse of this endangered species issue. Now all of a sudden, who's endangered? You see, we've begun our first of many weeks into the Tribulation period. It's frankly tough to make a feel-good sermon out of this stuff. I have to tell you. You see, it's just one global catastrophe after another. And it's tough to walk out the door just feeling real gushy. In fact, what we're reading here is going to make the events of September 11th third page news. People are going to rather ignore that because there's so many other ominous things happening on planet Earth.

Here's what I suggest. By God's mercy, believers of this age will not go through this time that we're reading of. We can be thankful for that. We will go through tribulation. We're promised that, aren't we? We will go through tribulation. And God has a purpose in that. God has a reason for that. But we won't go through THE tribulation, and you can count on that.

We have been given a warning, and even so much, that the secular world has taken on features of this. Movies like the Apocalypse or Armageddon have been adopted by the world. They understand that there's, even though they don't get all the detail, something ominous about this time that's coming up, and it's been communicated to them.

But as we look at this, I think one of the things to keep in mind, God is going to be showing His mercy in the midst of this. There will be constant appeals for salvation, as we'll see in the times to come here. God, by all rights, could have just said, okay folks, you're done, that's it. But instead, He's going to show His mercy, and even these great, awful things that are going to take place are intended to cause people to turn to Him. He will continually, and in various ways, lay out a gospel appeal to people during this time. There will indeed be a chance for them to respond. Something else.

The Jews have been warned about this tribulation period for over 3,000 years. I was amazed to read as I was going through some of the studies in seminary, the Orthodox Jews expect a seven-year tribulation period just like we saw there in the book of Daniel. They expect a seven-year tribulation period. They expect there to be an Antichrist They expect that tribulation period to be a horrible time of cataclysm at the end of which Messiah ben David, Messiah son of David will come and will reign and rule on the earth from Jerusalem for a long period of time.

Sound familiar? Even the Jews have gotten this message. Now the point is, will they take it to heart? Will they understand who this Messiah ben David is? God's giving them this chance, and not only that, as we'll see, it will come to pass. Though many Jewish lives will be lost, a great many will come at the end, all will come at the end, to see the Messiah, and to see Him as the Messiah.

Something else here, we can also trust in God's sovereignty. We're finding God's sovereignty here. Here's something that is going to take place. And one of the things we read in Daniel is these times have been determined. This is going to happen. It isn't God's best guess.

But it's God's sovereignty. And we can take that personally, can't we? You and I find ourselves in situations that are sometimes scary. And yet we can rest in God's sovereignty Because this isn't just a matter of something that's going to happen to somebody else some other time and we're not going to be there. This is about God's character.

And that's something that you and I can trust in, even now. Even the situations we're going through, the things that we see, you know, as the sun rises tomorrow morning. We can trust in God's sovereignty. It is God's very character on whom we can depend. Something else is that when we look at this tribulation period, we can tell because of the severity of this, and it's going to get worse, a lot worse, God takes sin seriously. But we know that already, don't we?

That's why the first coming. Christ was sent the first time because God takes sin seriously. God set it up so that He would take upon Himself, through the Son, take upon Himself the sins of the world. It's because God takes sin seriously that the Son was sent the first time. And now, these seals are being opened and this tribulation is being unleashed because God takes sin seriously.

It was Christ's death and burial and resurrection and ascension and seating that we have been identified with, we as believers. By faith in what He has done, what He has accomplished and not us, we can rest in that because God takes sin seriously. He takes sin so seriously that He made the provision this tribulation is going to come upon those who have not looked at God's provision for their salvation. But with the opportunity that they still can. Let's turn to our Savior now.

Lord, as we come to you, we thank you that yes, you did indeed take sin seriously. Seriously enough that you paid the price for us. and seriously enough, Lord, that you will keep us from this time to come. And yet even now, Lord, you've gone beyond just taking sin seriously and have blessed us with every spiritual blessing. And Lord, as we look to this time that we're reading about here, we pray for hearts that would count all those abundant blessings that you've given us.

And it would look to you and look to those blessings And that we would live in them. And that we would learn from you. I just pray that you would teach us as we go through these verses and chapters in the weeks to come. And that you would teach us, Lord, about your very character. Not just for the sake of theory or theology, Lord. But about our daily life and you in whom we trust. We pray this in Jesus' name.