The Biblical Illustrator Revelation (Ch.6 13) (A Compilation)

《The Biblical Illustrator – Revelation (Ch.6~13)》(A Compilation)

06 Chapter 6

Verses 1-17

Revelation 6:1-17

The Lamb opened one of the seals.

The development of good and evil in human history

I. The development of good in human history.

1. The good is embodied in a personal life. “He that sat,” etc. “Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” He was the Right--incarnate, living, acting; and this, not only during His corporeal life here, but in all His disciples through all times.

2. The good embodied in a personal life is aggressive in its action. “He went forth,” etc. Wherever the sunbeams break, darkness departs; so with the right, it is always conquering. In its aggressiveness it moves--

II. The development of evil in human history.

1. War (Revelation 6:4). The spirit of murder burns throughout the race. The “red horse” is ever on the gallop.

2. Indigence (Revelation 6:5). Famine generally follows the sword.

3. Mortality (Revelation 6:8). With every breath we draw some one falls.

4. Martyrdom (Revelation 6:9-11).

(a) Purity.

(b) Repose.

5. Physical convulsion (Revelation 6:12-17).

A white horse.

The going forth of the gospel

1. That the preaching of the gospel cometh not by guess amongst a people, but is sent and ordered as other dispensations are, and hath a particular commission. It is one of the horses He sendeth here. So, Acts 16:1-40., the Spirit putteth them to one place, and suffereth them not to go to another place. There is not a sermon cometh without a commission.

2. That the success of the gospel goeth not by guess. The gospel hath its end as well as its commission (Isaiah 55:10; 2Corinthians 2:14).

3. The gospel is most mighty to conquer when Christ armeth it with a commission and doth concur therewith (2Corinthians 10:4).

4. From this description of the horse and his rider and his employment, observe that the great end of the gospel, where it cometh, is to subdue souls. Thai is the end of a ministry, to bring souls in subjection to Christ (2Corinthians 10:5). And it hath its end when Christ’s arrows are made powerful to pierce hearts (Ephesians 4:8; Psalms 68:18).

5. The gospel conquereth more or less wherever it cometh. When Christ is mounted He is going to conquer, if it were but to take one fort or one soul from Satan.

6. Taking this conquest and flourishing estate of the gospel to relate to the first times thereof when it came into the world. Observe that most frequently the gospel at its first coming amongst a people prevaileth most, and hath more sensible success than at any other time. So was it when it came first to the world, its victories were swift and speedy, increasing more for a few years at that time than afterwards in many generations. (James Durham.)

Conquering, and to Conquer.--

The Redeemer’s conquests

I. The adversaries of our redeemer.

1. The powers of darkness.

2. All men in an unrenewed and unconverted state.

3. False systems of religion, which, although perhaps assuming the name of Christianity, are hostile to its spirit and design.

II. The instruments which our Redeemer employs.

1. The publication of His Word.

2. The agency of His Spirit.

III. The victories of our Redeemer.

1. They are founded upon His right to universal domain.

2. They are continuous, and widely extended.

3. They are essentially connected with the diffusion of pure and perfect happiness.

In conclusion: how important it is--

1. That you should yourselves surrender your hearts in personal subjection to the Redeemer’s power.

2. That you devote your energies to the further extension of His empire. (J. Parsons.)

The future triumph of our King

I. The illustrious personage described.

1. His spotless charchter. “A white horse.”

2. His warfare. “A bow.”

3. His exaltation to regal dignity. “A crown.”

4. His gradual conquest. “Conquering and to conquer.”

II. Sentiments and reflections suitable to the subject.

1. We should cultivate and cherish the most exalted estimate of the person of Jesus Christ.

2. The imminent peril in which those are placed who continue among the adversaries of Jesus Christ.

3. Are you among His true and faithful subjects?

4. Strive, by every means in your power, to advance the extent and glory of His dominion. (J. Clayton, M. A.)

The Conqueror

Behold the combat beyond all others important, the combat between Christ and Satan for the human soul.

I. The cause of strife--the soul. A colony of heaven had been taken by the powers of hell, and the effort to restore it to allegiance was the main cause of this celestial war. The domination of Satan over the human soul is despotic, degrading, and destructive.

II. The battle. The Divine Saviour stronger than the strong man armed as our champion. The first grapple seems to have been the temptation in the wilderness, the next in the performance of miracles, the next the death grapple, the last the rising from the dead and ascension into heaven.

III. The victory. It was complete, it was benevolent, it was unchanging. The attack which the Saviour made upon the enemy was such as to tear away the very source and energies of his power. In the time of the Lord’s victory we do not see traces of carnage, nor hear orphans wailing the dead; but a voice breathes the comfortable word, “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain.” The triumphs of the Saviour brighten with the lapse of time. Time cannot tarnish their lustre, nor death itself destroy. (W. M. Punshon, D. D.)

Verses 1-17

Revelation 6:1-17

The Lamb opened one of the seals.

The development of good and evil in human history

I. The development of good in human history.

II. The development of evil in human history.

1. War (Revelation 6:4). The spirit of murder burns throughout the race. The “red horse” is ever on the gallop.

2. Indigence (Revelation 6:5). Famine generally follows the sword.

3. Mortality (Revelation 6:8). With every breath we draw some one falls.

4. Martyrdom (Revelation 6:9-11).

(a) Purity.

(b) Repose.

5. Physical convulsion (Revelation 6:12-17).

A white horse.

The going forth of the gospel

2. That the success of the gospel goeth not by guess. The gospel hath its end as well as its commission (Isaiah 55:10; 2Corinthians 2:14).

3. The gospel is most mighty to conquer when Christ armeth it with a commission and doth concur therewith (2Corinthians 10:4).

5. The gospel conquereth more or less wherever it cometh. When Christ is mounted He is going to conquer, if it were but to take one fort or one soul from Satan.

Conquering, and to Conquer.--

The Redeemer’s conquests

I. The adversaries of our redeemer.

1. The powers of darkness.

2. All men in an unrenewed and unconverted state.

3. False systems of religion, which, although perhaps assuming the name of Christianity, are hostile to its spirit and design.

II. The instruments which our Redeemer employs.

1. The publication of His Word.

2. The agency of His Spirit.

III. The victories of our Redeemer.

1. They are founded upon His right to universal domain.

2. They are continuous, and widely extended.

3. They are essentially connected with the diffusion of pure and perfect happiness.

In conclusion: how important it is--

1. That you should yourselves surrender your hearts in personal subjection to the Redeemer’s power.

2. That you devote your energies to the further extension of His empire. (J. Parsons.)

The future triumph of our King

I. The illustrious personage described.

1. His spotless charchter. “A white horse.”

2. His warfare. “A bow.”

3. His exaltation to regal dignity. “A crown.”

4. His gradual conquest. “Conquering and to conquer.”

II. Sentiments and reflections suitable to the subject.

1. We should cultivate and cherish the most exalted estimate of the person of Jesus Christ.

2. The imminent peril in which those are placed who continue among the adversaries of Jesus Christ.

3. Are you among His true and faithful subjects?

4. Strive, by every means in your power, to advance the extent and glory of His dominion. (J. Clayton, M. A.)

The Conqueror

Behold the combat beyond all others important, the combat between Christ and Satan for the human soul.

Verse 3-4

Revelation 6:3-4

Another horse that was red;… to take peace from the earth.

The cry of the world in selfishness

The red colour is the emblem of bloodshed, the destruction of life. It recalls the vision of Isaiah concerning the traveller from Edom, “with dyed garments of Bozrah,” or that later vision of St. John concerning the King of kings, who leads the armies of heaven, His “vesture dipped in blood.” “There went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another.” It is every man for himself--the spirit of selfishness. Let me draw for you a picture of yourself. You are a person with certain wants, natural and material--wants, that is to say, of those things which are needful for the support and well-being of your bodily life. You are a person with certain tastes, natural and intellectual, at least as necessary to the prosperity of your mind as food is to the prosperity of your body. You have also certain desires and aspirations which we may call natural and spiritual. Then, your life is surrounded by certain circumstances, which you may modify, but cannot possibly do away with. Amongst these circumstances are your fellow men and women. And these have wants and tastes and desires of their own; the wants may be identical with yours, in which case your neighbour’s possession of the things wanted may well interfere with your own possession of them. You are in each other’s way. Or your tastes and desires may be dissimilar, in which case you are liable to be irritated and outraged by contradiction. In any case you cannot go through life without having your path traversed every day by others, going their own way, regardless of you. Let us go further. You are supremely important to yourself, and you have been so from your childhood. See how a child thinks his own affairs the first, and at all moments thrusts upon your notice the thing which happens to be especially interesting to himself. And certainly in this we, grown men and women, cannot say that we have “put away childish things.” But this self-importance is a reasoning spirit. I am always present to myself, you say; I cannot get away from pain and discomfort and disappointment and the hundred ills that my flesh is heir to. I move through life, the centre of my own little world; it all concerns my happiness or misery; how, then, can I say that I am not supremely important to myself? I may stop at the requirements of my earthly life, or I may go further. I may be a religious sort of person. But is this realisation a cure for my selfishness? Alas, that one must answer, No! For the possible selfishness of the religious person is quite the strongest and most terrible form that selfishness assumes. Now, it is my own soul, my own eternal happiness, my own personal salvation. Look at your own life, at your own heart, and say, Is there nothing of this spirit in me? For, after all, this selfishness seems so natural. How can one help it, in the lower interests of the body--far, far less in the higher interests of the soul? How can one help it? The one thing to be sure of in this world of crossing interests is oneself. Surely St. John’s terrible vision is overdrawn. What has it to do with me, that blood-stained figure, with the great sword? Surely my harmless, natural, inevitable egotism does not look like that in heaven? But stay, and ask yourself, Why not? I am not alone in the world. A thousand million others are engaged in this strange dance of life, equally with me. Each one may be supreme unto himself. Each one has his own place; to him I am as he to me. And if this be so, what must result from it but one vast scene of conflict, world-wide and age-long? How shalt not peace be taken from the earth? How shall not men kill one another? How shall not the spirit of conflict, the dazzling horseman, with the bow and with the crown, go forth “conquering and to conquer”? It is the spirit of Jesus which is wanted here. And what is that? Go back to the thought of the great renunciation of the Son of God. Surely it is the everlasting condemnation of selfishness. Not the terrible vision of St. John, not the extremest picture of horror that man’s mind can conceive, can ever delineate too fearfully the spirit which is set in such antagonism to the spirit of Jesus Christ. (A. H. Simms, M. A.)