December 14, 2024 - Revelation 6-7

After the opening of the scroll there are the seven seals:  a white horse, a bright red horse, a black horse, a quart of wheat and three quarts of barley, a pale horse whose rider's name was Death, the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God, and a great earthquake with cosmological disasters.  The seventh seal?  We don’t see that until chapter eight.  These first six seals depicts the judgement of the Lamb upon his enemies, the judgment so severe that they call to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb” (6:16).  There’s good news, though.  The people of Israel who will be saved are counted (7:1-8).  Furthermore, John saw “a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’”(7:9-10).  What a sight!  God has done precisely what he promised.  To Abraham, he said, “’Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.’ Then he said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be’” (Genesis 15:5).

Here from all nations, all tongues, and all peoples,

countless the crowd but their voices are one;

vast is the sight and majestic their singing

‘God has the victory: he reigns from the throne!’

These have come out of the hardest oppression,

now they may stand in the presence of God,

serving their Lord day and night in his temple,

ransomed and cleansed by the Lamb's precious blood.

Blessing and glory and wisdom and power

be to the Saviour again and again;

might and thanksgiving and honour for ever

be to our God: Hallelujah! Amen.   –Christopher Idle (1973)