Corona Chronicles - Crown of Gold

Welcome back to the Corona Chronicles. Thank you for joining us again. We are still working our way slowly but surely through the book of Revelation. And we have arrived in chapter 6 and in a moment we're going to read the first 8 verses. You may have noticed that Ben is joining us today.

He's the newest member of the call stone staff team, which is very exciting. And just a little word of consolation to those who have only been tuning in to CP. There's no need to be too upset about that because he is actually joining us just in a different form. And the more observant among you will have noticed that this is a woodcock this bird. And so here he is and he's ready to contribute in the normal way.

All his glory. With all his glory. So there we go. Let's let's read the first 8 verses of chapter 6. I watched as the lamb opened the first to the 7 seals.

Then I heard 1 of the 4 living creatures say in a voice like thunder come. I looked and there before me was a white horse. It's rider held a bow and he was given a crown and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest. When the lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say come. Then another horse came out a fiery red 1.

Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth. And to make people kill each other. To him was given a large sword. 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.

Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the 4 living creatures saying, a kilogram of wheat for a day's wages and 3 kilograms of barley for a day's wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine. When the lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say come. 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 quarter of the earth to kill by sword, famine, and plague.

And by the wild beasts of the earth. So here we go and we are looking again at these these seals and this will of God. And what we're seeing and what we've seen in previous weeks is that there was this cry that went out. Who is worthy to open the scroll of God? Who is worthy to open the seals?

And we've discovered that the lamb upon the throne is worthy. Now he's going to open the 7 seals and what do we find? Yes. I'm pretty chaotic really, isn't it? But the thing that strikes me, first of all, is even though there's a lot of chaos happening, all of it is is sort of measured in a sense, isn't it?

Because these things only arrive when they're instructed to. They're told to come and then they arrive. And then for example, the crown is given to the first rider. None of these things are arriving on their own volition. Everything is unfolding in accordance to God's timing in his plan.

Yeah. That's helpful, isn't it? And I think that as as we observed in previous readings. Everything in Revelation is loud. So there isn't just a voice.

There's a voice like thunder and it's come. Come, come, come, and we're being summoned to stop whatever we are doing, to turn from whatever we're looking at and to look at what is going on here. And to to listen. And then we've got this section which which people may know is the 4 horsemen. Of the apocalypse, which is a very kind of visual term, isn't it?

But that's what we've got here. And the thing that you notice with all of this section is that what is coming out of this scroll is judgment. So I don't know what we were expecting to find in there, but judgment is what is is what is coming out. And with the first horse, it's this this white horse, a rider holding a bow and has given a crown. And this horse really represents conquest.

Yep. But more than just, you know, like God's conquest. This is human conquest really. And so this lamb is going out and they're using the powers of men, the swords and the shields. So to to kind of win a forceful victory on the earth.

So this is not like the lamb who conquers by his blood -- Yeah. -- by his sacrifice and his his humility. These conquer by by force. Yeah. And he's he's given the crown as well.

I know -- Yeah. -- I've said it already, but it's not it's not his by sort of birthright. God is the king. Mhmm. He is the 1 who has the crown inherently.

Mhmm. And he is the 1 who gives sort of earthly rulers and authorities, crowns as well. Mhmm. And what about this second horse? What what do you what's going on here?

This Fiery red 1. Fiery red 1. Yes. Pretty scary stuff, isn't it taking given the power to take a piece from the earth to make people kill each other It sounds like not just nations going to war -- Mhmm. -- against each other, but sort of almost brothers -- Mhmm.

-- and families. Fighting against each other as well. Yeah. So it's another picture of sort of violence, isn't it? And then this third 1, this black horse It kind of kind of looks like it represents some sort of famine.

Because what you've got going on here, although it doesn't mean much to us a kilogram of wheat for a day's wages. The point is that these were fairly cheap products and yet they are 10, 15, 20 times more expensive than they should be. So this is obviously a famine situation where even ordinary, you know, it would be like when all the toilet rollers ran out. You go into Tesco. There's 1 packet left.

How much would you expect to pay? Well, a couple of quid. They're 89 99, you know, for 6 toilet roll. That's what happens in a famine. You get inflation.

Yeah. And so part of the judgment here is is these famine conditions and these extortionate prices really really for things. There seems to be a kind of a sequence to these as well. Yeah. Sort of conquest leads to war war leads to famine and that's sort of what's building up.

And eventually, the fourth horseman -- Yeah. -- is death itself. Which is sort of the result I suppose of all of these horsemen sort of right together. Yeah. Absolutely.

I think that's I think that's helpful. You've got this pale horse which is apparently literally sort of greenish grey -- Yeah. -- horse. So it's a really sickening colour. Yeah.

And you've got death and Hades following behind. And as you say, it really caps off the picture of judgment and the horrors that are here. 1 of the things we've been trying to do in this in this series is to is to say, well, how would we communicate this to kids? You know? And if you were reading this with kids -- Yeah.

-- you know, it it frightening, isn't it both visually and in what it's communicating? But I think actually, there is comfort here because as you pointed out at the beginning, God is sovereign over these things. And what would be infinitely worse is to have these things going on with a God who is either unable or unwilling to do anything about it. Yep. And so I think what we can say is, yeah, look, when things like coronavirus come along when we see wars in the land, when we see famines.

You know, we don't know the exact answers as to why this is happening at this particular time, but we do know the absolute perfect is in control all the time. And that is so much better than living in an atheistic world, isn't it? Yeah. Where it can't be controlled? So there is comfort there.

Yeah. Absolutely. Because all of these things, all of them are restrained. Aren't they? Mhmm.

It's kind of these judgments coming out, but they're all on a leash They can all go so far. The fourth horseman can only take a quarter of the earth. He cannot take the other 3 quarters. Mhmm. Absolutely.

So God is sovereign. So that's the first that's the first cry of chapter 6. It's the cry of the living creatures in verse 1. And we're gonna see a different cry tomorrow.