How Long O Lord

“Now I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals; and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a voice like thunder, ‘Come and see.’ And I looked, and behold, a white horse. He who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.” [1]

This conqueror is an antichrist. The word “anti” means against or instead of Christ. He conquers people militarily and ideologically. Jesus said to the Pharisees, “I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him.” The appearance of an antichrist is an indication that the end of this world is near. The world is looking for a hero. The largest money making films today are about heroes. [2]

“When He opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, ‘Come and see.’ Another horse, fiery red, went out. And it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, and that people should kill one another; and there was given to him a great sword.” [3]

The rider on a fiery red horse has a sword in his hand. Red is the color of blood. The last days of earth will be filled with wars. There will be class, gender, race and religious wars. The rider on the fiery red horse takes peace from the earth so that people kill each another. Without God’s peace, people kill each other. Peace is His blessing. Jesus Christ is the Prince of Peace. If we want peace, we need Christ.

“When He opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, ‘Come and see.’ So, I looked, and behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, ‘A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not harm the oil and the wine.’” [4]

The rider on the black horse has a scale in his hand. John hears a voice saying that a quart of wheat will cost day’s wage. Can you imagine having to work a whole day for a loaf of bread? Famine follows war as night follows day.

“When He opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, ‘Come and see.’ So I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed with him. And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth.” [5]

Death rides a pale horse. The word for “pale” here is the Greek word “cloros.” It is a greenish yellow. The color of a corpse! Death sits on this horse and Hades follows him. Hades (the grave) collects what death leaves behind. He kills a fourth of the world’s population with sword, hunger, death and beasts, which are curses due to sin. [6]

“When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the Word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, ‘How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?’ Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed.” [7]

“How Long O Lord?” is a familiar prayer to those who long for justice to prevail. John, who recorded the words of Revelation for us, lost his brother James when King Herod killed him with the sword. John saw Jesus crucified because of His love for people. [8]

John sees the martyrs of Christ under an altar. The altar symbolizes a life poured out for God.

“He [the priest] shall pour the remaining blood at the base of the altar of the burnt offering.” [9]

They were slain for the Word of God and for the testimony of Jesus. “The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” Jesus said, “You will be brought before rulers and kings for My sake, for a testimony to them...” [10]

The souls under the altar have a loud cry. They cry with a loud voice, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” They may represent the cry of all martyrs for Christ. From Abel to the last martyr of God, they cry out.

Do you remember the story of Cain and Abel? After Cain killed his little brother, the Lord confronted him. He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground. So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth.” [11]

The Lord issued consequence to Cain for what he did to his innocent brother. The judgments in Revelation are consequences for the shedding of innocent blood of saints and prophets.

“For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and You have given them blood to drink. For it is their just due.” [12]

God also counts the blood of children as innocent blood. God exiled the Jerusalemites to Babylon for shedding innocent blood.

“He made his son pass through the fire, practiced soothsaying, used witchcraft, and consulted spiritists and mediums. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger.” “Moreover Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another, besides his sin by which he made Judah sin, in doing evil in the sight of the Lord.” “Surely at the commandment of the Lord this came upon Judah, to remove them from His sight because of the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done, and also because of the innocent blood that he had shed; for he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, which the Lord would not pardon.” [13]

False religions yield no salvation. There is only one child whose blood was without sin. Only Christ’s blood can wash our sins away. Only the God of the Bible can save us.

Innocent bloodshed is what makes horror movies so horrific. An Australian missionary once said to me, “Movies that glorify the shedding of innocent blood are satanic.” Visions of demons slaughtering innocent people is evil in God’s sight.

The devil tempts people to sin. Sin yields the curses of the Law. The devil, however, wants people to blame the followers of Christ for the world’s curses. To be their scapegoats.

White robes were given to the martyrs. They are told to rest a little while longer until the rest of their fellow servants and brothers are killed as they were. [14]

It is a painful undertaking at times to save sinners. It cost God His Son. It cost God countless faithful saints and servants. Satan is very cruel. To rescue captives from him is to risk personal harm. But the devil’s day is coming.

Paul told the Epicurean and Stoic people of Athens that “He [God] has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.” [15]

“I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood. And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave, and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?” [16]

People want the mountains and rocks to fall on them and hide them from the wrath of God and the wrath of the Lamb. In the days of Moses, Pharaoh’s magicians recognized that God was plaguing Egypt. They said, “This is the finger of God.” [17]

God told people through His servant Moses that they would be blessed if they obeyed Him and cursed if they defied Him. [18]

As to the curses, after the one round of judgments, the Lord says, “After all this, if you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.” The Lord pauses between each set of judgments to give people an opportunity to repent. [19]

In Revelation, Jesus Christ reveals three rounds of seven judgments. Round one is the seven seal judgments. They are described in Revelation 6:6-7:5. Round two is the seven trumpet judgments. They are described in Revelation 7:7-15:8. Round three is the seven bowl judgments. They are described in Revelation 16:2-17:8.

Pharaoh would not have experienced ten plagues if he had repented after the first one, but he was hard-hearted. Likewise, many people in the last days will be like the Pharaoh and like the people of Sodom and Gomorrah. They will refuse to admit that ungodliness is wrong. “They are presumptuous, self-willed...” People either repent and glorify God or continue in sin. [20]

We can choose denial, but we can’t choose the consequences.

The key difference between saints and sinners is that saints recognize their need for Christ to bear the curse of the Law for us and sinners do not. Paul wrote, “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the Law, to do them.’ Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’) that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” [21]

The Law demands that whoever breaks it incur its curses. “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the Law” means that He covers our imperfect obedience with His perfect obedience. The blessing of Abraham that Christ gives to believers in Him is His righteousness which yields a friendly relationship with God. “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. And he was called the friend of God.” [22]

As friends of God, we might experience persecution for a season, but we will not experience God’s wrath on sin which is forever.

God’s judgments are lesser tribulations intended to save us from a greater tribulation, namely an eternity without Him in hell. For example, the Lord called for an earthquake to open the prison cell where Paul and Silas had been locked up unjustly. The earthquake frightened the prison guard. He thought his prisoners had escaped. He was going to kill himself, but Paul stopped him and urged him to believe in Jesus. The prison guard and his entire family believed in Jesus. The earthquake prepared his heart to listen to the voice of God via Christ’s servants Paul and Silas. [23]

The people in the last days before the Lord returns, ask, Who is able to stand before God? Will you be able to stand before God when your life is over? Jesus said to “pray that you may be counted worthy to escape these things and to stand before the Son of Man.” [24]

The Bible tells us how to stand before God... “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand.” [25] We must stand before God clothed in the merits of Christ and not our own. Don’t be self-righteous! Trust in Christ! He is the Savior of lost souls.

Do not be like the man who trusted in the abundance of his riches. Be one who professes with your mouth. “I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever. I will praise You forever because You have done it...” It is the fool who says in his heart, “There is no God.” [26]

[1] Revelation 6:1-2
[2] John 5:43; Matthew 24:5
[3] Revelation 6:3-4
[4] Revelation 6:5-6
[5] Revelation 6:7-8
[6] 2 Chronicles 20:9; Jeremiah 29:18-19; 34:17; Matthew 24:7-8
[7] Revelation 6:9-11
[8] Acts 12:2
[9] Leviticus 4:7
[10] Revelation 19:10; Mark 13:9-10
[11] Genesis 4:10-12
[12] Revelation 16:6
[13] 2 Kings 21:6, 16; 24:3-4
[14] Revelation 6:11
[15] Acts 17:31
[16] Revelation 6:12-17
[17] Exodus 8:19
[18] Leviticus 26:1-44
[19] Leviticus 26:18
[20] Revelation 16:9; 2 Peter 2:6, 10
[21] Galatians 3:10, 13-14
[22] James 2:23
[23] Acts 16:26- 31
[24] Luke 21:36
[25] Romans 5:1-2
[26] Psalm 52:7-9; Psalm 53:1