Message Ten

The Vision of World History from
Christ’s Ascension to the End of This Age
and the Prayer of the Martyred Saints
for the Carrying Out of God’s Economy

Scripture Reading: Rev. 4:1-2; 6:1-11

1. We need to be in our spirit so that we can be men on earth with God’s heart, men to whom heaven can be opened to see the vision of God concerning the destiny of the world—Rev. 1:10; 4:1-2; cf. Gen. 28:12-17; Ezek. 1:1; Matt. 3:16; Acts 7:56; 10:11; Rev. 19:11.
2. The first four seals opened by the Lamb-God show us that immediately after His ascension (Mark 16:19-20) there has been a four-horse race continuing through the entire age of the church until Christ’s return:
   1. The first seal consists of a white horse and its rider, signifying the spreading of the gospel— Rev. 6:1-2:
      1. The bow without an arrow signifies that Christ’s fighting for the constitution of the gospel of peace is finished and the victory is won.
      2. A crown signifies that the gospel has been crowned with the glory of Christ—2 Cor. 4:4.
      3. “Went forth conquering” signifies that the gospel has been going forth with Christ to conquer all kinds of opposition and attack—Rev. 6:2.
      4. God’s unique purpose in this age is to have the gospel preached that the church as the Body of Christ might be built up to consummate the New Jerusalem—Eph. 3:8-11; Rom. 1:1.
      5. The overcomers who preach the gospel of the glory of Christ become the riders of the white horse—Rev. 19:11, 13-14.
   2. The second seal consists of a red horse and its rider, signifying the spreading of war—6:3-4:
      1. Red signifies the shedding of blood.
      2. “A great sword” signifies weapons for fighting.
      3. “To take peace from the earth” signifies that war is continuing on the earth.
      4. “That men should slay one another” signifies that people will fight one another—v. 4; Matt. 24:7.
   3. The third seal consists of a black horse and its rider, signifying the spreading of famine—Rev. 6:5-6:
      1. A balance, a scale used to weigh precious things, being used here to weigh food, signifies the scarcity of food.
      2. A quart of wheat, good pay for a day’s labor, and three quarts of barley, also good pay for a day’s labor (Matt. 20:2), signify the high price of food in its scarcity.
      3. “Do not harm the oil and the wine” (oil and wine are for man’s pleasure—Psa. 104:15— and are always short in supply and become precious in famine) signifies the presence of famine.
   4. The fourth seal consists of a pale horse and its rider, signifying the spreading of death—Rev. 6:7-8:
      1. Pale signifies the color of the appearance of those stricken with the plague.
      2. Hades following Death signifies that Hades receives and retains those whom death has killed.
      3. Authority is given to Death and Hades over the fourth part of the earth to kill with the sword, famine, and pestilence, and by the beasts of the earth.
3. The fifth seal consists of the prayer of the martyred saints, including the martyrs of the Old Testament, from Paradise for their avenging— Rev. 6:9-11; Matt. 23:34-36:
   1. The martyrdom of the saints is because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus—Rev. 1:9; 12:17; 20:4:
      1. All the believers should be the Lord’s martyrs, His witnesses, those who bear a living testimony of the resurrected and ascended Christ in life—Acts 1:8.
      2. The martyrs of Christ can be martyrs physically, psychologically, or spiritually—2 Tim. 4:6; Rev. 12:11b; 1 Cor. 16:12.
      3. We need to live a martyr’s life by dying to our human life to live the divine life, being conformed to the death of Christ by the power of His resurrection for the reality of His Body— Gal. 6:17; Phil. 3:10.
   2. The prayer of the martyred saints, which should take place near the end of this age, is also mentioned in Revelation 8:3-5 and Luke 18:7-8:
      1. The prayers of the saints in Revelation 8:3-4 are for the judgment of the earth, which opposes God’s economy.
      2. In Luke 18:1-8 the Lord teaches us in a parable about persistent prayer, the prayer of the martyred saints:
         1. In this parable the righteous God is likened to an unrighteous judge, and the believers in Christ are likened to a widow—vv. 2, 6, 3:
            1. 1) In a sense, the believers in Christ are a widow in the present age because their Husband, Christ (2 Cor. 11:2), is absent from them—cf. Rev. 18:7.
            2. 2) Although God does not seem to do anything on behalf of His persecuted people, we must learn to be a bothering widow, one who prays to God persistently—Luke 18:4-5; Isa. 62:6.
            3. 3) By faith the martyrs experienced God’s peaceful silence, exercising faith in God even when He did nothing to deliver them—Heb. 11:32-38; Matt. 11:6.
            4. 4) We ought to pray persistently that God will avenge us of our enemy, Satan the devil, and should not lose heart.
            5. 5) God’s avenging us of our enemy will take place at the Savior’s coming back—2 Thes. 2:6-9.
            6. 6) Immediately following the sixth seal is the seventh seal as an answer to the prayer of the martyred saints—Rev. 6:12-17; 8:1-2.
         2. The persistent faith for persistent prayer is the divine requirement for the overcomers to meet Christ in His triumphant return—Luke 18:8.