Scott Brown's sermon, titled 'How Long, O Lord, Holy and True,' explores Revelation 6:9-17, focusing on the fifth and sixth seals of John's vision. Brown discusses the martyrdom of believers, emphasizing their cries for divine justice and the assurance of God's ultimate judgment against their persecutors. The sermon highlights the significance of the four horsemen as representations of conquest, war, famine, and death, reflecting the ongoing struggles and trials faced by believers throughout history. Brown underscores the 'unfair advantage' believers have in knowing God's purpose and the certainty of His promises. He presents the image of martyrs under the altar as a testimony to their faith and sacrifice, drawing parallels to the sacrificial system of the Old Testament. The sermon calls for believers to understand God's perspective on persecution and martyrdom, encouraging them to remain steadfast in faith, confident in God's sovereignty and the ultimate victory of the Church.

Please find Revelation chapter 6 verse 9 and I'll read through 17. This is the inerrant, all-sufficient, life-giving, sweeter-than-honey and the honeycomb word of truth. Praise the Lord. Verse 9, 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 longer until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, whom would be killed as they were, was completed. 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 they 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 great for the great day of his wrath has come and who is able to stand.

Would you pray with me? Oh father thank you for putting this remarkable testimony before us. I pray, oh Lord, that we would love to see your face and not to be terrified by it. We are so grateful for your word which is helpful for us to understand everything that's going on within us and without us. Amen.

Please be seated. So in these verses we're brought to see two very vivid pictures and these pictures, first of all they show us the hatred of the unbeliever Toward the Church of Jesus Christ as experienced in the lives of the martyrs who were slain and they are Depicted here as under the altar of God and then secondly God shutting down their persecutions like a storm in the final judgment. And every class of unbeliever is stopped in their persecution and the Lord Jesus Christ comes in power and glory. Now we've already encountered the first four seals that have been opened in the first eight verses of this chapter, and we've seen a panorama of history illustrated by the four horsemen that are galloping throughout the earth and this is a picture of what is happening, has been happening throughout the earth from the beginning. And in this passage here, we find a testimony of what is happening really from the first martyr of the church, Abel, to the very last.

And last week we encountered the first seal, the white horse. This is the conquest. The second seal, the red horse, the killers. Then the third seal, the black horse, the famine and the inflation. The fourth seal, the pale horse, death.

So the Lord Jesus Christ, as Joe Beeke said, saddled up all these horses. And they are expressions of God punishing the world for their sin. They're showing the true colors of unbelief. The unbelievers are punishing the unbelievers. It's absolutely astounding, and they're demonstrating the sinfulness of sin.

They're showing just how horrible it is to fall under the ministry of the devil and they're demonstrating the results of mankind capitulating to the lusts of the flesh and the eyes and the boastful pride of life and how hateful, how harmful, and how horrible it is to reject Jesus Christ because there's judgment coming. So you have these temporal judgments that roll on throughout history in different places in different times. So that's where we've been. Now, we turn to the fifth seal and The beginning of the sixth seal we won't complete the sixth seal We'll just have an introduction to it. It'll roll on through chapter 7.

We'll finish those later There are two phrases here in this passage that have just gripped my heart and the first is how long oh Lord holy and true in verse 10 and then the final verse for the great day of his wrath has come and who is able to stand." The blessings of these words, I think, I hope we get them. Christians have the unfair advantage. They've been told what's going on. We don't need to be confused about what's happening in the world. We know, there's something that we know, and these verses tell us we know that God causes all things to work together for good, for the called according to his purpose.

We know he is holy. We know he is true. We know the answer to the question. Who is able to stand? We know that and God has given us these things to strengthen us, to help us, to make us fearless in the face of whatever may come in the days of our lives.

But we have that unfair advantage. You know many years ago I had an electronics company and I sold it in 1998. I started this company and Jason Dome, who many of you know who's a pastor of Sovereign Redeemer Community Church, was working in sales. He dealt with the customers And so customers would come to our factory from time to time. Every once in a while, a customer would ask us about our academic background.

And it was always a little awkward for us because, you know, we were running this technology company, you know, controlling heat and processes and, you know, all kinds of things like that. And well, you know, Jason was a physical education major at UNC Chapel Hill. So what are your academic qualifications to run this electronics factory? And I, well I got a history degree in California, you know, and then I got a theological degree. So what are you doing running an engineering, you know, driven kind of company?

And Jason, Jason would always often say, well, we have the unfair advantage. We know God. And that's what the church has. We know, we know, we know that God causes all things to work together for good for those who love him. We know that.

And so the Church of Jesus Christ tends to be unflappable with all the flapping that's going on in the world. And God is so kind to give us His word. It gives us an unfair advantage. And we can see behind the curtain. We understand what's going on in the world and we're not fearful about the present or the future if we are filling our minds with the knowledge of his will.

So As we come to these verses, the four horsemen have dropped off the scene, you probably noticed that. And there are two parts of this section. And the first is a disclosure of the state of the martyrs who've been killed and their cry. And then secondly, the cataclysms that will fall upon the heavens and the earth in the second coming of Jesus Christ. And so these chapters continue this disclosure of what the Lord is doing in the world.

And the witnesses of Jesus Christ, many of them have been killed during the church age. And what we find is that while that might seem so heartbreaking to us, we'll get a glimpse into how God views it. Finally, the perpetrators will be caught and they will be so terrified they won't want to live anymore because of what they've done, because they didn't believe that God was good. They didn't rejoice. They didn't love the presence of his face, and his face terrified them.

You know, one thing that we should be asking is, does the face of Jesus terrify you or does the face of Jesus bring you comfort and joy and solitude in this world? How you view the face of Jesus Christ determines so much in your life. And so let's go, let's break into this fifth seal in verses 9 through 11. And I'll just read it again. 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 out 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." So obviously this fifth seal focuses on the the persecuted slain and these I believe are those who have died in the great persecutions of the Old Testament, and then those who will be killed during the church age, during the Roman period, during the Protestant Reformation, during the Scottish Reformation, during the Korean Reformation. They include the martyrs that are in Myanmar. They include the martyrs in China in the 20th and the 21st centuries.

And When the word of God comes, a sword often comes after it. And that's what we see here. You know, historians are telling us that more people have been martyred in the last century than in all the previous centuries of Christian history. But what we find here are these souls under the altar. Look at verse 9, verse 9.

When you open the fifth seal, I saw under the altar. The key phrase here is under the altar. Now we are brought to an altar, we're actually brought to the altar of sacrifice. We're actually brought to the bronze altar in the Old Testament in the tabernacle and it was kept burning at all times it was about seven and a half feet wide and about four and a half feet high and it was the place of substitutionary atonement through the animal sacrificial system And what was happening in this image here is the slain animals' blood would flow to the base of the altar. So he's speaking about the furniture in the tabernacle in the sanctuary.

And of course, every part of the furniture in the tabernacle points to some aspect of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And it's so beautiful and so helpful to understand Jesus himself. So this imagery is connected to the sacrifices in the temple. Of course Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of that sacrifice, but this imagery here speaks of the martyrs and they their blood being sacrificed And it hails us back to Leviticus chapter four, verse seven. And the priest shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of sweet incense before the Lord, which is in the tabernacle of meeting.

And he shall pour the remaining blood of the bull at the base of the altar of the burnt offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. And you see the same kind of picture in Exodus chapter 29 verse 2 or the priests were commanded pour all the blood beside the base of the altar and then in Exodus 29 verse 18 it is a sweet aroma and offering made by fire to the Lord. This was a sweet aroma to the Lord. This is a sacrifice for sin. This is the beauty of a substitutionary atonement.

Of course the martyrs aren't performing substitutionary atonement, but they gave their blood. Now you remember what God said in Leviticus 17, 11, the life is in the blood, and the martyrs gave their lives. They gave their blood. They gave their very life blood for the word of God. And in Matthew chapter 23, we learn about the martyrs.

Of course, the first martyr in the Bible was Abel who killed his brother. Matthew 23 verse 34 through 36 speaks about this where God is it's a picture of God sending prophets with the expectation that they will be persecuted and so in Matthew 23 the verse 34 we read these words therefore indeed I send you prophets wise men and scribes Some of them you will kill and crucify and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city. That on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Barakiah whom you murdered between the temple and the altar assuredly I say to you all these things will come upon this generation." So notice these are souls, and they are the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God. Now again we get a picture of what's going to happen to your body when you die. Do you want to know what's going to happen to your body?

Well your body is going to be separated from your soul at death and we're seeing a picture of that here. We're actually seeing a picture of what Jesus said to the thief on the cross when he said, today you will be with me in paradise. So These souls are in paradise, yet they're not in their final habitation after the final judgment. Now, there's much that we can say about them. They are conscious.

They have some form of body. They've been given robes. Or maybe that's figurative. I don't know. But you, the imagery tells us of the beauty of it.

And then we're told of why, why are, why has this happened to them? What did they do to get into so much trouble as to end up getting killed? And it's very clear. They were there, their blood was shed, quote, for the word of God and for the testimony. It was the word of God that got them into such hot water.

They wanted to honor and obey and speak the word of God and it caused them an enormous amount of trouble in their life. It was the word of God and their testimony. Now, what's a testimony? Their testimony is not their salvation story. It's rather that they spoke about what they witnessed.

They testified to what they had seen and what they had known about Jesus Christ. And they communicated that they were witnesses of the power of Jesus Christ in their lives, and they couldn't keep their mouth shut. And it caused them tremendous trouble. And God did not miraculously protect these saints, they were killed. We know that all those who give testimony to Jesus aren't killed, but I think that we should always be aware of and I'm aware of this and that is that when you preach the Word of God you may be preparing some of the hearers for their martyrdom.

The preaching of the word of God is not safe for anyone in that sense. Oh, it's so safe though before God. It's very interesting here, saving human life is not God's primary priority. Saving your skin is not what God is first concerned about in your life. It's very important that we begin to have a biblical understanding, a godly understanding of our bodies and our life here in this earth.

The spread of the Word of God is what he desires far more than the preservation of life and God is more more interested in the power of the gospel than he is the preservation of a human body. We know that we should be taking care of our bodies and things like that. There's no contradiction there. It's very interesting also there's a prayer here. It's the only prayer of supplication in the entire book of Revelation.

And the prayer is in verse 10. Go ahead and look at it. 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? So they suffered to such a degree that there were people who wanted to wipe them off the face of the earth and they did and they were judged enemies of society And they were manhandled in the world. And the question is, how long?

How long, oh Lord? I don't think we should read any vindictive spirit in these words. How long? They just want to know how long and they're concerned that God would deal, finally deal with those. They also know that some of their brethren are being killed in the world, and they don't want to see their brethren being killed.

They want it to end. But I would say we can assume with certainty that these are godly saints. They obeyed the Lord. They understood that vengeance is the Lord. In fact, they're not calling for man's vengeance.

They're calling for God's. Vengeance is mine, says the Lord of hosts. So their desire for the destruction of the wicked is not a contradiction of the mercy that saints should have toward the wicked even in time of their martyr martyr. That's why Jesus Christ said to his persecutors on the cross, Father forgive them for they know not what they do. That's why Stephen when he was being stoned, he said, Oh Lord don't bring this to charge to their account and you know they're they understood that the Lord Jesus had called them to pray for their enemies and to bless those who persecuted them.

That's the attitude that Christians ought to have toward their persecutors. You know, Christians aren't hard guys before their persecutors. They pray for them. They so desire God's mercy upon them. That's why the Romans, the Roman Christians were instructed by the Apostle Paul to in Romans 12, 17, Repay no one evil for evil.

Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place for wrath, for it is written, vengeance is mine. That's the place for wrath. It's not your place, it's not my place for wrath.

It's his place. Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. So these martyrs though at the same time are really expressing a very Christian understanding and attitude toward the wicked And David communicated it in this way in Psalm 119 verse 127. He says, therefore I love your commandments more than gold. Yes, then fine gold.

Therefore all your precepts concerning all things I consider to be right." But then he says, I hate every false way. There's a way to hate the wicked. There's a godly way to hate the wicked. In Zechariah chapter 1 verse 12 the Lord also declares a similar attitude to the Lord himself. The angel of the Lord answered and said, Oh Lord of hosts how long will you not have mercy on Jerusalem?" That same phrase.

How long? Jerusalem was getting torn up and then God answers and he says, I'm actually jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion I have great zeal and then he says and I am exceedingly angry with the nations so the Lord is going to is going to judge the wicked The psalmist cries out in the same way, this is Asaph in Psalm 94 verse three, same kind of language that the martyrs have. Lord how long will the wicked, how long will the wicked triumph? In Psalm 74 he asks the same thing. Oh God how long will the adversary reproach?

Will the enemy blaspheme your name forever? Why do you withdraw your hand? Even your right hand take it out of your bosom and destroy them. Well God has his own timing. It's not ungodly to desire the destruction of the wicked, it's on God's mind.

Now I'd like to hang out here with something that these martyrs say. I haven't been able to get it out of my mind and it's really their view of the Lord and there are three terms that they use to speak about the Lord. Lord, holy and true. Lord, holy and true. Now I love that because it really is the heartbeat of the heart of a Christian toward the Lord.

These are such tender words. These men have been killed and look at the tenderness toward the Lord. They know that it was God that got him in so much trouble and they are so tender toward the Lord and they love the Lord they love him they're not upset that they were martyred at all They don't look back with regret with the stabbings and the burnings or whatever. However, they were martyred They don't look back like that at all. They didn't think God gave him a bad deal at all So they call him Lord And the word that they use is the word despotess, the despot, Lord, you are my master.

You are my absolute master. It's the word that a slave would use. They are so thankful to be at his disposal. Lord, he's the best despot you'll ever serve. And then they call him holy.

Holy. Lord, holy. He is so wonderful. He's perfectly wonderful. He's perfectly different.

He is set apart. He's like no one. Lord, there is none like you. You are so good. Oh, Lord, you are holy.

Holiness is perfect purity. Holiness swallows up every other attribute of God. His mercy, His love, His justice, holiness swallows all of them up and sums it up in that one word holy. Lord holy and true and true. They feel that he is true.

He always tells you the truth. It might hurt, but he always tells you the truth. And you know, I was walking outside this morning. Oh, it was such a beautiful morning. And I could hear, I was thinking about this passage, just praying about this passage.

And I think I could hear five different songbirds singing. It was so beautiful. You know what that's like in the morning. Isn't that amazing? And, You know, there were fish rising, you know, in the lakes and there.

The sky was so beautiful and the clouds had this silver tone to them and, you know, I, It was just so nourishing to the eye, you know, the trees and the squirrels and everything. It was just, I was sitting there and I thought, you know, I thought about leaving this world. You know, why would you want to leave this world? And then I thought, this world is nothing compared to that world. You know, There's a lot of add-on to that next world.

You know, the least of these is all the tears are going to be wiped from your eye. But I mean the colors, the nourishing Eye candy in heaven is absolutely stunning. You know, and my grandchildren memorizing Psalm 19, and they say, the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows his candy work. That's what they like to say. Well, it's handiwork.

But it's not a loss to leave this world. It's not a loss to leave that body that you have either. And if you die, you'll probably die fairly quickly. It won't be that big of a deal. And you're gonna be in a totally different world.

So, you know, it's such a wonderful world. Far more wonderful than this world, far more wonderful than everything that I was able to see that was very wonderful to me, and very encouraging, and to see the beauty of the Lord. You know, Jonathan Edwards said, "'Heaven is a world of love, ' in his commentary on 1 Corinthians 13, called Charity and Its Fruits. Well, here's what the martyrs are saying. He's such a good master.

He always showed us what was pure and made us happy. He always told us the truth. He's Lord, holy and true. And so they, but all this happened because of the Word of God. They were slain for the word of God.

And this just brings us back again to the rage of the devil against the word of God. The devil hates the word of God. We love it. The devil hates it. Revelation chapter 12 gives us kind of a sense of this whole worldview that surrounds us and Romans 12 17 and the dragon was enraged with the woman and he went to make war with the rest of her ops offspring who are they who would that might be Who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ?

Those are the ones that the dragon is enraged about. Have you ever felt a little uncomfortable, you know, carrying your Bible or opening your Bible somewhere? I felt more uncomfortable in places like Seattle than here. Around here people pray all the time in the restaurants, but that's not like that everywhere. And then the Lord speaks to the martyrs in verse 11, 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.

Now what's the Lord doing here? Well he gives them a robe. Again is this figurative real? The meaning will be the same. And then he gives them some direction.

He tells them something. So he gives them a white robe. And Again, as you interpret Revelation, you always need to think about the rest of the Bible. This is one of the great values of going through the book of Revelation. And we were experiencing this in Bible study on Monday morning.

We hit some image and we don't know exactly what that means. And so one guy says, well, it could it could it be connected with this in the Old Testament or that in the Old Testament? How does it fit? It's been it's been very it's just sort of made our minds think through scripture. Even though we might not understand everything about the image, We might even get it wrong, but we've thought it through and we'll know in due time.

But the white robe is interesting. The priests, after 30 years of service, were given their white robes. Why? Their work was done, and they're resting from their labors, and they're wearing white, and they're resting. Their work clothes are gone and they're resting.

They've entered the everlasting rest of Jesus Christ. And then he tells them to rest a little while longer, until the number of their brothers who will be killed is finally completed. Here's what you should know. There is a specific number of martyrs that God has ordained. It's God that has ordained the martyrs.

Satan is not the one who has designed this. Satan is not the great designer. He's not the mover and the shaker. He's the moved and the shaken. And God has established a number of the martyrs.

And in Revelation 14, we learn that they are going to rest from their labors, Revelation 14 13, rest from their labors for their deeds follow with them. Isn't that beautiful? And so so God is showing John seven things. I'm gonna give you five things he's showing them. And he's showing all of us these same things.

So I hope that we can see them. The first thing is that God is encouraging us and all who might hear about this, who might fear the future, that God is the one who has set all things and he is setting all things right and he and why is he delaying? Why so long? And we're told why so long. There should be no confusion in our minds at all about why it's taking so long and why there are still martyrs in the world.

2nd Peter chapter 3 verse 9 tells us definitively clearing it up hopefully forever for us. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness, but is long suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Why the delay? God is seeking and saving the lost, and he still has his servants in the world who seek and save the lost. And the Lord is just saying, I'm delaying because I want more children.

Because I want more children. I want to find more to make them happy forevermore. And God delays the day because of his mercy. Isn't that amazing that God would actually design that his saints would be killed so that the unbelievers would live? Isn't that interesting?

Doesn't that sound like someone else that we read about in the Gospels? The one who came to seek and save that which was lost, the one who gave his life as a ransom for many, the one who dies so that you might live the one who is poor so that he makes many rich that's the Lord Jesus and God is patient and he is delaying he's maybe I don't know maybe he's delaying for some of you and he doesn't want you to die before you come to him because he loves you and he's drawing, maybe he's been drawing you. But he doesn't want you to die until he saves you. So he's delaying. So that's the first thing.

The second thing is, again, God is showing John that he's in control of the murders of the saints and God hasn't destroyed them yet either. God's glorifying himself through that and that brings us to the third thing that he wants us to see. And I think most of us probably need an attitude adjustment on this one, because we think it's so bad when someone is killed for their faith, I think it will always break our hearts. But what we find here is that the Lord is showing John that he is pleased with the martyrs, not just their life, but he's pleased with their death. He designed their death and he's actually pleased with his death.

God is not sorrowful about their deaths. God treasures their death. It's a sweet aroma to him. It's like the bronze altar in the tabernacle where the blood was like incense to him. He loves the aroma of the incense.

They are a blessing to him, like a sweet aroma coming off of the altar, and he blesses them. You know Psalm 116-15 came to my mind, you know it breaks our heart at the death of godly ones but we learn there precious in the sight of the Lord, precious in the sight of the Lord, precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his godly ones. I don't think this is meant to take away all of our sorrows when loved ones die or dear friends die but it puts it all in perspective and how you know how different is God that we are he thinks differently about everything And the sign of maturity is a person who begins to think like God. Does about everything. About everything.

You know, Isaiah 55, 8 and 9, the Lord says, for my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. It's really interesting too, in that song, or I mean that section of Isaiah 55, the previous verses, the Lord is saying to Isaiah and the people, call on the Lord, forsake your own way. He's saying, you know, he's really telling Isaiah, see the things the way that I see them. And here's how I see things.

I'm merciful. So call on the Lord while he may be found. Call on him while he's near. Let the wicked forsake his way. And then he says, for my thoughts are not your thoughts.

Like you might want to destroy the wicked, but God doesn't. Until he's ready. So the Lord thinks differently. John Calvin commented on how different God's responses are to ours. He said, there is nothing that troubles our consciences more than when we think that God is like ourselves.

He's not like us. We need to become like him. You know, we need to become less like ourselves. Stop trying to find yourself. Forget yourself.

Find God. That's what you need. And we're being instructed here. You know, this is that unfair advantage. We know that all things work together for good we we know that he's holy we know that he's true we know he's the best desperate we've ever met and And we also know who's able to stand.

Those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who call on His name. Well the fourth thing God is showing John is that these martyrs, they stand to remind us the kind of world that we live in. And they remind us of the kind of antagonism that exists toward the church, The rage that people who love the Word of God might experience. These are just stark reminders of the hatred of God that exists in the world. We should not be children in our understanding of the world.

And then, fifthly, God is showing John that the martyrs represent victory, not failure. The passage is very clear that the death of these martyrs is actually a representation of God's mastery over history. The Lord has identified every martyr. He has an exact number of martyrs. He is keeping the clock.

He is the one who's opening the scrolls. He is the one who's determining all these things. And the death of the martyrs is not a sign of God's failure. It's not a sign of the failure of the gospel at all. It's a rather a sign that God is in control.

That's why John Bunyan said in Pilgrim's Progress, he who suffers conquers. That's the way that God views it. He who suffers conquers. You know, is that the way you think about life? Most of us have a hard time getting rid of thinking that Suffering is just always a big failure.

It isn't. Not in God's eyes. But what a blessing it is to learn his ways and think about the world and about yourself the way that God does. The best thing you could do is quit thinking about yourself the way you think about yourself and start thinking about it the way God thinks about it. We're gonna meet these martyrs again near the end of Revelation chapter 7 verse 13.

By the way we keep meeting the martyrs all through revelations. I heard one commentator say that Revelation was really a book of martyrdom. But there's victory. There's victory because God uses persecution to multiply his life and others. That's what 2 Corinthians 4 beginning in verse 7 says, Paul says, we are hard pressed on every side yet not crushed.

We are perplexed but not in despair, persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed, always caring about in the body of the dying of the Lord Jesus that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our body for we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus sake why that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh So then death is working in us but life in you. In other words the persecution of the Saints is really meant to bring life to those who look on. That's why when persecuted bring life, bring the life of Jesus. This is why the holy men and women of God who are persecuted are people who are in peace. That's why Paul said to the Philippian Church in Philippians 1.27, he says, let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Jesus Christ and not in any way terrified by your adversaries, which is to them a proof of perdition.

In other words, if you're not terrified, it's proving to them that they're going to hell. But to you of salvation and that from God, for to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake, having the same conflict which you saw in me, and now here is in me." In other words, not terrified. The suffering of the saints is good because they're not terrified and it speaks volumes. And there's another reason that this is victory and that is that you're actually sharing in Christ's sufferings. Paul taught the church that death at the hands of persecutors was sharing in the sufferings of Jesus Christ.

In Philippians 3, 8 through 11, he speaks of that very very clearly And that's why he's being conformed to Christ's death. His death is conformity to Christ. You know during the Reformation there were many who were martyred and there were five young men who left Geneva. They were single men. They had gone through the the pastor's school in Geneva to evangelize in France and it was very dangerous to go to France.

Calvin himself fled France because of that danger. And these men, when they were young men, single men, they were aware of the danger they were headed into, particularly because of the fury of the King of France. And word got back to John Calvin that they'd been arrested. And what happened was As they were going to France, they were joined on their journey by a stranger. The stranger befriended them and invited them to stay in his house.

They accepted. It was a trap. And they were arrested and sentenced to death. And Calvin wrote to them, he said, that God should have appointed you to his sons martyrs as a token to you of super abounding grace isn't that an illustration of what we've just been reading and these five men they wrote a letter to their brethren, and I'll just read a portion of the letter. Since then that he is pleased that our blood should soon be shed for the confession of his holy name." Isn't that interesting?

They said that he, God, is pleased. They knew that. They knew that it pleased the Lord. He says, they said, they wrote, we reckon ourselves far happier than if we were set at liberty. How strange.

They were happier in the presence of God knowing that their death was right around the corner and they would rather go to their death than be released. Continue, for he is true and all-powerful. He will strengthen us and will not permit us to be tormented beyond our strength. And after we have suffered a while, He will receive us into his heavenly kingdom and will bestow upon us eternal rest with himself." They understood all these things that we've just read. And so they traveled to the place to where they were to be executed.

And the testimony is that they quoted the word of God as they walked and they sang Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. And they took two of the youngest up onto the stake. You know, you can picture a large structure with wood underneath it and a platform and then they would light it on fire and they would be burned. And the oldest of the one finally joined the other four, and he asked those in authority if he could kiss his brethren before they died. And So he walked around and he kissed each one of them and he said, adieu, my brother, adieu.

Now in French, adieu is not a final goodbye. It's a goodbye with the expectation that you'll meet again. They knew that and we know that and you know that. And Calvin would write to them, He will strengthen your hands in the fight and will not suffer a single drop of your blood to be spent in vain." Well, before we leave these verses, I want to make some observations about what it's like after you die and when you're in the presence of the Lord because I think there's some insight here. Well first of all the Lord is there, The Lord in all of his glory is there.

The ruler of the kings of the earth. And the martyrs, they're very keenly conscious after they die. And they have knowledge of this drama of redemption and the conflicts on the earth. And they have profound emotional responses in heaven. And they have memory, they have desires, and they experience rest.

And they demonstrate such a tender love toward the Lord. They just can't get over how good he is. Even though they've experienced such suffering in the world, they don't regret it at all. Well, the next seal is a warning to those who do not turn to the Lord Jesus Christ. And the time of persecution will end.

And here's what it will look like in the following verses. The time will run out for the persecutors of the church. And heaven and earth will be shaken and the persecutors of the church will be stricken with such, it's the fear that passes all understanding. And they realize the gig is up, it's over. There's no place to hide.

We cannot see his face. So we enter into the sixth seal, which we will handle next time. This continues on through chapter seven but in the sixth seal there's a complete upheaval in in the celestial world and you know all the commentators believe that these verses speak either of the final judgment or in the second coming or just terrible judgments that happen during history. We'll try to explain all of that. But With the sixth seal, we find God responding to those who are persecuting the church.

And he strikes the earth and he shakes the heavens. And he is vindicating his martyrs and his name. And the unbelievers who have been killing the people of God, they won't get away with it. God gave them a long rope. He was patient and they would not turn.

And they've now hung themselves and they're terrorized and they want the mountains and the rocks to fall on them and that won't happen and they will see his face. So it's such a remarkable picture here and we'll deal with this at another time. Does your heart say, oh Lord, holy and true? I pray that it does. There is no greater place of comfort in this world than there in that phrase.

You know, have you turned to the most powerful, most wonderful, desperate? Have you become his slave? That's what he wants. And that's what you will want if you become his slave. So here we are.

We have the unfair advantage. We know that God works all things together for good, for the called according to his purpose. We know that he is Lord, we know that he is holy, we know that he is true and we also know who is able to stand and so therefore stand. Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written in it. Will you pray with me?

Lord, we have encountered such sobering but beautiful but comforting things, things that have shown us your glory and your power and your mercy and your judgment. You've put all these things before us from Abel to the last martyr, the last drop of blood shed, and you coming in glory. You've shown us the whole sweep of the history of the world in judgment and in mercy. Lord thank you for giving us such an advantage. Amen.