Bourland Family Blog

“Saying, Harm neither the earth nor the sea nor the trees, until we have sealed the bond servants of our God upon their foreheads. And [then] I heard how many were sealed (marked) out of every tribe of the sons of Israel: there were 144,000.” Revelation 7:3-4 ->me: For a long time I have struggled to understand how the 144,000 fit in the end times. I now feel reasonably good about my understanding after prayer, study and talking over with Marianne. You really must read chapter 6 and 7 of Revelation to *start* putting this together and additionally many other places in the bible to get a firm grip. The angel speaking the first sentence, of the 2 verses above, is talking about sealing ALL of the bond servants of God. John uses ‘and then’ many times to double-click into a situation with more detail. Here he does it again but focuses in on the sons of Israel as (what I believe to be) a subset of the overall set of chosen people still living during this time of tribulation. Now for my personal take away -> Revelation 7:1 “…I saw four angels stationed at the four corners of the earth firmly holding back the four winds of the earth so that no wind should blow on the earth or sea or upon any tree” – This shows the restraint the Lord will use to protect His people. Those who are called His ‘bond servants’ (people utterly devoted) are covered by Lord and the mark they display will cause destruction to pass right by them. Now, as a pre-tribber, I expect to be with the Lord before the 6th seal is opened but what a comfort to know that the Lord will protect His own and seal them with His Name before the worst hits.

“Then the kings of the earth and their noblemen and their magnates and their military chiefs and the wealthy and the strong and [everyone, whether] slave or free hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, and they called to the mountains and the rocks, Fall on (before) us and hide us from the face of Him Who sits on the throne and from the deep-seated indignation and wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of His wrath (vengeance, retribution, indignation) has come, and who is able to stand before it?” Revelation 6:15-17 ->me: These 3 verses follow the opening of the 6th seal which brings the sun turning to sackcloth, the moon turning blood red, and a great earthquake (…and every mountain and island was dislodged from its place)…pretty much mayhem on a level the earth has never seen. John names seven classes (the number of perfection) of people to show that there is no enemy of God, no matter their position in society, who will escape the terrors that will come. The plea to the mountains to fall on them shows that the calamity with which they are confronted is so great that anything is preferable to facing it. However, doesn’t this next passage sound familiar? “For though the mountains should depart and the hills be shaken or removed, yet My love and kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall My covenant of peace and completeness be removed, says the Lord, Who has compassion on you.” (Isa. 54:10). So, by no means is the Lord trying to scare His saints with this revelation to John…He is using familiar apocalyptic imagery to reassure us. These passages jointly tell me that I will be preserved while He brings justice to the ungodly and ushers in the new heaven and new earth for Him to reign for all eternity and be with Him.

“Then they were each given along and flowing and festive white robe and told to rest and wait patiently a little while longer, until the number should be complete of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed as they themselves had been.” Revelation 6:11 ->me: I’ve pondering this verse for 2 days now, even went to sleep last night thinking about it. White in the Bible represents victory. Even though it might be perceived that these saints lost to the evil in death, God has given them victory in heaven and has set them apart. There are a lot of theories about what the number of saints is that will be martyred -> the number of the fallen angels that fell with satan? An arbitrary number that only the Lord knows? Either way it is again a reason I must be prepared everyday for the return of Jesus. Does my life reflect the follower I desire Him to see when He sees me face to face? Lots of work to do.

“And will not [our just] God defend and protect and avenge His elect (His chosen ones), who cry to Him day and night? Will He defer them and delay help on their behalf?  I tell you, He will defend and protect and avenge them speedily. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find [persistence in] faith on the earth?” Luke 18:7-8 ->me: Missed my QT yesterday (no excuses).  Today I planned to jump right back into Revelation 6:10-11 but got slapped up-side the head by the Holy Spirit with these 2 verses.  Luke 18:7 was referenced in response to the Martyrs at the foot of the altar crying out to the Sovereign God for justice on the inhabitants of the earth.  As I read this verse in Luke I was drawn to the next verse which pretty much says (paraphrased) “God will avenge His persecuted saints and when He does it will be quick…however, not every so called saint is a victim.”  OUCH!  HEART CHECK!  Am I really genuine in my petitioning before the Lord?  In the same passage, through a parable, Jesus says the every man who exalts himself will be humbled and man who humbles himself before the Lord will be exalted.  How do I handle the challenges thrown at me in my life, at home, at work, etc?  Do I see tragedy in way I have been treated in a situation or do I see my own failure and/or the impact on others rather than myself?  Today’s message from the Holy Spirit is to stop and check my sinful heart before getting angry at how I have been treated or think to highly of myself when God has blessed me with something going my way.  Thank you for the fuel for prayer today Lord!

“When the Lamb broke open the fifth seal, I saw at the foot of the altar the souls of those whose lives had been sacrificed for [adhering to] the Word of God and for the testimony they had borne.” Revelation 6:9  ->me: Let’s call out, first of all, what I focused on today -> ‘foot of the altar’ and ‘calling out the souls of martyrs’.  The first thing I asked myself is “why is there an altar in heaven when Jesus has already been offered as the perfect sacrifice?”  I think the answer is that this is an altar of incense and prayer; additionally the martyr’s technically offered up their own lives to God by staying true to the message of Christ.  The foot of the altar appears to not only be a place of privilege but also a place of safety in God’s keeping. Secondly, martyr’s obviously hold a special place in heaven set apart from the other souls who have died by other means.  The beautiful part of this passage is the aspect of the martyred souls being at the foot of the altar means that when these people sacrificed their lives to further the gospel, the most significant part of their act took place in heaven.  What is my life application to this passage?  I want to be so dedicated and committed to God’s purpose in my life that I hold fast to my testimony in Christ rather than maintaining a grip onto life itself.  The bible, and more specifically Revelation, promise that hostility towards committed Christians will exist until the end of time.  My goal cannot be to win the favor of my common man, rather it must be to stay as close to the heels of the Lord and His purposes, even if that means following Him right into heaven through death.

“For the weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood], but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds, [Inasmuch as we] refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One)” 2 Corinthians 10:4-5 ->me: Today I am taking a short departure from Revelation. For lunch I was blessed with meeting a hero in my life who graciously, humbly, and meekly is fighting cancer. Hit after hit comes his way but he stands tall in the trust he has in his Savior. I am absolutely blown away by his strength and character. I spent a considerable amount of time today praying for this man and this new phrase popped into my head and I have not been able to shake it. “God’s Purpose Executed Perfectly” – How do you pray for the healing of precious soul like this and at the same time sincerely embrace God’s will being done when that may mean the Lord taking him home earlier than we want? It is so hard….but that Perfectly Executed Purpose is exactly what I pray for and then follow that up with “Father, if your will and purposes are not circumvented by extending this man’s life then I pray fervently for that blessing to be sent down to show all involved your glory and power.” My prayer life was impacted today by the simple acceptance of God’s will in the toughest of circumstances.

“So I looked, and behold, an ashy pale horse [black and blue as if made so by bruising], and its rider’s name was Death, and Hades (the realm of the dead) followed him closely. And they were given authority and power over a fourth part of the earth to kill with the sword and with famine and with plague (pestilence, disease) and with wild beasts of the earth.” Revelation 6:8 ->me: Today I spent a lot time in thought on this verse. I asked the Lord what I should take away from this 4th horseman or maybe a full thought on what the first four seals tell me in application. Lets start with what I discovered about this verse – ‘Pale’ is the Greek word “chlóros” which is the root of our word chlorine. A yellowish green color (the color of a corpse). The other riders has emblems -> a bow, sword, and scales…Death needs no sign. Hades is a place and so I don’t think it is given the same metaphorical rider with a horse motif. Once again we see the Lord’s Sovereignty -> Authority and power to kill given. Looking at all the horsemen and what they are sent to do I see a repeating of their destruction through history. The overwhelming feeling I had through my reading today was that of time being short and that the time of our Lord’s return is near. We will see in the next seal that there is death count that is a trigger for the next stage in the Lord coming. There is so much work to be done and the workers are few (Luke 10:2). I need to have a sense of immediacy in my purpose. I can’t be waiting around for a ‘calling’…as a born again Christian I am already called to be obedient to the Word of God and the teachings of Jesus-these are clear. I simply need to get to work.

“When He broke open the third seal, I heard the third living creature call out, Come and look! And I saw, and behold, a black horse, and in his hand the rider had a pair of scales (a balance). And I heard what seemed to be a voice from the midst of the four living creatures, saying, A quart of wheat for a denarius [a whole day’s wages], and three quarts of barley for a denarius; but do not harm the oil and the wine!” Revelation 6:5-6 ->me: In scripture the black horse signifies famine and the rider is holding a set of scales. In famine governments of the land would ration out grain by measure (thus the scales) daily to the people of the country. The words from the voice amid the creatures talk about a worker paying a full days wages for a single ration of wheat, which means he would not have enough to feed his dependents. I think the ‘do not harm the oil and wine’ is a picture of the necessities of life for the poor will be in short supply while the luxuries of the rich will not cease; a time of famine which is not yet a disaster. Things are difficult but the end is not yet. I can get like this (this is my personal application) – Here I am with my nice home, plenty of food, with fast internet, full satellite television, clothes I need to take to Goodwill, and multiple cars….and my biggest question a couple of days ago was – “Why isn’t my wife’s new cell phone here when they said it would be???”. In other words I am worrying about the wrong things…what about my neighbors who are unsaved, the countless homeless that need help, the human trafficking problem right here in Seattle, the kids in poverty eating the same (government provided) cheese sandwiches everyday next to my daughter at school. This seal is a reminder to me who has ‘literally’ everything, to raise my fat head up and start paying attention to the needs of those around me…and do something about it.

“And another horse came out, flaming red. And its rider was empowered to take the peace from the earth, so that men slaughtered one another; and he was given a huge sword.” Revelation 6:4 ->me: I am sorry in advance for the slowness that this verse by verse might feel but it all means so much together that it is hard to run too fast. Again this rider ‘is empowered to take peace’ and ‘is given a sword’. This rider doesn’t kill anyone that we know of with this sword because it says the people kill themselves over a lack of peace which the rider has taken away. This reminds me of the lessons we have been learning from the Meaning of Marriage book (by Tim and Kathy Keller). The book makes the statement that the more evil you inflict on someone or the more you beat down on a group of people, the more brutal and savage your treatment becomes. This passage is saying that this is what this horseman will bring with the opening of his seal; ruthless back and forth killing of each other. One of the things I need to take to heart is that when I am nice to my enemies and kind to those less fortunate around me, I develop a care and love for them; for my enemies I might just dislike them less. I need to make a conscious effort actively LOVE on people around me, no matter how they may treat me. Look how Jesus was treated yet He continues to reach out to and love on those who took Him to the cross.

“And I looked, and saw there a white horse whose rider carried a bow. And a crown was given him, and he rode forth conquering and to conquer.” Revelation 6:2 ->me:….and now we start with the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse. The first horse is white and its rider carried a bow. What stands out to me in this verse is that the rider was ‘given’ a crown (or wreath of victory). I am sure the rider (conqueror) thought that his own might produced his victory. The conqueror has only what God allows him to have. Most of what I have read alludes to the fact that any Waring country bent on conquest will lay destruction, terror, and horror in its path…the will be an unending procession of countries focused on this through the end of time as we know it and it will only increase as we get closer to the return of Jesus. John is very sure to make sure that the reader sees the sovereignty of God in the recounting of his visions. I must have this perspective not only while I read through this book but also in my daily walk, my daily prayer, and the trials and tribulations I will face. God is bigger than my circumstances and He alone allows what we experience and what happens in His plan and purposes. As a believer this is so comforting…I cannot allow the external pressures of this world take more weight than my God; the God of Creation and the Universe.