Rev 6:1-8 The Four Horses

Rev 6:1-8 NIV
The white, red, black, and pale horse are sometimes referred to as the four horses of the apocalypse. The four horses and their riders signify conquest, war, famine, death. Some would say that these four horses and their riders will lead the charge at Armageddon at a great and final battle just prior to the day of the Lord. It will be a most horrific day.

I am a bit more cautious about considering this to be just a future event as I am well aware that we are already in a battle with the forces of evil. The desires to control others for our own purposes (conquest), wars, famines, and death have been very present with us for a very long time. We may feel relatively safe here in the United States. There are of these horsemen all around us; but, until it directly affects the individual; sometimes, the eyes are closed to what others are living.

Open your eyes and see. See how the world strives to control others; see the wars; see the famine; and see the death. If we cannot see the pain that others are suffering; then, maybe, as a teacher friend use to remind her students often, "If you're not part of the solution; you're a part of the problem." See the suffering and then see what you can do to help those who are in need. Fight the good fight, while staying firm in your faith. Don't wait 'till that final day of judgment to help those who are suffering or Jesus might say to you, "...Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me." (Matt 25:41-46)

God's Peace - Pr. J 

Amos 8 - Famine

“The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign Lord,
    “when I will send a famine through the land—
not a famine of food or a thirst for water,
    but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord.
People will stagger from sea to sea
    and wander from north to east,
searching for the word of the Lord,
    but they will not find it." (Amos 8:11-12 NIV)

Always searching, never finding... So many seekers out there... hungry... thirsty... but, never being satisfied. The word of the LORD is available. But, it is not available in every church, from every pulpit. It is there. But, sometimes it is difficult to find.

Just as in the days of Amaziah the temple is used for worldly proclamations. In chapter 7, we heard Amos declare that the temple was his and that Amos was not to be proclaiming God's word in it. The same applies today. The church, it seems, belong to the people, a worldly people, who want their "ears itched" and pastors who are reluctant to say anything that will not scratch those ears. This causes a lot of thirsty and hungry people to wander, searching for the water that will quench their thirst. Jesus is that living water. The proclamation of Jesus Christ is the only thing that can satisfy the thirsty or hungry soul.

I rarely get a chance to attend worship services other than at Zion or Aura Lutheran. However, when I am away from the pulpit, I attend worship services wherever I am. Some of the messages leave me excited and fully fed with the word and the Word. Others do not. They leave me empty and actually wanting to run out and find some real nourishment. Not long ago, I attended a funeral service for a Christian man. There was no proclamation of life in Jesus Christ! It was a very long eulogy (not a sermon). Only one time was Jesus' name mentioned during the sermon and that was in reference to Jesus approving of the man; not because of Christ's work on the cross but because of the man's life, itself.

The days of famine have come. Not a famine of food or water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD. Jesus' instruction to those who claim they love him was to feed His sheep. Feed them... Feed your neighbors, your friends, your family, with the Word of God... Share the love of God, who in Christ Jesus, was willing to die that we might live abundant lives in His Kingdom, reconciled to God and one another, beginning even now!

God's Peace - Pr. J

Jeremiah 34 - Which Freedom Will You Choose?

A slightly different concept of freedom is found in chapter 34 of Jeremiah.

 “Therefore this is what the Lord says: You have not obeyed me; you have not proclaimed freedom to your own people. So I now proclaim ‘freedom’ for you, declares the Lord—‘freedom’ to fall by the sword, plague and famine. I will make you abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth." (Jer 34:17 NIV)

God had instructed His people to set their slaves free. At first, they agreed. But, then they changed their minds and forced them back into slavery. They broke the covenant that had been made with God. They would not set the people free. But, God will. He will free His people from the covenant. They can live on their own, making their own way. They will live without the blessings that He would give to them.

If we don't want to listen to God; if we don't want to do His will; then we are free to be free from the covenant that God made with us. We don't have to seek His face. But, what we will get instead is His back and that is not a good or pleasant thing. We can be free to serve other gods; to serve ourselves. But, it would behoove us to ask ourselves is that the direction we really want to go in?

"Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves. Abraham Lincoln 

"There are two freedoms – the false, where a man is free to do what he likes; the true, where he is free to do what he ought." Charles Kingsley

"While we are free to choose our actions, we are not free to choose the consequences of our actions." Stephen Covey

"But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15)

God's Peace - Pr. J