Our Fate is Sealed

Good. You’re still with me. I’ll warn you now, the easy stuff is behind us.

5 Then I saw in the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals.

We are on the throne. The scroll we’re holding is the story of our life. Typically, when we write on the back of a scroll, it’s because we ran out of room on the front. In this case, the front and back delineate what we could or could not be. Each of the seals are stages of our life that cannot be opened by us.

2 And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” 3 But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. 4 I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. 5 Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.”

Angels are messengers. The mightier they are, the stronger the message, and the heavier it weighs on us. If we ask God how many times we must suffer a thing because of some devil inside us, He will ask us in return, how many times we want to suffer it, meaning how many times are we going to heed its voice, and follow its advice.

The definition of stupidity is doing the same thing over and over, while expecting a different result. This angel is asking us who we trust. He’s testing our commitment. His intention is to make us realize that we cannot do this alone.

Only Jesus is able to unseal our lives. Lions are renowned for their teamwork, but they have a distinctive leader. Typically it’s a male, but if no dominant males are present, a female will take over. In these instances, dominant lionesses have been known to grow manes to further look the part.

Lion prides have a distinct chain of command, typically determined by age, experience and strength. The dominant male decides where the pride goes, while the lionesses do most of the heavy lifting, when it comes to hunting. The elders and the Lamb are our pride. Our success depends as much on them as it does on us.

Out of the twelve tribes of Israel, only remnants of Judah, Benjamin and Levi are still intact. The Jewish name comes from the tribe of Judah, which basically absorbed the other two. When Jacob blessed Judah, he called him a lion’s cub. He said his brothers would bow down to him, and that his hand would be on the neck of his enemies.

Note that when you put your hand on someone’s neck, you are strangling them. You are keeping the air from entering their bodies. This is doubly important with Judah. For one, he is preventing his enemies from saying anything about him. No air, no words. For proof of this, just look to the Jewish Anti-defamation League.

More importantly, our lives require us to breathe. The Bible tells us that we do not live on bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Words require breath, but God is not the enemy of the scriptural Jew. Recall that in the New Testament, Jews are ritualists who refuse to give up their traditions, no matter what, and that this is a trait that could be found in any of us. Therefore, the neck that is in our hand belongs to the person who questions the way we have always done things. Whether or not we choke off their words, is up to us, and depends on how hard we squeeze.

The purpose of a lion’s mane is to protect its neck. With our own mane in place, no one can cut us off from the breath of God, except us.

If we see ourselves as the problem, we might choke ourselves, and stop taking in the life God is trying to breathe into us. The essence of rebellion is clinging to the things we have always done or want to do, instead of listening to God and changing the habits that need changing. Jesus did not tell the Jews of his time that they were doing everything wrong, only some things. He had something against six of the seven churches we just studied, but he also told them what they were doing right. His only warning to Philadelphia was that they should not stop doing the right things.

Our vanities are not the problem. The Devil does not make us do it. The Lord’s prayer reminds us that it is God who leads us into temptation. He does this, the way He took the Devil for a walk in the story of Job. He asks, where do you think this road goes?

It was God who put Job in the world and kept the curses out of his mind and his mouth. He put the question in the Devil’s mind, and made him think Job was not ready. The Devil is an Angel. He is a messenger of God. Therefore, God was asking himself if Job was ready. Make no mistake, God manipulates our vanities. Sometimes they are blessings, sometimes they are deadly sins. It depends entirely on our perspective. In the end, God does exactly what He wants, and it is all good, in the end.

We call a lion the “King of the Jungle” even though they don’t live in what we consider to be a jungle. It’s easy to think that we have misnomered them, unless we delve into the meaning of the word jungle. It originates from the Sanskrit word jangala, which means arid, rough, or desert. British colonials encountered the word in India, in the late 18th century, and began applying it to overgrown, swampy areas. They shifted its meaning from wasteland to impenetrable thicket. This is a clear example of how language changes, sometimes overnight.

Knowing how the word jungle changed gives us a clearer understanding of the Lion of the tribe of Judah. He is not hiding behind an impenetrable thicket. He does not live where we think he should. We find him when we seek him, when we call out to him, but he is never where we expect him to be. He wanders the dry places, hunting those who have run out of water. He is of Judah, because that tribe, more than any other, held tight to its traditions. They forgot a lot of things during their captivity, but never who they were, or the God they loved. A lion in a cage is still a lion. The Jews in Babylon, even after five-hundred years, thought only of being free to follow their God again.

Jesus teaches us how to be Kings of the Jungle, too. When he is with us, even the driest desert becomes an oasis. By his example, which is the Son of Man, we can keep sight of who we are. We can carry our church on our backs, and be comfortable and at home wherever we find ourselves. We can see the truth in everyone we meet, because we know ourselves, and aren’t afraid to look in the mirror.

Without modern Judaism, Christians would have probably abandoned the Old Testament long ago, because it contradicts the teachings of Jesus. However, if we understand that the testaments work together, and that they are an evolution of ideas, then we can clearly see the value in each. We can see that Jesus wasn’t contradicting the Old Testament, he was expanding on it. He was taking us further down the road. He told us that reverse is never the right gear, and that looking back will lead us astray. He took an eye for an eye to its only logical conclusion, which is forgiveness.

We should always let Judah rule us, because loving God with all their hearts and minds is their greatest strength. By following their example, we can become lions of their tribe, too. A hand around the neck doesn’t have to be a chokehold. It could just as easily be a tender, loving embrace.

Jesus is the root of David, even though he was born into the world after David, because he is the light that was kept in Heaven, when Lucifer split. Lucifer is the spark that started us all on the path of revelation. Jesus is a child of light, born from the division of Lucifer. He is the bright and morning star. He gave his blood for us, and what do stars bleed? Energy.

Our blood cannot wash anything white. It stains whatever it touches. Light, on the other hand, brings clarity. It chases away the darkness. It’s a fire in our hearts. It’s a lightning bolt in our brains. It’s a question, a desire, and an answer.

For over a hundred years we have been teaching apes sign language. To this day, none of them have ever asked why, about anything. The ability to question our world is a uniquely human trait. If we do not question God, how can we truly know Him? If we have never seen the Devil in action, how will we recognize his influence in our lives?

It is our duty to question. Revelation 5:5 lays out this imperative. We should hold on to what we have, like a lion of the tribe of Judah, but we should also question and be willing to change, like a root. And how does a root question? It tries to grow in any way it can. It pushes at the soil around it. Roots grow up, down, and sideways. They are driven by their desire for water. We should be, too.

Recall that water represents the philosophies that keep us afloat, or that we swim in, or drink from. They are the river that carries us along, and the pool we sit beside when we need comfort.

When a root hits a stone, it goes around, or sometimes through it. It does not let a rock stand in its way. David’s rise wasn’t impeded by a stone. He hit Goliath between the eyes with one, and made him see who the better man was.

That giant of a man thought he was a brave hero, until a boy stood against him. Goliath was born with all the advantages, except good insight. He was surrounded by yes men, who told him he was the greatest. David’s rock to the forehead shook his self image. His death was spiritual. Goliath left that place a changed man.

Likewise, David wasn’t stopped by Saul’s hard head. There was a question driving him to make a change. Deep in his heart, David asked, why are you fit to be king over me?

It was David’s own stubbornness that brought him down. He thought that, because he was king, he could do whatever he wanted. His people taught him better. They pelted him with the stones of their indignation.

That is what it means to be stoned, in the Old Testament. We are taken outside the camp and cut off from our tribe, while those who have something against us drop bricks on our heads. To this day, we say, that hit me like a ton of bricks, when we suffer a rude awakening. Jesus knew the truth of biblical stonings. That’s why he intervened to stop an incorrect one. Proper stonings should only bring a spiritual death, not a physical, final one. A criminal can’t change their ways or make things right, if they suffer a final death.

Without dirt to anchor their roots, trees fall over. Too much water can wash away the soil that holds them in place. There comes a point when we have to stop thinking, and start doing. Philosophy is no substitute for action. Only by living can we see the flaws in our plans.

Jesus is the root of David, not only because he spurred David to grow by making him question, but also because he questioned the dirt surrounding David’s life. He tested the soil that the memory of David stood on, in the minds of the people. To them, there was none greater than David. To Jesus, David was just a man saddled with vanities like the rest of us.

In a parable, Jesus tells us of a rich man in Hell, who asks Abraham for some water, but the patriarch of the Israelites can’t help him, because there is a gulf between them that he cannot cross. That gulf is more like a pedestal. Abraham is in Heaven. The rich man in Hell sees Abraham as being better than him, when Abraham was just a man, like the rest of us. He only did great things, because of his relationship with God, who turned his vanities into blessings. Abraham’s driving vanity was gluttony. He wouldn’t settle for less than the best.

David’s prominent vanity was pride. In his mind, no one was above him, even a nine foot nine inch giant. Goliath’s most obvious vanity was sloth. People told him he was great, and he didn’t question them. He didn’t have the same spark David had. He was listening to his peers, instead of talking to God.

If you think you are rich, but really you’re in Hell, don’t look up for water. Look around. Jesus is there, too. He’s a criminal, saddled by vanities, just like you. Hell is a dry place. The lion of the tribe of Judah wanders dry places. He dances in the desert, when all others have little or no strength to stand. He could lead you to water, but it’s up to you to drink.

Test the soil your standing on, and that your roots are buried in, so a flood doesn’t wash you away. Keep in mind that no matter what anyone says, the Israelites were born of dirt, and to dirt they will return, again and again, when they forget who they are, when they begin thinking that they are better than everyone else, or missing something their neighbors have. It was their envy that spurred them to want a king, in the first place.

Abraham was just a dirty old man. We can learn much from his life, but it is he who should cast his crown before us when we surpass him. Moses was a lustful guy who loved too much, and kept God in a tent. Jacob wrestled with the idea of being supernatural, or more than nature. He saw a stairway to Heaven, which was a lightning bolt out of the blue, that had Angels ascending and descending on it. He took the idea of immortality into Egypt, and convinced them that Heaven was not just for the gods, but for men, as well.

From that moment on, the Egyptians became obsessed with what came after life. They wrote a guide book to help them navigate the path to Heaven. They didn’t know there is a back door, and Jesus is holding it open for us.

Those Old Testament stories read different, when you recognize the vanities in the people, and you know the symbolism of things like water and stone and fire. They take on a wholly different meaning, that meshes perfectly with the New Testament and its teachings.

It’s easy to see that the Israelites were the first to get the good news, long before the birth of Jesus, and they were eager to share it with their neighbors. They were not killers of the body, only of the spirit. They were missionaries who wiped out their neighbors by bringing them into their own house, and making them part of the family.

This is what you see, when you read the scriptures with love in your heart. You cannot see it any other way. If you go searching for monsters, you will find them, even when they’re just harmless beasts.

6 Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.

The Lamb looks as though he has been slain, yet he is alive. We must keep that in mind. The story of Jesus does not live in a dusty old book. He does not speak a dead language. When we have him in our hearts, where he belongs, we can easily see him moving in our lives. We can hear his words in our native tongue. We do not need to learn Aramaic or Latin or Greek to understand him. He is not some mythical character from a distant moment in time that has no bearing on our own world. His lessons are timeless, because they teach us about our vanities, which do not change from generation to generation.

Notice that the Lamb is standing at the center of the throne, not sitting on it. Jesus is, and should remain at the center of our lives. We can find wisdom in the lives of the elders, and the seraphim can help us improve our relationships, but they are nothing without Jesus. We should always put his words and deeds above theirs. If they say one thing, but he says another, we should accept that he is right, but we should also explore the discrepancy. He bled for us, and he still bleeds for us. We should wash ourselves and the world around us in his light. We must remember that he is a star, and stars bleed visible and invisible light.

Horns represent the lives of men. They are weapons. Psalm 75:4 tells us that they represent the strength of the wicked or righteous, where God cuts off the horns of the wicked, but lifts up the horns of the righteous. In other words, the actions of wicked men appear to come from weakness, not strength.

We commit crimes because of some flaw in us, whereas righteous men do righteous things, because of the perfection in them. Both wickedness and righteousness come from our vanities. God is the DJ who slides our potentiometers, and adjusts our volume. He gives our chastity more weight than our lust. He drowns out our humility with pride. The Lamb has seven horns. All of his vanities are lifted up, from deadly sins into saintly blessings. Without them, he could not fight off his evil nature.

The Lamb has seven eyes to watch the seven spirits of God that are in the world, which are our vanities. His eyes are always on them. Ours should be, too.

7 He went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. 8 And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people. 9 And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation. 10 You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.”

The scroll is in our right hand, because all good things are associated with the right. Jesus is said to be collecting the lambs on the right, and the goats on the left. If you know the difference between lambs and goats, this analogy makes more sense. Lambs like green pastures. They prefer to eat wide blade grasses. They sit and chew the cud.

Goats love rocky terrain. They are sure-footed climbers. They eat thorns and thistles. Grass is boring to them. There’s no danger in it. Tough old goats like a heaping helping of danger with their meals.

Grass is green. Lambs guard their boring, comfortable lives jealously. Thistles have pink blooms, and roses are red to distract from their sharp thorns. Climbing requires passion. Ordinary people don’t care about the view from the mountain top. The valley is pretty enough for them. Except, valleys can flood, and the first ones to see the sun come up are those who sit on the mountain’s peak.

Sheep and goats represent different kinds of people. Jesus is represented as a Lamb, because we can find comfort in his life. The things he did assure us that he is a true member of our flock, not a wolf in a wool coat. We can sheer him, and wear his wool to keep us warm.

You might think that it is the goat who asks the most questions, since they are always climbing mountains, but in truth, they are just more direct at seeking answers. That is why their hair is straight, unlike the lambs, who have curly hair. Goats wander, while lambs ponder.

Harps are plucked, like heartstrings. Their music is not harsh on the ears. Golden bowls do not rust or tarnish, though gold does have a low melting point, so it’s probably not the best metal to heat things up in. Fortunately, incense doesn’t need a hot fire to burn. It’s more of a smolder.

The prayers of God’s people are going up in smoke. When we hear the phrase up in smoke, we typically think that something died without purpose. However, the prayers of God’s people are not in vain. They are represented as a pleasant smoke, because we are on fire, we are passionate in our hearts and in our prayers, and God loves to hear our voices.

We are not just Israelites, or Jews, or Christians. Our flock is made up of all those who question and call out for an answer. Jesus is giving up his bachelor’s life for us, so that we might join his celestial family. Those who walk and talk with God are pillars in His church. They stand tall, rooted in their dirt, while other trees are washed away.

11 Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. 12 In a loud voice they were saying: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” 13 Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying: “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!” 14 The four living creatures said, “Amen,” and the elders fell down and worshiped.

When I was in school, there was always one kid who got more Valentines Day cards than all the rest of us. It didn’t matter how many I got, I always wanted theirs, too. It was a sign that they were loved more than we were. This verse reminds us that we have love in abundance. Angels are messengers, after all, and here we are, receiving thousands upon thousands of love letters.

In fact, when there is a fire in our hearts that shines out through our eyes, the whole world tells us how much God loves us. We just have to listen with our eyes to hear it. Seeing is believing, after all. We want our guy to show us affection, not just whisper pretty words in our ears.

The seven seals tell us who we might become, if we’re not careful. Like the churches, each of them is tied to one of the vanities. See if you can guess which one, as we go through them.

6 I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, “Come!” 2 I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.

Most of the time, we hear the thunder before we see the storm. That is the case in this verse, as well. A thunderous voice announces the arrival of the first rider. He’s storming in, full of piss and vinegar, but he’s just a guy, like us. In fact, he is us. We are newborn, as pure as the driven snow, riding our high horse, launching our directional devices at everyone we see.

Arrows can wound us, but they also tell us where to go. In this case, our pride is leading us to tell other people how they should live their lives. After all, we were found in the wilderness, and they could be, too, if they would just listen to us and do what we say. Our mounted position blinds us to the truth. We are merely archers in the Lord’s army, and archers should never be in the center of the battle. If they are, they are lost and soon to die, because bows are useless in a melee.

The first rider is a warning to us, of who we might become. The warning comes from one of the Seraphim, who are living creatures. The verse doesn’t say specifically which one, because it could be any of them, depending on the nature of our relationship with the person we’re flinging arrows at.

They tell us that, sure, we have been lifted up and we see things a little clearer, but we aren’t in the center of the battle, like the person we’re giving directions to. We don’t know what they’re facing. We have to remember what it was like down there in the mud and the blood.

We were infantry once, before our promotion. We have to consider the messages that led us to glory. We should speak unto others, as we were spoken to. Our clothes are clean now, and we have a crown, but we can’t let it go to our heads. We have to be ready to cast it at their feet, when they succeed.

Wars are won by knowing your enemy as well as you know yourself, and wisely choosing the ground on which you will fight. That is what the Son of Man has to decide, where and when to fight other people’s battles, and how to keep from losing his own in the process. The Four Horsemen help us keep the proper perspective.

White is not the absence of color, it is the perfect blending of all colors. Our vanities color us, just like everyone else is colored by theirs. The first rider loves everyone, and loves himself, but there is a point where too much love turns from a comforting blanket into a smothering pillow.

Sometimes, in order to win, we have to let others lose their war. Jesus found us at rock bottom. We have to trust he’ll find them, too. And before you go into your closet and pray for your neighbor, look at the example Jesus set on how we should pray.

Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Lord’s Prayer is entirely about us and what we want God to do for us. Nowhere in it is anyone else mentioned, except for our desire to have our trespasses forgiven and a promise (reminder if you will) that we will forgive the trespasses of others.

Jesus never directed us to pray for other people. He put them in God’s hands, and left their fates up to God. That should be a lesson to us. It is not our job to save the world. It has already been saved. We can try to help lift others up, but in the end Jesus shines his light on who he wants. If he chooses to let someone writhe around on the floor for awhile, even if it’s for their whole life, we should trust his judgment and not take it as a personal defeat. We weren’t given a quota of souls that we need to deliver to him. We aren’t failing our fellow humans. Our faith will set a much better example than our words ever will.

Jesus also never prayed out loud, except for this one time when he demonstrated the Lord’s Prayer. I can prove it. If he had prayed out loud, there would have been no reason for the Disciples to ask him how to pray. They would have already known, because they would have heard it with their own ears. He had to show them, because he prayed in secret.

Standing in public and praying for someone else is the same as performing our alms in public. We want everyone, even the person we are praying for, to know that we are taking the time out of our busy schedule to put in a good word for them. We’re also bragging that our word means more than theirs in God’s ears, as if we are closer to Him than they are. We aren’t. Our vanities are ruling us. It happens to the best of us. I’m not judging, I’m just saying.

The other time Jesus possibly prayed out loud, was when he was dying on the cross and he called out wondering why he had been forsaken. It depends on what you consider a prayer. He had lost sight of himself, his way, and of God. He was the lamb bleating in the wilderness. This is further proof that it is okay to be us, no matter what stage of belief we are in. When we accept that the veil is in God’s hands, and He draws it over whomever He chooses, it becomes difficult to hold our neighbors in contempt for their disbelief.

When you fully understand that our most righteous acts are but dirty rags before the Lord, your world will shake as if ten thousand cavalrymen are riding past. Trust me.

3 When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make people kill each other. To him was given a large sword.

This message is brought by the second Seraphim, which has a head like an ox. We can assume, then, that the first rider was ushered in by a Seraphim with the head of a lion, which represents monarchy.

One thing we have to remember, when reading the scriptures, is that if something has the head of an animal, it is taking on the aspect of that beast, or has adopted its logic. We already saw that the first rider is proud, and crowned like a monarch. He is trying to rule over the lives of others, in the same way he thinks he rules over himself.

The second Seraphim relates to Theocracy, but it’s head tells us that it is stubborn. That’s not surprising. Nothing makes people dig into a position more than religion does. The second rider is taking a stand, too.

In the scriptures, swords are synonymous with tongues. Peter sliced off the ear of the Officer with a sword. If you’ve ever swung a sword, you can probably see how difficult it would be to just cut off someone’s ear, without hitting their shoulder, or cracking their skull. The Romans used a short, double-bladed sword called a Gladius. Jews of the period often used Machaira, which were 18 to 20 inches long, and good for close combat. We’re not told what kind of sword Peter used, just that it was a sword.

The difference between a sword and a dagger is the length. Typically, anything longer than your forearm is a sword, because it becomes unwieldy if you try to use it with a reverse grip, meaning the blade comes out at the bottom of your fist, instead of the top.

Peter was not trained with a sword, as far as we know. He surely wasn’t as skilled as the legendary Zorro, and his sword would have been far more unwieldy than Zorro’s rapier. Zorro could have flicked off the Officer’s ear with no problem. Peter would have had a much more difficult time.

Put yourself in Peter’s shoes. Imagine yourself unsheathing a sword, then lunging forward and cutting the Officer’s ear, and only his ear. Do you see the problem? It’s physically challenging, even for an experienced swordsman. So did Peter just get lucky, or is there something we’re not seeing in the story?

Well, if we associate swords with tongues, we can see that the only part of a person a tongue could hurt is the ear. Peter was a known hothead, and ferociously loyal to Jesus. It’s not hard to imagine him losing control of his tongue. I’m sure he had a few choice words for the police who had come to arrest his friend, especially since he knew that friend to be innocent of any crimes.

Now consider this: In modern times, if you pull a sword on a cop, you’ll probably get shot. If you cut a cop’s ear off, and you don’t get shot, you’re going to jail. Peter wasn’t taken to jail. That’s the most unbelievable part of the story, if we read it traditionally. The cops let Peter go. In fact, he followed them to the police station, and they didn’t try to stop him. Think about how absurd that is.

On the other hand, Jesus was skilled with his words, so much so that he routinely put Jewish scholars in their place. Is it so hard to imagine that, after Peter berated the Officer, Jesus soothed him with words? Can we not imagine that he drew the attention of the cops from Peter, back to himself, by reminding them that he was the one they came for? Would that not be considered healing an ear in the spiritual sense?

That is what we, as Sons of Man, must strive for. We must weigh our words carefully, and measure them out in the proper amounts. We must not let our fiery, red (passionate) horse carry us away. We must never forget that all wars begin with a war of words, and there is no peace in a world full of violent rhetoric.

We also can’t forget that not all deaths are physical, and that spiritual deaths are a good thing, because they cause us to be born again. The proper word in the right ear could bring someone to their knees, or to rock bottom. Jesus wasn’t afraid of harsh words. He used them to put people in their places. He was a hater who called people names. He did not come to bring peace, but a sword, because peace leads to stagnation, and nothing prompts us to move like a sharp stick in our back. Sometimes, the only thing that gets through our thick head is a good tongue lashing.

Note that violent words are not the same as violent actions. Jesus turned over some tables, and chased people with a whip, but nothing changed at the end of the day. His words, though, they stung for a long time after his death. The Son of Man needs only look at his robe to know he is a lover, not a fighter, because he seeks understanding, instead of girding himself for war.

If you have ever herded sheep or watched someone do it, then perhaps you understand what it means when the Bible says, “Spare the rod, spoil the child.” Shepherds don’t use their rods to hit their sheep. They guide them with it.

Sheep have rectangular pupils, which give them excellent peripheral vision. They can see almost completely around their head. The Shepherd walks behind them, carrying his rod and watching for obstacles on the path ahead. If he needs the sheep to turn left, he holds his rod up and to the right. The sheep will see it, and turn away from it, to the left. If the Shepherd wants them to go right, he holds the rod out to the left.

Sparing the rod means the sheep will wander aimlessly, going where they want, instead of where the Shepherd wants them to go. If the Shepherd wants his flock to arrive safely at their destination, he has to be vigilant, patient, and willing to do his part. He has to communicate with his sheep, and be able to read their body language. He has to watch the road ahead, so he can steer them around obstacles.

For parents, this means remembering what it was like to be a kid, and understanding how things might be different for your kids. The only way to do that is to be active in their lives. We have to engage with them, not overwhelm them. Sheep are easily spooked.

5 When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. 6 Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, “Two pounds of wheat for a day’s wages, and six pounds of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!”

The third living creature has the head of a man. It represents anarchy, which is a war within ourselves, or a rebellion against societal norms. Black, scientifically speaking, is an absence of color. The third rider is trying to ignore his vanities. He has cast out his devils, and thinks he is safer without them. He carries a pair of balances, because he has learned that his words and actions can hurt people in ways he never intended. He is measuring his words, his actions, himself, and the world around him to try and find the balance. He knows God is real, but he can’t reconcile the scriptures with the love he felt when he was first saved.

The fact that John hears what sounds like a voice, coming from among the four creatures, tells us that it is not a true message. The third rider thinks balance is the key, but the Seraphim don’t tell us that. Neither does Jesus. Recall that he does not want us lukewarm. He wants us hot or cold. The Seraphim don’t fly unless both wings work together. In the case of the third rider, he is fighting against himself and what he sees as Christian norms.

Wheat makes bread. Two pounds would make enough to feed a small family. Barley was often used to feed animals. Six pounds would probably keep your horse fed, if you didn’t work him too hard. The message in these two examples is, that the third rider is realizing that everything has a price. Sometimes that price is too high.

For instance, he could work a day and feed himself, or work a day and feed his horse. He can’t do both. He has to make a choice. The Old and New Testaments can feel like a choice, as well. Choosing a church is a difficult thing, when none of them completely match your ideology. The Son of Man is faced with choices along the road to revelation, but we know we don’t have to face those choices alone.

Recall that we already discussed oil, and what it symbolizes. Wine, like oil, works as a lubricant. It loosens our tongues, and helps us drop our inhibitions. The third rider teaches us that even though we can’t stop things from happening, we don’t have to like it. We can speak out about the problems we see in the world. Sometimes just talking about a problem can help us see it from a different perspective. A new point of view could help us loosen up a bit, and see the value in the machinery of the world. All we have to do is talk to God about it.

Don’t damage the oil and the wine cautions us against interfering in God’s plan, and stopping our communication, because we don’t agree with what we think we see. It is not our job to save the world. That task has already been accomplished. We can help bring others to revelation by working the fields, like Jesus asked us to do. He said more workers were needed for the harvest. He also didn’t stop a sorcerer from performing miracles in his name. In fact, he told his disciples to leave the man alone.

Even when he did act out, and turn over the tables of the money changers, nothing changed. They went back to business as usual, almost immediately. The third rider should be a lesson to us to talk to God, before we cut down our neighbors, or try to apply our scale to them. He is able to show us their value, but to see it we need love in our heart, not a black hole.

7 When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” 8 I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

Immanuel Kant said, “If the truth shall kill them, let them die.” I’m certain he was thinking of a spiritual death, but maybe he wasn’t. Maybe he believed that the world was better off without the people who were unable to see the truth that he recognized? That’s a scary place to find yourself in, when you cannot accept differences in opinion. It is a pale existence.

The fourth rider is a shadow of his former self. He is a ghost among the living. His name is Death, because he is dead in the spirit. Hades follows after him, because that is where the dead go, in Roman mythology. He is being pursued by Hell.

The Israelites had no afterlife but Sheol, which means the place where the dead go. For them, Sheol could refer to either the place where you were buried, or the concept of a dark, motionless afterlife. People sleep in Sheol. That’s all they can do, because life is action, and death is the absence of life.

Ecclesiastes 9:5 tells us:

5 For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.

That was the only afterlife that people in the Old Testament recognized. They had not yet heard all of the good news. Like them, the fourth rider sees only a life lived in vain, ahead of him, and a meaningless, empty death, when he turns around. He thinks to himself, I should get it now, because now is all I have. Perhaps he has forgotten what Jesus said about those who are unworthy of the plow? Eyes forward, pale rider. Life is before you, not behind you, and there are brighter days ahead, you just can’t see them.

You are a Son of Man. You hold the keys to Death and Hades. Let Jesus reignite your flame, then go and show people how dead you were, so that they can see how alive you have become. You are the walking dead. You are born again. You know the ways into Hell, because you walked its roads, but you got out. Now you keep its paths behind you, where they belong. That is what it means to hold its keys.

Interestingly enough, to get to Hades, a dead person had to pay Charon, the ferryman, who would take you across the river Styx in his boat. That was the only way in. That is where the tradition of placing coins on a dead person’s eyes comes from. It guarantees that they have money to pay the fare. In modern nautical terms, a key is a low-lying island formed from a coral reef. Because coral is porous, sand can’t build up and form a beach. Keys are not pleasant, oceanside paradises, like other beaches.

Also, a river is a wide body of water, that’s moving. Since water represents philosophy or beliefs, and our beliefs change over time, crossing a river signifies putting belief behind you. The fourth rider has turned his back on philosophy. It is no longer an obstacle in front of him.

What this means is, he is no longer searching for truth, because all truths begin with a belief. We could take this to mean that he is sure in his knowledge, but more than likely, he has simply seen too much, and doesn’t want to know anymore. Thus, he has crossed from the land of the living, to a solitary existence separate from the rest of us.

There are several ways to interpret some of these verses. They can skew from good to bad. It just depends on our perspective.

Imagine what it would mean to kill a quarter of the earth. Two billion people, plus trees and wildlife. The death toll would be staggering. Entire countries would collapse and disappear. The whole world would feel the loss. Fortunately for us, that’s not the sort of power the fourth rider is given. Keep in mind that he kills with a sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth. If we examine what each of these symbols mean, we can see his true power.

We know that a sword is a tongue. To kill with a sword means to slay someone’s argument. The fourth rider uses his words to counter the doubts of others, as well as his own doubts. When he kills a fourth of the earth, he isn’t bringing two billion people to God. Instead, he is realizing the truth about the motivations of men.

Most of the battles take place in his head. The earth that he is defeating is made up of stone and water. We know that water represents philosophies. Stone is what most of us would consider concrete evidence. By questioning, and speaking his questions to God, the fourth rider is able to dash stones to rubble and dam up rivers, or find an oasis in a desert. But the sword is not his only tool.

Famine is caused by a lack of food. Jesus told us that his body should be our bread. That means that we should devour his life, so that the way he lived can nourish us. Meat, also comes from a person’s life. We were warned not to eat meat torn from a beast. In the scriptures, a beast is a person who lives on instinct, or who thinks they know what is best for them. In their mind, they are the ruler of their world. They don’t need a god to tell them how to behave. They can figure it out for themselves. Their meat will not nourish us.

Meat grows naturally. Bread must be made. It requires a blending of ingredients, a recipe, and an oven of some sort. Jesus did not offer us the meat of his life. He gave us the bread. He wants us to look at the ingredients that made him who he is. He wants us to stir them around, then heat them in the oven of our scrutiny. Only then can we see the man behind the myth.

For instance, Jesus tells people they are like kids playing in a square, who say we have piped unto you, but you have not danced, which means we asked you for something, but you didn’t give it to us. He says this in Matthew 11:17. Then later, in Matthew 21:19, he curses a fig tree for not giving him what he wanted. So, did he fail to live up to his own words? Was he not counted among his generation? So when he told them they were like kids in a square, was he not also playing in the square with them? Did he discover that doing is more difficult than saying, or was he simply pointing out a truth he saw in all human beings?

It is clear from his life that Jesus learned as he went along, and sometimes those lessons came from other people. He said he had come for the Jews, then had his mind opened by a woman who knew the truth of herself. She was a dog under the table, begging for scraps. The fourth rider knows famine, but he also knows where an abundance of bread is stored.

Plagues are diseases. As you will see, our vanities plague us, but they have a cure. The fourth rider was plagued, but he knows where the cure is, and how to administer it. He is immune, so long as he stays inoculated.

There is a wonderful animal park in Colorado, where visitors walk on catwalks above the animals. This not only gives them an excellent view of the beasts, but it also comforts the animals, because beasts don’t look up. Their eyes are on the world around them, because their prey, and other predators are not in the sky. The exception to this is birds of prey, but they only bother smaller animals. For most beasts, the danger and the opportunity is in the grass.

Human beasts are no different. The fourth rider understands this. He uses his knowledge of human nature to defeat the ideology of beasts. He was once an animal. Now he leads horses to water. Whether they drink or not is not up to him. He does not try to force beasts to look up. He teaches by example. He died, and yet he is alive.

9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. 10 They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” 11 Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers and sisters, were killed just as they had been.

We all die for our words. Our thoughts kill us in the spirit before our mouths ever open. What I mean is, we change first, before we change others. Sometimes, we die trying to make others see. We realize that our efforts are futile.

There are no beasts announcing the opening of the fifth seal. No one calls us to come and see. Instead of a horse, there is an altar, a place of sacrifice. We have sacrificed. We have beaten our dead horses to Hell and back, but no one is listening. We’re giving up. We’re dying inside. We feel like our lives were sacrificed in vain. We just want to get through to people. Naturally, we call out to God, because that is the first and last thing we do, now. It has become our habit. We hold up our indignation, and wait for Him to respond.

We’re given a white robe. We are wrapped in righteousness. We are clothed in right-ness. We were right. Our lives and our words were not in vain. God assures us of that, and bids us wait a little longer. The bloodshed isn’t over yet.

Adam needed a helper. God gave him Eve, who was a piece of himself. Imagine asking for help, and being told to help yourself. God gave Adam one of his own ribs. A rib is a structural device. All that Adam needed was already inside him, he just didn’t know it. We are no different. God placed in us everything we need. Sometimes we just need Him to show us where it is. He needs to drag it out into the light of day, and wrap it in flesh, and breathe life into it.

Adam needed someone to help him make more little Adams and Eves. He could not do it in a singular form. The purpose of life is for us to learn how to walk in the house of our Father. All of us. We are all the Bride, not just some of us. We are all working toward that goal, even if we don’t realize it.

Even if we think we are working against God. Jesus is gathering both the sheep and the goats. He won’t settle for less than the whole flock. He said he would leave the 99 to find the one. He promised that none would be forgotten. Some say he forgot Judas, and left him in Hell. I say he sent Judas, who was a devil, into Hell, because he needed a devil to do devil’s work. Devils are not afraid to go to Hell.

John the Baptist paved the way for the arrival of Jesus on Earth. Judas paved the way for his arrival in Hell. He told the people in that dark, sleepy land that the Light was coming, and life was coming with him.

We are all in this together. We all dance to God’s tune. He is the DJ that slides our vanities from Deadly Sins to Saintly Blessings. We can help His cause by wondering, walking, and waiting patiently. No one will be left behind, not even the devils.

12 I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red,

The sun is the brightest light we can see. It brings us warmth and clarity. Sackcloth has little holes in it, if you hold it up to a light. It is light permeable. At this point in our journey, we begin to understand that Jesus and the Devil are two sides of the same coin, but it doesn’t matter how we flip them, they lead us to the same place. So, how great is that darkness inside us? Not as dark as we think it is. There is still plenty of light, in our darkest hours.

If you follow the Devil, he will guide you to rock bottom, where Jesus can find you. If you’re a stubborn old goat, you will enter Heaven on the left hand side, not the right. Goat hair is straight, not curly like that of a sheep. Hell is a shortcut to Heaven. You don’t wander through Hell, you run for the exit. There is nothing to see there. You won’t find any grass to chew on. You will only find a desire to be free of the place, as quickly as possible.

The moon is a false light. It only reflects the light of the sun. In the scriptures, the sun is the truth, and the moon is a lie. The moon turns red, when you realize that Jesus is not the only heavenly body who is bleeding for you. Stars fall from the sky, when you see the truth in people you once looked up to. They say you should never meet your hero. I say you shouldn’t put anyone on a pedestal, unless you like being disappointed. Jesus was no respecter of persons.

13 and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind

The stars that fall are like figs falling from a fig tree. Figs are a fruit. In scriptures, fruits represent natural nourishment that is pleasant in our mouths. When the people we once thought were bright and shiny, show themselves to be only human, their stories are all that much more pleasing, both to eat and to speak of, because they overcame their humanity and rose above the rest of us.

If Jesus was supernatural, what was the purpose of his life? Did he just come down to gloat about how easy life was for him? Is he like the first rider, sitting atop his high horse, casting directions at us, with no idea what the battle is like on the ground? How could we ever meet his standards, if he had all the answers, when we have none? Why should we look up to him, if he did not struggle as we do? What did he really overcome, if dying for us meant only giving up his weekend?

On the other hand, if he was like us, if he had to work through problems and pull back the veil one thread at a time, and if he had to lose his faith, like we do, then his life becomes a sweet reminder that it is okay to be where we are, wherever we are. The bread he offers us, which is the totality of the life he lived, becomes a fig newton. The reward he offers becomes our just dessert.

Jesus is not a distant, unreachable star whose light died out long before we were born. He is a sun, a light unto the world, living amongst us, as one of us. He tells us that we can be suns, too. If we follow his example, we can shine our lights into the lives of others. We just have to be patient, and wrap ourselves in the knowledge that we are right. It is God’s breath that shakes the fruit from the trees. It is the thunder underground that makes our world shake. The Devil is an angel. God’s voice speaks through him, too. He tells us that the ground we stand on is not as solid as we think it is. We must learn to fly, but to do it we need two wings, like the Seraphim.

. 14 The heavens receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.

Scrolls represent the movement of time, as it relates to our lives. Just as we write one letter after another, we must take one step at a time in order for our lives to make sense. The prophet Elias once asked the Archangel Uriel what the purpose of the world was, and why time needed to exist. He wanted to know why God just didn’t tell us everything, all at once. Uriel told him that the world was not big enough for all the people who needed to live in it.

In other words, Adam’s work would take time to finish, because the lessons we need to learn stack on each other, like stones. We cannot place the capstone, until all the other stones are in place. We build the foundation, then the walls, then the roof. Each has to come in the proper order, or the house falls down. From our perspective, it seems like the end is taking forever to get here, but all of eternity is just a blink in the eye of God. It will all be over in good time, so perhaps we should enjoy it while we have it?

Satan is the stone that the builders rejected. He is the dark side of Lucifer, the fraternal twin brother of Jesus. They are two sides of the same coin. We live our lives hating the bad things we have to suffer, not understanding that our suffering is just as important as our happiness.

When mountains and islands are removed, what’s left? Flat land and the sea, with nothing to restrain it or punctuate it. The world, our world, becomes unmarred, and void of scars and upheavals.

Men are stone, women are water. Mountains tower above the land. They hide the light from those who live in the valley. In Kentucky, where I’m from, we say that the sun comes up around ten in the morning, and it goes down around three. This is because Kentucky has a lot of hollows.

If you’ve ever lived in the shadow of a mountain, you know what I’m talking about. Dawn is delayed by the mountains around you. When we put mountainous men, who are larger than life, in their proper place, then the dawn comes quicker. The true light of the sun is not hidden from us by people.

We should not trust the wisdom of people. We should not wait for others to tell us what is right. We should remove those mountains and get our truth straight from the Source. We should ask God for His wisdom. When we do this, even the monsters in the book of Revelation will cease to be obstacles to the truth.

In a similar fashion, the sea is salty water. Water is feminine, but it also represents our philosophies. Salt flavors our food, and salt water, when gargled, can soothe a sore throat, but drinking it leads to madness.

Without islands to stand on, there is nowhere for us to hide from the foolish miracle that is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The flood covers our entire world. The deep waters threaten our very lives. It’s okay, though. We’ve died before. We hold the keys to Death. There is a rocky, coral reef just below the surface. It might cut our feet, but it won’t cut us off from the truth like an island fantasy will.

The heavens recede when we bring everything down to earth. The places we thought were perfect, are shown to be islands in our stream. They are just fantasies, and fantasies are lies. To find the truth, we have to stop lying to ourselves.

In the real Heaven, there are no liars. Our jeans don’t make us look fat any more than the refrigerator does. It’s our gluttony that tempts us to keep eating, even after we are full. It tells us that one more is never enough. It’s just a voice in our head. We can ignore it, just like we can ignore the voices of people who tell us we aren’t good enough.

Only God knows what we lack. If we ask Him, He’ll tell us. Just don’t be surprised when He says, what do you think you need? He knows what is inside us. He hid it there. He wants us to find it. To do that, we have to decide that we want more than what we have.

Like Adam, we have to ask for help. Adam wasn’t content with Lilith, because she wouldn’t bend the knee to him. He thought he needed more, but his helper wasn’t waiting out in the world. He didn’t see the person inside him. She had to be brought out into the light of day, but first he had to mouthe his discontent.

There is nothing to fear from the deep water. Even the sharpest coral can’t cut brass feet. We are Sons of Man, learning to walk. The places we have been and the places we want to go reflect the person inside us. To see that person truthfully, we have to shine a light in on ourselves. We can’t be afraid to face our mirrored feet. We have to look ourselves square in the eye. We have to recognize our shortcomings. Sheep have rectangular pupils, which gives them great peripheral vision, but they also have blind spots in front and behind them, and their depth perception isn’t so good.

15 Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and free, hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. 16 They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17 For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can withstand it?”

Benjamin Franklin said, “Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what’s for dinner. Liberty is a well-armed sheep, protesting the vote.” We are no longer on the menu, thanks to the sharp-tongued lamb who gave up his life for us. Or should I say, offered his life up as bread for us to eat. His meat is better than that of any king or rich man. No prince can boast a father greater than his. He has spilled more blood and won more wars than any general. His chains were his vanities, which are heavier than iron, but now he is free – free to roam Heaven and earth on the wings of Angels. Free to open the gates of Hades, and even Death cannot hold him. He is right beside us, as we sit on our throne. He is a powerful ally, but we must be careful that his strength does not go to our head.

The seven seals are tied to our vanities, as are most things in Revelation. The sixth seal is the longest and deadliest. It deals with our pride. Pride is the number one killer of Christians.

As Sons of Man, we can drop our newfound wisdom on people, like a ton of bricks, or we can stone them to death with it. The swords in our mouths are sharp. They cut deep. If we are not careful, and humble, we can cause real pain and suffering. We can lay low the people we once revered, even if it is only in our minds.

In this verse, those people hide among the rocks of the mountains. Rocks are solid. Mountains are obstacles. Stones are wisdom that comes from the world around us. Our flaming eyes help us to scrutinize that wisdom. If it melts under our gaze, it was never solid ground. Likewise, the truth can’t be hidden from us. Still, the people we scrutinize would rather be buried under the weight of the people that they revere, than face the truth in our eyes.

That is not what we want. Is it? Don’t we want them to join us in the light of day? As Sons of Man, we must remember that it is not our job to save the world. We can spread the truth, but we can’t force others to eat our bread.

We must not force people under ground. We should not back them into a corner. We should never give them a reason to hide from us. That is not what Jesus did, and we should look to his example for guidance. Even those who hated him kept seeking him.

Jesus didn’t preach to those who didn’t come looking for a sermon. He sat and ate with them. He told them of his life, and listened as they read from the scroll of their life. If they asked, he answered, but if they didn’t ask, he left it alone. Sitting at the dinner table, threatening hellfire and brimstone, does not turn people to our cause. It gives them a reason not to invite us back.

In truth, Jesus gave people what they came looking for. If it was a sermon, he preached. If it was an argument, he unleashed the sword in his mouth. If it was a meal, he used that sword to slice the bread. We should try and exercise the same restraint, so that the day of our wrath is filled with less slaughter and more laughter. What I mean is, we can beat ourselves up, first. Have you ever heard a reformed criminal joke about the mistakes they made? If you ever read a Reader’s Digest, you know that laughter is the best medicine. We’re all sick, but a Son of Man is a healer.

7 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree.

These are the doldrums. Nothing is moving. Man does not live on bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. The four corners are the directions of the compass, north, east, south and west. The angels aren’t telling us where to go, anymore.

The sea is feminine and the land is masculine. They represent philosophy and truth. They are fluid on one hand, uncompromising on the other. Trees represent the tools we can use to apply those philosophies and truths, and make the most of them. We can build a ship and sail the seas, or construct scaffolding to stack bricks into a tower that reaches Heaven, but we can’t do anything without inspiration. We are dead in the water. We are looking for a breath of life. We are holding our tongue, and biting our lip, and swallowing our pride so that our wrath does not overtake us.

2 Then I saw another angel coming up from the east, having the seal of the living God. He called out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea: 3 “Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.” 4 Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel.

5 From the tribe of Judah 12,000 were sealed, from the tribe of Reuben 12,000, from the tribe of Gad 12,000, 6 from the tribe of Asher 12,000, from the tribe of Naphtali 12,000, from the tribe of Manasseh 12,000, 7 from the tribe of Simeon 12,000, from the tribe of Levi 12,000, from the tribe of Issachar 12,000, 8 from the tribe of Zebulun 12,000, from the tribe of Joseph 12,000, from the tribe of Benjamin 12,000.

My karma ran over my dogma. That’s what it’s called when the things we experience can’t be explained away, or pushed aside by the things we believe. That’s what happened to Euphrates of Tyre. All of his philosophies could not console him, in his hour of grief. When we believe God would never hurt us, or that He will save us from pain and suffering, we forget that He made those things, and gave them to us as gifts.

We think that Jesus is coming to our rescue, but he has always been there for us, from the first sunrise. The sun rises in the east, and so does the Son. He is the angel who tells the other four not to harm men or women or their vessels. Not until every servant of God has been sealed in the forehead.

Don’t get your hopes up. The 144,000 aren’t us. They are angels and devils who are, as of yet, unidentified. They are God’s secret agents. They work in and around us, to help us get to the end of our journey. They have embedded themselves in every nation, among all the people. We think of them as stars, because their light guides us. When you look out on the world with blazing eyes, they are easier to see.

Some think that this verse means that seating in Heaven is limited to 144,000. It is limited, but only because it is dinner for two. We will all have a seat. There is no need to worry.

When we are marked in the forehead, it means that we consider ourselves to be a child of God. If you think that you are special, and that God favors you over everyone else, then you are also marked in the forehead, but only by your own hand. God loves all of His creations. He has set a task for each of us. We all have our role to play, but at the end of the day, our wages are the same.

9 After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10 And they cried out in a loud voice: “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”

This is the Bride of Christ, dressed in white, holding palm branches, which signify victory, triumph, peace and eternal life. We are standing, now, because we have placed God where He belongs. Our lamb stands beside us.

Salvation means liberation. It is easy to read Revelation and think the world is ending. Stars are falling, trees are dying, a mountain falls into the sea, but if we read it with love in our hearts, it becomes a tale of our liberation from the things that hold us back.

The noted stoic Euphrates of Tyre was a bit of a tyrant when it came to not cutting his fellow stoics any slack. In his mind, stoicism was the answer to life, the universe and everything. (He had never met Douglas Adams.)

However, when his wife died, Euphrates famously said, “Philosophy, your demands are tyrannical. You say “love”, but when one loses the person you say, “don’t be upset!”.”

Euphrates learned that the application of philosophy is much more difficult than the mouthing of it. The blanket of stoicism that he had covered himself in was insufficient to shield him from the cold, hard truth. The tree he loved to climb proved rotten, and he fell from its branches.

The only truth is God. The only way is the path that Jesus shows us. He lived as one of us. He ate his words, and made other people eat theirs. He lost his temper. Wealth and treasure were given to him on the day he was born, yet he died a criminal, the lowest of the low. He even lost his faith.

The best that we can do is not be so hard on ourselves or our neighbors, for doing the same things. We can look up to God and say, “I don’t understand, but I know that you do, and that’s enough.” We can hold up our misunderstandings, and wait patiently for the answers, assured that they will come, though perhaps not until the moment of our death.

Knowledge is the one thing we can share openly, without fear of losing it. If I give you a coat, I no longer have that coat, but if I give you my knowledge, I lost nothing. God is omniscient. He is more than happy to share.

In Jewish numerology, six is the number of a man (a human). Six is an imperfect number. Seven, however, is the number of God. It is perfect. We, the Bride, are just people, but we’re marrying into the family of God. We are a six marrying a seven, and six times seven equals forty-two. That is why the number forty-two is the answer to life, the universe and everything. Douglas Adams got a bit of truth, even if he didn’t recognize its full value.

Adam, the distant ancestor of Douglas Adams and us, needed a helper to assist him in making more Adams and Eves. Without Eve there was no possibility for him to multiply, but go forth and multiply was precisely what he needed to do. Adam couldn’t do all of this in one body, nor could he sit in one spot. He needed to go forth, to move forward, out of paradise and into the real world. Fantasy had to become reality. Dreams are just dreams unless we make them happen. God has a vision for us, but we have to help it come to life.

Adam also couldn’t do all of this without the help of the seven Spirits of God. They are the forces that push and pull us in all the directions that we need to go. We call some good, and some evil, but in truth they are all gifts from God. It is our perspective that changes sins into blessings. It is God’s hand that turns our knobs.

The 144,000 do and say things we never imagined, so that we will imagine and try to do as they do. They introduce us to ideas that rock our worlds, so that we will go forth, so that we will move from where we are, and so that we will find new lands to explore, and new comfort zones to settle into.

Teenagers are naturally rebellious, so that it will be easier for them to move away from their parents. Why, then, would we want to quash their rebellion? The answer is simple, so that we not only have the gift of letting go, but also the gift of holding on too tight. Two is better than one, just ask any glutton. Adam needed a helper. God gave him Eve, plus seven Spirits, and 144,000 secret agents. Together, we have experienced billions of lives, and there are still countless lives waiting in the wings, looking forward to their turn on the stage.

The sixth seal proves to us that there is a method behind the madness. It gives us a glimpse of our future, together. White robes and palm branches. That’s what we can have. It doesn’t seem like much, unless all you’ve known are dirty rags and endless war.

11 All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying: “Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!”

Notice that this time, it’s the angels that fall on their faces, not the elders and the four living creatures. Recall also, that angels are messengers, and that they come down from Him, but also up from us.

When we begin to see the true glory of God, when it all starts to make sense, then we assign to Him all the things He already has. Our definition of Him expands. He has many names. It takes the proper perspective to see that all of them are sacred, and to know that He is truly for us, not against us. He is wiser than us, and stronger than us, and there is nothing we can do to thwart Him or stop Him from getting what He wants. And what is his greatest wish? That we should all be saved, and that He will forever be our God, for ever and ever.

Forever is a construct of Time. Without Time, forever ceases to be. God is beyond Time and Space. He is not bound by them. He was here before them, and will be here after them. So will we. That is what “for ever and ever” means: This ‘ever’, and the next.

13 Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?” 14 I answered, “Sir, you know.” And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 15 Therefore, “they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. 16 ‘Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat down on them,’ nor any scorching heat. 17 For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; ‘he will lead them to springs of living water.’ ‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’”

The great tribulation is life, itself. We all come through it, even if we don’t spend a lot of time in it. The child who dies in the womb still did their part to move us forward. They had their share of the tribulation. Their mind questioned, and their heart ached. That is the essence of the Lamb’s blood, that gives us our spark.

God’s temple is all around us. It is wherever we find Him, and worship Him, regardless of the name we know him by. In this context, worshipping can be as simple as acknowledging that some power greater than our own is in control of our lives. That is the true lesson of death, that we cannot extend our existence by even one second. We are at the mercy of powers we cannot fathom.

A tribulation is a severe affliction, distress, oppression, or a trying experience that causes deep suffering. That sums up life, in a nutshell. The great tribulation isn’t one moment where we stand before God and hear His judgment, or some future time that hasn’t come yet. It’s an obstacle course that stretches from one end of Time and Space to the other. Our task is to find God in all of His hiding places, so that we can see His face clearly. Only by doing so can we truly see ourselves, since we were made in His image. But most of us know that self reflection is not painless.

God shielded Moses from the angels who came to destroy him. He’ll do the same for us. He has been, in fact, throughout all of history. Angels are messengers. The wrong word in the right ear, at the wrong time can be disastrous. So it is for the messages of God, as well. All things have their proper time and place. God hides Himself from us, so that we can slowly uncover Him. It’s excruciating, at times, but pain is a gift the angels did not get. We get enough for everyone. We die not knowing, only to find truth on the other side of life. Two things are better than one.

Walking and talking with God can be a comfort for us. Jesus sits on our throne. His presence lights our fire. He takes the sting out of life. Knowledge of God and His great plan assures us that we are in good hands, and if we are in good hands, then so is the rest of the world. His intentions for us are honorable and good. He tries us for our own sake, not for some sadistic reason. The sixth seal is the calm before the storm. It is something for us to hold on to, while the seas rage and the boat rocks.

8 When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.

Time still exists in Heaven, and if it marches on, so should we, until all of Time is finished. At this point, thanks to our bronze feet, we should be able and willing to admit to our own shortcomings. We were made perfect, but only in the sense that we are designed to fill particular gaps in human understanding.

We overlap each other, and from a certain perspective, all of our lives can seem the same. Yet, we are all unique, even if we share experiences, because we don’t view those experiences through the same eyes. None of us get the whole truth. We stand on each other’s shoulders, with each successive generation reaching a little further than the last.

In other words, I don’t know everything. I have no idea what the half hour of silence signifies. Perhaps John simply needed a break, to take it all in? We’ve covered a lot, with much more still to come. Some of it can be overwhelming. It took years for me to understand it like I do, but my understanding is still evolving. If you need a break, take a break. God rested, and His example is the best example.