Tuesday, April 8, 2025
Scripture Readings
- Primary Reading: Revelation 6
- Secondary Reading: Psalms 41
Key Verse
Revelation 6:9 — “And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:”
Devotional Thought
The scroll in the Lamb’s hand is sealed with seven seals, and as Revelation 6 unfolds, the Lamb opens the first four with thunderous summons: “Come and see.” What John beholds is the famous vision of the four horsemen. The first rides a white horse, given a crown and a bow, going forth conquering and to conquer. The second rides red, given a great sword and power to take peace from the earth so that men kill one another. The third rides black, holding a pair of balances, while a voice announces a day’s wage for a day’s bread—”a measure of wheat for a penny”—though the oil and wine are spared. The fourth rides pale, and his rider’s name is Death, with Hell following, given power over a fourth part of the earth to kill with sword, hunger, death, and beasts. Then the fifth seal reveals not a horseman but martyrs beneath the altar, souls slain for the word of God, crying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true?” They are given white robes and told to rest a little season. At the sixth seal, the cosmos itself convulses: a great earthquake, the sun black as sackcloth, the moon as blood, stars falling like untimely figs, heaven departing as a rolled scroll. Kings, captains, rich and poor alike hide in dens and rocks, crying for the mountains to fall on them and hide them “from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb.”
It is a sobering scene, and perhaps an unlikely companion to Psalm 41, where David speaks of mercy in sickness and betrayal by a familiar friend. Yet the two belong together. David, languishing on his bed, hears enemies whisper, “When shall he die, and his name perish?” Even his trusted friend who ate his bread lifts up his heel against him—words our Lord Himself would later apply to Judas. David’s hope is not that trouble never comes, but that the LORD upholds him in his integrity and sets him before His face forever.
We read this in early April, when the church has just walked through the cross and the empty tomb. The Lamb who opens these seals is the same Lamb who was slain—and He is worthy to open them precisely because He has entered our suffering, our sickness, our betrayal, and our death. The martyrs’ cry of “How long?” is not unbelief; it is faith that refuses to pretend all is well. And notice the tenderness in verse 11: they are given white robes and told to rest. Even in judgment, God tends His own.
The question the sixth seal presses on every reader is verse 17: “who shall be able to stand?” The answer is not the powerful, the rich, or the mighty, who hide in caves. It is those washed in the blood of the Lamb, clothed in white, who rest in His promise. David knew this: “Thou upholdest me in mine integrity, and settest me before thy face for ever.” The wrath of the Lamb is real, but so is the refuge of the Lamb.
Reflection
- The martyrs under the altar cry “How long?” and are told to rest. When you cry out to God in suffering, do you expect an answer of vindication, or are you learning to rest in His timing?
- When the great day of His wrath comes, “who shall be able to stand?” Have you taken refuge in the Lamb who was slain, or are you trusting in the rocks and mountains to hide you?
Prayer
O Lord, holy and true, how long? We live in a world of red horses and pale horses, of wars and famine and death, and we too cry out for Your justice. Yet we thank You that the Lamb who opens the seals is the Lamb who was slain for us. Give us white robes and rest, and uphold us in our integrity as You did David. When our familiar friends lift up their heel against us, be Thou our refuge. Keep us from hiding among the rocks of our own making. Set us before Your face for ever, and let us stand in the righteousness of Christ alone. Amen.
Psalm Verse
Psalms 41:1 — “Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the LORD will deliver him in time of trouble.”