3rd Seal - Out of Balance

(Rev 5:1-5 KJV) And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals. {2} And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof? {3} And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon. {4} And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon. {5} And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.

(Rev 6:1-6 KJV) And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see. {2} And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer. {3} And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see. {4} And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword. {5} And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. {6} And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

Today we continue our study of the opening of the seals with the opening of the 3rd seal which contains a warning about how the devil will fight to get you Out of Balance. The opening of the seals represent our Lord opening our understanding of the Word of God so that we can defend ourselves against the wiles of the devil. The Bible is like a letter that is sealed in a series of envelopes. When Jesus opens the first seal to you, you find that as a Christian you are engaged in a spiritual warfare and that you can win by obeying the commander, Jesus. You understand that this spiritual war will be a fight as long as you are on the earth. You know that you will need to pay close attention to your Lord as He is the only one that can lead you to victory. This spiritual war is a war of righteousness against sin. The devil is out to convince you to sin and the Lord is out to convince you to live righteous.

When the second seal was opened, we understood that the weapon the devil uses to convince us to sin is his word. He is a liar from the beginning and he multiplies lies and bombards you with them as a constant flow of bullets. You need all the armour of God to withstand the bombardment of the devil. He is out to take your peace away from you just like he took Eve’s peace from her in the garden of Eden by lying to her and getting her to believe his lies. Jesus is offering you His peace and is giving you the Word of God to help you to learn the truth. The truth will set you free from the dominion and control of sin. Freedom from the control of sin brings peace like a river; peace that passes understanding.

Today we direct our attention to the message that Jesus has for us by opening the 3rd seal of this letter. Here we see the third beast of Rev. 4:7, the one with a face as a man, inviting us to see or to understand the message. He shows us a black horse and a rider with balances in his hand. We hear a voice in the midst of the four beasts of Rev. 4:7 saying a message concerning a measurement of grain and that the oil and wine were not to be hurt. Let us now study this message taking into account what the Bible reveals to us about these symbols.

First let us consider the beast that is inviting us to understand this message. It is the 3rd beast from (Rev 4:7 KJV) And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle.

When we studied these beasts several weeks back, we learned that they represent the attributes of God. In other words God uses these characteristics to help us to understand how He works with us. The third attribute of God is the face as a man which reminds us that God created man in His own image and that God has used man to carry His messages to the world down through the ages of time. The man of God has a very important and significant part in helping you to defeat the devil and keep sin out of your life. God has sent Pastors and prophets throughout history and continues to this day to warn you of impending dangers to your soul. This is so important to God that He appoints you a Pastor.

(Jer 3:14-15 KJV) Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion: {15} And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.

I cannot overemphasize that a pastor sent by God is one of the greatest blessings that you will ever receive in this world. It would be highly advantageous of you to give honor to your pastor and to heed his warnings for they come from God. Many through the ages of time have failed to pay attention to the warnings of their pastor and history is filled with accounts of the tragic results. So God in His Word instructs you to obey the man of God.

(Heb 13:7 KJV) Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.

(Heb 13:17 KJV) Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.

Too many people take the attitude that the preacher is just another man and that his word is no different that any other. Such an attitude prevents you from taking God’s warnings and leads you into darkness. Many attempt to justify their disrespect for the preacher by pointing to the failures of preachers as their excuse to discard the message. It is a good thing that God is a God or mercy, otherwise He would wipe out a great portion of the living from the earth. You cannot justify ignoring God’s warnings and you have the responsibility to sort out the warnings to see that they are according to the Word of God. For example, I am warning you today that the devil is working to get you out of balance so that you will starve your soul of the Word of God; is that a true message from the Word of God? The only way that you can know is for you to have a knowledge of the Word of God! It is so easy for the devil today to deceive people because they don’t study the Bible and therefore he can get them to believe most anything. My effort is to try and help you to learn and understand the Bible.

We see in this warning a horse that is a symbol of warfare as we have discovered in the first and second seals. The horse this time is black which symbolizes darkness. Therefore, we understand that the devil is fighting to get us to believe his lies so that our lives will be filled with darkness. We understand darkness to represent sin and as we observe the multitudes that are professing to be Christians we can see that the devil has deceived many of them. They believe that they have to sin every day and if you believe that, then your life is filled with darkness. Jesus taught us (John 3:18-21 KJV) He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. {19} And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. {20} For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. {21} But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

If you listen to the devil and allow sin to have dominion over you, then you are not obeying the Lord. To continue to sin is to have your understanding darkened.

(Eph 4:17-18 KJV) This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, {18} Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:

Listening to the devil will lead you into darkness, sin! When you become vain in your imaginations, your foolish heart is darkened and you have no idea how far sin will take you.

(Rom 1:18-32 KJV) For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; {19} Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath showed it unto them. {20} For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: {21} Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. {22} Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, {23} And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. {24} Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: {25} Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. {26} For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: {27} And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet. {28} And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; {29} Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, {30} Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, {31} Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: {32} Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

The rider on the black horse has a pair of balances in his hand. The balances represent the weighing out of things and the voice that we hear is telling us that grain is being measured out. What we understand from this is that the devil will give you a little grain for a price but the amount of grain that he gives you will not be enough to sustain your soul. Remember that Jesus told us that we are to live by every Word that proceeds from God. The devil will try to convince you that you can skip some of the Word especially if it conflicts with the sin that he is trying to convince you to do.

(Mat 4:4 KJV) But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

The warning here is to remind you that the devil is out to get you unbalanced. If he can’t get you to ignore God’s Word completely, then he will try to get you to ignore only parts of it. If that doesn’t work, then he will try to get you to become fanatical in your interpretation of God’s Word. Remember this is a war and your enemy is not about to give up! You will have to fight him to stay balanced in your living a holy life. Satan’s effort is to get you to falsify the balance.

(Amos 8:5 KJV) Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit?

(Amos 8:11-12 KJV) Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: {12} And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it.

Notice that Amos is telling you that the famine is one of hearing the Words of the Lord. That is the effort of the devil to get you to starve your soul by eliminating the preaching of God’s Word. You need the preaching of God’s Word more than you need physical food and if you will prioritize your life according to the instructions of Jesus, you will make hearing the Word of God of more importance that feeding your flesh. Jesus said

(Mat 6:33 KJV) But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Surely we can say that the prophecy of Amos has come to pass. It is not an easy things in our land today to find the preaching of God’s Word. Many ideas and theologies of men have replaced the Word of the Lord as sermons Insomuch that multitudes have been deceived into believing that they can live in sin pleasing their flesh and still be Christians. Finding a sinning Christian is like finding a holy devil. The two do not mix. Take the Lord as your shepherd and let Him lead you into paths of righteousness. You will discover that righteousness is far more pleasurable than are the paths of sin.

In our lesson we hear this message coming from the attributes of God to hurt not the oil and the wine so let us examine these symbols. Oil and wine were used as healing aids in treating the wounded as we observe in the parable of the good Samaritan.

(Luke 10:33-34 KJV) But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, {34} And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

Oil is used to anoint:

(Exo 30:25 KJV) And thou shalt make it an oil of holy ointment, an ointment compound after the art of the apothecary: it shall be an holy anointing oil.

(James 5:14 KJV) Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:

Isaiah reminds us that ointment is necessary to cure people of sin.

(Isa 1:4-6 KJV) Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward. {5} Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. {6} From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.

A world that is sick and immersed in sin needs the oil and wine of God’s Holy Spirit to heal them. No matter what the devil tries to do, God’s Word stands firm and sure. God will not allow the devil to hurt His Word or His Spirit. That is your safety net, God’s Word anointed by His Holy Spirit can be depended on to lead you into paths of righteousness and peace.

And so the battle rages: Satan fighting to get you to live an unbalanced life and God fighting to get you to live balanced. Satan is using his lies to tell you to live a selfish life where you are concerned for yourself and your pleasures. God is using His truth to tell you that the only way to real peace is to live for God and serve Him with all you’re heart, soul, mind and strength. The Lord does not want you to be a part of the world nor does He want you to be a fanatic. He wants you to listen to Him so He can teach you how to enjoy life, have great peace and end up in eternity with Him in Heaven.

God is sending His message to you this morning because He loves you and wants you to enjoy your life. Life without God, is only an existence that is empty, useless and void. There is a war on and the devil is out to take your peace and he is out to deceive you into living an unbalanced life. Take Jesus as you Lord and balance up your life. Put forth as great an effort to serve God as you put forth to serve yourself. Feed your soul as diligently as you feed your body. Protect your righteousness as you protect your life. Then you will find the joy of living.

(Rev 22:17 KJV) And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.