Revelation 6:1-2 - Homilies By R. Green

The conquering Lord.

The Revelation has its parts. A division is to be made here. There are many revelations in the one. And the truth to be taught is set forth again and again in differing figures and series of representations. We look not for chronological continuity and sequence. The book has one theme, one truth, dividing into its several streams; that truth is, in the present section, the triumph of the Church's Lord. With this assurance the Lord gives comfort to his struggling, suffering, persecuted Church. With the breaking of the first seal a vision is revealed: "and I saw." The symbol is simple and comprehensive. It reaches to the end from the beginning. It is a vision of the Redeemer as the conquering Lord. But it is the Lord prepared for battle. Conquest is preceded by conflict. He goes forth to make war. This aspect prevails throughout the book. "The Lord is a Man of war."

I. We think of THE FOES AGAINST WHOM THE ANTAGONISM OF THE LORD IS RAISED . Not here named, but implied. In one word sin. Sin lurking in the hearts of men; sin embodying itself in the lives of men. Hence sinners—all who ally themselves with evil, who are the agents of evil, "servants of sin," "children of the wicked one." Thought of as an army led forward by "the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience." In the conquest of this is the conquest of the persecuting foes of the first Churches, the form in which sin was then rampant.

II. We think of THE ONE CONQUEROR IN WHOM THE WHOLE IDEA OF THE ARMY IS REPRESENTED . He only is in view, for all victory is of him. He only slays and conquers. We see the Conqueror prepared to do battle, seated on the war horse, carrying the war weapon.

III. We think of THE NATURE OF THE CONFLICT . In the symbol this appears only in the person of the Conqueror, and in the colour of the horse—it is in righteousness. White is the consecrated colour; it is the symbol of purity.

IV. We think of THE INEVITABLE CONQUEST . The crown—the laurel crown is upon the Conqueror's brow. It is the symbol of anticipated victory: "He shall reign."

V. THE ASSURING WORD . "He came forth conquering, and to conquer." The whole revelation in this word. Again and again this is represented. Here the true comfort. He shall bring into subjection to himself whatever is not in harmony with his Name, and that in the individual heart and in the universal sphere.—R.G.