This sermon by Dan Kent introduces the pale green horse of death in Revelation 6, and provides a way of understanding what God is trying to communicate through this and other terrifying images. Dan challenges us to embrace faithfulness when circumstances push us to prioritize fear.
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Crowns Not Crutches
• Dan Kent
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In this sermon, Dan Kent wraps up the current sub-series entitled “The Wrath of the Lamb” which has focused on chapter six of Revelation. In it, Dan explores the meaning of the fourth horse which rides forth when the lamb broke the fourth seal. This horse is pale green, which is the color of rotting flesh — of sickness and death. This horse builds on the first three: the horse of ascent, the horse of division, and the horse of economic woe.
Then with the fifth seal, we read about the martyrs calling out for God to bring justice. With the sixth seal, there is a total collapse of all things. Up until the sixth seal, those with power were able to navigate their way through the troubles, but with this collapse, the powerful had to run and hide from the calamity.
This is a terrifying spectacle, yet the command not to be afraid is important to the message of this book (see Revelation 1:17; 2:10). What do we do with this? It cannot be that God will protect Christians from the woe, because the text makes it clear that they are also experiencing it. Believers must go through the events of history and respond differently. Even, at times, suffering more than others.
The point is not to be controlled by fear as we attain a different perspective on what is happening in the world. The terrifying events are not actually ultimate because there is a deeper reality going on beneath them. Of course, if our focus lies on trying to experience the “best life now,” any calamity will undermine our hopes. Fear will pervade our very being. All suffering will only be seen as an event in the physical reality and will therefore be viewed as a loss.
Instead of a “best life now” mentality, we are called to put faithfulness at the center. When we do this, the challenges we face are an opportunity to learn something new, to know Christ in a deeper way, and to grow into maturity. Death is not the ultimate nemesis; unfaithfulness is. We are told not to be afraid because the situations we face in this life will not actually destroy us in any ultimate way. This is the reason that the New Testament teaches us to see trials as opportunities (James 1:2-4; Romans 5:3-5).
Therefore, we must stop prioritizing fear. We cannot stop the emotion of fear, but we can quit giving it a central place in our minds. We can choose to stop screaming and thereby making the fear worse. In its place, we must prioritize faithfulness. We can trust the Good Shepherd to take care of us in the midst of the trials, bringing us through the troubles and into a place where we could never go on our own.
Hide Extended SummaryTopics: Faithfulness, Fear, Judgment
Sermon Series: The Wrath of the Lamb
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The MuseCast: Crowns Not Crutches
Focus Scripture:
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Revelation 6:7-8
When he broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature call out, “Come!” I looked, and there was a pale green horse! Its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed with him; they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, famine, and pestilence and by the wild animals of the earth.
3 thoughts on “Crowns Not Crutches”
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"I've been a WH podrishioner for several years now and I can't tell you how much it has changed my life. I came across these podcasts at a time when I was in an extremely unhealthy/abusive situation, and these teachings were immensely influential to me maintaining my faith and sanity. THANK YOU for showing me what a Jesus-looking God is like and what it means to follow Him. Many, many blessings to all of you!"
– Christina, from Oregon
Dan wow!
HORSE ANALOGY: Your emotional state impacts the projected reality perceived not only by you but by those around you.
A parable is a short story that teaches a moral or spiritual lesson, while an ALLEGORY within points to a hidden or symbolic parallel meaning.
Your analogy and verse 1 Timothy 1:5 works well with Matt 13:10-13 The Parable of the Sower
I gleaned this from THE POWER OF A MADE UP STORY – Part 3: Planting Seeds
Joel uses AI part 1-2 as input for help on creating part 3.
in a prior comment:
https://whchurch.org/sermon/get-real_2/#comment-258461
I’ve demonstrated keeping it simple [talking to a 4 year old] is the best approach to working with Microsoft Copilot or any AI, NOT Autopilot – but step by step [TEST AND APPROVE] gleaning this also from Joel.
Working this out with the 4 year old touched me so much I elected to put it on my SCRIBD site.
Dan, you will like the [POETRY] part.
PLUS: Consider ALL Science as an operating system, a method of thought, whose purpose it is to let people exchange their considerations in discovering WHAT’S ALLREADY THERE so as to rule out what doesn’t work and avoid thinking about it, A MORE FREE WON’T RATHER THAN FREE WILL, so the FOCUS can be on DISCOVERING WHAT MIGHT from the remaining set of POSSIBILITIES.
The concatenated Allegory [Joel’s’, yours’ and one more?] at the end with the limited format here just doesn’t do justice.
https://www.scribd.com/document/796754068/A-Parable-is-a-Short-Story-That-Teaches-a-Moral-or-Spiritual-Lesson?secret_password=iWXf7WI1F1q7mG4FNQK3
Uh…Haven’t people followed the destructive horse riders IN faithful obedience to God at the same time??
That’s what I’m seeing in our country right now: honestly faithful God followers that are frequently choosing many wrong ways or toxic tribes in Jesus’s name, some church leaders supporting or allowing people in such power that never reflect God (instead of dissenting) in Jesus’s name, Christian voters who focus on issues or character (instead of both) in Jesus’s name, and few still partaking in direct decimation to trigger Christ’s return, wholeheartedly doing the will of God.
I think you’re right, Sarah. We are seeing that—and much more.
We’re seeing people demonstrating little compassion for people who vote differently (Eph 4:32).
We’re seeing Christians tearing others down far more than building them up (1 Thess. 5:11).
We’re seeing Christians demonstrate no ability to “avoid godless chatter” (1 Thess 5:22).
We seem stuck in current events and consider everyone from a worldly point of view, even though that’s exactly what we’re told not to do (2 Cor 5:6).
We ARE good at “exposing fruitless deeds of darkness” (Eph 5:11), but then can’t help ourselves from engaging in unwholesome talk about the perpetrators of those deeds. (Eph 4:29).
Perhaps we’re patient with some, but certainly not “patient with all” (1 Thess 5:14).
We let the anxiety of politics rob us of the “peace of Christ” that should “rule in our heart” (Col 3:15).
Instead of filling our conversations with grace and salt (Col 4:6), we fill it with labels, judgment, and amateur diagnoses.
We’re great in the easy unity of agreement, but not good at “making every effort to maintain unity” (Ephesians 4:3) in the face of disagreement.
We’re good at “reject every evil” that we see in people (1 Thess 5:22), but terrible at “holding on to what is good” in people we disagree with (1 Thess 5:21).
We’re great at calling out wrongs, but absolute failures at discussing them as brothers and sisters with wrongdoers who commit those wrongs.
Faithfulness isn’t easy like the mic-drop political takes of celebrity talking heads, or the curated and controlled attacks of an internet meme. We’re on a richer, slower, deeper, truer journey.