Monday, October 26, 2015

The third seal - corruption and want

Daniel and Revelation by Uriah Smith

Revelation 6 -

Verse 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.

The Third Seal.--

How rapidly the work of corruption progresses! What a contrast in color between this symbol and the first one: A black horse--the very opposite of white!

A period of great darkness and moral corruption in the church must be denoted by this symbol. By the events of the second seal the way was fully opened for that state of things to be brought about which is here presented. The time that intervened between the reign of Constantine and the establishment of the papacy in A.D. 538 may be justly noted as the time when the darkest errors and the grossest superstitions sprang up in the church. Of a period immediately succeeding the days of Constantine, Mosheim says:'

"Those vain fictions, which an attachment to the Platonic philosophy and to popular opinions had engaged the greatest part of the Christian doctors to adopt before the time of Constantine, were now confirmed, enlarged, and embellished in various ways. From hence arose that extravagant veneration for departed saints, and those absurd notions of a certain fire destined to purify separate souls, that now prevailed, and of which the public marks were everywhere to be seen. Hence also the celibacy of priests, the worship of images and relics, which in process of time almost utterly destroyed the Christian religion, or at least eclipsed its luster, and corrupted its very essence in the most deplorable manner. An enormous train of different superstitions were gradually substituted in the place
Page 429
of true religion and genuine piety. This odious revolution was owing to a variety of causes. A ridiculous precipitation in receiving new opinions, a preposterous desire of imitating the pagan rites, and of blending them with Christian worship, and that idle propensity which the generality of mankind have toward a gaudy and ostentatious religion, all contributed to establish the reign of superstition upon the ruins of Christianity."

Again he says: "A whole volume would be requisite to contain an enumeration of the various frauds which artful knaves practiced, with success, to delude the ignorant, when true religion almost entirely superseded by horrid superstition."

These quotations from Mosheim contain a description of the period covered by the black horse of the third seal that answers accurately to the prophecy. It is seen by this how paganism was incorporated into Christianity, and how during this period the false system which resulted in the establishment of the papacy, rapidly rounded out its full outlines, and ripened into all its deplorable perfection of strength and stature.

The Balances.--

"The balances denoted that religion and civil power would be united in the person who would administer the executive power in the government, and that he would claim the judicial authority both in church and state. This was true among the Roman emperors from the days of Constantine until the reign of Justinian, when he gave the same judicial power to the bishop of Rome."

The Wheat and the Barley.--

"The measures of wheat and barley for a penny denote that the members of the church would be eagerly engaged after worldly goods, and the love of money would be the prevailing spirit of the times, for they would dispose of anything for money."

The Oil and the Wine.--

These "denote the graces of the Spirit, faith and love, and there was great danger of hurting
Page 431
these, under the influence of so much of a worldly spirit. And it is well attested by all historians that the prosperity of the church in this age produced the corruptions which finally terminated in the falling away, and setting up the antichristian abominations."

It will be observed that the voice limiting the amount of wheat for a penny, and saying, "Hurt not the oil and the wine," is not spoken by anyone on earth, but comes from the midst of the four living creatures, signifying that although the undershepherds, the professed ministers of Christ, had no care for the flock, yet the Lord was not unmindful of them in this period of darkness. A voice comes from heaven. He takes care that the spirit of worldliness does not prevail to such a degree that Christianity should be entirely lost, or that the oil and the wine--graces of genuine piety--should perish from the earth.

*******

The progression through history, through prophecy fulfilled continues…

A black horse.  We all know that black and white are opposites.  White was the purity of the church before it became corrupt, red the descent into corruption, black the corruption so incredibly deep that its influence would be felt until the end of time. This corruption is the blackest.

Rev. 6 Verse 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.

The third beast speaks and says to John- 

Come and see.

John looked and saw a black horse.
The one who sat upon the black horse held a pair of balances. 
And a voice in the middle of the four beasts spoke saying-
A measure of wheat - for a penny.
Three measures of barley -  for a penny.
See thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

A time of want, a time of very little  justice, very little fairness. A time filled with selfish gain. A time of deception as truly truth was perverted by lies. Lies were introduced, melded with truth to give the appearance of truth. Lies that became so entrenched in what people believe is Christianity that unless people truly desire only the truth they will be allowed to believe the lies.

A dark time, but not dark enough to kill the Spirit and the Blood, the truth.  They could wound the truth deeply, but not destroy it. Throughout all time there have been those who have been allowed to know the truth and keep it so that it could be passed down.

Do we want truth? Only a few will.

Please, Father in heaven, let us be among those who would know ONLY Your truth!  We would NOT be deceived!

May we receive the blessing of the Holy Spirit upon us.

All through the mercy and love of Your only begotten Son, Jesus Christ!

Amen.

No comments: