– Joel Beeke in Revelation
God has given us instructions about how to live as his creatures, as the finite body-and-soul beings he has made us to be. But some of us are trying to live as if we are infinite. It’s hardly surprising that we are breaking down. – David Murray in Reset
We are God’s: let us therefore live for him and die for him. We are God’s: let his wisdom and will therefore rule all our actions. We are God’s: let all the parts of our life accordingly strive toward him as our only lawful goal.
– John Calvin
In worship, we are able to weep before God as the cry of the needy toward the One who can provide.– Philip Nation in Habits for Our Holiness
We must come to the point where what matters most to us is faithfulness to God. Faithfulness to the Word of God and the gospel must be more important to us than pleasure, more important to us than leisure, and more important than life itself. We must value faithfulness to God and his word more than we value the ability to go on living our peaceful, happy lives.
– James M. Hamilton, Jr. on Revelation 6 in Revelation (PTW)
God has been allowing crimes and injustices and blasphemies and abominations for so long, and he has been tolerating such lies and calumnies to be spoken about him all these years. Revelation 6 promises that one day the wrath will begin to fall. The debt finally comes due. Justice will be done. The wicked will give account. The righteous will be avenged. God will be glorified in his justice.
– James M. Hamilton, Jr. on Revelation 6 in Revelation (PTW)
Humility does not mean thinking less of yourself than of other people, nor does it mean having a low opinion of your own gifts. It means freedom from thinking about yourself one way or the other at all.
– William Temple
The progression of the four seals is from lust to conquest (the first seal) to civil war (the second seal) to famine (the third seal) to pestilence and death (the fourth seal). This is the natural progression of man’s inhumanity to man. In other words, God simply allows human sin to come full circle, turn in upon itself, and self-destruct.
– Grant Osborne on Revelation 6 in Revelation (BEC)
The primary theme is divine sovereignty, as the Lamb initiates the event, and in three of them the divine passive “was given” (6:2, 4, 8) controls the action. This means that the activities of the horsemen take place only as authorized by God.
– Grant Osborne on Revelation 6 in Revelation (BEC)
Knowledge is proud that he has learned so much; wisdom is humble that he knows no more.– William Cowper
Brian J. Mikul 