REVELATION 6 - Charles
In Revelation Chapter 5 we met "the Lion of the Tribe of Judah"... Jesus Christ.
He has the authority and He has the right to take the scroll from His Father's hand... and to open the seals thereof.
Jesus is also called "the Lamb that was slain."
Remember what John the Baptist said when He saw Jesus... "Behold, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world." ☆ John 1:29...
The fact that He is referred to as a Lamb in Revelation, is a constant reminder that He paid the ransom price for mankind's salvation with His shed blood.
We now shift our focus from Heaven to planet earth.
These seven seals open up the Great Tribulation Period.
Remember this is all futuristic... it's still to happen... it is going to happen...
This is a terrible time... where God pours out His wrath... pours out His Judgements upon the earth... upon all those who have rejected Him.
There are certain factors that are brought into focus which will increase the intensity and the ferocity of the Great Tribulation...
▪ The Holy Spirit will restrain evil no longer.
☆ 2 Thessalonians 2:6-7.
▪ The true Church, as light and salt, will be gone from the earth.
▪ Satan because he has but a short time... pulls out all stops...
▪ Evil men will be free to carry out their evil wicked plans... their sordid agendas
▪ There will be direct judgment from God.
Remember that the true Church is in Heaven. It has been Raptured. Christ's Bride does not face the Great Tribulation.
So... Let the breaking of the seals begin...
☆ Revelation 6:1...
"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."
1 John sees Jesus the Lamb open one of the seals. He hears a peal of thunder. One of the four creatures invites him to come and see...
John is not dreaming. It is not a figment of his imagination. He is actually seeing and hearing all this. What he sees and hears is very, very real... and he is recording all of this...
God is in control... always!
He is in full charge, and every "creature" in heaven is moving at His command.
The breaking of each seal... is like God saying...
ready, set, GO!!
☆ Revelation 6:2...
"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."
John sees a rider appear on a white horse, which would have been a pretty specky sight!
This rider almost looks regal and kingly.
In his hand he holds a bow... but he has no arrows. He's out to conquer and bring nations under his control.
I believe this guy is out to conquer through so called peaceful means... "waving a white flag" and using "sweet talk" to dupe the nations.
He is the great pretender... the great seducer. Very likely he is the Antichrist.
Any peace that he brokers will be temporary and counterfeit.
We know that at some early stage in the 7 year Tribulation, the Antichrist brokers a peace deal with Israel only to break his word mid point.
Note that this guy is given a crown. He was not born into royalty.
This crown is a 'stephanos' [symbol of honour] crown... not the 'diadema' [kingly] crown.
So... who is it that gives him this crown? Satan?
There are some who say the rider on this white horse is Christ. But no, when Jesus comes, He wears the Kingly (diadema) crown because He comes as King of kings and Lord of lords.
Besides, Jesus is not given His crown.
He possesses a crown(s) because He is King.
Jesus is royalty.
[If this rider on the white horse was indeed Christ, He would have been given a much better rap... like He is given in chapter 19.]
☆ Revelation 6:3-4...
"And when He had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see. 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."
2 Jesus the Lamb opens the second seal and the second creature invites John to come and see.
Any rider on a red horse sounds rather ominous... and this one is no exception.
This rider was given the power to remove peace from the earth.
Who would give this sort of diabolical power?
Certainly not God.
If that was bad enough. Power was also given to him to make people kill one another.
This rider is a warmonger... a stirrer... a manipulator.
He has the ability to pit one nation against another.
Note that he was given a great sword... which I believe is a symbol of war and violence.
Great sword... great violence... great destruction.
☆ Revelation 6:5-6...
"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.
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 you hurt not the oil and the wine."
3 The third seal is opened.
John beheld a black horse with the rider holding a pair of balances.
This black horse is symbolic of famine and mourning.
During war there is always a severe scarcity of food.
"A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny"...
Symbolically, this phrase seems to indicate a common experience in real-world crises... war coupled with famine give way to inflation due to supply and demand.
"... and see you hurt not the oil and the wine."
There has been a great variety of interpretations proposed on this passage.
The first question to ask in regard to it is, to whom is this addressed?
The most common impression on reading it would be, that it is addressed to the horseman with the balances, commanding him not to injure the oliveyards and the vineyards. But this is not probably the correct view. It does not appear that the horseman goes forth to destroy anything (other than peace), or that the effect of his going forth is directly to injure anything. This, therefore, should not be understood as addressed to the horseman, but should be regarded as a general command to any and all not to injure the oliveyards and vineyards.
☆ Revelation 6:7-8...
"And when He had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth."
4 The fourth seal on the scroll is loosed. The fourth creature invites John to come and see.
John sees a pale horse.
The word "pale" is properly translated "greeny - yellow."
This pale horse represents misery with a capital "M".
This is the only rider who has been given a specific name... DEATH! with Hell (Hades) closely following him.
Power was given to Death and Hell over 25% of the earth.
The sword, hunger, death and the beasts of the earth are going to decimate one-fourth (25%) of the population of the earth.
One to two billion people?
That's devastating! Covid is going to look like a sniffle compared to what Death and Hell will accomplish.
Biological germ warfare could also be intimated in this phase.
Hell, or properly Hades tells us that death is more than just dying physically.
The death incurred by this rider is not only physical death but spiritual death as well. That's serious! Big time serious!
The Bible deals with this issue of death very clearly and specifically.
There are 3 parts to "man"... spirit, soul and body.
Unfortunately we are so preoccupied with the death of the physical body, no thought is given to death of the soul and spirit.
The body is temporal.
However the soul and spirit are immortal or eternal.
Both physical and spiritual death came to mankind as a result of Adam and Eve's sin of disobedience in the Garden of Eden in the very beginning.
They were allowed to eat the fruit of every tree in the Garden.
But, one exception... God warned them not to eat of the fruit of knowledge of good and evil.
If they did they would surely die.
Satan in the guise of a serpent deceived them into eating of this fruit.
And they did.
The consequence...
They began to die physically from that moment onwards and died spiritually immediately. Their sin separated them from God... that is spiritual death.
God put in to effect His Redemption plan.
He foreknew that mankind would stuff up.
God's plan involved sending His Son Jesus to earth and sacrificing His life on a cruel Cross.
This is best summed up with...
☆ John 3:16-18...
"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved.
He that believes on Him is not condemned: but he that believes not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the Name of the only begotten Son of God."
☆ 1 John 5:11-12...
"And this is the record, that God has given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that has the Son has life; and he that has not the Son of God has not life."
In Christ we have eternal life.
Without Him, we condemn ourselves to eternal death.
We make the choice... to live eternally or to condemn ourselves eternally.
It's my call... your call.
☆ Revelation 6:9-11...
"And when He had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the Word of God, and for the testimony which they held:
And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, do You not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled."
5 The fifth seal is opened.
However this time no creature invites the Apostle to come and see.
John sees an altar in heaven and under this altar he sees the souls of all those martyred for the Word of God and the testimony they had.
And John hears them cry out with a loud voice to God... "How long will it be before You judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?"
To "avenge" is to punish a wrongdoing with the intent of seeing justice done.
These martyred ones receive a white robe which symbolizes the righteousness of the saints. ☆ Revelation 19:8...
They are also told to "hang on for a bit" (rest for a while - wait) until their fellow servants and brethren of the Tribulation are included, so they too will be part of the second resurrection.
There are still to be more martyrs.
All those who die for their faith will never be forgotten.
☆ Revelation 6:12...
"And I beheld when He had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood."
6 The Lamb opens the sixth seal and nature starts to play its part in the Great Tribulation...
• A massive (great) earthquake takes place. Associated with earthquakes are erupting volcanoes which will spew huge quantities of volcanic dust into the atmosphere.
• The sun goes darkened... very likely from the volcanic dust in the air blocking out the light. Sandstorms?
• The moon becomes as blood... the volcanic dust in the air is responsible for the moon's colour change at night.
☆ Revelation 6:13...
"And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casts her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind."
This is evidently the beginning of the last half of the Great Tribulation Period.
The great day of God's wrath is before us.
The earth gets pummelled with meteorites from out of space.
These meteorites (likened to unripe figs falling from a tree in a strong wind) won't burn up in the atmosphere into nothingness as they do now. Here, they will be large enough to slam into the earth and cause untold damage.
The "stars of heaven" could also be a fragmented comet...
☆ Revelation 6:14...
"And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places."
What happens here is nothing short of cataclysmic (on a large scale and violent). How it is written here can be taken literally. Can you imagine it... every mountain and island will be moved out of its place.
The jolting in the earth's crust (movement of gigantic tectonic plates) is going to be massive.
The earth dwellers will be absolutely terrified.
I can sort of picture in my mind "the heaven departing as a scroll when it's rolled together"... it will be like a gigantic cosmic shock wave with the sky collapsing on itself.
It's both weird and very frightening.
It's almost as if the sky with it's dark clouds are sucked into a foreboding black hole...
☆ Revelation 6:15...
"And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains."
The fierce intensity and sheer scale of these natural disasters on the earth are going to be so scary... that people from all social classes will try to hide themselves in deep caves in the mountains for protection.
Considering that the mountains themselves will shake and move, hiding in these caves would be absolutely futile.
Interestingly, I've seen video footage of specially built underground labyrinths for people to hide in, in case of natural disasters upon the surface of the earth.
People are thinking about and preparing for apocalyptic times. They seem to sense that something is going to happen.
There are even movies coming out of Hollywood that are focussing on apocalyptic disasters.
And yet if I were to share about the apocalyptic happenings prophesied in the book of Revelation, people would laugh me to scorn.
They rather believe the rantings and ravings of Nostradamus than the truth of God's Word.
☆ Revelation 6:16...
"And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb."
And yet... they will be so fearful, so scared of what's happening that they call upon the mountains and rocks to fall on them to hide them.
Hide them from what??
Hide them from the face of Almighty God Who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb.
They know... they know... the earth dwellers know that this is the time of the judgement of God.
They would rather perish and die, than face Him.
Even in these harsh judgements, man's heart will be so hard they still refuse to repent.
☆ Revelation 6:17...
"For the great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?"
Yes... the great day of God's wrath has finally arrived!
Judgement upon the earth and earth dwellers has come.
It's all happening!
The scoffers can shut their mouths... even hang their heads in shame.
And those who say there is no God are fools indeed!
■ Between the 6th and 7th seal there is an interlude.
I will explain in the next chapter what is taking place.
Selah! Have a big serious think about all that is going to happen.