We saw in Revelation 5 the Lamb take the book from the Father's hand, as only He had authority and could open the book and the seals. Now in Revelation 6 we will first look at the four horsemen of the apocalypse, because this is what these first four seals are. These seals cover the 6th and 7th chapter of Revelation and the first verse of the 8th chapter. We will start by looking at chapter 6 and the first verse of chapter 8.
Over the years there have been lots of discussions on these seals, but the scriptures lay it out clearly, and this is where we must look to interpret the word of God, letting scripture interpret scripture. Firstly we need to remember that there has been no break in the vision since chapter four. Thus the time frame/starting date for the breaking of the first seal is 31 AD. As soon as Christ receives the book, He wastes no time in beginning to break the seals.
The seals denote events of a religious character, and contain the history of the church from the opening of the Christian era to the second coming of Christ. There are seven seals, and we have already seen that the number seven symbolizes completeness, fullness, and perfection. We shall see this more clearly as we go through this chapter.
In this chapter Jesus starts to open the seals and these seals have some important points that we need to know about. The first four are horseman that tell us about the conditions on the earth, but the last three are not horseman and we see there is a decided change, because the last three seals deal with God's judgment upon the wicked. This same scenario of change also continues when we look at the seven trumpets and again with the seven last plagues. So in each of these, the seals, the trumpets and the plagues, they are always divided into the first four and then the last three.
The time period of the first seal, the white horse, is around 31-100 AD.
Now the Bible gives periods of time, we put these dates in because they seem to cover that period of time, but we are not to tie the times of these dates down in stone, because they overlap one another as we saw in the study on the seven churches, this is talking about a period of time.
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."
Now one of the four beasts tells John to come and see what is revealed in these seals.
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."
White is used over and over in the scriptures – it talks about white robes, white garments, white throne, hair, stone, clouds – white represents purity, righteousness.
Never in God's word is there a place where God uses white to apply to the antichrist or to anything evil. So for those who take this white horse, as some do, and apply it to the antichrist, this is totally out of harmony with the scriptures. The rider on the white horse going forth to conquer and to conquer represents the gospel, the word of God, as it first went out after Pentecost - it was pure.
A horse is a symbol of war:
Throughout ancient history and the Bible, you will find that the horse was used primarily for war and processions, sometimes for hunting. So each horse that we will look at will denote a different type of warfare. As this horse is white, it denotes a warfare of righteousness or purity. The purity of the faith of the Apostolic church.
He that sat on him had a bow - In Habakkuk 3 the bow is represented as God's word.
The early Christian church, with Christ at its head, went to war against the workings of the many systems of error that were in the world at that time. They were to...
Their weapon was the Word of God. For it was not against literal flesh and blood that they had to war...
Thus the weapons of this warfare are not carnal but spiritual:
The words of truth that were spoken were like sharp arrows that penetrated deep into the hearts of listeners.
The crown comes from the Greek word "stephanos", which means a wreathe, such as a wreathe of victory. Thus this shows that the church, under the leadership of Christ, was to be victorious.
Went forth conquering, and to conquer - Under the power of the Holy Spirit given to them at Pentecost, the early Christian church went forth conquering over its enemies, so much so that Paul exclaims that the gospel had been preached to every creature under heaven.
Paul is saying that in his day the gospel had been preached to everyone at that time. The gospel at this time went out with such tremendous power and victory and was accepted, that by the end of the first century there were five million Christians. So, in seventy years it had gone from 12 men to five million, that's how many had accepted Christ as their Saviour, so when it speaks about going out to conquer and to conquer, that is indeed what happened.
The time period of the second seal, the red horse, is around 100-313/323 AD.
Revelation 6:3-4 "3 And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see. 4 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."
Now we have a red horse that is going to go out and take peace from the earth and kill people and he has a great sword. A sword represents war, bloodshed and violence (obviously, because of what it is used for), it is also a symbol of the state/civil power, and it also represents division.
So now we have another type of warfare that is to take place. Back in those days there were two types of swords, there was one type that was a short sword, which was used for hand to hand fighting close up, but they also had a long sword that was about four foot long that was used by those who rode on horses, and this is the type of sword that it talks about here. Now you will find that any time in history that the gospel has moved with great rapidity across the earth and there has been a revival and people have reached out and accepted the Lord and where there has been a great influx in Christianity, there has always been persecution. Every time this has ever happened the Devil has been there to persecute the church, and here as the church grew with such rapidity in the first century, all of a sudden Rome turned her hatred and wrath upon the church, because it looked like Christianity was going to take over and so they began to persecute the people.
As white is a symbol of purity so red is a symbol of sin and also the colour of blood.
Thus the white/purity had begun to be corrupted by sinfulness and heresies. The apostles had warned the church that there would be grievous wolves coming into the flock, speaking perverse things, after their death.
False teachers, heresy and apostasy crept into the church. There was a war against false teachings and apostasy, with those that held to the purity of the faith coming under fierce persecution. If you did not show your allegiance to the Roman Empire then you were taken to the arena and feed to the lions that had not eaten for days. Christians were also used as human torches; this was a terrible, terrible time. This is the same time we learnt of in the study of the seven churches, this was the church of Smyrna, where they lived in fear of their lives and where this persecution intensified under the reign of Diocletian for 10 years...300-310 AD.
During this time period, around 100-313/323 AD, the true believers came under heavy persecution from the Roman Empire. The apostate church starts to emerge and seeks the aid of the state. Divisions came into the church as the majority of the church become sinful, heretical and political. Literal peace and spiritual peace had truly been taken away. The state was now punishing Christianity under the penalty of death. Divisions and power struggles were going on in the church. The apostate church was seeking after the state, but the faithful resisted the apostasy.
The time period of the third seal, the black horse, is around 313-538 AD.
Revelation 6:5 "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."
Here we have a direct contrast between the first and third horse. The first horse was white (denoting its purity/righteousness) the third black, which is the complete opposite of white and thus must denote unrighteousness/impurity, error and apostasy. You will invariably find that when Christianity advances and many reach out and accept the Lord and the Devil has persecuted, that if he finds he cannot accomplish his need by persecution then he uses something that never fails, and that is compromise, flattery, enticement, and by these things he has been able to lead many away. That's why Jesus says that each one of us needs to be careful about the cares of the world.
Also when the children of Israel were on their way to the Promised Land we have the story of Balaam and Balak in Numbers, where Balaam could not curse the Israelites so he devised another way to get to them:
Balaam suggested that the Moabite women went down among the Israelites and lead them astray by sexual immorality and worship of their pagan gods, anything that he could do to get them to turn from the true God, and this he accomplished.
J.C. Woodhouse, in his book "The Apocalypse", says:
This is a good description of the church – it moved and it lost all the things that it had.
This is a danger that we face, as we get farther and farther from our forefathers who laid the pillars and foundations of our faith, they were staunch believers, they studied and agonised over the word of God, they preached it, they gave their life for it, they gave everything they had, but as it gets farther and farther from its foundation we lose the sense of urgency.
But this was to be its downfall, for it was during this time that most of the superstitious and pagan practices entered the church. Finally most of the Christians consented to lower their standard, and a union was formed between Christianity and paganism. Sunday worship entered the church, or the chief day for the pagan worship of Mithraism which is the day of the sun/Sunday. This was instead of the seventh day Sabbath instituted by God at creation.
The pagans also brought in their idolatrous practices, but the church changed the names of these pagan idols into Jesus, Mary, and the worship of the saints; and still kept the idolatrous ceremonies. The doctrine of the Trinity - God says He is one, but the Trinity doctrine says He's three in one (and of course we human beings know better than God). Celibacy of the priesthood came into practice. The burning of wax tappers and candles, the doctrine of purgatory, eternal burning hell fire. The Mass was introduced, also the doctrine of original sin etc. Various forms of corrupt manuscripts were written. It was the great age of compromise as we saw under the church of Pergamos.
A pair of balances - There are three different applications that can be made for what balances represent.
1. Commerce/trade:
2. Corrupt dealing:
3. Judgment:
All three of these apply very well to the time frame of the black horse, as we will now go on to explain.
1. Religion was commercialised during this time period because of the lust for wealth of the apostate church. People were led to believe that they needed to pay money to obtain salvation. If you were baptized, you had to pay, if you were confirmed in the faith, you had to pay, if you were married, you had to pay, if you received forgiveness from the priest for sin, you had to pay, when you buried your loved one, you had to pay, and when masses were said, to get them out of purgatory, you had to pay. This type of commerce was a source of tremendous income for the apostate church.
2. The corrupt dealings of the apostate church included the sale of relics, that is, the bones of so-called saints. This was used to draw people into the church. There were many cathedrals that claimed to have many of these things, such as fingers of the apostles, pieces of the cross, a lock of the virgin Mary's hair, all the way through to a piece of John the Baptist's head. They were so bold in their claims - we have this record from "A Laymen's History of the Church":
There were also fraudulent promises, given to those that looked upon these things, by the church. One of these was the remission from purgatory for a lengthy period of time. People were being grossly misled.
3. Balances also represent judgment (Daniel 5:27). After many warnings and the rejection of the true knowledge of God, and His long-suffering with their apostasy; we suggest that God has weighed them in the balances and found them wanting, and because of their rejection of the true knowledge, God has rejected them.
Revelation 6:6 "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."
Measure of wheat...three measures of barley for a penny - These were the staple food products for that day, with the penny being equal to a day's wages for a labourer. This means that the cost of the common food was 8-10 times above the normal price. When prices are so high, it means that there is a famine, and the prices go up due to lack of these things.
We are not dealing with a literal famine but a spiritual one. The apostate church created a spiritual famine by taking the word of God away from the people, locking it up in the Latin language which only a few could read and understand. This allowed superstition and error to creep in, which enslaved the people's minds.
Hurt not the oil and the wine - If these things were not to be hurt, it would mean they were to be preserved during this time.
Oil was used for light...
We are regarded as the light of the world and we are to let our light shine.
A person can only shine forth the truth in their lives through the indwelling Holy Spirit. Thus the Holy Spirit is represented by oil.
Wine represents doctrine/teachings.
Intoxicating/fermented wine represents false/corrupt doctrine and thus unfermented wine represents true doctrine.
Even though there was to be a spiritual famine for the word of God, there would be a small remnant that would still possess a Holy Spirit led life and the true form of God's word. One group that was able to preserve the purity of God's word was the Waldenses of Northern Italy. They had God's word in their own native language. Salvation was still available to those that would seek after it.
The time period of the fourth seal, the pale horse, is around 538-1517 AD.
Revelation 6:7-8 "7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. 8 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."
Now we come to the pale horse, and this text relates not only spiritually but physically. Once again we have a different coloured horse and thus a different type of warfare. The word "pale" comes from the Greek word "chloros", which means green or greenish. This colour is deadly as it is the colour that is the token of the approach of death. This is a good description of the time period of Papal supremacy (when it had gained full supremacy of the stately/political power in 538 AD) until the reformation began in 1517. It was sickly and repulsive.
Death and hell - The word hell means the grave. During this time when the apostate church was supreme, there were over 5,000,000 of the true and faithful believers slaughtered. And it was during this time that the inquisition was set up. Spiritual death came from the suppression of the scriptures, and literal death came to those that opposed the apostate church.
Fourth part of the earth - It is said that the Papacy ruled a quarter of the then-known world. It goes on to say that this power would kill by the sword, by hunger, death and beasts of the earth – here is outlined how the faithful were persecuted. Whether it was by the sword, starvation, the sentence of death, or the beasts of the earth, the Papacy used all to accomplish its objective. This was repulsive in the eyes of God.
Now we come to the fifth seal, and notice that we now no longer have horsemen or one of the living creatures saying come and see, there is now a decided change in what is happening.
The horses told of events that would take place on the earth, but as we go into the 5th, 6th and 7th seals we will see the results of these events and the judgments of the wicked taking place. We see the wicked being told that they have been given this time to repent, and the events that will occur should they refuse to repent.
The time period of the fifth seal is around 1517-1798 AD.
Revelation 6:9-11 "9 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: 10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? 11 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."
Notice why they had been slain. They were slain because of their faith in God's word and because of the witness they bore in their own lives. They had sealed their faith with their blood. But why are they depicted us being under the altar? Well when it talks about the altar here it is referring to the altar of sacrifice that was out in the courtyard of the sanctuary. And when they had offered the sacrifice they took the blood and they poured it at the base of this altar.
When applying this to the true tabernacle (the heavenly sanctuary), we find that there are only two apartments of the sanctuary in heaven. The courtyard, where this altar is located, we find to be on earth. A careful study of types and antitypes will show that the work that was carried out in the courtyard of the earthly sanctuary was a type of what Christ would accomplish here on earth. A small example of this is as follows; the sacrifice was slain in the courtyard. Christ, our sacrifice, was slain upon this earth. Thus this shows that the persons were martyred and their blood spilt, or poured out, upon this earth.
Now these saints cry out to God from here, wanting to know how long before their blood would be avenged. This is not literal souls under the alter, but like Abel's blood, was simply a witness crying out:
It is their innocent blood that has been shed that cries out for justice to be done.
The word "souls" in scripture is often referred to as "persons".
These persons were slain, that is, had been slain, placing it in the past tense. This would naturally mean that these persons that were slain are those that lost their lives under the Pale Horse of the Fourth Seal, in the great persecution, during the time of Papal supremacy, in the time of the Inquisition and Saint Bartholomew Massacre where 60,000 were killed in one day. And now they cry out to God; how long before you avenge our blood. But there was a reason why God said to them that they should rest for a little while longer.
We too are offered these white robes; it does not matter how bad we may have been, and how dark our sins, when the Lord Jesus Christ gives us that white robe of His righteousness then we are clean and pure in the eyes of God, no matter who we are, as long as we have repented and given our heart and lives to the Lord.
That fine linen represents the righteousness that Christ gives to you and to me.
This is all of God's people clothed in white robes, pure in the righteousness of Jesus. Now in Revelation 6:11 it said that they should rest for a little while – why?
They should rest yet for a little season - You see the time of the resurrection had not come. How long will it be until they are judged? Daniel answers this question.
We will not go into that prophecy now, but the Angel told him that it would be for a definite period of time, and that's the reason it says:
In other words, God is saying that the judgement had to take place first; the judgement has to happen before you can have the resurrection, and these dear saints will sleep until the resurrection.
This also shows that those that have put to death the faithful are not being punished in hell at this time. Vengeance belongs to God, not to Satan.
These saints will ultimately be avenged when the wicked are destroyed in the lake of fire.
White robes were given to each of the martyrs, these dear souls that were martyred for the word of God and for the witness that they had lived by. They were regarded by the apostate church as the basest of criminals, their characters were painted the blackest of black when being burnt at the stake. Generally the victims had placed on their heads a paper mitre that had demons painted on it. This was to indicate that they were basically demons in human form. There was to be no mercy shown to them. But how then were they given white robes?
White is a symbol of overcomers.
Also of righteousness.
How then could they be seen as such when they were seen as the basest of criminals with the blackest of characters? The Protestant Reformation dramatically changed the opinion of the world concerning the martyrs.
This time of the reformation, when men like John Calvin, Martin Luther, Zwingli, all these great reformers, stood up and preached, and out of that five hundred thousand Frenchmen under the preaching of John Calvin gave their hearts to the Lord, and many of those people paid with their lives – that's what verse 6 talks about, these souls under the alter that had been slain for the word of God. The gospel spread, and the Devil turned his wrath and great fury on those that had accepted the gospel and who had given their lives to Jesus Christ.
Rest yet for a little season - Their total vindication was to be after the martyrdom of their fellow servants and brethren. Even though the Reformation was spreading from country to country, Rome was still putting to death God's faithful people. But we also see that before the close of probation there will be death to those that do not worship the beast and his image.
Now as we go into the 6th seal, let's first look at Matthew 24:
It says immediately after the tribulation of those days – now by "those days" it's referring to the time of persecution during the time of the reformation, and we find that this persecution subsided in the late 1700's, as the end of the time period of the fifth seal was approaching (1798). Now let's continue to read the words of Christ in Matthew 24:
It is the time period of the 6th seal that Christ was talking about in Matthew 24. This is the very time that you and I are living in today. We are living in the time of this 6th seal, near the close of it. And it is within this time period, as it draws to a close, that we will see the coming of Jesus...
The time period of the sixth seal is around 1798 AD to the second coming of Christ.
Revelation 6:12-13 "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; 13 And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind."
Now Christ said immediately after the tribulation of those days, which we find comes to an end in the late 1700's, He said the sun would go dark, the moon would turn to blood and the stars would fall from Heaven.
This represents the period of time from the late 1700's to the coming of Jesus Christ, which represents the period of time in which you and I are living. And just exactly as it said would happen you have the Lisbon earthquake.
A great earthquake - At the opening of the sixth seal there was a great earthquake. From the information that will be given below, it will be seen that this prophecy is fulfilled by the Lisbon earthquake of November 1, 1755.
What a massive earthquake this was, it was the greatest earthquake in area and is easily seen to be the starting date of the sixth seal. We see the same language in Revelation 16 under the seventh plague.
Also in Jeremiah:
And again in Isaiah:
This earth will be so terribly shaken by this quake that even the islands will sink and the mountains be moved out of their places. This occurs when Christ comes the second time.
There is no explanation for this:
The sun became black as sackcloth of hair – following the earthquake there was to be a darkening of the sun. This was in May 19, 1780. Here is another account from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary of 1884:
For those who think it may have been an eclipse of the sun, it would be interesting to note the following:
This too was on May 19, 1780. Note the following quotations.
This event occurred on November 13, 1833.
So these stars fell as thick as snow. Some accounts read where people literally went out and laid on the ground and cried because they thought that judgment had come. These were the signs that would happen and that would mark the time that we had moved in to. So we are living in what the scriptures refer to as the Time of the End. As this 6th seal is being poured out.
As a fig tree casteth her untimely figs - Green figs have a good hold upon the tree, thus would need a mighty wind to shake them off. But when shaken off they would not naturally fall to the ground as ripe figs would. The force needed to pluck them from the tree by a mighty wind would send the green figs in every direction. So too it was with the falling of the stars. They did not fall just in one direction or straight down, but fell in every direction.
Mark 13:24 shows that the darkening of the sun was to occur "in those days" (the days of Papal supremacy 538 - 1798) but after that tribulation (the persecution was cut short for the elect's sake in 1773). So we were to expect the dark day to be after 1773 but before 1798, and we have seen that this has been fulfilled as Christ and John the Revelator have said.
| Revlation 6:12-17 | Matthew 24:29-30 |
|---|---|
| Great earthquake | Not mentioned |
| Sun darkened | Sun darkened |
| Moon as blood | Moon unlit (occurred the same day) |
| Stars fall | Stars fall |
| Atmospheric heaven departs | Heavens powers shaken |
| Great earthquake | Not mentioned |
| Not mentioned | Sign of the Son of Man |
| Flight and cry of unsaved | Populace mourns |
| Coming of Christ | Coming of Christ |
As the beginning of the time period of the 6th seal approached, just exactly as God had said, these things/signs came to pass.
Looking at these signs, we can easily conclude that God was alerting mankind to the fact that that the last days had begun and that we should be looking for and expecting His return. Since 1798 we have been living in wat the Bible calls "the time of the end".
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."
As we have seen from Matthew 24:29-30, this is none other than the shaking of the powers of heaven when Christ comes the second time. The heavens shall pass away with a great noise and will also be on fire.
In other words, after these signs the next momentous event is the coming of Jesus. It says the heavens are going to split right down the middle.
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;"
There are seven groups of the unsaved mentioned here, denoting all of the lost. Notice there is no respect of persons with God. Position, rank, title, and honour mean absolutely nothing. It will not bring salvation to them. All have slighted salvation.
They wish to be hidden in the dens and the rocks of the mountains. Why?
Revelation 6:16-17 "16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: 17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?"
When all heaven and the saints were interested in their salvation, they were not. When life was offered to them, they were not interested. But now that they know they are going to reap what they have sown, they run to find safety. They have slighted salvation and are lost eternally.
But as the wicked pray to the rocks in utter despair, the prayer of the righteous will be...
By the events that have just been examined, it is impossible to say that the saints will be secretly raptured away. The wicked flee from His presence, thus showing that they too will see Christ come.
Jesus Christ comes back at the end of the 6th seal, and this is the time in which you and I are living, the time in which we can expect the coming of the Lord. Now you may say, well people have been saying that for hundreds of years, and they have, but they have not had the signs that you and I have had. We have seen things that nobody else has seen that without question, undeniably fulfils the Word of God.
The wicked have rejected the call to stand for Christ, but now they cry, "Who shall be able to stand?"
At the opening of the seventh seal there was silence in Heaven for half an hour – why?
This is why there is silence in Heaven; because all have left Heaven with Christ to gather together His children and take them home. What a marvellous day for those awaiting His return.
And so we see that the seven seals have all been fulfilled one after another.
Are we ready for Jesus to come? Who will be able to stand during this momentous time?
Will you? Will I?