Revelation 6 - The Seal
Judgments
"The opening of the Seals of Revelation causes pictures to leap full blown from the
pages of the scroll", from Approaching Hoofbeats, by Billy Graham; Graham also
believes that God can delay the advent of the 4 Horsemen for a time due to the prayers
of the saints but they eventually will come. . .
V 1-2. "Now I saw when the Lamb open one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say, as with a voice of thunder, 'Come!' And I saw, and behold, a white horse, and its rider had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer."
Who is he? His crown is called ‘stephanos’ in the Greek, which is the crown of victory worn by conquerors; Christ’s crowns are called ‘diadema’, which implies royalty; he is carrying in his hand a bow, a sign of dominance and power used by Roman conquerors in the victory ride through a city just taken; Graham believes he is “a conqueror bent on conquest, greedily riding roughshod over all who stand in his way in his lust for power. [p 77-78, Graham, Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse]
Who does the White Rider conquer?
As we have found again and again, our understanding of the New Testament is greatly enhanced when we use the parallel scriptures of the old testament to enhance our understanding and to open our ears to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. To get some more information, let's read Zechariah 6:1-8: Then I turned and raised my eyes and looked, and behold, four chariots were coming from between two mountains, and the mountains were mountains of bronze. With the first chariot were red horses, with the second chariot black horses, with the third chariot white horses, and with the fourth chariot dappled horses--strong steeds. Then I answered and said to the angel who talked with me, 'What are these, my lord?'. And the angel answered and said to me, 'These are four spirits of heaven, who go out from their station before the Lord of all the earth. The one with the black horses is going to the north country, the white are going after them, and the dappled are going toward the south country.' Then the strong steed went out, eager to go, that they might walk to and fro throughout the earth. And He said, 'Go, walk to and fro throughout the earth.' So they walked to and fro throughout the earth. And He called to me, and spoke to me saying, ' See, those who go toward the north country have given rest My Spirit in the north country."
Zechariah has been having a conversation with an angel who has shown him many things concerning the last days We know this is about the last because Zechariah 2 speaks of the many nations that will be joined to the Lord in that day. The visions and conversations with the angel continue, until we reach Chapter 6. Here the angel is showing Zechariah the release of four horsemen with chariots, coming from between mountains of brass or bronze, depending on your translation. Brass or bronze usually speak of judgment, and the four horsemen remind us of Revelation 6, the seal judgments. We see the same four colors of horses released bearing judgment, but this passage tells us where they go in the earth. Zech 6:6 tells us the white horses go to the north, following after the black horses. Some translations say the white horses go to the west, but the original Hebrew only indicates following after the black horses which go to the north [Strong's Concordance]. Our western mind will again try to make the order of Revelation 6 match the order of Zech 6, but God's Spirit will not be so constrained. Directions, however, are always in reference to Israel, and Turkey, the Russian steppes, northern Russia and Europe have always been considered north and west of Israel; since we are the ‘isles of the west’, we may also be included. The conquering white horse therefore is active primarily to the north of Israel, which most likely includes Russia, Turkey, and Europe, with possible inclusion of North America, since we are in the Northern hemisphere.
The Rider who deceives from outside [Graham, Approaching Hoofbeats, p 83]
Graham also sees this rider as representing the false christs and messiahs, who will continue to come until antichrist comes; they imitate Jesus Christ who offers peace; the false christs offer false peace through deception; they also offer false religions, including satanism.
The Rider who deceives from within [the Church] [Graham, Approaching Hoofbeats, p 107]
Worse even than the false prophets such as Matreiya, who does not deceive Christians, are the false prophets within the church who will perform great signs and wonders, false teachers within the Church [see also 2 Peter 2:1-3].
1 Tim 4:1-2 – "Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by giving heed to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, through the pretensions of liars whose consciences are seared".
2Tim 4:3 Men will not put up with sound doctrine – “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away [their] ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”
Christians are vulnerable, so we must be prepared to recognize the truth instead of allowing ourselves to be deceived. How do we do this? By studying God's Word to show ourselves approved – NOT BY ACCEPTING WHAT OTHER MEN TELL US! For example, have you dealt with a blind man who can tell by feeling the money you give him whether it is good or counterfeit? Does he learn this by studying counterfeit money? Do bank tellers? NO! They study the real thing, so that when a counterfeit is passed, they immediately recognize it as such. This is what God requires of you.
Graham goes on to tell us that the vulnerability of Christians comes from:
- The deceiver
- The authority figures who use authority wrongly
- Finances – the deceivers have a lot of money [to advertise with]
- Time – we are too busy to discern what is really happening
- Relationships – false leaders separate us from our families
The white Horse stands for pretenders who come looking like Christ but are in fact antichrists or opposite Christ in every way but appearance. [Graham, Approaching Hoofbeats, p 120]
The Red Horse and Rider
V 3-4. “When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, 'Come!' And out came another horse, bright red; its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that men should slay one another; and he was given a great sword.”
Who is the Red Rider? The Rider who makes War! “ . . . that men should slay one another . . . “ Rev 6:4 – today we have over 60,000 nuclear bombs – think what would happen if we used them; dozens of 'dirty bombs' are reported missing from former Soviet weapons-storage facilities - at least 38 of them, and it is believed Al Qaeda has 20 suitcase bombs [Whistleblower, WorldNetDaily.com, Feb 2004, p 35, 38]. “And unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved, but for the sake of the elect, those days shall be cut short.” Matt 24:22; Yeshua [Jesus] was referring to war and total annihilation; the judgments of God may well be the result of a nuclear war. [Graham, Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, p 127]
Added to the nuclear threat, we now have chemical and biological weapons; we now have so many ways to utterly destroy ourselves it is just a matter of time until someone comes along who is willing to use that power to gain control of the world. Or we may become so fearful that someone will, that we willingly hand over our freedom in return for supposed 'safety'.
Israel, the Palestinians and the Arab nations, Bosnia, Mogadishu, Taiwan and China, India and Pakistan, Ireland and England, nation against nation, race against race, The Red Horse and Rider are already galloping across our continents.
Where does the Red Rider go? Zech 6:7: Then the strong steed went out, eager to go, that they might walk to and fro throughout the earth. And He said, 'Go, walk to and fro throughout the earth.' So they walked to and fro throughout the earth. A close examination of this verse shows that the 'strong steed' can also be interpreted as the bay, or the grizzled horse. I believe this is the red horse, and he goes to and fro all over the earth - the war is global, which is certainly what we are all expecting come Armageddon, and its prelude.
The Black Horse and Rider
V. 5-6: When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” And I saw, and behold, a black horse, and its rider had a balance in his hand; and I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; but do not harm oil and wine!”
Who is the Black Rider? The Rider who Brings Hunger. Massive hunger and starvation are coming as part of this Horseman’s ride across the earth; “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not harm the oil and the wine.” Rev. 6:6
A denarius was a day’s pay for a laborer, and could normally buy 16 quarts of wheat; during this famine, the day’s pay would buy only one quart of wheat, or 6% of a normal day’s pay. Barley was a cheaper grain and you could buy three times as much of it but the nourishment value is about 1/3 of wheat. Either a quart of wheat or 3 quarts of barley would feed one person for one day; therefore a man’s wages for the day would not feed both him and his family.
Famine will coexist with Luxury – the oil and wine are the marks of luxury, while wheat and barley are considered the basic staff of life; during the end times, it will be like the days of Noah, eating, drinking, making merry until the day of the Lord comes; some parts of the earth will be suffering great famine, while other parts will not see it, and life will go on as before. [See Matt 24:37-8.] This is not unlike what we see today, where people are starving to death all over the world while we supersize everything.
“He will break the ‘staff of bread’ and they will eat and not be satisfied.” The Revelation of John, Volume 2, p. 11-12; [p 161, Graham, Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse]; the American people eat and are not satisfied – is the staff of bread already broken? We have known since 1935 that the rich vitamins and minerals previously found in our soil are depleted. If they are not in the soil, they are not in our food. We eat, we grow fat, and we suffer from malnutrition.
Where does the Black Rider go?
Zech 6:6: “The chariot with . . . the black horses goes toward the north country, . . Behold, those who go toward the north country have set my Spirit at rest in the north country.” Zechariah tells us he goes to the north country [northern hemisphere], and that the resulting famine satisfies the Lord’s wrath, so that the judgments will be less severe in the north than they are elsewhere in the world. Since we are in the northern hemisphere, it can therefore be assumed that the judgments will be less harsh here than in the southern hemisphere [primarily Africa, but also Australia and South America]; however, it is possible this may only be in reference to Russia, since Russia is north of Israel. Israel is the center of the maelstrom, and our distance from them may also provide some relief.
Addendum to the Black Horse and Rider: Prophecy to the Rich
James 5:1: "Look here, you rich people, weep and groan with anguish because of all the terrible troubles ahead of you. Your wealth is rotting away, and your fine clothes are moth-eaten rags, Your gold and silver have become worthless. The very wealth you were counting on will eat away your flesh in hell. This treasure you have accumulated will stand as evidence against you on the day of judgment. For listen! Hear the cries of the field workers whom you have cheated of their pay. The wages you held back cry out against you. The cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have spent your years on earth in luxury, satisfying your every whim. Now your hearts are nice and fat, ready for the slaughter. You have condemned and killed good people who had no power to defend themselves against you." Is the Lord speaking to us? We are the richest people in the entire history of the earth.
Those who continue to make merry while the earth is perishing around them will have a special punishment waiting for them. During these times it is better to give away what you cannot keep in exchange for treasures you cannot lose.
The Pale Horse and Rider
V. 7-8: "When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” And I saw, and behold, a pale horse, and its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed him; and they were given power over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth."
Who is the Pale Rider?
The Rider who brings Death. “ . . .and he who sat on it had the name Death, and Hades was following with him;" The Greek word describing the Pale horse is “chloros” meaning yellowish green – the same root word as chlorine, and it’s sickly yellow green color; similar to the color of sickly grass. This color is also sometimes interpreted as the color of ashes, the Ashen Horse. [p 161, Graham, Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse].
The fourth Horseman is given power over ¼ of the earth, to kill with the sword, with famine, pestilence, and wild beasts.
Ezekiel 14:21 names the same four killers. "For thus says the Lord God: 'How much more it shall be when I send My four severe judgments on Jerusalem - the sword and famine and wild beasts and pestilence - to cut off man and beast from it? Yet behold, there shall be left in it a remnant who will be brought out, both sons and daughters; surely they will come out to you, and you will see their ways and their doings. Then you will be comforted concerning the disaster that I have brought upon Jerusalem, all that I have brought upon it." Again, Israel is the center of all that is happening, both in the Old Testament prophecies and in the Book of Revelation.
Where does The Pale Rider go?
Zech 6:6: “and the dappled ones go toward the south country.”
Zechariah
tells us he goes to the south [of Israel]; the southern hemisphere of the world
[primarily Africa] will bear the brunt of the judgments; in light of what we
know now, could this be chemical warfare? Or is it just the multiplication of
Ebola and the other horrors which have already begun to decimate that
continent? At any rate, sword, famine, pestilence and wild beasts kill 25% of
the world’s population, or over one and a half billion people.
There is a progression to the 4 horsemen: deception leads to war, war to famine, famine to pestilence and death. The Pale Rider uses all the same weapons as the first three Riders, but also brings death and hell with him. Where each of the previous Riders used one weapon independent of the others, this Rider uses them all in the same places, grossly multiplying the horrors of any single weapon. Worse yet, he also brings plagues and wild beasts. If the world is ravaged by war, we can expect famine to be the result. As famine takes hold all over the earth, people will become sicker, and less resistance to plagues. With jet aircraft traveling the world, the plagues will reach every continent. Since the famine will also affect wildlife, they will also seek out the weak, and wild beast will hungrily roam where mankind used to walk fearlessly. The wild beasts are attracted to all the bodies, and then attack the living as well as the dead.
And who can stand through these plagues???
Ezek 14:12-23: "The word of the Lord came again to me, saying: “'Son of man, when a land sins against Me by persistent unfaithfulness, I will stretch out My hand against it; I will cut off its supply of bread, send famine on it, and cut off man and beast from it. Even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver only themselves by their righteousness,' says the Lord God.
'If I cause wild beasts to pass through the land, and they empty it, and make it so desolate that no man may pass through because of the beasts, even though these three men were in it, as I live,' says the Lord God, 'they would deliver neither sons nor daughters; only they would be delivered, and the land would be desolate.
Or if I bring a sword on that land, and say, ‘Sword, go through the land,’ and I cut off man and beast from it, even though these three men were in it, as I live,' says the Lord God, 'they would deliver neither sons nor daughters, but only they themselves would be delivered.
Or if I send a pestilence into that land and pour out My fury on it in blood, and cut off from it man and beast, even though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live,' says the Lord God, 'they would deliver neither son nor daughter; they would deliver only themselves by their righteousness.'
For thus says the Lord God: “'How much more it shall be when I send My four severe judgments on Jerusalem—the sword and famine and wild beasts and pestilence—to cut off man and beast from it?
Yet behold, there shall be left in it a remnant who will be brought out, both sons and daughters; surely they will come out to you, and you will see their ways and their doings. Then you will be comforted concerning the disaster that I have brought upon Jerusalem, all that I have brought upon it. And they will comfort you, when you see their ways and their doings; and you shall know that I have done nothing without cause that I have done in it,' says the Lord God.
This is a description of the fourth seal: And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth – Rev 6:6
Noah survived the judgment of God; Daniel survived the judgment of the king in the lion’s den; Job survived the judgment at the hands of satan. These are the three types of judgments, and yet these great heroes would not be righteous enough to deliver anyone other than themselves. Yet some are delivered and can deliver others!!! Who are these righteous ones? This will be important for us to know - so keep reading . . .
Observation: The first four seals are grouped under the symbol of the 4 horsemen of the Apocalypse. They are judgments grouped together in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. They begin relatively close together in time, and occur on earth at the same time. They are localized in nature, [over large continental areas] but are not global in nature, except for war. The four horsemen affect various continents more or less severely, depending on direction and distance from Israel. However, the 5th and 6th seals are global in nature. The 5th seal is a phenomena that occurs throughout the Great Tribulation, and the 6th seal occurs at the very end – the wrath of God, on the great and terrible Day of the Lord.
The 5th Seal – the Slain Saints under the Altar
V. 9-11: “ When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne; they cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before thou wilt judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell upon the earth?” Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.”
The Altar of Incense is part of the Tabernacle of God, or Temple, which is a picture of the actual Throne of God in heaven, where sits the Ancient of Days [see Ex 40:5]. Pictured here are the martyrs, standing at the very Throne of God, offering prayers, and asking how long until their deaths are avenged. They are given white robes, and are told that they must wait patiently until the number of martyrs specified by God is fulfilled. Although the visual scene is in heaven, the effect of the 5th Seal is on earth, where the living Saints are given into the hand of the antichrist and his world system, but they overcome through their deaths. Remember that our battle is spiritual, and loss of the battle comes from giving in. Winning the battle, ultimate VICTORY, comes when we are willing to give our very lives for the Lord who gave His life to redeem us. We see later in Chapter 7 that there are uncounted billions of Christians who die during the Great Tribulation, so that in addition to the slaughter wrought by the Rider on the Red Horse and the Pale horse, untold myriads of saints are being persecuted and killed as a testimony of the 5th Seal.
How does this fit with the great falling away of the church? Many current occupants of the seats of churches, who are Christians in name only, will not be willing to give their lives, and will submit to antichrist. Obviously, if he is a type of Christ, a false christ, those who follow him will consider themselves Christians, but will not be. They will be the cold ones who fall away. However, many new converts and those who won’t compromise with either the “religious Christians” or with those who compromise with the world, will be martyred for taking their stand.
What can we say about the martyrs?
Hebrews 11:35: Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection:
Our reward will come with Yeshua. Which is better? To hang onto suffering through 3.5 terrible years or to die a witness bringing millions behind you and receive incredible rewards for eternity? The Lord may ask you this question, so be prepared to answer it.
The 6th Seal – the Great Earthquake
V. 12-17: "When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale; the sky vanished like a scroll that is rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place."
"Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the generals and the rich and the strong, and every one, slave and free, hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, 'Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand before it?' ” ***
*** This is the Question of the Millenium!
When did Jesus say in Matt 24 that the “the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of heaven will be shaken.” ?? He said “Immediately after the tribulation of those days”. Since he is the Author and Finisher of all things, he has the authority to declare when these things will occur.
The 6th Seal earthquake is so great that even the unsaved recognize that these events are the wrath of the Lamb, and that the Day of the Lord and his wrath have come. This tells when this seal occurs on earth - on the Last Day - the Day of the Lord's wrath. Every mountain and island are affected so the magnitude must be greater than any earthquake previously known, with worldwide impact. Signs are visible in the heavens, causing fear and consternation on earth. This is the prelude to the 7th Seal. Note: Scripture itself identifies this in v.17 as the Day of the Lord's Wrath; the world recognizes this as the Day of the Lord's Wrath, and the wrath of the Lamb of God, but Christian teachers place this event in the early part of the tribulation. How can we be so blind?
Rev 8:1: When the Lamb broke the seventh seal, there was silence throughout heaven for about half an hour.
The seventh seal occurs after the interlude of Chapter 7. That it is physically separated from the rest of the seals indicates something unusual about it. There is silence in heaven. What have we heard in all other descriptions of heaven? Praises and songs and unending glory, regardless of the judgments falling on earth. Why then is the seventh seal met with silence?
I have only heard one good explanation for this. Reverend Monte Judah [Lion and Lamb Ministries, www.lionlamb.net] believes silence results because no one is there – they all go to the wedding supper of the Lamb – the final seal authorizes the transfer of the Kingdom to the Son. We will see this later at the seventh Trumpet.
Note: the seals give an indication of the breadth of the judgments that will be poured out on the earth during the Great Tribulation. These are categories of judgment, they overlap one another, and are not time sequenced relative to other chapters in Revelation. Remember that this is the ‘public reading’ of the will, and implementation will take time.
The next chapters begin to spell out details of how and why the seals can impact so much of the earth’s population.
What should you do if you find out you are suffering Tribulation? Bringing Forth New Wine
But first, the Chapter 7 Interlude . . .
