B. The first six seal judgments ch. 6

 

John received revelation concerning the judgments that would take place on earth after the Lamb opened the seals on the scroll (5:1). God gave him this information to help us understand what will take place in the future. The diagram above places the seal, trumpet, and bowl judgements that begin to unfold here in the context of the earlier revelation concerning Daniel's seventieth week (Dan. 9:24-27).

The failure of scholars to agree on the correlation of events that have happened in church history with these judgments confirms that the events predicted here are still future (cf. 1:19; 4:1). Some interpreters view the seals as describing conditions preparatory to the Tribulation.²⁴⁸Other scholars believe that they picture events that are part of the Tribulation.²⁴⁹I favor the second view. The seals, trumpets, and bowl judgments seem to fit best this last seven-year period of which Daniel prophesied (i.e., the Tribulation, Dan. 9:27).

The order of events predicted in Revelation 6 is very similar to the order Jesus predicted in the Olivet Discourse. That passage is key to understanding the further revelation that God gave John about this future time. These events are the appearance of antichrists, war, famine, death, martyrdom, and earthly and heavenly phenomena. Later in the Olivet Discourse Jesus mentioned an event that occurs at the middle of Daniel's seventieth week, namely, the abomination of desolation (Dan. 9:27; Matt. 24:15; Mark 13:14). Consequently the events that He described before the midpoint, namely, those of the first six seals, will probably occur in the first half of the Tribulation. Jesus referred to this three and one-half year period as the "beginning of birth-pangs"(Matt. 24:8; Mark 13:8).

The "beginning of birth-pangs"(Matt. 24:8; Mark 13:8)

The first half of the Tribulation

Matt. 24:4-5

Mark 13:6

Luke 21:8

Antichrists

Rev. 6:1-2

First seal

Matt. 24:6-7

Mark 13:7-8

Luke 21:9-10

War

Rev. 6:3-4

Second seal

Matt. 24:7

Mark 13:8

Luke 21:11

Famine

Rev. 6:5-6

Third seal

Matt. 24:9

Mark 13:12

Luke 21:16

Death

Rev. 6:7-8

Fourth seal

Matt. 24:9-13

Mark 13:9-13

Luke 21:12-19

Martyrdom

Rev. 6:9-11

Fifth seal

Luke 21:11

Earthly & heavenly phenomena

Rev. 6:12-17

Sixth seal

The "abomination of desolation"(Matt. 24:15; Mark 13:14)

The middle of the Tribulation

 1. The first seal 6:1-2

6:1 "I saw"marks the continuation of what John had seen that chapters 4 and 5 record, but also the commencement of revelation concerning future events on earth. Chapters 1-5 have introduced this revelation. John was an eyewitness of this revelation that came to him as action scenes in a film rather than as words from the pages of a book.

When the Lamb broke the first of the seven seals on the scroll that He had taken from God, one of the four creatures invited someone to "Come."This was probably an invitation to the first horseman rather than to John or to Christ. The angel gave this command (Gr. imperative) four times (vv. 1, 3, 5, 7), and each time a horseman on a horse came forth.

6:2 John saw a horse, which was a war machine in his day (cf. Job 39:19-25; Ps. 76:5-6; Prov. 21:31), and its rider (cf. Zech. 1:7-11; 6:2-3; Jer. 14:12; 24:10; 42:17). The horse was white symbolizing righteousness and holiness. It gave an appearance of purity, but that does not necessarily mean the rider was righteous.

"When men wage war they always pretend to be fighting for righteousness."²⁵⁰

The first four seal judgments involve riders riding horses of various colors. This imagery recalls Zechariah 1:8 and 6:1-8. However the horses and horsemen in Revelation evidently represent something different from those in Zechariah as comparison of these texts suggests.

The rider carried a bow (cf. Zech. 9:13-14) symbolizing victory, but no arrows. The absence of arrows probably indicates a bloodless victory. The rider threatens war (cf. Num. 24:8; Ps. 45:5; Zech. 9:14), but it never occurs, probably because he accomplishes victory through peaceful means. Someone, evidently God, gave him an imperial crown (Gr. stephanos) anticipating an authoritative career (cf. 9:1, 3, 5; 13:5, 7, 14, 15). The sovereign God is the only one who can give human rulers authority to rule (cf. Rom. 13:1).

"All events in the apocalyptic section of the book are initiated from the throne described in chapter 4 . . ., and must be understood in that light. Though indirect, all that transpires under the seals is in implementation of the book of doom' through the agency of the Lamb introduced in chapter 5."²⁵¹

This rider rode out conquering his enemies and bent on future conquests.

There have been many suggestions concerning who or what this rider represents. These include a Roman emperor, the Parthian invasion of the Roman Empire, Messiah, and the Antichrist. Others have taken him to represent the Word of God, a personification of judgment, the victorious course of the gospel, warfare in general, triumphant militarism, or the personification of ungodly movements. In the Olivet Discourse Jesus predicted that a number of individuals will mislead many people (cf. Matt. 24:5, 24; Mark 13:6; Luke 21:8). This has led some interpreters to conclude that a personification of ungodly activity is what the rider represents in this verse.²⁵²The most probable view is that this is a prophecy of Antichrist who will make a covenant with Israel but only as a pretense for destroying the Jews (cf. Dan. 9:27; 1 Thess. 5:3).²⁵³

 2. The second seal 6:3-4

6:3 When the Lamb broke the second seal on the scroll, John heard the second living creature order the second horseman forward.

6:4 The red horse probably symbolizes bloodshed and war. The rider of this horse removes peace from the earth and begins war. There do not seem to me to be sufficient similarities between this red horse rider and the one in Zechariah 1:7 to identify them as the same individual. The one in Zechariah is probably the Angel of the Lord.²⁵⁴

If we observe the Olivet Discourse parallelism, the time when peace ends is probably before the middle of the Tribulation (cf. Matt. 24:6-7a; Mark 13:7-8a; Luke 21:9-10). This is, therefore, not a reference to the termination of peace with Israel that Antichrist will affect, which will signal the middle of the Tribulation and the beginning of the Great Tribulation (cf. Matt. 24:15).

The large sword (Gr. machaira megale) represents authority to slay people. War on the earth will follow the manifestation of Antichrist. The warfare in view here seems to be what Ezekiel described in Ezekiel 38 and 39 as the battle of Gog and Magog.²⁵⁵

 3. The third seal 6:5-6

6:5 A black horse followed symbolizing the ravage of war, namely, famine. Antichrist, the cause of this famine, seems to be the rider (cf. Matt. 24:7b). He carries a pair of balance scales, a symbol of commerce, indicating his control of commodity prices.

6:6 The voice in the middle of the four living creatures must belong to God or the Lamb, probably God the Father since He is the source of all these judgments (cf. v. 11). The price of wheat (good food) and barley (cheap cattle food) will be very high. A quart of wheat would provide one meal, but it would cost a whole day's wages. In John's day a denarius would purchase 12 to 15 times as much food. The poor would have little money left over for oil, for fuel and health needs, and for wine to drink (cf. Ezek. 4:16-17). "Do not harm"means, "Do not tamper with"reflecting the strict control over prices that ungodly rulers under Antichrist's leadership will have at this time.

The causes of the famine were not extremely severe since they killed the wheat and barley but not the vines and olive trees (v. 6) whose roots go deeper.²⁵⁶As the Tribulation grows worse, the rich as well as the poor will suffer, but at this early stage the poor will suffer more than the rich. Probably the wars that the ungodly rulers under Antichrist's leadership begin will reduce the food supply greatly. These rulers will control it strictly with consequent suffering for many people (cf. Luke 21:11).

 4. The fourth seal 6:7-8

6:7 The Lamb broke the fourth seal, and the fourth living creature called the fourth horseman out.

6:8 John next saw an ashen (lit. pale green) horse the color of a human corpse. Presumably Antichrist, the cause of this death, is the rider since his name is "Death."²⁵⁷"Hades,"which claims unbelieving people's immaterial part at death, followed on his heels.²⁵⁸Perhaps John saw Hades following Death as a man on foot follows a mounted warrior grimly gathering in his victims, or as a hearse follows a horse.

God gave these enemies authority to take one-fourth of the world's population. This evidently is the total number that will die as a result of all the catastrophes predicted so far. These catastrophes are war, the resulting famine, and disease. Attacks by wild animals will also contribute to the death rate (cf. Jer. 15:2-3; 24:10; 29:17-18; Ezek. 5:12, 17; 14:21). Presently the world's population is about five billion people. These initial calamities would reduce that number by one and one-half billion. It seems that nuclear war could play some role in this devastation since so many people will die in these judgments.

 5. The fifth seal 6:9-11

What happened next evidently took place in heaven.

6:9 The altar John saw was evidently in heaven (cf. 8:3, 5; 14:18). Earlier John had seen a throneroom in heaven (chs. 4-5), but now he saw a temple. Probably the concepts of palace and temple communicate aspects of God's magnificent dwelling-place in heaven (cf. Ps. 11:4; 18:6; 29:9-10; Isa. 6:1: Hab. 2:20). This altar was evidently an altar of sacrifice rather than an incense altar (cf. 5:8; 8:3-5; 14:17-18). Under this altar were the souls (Gr. psyche, lives) of people who had died for their faith in God and their faithfulness to Him during the period just described (vv. 3-8; i.e., in the Tribulation so far). Perhaps the idea is that the lives of these martyrs were sacrifices to God (cf. Phil. 2:17; 2 Tim. 4:6). The "and"(Gr. kai) is again probably ascensive (cf. 1:2, 9) meaning the word of God "even"the testimony they maintained.

These people must be those who died after the Rapture since all Christians living at the time of the Rapture will experience bodily resurrection and go directly into Jesus Christ's presence then (1 Thess. 4:16-17). Consequently the people John described in this verse are evidently those who come to faith in Christ after the Rapture (cf. Matt. 24:9; Luke 21:11). They became believers during the first half of the Tribulation and then suffered martyrdom for their faith. John did not see their resurrected bodies because God had not resurrected them yet. The resurrection of Tribulation saints will not occur until the end of that seven-year period (cf. 20:4).

6:10 John saw these martyrs calling out to their heavenly Master (Gr. despotes) to punish their murderers.²⁵⁹"Master"implies divine might, majesty, power, and authority, and it stresses the absolute power of God.²⁶⁰How much longer did they have to wait for God to avenge them (cf. Ps. 79:10; 94:3; Hab. 1:2)? "Holy and true"were attributes of Christ earlier (3:7), but here the Father is probably in view since He is the source of the judgments. "Those who dwell on the earth"is almost a technical expression in Revelation describing unbelievers who are hostile to God (cf. 3:10; 8:13; 11:10; 13:8, 12; 17:2, 8).

"Their prayers for revenge upon their enemies are viewed as the fifth judgment against the earth-dwellers."²⁶¹

6:11 Each martyr received a long white robe (Gr. stole). They had been faithful and had suffered martyrdom for their fidelity to Christ (cf. 3:5; 7:9, 14). God told these martyrs to be patient. More people would experience martyrdom before it would be God's time for Jesus Christ to return to the earth and judge their living adversaries.

 6. The sixth seal 6:12-17 

The scene now shifts back to earth.

"The entire passage in every clause utilizes well known prophetic anticipations of the day of the Lord, and by his use of these images John identifies the day for his readers. One may check this by consulting the chief scriptures John employs, notably Joel 2:10, 30f., Isaiah 13:9ff., 2:10ff., 34:4, Ezekiel 32:7f., Hosea 10:8. These passages depict the concomitants of the day of the Lord and supply John with all his pictures."²⁶²

6:12-13 Next God will send a tremendous earthquake that will rock the whole world (cf. Luke 21:11). The darkening of the sun (cf. Isa. 13:10; Ezek. 32:7-8; Joel 2:10, 31; Amos 8:9; Matt. 24:29; Mark 13:24-25; Luke 21:25), the reddening of the moon (cf. Joel 2:31; Acts 2:20), and the falling of the stars to earth (a meteor-like shower?) appear from the context to be consequences of this judgment.²⁶³A less likely possibility is that they will be unrelated phenomena.

Many commentators have taken this description as picturing a metaphorical convulsion among the nations, not a literal shaking of the earth and the heavens. We should probably take them literally for at least two reasons. First, Jesus used the same language in the Olivet Discourse and gave no indication that it was symbolic (cf. Matt. 24:7; Mark 13:8; Luke 21:11). Second, a shaking of the nations follows in verses 15-17.

6:14 Evidently the sky will appear to split and roll back in two opposite directions (cf. Isa. 34:4).²⁶⁴The universe will seem to be coming apart. Apparently the opening of the sky will give earth-dwellers a glimpse into the throneroom of heaven (v. 16). Probably the earthquake (v. 12) will cause mountains and islands to rise and fall (cf. Nah. 1:6).

6:15-16 The reaction of every category of humanity all over the world is amazing. It indicates that people's perception of God and the Lamb in heaven will be far more terrifying to them than the physical consequences of this judgment. Whereas the martyrs cry, "Avenge us"(v. 10), these unbelievers cry, "Hide us."

"What sinners dread most is not death, but having to stand before a holy and righteous God."²⁶⁵

Literal interpretation does not rule out the use of hyperbole, which appears at this point. If all the mountains moved out of their places, there would be no places for people to seek to hide.

6:17 This "great day of their wrath"is the Tribulation, Daniel's seventieth week (cf. Jer. 30:7; Dan. 12:1; Joel 2:2; Matt. 24:21). These people will not turn to God in repentance but from Him in terror (cf. Isa. 2:19, 21; Hos. 10:8; Luke 23:30). By the end of the sixth seal judgment, they will know that what they are experiencing is the outpouring of His wrath. This is the first part of the judgment phase of the day of the Lord (cf. Joel 2:11, 30-31; Isa. 2:10-11, 19-21; 13:8-13; 26:17-19; 34:4, 8; 66:7-9; Jer. 30:6-8; Ezek. 32:7-8; Hos. 10:8; Mic. 4:9-10; Matt. 24:8; 1 Thess. 5:3).²⁶⁶

Note that the Tribulation will be a distinct judgment of God unique from other times of distress that the earth has ever experienced (Jer. 30:7). It will be worldwide and severe. Furthermore everyone will not only know that it is a divine judgment, but they will act like it by seeking death to hide from God, not just from these calamities. The judgments of the sixth seal appear to be a foreshadowing of the similar but even greater judgments that will come at the end of the Tribulation, just before Jesus Christ returns to the earth (cf. 16:17-21; Matt. 24:21).

"The cosmic disturbances immediately before the beginning of the Joel 3 Day of the Lord and the Second Coming of Christ immediately after the Great Tribulation are not the same as those of the sixth seal. The cosmic disturbances immediately before the beginning of the Joel 3 Day of the Lord and the Second Coming of Christ will occur at the end of the 70th week, but those of the sixth seal will occur and end considerably before then."²⁶⁷

Postmillennialists²⁶⁸and amillennialists²⁶⁹interpret the revelation of tribulation in chapters 6-18 as a symbolic description of various troubles that have come and will come on believers before Jesus Christ's second coming. They do not believe the Tribulation will be a specific seven-year period of the unique outpouring of God's wrath yet future.

Posttribulationists believe the church will be on earth during the Tribulation. Gundry, a posttribulationist, held that sufferings Christians experience during the Tribulation will not come as a result of God's penal judgments but will be persecutions that arise "from other quarters."²⁷⁰He viewed the martyrs of this period as Christians rather than as tribulation saints.

Marvin Rosenthal argued, correctly I believe, that the first four seals describe what Jesus called "the beginning of sorrows"(Matt. 24:8).²⁷¹He equated this period with the first half of Daniel's seventieth week (i.e., three and one-half years, or 42 months). However, he wrote, incorrectly I believe, that the fifth and sixth seals picture "the Great Tribulation"(Matt. 24:21), which he limited to the following 21 months, not the whole second half of Daniel's seventieth week. He further argued, also incorrectly, that the seventh seal begins "the day of the Lord"(Joel 2:1-2), which will only be the final quarter of Daniel's seventieth week, namely, the remaining 21 months. He placed the Rapture at the beginning of the day of the Lord, which he believed would be the only period of wrath poured out. Thus since the Rapture will occur before it, according to his scheme, we can expect a "Pre-wrath Rapture."²⁷²