The Opening of the Seals

THE OPENING OF THE SEALS

Revelation 6

Here in the 6^th chapter we see the breaking of the 7 seals.

If you remember back in chapter 5 the “One who sat on the throne had a book in His right hand that was sealed with 7 seals…and the only one who was worthy to open the book and its seven seals was the Lamb who was slain…but who is alive.”

Now, here in chapter 6 we see the Lamb breaking 6 of the 7 seals that sealed the book and as He does so we see the beginning of the end of the book.

The rest of the book…gets its beginning right here.

Now, keep in mind that this is a vision and a lot of what is expressed here is expressed in symbols and symbolic language.

Therefore, it is difficult to know exactly what each of these symbols represent.
But, even though it is hard to know exactly what each symbol means…we can still learn the underlying lessons that God intends for us to learn.

CHAPTER 6:

Remember that this book is a book of prophecy and prophecy always warns of a coming judgment….and it always deals with the situation that is going on at the time.

I believe that when these seals are opened God is announcing the certainty of His judgment on the Roman Empire…and indicating to some degree the means in which Rome will fall.

So, look at verse 1.

And I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of thunder, “Come.”

“Come”: this is a theatrical term and it means to “appear on stage.”
It is a summons to begin…a command to “Get out here!”
This “living creature” is calling this rider “to appear.”

2 And I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him; and he went out conquering, and to conquer.

There is nothing in these verses that tells us for sure who these riders are…but the only other mention of a “white horse” in Revelation is found in chapter 19:11 and the rider there is Christ.
So it is a good possibility that that is who this is.

Notice the “white horse”.

That is the color of the horse that a conqueror rode after His victory.

This rider has a crown given to him.

Crown here is the word “stephanos”….it is a crown of victory or the crown of a conqueror.

And He says that He had a bow.

The “bow” was a weapon of antiquity…it allowed the one carrying it to strike from afar.

Several times in the OT we see the bow used metaphorically to show God defeating His enemies, or rescuing His people, or going to war with His enemies. (Ps. 7:12; Hab. 3:8-13, Ps. 45:5).
So the bow symbolically represented God going out to conquer…to defeat His enemies.
And He did that in one of two ways.
Arrows are intended to pierce the hearts of men…so it may be that this conqueror, especially if it is Christ, will conquer some by piercing their hearts with His word.
And those who reject His word will be destroyed as a result of rejecting that word.
Either way, the word will begin to reduce the influence of Rome and help in its destruction.

Then the verse says that this rider goes “out conquering and to conquer.”

His enemies need to beware because He has won and He will win.

All of these symbols combined together are a picture of conquest…perhaps Christ the conqueror defeating the enemies of God…or, in this case, the Roman Empire.

Now verse 3: “And when He broke the second seal, I heard the second living creature say “Come.”

Again, this is a summons to begin…”Get out here!”

“And another, a red horse, went out; and to him who sat on it, it was granted to take peace from the earth, and that men should slay one another; and a great sword was given to him.”

Red carries with it the idea of danger, blood, war!
Notice the word sword.

In the Greek that is the word “machira” and a “machira” was a small, short sword, kind of like a dagger, that was used for in, close fighting.
This rider on a red horse is indicative of war.
War would begin to reduce the power of Rome.

In verse 5 we see a description of economic hardship. Look what He says:

“And when He broke the third seal, I heard the living creature saying, “Come.” And I looked, and behold, a black horse; and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand.

Scales are for weighing and measuring.

“And I heard as it were a voice in the center of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not harm the oil and wine.”

A denarius was considered to be a day’s wages…and here it takes a day’s wages to buy a quart of wheat or three quarts of barley.
This is an indication of the high cost of living.
Economic hardship.

Economic hardship could cause the people to revolt against the authorities and the government…and this too would aid in the decline of the Roman Empire.

And notice, He says: “Do not harm the oil and the wine.”

These were comforts…luxuries…and they were plentiful.
But no one could afford them because of the economic hardship.
The economic hardship would begin to reduce the Roman Empire

7 And when He broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, “Come.” 8 And I looked, and behold, an ashen horse (sickly pale, yellowy green); and he who sat on it had the name Death; and Hades (Hades…the grave. The abode of disembodied spirits. Death slays, Hades reaps) was following with him. And authority was given to them over a fourth (indication that this is not the final judgment) of the earth, to kill with sword (war) and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth.

Many Christians perished when thrown to wild animals.
Christians are not exempt from suffering.
But for the Christian, the sword, famine, pestilence and wild beasts are just 4 ways to go be with Jesus.

9 And when He broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained (faithful unto death. These Christians had died because of their faith); 10 and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, wilt Thou refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”

Their call for retribution was not necessarily for them…they had already been slain.
Their call is for the cause they had died for.

11 And there was given to each of them a white robe(spiritually clean, pure); and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer (the persecution is not over yet), until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, should be completed also.

God is not finished yet with what He is doing.
Others would be slain.
In doing so the Roman Empire’s cup of iniquity would be full…thus resulting in justification for God’s judgment.

12 And I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; 13 and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. 14 And the sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.

This is language of the prophets to paint a picture of judgment and destruction.
You find this similar thing in Joel 1: 15; Joel 2:1-2; Isa. 13: 6-11; Jeremiah 4:23-25; Micah 1: 3-6; Amos 4: 13.
We know this is not the end of time because the last verse asks the question: Who is able to stand…and chapter 7 is going to tell us that.
This language…this kind of terminology is God stating that He is about to shake up the world of the ungodly.
It is coming soon.

15 And the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; 16 and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb;

There will be no place to hide when God comes in judgment.

They will want to run…but no place to run.
No escape.

17 for the great day of their wrath has come; and who is able to stand? ”

This question will be answered in chapter 7.

Chapter 6 speaks of the coming judgment on the Roman Empire.

A couple of things we can learn here: God warns before He does.
He gives people time to repent.

Second: Anybody who touches God’s people touches the apple of His eye…and those people will answer to God for it.

Vengeance is Mine says the Lord.