The First Seal
The White Horse
Verses 1-2: And I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.
The Lamb opened the first seal: The previous chapter explained the scroll and who has the authority to unlock it. Now we see The Lamb, Jesus, opening the first seal. If the scroll details the culmination of history, then the things associated with removing the seals must happen first. This passage is not the fulfillment of history itself but the preparation for it. The actual culmination will be detailed in Rev. 19.
And I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, “Come!”: Each seal was associated with a living creature. One of these living creatures or cherubim (zoa, of Ezekiel 1 & 10) call out and it is so loud John associated it with thunder. “Come,” could be translated “go forth.”
Behold, a white horse: If we were to take interpretive clues from a typical “hero” movie, it would be easy to picture Jesus as the one on this white horse, coming to save us. However, we should get our interpretive clues from the Bible, and in this case, it will not be Jesus on this white horse. He will return on a white horse, but the rider of this one will be a satanic dictator who imitates Jesus. Rev. 19:11-16. Jesus wears many crowns; He will not carry a bow but a sharp sword. This is a prophetic passage, yet to be fulfilled.
The whole context and character of these seals absolutely forbid our thinking of this rider as being the Lord Jesus, as so many affirm. His reign shall not bring war, famine, and strife in its train.
Jennings
A conqueror bent on conquest: Taking this to be the final satanic dictator over men, we see that he will be more terrible than all previous dictators. He will rule as a false messiah, and lead man in organized rebellion against God, in the pattern of Nimrod, his first predecessor. He is the one often called the antichrist.
Nimrod was the ruler over Babel in Gen. 10: 8-14. He was called “a mighty hunter before the Lord.” There is a sense that he was a hunter of men, and God took this as an offense. He was a warrior, not a game hunter. Ginzberg quotes from a Jewish legend: “The great success that attended all of Nimrod’s undertakings produced a sinister effect. Men no longer trusted in God but rather in their prowess and ability, an attitude to which Nimrod tried to convert the whole world.”
Come!: Our political and social scene is certainly set for the emergence of such a political/religious leader. All that waits is for the Lord to take His church from this earth, in His timing. (2 Thess. 2:6-7)
When Jesus opens the first seal, this dictator will come into prominence. The seventieth week of Dan. 9 begins when this dictator will confirm a covenant with the many, referring to the Jewish people. This initial emergence of the antichrist, connected with what we know of this leader of Dan. 9 ( Darius the son of Ahasuerus), shows that these four horsemen of Rev. 6 are associated with Daniel’s seventieth week and the great tribulation.
I love it when I learn how the New Testament is so connected to the Old.
The Second Seal
The Red Horse
Verses 3-4: When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come! Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other. To him was given a large sword.
This rider didn’t bring war and destruction. All he had to do was take peace from the earth. Peace between men and among nations is a gift from God. It is not the natural state of relations between humans. Once God removes His blessing from the earth, war and destruction will quickly follow. The rider was “granted” authority, so this is directly or indirectly the judgment of God.
That people should kill one another: In the world we live in today, there is not a day or night that passes without people killing each other. Think how it will be when God removes His gift of peace completely.
The Third Seal
The Black Horse
Verses 5-6: When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” I looked and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, “A quart of wheat for a day’s wages, and three quarts of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!”
The scales symbolized the need to measure and ration food carefully. These scales speak of a time of great scarcity. The prices paid for wheat and barley are about 12 times higher than usual. It will take a day’s total pay to purchase the ingredients to make a loaf of bread. Life will be reduced down to the barest of necessities. The oil and wine will not be harmed, but only the wealthiest will be able to afford them.
The Fourth Seal
The Pale Horse
Verses 7-8: When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.
This last rider shows that there will be a tremendous death toll from the dictatorship, the wars, famine, and plague described with the first three riders. We see all of these things taking place in our time now (the wars, the famine, and the plague), but what the world has seen is nothing compared to the death toll coming in the wake of this ultimate dictator. Jesus told us this when He was walking the earth. Matt. 24:21: For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.
Again, we read this horseman will be given power. It will be given to him by God. Although all hell is going to break loose on the earth, God is in control. He still holds the scroll, and He is the only one who can open its seals.
Let’s Recap
The first seal brings in the antichrist. And remember, the antichrist won’t come to power until this first seal is open. The second seal brings world war. The third seal brings famine, and the fourth seal brings mass killings by the dictator. Until the antichrist sits in power over the whole world, world war will not happen. Until the antichrist reigns, famine and mass killings (for refusing to worship and bow to the antichrist) will not occur. What we are witnessing in today’s world could be the building up of these things to come. What we see taking place in our time pales in comparison to what is to come.
Christians, if you believe Jesus is God, the Bible is His word, and that God will never make us ashamed for following Him, then you should fear nothing because before any of this happens, He is going to take us home. 1 Thessalonians 4:17-18
The Fifth Seal
The Cry of the Martyrs
Verses 9-11: When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until You judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed.
The idea that these souls were under the altar is drawn from Lev. 4:7; And he shall pour the remaining blood at the base of the altar of the burnt offering. These souls were slain for the Word of God and the testimony which they held. This act of being “under the altar” emphasizes their lifeblood was poured out as an offering to God.
These souls cry out for vengeance. When God’s people are persecuted, He will set it right. It’s not wrong for His people to ask Him to do what He has promised us He will do. In Gen. 4:10, the blood of Abel cried out for vengeance.
They asked and received an answer. They would have to wait until all of God’s appointed martyrs are killed. Because the words “the number of” are supplied by the translators, not the text, it could mean that they wait until the character of the remaining martyrs on earth is perfected and complete. It is character- the way one lives- that makes a martyr, not the way one dies.
The Sixth Seal
Terror
Verses 12-17: And I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake, and the sun became as black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth and the eminent people, and the commanders and the wealthy and the strong, and every slave and free person hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains. They said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the sight of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of Their wrath has come, and who can stand?”
When this seal is opened terrible things are going to happen to our planet like the world has never seen and at the same time the whole world will acknowledge Him who sits on the throne.
There is going to be an earthquake; the Bible says, “a great earthquake.” Science tells us there will be one someday.
Isaiah 12:10, Ezekiel 32:7, Joel 2:10-11, Zephaniah 1:14-16, and Jesus Himself, Matt. 24:29, all described celestial disturbances connected with His coming. Here we’re told the sun will become black and the moon like blood. It’s best to regard these images as accurate, but John didn’t use technically scientific language; he simply described what he saw.
All people (kings, great men, the wealthy, the commanders, the mighty, slave, and free) will equally be brought low by God’s wrath, and they will attempt to hide from His face. It is all more profound because it is the wrath of the Lamb. The wrath of His sacrificial love, having done the absolute most for our salvation, tells us with certainty, evil awaits its doom at the hand of God.
What sinners dread most is not death, but the revealed presence of God.
Swete
The great day of His wrath is coming. Who can stand? Only those who are justified by His grace through faith in Him. Rom. 5:1-2; 1 Cor. 15:1; 1 Pet. 5:12 The believer can stand in the face of this great wrath of God because Jesus already bore the wrath the believer deserved.
A Summary
The first six seals summarize the judgments distributed over the whole book of what will occur in the day of the Lord. It begins with the revelation of the Antichrist (1st seal) and concludes with the revealing of His face (7th seal).
It seems best to say the seals, trumpets, and bowls, described later, are not strictly sequential events and do not necessarily follow a chronological order.
In a sense, the seals represent both; conditions immediately before the end and general conditions happening over an extended period until Christ returns. Dictators, war, famine, death, and persecution have been common throughout history but not to the magnitude, as will be the case, in the Great Tribulation.
The only thing believers need to do to prepare for His coming is to wait. It’s a waste of our time and peace to think we should be prepping for His return. Closets full of guns and ammo will be useless. Pantries full of food and water will go to waste. If there be any use from these things it will be for the unbelievers left behind. Before the first seal is opened believers will be “caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord.” (1 Thess. 4:17)