Welcome. Today we’re going to be looking at the Book of Revelation and the seven seals that are presented in chapter six. We are going to be comparing the seals to our world today, and will be taking into consideration past events that may have correlated to the events described.

Before we begin, let me say that I do not believe the events in the Book of Revelation have taken place. I will share with you the information that some have put forth as an explanation for the Book of Revelation, but I personally believe that the End as described is literally the End, and not some Roman persecution that John heard about or experienced.

I think the Book of Revelation is concerned with the true end of the age, and deals in global events that have yet to have happened. In fact, it is only recently that the technology exists for all the predictions in the Book of Revelation to even come to pass. But, in the interest of fairness, I will present this other side as well.

The Book of Revelation can be interpreted many more ways other than the ones I present here, so your mileage may vary. If you have a differing view from anything I present, feel free to shoot me an email and let me know.

As we get started, we’re going to see that our first four seals bring forth the most famous quartet in the entire Bible: the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. But before that, we need to see where this is all coming from.

(Rev 5:1) And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals. The book is being held by God Himself, but John is able to see it clearly, close enough that he is able to discern the way the book is written (both inside, and on the back) and that it is sealed.

(Rev 5:2) And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof? (Rev 5:3) And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon. Apparently a powerful angel is sent forth to find someone to open the seals on the book.

The contents of the book must be very important because John is quite upset when no one is able to open the book. (Rev 5:4) And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon. One theory I have heard put forth is the idea that the revelation of God is in the book, starting with what comes after the seventh scroll onwards. This would make it quite important indeed.

(Rev 5:5) And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof. Jesus is found worthy and is able to open the seals and make the contents of the book known. So we know who is going to be handling the book and opening the seals. Great praise is given to Jesus the rest of chapter 5, as is His due, for sure.

As the first four seals are opened, each of the four beasts that are present in Heaven around the throne command John to ‘come and see’. When they do so, it summons forth one of the horsemen. As this tells us, the horsemen cannot ride on their own but they must wait for the Lamb Jesus Christ to open their seal. This tells us that everything happens on God’s time, by His will, and not by the will of the Devil or of any man. God is in control of how and when things happen.

(Rev 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. (Rev 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.

There are three different main interpretations as to who this horseman might be. First let’s look at the historical figure as presented by John Wesley’s Notes on the Bible. Nerva succeeded the emperor Domitian at the very time when the Revelation was written, in the year of our Lord 96. He reigned scarce a year alone; and three months before his death he named Trajan for his colleague and successor, and died in the year 98. Trajan’s accession to the empire seems to be the dawning of the seven seals. And a crown was given him - This, considering his descent, Trajan could have no hope of attaining. But God gave it him by the hand of Nerva; and then the east soon felt his power. And he went forth conquering and to conquer - That is, from one victory to another. In the year 108 the already victorious Trajan went forth toward the east, to conquer not only Armenia, Assyria, and Mesopotamia, but also the countries beyond the Tigris, carrying the bounds of the Roman empire to a far greater extent than ever. We find no emperor like him for making conquests. He aimed at nothing else; he lived only to conquer. Meantime, in him was eminently fulfilled what had been prophesied of the fourth empire, Dan_2:40, Dan_7:23, that he should “devour, tread down, and break in pieces the whole earth.”

Other regional powers like the mounted archers of the Parthians have been considered to explain this horseman as well. The basic gist of the historical view is that the white horse and rider represents a military power that John saw as a threat to the early Christians in some form or another.

The next view is that Jesus Christ Himself is the rider of the white horse, similar to what we see in chapter 19 of the Book of Revelation. White is seen here as a sign of purity and holiness, attributes that belong to the Lord. Christ is also seen wearing a crown as well, both in chapter 19 along with chapter 14.

The final view is quite plainly that the horseman is the Son of Perdition, the Antichrist. I think this is the most likely case as well.

Although the Bible does not specifically state that this rider is the Antichrist, we have clues that lead us towards this conclusion. Firstly, this rider comes at the beginning of the judgments of God, whereas Christ is associated with the end.

We also have the context of the riders in general to consider. If this is Jesus, then we have an inconsistency between the first rider and the last three. I believe that the first rider sets the tone for the rest of the riders, and serves as a foundation for their actions.

Next we have the variations in weapons. The white rider is carrying a bow, and Christ appears in chapter 19 with a sword. This might seem like a minor thing, but I believe it is critical because it shows us a difference in purpose between the two.

Finally, let’s consider the crowns worn by the rider and Christ. The rider is wearing what the Greek calls a stephanos or a symbol of honor, whereas Jesus in chapter 19 is wearing many crowns, or what the Greek calls diadema, which is to say royal type crowns.

Now let’s look at the details of the horse and rider and see what we can learn.

First let’s consider the color of the horse, which is white. White, as we’ve already said, can be a symbol of purity and holiness. This would associate white with the Church and organized religion.

Not only that, but white is also the sign of peace. This is where we get the tradition of waiving a white flag to indicate surrender or non-aggression.

In this vein, let’s look at the rider’s bow. The rider was given a bow, but there was no mention of the rider having any arrows! Some might assume that the arrows are included, but we are not told that. We are not informed if the rider is given a quiver of arrows or not. Let’s operate for a moment like the arrows were not included. What would this possibly tell us?

It could indicate that though the rider went forth to conquer, he might do so without violence. This would go along with the idea of the white horse being a symbol for peace. The Antichrist may well rise to power without any military might whatsoever, using political maneuverings to seize control.

The Antichrist has to do nothing more than wait in the wings as the New World Order type system comes to fruition and begins strangling the life out of the world. If we are suffering great persecution as a people under some form of world government, we may well nearly beg the Antichrist to bring us change.

Of course the change the Antichrist would bring will not be a return to true freedom or anything like that, but will be the Beast system of government that will be the end-all be-all World Order. In other words, the Antichrist, riding a horse of peace, conquering without warfare, will be ushered into power by the free will of the people. We’ll basically vote him in, most likely.

So he fulfills his role as conquering in peace, and he’ll likely be backed by organized religion and will be given the reigns of power, a position that will basically be a monarch in everything but name.

This peace is the basis of everything that is to come. It will seem like it’s too good to be true, and it will be, and it will not last long.

This rider will seem like Jesus, and many people will be fooled, and might even think that he really is the Messiah, but he’s an imposter. He’s the man of sin, the one we call Antichrist.

(Rev 6:3) And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see. (Rev 6:4) 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.

First let’s look at Wesley’s historical perspective. There went forth another horse that was red - A colour suitable to bloodshed. And to him that sat thereon it was given to take peace from the earth - Vespasian, in the year 75, had dedicated a temple to Peace; but after a time we hear little more of peace. All is full of war and bloodshed, chiefly in the western world, where the main business of men seemed to be, to kill one another.

To this horseman there was given a great sword; and he had much to do with it; for as soon as Trajan ascended the throne, peace was taken from the earth. Decebalus, king of Dacia, which lies westward from Patmos, put the Romans to no small trouble. The war lasted five years, and consumed abundance of men on both sides; yet was only a prelude to much other bloodshed, which followed for a long season. All this was signified by the great sword, which strikes those who are near, as the bow does those who are at a distance.

There are those that believe the Antichrist is the rider of this horse as well, in fact they say the Antichrist is the rider of all four horses. I personally do not believe this to be so, but I want to throw that out there for you guys.

The red horse is red for a reason, and an obvious one at that. The color red comes from bloodshed, something that goes hand in hand with the rider of the red horse; war. The pair, war and bloodshed, go together like a hand in a glove, so that’s why the horse is the color it is.

The rider could properly be called War, as he seems to be the personification of it. He is given power to take away peace, but more specifically he is given the power to take away the peace of the rider before him, the Antichrist.

The world is going to be plunged into the fires of war, and battles will rage when this rider sweeps through with his mighty sword.

This is not a hard one to imagine as the world is constantly under threat of war. There is always some nation fighting another, or tensions mounting between groups. We have wars raging in the Middle East, both ones we as a nation are involved in along with those that we are not.

There are tensions between nations in Asia that is threatening to spill out into open warfare, the threat of terrorism looms over our heads. There are wars and rumors of wars, and there will continue to be until that point that the Antichrist sets up his peace. That peace will be slain by the great sword of War as he rides his blood red horse across the face of the earth.

Just as the white rider set things up for War, War will set the world up for the next rider.

(Rev 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. (Rev 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.

Wesley says and I heard a voice - It seems, from God himself. Saying - To the horseman, “Hitherto shalt thou come, and no farther.” Let there be a measure of wheat for a penny - The word translated measure, was a Grecian measure, nearly equal to our quart. This was the daily allowance of a slave. The Roman penny, as much as a labourer then earned in a day, was about sevenpence halfpenny English. According to this, wheat would be near twenty shillings per bushel. This must have been fulfilled while the Grecian measure and the Roman money were still in use; as also where that measure was the common measure, and this money the current coin. It was so in Egypt under Trajan. And three measures of barley for a penny - Either barley was, in common, far cheaper among the ancients than wheat, or the prophecy mentions this as something peculiar. And hurt not the oil and the wine - Let there not be a scarcity of everything. Let there he some provision left to supply the want of the rest This was also fulfilled in the reign of Trajan, especially in Egypt, which lay southward from Patmos. In this country, which used to be the granary of the empire, there was an uncommon dearth at the very beginning of his reign; so that he was obliged to supply Egypt itself with corn from other countries. The same scarcity there was in the thirteenth year of his reign, the harvest failing for want of the rising of the Nile: and that not only in Egypt, but in all those other parts of Afric, where the Nile uses to overflow.

This is an interesting horseman, one that many people do not understand. The color of the horse stands for fear and possibly death. The rider could be known as the personification of Famine, as the scales in his hand indicates.

These scales can tell us quite a few things. The scales can tell us that during times of wealth and prosperity men care little for conservation and frugality, but when times are lean, every last bit matters and must be accounted for properly.

This is true in our economic lives even today. As we go through the current economic crunch, we can see how many people have gone from a carefree attitude towards their money to counting every last cent.

War came and brought bloodshed to the world, Famine will bring bloodshed as well, but it will be the economy hemorrhaging.

The food mentioned there is what is considered to be the bare minimum, and the money was a day’s wages thereabout. So this is telling us that it took a full day’s work to get just enough to get by on. In other words, the working folks are going to find themselves in a real bind where they barely make enough to make ends meet. This is something we’ve already experienced in our world today as well, especially as our current economic situation worsens.

This horseman will bring a situation like we’re in now, only much, much worse.

Take note, however, that the oil and the wine are not to be hurt. What does this mean? It means that those with means will continue to have means, and will not suffer the way us regular people will. The rich will get richer, and the poor, poorer.

So the black rider will bring the world economic woe.

(Rev 6:7) And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. (Rev 6:8) 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.

And I saw, and behold a pale horse - Suitable to pale death, his rider. And hades - The representative of the state of separate souls. Followeth even with him - The four first seals concern living men. Death therefore is properly introduced. Hades is only occasionally mentioned as a companion of death. So the fourth seal reaches to the borders of things invisible, which are comprised in the three last seals. And power was given to him over the fourth part of the earth - What came single and in a lower degree before, comes now together, and much more severely. The first seal brought victory with it: in the second was “a great sword;” but here a scimitar. In the third was moderate dearth; here famine, and plague, and wild beasts beside. And it may well be, that from the time of Trajan downwards, the fourth part of men upon the earth, that is, within the Roman empire, died by sword, famine, pestilence, and wild beasts. “At that time,” says Aurelius Victor, “the Tyber overflowed much more fatally than under Nerva, with a great destruction of houses and there was a dreadful earthquake through many provinces, and a terrible plague and famine, and many places consumed by fire.” By death - That is, by pestilence wild beasts have, at several times, destroyed abundance of men; and undoubtedly there was given them, at this time, an uncommon fierceness and strength. It is observable that war brings on scarcity, and scarcity pestilence, through want of wholesome sustenance; and pestilence, by depopulating the country, leaves the few survivors an easier prey to the wild beasts. And thus these judgments make way for one another in the order wherein they are here represented.

What has been already observed may be a fourfold proof that the four horsemen, as with their first entrance in the reign of Trajan, (which does by no means exhaust the contents of the four first seals,) so with all their entrances in succeeding ages, and with the whole course of the world and of visible nature, are in all ages subject to Christ, subsisting by his power, and serving his will, against the wicked, and in defence of the righteous. Herewith, likewise, a way is paved for the trumpets which regularly succeed each other; and the whole prophecy, as to what is future, is confirmed by the clear accomplishment of this part of it.

The last horse is easy to identify, since the text itself tells us exactly who the rider is. Let’s note that this pale color is like a sickly greenish tint, somewhat similar to the green hue associated with sickness. This color represents just that, sickness and death.

The rider is literally called Death, akin to a ‘grim reaper’ type character that we might be more familiar with. Death is given power to kill across the face of the earth. He is given the power to claim a fourth of the population. This is death on a massive scale. We’re talking well over a billion people that will die when Death rides its pale horse!

Now there are those that believe that people who die during this period from warfare, famine, diseases, and from the animals on the earth will mostly be unbelievers, and they will be scooped into Hell, of which is following the pale horse of Death.

No matter what your view, we know that there will be massive death when the pale horse gallops out.

So there we have the first four seals on the book that the Lord Jesus Christ has released. The first seal brings forth a white horse. Some consider this to be Christ, but others believe it to be the Antichrist, and will conquer most or all of the world. This will likely be done peacefully.

The second seal brings forth the red horse and the rider War. This horse leads to massive bloodshed and the destruction of whatever peace exists beforehand.

The third seal brings out the black horse, and the rider of famine. The world will be financially and economically attacked, and poverty will become an even larger problem than it is currently.

The fourth seal calls forth the pale horse, with Death riding it, having Hell following close behind. This horse brings even more death on an even greater scale, though Death is allowed the tools of war, death itself which I think means diseases and such, famine, and beasts of the earth to claim his victims.

This wraps up the four horsemen, but the seals on the book are not all released yet. There are still three more to go.

The fifth seal brings our focus and attention to the martyrs that are already in Heaven with God. The one thing that has remained the same throughout history is that true Christians have been persecuted, and will continue to be persecuted.

Even in the Middle Ages true believers were persecuted. No matter when you look, you will see that true believers, not necessarily the Church, but true believers have always felt the sting of persecution. Now in our times, and in our homes it might only be as bad as being made fun of, but make no mistake, there are those that are truly suffering for their faith.

The point of this is that the altar under Heaven where the souls of the martyrs reside is being filled continually and has been since Christianity began.

(Rev 6:9) 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: (Rev 6:10) 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? (Rev 6:11) 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 fellow servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.

These people are calling out for vengeance, literally. They have given their lives for the word of God, for their faith, and have been given such a wonderful honor as to dwell under the altar, and they want the Lord to loosen His mighty justice.

The Lord comforts them and tells them that soon they will be avenged, and I’m sure He is reassuring that He has not forgotten what had been done to them. They are told to rest a little longer, and wait until the final martyr has been awarded their position beneath the altar.

This tells us that martyrdom is not yet over. People can, will, and do still die for their faith. I pray that everyone that hears this lives a full and long life and is not required to face death in this manner, but if they are, I pray they are given strength and comfort in that moment.

If we have been raptured before this point, we might all be watching this, not only just the souls under the altar awaiting justice. The end is a huge deal in history, and I think that if we’re here, we’ll be paying attention because of what we’ll be going through, and if the rapture happens pre-tribulation, I think we’ll be paying attention from Heaven, since this time described here in the Book of Revelation is one huge lesson for all of us about God’s love.

Let’s move on to seal number six. (Rev 6:12) 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. Here’s where things start getting crazy.

This is one massive earthquake. It is so huge that it causes the same kind of results as what a nuclear missile might. The dust thrown up in the air from the destruction caused by the earthquake blots out the sun, and the moon is made to look like it is made of blood.

This effect can be observed, on a tiny scale, even these days. Here in Southwest we oftentimes get dust storms. Some of them where I live are quite severe. These storms come and blow all day, and the dust can seem to dampen even the sunlight. At night, interestingly enough, the moon can look blood red, taking on the hue from the massive amount of dust and dirt that is in the air. It is an eerie feeling, to see a blood red moon.

This seal brings even more devastation. (Rev 6:13) 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 we are seeing unusual stellar phenomena happening with stars falling to the earth.

There are many out there that say this is some flowery metaphor or that John thought the sky was solid and the stars attached to it in some manner, but I think that’s foolishness. I believe that John means what he said literally. That is why he used the metaphor of the fig tree, to show that he literally saw the stars fall just like you can see the wind cause fruit to fall from their branches. In fact, a mighty wind can tear down the entire branch itself!

I tend to think the ‘stars’ are going to be meteors and asteroids that are falling to the earth. I think during this seal judgment the earth is going to be battered by an asteroid storm. They will still be burning, glowing objects falling from the heavens and striking the ground.

Of course this happening is not good either, this will add impact earthquakes, more dust and dirt in the air, and likely will destroy property depending on where they land. If they tear through buildings and cityscapes we’re going to be looking at further fires and smoke.

(Rev 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. Here we have even more astronomical events taking place. This is apparently some massive change in the sky as it is said to ‘depart’. Exactly what this means, I cannot say for sure, but something huge is going to be happening.

This event is big enough that every mountain and every island are going to be moved out of their place. The earthquake and ensuing destruction is going to be global and so massive as to throw down the mountains and break the islands loose from their foundations.

The whole world is going to be affected by these events, that’s the point. The entire population of the world is going to feel these things, and are going to know that the Lord’s judgment is being poured out.

(Rev 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; (Rev 6:16) 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: (Rev 6:17) For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

People here are realizing that God is throwing down, and they realize just how afraid they should be. And they want to hide from the face of God because they realize then that they have been doing wrong, and that they’re in deep.

We see this happen sometimes when there are major natural disasters in the world. People will say that it was the wrath of God, or an act of God, or something like that. Many in the affected area will find or rediscover their faith, and will be convinced that the Lord is serious in His words, which are found in the Bible.

But not everyone sees the power of the Lord in these instances, and those outside the affect area rarely are led to faith by watching the news stories about some natural disaster. It will be different when the worldwide earthquake hits.

This brings us to the close of the sixth seal.

There are a great deal of happenings in the Book of Revelation before the opening of the seventh seal. The sealing of the 144,000 happens between the sixth and seventh seal.

(Rev 8:1) And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. Now this is quite amazing when you think about it. There are all these beings in Heaven, and everyone is absolutely silent for half an hour.

This is a foreboding of things to come, the quiet before the storm, so to speak. (Rev 8:2) And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets. So the seventh seal introduces the seven trumpet judgments.

There is another event that happens before the trumpet judgments begin. Some consider this part of the seal, and other don’t but the point is I want to mention it before we close.

(Rev 8:3) And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. (Rev 8:4) And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand. (Rev 8:5) And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.

The earth is afflicted with yet another earthquake, and apparently massive storms and other natural disasters. The part about ‘thunderings and lightnings’ to me seems to indicate that there will be all kinds of storms all over the world. This would be like tornadoes in the mainland and hurricanes crashing over the coastal areas.

These seals might sound rough but they are only the beginning of the suffering that is to come with the trumpet judgments and the bowl judgments later.

Next time we’re going to talk about the trumpets, and the effects they call forth when they are blown. Until next time, God bless.

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