CHAPTER SIX
In chapter five, a key event took place when Christ took the scroll from God’s hand – He being worthy by virtue of His holy life, having never sinned.
The Scroll is the Tribulation Period account, and unless it is opened, unless the seals are removed [literally in Greek, ‘broken apart’], the Tribulation will not start.
The Tribulation period is a time of judgment on earth – with much loss of life, in fact most life will perish, once these things are set in motion. “Unless these days should be shortened no flesh would be saved.” (Matthew 24:22).
Recall, that once Christ said to those gathered around the sinner brought to Him for stoning, ‘You who are without sin cast the first stone”. Well here, Christ is the one without sin, and He indeed begins to cast stones to the earth.
The Seals – These appear to be the beginning of sorrows [Matthew 24:8], or as the NIV puts it the [‘odin’ Greek], “birth pains”.
• These seem to be Events, and not men as each is revealed.
• Each releases a judgment, that is more a principle than an event, though they are composed of events.
• One leads to the next, and none of them expire, or are of a definitive end but continue.
• The seals, I hold, unlike other commentators, are in motion today, prior to the Tribulation period.
A summary of the Seals is as follows:
the 1st seal is a fear, fear of a holocaust, war on a worldwide scale of unimaginable consequence, causing a fear never known in history, that is nuclear war between nations, the 2nd, is actual war, non-nuclear, arising from those fears, the 3rd is famine arising from war, and 4th, death arising from famine and wars. The 5th seal will switch the scene from earth to heaven, the 6th seal is the final warning from the heavens, that involve such monumental signs [an earthquake, changes to the sun and moon, stars falling, the sky acting strangely with unknown effect, and every mountain and island effected by the earthquake], to the point that all the world rulers, and all others are hit with guilt before God, and hide in caves, and strong mountains, from this awful sign and say “…hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb.” At about this time, many preachers will be sealed to preach on the earth, as we shall see in a future chapter.
Compare Matthew 24:1-8 with Revelation chapter six.
Each Seal:
The 1st Seal
A white horse, a man with a crown, a bow [but no weapon], a mission to subdue. The crowned figure on a white horse seems like a supreme threat of war. The bow could be long-range missiles. This sort of triumphant militarism is a fear inducing symbol of destruction that if released would bring destruction to all the world, and so it induces great fear. Indeed today, some nuclear-powered nations, use this threat to induce fear and gain political advantage routinely. The crown suggests we are talking about the king of all weapons and the king of all threats. This situation has been the case since about 1945 to 1950 and continues today. We went through the cold-war period, when the threat caused all to fear. Still today, generals talk of the pucker-factor when it comes to the threats of nuclear war.
The 2nd Seal
This Seal is introduced by the 2nd living creature of Revelation 4:7 – the Ox or calf. The Ox or calf seems to best represent the activity of creation, the utility, the motion, the endeavor to work and produce. Here, the utility is war. Mankind hung under the threat of war from the first seal, and now war occurs. These are not nuclear wars, but man, put on the verge of war and fear of war, accepts the mantle and goes to war, his actions are to make war, as seen by this 2nd seal, the red war horse, whose rider carries and uses a sword on the earth.
These seals are in context to Israel’s return as a nation in 1947-48. There have always been wars, some on a much larger scale than some of those this past century. It is important to keep in our thoughts that the Tribulation period is a Jewish period, a time when Israel is again at the forefront of prophecy.
Red is used for shedding blood, and the same word for red used here to describe the 2nd Seal, red horse, is used in 2 Kings 3:22 – the blood that is in the water at the miracle of image of the blood in the water under Elisha’s conquest of the Moabites. The weapon mentioned is a long knife, a warrior’s instrument from which we get the word machete {Gr. Mahk-achee-rah}. The implication is that men turn on each other, it is not just nation directed war, but general mayhem, in which a war ‘spirit’ descends to cause within nation conflict, that is, the Korea’s, Indochina, African conflicts, Russia with it’s neighbors, and India and Pakistan, or the internal conflicts of South America.
God gives out societies over to war. Even at this writing, civil stresses in the USA appear to reveal the fractures common to civil war. And so the Red Horse roams the earth and sets in motion conflict leading to death, the 3rd Seal.
The 3rd Seal
Famine.
This 3rd Seal, is a black horse, controlling famine, and causing death. This horse measures the grain and barley, the staples of life, and finds them insufficient. Famine often causes war, as the means of production, planting and gathering are destroyed in war, and men must attend to guns rather than planting and harvesting. This is the case, most recently in Ukraine and Russia as war between formerly brother nations on February 24, 2022, disrupted two of the largest grain, feed producers of the world, and famine has been promised. Estimates are that 25% of the world’s grain is grown in the Ukraine, and Ukraine and Russia are both in the top five food producers of the world with about 25% of the world relying upon those two nations for their food. The United Nations expert, Michael Fakhri , predicts that with two of the top five food producers sidelined this year “that the risk of imminent famine and starvation…” is upon us. The planting season arrived, and no planting occurred, and much of the harvest lay rotting though some was saved, a situation that will have ongoing effects into next year and the year after. Fakhri goes on to state that “…the most vulnerable people in Russia will be a disproportionate burden…” on society, and Stalin historically, in order to reduce the populations, demand for food, purposefully killed one million people by cutting off their access to food. These events could be upon us, or could presage worse conditions on earth.
In verse 6 under the Third Seal – “A quart of wheat for a denarius” indicates that one daily allowance of food [a quart of wheat] will cost an average worker one day wage. This only feeds the worker, and not any members of the workers’ family. This dire prophecy suggests that only 1/3rd of any family will survive the famine that affects a region and 2/3rds of every poor family will die. It is interesting to note that the United States, as large and prosperous nation as it is, has only two years reserve of food for its population.
We see comparisons to these Seal judgments in recent history.
The 3rd Seal is announced by the 3rd living creature from God’s throne – in the form of a man. Normally nature produces enough food for all to eat, naturally, but for the crimes of men. Michael Fakhri says that it is “…politics that causes famine.”
Vs 6b “…do not harm the oil and the wine.” Oil – from which many products are made are usually the fare of those with money and means. Wine – to grow and make doesn’t need much care, unlike grain and again this is used normally by people of wealth. What the Scripture is indicating here is that the wealthy will survive this 3rd Seal, but the poor will not. They will be affected by the shortage selectively and severely, while those with wealth will buy what they need to survive, no matter what the cost. Donald Grey Barnhouse gives an apt description of conditions in Europe after WW2, when he saw in Vienna, men standing on street corners barefoot in winter, and women sold themselves as prostitutes for a coin worth less than a penny, while men in suits, used their walking sticks to beat away the poor so their guests could emerge from the Opera to enter fine cars. When the 3rd seal is released, everyone will see death, but not everyone will see it as some will. Once crops are lost in a country, it can take up to two years to get back up to production, and so 2022 could stretch into 2025 if this is the 3rd seal being released.
The 4th Seal. Verses 7 & 8. Death.
The next seal naturally follows the famine of the 3rd seal. The 4th Seal is death. The creature calling out the release of the 4th seal is a creature from the throne of God that looks like an Eagle. It flies over the earth, and it sees that ¼ of the worlds’ landmass [literally “a 4th part of the region of the earth”] are hit very hard by this famine. The Seal releases the Pale Horse, Ashen and yellowish green, the color of a corpse. Death rides this horse, indicating the death of bodies, and Hades, is upon it as well, indicating that the soul is sent to hades or the abyss in vast numbers. The sword, a product of fights that emerge for dwindling resources, and hunger, beasts look for food, and death occurs in vast numbers for one-fourth of the world’s landmass. We know that northern Africa, Turkey, Pakistan and India rely heavily on Russia and Ukraine, and Belarus for their food.
Death – Commentator and pastor, William Newall, believes that death is more than dissolution of the body, but that an actual creature, with a personality exists – who is Death. Newall, having to sit with numbers who died, in the role as pastor, says that with unbelievers who die, he has seen “a terrible seizure” which takes hold of them at death and rattles them. He can see this effect on their features and in their body at death. “Something happens to them vastly beyond the departure of the spirit and the cessation of breath” Newall says. Newell suggests that Acts 2:24 which states that Jesus was freed “…from the agony of death” together with the Romans 5:12 backs up his observation on the nature of death for the unbeliever. Death comes, as a personality, a creature taking hold of those who die, but the unbeliever is spared this agony, who pass peacefully to the Savior.
The 5th Seal. Verses 9-11.
The 5th Seal unleashes evidence that heaven holds. The scene switches from earth – where the effects of the previous 4 seals are felt -to heaven with the release of some surprising evidence – a call from the martyrs for justice.
The martyr’s voices cry out for justice and vengeance. Most likely these are the martyrs since Abel who was killed by Cain, down through the centuries, since the martyr’s of the tribulation period are not in heaven, because the tribulation period has not yet started. These testimonials and prayer requests are sealed to the book and now are released. The complaining witnesses are the martyrs, to God, who sits as judge. God is granting their request for justice as a result of their cry. In recompense, a white robe is given to each of them – a symbol of righteousness. They also cry out to God “…how long until you judge those who live on the earth and avenge our blood?” God will avenge them and tells them to rest and wait until their number is completed, by the martyr’s who will come, once the tribulation period begins (Revelation 15:2). God’s response to the martyr’s is that in “a little while longer” – which is a testimony to God’s patience with judgement, even as He proceeds to judgement. The dispensational change is coming. Soon more martyrs will join them, until they all are gathered around the throne of God in white robes, worshiping.
The 6th Seal. Vs 12 – 17
This is the final warning to the earth. Six events describe the release of the 6th seal – a violent earthquake occurs (Matthew 24:7), the sun turns black [perhaps from volcanic fallout], Joel 2:30-31, 3) the moon turns red like blood, again from volcanic fallout, 4) The stars of heaven fall unlike any meteorite shower known before, as if a ripe fig tree is shaken violently, 5) the sky recedes, “split apart like a scroll being rolled up” [atmospheric disruption, unlike any seen before], and 6) the mountains and islands are moved.
These signs cannot be denied. They are too intense and too concentrated, and either intuitively or directly, people are aware that this is of God and His wrath is being expressed. It is the last warning before the tribulation “that is coming upon the whole world” beings [Revelation 3:10]. His wrath has arrived.