REVELATION 6
Up to this point, we have covered the seven letters to the churches and the worship in heaven of both the Father and the Son. Now we turn our attention to the seven seals and the beginning of God's judgment of mankind.
At the end of chapter 5, we saw that every creature will ultimately acknowledge the lordship of Jesus Christ. In most of the following chapters we will be speaking of men who have not accepted Christ as Savior and Lord and do not worship him. I mention that in order to point out that Revelation is not completely chronological, though there is obviously a loose chronology to it, e.g., the first seal comes before the seventh seal, etc. It is likely that the circumstances described in chapter 13, for instance, will actually happen concurrently with all or most of the seven seals, trumpets and bowls, though chapter 13 appears between the trumpet and bowl judgments. To further illustrate the point, if an American travels to Europe on vacation and brings back pictures for friends to see, he may not show all of them sequentially, but he may show all of the pictures of France sequentially.
Many people avoid the book of Revelation, not only due to interpretational difficulties, but also because of the horrific nature of the seal, trumpet and bowl judgments. But I believe these are actually God's judgments on behalf of the church, and I trust God that if we really understood the cruelty directed toward the saints in the last days by the unrighteous, we would see these judgments as entirely appropriate, perhaps even wonderful.
There are some questions I cannot answer about this chapter with absolute certainty. For instance, are the seven seals, seven trumpets and seven bowls in Revelation confined to a seven-year period of time (Daniel's seventieth week), or is it possible that the seven seals, for instance, are more generally descriptive of the church age? I'm inclined to believe in the former position, particularly because of Revelation 7:14, but it may be that this prophecy has both a general and a specific fulfillment.
There are different interpretations regarding exactly who the rider on the first horse associated with the first seal is. When I first read Revelation, I assumed the rider on the white horse in Revelation 6:2 is Jesus, and many Christians interpret this passage as indicating that the gospel goes out into all the world prior to the later seals. But I now believe that would be out of context with the rest of the chapter, and the rider on the white horse is actually the antichrist, or symbolic of a series of antichrists (how about that for an interpretational difference). It seems more likely to me that all four horsemen are destructive. (They are probably not four relatively innocent men who once played football at a small Catholic school in Indiana.)
I believe the best way to understand the seven seals in Revelation is to view them as an expanded explanation of Matthew 24. For instance, Matthew 24:5 (NKJV) says:
"For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive
many." These false Christs would correspond to the first rider on the first horse associated with the first seal.
Similarly, Matthew 24:6 (NKJV) says:
"And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet." This would correspond to the second seal and the second horse and rider who is allowed to take peace from the earth.
Matthew 24:7 (NKJV) says:
" for nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places." Pestilences here probably refers to epidemics and disease, and famine and pestilences correspond to the third horsemen, the one associated with famine and economic depression. There has been an increasing amount of discussion in the world press in recent years about the danger of epidemics and our vulnerability to diseases we once thought had vanished from the earth forever. Perhaps that's a sign of things to come. It is also interesting to note the reference to wild beasts killing humans after the fourth seal is opened. This probably would not happen unless the famine is so severe that animals are also quite desperate for food.
Most commentaries see the pale fourth horse as a summation of the first three, but it may also be a double portion of the same plagues, as in Revelation 18:6, or a sign that God will surely bring these things to pass, as he brought Pharaoh's dream which he dreamed twice to pass in Genesis 41:1-7, interpreted in Genesis 41:26-32.
The fifth seal is opened in Revelation 6:9-11 and it describes martyred saints asking for justice to be done on earth because their blood was shed. This petition to God may really be on behalf of Christians on earth who are continuing to be martyred and persecuted, but it is interesting because it breaks the normal New Testament pattern set by Jesus and Stephen of saying, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." (Luke 23:34, Acts 7:60) This may be because the depravity of man is by this time on public display as it has never been on earth before. I believe Matthew 24:8-14 also provides some additional insight into the fifth seal.
The sixth seal (Revelation 6:12-14) describes a great earthquake and cosmic disturbances which affect the sun, moon, stars and sky, as well as mountains and islands. This is also described in Matthew 24:29. The reaction of men in Revelation 6:15-17 seems almost silly, because we know nothing can be hidden from God by caves, rocks and mountains, but it does give us a clue about how terrifying the judgments of God have become by this point.
The seven seals raise one of the questions which troubles theologians and sometimes divides Christians. When God sent plagues to the Egyptians in Exodus, the Hebrews of that time were separated from the Egyptians geographically, and consequently were not affected by the plagues. God provided the blood of the passover so they would not lose their firstborn when the Egyptians did. God was concerned enough about the city of Sodom that he told Abraham he would spare the whole place if he found ten righteous people in the city. It is one thing to assume that God would allow the beast to make war on the saints and conquer them (revelation 13:7), but why would the God of the Old and New Testaments allow his people to endure sufferings which appear to be global in nature?
Furthermore, since Daniel's seventy weeks of years was clearly suspended after the sixty-ninth week when Christ was crucified and one week is left, why would that calendar be restarted, except for the exodus of the church and a return of God's focus to the people of Israel? There is no mention of the church in Revelation after the first three chapters, and there is additional circumstancial evidence for their absence from the earth during this time. When we get to Revelation 14, we will find Jesus on Mount Zion with the 144,000 witnesses from the twelve tribes of Israel, who will be introduced in chapter 7. There is no mention of people from all tribes, tongues, people and nations being with him at that time. What we will find in chapter 14 is the King of the Jews among Jewish people.
Also, the locusts described in chapter 9 after the fifth trumpet is blown are told to attack all of mankind except those who have the seal of God on their foreheads, and there is no mention of anyone on earth being sealed except for the 144,000 Jews in chapter 7.
On the other hand, the pre-tribulation rapture position has its own inherent difficulties. It is clear that there are saints on earth during the time of the tribulation, particularly clear in Revelation 7:9-14, which describes a multitude of saints coming out of the great tribulation. Pre-trib Christians argue quite correctly that these are probably converts during the tribulation period as a result of the efforts of the 144,000 sealed witnesses who are introduced in chapter 7, but the argument that God would be likely to spare the church from going through the tribulation period is nevertheless weakened by the fact that some of God's people are going through it, and perhaps also by the command of Jesus to the seven churches to be faithful to the end, particularly to the church at Smyrna, whose members are instructed to be faithful until death.
There is a more compelling problem with the pre-tribulation rapture. In Matthew 13:24-30 and Matthew 13:37-43, Jesus gives us and explains a parable in which he says the angels will be sent to gather the weeds and burn them with fire, before the wheat is gathered into his barn. Matthew 13:30 indicates the sequence of events, and the passage in Matthew 24:37-44 seems to indicate that the judgment of the wicked comes before the reward of the saints, because it compares the sequence of events to Noah's generation. The one who is taken appears to be taken for punishment, not eternity with Christ. If God's people are the ones who are left in Matthew 24, a pre-tribulation rapture where they are taken seems rather odd.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 clearly teaches that there will be a rapture of the saints, so the only question is when it takes place. It is possible, perhaps even likely, that the confusion here stems from trying to compare two completely different events. There are also different views regarding when the events of Ezekiel 38 and 39 will occur, but I won't deal with that here. If push comes to shove, I slightly favor a pre-tribulation rapture, but there is good reason to be patient with other viewpoints. We should remember that those who tried to interpret the Old Testament prophecies about Christ were confused about whether he would come as a king or as a suffering servant, and there were scriptures which seemed to support both positions. In this case also, God hasn't made a mistake or contradicted himself, but his plans are larger than our understanding. It is better to love the Lord and not have all of this figured out, than to have it all figured out and not love the Lord. But I like to try to understand things, and we're supposed to study the scriptures to show ourselves approved (2 Timothy 2:15).
I believe God's judgments generally are reflective of what we call poetic justice. Therefore, my interpretation of this chapter is that the first seal indicates that false Christs will be sent to the world which rejects Christ. Peace will be taken from the earth after the second seal is opened because the world refuses to be at peace with the church. The famine which comes after the third seal is probably linked to the fact that in chapter 13 no one is allowed to buy or sell without the mark of the beast. The pale horse which brings death is God's response to the shedding of the blood of the saints.
With this in mind, Christians should be joyous about the contents of this book, realizing that until the very end God continues to provide opportunities for repentance and faith in Christ.
At the end of chapter 5, we saw that every creature will ultimately acknowledge the lordship of Jesus Christ. In most of the following chapters we will be speaking of men who have not accepted Christ as Savior and Lord and do not worship him. I mention that in order to point out that Revelation is not completely chronological, though there is obviously a loose chronology to it, e.g., the first seal comes before the seventh seal, etc. It is likely that the circumstances described in chapter 13, for instance, will actually happen concurrently with all or most of the seven seals, trumpets and bowls, though chapter 13 appears between the trumpet and bowl judgments. To further illustrate the point, if an American travels to Europe on vacation and brings back pictures for friends to see, he may not show all of them sequentially, but he may show all of the pictures of France sequentially.
Many people avoid the book of Revelation, not only due to interpretational difficulties, but also because of the horrific nature of the seal, trumpet and bowl judgments. But I believe these are actually God's judgments on behalf of the church, and I trust God that if we really understood the cruelty directed toward the saints in the last days by the unrighteous, we would see these judgments as entirely appropriate, perhaps even wonderful.
There are some questions I cannot answer about this chapter with absolute certainty. For instance, are the seven seals, seven trumpets and seven bowls in Revelation confined to a seven-year period of time (Daniel's seventieth week), or is it possible that the seven seals, for instance, are more generally descriptive of the church age? I'm inclined to believe in the former position, particularly because of Revelation 7:14, but it may be that this prophecy has both a general and a specific fulfillment.
There are different interpretations regarding exactly who the rider on the first horse associated with the first seal is. When I first read Revelation, I assumed the rider on the white horse in Revelation 6:2 is Jesus, and many Christians interpret this passage as indicating that the gospel goes out into all the world prior to the later seals. But I now believe that would be out of context with the rest of the chapter, and the rider on the white horse is actually the antichrist, or symbolic of a series of antichrists (how about that for an interpretational difference). It seems more likely to me that all four horsemen are destructive. (They are probably not four relatively innocent men who once played football at a small Catholic school in Indiana.)
I believe the best way to understand the seven seals in Revelation is to view them as an expanded explanation of Matthew 24. For instance, Matthew 24:5 (NKJV) says:
"For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive
many." These false Christs would correspond to the first rider on the first horse associated with the first seal.
Similarly, Matthew 24:6 (NKJV) says:
"And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet." This would correspond to the second seal and the second horse and rider who is allowed to take peace from the earth.
Matthew 24:7 (NKJV) says:
" for nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places." Pestilences here probably refers to epidemics and disease, and famine and pestilences correspond to the third horsemen, the one associated with famine and economic depression. There has been an increasing amount of discussion in the world press in recent years about the danger of epidemics and our vulnerability to diseases we once thought had vanished from the earth forever. Perhaps that's a sign of things to come. It is also interesting to note the reference to wild beasts killing humans after the fourth seal is opened. This probably would not happen unless the famine is so severe that animals are also quite desperate for food.
Most commentaries see the pale fourth horse as a summation of the first three, but it may also be a double portion of the same plagues, as in Revelation 18:6, or a sign that God will surely bring these things to pass, as he brought Pharaoh's dream which he dreamed twice to pass in Genesis 41:1-7, interpreted in Genesis 41:26-32.
The fifth seal is opened in Revelation 6:9-11 and it describes martyred saints asking for justice to be done on earth because their blood was shed. This petition to God may really be on behalf of Christians on earth who are continuing to be martyred and persecuted, but it is interesting because it breaks the normal New Testament pattern set by Jesus and Stephen of saying, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." (Luke 23:34, Acts 7:60) This may be because the depravity of man is by this time on public display as it has never been on earth before. I believe Matthew 24:8-14 also provides some additional insight into the fifth seal.
The sixth seal (Revelation 6:12-14) describes a great earthquake and cosmic disturbances which affect the sun, moon, stars and sky, as well as mountains and islands. This is also described in Matthew 24:29. The reaction of men in Revelation 6:15-17 seems almost silly, because we know nothing can be hidden from God by caves, rocks and mountains, but it does give us a clue about how terrifying the judgments of God have become by this point.
The seven seals raise one of the questions which troubles theologians and sometimes divides Christians. When God sent plagues to the Egyptians in Exodus, the Hebrews of that time were separated from the Egyptians geographically, and consequently were not affected by the plagues. God provided the blood of the passover so they would not lose their firstborn when the Egyptians did. God was concerned enough about the city of Sodom that he told Abraham he would spare the whole place if he found ten righteous people in the city. It is one thing to assume that God would allow the beast to make war on the saints and conquer them (revelation 13:7), but why would the God of the Old and New Testaments allow his people to endure sufferings which appear to be global in nature?
Furthermore, since Daniel's seventy weeks of years was clearly suspended after the sixty-ninth week when Christ was crucified and one week is left, why would that calendar be restarted, except for the exodus of the church and a return of God's focus to the people of Israel? There is no mention of the church in Revelation after the first three chapters, and there is additional circumstancial evidence for their absence from the earth during this time. When we get to Revelation 14, we will find Jesus on Mount Zion with the 144,000 witnesses from the twelve tribes of Israel, who will be introduced in chapter 7. There is no mention of people from all tribes, tongues, people and nations being with him at that time. What we will find in chapter 14 is the King of the Jews among Jewish people.
Also, the locusts described in chapter 9 after the fifth trumpet is blown are told to attack all of mankind except those who have the seal of God on their foreheads, and there is no mention of anyone on earth being sealed except for the 144,000 Jews in chapter 7.
On the other hand, the pre-tribulation rapture position has its own inherent difficulties. It is clear that there are saints on earth during the time of the tribulation, particularly clear in Revelation 7:9-14, which describes a multitude of saints coming out of the great tribulation. Pre-trib Christians argue quite correctly that these are probably converts during the tribulation period as a result of the efforts of the 144,000 sealed witnesses who are introduced in chapter 7, but the argument that God would be likely to spare the church from going through the tribulation period is nevertheless weakened by the fact that some of God's people are going through it, and perhaps also by the command of Jesus to the seven churches to be faithful to the end, particularly to the church at Smyrna, whose members are instructed to be faithful until death.
There is a more compelling problem with the pre-tribulation rapture. In Matthew 13:24-30 and Matthew 13:37-43, Jesus gives us and explains a parable in which he says the angels will be sent to gather the weeds and burn them with fire, before the wheat is gathered into his barn. Matthew 13:30 indicates the sequence of events, and the passage in Matthew 24:37-44 seems to indicate that the judgment of the wicked comes before the reward of the saints, because it compares the sequence of events to Noah's generation. The one who is taken appears to be taken for punishment, not eternity with Christ. If God's people are the ones who are left in Matthew 24, a pre-tribulation rapture where they are taken seems rather odd.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 clearly teaches that there will be a rapture of the saints, so the only question is when it takes place. It is possible, perhaps even likely, that the confusion here stems from trying to compare two completely different events. There are also different views regarding when the events of Ezekiel 38 and 39 will occur, but I won't deal with that here. If push comes to shove, I slightly favor a pre-tribulation rapture, but there is good reason to be patient with other viewpoints. We should remember that those who tried to interpret the Old Testament prophecies about Christ were confused about whether he would come as a king or as a suffering servant, and there were scriptures which seemed to support both positions. In this case also, God hasn't made a mistake or contradicted himself, but his plans are larger than our understanding. It is better to love the Lord and not have all of this figured out, than to have it all figured out and not love the Lord. But I like to try to understand things, and we're supposed to study the scriptures to show ourselves approved (2 Timothy 2:15).
I believe God's judgments generally are reflective of what we call poetic justice. Therefore, my interpretation of this chapter is that the first seal indicates that false Christs will be sent to the world which rejects Christ. Peace will be taken from the earth after the second seal is opened because the world refuses to be at peace with the church. The famine which comes after the third seal is probably linked to the fact that in chapter 13 no one is allowed to buy or sell without the mark of the beast. The pale horse which brings death is God's response to the shedding of the blood of the saints.
With this in mind, Christians should be joyous about the contents of this book, realizing that until the very end God continues to provide opportunities for repentance and faith in Christ.
posted by TAPIOCA at 6/11/2006 06:58:00 AM
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