Revelation 6: First Six Seals

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective

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As we continue through the book of Revelation in the class I’m teaching at my church, we opened up Revelation 6 last evening and went through its seventeen verses. These verses highlight the action that occurs as the Lamb opens each seal. John watched things go from bad to worse.

As readers may recall, once the Tribulation officially begins with the coming of the white horse and its rider, allowing that rider (most likely the Antichrist), to begin his ascent through the ranks of the elite as he conquers politically, God begins pouring out His wrath onto this world.

I’m amazed that there are well-meaning Christians who continue to believe that things might turn around if enough people come to terms with their sinfulness, repent of it and seriously seek the Lord. I’m not trying to negate that because if that were to happen, then chances are good that God’s judgment would be forestalled a bit. This happened repeatedly in the Hebrew Scriptures with respect to Israel and even some of the non-Israelite kings and neighbors. However, even with that, God’s judgment would, of necessity, truly need to fall. He simply put off His full judgment for a time.

You may recall during “Q” postings, Q often said, “Nothing can stop what’s coming.” This is certainly true but not in the way he meant it. Q meant that all the corruption and evil that’s been hidden for decades in what became known as the swamp will come out and he even alluded to the fact that the first arrest would shock the world. None of that came to pass in spite of the fact that many still cling to those statements.

However, where God is concerned, that statement “Nothing can stop what’s coming” certainly has meaning and it will be fulfilled. Everything God wrote in His Word, including the things that deal with everything related to these end times and the eventual physical return of God the Son will occur. Nothing can stop that, not Satan, not the Antichrist, not all the people in this world if they were to gather themselves together as one in the belief that they could stop God. God’s Word and His purposes will prevail. Of that we can be quite certain.

Looking at the state of the United States, it should be quite clear to every thinking person that the USA is on a direct path of judgment and it exists because of a number of things:

• the millions of unborn babies murdered via abortion
• the gender/transgender issue
• the apparent grooming of very young children sexually

This does not even take into account all the basic wrongs throughout society and the degree of corruption throughout the many levels of our government. Paul and Peter were 100% correct when they warned that the end times would be far from pleasant. In fact, Peter stated that this world is passing away (2 Peter 3:10), and John echoed similar sentiments (1 John 2:17). This world is on a crash course with God’s judgment that will result in the destruction of this earth, to be replaced with something new.

Revelation 6 reveals some of the contents of the seven-sealed scroll that Jesus was found worthy to receive; the first six seals. The Lamb opens the first seal (Revelation 6:2), and a Living Creature says “Come and see!” and John then sees a white horse with a rider riding onto the world’s stage. This rider has a crown (signalling power and authority), and a bow, but has no arrows/ammo. We are then told he comes out conquering and to conquer. His goal is to climb political mountains and commandeer people throughout the world to become his servants. He will rule them. That is his intent and of course, as we learn in 2 Thessalonians 2, Satan fully indwells and empowers this Antichrist to do just that.

Once the Antichrist rolls onto the scene, it might not be too long before he gains enough power to fulfill what the prophet Daniel wrote about in Daniel 9:24-27, when this Antichrist will broker a covenant with Israel and surrounding Arab nations for the final “week” of human history. That “week” turns out to be seven years.

The Antichrist comes on the scene but the world may not be aware of who he is until he sidles up to Israel’s leaders and gets them to enter into a seven-year covenant with Arab nations. Who is the Antichrist? I have no idea but we had an interesting discussion about the possibilities in our class last evening. This guy who will come on the scene will be of the type of person who will gather people to himself, just like Nimrod of Genesis 10-11. Most people will be drawn to him due to his inner charisma, leadership and ability to make people feel embraced. I don’t know of any particular leader out there now that qualifies in that regard, but who knows?

Revelation 6:3-4 highlights the Lamb opening the second seal and a red horse and rider is on the scene. The red color of the horse most like refers to bloodshed and the text tells us that peace is removed. Some commentators believe that it is the same rider on each horse, namely, the Antichrist. Whether it is or isn’t is interesting to consider and it wouldn’t surprise me. He will be fully empowered by Satan and his political conquering among the people of the world will be replete with signs and wonders designed to create awe in people.

Revelation 6:5-6 is where the Lamb opens the third seal, and a black horse and rider enter the scene. This represents the severe scarcity of food that will exist. This is not strange because history proves that during and after each major world conflict, pestilence, disease, death and food shortages are the result. If the second horse takes peace from the earth, it would be natural to see death and food shortages following it.

Not only will food be in short supply, but because of supply and demand, prices of food will skyrocket. It is tempting to think that we are in that situation now because of the way inflation is seemingly spiraling out of control. Gas prices are ridiculously high and everything that depends on using fuel to get to market or other stores is also increasing in price. This situation is, I believe currently, a man-made situation that could have been avoided. Unfortunately, it is not only not being avoided but other things are being done to create even more hardship. I’m not sure we’ve arrived at the top of things yet.

During the Tribulation, food will be so expensive that even the rich will be affected to some degree. In John’s day, a denarius was a day’s wage. During the Tribulation, it would literally take the value of a denarius and people would be spending that much money – a day’s wage – just to buy food for one day! We are not there yet, but God’s Word promises that during the Tribulation, we will be.

Revelation 6:7-8 highlights the fourth seal, with a ashen horse and rider. As Constable notes, the word ashen really signifies the greenish/gray hue of a dead person. After this seal is opened, God grants this rider to remove one-fourth of the people from the earth. That results in roughly one and a half to two billion people or so who will be killed. That’s a tremendous amount of people who will die during that time. Many will be martyred as the next seal shows.

Revelation 6:9-11 is the seal highlighting the martyrs under the altar in heaven. We don’t know the exact number but it seems to be quite large and we also hear the Lamb comforting these martyrs but also telling them His vengeance will judge the earth-dwellers but others need to put to death in martyrdom first. Jesus is of course looking ahead to when He physically returns and begins personally judging the sheep and the goats prior to setting up His Millennial Kingdom.

Revelation 6:12-14 is the sixth seal and the scene shifts back to earth at this point. What John sees is apocalyptic by way of what happens to the earth and in the sky. Mountains will rise and fall as well as islands. The sky will split open (v14) and earth-dwellers will possibly get a glimpse into the heavens because they will seem to understand that what is happening is not “climate change” but the very thing they’ve denied and dreaded: God’s wrath.

In fact, they are in such denial that they will beg the mountains to fall on them so they can be “hidden” from God’s wrath, not realizing that in death, they would be immediately ushered into His Presence for judgment. Their abject fear and hatred of God causes them to want to hide from Him (as Adam and Eve did in Genesis 3), rather than cry out to Him in repentance.

The world is marching toward God’s judgment and that will not be averted. I wish it was, but if we consider that God’s righteous judgment not only judges all things evil, but gives people an opportunity to come to Him in repentance, then it is worth it in the short and long run.

Revelation 6 opens the seven-sealed scroll and we begin to the see its contents from the very beginning of the Tribulation. As each seal is opened, more of God’s judgment pours out onto an unsuspecting world that wants nothing to do with God.

Theology and Politics from a Conservative, Biblical Perspective