Chapter 6

We now come to the beginning of the historical portion of the book of Revelation. Although I cannot say that all of it is rooted in the past, (and if you've read the article A CLOSER LOOK AT THE "AD 70 THEORY" OF LAST THINGS, elsewhere on this website, you know there are compelling reasons for that,) I do believe that most of it is, and that we can determine approximately where we are today, as far as the time-line goes.

Looking at the flowchart again, we notice that the Ch6 box looks quite different from the first five boxes. For one thing, it's bigger, and it has six numbers in it. What does all that mean? Simply this. The box is bigger in order to have room for the six numbers, which represent the first six seals.

Looking at those six numbers, notice that numbers 1-4 are directly over the number 5. Since, as stated earlier, time moves from left to right in this flowchart, the fact that the 1-4 is over the 5 means that they all occur in the same basic time frame. Since the 6 is displayed to the right of those numbers, that means that it occurs after them. In this way the flowchart is visually helpful in keeping all of that straight.

Now that we understand the arrangement of the first six seals, what are the events described in them? It might be helpful to think of the breaking of these seals as being similar to seeing various scenes in a movie. As the breaking of a seal reveals only part of the scroll, with the breaking of additional seals required in order to see more of it, so we can relate it to seeing movie scenes. Notice that when a seal is broken no one ever reads the part of the revealed scroll. Instead, different scenes are displayed, like scenes in a movie. And so the important thing to remember is not the seals and the scroll, per se, but the scenes that are revealed as each seal of the scroll is broken. Jesus is the one breaking the seals, but it does not follow that He has to necessarily be in every one of the scenes that He reveals, and in fact He is not.

When the first seal is broken John sees a rider on a white horse who has a bow and a crown. Some think that this is Jesus, due to the references to the crown as well as the white horse, both mentioned later on, in 19:11,12, which is definitely referring to Him. Others think that it is a reference to the gospel, while still others think that it has nothing to do with Jesus at all.

However, it is my view that the first four seals go together, and should be viewed as a whole, with each contributing something to that whole.

It seems unlikely that the first seal represents Jesus or the gospel for a number of reasons. First, just because Jesus is shown on a white horse in 19:11,12 does not prove that this is the same rider or horse. Rather, the color of the horse, white, which signified victory to the ancients, may be important here. Also, the crown here is from the Greek word stephanos, which means victor, while the many crowns worn by Jesus in 19:11,12 are from the Greek word diademata, which are royal crowns. But perhaps the most telling reason is because the other three seals seem to have nothing to do with the gospel.

I believe that the first four seals represent man's efforts in the world without God, leading to oppression (the rider on the white horse,) war (the rider on the red horse,) famine (the rider on the black horse,) and death (the rider on the pale horse.) These first four seals are commonly referred to as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and we can see that they gallop endlessly throughout history, and are still galloping along. To take these images literally does a serious disservice to the context, making it virtually impossible to understand what this chapter is trying to say to us.

While all this activity is going on there are others who are waiting for God, suffering at the hands of unGodly men. They are not Godless, as indicated by the fact that they are given white robes to wear which, as in the case of the horse in the first seal, signifies victory, and because of the reason they were slain, v9.

The most important part of the fifth seal is the question that is asked, which is an appeal to God to rectify the injustice going on in the first four seals. Notice the phrase "inhabitants of the earth" in v10. All throughout the book that phrase refers to non-Christians. Jesus said that His kingdom "is not of this world," John 18:36. We also remember from Hebrews 11:8-10 that Abraham considered himself a foreigner in this world. If we are Abraham's offspring, Romans 9:8, like Isaac children of the promise, Galatians 4:28, then it follows that we too should consider ourselves as aliens and foreigners in this world. Remember, Paul said in Philippians 3:20 that our citizenship is in Heaven. This contrasts sharply with the "inhabitants of the earth."

The sixth seal is God's answer to that appeal, and is the gospel as defined by Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:3-8. God's answer has always been the cross. But at first this seal doesn't sound anything like it. What indicates its true meaning?

The main thing seems to be the references to Joel 2, many of which are quoted by Peter in Acts 2 and applied to the gospel, such as the sun turning black and the moon turning blood red (Revelation 6:12, Joel 2:31, Acts 2:20,) and the fright of everyone (Revelation 6:15, Joel 2:1, not quoted by Peter but still in the chapter from which he quoted, at v 1, 6.)) The first would probably make a Christian think of Peter's sermon, and if one goes to Joel 2 from which he quoted, he will find many images that are also in the sixth seal, such as the dreadful day of the Lord, v11, and the great day of their wrath, Revelation 6:17, which are parallel terms.

The images in v14 cause some to think that the sixth seal is a picture of the second coming of Christ, since the images seem to recall 2 Peter 3:10. One problem with that, though, is that chapter seven shows the earth still standing. Also, we would then have a time-line from God, covering all of mankind from Adam to the end, without so much as a reference to Jesus' first coming at all, which seems unlikely. But perhaps most telling is the fact that since this scroll has seven seals it will require the breaking of all seven to reveal the entire scroll. If the sixth seal is the second coming of Christ, then the seventh seal contains images inconsistent with life after that. It is true, as we will see later on, that there is an element of repetition in the book of Revelation, but the first example of that is not here.

So to sum up this chapter, and referring to the flowchart, we see that the first four seals represent man's devastating efforts without God, we see at the same time Godly people appealing to God, and we see His answer in Christ's death on the cross as the cure for all man's ills.