Rev 6v1-8v1 The 7 Seals & the Sealed Saints

6 1I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, "Come!" 2I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest. 3When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, "Come!" 4Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other. To him was given a large sword.

5When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, "Come!" I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. 6Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, "A quartA of wheat for a day's wages,B and three quarts of barley for a day's wages,C and do not damage the oil and the wine!" 7When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, "Come!" 8I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

9When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. 10They called out in a loud voice, "How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?" 11Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed.

12I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, 13and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as late figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. 14The sky receded like a scroll, rolling up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. 15Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. 16They called to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?"

6:2 rider on a white horse. The imagery of the four horsemen comes from Zec 1:8-17; 6:1-8 Major interpretations :  Jesus Christ  c.f. Rev rider on white horse who is called Faithful and True and crowned with many crowns  The Spirit of Conquest  Fits context better  Differentiated from the Lamb who releases him

 6:4 another horse... a fiery red one.  Symbolizing bloodshed and war (cf. Zec 1:8; 6:2). Its rider has the power to take peace from the earth - to make men slay each other.  Red horse - internal revolution, terrorism, civil war  Most wars now are civil wars & insurrections

Start of conflict ConflictCont-inentLocation Cumulativ e fatalities Fatalities in 2014 Fatalities in Syrian Civil War Asia Syria 200,000 [2] - 300,000 [3] [2] 300,000 [3] 76,021 [4] [4] 2,683 [5] [5] 2013 South Sudanese Civil War Africa South SudanSouth Sudan 50,000+ [6] [6] 40,000+ [6] [6] 52 [7][8] [7][8] 2011 Iraqi Civil War Asia Iraq 35,829+ [9][1 0] 21,073+ [10][ 11] [10][ 11] 1,482 [9] [9] 2001 War in Afghanista n Asia Afghanista nAfghanista n 56,000+ [12] [12] 13,766 [13][14 ][15][16][17] [13][14 ][15][16][17] 416 [18][19] [18][19] 2009 Boko Haram insurgency Africa Nigeria CameroonNigeriaCameroon 22,000+ [20][ 25][55] [20][ 25][55] 10,849 [20][56 ][57] [20][56 ][57] ,484 [7][58][59 ][60] [7][58][59 ][60] Conflicts with 10,000 or more deaths per year

 6:5 black horse. Symbolizing scarcity and economic failure.  6:6 "A quart of wheat for a day's wages, and three quarts of barley for a day's wages  Famine inflated prices to 10 x normal level.  God limits the scarcity

1932 Soviet Famine 7m-10m 1944Java2.4m China15m-43m 1974Bangladesh1m 1996N.Korea1m-3.5m Congo War3.8m

 Pale horse - appearance represents the ashen features of the dead - mirroring the rider, Death  Companion – Hades ( H eb. Sheol) - the place of the dead  Death is the result of conquest, bloodshed and famine

John sees those martyred for their faith  6:9 under the altar. In OT the blood of sacrifices was poured out at the base of the altar (Ex 29:12; Lev 4:7).  Martyrs cry out to God that he avenge their suffering against the inhabitants of the earth. A regular term in Rev. for mankind in hostility to God (see 3:10; 8:13; 11:10; 13:8,12; 17:2,8).  6:11 white robe. Symbolic of purity (see 3:5,18; 4:4; 7:9,13; 19:14).  Wait until the number (of the martyrs ).. was completed. Jewish thought -the end awaits the death of a certain no. of righteous (1 Enoch 47:4).

 Cry for vengeance is very powerful  Martyrs don’t seek to revenge themselves – cry out to God to avenge -  Dt 32v35 It is mine to avenge.  And whilst God is love, merciful & forgiving – in his justice he will avenge evil.  The Church has suffered, is suffering, and will continue to suffer for her faith, and increasingly so.

At opening of 6 th seal John witnesses a cataclysmic event.  Great earthquake - regular feature of divine visitation  Sun turns black & Moon turns red -  Prophecy of Joel 2:31 (quoted by Peter at Pentecost) as signs of the end times 31The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.  Stars fall to earth & sky recedes like a scroll  Mountains and islands are moved  Referencing Is 34 which describes the day of the Lord’s vengeance 4All the stars of the heavens will be dissolved and the sky rolled up like a scroll; all the starry host will fall like withered leaves from the vine, like shriveled figs from the fig tree.  This the OT Day of the Lord - now the also the Day of the wrath of the Lamb

We do know when then 6 th Seal event is to take place  Mt 24 3 Disciples ask Jesus “what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?"  Wars & rumours of wars  Famines  Earthquakes  All these are the beginning of birth pains.  Persecution of Christians  False prophets  Universal preaching of the gospel  A time of great distress (tribulation)

Then  Mt 24 29"Immediately after the distress of those days " `the sun will be darkened, The sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’ 30"At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory.  This is the 6th seal `skyfall` event immediately prior to the return of Christ

 Describe a world where evil is abroad - bringing suffering on the Church and the rest of Mankind.  Evil increases in a cyclic fashion as the end approaches.  Don’t despair -the Lamb gives authority to the riders & limits their destructive scope.  God is in control - these are his judgements.  e.g Romans 1 18The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness,

7 1After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree. 2Then I saw another angel coming up from the east, having the seal of the living God. He called out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea: 3"Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God

 Just prior to the opening of the 7th seal - Jesus gives a vision to encourage the church through this suffering and distress  Angel carrys the seal of God & restrains the 4 angels who have the power to harm the earth prior to placing a seal on the forehead of the servants of God  Reference to Ez 9.4 when a man marks the faithful remnant of Isreal with a Heb taw (in ancient script X) to avoid God’s judgement

4Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel. 5From the tribe of Judah 12,000 were sealed, from the tribe of Reuben 12,000, from the tribe of Gad 12,000, 6from the tribe of Asher 12,000, from the tribe of Naphtali 12,000, from the tribe of Manasseh 12,000, 7from the tribe of Simeon 12,000, from the tribe of Levi 12,000, from the tribe of Issachar 12,000, 8from the tribe of Zebulun 12,000, from the tribe of Joseph 12,000, from the tribe of Benjamin 12,000.

Who are these ?  1. The NT church as renewed Isreal  12 apostles = 12 x 12 x 1000  2. Faithful remnant of believing Isreal - plainer meaning  God has not rejected his people Romans 11v1,11

9After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10And they cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.“

13Then one of the elders asked me, "These in white robes--who are they, and where did they come from?" 14I answered, "Sir, you know." And he said, "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 15Therefore,

"they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. 16Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat.

17For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."

8 1When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.