In this chapter, the Lamb begins opening the seven seals on the scroll. The last verse in this chapter sums up what the six seals being opened are all about – a great day of wrath has come!
The first four seals are preceded by each of the four living creatures calling to John, “Come!” Each of these are riders going out on horses.
The fifth seal is different. Here we see the souls of the martyrs crying out to God for vengeance. And they are instructed to wait a little longer.
With the sixth seal we see the heavens and the earth shaken and the mighty ones in the earth crying out to die when faced with God’s wrath. It’s apocalyptic! But it’s not the final scene. Death and the grave have power on only a fourth of the earth. ¼ here is another symbolic number signifying that the judgment is partial, not final. We’ve seen this act play out many times before.
See Noah being persecuted and ridiculed as he constructed the ark. Hear him cry out like the martyrs under the altar, “How long, O Lord?!” And then the day of judgment comes and the mighty cry out for a quick death in the face of the judgments of the sixth seal. It’s apocalyptic!
See Abraham as he pleads for the righteous living in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. See the vexation of Lot’s righteous soul as he witnesses the wickedness all around him. God heeds Abraham’s cry and rescues Lot and his family while raining death and destruction on his neighbors and the cities of the plains of Sodom. It’s apocalyptic!
See the Israelites languishing in slavery in Egypt crying out to God for deliverance. Watch as the Almighty sends plague after plague on their oppressors until the Red Sea at last provides deliverance for God’s people and judgment on Pharoah and his army. It’s apocalyptic!
See the prophets in the Old Testament crying out to the great I Am to vindicate their message in the face of a lost and hostile people, once the apple of God’s eye, but now prostituting themselves to false gods. And the pagan hoards come and slaughter them, destroy Jerusalem, and drag their best and brightest into exile. It’s apocalyptic!
And it happens again shortly after John’s vision when the beleaguered believers flee Jerusalem when the Romans burn Jerusalem and plow it under, never to be the Holy City again for thousands of years. It’s apocalyptic!
Likewise, the seven churches of Revelation are crying out to the Lamb, “How long, O Lord?!” And the answer is like all the answers in ages past. The time is soon coming when the world will be judged, and the saints will be rescued. But it is not the final judgment. There is a final day coming.
The first four seals are preceded by each of the four living creatures calling to John, “Come!” Each of these are riders going out on horses.
- A conquering rider on a white horse.
- A rider on a red horse who could incite people to kill each other.
- A rider with a pair of scales on a black horse who will measure paltry amounts of food to starving people.
- A rider named Death (followed by the Grave) is on a pale horse who has power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine, plague, and wild beasts.
The fifth seal is different. Here we see the souls of the martyrs crying out to God for vengeance. And they are instructed to wait a little longer.
With the sixth seal we see the heavens and the earth shaken and the mighty ones in the earth crying out to die when faced with God’s wrath. It’s apocalyptic! But it’s not the final scene. Death and the grave have power on only a fourth of the earth. ¼ here is another symbolic number signifying that the judgment is partial, not final. We’ve seen this act play out many times before.
See Noah being persecuted and ridiculed as he constructed the ark. Hear him cry out like the martyrs under the altar, “How long, O Lord?!” And then the day of judgment comes and the mighty cry out for a quick death in the face of the judgments of the sixth seal. It’s apocalyptic!
See Abraham as he pleads for the righteous living in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. See the vexation of Lot’s righteous soul as he witnesses the wickedness all around him. God heeds Abraham’s cry and rescues Lot and his family while raining death and destruction on his neighbors and the cities of the plains of Sodom. It’s apocalyptic!
See the Israelites languishing in slavery in Egypt crying out to God for deliverance. Watch as the Almighty sends plague after plague on their oppressors until the Red Sea at last provides deliverance for God’s people and judgment on Pharoah and his army. It’s apocalyptic!
See the prophets in the Old Testament crying out to the great I Am to vindicate their message in the face of a lost and hostile people, once the apple of God’s eye, but now prostituting themselves to false gods. And the pagan hoards come and slaughter them, destroy Jerusalem, and drag their best and brightest into exile. It’s apocalyptic!
And it happens again shortly after John’s vision when the beleaguered believers flee Jerusalem when the Romans burn Jerusalem and plow it under, never to be the Holy City again for thousands of years. It’s apocalyptic!
Likewise, the seven churches of Revelation are crying out to the Lamb, “How long, O Lord?!” And the answer is like all the answers in ages past. The time is soon coming when the world will be judged, and the saints will be rescued. But it is not the final judgment. There is a final day coming.
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