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About Jesus Steve Sweetman This Section - Chapter 6
Introduction
To The Judgments There
are two major ways of interpreting the chronology of the seven seals, the
seven trumpets, and the seven bowls, judgments among Prophetic Futurists.
One way is to see them in chronological order.
That is to say all of the seals take place first, then the
trumpets, and then the judgments. The
second way to view them is taking place all at the same time.
There
is another way to view them that should not be discounted, although not as
popular. This view is to
understand the seven seals as an overview of the tribulation.
The seven trumpets and the seven bowls are then seen as being
understood chronologically. As
yet, I'm not fully convinced on what position I take.
All have their good points, however, at the moment, I am leaning
towards the third view, mainly because the sixth seal appears to me to be
the end of the age, and, if that is the case, the seven trumpets and the
seven bowls cannot come after the seven seals.
In
this chapter we will see the Lamb who has been slain open the seals to the
scroll we saw in the last chapter. The
Lamb is Jesus. If you read
Daniel 12 you will note that God told Daniel to close up, or to seal up,
the scroll that contained the visions he saw.
The scroll was to be sealed until the time of the end. It
is quite possible that the scroll Daniel was told to seal is now being
opened by Jesus in this chapter.
One thing we should note before we go any farther is
that what John sees in this vision is taking place in heaven, but, what is
taking place in heaven has earthly consequences.
I say this because some people think there will be riders on horses
at this moment of time in history as seen in this chapter, but that's
probably not the way it will be. If
John was viewing the actual events on earth, he would have seen things
differently, but he didn't. He
saw events unfold in heaven, and, as they unfolded in heaven, the
corresponding events on earth unfolded. Chapter
6 begins the opening of the seven seals, although One
thing to note is that what happens from here on out in Revelation is not
necessarily chronological. The
last verse of chapter 6 seems to say that the Great and Terrible Day of
Jesus’ return comes, but how could it come with more events needing to
be fulfilled that are written in the rest of the book?
It appears that chapter 7 is actually stepping back from the actual
vision to explain something else, or is a rewind back to the first seal.
So, many scholars suggest that what you read from chapter 6 through
19 is not chronological, but much of what is happening is happening all at
once. It is like viewing
different scenes in a movie. The
scene comes after one another, but in the time line of the movie they are
all happening at the same time. That
being said, there are a good number of Bible teachers who do believe
Revelation is in chronological order. As
I've said above, there is a less known way to understand this and that is
to view the first six seals as an overview of the tribulation and the seven
trumpets and bowls as being in chronological order.
The
first four seals have men and horses as the main aspect to the seal, while
the last three don’t. They
are merely events. For this
reason, some feel that we should view the four horsemen as events as well,
thus each of the horsemen don’t have to symbolize men.
That being said, most Prophetic Futurists view the first rider on
the horse as a man, who is the anti-Christ. A
side question, as I've mentioned beofre, could these events begin to happen and gradually reach a climax or do
they just suddenly appear on the scene in all of their fiery force?
I can’t say for sure, but it would not surprise me that once the
seal is broken the event begins to take place and gets worse as time goes
on. That means, if you believe
in a post-tribulation rapture, these seals could already be broken and the
events have now been set in motion. If
you believe in a pre-tribulation rapture, then these seals are not yet
broken because we Christians are still on earth.
Again,
I
would also suggest that prior to these seals being opened we will see
things that happen on earth that make it easy for the events of these
seals to take place. For
example, the first seal, as we will see, is commonly understood to be the
anti-Christ's appearance on earth to establish his one world government.
Prior to the anti-Christ's move for world domination, the move
towards a one world government will well be underway.
People will believe that this is the way the world should go, which
in turn makes it possible for the anti-Christ's plans to be realized.
This is happening right now as I write here in 2015.
So, it may be possible, and I say may be possible, that some of
these seals have already been opened and gradually the things they cause
to happen on earth are beginning to take place.
That's assuming we are that close to the end. On
the other hand, if the first seal releases the anti-Christ onto the world
scene, then that clearly has not taken place, unless he is already alive
and has not yet risen to power.
I'll say one more thing before we comment on verse 1.
Many Futurists suggest that there is a strong correlation between
the first four seals and the first four things that Jesus says will take
place before the end comes, as seen in Matthew 24.
The first thing that Jesus warned about was anti-Christs or false
prophets. Most Futurists
believe the first rider is the anti-Christ, although a few think it's
Jesus. It can't be Jesus.
How can Jesus be both the opener of the seal and the rider that
comes forth once the seal is opened? That
makes no sense.
In
verse 1 you notice it is the Lamb, not the Lion, who opens the seals, as
we saw in chapter 5. God’s
Lamb is quite mighty and powerful. He
is not shy or sheepish. This
makes me believe that there is great power in the cross of Christ.
It was the cross of Christ that permits Revelation to take place in
the history of man. One
of the four creatures announces in a thundering voice that the Lamb is
about to open the first seal. Notice
again the voice is described as thundering.
It appears that all of what is seen by John is very powerful.
Even the creatures when they talk speak in thundering voices. It's
not only Jesus who speaks in a thundering voice.
This thundering voice may be commonplace in heaven but when heard
by mere humans may be loud and overwhelming.
We have two very different spheres of reality here.
Heaven is an altogether different type of place than earth. When
the first seal was opened a rider on a white horse appears.
We see a rider on a white horse riding across the land, bent on
conquering. Many, if not most,
who hold to the Prophetic Futurist and pre-millennium view of prophecy
suggest this is the anti-Christ. Some
have suggested that it is Jesus, but I don’t believe this to be the
case. White
always suggests righteousness, but in this case, if this is indeed the
anti-Christ, then this is a false righteousness.
The rider on this horse is given a crown, suggesting him to be a
ruler, which the anti-Christ surely will be.
The idea that he will be given a crown suggests to me that the
majority of those on earth will want him to lead them.
They will give him the authority to do as he sees fit.
One
thing to note is that if this person is the anti-Christ, he cannot come
onto the world seen until Jesus opens this seal, that is, until Jesus
allows him to rule the earth. So,
we need to understand that the anti-Christ can't do anything without
Jesus' permission. The fact of
the matter is that the anti-Christ, although he would not admit it, is
actually a tool in the hand of God.
Some
suggest that the anti-Christ will establish his kingdom in a diplomatic
way and not by war. They say
this because he holds a bow in his hand without any mention of any arrows
in this passage. I can
understand the reasoning here but it is a bit speculative, and, the
argument is based on silence. Silence
is not a good foundation to base any argument on.
Besides, what we do know is that this man is bent on conquering,
and in my thinking, conquering suggests a fight.
One
thing we should note about the anti-Christ here is that he is just a man
without being heavily influenced by the devil.
Satan doesn't give him his power and authority until Revelation
13:11 and following. In
verse 3 we see another creature telling John to watch the second seal
being opened. This time a
rider was riding a red horse. This
rider was given power to take peace from the earth that would cause men to
slay one another. Possibly the
red horse stood for red blood of dying people. Most
in the Prophetic Futurist camp say the first rider is the anti-Christ, a
literal man, but they don’t say this second rider is a literal man.
I think that is quite evident.
The text pretty clearly states that war breaks out on earth when
this seal is opened. When
thinking of these riders on their horses, the actual riders might well be
angelic beings that represent something that takes place on earth.
In other words, the angelic being causes the anti-Christ to rise to
power and war to break out on earth.
In
verses 5 and 6 we see Jesus opening the third seal.
This seal has to do with the world’s economy.
A voice says that a quart of wheat and three quarts of barley costs
a day’s wage. Then the voice
says not to harm the oil and the wine.
To me this suggests world wide economic problems.
I can only guess what the reference to oil and wine mean. I
do believe "oil" is in reference to olive oil, not the oil in
the ground that runs our economy. Many
prophetic Futurists suggest that the oil and wine speaks of wealth.
When the oil and wine aren't touched by a bad economy, this
suggests the wealthy of the earth still maintain their affluence.
This might well be the case. Whatever
the case, the breaking of this seal suggests economic challenges on the
whole earth which in part causes a famine on the earth. When
Jesus opened the fourth seal in verse 7 John saw a pale coloured horse
called Death, and right behind him was a horse called Hades.
In this case the text actually tells us something concrete about
the horse and rider. Either
they are symbolic of death and Hades or, as I said earlier, the riders are
angelic beings that cause something to take place on earth.
We
need to know that Hades is the place of the lost and unsaved dead. It is
not the The
rider on this horse appears to be followed by another horse and rider as
I've just mentioned. Both are
given the authority to kill one quarter of the world’s population by
war, starvation, and animals. By
today's population standards that would be more than a billion and a half
people. That's a lot of
people. It
is interesting to note that one way people are killed is by animals.
Animals will attack people. We're
seeing that more and more these days as humans expand into the country
side where animals have traditionally lived.
It appears that the whole animal kingdom will go wild in the last
seven years of this age. Of
course, that will all end when Jesus returns and rules the earth for a
thousand years. In
verses 9 through 11 we see Jesus opening the fifth seal.
This seal is different. The
first four seals portrayed men on horses which are often called the four
horsemen of the apocalypse. They
were told to come on the scene by the four living creatures.
There are no men or horses this time.
There are the martyred saints that appear under an alter crying out
to God concerning their death being avenged and when final judgment would
come to the earth. At this
point all these people were given a white robe and told to wait just a
little while longer until the complete number of martyrs were killed.
The fact that these souls were given a white robe has caused much debate. Did these souls already have their glorified eternal bodies? I don't think so. That would come later. How can white robes be placed on souls? Are these real robes? Are they symbolic robes, or, are these some kind of spiritual robes? At the moment I tend to lean towards the idea that they are spiritual robe As
I’ve seen in other places throughout the New Testament, God has a time
table and He seems to have a numbering system.
There are a specific number of martyrs that would be killed for the
name of Jesus, and to this point, that number had not been reached.
God appears to be the ultimate mathematician. This
also tells me that there must be Christians on earth at this point in time
or else there could not be anyone martyred for Jesus during this time.
Either these Christians are here because they got saved during the
tribulation period, or else there’s no such thing as a pre-tribulation
rapture. Some believe in what
is called a "pre-wrath rapture".
They say this takes place at the end of chapter 6.
They say that Christians won't experience God's wrath, which I
believe is true. They say
God's wrath begins after chapter 6. That
which is seen in chapter 6 is satan's wrath, according to the
"pre-wrath rapture" theory.
These people separate the last seven years of this age into two
halves; the second half being what they call the Great Tribulation.
They believe the rapture comes around the half way point of the
last seven years. Most
Prophetic Futurists believe that these martyrs were killed during the last
seven years of this age. They
don't believe these are believers who have been martyred prior to these
last seven years. There
is some debate over whether these martyrs are just Christian Jews or if
they include Christian Gentiles.
We should note that in heaven there is an altar. This we should already know from our study of the Old Testament because the tabernacle that Moses built was an earthly replica of the one in heaven. That being said, we can not assume that the earthly altar looks like the heavenly altar, just as we can't assume the throne we've seen so far in Revelation looks like an earthly throne. Remember, we're in heaven at this point and I don't believe there's a lot of similarity between heaven and earth.
The fact that these souls are under or before the altar tells me that their lives have been sacrificed for the sake of the Lord and His gospel. This sacrifice obviously is not atonement. Only Jesus' sacrifice can atone for sin. This is what the Old Testament calls a drink offering, or, as the Apostle Paul once put it when he said his life was being poured out like a drink offering (Philippians 2:17).
It should be noted that in Romans 12:19 Christians
are not to have anything to do with avenging their blood.
As Jesus said, we are to love our enemies.
But, here we see that these martyred souls are crying out for
vengeance. This might well
suggest, as I believe, the time of the tribulation as seen in Revelation
is actually a different dispensation, or age, from the present age in
which we live. The tribulation
period is a time of judgment and the pouring out of God's wrath, thus, the
reason why these souls can cry out for vengeance.
Note the aspect of time concerning these saints under
the altar in heaven. They are
waiting for God to avenge their blood.
God says that it is not time yet for Him to avenge their blood.
They must wait a little longer.
The point that can be made here is that, although God Himself lives
outside of our time and space, these souls still live in time and space
even though they are in heaven. Therefore,
existence in heaven has some kind of element of time and space.
From
verse 12 to the end of this chapter we see what happens on earth when the
sixth seal is opened. There
are great earthquakes. The
solar system seems to be going out of control.
The sun is darkened. The
moon turns blood red. These
things are also seen in the prophet Joel whom Peter quotes on the Day of
Pentecost. If
you believe that the book of Revelation is written chronologically, this
seal isn't at the last of the seven years.
There is more to come. If
you believe that the events in Revelation take place in scenes that
overlap each other, this seal might well be the very end of the last seven
years. If you believe this
chapter is an overview of the tribulation, then you'll believe this is the
end of the age. In my
thinking, no matter what you believe, the things described in the sixth
seal clearly
take place at the end of this age as seen by the prophet Joel and others.
That
would tell me that these seals are either a broad overview of the
judgments seen in Revelation or they overlap the other judgments we will
see. You can't have the end
this earth as we know it with this sixth seal when there is more to take
place on earth as seen in the following chapters.
That's simple common sense. So,
I don't believe all of Revelation is in chronological order; at least
these seals aren't anyway. The
rest of what we see in Revelation might well be in chronological order,
but not these seals.
In
verses 15 through 17 we see that everyone on earth, both great and small
are in tremendous fear. They
try to hide themselves for fear of the One who sits on the throne and from
the Lamb. We should notice the
fear isn’t fear from the earthquakes and natural disasters. They fear
the One who sits on the throne and the Lamb who is bringing about these
disasters. At this point in
history, all mankind acknowledges the existence of both God and Jesus.
They understand that what they are experiencing is because of God
and Jesus. The day of the atheist is
long gone at this point. The
last verse says that “the great day of their wrath has come and who can
stand it”. This is the great
day of God’s judgment. When
speaking of the "Day of Wrath" we need to know that it can be
taken in two ways. The word
"day" in this respect is commonly used as a period of time in
the Bible, not just one twenty four hour day.
The tribulation period, whether you view it as all of the last
seven years or just the last three and a half years, is seen as the Day of
Wrath. The Day of Wrath can
also be understood as the very last day of this age, meaning, a literal
day. Depending on how you view
the chronology of Revelation will determine whether the Day of Wrath
spoken of here is a period of time known as the tribulation period or the
very last day of this age. I
believe it's the very last day of this age. The
question is asked in verse 17, "Who can stand" the wrath of God?
No one can endure the wrath of God.
At this point we should note the difference between God's wrath and
God's discipline. They are two
different things. Christians
can and will be disciplined by God but they will not experience God's day
of wrath. All that being said,
we will see in the next chapter that those who are sealed with the seal of
God will be protected by what takes place here on earth.
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