seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Revelation 6:1 I 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!” 2 I 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.
3 When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make people kill each other. To him was given a large sword.
5 When 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. 6 Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, “Two pounds[a] of wheat for a day’s wages,[b] and six pounds[c] of barley for a day’s wages,[d] and do not damage the oil and the wine!”
7 When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” 8 I 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.
9 When 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. 10 They 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?” 11 Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers and sisters,[e] were killed just as they had been.
12 I 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, 13 and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. 14 The heavens receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.
15 Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and free, hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. 16 They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us[f] from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17 For the great day of their[g] wrath has come, and who can withstand it?”
a. Revelation 6:6 Or about 1 kilogram
b. Revelation 6:6 Greek a denarius
c. Revelation 6:6 Or about 3 kilograms
d. Revelation 6:6 Greek a denarius
e. Revelation 6:11 The Greek word for brothers and sisters (adelphoi) refers here to believers, both men and women, as part of God’s family; also in 12:10; 19:10.
f. Revelation 6:16 See Hosea 10:8.
g. Revelation 6:17 Some manuscripts his
This is from the easy English site.
The Lamb opened the first seal of the scroll. He started the events of the last days. These are in the 7 seals. The last seal includes the 7 trumpets. The last trumpet includes the 7 bowls. The end of the world comes after the 7 bowls.
One of the four creatures called out. His voice was loud like the sound of thunder. He called for the first horseman to come. And John saw a white horse. The rider had a bow and a crown. He rode to fight and to win battles on the earth.
This rider was not Christ. Christ does come on a white horse in chapter 19. But Christ has many crowns. And, in that description, a sharp sword comes out of his mouth. But here, Christ opened the seal that caused this rider to come.
This was an evil rider. His aim was to hurt people and to fight battles. He was powerful and he did much damage on the earth.
The Lamb opened the second seal. The second creature called, ‘Come.’ A bright red horse came. The rider had received a large sword. He received the power to take peace from the earth.
This evil man caused people to kill each other. The red horse was the colour of blood. There were wars across the whole earth. The colour red reminds us about the blood of those who died in the battles.
The Lamb opened the next seal. As the third creature called out, John saw a black horse. As it came, he saw the rider. He had in his hands a balance. People would use a balance in order to measure the weight of things.
John heard a voice from the centre of the throne. It spoke about the price of wheat and barley. A man could buy enough wheat for himself for one day. That would cost all that he earned in that day. Barley was the food of poor people. It was not as good for food as wheat. So, for the same cost he could buy enough for three people. These food prices were about 12 times more than normal.
There was not enough food. So, the food was very expensive. People were poor and many died. They starved to death.
The horseman could not spoil the oil and the wine. These were necessary for people to live during those times.
After the third seal came the fourth one. Jesus the Lamb broke it open. The fourth creature called for the next horse. This horse was pale, which is the colour of the skin of dead people. Death was the name of the rider, and Hades followed him.
They received the power to kill. They had the right to kill a quarter of all the people on the earth. They used four methods to achieve this. The first was with swords. Many people died because of wars and murder. Many more people died because of lack of food. Many people died because of diseases. Even the wild animals suffered because of lack of food. So, the wild animals attacked and killed people.
Hades is the name of the place of dead people. In Hades, they wait for the day when God will be their judge. Those who belong to Christ will not go to Hades. They go to be with the Lord in heaven.
The seven seals divide into two groups of four and three. The first four were about the horses and riders. They were about what happened on the earth. With the fifth seal, the events moved from earth to heaven.
The Lord Jesus opened the fifth seal. John saw an altar in heaven. Under the altar there were the souls of those who had died. These people died because they believed in the Lord. They believed the word of God. They had been good servants of God.
John speaks about these souls being under the altar. When a priest made a sacrifice, he poured out the blood below the*altar. The idea here is that these people were like a sacrifice. They were as a sacrifice made to God. In fact, they died on earth. But by their death, they offered their souls on the altar in heaven.
They spoke to the Lord because he has all authority. The Lord is holy. And he will do what is right. In the end, he must punish all evil actions. The Lord will punish the people who had caused their deaths. They knew this. These souls asked the Lord a question. They were asking, ‘How long must we wait? When will you punish those who caused our deaths?’
God told them to be patient. They must wait a little time. People on the earth would kill more of God’s people. Then the time will come and God will act.
John watched as the Lamb opened the sixth seal. The heavens and the earth shook. God had said ‘Once more, I will shake the heavens and the earth’ (Haggai 2:6).
At the same time, the sun became dark. It was as if a black cloth covered the sun. The light could not shine through it. The day became as the night. The moon glowed a deep red colour. It was the colour of blood.
The ancient people had a tradition. They believed that the stars would fall from the sky. When this happened, the end of the world would come.
The sky disappeared as if God had rolled it up. The mountains and islands moved.
Stars cannot fall to the earth. The sky cannot disappear like a scroll. This is the language of poetry. It shows how awful these events will be. They will come before the *Lord returns to the earth. But it is not just poetry. It tells about real events that will happen in the skies.
At these terrible events, all the people on earth were afraid. They cried out in terror. They tried to hide from God and from the Lord Jesus. They tried to escape from the anger of God and of the Lamb. They would rather die than meet with God.
In the end, there will be no place to hide. All will have to meet with God. And, in that day, God will be their judge. This will be the day of God’s anger. And the Lamb will be angry with all those who are on the earth. Nobody will be able to escape from the fierce anger of God and of the Lamb.
I'm setting the scene again. John was on a rocky deserted island... alone. He is having a vision. The vision started out with seeing just Jesus.... glowing like He did when He met with Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration. An Angel has been assigned to John... so that anything that John sees that can only be described by using signs.... will be interpreted by the Angel so John can understand. John then saw an open door in Heaven.... so He looked inside A strong Angel... I figure that Angel might have been Gabriel.... was throwing a temper tantrum over what the humans put Jesus the Messiah through. God was sitting in His place and He's holding a scroll... chock full of instructions for ending humanity as we humans know it. That strong Angel demanded to know [well as much as a Strong Angel can demand when in Heaven.... like an angry soldier] when they could break open the document and start the revenge. I figure the Angel is angry over the beating and hanging they put Jesus through..... then Jesus takes the scroll..... and because He's the one the humans beat and hung.... and He's the one they tried to murder.... and because He walked out of the Tomb..... He can open it.... andNow Jesus is popping the six seals. People.... humans.... always want to know... has it started yet? When's it coming? They look up... the sun is yellow... all is good and they can go on about their business.
On earth today.... there are roughly 7.8 billion people in the world today. If I divide 7.8 billion people by four.... that's a quarter.... that's 1.95 Billion human lives. I think the world is going to hell in a handbasket with all the sickness strife and war.... but only 1.53 Million people have died from COVID-19 so far. So... as bad as things are right now..... things will get a whole lot worse..... millions more of humans will expire before the fourth seal is resolved.
The first horse doesn't bother me as much as the second horse..... it takes peace from the earth.... it's a Red Horse.... the color of blood... and the rider has a sword.... and he's hear to take away our peace. Let me ask.... I'm afraid the answer will be "yes".... but if I were to ask... "do you think someone has already stolen your peace?".... I bet the answer from most people would be "yes". But look..... there are millions of humans who must die to appease the fourth seal. How much more peace has to leave before the second seal is appeased? How much more can we withstand?
When John talks about that third seal.... John says the price of even barley will skyrocket. Barley was the poor man's grain in John's day. According to the commentary.... a family of three would have to pay a days wages for enough barley to get through the day. At $15 an hour [being minimum wage] and using only an 8 hour day.... well that's $120 a day to feed three people meager meals a day..... that's $40 a day per person..... and I get angry when I have to pay $4 for a loaf of bread. I've seen the lines for food that form every day.... and I think to myself... it's going to get worse..... and little more peace is gone.
I have to inject here..... in verse 6 it says "do not damage the oil and the wine". Oil and wine were for the rich. The rich will not go hungry.... they can afford wheat, oil and wine... they will continue to have their banquets.
Humans are predictable.... when humans get hurt or hungry... they get angry.... and with no peace to hold their tempers in check.... they are going to kill each other.... my neighbor is not only going to want what I have... my neighbor will think they deserve what I have more than I do. That is going to make people willing to kill each other.
I know the end times hasn't started completely.... yep I'm pretty sure my peace has been stolen... and I've seen the food lines here in my neighborhood.... but I don't think He has popped all those first six seals yet... because there's going to be an earthquake.... the sky will grow dark.... and I even read here... there's going to be another Sodom type meteor storm. Those have not begun. The rocks are going to scream... it says the mountains and islands will be moved from their place. I don't know why everyone is so intense about the Temple Mount.... the sixth seal is going to move it anyway!
Finally... there will probably be someone who reads this who will want to comfort me...by saying... "we're Christians... He's coming to take us away before the tribulation..... but I wonder.... when does the tribulation really start? Right now I feel as though my peace is faltering.... I know at least a quarter million families in the US are going to be mourning someone this Christmas Season. There are so many people rioting, raping and murdering in the world. If my peace has been taken.... it's going to get worse? This chapter says those who had already been murdered in the name of Jesus want to know... how much longer until we get our revenge? The answer is right there.... in verse 11 it says... "until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers and sisters,[e] were killed just as they had been". Not all the martyrs have gathered yet....and that steals even more of my peace.
This chapter is about peace.... Jesus brought it... Peace on Earth.... but a horseman is coming who is going to take it away again. Has the horseman been here? How's you peace?
