01.06. CHAPTER 6.
CHAPTER 6.
Revelation 6:1. “And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four living ones saying, ‘Come and see.’”
We have in this chapter the opening of the seals, thus making known to us the purposes of God; the time for the accomplishment of those purposes is yet future, awaiting the removal of the Church, and the completion of the present dispensation.
Revelation 6:2. “And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had [having] a bow; and a crown [a victor’s crown] was given unto him: and be went forth conquering, and to conquer.” The white horse is the emblem of military imperial power. And there is one to exercise it, a sitter on the horse; having a bow, not a sword, the instrument of indiscriminate slaughter, but a bow to single out and to destroy individuals who may resist his will.
Though he comes forward with authority to put any one to death, he wears no crown, but one is given to him; not a diadem, the regal crown, but a stephanos or victor’s crown. It is not a diadem inherited, but a victor’s crown given. So Napoleon I. and Napoleon III., after grasping the military power of the nation, each were voted Emperor of the French.
Thus in the possession of imperial power, the people’s king, he goes forth conquering and to conquer, extending his empire on every hand. The interpretation of these six seals we have given us in a most clear and convincing manner in Matthew 24:4 : “And Jesus answered and said unto them, ‘Take heed that no one deceive you, for many shall come in My name, saying, I am Christ: and shall deceive many.’” See also 1 John 2:18 : “Ye heard that the Antichrist shall come; even now are there many Antichrists.” This coming of Antichrist to usurp, and to have given to him the empire of the world, is set before us in the first-opened seal.
Revelation 6:3-4. “And when He had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast [living one] say [saying], ‘Come and see.’ And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.”
Compare Zechariah 6:1-3 : “And I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came four chariots out from between two mountains; and the mountains were mountains of brass. In the first chariot were red horses; and in the second chariot black horses; and in the third chariot white horses, and in the fourth chariot grisled and bay horses.” This is explained in Ezekiel 14:21 : “Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, how much more when I send My four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, sword, and famine, and noisome beast, and pestilence?” The red horse is the emblem of bloodshed and carnage; as Matthew 24:6-7 : “And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars. . For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.”
Revelation 6:5-6. “And when He had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast [living one] saying, ‘Come and see.’ And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him having a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts [living ones] saying, ‘A measure of wheat for a penny [denarius], and three measures of barley for a penny [denarius]; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.” This is the emblem of scarcity and famine, while the luxuries of the rich are left untouched. So Matthew 24:7 : “And there shall be famines.”
Revelation 6:7. “And when He had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast [living one] saying, ‘Come and see.’ And I looked, and behold a pale horse [a sallow or greenish horse]: and his name that sat on him was Death, and hell [Hades] followed with him. And power [authority] was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with [by] the wild beasts of the earth.” The first result of largely extended warfare is famine: the fields left uncultivated or devastated, then follows pestilence and death. So Matthew 24:7-8 : “And pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. But all these are the beginning of sorrows” (or throes). The first four seals refer to the events of the first three years and a half of Daniel’s last or seventieth week of years. The beginning of sorrows: afterwards come the times of great tribulation.
Revelation 6:9-11. “And when He had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: and they cried with a loud voice, saying, ‘How long [or until when], O Lord [Sovereign Lord], holy and true, dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?’ And white robes were given unto every one of them [each of them]; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow-servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.” This fifth seal is largely and fully gone into by the Lord Jesus in Matthew 24:9-22.
It is the time when the Antichrist, the lawless one, having broken his covenant and taken away the daily sacrifice at Jerusalem, sets up the abomination of desolation, and also sets himself in the temple of God, as God; when the godly flee, and persecution commences; the time of the great tribulation. Those slain are divided into two classes: those who are at first slain for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus—these are seen here as the souls under the altar; the other company are those subsequently slain because they will not worship the beast.
Revelation 6:12-17. “And I beheld when He had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there came a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken by a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondmanvand every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and to the rocks, ‘Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be [or is] able to stand?’” This corresponds exactly with the words of the Lord in Matthew 24:29 : “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: and then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn.”
All these are premonitory signs; as yet the Son of Man Himself has not appeared. The sixth seal brings the prophecy up to this period, and there leaves it.
Thus we find that these six seals conduct us through a certain aspect of the scenes of the last seven years, till the period “immediately after the tribulation of those days.” In the next chapter the spirit of prophecy goes back and fills up the picture with another aspect of the same period.