Review
Last time we saw the worship given to both the “One” on the throne and to the “Lamb.”
We saw how the thousands upon thousands of angels joined in the songs of praise and glory given to the Lamb and the Father.
In this article, we'll see what John saw as the Lamb opens the first seal.
We'll be looking at The Four Horsemen, but only at the first of the four horsemen.
Introduction
The source of the seven-sealed scroll is now fully disclosed. The scene is set and the time is right to begin breaking the seals, one by one.
Five questions must be answered before chapter 6 can be understood.
First, are the events that begin with the breaking of the first seal past or future?
· Though many people have tried to find fulfillment of these prophecies in the past, there are solid reasons for believing that the events of Revelation are still in the future:
o First, the vision in chapters 4-5 is described in 4:1 as “after this,” that is, after the Revelation to the seven churches which was described in 1:19 as “what is now”:
Ø In contrast, the things we’re going to look at are described as “what will take place later.”
o Second, since the scroll in 5:1 is “sealed,” the implication is that the seals are broken at a time after chapter 5, that is, after John’s view of the throne room.
o Third, virtually all attempts to find fulfillment of the seal judgments in past history have failed to give any consistent interpretation, with no two commentators agreeing.
o Fourth, there is no sequence of historical events that corresponds to these events.
· For these reasons, we can conclude that these judgments are yet future.
Second question: What is the relationship of the seals to the Rapture (catching away) of the Church?
· In Rev. 3:10-11, in the letter to the church in Philadelphia, Jesus tells them, “Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell upon the earth.”
· Beginning in chapter 6, there is no reference to the Church or to the Rapture.
· Since neither the Rapture nor the Church are the subject of Revelation chapters 6-18, many conclude that the Rapture of the Church takes place at, or before, the events beginning in chapter 4, which was when John was called up to see the heavenly throne-room.
· Other verses that support this belief:
- Romans 5:9, “Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.”
- 1 Thess. 1:9-10, “For they themselves report about us what kind of a reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God, v.10 and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come.”
- And many other passages!
· Therefore, the Rapture precedes the Great Tribulation (this is the pre-Tribulation Rapture position).
Third question: What is the relationship of the seals to Daniel 9:27?
· Israel’s program, concluding in the 70th week of Daniel, is best understood as related to the scenes described here in Revelation.
· Some have tried to find historic fulfillment of Daniel 9:27, but nothing in history really corresponds to it. So, it is better to consider the last seven years of Daniel’s seventieth week as the final period leading up to the second coming of Christ and therefore still future.
Fourth question: Does Revelation deal with the entire seven years anticipated in Daniel 9:27 or only with the last three and one-half years, often referred to as “The Great Tribulation” or “a time of great distress” in Jeremiah 30:7; Daniel 12:1; Matthew 24:21?
· Because The Great Tribulation is specifically mentioned in Revelation 7:14 and the same period is called “the great day of their wrath” (6:17), there seems to be clear identification of Daniel 9:27 with the events of Revelation.
· Most scholars assume that the events beginning in Revelation 6 cover the whole seven-year period. However, there are some good, godly men, who disagree.
· The book of Revelation never uses a seven-year figure, but frequently refers to three and one-half years or 42 months (11:2; 13:5).
· Because the events of chapter 6 and afterward seem to coincide with The Great Tribulation rather than with the time of peace in the first half of the seven years (1 Thes. 5:3), there are good reasons for concluding that these judgments are compacted in the last three and one-half years before Christ’s return to the earth.
Fifth question: What is the relationship of the events of Revelation to Christ’s sermon on the end times (Matt. 24-25)?
· J. Dwight Pentecost points out in his book “Things to Come,” the order of events in Revelation and the order of events in Matthew are strikingly similar:
o War (Matt. 24:6-7; Rev. 6:3-4)
o Famine (Matt. 24:7; Rev. 6:5-6),
o Death (Matt. 24:7-9; Rev. 6:7-8),
o Martyrdom (Matt. 24:9-10, 16-22; Rev. 6:9-11),
o The sun and the moon darkened with stars falling (Matt. 24:29; Rev. 6:12-14),
o Divine judgment (Matt. 24:32-25:26; REev. 6:15-17).
The evidence points to the conclusion that it’s describing the final period for this age which concludes with the second coming of Christ to set up His Millennial Kingdom.
Now that we’ve laid some foundation, let’s get into the text.
Revelation 6:1-3
v.1, “And I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of thunder, ‘come’”:
· "And I saw”: This marks a new part of the vision that started in chapter 4 and 5.
· These words launch the Revelation, what’s going to happen in the future.
· Remember, the first five chapters, gave us an introduction:
o Chapter one was John's preparation to receive the information.
o Chapters 2-3 informed the seven churches of the requirements necessary to avoid the horrors of "the hour of trial."
o Chapters 4-5 described the throne room: the “One” sitting on the throne and the “Lamb.”
o It also let us know from where the wrath of God will come.
o Only now, in chapter 6, does the revealing of the judgments begin:
Ø After five chapters of elaborate preparation, "the things that must happen soon" begin to unfold.
· In v.1, John says, "and I saw." This clarifies John’s purpose: he is to be an eyewitness of this staging of future events.
· Notice, each time, with the opening of a seal, nothing is read from the scroll, but actions occur that match the part of the scroll that’s exposed.
· The first four openings of the seals have some things in common:
- Each is preceded by a word from one of the four living beings.
- Each is followed by the appearance of a colored horse and his rider who has some sort of power over the earth.
· Remember that the seals hold the scroll closed and that tells us that the contents of the scroll are a secret:
- These seals also symbolize protection from tampering and a hiding from unauthorized eyes.
· The events of the seals follow the pattern of Jesus Olivet discourse (Matthew 24-25; Mark 13; Luke 21), which is sometimes called “The Little Apocalypse," which He delivered on the Tuesday before His crucifixion:
o The similarities are so close that some call it the main source of the seal judgments.
o Matthew 24-25 are tribulation passages, not rapture passages!
o In his teaching, Jesus divided the time in two periods:
Ø The beginning of the birth pangs (Matthew 24:8).
Ø And The Great Tribulation (Matthew 24:21).
o The first part of the Olivet discourse closely aligns with the first four seals.
· So an important key in fixing the time period of the seals in this message was given by Christ, some 65 years earlier when He taught about the future time of trial on earth.
· John goes on to say, "and heard one of the living creatures saying, as with a voice of thunder." This is the only seal accompanied with a “voice of thunder.”
· One of the four living beings says, "come." This is a present imperative, a command. The question is, whom is he commanding?
· Three theories have been proposed:
o He’s commanding John, or Christ, or the first horseman.
o The text doesn’t say that John was to come. He was already in heaven, “in the spirit”.
o The second theory suggests Christ as the one summoned because He's addressed by the same type of summons in Rev. 22:17, 20. But this idea ignores the immediate context.
o So, this is a command to the first horseman.
· Notice that the response to the command of v.1 is the immediate appearance of the white horse in v.2:
o The same is true of the other three commands in verses 4, 5, and 8.
o The context demands that all four of the commands be addressed to the horseman and their horses.
v.2, “And I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him; and he went out conquering, and to conquer.”
· The phrase, "and I looked" introduces the next development in the action.
· “Behold” means “LOOK! See this! Pay attention here!
o In response to the summons of the first living being, a white horse with the rider appears.
· Remember, there’s no reading of the scroll or hearing something read to him from the scroll. John is witnessing prophecy enacted.
· As the Lamb breaks the seals, one by one, He reveals the contents to John in a vivid dramatic fashion.
· This new development in the vision is seen by the words, "and behold."
· The imagery of the four horses in 6:1-8 is similar to Zechariah 1:7-11, and the judgments resemble those predicted in Jeremiah 14:12; 24:10; 2:17:
o In Zechariah, special meanings of the colors of the horses are not as apparent as they are here and Revelation.
o In Zechariah, the horses are sent to patrol the earth, but in Revelation, they are released to bring great disaster to the earth.
o As is often the case, horses are connected with war and conquest, and these horsemen are associated with a prophecy of the end times.
· The first horse is white. We need to examine the details of what this color means:
o A popular suggestion has been that white is a symbol for victory, as the practice of both the Roman and the Persians tell us.
o The horse with his rider is said to represent a brilliant, unchecked, yet almost bloodless victory.
o It’s true that this first horse is associated with victory, as proven by the words "conquering" and "he might conquer" later in v.2
o A better idea is that the white carries the primary symbolism of righteousness and holiness:
Ø This is certainly consistent with usage of the color white throughout the apocalypse, where it is constantly associated with Christ's righteousness or with the Spirit of victory.
o The objection to this explanation is that the horse’s rider represents the forces of evil, as we’ll see later.
o But, if his righteousness is only a false righteousness, a counterfeit of the true, then we can stay with white symbolizing righteousness.
o The white horse, then, appears as a symbol of righteousness, but there’s no guarantee that the righteousness is real or true.
· Next, the identity of "the one who sat upon it" must also be determined. There are lots of theories and ideas:
o Those who interpret Revelation as referring exclusively to John's past have identified the horse’s rider as the Roman emperor, basing their theories on bloody feuds, pestilences, martyrdoms, and other confrontations under Roman emperors of the first century.
· A second way to take the rider would be as a representative of the Word of God, which will judge the world:
o This view is far-fetched, however, and ignores the context.
· A third interpretation is that the rider is a personification of judgment, primarily conquest, to be sent upon the earth, which is a better interpretation:
o This fits the imagery of Zechariah 1:8 and 6:1-8 where the horsemen and chariots are Divine instruments of judgment on the enemies of God's people and where the rider is also a member of a closely knit group of four.
o The difficulty with this view is its generality:
Ø It doesn’t specify which judgment, or judgments, are true.
Ø The judgments of the other three riders are specific and this one should be too.
· A fourth approach to identifying the rider has him representing the victorious course of the gospel:
o It provides a sense in which final and permanent victory is achieved.
o Yet this understanding comes up short in its failure to account for the early years of the gospel, which was not one of continuing triumph.
o Nor does it account for the details of the first seal, such as the bow and crown.
o To connect this rider with such a positive force, as the gospel, is to forget that he, along with the next three riders, is part of "the beginning of birth pangs."
· A fifth view identifies the rider with the Parthian invasion of the Roman Empire early in the Christian era:
o The victorious nature of the conquest, the well-known use of the bow as a weapon and their famous horseman are among the things often used to support this theory.
o However, the Parthian explanation fails to identify or to correspond to the end time nature of these four horsemen.
· The sixth view has been proposed that the rider refers to warfare in general:
o This view does justice to the warlike symbolism of the bow and the horse, as well as providing a link to the wars and rumors of wars in the parallel accounts of the Olivet Discourse.
o The problem with it is its failure to deal with the details of the text.
o Warfare in general is not specific enough to match the specific nature of fulfillment required by this context.
· A seventh interpretation identifies the rider with triumphant militarism:
o This is so general it reveals nothing about the future.
· An eighth understanding of the rider has identified him with the Jewish messiah:
o This enjoys wide support, based on his similarity to the rider of Revelation 19:11-16, whose identity is unquestionable.
o It fits the imagery of the visions in Zechariah where the horseman and chariots are Divine instruments of judgment on enemies God's people.
o The color white is associated with Christ throughout the book.
o Only Christ can ride a horse that is white, the color of righteousness.
o However, as many pluses as this view has, it has even more weaknesses. The major one is not dealing with the context:
Ø The Messiah cannot be put on the same level as the three riders to follow.
Ø The four have a similarity to each other and they clearly belong together as part of "the beginning of birth pangs."
Ø The Messiah is out of place in this group of riders.
o Not only that but the differences between this rider and the one in Revelation 19:11-16 are very clear:
Ø The rider of Rev. 19 is called "faithful and true," but the one here is not. And his goal is an unjust conquest.
Ø The rider in 19:11-16 is none other than the “Lamb” who opened the first seal, which negates the possibility of His being the rider revealed in this seal.
Ø In 19:11-16, the rider comes in triumph, followed by a host of heaven, but here the rider works in only a symbol rather than the picture of his victorious kingdom.
Ø This rider wears a victor's wreath and carries a bow, but the one in chapter 19 is crowned with many diadems and has a sharp sword coming from His mouth.
· If the first rider is not the Messiah, then, he must be someone resembling the Messiah:
o He has been closely identified with the world ruler who is pictured as the first beast of Revelation 13, who will come as the counterfeit Christ.
o The accuracy of this explanation is verified through comparison with parallel accounts of these end-times in Matthew 24:5 and Mark 13:6;
· Remember, that first in sequence among the signs spoken of earlier by Jesus, was the coming of many "false" christs.
· It's not necessary to look anywhere else for an understanding of this first rider:
o This conclusion agrees with the character of the other three riders also.
o All of them are associated with the great end-time impostor and his forces.
o This book is full of satanic imitations of Christ and His conquest.
o This rider is one of them, a false Christ a false messiah.
· Some argue that to identify him as the world ruler himself, is not quite accurate:
o This rider, like the other three, is not an individual, but a personification of a growing movement, or force, that will be at work during this future time.
o They believe that at the time represented by the first seal, he will not have risen to be the antichrist yet.
o They also argue that Christ spoke of many impostors who will join hands in a group effort to unseat Him from His throne.
o Therefore, this rider represents all the false christs.
· There are others, however, who see this as THE antichrist:
o They see “the beast of the sea” (Revelation 13:1-8) as this same person as this rider.
o They also see this rider as the “prince who is to come” taken from Daniel 9:26.
o He is the false messiah, or the antichrist, which is later revealed in Rev. 13.
o Here, in chapter 6, he appears as a world conqueror, but, perhaps through diplomatic means rather than through warfare.
o And he brings peace to the earth.
· Now, notice his bow:
o The bow, traditionally, has been associated with one who is a warrior.
o Frequently, it’s a symbol for victory.
o This is certainly the case here, as the remainder of v. 2 indicates.
· The absence of any reference to arrows with the bow has been taken as significant by some, but not by others:
o One approach, says that having the bow implies the presence of arrows, and sees in the bow, the symbol of lightning-like spiritual operations coming from Christ Himself.
o But this view comes from a wrong identification of the rider.
o It is better to take the absence of arrows from the description as a symbol of bloodless victory.
o The bow indicates that war is threatened, but never actually occurs because victory is accomplished through peaceful means.
· Worldwide peace is the condition at the end of the first seal period:
o We know that because one of the results of the second seal is to take that peace away.
· Without arrows, the bow is not a deadly weapon, as the sword under the second seal is:
o Wherever active warfare is described, specific mention is usually made of arrows also.
o Because death is not alluded to under this seal, this is the best explanation of the bow without any arrows.
“and a crown was given to him”:
· Notice, this rider had a bow, but no arrows, and that he was honored with a crown that was freely “given to him”, which tells us that his conquering will involve bloodless victories.
· His crown (Greek = stephanos), is a winner's crown:
o He is no real king and has no real monarch’s crown (Greek = diadema).
o But he has won a crown from the world for his triumphant achievements, leading to world peace.
o He will not conquer by military force, but by cunning and deceit.
· His conquest will be a "cold war" victory, a peace won by agreement, not conflict (Daniel 9:24-27).
· Even as the final doom of the world approaches, the antichrist will promise a golden age of peace and prosperity.
· In gratitude, the world will give him honor and elevate him to the position of supreme leadership.
“and he went out conquering, and to conquer”:
· As we said before, his victories will come through peaceful means.
· Christians overcome, "conquer" (the same word is used here) their spiritual enemies through their faithfulness to Christ.
· Christ won a spiritual victory through the redemption He accomplished at the cross.
· The triumphs of this rider of the first seal are purely worldly, not spiritual or eternal.
· The word "conquering" portrays the rider's career as one marked by a long series of victories:
o His victories are final only in a limited sense, however.
o It’s complete in the sense that counterfeit Christian forces of the future will obtain worldwide domination, but that domination will only be temporary.
o The real King of kings will appear and put an end to it in Revelation 19:11-16.
We’ll talk about the second seal in the next article.
May the Lord bless you as you study His Word.
By His Grace,
Gary T. Dromi, Ph.D., D.Min.
