Reviews and Views

Book of Revelation – Chapter 6

Jesus Christ has the right to judge and rule the world. Under the seal judgments, we see man ruin the world. Meanwhile, on earth, evil men are growing worse and worse. With the denial of all authority, wicked things invented, with the destruction of the globe at stake, it is time for God to intervene in human affairs. With seals broken one by one, we see any restraint increasingly removed from the earth. Events recorded under these seals are extensions of things that are very evident in today’s world. The chief difference is that the Church will be gone.

First Seal

Release of the rider on the white horse believed to be the Antichrist. He has a crown, a bow without arrows, and goes to conquer. He is all-victorious and wins his victories relatively peacefully through deception. This rider represents the blasphemous philosophies of the last days, those anti-Christian ideologies that prepare men’s minds for the devil’s gospel and the ultimate reception of the strong delusion, the great lie of 2 Thessalonians 2:3-12. (John Phillips commentary, page 96). By the hand of the Antichrist, misery occurs during the four seal judgments. Those coming afterward are not. The one on the red horse breaks any peace that the Antichrist previously brokered. Keep in mind that coming events always cast their shadows before them. The white horse rider is not yet abroad, for the great Restrainer is still here, the book (scroll) is still sealed, and the Church is still on earth.

Second Seal

The second rider is released. He has the power to take peace from the earth, rides a red horse, and carries a great sword. The rider symbolizes the belligerent policies of the last days. He personifies world war on a scale never before known on earth, a war that will make the conflicts of this century seem like scenes in a stilted (unnaturally formal) play. Until the Lord Jesus Christ comes back in power, war must go on and on until at last war itself is personified, mounted on a blood-red horse, and sent forth with a great sword to summon men to the Apocalypse terrible battles. There is a belief that at this time, RUSSIA will attack Israel before Armageddon in Ezekiel 38 and 39. This war of Ezekiel occurs close to or during the Tribulation hour because the facts presented in Revelation tie in harmoniously with Ezekiel’s prophecy.

Third Seal

With the third seal opened, a black horse appears. The rider carries a pair of balances in his hand, symbolizing the blighted prosperity of the last days. After the war of Revelation chapter 6, verses 3 and 4 will come famine and inflation, which usually follow any conflict. Ezekiel 4:10, 11, 16 refer to this. The oil and the wine are luxuries of the rich. Untouchable, the black horse rider proceeds to the staples of the poor, the wheat and barley. These are to be measured out a pinch at a time. This rider symbolizes the blighted prosperity of the last days. We hear the price for wheat and barley. A single loaf of bread will cost an entire day’s wages. Yet hunger will not be satisfied. People will spend everything they have just for the necessities of life. As the Tribulation continues, precious metals will become worthless. A digital system implemented by the Antichrist will replace gold, silver, paper money, and crypto-currencies. Today, the average American dog has a higher protein diet than most people worldwide. Another shortage is firewood along the fringes of the world’s deserts as people search for something to heat what little food they find. This dreaded rider is not yet abroad, but we see his shadow.

Fourth Seal

Now a pale horse appears. The name of the rider is DEATH, and HELL follows with him. This rider is the deadliest. Death destroys the body then Hell swallows up the souls and spirits of those he kills. He has power over a fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, hunger, death, and pestilence or beasts. As this rider moves forth, war and famine continue to plague humanity. Pestilence rise as war and famine move through an area. Epidemics rage the world’s population. Rats carry as many as thirty-five different diseases. A quarter of the world’s population dies through this fourth rider’s brutality taking nearly 1.98 billion people.

Fifth Seal

With our attention drawn to the brazen (or brass) altar, we see the souls of those slain for the Word of God. In verses 9 and 10, they cried loudly, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, do you not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?” Those crying with a loud voice are Tribulation saints composed of elected Israelites and Gentiles converted by the preaching of the 144,000 Jewish evangelists. These persecuted saints and martyrs are not part of the Church, already in heaven. You will notice that souls are saved during the Tribulation hour the same way souls are saved today – through the precious shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because the believers of the Tribulation hour proclaim Christ crucified, they lose their lives. These Tribulation saints cry for vengeance because they are not under grace, which will be appropriate once the age of grace is over and conditions revert to a pre-Christian era. Instead, they want blood. Seeing fulfilled prophecy, this group of saints wonders how much longer their loved ones, still alive, must suffer. The Lord speaks to them about having a little more patience. There will be one more wave of persecution in chapter 20, verse 4. Here is only a preview of the terrible persecutions that will engulf the globe in the coming days of the Tribulation hour. 

Sixth Seal

What follows next is a blind panic and chaos on earth. Why? With the opening of the sixth seal comes a great earthquake. Is this a “great earthquake” Yellowstone or some combination of volcanic eruptions? This earthquake is so vast and destructive that mountains and islands move out of their usual places, a very tectonic movement. So much ash rises, there is a reduction of sunlight, temperatures plunge, and boulders and rocks from the explosion thrown high into the atmosphere now fall back to earth. The earthquake shakes everything stable, including society. With damaged infrastructure, travel stops and utilities quit working. It is so wide-ranging that there is complete panic. Men lose all hope and can find no place to hide from the anarchy that grips the globe. Notice there are four earthquakes in the Book of Revelation:

1. Here in chapter 6, verse 12
2. chapter 8, verse 5
3. chapter 11, verse 3
4. chapter 16, verses 18 and 19

The first four seals have been under the administration of the Antichrist. The 6th seal begins the judgments from heaven. But we remember that the Church is in heaven during this hour! No wonder half of the world’s population dies through the manifold (many & various) catastrophes that bombard the earth thus far.

The above is a lot to absorb as the scenes of punishment occur. Yet humanity continues to blame God and refuses to repent. If you are willing, join me next in Chapter 7, a parenthesis or pause about the seals.

January 18, 2024 - Posted by Bill Wyler | Last Days, Life, Religion | Bible, Ezekiel, Future, GOD, Israel, Russia, Truth, vision, war