The worship in Revelation Chapters 4 & 5 is preparation for the wrath of God in Chapters 6 - 19.
Rev 4:1 says “ I will shew thee things which must be hereafter"
These things that we are going to look at from Chapter 6 onward are coming, one day, we don’t know when, but they are nearer to happening than ever before.
Man tells us that the world is getting better;
God says they will become increasingly worse.
Man says that peace among nations is close at hand;
God says there will be wars and rumours of wars, kingdom against kingdoms...
Man expects to win the battle against disease, famine, and hardship;
God says there is to be fearful judgements of disease, famine, and hardship.
Verse 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 beasts saying, come and see”
When the subject concerns heaven the elders speak, but when it concerns earth, then it is the living creatures that speak.
The 1st Seal is opened and we start to see the first horse going forward.
Horses is scripture are used as judgement. (2 Kings 6;15-18: Jer 46;9-10: Joel 2;3-11: Nahum 3;1-7)
Verse 2
“And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.”
Because of the white horse many people assume this is Jesus Christ. Jesus does show up in chapter 19 riding a horse, but this is not Him. There are some differences.
i Firstly, this person is wearing a crown, but it is a victors crown, a “stephanos” crown not a diadem which Christ will wear.
ii Secondly this ride keeps very bad company, as we will see soon.
We see that he has a bow. Most commentators point out that the bow is the symbol of Nimrod the hunter.
BUT using the law of first mention we see a bow mentioned firstly back in Genesis, when God puts a bow in the sky as his promise to Noah that it will never happen again. It was a covenant between God and Noah. This puts us in mind of Daniel 9 vs 27 where the antichrist makes covenant.
This rider comes and conquers, but not by military might, he conquers by peace Daniel 8;27
This rider resembles Christ but is not him, he is the antichrist.
Verse 3 + 4
"And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, 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."
So the second seal is opened and the second horse released.
Note; the four horses and riders are each summoned by one of the four beasts ( living creatures)
Red is associated with terror and death, we will see red mentioned further on into Revelation.
Verse 5 + 6
"And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and [see] thou hurt not the oil and the wine."
Black is connected with famine
A measure here is a “Choenix” and is about 2 pints. It refers to the amount of food required for an individual for one day.
The penny is a day’s wage. So one day’s wage will feed one person, those with a family will have trouble feeding everyone.
It not only implies famine, but also controlled rationing.
The oil and the wine refers to luxury items. Apparently necessities are scarce and rationed, but the rich will have not shortage of luxuries.
We will discover later how the coming world leader will control the world economy and nobody in the world that he controls will be able to buy anything without a number which he supplies.
Verse 7 + 8
"And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth."
The word for the colour of this horse is “Chlorus” which is pale, ghastly green.
It is the where we get the word Chlorine from.
In Leviticus it is the colour of leprosy.
Notice there are 2 people here, the rider and then Hell follows with him. The Hell mentioned here is not the Hell that we think of as the place of eternal punishment, this is Hades, the waiting place within the centre of the earth.
Death claims the body and Hades claims the soul.
The beasts mentioned here refer to savage creatures, not the same as the beasts ( living creatures ) that are in Heaven showing John.
Also don’t assume that these beasts are large animals, they could even be dangerous viruses and bacteria.
We have looked at 4 of the seals and judgements, remember this is only the beginning, we still have 7 trumpets and 7 bowls of wrath to be poured out on the Earth.
Verse 9
"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:"
This is the response in Heaven to the four seals being opened.
These were the martyred.
They are in Heaven under the alter. In Exodus 29;12 Lev 4;4,17,18,25,30 we see that the blood was applied at the bottom of the alter, so therefore refers to sacrifices.
The murderers of these martyrs are still on the Earth, because they are going to call for revenge, so it seems that these are martyrs that lost their lives during the first four seals being opened.
Notice they are souls, they do not have bodies yet, but are still conscious, they are not sleeping.
Verse 10
"And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?"
Here we have a term “them that dwell on the earth” or “The Earth Dwellers”. We will come across this term a lot. Throughout the Book of Revelation there are various groups of people. This one does not necessarily mean that they are physically there, the term implies that they dwell upon the earth or have there interests on earth and have no heavenly thought.
The request that these martyred make seems strange, because they are calling for vengeance, which is very different from Stephen when he was martyred.
This period of time is a different age than any previously, the New Testament church age is over and now this is the day of vengeance of the Lord. This cry “How long, O Lord” has been a cry from many down through time, but now the time has come.
It is not personal revenge that they seek, the establishment of God’s justice.
Verse 11
"And white robes were given unto every one 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."
Other are going to join them and this is telling them to be patient.
Verse 12 + 13
"And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was 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 of a mighty wind."
This is the first of three earthquakes that we will find in the Book of Revelation. There are references to earth quakes throughout the Bible Ex19:18; 20:18-19; 1Kgs19:11; Mt27:51-52
There are going to be great disturbances on earth as well as in the skies. These cosmic disturbances occur several times in Revelation.
Verse 14
"And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places."
This term of the heaven departing like a scroll sounds strange, but it is mentioned in other places Isa 34:4.
In Isa 40,42,44,45 & 51 it talks of the heavens being “stretched.”
Verse 15 + 16
"And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him
that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:"
So the martyrs in Heaven are saying avenge us while the men on earth are saying hide us.
Those are call on the name of the Lord can be saved, but those that call on earthly things and false gods will not.
The term “wrath of the Lamb” sounds strange, how can a lamb bring wrath?
But, God’s wrath shows His holy love for all that is right and His holy hatred of all that is evil.
Verse 17
"For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?"
No-one can hide or miss this wrath, the people would prefer to try and hide than turn to God. There hearts are so full of evil that they are difficult to change.
Of course when the church leaves the earth, then the Holy Spirit goes with them, and so will leaves that conviction of sin and feeling of guilt.
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