REVELATION 4-6
SEGMENT IV
PAGE 1 of 2
The Seven Seals
Examined
With God, Timing Is
Everything
No doubt, you have
heard it said, “With God, timing
is everything.” This statement
is particularly poignant in this
study on the seven seals. If the Book
of Life were prematurely opened, Go
would not be able to
“prove” beyond doubt that
He does not use His divine powers of
omniscience and omnipotence to
manipulate His children and the
outcome of history. Therefore, God
sealed the Book of Life with seven
seals to prove at an appointed
time that He does not manipulate the
choice of His children. His children
are truly free to make up their own
minds; therefore, we are completely
accountable for our actions.
We can choose to submit to submit to
God’s government or we can
choose to rebel. With these thoughts
in mind, consider how timing affects
the following events:
- The Book of
Life was written before
life was created.
- Jesus was
found worthy to receive the
Book of Life in 1798.
- The first seal
was broken in 1798 and the
breaking of the seventh seal
will occur at the end of the
thousand years.
- The contents
of the Book of Life will be
revealed at the end of
the thousand years.
There is a close
relationship between the contents of
the Book of Life and the breaking of
the seven seals. The Book of Life
contains a prerecorded history of
life, and the breaking of each seal
does two things. First, a new
revelation about Jesus occurs, as
each seal is broken. Second, as each
seal is broken, God’s children
move closer (both chronologically and
intellectually) to the resolution of
the sin problem. Therefore, what new
truths about Jesus have been
discovered since 1798? Before I
respond to this question, please
review the first four seals.
Seal #1 –
White Horse
“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 [the
one that had the face of a lion]
saying, Come and see. And I saw, and
behold a white horse: and he that sat
on him had a bow; a crown was given
unto him: and he went forth
conquering, and to conquer.”
(Revelation 6:1,2 KJV, insertion
mine)
Seal #2 –
Red Horse
“And when he had
opened the second seal, I heard the
second beast {the one that had the
face of an ox] 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.” (Revelation
6:3,4, KJV, insertion mine)
Seal #3 –
Black Horse
“And when he had
opened the third seal, I heard the
third beast [the one having the face
of a man] 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.” (Revelation 6:
5,6, KJV, insertion mine)
Seal #4 –
Pale or Dappled Horse
“And when he had
opened the fourth seal, I heard the
voice of the fourth beast [the one
that had the face of an eagle] 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.”
(Revelation 6:7,8, KJV, insertion
mine)
These eight verses
speak volumes with very few words.
The first four seals describe four
tasks assigned to the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is represented as
four living creatures, and the four
living creatures are represented as
four horsemen. These
representations of the same thing
enable us to understand the diverse
work and ministry of the Holy Spirit.
As Jesus breaks each
of the first four seals, He gives a
command to the Holy Spirit and the
Holy Spirit invites John to
“come and see” His actions.
Many people have heard of the four
horseman of the Apocalypse, but
preachers and artists who have
painted scary and grotesque pictures
of the four horsemen have distorted
their understanding. Few people have
any idea why four horsemen are part
of this vision, even though the
solution to this mystery is quite
simple.
Royal Horses
and Royal Horsemen
In ancient times,
there were no telephones, faxes,
satellites, high-speed Internet
connections, televisions, or radios.
In those days, kings dispatched
“couriers” on fast horses
throughout their kingdoms to deliver
laws, edicts, bulletins, political
directives and other information that
was pertinent to the administration
of the kingdom. The person in charge
of the couriers lived in or near the
king’s residence so the king
could dispatch royal couriers at a
moments’ notice. The king’s
commands could have no delay. Royal
couriers rode special horses that had
breed and trained for stamina because
the king’s province could be
hundreds of miles away from the
throne.
For example, during
the time of Queen Easter, King
Artaxerses naively issued a decree
that allowed the Persians – at
an appointed time – to kill all
of the Jews and take their
possessions. (Esther 3:9-11) However,
the queen learned of the plot and she
cleverly exposed Haman. Haman had
masterminded the plan because he
hated the Jews, especially her uncle,
Mordecai. When King Artaxerxes
discovered that he had been duped
into granting a decree to kill all of
his wife’s people, he had Haman
hung on the gallows that Haman had
prepared for Mordecai. The king asked
Mordecai to write an emergency edict
that was sent to all the Jews
throughout his kingdom, notifying
them that they were to take up arms
and defend themselves. “Mordecai
wrote in the name of King Xerxes,
sealed the dispatches with the
king’s signet ring, and sent
them by mounted couriers, who
rode fast horses especially bred for
the king. The king’s
edict granted the Jews in every city
the right to assemble and protect
themselves; to destroy, kill and
annihilate any armed force of any
nationality or province that might
attack them and their women and
children; and to plunder the property
of their enemies….The couriers,
riding the royal horses, raced out,
spurred on by the king’s
command….” (Esther
8:10-14, italics mine) The parallel
should be obvious. As horsemen, they
were dispatched from God’s
throne as Jesus breaks the first four
seals. God used the imagery of horses
and riders because this is how
couriers were used in John’s
day. In short, the four horsemen of
the Apocalypse represent the Holy
Spirit who was sent on four missions.
According to Rule
Three of apocalyptic prophecy, the
use of parallel language within the
Bible is highly important. Parallel
language helps to clarify the
intended meaning of language found in
Revelation 6. The prophet Zechariah
wrote, “I looked up again
– and there before me were four
chariots coming out from between two
mountains – mountains of bronze!
The first chariot had red horses, the
second black, the third white, and
the fourth dappled – all of them
powerful. I asked the angel who was
speaking to me, ‘What are these,
my lord?’ The angel answered me,
‘These are the four spirits of
Heaven, going out from standing in
the presence of the Lord of the whole
world. The one with the black horses
is going toward the north country,
the one with the white horses toward
the west, and the one with the
dappled horses toward the
south.’ When the powerful horses
went out, they were straining to go
throughout the earth. And
he said, ‘Go throughout the
Earth!’ So they went throughout
the Earth. Then he called to me,
‘Look, those going toward the
north country have given my spirit
rest in the land of the
north.’” (Zechariah
6:1-8)
Around 510 B.C., God
gave the prophet Zechariah this
vision showing how His will is
accomplished on Earth. Zechariah saw
God send out the four spirits, who
stood before His throne, into Earth.
The four spirits are the four living
creatures. They were represented to
Zechariah as four horses going toward
the north, south, east and west, and
in this vision, their task was to
restore peace on Earth. Zechariah
particularly noted the horse that
went toward ‘the north
country” because this was the
direction from which God’s wrath
came against Israel. (See Isaiah 41;
Leviticus 26:24,25; Jeremiah 1:14;
15:3,12; 51:48; Ezekiel 1:4;
Zechariah 1:19-21.) At other times,
God sends a spirit of peace
throughout the Earth and the Holy
Spirit is the means through which the
will of God is accomplished. For
example, God raised up Nebuchadnezzar
to destroy Jerusalem because of its
degeneracy, and after Israel had
served seventy years of captivity,
the Holy Spirit moved Cyrus to set
Israel free at just the right time. “In
the first year of Cyrus king of
Persia, in order to fulfill the word
of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the
Lord moved the heart of Cyrus king of
Persia to make a proclamation
throughout his realm and to put in
writing.” (2 Chronicles
36:22, italics mine)
Even though Zechariah
6 does not mention riders on the
horses, the point remains that the
four living creatures that stood
before the throne of God were
represented to Zechariah as horses
with the same four colors found in
Revelation 6. Understand that the
Holy Spirit is not actually four
living creatures or four horses. God
creates these caricatures of the Holy
Spirit so that human beings can
understand something about divine
processes and powers that exist
outside the realm of human
understanding and ability.
Four Horns and
Four Craftsmen
Perhaps one more
sample of parallel language will make
the connection between the four
living creatures and the Holy Spirit
clearer. Notice these verses from a
vision recorded in Zechariah 1: “Then
I looked up and there before me were
four horns! I asked the angel who was
speaking to me, ‘What are
these?’ He answered me,
‘These are the horns that
scattered Judah, Israel and
Jerusalem.’ Then the Lord showed
me the four craftsmen. I asked,
‘What are these [four
craftsmen] coming to do?’ He
answered, ‘These are the [four]
horns that scattered Judah so that
no one could raise his head, but the [four]
craftsmen have come to terrify
them [the enemies of Jerusalem] and
throw down these horns of the nations
who lifted up their horns against the
land of Judah to scatter its
people.’” (Zechariah
1:18-21, insertions mine) This vision
reveals an awesome truth. The four
horns that brought down Jerusalem was
not King Nebuchadnezzar. The four
horns (or four powers) that brought
down Jerusalem were the four living
creatures. The Holy Spirit aroused
King Nebuchadnezzar to accomplish
God’s will and the Holy Spirit
delivered Jerusalem into the hands of
King Nebuchadnezzar! (Daniel 5:18,19)
God told Jeremiah, “’I
will summon all the peoples of the
north and my servant Nebuchadnezzar
king of Babylon,’ declares the
Lord, ‘and I will bring them
against this land and its inhabitants
and against all the surrounding
nations. I will completely destroy
them and make them an object of
horror and scorn, and an everlasting
ruin.’” (Jeremiah 25:9)
It is interesting that
God calls Nebuchadnezzar “my
servant” in Jeremiah 25:9 even
though the king did not recognize the
God of Israel as the Most High God
until many years later. The Holy
Spirit punished God’s people by
arousing Nebuchadnezzar, and the
angel told Zechariah that four
craftsmen would rebuild the city. In
other words, God told the Holy Spirit
to raise a destroyer for Jerusalem,
and He did. Then, God told the Holy
Spirit to set His people free, and He
did. Cyrus issued the decree right on
time! (2 Chronicles 36:22) Then, God
told the Holy Spirit to raise a
builder so that Jerusalem might be
rebuilt, and He did. “So he
said to me, ‘This is the word of
the Lord to Zerubbabel [the
rebuilder]: ‘Not by might nor
by [human] power, but by my
Spirit,’ [You will overcome
the obstacles and rebuild the
temple.] Says the Lord Almighty.
‘What are you, O mighty mountain
[of obstacles]? Before
Zerubbabel, you will become level
ground [and enable his success].
‘” (Zechariah 4:6,7,
insertions mine)
Putting It
Together
When we compare
parallel language from the books of
Esther and Zechariah with Revelation
6, the mystery of the four living
creatures is easily resolved. The
four living creatures represent the
Holy Spirit. He is the omnipresent
“Enabler” through whom the
will of God is accomplished on Earth.
Now we know when the Book of Life was
written, why the Book of Life
was written, who the four
living creatures are, why the
Holy Spirit is represented as four
couriers on horseback, and when
Jesus was found worthy to receive the
Book of Life; now we can now examine
the seven seals to learn how Jesus
will resolve the sin problem and
exonerate the government of God!
Seal # 1
– White Horse – 1798 –
The Salvation of Jesus Proclaimed
“I watched as
the Lamb opened the first of the
seven seals. Then I heard on e of the
four living creatures say in a loud
voice like thunder, ‘Come’
I looked, and there before me was a
white horse! Its rider held a bow,
and was given a crown, and he rode
out as a conqueror bent on
conquest.” (Revelation
6:1,2) The English translation of
these verses can mislead the reader.
The Greek text indicates the horseman
rode out of Heaven’s temple
carrying a toxon, that is, a
winner’s ribbon, an ornamental
bow made of fabric. The rider
also carries a stephanos, a
crown of laurel, or a crown of
victory like an athlete would wear
(the rider is not carrying a diadema
which denotes authority or dominion).
The Greek syntax also indicates the
work of this horseman takes time and
effort. Literally, the Greek say,
“the rider went out overcoming
that he might overcome.”
One highly respected
authority; A Greek-English Lexicon of
the New Testament by Bauer, Arndt and
Gingrich says the Greek word, toxon,
means a weapon, a bow for arrows. On
the other hand, another respected
authority, Strong’s Exhaustive
Concordance says that the Greek word
#5115 means a bow made of fabric.
Both meanings of toxon will
fit into this scene of a rider bent
on conquest. Apparently, the Holy
Spirit rode out of Heaven’s
temple to engage in a spiritual war
– in conquest to exalt Jesus as
the Savior of the world. In this
sense, a bow for arrows (although
arrows are not mentioned in this
passage) could be figuratively
appropriate. On the other hand,
Strong’s definition for toxon
seems to fit better if we understand
the bow is a “winner’s
ribbon” offered to those who
overcome the world through faith in
Christ. I prefer the ribbon to a bow
for arrows because the crown in this
passage is a stephanos (Greek: a
crown of victory) – not a
diadema (Greek: a crown of
authority).
What is the Holy
Spirit attempting to overcome? Would
you believe the two greatest enemies
of truth are arrogance and ignorance?
According to Revelation 4:7, the
first living creature had a face of a
lion. As you will see, this face
describes “the relentless
conquest” of the Holy Spirit to
reveal Jesus to the world. (See
Numbers 23:24 for the characteristics
of a lion.) The success of the Holy
Spirit will be revealed at the Second
Coming when a large number of saints
“go marching in.!”
Seven Campaigns
I like to think of the
breaking of the seven seals as seven
campaigns, with each campaign having
a set of unique disclosures,
processes, objectives and results. To
win public office, politicians
conduct political campaigns. A
political campaign is a process
that the candidate undertakes to win
recognition and favor for himself.
Politicians travel around the nation
to be seen and heard. They make
promises and ask voters to put their
faith in them. In a similar way, the
seven seals are seven unique
campaigns that Jesus conducts to
resolve the sin problem and exonerate
God’s government. Jesus
undertakes seven campaigns that
dovetail into one grand climax.
During these seven campaigns, Jesus
is seeking recognition. He wants to
be seen and heard. He wants to win
the affection of the people of Earth
because He alone can save us from the
penalty and consequences of sin! Long
ago, Jesus traveled to Earth to make
a number of promises to the human
race and He asks us to trust that He
will fulfill His promises. Of course,
there are several differences between
putting faith in a politician and
putting faith in Jesus. When we put
our faith in a politician, we believe
that he will do good things for us.
When we put our faith in Jesus, we
believe that He will not only do good
things for us, but He will also do
good things through us.
After Jesus was found
worthy to receive the Book of Life in
1798, He immediately broke the first
seal. Because this world is in
darkness about God, He initiated a
campaign to overcome the arrogance
and ignorance of this world. The
first campaign is an offer of
salvation and everyone who submits to
the terms and conditions of His offer
will be gathered up at the Second
Coming. Jesus’ victory at the
Second Coming will be bittersweet.
Many people for whom Jesus died will
not receive Him. Even though Jesus is
not willing that anyone should perish
(2 Peter 3:9), human beings have the
power of choice.
Because of man’s
arrogance and ignorance, Jesus is the
most hated God on Earth today. The
world hates Jesus because Jesus
offends our carnal nature more than
any other God. He has made claims
that are just too hard for
non-Christians to swallow. Many
so-called Christians would also
reject the teachings of Jesus (if
they knew them) because His demands
are hard to accept. Even though Jesus
is widely hated, He loves us and
offers to save us from the penalty of
sin. He understands our darkness,
diversity, arrogance, ignorance,
prejudice and paradigms, and in spite
of these things, He loved each one of
us enough to die for us. “For
if, when we were God’s enemies,
we were reconciled to him through the
death of his Son, how much more,
having been reconciled, shall be
saved through his life!” (Romans
5:10) The point is that Jesus will
conduct seven campaigns to win as
many souls as possible. These
campaigns will carefully separate the
sheep from the goats in every
religious body, and in the end, Jesus
will exonerate the government and
reveal the love of God. Just as Jesus
removed our guilt through His death,
He will remove Lucifer’s
reproach on the Father’s
character by proving that Lucifer is
a liar!
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