The end-times judgment does not begin until the sixth chapter of Revelation. Chapters 6-19 document judgments and include several interludes. There are three stages of judgments in the book: seals, trumpets, and vials.
Seals began to be opened many years before the Great Tribulation. These judgments operate over an extended time period. Seals were used to authenticate a document. In the New Testament, it is recorded that we are sealed with the Holy Spirit. As the Holy Spirit is represented in the book of Revelation as “the seven Spirits of God (),” the seven seals should not be thought as an actual enumeration of the number of seals; the seven seals exist as a collective singular unit that authenticates the integrity of the document containing the decree of God’s judgment of the earth.
If the seals are a collective singular, then the events triggered by the opening of the seals are not necessarily occur in a strict chronological sequence. There may be considerable, if not total overlap.
The first four seals are represented by horsemen. The opening of these seals results in these horsemen riding. The judgments are manifested by the journeys of the horsemen. Similar imagery is used in the book of Zechariah.
Zechariah 6:1-8 described four chariots of horses: red, white, black, bay and grisled/dappled. This corresponds to the color of the four horses in Revelation 6: white, red, black, pale-green.
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Zechariah 6:1-8 |
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“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. Then I answered and said unto the angel that talked with me, What are these, my lord? And the angel answered and said unto me, These are the four spirits of the heavens, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth. The black horses which are therein go forth into the north country; and the white go forth after them; and the grisled go forth toward the south country. And the bay went forth, and sought to go that they might walk to and fro through the earth: and he said, Get you hence, walk to and fro through the earth. So they walked to and fro through the earth. Then cried he upon me, and spake unto me, saying, Behold, these that go toward the north country have quieted my spirit in the north country. “ |
As these chariots are identified as ” the four spirits of the heavens, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth,” they have been marching since the beginning. There is a discrepancy between the order of the horsemen in Zechariah and that of Revelation because Zechariah describes Zechariah’s contemporary time frame, whereas Revelation is describing the end time.
In Zechariah 1:7-16, red horses are described as “they whom the LORD hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth.”These red horses, Zechariah’s time were checking out the earth to see whether there is peace.
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Zechariah 1:7-16 |
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“Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Sebat, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying, I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom; and behind him were there red horses, speckled, and white. Then said I, O my lord, what are these? And the angel that talked with me said unto me, I will shew thee what these be. And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, These are they whom the LORD hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth. And they answered the angel of the LORD that stood among the myrtle trees, and said, We have walked to and fro through the earth, and, behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest… |
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Zechariah 1:7-16 |
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“…Then the angel of the LORD answered and said, O LORD of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten years? And the LORD answered the angel that talked with me with good words and comfortable words. So the angel that communed with me said unto me, Cry thou, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy. And I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease: for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction. Therefore thus saith the LORD; I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies: my house shall be built in it, saith the LORD of hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem. “ |
The question was asked:”O LORD of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten years? ” Jeremiah’s seventy-years had passed; while Israelites were starting to return, they were still under foreign occupation and control. Was God ever going to fully restore Judah and Jerusalem?
God’s answer was that he was going to send “four carpenters” to “cast out the horns of the Gentiles.(Zechariah 1:7-16).” These four horns are likely the four cradles of civilization that, for three thousand years, were the geopolitical poles of the civilized world known to the biblical writers: Western (Egypt), Babylon, India, and China. The Western pole shifted from Egypt to Greece and Rome. The actions of these “carpenters” would forcibly remove the Gentiles from control – taking peace from the earth.
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Zechariah 1:17-21 |
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“Cry yet, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad; and the LORD shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem. Then lifted I up mine eyes, and saw, and behold four horns. And I said unto the angel that talked with me, What be these? And he answered me, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem. And the LORD shewed me four carpenters. Then said I, What come these to do? And he spake, saying, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, so that no man did lift up his head: but these are come to fray them, to cast out the horns of the Gentiles, which lifted up their horn over the land of Judah to scatter it.” |
This prophecy of liberation of the Promised Land from Gentile control was given to the rider of the red horse, hinting at the future role of this horse: to take peace from the earth. This cessation of relative peace was done on behalf of Israel. This war is required to be done so that there would be a divinely appointed state to receive Christ as King of the world. Israel was cast away for a season so that Christ the King could offer amnesty to Gentiles until the full number of the Gentiles comes in; then God will reconcile the natural children of Jacob to Christ and unite them with Gentile followers of Christ (Ephesians 2:12-20; Romans 11).
If the actions of the red horse in Rev 6 are centered around the restoration of Israel, then by implication the other seals pertain to events preceding and accompanying the restoration of Israel.
These seals were to be opened in John’s very near future. The four are horses that ride multiple circuits (think cycles) until the earth is ready for God to commence His plan to restore Israel and reconcile her with Himself and Gentile believers in Christ.
The first seal involves releasing the white horse. This horse enters the “north country (Zech 6:1-8),” meaning that it will afflict nations to Israel’s north. As the white horse is a conqueror, these nations would begin to conquer.
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Revelation 6:1-2 |
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“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. 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.” |
These conquests would do one of two things that would trigger the red horsemen: It would stir up opposing forces that resulted in the disturbance of the peace or stir up increased violence on the part of the conquerors to destroy opposition.
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Revelation 6:3-4 |
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” 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.” |
The third horsemen brings forth the consequences of the first two: economic calamity.
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Revelation 6:5-6 |
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” 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.” |
The fourth horseman brings death from a variety of causes generally labeled as pandemic and holocaust. There have been many holocausts throughout history.
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Revelation 6:7-8 |
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” 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 journeys of these horsemen have produced patterns that have emerged throughout history. These patterns have manipulated world events until the scene is set for the final confrontation between Christ and the Anti-Christ system. While these four ride, the fifth seal is opened, and the persecution of God’s people goes on.
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Revelation 6:9-11 |
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” 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, O 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; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.” |
Jesus Christ said that Christians would be hated by all nations (Matt 24:9). Persecution of God’s people would grow until it went global. This generation is witnessing the emergence of global persecution of God’s people. When events have fully set the scene for the final confrontation, the sixth seal is opened – transitioning us into the final confrontation.
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Revelation 6:12-17 |
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” 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. 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 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: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” |
The sixth seal introduces cosmic events that usher the world into the final confrontation with God. Because of the chiastic structure of Revelation, the sixth seal judgments are likely the same as the seven trumpets. Verse 17 concludes the sixth seal with this fearful warning uttered by the people of the earth: ”For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?.” The end of the sixth seal concludes moments before the Day of the Lord’s Wrath.