November 09, 2023 | Be On Mission
The First Six Seals
Scripture: Revelation 6(NIV)
1 I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, “Come!” 2 I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.
3 When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make people kill each other. To him was given a large sword.
5 When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. 6 Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, “Two pounds of wheat for a day’s wages, and six pounds of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!”
7 When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” 8 I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.
9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. 10 They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” 11 Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers and sisters, were killed just as they had been.
12 I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, 13 and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. 14 The heavens receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.
15 Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and free, hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. 16 They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17 For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can withstand it?”
Devotional
This chapter is rich with apocalyptic images and Old Testament prophetic illustrations. The first four seals reveal scenes on earth, each depicted by riders on horses of different colors. Every culture adds meaning to things like colors. In ours, we say that a jealous person is green with envy, that someone who is yellow is a coward, that if you are sad or depressed you are feeling blue, and that someone who is angry is said to be red-hot.
In apocalyptic literature of that era, colors had deep meaning as well. Here in Revelation 6, rider number one is on a white horse, a color symbolic of victory, and is a conquering warrior with a bow and a crown. The second rider is on a red horse, a color standing for war, which is further depicted by the fact that he is carrying a large sword to kill people and take peace from the earth. The third opened seal reveals a rider on a black horse, an apocalyptic color symbolizing a lack of something. In this case, a lack of food and resources cause goods to be sold at ten or twenty times their normal price. Finally the fourth rider is on a horse that is pale, a color representing death.
With the opening of the fifth and sixth seals, the action shifts away from riders on horses. The opened fifth seal reveals the faithful followers of Jesus who have been martyred for their belief. They are given victorious white robes, as not even death can separate them from the love of Christ (see Romans 8:35-39). The opening of the sixth seal reminds us that all of creation, from the heavens to the earth, from kings to slaves, would be subject to judgment by Almighty God.
Most scholars believe that the book of Revelation was written around 95 AD. Some three decades earlier, Nero ruled the Roman Empire with an iron fist, taking much of his wrath out on Christians. By 95 AD, Domitian had become emperor, ruling with the same kind of cruelty as his forebear. Persecution, torture, and martyrdom had become a way of life for the followers of Jesus in the first century Roman Empire.
How comforting it must have been for them to read this chapter. Yes, things looked bleak. But the Lord is on the throne. In the end, even the mightiest of men will hide in caves to flee the wrath of God!
How about you? Have you put your trust in God alone? Have you surrendered your allegiance to the world’s ways and wisdom? Have you turned your face toward Jesus?
Poem
Come Forth
Revelation 6 & 7
White horse victorious take your ride
Red horse with sword slay human pride
Black horse of justice with your scale
Fourth horse destroy, by hell’s pow’r trailed
Come forth and set the world aright
Release those faithful in the fight
Courageous, true until the end
The wrongs against them now amend
Earthquake, blood moon, stars fall from sky
God’s wrath, Come forth! You can abide?
Come forth! All power annihilate
The curse of sin now meet your fate!
Before you open seventh seal
Four angels hold back Ruah’s zeal
“Do not destroy the earth or sea!
Do not shake single leaf from tree!
Until God’s saints I usher forth
Sealed tightly from the curse of earth.”
Come forth, you faithful, from each age!
Come forth, written upon scroll’s page
The Book of Life, your names declare
From here, from there, from everywhere
A great community of saints
Who, facing trials, faith staid with strength
A mighty throng before the Lord!
Come forth! Proclaiming Christ adored
Great day! Rejoice! The vict’ry’s won!
Extol Messiah, God’s own Son
Who for you conquered death and grave
Come forth! Trusting in Christ who saves!
