Revelation Chapter 6: The Seals Are Opened

Chapter 6 begins a long section of the book in which we read of the judgments and the events of the time of the seven-year tribulation on earth.

It begins with the opening of the first seal (vv.1-2), then through the trumpet judgments in chapters 8-9, and the bowl judgments in chapter 16, culminating in chapter 19 with the return of Christ at the end of the seven-year tribulation, when He will destroy the ungodly.

Chapter 6 is a continuation of John’s vision in chapters 4 and 5, with the scene shifting from heaven to events on earth. The scroll in the vision itself will reveal the consummation of the mystery of all things. The events revealed as each of the seals is opened describe world events that are to occur during the church age.

The opening of the seals reminds me of the signs of the approaching end times spoken of in the Olivet Discourse (see Matthew 24:1-35; Mark 13:1-37; and Luke 21:5-33), in which Jesus describes events of the last days falling into three periods:

• the period of false Christs, wars, famines, pestilences, earthquakes, and death, called “…the beginning of birth pain…” (Matthew 24:8); 

• the period of the Great Tribulation (Matthew 24:21; “…great distress…”; and, 

• the period “…immediately after the distress of those days…,” when the sun and moon will be darkened, the stars fall from the sky, and Christ will return (Matthew 24:29-30).

Consequently, the seals correspond to the “…beginning of birth pain…,” and we will see that these events are similar to what will take place in the trumpet judgments (8:2-11:19) and bowl judgments (15:1-16:21). Commentators remind us that the events immediately before the end will extend through the church age, from the first century A.D. until the present.

We will discover that the first four seals differ from the next two in that they describe four horses of different colors with four riders who are given different powers over the earth.

The seven seals

In chapter 5, remember that only Christ is worthy to open the scroll, because he is equal to God the Father and the only one qualified to judge the earth and is sinless.

In chapter 6, as Christ breaks open the seven seals of the scroll one at a time, we find that the breaking of each seal unleashes a new demonstration of God’s judgment on the earth.

What John describes happens in the tribulation period. The seals that Christ opens in chapter 6 include all the judgments. We will define each judgment as we encounter them in the text of this chapter. The seventh seal contains the seven trumpet judgments, and the seventh trumpet judgment contains the seven bowl judgments (John describes these in chapters 8, 9, 11, and 16).

Each of the first four seals represents conflict directed at Christians to test them and to identify false disciples (v.10). The seals may also be descriptive of judgments on mankind in general. However, since the fifth seal contains the cries of Christians who have been martyred, it stands to reason that persecution of believers also is the subject of the first four seals.

Vv. 1-2: The first seal: “…a conqueror bent on conquest…”

“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.”

Zechariah had a vision that was similar, with red, black, white, and dappled horses pulling chariots of judgment; Zechariah 6:1-8:

“¹ I looked up again, and there before me were four chariots coming out from between two mountains—mountains of bronze. ² The first chariot had red horses, the second black, ³ the third white, and the fourth dappled—all of them powerful. ⁴ I asked the angel who was speaking to me, ‘What are these, my lord?’ ⁵ 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. ⁶ 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.’ ⁷ 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. ⁸ Then he called to me, ‘Look, those going toward the north country have given my Spirit rest in the land of the north.’”

In Revelation chapter 6, the four horses and their riders represent forces or spirits. The white horse and its rider in v. 2 symbolize world conquest, the rider being the spirit of conquest, most likely the antichrist. Judgment falls on the unbelief of Israel (see Luke 21:22-23), while at the same time God will test believers to separate the chaff from the wheat. The conquest of Israel and other nations comes in the form of a short-lived time of world peace. The rider on the white horse carries a bow, representative of military strength, but no arrows. In the tribulation period, the conquest of the world will be accomplished through peace treaties and alliances that will prove insincere and deceptive.

During the time of the tribulation, the world will experience the emergence of a series of false messiahs, culminating with the antichrist as the leader of a one-world government. The antichrist is given a “…crown…” (v. 2), signifying that by some means, the people and governments of the world will unite and choose him as world leader. Thus, he conquers the world through a kind of a bloodless coup by the promise of world peace. People and nations throughout the world will follow the antichrist and be obsessed with accomplishing the false peace he promises.

Vv. 3-4: The second seal: “…power to take peace from the earth…”

“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.”

Opening of the second seal results in the emergence of a bright red horse, whose rider has been called the spirit of bloodshed or the spirit of conflict or war. He holds “…a large sword…” indicative of the many people he will slaughter. He represents the terrible time of worldwide war that ends the short-lived peace during the tribulation. This time of war will be on a scale larger than we can imagine and involves virtually every nation and people group on earth. Millions of people will die. Violent slaughter will be commonplace: assassinations, armed revolts, and massacres of combatants and civilians.

Vv. 5-6: The third seal: poverty and famine

“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!’”

On the black horse of the third seal is the rider who is the spirit of famine, prophesying widespread famine and its resulting death, sorrow, and desolation caused by rationing a limited food supply during the tribulation, and severe inflation of food prices. The text refers to two pounds of wheat, which is the approximate amount needed to sustain one person for one day and indicates the near-starvation to come. It will take “… a day’s wages…” to buy only enough for one person to stay alive. Barley is less expensive than wheat, but is low in nutritional value and usually fed to animals. Six pounds of barley would be about enough for daily supply for a two- or three-person family. The pair of scales held by the rider was a common measuring device of the first century and comprised a pair of trays hung from each end of a balancing beam.

Oil and wine (“…Do not damage the oil and the wine…, v. 6) were staples in the first century. Oil was necessary for baking bread, and wine was used in cooking and was essential for purifying water. This reference is another way of telling us that sustenance will be extremely limited and food so valuable only the very wealthy will have enough.

Vv. 7-8—The fourth seal: “…Death and Hades…”

“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.”

“Pale” in Greek is the word from which the English word “chlorophyll” and indicates an ashen or grayish-green color that would be typical of a person nearing death from disease or a decaying corpse. It is symbolic of death brought by pestilence or plague following a worldwide famine. The picture of the pale horse depicts death on a scale that is impossible for us to imagine, surpassing the death toll from the worldwide war represented by the bright red horse of the second seal. In the tribulation, one-fourth of the people left in the world will die from war, famine, sickness, and ferocious wild animals.

In the New Testament, the Greek word “…Hades…” refers to the place of the souls of the wicked prior to final judgment in hell. The Bible consistently teaches that upon death the souls of the righteous are taken immediately into the presence of God, and the souls of the unsaved go to a place of punishment and suffering, known as “…Hades…”

Luke 16:19-31 is an example, where we find Jesus telling the parable of the rich man and Lazarus and depicting Hades as a place of torment:

“¹⁹ There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. ²⁰ At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores ²¹ and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. ²² The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. ²³ In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. ²⁴ So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’ ²⁵ But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. ²⁶ And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’ ²⁷ He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, ²⁸ for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ ²⁹ Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’ ³⁰ ‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ ³¹ He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”

Vv. 9-11: The fifth seal: the souls of martyred Christians

 “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.”

With the opening of the fifth seal, the scene changes from charging horses to one of the martyred saints who are under the altar, crying out for God to avenge their deaths. This is thought to be just prior to the start of the second half of the seven-year tribulation on earth. In the second half of the seven-year tribulation comes the “Day of the Lord,” when God unleashes His judgment and wrath on earth.

These martyred Christians’ souls are shown under the altar, which is most likely the altar of incense, from which these saints’ prayers were ascending to God. They are given white robes because of their righteousness. The white robes signified purity and righteousness, assurance and comfort for the saints while they wait for the number of Christians that God has predetermined He will allow to die before destroying the wicked rulers and armies of the earth. They are 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.” God will answer their prayer for vengeance, but only according to His timing.

Vv. 12-17: The Sixth Seal: “…the great day of their wrath has come…”

“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?’”

Jesus breaks the sixth seal, and John witnesses several eschatological signs of the day of the Lord, prophesied in both the Old and New Testament (see Isaiah 13:10; Jeremiah 4:29; Joel 2:31; 3:15; Zephaniah 1:14-18; Matthew 24:29).

Joel 2:31-32: “31The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. 32And everyone who calls the name of the Lord will be saved; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be deliverance, as the Lord has said, even among the survivors whom the Lord calls” (quoted in Acts 2:20).

Matthew 24:29 (quoting Isaiah 13:10):“Immediately after the distress of those days ‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’”

The signs revealed by the opening of the sixth seal generally fall into two categories: a great earthquake on the earth and stars falling from the heavens, creating absolute terror. The problem for biblical interpreters is determining how literally the whole description should be taken. The description includes events from the standpoint of ancient cosmology, including the falling of the stars. The scene, whether we understand it as literal or figurative is catastrophic and distress for people who are left on earth. Earthquakes are a recurring theme in the account of the tribulation, along with other catastrophic physical phenomena during the tribulation (see Revelation 8:5, 12; 9:2; 11:13, 19; and 16:8, 18).

The sixth seal gives us a picture of God’s coming of the day of wrath. God has been warning mankind for thousands of years that He will, at the end of this age, pour out His fierce wrath on all the wicked. “The Day of the Lord” or “day of wrath” is often prophesied in the Bible. Violent demonstrations of God’s wrath are prophesied and will be worldwide:

Zephaniah 1:14-15: “¹⁴The great day of the Lord is near and coming quickly. The cry on the day of the Lord is bitter; the Mighty Warrior shouts his battle cry. ¹⁵ That day will be a day of wrath—a day of distress and anguish, a day of trouble and ruin, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness.”

The “…great earthquake…” in v. 12 does not refer to the normal earthquakes we are familiar with today. Right now, the average is about 50 per day, or 20,000 earthquakes per year, very few of which are felt on the surface. But John describes hundreds or thousands of quakes happening together. They are cataclysmic and worldwide. Likely, all faults fracture and move, and the movement of continental plates. This will be a time of very great fear, because no place will be free from the shaking of the earth.

The text states “…the sun turned black…,” which is better understood as “dark.” Dust and ash from fissures caused by the shifting of the earth’s crust will fill the air, dimming the sunlight, and “…the whole moon turned blood red…,”no doubt both phenomena occurring because of atmospheric dust and pollution. John’s vision that “…the stars in the sky fell to earth…” is a little misleading in the English translation; “…stars…” in this passage is a term that means any celestial body, large or small, and depicts a prolonged meteor shower or that the sky will be completely dark and celestial bodies can no longer be seen.

The reference in v. 13 that “…figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind…” is a reference to the fact that early winter figs can easily be blown from the fig tree in a strong wind, ruining the crop. John’s meaning here is that there will be more famine and failed crops.

“…The heavens receded like a scroll being rolled up…” (v. 14) depicts dimness or darkness characterizing the atmosphere. The sky will no longer be blue and clear, with darkness blotting out the sun, moon, and stars. There is a similar description in Isaiah 34:4, as Isaiah prophesied the judgment: “All the stars of heaven will be dissolved and the sky rolled up like a scroll; all the starry host will fall like withered leaves from the fine, like shriveled figs from the fig tree.”

“…Every mountain and island removed from its place…” is John’s description of the extent of the earthquakes and movement of the earth’s crust being so violent and extensive that the earthquakes and movement of the earth’s crust will result in the very geography of the earth being changed.

There will be no escape for anyone from the cataclysmic events, no matter how humble, powerful, or wealthy they are. Survivors will not find shelter and protection in open spaces, but in caves. Air on the surface will be nearly unbreathable. Dust, ash will cover everything, with homes and buildings having collapsed from the weight of the dust and ash.

Survival will be possible only in the depths of the earth, where air is less polluted. People will not be seeking protection from the physical conditions alone, however. Rather, they will realize the reality and power of the God of the Bible and will know they are in the midst of the judgment of God, the day of wrath predicted by the prophets.

In the midst of the tribulation, there will be many who will seem to acknowledge God, but still not accept Him as Lord. Instead of turning to Him, they will turn away and hide.

But at the end of 1,000 years, at the judgment seat of Christ “…every knee will bow before me; every tongue will acknowledge God…” (Romans 14:11), as everyone “…will give an account of ourselves to God…” (Romans 14:12).