UNDERSTAND
THE BOOK OF REVELATION SERIES...
Understanding
the The Seven Seals of Revelation
By
Dr Andrew Corbett
Now I saw when the Lamb opened one of the
seals; and I heard one of the four living creatures saying
with a voice like thunder, "Come and see."
Revelation 6:1
Having been introduced to the seven churches
of Asia who were all battling in some way both internally (with
false doctrine and immorality) and externally (with persecution),
then with the throne-room of the universe where judgment was
about to be executed we are now about to unfold the judgment
seals of God.
THE FOUR HORSEMEN
This is where many commentators on the Book
of Revelation commence to speculate. Historicist commentators
see in the first four seals (the Four Horsemen) world leaders
who have arisen down through the ages. Dispensational futurists
regard the Four Horsemen as yet to come events. The Preterist
attempts to avoid these interpretations by firstly looking to
the time of the original recipients of this Epistle to determine
how they would have understood its message. Employing the sound
principle of "intended meaning" means that a prophetic statement
can only logically have one fulfilment, or intended meaning.
So whatever or whoever these Four Horsemen are, it is absurd
to suggest that they could have multiple yet diverse intended
meanings. 40.
And I looked, and behold, a white horse.
He who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him,
and he went out conquering and to conquer.
Revelation 6:2
How would the original recipients have understood
this verse? Who had been given a crown? To understand this,
we perhaps have to understand who was reigning during the time
of the writing of this Epistle. The whole world at this time
was under the reign of the Romans. Which Roman Emperor was reigning
at the time of the birth of Christ? Interestingly it was Caesar
Augustus who was given a crown unlike any Emperor before him
since he was the first to receive the title Pontifex Maximus
in 12AD. This Roman Emperor was mentioned in Luke 2:1 -
And it came to pass in those days that
a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world
should be registered.
Luke 2:1
Caesar Augustus (depicted right) is referred
to as the rider of the first horse and is described as the result
of the opening of the first seal. He literally went out to conquer
the world and extend the Roman Empire.
THE SECOND SEAL...
3When He opened the second seal, I heard
the second living creature saying, "Come and see." 4Another
horse, fiery red, went out. And it was granted to the one
who sat on it to take peace from the earth, and that people
should kill one another; and there was given to him a great
sword.
Revelation 6:3-4
The second seal is described as revealing an
emperor who rode a red horse and wielded a great sword. The
Caesar immediately following Caesar Augustus was Caesar Tiberius
-
Now in the fifteenth year of the reign
of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea,
Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch
of Iturea and the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch
of Abilene
Luke 3:1
Caesar Tiberius reigned from 14AD to 37AD.
THE THIRD SEAL…
5When He opened the third seal, I heard
the third living creature say, "Come and see." So I looked,
and behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it had a pair
of scales in his hand. 6And I heard a voice in the midst of
the four living creatures saying, "A quart of wheat for a
denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do
not harm the oil and the wine."
Revelation 6:5-6
The Third Seal is the rider Third horse which,
in this case, is black. The next emperor in the succession of
emperors is Caesar Caligula (Gaius) who reigned from 37AD to
41AD. The rider of the Black Horse carries a pair of scales
which speaks of injustice and in particular, economic injustice
since it describes basic grocery items being charged at exorbitant
prices yet luxury items still being available.
The Encyclopaedia Britannica notes that Caesar
Gaius Caligula was extraordinarily cruel and financially inept
(which aptly fits the description of him as the rider of the
black horse):
In 38 he executed Naevius Sutorius Macro,
prefect of the Praetorian Guard, to whose support he owed
his accession, and Tiberius Gemellus, grandson of Tiberius,
whom he had supplanted in the succession. He made pretensions
to divinity…After his accession Caligula quickly squandered
the vast sums Tiberius had accumulated in the state treasury.
To procure the revenues needed to finance his extravagances,
he then resorted to the extortion of prominent Roman citizens
and the confiscation of their estates.back.
© 1994-2002 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
THE FOURTH SEAL…
When He opened the fourth seal, I heard
the voice of the fourth living creature saying, "Come and
see." So I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And the name
of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed with him.
And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to
kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts
of the earth.
Revelation 6:7-8
The Fourth seal is the rider of the ashen (pale)
horse who brings cruel death, and hunger (famine). The next
emperor in the succession of Roman Caesars was Caesar Claudius
who reigned from 41 - 54 AD. He is noted in Acts 11:28 as reigning
during a time of widespread famine.
Then one of them, named Agabus, stood up
and showed by the Spirit that there was going to be a great
famine throughout all the world, which also happened in the
days of Claudius Caesar.
Acts 11:28
Claudius (statue pictured right) used the military
might of Rome and extended Roman rule in North Africa and made
Britain a province. From what we know of Claudius, and what
happened during his reign, the description of him being the
rider of the fourth horse is again apt. His reign also corresponds
to what Christ said would happen at this time in Matthew 24:7
-
"For nation will rise against nation, and
kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences,
and earthquakes in various places.
Matthew 24:7
THE FIFTH SEAL...
9When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under
the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word
of God and for the testimony which they held. 10And they cried
with a loud voice, saying, "How long, O Lord, holy and true,
until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on
the earth?" 11Then a white robe was given to each of them;
and it was said to them that they should rest a little while
longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and
their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed.
Revelation 6:9--11
The first four seals corresponded to the Roman
Emperors from the time of the birth of Christ. The fifth seal
however is not the rider of a horse. In this sense the fifth
emperor since Christ was not a noble military ruler who personally
led his troops into battle as did the other Emperors. Yet, it
is this Emperor represented by the fifth seal who carries out
the most devastating attack upon the Church. Revelation 6:9
introduces not him, but the result of his wicked work: souls
who had been slain for the Word of God. It was Caesar Nero who
in 64AD officially launched a State campaign of eradication
of Christians. On July 19th 64AD he blamed Christians for the
arson of a major part of Rome. His war against the Church lasted
until his mysterious death in 68AD, a period of 42 months. Writing
during the early nineteenth century, George Olford said of Nero
in his book The Destruction of Jerusalem -
Emperor Nero, "who," says Tacitus, "inflicted
upon the Christians punishments exquisitely painful ;" multitudes
suffered a cruel martyrdom, amidst derision and insults, and
among the rest the venerable Apostles St Peter and St. Paul.
One web site author noted about Nero -
Under Caesar Nero, AD 54 - AD 68, Paul
was beheaded and Peter crucified. As things escalated, Christians
were fed to the lions, fighting gladiators to the death for
sport, wrapped in animal carcasses and hunted by dogs. At
one point, Nero had them wrapped in robes soaked in oil and
set afire to become human torches for his court yard. He would
ride among them dressed as a charioteer. They had a giant
griddle type setup where they would fry them alive. They skinned
them alive and placed them in dung heaps, in order that they
might die from terrible diseases and pain from the incredible
infections they contracted. It is said that he fashioned a
large slide with cutting knife blades. If one did not renounce
Christ, they were pushed down the slide, being cut to pieces
before they reached the bottom. One catacomb was found to
have 350,000 skeletal remains in it. It is estimated that
that millions died during the reign of Nero.
THE SIXTH SEAL...
12 I looked when He opened the sixth seal,
and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became
black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood.
13 And the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree
drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. 14
Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and
every mountain and island was moved out of its place. 15 And
the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders,
the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves
in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, 16 and said
to the mountains and 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 His wrath has come, and who
is able to stand?"
The first five seals represented significant
people who each bore some historical significance. But the sixth
seal is not a person but an event which presumably linked to
the person behind the fifth seal since he is not yet replaced.
Within two years of declaring war on Christians, Nero responded
violently to the Jewish revolt in Jerusalem by ordering its
destruction in 66AD. Citing the records of Josephus, George
Holford notes what precipitated the Jewish revolt, and what
response came from Caesar Nero -
At length Eleazer, son of the High Priest,
persuaded those who officiated in the temple to reject the
sacrifices of foreigners, and no longer to offer up prayers
for them. Thus an insult was thrown upon Caesar, his sacrifice
rejected, and the foundation of the Roman war laid. The disturbances
among the Jews still continuing, Cestius Gallus, president
of Syria, marched an army into Judea, in order to quell them,
and his career was every where marked with blood and desolation.
As he proceeded, he plundered and burnt the beautiful city
of Zabulon, Joppa, and all the villages which lay in his way.
At Joppa he slew of the inhabitants eight thousand four hundred.
He laid waste the district of Narbatene, and, sending an army
into Galilee, slew there two thousand of the seditious Jews.
He then burnt the city of Lydda; and after having repulsed
the Jews, who made a desperate sally upon him, encamped, at
length, at the distance of about one mile from Jerusalem.
Several historians of the day note that Nero
had ordered General Cestius from Syria to attack Jerusalem.
Christians at this time understood the invasion of Cestius and
his setting up of the Roman insignia in the Holy Place as the
fulfilment of Christ's prophecy in Matthew 24:15-20 and fled
the city during the surprising withdrawal of Cestius for three
days (which gave all the resident Jewish Christians of Jerusalem
time to flee). The Sixth seal is also time of unprecedented
earthquakes. Again we note from historical records of this time
-
In the reign of Nero there was an earthquake
at Laodicea. Tacitus records this also. It is likewise mentioned
by Eusebius and Orosius, who add that Hieropolis and Colosse,
as well as Laodicea, were overthrown by an earthquake. There
was also one in Campania in this reign (of this both Tacitus
and Seneca speak)… "A heavy storm (says Josephus) burst on
them during the night violent winds arose, accompanied with
the most excessive rains, with constant lightnings, most tremendous
thunderings, and with dreadful roarings of earthquakes. It
seemed (continues he) as if the system of the world had been
confounded for the destruction of mankind; and one might well
conjecture that these were signs of no common events."
George Peter Holford, "The Destruction of Jerusalem",
written 1805
The expression sun moon and stars is used on
three significant occasions in various forms throughout the
Book of Revelation. It apocalyptically refers to the nation
of Israel. We first find this metaphor for Israel used in Genesis
37:9 when Joseph dreamed of his family (the progenitors of Israel).
It is an expression which is also apocalyptically employed to
speak of Israel throughout the Old Testament as well (note Joel
3:15-16). When the sun is darkened and the moon is turned to
blood or stars are falling, it refers to Israel's unfaithfulness
toward God.
"Immediately after the tribulation of those
days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give
its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers
of the heavens will be shaken."
Matthew 24:29
The apocalyptic language used in the opening
of the sixth seal is descriptive of the destruction of Jerusalem
around 70AD but instigated by Nero in 66AD. The "fig tree being
shaken" speaks of Israel being judged, and the passage of the
sixth seal speaks apocalyptically of God's wrath about to be
poured out on Israel. While it might look as if the Rome were
the perpetrators of wrath against Jerusalem, they were just
the pawns of the Lamb in the same way that the Babylonians under
Nebuchadnezzar were the pawns of Yahweh to judge Israel of old.
In the following verse, Nebuchadnezzar, the violent king of
Babylon, is called the servant of the Lord.
'behold, I will send and take all the families
of the north,' says the LORD, 'and Nebuchadnezzar the king
of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land,
against its inhabitants, and against these nations all around,
and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment,
a hissing, and perpetual desolations.
Jeremiah 25:9
Just as the Hebrews of old had betrayed the
LORD which brought about God's wrath through the Babylonians,
so the Jews of the generation of Christ had committed the ultimate
betrayal and were about to experience the wrath of the Lamb.
But they cried out, "Away with Him, away
with Him! Crucify Him!" Pilate said to them, "Shall I crucify
your King?" The chief priests answered, "We have no king but
Caesar!"
John 19:15
©
2003, Dr. Andrew Corbett, Legana, Tasmania, Australia
Listen
to Part 3 of Understanding Revelation
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