A Commentary in Simple English on Revelation

CHAPTER 6

The First Six Seals

In this chapter we are told how Jesus breaks the first six seals which are fixed on the scroll or book. Then in Chapter 7 John sees things that are quite different. In 8:1 Jesus breaks the last seal. We learn what happens when Jesus breaks the seals. But this is not the same as what is written on the scroll. We are not told what the scroll says.

So in this chapter John tells us the 'story' of what will happen in the world. Of course, he looks at the world from heaven! Later in the book, there are seven 'trumpets' or war-horns. (8:2 to 9:21 and 11:15-18). Then there are the seven bowls (16:1-21). There may be seven 'signs' in 12:1 to 14:20; and then in 10:4 there are seven thunder voices.

There are two ways in which we can think about this. One is this. John may be telling the same 'story' three or four times over. The 'sevens' mostly divide up into four-two-and one. Between six and seven, there is a 'rest'. The other way we can read it is to say: the seals come first. They harm a quarter of the world. Then come the trumpets. They harm a third of the world. The thunder voices (10:4) sound. But we do not know what they say. Perhaps they would have harmed half of the world. We do not know. Then the angels pour out what is in the bowls. People have pain and suffer, but they do not die. Perhaps the parts of John's story really do come one after another. [6.1]

Parts of what John says in these chapters are rather like the teaching that Jesus gave in Matthew 24. Some of it is also like the 'plagues' in Egypt (Exodus 7:14 to 12:30). But much of what John says is to do with what he has seen and heard. I hope that we shall be able to understand what he says as we look at these chapters. I shall not tell you how to fit it all together. But there is truth here for us to learn.

1. The good that God will do to this world and to men at the end will be so great that we shall just forget the pain and sorrow in the past.

2. God still rules the world. When things seem to us to go wrong, God still has control.

3. Some people do a lot of good in the world, even if other people do much that is bad. We must work to help what is good. We must not be frightened by what is bad. Leave that to God.

So we come to verses 1 and 2. The Lamb, that is our Lord Jesus, opens the first of the seven seals on the 'scroll' or book. In 4:7 we read that the first living being was like a lion. So now it is the lion that says: - 'Come'. [6.2] John looks and sees a white horse. A man rode on it. His weapon was a bow, which shoots arrows. Someone gave him a 'crown' to wear on his head. This did not mean that he was a king. It was a 'victor's' crown. Those who won races or battles wore that kind of crown. Here it shows that he will win battles or wars. We want to know who this is. A donkey or an ass would suggest peace: a horse was used in war.

a) Some people think this is a picture of Christ. In 19:11 we read that Jesus rides on a white horse. If this is a picture of Jesus, then the meaning is this: Jesus goes out into the world when we preach the Good News. Then people believe in Jesus. These are the 'battles' which Jesus wins.

b) Other people think that the man who rides on the white horse is a picture of the Parthian Empire. This was to the east of the Roman Empire. The Parthians were great enemies of Rome. They came from the part of the world that we now call Iran. Mesopotamia, which is now called Iraq, was sometimes part of the Roman Empire and at other times part of the Parthian Empire. Armenia was to the north of Mesopotamia, and the Romans and Parthians fought several wars in Armenia. Now the Parthian army rode on horses and they used bows and arrows. This is why some people think that this rider is a picture of Parthia. Christians had a difficult time in the Roman Empire. They might think: -: 'Life would be easier if the Parthians ruled us'. But that would not be right. All that the quarrels between Rome and Parthia would bring would be war and death. And the Parthians could be very cruel too.

In verse 3 we read that the Lamb breaks the second seal. The second of the living beings speaks. This is the one with a face like an 'ox' or 'bull'. He says 'Come' and a second horse and rider appear. The picture (verse 4) is again a picture of war. But this is not an attack by a foreign army. People kill each other. When war breaks out inside a country it is called a 'civil' was. It is always more bitter than war with foreign countries.

In verse 5, the Lamb breaks the third seal and the third living being speaks. This is the man. A black horse appears. The man on this horse has a set of scales or a balance. Food was to be weighed with care in these scales. (verse 6) Another voice says: - 'A litre of wheat for a day's pay and three litres of barley for a day's pay'.

Wheat was the better grain which people ate. Barley was cheap but it was not such good food. If a man had a family to look after, he would have to buy barley. A man would eat a litre of wheat in a day. The prices are high. They may be ten times as much as was usual. When food is short, prices are high. The whole picture is of 'famine'. Food is short, and prices are so high that people cannot afford to buy enough of it. If we look at verse 8, we shall see that people die from hunger.

The people who lived in Roman Asia in those days were often hungry. Often there was not enough wheat and barley. Farmers in Egypt and all along the north coast of Africa grew a great amount of grain. But hundreds of ships took much of it to Italy. The great numbers of people in Rome had to be fed. They would cause trouble if they were hungry. Then the Roman Army had to be fed. Roman soldiers did not like it at all if they did not receive their grain each day. When there was no grain, they ate only meat. They felt no better than the wild tribes when that happened. Much of the Roman army was busy in the east. So the cities in Asia did not always get the grain that they needed.

The Roman Emperor, Domitian, tried to put this right in AD.92. Some farmland in the Empire was no good to grow wheat or barley. Domitian did not understand this. He made a law, which said that all over the Roman Empire half the olive trees and half the vines were to be destroyed. Olives were very important. The fruit was used to make oil. The grapes, which grew on the vines, were made into wine. So we think that this is why the voice says at the end of verse 6: 'Do not damage the olive trees or the vines'. In many places people did not obey this law. Domitian thought that there would be more grain. Instead cities like Philadelphia where the trade in wine was important became poorer.

So we come to verse 7. The Lamb breaks the fourth seal. The fourth living being was the eagle. Now it says 'Come' and another horse and rider appear. (verse 8 - first part) The colour of this horse is green, or perhaps black and blue. We know that it is a picture of serious illness. It is Death who rides on this horse. This is a 'plague' or 'pestilence'. Hell, 'the unseen place', follows close behind Death.

The second part of verse 8 finishes off what has been said in verses 1-8 (first part). The first two men on horses kill by the sword. The third kills by hunger. The fourth kills by illness. A quarter of the world (or of the land) suffers from these things.

Now we need to look at the words of Jesus if we are to see what this means. In Matthew 24:7 he speaks of wars and 'famines'. He does not speak of 'plague' there, but he adds 'earthquakes'. Notice that in verse 6 Jesus says: -'The end is still to come'. These things are only like the very first pains that a woman has before a baby is born. (verse 8). (See Mark 13:7,8; Luke 21:9,10.) People see great wars and 'famines' and think that they are signs that Jesus will soon come. This is not what Jesus says. (See the second part of Luke 2:24 and Matthew 24:14 for the real 'signs of the end'.)

The other thing that we should see here is that John is quite right. War with a foreign country often weakens a country and its government. So 'civil' war in the country follows. Men are too busy with war to grow food. So there is 'famine'. People grow weak with hunger. So illness, 'plague' and death follow.

If we look again at Matthew 24, we shall see that after the war and 'famine' in verse 7, verse 9 tells us that the followers of Jesus will be hated. This hatred will make people cruel to them, and some Christians will die for their faith. In Revelation 6, we have the same picture. In verse 9, it is the Lamb who breaks the fifth seal. This is a picture of 'persecution'. Many Christians had already died. Their enemies thought that these Christians were difficult. They killed them as though they had done crimes. But the only reason was that they had faith in Jesus. They were faithful to Him. They loved Him. He had saved them. So they would not give up their faith even if they had to die for it. So they were 'butchered', just as a man might kill a cow or sheep.

Now John sees this in the way that God sees it. He does not see men and women who die like criminals or animals. He sees an altar. [6.3] On that altar men and women offer their lives in worship to God. Those who kill them would say that they have taken away their lives. But John sees that their souls are under the altar on which they had died. Their lives are safe with God.

In verse 10, we see that these Christians leave it to God to put right the wrong, which they have suffered. When people do wrong to us because we are Christians we shall be tempted to do them wrong in return. There are several reasons why we must not. One is that God will pay back those who do wrong to us. Leave it to Him. Another reason is that we have to show the love of Jesus to our enemies. (See Romans 12:17-21.) If we love our enemies, we may make them our friends. We must also forgive others, because God has forgiven us the wrongs that we have done to Him. One more reason is this. If we do try to pay back others for the wrong that we think that they have done to us, we often hurt the wrong people. We spread hate.

So in verse 11, God gives to each one of these people white clothes to show that by their death for Jesus they have already won the battle. The white clothes are a promise that they will serve God, and show that they are pure. God tells them to wait. Not until many more Christians have died as they have done will they enjoy their full glory. They still have to wait for their reward from God. Great numbers of Christians have died for their faith since John wrote those words. Even now many thousands of Christians die for their faith each year. But the blood of these 'martyrs' is like seed from which the Church of Christ still grows. (See also 12:11; 12:17; 14:12; 20:4.)

So we come to verses 12-17. The Lamb breaks open the sixth seal. Only one seal now stops the 'scroll' or book from being opened. [6.4] All sorts of awful things happen now.

a) A great earthquake. This was something which people like John knew all about in Asia.

b) The sun became black. (See 7:16.) [6.5]

c) The full moon became like blood.

d) The stars (verse 13) fell from the sky to the earth.

(See the words of Jesus in Matthew 24:29. There He uses words from Isaiah 13:10 and 34:4).

This is all so awful that we may say: - 'This must be the end!' But remember that there is still one more seal on the book, which has not been broken. And before Jesus breaks that seal John will see something very different in Chapter 7. Now as we look at the rest of Chapter 6, we must look at the same time at what Chapter 7 says. So

a) in verse 13 of Chapter 6, the stars fall just as figs fall from a tree which the wind shakes.

In Chapter 7, the angels do not allow the wind to blow on any tree (verse 1). John speaks about the trees again in verse 2.

b) Then in verse 14, the sky rolls up like a scroll. The scroll in heaven is still rolled up until Jesus breaks the last seal in 8:1. A scroll was made up of sheets of paper (papyrus) stuck together. Sometimes, when the scroll was unrolled, the sheets would break apart. Both parts of the scroll would roll up at once. This is the picture here.

c) In the same way, every mountain and island is moved in verse 14. In 7:3, an angel tells four other angels not to do any damage to the land or sea.

d) In Chapter 6, the Lamb breaks the 'seals' on the scroll in heaven. In Chapter 7, the angels fix seals on the foreheads of God's people.

e) Then in verse 15 we have a list of seven kinds of people. The great people - 'the kings of the land' - come first. The slaves came last in the list.

In Chapter 7, there are two lists of the people of God. One is in verses 5-8; the other is in verse 9.

f) In the second part of Chapter 6:15, these people try to find somewhere to hide from God. We know that in times of trouble, people at Sardis used to hide in caves in the mountains to the west of the city.

In Chapter 7, the Christians do not hide from God. Rather in verse 13, God hides them!

g) The people of Chapter 6 want to hide from the face of God the Father (verse 16). They call on the caves to fall down on them to hide them from 'the wrath of the Lamb'. Wrath is great anger. But a lamb is a very gentle animal. It does not hurt anyone. It is never angry. In Chapter 7, we find that the Lamb is the Shepherd (verse 17). Far from being angry with His people, He cares for them.

h) In verse 17 the people of Chapter 6 ask: 'Who can stand?' Who can stand up in front of the anger of the Lamb and in front of God who sits on the throne?

Chapter 7 now gives us the answer. A great crowd of people can stand up in front of God. There are so many of them that no one can count them (verse 9). They stand in front of the Lamb. They are in front of the 'throne' of God, too (verse 15). Once they knew the anger of men (verse 14). But they know nothing about the anger of God or of the Lamb. They know only His love and His care. He comforts them.

We do not want to spend too much time on the last verses of Chapter 6. Let us go on to Chapter 7.