Revelation 6:1-17

Christ takes the book that only He can open and as He breaks each seal on the book, a series of plagues breaks out upon the earth.  This is the beginning of the tribulation period on the earth.  The wrath of God is being poured out upon the inhabitants of the earth.  I think that it is significant that John and the twenty-four elders are in heaven observing that which is taking place on the earth.  I believe that the church will be raptured off of the earth prior to this tribulation period.  As bad as these first judgments are, they are only be beginning of what will be wave after wave of the wrath of God.  This first series of judgments contains seven seals, six of which are described here.

HORRIBLE HORSES: The first four seal judgments are represented by four different colored horses.  The first one is white and represents the rise of Anti-Christ.  We don’t know who this man may be, but his coming has been foretold since the days of Daniel.  He will promise peace and prosperity and experience unprecedented popularity; however, he will deliver death and destruction the likes of which this world has never seen.  The second horse is red and represents war on the earth.  The Anti-Christ gains his position of global authority by promising peace, but ironically his method for establishing peace is through war.  Throughout the history of the world men have fought wars that were supposed to end all wars.  The reality is that as long as sinful men rule the nations of the world wars will never end.  The third horse is black and represents famine.  A day’s worth of work will only purchase enough food to feed one person for one day.  This means that every man woman and child will need to work just to be able to feed themselves.  The fourth horse is pale and represents death.  One fourth of the population of the earth will be dead as a result of this judgment.  I think that this is the cumulative result of the war and famine from the previous two judgments.  The peace and prosperity promised by the Anti-Christ does not seem to be working very well.

HEADLESS HEROES: The fifth seal reveal the tribulation martyrs who are crying out to the Lord for justice to be brought upon those who had killed them.  During the tribulation there will be many who place their faith in Christ.  These tribulation believers will be greatly persecuted on the earth because they will refuse to submit to the blasphemous rule of Anti-Christ.  As a result of their being loyal to Christ and rejecting the rule of Anti-Christ many of them will be beheaded.  These heroes of the faith are in heaven and may give us a glimpse of what heaven is like right now.  These believers are clearly aware of their former life on earth, they are also aware of the current events of the earth.  They care very deeply about these things and they cry out to God concerning them.  They are obviously not all knowing and continue to learn from God through their questions and His answers.  They also have bodies on which to wear the white robes that they are given.  This must be a temporary body that is awaiting the permanent glorified body that they will receive at the resurrection.  God tells them that their deaths would be avenged but that there are still other brothers and sisters in Christ who would also be killed for the cause of Christ and that God was still working out His plan of redemption and wrath on the earth.  God assures them of His control as well as intent to avenge their deaths.

HIDING HUMANITY: The sixth seal is accompanied by a massive earthquake that moves every mountain on the planet, the moon appears red like blood and the sky is rolled back like a scroll.  This is a series of natural disasters that will clearly demonstrate that God is still firmly in control of the events of the earth.  Famine, war, death and beheading Christians are all man-made disasters that occur due to the hardness of men’s hearts.  These disasters are what we call acts of God that no man can predict, cause or avert.  The human response to these disasters is to run away and try to hide in the caves of the mountains.  In fact their fear is so great that they long for the rocks to fall on them and kill them in order to escape the pain, fear and disaster that they are experiencing.  I think that it is significant that these men try to hide from God if fear instead of repenting from their sin and seeking God’s forgiveness.  The heart of man is very wicked and bound up in sin and even in the face of God’s wrath will refuse to repent.  This is the danger of a hard heart before God.