"Seals 1-6" Revelation 6
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Recap:
Recap:
Rev. 1 - Inaugural Vision
Rev. 2-3 - Judgement Oracles to the 7 churches
Rev. 4-5 - Heavenly Throne Room
Big Questions: Who is truly sovereign? How does God deal with Evil?
Hermeneutical Basis for the Judgement Cycle
Recapitulation Theory of the Judgement Cycle
Christ Cycle (6-11) and Dragon Cycle (12-20)
Christ Cycle (6-11): Almighty God and His Christ
Christ Cycle (6-11): Almighty God and His Christ
The Lamb (IX) will be breaking the seals.
Seals 1-4 depict what is happening on earth at the time between Christ’s ascension and his return.
Seals 5-6 will depicts whats happening in heaven.
Following there is an interlude and then Seal 7.
We will cover Seals 1-6 today.
We will cover Seals 1-6 today.
Hermeneutical Approach
Hermeneutical Approach
Preterist
Heristorical
Futurist
The Preterist approach takes the interpretive approach that we’ve done with any other book. It asks “what is the context?” and “what did this mean to the original audience?”
The Preterist approach takes the interpretive approach that we’ve done with any other book. It asks “what is the context?” and “what did this mean to the original audience?”
Any questions?
Any questions?
The Book is opened; The First Seal Broken Rev. 6.1-2
The Book is opened; The First Seal Broken Rev. 6.1-2
John “saw” the contents of the scroll being unfolded.
The Lamb (Jesus) is the one worthy to break the seals and starts with one.
One of the four living creatures call out, “Come.”
Perhaps the living creatures represents creation.
The living creature calls for the first horsemen.
the horsemen are John’s appropriation of Zechariah 6.
A White Horse
A White Horse
Some speculate this is Jesus. Its not.
Jesus is opening the seals after a vision showing him in a high christological light.
For Jesus to be on par with the other horsemen seems inconsistent with the Lamb worthy of worship.
the rider has a bow maybe following symbolism in Is. 41.2 with Cyrus.
He was given a crown. His authority is not his own.
He is bent on conquest.
How do the saints conquer? by their testimony, but this person thinks its by his might that he conquers.
The truth is that his crown is given to him and his authority is only given because God allows it.
Rome was set on conquest, unleashing bloodsehd, famine and destruction, as we’ll see in the next seals.
The events on the Earth are not outside of God’s sovereignty or sight.
The Second Seal is Opened Rev. 6.3-4
The Second Seal is Opened Rev. 6.3-4
V. 3 continues a pattern set in v. 1.
He (the lamb) broke the seal, with a second living creature calling for a horsemen.
A Red Horse
A Red Horse
purros is a fiery red.
the rider is permitted to take peace and represents war.
The rider is given a great sword, but “men” (humanity) are the ones “slaying” one another.
“slaying” can also be translated “slaughter” or “kill by violence.” The idea is butchering.
Wars have been going on since the resurrection and will continue until Christ’s return.
The Third Seal is Opened Rev. 6.5-6
The Third Seal is Opened Rev. 6.5-6
Again the Lamb breaks the seal followed by a third living creature calling out, “come.”
A Black Horse
A Black Horse
this horse represents famine
the rider carries pair of scales.
grain was measured by volume, so perhaps the scales allude to the rationing of food. Lev. 26.26
An unspecified voice speaks from among the living creatures. Probably a divine Person - The Lord or the Lamb.
choinix is almost a quart, and was the daily ration for a man.
Revelation: An Introduction and Commentary e. The Third Seal (6:5–6)
At this price the full day’s wage would be spent on one day’s ration. A labourer would buy barley rather than wheat and thus would have a little for his dependants. John is describing a famine price but not a starvation price.
While grain and bread would be scare, oil and wine would not. Two options:
Revelation: An Introduction and Commentary e. The Third Seal (6:5–6)
This may be because the roots of the olive and the vine go deeper than those of grain crops so that they would not be so easily damaged in a difficult year. Or it may mean that the necessities of life for the poor will be in short supply while the luxuries of the rich will not cease.
While life is difficult for the beleivers, the end is not yet upon them.
While life is difficult for the beleivers, the end is not yet upon them.
The Fourth Seal is Opened Rev. 6.7-8
The Fourth Seal is Opened Rev. 6.7-8
Same formula as the previous seals.
An Ashen Horse
An Ashen Horse
an ashen or pale horse. chloros is a kind of yellowish green.
this is probably the color of a corpse.
Death is the rider of this horse and is followed by Hades, where the dead dwell.
Authority is given to them to kill a fourth of the earth by sword, famine, pestilence, and wild beasts.
Revelation: An Introduction and Commentary f. The Fourth Seal (6:7–8)
‘The first group of seal-openings, now completed, describes the condition of the Empire as it revealed itself to the mind of the Seer. He saw a vast world-wide power, outwardly victorious and eager for fresh conquests, yet full of the elements of unrest, danger, and misery; war, scarcity, pestilence, mortality in all its forms, abroad or ready to shew themselves. This series of pictures repeats itself in history,
The Fifth Seal is Opened Rev. 6.9-11
The Fifth Seal is Opened Rev. 6.9-11
attention now shifts to Heaven.
after the lamb breaks the seal, John sees martyrs.
Souls kept safely under the altar.
They were slain (same word as before) because of their testimony in Jesus.
These did not recant and died for it.
They cry out to the true sovereign one.
“how long… will you refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”
God is addressed as Lord or despotes. This word is used for a master of slaves and emphasizes God’s complete power.
The martyrs ask for justice.
The martyrs are given white robes, those robes given to those who conquer.
The martys are to rest until the full number of martyrs is killed.
Not that God desires their death, but they are not forgotten God’s redemptive work in history.
The Sixth Seal is Broken
The Sixth Seal is Broken
John, here is describing cosmic disruption. all of the created order is in catastrophe. This is an apocalyptic way of bringing about the end.
1 And in those days the angel Uriel answered and said to me: ' Behold, I have shown thee everything, Enoch, and I have revealed everything to thee that thou shouldst see this sun and this moon, and the leaders of the stars of the heaven and all those who turn them, their tasks and times and departures.
2 And in the days of the sinners the years shall be shortened,
And their seed shall be tardy on their lands and fields,
And all things on the earth shall alter,
And shall not appear in their time:
And the rain shall be kept back
And the heaven shall withhold (it).
3 And in those times the fruits of the earth shall be backward,
And shall not grow in their time,
And the fruits of the trees shall be withheld in their time.
4 And the moon shall alter her order,
And not appear at her time.
5 [And in those days the sun shall be seen and he shall journey in the evening on the extremity of the great chariot in the west]
And shall shine more brightly than accords with the order of light.
6 And many chiefs of the stars shall transgress the order (prescribed).
And these shall alter their orbits and tasks,
And not appear at the seasons prescribed to them.
7 And the whole order of the stars shall be concealed from the sinners,
And the thoughts of those on the earth shall err concerning them,
[And they shall be altered from all their ways],
Yea, they shall err and take them to be gods.
8 And evil shall be multiplied upon them,
And punishment shall come upon them So as to destroy all.'
1 Enoch 80; https://www.ccel.org/c/charles/otpseudepig/enoch.htm
Finally, all those opposed to God will be judge no matter who they are.
The section ends with the question “who is able to stand?”
The section ends with the question “who is able to stand?”