The lesson resumes in Revelation 6 with the opening of the seals on the scroll introduced in Revelation 5. No one in heaven, on earth, or under the earth could open or look at the scroll. The strong angel of chapter 5 is identified with Christ. The Lamb who was slain takes the scroll from the right hand of the Father who sits on the throne and is the only one able to open it.
The opening of the seals marks the beginning of the tribulation period. Several events precede that beginning. The Church is removed from the earth in the rapture before the man of lawlessness is revealed, so believers will never know his identity. Christians are those who believe that Christ died for their sins, was buried, and was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures; confession and repentance of sins are results of believing, not conditions of salvation. The Church is not appointed to wrath. The rapture itself does not start the tribulation. The tribulation begins when the seven-year peace covenant is signed with the man of lawlessness.
After the Church is gone, Satan is permitted to gather the nations. Ten nations rise for that one hour and give their authority to the man of lawlessness. A harlot religious system rises and exercises control over religion among the nations and brings the man of lawlessness onto the world stage. Israel must be back in the land shortly before the tribulation begins—likely months rather than decades—because something forces the majority of Jews who now live among the Gentiles to return. A massive financial collapse is presented as a likely means. Believers are not to prepare as if they will pass through the seven years.
The first seal, already treated, is the rider on the white horse who brings a perceived worldwide peace through the covenant with Israel. First Thessalonians 5:2–3 states that the day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night: when they say “Peace and safety,” sudden destruction comes upon them. That day of the Lord is the beginning of the tribulation. The peace is short-lived.
The second seal is opened. The second living creature says, “Come and see.” A fiery red horse goes out. It is granted to the one sitting on it to take peace from the earth so that people kill one another, and a great sword is given to him. Peace must already exist before it can be taken. The war includes the man of lawlessness destroying three of the ten kings. Daniel 7:8 describes a little horn coming up among the ten horns before whom three of the first horns are plucked out by the roots—the entire line is removed so that none remain to challenge him. Daniel 7:23–24 identifies the ten horns as ten kings who rise from the fourth kingdom that devours the whole earth; another king rises after them, different from the first, and subdues three kings. Matthew 24 concerns Israel in the tribulation, not the Church. Matthew 24:6–7 speaks of wars and rumours of wars, nation rising against nation and kingdom against kingdom, together with famines, pestilences, and earthquakes. The kingdoms in view are the ten kingdoms. Israel is still protected by the man of lawlessness and only hears of these wars.
These shifts mark stages of Gentile power. Revelation 17:10–11 describes seven kings: five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come and must continue a short time; the beast that was and is not is himself also the eighth, is of the seventh, and goes to destruction. The sequence is the ten kings, then seven kings with the man of lawlessness, then the beast as the eighth after he dies and is brought back to life. The arrangement is the revived Roman Empire, iron mixed with clay, called the sixth Gentile world power. The remaining seven kings stay with him and later fight against Christ at His return. No specific death toll is given for the second seal beyond the great sword and people killing one another.
The third seal is opened. The third living creature says, “Come and see.” A black horse appears; the rider holds a pair of scales. A voice among the four living creatures says, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not harm the oil and the wine.” The black horse brings famine. A denarius is a day’s wage, so a full day’s labor buys only enough wheat to sustain life; barley, less nutritious, costs the same wage for three quarts. Oil and wine are not preserved for luxury or drunkenness but for medicinal use, as in Luke 10:34 where the Samaritan pours oil and wine on wounds. Food is devastated; medicine remains available. Israel is still protected and does not experience this famine. The horsemen describe conditions on the earth, not literal spirit-beings riding horses.
The fourth seal is opened. The four living creatures say, “Come and see.” A pale horse appears. The word rendered “pale” means sickly green, the color of one who is deathly ill. The name of the one sitting on it is Death, and Hades follows with him. Authority is given over a fourth of the earth to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth. Applied to present population that is approximately two billion people within the early months of the tribulation. Because Hades follows, those who die under this seal are unbelievers. Believers who die in this period are tribulation saints, not Church saints; the Church has already become the bride of Christ and no one is added to it.
Sheol and Hades are the same place in the heart of the earth. Sheol is not merely the grave; Hebrew has a separate word for the grave. The unsaved are in lowest Sheol where fire burns (Deuteronomy 32:22). Before the resurrection, paradise (Abraham’s bosom) was also in the heart of the earth, separated from the place of torment by a great chasm. Luke 16:19–31 is not a parable: it uses names and places and is given in plain language; parables hide truth rather than reveal it. The rich man is in torment in Hades and can see Lazarus at rest with Abraham. Jesus tells the thief, “Today you will be with Me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). Christ Himself speaks of three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. After the resurrection Christ led captivity captive (Ephesians 4:8) and moved paradise to the edge of the third heaven. Paul was caught up to the edge of the third heaven and into paradise (2 Corinthians 12:2–4). The Church never enters Hades; believers go into the presence of the Lord. The gates of Hades therefore do not prevail against the Church. Stories of people returning from Hades to warn the living contradict Abraham’s reply that even if one rose from the dead they would not believe.
The abyss is the region where certain fallen angels are incarcerated, including those who crossed the line by taking women and producing the Rephaim or Nephilim in an attempt to corrupt the seed of man. The legion of demons begged not to be sent into the abyss. Revelation 9:1 speaks of the key to the pit of the abyss, not a bottomless pit; a pit has a bottom. Isaiah 14:15 places Satan in that pit for a time; he is bound there and not free to move even within the rest of the abyss.
Death under the fourth seal comes by sword (people fighting), hunger (worldwide famine that itself produces more fighting), and death (the decay of unburied bodies spreading disease). Unbelievers who die have no second chance; they face the second death in Gehenna, the lake of fire. Hell is properly Gehenna, the final place; Hades is not hell.
The fifth seal is opened. Under the altar are the souls of those slain for the word of God and for the testimony they held. These are tribulation saints, saved after the Church is gone, many through Bibles and teaching left behind. They stand against the harlot religious system that sets itself in authority contrary to Scripture; she kills them. They cry with a loud voice, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” “Those who dwell on the earth” are earth-dwellers who settle down and will never believe. A white robe is given to each, showing they are redeemed, and they are told to rest a little while longer until the number of their fellow servants and brethren who will be killed is completed.
The sixth seal is opened and supplies the time marker that the narrative has reached the middle of the tribulation. There is a great earthquake. The sun becomes black as sackcloth of hair and the moon becomes like blood. Sackcloth is black yet can be seen through; something in the air—dust and smoke from major war—filters the light. The sun and moon still give light. This is distinct from Matthew 24:29, which occurs immediately after the tribulation of those days, when the sun is darkened and the moon does not give its light because the sun supernovas near the end of the tribulation.
