Six of the seven seals opened

Sermon for Midweek of Judica – Lent 5

Revelation 6:1-17

We come back to the heavenly throne room this evening, with the throne and the One seated on it, the 24 elders, the four living creatures, the Lamb, and the scroll with the seven seals which only the Lamb is worthy to open.

Six of the seven seals are described in chapter 6. What we should notice here is largely a retelling of the things Jesus already told His disciples during Holy Week, the things that would be going on in the world during this New Testament period as signs pointing to Jesus’ coming at the end of the age.

We come to the first seal: 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.” 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.

The first through the fourth seals depict four horses and their riders, sometimes referred to as the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. This vision has some things in common with two visions of riders and colored horses that the prophet Zechariah saw as Jerusalem was about to be rebuilt after the captivity. There were four, because they go out into all four directions of the compass, into all the world.

This first horse is white in John’s vision. White is used throughout Revelation to symbolize cleanness, purity, and victory. This rider has a bow, and he has a crown. There are two words for “crown” in Greek. There’s the king’s crown, like a crown of gold, and then there’s this kind of crown given to the rider on the white horse. It’s the wreath given to the victor. It’s what the winner of the Greek Olympic games received, and it’s the kind of crown Jesus promised to those who remain faithful unto death. This rider is sent out conquering and to conquer, and he will be victorious.

The interpretation of this rider seems pretty clear if we look forward to Revelation 19, where a rider on a white horse appears again at the end of the world to bring final victory to the Church. There the rider is identified as the Lord Jesus Himself. So this rider in chapter 6 also appears to be the Lord Jesus, or at least His preachers, riding out into all the world to conquer, not yet with the sword, but instead with the Gospel. That’s exactly what Jesus told His disciples would happen in this New Testament period. This Gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world, and then the end will come.

Then we come to the second seal: When He opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, “Come and see.” Another 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.

Red is the color of blood and fire, and this rider clearly represents violence, war, and bloodshed, including the persecution of Christians. What did Jesus tell His disciples? You will hear of wars and rumors of wars…They will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you…and lawlessness will abound. The world has always seen war and bloodshed, and Christians have been persecuted since the time of Christ. Will it get worse? It’s already getting worse, isn’t it? And it looks like it will get worse yet in the near future. But we shouldn’t worry. Jesus told us many times that it would be this way.

What else can we expect during this New Testament period? When 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. And 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.”

Black is the color of calamity and mourning, and this rider represents famine, scarcity, and economic imbalance. He has a balancing scale in his hand, like the kind that was used in the marketplace for weighing out food. “A quart of wheat for a denarius” is kind of like a loaf of bread for a day’s wages. Talk about inflation! Food becomes scarce and the price of food becomes impossibly high at times during this New Testament period, just as Jesus told His disciples that there would be famines in the earth before His coming, sometimes naturally caused, but sometimes caused by men, as right now at this moment climate activists are getting rid of the very fertilizer that the world depends on for abundant crops. Interestingly, it’s grains like wheat and barley that depend most on fertilizer, while olive trees and grape vines (where the oil and wine come from) don’t depend on it as much.

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.

“Pale” is actually a greenish color. It represents sickness and the plagues that cause it. The rider of this horse symbolizes death that spreads through pestilence, but also through violence and famine and hunger, not to the entire population of the world at once, or even to most of the world at once, but to “one fourth” of it, which, figuratively, signifies a sizable portion. And then there’s Hades right behind Death, that is, eternal destruction in hell, which follows death for the vast majority of people who die. Together, the four horsemen sum up all the things that bring death and misery into the world as a result of mankind’s rejection of the work of the first horseman, the preaching of the Gospel.

Now on to the fifth and sixth seals.

When 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. And 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?” Then 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.

This is the first time the altar in the throne room is mentioned, the “golden altar which is before God,” as we’re told in chapter 9. The souls of the martyrs are pictured there. They weren’t defeated or lost when their bodies were put to death. Their souls are always in the presence of God. And they’re pictured longing to know how much longer this New Testament period will last, how long before justice is done, how long before the enemies of the Church are finally vanquished. The Christian isn’t to take vengeance himself. But that doesn’t mean there is no vengeance. Vengeance is Mine, declares the Lord. It is Mine to repay. The souls in heaven recognize that. But they’re comforted, and God assures them that it will only be a “little while” longer that they have to wait to see the Lord’s vengeance on His enemies and theirs. What needs to happen first? The full number of the elect has to be gathered into the Church, including those who will also lay down their lives as martyrs for the Gospel.

Finally (for this chapter), the sixth seal is opened. 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. 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. Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place.

This sounds almost exactly like what Jesus described to His disciples. It’s a picture of what will happen right at the end, on the last day.

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, 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! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

As Jesus put it to His disciples, Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

Finally unbelievers will stop mocking God—and His people. Finally they will pay attention to Him. But it won’t be with worship that they welcome Him, but with dread. They dread “the wrath of the Lamb.” That’s somewhat ironic, isn’t it? Because lambs aren’t usually angry creatures; no one is afraid of what a lamb will do if it gets angry. But Christ, the Lamb of God, will have plenty of wrath for unbelievers on the last day, and people will no longer view Jesus as a gentle teacher. They won’t be singing to Him as if He were their boyfriend, as so many so-called worship songs do today. All the “COEXIST” bumper stickers will be peeled away. And unbelievers will cower at the wrath of Jesus, even as so many Christians have been made to cower in the face of their persecutors and oppressors over the centuries.

Who is able to stand on the great day of His wrath? Only His blood-bought people. Only those who have feared His wrath during this life and have taken refuge where He has offered it: in His blood, shed on the cross for our sins. What great comfort these words must have been to John’s readers who were already suffering the hatred of the world, whose eyes told them they had made a mistake trusting in Jesus! No, it was no mistake. Through all the misery, calamity, afflictions and death of this world, the Lamb reigns on His throne. And the only thing keeping Him from coming back sooner to avenge His people is the knowledge that there are still a few more sinners who will hear the Gospel and believe it before the end, who will repent and escape, together with us, from the real and permanent destruction that’s coming on the unbelieving world! Amen.