Revelation 6 Bible Study

 Revelation 6

There are three important keys to notice:

·         First, these things happen after Jesus death and resurrection. When we are not told. Second, the color of the horse. Third, the havoc the seals bring. The riders are spirits and they are “allowed” (passive verb) by the Lamb to wreak havoc on the earth. Sin has consequences.

Revelation 6:1-2: 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.” 2 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.

·         White horse and the rider conquer, suggesting that he brings wars and oppressive governments to the earth.

Revelation 6:3-4: When He opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, “Come and see.” 4 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.

·         The first seal suggests military force, whereas the second seal suggests the militant citizens of the earth will brutally murder each other.

Revelation 6:5-6: 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. 6 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.”

·         The rider of the black horse will cause famines, inflation, and food shortages to come upon the earth. The scales suggest commerce and markets, buying and selling.

Revelation 6:7-8: When He opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, “Come and see.” 8 So I looked, and behold, a pale (chloros) 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.

·         The name of the rider is “death.” The name “death” is indicative of what the horse and its rider bring—“Death and Hades followed with him.”  Hades is the place of the dead, confirming that the rider of the pale green horse will cause many on the earth to die. 

·         These four horsemen will cause a fourth of mankind to die. They will affect the entire earth. That there are four seals and, thus, four horsemen suggest these riders go throughout the entire earth because 4 is the number of the earth in biblical numerology

·         The seals are definitely opened after Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven based on Revelation 5:5–10. What is not clear is how long after Jesus’ ascension He opens the seals. To answer this, we need to look outside the book of Revelation to what Jesus says in the Gospels. 

Matthew 24:3-14: Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” 4 And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. 6 And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows. 9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. 10 And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. 11 Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. 12 And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But he who endures to the end shall be saved.  14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.

·         The death brought by the four horsemen aligns with what Jesus says will happen between his ascension and return, and we see the effects of the four horsemen in the world today and for the past 2,000 years. 

Revelation 6:1-8: The four horsemen of the apocalypse “could be” the ideology of the “isms”: Catholicism, Islamism, Capitalism, and Communism, symbolized by white, black, red, and a pale green horses. All of these horsemen are riding in these days.

·         325 A.D. Emperor Constantine of the Roman Empire converted to Christianity and invited the Babylonians to join his new “Catholic faith.” The Babylonians worshipped a “goddess mother,” this is how the worship of Mary began in the Church replacing Jesus as the central figure. (White horse).

·         600 A.D. The Roman Empire became the Holy Roman Empire and was formed with a religious leader from the Vatican (the Pope), and the political leader (the emperor Charlemagne.) The last emperor anointed by the Pope in the Holy Roman Empire was Napoleon in1806. (1200 years). How many have been killed during the Catholic Inquisitions from 606 AD to 1800? It’s estimated that over 50 million have been executed for “heresy.”

·         The Holy Roman Empire was reborn by the “Treaty of Rome” in 1957 that formed the six nation “European Common Market.” By 1992 it had grown to 12 nations and renamed itself “the European Union.” And by 1999 the Union had grown to 15 members and adopted its own currency, the “Euro.” Today there are 27 nations that are part of the Union with more than 500 million people; this reborn Holy Roman Empire surpassed the U.S. to become the largest economy in the world. It will have a religious and political leader. The Antichrist and the False Prophet will both come out of this new Holy Roman Empire. (See Daniel 2:42-44 )

·         1188-1192 A.D. The Sultan Saladin defeated the Crusaders from Europe in Jerusalem, and established the Muslim “Caliphate” in the Middle East and North Africa establishing the first pan-Arab Muslim government under Islamic Sharia Law. (Pale green horse). Professor Bill Warner, author of several books on Islam, estimates the total number killed in Muslim jihad to be 270 million.

·         1776 A.D. The British colonies in America successfully revolted against Britain establishing the United States of America. This new country began the “free enterprise” system of capitalism in a representative republic. This would include current capitalism: big pharma, big agriculture, and the military industrial complex. (Black horse). Capitalism didn’t begin with America, centuries of slavery and colonialist oppressions were all done in the name of profit and greed. The wars against Communism for market access included with other abuses total more than 100 million people dead.

·         1917 A.D. The Bolshevik Revolution in Russia was the first communist revolution, followed by China in 1949 (Red horse). If we add to this list the deaths caused by communist regimes that the Soviet Union created and supported—including those in Eastern Europe, China, Cuba, North Korea, Vietnam and Cambodia—the total number of victims is also well over 100 million, closer to 150 million.

Revelation 6:9-11: 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. 10 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?” 11 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.

·         The data of the late Christian researcher, David B. Barrett, puts the number of Christians martyred since the time of Jesus at 70 million. It puts the number of Christians exterminated in Nazi Germany at a million, while the number of Orthodox Christians and others murdered in Russia between 1917 and 1950 at 15 million.

Revelation 6:12-17: 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. 13 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. 14 Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. 15 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, 16 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! 17 For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

·         When the sixth seal is opened, cataclysmic events happen: This same even is seen in the trumpets (Rev. 8) and bowls (Rev.16). These things do not happen 3 times, but the seals, trumpets, and bowls describe the same event. Therefore, these seals, trumpets and bowls are happening in concurrence.

Joel 2:30-31: “And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood and fire and pillars of smoke.31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord.

·         Joel is clear that cataclysmic events like those in the sixth seal will happen “before the great and awesome day of the LORD” The Day of the Lord is the return of Jesus.

Matthew 24:29-31: “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 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. 31 And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Jude 1:14-15: “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints,  to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”