REVELATION CHAPTER 6
The opening of the seals ushers in the terrible judgments which are to fall upon this earth after the Church has been raptured. It is the last seven years of Israel's program, which is Daniel's 70th week. Matthew 24 is a commentary on Rev.6. Both passages give the same order of war, famine, plagues, pestilence, death and martyrdom.
Read Matthew 24:6-9.
The sun and moon will be darkened and stars will fall.
Read Luke 21:11, Luke 21:25-26. What are some of the signs in the heavens?
In 1969 astronauts landed on the moon. When Neil Armstrong went to the moon, scientists had probed space for a distance of 10 billion light years. (One light year is 6 trillion miles). Now the Hubble telescope has probed 60 trillion light years. (That's 60 with 21 zeros). In those few years they've gone from 10 billion to ten times 6 trillion light years and they've discovered 21,000 galaxies at the edge of the universe.
Before the Flood (Genesis 1:7) it didn't rain. It seems that there was a canopy of water or water vapour encircling the earth, which protected it from the sun's ultraviolet rays. Because of that protection, plant life flourished and people lived for hundreds of years. After the Flood life expectancy was dramatically changed and the ages of people declined sharply. Today the ozone hole over Antartica is larger than the combined area of United States and Canada. The Hubble telescope has discovered countless black holes. In the constellation Virgo, one black hole has sucked in more than 2 billion suns. The heat of this black hole is 30 million degrees F.
Scientists are talking about the face in space; a mile-long, human-like visage on Mars. Recently they discovered the most distant galaxy yet detected, 1400 billion light years away. You know that there is much more of this kind of information but that's enough for now. What is the point of all this anyway?
The point is Luke 21:32 -- Read. We are seeing these things! We are that generation! It is the time of Divine judgment. These 7 seals cover the entire judgment period. We see that out of the 7th seal, come 7 trumpets; and out of the 7th trumpet, comes another series of 7 vials or bowls. It's like a telescope with 3 sections, the larger outer section containing the inner 2.
Out of the larger section, the SEALS, issues the middle section, the TRUMPETS, and out of the middle section issues the inner section, the VIALS. Therefore the 7-sealed scroll is the comprehensive program of God, which culminates with the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. All of these judgments are future. The Day of the Vengeance of our God (Isaiah 61:2) has not yet come upon the earth but it is drawing very near.
I have read many differing opinions on Revelation, given by better educated and more capable people than I am. So, what I do, is this: - - see what the Scripture literally says or literally conveys through symbols, - check out other Scriptures on the same subject, - accept ideas from others - IF - they fit in with Scripture and make it clearer, - reject all ideas that try to make Scripture fit their ideas.
Ask the Holy Spirit to turn the lights on and reveal the principles of God's Word,
- keep an open mind where some things are not very clear.
Notice in Revelation 6:1 - as it were thunder - or - as if in a voice of thunder. It seems to indicate the use of symbolic language, so I think the horses are used in a figurative sense, prophetically, of judgment upon earth in the last days. (Job 39:19-25, Zechariah 1:8-11 & Zechariah 6:1-5); from passages like these, it's not difficult to see that the horses in Revelation 6 are connected with swift and terrible power. The 4 horses and their riders are 4 different forms of the judicial power of God.
Revelation 6:1-2 FIRST SEAL
All the acts under the 7 seals are acts of judgment. Daniel's 70th week is about to begin. What do you think when you hear thunder? (storm coming) The first mention of thunder in the Bible is in Exodus 9:23 regarding God's judgment on Egypt. This clap of thunder begins the Tribulation period, the time of Jacob's trouble (Jeremiah 30:7). The thunder of Divine judgment rolls with increasing crescendo for 7 years until lightning strikes the earth; the lightning of Christ's Second Coming! One of the cherubim calls out, "Come." (The KJV says "Come and see" but this is incorrect, as some margin references indicate). The cherub is not speaking to John but to the rider on the white horse. What he says, literally, is, "Be going" and the command is literally obeyed.
In Revelation 19:11, Christ is depicted as the Rider on a white horse but this is a different rider.
Revelation 6:4 I know that some say the person in Revelation 6:2 is Jesus but I can't agree. When Jesus comes to set up His millennium reign, how could it be 1000 years of peace if war, famine and death follow Him? This rider in Revelation 6:2 appears at the beginning of Daniel's 70th week and the Rider in Revelation 19 at the end of it. This rider is the other prince of Daniel's prophecy (Daniel 9:26), the Antichrist, the counterfeit superman, the head of the revived Roman Empire and he will become the world ruler. He is Satan's masterpiece and the counterfeit of all that Christ is. His crown is the crown of a victor; it is not a Sovereign's crown. He has a bow; Christ has a sword. Christ comes on a white horse and this rider comes on a white horse; -- perhaps it is an intentionally deceptive, false symbol of purity. Upon these who deliberately rejected Truth (2 Thessalonians 2:10-11) God sends a strong delusion that they should believe a lie. Some of the people we rub shoulders with now, will probably be in this class of willfully deceived, spiritual fools, who rejected the Lord Jesus but will welcome Antichrist. This rider is a whited sepulchre (Matthew 23:27), a false Christ, a pretender. We'll learn more about Antichrist as we go through the Book but for now, just a brief summary.
Antichrist is known as the little horn, the man of sin, the abomination of desolation, the beast. He will exercise complete control over the entire world-system. He will have Satan's own power (Revelation 13:2) and great authority. The kingdoms of this world will be totally turned over to the satanic rule of this one man.
ANTICHRIST WILL CONTROL ALL RELIGION:
He will make a treaty with the majority of Jews for 7 years. They will immediately begin the Levitical sacrifices. Half-way through this period he will order the sacrifices to cease and will perform an act called the abomination of desolation. Antiochus Epiphanes is a type of the Antichrist. He placed a statue of his god, Zeus, in the Jewish temple and a sow on the altar. He plundered the Jewish temple and tried to destroy the Jewish nationality but he raised up the Maccabees who delivered their people after many years of war and suffering. The coming Antichrist will claim that he is God (2 Thessalonians 2:1-8).
Read II Thes.2:1-4. This is what Daniel foretold in Dan.11:36-37. Like Antiochus before him, Antichrist will betray Israel and set up his own statue in the Holy of Holies, as though he were God.
All religious activities will be under state supervision. Every person on earth will be forced to worship in accordance with government regulations. All will worship or be killed (Revelation 13:8, Revelation 6:15). He will effectively dominate the population through religion. In 1964 the first permanent vatican observer was names to the United Nations in New York City. In the mid-sixties, a new Bible was published in the U.S.A., called the Citizen's Bible. It was intended for use by the general public and in American school rooms. It was written so that it was "IN HARMONY" with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling which banished Bible reading and prayer in the schools! Who published it? The National Council of Churches, whose goal is one world church. There is so much blatant hypocrisy and wickedness in the World Council of Churches, yet it is still largely viewed as a popular movement to promote unity. It sounds good but its origins are demonic because it calls for unity at any price, unity at the cost of Truth. This is all part of the demonic plan of deception to promote one world church. We need to keep in mind that the only world church recognized by the Bible is the harlot which is finally destroyed by Antichrist in Revelation 17.
Revelation 6:6 In some parts of the world God's Word is so scarce and so much wanted, it is being sold on the black market. But all the religious liberals, those who are so clever they know better than the Bible, will all be under Antichrist.
ANTICHRIST WILL CONTROL ALL ARMIES
(Revelation 16:13-14, Revelation 19:17)
Since the beginning of mankind until now, only 8% of all that time has been war-free. War is to be the major industry in the last days. 800 years B.C. Joel 3:9 prophesied, "Prepare war!"
Military budgets increase each year, while people go hungry in many places. There is no major power on earth that is not preparing for war. If even some in our peace-keeping regiments engage in brutality now, what will it be like when the satanic murderer is in control? For the past 20-35 years scientists have been working on using natural disasters as weapons of war. They talked about seeding snow clouds to plunge Moscow into perpetual winter. They worked on plans to aim hurricanes, tidal waves and earthquakes at enemy bases. All of this war business is the work of the spirit of devils and is leading up to that last great battle of Armegeddon. In Revelation 13:4, they say that there is no withstanding Antichrist.
ANTICHRIST WILL CONTROL ALL COMMERCE
In our modern world of competition and dog-eat-dog, it's hard to imagine all business and finance under the control of one man. Yet, in our day, we have seen nations which are known for their mutual hatred, linked together in one of the most amazing economic associations; the European Union, formerly the European Common Market. (We'll cover more on this later on in Revelation). Antichrist is the world's No.1 atheist. We've already seen that in (II Thessalonians 2:4) he goes into the temple and declares to the Jewish people that he is God (Daniel 9:27). He is a blasphemer (Revelation 13:6). (Psalm 76:10) the wrath of man shall praise You and the remainder of wrath You will restrain. Just as men like Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus and Hitler were instruments in God's hand, so it will be with Antichrist. No matter who God's enemies are, no matter what they do, they cannot prevail. Antichrist will deceive many (Matthew 24:5) and all will be in subjection to him, but notice Revelation 6:2,4. What does it say about his power? "Given to him" by the permissive will of God, until – until what? Read Revelation 17:17 -- until the prophetic Words of God shall be fulfilled.
You will see from Revelation 6:2, that he has a bow but no arrows. What does that suggest? His is to begin as a bloodless conquest. He is the false Christ of Matthew 24:5 and his method is deception. By having no arrows, he indicates that he offers a promise of peace. This represents peace-movements and the covenant made by Antichrist to establish peace on the earth. Don't you think the world is ready to accept a superman who could unite the United Nations and bring world-wide peace and prosperity? In John 5:43, Jesus said, "Another you will receive." The world which rejected God's Christ, is ready and eager to receive the devil's Christ. After the Church is translated, this political leader and military genius will deceive the entire world. He will be the last man to attempt to bring peace but he will only prove that there is no peace apart from the Prince of Peace.