Revelation 6 - Justice Deferred Is Not Justice Denied.

Read Revelation 6 - Passion Translation

Read Revelation 6 - NIV

The Seals

6 I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, “Come!” 2 I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.

The Lamb (Jesus) opened the first seal, which was a portent of what was to come on the earth. One of the four living creatures (celestial beings with authority) whose voice was like thunder called a white horse to come out. The rider had a crown, which shows he was a saint who had received a crown for faithfulness. But his mission was one of conquest. 

The breaking open of the seal allowed it to be read. (TPT)

Horse signals victory and Jesus also appeared in white. (TPT)

A bow could represent spiritual truth, not necessarily a miltary weapon. (TPT)

Jesus came as a lamb but will come back as a conquering king. (TPT)

If the scroll details the culmination of history, then the things associated with the removal of the seals must happen before the scroll is opened. This is not the fulfillment of history itself, but the preparation for it. The actual culmination will be detailed in Revelation 19. (Guzik)

3 When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make people kill each other. To him was given a large sword.

The next horse was "fiery red". The fiery flames are representation of "purification" (TPT). 

This horse and its rider were given power to begin viloence among those still on the earth. 

This rider didn’t need to bring war and destruction. All he needed to do was take peace from the earth. Once this peace – God’s gift to man – was taken, men quickly rush in with war and destruction. Peace between men and among nations is a gift from God. It is not the natural state of relations between men. (Guzik)

5 When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. 6 Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, “Two pounds[a] of wheat for a day’s wages,[b] and six pounds[c] of barley for a day’s wages,[d] and do not damage the oil and the wine!”

Note each living creature was assigned to a different horse and rider, possibly relating to the authority they were given, or the nature of their assignment. This horse was black and had scales in his hand. Scales usually had to do with something economics. In the prophets God's people were using scales to cheat peoplel. 

This horse prompted a voice between the four living creatures, which the TPT suggests may be the Lord. 

The focus was the distrubution of money for food, oil, and wine. These commodities were all essential to life and also recall the promises of God for sustenance in the Promised Land to the Israelites. The pay for a day's wage was a denarius.  (TPT) 

These prices are about twelve times higher than normal. It means that it would cost a day’s wage to buy the ingredients for a loaf of bread. This describes “a time of famine when life will be reduced to the barest necessities.” (Walvoord)

7 When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” 8 I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

The fourth living creature called forth the opening of the 4th seal. This seal seems more ominous, as the rider is called "death" and "Hades", which was behind it. Hades in the New Testament is also the word for "hell". It is called "Sheol" in the Old Testament. It is the place for the dead. Perhaps with Hades was a foreshadowing of the death that was about to follow. They were giving power and authority to kill a fourth of the earth by violence, famine, and plagues. 

While the NIV translates this pale, the word used in other places in the NT suggest it means "green", (TPT)

The sword from its mouth is often a metaphor for the Word of God. Hebrews 4:11. God's Word has authority over all things. (TPT)

Our modern age has seen hundreds of millions killed by dictators, war, and famine. Yet all that will pale in comparison to the death toll coming in the wake of this ultimate dictator. No wonder Jesus said of this time For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. (Matthew 24:21) (Guzik)

9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. 10 They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” 11 Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers and sisters,[e] were killed just as they had been.

When the fifth seal was open, John saw the souls of those who were martyred for the Word of God. God's Word is Jesus, as He is the word made flesh. They are souls, which leads one to believe they didn't have physical bodies. And they could speak. They cried out together in a loud voice, "How long before you judge those who killed us." 

It reminds us that "judgment deferred is not judgment denied." 

Today with all of the injustices we see in all parts of the world to both Christians and other innocent people, including children, we too long for God's justice which will be accomplished when Jesus returns!

When God’s people are persecuted, He will set it right. It isn’t wrong for God’s people to ask Him to do what He promised to do. (Guzik)

All of the martyrs were given white robes, which again is a symbol of judgment and purification by fire. They were told to wait momentarily until the other martyrs, which would be killed during the tribulation would join them under altar. 

These also represent the priesthood (the priesthood of all believes) and being clothed with the white robes or righteousness which Jesus puts on us. 

12 I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, 13 and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. 14 The heavens receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. 

With the sixth seal natural disasters start, which was predicted by Jesus in the gospels. Luke 21 All the major aspects of Creation the sun, the moon, and the stars are affected. Even the fruit on the trees was shaken by hurricane-like winds. Finally, even the heavens were rolled up like a scroll, the mountains and islands were eliminated. All of Creation was completely changed by the sixth seal. It was a radical reversal of all that God had made by His Word spoken. Now God's Word was reversed all of the good things God had blessed us with. 

 In the Bible, celestial disturbances are often connected with the coming of the Messiah. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Joel, Zephaniah and Jesus Himself all described such things. - Guzik

 A passage from Zephaniah is an example: The great day of the LORD is near; it is near and hastens quickly. The noise of the day of the LORD is bitter; there the mighty men shall cry out. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of devastation and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of trumpet and alarm against the fortified cities and against the high towers. (Zephaniah 1:14-16)

Or, as in Joel 2:10-11: The sun and moon grow dark, and stars diminish their brightness… for the day of the LORD is great and terrible; who can endure it?

15 Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and free, hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. 16 They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us[f] from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17 For the great day of their[g] wrath has come, and who can withstand it?”

Now, we see the political forces and powers on the earth fleeing the scene after these horrific, natural disasters! There were so fearful, it seems they even wished their own death. They called for the rocks and mountains to fall on them, though the mountains had already been taken away. They equated the wrath being exacted on the earth as the wrath of the one who sits on the throne (God) and the wrath of the Lamb (Jesus). 

At some level they knew there was a righteous judge and even associated Him with Jesus. They reference the "great day of the Lord, which is prophesied quite a bit in the Old Testament. It is usually referred to as the, "Day of the Lord". 

All people are equally brought low by God’s wrath. The judgment is all the more profound because it is the wrath of the Lamb. - Guzik

Observations: How do the seals fit in God’s prophetic plan?

1. There are many different opinions, but it seems best to say that the seals, trumpets, and bowls that will be described later are not strictly sequential events. It could be said that chronologically, the trumpets do not follow the seals and the bowls do not follow the trumpets in a strict order.

a. The first six seals are a “Summary of the judgments distributed over the whole book; a brief summary of what will occur in ‘the day of the Lord,’ up the time of His actual Apocalypse or Unveiling in chapter 19.” (Bullinger)

Some people think these are metaphorical for all that has happened all through the past 19 centuries, but to me they seem very specific to the end times. Though the subsequent chapters in Revelation will go back and forth with the progression of the end times, it is the nature of Revelation to go back in forth between the seals, bowls of judgments, and trumpets. 

For me the key aspect of this chapter is the sense of wrath all the rulers of the world feel on the day Jesus returns. We see many atrocities and injustices committed on the earth today as always. The worst of these gross evils is harm done to innocent people, especially defenseless children. It is comforting 

Where are you seeking justice in your own life? How does knowing there will be ultimate justice done when Jesus returns give you comfort and hope?