Revelation Chapter 6
Introduction:
Chapter 6 is the opening of the first six of the seven seals of The Scroll: seal 1 is the rider of the white horse with a crown and a bow who conquers; seal 2 is the rider of the red horse with a sword who takes peace from the earth and causes people to kill each other; seal 3 is the rider of the black horse with a pair of scales who causes inflation; seal 4 is the rider of the pallid horse named death who is followed by hell, they kill one-fourth of humanity by plagues, famine, war and by wild animals; seal 5 is the martyrs put to death for their witness and proclaiming The Word; seal 6 is a great earthquake, the sun turned black and the moon blood red, stars fall from heaven to the earth and the sky recedes like a scroll rolled up, mountains and islands are moved and all peoples call out to be hidden from The LAMB’s wrath.
:1-2 Now I saw when The Lamb
opened one of the seals; and I heard one of the four living creatures say with
a voice like thunder, “Come!*” I looked and beheld a white horse** its rider
had a bow***; a crown was given to him and he went out conquering.
John saw The Lamb (JESUS) open one of the seals and heard one of the living creatures say in a commanding voice Go or Come, (this happens in verses 1, 3, 5 and 7 where the four horses and their riders are revealed) some believe that the living creature was telling John to go or to come and see what was happening. I do not believe that the living creature was speaking to John but to the horses and their riders. I believe that the living creature was commanding the horse and rider to come or to go forth, this may be the start of the seven years of The Great Tribulation that GOD is going to bring on the earth; even though the effects of these horses and riders have been rampaging over the earth since the flood. The rider of the white horse has authority (a crown) and power (a bow**) to conquer.
*“Come!”
- In the KJV and NKJV it says, “Come and see.” The Greek word used for come can
mean come or go (Strong’s Greek Dictionary of The New Testament) “and see” is
not in the earliest texts. In the TLV it says “Go!” with a note that “and see”
is added by some translations; in the CJB it says “Come!”; in the NIV it says
“Come!”
** Heavenly
horses are mentioned several times in the Bible, 2 Kings 2:11, 6:15-17; Zechariah
1:8, 6:1-8; Revelation 19:11-14.
*** Bow – I heard a teaching about the bow in this verse and with no mention of arrows that it was not meant as a weapon (What?). If you have a rifle or pistol and you are going hunting or shooting do say I am going to get my gun and bullets and go hunting or shooting? No, the bullets are assumed! The arrows are the bullets of the bow, many times in the scriptures the bow is mentioned as a weapon without mentioning the arrows and a few time the arrows of GOD are mentioned without a bow, you can hit people with the bow or stab people with the arrows, but they just work better together than alone (Genesis 27:3, 48:22; Joshua 24:12; Psalm 21:12, 38:1-2, 45:4-5).
:3-4 When
He opened the second seal I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” (In
the NKJV in the notes for verse 3 it is noted that some translations do not
say, “and see.”) Another horse, fiery red, went out and its rider was given a
great sword to take peace from the earth and that people should kill (murder
and wars) one another.
This rider has power to take peace from the world; for thousands of years there have been places in the earth where there was no peace and the number of places in the earth where there is no peace is increasing. The sword is a weapon of maiming and death and it is used to keep people in fear, therefore they have no peace.
:5-6
When He opened the third seal I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” so
I looked and beheld a black horse and its rider had a pair of scales (balances)
in his hand. I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures (whose?)
saying, “A quart of wheat for a day’s wages, and three quarts of barley for a
day’s wages; and do not harm the oil and the wine.”
This is inflation, in some countries today this is the prevailing wage, a meal for a day’s work. Inflation is from greed!
:7-8 When He opened the fourth seal I heard the fourth living
creature say, “Come!” So I looked and I beheld a pale (plaid or greenish) horse
and its rider was named Death, and Hell followed it. Authority (power) was
given them over a quarter of the earth to kill with sword (war), hunger
(famine), death (disease) and by the beasts (pestilence) of the earth.
The sword does not only represent war, but murder; hunger is not just from a lack of food but also from poor quality food, or food that is contaminated; death does not come only from disease but accidents; beasts of the earth are not just wild animals but insects, viruses and microorganisms.
All four of these judgments have been happening since the grandchildren of Noah started to spread over the face of the earth; especially after GOD confused their language (2 Chronicles 7:13-14; Ezekiel 5:11-12; Jeremiah 15:1-3; Matthew 24:6-7).
: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
they held (2 Timothy 1:8; Hebrews 11:39-40; Revelation 1:9, 12:11, 20:4). They
cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long LORD, Holy and True, until You Judge
and Avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth (Exodus 2:23-25; Joel 1:13-14;
Matthew 7:7-11; Revelation 11:16-18)?” Then a White robe (Revelation 7:9, 19:14)
was given to each of them and it was said (by Whom?) 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.
People have been killed for their Faith and Obedience to GOD, again since the grandchildren of Noah spread out over the face of the earth, possibly even before the flood.
:12-17 I looked when He opened the sixth seal and there was a
great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair; and the whole
moon became like blood. The stars of the heaven fell to the earth as a fig tree
drops its late figs when it is shaken by a great wind. Then the sky receded (or
split apart) as a scroll when it is rolled up (Isaiah 34:4; 2 Peter 3:7-13);
and every mountain and island was moved out of its place (Joel 2:10-11, 30-31,
3:14-16; Matthew 24:29-31). The kings of the earth, the great men, the rich
men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every freeman hid
themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the
mountains, “Fall on us and hide us from the Face of Him Who sits on The Throne (Psalm
45:6; Acts 1:; Revelation 3:21, 20:11) and from The Wrath of The LAMB! For the
Great Day of His wrath has come and who is able to stand (Psalm 2:2-5; Isaiah
2:10-12, 20-21; Luke 23:30; Revelation 11:15-19, 16:17-21)?”
This sounds like The Last Day; The Day CHRIST returns to establish His thousand year reign over the nations with a Rod of iron (Psalm 45:6); but there is one more seal in chapter 8 (this is one of the things that confuses people when they read the Revelation. Chapter 7 would fit better before chapter 14, but this is the order in which things were revealed to John.
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