The History of the World.
In Revelation 5 the 24 elders had sung a new song because they were the first to be redeemed; only the saved will be able sing that song. “This great choir sang a wonderful new song in front of the throne of God and before the four living beings and the twenty-four elders. No one could learn this song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth.” Revelation 14:3 NLT. Revelation 5:11-14 had described all the universe breaking forth in praise to the Lamb because He alone can break the seals on the scroll.
“As I watched, the Lamb broke the first of the seven seals on the scroll. Then I heard one of the four living beings say with a voice like thunder, “Come!” I looked up and saw a white horse standing there. Its rider carried a bow, and a crown was placed on his head. He rode out to win many battles and gain the victory.” – Revelation 6:1-2 NLT.
The four horsemen herald the horrors of war, famine and pestilence that will span the years from John’s Day to ours. The language seems to go back to Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 32, where these three plagues are among the consequences of breaking the Mosaic covenant. In Revelation 6 they express the consequences of rejecting Jesus and the salvation He provides.
Until recently, in Western countries things like famine and pestilence (contagious disease) may seem like distant realities. They occur mainly in “benighted” corners of the world that make the news but are rarely visited. If we are to truly experience the dread that these images must have evoked when they were first written, we also consider analogies that lie closer to home.
Many people, even in Western countries, are only a paycheque or two away from missing house or rent payments
With corporations downsizing and markets shifting, few jobs are secure, even in the corporate world. It takes only a small downturn in the economy to bring a hint of apocalyptic dread into the experience of many people.
When the riders of “war, famine and pestilence” invaded lives through the gruesome plague of alcohol, for example, families are shattered and highly intelligent people can be reduced to miserable hulks of humanity. Lives can be totally consumed with eking out a bare subsistence in the midst of plenty.
Tragedy is no stranger to even the wealthiest of societies. We all need the Lamb to survive. As we begin examining these “plagues” as portrayed in Revelation 6 and 7 pray for a clearer picture of God’s purpose for these images. May He Use these plagues to enlighten our minds to the way He sees our world.
Revelation 6 continues the scene of chapters 4 & 5, which describes Christ as worthy to open the sealed scroll, because through His victorious life and death, He gained what was lost through Adam. He is now ready, by opening the seals on the scroll, to carry forward the plan of salvation to its ultimate realization.
Because of the cross, the Lamb can open the scroll and provide everything necessary to redeem the universe. Salvation costs me nothing, but it cost Him everything. We sometimes forget that the universe is involved, it is not all just about you and me.
Pentecost marked the beginning of the spread of the gospel, by which Christ expands His kingdom. Thus, the breaking of the seals refers to the open preaching of the gospel and the consequences of rejecting it. The opening of the seventh and last seal brings us to the conclusion of this world’s history.
Revelation 3:21 gives us the key to the meaning of the seven seals: “To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne”. Chapters 4 & 5 told us of Christ’s overcoming and His worthiness, as a result of His sacrifice at Calvary, to be our heavenly High Priest and to open the scroll. The last verse of chapter 7 describe the overcomers before Christ’s throne. Thus, chapter 6 is about God’s people in the process of overcoming so that they might share Jesus’ throne.
Please remember the symbolic nature of the language being used here. Firstly, you can’t limit omnipresence to a “chair,” and secondly if we were to take this literally we would end up with millions of the redeemed crowding onto the same ”chair” with Jesus! Always remember the Bible and Revelation often speak in symbolic, conceptual language to convey an important message in a way that our limited minds can grasp.