Revelation 6:1-8 "The First Four Seals"

Lesson Handout

Supplemental Handout: Seals, Trumpets, & Bowls Charts

Introduction

This is the unveiling of the Scroll with the Lamb opening the seven seals on the scroll (Revelation 5:1). This is where the book of Revelation begins to get a little more challenging and the different eschatological positions such as the various views on the timing of the rapture (pretribulation/posttribulation) start to surface.

Chapter 6 picks up where the events of chapter 5 left off – the Lamb who was worthy to open the scroll of destiny is beginning to break the seals.

Verse-By-Verse Notes

Verse 1

• The opening of the first seal will set in motion the consummation of human history. John is invited by one of the four living creatures (4:6) to come (“come and see” some translations) to witness the unfolding of the end of history.

Verse 2

• The rider of this horse is almost certainly not Christ (see Revelation 19:11-19), but rather the Antichrist – a false messiah who “conquers” by ushering in an unprecedented era of world peace, but it will be short-lived.

Verses 3 & 4

• The rider’s identification is clearly implied: this is the curse of war and anarchy. The horse’s red color symbolizes bloodshed.
• Unprecedented war will be characteristic of the end-times, and of the tribulation period in particular preceding the glorious appearing of Christ.

Verses 5 & 6

• This horse and rider are symbolic of famine and inflation.
• Robert Mounce notes that “The price [for barley] appears to be ten to twelve times what it should have been.”
• John MacArthur: “Famine is a logical consequence of worldwide war as food supplies are destroyed and those involved in food production are killed.”

Verses 7 & 8

• The pale horse and rider is death.
• The Greek word chlōros (χλωρός) is where we get the English word “chlorophyl" or "Clorox.” It refers to a pale green-ish gray.
• Although the KJV translates “hades” as “hell,” Hades here should be understood to be the abode of the dead, not hellfire.
• One-fourth of the world’s current population is 2 billion. The pale horse will bring unprecedented global death.
• Jim Hamilton: “Before . . . the new heavens and the new earth, [Christ] has to bring judgment for all the despising of God’s glory and the defiling of his holiness. God is just, and Jesus has taken hold of the scroll. As he opens its seals, Jesus sets in motion the outworking of God’s justice.”

BIG TAKEAWAY: JESUS IS SOVEREIGN OVER THE DIRE PICTURE PAINTED BY JOHN – HE HOLDS THE SCROLL AND OPENS THE SEALS ACCORDING TO HIS DIVINE WILL.