www.4thewordofgod.com
|
You may scroll along with the text as the soundfile plays. 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!" 2I 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.
INTRODUCTION A white horse comes forth, with a mounted cavalier, having a bow and a crown that was given to him. He goes forth conquering and to conquer. During the reign of Trajan, who came from the Island of Crete which was famous for bows, he went forth conquering and to conquer. The empire of Rome grew to its greatest extent. From Armenia to Assyria, from Albania to Carduchian hills, every day new nations fell under the sway of this famed bowman. No sooner had this ended than a fiery red horse bursts on the scene. For the next hundred years the empire is drenched in blood from the Praetorian guards. They were the secret service of the emperors; with their sword they slew emperor after emperor and sold the office. Then a black horse races on the scene with a rider holding a pair of balances. This was a time of extreme taxation and exorbitant prices. Then a pale horse revealed in the opening of the fourth seal symbolizes death, and portrays in horrific panoramas the awful horrors of death during this period of history. The Greek word chlooros, translated "pale" means livid, ghastly, corpse-like. This horse looks like he was dead on foot, having famished away till there is nothing left but skin and bones. His rider is the grim monster of death. This represents a period of war, famine, pestilence and disease. The opening of the fifth seal reveals the martyrs. These martyrs all cried to God for vindication. Rest assured He has not forgotten a solitary wail or groan. Hence, an awful retribution, with accumulated and compound interest, is on the track of all the people in all ages that have persecuted Gods saints. There is but one Greek word for martyr and witness. Martyr is a pure Greek word, translated witness. When Jesus met an infuriated Saul on the Damascus road, He said unto him "I have appeared unto thee to make thee a minister and martyr."Acts 26:16. From that time forward Paul knew he would have to suffer martyrdom. When 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, and the stars in the sky fell to earth. This must emblematize the terrible political convulsions, which shake every potentate on the globe from the mighty thrones of time-honored empires. The sun emblematizes the kings, the moon the queens, and stars the state governors and all subordinate rulers. We see, amid these terrible national convulsions and a revolution, every ruler is to be shaken from his throne. This was no doubt fulfilled when paganism fell and Christianity took control of the Roman Empire.
EXPOSITION 1 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!" Christ the worthy one opens the first seal to reveal an era of future events. One of the four beasts saying, Come and see. This seraphim invites John to view the first scene on "set" in heaven. ` 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. FIRST SEAL: 98-192 A.D. Reign of Trajan to Commodus . Ninety four years of prosperous condition. His army went forth conquering. Had a bow. Two races on earth who were famed bowmen. Parthians and Cretians. Trajan was the adopted son of Nerva and his family was from Crete. And he went forth conquering, and to conquer. I will quote from Gibbon's Decline and fall of the Roman Empire Vol 1 P,5-9:
The empire grew as this warrior went forth conquering and to conquer. By the year 300 A.D. the empire was three and one half million square miles with 200,000 miles of highway system. Therefore I conclude that the rider on the white horse with a bow and a crown and going forth conquering and to conquer was fulfilled under the reign of Trajan.
3 When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, "Come!" See comments on verse 1.
4 Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other. To him was given a large sword.
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. Black is a symbol of want, lack, famine; the color of mourning. A pair of balances symbolizes a time of rationing or extreme taxation.
6 Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, "A quart [Greek a choinix (probably about a liter)] of wheat for a day's wages, [Greek a denarius] and three quarts of barley for a day's wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine! THIRD SEAL: 193-284 A.D. The death penalty was issued to anyone caught cutting down their own olive trees or vineyards to prevent taxation. Wheat, which was the staff of life, sold for $4.50 a bushel and $1.50 a bushel for barley. Exorbitant pricescost today would be over $50.00 for wheat and $16.50 for barley. Nor was the rapacious son of Severus (Caracalla) contented with such a measure of taxation as had appeared sufficient to his moderate predecessors. Instead of a twentieth, he exacted a tenth of all legacies and inheritances, and during his reign he crushed alike every part of the empire under the weight of his iron scepter. Gibbons Vol. 1. p 161-162:
7-8 When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, "Come!" 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. FOURTH SEAL. A pale horse. This horse was sickly green in color. The color of this horse suggests war, famine, pestilence, disease and death personified. Death and Hell followed him. God said long ago to ancient Babylon, "Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming:" Isa 14:9 Now the empire of Rome is told that Death and Hell is following them. As the barbarous invaders came and killed by the sword, pestilence followed, as many as 5,000 people died daily at Rome. Famine brought about starvation. Fourth part. Gibbon states that about a half of the human family perished. John says about a fourth part. 9-11 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. 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?" Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed. The altar was where sacrifices were made. John sees the martyrs under the altar. He would have seen Stephen, who suffered martyrdom at Jerusalem, James the son of Zebedee, Martyred by Herod Agrippa, Phillip, Suffered martyrdom at Heliopolis, in Phrygia. He was scourged, thrown into prison, and crucified . Matthew In Ethiopia he suffered martyrdom, being slain with a halbred in the city of Nadabah. James the Less, he was beat and stoned by the Jews; and finally had his brains dashed out with a fuller's club. Matthias, He was stoned at Jerusalem and then beheaded. Andrew, He preached the gospel to many Asiatic nations; but on his arrival at Edessa he was taken and crucified on a cross. Mark, he was dragged to pieces by the people of Alexandria. Peter, crucified, as some do write, at Rome. Paul, Crucified at Rome under Nero. Jude, Crucified at Edessa. Bartholomew was Crucified in India. Thomas, Martyred by Pagan priests in India. Luke Hanged on an olive tree by the idolatrous priests of Greece. Simon, Crucified in Britain. The list is endless, historians estimate that at least fifty million were killed by Papal Rome during the dark ages. But, the church daily increased, deeply rooted in the doctrine of the apostles and watered with the blood of saints. Fifth Seal: A.D. 303-313. Persecution. Diocletion tried to extirpate Christianity from the earth. Churches were burnt. Bibles were gathered and destroyed. Millions estimated to have been killed. Christian worship was forbidden.
No doubt that this would include John Wycliffe, Savorarola, Swingli, Jerome, Tindale, Coverdale, the Waldines and Albigines, in which 1,000,000 perished, from the beginning of the Jesuits 1540-1580 900,000 were destroyed. 150,000 perished by inquisition in 30 years. In the low lands 50,000 people were hanged, beheaded, burned alive or buried alive for the crime of heresy (Christianity) They persecuted and tried to put down the reformation in Germany and Switzerland. The historian W.E. H. Lecky says,"The church of Rome has shed more innocent blood than any other institution that ever existed among mankind." God says to the martyrs "Rest yet for a little season," We can be assured that God will bring vengeance upon the enemies of Christianity.
12-17 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, and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as late figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. The sky receded like a scroll, rolling up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. They called to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?" SIXTH SEAL 307-337A.D. The symbols that follow were used extensively in the Old Testament to describe the fall of nation or empire. I call your attention to Isaiah:
I have underlined several words in order to illustrate how the Holy Spirit used symbols. The following symbols are defined SUN Supreme ruler.
MOON represents Rulers, queen and princess rulers but not supreme ruler. STARS Princes and Rulers, Governors, Senators, conspicuous men. BLOOD represents Bloodshed such as war. MOUNTIANS Kingdom
ISLANDS represents European states. This is a symbol of a great commotion or disturbance or a great rearranging of Government and religion. I believe it to be fulfilled when the Pagan powers fell and Christianity took over the Roman Empire. Links to other Revelation chapter commentary below
|