THe seven Seals and the four horsemen
Revelation 6
The central drama of Advent is that of judgment and redemption, and yet we live in a time of wholesale reaction against the notion of judgment… But Christian hope is founded in the promise of God that all things will be made new according to his righteousness. We [must] continue to cherish the idea of a community of the living and the dead awaiting the coming of the Redeemer of the world. Advent faces into death and looks beyond it to the coming judgment of God upon all that deceives, twists, undermines, pollutes, contaminates, and kills his beloved creation. There can be no community of the resurrected without the conquest of death and the consummation of the kingdom of God. In those assurances lies the hope of the world.
~ Fleming Rutledge, Advent: The Once & Future Coming of Jesus Christ
Main Idea: We can patiently endure a world under judgment a little longer by faith in the Lamb.
I. The Advent Reality (6:1-8)
As the Lamb who was slain begins to break the seals on the divine scroll (Rev. 5), four horsemen accompany the first four seals (cf. Zech. 1:8-11, 6:1-8; Matt. 24:6-31).
Seal #1: White Horse (6:1-2): either Christ (cf. Rev. 19:11) in his first coming and the gospel “conquering” throughout the world or a messianic imposter bringing instability and conquest
The forms under which Christ conquers are the Palm Sunday donkey, the slain Paschal Lamb, and the failed messiah, mocked and crucified. But it is precisely these forms that are realized in faith as conquering.
~ Eugene Peterson, Reversed Thunder: The Revelation of John and the Praying Imagination
Seal #2: Red Horse (6:3-4): representing warfare, violence, and bloodshed, as peace is removed from the earth
Seal #3: Black Horse (6:5-6): the ‘scales’ in his hands are for measuring food during a famine and economic upheaval
Seal #4: Pale Horse (6:7-8): the color of a corpse, representing Death and Hades (the place of the dead)
Two realities we must acknowledge about these seals:
The horsemen are sent from the One seated on the heavenly throne, as the Lamb opens the seals on the scroll of history; He sovereignly “gives” and “permits” all that takes place. The evils of war and unrest, economic upheaval, and even death itself are not “uncontrollable” realities (cf. Rev. 1:18).
This is taking place in our world right now, not some time in the future (cf. Rom. 1:18ff)
Why would God allow these things? … God wants a clear contrast between what results from embracing his rule and what results from rejecting it. God wants people to see what happens when humans reject the true God and embrace false gods. God wants people to see what happens when humans reject the rightful King, the Lord’s Messiah, Jesus, and replace him with some chump who looks good and speaks well. So God lets these fools have their day in the sun, and he lets all the mayhem and ruin that results from their pride and folly defile his world. God lets all this happen so that his wisdom, his power, his righteousness will be seen clearly. God wants people to know that only he can bring peace, justice, security, and happiness. God wants to be worshiped as God, and he wants people to embrace the rule of King Jesus, the Messiah.
~ Jim Hamilton, Preaching the Word: Revelation: The Spirit Speaks to the Churches
II. The Advent Prayer (6:9-11)
Seal #5: The Martyrs: the souls (in the intermediate state) of those who have been slain for the word of God are with God (cf. Rom. 8:35-39) under the “altar,” their deaths as an offering and sacrifice to heaven (cf. 2 Tim. 4:6).
The Prayer: “O Sovereign Lord, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” (cf. Ps. 13:1-2, 74:10, 94:3)
This prayer of longing is not for a personal vendetta, but for the Righteous and Just God to vindicate their death and render his perfect justice over all the earth. Romans 12:19: Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”
The Response:
Be assured of your status and reward: “each were given a white robe”
The answer to your prayer: “a little longer…”
More will join them in repentance and martyrdom: “until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.”
2 Peter 3:8-9: But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
Waiting for God to act, waiting for him to set things right, can seem so very long that we’re tempted to wonder if that day will ever really come. But you can be assured that the day of justice is going to come. The question, ‘How long?’ will one day be answered to the full satisfaction of every believer who has cried out to God with hot tears. God has set a day when he will set things right. The suffering of God’s people has an expiration date. We have to wait a little longer.
~ Nancy Guthrie, Blessed: Experiencing the Promise of the Book of Revelation
III. The Advent Question (6:12-17)
Seal #6: The Day of the Lord: the answer to the prayers of the martyrs comes with the final judgment. The ‘apocalyptic’ & symbolic language used here is steeped in the OT (cf. Isaiah 13:9ff, 34:14, Ezek. 32:7, Joel 2:31) & from Jesus’ Olivet Discourse (Mt. 24, Mk. 13), as the end of human history is at hand.
What the rebellious dread the most is not the falling apart of the earth or death itself, but the righteous & just judgments of the Lamb (6:16); the “great ones” of the earth cannot trust their power, influence, money, good works, or anything else before the omniscient judgments of the One seated on the throne.
The Key Question: “Who can stand?”
Revelation 7:9,14b: After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands… They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb.
2 Peter 3:10-13: But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.
