The Seven Seals

The First Seal

Revelation 6:1

Then I saw the Lamb open the first of the seven seals I heard one of the four living creatures command with a voice like thunder, "Go!"

I saw... the one who appeared as a lamb begin to unroll the scroll. All seven seals refer to authority being granted in the revelation. We will see that the first four seals refer to authority, first to govern all judgments concerning the end of history in the earth, second, we will see that these take place specifically in the areas of social relations, livelihood and of the cutting short of life.

first of seven...  This is the authority to bring about the final corrections of Israel in her galut. When these corrections are accomplished Babylon has no more purpose. Jerusalem has received double corrections. She is prepared to hear the testimony of the Two Witnesses.

voice like thunder... the first of a series of seven recorded thunders.

Go! The Greek word is more literally, Come! But the meaning here is Hebraic, in which to come and go are not abstractly different from one another but defined as different ultimately by the context.  Here the primary context is a reference to the prophecy found in Zechariah chapter 1 in the vision of the four horses and their riders.  Of the hourses and riders in the vision of Zechariah it is said, "These are they whom the Lord has sent to go out into the earth." Zechariah 1:10.

 In the vision there, these angelic beings have been sent out unto the four corners of the earth to assess the condition of the nations in relation to the exile, the galut, of Israel and the readiness of Israel for her final geulah, her redemption.  There it is reported that the nations are at ease.  They are at peace with the idea that they have and are exercising  power over the Jewish people.  They are not expecting the judgment of God to come upon them on account of it.

Here with the opening of the first seal of the scroll of authority for judgment in the earth it is as if the first heavenly agents appointed to serve in that judgment are called up and sent forth to assess the preparation and readiness of all things for this judgment in the earth to now come, wether or not the nations are ready for it.

Revelation 6:2

Then I looked and there was a white horse [with a rider upon it]! Its rider had a bow, and a victor's crown had been given to him. He went out as a conqueror [having already conquered, ruling, therefore, and waging war with authority] to conquer [what remained to be conquered. This seal is the authority to govern all judgments in the earth.]

I looked...  in a different direction.  The scene of the vision of the One on the Throne and the Throne surrounded by countless angels with the four living angelic creatures and the twenty-four elders, and the Lamb with the seven lamps of the Spirit of God before the Throne, opening the seals of this scroll — all of this is like the presenter on a stage and as the presenter speaks or acts new visions are accordingly displayed around or behind the presenter.

white horse... The colors of the horses and the order they are listed do not fully correspond to the vision of the rider and horses seen in the myrtles.  The colors correspond more completely to the colors of the horses seen in the vision of the chariots in Zechariah chapter 6, where they are representative of the four winds, which are revealed here in the beginning of Revelation chapter 7.

In both of these visions of Zechariah the colored horses are angels sent out with relation to bringing Babylon to judgment, whether with or without being seen with the angels who are over them as their riders.  As oposed to here where the white horse appears first, in both visions in Zechariah the red horse or horses appear first. One rabbinic tradition associates the red with blood and another associates it with Babylon itself, the head of (red) gold. One strong rabbinic tradition is that the four angelic horses correspond to the four empires of Israel's greater Babylonian captivity. In the visions of Zechariah the white horse is associated with the West and is always mentioned toward the end of the list of four.  Since the Roman Babylonian empire was centred to the west of the Land of Israel, and since it is the fourth of the beasts, forming the feet in the singular image of all four, where the stone of Messianic Israel carved out by the Hand of God encounters and destroys the whole image, it can be recognized why the White Horse should appear here first, when the first seal is opened.  It is here against the fourth beast and the woman who rides upon it that Mashiach goes out conquering and to conquer.

The Second Seal

Revelation 6:3

Then the lamb opened the second seal. [When he had broken the second seal and rolled out the second section of the scroll], I heard the second living creature [being understood to have the same voice of thunder as the first living creature, (without it needing to be stated) this being the second (here implicitly) recorded thunder in the series], command, "Go!"

Revelation 6:4

And [in response to the command] a second horse went out. It was fiery red, and its rider was given permission to take [social] peace away from the earth [removing the basis of law and order], so that people began to slaughter one another [citizen against citizen, neighbour against neighbour]. So he [the rider on the red horse] was given a large sword [to provoke universal conflict and violence within society. This seal is the authority to govern all specific judgments upon human relations.]

The Third Seal

Revelation 6:5

Then he [the Lamb] opened the third seal [and unrolled the third section of the scroll]. I heard then the third beast [again, with a voice of thunder, — the third (implicitly) recorded thunder], command, "Go!"

[Right away] I saw a black horse; it had a rider who had a pair of balances in his hand. 

Revelation 6:6

I heard a [still thunderous] voice coming from the midst of the four beasts saying, "A [standard] measure of wheat for one cent, and three [standard] measures of barley for one cent; [resulting in most producers being unable to earn a living from their produce], but see that you do not hurt the [price of] oil or wine". [This seal is the authority over all specific judgments in the realm of human livelihood. It is a measured authority, which will be seen to be for the sake of the servants of God.]

The Fourth Seal

Revelation 6:7

When the lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, "Go!"

Revelation 6:8

[Again, immediate following the thunderous command], I looked, and [this time] there was a pale green horse! [Yochanan: It was made known to me that] its rider's name was Death, and Hades [always] followed him. They were given authority over one-fourth of the earth to kill people using wars, famines, plagues, and wild animals [or other natural disasters]. 

This seal is the authority over judgments that involve unnaturally cutting human lives short, before repentance has opportunity to be complete. A special measure of this authority must be granted in the time of the great tribulation, but this authority is so great that it has to be precisely measured to allow for the possibility of its being limited, lest no flesh should be saved.

The fourth authority (of the pale horse) was the authority to bring history to an end and therefore had to be a restrained authority, which will prove to be for the sake of God's choice to be gracious to the seed of Abraham. Accordingly, a new form of vision, (not the militant form of horses with riders being sent out), will be seen to be appropriate to represent the opening of the remaining seals and the authority which comes with them.

The Fifth Seal

Revelation 6:9

[Now then, in a new order of vision we find]: When the Lamb opened the fifth seal, 

I saw the [Temple] altar [in heaven]. And [it appeared that there were many] souls under the altar, [because their souls had been accepted as sacrifices in association with the Lamb who was slain, as will be seen. Yochanan: It was made known to me that these were the souls] of those who had been slain for the sake of the word of God and on account of the testimony they had given,

Revelation 6:10

 [and as soon as I was made to know this]: They [this multitude of souls] cried out in a loud [thunderous] voice, 

"Holy and true Sovereign, how long will it be before you judge and make our shed blood the reason for justice to all those living upon the earth?" 

Like in the opening of the first four seals, the opening of the fifth is accompanied with a great loud voice. Here it is the voices of the multitude of souls beneath the altar heard as one loud voice.  Again, it is not stated explicitly here that this voice sounds like thunder, but this is understood, as this loud and thunderous voice immediately follows the opening of the seal, as did the thunderous voices of the four living creatures.

Revelation 6:11

Each of the souls [among the multitude of souls] under the altar was given a white robe, [to signify that their prayers have been heard in the cause of the justification of life, the cause of the Lamb]. 

They were told to rest a little longer until the number of their fellow servants, their [spiritual] siblings, was completed. For there were still those who would be martyred just as these souls had been. 

For the day and the hour of the appearing of Israel’s Redeemer is known only by the Father, in order that it may be known by all that when eternal justice and mercy are revealed together in the world through Israel’s final redemption it will be due to the judgment of the Father that justice should be revealed in this way. Reference is being made here to Revelation 10:7, as will be seen.

The prayer of the souls under the altar, like that of their Master, the Lamb who was slain, is not that the world should be condemned but that it should be saved, that their blood should be a cause for justice being revealed, but revealed in the form of mercy instead of in the form of eternal condemnation. The authority of the fifth seal is the authority granted to God’s martyrs, (that each of their lives should be heard as prayers), prayers that call upon the attribute of God's sovereignty, for God to transform through His sovereignty the pure wrath of His vengeance upon the world into an act of His sovereign grace toward the world. This authority grants that strict justice and the utter annihilation of the earth would be delayed for the sake of these prayers, in order that strict justice might be mitigated with mercy, (therefore the souls cry, “How long?”). This authority, therefore, grants that this mercy, resulting in the delay of the end of history and ultimately salvation, when it comes, might be understood to have come in answer to the prayers of, and for the sake of, the chosen people of God, here represented by God’s martyrs.

The authority of the sixth seal, (which follows), will be seen to be the authority to set the judgment of strict justice into motion. The authority of the seventh seal will be seen, then, to be like unto this authority of the firth seal. (For the whole of the revelation deals with the tension between justice and mercy and how strict justice is mitigated in the world through mercy for the sake of the Lamb and the chosen people). Explicitly then, the authority of the seventh seal will be seen to be the authority to set into motion the judgments and actions that bring about the revelation of the mystery of the grace of God in and through the complete and final redemption of the chosen people of God. 

The authority of the sixth seal, which will now immediately be opened, is, then, the authority to set into motion the acts of strict justice, the acts of God’s wrath. This strict justice, expressed as wrath, will be said not only to be the wrath of the One who sits upon the throne but also the wrath of the Lamb. That is because mercy cannot be shown except where strict justice is first shown, as it is only the mitigation of strict justice. Where strict justice can be a force that results in death and destruction, mercy is a force that can transform death and destruction into life and creation, but only where mercy is able to justify life. Therefore no one was found worthy to open the seals of this scroll containing the secret of God’s grace and mercy toward the world deserving His wrath except the Lamb who was slain. For he alone was able to justify life for the world. 

And in the opening of the fifth seal and in the opening of the seventh seal, set in tension within the opening of the sixth seal, it is revealed that at the heart of his justification of life for the world, that enables the Lamb to open the seals, is his giving power to his witnesses, through the testimony of their prayers and confessions and holy works, to have, together with him, the justification of life attributed to them. All of this will be made clear in the events which follow the opening of the seventh seal.

The opening of the sixth seal, which is the authority to initiate the acts of strict justice, will also be seen to be authority to end all delay to the end of history. The authority to allow for the possibility of delay to the end of history, (which allows for the possibility of mercy), was given under the opening of the fourth seal. The authority that is able to bring about that actual delay and call upon God’s sovereignty to transform strict justice into mercy was granted just now under the opening of the fifth seal. But mercy is an act of God’s sovereign grace and must be revealed to be so upon the basis of strict justice, as said above. Therefore, the opening of the sixth seal will begin with the authority of strict justice to destroy the world. It will then grant the authority to reveal how the sovereignty of God justifies transforming strict justice into mercy.

The Sixth Seal

Revelation 6:12

Then I saw the lamb open the sixth seal. There was a powerful earthquake. The sun [appeared] clothed [as a mourner] in black mohair sackcloth, turning the full moon as red as blood. [Day was as dark as night and night was as dark as death.]

Revelation 6:13

Stars began to fall from the black sky to the earth like a fig tree drops its fruit when it is shaken by a strong wind.

Revelation 6:14

Then the sky itself vanished like a scroll being rolled up, [as if the prophecies that the present heavens would pass away were about to be fulfilled] and every mountain and continent was moved from its place [as if the whole earth was about to be remade].

Revelation 6:15

Then the kings of the earth, the important people, the generals, the rich, the powerful, as well as common workers and all common citizens [tried to flee the cities] and conceal themselves in underground shelters and among the rocks in the mountains.

Revelation 6:16

[There were multitudes who could not get into underground chambers.] They told the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of the One who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb.

Revelation 6:17

For the great day of their wrath is come, and who [on earth] is able to face it? Who will survive it? Who would not rather die immediately than live to see the terrors of such wrath?"

The mystery of the concealment of the Lamb which was slain, of the risen Yehoshua HaMashiach, from Israel is the basis of the Revelation.  This concealment is itself alluded to in the Revelation in different specific ways.  The narrative tension we experience in waiting for the the opening of the seventh seal is one of those ways.  As we wait for the opening of the seventh seal, so will we also wait for the sounding of the seventh trumpet.  And in the sounding of the seventh trumpet, while all will be revealed, it will still only be revealed completely to Yochanan/John, who is able to hear all that the seven thunders say.  This is how the historically present concealment of Yehoshua is itself incorporated into the Revelation.  It is the mystery of how, while he is concealed in heaven he is, nevertheless, personally revealed to many by the Spirit of God.