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THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST TO HIS SERVANT JOHN
The Unveiling of the Kingdom on Earth and in Heaven
Lesson 9
The Ethical Stipulations continued
Chapter 6
The Breaking of the Six Seals
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
[The Things Which are Still to Come]

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Holy Lord,
You are the Master of human history, and our destinies are in Your hands. Sometimes we forget that and think that we can control our futures, but we are only deceiving ourselves. Help us, Lord, to place our hope of a future in You and not in ourselves, or we will be in danger of being led astray. The destiny You have planned for us is eternity in Your heavenly Kingdom, but whether we accept that divine invitation is entirely our choice. The temptations of the lies of pleasures open to us in temporal sins cannot compare to an everlasting beatitude in Your embrace. Give us the strength, Lord, to resist the broad path to eternal punishment and to take Jesus' narrow road to salvation. We pray in the name of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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Yahweh, are you enraged with the rivers, are you angry with the sea, that you should mount your chargers, your rescuing chariots? You uncover your bow, and give the string its fill of arrows. You trench the soil with torrents, the mountains see you and tremble, great floods sweep by, the abyss roars aloud; lifting high its waves. Sun and moon stay inside their dwellings, they flee at the light of your arrows, at the flash of your lightning-spear. In rage you stride across the land, in anger you trample the nations. You marched to save your people, to save your anointed one; you wounded the head of the house of the wicked, laid bare the foundation to the rock. With your shafts you pierced the leader of his warriors who stormed out with shouts of joy to scatter us as if they meant to devour some poor wretch in their laid. With your horses you trampled through the sea, through the surging abyss!
Habakkuk 3:8-15

On the 24^th day of the 11^th month (the month of Shebat), in the 2^nd year of Darius, the word of Yahweh was addressed to the prophet Zechariah (son of Berechiah), son of Iddo, as follows, "I had a vision during the night. There was a man riding a red horse standing among the deep-rooted myrtles; behind him were other horses: red, chestnut, and white. I said, "What are these, my lord?" And the angel who was talking to me said, "I will show you what they are." The man standing among the myrtles then replied, "Those are they whom Yahweh has sent to patrol the world."
Zechariah 1:7-10 (also see 6:1-8)

Zechariah is one of the three post-exile prophets (along with Haggai and Malachi). He received his prophetic call in the fall of 520 BC. Yahweh gave Zechariah eight visions relating to the coming of the Messiah (with a detailed prophecy of the last week of Jesus' life), and God's judgment on an unrepentant Jerusalem destined to come under siege followed by destruction. The four riders and four chariots in these verses are God's heavenly agents who patrol the earth and carry out God's commands. We will be reading about four horsemen in Revelation Chapter 6.

We now come to the breaking of the seven seals of the book of the Lamb. The Lamb breaks six of the seals in Chapter 6, but He does not open the seventh seal until Chapter 8, which connects to the seven trumpets judgments. We have discussed how the biblion John saw handed to the Lamb Jesus, written on both sides and sealed with seven seals, is a testament document of "the Lamb standing that seemed to have been sacrificed" (Rev 5:6); 1^st century AD Roman wills bore the seals of seven witnesses. Jesus' little book is His testament of the New Covenant that is our inheritance. It is a Covenant Treaty document of the New Covenant of the new Israel that is the Catholic (universal) Church, established from the faithful remnant of the Jesus' Apostles and disciples from Israel (CCC 877). But the establishment of the new is also a fulfillment of the old (Mt 5:17-18; Jn 19:30; Heb 10:8-10) and the end of the rituals of Old Covenant Temple worship.

It is in the opening of the seven seals that judgment will fall on Jerusalem and her failed religious hierarchy for the rejection of the Messiah (Mt 23:33-24:22). There may also be a connection between the number seven and the concept of oath-swearing that is necessary for covenant formation (Gen 26:28-31; 31:44, 53-54; Ex 24:3, 7). In Hebrew, to swear an oath is to literally to "seven oneself." When the children of Israel accepted God's Covenant Treaty at Mt. Sinai, they swore an oath of obedience to it followed by a sacrifice and a sacred meal (Ex 24:7-11). Our word "sacrament" comes from the Latin word for "oath." In celebrating the Sacraments of the Catholic Church, we are, in effect, reaffirming our oath to the New Covenant in Christ Jesus. In following the covenant stipulations, obedience yields blessings, but covenant-breaking results in judgments/curses. However, unlike the previous covenants that only yielded temporal rewards and punishments, the New Covenant in Christ Jesus brings eternal blessings and judgments. The seven seals also represent the four seven-fold curse/judgments that will fall on an apostate Old Covenant Israel for rejecting the Messiah and disobedience to the Sinai Covenant (see Lev 26:18, 21, 25, 28).

Revelation 6:1-8 ~ The Lamb Breaks the First Four of the Seven Seals
1 Then, in my vision, I saw the Lamb break one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four Living Creatures shout in a voice like thunder, "Come!" 2 Immediately I saw a white horse appear, and its rider was holding a bow, he was given a victor's crown, and he went away, to go from victory to victory. 3 When he broke the second seal, I heard the second Living Creature shout, "Come!" 4 And out came another horse, bright red, and its rider was given this duty: to take away peace from the earth and set people killing each other. He was given a huge sword. 5 When he broke the third seal, I heard the third Living Creature shout, "Come!" Immediately I saw a black horse appear, and its rider was holding a pair of scales, 6 and I seemed to hear a voice shout from among the four Living Creatures and say, "A day's wages for a quart of corn [grain], and a day's wages for three quarts of barley, but do not tamper with the oil or the wine." 7 When he broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth Living Creature shout, "Come!" 8 Immediately I saw another horse appear, deathly pale [green], and its rider was called Death, and Hades followed at its heels. They were given authority over a quarter of the earth, to kill by the sword, by famine, by plague, and through wild beasts.
In Chapter 6, the Lamb begins to break open the seven seals, and there is a division between the opening for the first four and last three seals. The opening of the first four seals announces the beginning of a holy war because it introduces the struggle between two sovereign powers: earth and the ungodly and the godly of Heaven (c.f., 6:14-15). One of the four Living Creatures announces the opening of each of the first four seals with the command, "Come!" with a shout in a voice like thunder, and each time, a horse with a rider appears.

The events concerning the first four seals have riders on horses, while the Living Creatures do not announce the other seals. Also, each of the four seals has two verses, while the fifth seal has three verses, and the sixth has six but both without horses and riders. The Lamb will not open the seventh seal until Chapter 8.

In Chapter 6, the Lamb begins to break open the seven seals, and there is a division between the opening for the first four and last three seals. The opening of the first four seals announces the beginning of a holy war because it introduces the struggle between two sovereign powers: earth and the ungodly and the godly of Heaven (c.f., 6:14-15). One of the four Living Creatures announces the opening of each of the first four seals with the command, "Come!" with a shout in a voice like thunder, and each time, a horse with a rider appears. The events concerning the first four seals have riders on horses, while the Living Creatures do not announce the other seals. Also, each of the four seals has two verses, while the fifth seal has three verses, and the sixth has six but both without horses and riders. The Lamb will not open the seventh seal until Chapter 8.

God directs the activity of the holy war from His throne room in Heaven:

1. By the command of the Living creatures to "Come" (6:1, 3, 5, 7).
2. By the four-part repetition of the word edothe, meaning "it was granted/given" (6:2, 4, 8, 11).
3. By the phrase ho kathemenos, meaning "he who was seated on it," referring to the throne.
4. And, in the last part of the battle, the Word of God Himself fighting for the righteous (Chapter 19).

Scholars disagree on what the breaking of the seven seals represents. Some believe they signify a chronological reading of events depicted in historical order. There are two reasons why this interpretation is unlikely:

1. The document is either a rolled scroll or codex. With the seals on the outside edge, it cannot be opened and read until the breaking of all the seals. It is only with the opening of the seventh seal, which results in the blowing of the seven trumpets, that the book of Jesus' last will and testament is fully opened so it can be read.
2. With the breaking of the seals and the events that unfold, it becomes evident that the resulting events cannot be occurring in chronological order. For example, in the fifth seal, the martyrs who are calling for judgment are told to wait, but with the opening of the sixth seal, judgment comes immediately, and yet in 7:3, God commands the angels to delay judgment until the servants of God are protected. Would the angels execute judgment and disobey God without protecting the faithful? Of course not.

For these reasons, it seems unlikely that the seven seals are a progressive chronology. It is more likely that they are the principal themes of judgment that came upon Old Covenant Israel (Judea) from AD 30, with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, to AD 70 and the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, which was the final and complete end of the Old Covenant Church. This forty-year period corresponds to the establishment of the Church of the Sinai Covenant and the new generation of Israel taking possession of the Promised Land that also covered forty years (Num 14:26-35; 32:13; Dt 2:7; 8:2-6).

Some Biblical scholars (like Scott Hahn in The End: A Commentary on the Book of Revelation and R. H. Charles in A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Revelation of St. John vol. 1 p. 158) point out the close structural relationship between the six seals of Chapter 6 and the events of Jesus' prophecies concerning the destruction of Jerusalem recorded in the Synoptic Gospels. John's is the only Gospel without Jesus' predictions of Jerusalem's destruction (see Matthew 24; Mark 13; Luke 21). Is it because the Holy Spirit waited to reveal the same prophecies to St. John during his imprisonment on the island of Patmos? John's visions in the Book of Revelation follow the same outline as Jesus' prophecies in the Synoptic Gospels

The Babylonian army destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple of on the 9^th of Ab [Av] 587/6 BC, and the Roman army destroyed Jerusalem and the Second Temple on the 9^th of Ab AD 70. Is this just an amazing coincidence or a prophesied act of divine judgment? See the Chart Synoptic Gospels & Revelation: Judgment on Jerusalem in handout 1 for the more comprehensive comparison between the judgments Jesus predicted on Judea and Jerusalem in the Synoptic Gospels and John's visions in Revelation.

Biblical scholars like Dr. Scott Hahn see the mini-apocalyptic accounts in the Synoptic Gospels as the framework or outline for John's maxi-apocalypse in Revelation. He is one of the few Biblical scholars to make the connection that if the Synoptic mini-apocalypses prophesy judgment against Jerusalem (most scholars agree that the Synoptic mini-apocalypses do this), then the maxi-apocalypse of John must do the same thing. Dr. Hahn maintains that is why John's Gospel lacks a mini-apocalypse because it was God's plan for the Holy Spirit to inspire John to write his more complete apocalypse at a later date as God's prosecuting attorney-prophet in bringing the Covenant Lawsuit against Old Covenant Israel for their rejection of the Messiah (Lk 19:44).

1"Then, in my vision, I saw the Lamb break one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures shout in a voice like thunder, Come!' Immediately I saw a white horse appear, and its rider was holding a bow, he was given a victor's crown and he went away, to go from victory to victory."
In Chapter 1, Christ held seven stars in His right hand, and now He holds the scroll with seven seals. The Greek word erchou ("come forth") frequently denotes making a public appearance and with a special reference to a divine epiphany, such as the coming of God to bring judgment or salvation. In Revelation, it usually refers to the coming of God or Jesus Christ (Rev 1:4, 7, 8; 2:5, 16; 3:11; 4:8; 6:17; 22:7, 12, 14, 20). In 6:1, it is associated with the manifestation of Gods divine wrath (c.f., verse 16) and in 22:17 for the joyful coming forth of the Spirit and the Bride.

The key to understanding John's vision is the vision of the prophet Zechariah in Zechariah 1:7-17 and 6:1-8. God called Zechariah son of Barachiah to his prophetic mission in 520 BC. He is one of the three post-Babylonian exile prophets. Beginning in mid-February 519 BC, when the exiles had returned to Judah, Zechariah received eight visions from Yahweh. The first and eighth visions concerned horses. Please read the two Zechariah passages in 1:7-17 and 6:1-8.

In both passages, the prophet asks, "who are these horses and their riders" and is told that they are God's agents who are sent by Him to patrol the whole earth.
Question: Where have you already read about God sending His agents over the whole world? See Rev 5:6.
Answer: They imitate the same action as the Spirit in Revelation 5:6, which are the seven Spirits that God has sent out over the whole world. The horses and their riders are God's means of controlling history, and like the four winds, they are identified with and controlled by angels (see Rev 7:1 and Ps 18:10).

The number of riders gives the key to understanding the symbolism of the horses.
Question: What does the number four represent symbolically in Scripture, and how does it relate to the vision of the four horsemen?
Answer: In Biblical symbolism, four represents the earth.

The number 4 not only represents the earth generally but specifically the Promised Land as God's four-cornered altar. Therefore, judgments that fall on the land are represented as four-part judgments. The four horsemen show us God's plan for executing His judgment on the disobedient nation of Israel/Judah.

Each of the four horsemen is a symbolic representation of the fourfold judgment that Jesus declared would be the "beginning of sorrows" in the desolation of Jerusalem in Matthew 24:6-7, Mark 13:8 and Luke 21:10-11, 20.
Question: What are the four judgments listed in those passages that correspond to the four horsemen?
Answer: The four judgments are wars, famines, pestilence, and earthquakes.

In verse 1, John hears one of the four Living Creatures call out, "Come!" The angel is not speaking to John but is instead calling forth the first of the four horsemen. The Living Creatures standing around the four corners of Yahweh's altar will call for God's righteous judgments to come and destroy the wicked. Once again, John hears, and then he sees.
Question: What does he see?
Answer: A white horse with its rider armed for battle, carrying a bow and wearing a crown.

Notice that the rider is already victorious; he is wearing the victor's crown. But even though he already has victory, he is still conquering (verse 2).

Who is the White Rider who wears the crown and carries the bow? Biblical scholars and commentators do not agree on the identity of the rider. Some say he is a prince of angles (the crown), other commentators (mainly Protestant dispensationalists) identify the rider of the white horse as the Antichrist. But other commentators identify the White Rider as the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. The rider cannot be the Antichrist because he rides a white horse, a sign of purity, and he is victorious (wears a crown).

Catholic scholars and commentators are divided in their opinions concerning the White Rider. Dr. Scott Hahn does not take a stand on this issue but leans toward the angel theory. Fr. Alfred McBride, author of The Second Coming of Jesus, believes that the White Rider is not Christ (page 54), while the Navarre Catholic commentators believe that He is the conquering Lamb (page 70) in agreement with Pope Pius XII who wrote: "He is Jesus Christ. The inspired evangelist not only saw the devastation brought about by sin, war, hunger, and death; he also saw, in the first place, the victory of Christ. It is certainly true that the course the Church takes down through the centuries is a via crucis,' a way of the cross, but it is also a victory march. It is the Church of Christ, men, and women of Christian faith and love, who are always bringing light, redemption, and peace to a mankind without hope. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today and forever' (Heb.13:8)" (Pope Pius XII, Address of 15 November, 1946).

Several of the Church Fathers, such as Bishop Irenaeus (m. 202 AD) in his book Against Heresies (4:21, 3) and Bishop Victorinus of Pettau (m. 304 AD) in his Commentary of the Apocalypse of John, identify this first horse and rider with Christ and the victory of the Gospels, which must be preached first before inflicting the judgments on the earth. See Mark 13:9-10 ~ Be on your guard: you will be handed over to Sanhedrins; you will be beaten in synagogues; and you will be brought before governors and kings for my sake, as evidence to them, since the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations," and Matthew 10:23 ~ If they persecute you in one town take refuge in the next; and if they persecute you in that, take refuge in another. In truth I tell you, you will not have gone the round of the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

There are several points about this victorious rider that demonstrate He is Jesus Christ:

1. He is riding a white horse: Revelation 14:14 identifies the White Rider as Christ ~ And now I saw heaven open, and a white horse appear; its rider was called Trustworthy and True; in uprightness He judges and makes war. The rider in this passage is clearly Christ, the victorious judge. He has the same title in Revelation 3:14 in the letter to Laodicea: Here is the message of the Amen, the trustworthy, the true witness.
   
   
2. He carries a bow: Just as the Zechariah passages are a key to understand Revelation Chapter 6, the Book of the prophet Habakkuk is also essential. In Habakkuk 3:8-9, God, coming in judgment, is riding on horses against His enemies and is armed with a bow: Yahweh, are you enraged with the rivers, are you angry with the sea, that you should mount your chargers, your rescuing chariots: You uncover your bow, and give the string its fill of arrows. In addition to the Habakkuk passage, Revelation 6:3's sword, a sign of war, is also referring to Psalms 45:3-6, one of the great prophecies of the Messiah's victory over His enemies: Warrior, strap your sword at your side, in your majesty and splendor advance, ride on in the cause of truth, gentleness, and uprightness. Stretch the bowstring tight, lending terror to your right hand. Your arrows are sharp, nations lie at your mercy, the king's enemies lose heart. Your divine throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of your kingship a scepter of justice, you love uprightness and detest evil.
   
   A question we might also ask is, where did the rider on the white horse get the bow? As it is usually the case, the answer begins in Genesis. Read Genesis 8:20-21 and 9:8-17. After the flood, God made a covenant with Noah: "And this," God said, "is the sign of the covenant which I now make between myself and you and every living creature with you for all ages to come. I now set my bow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth" (Gen 9:12-13). God unstrung His war bow and hung it up in the cloud for all to see.
   
   Later, in the 6^th century BC, when Ezekiel had his vision of the throne room of God in the heavenly Sanctuary, he saw the bow handing above the throne (Ez 1:26-28). Ezekiel 1:28 reads: The radiance of the encircling light was like the radiance of the Bow in the clouds on rainy days, and it was there when John was lifted up into the heavenly throne room in Revelation 4:3, there was a rainbow encircling the throne. But when Christ, the victorious Lamb, stepped forward to receive the book from the right hand of God, He also reached up and took down the bow to use it in judgment against His enemies.
   
   The Noahide covenant, like all the Old Testament covenants, has been fulfilled and has come to an end. For those who have rejected the knowledge of the truth there is no longer any animal sacrifice for sins, but there is a certain terrifying expectation of the judgment of God: If after this we have been given knowledge of the truth, we should deliberately commit any sins, then there is no longer any sacrifice for them. There is left only the dreadful prospect of judgment and of the fiery wrath that is to devour your enemies. Anyone who disregards the Law of Moses is ruthlessly put to death on the word of two witnesses or three; and you may be sure that anyone who tramples on the Son of God, and who treats the blood of the covenant which sanctified Him as if it were not holy, and who insults the Spirit of grace, will be condemned to a far severer punishment. We are all aware who it was that said: Vengeance is mine: I will pay them back. And again: The Lord will vindicate His people. It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Heb 10:26-31). And again, in Hebrews Chapter 12: Make sure that you never refuse to listen when He speaks. If the people who on earth refused to listen to a warning could not escape their punishment, how shall we possibly escape if we turn away from a voice that warns us from heaven? That time His voice made the earth shake, but now He has given us this promise: I am going to shake the earth once more and not only the earth but heaven as well.' The words once more indicate the removal of what is shaken, since these are created things, so that which is not shaken remains. We have been given possession of an unshakeable kingdom. Let us, therefore, be grateful and use our gratitude to worship God in the way that pleases Him, in reverence and fear. For our God is a consuming fire (Heb 12:25-29).
   
   
3. The White Rider wears a crown: John's 1^st century AD Christians would have immediately understood that the rider on the white horse was Jesus Christ based on the other points we have mentioned, but the wearing of the crown would have left no doubt. The rider is the King of Kings. It is an image of Christ that we know from Revelation, for example:
   1. And now I saw heaven open, and a white horse appear, its rider was called Trustworthy and True; in uprightness He judges and makes war. His eyes were flames of fire, and He was crowned with many coronets (Rev 14:14).
      
      
   2. [And] Now in my vision I saw a white cloud and sitting on it one like a son of man with a gold crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand (Rev 19:11-12).
4. The final point is the fact that the rider goes out conquering: Satan/the final Antichrist cannot conquer; he has been conquered by the resurrection of the Lamb. The Greek word for conquering is the same Greek word that appears in Christ's letters to the seven churches for overcoming or conquering, seven times in Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 26; 3:5, 12, 21. Then too, the White Rider is not simply one of four riders; He is leading the others with His bow and His crown.

There are also a few problems with this interpretation: If we site Revelation 19:11-16 as a proof text that Christ is the White Rider, there is the problem that even though both the riders in Revelation 6 and 19 are riding white horses and are wearing "crowns," the passages use two different words in Greek for crown, and the riders carry different weapons: a bow in 6:2 and a sword in 19:15, both implements of war.

In Revelation 6:2, the word is stephanos, which would be a victor's wreath like Julius Caesar, and other Roman generals wore in their victory parades, while the Greek word for crown in Revelation 19:12 is diadema, like a King's crown. It can be argued that at first, Christ wears the victor's crown because He is in the act of conquering, while in Revelation Chapter 19, He wears a king's crown because He is the victorious King of Kings in the final battle. St. Victorinus, in his commentary on the Book of Revelation, saw the bow of the Holy Spirit delivering the arrows of the Gospel across the earth before the release of the other riders, while in Chapter 19, he sees Christ as leading the victorious army of God in a great battle.

The White Rider must be Christ, the conquering King, coming against His enemies in judgment. He already came to save/redeem, but now He is coming to bring judgment and to destroy, as He foretold in the Synoptic Gospels (Mt 24; Mk 13; Lk 21). The terrifying riders who will follow Him are His messengers of wrath, and the faithless of Old Covenant Israel, who rejected the Messiah, are doomed!

3 When he broke the second seal, I heard the second living creature shout, Come!' 4 And out came another horse, bright red, and its rider was given this duty: to take away peace from the earth and set people killing each other. He was given a huge sword.
The red horse and its rider symbolize blood and war. Notice that God does not incite war. Instead, He simply orders His angels to take away the conditions of peace. God removes His hand of protection and the restraints on humanity's wickedness. In the Jewish revolt against Rome, which began in AD 66, the Jews not only fought the Romans, but they savagely fought and killed each other. The Jewish priest/historian, Flavius Josephus, wrote: "every city was divided into two armies encamped against one another, and the preservation of the one party was in the destruction of the other; so the day time was spent in the shedding of blood, and the night in fear.... It was then common to see cities filled with dead bodies, still lying unburied and those of old men, mixed with infants, all dead, and scattered about together; women also lay amongst them, without any covering for their nakedness; you might then see the whole province full of inexpressible calamities, while dread of still more barbarous practices which were threatened, was everywhere greater than what had been already perpetrated" (Josephus, The Jewish War, 2. 18.2).

The Greek word for sword refers the rhomphaia, the large and broad sword used by barbarians. In the New Testament the word only appears in Simon's prophecy for Mary in Luke 2:35 and refers to the sword which will pierce Mary's soul, indicating pain and anguish.

5 When he broke the third seal, I heard the third living creature shout, Come!' Immediately I saw a black horse appear, and its rider was holding a pair of scales; 6 and I seemed to hear a voice shout from among the four living creatures and say, "A day's wages (a denarius) for a quart of corn (grain), and a day's wages (a denarius) for three quarts of barley, but do not tamper with the oil or the wine."
Black is a color symbolizing mourning, affliction, or death. The Black Rider and the scales symbolize economic chaos and the rationing of food, which will lead to famine; see Ezekiel 4:10. Josephus, in The Jewish War, 5.10.2, described the famine before the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70. He writes that parents even killed and ate their children (as prophesied in Lev 26:29 and Dt 28:53-57).

Choinix in Greek was a dry measure equaling about a quart. One choinix was the daily ration of grain for one man. A denarius was a Roman silver coin equal to one day's wages for a common laborer. According to verse 6, enough wheat to feed one man for one day cost a full day's wages, making the cost of wheat five to twelve times its normal price, indicating the high cost of food resulting from famine. Barley was cheaper than wheat.

Despite the curse on the crops, God forbids the angel/rider to touch the oil or the wine. The oil and wine, both used in Temple worship and the rites of the New Covenant Church (Jam 5:14-15; 1 Cor 11:25), may indicate that God prohibits His messengers from harming the righteous. Scripture often describes God's blessings upon the righteous in terms of oil and wine (see Ps 4:7; 23:5; 45:7; 89:20)¹.

7 When he broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature shout, Come!' 8 Immediately I saw another horse appear, deathly pale [green], and its rider was called Death, and Hades followed at its heels. They were given authority over a quarter of the earth, to kill by the sword, by famine, by plague, and through wild beasts.
The fourth seal sends forth the last Horseman of judgment who rides a green horse. The word in Greek is chloros, meaning "green," or "yellowish green." It appears two more times in Revelation (8:7 and 9:4) and once in Mark (6:39). Biblical translators purposely mistranslate the word as "pale" on the assumption that since there is no such thing as a green horse, John could not have seen one. It is an erroneous assumption and an example of translators interpreting instead of faithfully translating the sacred text. God can make a horse any color He wants! The green color is important because it is the color of decomposing corpses.

Question: What is the name for this rider, and who follows him? Hint: in New Testament Scripture, the Greek word Hades, Sheol in Hebrew, is the abode of the dead.
Answer: The Fourth Rider is Death, followed by Hades = the grave/Sheol/Hades.

Question: Who sets them loose? See Rev 1:18.
Answer: Jesus Christ set them loose; He used His keys as He said in Chapter 1: "I was dead and look, I am alive forever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and Hades" (Rev 1:18).

Look at the significance of Revelation 6:8 in the context of the temporal covenant curse-judgments of Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28. The housemen receive authority to bring four plagues upon the land, which is a summary of the all the covenantal curses in Leviticus 26:14-46 and Deuteronomy 28:15-68. It also parallels God's list of His four basic categories of curse-judgments with which He punishes the wicked and disobedient nations (Lev 26:14-39). See, for example, the prophecy of curse-judgments in Ezekiel and Jeremiah on Jerusalem and Judah before the Babylonian destruction:

1. I, Yahweh, have spoken. On them I shall send the deadly arrows of famine, which will destroy you, for I shall send them to destroy you; then I shall make the famine worse and cut off your food supply. I shall send famine and wild animals on you to rob you of your children; plague and bloodshed will sweep through you, and I shall bring the sword down on you. I Yahweh, have spoken" (Ez 5:16-17).
2. The Lord Yahweh says this, "Even if I send my four dreadful scourges on Jerusalem: sword, famine, wild beasts, and plague" (Ez 14:21; in the first destruction of Jerusalem in 587/6 BC the curse of the wild beasts replaced the curse of captivity).
3. Yahweh says this: "Those for the plague, to the plague; those for the sword, to the sword; those for famine, to famine; those for captivity, to captivity!" (Jer 15:2).

8b They were given authority over a quarter of the earth, to kill by the sword, by famine, by plague, and through wild beasts. This verse recalls Ezekiel 14:21's famine, wild beasts, and plague. The riders also receive the authority to destroy a quarter of the land. The trumpet-judgments (Rev 8:7-12) will take a third of the land, and the chalice-judgments will devastate all the rest.

Revelation 6:9-17 ~ The Lamb Breaks the Fifth and Sixth Seals, and the Blood of the Martyrs Avenged
9 When he broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of all the people who had been killed on account of the Word of God, for witnessing to it. 10 They shouted in a loud voice, "Holy, true Master, how much longer will you wait before you pass sentence and take vengeance for our death on the inhabitants of the earth?" 11 Each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to be patient a little longer, until the roll was completed of their fellow servants and brothers who were still to be killed as they had been. 12 In my vision, when he broke the sixth seal, there was a violent earthquake and the sun went as black as coarse sackcloth; the moon turned red as blood all over, 13 and the stars of the sky fell onto the earth like figs dropping from a fig tree when a high wind shakes it; 14 the sky disappeared like a scroll rolling up and all the mountains and islands were shaken from their places. 15 Then all the kings of the earth, the governors and the commanders, the rich people and the men of influence, the whole population, slaves and citizens, hid in caverns and among the rocks of the mountains. 16 They said to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us away from the One who sits on the throne and from the retribution of the Lamb. 17 For the Great Day of his retribution has come, and who can face it?"

The Christ/Lamb will not break the seventh seal until 8:1-13

9 When he broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of all the people who had been killed on account of the Word of God, for witnessing to it.
The breaking of the fifth seal reveals a vision where the souls of those martyred because of their witness for Christ are underneath or around the base of the altar of God (which means the martyrs are very close to God). The heavenly altar is the prototype of the earthly altar. (c.f., Heb 8:5). It is also present in Revelation 8:3, 5; 9:13; 11:1; 14:18, and 16:7.

There is no blood mentioned in the passage, but we can assume that the reader is to think of the image of the blood since the focus is on the martyred saints, and it is the blood of the innocent that cries out to God for justice. God hears the cries of the martyrs in the same way He heard Abel's blood cry out for justice (Gen 4:10). The imagery in verse 9 is from the Old Covenant sacrifices in which the priests applied the blood of the slain victim to the sides of the altar, and it streamed down the sides to form a pool of blood around the base (Lev 1:5, 11; 3:3, 8, 13). Leviticus 17:11 tells us that the soul (in Hebrew nephesh) of the flesh is in the blood, and St. Paul uses liturgical imagery similar to Revelation 6:10 when he writes: "As for me, my life is already being poured away as a libation" ... (2 Tim 4:6). The blood of the animals in the old sacrificial system was poured out of bowls/chalices onto the altar, ran in streams down the side, and formed into a pool around the base of the altar so that their life-force was "beneath the altar." In this passage, the death of these holy victims becomes a most acceptable sacrifice to God.

In the same way that righteous Abel's blood cried out for justice in Genesis 4:10, the blood of these martyrs beseeches the Lord God for justice. They cry out, "Holy, true Master, how much longer will you wait before you pass sentence and take vengeance for our death on the inhabitants of the earth?" "How long" is a standard phrase throughout the Bible for invoking God's divine justice for the oppressed and persecuted (see Ps 6:3; 13:1-2; 35:17; 74:10; 79:5; 80:4; 89:46; 90:46; 94:3-4; Hab 1:2; 2:6).  The use of the cry here recalls Zechariah 1:12 where, after the Four Horsemen have been sent out to patrol the earth, the angel asks God "Yahweh Sabaoth, how long will you wait before taking pity on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, on which you have inflicted your anger for the past seventy years?" In this case, the cry is reversed: not pity but wrath. After the Four Horsemen have been sent out on their mission, the martyrs ask how long God will withhold his judgment and keep His vengeance from falling on a Jerusalem that showed no pity.

Then too, the cry "How long" has always been seen by the Church as evidence of the intercession of the Saints and their intense interest in God's family still on earth. Their cry also reminds us of what Jesus said in Luke 18:6-7 after telling the story of the unjust judge: "And the Lord said, You notice what the unjust judge has to say? Now, will not God see justice done to His elect if they keep calling to Him day and night even though He still delays to help them? I promise you, He will see justice done to them and done speedily." St. Thomas Aquinas writes: "this prayer of the martyrs is nothing other than their desire to obtain resurrection of the body and to share in the inheritance of those who will be saved, and their recognition of God's justice in punishing evildoers." (Summa Theologiae, III, q.72, a.3, ad1).

Question: In addition to Jesus, how many prophets and saints can you recall who were martyred by the Old Covenant religious authorities in the New Testament?
Answer: Herod Antipas beheaded John the Baptist, and the Jerusalem Sanhedrin martyred Stephen the deacon by stoning. St. Paul, on orders of the Sanhedrin, was sent out to hunt down Christians. King Herod Agrippa ordered the beheading of James Zebedee, and James, Bishop of Jerusalem, was murdered at the command of the Jewish High Priest, Annas.

Jesus accused the authorities of Jerusalem of murdering God's prophets in Luke 13:33, and in Matthew 23:33-36 He rebuked the religious hierarchy saying, "You serpents, brood of vipers, how can you escape being condemned to hell? This is why- look- I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some you will slaughter and crucify, some you will scourge in your synagogues and hunt from town to town; and so you will draw down on yourselves the blood of every upright person that has been shed on earth, from the blood of Abel the holy to the blood of Zechariah son on Barachiah whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. In truth I tell you, it will all recoil on this generation." God's wrath did recoil on Jesus' generation in the sending out of the Four Horsemen.

Question: Why can we assume that Jerusalem is the focus of God's judgment in the martyrdom of the saints? See Lev 1:5; Mt 23:34-37; Lk 13:33.
Answer: It would not be missed by John's 1^st century AD audience that if there is blood around the altar of sacrifice that priests in the Jerusalem Temple must have split the blood!

It is by the authority of the Old Covenant Church that the Christian martyrs were slain.The altar imagery makes it obvious that the priests of Jerusalem must have spilled the martyrs' blood, and as Jesus and the apostles testified, Jerusalem was the place where the prophets of God suffered martyrdom. It must therefore be Jerusalem that will receive God's wrathful justice for the death of all the innocent martyrs, as Jesus said His last week in Jerusalem: and so you will draw down on yourselves the blood of every upright person that has been shed on earth, from the blood of Abel the holy to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. In truth I tell you, it will all recoil on this generation" (Jesus' message to the Jewish crowds in Mt 23:35-36).

The symbolic connection to the death of Abel is also evident. In Genesis Chapter 4, the older son of Adam, Cain, envious that God accepted the sacrifice of his younger brother, killed Abel. God says to Cain in Genesis 4:10, "What have you done?" Yahweh asked, "Listen! Your brother's blood is crying out to me from the ground." Abel's blood was crying out like the blood of the saints around the altar. He was murdered by his "older brother" just as members of the Christian Community were killed by their "older brothers," the Jews of Jerusalem (i.e., Stephen in Acts 7 and James Zebedee in Acts 12:2 among many others; see 1 Jn 3:11-12).  And so, the blood of the holy martyrs cries out in Revelation 6:10, and the saints pray that Christ's prophecy of "the days of vengeance" (Lk 21:22) will soon be fulfilled.

Question: What is the significance of the robes given to the martyrs? See Ecc 9:8; Is 1:18; Dan 7:2; 11:35; 12:10; Mk 16:5.
Answer: The martyrs receive white robes, a sign of righteousness and purity.

The newly baptized were given white robes in the early Church, and most faith communities today follow the same practice.

Question: In answer to their pleas for justice, why does God tell them to be patient for a little while longer? See Gen 15:16.
Answer: The full number of the martyrs has not been completed because the wickedness of their tormentors has not reached its full extent.

God gives every opportunity for men and women to turn away from evil, to renounce sin, and return to fellowship with Him until the time comes that the influence of wickedness has reached its full extent. When that time comes, there is no longer an opportunity for repentance (see Gen 15:16).

Please notice that the presence of the martyrs in heaven supports the Catholic Church's teaching that when we die, our souls receive reward or punishment immediately in the particular judgment (judgment of each person), and we remain as a spirit until the resurrection of the dead when we receive our glorified bodies (CCC 686, 990, 1015-17, 1021-28, 1038-41, 1059-60).

12 In my vision He then broke the sixth seal, there was a violent earthquake, and the sun went as black as coarse sackcloth; the moon turned red as blood all over, 13 and the stars of the sky fell onto the earth like figs dropping from a fig tree when a high wind sakes it; the sky disappeared like a scroll rolling up and all the mountains and islands were shaken from their places. 15 Then all the kings of the earth, the governors and the commanders, the rich people and the men of influence, the whole population, slaves and citizens, hid in caverns and among the rocks of the mountains. 16 They said to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us away from the One who sits on the throne and from the retribution (wrath) of the Lamb. 17 For the Great Day of His retribution has come, and who can face it?"
Verses 12-17 describe the catastrophic result of God's judgment in symbolic language, in Biblical prophecy known as "de-creation." The Bible often symbolizes the salvation of God's people in terms of creation imagery:

• 2 Corinthians 4:6 ~ It is God who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," that has shone into our hearts to enlighten them with the knowledge of God's glory, the glory on the face of Christ.
• 2 Corinthians 5:17 ~ So for anyone who is in Christ, there is a new creation: the old order is gone, and a new being is there to see. Also see Eph 2:10; 4:24; Col 3:10 etc.

In reverse, the Bible represents God's judgments and the outcome of His presence as judge over a sinful, unrepentant world in prophecy as de-creation, the total collapse, and the ripping apart of creation. John's vision in the sixth seal even lists the very structure of Creation in relation to Israel's day of destruction.

Sackcloth in verse 12 was made of the hair of black goats. People typically wore sackcloth in an act of mourning the dead or mourning one's sins.

Question: Can you name the parts of creation that John refers to in this passage?
Answer: 1. earth, 2. sun, 3. moon, 4. stars, 5. sky, 6. mountains, 7. islands, and 8. humankind.

All the prophetic de-creation images appear in Old Testament prophecies, for example:

1. Earthquakes: Exodus 19:18; Psalm 18:7, 15; 60:2; Isaiah 13:13-14; 24:19-20; Nahum 1:5.
2. Eclipse of the sun: Exodus 32:7; Joel 2:10, 31; 3:15; Amos 8:9; Micah 3:6.
3. The moon became like blood: Job 25:5; Isaiah 13:10; 24:23; Ezekiel 32:7; Joel 2:10, 31.
4. The judgment on the stars (stars are images of government, and they also are clocks that show that time has run out): Genesis 1:14; Job 9:7; Ecclesiastics 12:2; Isaiah 13:10; 34:4; Ezekiel 32:8; Daniel 8:10; Joel 2:10; 3:15.
5. The wind imagery: in Zechariah's vision in 6:5, the four horsemen bring the winds and are reintroduced in John's vision shaking the fig tree.
6. The fig tree is a symbol of Israel: Matthew 21:19; 24:32-34; Luke 21:29-32.
7. The sky vanishing like a scroll rolled up: Isaiah 34:4; 51:6; Psalm 102:25-26.
8. Every mountain and island moved out of their places = the Gentile nations are also affected: Job 9:5-6; 14:18-19; 28:9-11; Isaiah 41:5, 15-16; Ezekiel 38:20; Nahum 1:4-8; Zephaniah 2:11.

Jerusalem is often called "the mountain" in Scripture (i.e., Dan 9:16). Zechariah 8:8 and 14:4, depict Jerusalem's destruction as a burning mountain cast into the sea (also see what Jesus said in Mt 21:21). So, in effect, the saints at the altar are crying out for the destruction of the great mountain of apostate Jerusalem. In the fulfillment of Jesus' prophecy against Jerusalem in Matthew Chapter 24, God will shake Heaven and earth to deliver His kingdom over to His new nation: the New Covenant Israel that is Jesus' Kingdom of the Church. In Matthew 24:27 and 29 Jesus says "the coming of the Son of Man will be like lightening striking in the east and flashing far into the west. .... Immediately after the distress of those days the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from the sky and the powers of the heavens will be shaken."

Going back to the list of the items of creation, humanity is the eighth stage of de-creation and within that category there are seven classifications which indicate that the destruction will include all classes of society: 1) kings, 2) governors, 3) commanders, 4) the rich, 5) influential men, 6) slaves and 7) free/citizens.

[They] hid in caverns and among the rocks of the mountains. 16 They said to the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us away from the One who sits on the throne and from the retribution (wrath) of the Lamb. 17 For the Great Day of His retribution has come, and who can face it?"
Their attempt to flee God's wrath is fruitless. Hiding in caves and among rocks is a sign of being under a curse (Gen. 19:30-38). St. Peter quoted Joel 3:1-5 in his homily after the Holy Spirit came to fill and indwell the Church at the Jewish feast of Weeks/Pentecost in Acts 2:3-4 ~ I shall show portents in the sky and on earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the Day comes, that great and terrible Day. The prophet Amos also saw this day in Amos 8:3 ~ On that Day, declares the Lord Yahweh, I shall make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight. I shall turn your festivals into mourning.

Joel, Amos, Peter, and John were not prophesizing the end of the world and the Second Advent of Christ; they were prophesizing the end of the world for Old Covenant Israel in AD 70. The origin of the symbolism of the mountains falling on the fearful (verse 16) is also in the prophecy of Hosea against Israel. Jesus cited this text (Hosea 10:6-8) on His way to Calvary in Luke 23:27-30. Speaking to the women who were weeping for Him, He said: "weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say: Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed. Then they will begin to say to the mountains: Fall on us! And to the hills: Cover us!"

The Christian churches of the 1^st century AD must have understood this message of the coming wrath of the Lamb. In the destruction of Jerusalem and Judea, there isn't a single Biblical or historical account concerning the destruction of any of the Christian communities. The Christians all fled out of Jerusalem and Judea before AD 70, led by St. Simon, Bishop of Jerusalem, across the Jordan River into Perea.

This prophecy of destruction cannot refer to Rome. The Jews wanted to see Rome destroyed, but the Christians did not; they wanted Rome's conversion! That is why, by God's command, St. Peter established the Church in Rome.

Read Matthew 16:16-19. Why did Jesus call Simon/Peter "son of Jonah" when he was the son of a man named John? See Gospel of John 1:42; 21:15-17 where Jesus calls Peter "son of John" four times; also see the Book of Jonah. Jonah was the only prophet to come out of the Galilee, and the only Old Testament prophet sent to convert Gentiles. The answer is in the Old Testament story of Jonah the Prophet. At that time, in the 8^th century BC, the Assyrians were the world superpower. Their capital city was Nineveh. God sent His prophet Jonah to the city of Nineveh to tell the people to repent. As it happened, they did repent. In the same way, God sent Simon/Peter to convert the Roman Empire, the current world superpower, and to establish the Church's headquarters in their capital city, Rome. Peter served Christ as a spiritual son of Jonah, who was sent to convert Gentiles.

Incidentally, the name "Jonah" in Hebrew means dove. The dove to Christians, of course, became the symbol of God the Holy Spirit. As Christ's vicar on earth and a baptized believer, Peter was indeed a "Son of the Dove/Spirit."

Notice that some of the events associated with seals five and six match the first four seal figures/riders and some events in the first four seal passages:

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Michal Hunt, Copyright © 2000, revised 2019 Agape Bible Study. Permissions All Rights Reserved.

Endnotes:
1. During the invasion of Judea and the siege of Jerusalem (AD 68-70), Roman General Titus ordered that olive groves and vineyards must not be destroyed. It could also refer to mercy for the sake of the elect (Mt 24:22). Some Church Fathers suggested the order was given not to injure the wine and oil because of its importance in the liturgy, thus the voice orders the avoidance of sacrilege. This interpretation might suggest that the third seal referred to the Temple rather than the entire land (see Josephus, War of the Jews, 5.565; Mishnah: Middoth, 2:6).

Catechism references
Rev 6:9-11 (CCC 1137-38); 6:10 (CCC 2642, 2817)

The next lesson: THE TRUE ISRAEL REVEALED!