Revelation is a brilliant book. We have already seen how the letters to the seven churches affect both them in the first century, and the church throughout history to the end of the church age. The same is true with the entire book, and that is why we have such differences in interpretation. The truth is that the differing views on Revelation do not have to be exclusive.
I think we’ll see that these prophecies can apply both to 1st century Jerusalem and the Roman Empire, and to the future of the church and Israel yet to come. It doesn’t have to be either or, but can be both. So as I present the prophecy parts of the book now, I’m going to present the views of the future, and for time’s sake I will not go into detail about the past fulfillment of some of these judgments.
However I do want you to know that I believe many of these things have already happened in the first century especially when Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD and the Roman Empire collapsed later as the Old Testament prophets foretold. But that these are also a demonstration or example of what is to come for God’s people in terms of judgment and redemption. The first happened only to Jerusalem and Israel, the last time will be global and universal, and permanent.
Come! Very simple, very clear, very authoritative. The creature with one word, under the authority of the Lamb starts the beginning of the Lamb’s judgment and coming of His kingdom. It’s a call to the horsemen and also to John to watch. So here come,
I. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
The first rider comes on a white horse and of course our first impulse is to think this is Christ, and that is the intention. But upon closer inspection we see that this is not true. This rider had a bow but no arrows. He also had a crown of victory, not royalty. He is some kind of leader coming to conquer but apparently not with lethal force? I agree with many commentators that this rider is the final Antichrist. There have been types of antichrist throughout the ages but this is the final culmination of this deception.
Notice he rides a white horse as Christ does later, but this rider has no weapons, he must rely on deception. Christ rides with a sword. This rider is a world dictator who rises up at the beginning of the tribulation and resembles Christ and initially comes as a peacemaker making a covenant with Israel, but as we will see breaks this covenant later. This rider is very likely the rider Daniel describes in Daniel 9:26, the “prince to come” who will lead the revived Roman Empire which is clearly already forming in Europe.
It says that this rider has been given a crown. The word here for crown is stephanos, which means the victor’s crown, much like the flower crowns that the winner of a race would get in ancient Greece. The crown Christ wears in Revelation 19 is the diadema or “kingly crown”. This crown belongs only to the Son of God.
This doesn’t mean that the Antichrist is the ultimate victor, but that he will only be winning for a while, and that his crown is much less significant and lasting than Christ’s.
The whole point here is that this rider will fool many into believing he is the messiah, even some in the church. The other people like Hitler, who have also been termed antichrists were never mistaken for Christ himself, but this last one will be.
The second rider comes on a red horse. He had a sword but didn’t slay people himself. He took away peace so people would slay each other. Clearly this rider represents war and bloodshed between people. Some will say that this rider takes emotional peace from the earth but this doesn’t make sense since he is given a sword, and he makes people slay one another.
Some prophecy students have claimed that this red horse also represents Russia with her Arab allies attacking Israel in the future. I saw a very interesting article the other day about birth rates and the survival of western cultures. Scientifically it has been demonstrated that through low birth rates in North America and Europe, and higher birthrates amoung Muslims, that Europe will be a Muslim continent by the year 2025. It also showed that half of the soldiers in the Russian army by that time will be Muslim.
Now I don’t believe all Muslims are bad, but I do know that many years ago the evil dictator Idi Amin said that Islam will take over Europe without using force. It appears he was right, they are doing it through immigration and having more children than the resident Europeans. So far Germany is the only country that has publicly said that at the rate its going their culture will be gone in this century.
Has this rider already come? In fact have they all come already? We’ll get back to this in a moment.
First let’s look at the rider on the black horse. A pair of scales represents economy and commerce, and clearly the next part is talking about famine. War and famine often go together and this is suggesting by these measurements, that during this tribulation a person will work all day just to feed himself never mind a family.
A denarius is a typical day’s wage, and if a person wants to eat the good grain, it will cost him a days wage for himself only, so he has to buy cheaper barley to feed his family. And forget about oil and wine. These are luxuries that only the rich will enjoy. I think this is all talking about massive global inflation.
No wonder Antichrist will be able to control the economy as we shall see in chapter 13, as he promises to feed the hungry masses, but in reality he hoards the good stuff for himself and his cronies.
Finally comes the pale horse. I think this is to represent what a dead person looks like and its rider was Death with Hades following him. You might want to imagine a rider on a horse trailing a casket behind it. Hades is the grave or the place unsaved souls inhabit until the final resurrection.
This rider is allowed to kill a quarter of the people on earth with sword, famine, disease, and wild animals. There are some who believe that when it mentions the wild animals, we may be talking about plagues like the bubonic plague which was carried by rats. Of course we know of bird flu and others, so this could mean the spread of disease, or it could mean that because the population of man is diminishing so quickly that the wild animals start to take over more and more of the earth.
We also don’t know over what time period this will be. It may happen very quickly or it could happen over generations. However, in all of this we can be reassured by the fact that God is in charge of all of it, it is Jesus who is opening the seals to release the four horsemen.
So back to our question. Have these horsemen already been unleashed? I think it is a possibility. There have certainly been many deceptive and evil political and military leaders, lots of war, terrorism, famine and poverty. But has a quarter of the earth been killed? And the first horse is a single rider not several. So I think if these horsemen have been unleashed, they are being somewhat restrained at present and are not finished.
One school of interpretation thinks that that all the events in Revelation were descriptions of what would happen to Jerusalem and the Roman Empire, that everything in revelation has already happened except the second coming. I have a very hard time with this because we see that so much of the prophecy in this book including the sixth and seventh seals has obviously not happened.
I think the best interpretation of this is that the opening of the first seal marks the beginning of tribulation or the fiery trial that Peter talks about when he says the end of all things is at hand, and even though many of these events have happened to some degree, they will be on a much grander scale when these seals are fully in force in the end times, and the Great tribulation will be when the seventh seal is opened.
The best place to look is to Jesus’ Olivet discourse in Mt 24. Look at what he says about the end times: many will come in my name (the white horse); there will be wars and rumors of wars, nation will rise against nation, kingdom against kingdom (the red horse); there will be famines (the black horse), and earthquakes (the sixth seal). Clearly this is not referring just to the destruction of Jerusalem.
He says these are just the beginning of the birth pains, the birth hasn’t happened. Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and you will be martyred. This still isn’t the Great Tribulation. Then when you see the abomination of desolation standing in the Holy Place (this is likely a statue of Antichrist) let people flee to the mountains. This is like what happens in the sixth seal as well.
For then there will be great tribulation like never before and never again. He goes on to describe pretty much exactly what we hear in Revelation. So the Great Tribulation either begins with the first six seals and the seventh is the second half of the tribulation if you go by the seven years Daniel suggests divided in two. Or the great tribulation begins at the opening of the seventh seal, the others being just trials or birth pains.
Next we see,
II. The Last Chance
Who and where are these souls under the altar when the fifth seal is opened? Under the altar represents the blood sacrifice these martyrs made to witness for Christ during the first part of the tribulation which I believe is going on now, but it also represents the martyrs from all time. There have been more people slain for Christ in the twentieth, and now 21st centuries than ever before.
And I believe all true believers will be raptured prior to at least the second part of the tribulation, however, there will be the 144000 Jewish witnesses, as well as those who are converted during the great tribulation, who will remain on earth and many will probably be slain.
These souls under the altar are told to rest a little longer until everyone who is going to be slain for Christ has been. Does that mean that these dead believers are not resurrected yet? Yes.
When we go to heaven before the second and final resurrection we are completely in Spirit like God. This is why our loved ones can’t come back physically and say hi from heaven. We don’t receive our eternal material bodies until later when heaven is brought to earth as the New Jerusalem. This is why John says here he is seeing souls.
What does this mean for the rapture? If indeed there is a rapture of believers prior to the tribulation, are we just going to disappear? Will our bodies be transformed in that instant and float up to heaven?
In 1 Thes. 4 Paul says we will be caught up with the dead in Christ in the air. In 1 Cor. 15 and in Philippians 3 Paul talks about a resurrection body. The problem is that this word in the greek, “soma” has many uses. Clearly it can mean a physical body, for instance Jesus says anoint my soma for burial. But often it can mean a symbol of some kind of body, like the soma of Christ being the church. To distinguish a corporeal or physical body the word somatikos can be used, but here it isn’t. There is no distinction made here about the first resurrection body that would lead us to believe it is physical.
However he does say in the 1 Corinthians passage that the body is sown a natural or beastial body, and it is raised a spiritual or pneumatikos body. Literally an ethereal, air body.
I think the bible teaches that resurrected people who go to heaven, (this is not like Christ, or Lazarus who were raised to be physical bodies again here on the earth), those who go to heaven are raised invisible as spirit bodies, or air bodies. The only reason I think Christ was seen in his physical resurrection body was because the witnesses needed proof that he indeed rose from the dead, and it makes sense that he would be the only one who is ever seen in this body until the end.
Therefore I believe that all believers at the rapture will leave their bodies behind, these will be dead bodies all in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye. Everyone left behind will see all these bodies just collapse as the spirit is released from them and put into the air body, much like when God breathed life into Adam’s nostrils, it will be the reverse of that, our spirit will be blown into these new spiritual bodies.
Let me tell you why I believe this so strongly. If every believer was instantly physically beamed up to heaven to be with a visible Christ in the air, and everyone could clearly witness this, do we seriously think even the most hardened heart wouldn’t believe in Christ after that? But if all Christians drop dead in an instant, a hardened heart could easily say, with Satan’s help, “see they’re all dead now, obviously they were the ones getting punished for not worshipping me through Antichrist”. He could even take credit for it.
Nothing physical is imperishable yet, we will have spiritual bodies. 1 Corinthians 15:48-49, “As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.” Heavenly beings do not have physical bodies, even Christ when he is not on earth is purely Spirit.
I’m not saying I don’t believe in the physical resurrection of us or Christ, let me make that very clear. But when we die or are raptured, we are not going to be resurrected to live on earth, but in heaven. This is not Christ’s second coming, he just meets with us in the air as spirit. We will be in imperishable physical bodies again when we come back to the new earth, when both heaven and earth have been transformed. The only place a physical body is needed is on the physical earth.
It seems to me that the time of these first five seals represent times that could have happened and are happening. These seals may have already been opened and it appears that if that is the case, it’s during or after the fifth or sixth seal, that the church is definitely raptured. The reason I say that is because at least to some degree the events in the last two seals have obviously not happened and will not happen to believers.
Verse 16 is especially convincing when all earth dwelling people want the mountains of the earth to fall on them so they can avoid the wrath of God. Believers are assured that they will not experience the wrath of God so why would they need to hide? Clearly believers are not there.
Also in verse ten these martyred souls under the altar are saying, when will those who dwell on the earth be judged? Clearly believers are not on the earth, for God will not avenge the martyr’s blood on those who are believers. Forgiveness and vengeance can not be administered to the same person at the same time.
Like I said before there have been wicked rulers who seem like the Antichrist, but the difference between these men and the ultimate end times Antichrist is that he will resemble Christ and bring peace and solutions for a while. No one would have mistaken Hitler for Christ.
The word antichrist doesn’t mean against Christ, but resembling Christ, so he will be a powerful fraud that many will believe is Christ. That’s why we are warned in Matthew, so that believers can distinguish. If Christ came already the way he says he will in Mt 24, there would be no mistaking it, so clearly he hasn’t come yet.
Who is this Antichrist? No one can be sure, but if we take what little biblical evidence there is, I would lean toward it being a pope who is given many supernatural powers. Most commentators are pretty sure the seven heads mentioned on the beast and the great Babylon that we will hear about later, represent the seven hills on which Rome is built. So Antichrist likely comes out of Rome.
Remember the true church, true believers are no longer on earth, so the true Catholic Church will already have been raptured, but there will still be the institution, and what a perfect place for a spiritual and political fraud to emerge – the Vatican of the apostate church. This will add to his believability.
So for sure,
III. The Great Tribulation Begins
When the seventh seal is opened and yet future events takes place. This episode in the sixth seal sounds very similar to the Great White Throne judgment in chapter 20, there the earth and sky fled away from the Lord for there was no place for them. Here the sky is rolled up like a scroll and every mountain and island was moved from its place, and everyone is trying to hide because they know judgment time has come.
I think the sixth seal is the same as the White Throne Judgment, but it will be mentioned again in more detail later because this has implications for the millenium.
Interesting how it is the wrath of the Lamb, showing both the meekness and gentleness of Christ, and also his holy power. These people left on earth now know the truth and they would rather have mountains fall on them than stand before the righteous judge of the universe and face the wrath to come. But the only escape is in Jesus because even death won’t spare them.
The saints long for this day of wrath, not because they want revenge, but because God’s Holy restoration of all things and permanent elimination of evil is finally happening. We don’t rejoice that people are suffering and dying, but that His Kingdom is finally coming on earth as it is in heaven.
Why would anyone want to worship a powerless sentimental God who just allows evil to run rampant forever? That’s like the parent who allows their children to terrorize others as they smile and say aren’t they cute, just kids being kids. And remember these people left on earth are not innocent, they have chosen to be where they are knowing that they had a choice. The truth has by this time gone everywhere, witnesses have taken the Gospel to the ends of the earth, and these people refused it. And they will physically be tormented and die. This is not soul torment but physical death at this point.
Now in chapter 7 we see,
IV. The Last of the Saved
It says “after this” which could mean either after these seals have been opened or after John saw this vision. So these 144000 could have been sealed before the last of the seals were opened, and I believe that to be true.
Is this a literal number? I think given the detail this may be possible, but I think it more likely means all of Israel, all of God’s people having Jewish descent, that I think is the name on their foreheads. God promised the Jews that they would have their land back and rule. This number also signifies completeness and could just mean all of The Jews left on earth. No it is not the Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Then again there is a pause as the four angels hold back the winds so that the 144,000 believing Jews could be sealed. What are these four winds of the earth they are holding back? I am quite certain this refers to the four horsemen who are clearly spirits.
So it seems like John’s vision goes back in time a little to before the sixth seal is opened. This kind of moving around in time is common in the Bible. The horsemen have been released but are going to be held back for a short time while the 144000 are sealed and protected from what is the worst to come.
Now an elder asks John who these multitude are from every nation. John would have recognized them if they were the church, or old Testament saints. But he didn’t. These are Gentiles who are coming to Christ during, out of the Great Tribulation, probably because of the witness of these 144000 sealed Jews. Now those of every nation, tribe, language etc are in heaven praising God because of their salvation.
Now these people have either been killed or have been raptured out of the world during the tribulation at the moment they believed. It’s the same thing either way. These people seem to be those that have accepted Christ’s salvation after the great tribulation starts.
To me this is one of the most hopeful passages in Scripture. An uncountable multitude will be saved during the Tribulation, after the church is gone, and it will be because of the Jews. Every section of Revelation has hope in it, look how chapter 7 ends (read verses 15-17).
Imagine being alive on earth during these times of great tribulation, feeling that great sorrow and then suddenly being before the Lord and knowing they have been saved with God Himself wiping every tear from their eyes. I bet they are worshipping with extreme gratitude for their last minute salvation.
I want to just focus on verse 15 for a minute. These saved people are before the throne in heaven serving him day and night in His temple. And they are sheltered by his very presence. I don’t think there will be anything more enjoyable and gratifying than serving God in his presence. They are basically gratefully being his slaves under his shelter.
These people are already saved, they don’t have to serve him, but they are. Is it any different down here? We are already under the protection and care of God, and really our only purpose now is to serve him. Could it be that this could give us the greatest satisfaction in life as well?
Some believe that these first five seals are the first three and a half years of the tribulation described by Daniel, and it’s at the opening of the seventh seal that the last and worst half of the tribulation begins with the 144,000 Jews staying behind to “stand” on earth to witness about Jesus after the 7th seal is opened. Remember the remnant of Israel in Egypt during all the judgments were completely protected from all of the supernatural fury? It sounds like it will be the same here.
These witnesses will not have to speak about the wrath of God, it will be in full force by then and multitudes will be desperate for hope, unlike today. Nobody today likes to talk about wrath and judgment. People want to hear about the love of Jesus, but this love is all about saving us from what, His Wrath!
Next week the heat really gets turned up. I encourage you this week to really ponder why this loving God is doing all this to humanity. How does this all fit with who we think God is? Can we rejoice with those in heaven as he brings wrath to the earth?
