The Seal Judgments
Part #1 The Four Horsemen
By
Bishop Melvin L. Maughmer, Jr.
OPENING: - For the past few weeks, I have been teaching from the Book of Revelation and I believe I am to stay here for a while until I go all the way through Revelation or until God says move on. I believe that there needs to be much more teaching from the Book of Revelation seeing how we are living in the end of the church age and that the Rapture is going to happen and the events in Revelation will come to fruition not too far into the future.
Today we are in chapter 6, the number 6 is the number of man, man was created on the 6th day of creation, the number 6 is 1 less than the number 7, which is God’s perfect number, the number 6 shows that man is less than perfect without God. Here in chapter 6, we see the beginning of the judgment of God on mankind. The days of grace are over and enter the time of His vengeance, Romans 12:19-21 says, “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore, if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good” and starting in chapter 6 Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord is coming to fruition.
God’s judgment on those that refused to accept His offer of salvation begins. Starting actually in chapter 5 when we saw the Lamb Jesus Christ take the scroll out of the right hand of God now in chapter 6 He begins to break the seals and open the scroll. Understand there are 3 series of 7 judgments each that will be released upon mankind this is the tribulation period which consist of two parts, the Tribulation and the Great Tribulation each being 3 ½ years totaling 7 years of Tribulation.
The 3 sets of judgments, remember 3 is the number of fullness so this is the fullness of God’s judgment, also each set consist of 7 events which indicates the perfect and complete judgment of God. The 3 sets of judgments are the Seals, the Trumpets, and the Bowls. It is the belief of most dispensationalists and mine as well that these judgments describe one long consecutive set of judgments that escalate in intensity however, I believe these judgments overlap greatly. The duration of each judgment is unknown, but as we go through these judgments you will notice how they overlap, and all 21 judgments will be executed in the 7 year Tribulation.
The Seal judgments are here in chapter in chapter 6 & chapter 8, the Trumpet judgments are in chapters 8, 9, & 11, the Bowl judgments are in chapter 15 & 16. There are certain events that take place in the in between chapters like 7, 12, 13, & 14 that we will discuss as we come to those chapters. Let me explain the overlap then as we go through the rest of Revelation you will better understand the timing of the judgments. Traditionally most people have been taught that the seals, the trumpets, and the bowls happen in a consecutive order at the end of the 7th of each then the next one will start - meaning the seals happen then after they have completed the trumpets, and after they are completed the bowls. Basically it would look like: -
Seals 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Trumpets 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Bowls 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
However, when we look at the 6th seal and compare that with what Jesus says in Matthew 24, we understand that this is describing the same event. Matthew 24:29-30 says, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heaven shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory”. Revelation 6:12-17 says, “And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places…….”. These verses along with Isaiah 34:4 is describing the same events at the end of the Tribulation period.
Based upon how scripture states these events and the timing of the opening of the seals it is my belief that the judgments overlap as such: -
Seals 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Trumpets 1234 5 6 7
Bowls 123456 7
Now there are arguments that the judgments took place when Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 A.D. or have been taking place down through history; however, these arguments don’t stand up against Biblical and Historical evidence which all point to the future. Remember in 4:1 John, who represents the church is Raptured, Harpazo, Caught Up, told to Come up hither and in 1:19 he was told to write “those things that are to take place hereafter”, these are the things that will take place after the Rapture.
Now in chapter 6 God is no longer the long-suffering God, the days of His patience is over and the time of His judgment is here. What I find interesting is in chapter 6 we see the fulfillment of Matthew 24 happening, as we go through this chapter, I will point out the connection and the fulfillment in Matthew 24 and Revelation 6.
PRAYER: -
SCRIPTURE: - Revelation 6:1-8
Note: - As you can tell from my opening, I am not going to be able to get through this entire chapter in one shot. I want to make sure to take time and explain what is taking place during each seal and the judgments upon mankind. So, this lesson will be in 2 parts, this is part 1.
Earth after the Rapture: - We need to get an understanding of what is going on and what earth may be like after the Rapture because that sets the scene to what is going to take place during the breaking of the seals. 2 Thessalonians 2:7 says, “For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way”. Iniquity in Hebrew is Avon and means to twist, bend, distort so iniquity is the bending, twisting, and distorting of the laws of God, the violation of the right or duty that mankind is under obligation to do and must be punished.
The phrase “he who letteth will let until he be taken out of the way”. Letteth / let comes from the word “Lettan” which means “to hinder” the “he” is the Holy Ghost which dwelleth inside of us. Once we are raptured the Holy Ghost will no longer hinder iniquity and it will run rampant without any determents. People who are left here will be frightened because billions of people have suddenly vanished, everyone will know someone that was Raptured and now they are aimlessly wondering around looking for answers. There will be people who thought they were ready to be Raptured and now realize that they only had a form of godliness but denied the power thereof, who have been left here and are in a state of panic understanding what is to come – the tribulation. The Church is gone, the Holy Ghost is no longer hindering iniquities desires, the days of grace are over, and the wrath of God is about to be poured out on mankind. Violence has increased tremendously prejudice and racism has escalated, people will revel in doing what is wrong, lawlessness will abound, there will be unrest, no rule, because “he that letteth” has been take out of the way. People will be looking for hope, help, and deliverance but judgment is what is coming.
TEXT: - The 1st Seal – The White Horse Revelation 6:1-2 says, “And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beast saying, Come and see. And I saw, and behold a white horse; and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him; and he went forth conquering and to conquer”. The 1st seal is broken, and John sees a rider on a white horse. Understand John is in heaven, and he is looking and seeing what is taking place on earth. The judgments come from heaven and take place on earth.
John sees a rider on a white horse, and he has a bow and is given a crown. Now at first glance people may think this is Jesus because He comes on a white horse in chapter 19 the Second Coming. However, this isn’t Jesus, He is in heaven opening the seals. This rider on the white horse is the Anti-Christ. The world is in chaos and is looking for a savior and here comes the deceptor, the Anti-Christ with the appearance of a savior, riding a white horse he has the desire to conquer and through the deception of peace and hope hence the bow with no arrows. 1 Thessalonians 5:3 says, “For when they shall say peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape” is coming to fruition.
WATCH THIS:- “a crown was given unto him” this crown was not given to him by God or in heaven, this crown was given to him by the people on earth that have been left, they are accepting of this Anti-Christ as their leader and savior because he offers peace and hope like many politicians do today but soon they will see that he is a liar and what they thought was peace soon will turn into destruction. Notice he doesn’t have arrows so how does he conquer, he does this politically, Daniel 9:27 says, “Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate”. They people left here will have been deceived thinking this false savior offers peace and hope but at the halfway point at the 3 ½ year mark the Anti-Christ will claim he is God and will desecrate God’s Holy Temple with the abomination of desolation. This will expose him for who he really is and then the full force of God’s wrath will be poured out on the Christ rejecting, sinful world.
So, the 1st seal will like last 3 ½ yrs. because this is the amount of time according to Daniel 9:27 that the Anti-Christ lets the deception of peace last; however the rest of the seal judgments, trumpets and bowl judgments do not have a specific time duration they all will happen and be complete in the next 3 ½ yrs.
The 2nd Seal – The Red Horse Verses #3-4 “And when he had opened the second seal I heard the second beast say, Come and see. And there went out another horse that was red; and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another; and there was given unto him a great sword”.
The Red Horse – this horse and rider is easily identified because the red horse and the sword are symbols of war. The Greek word for Red is “Pyross” and means the color of fire that gives the impression of fieriness or flickering reds, oranges, and yellow like a flame, this would indicate the ferocity of this horse and rider like a wildfire out of control, running through the land destroying everything. Just think about how the wildfires we see on the news just move and destroy everything in its path, that is how John is describing this Red Horse in the 2nd seal.
The rider is given power to take peace from the earth. Remember in the 1st seal the rider on the white horse, the Anti-Christ, came offering peace and giving a false hope to the people, here this rider is given power to take the cover of false peace away and reveal the true intentions of the Anti-Christ.
Daniel 8:23-25 NIV describes this rider and his destructive power: - “In the latter part of their reign, when rebels have become completely wicked, a fierce-looking king, a master of intrigue, will arise. He will become very strong, but not by his own power. He will cause astounding devastation and will succeed in whatever he does. He will destroy those who are mighty, the holy people. He will cause deceit to prosper, and he will consider himself superior. When they feel secure, he will destroy many and take his stand against the Prince of princes. Yet he will be destroyed, but not by human power”.
Now I found this interesting in my studies and so many times in our western mindset we miss a lot of details. The sword that this rider has is not the common sword of war (romfaia) but is described as a short sword or a long knife like a dagger. The phrase “great sword” comes from the Greek phrase “Machaira Megalee”. The Machaira is the knife used to prepare a sacrifice or to slaughter an animal, the Tribulation period is the preparing of the slaughter, it is the sword worn by the executioners. The fact that this sword (machaira) is great (megalee) is not an indication of its size but how effective it is at accomplishing its mission of death and destruction.
The Bible also says, “and that they should kill one another”. Jesus spoke of wars and rumors of wars and nation against nation, this is ethnic group against ethnic group rather it is Black verses White, Palestinian against Jew, Russian against Ukrainian. This correlates with Matthew 24:10 “And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another”. You think racism, inequality, prejudice, hatred, and oppression is bad now during this time it will be unbearable.
The 3rd Seal – The Black Horse:- Verse 5-6 “And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine”.
There are 2 details about this horse and its rider the color of the horse is black, and the rider has a pair of balances in his hands, these point to famine and economic control. Our traditional way of thinking we so often think of black as evil, the opposite of white, black is so often connected to sin; however, biblically black is not the color of sin but an objects true color, black represents darkness, like the color of hair. The Israelites use black to signify the mournful and unhealthy appearance of those enduring scarcity, famine, want, and judgment of God. So, the black horse represents illness, deficiency of famine, and lack.
Because of the famine prices will skyrocket a measure of wheat for a penny and three measures of barley for a penny. A penny was a day’s wages when this was written and a measure of wheat was approximately 1 quart of wheat enough to make a loaf of bread, 3 measures of barley is about 3 quarts of barley which will make about 3 bowls full, so during this time of the 3rd seal a loaf of bread would cost about $300 in today’s money. I remember when the Wonder Bread Outlet store closed in Chillicothe and we no longer could get 3 loafs of bread for $1 I thought that was bad, now we pay something like $3 a loaf could you imagine paying upwards of $300 for a loaf of bread. Your family is hungry, the young ones not fully understanding why there is nothing to eat, the money you make isn’t enough to buy a good meal, just imagine the chaos, struggles, attitudes, violence that will take place. When Covid was closing everything down and toilet paper became hard to buy there were people on the news that were fighting and stealing toilet paper and even shooting for toilet paper. I remember one news broadcast where a lady had several packages of toilet paper in her shopping cart and was literally fight with another lady because she took one of the packages out of her cart because there was not more toilet paper. Now put that same activity when food is the scarcity.
Then there are the balances which point to economic control prices will be inflated to the point that only the wealthy will be able to afford it. Many businesspeople have no problem about taking advantage of a dire situation as long as they can make a profit. When this 3rd seal is broken there will be the elite of society taking advantage of the one that are not able to afford the necessities of life.
Then there is a unique command “and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine”. There has been discussion about this phrase and traditional thinking will say see only the rich will not be affected by the 3rd seal famine and economic control, but the Bible says in Romans 2:11 “For there is no respect of person with God”. To say that the rich or the elite of society will not be affected by the judgment of God is not correct. God is sending His judgment on all those that rejected salvation through Jesus Christ.
Oil and wine are not the item of luxury for the elite as we think. In the Mediterranean way of life oil and wine are important elements of the everyday diet, however, while they supply a good amount of supplementary nutrition people cannot subsist on them alone. They are a secondary food source and are to remain undamaged during the 3rd seal. This indicated some food items will be scarce while other will still be plentiful but will be extremely expensive.
The 4th Seal – The Pale Horse Revelation 6:7-8 “And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I looked a pale horse; and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death and with the beast of the earth”.
The 4th horse and its ride represent death. The pale color of the horse is a sickly green color like the color of death and they will bring about tremendous death upon the face of the earth unlike anything since the flood. The Greek word Chlooros which is translated in English is chlorophyll, chlorine, chloroform and describes ashen-green the characteristic of decomposition of a corpse and technically refers to a greenish-yellow color that is found in nature. In the Iliad by Homer, he describes fearful men’s faces with this term indicating a ashen-green color. The pale color applies to those that are suffering from plague and disease.
The rider’s name is Death and Hades follows him. This is the first time the rider has been named the other 3 riders are described with what they ride and what they have in their hands, but this rider has a name Death and Hades follows him. Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological function of life – all hope is gone. Hades follows him, Hades is another name for Hell and the Grave the abode of the dead, this indicates that Death & Hades are inseparable, where one goes the other is close behind because they are essential the same. WATCH THIS: - When the unsaved die they go to Hell, the abode of the dead, Hades until the time of the Great White Throne Judgment. When one that is saved through the Tribulation dies, they go under the altar in heaven, we will discuss that in the 5th seal. Death and Hades describe, a state of lifelessness and corruption, of being cut off from the living and from God.
WATCH THIS: - And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death and with the beast of the earth. Now we have seen the devastation that the other 3 horsemen brought, we seen the famine, the inflation, the removal of a false peace, the deception of the people but with this 4th seal being broken death is paramount. Sure there was death from the famine, but here we shall see the affects of the famine on the animals as well, we shall see death by the sword indicating wars. When famine hits it not only affects people it affects the animal kingdom as well and when the Bible says and with the beast of the earth this is indicating how the animals will be attacking and killing people eating them because of the famine. People will be dying in great numbers because of the famine and pestilences.
There is something that I want you to really understand, and that is “And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth”. Listen at this again “over the fourth part of the earth”, please catch this One fourth of the earth will die and go straight to hell being in torment. They will die through the rider and the pale horse either by sword, famine, plagues, or beast but they will be killed. Currently in 2023 there are 8.1 billion people on earth, now let’s do a little figuring with the numbers. Let’s just say 2 billion people are saved and have been Raptured that leaves 6 billion people left here to go through the tribulation. One fourth of the 6 billion will be killed through the 4th seal that is 1.5 billion people. Now let me try to bring this into perspective, as of Jan 2023 there are 334,233,854 people in the United States, 742,272,652 in all of Europe. Now all of Europe is made of 44 countries. Just to name a few Russia 144, 444,359, Germany 83,294,633, France 64,736,585, Italy 58,870,762, Spain 47,519,628, Sweden 10,612,086, Netherland 17,618,299 plus 37 more countries will die during the 4th seal.
CLOSING: - The breaking of the first 4 seals brings tremendous devastation and death to people who are confused, bewildered, amazed, perplexed looking for people who have suddenly been raptured. They will have been offered a false since of peace only to have realized that they are the victims of the greatest deception since the Garden of Eden, there will be unrest violence will have escalated beyond anything imaginable, there will be wars, racism, prejudice, and pure hatred will literally be out of control. Then famine hits the entire world, disease, pestilence, earthquakes will ravish a world already in turmoil. Then inflation, economic control will rule, it will literally be like the book 1984 by George Orwell. Then the 4th seal is open and the rider on the pale horse named death with hades following him will be unleashed and will annihilate ¼ of the world’s population. You want to make sure that you are saved and have been Raptured before any of this happens.
I plead and encourage if you haven’t accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior that you do so right now and escape the Day of the Lord to come. If you are saved, I encourage you to hold on to God’s unchanging hand, now is not the time to lose hope and faith in God for He is soon to return and Rapture the church catching us on into glory and escaping the judgment that is going to come.
I pray that you are encouraged and enlighten on this portion of the Judgment Seals and continue with us in this series as we move forward finishing out the seals going into the trumpets and bowls and completing the Book of Revelation.
Bishop Melvin L. Maughmer, Jr.
