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REVELATION 6:1–8
1 And I saw that the Lamb had opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living
creatures, as it were the voice of thunder, saying: Come, and see.
2 And I saw: and behold a white horse, and he that sat on him had a bow, and there was a crown
given him, and he went forth conquering that he might conquer.
3 And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature, saying: Come, and see,
4 And there went out another horse that was red: and to him that sat thereon, it was given that he
should take peace from the earth, and that they shall kill one another, and a great sword was given to him.
5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying: Come, and see. And behold
a black horse, and he that sat on him had a pair of scales in his hand.
6 And I heard as it were a voice in the midst of the four living creatures, saying: Two pounds of wheat
for a penny, and thrice two pounds of barley for a penny, and see thou hurt not the wine and the oil.
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature, saying: Come, and see.
8 And behold a pale horse, and he that sat upon him, his name was Death, and hell followed him. And power
was given to him over the four parts of the earth, to kill with the sword, with famine, and with death, and with
the beasts of the earth.
The horrors symbolized by the horsemen are fourfold. First is the horror of human ambition that refuses to serve God and demands to be served by others. It rides out of the human heart, like the white horse, in a spirit of conflict and envy, conquest and tyranny, exploitation and greed. The second horror is the reaction of humans who, not willing to serve God, are hardly likely to accept servitude to other humans. Their resentment will speed through the world, like the red horse, in a wave of rage calling for resistance and war. The third horror is the result of such activities. The tasks God requires us to do remain undone, and what we have already accomplished is attacked and destroyed. Ruin results and famine, blind terror, and despair. These spread behind the combatants like a black scourge that afflicts the innocent as well as the guilty and ruins everyone's happiness. In the wake of these three comes the fourth horror: sickness and death, the pale horse. This is the worst horror of all: humans seemingly abandoned by God, torn from the joys of this life and thrust into the unknown terror of death.
Such are the immediate risks of granting humans freedom, but there are more. Many will die; all will suffer if humans abuse their freedom. And God will punish the abusers. The lamb's opening of the seals, unleashing each horseman, represents the Son's divine nature. The Son, as God, created all of us and keeps us in existence as we disobey and spread havoc. The ability, the power for anyone to do anything comes from God. This, in a way, makes God our accomplice. It is our will that chooses to act but God's power that keeps us in existence and functioning as we actually carry out our deeds. This power comes through the Son, who unflinchingly carries out the Father's will that we have genuine freedom.
In a very real sense, the Son's divine nature is crucified against each person's freedom. The Son is immobilized from enforcing God's will by a perfect compliance with the free will given us, even our will to disobey. If the Son, clothed with God's divine nature, were to refuse cooperation with our freedom, then we might want to disobey, but we would not be able to carry it out. We have the guilt for all our sins because we willed to disobey, but Jesus in his divine nature is involved because we draw upon his power when we carry out our disobedience.
In his divine nature, therefore, Jesus is somehow implicated in our sins, but he is not guilty of sin. We are. In his human nature Jesus, the Lamb, will accept our guilt as well, and will suffer the same penalty we must suffer: conflict, persecution, hunger, hatred by others, abandonment by the Father, and physical death. He will merit forgiveness for all, not so much by the magnitude of his own sufferings but by his perfect and flawless acceptance of his Father's will.
REVELATION 6:9–11
9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of
God, and for the testimony which they held.
10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying: How long O Lord, (holy and true) dost thou not judge and avenge
our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
11 And white robes were given to every one of them; and it was said to them, that they should rest for a little
time, till their fellow servants, and their brethren, who are to be slain, even as they, should be filled up.
There have been many martyrs. The prophets sent preaching obedience met resistance, persecution, and murder. God's own Son, when sent, will meet the same. Many whom the Son will later send will also be martyred, sacrificed, that God might not have to withdraw human freedom. In the end God will have to anyway. Those individuals who do not wish to obey will, in the fullness of time, be forced to obey by God's unyielding and everlasting power. Until then, those who have been martyred must wait while even more are martyred until the time given the human race has reached its full.
Anybody who suffers because of another person's sin is a sacrifice. This sacrifice is not unacceptable to God. If it were unacceptable, God would prevent it, and all human suffering as well, by refusing to tolerate any disobedience. Do you wonder why God exposes so many people to martyrdom, and why God tolerates so much human suffering? This is the enormous price we all pay for the preservation of freedom.
REVELATION 6:12–17
12 And I saw, when he had opened the sixth seal, and behold there was a great earthquake, and the sun became
black as sackcloth of hair: and the whole moon became as blood:
13 And the stars from heaven fell upon the earth, as the fig tree casted its green figs when it is shaken by a great wind:
14 And the heavens departed as a book folded up: and every mountain, and the islands were moved out of their places.
15 And the kings of the earth, and the princes, and tribunes, and the rich, and the strong, and every bondman, and every
freeman, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of mountains:
16 And they say to the mountains and the rocks: fall upon us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth upon the
throne and from the wrath of the Lamb:
17 For the great day of the their wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand?"
When the Lamb opened the sixth seal, John looked and saw the whole world in turmoil. There was a great earthquake. The sun became black. The moon looked red as blood. Stars fell from the sky. Everything in nature shook when God revealed what was yet to come as the debt for human freedom mounted. People screamed in terror when they saw it. If it were possible, they would have burrowed under mountains to hide from the face of him that sits upon the throne and from his wrath. The havoc caused by the continued misuse of freedom will escalate until it becomes intolerable. It will ruin all nature if it continues; but more important, it will, if people do not stop, move beyond the bounds God placed upon human disobedience. At that point, God will stop it, for the great day of wrath will have come.
The vision of the ancient one has been interpreted in this chapter and the preceding chapter. He is surrounded by twenty-four kings and four living beings that appear to have unlimited power. This vision represents God. It uses symbols people can understand, similar to the way a molecule of water is represented by symbols. It shows the three persons in the one God and some activity of the three persons. And it uses symbols the Judean people should have understood, since many of the symbols had already been used in previous revelations.
The Lamb is in the visions. The Lamb is related to the three persons, especially to the four living creatures. The four living creatures represent the second person, the Word, the Son of God. The Lamb is worshiped within the Godhead because the Lamb is the Word's incarnation. John the Baptist was the Lamb's herald, so it is not surprising that the Baptist would open his ministry describing who the Lamb is. The Lamb is ready to begin his ministry. John's mission was to prepare the Lamb's way.
The Lamb will be accepted by some and rejected by others, who will kill him. Why is that? The vision provides an insight into this when the scroll is opened to release the four horsemen. The four horsemen symbolize the horrors unleashed upon the world if humans abuse the freedom God gave them. This freedom is dependent upon the Son. In his divine nature, the Son grants every person existence and provides the ability and the continued existence for every person to perform deeds, even if those deeds be disobedience.
Disobedience brings suffering to humans and to God, if God could suffer. But how could God suffer? Jesus Christ is truly God, and yet he is fully human as well. In his human nature, Jesus really did suffer, for his crucifixion and death really happened. He suffers today also in the extension of his human nature through those who have been baptized. They are a part of him, as branches are part of a vine. They suffer. He suffers. All humans suffer because of the abuse of freedom by those who do not obey God as they should. This suffering is symbolic of the underlying relationship that the Son, in his divine nature, has with each person. The Son is crucified against our will by his own perfect and flawless obedience to his father's will that we all be granted genuine freedom.
As a human being, he was willing to endure suffering and death rather than call us to judgment. But in his divine nature, he will not accept our disobedience forever. God always revealed from the very beginning that we would be held accountable. Each of us will be brought to judgment. That warning is in these visions. God will requite all people according to their deeds. It will be a terrible day then, the day God makes retribution for each person's disobedience.
These visions were preludes to Christ's ministry. They nudged people who were already seeking God. The visions drew upon biblical traditions, using symbols already used by Old Testament prophets; to clarify whom Christ is and what relationship Christ has with God. Even David, long before Christ's time, had been inspired to comment that the promised one, though to be a descendant of his, was still his own Lord. He wrote in Psalm 109:1 "The Lord said to my lord: 'Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.'" Jesus will affirm this during his ministry when he asks his critics: "If David then call him Lord, how is he David's son? They couldn't answer and didn't dare ask any more questions after that." (Matt. 22:45–6). Jesus will say the same thing about Abraham when he tells his critics that their father Abraham "rejoiced that he might see my day: he saw it, and was glad" (John 8:56). It is this Lord, the Lord of David and Abraham that the Baptist announced. Jesus really is Lord of King David and our Lord as well.
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