The Church period closes with the Lord’s repudiation of that which publicly bears the Christian name (Rom. 11:21-2221For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. 22Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. (Romans 11:21‑22); Rev. 3:1616So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. (Revelation 3:16)), and with the gathering of all saints, the raised dead and changed living, at the Coming of the Lord in Person (1 Thess. 4:15-1715For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:15‑17); 2 Thess. 2:11Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, (2 Thessalonians 2:1)). The present position of the Lord walking in the midst of the churches, overseeing all and awarding mingled praise and blame, is the characteristic truth graven on Revelation 2 and 3 of the Apocalypse. To us how great the profit! How full and valuable the lessons!
Now a consideration of the formula “after these things” will assist us here. It occurs twice in verse one of Revelation 4; is also found in Revelation 7:9; 15:5; 18:1; 19:19After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands; (Revelation 7:9)
5And after that I looked, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened: (Revelation 15:5)
1And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. (Revelation 18:1)
1And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honor, and power, unto the Lord our God: (Revelation 19:1); see Revised Version; also Genesis 15:11After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. (Genesis 15:1); and 22:1. The formula seems to form a connecting link between a series of events already past and of others to follow. What then is the obvious inference from its double occurrence in Revelation 4:11After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter. (Revelation 4:1)? Is it not that the history of the Church on earth, Revelation 2-3, as beheld by the Seer in vision, is past, and that consequently a new series of events is to be unfolded?
The twenty-four elders who take an important part in the heavenly actions and scenes described by the Seer are first mentioned in Revelation 4. Their representative number and title evidently point them out as signifying the whole company of the redeemed of the past and present age. Now it is frankly conceded that no express apocalyptic statement affirms the translation of the saints to Heaven. Revelation 11:1212And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them. (Revelation 11:12) refers to a small and special company. Paul is the only one of the New Testament writers who affirms it. John, on the contrary, dwells on the manifestation of the saints with Christ at His appearing. The former shows our gathering together to Him, and our subsequent return with Him. John writes of the latter only. The twenty-four elders signify the redeemed in Heaven (so that their translation had already taken place); the Seer also shows them in vision coming out of Heaven (chaps. 19:11-14; 21:10). In what part of the book can you put their translation? After Revelation 3, which closes the Church period, and before Revelation 4, which introduces a new series of events, and in which the elders or redeemed in Heaven are prominent. We look, therefore, for the fulfillment of John 14:33And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. (John 14:3), and 1 Thessalonians 4:15-1715For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:15‑17), between these two chapters of the Apocalypse. The twenty-four elders are seen on high, but the fact of their Rapture is assumed, not stated, and unless this is admitted an intelligent understanding of the book is impossible. It follows, therefore, that the Church is not on earth during the apocalyptic judgments. As we have seen from the first mention of the elders (Rev. 4:44And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold. (Revelation 4:4)) till the last (Rev. 19:44And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia. (Revelation 19:4)) Heaven is their home.
We are about to enter on an examination of the strictly prophetic part of the book, and we do so with this fact before us, that the three different series of judgments—Seals, Trumpets, and Vials—have their place in the interval between our gathering to the Lord Himself, and His and our manifestation to the world at the close of Daniel’s last prophetic week.
The translated saints are in Heaven during the 70th week of Daniel, a period of seven years, during the latter half of which “The Great Tribulation” rages fiercely on earth, involving in its unparalleled sorrow a godly Jewish and a godly Gentile company, called out to witness for God after the “partakers of the heavenly calling” have been translated. The Church is expressly promised exemption from the Tribulation (Rev. 3:1010Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. (Revelation 3:10)). Prophecy relates to the earth, but the Church as Christ’s body and the Lamb’s bride, that which is nearest and dearest to Him, is necessarily associated with Him in the heavens, and consequently outside the sphere of prophetic dealing. Still, while insisting upon the full and precise fulfillment of the prophetic section of the Apocalypse in the brief crisis covered by Daniel’s last week of years, we are far from denying a historical application to the past and present; but analogy is one thing and literal fulfillment another. This latter can only be sought for at the end.
THE FIRST SEAL PECULIARITIES
1-2. “And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying, as in a voice of thunder, Come. And I saw, and behold a white horse, and he that sat upon it having a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went forth conquering, and that he might conquer.” The judgments under the Seals and Trumpets are not contemporaneous, but successive. The former cover a larger area than the Trumpets, but these latter, on the other hand, are more severe and searching in character.
Observe, too, that the Lamb is connected with the Seals, the angels with the Trumpets, and God with the Vials or Bowls of wrath.
In this preliminary announcement of coming judgment there is a fullness and precision of statement not found in the opening of the remaining six Seals, or even in the first Trumpet and first Vial. Here the cardinal one is alone used, and not the ordinal first, etc., as in all the others.
“And I saw” is uttered twice. John was an intensely observant eye-witness. He “saw” the act of the Lamb in opening the Seal (vs. 1). He also “saw” the minister of judgment (vs. 2).
The various colored horses in the first four Seals represent in symbol the human agencies employed in the execution of these judgments on earth, which are providential in character. But as Christians having the mind of Christ, that is, the discerning faculty, we look behind the mere historical course of events and trace all to the unseen source, God Himself. So the living creatures, the executive of the throne, successively call on the human instruments of vengeance to execute their divinely-appointed task. They cannot move in judgment till summoned by the throne to do so. What a strength to the heart in days of evil! The first four Seals are characterized by the living creatures and horses. In the remaining three there is no mention made of either.
In the first Seal only a living creature speaks, “as in a voice of thunder,” and at once the first prophetic event foretold in the Apocalypse comes into view. Prophecy opens.
The words in verses 1, 3, 5, 7, “and see,” should be omitted, as in the Revised Version. With this Tregelles, Kelly, and others agree. The retention of the words would make it a call to John to “come and see,” but why the incongruity of speaking to him in a voice of thunder? Their deletion makes the “Come” a summons to the human instrument employed in these earthly chastisements.
THE LOUD SUMMONS AND ITS IMMEDIATE ANSWER
The response to the loud and imperative command of the living creature was instantly obeyed. “And behold a white horse, and him that sat upon it.” A war-horse is evidently referred to. Now the horseman cannot, as the mass of expositors allege, signify Christ on a career of conquest. Psalm 45, and especially Revelation 19:1111And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. (Revelation 19:11), have been confidently alleged in proof of the application of the first Seal to Christ. But both the Psalmist and the Seer direct us to Christ in that grand moment of His Coming to assume the sovereignty of the world, whereas the first Seal epoch refers to a time some years before the introduction of the kingdom in power. In Revelation 19 the rider is named; here he is not named. From what part of the earth the Seal horseman emerges we are not informed. We have here a symbol of conquering power. A white horse denotes victorious power. It points to the advent on the prophetic scene of a power bent on conquest. A career of unchecked, brilliant, yet almost bloodless victory lies before this coming royal warrior of worldwide fame. A Cyrus, an Alexander, or a Napoleon in triumphs and conquests, but without bloodshed and slaughter, is the horse and rider of the first Seal.
“Having a bow.”
The returned Jews from Babylon in the rebuilding of Jerusalem were armed with “swords, their spears, and their bows” (Neh. 4:1313Therefore set I in the lower places behind the wall, and on the higher places, I even set the people after their families with their swords, their spears, and their bows. (Nehemiah 4:13)). Hand-to-hand conflict demands the use of the sword; a little distance off the spear would be required; while more distant warfare is expressed by the bow. This latter weapon would not do much execution; hence its employment as a symbol of war afar off, and that not of a very deadly character.
“A crown was given to him.” This must be more than the chaplet of victory bestowed on the conqueror at the close of a successful campaign, for here the crown is given ere victory is spoken of. Imperial or royal dignity is conferred on this distinguished personage before he enters on his wonderful career of conquest.
“He went forth conquering, and that he might conquer.” Victory after victory, conquest after conquest, without reverse or cessation, marked the royal progress of the hero of the coming day and hour. The symbols under this and the succeeding Seals are simple enough and full of meaning.
THE SECOND SEAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SECOND SEAL
3- 4. “And when He opened the second Seal, I heard the second living creature saying, Come. And another, a red horse, went forth; and to him that sat upon it, to him it was given to take peace from the earth, and that they should slay one another; and there was given to him a great sword.” In all the Seal judgments, save the second, the Seer informs us that he was an eye-witness: “I saw.” Then under the other Seals the word “behold” precedes the description of the horse, whereas it is here omitted. Instead of “behold” the word “another” is added, not found in the other Seals. These may be termed trivial differences, but as we are firm believers in the verbal inspiration of the Holy Scriptures we are satisfied that there is a divine meaning in these seemingly unimportant details. The occurrence of the words “I saw” and “behold” in the first Seal, and their omission in the second, may be accounted for by the fact that the word “another” in the latter connects the two Seals. Thus “I saw,” and “behold... another, a red horse.”
In answer to the summons, “Come,” of the second living creature, a “red horse went forth.” Why “red,” and what is its special significance?
The white horse denotes a series of peaceful victories. The red horse, on the other hand, intimates a period of slaughter and bloodshed (Isa. 63:22Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat? (Isaiah 63:2); Rev. 12:33And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. (Revelation 12:3)). The rider is unnamed. It is the day of the Lord’s vengeance on the guilty scene; hence the repetition of the pronoun “him,” emphasizing the fact that the direct agent of judgment is a man appointed by God for that purpose, “to him it was given.” Whatever motives or political aspirations may actuate this coming man of blood, yet he is God’s scourge for the time being. A brief time of peace immediately succeeds the translation of the saints to Heaven, and even, as we have seen under the first Seal, the rise and progress of a mighty conqueror will not be marked by much bloodshed. His career of unchecked triumph will scarcely break the general peace. But under the second Seal we track the footsteps of one who strides through the earth on a mission of blood. He has a divine mandate “to take peace from the earth,” and “that they should slay one another.” In his progress he everywhere stirs up the angry passions of men. Ah! little do the governments of Europe dream that in the arming and training of their respective populations those murderous weapons perfected by the applied science of the day shall be used not merely in aggressive or defensive wars, but in civil broils and party conflicts. It is not here “nation against nation,” but that “they should slay one another.” The wild passions of men are let loose. A time of mutual slaughter ensues. The authority of the civil power is unavailing to check the riot and bloodshed in cities, towns, and villages, if indeed it does not lend itself to the awful work of destruction. “A great sword” given to the rider intimates that the broils and commotions which he brings about will be marked by great carnage and bloodshed. War, whether aggressive or defensive, is surely at all times deplorable enough, but a state of open, armed, civil rebellion of man against man, of fellow against fellow, glutting their vengeance and spilling blood like water is infinitely worse than any state of war conceivable, and such is’ the awful scene portrayed under this Seal.
THE THIRD SEAL A FAMINE
5-6. “And when He opened the third Seal, I heard the third living creature saying, Come. And I saw, and behold a black horse, and he that sat upon it having a balance in his hand. And I heard as a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, A chenixa of wheat for a denarius, and three chenixesa of barley for a denarius; and do not injure the oil and the wine.” The white horse is the symbol of power in victory. The red horse denotes power in bloodshed. The black horse intimates power in bringing about a time of lamentation and mourning. Here, as in Zechariah 6:22In the first chariot were red horses; and in the second chariot black horses; (Zechariah 6:2), the black horse follows the red. “Our skin was black,” says the weeping prophet, “like an oven because of the terrible famine” (see Lam. 5:1010Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine. (Lamentations 5:10); Jer. 4:2828For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black: because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it. (Jeremiah 4:28); Jude 1313Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever. (Jude 13), and so on, for the symbolic force of this color).
Various things are predicated of each of the other three horsemen under their respective Seals, but here one thing only. The rider holds “a balance in his hand.” The two main cereals which constitute the staff of life are to be doled out by weight and sold at famine prices. Wheat and barley are named. The latter grain was generally eaten by slaves and the poor of the people, being much cheaper than the former, and of a coarser nature. The English penny in the Authorized Version, retained in the Revised Version, is misleading. The Roman denarius was equal to about eightpence of our money; was the daily pay of a soldier, and the daily wage of a laboring man (Matt. 20:22And when he had agreed with the laborers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. (Matthew 20:2)). Usually eight measures or chenixesa of wheat could be bought for a denarius, but here only one, just barely sufficient, and no more, to sustain life. But what about the numbers of aged people, women and children unable to work? If the denarius can only procure the necessary food for one, what about multitudes who through infirmity or other incapacity are unable to work! Must starvation be their bitter experience, and death anticipated as a happy release from the agonies of hunger?
But the living creatures are not themselves the source of this providential chastisement. They are vitally connected with the throne (Rev. 4:66And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. (Revelation 4:6)), but God is the Sitter thereon, and ever will be. The Seer hears a voice from the very center and throne of the Eternal, the announcement of a famine. God Himself is the source of these preliminary and providential judgments upon men on earth. They are inflicted by Him whoever He may employ as agents in accomplishing His purpose.
THE RICH SPARED
The prohibition, “Do not injure the oil and the wine,” is by some supposed to signify a mitigation of the famine as intimated in the preceding declarations. But that can hardly be. People could not subsist on oil and wine. Wheat and barley are essentials. Oil and wine were regarded as luxuries found alone on the tables of the rich (Prow. 21:17; Jer. 31:1212Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the Lord, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd: and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all. (Jeremiah 31:12); Psa. 104:1515And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man's heart. (Psalm 104:15)). Hence the chastisement under this Seal falls especially on the working classes. The rich, the wealthy, and the governing classes are markedly exempted. But they shall not escape. For under the sixth Seal (vss. 12-17) judgment is impartially meted out to all alike, from the monarch down to the slave.
SOCIALISM
Is there not righteous retribution in the fact that the masses of the people of these and other lands are first visited in judgment, and made to suffer in the very circumstances in which they now seem to triumph? An ominous sign of the times is the spread of Socialism, of the gospel of equality amongst the nations of Europe. The time-honored distinctions of master and servant, of rulers and ruled, are scorned; wealth and social position, with their respective claims, are treated with contempt; and labor and capital are regarded as opposing forces. The working classes are rapidly getting power into their hands, and are not slow in seizing their opportunities, while demanding further rights and privileges. The spirit of insubordination and contempt of authority is abroad. The seed is being sown, the harvest is sure to follow. The masses are here seen suffering from scarcity of the staff of life, while the rich in their affluence and luxuries remain untouched, although doomed to suffer at a later period.
THE FOURTH SEAL DEATH AND HADES
7-8. “And when He opened the fourth Seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, Come. And I saw, and behold a pale horse, and he that sat upon it his name (was) Death, and Hades followed with him; and authority was given to him over the fourth of the earth to slay with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and by the beasts of the earth.” Another power is now summoned. These initial judgments are increasing in severity. The pale horse implying a cadaverous hue is the new harbinger of approaching judgment.
In the three preceding Seals the riders are unnamed. Here the name of the horseman is Death. “The four Seals turn upon living men; and so death, by which they are carried off, is most prominently represented; but Hell (Hades) only in so far as he receives those who have been cut off by death, acting as death’s hearse, on which account no separate horse is assigned him. “Hades follows not after, but with death. These two are the respective custodians of the bodies and souls of men. At the close of the thousand years’ reign they give up their prisoners, and are themselves destroyed, are personified, and cast into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:1414And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. (Revelation 20:14)).
Hades refers to that condition immediately following on death, and one which resurrection necessarily closes, the state between death and resurrection. Death and Hades are here used in relation to the ungodly only. The latter word simply means “the unseen,” and therefore the English term “Hell” is no just equivalent for “Hades.” In this vivid description the king of terrors himself appears. The corpse-like color of the horse is in keeping with the name and character of the rider. Death and Hades are inseparable companions. Together they act in judgment and divide the spoil.
GOD’S FOUR SORE JUDGMENTS
We are again reminded of the interesting fact that these judgments in their sequence, character, duration, and severity have their source in the throne of God. “Authority,” we read, “was given to him,” not to “them.” The reading “him” or “them” is disputed, but internal evidence would decide. Death acts upon living men. Hades claims the souls of the dead. Death necessarily precedes Hades. Death deals with the living, Hades with the dead.
Under the previous Seals one instrument of judgment under each is noted, but here there are four, the four by which Jehovah threatened guilty Jerusalem of old. “For thus saith the Lord God, How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast?” (Ezek. 14:2121For thus saith the Lord God; How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast? (Ezekiel 14:21)). The only difference between them is that in the apocalyptic judgments the “beasts” are last named; “death,” too, the third in the list, should be understood as “pestilence,” as in the margin of the Revised Version. The sword under the second Seal, and hunger under the third, are here reproduced under the fourth Seal coupled with two others. The unsheathed sword in the hands of the remorseless rider will not be withdrawn till its divinely-appointed task is finished. Hunger also will do its deadly work, a more protracted and painful death than by the sword. Then death or pestilence will ply its sickle with fatal effect and reap a full harvest. Lastly, “the beasts of the earth” will complete the destruction.
Under the previous Seals agricultural pursuits, without which no civilized people can exist, must have been abandoned. The masses under the second Seal were using the sword instead of the plowshare. The ground would lie untilled, and in the absence of crops starvation would follow as a consequence, and the beasts, leaving their usual haunts, would add to the general misery by preying on men. These “four sore judgments,” the sword, hunger, pestilence, and beasts are to be in active operation at the same time, They are contemporaneous judgments. To spiritualize them, as many do, to make them speak a language foreign to their simple and natural meaning, is to twist Scripture and not interpret. Thank God that the sphere in which these judgments operate is limited to a “fourth of the earth.” The then Roman world is spoken of as a “third” (Rev. 12:44And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. (Revelation 12:4)). The extent of the sphere of judgment is a circumscribed one. What an awful future lies before the christless populations of these lands!
THE FIFTH SEAL DIVISION OF THE SEALS
9-11. “And when He opened the fifth Seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of them that had been slain for the Word of God, and for the testimony which they held; and they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Sovereign Ruler, holy and true, dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell upon the earth? And there was given to them, to each one, a white robe; and it was said to them that they should rest yet a little while until both their fellow -bondmen and their brethren, who were about to be killed as they, should be fulfilled.” The first four Seals are broadly marked off from the remaining three, as in most of the septenary divisions. Each of the four is characterized by a living creature and a horse, both of which disappear in the Seals to follow. The living creatures are connected with the providential government of the world; they are the unseen powers behind the human actors and instruments. But in the Seals to follow the scene darkens, and the public intervention of God in the affairs of men is more marked. A similar break in the septenary series of Trumpet and Vial judgments occurs (for the former see Rev. 8:1313And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound! (Revelation 8:13); for the latter see Rev. 16:1010And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain, (Revelation 16:10)). The last three Vials give the full expression of God’s wrath on guilty Christendom.
THE FIRST CONTINGENT OF THE MARTYRED BAND
9. “I saw under the altar the souls of them that had been slain.” How changed the scene! Believers now “are the salt of the earth” (Matt. 5:1313Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. (Matthew 5:13)). Their presence in it preserves these lands meanwhile from apostasy, corruption, and consequent judgment. But they are also “the light of the world” (vs. 14). Their testimony to the grace of God, however defective in fullness and character, is yet the world’s best and highest blessing. But when the term of God’s patience is run out, and the “salt” and “light” removed, then corruption and moral darkness shall characterize the scene given up in retributive righteousness to judgment (Isa. 60:22For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. (Isaiah 60:2)). The opening page of judgment is before us in the first four Seals.
When the home of the Spirit on earth, the Church (1 Cor. 3:1616Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? (1 Corinthians 3:16)), is broken up (for it has to be presented by Christ to Himself in glory, Eph. 5:2727That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. (Ephesians 5:27)), the Spirit will work from Heaven on earth, quickening souls by His divine power. Those first converted and saved, by no known human agency, will incur the active and cruel hostility of the christless populations of the earth. It is possible, as under the early pagan persecutions, that the future witnessing company of believers will be regarded as the cause of the national calamities, and hence the fierce blast of bitter and cruel persecution. Here, however, the true and real reason of their martyrdom is named, “Slain for the Word of God, and for the testimony which they held.” The Word of God when faithfully declared in its incisive claims on man’s conscience ever stirs into action the hostility of the world, and its most faithful exponents in life and public testimony must seal that witness with their blood. The Lord at present, by the power of the Holy Spirit on earth, bridles the passions of men, but let the presence and power of the Spirit be withdrawn, and the world’s enmity to Christ and to those who are His shall burst out in fierce and bitter persecution even unto death. “The testimony which they held” is not to the grace of God as now, but to the righteous claims of God in establishing His kingdom on earth. The answer to these claims is the sword of power in the hands of the then apostate, persecuting power. Judgment is let loose on these holy sufferers. The kingdom rights of Christ (Matt. 24:1414And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. (Matthew 24:14)), then the subject of testimony, will be trampled underfoot and the witnesses cruelly slain. The sacrificial word “slain” is used in keeping with the special character of these, probably Jewish, witnesses. The later company under the Beast (Rev. 13:77And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. (Revelation 13:7)) are said to be “killed” (vs. 11), a more general word than the former. The altar of burnt offering which stood both in the court of the tabernacle and of the temple is here referred to. This altar of brass typifying the endurance of divine judgment is also noticed in Revelation 11:1; 14:18; 16:71And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein. (Revelation 11:1)
18And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. (Revelation 14:18)
7And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments. (Revelation 16:7). The golden altar of intercession twice comes into view in these apocalyptic scenes (Rev. 8, latter part of verse 3; and 9:13). “The altar” in verses 3 and 5 of Revelation 8 refers to the brazen altar.
Under the altar, on which they had been sacrificed by the ruthless hand of the persecutor, their souls cry aloud for vengeance on their enemies. The imagery is cast in Jewish mold, but is none the less easily read. The cry does not breathe the accents of divine grace, but of righteous judgment. The appeal of the future Jewish remnant to the God of judgment is as much in accord with the divine mind as the touching words of the Lord on the cross: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:3434Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots. (Luke 23:34)), or the prayer of the first Christian martyr: “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge” (Acts 7:6060And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. (Acts 7:60)). The change of the dispensation alters the character of God’s dealings with the world. Law was the principle on which God dealt in Old Testament times. Grace is the platform of His present acts and ways. Judgment, in dealing with evil and evil workers, characterizes the future brief crisis before glory dawns upon the earth. The cry, therefore, of the slain under the altar is quite in keeping with Psalm 94: “O Lord God, to whom vengeance belongeth; O God, to whom vengeance belongeth, show Thyself. Lift up Thyself, Thou Judge of the earth; render a reward to the proud. Lord, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph?” (vss. 1-3). The judgment of sin on the cross is the foundation on which securely reposes our glory in Heaven. The judgment of sin on the wicked on earth is needful to clear it from evil and fit it as a dwelling place for God’s earthly people.
Their souls are seen in vision “underneath the altar.” On the altar would express the holocaust being offered, but “underneath” it, where the blood of the sin offering was poured out (Lev. 4:77And the priest shall put some of the blood upon the horns of the altar of sweet incense before the Lord, which is in the tabernacle of the congregation; and shall pour all the blood of the bullock at the bottom of the altar of the burnt offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. (Leviticus 4:7)), signifies the completion of the sacrifice. The martyrdom of the saints was not taking place. The scene was over. There are no details furnished. The cruelty of the oppressor and the sigh of the steadfast witness for Jesus and His royal rights are alike unrecorded. The martyrs are not here seen in life, nor as risen, but in the separate state, “the souls of them that had been slain.”
With a loud voice they cry “How long?” the well-known cry of the suffering Jew in the coming hour of unparalleled sorrow. Anguish and faith are expressed in the cry (Psa. 74:9-10; 79:5; 89:46; 94:3-49We see not our signs: there is no more any prophet: neither is there among us any that knoweth how long. 10O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever? (Psalm 74:9‑10)
5How long, Lord? wilt thou be angry for ever? shall thy jealousy burn like fire? (Psalm 79:5)
46How long, Lord? wilt thou hide thyself for ever? shall thy wrath burn like fire? (Psalm 89:46)
3Lord, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph? 4How long shall they utter and speak hard things? and all the workers of iniquity boast themselves? (Psalm 94:3‑4)). The appeal is to God as “Sovereign Ruler.” This is a title implying supreme authority, and is found nowhere else in the Apocalypse. The epithets “holy” and “true” are added. The cry is to One Who has right and power to avenge the blood so wantonly shed; Who is holy in His nature and true to His Word and promise. The circumstances contemplated under this Seal are similar to those noted in Psalm 79, only the Psalmist witnesses to a later moment and to a more circumscribed area. Vengeance is invoked “on them that dwell upon the earth.” A moral class is here indicated, for in Revelation 11:99And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. (Revelation 11:9) the inhabitants of earth are referred to under the well-known enumeration, “people, and kindreds, and tongues, and nations”; then in the next verse a moral class, the guiltiest of all, are spoken of as those “that dwell upon the earth.” The significance of this term is found in Philippians 3:1919Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.) (Philippians 3:19). The cry for vengeance is heard, but the answer is deferred. In the meantime the Lord gives a token of special approval. Each one of the martyred band is singled out for honor and vindication. “There was given to them, to each one, a white robe.”
If this verse stood alone it would itself render untenable the historical school of interpretation. Christians are in connection with the Father, not the Sovereign Ruler; they pray for those who despitefully use them; they do not invoke vengeance upon them. To a Christian such an invocation is impossible. To one who had been a martyred Jew this legal call for vengeance was absolutely consistent with the law under which he had lived, and his own Scriptures, and the Lord by giving each one a white robe stamps His approval on their utterance.
How good and gracious of our Lord thus to express with His ready approval the righteous attitude assumed by His martyred saints. But the sword of the Lord was not yet to be drawn. The iniquity of man awaited a fuller development of evil ere the righteous and holy wrath of the Lord bursts forth in its fury on the ungodly. The time of vengeance was measured by a “little while.” Another company here termed “fellow-bondmen” and “brethren” were to swell the ranks of the noble army of martyrs. Two separate companies of martyred saints are evidently referred to in these verses, the earlier company slain under the fifth Seal; the later killed at a subsequent period, here called “a little while.” There can be no full answer to the cry “underneath the altar” till this second contingent of the martyred band is complete.
It must be distinctly borne in mind that neither the Old Testament martyrs from Abel, nor the Christian martyrs from Stephen, are referred to here. The two companies are those who seal their testimony with their blood after the translation of the saints of past and present ages to Heaven. The coming brief crisis will witness in its earlier and later stage fierce outbursts of cruel persecution against those then witnessing for God.
THE SIXTH SEAL COMPLETE SUBVERSION OF ALL GOVERNMENTAL AND CIVIL AUTHORITY
12-17. “And I saw when He opened the sixth Seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as hair sackcloth, and the whole moon became as blood, and the stars of Heaven fell upon the earth as a fig tree, shaken by a great wind, casts its unseasonable figs. And the Heaven was removed as a book rolled up, and all mountains and islands were removed out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great, and the chiliarches, and the rich, and the strong, and every bondman and freeman hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains; and they say to the mountains and to the rocks, Fall on us, and have us hidden from (the) face of Him that sits upon the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; because the great day of His wrath is come, and who is able to stand?” Under the former Seal we witnessed a fierce struggle between light and darkness. The conflict between good and evil knows no cessation. But God shall triumph in the end. The full answer to the appeal of the martyred saints must await the completion of the martyred band. A second outburst of rage against God’s witnesses, directed by the Beast and his satellite, the Antichrist, is there intimated. Then will come the hour of awful tribulation. Then will an angry God deal in judgment with the cruel persecutors of His people. “It is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you” (2 Thess. 1:66Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; (2 Thessalonians 1:6)). But under this Seal God begins to deal judicially with the world, thus giving an earnest of the full answer yet to be vouchsafed to the cry underneath the altar.
The scene here described is an awful and sublime one. The symbols employed are the powers of nature. The whole fabric of civil and governmental power on earth breaks up. Disorder reigns supreme. It is not simply the collapse of this or that government, but the total subversion of all governing authority, both supreme and dependent. The general idea which the metaphors present is a universal overthrow of all existing authority; a revolutionary crisis of such magnitude that kings and slaves are in abject terror. The coming crash will involve in one general catastrophe everything on earth deemed secure and strong. A vast civil, social, and political chaos will be created. What an awful scene to contemplate! A world without a magistrate! Without even the semblance of rightful power! Without government! Without the authority of repression!
12. “A great earthquake” denotes a violent disruption of the organized state of things, a complete subversion of all existing authority. Under the seventh Seal, and preparatory to the infliction of yet severer chastisements (Rev. 8:55And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake. (Revelation 8:5)), an earthquake, along with other signs, is mentioned as a public intimation of coming wrath. But here the earthquake is termed “great,” as its effects upon men amply testify. Under the seventh Vial (Rev. 16:1818And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. (Revelation 16:18)) there will be another social and political revolution exceeding in its effect what we have in our text, a catastrophe of such an appalling character that history affords no parallel to it. It must be borne in mind that the Seals unfold a series of consecutive and preliminary sorrows. The “great earthquake” does not usher in the day of the Lord. There are two groups of signs mentioned by the Lord in His great prophetic discourse (Matt. 24-25). The first group applies to the period before the great tribulation (Matt. 24:6-146And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. 8All these are the beginning of sorrows. 9Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. 10And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. 11And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. 12And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. 13But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. 14And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. (Matthew 24:6‑14)), the second group has its application after the tribulation, and announces the immediate Return of the Lord in power (vs. 29). Now the events under the Seals are prior to the tribulation, and really coalesce with the earlier state of things described in Matthew 24:6-146And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. 8All these are the beginning of sorrows. 9Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. 10And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. 11And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. 12And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. 13But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. 14And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. (Matthew 24:6‑14). The “great earthquake” of our text does not, therefore, announce the final judgment, nor is it the immediate precursor of the Lord’s return, whatever men may say in their fear and terror (Rev. 6:1717For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand? (Revelation 6:17)). The very fact that a yet more awful earthquake succeeds the one of our text should settle the question (chap. 16:18). The state of things described under the sixth Seal is to be followed by more awful horrors.
12. “The sun became black as hair sackcloth.” The sun symbolizes the supreme governing authority (Gen. 37:99And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me. (Genesis 37:9); Rev. 12:11And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: (Revelation 12:1)). “Black as hair sackcloth” denotes the darkening power of Satan, and points to the supreme authority of earth (on which all were dependent) in a condition of utter collapse (Isa. 50:33I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering. (Isaiah 50:3); Ezek. 7:1818They shall also gird themselves with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; and shame shall be upon all faces, and baldness upon all their heads. (Ezekiel 7:18)). The darkening of the heavenly bodies is an awful calamity in the physical world, and hence the aptness of the figure here.
13. “The stars of Heaven fell upon the earth as a fig tree, shaken by a great wind, casts its unseasonable figs.” All lesser authorities, as individual rulers, civil and ecclesiastical, morally fell from their exalted station. God and their relation to Him were morally given up. The unripe or unseasonable figs are those concealed under the leaves which never ripen, and which are cast off in winter by a strong wind. When the wintry winds of God’s wrath sweep across the scene, then those who were never truly His, however exalted their position, shall openly apostatize and abandon all external relation to Him (Isa. 34:44And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree. (Isaiah 34:4)).
14. “The Heaven was removed as a book rolled up.” The political, civil, and ecclesiastical systems, the constitution, bonds, and frame work of society, shall as completely disappear as a book or scroll is unreadable when rolled up. The physical removal of the heaven (Rev. 21:11And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. (Revelation 21:1)) and of the heavens (2 Peter 3:1010But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. (2 Peter 3:10)), not, of course, the dwelling place of God, of saints, and of angels, is one of the most stupendous events which the Word of God records. But the entire cessation of all governmental order, the moral Heaven, is one of those coming events most awful to contemplate. We have had the ruin of all greater and lesser authorities, but here the whole system in which they were placed itself collapses.
14. “All mountains and islands were removed out of their places.” A system of settled power is represented by a mountain (Dan. 2:3535Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth. (Daniel 2:35); Jer. 51:2525Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the Lord, which destroyest all the earth: and I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain. (Jeremiah 51:25)), a long established, stable, and powerful government. Islands were regarded by the Jews as sources of wealth, as centers of trade and commerce (Isa. 23:22Be still, ye inhabitants of the isle; thou whom the merchants of Zidon, that pass over the sea, have replenished. (Isaiah 23:2); Ezek. 27:3-153And say unto Tyrus, O thou that art situate at the entry of the sea, which art a merchant of the people for many isles, Thus saith the Lord God; O Tyrus, thou hast said, I am of perfect beauty. 4Thy borders are in the midst of the seas, thy builders have perfected thy beauty. 5They have made all thy ship boards of fir trees of Senir: they have taken cedars from Lebanon to make masts for thee. 6Of the oaks of Bashan have they made thine oars; the company of the Ashurites have made thy benches of ivory, brought out of the isles of Chittim. 7Fine linen with broidered work from Egypt was that which thou spreadest forth to be thy sail; blue and purple from the isles of Elishah was that which covered thee. 8The inhabitants of Zidon and Arvad were thy mariners: thy wise men, O Tyrus, that were in thee, were thy pilots. 9The ancients of Gebal and the wise men thereof were in thee thy calkers: all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in thee to occupy thy merchandise. 10They of Persia and of Lud and of Phut were in thine army, thy men of war: they hanged the shield and helmet in thee; they set forth thy comeliness. 11The men of Arvad with thine army were upon thy walls round about, and the Gammadims were in thy towers: they hanged their shields upon thy walls round about; they have made thy beauty perfect. 12Tarshish was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of all kind of riches; with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they traded in thy fairs. 13Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were thy merchants: they traded the persons of men and vessels of brass in thy market. 14They of the house of Togarmah traded in thy fairs with horses and horsemen and mules. 15The men of Dedan were thy merchants; many isles were the merchandise of thine hand: they brought thee for a present horns of ivory and ebony. (Ezekiel 27:3‑15)). The removal of all, regarded as enduring and great, as also the sources of wealth and commerce, are here declared.
UNIVERSAL TERROR
The effect of this mighty and universal revolution in civil and political life will be a scene of awful terror. In keeping with a marked characteristic of the Apocalypse, in which the numeral seven is largely employed, there are enumerated seven classes of men, and, as usual, these again are divided into two groups of three and four. The first consists of those who govern: “kings,” the highest and most exalted; “great,” or princes, see Revised Version; and “chiliarches,” or military tribunes. The second group includes the non-official class presented in pairs: “the rich” and “strong,” “bondman and freeman.
15. All, high and low, rich and poor, “hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains.” What a vivid emblem of terror I The fear of the Lord and the glory of His majesty in governmental power, as witnessed in the universal disruption of society, will strike men with such awful dread that the caves and rocks of the mountains shall be eagerly sought as hiding places from His wrath and to screen them from His face. It is an hour of mortal fear. In their terror they appeal not to God, but to the mountains and rocks to fall upon them and hide them from the face “of Him that sits upon the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb.” Their guilty fears add, “Because the great day of His wrath is come, and who is able to stand? ‘ It is not so. Heavier judgments are looming, darker clouds are gathering ere the final hour of concentrated agony known as the “wrath of the Lamb” transpires. Under the sixth Seal the first droppings of the coming storm of divine wrath cause universal terror and fear. When the storm actually bursts at the personal return of the Lord, then, instead of dread of His wrath, bold, high-handed contempt of the Lamb will characterize the scene (Rev. 19:17-1917And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; 18That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. 19And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. (Revelation 19:17‑19)) which the warrior king will drench in blood.
We have to be exceedingly careful not to allow the consideration of details to weaken in our souls the general effect of this thrilling description of coming events, and the consequent fears of men. Even a cursory reader must feel awed at the “almost unparalleled magnificence and sublimity” of the scene about to be enacted, which is revealed in terms so full and plain that their bearing cannot, save by the willfullya ignorant, be misunderstood. The consideration of the seventh Seal must be reserved till we enter upon the study of Revelation 8.