SURVEY OF CHAPTER 6

[McGuiggan: Chapter 6 introduces us to the seals. Seals (in this case) are to keep the contents of a book hidden. To tear off a seal is to reveal a certain amount of the message. The sealed book is the immediate Will of God in reference to His Church amid the trials she is about to endure.]

Chapter 6 is an introduction to the fact that power struggles on earth do not compare with spiritual relationships that go beyond this physical realm—this so-called “veil of tears.” The seals of the book begin now to be opened and the contents revealed.

We’ll see that only six of the seven seals are opened at this time. The first four seals deal with the conquest of Rome, but the power of Caesar is depicted here as waning—as fading—as war looms on the horizon, to be followed in subsequent seals by famine, by pestilence, and by death [verses 7-8: “When He opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, ‘Come and see.’ So I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed with him. And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth.”].

And then suddenly the fifth seal is broken and the scene shifts from life in the Roman Empire to eternal life in the divine realm. John, in what he’s seeing and what he’s relating about what he saw, beheld martyrs. Again, think about the fact that we are seeing—through these words that have been preserved for us—what John saw. He saw martyrs beheaded for the testimony of Jesus. They are crying out for vengeance from the Lord upon those who persecuted them. They wanted to know how long—“How long, O Lord,” will these evil men dominate the saints of God and the Truth of the Gospel, chapter 6, verse 9 and 10 [“When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who 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 Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?’”].

The last paragraph there of chapter 6, verses 14 through 17, forever shows us that judgment upon the ungodly will come in devastating power. “Who shall be able to stand,” is the question which is asked [“Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him Who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?’”].

It is in chapter 6 and in the fifth seal that we find, in a sense, the key to the next dozen or so chapters. We’re going to be introduced to this gigantic struggle that is going to be depicted in so many apocalyptic statements and phrases and images. What is being depicted in these chapters is this great, gigantic struggle that takes place—that is taking place—between good and evil—between God’s cause and Satan’s army. We’ll see those unfold clear up through chapter 19. And, finally, in chapter 20, the warfare comes to a close. We’re not jumping all the way to chapter 20 yet, but to tie this point together, in chapter 20, the warfare comes to a close with Satan bound and all the friends of Satan gone. When the storm clouds clear away, John is going to see, once again, these martyrs, those whom he had seen in the first part of chapter 6, who had been beheaded, who were under the throne crying out, “How long, O Lord, how long?” But this scene is different. By this time, they are no longer dejected, but they are elated! They will not be defeated, but victorious! They will not be under the thrones, but they will be seated “on” the thrones “reigning with Christ.”And John will then write these impressive and memorable words: “This is the first resurrection,” [Revelation 20:4-5: “And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the Word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.”]

As a part of John’s vision in chapter 20, the cause for which these martyrs died has now been vindicated and victorious. Now this has not yet come—that time is yet to come, but remember John is “pulling back the curtain,” and he’s looking into what’s going to happen. And so in his vision, the cause for which those martyrs died has been vindicated and victorious. Again, this is the point of Revelation. To zealous, but imprisoned Christians, it was exceedingly comforting to know that ultimately their cause would gain the “laurel wreath” of victory. This is a Message valuable in any age for the saints of God. As we sometimes sing in that hymn, “Be not dismayed whate’er betide; God will take care of you.”

SURVEY OF CHAPTER 7

[McGuiggan: Chapter 7 is one of comfort for the people of God. It assures the saints, all the saints, that no matter the terror which is to fall on the earth, they were to be assured everything will be well with them. All the righteous receive a seal which preserves them through the tribulation and the latter half of the chapter shows that seal to be effective.]

In chapter 7, John saw a great host that had come “out of the great tribulation,” having been cleansed by the “blood of Christ,” [verses 13-14: “Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, ‘Who are these arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from?’ And I said to him, ‘Sir, you know.’ So he said to me, ‘These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.’”]. They stand on Mount Zion with the Lamb of God and they partake of the water which quenches one’s thirst forever [verses 15-17: “Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He Who sits on the throne will dwell among them. They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any heat; for the Lamb Who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”].

As we go along, we’ll be continually reminded to think about those who are reading this letter for the first time, and the way things are phrased—the way things are put forth here. We need to think about what such imagery would have meant to them—“standing on Mount Zion with the Lamb of God,” “drinking the water that they would never thirst again.” Think about being in a Roman jail where it was hot, where the conditions were terrible, where one didn’t get enough, if any, water to drink. What a wonderful image this would have created in their mind’s eye. In the book of Acts, we read that those who became Christians during this era of the 1^st Century entered the Kingdom with much “tribulation,” Acts 14, verse 22 [“strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, ‘We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.’”].