Apocalypse 6: Opening the first 6 seals 1. Introduction:
The throne of God prepared for trial, the Lamb, whom the Father has given, because of His humanity, the power to judge: Jean 5.27 , took the book on which was written lamentations, groans and lamentations: 2.9 to 10 Ezekiel to open the seals!
2. The first seal: the white horse: v 1 and 2
the question posed by His disciples about the signs they can recognize the time of His coming, the first response is that Jesus will "Take heed that no man deceive you or deceives you: Mat 24.4; Luke 21.8 . Not stopping there, Jesus goes on to describe what reside in the risk of error and seduction: Many will use my name saying, I am Christ! : Mat 24.5; Luke 21.8.
Seduction spiritual scale will on the part of the Lamb, the first means by which It will operate the world's judgment. This decision is using, in the words of Jesus himself, according to Justice: since the world did not want Him as Messiah, he condemns himself to be seduced by anyone else who pretend to be: John 5 , 43 . The Apostle Paul reminds the error is not a coincidence, but the inevitable consequence of the absence in the heart of the love of the truth: 2 Thess 2.9 to 10.
Seduction will be more effective than, apparently, the rider mounted on the white horse looks like line for line Christ himself: Rev. 19.11. This to the point that some commentators have thought of the Apocalypse that this is Jesus himself. Rather, we believe that after being seduced and deceived by his caricature is the true Christ, at the end of its history, the world will do. This misleading similarity should not surprise us. All Scripture is unanimous (and we shall see later when we study the personality of the animal) to warn us of the incredible power of imitation in which the devil can show to attract men 2 Cor 11.13-15 ; Rev. 13.11 .
The intentions of the white horse rider amount we are clearly revealed here: it is not conditional, nor to be one of those who share power with others that s' elance, but rather to conquer all the earth: that was never done no man before him. The white horse rider of the devil will get what he tried to offer Jesus early in His ministry: Luke 4.5 to 6.
The fact that the rider judged on the white horse above the others should not surprise us. Every conquest large on the world based primarily on the formulation of a doctrine or ideology. Each conqueror or purporting to be universal was his book that was like our Bible, the word that should be believed and followed Hitler - Mein Kampf, Mao's little red book, Karl Marx and Capital, Muhammad and the Koran ... The first success of this rider will win the world thought that humanity will join in a comprehensive manner. No wonder he appears to everyone as the Messiah.
The instrument by which the rider straddling the white horse operates is the bow. Paul already warned Christians to beware of the fiery darts of the Evil: Ephesians 6.16. Gun fighters, the arc is often identified as that used by the evil lurking in the shadows, to bring down the righteous and the weak: Psalm 37.14. So attention to slogans and sayings that we hear. Using the name of Jesus and the word gospel is not a guarantee that the Spirit of God is there and those who use these words are true followers of Jesus Christ: 2 Cor 11.3-4 . In false christ, the white horse rider amount may be, like Satan himself, an expert in the citation of Bible verses: Luke 4.10 to 11.
3. The second seal: the red horse (or red): v 3 and 4
On the day of the introduction of His Son into the world, God kept through angels to deliver a message of peace the inhabitants of the earth: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among humans in whom he delights: Luke 2:14. The rider with the white frame introduced in the story is making a jumper with a red horse crew who immediately follows, with a goal and a mission: take peace from the earth and work that men kill each other (the red symbolizing the color of blood).
Note that the order of arrival of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse follows exactly the list of signs given by Jesus after the seduction of war: from 24.7 to 8 Mat. A link between cause and effect links the apparent emergence of the rider on the white horse on the scene of the story, following him, the rider on red horse.
Posing as the returned Messiah, it is not impossible to establish and enforce its authority over the world, the rider on the white horse starts, as has been done in Islam during the Crusades or in the wars known as "fair." However, this concept of just war, especially if undertaken in the name of Christ is totally alien and incompatible with the thought of Jesus and the Gospels: Mat 26.51-54; Jean 19.36. Just war presupposes to be justifiable, an axis of evil that categorically separates the good from the bad guys (rhetoric employed by George Busch its justification for war in Iraq). However, this vision of humanity is at odds the one we present the Bible as God's vision: Rom 3.9 to 18.
Protestant thinker, is the Koran that Jacques Ellul traces in his book "The subversion of Christianity," the father of the concept of holy war. "Until the advent of Islam, he says, war is not tolerated by the Christians. It remains, though led by a Christian emperor, suspicious and ill-judged. But the war is inherent in Islam. She is enrolled in her teaching, she is now a fact of civilization, now a religious, but can not be separated ... In Islam, war is always right and is a sacred duty. It is the duty of every Muslim. Islam must become the universal. we must extend the true faith to all peoples by forcing them by all means, and inevitably war. "
We can not say with certainty that the white knight will be Muslim. But what is certain is that he will find in the literature to serve as its support, the theological justification he needs to, in God's name, using the war to impose his authority to the world and his thinking.
4. The third seal: the black horse : V 5 and 6
As history always shows, the war never comes alone. It leads inevitably in the wake of famine. The rider on black horse holding her scales to weigh the small amount of grain that the average worker will be available, symbolizes the plight of the world after the passage of the first two riders. Like the others, the rider on the black horse is positioned exactly where Jesus is in the order of the signs preceding His return: 24.7 Mat. As the red symbolizes blood, black is, in biblical language, that which characterizes the famine : The 4.8 to 9 m .
At the time of the apostle John, the denarius was the wage of a day's work and allowed the purchase of eight die of flour or 24 measures of barley. When after the war, famine Universal occur, rationing only grant the individual the 8th of the usual portion.
If all people will be affected by the famine, the mention of saving the oil and wine, luxury goods, could mean that, as is often the case, it will be the countries poorest who are most affected by the scourge.
5. The 4th Seal: The pale horse: v 7 and 8
In tail crew of the first three riders, John sees a rise last horse greenish (Greek: chloros), ridden by one rider whose name is given to us: Death.
Death, says the apostle Paul, is always the wages of sin: Rom 6.23 . Following the release of the first three riders introducing, as a trial, lies, war and famine, the result can be death to the world that large scale. It is therefore not surprising to see the 4th rider with the credentials of those who preceded sword and famine. The fourth rider is like the Harvester, who mounted his horse, picked up the bodies and souls of all those killed the previous riders to fill the grave: Isaiah 5.14 to 15.
A sword and famine, John adds to the power of Death plague and wild beasts of the earth. Besides the direct mortality caused by famine and sword, each war brings inevitable diseases and epidemics. For the record, let us remember that the English flu, a century ago, has claimed more victims than the war itself: a billion people sick and 50 to 100 million deaths. The sword, famine, pestilence and wild beasts of the earth are, according to Ezekiel, the 4 terrible punishment of the wrath of God by which He exercises His revenge against men rebel: Ezekiel 14.21, punishment which, in law already, are the expression of His curse Deut 32.23-25; Lev 26.14 to 26. If they applied today, they will scratch, according to the prophecy of John, about 1.7 billion people in the world map.
6. The fifth seal: the martyrs of the faith: v 9-11
In agreement with the signs given by Jesus: Matt 24,9.10.13 , the 5th seal projects us, not in the arena the world, but live in what the witnesses of Christ in this turbulent period of history. If there was any time of persecution against the disciples of Christ, the final period of history will, under the leadership of the Antichrist, an incredible increase in the number of martyrs of faith. The days of judgments that will befall the world, for believers present, that of the great tribulation period when many shed their blood declared loyalty to Christ: Rev. 7.14; 12.7 18.24 .
If it is included in the seals of the trial, the persecution of believers is not one for them, but for the world. As it does as badly as it did to her child for a father, fanning the fierce anger of God on the rebellious Rom 12.19-21, 2.5 , claiming the blood of the martyrs revenge. For example, the massacre of St. Bartholomew in France, it was a misfortune for the Reformation, was a disaster for the country from plunging into a cycle of endless wars in f.
God that He has the ability to remain master of himself, does not shorten this difficult time provided for His children. The persecution by the Antichrist will be the means that God will use His people to get out of the world will be ripe for His Final Judgement. "God does nothing worse than to His children to enter heaven with whips: Thomas Watson. "
7. The sixth seal: a terrible earthquake: v 12-17
If the first five seals open presents us with phenomena already known, opening the sixth seal us into terrestrial and cosmic upheaval on a scale unequal . Repeatedly, Jesus, speaking of recent times, made reference to signs in the heavens and the earth causing the terror of men: Luke 21,11.25-26 . The phenomena reported here are not new in the prophecy: they echo many announcements made by the prophets of the Old and the New Covenant:
- a shaking of the earth: ESAE 13.13; Joel 2:10; Nahum 1.5; Haggai 2.6 to 7; Heb 12.26-29
- obscured the sun: Exodus 10.22, Isaiah 13.10, 34.9 to 10; Joel from 3.14 to 15: Matt 24.29-30
- the moon turned to blood: Ezekiel 32.7; Joel 2.30, 24.29 Mat
- the stars falling from the sky like green figs: Nahum 3.12; Rev. 8.12
- The sky rolled up like a book: Isaiah 34.4, 2 Pier 3.10 to 12
- The mountains and islands moved out: Psalm 97.5; Isaiah 54.10
The effect they produce upon all men, most largest to the smallest, the purpose of the message of the 6th seal is clear. It demonstrates beyond doubt that the true God is not someone who on earth is appointed as such, but one who lives and reigns in heaven. The inhabitants of the earth, like the magicians of Pharaoh recognizing the finger of God before the miracle product that Moses Exodus 8.15 , make no mistake: they identify with perfect accuracy who are the cause of this terrible plague that affects them: God and the Lamb: v 16.
Will they take the full measure of the warning sent to them? The result shows that, unfortunately, instead of repenting, the world, in its majority, will remain deaf to God's call to repentance!
I am coming soon!
