Revelation Chapter 6:1-8/Commentary

Revelation Chapter 6:1-8 Revelation 6:1-8 “And I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of thunder, "Come." 2And I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him; and he went out conquering, and to conquer.

3And when He broke the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, "Come." 4And another, a red horse, went out; and to him who sat on it, it was granted to take peace from the earth, and that men should slay one another; and a great sword was given to him.

5And when He broke the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, "Come." And I looked, and behold, a black horse; and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. 6And I heard as it were a voice in the center of the four living creatures saying, "A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not harm the oil and the wine."

7And when He broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, "Come." 8And I looked, and behold, an ashen horse; and he who sat on it had the name Death; and Hades was following with him.

And authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth”.

‘The opening of the seals in chapter six marks the beginning of the Lamb’s execution of the grand theme of the sealed book; this theme continues into chapter twenty-one” (Hailey p. 186). “This is the first of a series of three ‘sevens’—seven seals (6:1-8:5); seven trumpets (8:6-9:21); and seven bowls of wrath (15:1-16:21)” (Harkrider p. 78).

Here is how Hailey interprets this section: The four seals represent: 1. The going forth of Christ in the gospel. 2. The persecution of Christians following the preaching of the truth, which brought Christians and the world into conflict. 3. Discrimination in labor and business, 1

which added to the suffering of Christians. 4. The judgments that fell upon society as a result of pagan rejection of the divine message and persecution against God’s people (p. 193).

6:1 “Then I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals”: The Lamb is worthy to open the seals.

6:1 “Come”: “The thunderous call is to the horseman and horse to come forth on their symbolic mission” (Hailey p. 188). Each seal, when opened, releases its symbolism.

6:2 “A white horse”: Most futurists such as Walvoord, Ryrie, and Lindsey contend that the white horse and its rider represent some supposed Antichrist riding forth to conquer the world, yet in the book of Revelation “white” is the symbol of purity. Why would some supposed Antichrist be pictured in the symbol of purity and holiness? In fact, Lindsey believes that the supposed Antichrist is already living in Europe.

Harkrider notes, “There are two main views as to the identity of the rider. Some hold that the rider is a picture of a Parthian general, signifying military conquests wrought against the Roman Empire. Others believe that the rider represents the victorious Christ going forth as conqueror of evil. This last view seems best” (p.

80). I would argue that the following points clearly establish that the rider on the white horse is Jesus Christ: 1. White represents heavenly purity. “We have white garments of the elders and saints; a white stone belonging to the saints; a white throne on which God sits; white horses on which the saints ride; a white horse on which Jesus sits and then we have the white horse in this passage” (McGuiggan p. 100).

2. The rider wears a crown of triumph and victory; in 14:14 Jesus is wearing such a crown.

3. Christ is a conqueror in the book of Revelation (3:21; 5:5; 16:33). In the last chapter mentioned, it is said that Jesus “conquered” (5:5), and then immediately in 6:2 we find one who goes forth conquering to conquer.

4. In Revelation 19:11 we have another instance of a rider upon a white horse, and in this passage the rider is clearly Christ.

5. Jesus is the first rider because He is in control of the whole affair.

6:2 “He who sat on it had a bow”: “Suggests the means of conquest (Psalm 45:5; Hab. 3:9,11)” (Harkrider p. 80).

6:2 “And a crown was given to him”: The victory crown, indicating victory in the conflict as He went forth. See Daniel 7:13-14.

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6:2 “He went out conquering and to conquer”: Some see in this image not only Christ ruling and bringing down His enemies, but Christ going forth as the gospel message is spread and that the conquering includes converting the lost.

The Second Seal 6:3 “When He broke the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, ‘Come’” Notice that each living creature introduces a different rider.

6:4 “And another, red horse, went out; and to him who sat on it, it was granted to take peace from the earth, and that men would slay one another; and a great sword was given to him” “It is generally agree by biblical commentators that red, the blood color, indicates war and bloodshed. Again, however, the nature of the warfare here symbolized must be determined” (Hailey p. 189).

6:4 “Granted to take peace from the earth”: Many see this rider as representing no warfare in general, which is found in 6:8, but rather persecution against Christians as a result of the gospel being spread. Remember, Jesus noted that His presence in the world and His message in the world would bring a sword into this world (Matthew 10:34).

6:4 “Slay”: The word “slay” here is also used in reference to Jesus being slain (5:6), and to the souls underneath the altar that had been slain for the Word of God (6:9) 6:4 “A great sword”: The Greek term here machaira refers to the short sword worn by the Roman infantry. This is the word that Jesus used for persecution in Matthew 10:34 and in the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament it is translated “knife” at the offering of Isaac by Abraham in Genesis 22:6,10. Thus many feel that this sword is being used in the sense of slaughtering men in sacrifice.

6:4 “Granted….was given”: Yet even when God’s own people are being persecuted, God remains in control (1 Corinthians 10:13).

The Third Seal 6:5 “And when He broke the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, ‘Come’. And I looked and behold, a black horse; and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand”

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6:6 “And I heard as it were a voice in the center of the four living creatures saying, ‘A quart of wheat for a denarius” The scales are used to weigh food in the above passage. “To eat bread by weight refers to a condition of economic hardship. In other words, a whole day’s wages for a quantity of wheat that will last one person just one day (Matthew 20:2). At this rate a man could support himself, but what about his family?”

(Hendriksen p. 101). According to Chilton, such a price for wheat was 1000 percent above normal.

6:6 “Three quarts of barley for a denarius”: “True, he could buy barley, the coarser food, at one-third the price and thus provide for his family. But is food all a family needs? What about all the other necessities? When such prices prevail it becomes very difficult or a person to make both ends meet. It is not famine, as such, one can get all the wheat he wants—provided he has the money to pay for it! But that is exactly the point. How can a man who is earning very little provide for his family when prices are so high?” (p. 101).

6:6 “Do not harm the oil and the wine”: That is, oil and wine, more luxurious fare, the comforts of the first century are in plentiful supply, yet in such a period of inflation they would be utterly beyond the reach of the average person. The rich are apparently enjoying all the comforts of life, but the poor have hardly enough to feed themselves.

Some feel that the point here is that Christians who refused to compromise and who refused to join the trade guilds and compromise with idolatry would be hard pressed to find work whereby they could earn enough to support their families.

Compare with Revelation 13:17. Hailey notes, “As the luxury items are not hurt, it appears that the rider of the black horse symbolizes hardship and suffering through prejudice against Christians. The price of discipleship might mean discrimination by the world, loss of earnings because of conviction” (p. 192).

Premillennialists argue that this seal represents a time of famine during the supposed Great Tribulation. Those who view the book of Revelation as predicting the fall of Jerusalem, see this verse as referring to the times of economic hardship before and during the Roman siege of Jerusalem. Some see Christians as being immune from such times, yet in the book of Revelation, Christians are not immune from suffering and hardship (2:10; 1:9; 6:9).

The Fourth Seal 6:7 “And when He broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, ‘Come’” 6:8 “And I looked, and behold an ashen horse”: The word “ashen” is translated in other passages “green” (Mark 6:39; Revelation 8:7; 9:4). The word

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means “pale green”, and this color seems to be selected because of its association with the color of extreme sickness and death. Some view the color as a yellowish-green.

6:8 “And he who sat on it had the name Death; and Hades was following with him” “Trotting behind Death, as always, is Hades. Death cuts down, and Hades symbolizing the state of disembodied existence gathers the slain” (Hendriksen p.

103).

6:8 “And authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth”: “Yet Death and Hades cannot do as they please. They can do nothing beyond what is allowed by the divine permission. This is emphasized for the consolation of believers” (Hendriksen p. 103).

6:8 “Over a fourth of the earth”: The Trumpet-judgments will take a third of the land (8:7-12), and the Chalice-judgments will devastate it all. This judgment does not affect the whole world, but only a portion of it. Some argue that this expression refers to the four parts of the earth that is to the four sections into which the Roman Empire was divided at that time. Premillennialists argue that this takes place during a supposed three and one half years of Great Tribulation in which one billion people will die.

6:8 “To kill with sword”: The Greek word here translated “sword” is rhomphaia, which refers to a heavy sword. This appears to refer to war.

6:8 “And with famine”: Famine compared to economic hardship in the previous judgment. Here people are starving to death.

6:8 “And with pestilence”: Which would include the diseases and arise during times of war and famine.

6:8 “And by the wild beasts of the earth”: In Ezekiel 5:16-17 and 14:21, these are the judgments that God used against His unfaithful people in the Old Testament. Some see this verse as applying to what happened during the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. Concerning the expression, “beasts of the earth”, some see this as referring to when Christians were fed to the lions and others see it as referring to the wild beasts, like wild packs of dogs consuming the bodies of those who die of famine, disease, or civil war.

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