The fourth Chapter of the Book of Revelation begins with two often-quoted Greek words:
Meta tauta
These words mean “after these things.” The authors join company with a good number of
conservative Bible scholars who see these words as marking a major division in the last book of
the Bible. John was told to ―Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will
take place later.‖ (Revelation 1:19).
Chapters 1 through 3 of Revelation cover the first two subjects. “What you have seen,”
referred to the visions of chapter one. “What is now” points to the contents of Chapters 2 and 3,
which trace the progress of the Church in its different forms and stages of history. Beginning
with Chapter 4, verse one, the scene shifts to Heaven and to events that are yet to come. These
things are in the future for John in the First Century and for us as well in our day.
John sees in a vision a great worship scene of elders and angels around the throne of God
the Father. They are engaged in worship and adoration of the Father and they sing a hymn of
praise to the One who has created and who sustains the universe. The One seated on the throne
holds a mysterious scroll, written on both sides–not one side as would be usual–and sealed with
seven wax seals, instead of the usual one.
The seven-sealed scroll is a document of great importance and a search is made for a
person worthy to receive this scroll from the Father’s hand–for evidently the contents of the
scroll contain delegated authority for the unfolding of the final chapters of this age. Some have
called the scroll, “the title deed to the earth.”
The only one found worthy to open the scroll is Christ Jesus, who is described here in
symbols that combine the Old Testament figure of the Lion out of the Tribe of Judah (Genesis
49:8) and the New Testament figure of the submissive lamb who has been slain voluntarily for
the sins of the world. (John 1:29). The Messiah, son of God, takes the scroll from his Father’s
hand.
Immediately the worship shifts to a new song of praise centered on Jesus. He is the one
who has ransomed men “from every tribe and tongue and nation,” and the only one worthy to
receive such important delegated authority.
The unfolding of the fate of the earth is now totally in the hands of Jesus who proceeds to
open the seven-sealed scroll, one seal at a time. The message of the scroll pertains to judgment
about to fall upon an evil, unbelieving world, from which the true church has already been
removed.
The First Four Seals
There are seven seals in all, describing major aspects and events of the Tribulation
period. The first four are depicted as riders on four horses of different colors. Horses in the Bible
often depict angelic activity (this image occurs in Zechariah for instance). Swift angelic
messengers in the invisible spiritual realm rapidly carry out and bring into effect a series of
world-wide changes in society on earth. The “Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” have been
universal portents of coming evil in art and literature down through all of history.
The First Seal – The Man of Sin revealed
I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living
creatures say in a voice like thunder, “Come!” 2
I looked, and there before me was a white horse!
Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest. –
Revelation 6:1-2
The first significant event of the future Tribulation will be the emergence of a false man
of peace, symbolized here as the rider on a white horse. In the Bible, there is another rider on a
white horse at the opposite end of the Tribulation. In the second case, Revelation 19:11-21, Jesus
Christ is clearly the conquering hero on the white horse. But in this first instance, a human who
is energized by Satan begins his campaign of world conquest. He does not appear as a horrible or
evil monster, but as a benevolent dictator. He is seen as a messiah, who has come to solve the
world’s great problems.
It is possible that his authority to control the world will come into effect silently without
open war. Ray Stedman writes,
He is given a bow, but no mention is made of arrows. This appears to be a bloodless
conquest he launches. When you ask, “What is this describing?” I think it is clear that it suggests
some kind of overpowering of the minds and wills of men, without physical destruction. How is
that done? The answer is: by some form of deceit, by lying that misleads and deceives men and
thus overcomes them without the shedding of blood. It is noteworthy that in Matthew 24, the first
word Jesus speaks to his disciples is, “Watch out that no one deceives you.” You will find
references to the possibility of deception throughout that chapter.
We are bemused by delusions today. We are hardly aware of how much we are being
deceived all the time. Turn on the television and fraudulent ideas, along with a mixture of truth,
are immediately poured into your brain. Pick up a magazine or read a newspaper and you will
find they make false claims that certain acquisitions will produce great blessing and liberty for
you. But trying them will soon tell you that it is a lie. They do not work. We are constantly
offered much of promise but which are totally unable to deliver….What this rider on the white
horse tells us, however, is that the worst is yet to come. We are living amidst great deceit, it is
true, but it is not as bad as it is going to be. There is coming an even greater lie.84
Many people speculate about the identity of the Beast. However, we can not know who
he is at this time. 2 Thessalonians 2:1-10 tells us that ―the man of lawlessness‖ will not be
revealed until the one who holds evil back is ―taken out of the way.‖ This is an unmistakable
reference to the Holy Spirit. One of the main purposes of the indwelling work of the Holy Spirit
is to convict the world of sin and guilt (John 16:5-11). He does that by His power in the lives of
Christians who are committed to Christ and ―filled with the Spirit‖ (Ephesians 5:18). At this
time Spirit-filled Christians occupy key positions as teachers, government employees, and
influential people in the workplace and the marketplace. When the rapture has taken place and
Christians are suddenly removed, the Holy Spirit will still be in the world, but as new converts
accept Christ during the Tribulation period they will be persecuted, driven underground, or even
killed for their faith. Thus they will not have public testimonies and the ability to restrain evil
around them.
The Second Seal – War
When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4Then
another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth
and to make men slay each other. To him was given a large sword. – Revelation 6:3-4
The second symbolic rider comes on a red horse. This speaks of the ravages of a great
world-wide war. It is not likely that this war is started by the rider on the white horse, since, as
the previous verses indicate, he is seen as a messianic hero.
Before we consider what this particular war might be, let us recall that Jesus told us that
the period leading up to the Tribulation would be characterized by ―wars and rumors of wars‖
(Matthew 24:6; Mark 13:7).
People of all ages have been subjected to the horrors of war, but in our generation we
have had an almost constant pre-occupation with war. There are usually several wars going on at
various places in the world at the same time. There have been as many as forty at one time in our
lifetime.
World War I was called “The War to end all war.” It did not end war. It only taught us
more about how to fight in a more deadly way, using the air to deliver death from the sky.
World War II brought the world to the brink of nuclear destruction, introducing the first
use of the atomic bomb. The Korean War and The Vietnam War were very disheartening
because of the great loss of life without gaining a definite victory. The Vietnam War was
especially frustrating to Americans causing great internal strife at home as well as the loss of
lives abroad.
The Persian Gulf War brought us the ability to “be there” as an audience in the thick of
the battle by way of television–even as bombs were dropped. This war also introduced us to
“smart weapons” that could find their way to the exact buildings great distances away for which
they were programmed.
The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 against New York‘s Twin Towers and
Washington D.C.‘s, Pentagon gave cause for wars against Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Saddam
Hussein‘s reckless dictatorship in Iraq.
It is interesting that Jesus not only foretold the abundance of wars, but also that there
would be ―rumors‖ of war. Some of our generations‘ variations on war could qualify as
―rumors.‖ The intense ―Cold War‖ lasted from the end of World War II until the demise of the
Soviet Union on December 25, 1991. It was a serious battle of words and philosophies, mainly
between the United States and Russia over our mutual capabilities to destroy the world with
nuclear weapons. By the 1960‘s the U.S. and Russia both had developed Hydrogen bombs with
1000 times the destructive power of the ones used to end World War II.85
At the height of
nuclear stockpiling, in 1986, there were more than 65,000 nuclear weapons, which was enough
to destroy the world many times over.86 Before the dissolution of the Soviet Union our defense
policy was called MAD (Mutual Assured Destruction), meaning that we did not have anything
that could actually destroy incoming missiles with atomic warheads, but were counting on the
fact that no one would attack us since they would be destroyed in retaliation.
Another ―rumor‖ aspect to war is the endless tension of the ―War on Terrorism.‖ It is fed
by the previously unimagined power of the Internet to spread fear and misinformation. The
Middle East is constantly upset by frequent acts of terrorism, but nearly every nation is affected
by its reach as well.
Cyberwar could also be called a rumor of war. It is the threat that professional
hackers could break into vital control systems of an enemy‘s superstructure to disrupt their
communications, their transportation, their electrical or water supplies, their financial systems or
other necessary functions. Computer ―viruses,‖ ―worms,‖ and other threats have grown along
with the advance of computing power. In 2010 a shocking break-through in this technology
came to light. The so-called ―Stuxnet malware‖ infiltrated industrial computer systems
worldwide. It was a search-and-destroy weapon meant to hit a single target, presumed to be
Iran‘s nuclear facilities. It has the unprecedented ability to cause the control computers in these
targets to allow malfunctions of equipment that could cause it to self-destruct.
War has been more common down through history than we might at first suppose.
Bruce Menzies in his online book, ―Studies in Eschatology,‖ says,
“The Norwegian Academy of Sciences has determined
that since 3600 BC there have been 14,531 wars
and only 292 years of peace.
This is approximately 2.6 wars per year,
and one year of ‘peace’ out of every two decades,
or a little over 36 hours of peace per month,
or about a minute of peace every four hours.”87
When the seals are opened God will release, step by step, the last restraints holding back
the evil that already exists in men’s hearts. Even now in our violent age bad men, as well as
good, enjoy “common grace” from God–and a great deal of protection every day of our lives, all
from God’s benevolent hand. We ought to be thankful every day for this restraining hand of God
that allows us to live in comfort most of the time. But the end time is a season in which evil is
allowed to run its full course, unchecked and unimpeded–except for God’s final intervention.
One possibility for this war was given by Ray Stedman in his message called “Four Terrible
Horsemen:”
This rider is easy to recognize. It is war, of course, but not war between great armies–at least not
at first. The word for “slay” is really the word “slaughter.” It is a reference to civil war or civil
anarchy where mobs of people group together to attack and destroy other peoples whom they do
not like… We have had further examples of it in El Salvador, in Nicaragua, and in the gang wars
raging in the streets of Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, and other places. It is a murderous
slaying of others by people unrestrained by any control.88
Another possibility is that this is the war of Ezekiel 38 and 39 that results in fiery
destruction of the aggressors from the north when they try to conquer Israel. This could very
possibly escalate to nuclear warfare, which involves more than one of the present-day nuclear
powers. The emerging world dictator could take credit for the destruction of Israel’s invaders, or
at least take advantage of the situation, to bring about the seven-year peace treaty between
himself and Israel that was prophesied by Daniel. If this is the case, this war would take place at
the very beginning of the seven years of the Tribulation.
