Three Things You Can Expect to Happen – Revelation 6:1-17; 8:1
6 I watched as the Lamb broke the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say with 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. He came conquering, indeed, he went out in order to conquer.
(3) When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” (4) Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given authority to remove peace from the earth and to cause men to slay each other. The rider was given a large sword.
(5) When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a black horse. Its rider held a pair of scales in his hand. (6) Then I heard what sounded like a voice in the midst of the four living creatures, saying, “A liter of wheat for a day’s wages* and three liters of barley for a day’s wages,* but do not damage the olive oil or the wine!”
(7) When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” (8) I looked, and there before me was a pale horse. The name of its rider was Death, and Hades followed close behind him. They were given authority to kill a fourth of the earth with the sword and with famine and with pestilence and by means of the wild beasts of the earth.
(9) When the Lamb opened the fifth seal, I saw beneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain on account of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. (10) They cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Master, you who are holy and true, will you refrain from judging those who dwell on the earth and avenging our blood?” (11) Each one of them was given a white robe, and they were told to rest for a little while longer, until their fellow servants and brothers, who were destined to be killed just as they had been, shall have finished their course.
(12) I watched as the Lamb opened the sixth seal. When he did so, there was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat’s hair, the whole moon turned blood red, (13) and the stars of the heavens fell to the earth like unripe figs fall from a fig tree when it is shaken by a strong wind. (14) The sky receded like a scroll rolling up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. (15) Then the kings of the earth, and the princes, and the generals, and the wealthy, and the mighty, and every slave and free man, hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains. (16) They say to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, (17) for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?” … 8 And when the Lamb broke open the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
*Literally, “for a denarius”
Now proceed to the next section of this study, entitled, Exploring the Passage.
