"The Seven Seals of Revelation"

"The Seven Seals of Revelation"

     The results of the First Seal of Revelation chapter six, opened by "the Lamb", the Lord Jesus Christ, Who will sequentially open all seven, coincides with His own unfolding of end time events in Matthew 24. Compare Revelation 6:1-14 with Matthew 24:5-29!  This striking parallel is a significant testimony to the Lords chronological unfolding of end-time events!

     The First Seal describes one who rides a white horse and conquers which portrays the Antichrist and his war victories. This beginning of end time events will occur approximately at the start of Daniel's Seventieth Week which is initiated by the signing of the Daniel 9:27 covenant. Matthew 24:4, 5 warns of false Christs also referring to the Antichrist and his activities.

     The Second Seal shows the Antichrist, riding a red horse, taking peace from the earth and killing with a great sword. This is the tenor of the times as the Antichrist will be on the rise formulating his ten nation power base through warring successfully. Matthew 24:6, 7 also speaks of wars and rumors of wars, nation rising against nation harmonizing with the flow of events spoken of in Revelation 6.

     The Third Seal, with the symbolic black horse and rider again depicting the Antichrist as he is the one responsible for the results described here, illustrates the conditions in time of famine which often follows the aftermath of war. Matthew 24:7b also calls attention to the presence of "famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places" also coming 'on the heels' of war.

     The Fourth Seal is opened showing the Antichrist in symbolism riding the pale horse, is one of Death, and Hell, killing, and hunger and more killing which parallels Matthew 24:7. This marks the approximate end of the first 3-1/2 years of Daniel's Seventieth Week which the Lord Jesus Christ specifically calls "the beginning of sorrows." (Matthew 24:8)

     The Fifth Seal of Revelation 6:9-11 brings about the escalating martyrdom of saints which the Lord in Matthew 24:9-13 directly states: "Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for My name's sake." The Antichrist's murderous persecution against those who will not receive his mark will greatly increase when he is revealed for who he really is after "The abomination of desolation" which occurs at the mid-point of Daniel's Seventieth Week.(Daniel 11:31; Matthew 24:15-22) 

     These verses describe a period of time beginning at the mid-point of the Seventieth Week up to the Lord's Return to rapture His saints which in essence shortens the Great Tribulation and therefore, preserves His elect! (Matthew 24:21, 22). Then the Sixth Seal is opened: "And, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind."(Revelation 6:12) 

     This, too, perfectly agrees with Matthew 24:29: "Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:"

The Rapture occurs:

"And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man (The Shekinah Glory) in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, and He shall send His angels with a sound of a great trumpet (The Last Trump), and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."

 (Matthew 24:30, 31).

   

     With God's people removed from earth, the Day of the Lord, God's Wrath can now begin! (Joel 2:30, 31; Acts 2:19, 20) It is initiated by the opening of the Seventh Seal (Revelation 6:17, 8:1ff). But, before this terrible worldwide judgment begins: "There was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour." (Revelation 8:1) Zephaniah 1:7 portrays this significantly overwhelming pause in this manner: "Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord God: for the Day of the Lord is at hand; for the Lord hath prepared a sacrifice, He hath bid His guests."

 

     The Seven Trumpet and Vial judgments follow as they are contained within the large scroll which is revealed by opening the last seal which kept the scroll from opening until now when the Seventh Seal is removed. These unprecedented judgments initiated by the Lord through His agents the angels make up the Wrath of God, the Day of the Lord. There is no mistaking His mighty hand in these overwhelming acts of judgment for "The Lord alone shall be exalted in that day."(Isaiah 2:11) 

     There will be no question as to the Source of these tumultuous, earth shaking events, for God and God alone will be recognized as the only One Who could bring about this severe but deserved judgment on unbelieving mankind, who in the face of all the supernatural devastation that takes place:

"Yet repented not of the works of their hands...Neither repented they of their murders, not of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, not of their thefts." (Revelation 9:20, 21)