*The 7 Seals*

{ June 4, 2010 @ 9:17 am } · { Uncategorized }

Note: The first section of this post is what I have learned and retained from class presentations. The second section is from my separate study of Revelation. It is not complete, but a work in progress. It’s something that I am in the process of studying and will continue to learn more in the future. 

Seven Seals of Revelation 6 & 8:1 – First Section

The first four seals pertain to horses, symbolic of churches in the last days. In the Bible, a horse represents a church.

Song of Solomon 1:9 says, “I have compared you, my love, to my filly among Pharaoh’s chariots.”

Ephesians 5:31, 32 says, “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.”

• Horse = Woman. Woman = Church. Church = Protestant Churches from 1844 onward.

 

1^st Seal:

There is first a noise of thunder, like the 7 thunders of Rev. 10. These thunders are the 1^st & 2^nd Angel’s Messages.

Then there is a white horse that is seen and he goes forth conquering and to conquer. This white horse is the early Advent movement in North America from 1840-1844 who accepted the new truth concerning the 2300 day prophecy. They understood the 3 Angels Messages and went forth proclaiming the message to leave Babylon.

These people were given crowns when they go to the marriage. These crowns are Christ’s character.

2^nd Seal:

There is a second horse that is red colored. These are the people who heard the message, but rejected it and didn’t leave Babylon. They went from being blessed by God to being cursed. They were given a great sword, which is the Word of God.

“When faithful teachers expound the Word of God, there arise men of learning, ministers professing to understand the Scriptures, who denounce sound doctrine as heresy, and thus turn away inquirers after truth. Were it not that the world is hopelessly intoxicated with the wine of Babylon, multitudes would be convicted and converted by the plain, cutting truths of the word of God. But religious faith appears so confused and discordant that the people know not what to believe as truth. The sin of the world’s impenitence lies at the door of the church.” – GC 389.1

They make people believe their false doctrines of the Bible and kill them spiritually.

3^rd Seal:

A third horse is seen that is a black color. He that sat upon the horse held a pair of balances in his hand.

In Hebrew, the word “zugos” means bonding/yoke for slavery.

“Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage…Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.” – Galations 5:1, 4, 5.

Black, or darkness, means that you have an absence of light. Darkness cannot exist unless you have no light. This church had an absence of spiritual light because they neglected to accept of reject the Angel’s Messages. Christ’s light didn’t dwell in them any more because they had rejected Him and the calling to leave Babylon.

 A voice was then heard in the midst of these 4 beasts (4 seals) saying, “A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.” – Rev. 6:6.

• Grain = Seed = Word of God. The word of God was scarce and hard to find.
• Oil = Holy Spirit.
• Wine = Christ’s Atoning Blood
• They were not to hurt [remove] Christ’s intercession in the holy place.

 

4^th Seal:

A fourth horse is seen which is a pale color. His rider’s name was Death and power was given him over a 4^th part of the earth. This horse represents the Sunday Law being instituted in the union of church and state.

“The second angel’s message of Revelation 14 was first preached in the summer of 1844, and it then had a more direct application to the churches of the United States, where the warning of the judgment had been most widely proclaimed and most generally rejected, and where the declension in the churches had been most rapid. But the message of the second angel did not reach its complete fulfillment in 1844. The churches then experienced a moral fall, in consequence of their refusal of the light of the advent message; but that fall was not complete. As they have continued to reject the special truths for this time they have fallen lower and lower. Not yet, however, can it be said that “Babylon is fallen,… because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.” She has not yet made all nations do this. The spirit of world conforming and indifference to the testing truths for our time exists and has been gaining ground in churches of the Protestant faith in all the countries of Christendom; and these churches are included in the solemn and terrible denunciation of the second angel. But the work of apostasy has not yet reached its culmination. {GC 389.2} The Bible declares that before the coming of the Lord, Satan will work “with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness;” and they that “received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved,” will be left to receive “strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.” 2 Thessalonians 2:9-11. Not until this condition shall be reached, and the union of the church with the world shall be fully accomplished throughout Christendom, will the fall of Babylon be complete. The change is a progressive one, and the perfect fulfillment of Revelation 14:8 is yet future.” {GC 389.3}

 

5^th Seal:

The fifth seal is the judgment of the righteous dead, starting at 1844 and ending at the Sunday Law. White robes of righteousness is given to the righteous dead and the martyrs at the Marriage in the Most Holy Place, beginning at 1844.

     “Opening of the Fifth Seal.–When the fifth seal was opened, John the Revelator in vision saw beneath the altar the company that were slain for the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. After this came the scenes described in the eighteenth of Revelation, when those who are faithful and true are called out from Babylon [Revelation 18:1-5 quoted] (MS 39, 1906).”  {7BC 968.5}

• From this quote, it seems to prove dual fulfillment because it says that Revelation 18 comes after the 5^th seal. Revelation 18 happens at the end of time, so it must mean that the events of the seals in Revelation 6 happen again in their second fulfillment in the last days before the second coming.

“White robes were given to each righteous dead person at the marriage in the most holy place” -Rev. 19:7, 8.

 

6^th Seal:

Is at the same time as plagues 5, 6, & 7. The context is God’s people being delivered and the wicked’s reaction to the glory of God.

The events in verses 12-13:

Great Earthquake: great Lisbon earthquake in 1755

Dark Day: 1780 (Tying in with the 5^th plague: kingdom full of darkness.)

(1260 Days End: 1798. Mark 13:24 “In those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give her light.”)

Meteoric shower: November 13, 1833.

And then in verse 15-16 is at the 7^th plague. Earthquakes shake the earth and hail stones fall from heaven. (Rev. 16:17-21.)  Men are hiding themselves from the wrath of God.

It is at midnight that God manifests His power for the deliverance of His people. The sun appears, shining in its strength. Signs and wonders follow in quick succession. The wicked look with terror and amazement upon the scene, while the righteous behold with solemn joy the tokens of their deliverance. Everything in nature seems turned out of its course. … whence comes the voice of God like the sound of many waters, saying: “It is done.” Revelation 16:17.  {GC 636.2} That voice shakes the heavens and the earth. There is a mighty earthquake, “such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.” Verses 17, 18. The firmament appears to open and shut. The glory from the throne of God seems flashing through. The mountains shake like a reed in the wind, and ragged rocks are scattered on every side. There is a roar as of a coming tempest. The sea is lashed into fury. There is heard the shriek of a hurricane like the voice of demons upon a mission of destruction. The whole earth heaves and swells like the waves of the sea. Its surface is breaking up. Its very foundations seem to be giving way. Mountain chains are sinking. Inhabited islands disappear. The seaports that have become like Sodom for wickedness are swallowed up by the angry waters. Babylon the great has come in remembrance before God, “to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath.” Great hailstones, every one “about the weight of a talent,” are doing their work of destruction. Verses 19, 21. The proudest cities of the earth are laid low. The lordly palaces, upon which the world’s great men have lavished their wealth in order to glorify themselves, are crumbling to ruin before their eyes. Prison walls are rent asunder, and God’s people, who have been held in bondage for their faith, are set free.  {GC 636.3}

7^th Seal:

At the opening of the 7^th seal, there was silence in heaven for a half hour.

“Before His presence “all faces are turned into paleness;” upon the rejecters of God’s mercy falls the terror of eternal despair.  ”The heart melteth, and the knees smite together, . . . and the faces of them all gather blackness.” Jeremiah 30:6; Nahum 2:10. The righteous cry with trembling: “Who shall be able to stand?” The angels’ song is hushed, and there is a period of awful silence. Then the voice of Jesus is heard, saying: “My grace is sufficient for you.” The faces of the righteous are lighted up, and joy fills every heart. And the angels strike a note higher and sing again as they draw still nearer to the earth.” {GC 641.1} 

• This time period of half an hour is literal because prophetic time ended at 1844 so everything after that is literal.
• The 7^th seal completes the plan or redemption, being that it is the second coming.

 

Second Section

4^th Seal:

The name of the one who rode the horse was Death and hell followed him. He was given power over a fourth of the earth to kill with a sword, with hunger, with death, and with the beasts of the earth.

The fourth seal seems to point to the early Christian persecution, starting in the time of Nero. They threw thousands of Christians into arenas to be tortured and eaten by wild beasts. They would starve them and kill them mercilessly by the thousands.

“These persecutions, beginning under Nero about the time of the martyrdom of Paul, continued with greater or less fury for centuries…Great numbers were thrown to wild beasts or burned alive in the amphitheaters. Some were crucified; others were covered with the skins of wild animals, and thrust into the arena to be torn by dogs. Their punishment was often made the chief entertainment at public fetes. Vast multitudes assembled to enjoy the sight, and greeted their dying agonies with laughter and applause.”  {GC88 40.1}

 

5^th Seal:

In the 4th seal, we see the Christians being slain for their faith. In the 5^th seal, John was shown under the altar the souls that were slain for the word of God and for their testimony.

7SDA Bible Commentary, 778 “It appears that the symbolization of the 5^th seal was presented to encourage those who faced martyrdom and death, with the assurance that despite the seeming triumph of the enemy, vindication would ultimately come. Such an encouragement would be particularly heartening for those living in the time of the terrible persecutions of the later Middle Ages, but more especially during the time of the Reformation and after. To them, it must have seemed that the long period of oppression would never end.”

John 16:2, 3 “They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me.”

But these saints were crying, How long do you not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? Judgment of dead starts at 1844 and continues to the Sunday Law. But it says, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth.” It says not judge. Is He maybe not judging them yet? Maybe this would be referring to the later executive judgment.

Verse 11 says white robes of righteousness were given to them, but then says they were to rest a little while longer because more martyrs were to be killed. There were many more Christians that gave their lives through the following centuries.    

Under the Altar

7SDA Bible Commentary, 778 “As the blood of the victims was poured our at the base of that altar (Lev. 4:7) and the life of the flesh is in the blood, so the souls of those who have given themselves in martyrdom may be thought of as being beneath the altar.”

Ex. 29:12 “…pour all the blood beside the bottom of the altar.”

Gen. 4:9, 10 “Thus the blood of Abel is said to have cried to God from the ground.”

Leviticus 4:7 “And the priest shall put [some] of the blood upon the horns of the altar of sweet incense before the LORD, which [is] in the tabernacle of the congregation; and shall pour all the blood of the bullock at the bottom of the altar of the burnt offering, which [is at] the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.”

Dual Fulfillment:

“Opening of the Fifth Seal.–When the fifth seal was opened, John the Revelator in vision saw beneath the altar the company that were slain for the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. After this came the scenes described in the eighteenth of Revelation, when those who are faithful and true are called out from Babylon [Revelation 18:1-5 quoted] (MS 39, 1906).”  {7BC 968.5}

It says that John was in vision when he saw the 5^th seal being opened. From reading the quote, it seems that the words “after this” refer to the next part of his vision. John was shown the 5^th seal and after this God showed him the scenes in Revelation 18. It doesn’t seem to refer to a dual fulfillment, only the next part of his vision.

“Events in the train of prophecy that had their fulfillment away in the past are made future, and thus by these theories the faith of some is undermined.” {2SM 102.2}

“There are those who are searching the Scriptures for proof that these messages are still in the future. They gather together the truthfulness of the messages, but they fail to give them their proper place in prophetic history. Therefore such are in danger of misleading the people in regard to locating the messages. They do not see and understand the time of the end, or when to locate the messages.” {Ev 613.1}

It seems like Ellen White, herself, doesn’t endorse placing a second fulfillment upon a prophecy. I know the books of the Old Testament and the Gospels have dual fulfillment, but does that apply to Revelation?

 

6^th Seal:

Great Earthquake: great Lisbon earthquake in 1755

Dark Day: 1780

(1260 Days End: 1798. Mark 13:24 “In those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give her light.”)

Meteoric shower happens in November 13, 1833.

“In 1833, two years after Miller began to present in public the evidences of Christ’s soon coming, the last of the signs appeared which were promised by the Saviour as tokens of His second advent. Said Jesus: “The stars shall fall from heaven.” Matthew 24:29. And John in the Revelation declared, as he beheld in vision the scenes that should herald the day of God: “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 6:13. This prophecy received a striking and impressive fulfillment in the great meteoric shower of November 13, 1833.” {GC88 332.4}

“The holy places of the sanctuary in Heaven are represented by the two apartments in the sanctuary on earth. As in vision the apostle John was granted a view of the temple of God in Heaven, he beheld there “seven lamps of fire burning before the throne.” [Revelation 4:5.] He saw an angel “having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.” [Revelation 8:3.] Here the prophet was permitted to behold the first apartment of the sanctuary in Heaven; and he saw there the “seven lamps of fire” and the “golden altar” represented by the golden candlestick and the altar of incense in the sanctuary on earth. Again, “the temple of God was opened,” [Revelation 11:19.] and he looked within the inner veil, upon the holy of holies. Here he beheld “the ark of His testament,” represented by the sacred chest constructed by Moses to contain the law of God.”  {GC88 414.1}

In this quote, Ellen White says that at the 7^th seal, Revelation 8:1-5, that John   was in the first apartment of the sanctuary. This seems to mean the seven seals had to occur before 1844. In Revelation 11:19, it says that “the temple of God was opened, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament.” This is the point which the Most Holy Place was opened.

“The temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in His temple the ark of His testament.” Revelation 11:19. The ark of God’s testament is in the holy of holies, the second apartment of the sanctuary. In the ministration of the earthly tabernacle, which served “unto the example and shadow of heavenly things,” this apartment was opened only upon the great Day of Atonement for the cleansing of the sanctuary. Therefore the announcement that the temple of God was opened in heaven and the ark of His testament was seen points to the opening of the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary in 1844 as Christ entered there to perform the closing work of the atonement. Those who by faith followed their great High Priest as He entered upon His ministry in the most holy place, beheld the ark of His testament. As they had studied the subject of the sanctuary they had come to understand the Saviour’s change of ministration, and they saw that He was now officiating before the ark of God, pleading His blood in behalf of sinners.”  {GC 433.1} 

The quote in GC 636.2.3, talks about the final scenes of history, earthquakes and hail falling from heaven (7^th plague), but the quote doesn’t refer to men hiding themselves in mountains and calling rocks to fall on them to hide from the Lamb. It only talks about the weather, but nothing of Revelation 6:15-16.

Side NOTE:

Rev. 7:1 says, “And after these things, I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth…(verse 3) Hurt not the earth…till we have sealed the servants or our God in their foreheads.”

• Verse 1 says “After these things”. Verse 3 says to not hurt the earth until the saints are sealed. The sealing of the 144,000 is finished at the close of probation with the falling of the latter rain. Sealing the servants of God happens from the declaration of the Sunday Law until the close of probation.
• In the quote of 7BC 968.5, it says, “When the fifth seal was opened, John the Revelator in vision saw beneath the altar the company that were slain for the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. After this came the scenes described in the eighteenth of Revelation, when those who are faithful and true are called out from Babylon [Revelation 18:1-5 quoted].” If the quote is interpreted as dual fulfillment, it would mean that Revelation 18 comes right after the 5^th seal in time prophecy. That means that in Rev. 7:1 when it says, “After these things [the events of the 6^th seal] I saw four angels…” it would then be interpreted that after the 6^th seal, the angels were bidden to hold back until the saints are sealed at the close of probation. This would place the 6^th seal prior to the close of probation.

 

Yet I found this quote: “The King of kings descends upon the cloud, wrapped in flaming fire. The heavens are rolled together as a scroll, the earth trembles before Him, and every mountain and island is moved out of its place.” {GC 641.2} When the Lamb returns (vs. 14), the heavens will open as a scroll and the earth’s surface is move out of place. This would place this part of the seal at the second coming. This is after the close of probation and the 7 plagues, so the reasoning doesn’t fit together very well.