The stage is set with God on the throne - four living creatures, 24
elders and 100,000 angels, giving praise to the lamb that was slain who is the
only one worthy to open the 7 seals on the scroll.
The 7 scenes of Act two take place before this audience. Act 1 was on earth - Act 2 begins in heaven
but moves back and forth between the two.
This was done easily in Greek drama because the actors (all male) used
masks for different characters. They
change the mask form heavenly beings to earthly beings. But the first 4 scenes/seals present us with
a problem - they involve the riding of horses. I have seen outdoor dramas that
use horses - did they do that 2000 years ago?
Rev 6:1-2
I watched as
the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four
living creatures (lion) say in a voice like
thunder, "Come!" 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.
Rev 6:3-4
When the Lamb
opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature (Ox) say, "Come!" Then 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.
Rev 6:5-6
When the Lamb
opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature (man) say, "Come!" I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. Then I heard what
sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, "A quart of
wheat for a day's wages, and three quarts of barley for a day's wages, and do
not damage the oil and the wine!" Man does live by
bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God!
Rev 6:7-8
When the Lamb
opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature (eagle)
say, "Come!" I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named
Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a
fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts
of the earth. (Conquest, war, famine, death)
Rev 6:9-11
When he opened the fifth seal, I saw
under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of
God and the testimony they had maintained. (These are the martyrs = witnesses.
People like Stephen, all the disciples but John, Paul. Polycarp was a
disciple of John and he ordained him bishop of Smyrna. As Polycarp was being taken into the arena, a
voice came to him from heaven: “Be strong, Polycarp and
play the man!” The Proconsul
tried to persuade him to apostatize, saying, “Have respect for your old age, swear
by the fortune of Caesar. Repent, reproach Christ, and I will set you free.”
“86 years have I have served him,” Polycarp
declared, “and he has done me no wrong. How can I
blaspheme my King and my Savior?”
“I have wild animals here,” the Proconsul
said. “I
will throw you to them if you do not repent.” “Call
them,” Polycarp replied. “If you despise the animals, I will have you burned.”
“You threaten me with fire which burns for an hour,
and is then extinguished, but you know nothing of the fire of the coming
judgment and eternal punishment, reserved for the ungodly. Why are you waiting?
Bring on whatever you want.”
When
they went to fix him with nails, he said, “Leave me
as I am, for he that gives me strength to endure the fire, will enable me not
to struggle, without the help of your nails.” So they simply bound him with his hands
behind him like a distinguished ram chosen from a great flock for sacrifice.
Ready to be an acceptable burnt-offering to God, he looked up to heaven, and
said, “O Lord God Almighty, the Father of your
beloved and blessed Son Jesus Christ, by whom we have received the knowledge of
you, the God of angels, powers and every creature, and of all the righteous who
live before you, I give you thanks that you count me worthy to be numbered
among your martyrs, sharing the cup of Christ and the resurrection to eternal
life, both of soul and body, through the immortality of the Holy Spirit. May I
be received this day as an acceptable sacrifice, as you, the true God, have
predestined, revealed to me, and now fulfilled. I praise you for all these
things, I bless you and glorify you, along with the everlasting Jesus Christ,
your beloved Son. To you, with him, through the Holy Ghost, be glory both now
and forever. Amen.”
The
fire was lit, and the flame blazed furiously. We who were privileged to witness
it saw a great miracle. The fire shaped itself into the form of an arch, and
formed a circle around the body of the martyr. Inside it, he looked not like
flesh that is burnt, but like bread that is baked.
Eventually, when those wicked men saw that his body could
not be consumed by the fire, they commanded an executioner to pierce him with a
dagger. When he did this [a dove flew out of his chest] and such a great
quantity of blood flowed that the fire was extinguished. The crowd was amazed
at the difference between the unbelievers and the elect.) They called out in a loud voice, "How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge
the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?" Then each of
them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until
the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they
had been was completed.
Rev 6:12-7:17
I watched as
he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black
like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, and the
stars in the sky fell to earth, as late figs drop from a fig tree when shaken
by a strong wind. The sky receded like a scroll, rolling up, and every mountain
and island was removed from its place.
Then the kings
of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave
and every free man hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. They
called to the mountains and 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! For the
great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?"
7 After this I
saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the
four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the
sea or on any tree. Then I saw another angel coming up from the east, having
the seal of the living God. He called out in a loud voice to the four angels
who had been given power to harm the land and the sea: "Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on
the foreheads of the servants of our God." Then I heard the number
of those who were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel.
From the tribe of Judah 12,000 were sealed, from Reuben, Gad, Asher, Naphtali,
Manasseh, Simeon, Levi, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph 12,000 from each tribe.
After this I
looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from
every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb.
They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.
And they cried out in a loud voice:
"Salvation
belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb."
All the angels
were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living
creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God,
saying: "Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and
thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!"
Then one of
the elders asked me, "These in white robes — who are they, and where did they
come from?" I answered, "Sir, you
know." And he said, "These are they who have come out of the great
tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of
the Lamb. (not their own blood) Therefore, they are before the throne of God and
serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will
spread his tent over them. Never again will they hunger; never again will they
thirst. The sun will not beat upon them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb
at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to
springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."
(They will receive everything
opposite of the wrath to come because they stood strong.)
Rev 8:1
When he opened the seventh
seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
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