Revelation Chapter 6

The First Seal

VERSE 1 “Now I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals; and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a voice like thunder, “Come and see.”

The LAMB (Jesus) breaks the First Seal. The breaking of the Seals is representative of revealing the major prophetic tendencies of each of the periods.

ONE OF THE FOUR LIVING ONES:

It seems important in the series of the first four Seals that we know WHICH “beast” or LIVING ONE is meant since they are numbered. The answer, then, should come from Rev 4:7 where they are BOTH named and numbered:

1. LION (Power)

2. CALF (Justice)

3. MAN (Love)

4. EAGLE (Wisdom)

The opinions of brethren differ on the first two. It seems most convincing, however, that the Calf should represent justice since it was the animal that satisfied justice in the tabernacle, and that the lion should represent power even as Jesus and Satan are both represented by lions and are the two powerful antagonists of the Bible.

So: ONE of the four living ones, THE LION (power) says with A VOICE OF THUNDER . . . . Thunder represents controversy from preceding flashes of light (truths). The great bursts of light which Jesus brought on the scene caused all kinds of controversy, and the POWER of the truth to divide and to edify became immediately evident.

“COME”: —the words, “and see,” which follow here (Rev. 6:1) and in Rev. 6:3, 5, 7 do not find support in the oldest MSS; however, from what follows in the context, it is evident that “Come and see,” is not necessarily an improper or incorrect thought.

In each of the first four Seals, the Living one (one of God’s Attributes) is inviting us to inspect the results of the opened Seal. It seems VERY LIKELY that all Seven Seals refer to conditions near the END of the period rather than in the beginning. Therefore, the invitation to COME (and see) seems to be an invitation to look back at what happened as the result of the period once the angel to the church at the time had spread his message or sounded his Trumpet. Experiences are understood when they are over, not when they are being experienced. (New Albany Notes on Revelation)

VERSE 2 “And I looked, and behold, a white horse. He who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.”

(The Authorized Version incorrectly says “to conquer” it should read “he might conquered”)

A VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: There seem to be two very viable but different explanations for the first seal.

The first (the typical explanation) is that the John Class looks back and sees a WHITE HORSE —the pure doctrine available to the Ephesus period of the Church (“the faith once for all delivered to the saints” Jude 3). He who sat on it: Jesus and His appointed representatives, the Apostles, controlled the doctrine of the First Church.

He had a BOW: Psa 18:14 gives one example of how the arrows (stinging and sharp use of information) are used by God toward His enemies. Jesus and his Apostles, likewise, had sharp and direct retorts against the enemies of the new truths.

AND A CROWN WAS GIVEN TO HIM: Jesus had the laurels of victory bestowed by God upon His resurrection —the authority granted to do many works in the name of the Father. He DID go out conquering and to conquer the hearts and affections of the faith class that were to be his disciples.” (New Albany Notes on Revelation, Edited)

In our next post we will present one more perspective of the first view as explained by another brother.