THE THIRD SEAL

Revelation Chapter 6

VERSE 5 “When He opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come and see.” So, I looked, and behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand.”

This Seal deals with the scarcity of good spiritual food due to the apostasy’s having gained control of dictating how much doctrine is appropriate and “correct.” This is the period which begins the Dark Ages and in which the collective “church” (the apostate church) is more important than the individual and his relationship to God — a vital relationship which is not to be stressed again until the Church of “brotherly love.”

I HEARD THE THIRD LIVING CREATURE SAY:

The Third creature (or attribute of God), represents Love (face like that of a man). Love is particularly offended during Pergamos. The rising apostasy does not favor an attitude of love for the individual, but rather for the organization, thus defying this great attribute.

(Compare Rev 12:11 where the ascendant man of sin attributes glory to martyrs because BY THEIR MARTYRDOM the apostate system had its victory over Rome.)

“COME AND SEE.” SO, I LOOKED, AND BEHOLD, A BLACK HORSE:

Black absorbs rather than reflects light. This is the period which selfishly uses Scripture, history, or anything else to support its power play. This horse is black because the doctrine was supplanted by the Nicene Creed. Creeds and church traditions and the “apostolic” dictates from the powerful bishops have all supplanted the authority of the Scriptures. Thus, there is lack of light; thus, it is called the Dark Ages. (See also Lam. 5:10 KJV.)

AND HE WHO SAT ON IT: The controller of doctrine was the apostasy evolving quickly into what would become the Papacy.

HAD A PAIR OF SCALES IN HIS HAND:

It was imperative to the development of the apostate power that it control (the hand representing control) what people would be fed — weigh out the victuals.

Information management is one of the first objectives of any would-be dictator.

During Pergamos the period begins in which the Scriptures are clothed in sackcloth (Rev 11:3, viz., Latin = the dead language). It is during this period that the famine for the hearing of the Word of the Lord begins (Amos 8:11, 12). Scales used in conjunction with food items symbolize scarcity. See Lev. 16:26; Ezek. 4:16.

VERSE 6 “And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not harm the oil and the wine.”

AND I HEARD A VOICE IN MIDST OF FOUR LIVING ONES:

This voice is almost certainly God Himself. (Compare Ezek. 1:24, 25.) It is a VERY COMFORTING VOICE. This is the period during which the Church is forced into the wilderness to be fed there by God. This VOICE is the reassurance that, though a great famine is being FORCED on the world by the apostates, GOD HIMSELF is dictating the MINIMUM food available. He will not allow the horseman to decide how much is available. As He did with the troubles of Job, He now does for His Church: He says:

THIS MUCH famine you can enforce, NO MORE!

Some helpful definitions:

A denarius (a penny) as in the Lord’s parable symbolizes the pay for a day’s labor.

A quart (a measure – KJV) symbolizes the MINIMUM amount needed to live on. Three quarts (or measures) represents comfortable eating.

Wheat (or the bread made from it) symbolizes the Church AND their food. See Psa. 104:15; Amos 8:11, 12; Matt. 3:12; Matt 13:30; Psa. 81:13, 16; Psa. 147:11, 14.

Barley symbolizes commonly known truths, such as Jesus’ Resurrection, his ability to forgive sin, etc., etc. Note for instance that when Jesus feeds the MULTITUDES (as opposed to his disciples) He uses BARLEY LOAVES (John 6:9, 13).

Oil symbolizes the Holy Spirit.

Wine (1 Cor. 10:16) symbolizes (among other things) the ability to partake in the Sin-Offering with Jesus.

With these definitions, the remaining words of the third Seal are easy of interpretation: God dictates the minimums:

A QUART OF WHEAT FOR A DENARIUS:

Wheat: the deeper truths which are necessary to sustain spiritual life will be hard to find — laboring all day (pictured by the denarius) will be needed; but that labor WILL result in no less than the needed amount of sustenance.

AND THREE QUARTS OF BARLEY FOR A DENARIUS:

Barley: The basic truths which will attract people to Christianity and to tentative justification will be available in good amounts if the labor to find them be expended. (The apostasy not only DID NOT HIDE basic truths, but they PROMOTED them. Even the service of the Mass promotes God’s mercies, some correct creedal statements, praise toward God, and Jesus as the Lamb which takes away the sin of the world.)

AND DO NOT HARM THE OIL AND THE WINE:

The statement is clear that the development of the Church will progress even in these dark times. The apostasy was told plainly it could not harm the work of the Holy Spirit – the spirit of consecration of true saints; nor could they harm (hinder in any way) the wine – the opportunity for those true saints to make their callings and elections sure as participators in the sin-offering wine.

We will take a look at the Third Trumpet in our next post.