The Lamb opens the first six seals
6
📚And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals 📖, and I heard one of the four living beings say in a voice like thunder, “Come and see 📖”.The rise of antichrist
2 📚And I looked and saw a white horse 📖, and he who sat on it 📖 had a bow. And a crown was given to him, and he went forth conquering, and to conquer 📖.
War
3 📚And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second living being say, “Come and see”. 4 📚And there went out another horse, a red one, and he who sat on it was given power to take peace from the earth, and to cause men to kill one another. And a great sword was given to him.
6:3-4 Toward the end of this age there will be much warfare (compare Matt 24:6-8). “Take peace from the earth” suggests that the whole world will be caught up in the coming struggle for power.⚜
Famine
5 📚And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third living being say, “Come and see”. And I looked and a black horse appeared. And he who sat on it had a pair of balances in his hand. 6 📚And I heard a voice among the four living beings say, “A measure 📖 of wheat for a day’s wage 📖, and three measures of barley for a day’s wage; and see that you do not damage the oil and the wine”.
Death and Hades
7 📚And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living being say, “Come and see”. 8 📚And I looked and a pale horse appeared. And he who sat on it was named Death, and Hades 📖 followed along after him. And power was given to them over the fourth part of the earth 📖, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts 📖 of the earth.
Martyrs in the Great Tribulation
9 📚And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar 📖 the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held. 10 📚And they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will you refrain from judging those who live on the earth and avenging our blood 📖?” 11 📚And white robes 📖 were given to each one of them, and they were told that they should rest a little longer 📖, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers who would be killed, as they had been, was completed.
6:9-11 The scene indicates persecution and martyrdom for Christ’s servants, and probably points to the “great tribulation” or “great distress” at the end of this age – Rev 7:17; Matt 24:21.⚜
Signs of the Day of the Lord
12 📚And I looked when he had opened the sixth seal, and immediately 📖 there was a great earthquake 📖, and the sun became as black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood, 13 📚and the stars of heaven fell to the earth, just as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind. 14 📚And the heaven receded like a scroll when it is rolled up, and all the mountains and islands were moved out of their places.
15 📚And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every slave, and every free man hid themselves in the dens and among the rocks of the mountains, 16 📚and said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath 📖 of the Lamb 📖! 17 📚For the great day of his wrath has come, and who will be able to stand?”
6:12-17 Compare the changes in sun, moon and stars with Matt 24:29. These are events which will take place after the “great tribulation” of which Christ spoke in Matt 24:21. This means that the great tribulation takes place sometime under the opening of the first five seals, before the sixth seal is opened. But these changes in sun, moon and stars take place before the “Day of the Lord”. See Acts 2:19-20. Therefore the Day of the Lord is not the same as the great tribulation. The Day of the Lord will bring God’s anger and vengeance against the people of the world – vs 10,16,17; 1 Thess 5:2-3; 1 Pet 3:10; Isa 13:6-13. The great tribulation is the anger and persecution Satan and evil men pour on God’s people at the end of this age – Rev 12:12; 13:7.
The great tribulation and the Day of the Lord are separated by these unmistakable signs in sun, moon and stars. The one comes before these signs, the other comes after them. It is very important to see this. We should not think that both the great tribulation and the Day of the Lord happen in the exact same period of time, and are the same thing. This is to confuse two things that God has separated. Those who do not distinguish between these two separate periods of time are failing to take into consideration some very important information He has given us about the time of the end. So they will inevitably make mistakes in their interpretation of the Revelation.⚜
6:15-17 See Isa 2:9-21 which also speaks of the Day of the Lord.⚜