In our previous lesson we learned that the seals of the book in the right hand of the one who sat upon the throne could not be broken open until the Lamb had been slain. The book represented the complete revelation of Jesus Christ and His kingdom. The "Lamb that was slain" is a reference to Calvary so none of the seals could have been opened until after Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, died on the cross. In this lesson, we will look at the seals themselves which are events or things that must happen after Calvary but before the complete revelation of God's plan to the world. These are "seals" that are sealing up the final events and so for the final things to take place, these seals must be "opened."

The first seal was a white horse and someone was sitting upon the horse with a bow. A crown was given to him and "he went forth conquering."

The second seal was a red horse which would take "peace from the earth" and to "kill one another" and as such a sword was given to him.

The third seal was a black horse and the rider held a pair of balances in his hand. We'll discuss verse 6 in a moment.

The fourth seal was another horse, this one a "pale" color. The name of the one that sat upon this horse was "death," and "hell followed with him." They were given power over a fourth of the entire earth to kill with famine, war, and hunger.

These first four seals, categorized by the four horses and riders, are often referred to by prophecy students as the "four horse men of the Apocalypse." Many theories have been proposed as to the identity of these horses, but we are going to allow scripture to interpret scripture by finding an Old Testament passage about the same vision. It turns out that Zechariah also prophesied about these horsemen and gives us additional information:

Zech 6:1 And I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came four chariots out from between two mountains; and the mountains were mountains of brass.

"Mountains, as we have seen, are usually representative of leadership or kingdoms and "brass" is representative in scripture of sin. (For example, everything in the outer court of Moses' Tabernacle was made of brass because that was the place where the sacrifice of sin was made). It is obvious that these chariots (which are pulled by horses) came from earthly kingdoms and were not necessarily a direct product of the kingdom of Jesus Christ.

These chariots came out together in Zechariah's vision so no particular order is given here, but the colors match: red, black, white, and "grisled and bay" or "pale" horses of various shades and tones! The fact that Zechariah saw them come out together seems to indicate that they are fulfilled in the same general time era.

Zechariah asked the question that we would have wanted him to ask: "what are these?" The angel responded by saying that they are "four spirits of the heavens." Notice not of "the heaven" that is they are not spirits that are of God's Spirit from his heavenly throne but of the "heavens," which have been "standing before the Lord of all the earth." In other words, these horses represent spirits that will be unleashed upon the earth that have been held back by God until the right time! Notice the similarity between the fact that the four horses of the first four seals in Revelation could not be opened or revealed until after the "Lamb had been slain." The similarities then are obvious between John's vision in Revelation and Zechariah's vision in this chapter: both saw horses that represented something else, both saw four horses, the colors match, and they could not be released or have been "standing" until a certain time was determined by God! The angel goes on to give more information about the black, white, and pale horses which we will cover in a moment, but let's go back to Revelation and, beginning with the red horse and using the additional information already provided by Zechariah, see if we can identify "these spirits in the earth" that are represented by the horses. Keep in mind that they are spirits that govern earthly kingdoms.

There is an international spirit that is in the earth today that is known as the "red power." We call it "communism." Nations that embrace this political "spirit" or philosophy are referred to as "red" nations. The three most prominent examples of Communism at the time of the writing of this study (2003) are North Korea, Cuba, and China. In fact, China is sometimes referred to as "Red China" because they are so drenched in communism. This spirit of communism teaches that the government should have complete control over the economic system of the individual and should firmly dictate all economic action. Disobedience to the system is usually punished severely and violently. Communism also teaches that, in times of unrest, people should violently rise up against their leaders and overthrow them. Therefore everywhere communism has sprung up, war and great bloodshed has been the result. This fits the prophecy perfectly that this "red spirit" would "take peace from the earth and kill one another." The time of the Cold War was brought on by fear of the then Communistic Soviet Union's development of nuclear warheads. Communism has always caused war and violence and unrest!

The rider of the black horse had a "pair of balances" in his hand. Balances are an international symbol of trade and commerce. There is an international spirit that embodies commerce, and it is called "capitalism." Capitalistic countries depend upon international trade and a competitive industrial market to balance the economy. That is, if you think that the food prices are too high in one store, then you can shop somewhere else because there are many places to choose from! Countries that are modern examples of capitalism are the United States, Germany, France, Spain, Great Britain, and just about every other wealthy nation.

A key aspect of capitalistic nations are their ability to buy and sell stocks and shares and commodities for profit at "stock exchanges." Verse 6 above sounds exactly like a stock market report as the voice dictated how much wheat and barley were selling for!" The voice also said "see thou hurt not the oil and the wine." The easiest way to get voted out of office in a capitalistic nation is to serve in a time when the economy suffers in that nation! In political columns and views, capitalism is often referred to as "the black power" especially when it is being contrasted with the "red" of communism (flip through some old Time magazines for examples)! The amazing point is that both John and Zechariah saw that these political systems would arise thousands of years ahead of their fulfillment and yet the spirits of capitalism and communism did not arise until after Calvary!

Much supposition has been given about what the white horse represented! Many people have been taught that this was the antichrist and others have taught that it was Jesus Christ, Himself! In view of the other horses, it would make sense for it to represent an international spirit that has influence in the whole earth before the coming of either the Antichrist or the second coming of Jesus Christ.

There is an international spirit which is represented by the color white and we call it the Roman Catholic Church. While parading as a religion, the Catholic church is actually extremely political in nature. The pope dresses in white, has a white car called the "popemobile," has a white helicopter, and a white jet plane! If he had a horse, then what color would it be? The rider also "was given" a crown. History teaches us that the first popes did not originally wear a crown but were given a crown in approximately 700 A.D. Also notice that he "went forth conquering, and to conquer." The Roman Catholic Church's main agenda is to "conquer" countries through political power. They do not fight physically but capture from within. The pope is considered the "vicar of the universe" or ruler of the world and if a leader is catholic, they are supposed to obey and listen to the voice of the pope. Some of the main political problems in recent years between the Vatican in Rome and the Catholic church in America have been because the American church refused to obey the political demands of the pope. Also, Catholicism did not arise until after Calvary fitting the prophecy perfectly!

The identity of the fourth horse is given for us: it is "death" and "hell" follows close behind. "Hell" is the resting place of those who die eternally lost and this is why it followed "death." Here death is listed as having three primary tools: 1. "the sword" or war and crime; 2. "hunger" or famine; 3. "beasts of the earth" or wild animals. All three are the most prevalent in third-world countries. Let's see if the rest of the information in Zechariah corresponds to our interpretations of the four horses in Revelation:

The black horses, representing capitalism, went into the "north country." It is interesting that the overwhelming majority of capitalistic countries are north of the earth's equator! The white horses, representing Catholicism, followed the black horses and, the primary religion of almost every capitalistic country is Roman Catholicism! The grisled horse, representing poverty, disease, and famine, went toward the south country, and indeed most of the third-world countries exist south of the earth's equator! The pale horse, representing death, walked "to and from through the earth" showing that death is not a respecter of persons, political climate, or region.

Then the angel talking to Zechariah "cried" out and told him that the horses that went into the north country have "quieted my spirit in the north country!" It was the black and the white horses that went into the north country! The economic blessings of capitalism and the formal traditionalism of Catholicism have indeed "quieted" the moving of God's Spirit throughout these countries! How come Ethiopia can have millions receive the Holy Ghost in a matter of weeks and yet in America most people do not even attend a church regularly, or if they do, they do their mass for one hour and walk out unchanged!? Because financial prosperity and the lies of a false religion have convinced people in America that they do not really need God but those in Ethiopia have no where else to turn for help but God! Even the Apostolic church in America must guard ourselves against becoming so caught up in having "things" and making money that we do not forget about the reason for living: serving God and spreading this glorious message!

The fifth seal is not a horse and is of an entirely different nature. It is the souls "under the altar" that "were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held" crying out to God asking how long it would be before the judgment of His wrath! The term soul here refers to the eternal part of man that lives on after the body decays. There are many things about this seal that we do not know but several things should become clear. First, these souls were killed for what they believed in and were thus martyrs. Secondly, when they cry out to God and the fifth seal is fulfilled, the wrath of God CANNOT begin to be poured out upon the earth at this time because they would not have to ask! Every year people are still killed for believing in this message and through the past thousand years of recent history, countless thousands of "Jesus freaks" have been martyred. In Genesis 4:10 we find that when Cain killed Abel, God said that Abel's blood was "crying from the ground." If the blood of one righteous man who was murdered cried out to God, then what are the blood of the thousands of martyrs doing today!? They "are crying out to God" in reminding Him that He is a just God and that justice must be served. We know that "blood" does not have a voice but that this is a metaphor for the fact that God is in constant remembrance of the evil that has been done in this world.

"White robes" signifying righteousness and it's product -- eternal life (see Revelation 19:8) where given to the martyrs and yet they were told that they must "rest yet for a little season," until more Christians were killed "as they were" should "be fulfilled." There are a couple points of truth that we can learn from this passage. First, the fifth seal cannot be after the Rapture of the church, because these righteous souls would undoubtedly go in the Rapture of the church and yet they are being told to "rest yet for a season." Second, they must wait until prophesied time of martyrs "should be fulfilled." What is the only time prophesied about great persecution against the church? The Great Tribulation which we have seen from Matthew chapter 24 happens BEFORE the wrath of God's judgment is poured out. The fifth seal, then either happens right before or during the Great Tribulation which is obviously the "little season" that is mentioned here.

In the sixth seal we have some of the same things that match every description of the wrath of God found in scripture. This is NOT the Great Tribulation because Satan cannot cause an earthquake or cause the sun to darken or stars to fall. These are things only God can do! The Great Tribulation is the wrath of Satan and the persecution of the Antichrist upon Israel and then the church, but the Wrath of God is God's judgment upon the Jews and the world for rejecting Him! We know that "God hath not appointed us to wrath" (I Thessalonians 5:9) but He has always allowed the church to go through persecution (see the Early Apostolic Church throughout the book of Acts)! So we know that the Rapture will have taken place before or at the time the sixth seal is opened!

Notice that the people in the world are trying to get away from the "wrath of the Lamb!" This is not the persecution of Satan or the Antichrist! And the next verse makes very clear what is happening:

It is the wrath of God! Before we go any further in our study let's look a side by side comparison of every major scriptural passage that describes the Wrath of God and we will notice a definite correlation. (This chart is similar to the one compiled by Irvin Baxter Jr. in "The Sequence of Endtime Events -- Understanding the Endtime -- Level 3" but my father-in-law has been using this correlation and comparison for over twenty years!)

It is obvious that these scriptures are all detailing the same event. We will come back and study the wrath of God in greater detail in a future lesson. For now, remember that the sixth seal is the wrath of God which is the judgment of God being poured out upon the earth.

Revelation 7:1-8 describes 144,000 Jews that were "sealed" at this time between the sixth and seventh seals. We will discuss these verses in detail with the other mention of the 144,000 Jews in Revelation 14:1-5.

Revelation 7:9-17 describes the redeemed church standing in heaven! Obviously the Rapture takes place at this time. We will discuss these verses in detail when we discuss the vision of the Simultaneous Harvest in Revelation chapter 14. When John sees detailed events such as these between seals or between trumpets, we refer to them as "parentheticals." That the sealing of the 144,000 Jews and the redeemed church getting to heaven are inserted here between the sixth and seventh seal tells us much about the timing of these events.

The seventh seal is simply described as silence in heaven for 30 minutes! We do not have any other information beyond the context of the verse to figure out why this silence comes. When we view this scripture in light of what we have learned about heaven, this is actually a very remarkable event: the angels stop crying "holy, holy, holy" maybe for the first time since their creation! The twenty-four elders stop in their worship for something. From the immediate context of the event there are two possible explanations of this event that make sense to me. First, heaven could be silenced as they watch with awe the wrath of God upon the earth that He created. Second, heaven could be silenced as they watch with awe the arrival of the bride (the church), for which God died, into heaven. I tend to lean toward the second because the scripture makes sure to mention such things as the "marriage supper of the Lamb" as an event (see Revelation 19:9)! When we study the wrath of God in detail we will find it lasts for a few weeks, so the fact that heaven is only quieted for thirty minutes would seem to point to the view that they are watching in awe the union of Jesus and His bride, the church!

To review, here is a list of the seven seals of Revelation and our interpretation or possible interpretation as we have discussed in this lesson:

1st Seal White Horse Catholicism Rev 6:2

2nd Seal Red Horse Communism Rev 6:3-4

3rd Seal Black Horse Capitalism Rev 6:5-6

4th Seal Pale Horse Death and Hell Rev 6:7-8

5th Seal Souls under the Before Tribulation Rev 6:9-11

Altar crying out

6th Seal Wrath of God After the Rapture Rev 6:12-17

and Tribulation

Parentetical verses with the sealing of the 144,000 Jews and the redeemed church standing in heaven (obviously after the Rapture of the church). Rev 7:1-17

7th Seal Silence in heaven Probably the Rev 8:1

for 30 minutes Marriage Supper of

the Lamb

The Seven Seals are definitely a portrait of the end-time events from a political viewpoint.