Revelation 6 – 7

Lesson #12

The LAMB opens the Seals

The First 3 ½ Year Period of the Tribulation Chapters 6-11

The Seals, the Trumpets and the Witnesses

The Second 3 ½ Year Period of the Tribulation chapters 12-19

The Persecution, The Antichrist, the Seven Bowls, Babylon and Armageddon.

The book of Revelation can be described as a play with three acts; Act 1; Scene 1, - 3. Act 2: Scene 1 through 7. and Act 3; Scene 1-3. As you may recall at the beginning of these lessons we did mention this, but we will take a look back to see where we have been. This will help us now to know where we are going.

Act 1; Scene 1 – Chapter 1. The apostle on the Island of Patmos and his vision of Jesus.

Act 1; Scene 2 – Chapter 2 and 3. The letters to the seven churches.

Act 1; Scene 3 – Chapter 4. The church in heaven and the events in the third heaven.

Revelation 6:1-2 and Daniel 9:27 – The setting of Act 2; Scene 1; Seals 1 through 7. The place where the action is taking place is in the second heaven, and the events of the next seven years will be controlled by the seven horsemen who are given authority to control men and women on the earth, from the second heaven.

Prelude to the first 3 ½ Years.

The first Seal: The rider of the white horse is the Antichrist, he is the prince proclaiming peace and prosperity for Israel and with other nations too. By his charm and charisma he is able to will be able to present himself as Christ, but he is one that is bitterly opposed to Him. His crown is a counterfeit, notice that Christ Himself rides a white horse too. Revelation 19:11.

The second Seal: The rider of the fiery red horse is given authority to disrupt the peace of the peoples earth. Murder, suicide, serial killings, abortion, genocide and domestic violence. He will not have authority to cause nations to fight against one another.

The third Seal: The rider of the black horse will be given authority to stagger the economy, the cost of living will be so high that the cost of wheat will be $75 to $100 for just one quart. This rider will strike the food and clothing, but he will not have the authority to raise the price of oil, this is not cooking oil, it is fuel. Also, he will not have authority to harm the cost of alcoholic beverages. Beer will still be affordable!

Prelude to the second 3 ½ Years.

The fourth Seal: The rider of the pale horse has a sidekick called Hades, the one riding, his name is Death. (The false prophet and the beast). It is interesting that these individual have name that are capitalized where as the others do not. Also there is a difference in the way these folks die. These die because famine, hungry beasts and hungry people who murder for food.

The fifth Seal: The stage is set for the tribulation and John's vision of things is now directed to the altar. To this point the altar was just there, and his attention has been on the charge given to the horsemen. His ears pick up on the sounds from under the altar. He watches while white robes are issued to them. He hears their cries, but their cries will continue. Their pain, hunger and suffering is over, now they are told to rest and wait until the fullness of the the tribulation saints are completed. Revelation 7:9-17.

The sixth Seal: The great day of the LORD has arrived, mankind now knows the pending doom. God removes the protecting canopy of the 1^st heaven. The sun is not able to burn properly and darkens, the moon turns to the color of blood and the stars fall from the sky like rotting apples or figs from the trees that once held them. All of the powerful people will be helpless and they will know why all of this is happening. Revelation 6:17 “For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?”

The wrath of God abides on the children of disobedience. Romans 1:28-32. John 3:36; Ephesians 2:1-3

The seventh Seal: We see some interesting things at the beginning of this event. Some angels are assigned to what is described here as the four corners of the earth. These are the; North, South, East and West corners. The angels are in charge of much, they are in charge of all of the weather related elements of nature.

The stage is set for all of these segments of God's wrath to unfold, but there is one task left to accomplish before the events become real on earth. Judaism is about to be re-instated in Israel and until the men are selected and completed by God the tribulation will be on hold.

There are still twelve tribes of Israel, you would think that after six thousand years of history and all of the mixed marriages on nations all around Israel that God would not be able to find twelve thousand men from each of these tribes who would be able to fill the qualifications of these one hundred forty four thousand men.

The twelve tribes did suffer, Israel (Jacob) predicts the history of these tribes and replaces the tribe of Dan with one of Joseph's sons Manasseh. Genesis 49.