Just as chapters 4 and 5 belonged together, so, in some senses at least, do chapters 6 and 7.  Chapter 5:1 introduced us to a book sealed with seven seals.  Chapter 6 now relates the opening of the first six of these seals (the seventh is opened at 8:1). We may already be asking, What is this book?  One way to answer that is to allow the seals to be opened and let the text tell us what is inside.  And what is that? Trouble and more trouble!  But its not as simple as that.  In some sense at least, we do not need Jesus to tell us that the world is going to be full of troubles.   What we need, and what we find, is an interpretation of trouble.   Providence, however dark, is always purposive.  Revelation 6 provides for us a way to look at the troubles of this world and give them an explanation from a Christian and theocentric, or God-centered, point of view.

For John’s readers, the Christian life was costly: for some, it involved imprisonment; for others, it meant death.  Jesus, so it seems, had not taken all their troubles away.  Revelation is a glimpse at the future in order to steel the nerves of the faithful. If Christ is establishing his kingdom as chapter 5 has suggested, then why is it that so many Christians are being put to death? These were intensely personal issues for the church in John’s day, but they remain problematic for Christians in every age.

John’s method has prepared us for the worst. After examining chapter 6 we will be all the more grateful for chapters 4 and 5. Only to the extent that we know Christ’s rule shall we appreciate how he conquers every foe.

There is no real break following the end of chapter 5.  John had seen and heard the worship of heaven, and then? ‘I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals…’ (6:1).  It is not as though the worship has ended and something else has begun.  The Lamb is being presented to John as the interpreter of history, as the Lord over chaos and evil.

A seven point sermon follows, as each seal, in turn, is unlocked.  The first four seals are broken to reveal four horses. Strange?  Of course! But only because we no longer associate horses with war as John readers no doubt did (cf. Job 39:25; Psa. 76:6; Prov. 21:31; Ezek. 26:10).  What these un-sealings prepare us for is warfare.   It is for this that we have been prepared by gospels and epistles: that tribulation is part of the believer’s lot.

The problem of evil is a problem for the atheist!  For the believer, evil is going to be conquered; it has, in one sense, been conquered in Christ’s death and resurrection, and what we now see of evil’s machinations are the death throes of a defeated enemy who cannot bring himself to believe that it is all over.

The first unsealing gives us a glimpse of a man riding a white horse (6:2).  Who is this rider on a white horse?  Commentators, it has to be said, have been sharply divided: some suggesting that is Christ and others suggesting it is antichrist!

It is not difficult to see why some have thought this white horseman to be Christ.   A comparison with Revelation 19:11-16 alone will suffice.  In that case, we are being given a vivid picture of how Jesus makes sense of history in a fallen world. He is working out his Father’s purpose, so that one day he may present him with a kingdom (cf. 1 Cor. 15:24). This may explain why Psalm 110 was popular in the early church, and remains so today:

The Jesus who died at Calvary is a glorious, powerful Conqueror!

However, it is difficult to follow the imagery whereby Christ opens the seal which contains a revelation of himself, and other considerations will lead to the conclusion that the white horse and its rider belongs, in fact, to same grouping as the other three: together they form a quarter of evil malevolence aimed against the world.  Satan often mimics Christ.  What we have here is a parody!

The next three unsealings provide us with glimpses of war: this is reality, too.   The red horse of war (6:4), the black horse of famine (6:5-6), and the pale horse of death and Hades (6:8).  Every aspect of life is subsumed here: social, ecological and biological.  Wherever Adam’s fall has penetrated, death’s sting has reached.  There is no escaping its clutches.  History, no matter what century, is a story of assaults on life, land, and body. History, from John’s time until now, has been about war, famine and death.  The century that has just past gave fullest expression to it as the bloodiest in the history of mankind. John’s prophecy is fulfilled before our very eyes.

On some imaginary stage, all four riders are called to battle, "Come!" (6:1,3,5,7).  Jesus is calling the evil horseman to wage war! How can this be?   It is the same problem that emerges when Satan harasses Job: he does so, at the behest and instigation of God Himself (1:8; 2:3). God’s sovereignty means that, in an ultimate sense, nothing happens outside of His will or decree.  Nothing!  And yet, theologians have always been eager to add that God is not the author of sin.   Sin is under His control, and here the mayhem that these horsemen and their riders exert is under his control, too. They cannot move a muscle without the permission of God.

What the four horsemen of the apocalypse reveal is no different from that which Jesus had predicted in the Olivet Discourse: "When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed.  Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.    Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains" (Mark 13:7-8). In the background is a similar depiction given by Zechariah:

"During the night I had a vision -- and there before me was a man riding a red horse!  He was standing among the myrtle trees in a ravine.  Behind him were red, brown and white horses" (Zech 1:8).

There is a narrower dimension of evil in the unsealing of the fifth seal (6:9-11).   Here is depicted religious persecution in its most vicious aspect.  John sees the "souls" of martyred saints before the throne of God. The word "soul" here signifies that part of our existence which survives the death of the body (for a similar use of the word, see Matt 10:28This, in a macabre sort of way, must have been encouraging to John’s readers. Those who died so brutally were in heaven! The vision will return again towards the close of the Book of Revelation.  In chapter 20, in the notoriously problematic passage which refers to the "thousand years" and which has given rise to various millenarian views, John sees "the souls of those who had been beheaded" (20:4; c.f. "slain" in 6:9).  In chapter 20, the souls, as here are conscious and capable of being addressed and come to life for a thousand years.  We shall see later that this refers to the time interval between the two advents of Christ. They live and reign with Christ waiting for the final resurrection of the body.

Although the souls are said to be before the throne of God, their specific location is described as "under the altar" (6:9). The altar was where sacrificial blood was poured under the Old Covenant administration and where "life" resulted for the offending party (Lev 17:11).  The souls John sees have life, but only because atonement by blood-shedding has been provided for them.

But it is their cry that proves interesting, and it will prove so throughout the rest of the book of Revelation. Their cry is haunting: "How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?" (Rev 6:10).   Christians who do not appreciate the role justice plays in the works of God, who think that all Christians do is forgive, find themselves puzzled by this cry.  But, it is not at all puzzling.  It is simply the cry of those who long that the justice of God (as well as his mercy) prevails. They are not encouraging vengeance on the part of their surviving relatives.  No! They are asking for God to vindicate his own name and honor. The Day of Judgment will be God’s answer to this prayer.

The language of this final judgment is taken from the Old Testament, from several passages from the prophets.  One such passage is Isaiah 34:4:

What we have here is a vivid and figurative depiction of the Last Judgment. These expressions will occur again as Revelation revisits this scene (e.g. 11:13; 16:18).

When God’s wrath falls, it is terrifying. Those who experience it desire to hide themselves from its fierceness. The region of modern Turkey where this letter is addressed is known for its caves in which shelter from passing storms could be sought. Despite their cries for somewhere to hide from God’s wrath, they will not find it (6:16).  No one will be able to "stand" on the Day of His wrath (6:17).