Revelationchapter 6
17 verses · John, by tradition · AD 95 or 96 · Revelation
Then I watched as the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say in a thunderous voice, “Come!”
Introduction
John, by tradition, Revelation, Revelation Overview.
John wrote this chapter in exile on Patmos for seven churches in the Roman province of Asia. Its hearers knew war, hunger, plague and the death of believers from their own years. The chapter shows the Lamb breaking the seals of the scroll one by one. It moves from the earth to the altar of heaven and then to the whole sky. Listen for who gives each command and for the limits set on each rider. Listen also for the question that closes the chapter, which the next chapter answers.
Context
- Who
- People who had lived through war, famine, plague, and the killing of believers, and needed to know whether any of it was outside God's hand
- What
- The opening of the first six seals of the scroll, with four riders, the cry of the martyrs and a great shaking of heaven and earth.
- Where
- Written on the island of Patmos, off the coast of Asia Minor, to seven churches in the Roman province of Asia.
- When
- About AD 95 under Domitian on the majority view, with a minority dating the book before AD 70 under Nero.
- Why
- To show that war, famine, death and persecution run under the Lamb's command and within the limits He sets.
Historical context
The four horsemen ride out of a world the first readers knew by experience. Conquest, war, famine, and death were not abstractions in the first century; they were the recurring furniture of life in the empire.
Show the rest of the historical context, 4 more paragraphs
The rider on the white horse carries a bow, and the bow was the signature weapon of Parthia, the enemy across the Euphrates that Rome could bloody but never hold, and whose mounted archers had destroyed Crassus's army at Carrhae in 53 BC. A conqueror on a white horse with a bow had a face in the eastern imagination.
The third seal is the sharpest economic detail in the book. A measure of wheat for a denarius, three of barley for a denarius, a denarius was about a day's wage for a laborer, and a day's wage buying roughly a day's grain for one person means a working man could no longer feed a family. Then: "see thou hurt not the oil and the wine." The luxuries are untouched while bread prices break households. Anyone who had lived through a grain shortage in a provincial city knew exactly what that looked like.
The fifth seal shows souls under the altar, those killed for the word of God, asking how long. Under an altar is where the blood of a sacrifice was poured out. They are told to rest a little longer.
The sixth seal is cosmic collapse in the language the prophets used: sun black as sackcloth, moon like blood, stars falling, mountains and islands moved. And the powerful hide in caves, asking rocks to fall on them to hide them from the face of the one on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb.
Significance
The crucial thing for the first hearers is who starts it. Every one of these riders goes out because the Lamb opens a seal and a living creature says "Come." The chaos they lived under was not loose. It was permitted, measured, and limited.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
The martyrs' question, how long?, was their question, asked out loud in the text with no rebuke, and answered with a white robe and a wait. That is not a tidy answer. It was an honest one, and it told them their deaths were counted.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Four Horsemen Ride at the Lamb's Command
Revelation 6:1-2
in a thunderous voice: When the Lamb opens the first seal, a living creature summons the rider in a thunderous voice. The rider of the white horse was given a crown, and is read as the false Christ of 2 Thessalonians 2 or as conquest itself.
Revelation 6:1
"And when the Lamb had opened one of the seven seals, I saw, and heard one of the four living creatures saying, Come and see. And, lo, a white horse, and He who sate upon him had a bow." The first seal being opened, he says that he saw a white horse, and a crowned horseman having a bow. For this was at first done by Himself.
Victorinus of Pettau · written before 304 · Commentary on the Apocalypse of the Blessed Johnpatristic
1 more voice on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Revelation 6:1
“And I saw - Or, I looked. He fixed his eye attentively on what was passing, as promising important disclosures. No one had been found in the universe who could open the seals but the Lamb of God Rev 5:2-4; and it was natural for John, therefore, to look upon the transaction with profound interest. When the Lamb opened one of the seals - See the notes on Rev 5:1, Rev 5:5. This was the first or outermost of the seals, and its being broken would permit a certain portion of the volume to be unrolled and read.”
ConnectionsRevelation 16:1
and its rider held a bow: Clarke takes the rider as Christ, with the bow as the preaching of the Gospel. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown also read him as Christ and set his crown beside the many crowns of 19:12. Wesley, on verse 4, names him simply a conqueror.
Revelation 6:2
“A white horse - Supposed to represent the Gospel system, and pointing out its excellence, swiftness, and purity. He that sat on him - Supposed to represent Jesus Christ. A bow - The preaching of the Gospel, darting conviction into the hearts of sinners. A crown - The emblem of the kingdom which Christ is to establish on earth. Conquering, and to conquer - Overcoming and confounding the Jews first, and then the Gentiles; spreading more and more the doctrine and influence of the cross over the face of the earth.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Revelation 6:2
If any one, again, will look into Jacob's actions, he shall find them not destitute of meaning, but full of import with regard to the dispensations. Thus, in the first place, at his birth, since he laid hold on his brother's heel, he was called Jacob, that is, the supplanter-one who holds, but is not held; binding the feet, but not being bound; striving and conquering; grasping in his hand his adversary's heel, that is, victory.
Irenaeus · written before 202 · Against Heresies Book IVpatristic
Revelation 6:2
“In Re 19:11, 12 the last step in His victorious progress is represented; accordingly there He wears many diadems (Greek, "diademata"; not merely Greek, "stephanoi," "crowns" or "wreaths"), and is personally attended by the hosts of heaven.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Revelation 6:3-4
the Lamb opened the second seal: The second seal looses a red horse whose rider may take away peace from the earth and to make men slay one another. These are the wars Christ named among the birth pains of Matthew 24:6-7.
Revelation 6:3
"And when He had opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, Come and see. And there went out another horse that was red, and to him that sate upon him was given a great sword." The red horse, and he that sate upon him, having a sword, signify the coming wars, as we read in the Gospel: "For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be great earthquakes in divers places." This is the ruddy horse.
Victorinus of Pettau · written before 304 · Commentary on the Apocalypse of the Blessed Johnpatristic
take away peace from the earth: The rider was granted permission to take away peace from the earth, so the war runs only as far as it is allowed. The Greek for slay, sphazo, is the word used of the slain Lamb in 5:6.
Revelation 6:4
“Another horse - red - The emblem of war; perhaps also of severe persecution, and the martyrdom of the saints. Him that sat thereon - Same say, Christ; others, Vespasian; others, the Roman armies; others, Artabanus, king of the Parthians, etc., etc. Take peace from the earth - To deprive Judea of all tranquillity. They should kill one another - This was literally the case with the Jews, while besieged by the Romans. A great sword - Great influence and success, producing terrible carnage.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
3 more voices on this verse
Revelation 6:4
“That Jesus Christ rules and commands, not only in the kingdom of grace, but of providence. That the sword of war is a dreadful judgment; it takes away peace from the earth, one of the greatest blessings, and it puts men upon killing one another. Men, who should love one another and help one another, are, in a state of war, set upon killing one another.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Revelation 6:4
“Compare Mt 10:24-36, "Think not I am come to send peace on earth; I came not to send peace, but a sword." The white horse of Christ's bloodless victories is soon followed, through man's perversion of the Gospel, by the red horse of bloodshed; but this is overruled to the clearing away of the obstacles to Christ's coming kingdom.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Revelation 6:4
“The fourth horseman is expressly termed "death;" the first, with his bow and crown, "a conqueror;" the second, with his great sword, is a warrior, or, as the Roman termed him, Mars; the third, with the scales, has power over the produce of the land. Particular incidents under this or that Roman emperor are not extensive enough to answer any of these horsemen.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Revelation 6:5-6
saw a black horse: The black horse's rider holds scales, and the voice prices A quart of wheat for a denarius, a day's wage for a day's bread. The command do not harm the oil and wine spares the deep-rooted crops a drought leaves standing.
Revelation 6:5
"And when He had opened the third seal. I heard the third living creature saying, Come and see. And, lo, a black horse; and he who sate upon it had a balance in his hand." The black horse signifies famine, for the Lord says, "There shall be famines in divers places; "but the word is specially extended to the times of Antichrist, when there shall be a great famine, and when all shall be injured. Moreover, the balance in the hand is the examining scales, wherein He might show forth the merits of every individual.
Victorinus of Pettau · written before 304 · Commentary on the Apocalypse of the Blessed Johnpatristic
1 more voice on this verse
Revelation 6:5
“Come and see--The two oldest manuscripts, A, C, and Vulgate omit "and see." B retains the words. black--implying sadness and want. had--Greek, "having." a pair of balances--the symbol of scarcity of provisions, the bread being doled out by weight.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
The prices are given in the Roman denarius, a laborer's wage for one day. The command do not harm the oil and wine sets a limit, as the fourth seal reaches a fourth of the earth in verse 8.
Revelation 6:6
“This must have been fulfilled while the Grecian measure and the Roman money were still in use; as also where that measure was the common measure, and this money the current coin. It was so in Egypt under Trajan. And three measures of barley for a penny - Either barley was, in common, far cheaper among the ancients than wheat, or the prophecy mentions this as something peculiar.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
4 more voices on this verse
Revelation 6:6
“A spiritual famine, too, may be included in the judgment. The "Come," in the case of this third seal, is said by the third of the four living creatures, whose likeness is a man indicative of sympathy and human compassion for the sufferers. God in it tempers judgment with mercy.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Revelation 6:6
"Hurt not the wine and the oil." That is, strike not the spiritual man with thy inflictions. This is the black horse.
Victorinus of Pettau · written before 304 · Commentary on the Apocalypse of the Blessed Johnpatristic
Revelation 6:6
“A measure of wheat for a penny - The chaenix here mentioned was a measure of dry things; and although the capacity is not exactly known, yet it is generally agreed that it contained as much as one man could consume in a day; and a penny, the Roman denarius, was the ordinary pay of a laborer. So it appears that in this scarcity each might be able to obtain a bare subsistence by his daily labor; but a man could not, in such cases, provide for a family.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Revelation 6:6
“One judgment seldom comes alone; the judgment of war naturally draws after it that of famine; and those who will not humble themselves under one judgment must expect another and yet greater, for when God contends he will prevail. The famine of bread is a terrible judgment; but the famine of the word is more so, though careless sinners are not sensible of it.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Revelation 6:7-8
the fourth living creature say: The fourth horse is pale green, the Greek chloros, the color of sickness and a corpse, and Its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed. Their authority over a fourth of the earth comes by sword, famine, plague and beasts, the four judgments of Ezekiel 14:21.
Revelation 6:7
"And when He had opened the fourth seal, I heard the fourth living creature saying, Come and see. And, lo, a pale horse; and he who sate upon him was named Death." For the pale horse and he who sate upon him bore the name of Death. These same things also the Lord had promised among the rest of the coming destructions-great pestilences and deaths; since, moreover, he says:- "And hell followed him." That is, it was waiting for the devouring of many unrighteous souls. This is the pale horse.
Victorinus of Pettau · written before 304 · Commentary on the Apocalypse of the Blessed Johnpatristic
1 more voice on this verse
Revelation 6:7
“And when he had opened the fourth seal - See the notes at Rev 5:1. I heard the voice of the fourth beast say - The flying eagle. See the notes at Rev 15:7. As in the other cases, there does not appear to have been any particular reason why the fourth of the living creatures should have made this proclamation rather than either of the others. It was poetic and appropriate to represent each one in his turn as making proclamation. Come and see - See the notes at Rev 6:1.”
Its rider’s name was Death: Clarke reads Hades as the grave that receives the slain, a figure of death made a person. Henry notes that the beasts of the earth are added to war, famine and plague, as among the sore judgments of Ezekiel 14. They reach a fourth of the earth and no further.
Revelation 6:8
“A pale horse - The symbol of death. Pallida mors, pale death, was a very usual poetic epithet; of this symbol there can be no doubt, because it is immediately said, His name that sat on him was Death. And hell followed with him - The grave, or state of the dead, received the slain. This is a very elegant prosopopaeia, or personification. Over the fourth part of the earth - One fourth of mankind was to feel the desolating effects of this seal.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
3 more voices on this verse
Revelation 6:8
“So the fourth seal reaches to the borders of things invisible, which are comprised in the three last seals. And power was given to him over the fourth part of the earth - What came single and in a lower degree before, comes now together, and much more severely. The first seal brought victory with it: in the second was "a great sword;" but here a scimitar.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Revelation 6:8
“He gave them power, that is, those instruments of his anger, or those judgments themselves; he who holds the winds in his hand has all public calamities at his command, and they can only go when he sends them and no further than he permits. To the three great judgments of war, famine, and pestilence, is here added the beasts of the earth, another of God's sore judgments, mentioned Ezek. xiv.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Revelation 6:8
“The first seal is the summary, Christ going forth conquering till all enemies are subdued under Him, with a view to which the judgments subsequently specified accompany the preaching of the Gospel for a witness to all nations.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Souls Under the Altar: How Long, O Master?
Revelation 6:9-11
under the altar the souls: The fifth seal shows under the altar the souls of those who had been slain, crying How long, the cry of Psalms 79:5 and 94:3. They receive a white robe and wait until the full number is complete.
Revelation 6:9
“And when he had opened the fifth seal,.... Of the seven seals of the sealed book; here is no beast speaking here, nor horse and rider presented to view; it was now a very dark time both with respect to the church of God and ministry of the word, and the Roman empire.”
4 more voices on this verse
Revelation 6:9
“For souls are not naturally visible. under the altar--As the blood of sacrificial victims slain on the altar was poured at the bottom of the altar, so the souls of those sacrificed for Christ's testimony are symbolically represented as under the altar, in heaven; for the life or animal soul is in the blood, and blood is often represented as crying for vengeance (Ge 4:10).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Revelation 6:9
“Who, pray, are these so blessed conquerors, but martyrs in the strict sense of the word? For indeed theirs are the victories whose also are the fights; theirs, however, are the fights whose also is the blood. But the souls of the martyrs both peacefully rest in the meantime under the altar, and support their patience by the assured hope of revenge; and, clothed in their robes, wear the dazzling halo of brightness, until others also may fully share in their glory.”
Tertullian · written before 220 · Scorpiacepatristic
Revelation 6:9
“These all refer to the invisible world; the fifth, to the happy dead, particularly the martyrs; the sixth, to the unhappy; the seventh, to the angels, especially those to whom the trumpets are given. And I saw - Not only the church warring under Christ, and the world warring under Satan; but also the invisible hosts, both of heaven and hell, are described in this book.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Revelation 6:9
“A noble cause, the best that any man can lay down his life for--faith in God's word and a confession of that faith. The cry he heard; it was a loud cry, and contained a humble expostulation about the long delay of avenging justice against their enemies: How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on those that dwell on the earth?”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Clarke and Wesley note that the word for Lord means a master with full authority, and Wesley hears in it the master of a household. Clarke hears Abel's blood in the cry, a call for God's justice on murderers. Tertullian joins the cry to the prayer for the kingdom.
Revelation 6:10
“And they cried with a loud voice - That is, their blood, like that of Abel, cried for vengeance; for we are not to suppose that there was any thing like a vindictive spirit in those happy and holy souls who had shed their blood for the testimony of Jesus. We sometimes say Blood cries for blood; that is, in the order of Divine justice, every murderer, and every murdering persecutor, shall be punished. O Lord - Ὁ Δεσποτης· Sovereign Lord, supreme Ruler; one having and exercising unlimited and uncontrolled authority.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
3 more voices on this verse
Revelation 6:10
“Our hope is that we may sooner reign and not be slaves any longer. Even if it were not prescribed to ask in prayer for the coming of his kingdom, we would, of our own accord, have expressed this desire in our eagerness to embrace the object of our hope. With indignation the souls of the martyrs beneath the altar cry aloud to the Lord, "How long, O Lord, will you refrain from avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" For at least from the end of the world vengeance for them is ordained.”
Tertullian · written before 220 · On Prayer 5.1-4patristic
Revelation 6:10
“How long - They knew their blood would be avenged; but not immediately, as is now shown them. O Lord - The Greek word properly signifies the master of a family: it is therefore beautifully used by these, who are peculiarly of the household of God. Thou Holy One and true - Both the holiness and truth of God require him to execute judgment and vengeance.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Revelation 6:10
“So as to the other events foretold here. The glory even of those in Paradise will only be complete when Christ's and the Church's foes are cast out, and the earth will become Christ's kingdom at His coming to raise the sleeping saints.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
told to rest a little while longer: Tertullian saw the souls of the slain rest a little while in sure hope, each given a white robe, until their brothers share their glory. Henry saw the white robe as a sign of victory and honor. Their rest lasts until the number is full.
Revelation 6:11
“Even if it be omitted, is it to be inferred that the "season" is short as compared with eternity? BENGEL fancifully made a season (Greek, "chronus," the word here used) to be one thousand one hundred and eleven one-ninth years, and a time (Re 12:12, 14, Greek, "kairos") to be a fifth of a season, that is, two hundred and twenty-two two-ninths years.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
The Sky Rolls Back: Hide Us From the Lamb
Revelation 6:12-14
there was a great earthquake: The sixth seal brings the signs of the Day of the LORD: the sun became black like sackcloth, as in Joel 2:31. The sky receded like a scroll, as in Isaiah 34:4. Some read a literal upheaval, others an idiom for fallen powers.
Revelation 6:12
"And I saw, when he had opened the sixth seal, there was a great earthquake." In the sixth seal, then, was a great earthquake: this is that very last persecution. "And the sun became black as sackcloth of hair." The sun becomes as sackcloth; that is, the brightness of doctrine will be obscured by unbelievers. "And the entire moon became as blood." By the moon of blood is set forth the Church of the saints as pouring out her blood for Christ.
Victorinus of Pettau · written before 304 · Commentary on the Apocalypse of the Blessed Johnpatristic
1 more voice on this verse
Revelation 6:12
“The like representation is made in heaven, chap. xi, 18. And there was a great earthquake - Or shaking, not of the earth only, but the heavens. This is a farther description of the representation made to those unhappy souls.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
like unripe figs dropping from a tree: Wesley holds that the stars will truly fall toward the earth, whatever size astronomers give them. Victorinus, on verse 12, reads the darkened sun and the blood red moon as figures of doctrine obscured and of the church's martyrs. Tertullian quotes the fig picture from Isaiah 34:4.
Revelation 6:13
"And the stars too shall fall from heaven, even as a fig-tree casteth her green figs when she is shaken of a mighty wind." "The mountains shall melt like wax at the presence of the Lord; " that is, "when He riseth to shake terribly the earth.
Tertullian · written before 220 · Against Hermogenespatristic
1 more voice on this verse
Revelation 6:13
“And the stars fell to, or towards, the earth - Yea, and so they surely will, let astronomers fix their magnitude as they please. As a fig tree casteth its untimely figs, when it is shaken by a mighty wind - How sublimely is the violence of that shaking expressed by this comparison!”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
like a scroll being rolled up: Gill saw the sky rolled up like a scroll, so that no word written in it could be seen. Tertullian saw the whole sky and earth go back to the nothing from which they were made. Wesley saw God made great by so little a picture.
Revelation 6:14
“Besides, the belief that everything was made from nothing will be impressed upon us by that ultimate dispensation of God which will bring back all things to nothing. For "the very heaven shall be rolled together as a scroll; '" nay, it shall come to nothing along with the earth itself, with which it was made in the beginning.”
Tertullian · written before 220 · Against Hermogenespatristic
2 more voices on this verse
Revelation 6:14
“And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together,.... The manner of writing formerly was on rolls of parchment; hence the word volume is used for a book, which, when rolled up, the writing within could not be seen, not a syllable nor letter of it.”
Revelation 6:14
“And the heavens departed as a book that is rolled together - When the scripture compares some very great with a little thing, the majesty and omnipotence of God, before whom great things are little, is highly exalted.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
Revelation 6:15-17
hid in the caves: Seven ranks, from the kings of the earth to every slave and free man, hide in the mountains. Their cry, Fall on us, echoes Hosea 10:8 and Luke 23:30, and the question, who is able to withstand it, is answered in chapter 7.
Revelation 6:15
“The kings of the earth, etc. - All the secular powers who had endeavored to support the pagan worship by authority, influence, riches, political wisdom, and military skill; with every bondman - all slaves, who were in life and limb addicted to their masters or owners. And every freeman - Those who had been manumitted, commonly called freedmen, and who were attached, through gratitude, to the families of their liberators. All hid themselves - were astonished at the total overthrow of the heathen empire, and the revolution which had then taken place.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Revelation 6:15
“And the great men and chief captains - The generals and nobles. Hid themselves - So far as in them lay. In the rocks of the mountains - There are also rocks on the plains; but they were rocks on high, which they besought to fall upon them.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
from the wrath of the Lamb: Clarke reads the cry as the terror of persecutors who now saw that Christ was judging them for their cruelty to His followers. The Lamb slain in 5:6 is now the judge they fear.
Revelation 6:16
“Said to the mountains and rocks - Expressions which denote the strongest perturbation and alarm. They preferred any kind of death to that which they apprehended from this most awful revolution. From the face of him that sitteth on the throne - They now saw that all these terrible judgments came from the Almighty; and that Christ, the author of Christianity, was now judging, condemning, and destroying them for their cruel persecutions of his followers.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Gill saw that the Latin and the Syriac give Their wrath, the wrath of the One seated on the throne and of the Lamb. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown saw the question as who is able to stand justified before the Judge. Chapter 7 answers it.
Revelation 6:17
“For the great day of his wrath is come,.... The Vulgate Latin and Syriac versions read, "of their wrath"; both of him that sits upon the throne, and of the Lamb, against the Heathen gods and Heathen persecutors, in answer to the cry of the martyrs in Rev 6:9. And who shall be able to stand? against either of them, or in their presence, and so as to bear their wrath and displeasure; all which expresses guilt, shame, fear, and despair.”
1 more voice on this verse
Revelation 6:17
“Mt 24:7, end, the fourth seal; Mt 24:9, the fifth seal, the persecutions and abounding iniquity under which, as well as consequent judgments accompanied with gospel preaching to all nations as a witness, are particularly detailed, Mt 24:9-28; Mt 24:29, the sixth seal. to stand--to stand justified, and not condemned before the Judge.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
How this psalm is built
The form: The seals read beside the signs Jesus gave on the Mount of Olives, from wars and famines to the darkened sun, as Jamieson, Fausset & Brown classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| Four seals, four calls, four horses | The first four seals follow one pattern. The Lamb opens a seal, one of the four living creatures says Come!, and a horse goes out with its rider. The call stands four times, in verses 1, 3, 5 and 7, and the horses are white, bright red, black and pale green.the site's count of the Berean text, the verses of Revelation 6 in the store, translation id 3, the Berean Standard Bible. | Revelation 6:1, Revelation 6:3, Revelation 6:5, Revelation 6:7 |
| Ezekiel's four judgments | Verse 8 names four ways of death: sword, famine, plague and the beasts of the earth. Matthew Henry notes that the beasts of the earth are added to war, famine and plague, and he points to Ezekiel 14, where the same four judgments are named. The fourth rider gathers all four together.Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710, on Revelation 6:8. | Revelation 6:8 |
| The fifth seal breaks the pattern | At the fifth seal no living creature speaks and no horse goes out. John Gill notes the change and reads it as a dark time for the church and for the ministry of the word. The scene moves from the earth to the altar, where the souls of those slain for the word of God cry out.John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament, 1746 to 1748, on Revelation 6:9. | Revelation 6:9, Revelation 6:10 |
| The great earthquake | The sixth seal opens with a great earthquake. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown hear it as a catchword that ties this seal to the seventh seal in 8:5, the sixth trumpet in 11:13 and the seventh bowl in 16:17 to 21. The shaking of the sky and the land follows in verses 13 and 14.Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, 1871, on Revelation 6:12. | Revelation 6:12, Revelation 6:13, Revelation 6:14 |
How the chapter is built
7 more paragraphs on the patterns
Chapter 5 left the scroll in the Lamb's hand, and chapter 6 shows Him breaking its seals. Verses 1 to 8 give the first four seals and their riders. Verses 9 to 11 give the fifth seal, the souls under the altar. Verses 12 to 17 give the sixth seal, the shaking of heaven and earth and the flight of every rank of people. The chapter ends on a question, who is able to withstand it. Chapter 7 pauses before the seventh seal to show those whom God has sealed.
Where it draws on the Old Testament and on Jesus
Zechariah saw horsemen sent out to patrol the earth in Zechariah 1:8 to 11, and chariots drawn by red, black, white and dappled horses in 6:1 to 8. The four ways of death in verse 8 are the four judgments of Ezekiel 14:21. The cry of how long takes up Psalm 79:5 and 10. The darkened sun and the blood red moon come from Joel 2:31, and the sky rolled up like a scroll with its falling figs comes from Isaiah 34:4. The call to the mountains to fall on them comes from Hosea 10:8, and Jesus spoke it over Jerusalem in Luke 23:30. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown set the seals beside the signs of Matthew 24 (Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, on Revelation 6:17).
The rider on the white horse
The first rider is read in several ways. Adam Clarke takes the white horse as the Gospel and its rider as Christ, going out to conquer the Jews first and then the Gentiles (Commentary on the Bible, on Revelation 6:2). Jamieson, Fausset and Brown also read him as Christ and set his victor's crown beside the royal crowns of 19:12 (Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, on Revelation 6:2). John Wesley names him a conqueror, one of four figures too wide to fit any single Roman emperor (Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament, on Revelation 6:4). The exposition note on verses 1 and 2 records a further reading, a false Christ who opens the last days with a false peace.
Where to go deeper
The book as a whole has its own page at /book/revelation. The seals, trumpets and bowls are set out together at /featured/seals-trumpets-bowls, and the day of the LORD at /featured/the-day-of-the-lord. The four horsemen are listed as an owed feature page.
Keep studying
Studies5
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The form and classifications
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, 1832, on Revelation 6:4; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, 1871, on Revelation 6:17 and John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament, 1755, on Revelation 6:4.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the New Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Tertullian and Victorinus of Pettau, Commentary on the Apocalypse of the Blessed John.