Opening the Seals

Lesson outline 4 in the series
Studies in Revelation

Tim Temple



  1. The Prelude to the Opening of the Seals - I Thessalonians 4:13-18; I Corinthians 15:51,52; I Thessalonians 5:1-9;
  2. The Process of Opening the Seals - 6:1-6
    1. The first seal - v.1,2
      1. The incident - a rider wearing a crown goes out on a white horse
      2. The identification
        1. Not Christ:
          1. Although Christ rides a white horse in chapter 19, He doesn't bring famine, pestilence and war in His wake
          2. The events of Revelation are chronological and Christ comes to conquer at the end of the tribulation, not the beginning
        2. Not the Anti-Christ
          1. There is a gradual build-up of power for the Anti-Christ
          2. The other horsemen are not people, but conditions which they symbolize
        3. Thus the first horseman is symbolic of the spirit of the age at the beginning of the tribulation period - tension and lack of peace, but no outright warfare.
    2. The second seal - v.3,4
      1. The incident - v.3 - a rider goes out on a red horse
      2. The identification - v.4
        1. He is authorized to "take peace from the earth"
        2. I Thessalonians 5:3 puts this in perspective - when they shall say "peace and safety", then sudden destruction comes upon them...
        3. Thus the second horseman represents a period of warfare after the initial period of uneasy peace.
    3. The third seal - v.5,6
      1. The incident - v.5 - a rider with a pair of scales sitting on a black horse
      2. The identification - v.6
        1. A denarius = a day's wage in John's day
        2. A quart of wheat = the size of an average meal
        3. Thus the third seal represents a severe famine following the warfare

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