Continuing now to the 3rd Seal of Revelation....
3rd Seal - The third seal is found in Revelation 6:5-6 NIV, "When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, 'Come!' I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, "A quart of wheat for a day's wages, and three quarts of barley for a day's wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine." A tragic but often necessary consequence of war is famine, economic collapse and shortage. Famine is illustrated by the fact that a day's wages is needed to buy a daily ration of wheat. Accompanying the famine and shortage is hyper-inflation; the price of a loaf of bread would be $50+ in today's terms.
Hyper-inflation...imagine needing a wheel barrow full of money to go grocery shopping. It happened in Weimar Germany of the 1920s, Zimbabwe (in southern Africa) and the 3rd Seal indicates a similar condition in this seal.
4th Seal - In Revelation 6:7-8 NIV, the fourth seal is described, "When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, 'Come!' I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth." This seal appears to be a natural consequence of the prior seals. However, it seems this seal is a further intensification of the prior three seals because the rider of this seal mentions death again, as well as the causes of death mentioned in the prior seals. However, another possibility is that this seal is a strong culmination of the prior three seals with the "wild beasts of the earth" mentioned to prefigure the fact that they would dine on those judged in this seal.
5th Seal - Revelation 6:9 notes, "When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. They called out in a loud voice, "How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?" Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed."
Not to make light of the cries of these martyrs but it occurred to me as I was writing this that by this point in the seal judgments (some time in the 7-year Tribulation period) that already a massive judgment had fallen on mankind. It is also worth noting that these martyrs didn't "love on their persecutors" as many comfortable American Christians urge, but asked for God's vengeance/ justice on them in prayer. They were not rebuked for that but were told to be patient, vengeance would come!
Many feel that the book of Revelation is allegorical. One of my thoughts is that the picture painted in this book is so unpleasant that people cringe at the thought of such brutal judgments being dished out by a vengeful God. Either they hate God or they have a picture of a "loving God" that would never do such a mean thing to his children, humanity. Let me address the latter idea. First, this is a "touchy feely" idea of God that is not biblical. Secondly, God is not father to all humanity but only those who receive His Son as Lord and Savior according to John 1.
The 6th and 7th Seals of Revelation will be addressed on PART III of this blog post.
Sources:
* Finis Jennings Dake, in his book "God's Plan for Plan" (pg. 808) summarizes very well the meanings and interpretation of the first 6 seals of Revelation.
* Finis Jennings Dake, in his book, Revelation Expounded," pg. 80-90.
*The Seven Seals are noted in Revelation 6:1-17 and 8:1.
*Note that the imagery of the horses can be found in Zechariah 6:1-8
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