The scroll of history has been revealed in heaven. The Lamb has begun to unseal it. The first four seals reveal four riders, the Horsemen of the Apocalypse, which bring death and destruction.
Revelation 6: 9-11, The fifth seal
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.
10 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?”
11 Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers and sisters, were killed just as they had been.
10 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?”
11 Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers and sisters, were killed just as they had been.
The fifth seal reveals both complaint and reward for those martyred for their beliefs and actions. The reward is a "white robe" along with instructions to wait just a little longer.
The NIV footnotes point out that the Greek word translated here "brothers and sisters" was a word often used for fellow believers.
A theme of the book of Revelation is that the people of God are waiting for some type of culmination of history. This requires patience but that completion will occur, says this book.
The NIV footnotes point out that the Greek word translated here "brothers and sisters" was a word often used for fellow believers.
A theme of the book of Revelation is that the people of God are waiting for some type of culmination of history. This requires patience but that completion will occur, says this book.
Revelation 6: 12-17, The sixth seal
I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red,
13 and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind.
14 The heavens receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.
15 Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and free, hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains.
16 They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us[f] from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!
17 For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can withstand it?”
The breaking of the sixth seal paints vivid geological and astronomical turmoil, a great earthquake, black sun, red moon, stars dropping form the sky. Everything is removed from its place. Is this a historical event (in past or future time)? The symbolism is powerful and dramatic. Yet we will see this type of climatic image repeated several times in the book.
The cry in verse 16 echoes Hosea 10: 8, the cry of the wicked in Israel who turned to worship other gods.
Why does the chapter end here? What is left to do? The seventh seal is about to be broken and the scroll unrolled. But before that happens, there will be a brief interlude.
No comments:
Post a Comment