Revelation Chapter 6 Commentary

In chapter five of the Revelation, the Lamb has taken the scroll from the right hand of the one who sits on the throne, called the Lord God Almighty. We know that the opening of them will show John the things that were to shortly come to pass which would wrap up that age once and for all.  Chapter six reveals what happens when the Lamb begins to open the seals.

Revelation 6:1 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.

This first verse is a sneak-peek into a major event unfolding with the Lamb opening the first seal and we will soon see that Chapter six contains an account of the opening of six of the seven seals.  It hardly needs to be said to anyone who is at all familiar with Revelation that there are numerous (perhaps numberless) expositions on what is happening as these seals are opened.   Up to this point, though there have been a number of unimportant differences in interpretation, there aren’t many material differences in the interpretations regarding the general meaning of the Revelation thus far.  However here the scene opens into the future of things – at least the future relative to John - and so we enter into the multiplicity of opinions that have been offered over the centuries. 

There are many actors in the unfolding of this final drama including the Lamb of God, angels, men, Satan, storms, tempests, earthquakes, pestilence and fire; the scene is heaven, earth, and hell.

Unlike Isaiah 45:1, which mentions a man named Cyrus, and unlike Daniel 8:21, 10:20 and 11:2, which mentions the King of Grecia, Revelation mentions no names or times that allows us to pinpoint everything down to a specific time and place.  Since the future is “boundless” there are boundless interpretations.  The passing of time has fortunately utterly destroyed hundreds of theories and conjectures that were once taken very seriously by believers and as recently as a few years ago they continue to implode upon themselves.

When it comes to interpretation, it seems reasonable that since everything was written to them (which was promised by Christ to occur shortly several times in the Revelation) then it would be a cruel joke for God to give such insights only to have them be taken wrongly for nearly two millennia by seekers of truth.   In and of itself the natural interpretation says everything ought to be applied to them as this not only seems reasonable it seems merciful.  So, chapter six describes the opening of the first six seals of the seven that were introduced in chapter five.  If you are reading this collection chronologically, you know that in Book Five we covered the general content of each of the seven seals.  I am of the opinion that all four views of the Seven seals have application in our day and age (and beyond).  Let me explain what I mean by this.

First of all, I think the fulfillment  of the passages have occurred relative to the end of the age of the Jew then.  That is generally known as the Preterist view. But I am also convinced that there is a picture or type that exists in the seven seals that does repeat itself in the lives of people – even out into this modern age.  Therefore, the historicist, futurist and idealist views of the seals may have application in our day as well.  Let me give you an example – which you may find unbalanced – but it’s how I see it.  In the first four seals horses are involved – four horses.

The first is a white horse with a rider armed with a bow. A crown is given to him, symbolic of triumph and prosperity, and this rider goes forth to conquer.  The second seal discloses a red-colored horse with a rider. The emblem is that of blood--of sanguinary war. Power is given him to take peace from the earth, and a sword is given him--emblem of war, but not of certain victory. Triumph and prosperity are denoted by the former symbol; war, discord, bloodshed by this (Revelation 6:3-4).  The third discloses a black horse with a rider. He has a pair of balances in his hand, as if there were scarcity in the earth, and he announces the price of grain in the times of this calamity, and a command is given not to hurt the oil and the wine.  The emblem is that of scarcity – almost as if there were oppression, or that it is a consequence of war or discord, but at the same time there is care bestowed to preserve certain portions of earth from injury.  And the fourth discloses a pale horse with a rider. The name of this rider is Death, and Hell, or Hades, follows him.

Thus far, I do see application of these four horsemen to this earth and the way we humans often experience life, whether they picture events back in the year 1055 AD or last week, there is a symbolism which might universally picture or describe the way life unfolds in this world, which is why the idealist and historicist views may have continual application here.   As an example of this, when we bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, the victims of Hiroshima reported a number of things that seem to fit into this description of the four horsemen.  The first horseman may represent the clear hot day the bombers approached the Island as the White horse is symbolic of conquering and coming in power and might.  Once the bomb was dropped there was the report of the whole sky turning an unbelievable shade of red and reds.  After this all occurred a rain fell.  A downpour actually and the people were really pleased with this because they assumed it was God bringing them relief from the heat.   But the rain was pitch black – huge drops – and anyone who drank it died.  So poisonous was this (potentially) radioactive rain that it polluted the land and rivers, making everything caustic.  The black horse in revelation is described as He has a pair of balances in his hand, as if there were scarcity in the earth, and he announces the price of grain in the times of this calamity. The command is given not to hurt the oil and the wine, which might mean that the black rain was not to fall on other parts of Japan – which it didn’t.  Finally, the last horse – a pale horse – is described as death.  Hiroshima was left a giant pale vista of gray death with over 120,000 wiped out and more to die in the years to come.

Now, I am not saying that this is gospel truth, but the events at Nagasaki do “appear” to support the idea that there may be some symbolism tied to what we read repeating itself over the ages – perhaps at Hiroshima – and at other times of human calamity.  So let’s keep this in mind as we move forward and read the first eight verses of Revelation chapter 6.

FIRST SEAL

Revelation 6:1 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.

2 And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.

SECOND SEAL

3 And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see.

4 And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.

THIRD SEAL

5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.

6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

FOURTH SEAL

7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.

8 And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.

Alright, let’s go back to verse 1 and 2 and talk about the first seal. 

Revelation 6:1 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.

The Lamb, the worthy one, opens the first seal and shows John that which was to come to pass.  John looked and saw this and then first heard something: “and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.”

This is saying that one of the four beasts spoke and that its voice was as thunder.  We might ask, which of the four beasts that were under and/or in the middle of the throne (and described in Revelation 4) would have had “a voice like thunder?” John doesn’t tell us which it was but when we read the rest of the narrative regarding the voices heard in the opening of the first four seals, the other beasts speak in order that they are introduced in Revelations 4!  Using this order, the only beast that this first one could be would be the first described – the Lion beast – and this would be the one that had the voice of thunder, which makes sense as a lions roar is noted as having such power.

Remember, the four beasts (or four living creatures) were best understood as being emblematic of “divine providential administration on earth” therefore we might say that each beast responded to the specific seal and what would happen when it was broken.

Recall that the four living creatures were (in order of Revelation 4)

And the first beast was like a lion, 

and the second beast like a calf, 

and the third beast had a face as a man, 

and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle.

It seems (seems) like relative to the four horsemen, there is a relation with the four living creatures, in chronological order and the relation of them to the seals might be according to something like the following:

God’s Governing Administration on Earth

Lion	Ox	Man	Eagle
White Horse	Red Horse	Black Horse	Pale Horse
Christ	War	Pollution	Death

When we discussed what these living creatures may represent we said that the Lion represented the “Lion of the Tribe of Judah” (or perhaps the arrival of the promised Messiah and His ministry), that the ox represented power through horns and an ability to divide or unite, that the creature with the face of a man represented godly intelligence, and the eagle represented omnipotence and omniscience – an ability to soar over all things and have the grand view.  So, what does the first living creature (the Lion) say? “Come and see.”

This is evidently said to John, but some suggest that the seal was broken and the phrase, come and see, is to the horseman.  I don’t agree with this.  The revelation was given to John to write and the invitation from the beast to, “come and see,” must have assuredly been to him.  Another question asked and not answered with certainty was whether John was seeing the actual events occur or if he was seeing a pictorial presentation of them, or if he was actually reading what was written in the scroll and then reporting on it.  We don’t know.  But it seems to me that John was seeing some sort of movie or vision of the events he was describing.

2 And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.

(consult Psalm 45:4-5; Zechariah 6:3,11; Revelation 14:14; 19:11 for added insight)

Because John writes (with each of the seals broken) that “he saw,” I think we are safe in believing that he was witnessing a vision of events that would unfold.  

“And behold a white horse.”

At this point let’s examine another addition we will add to the above chart and in so doing let’s ask ourselves some questions:

Why horses and not, for instance, elephants?

Why the different colors of each horse?

And then what do each color represent?

Who are the riders and what do the emblems associated with each of them mean?  

Because they are put in an order it seems their order is important. So, let’s add to our chart the following:

God’s Governing Administration on Earth

Lion	Calf	Man	Eagle
White Horse	Red Horse	Black Horse	Pale Horse
A rider	A rider	A rider	A rider named death
Sat	Sat	Sat	Sat
Bow and crown	Power Great Sword	A pair of balances in hand	Power (over fourth part of earth)
To conquer	To take peace and to kill	To touch the land with trial	To kill with sword, hunger, death and beasts of earth
Christ	War	Pollution Pestilence	Death

So, why horses?  In scripture horses are emblematic of war or battle, simple as that.  We are talking about the end times here so in the end times there was going to unfold battles and warfare and horses are the perfect symbols for a Jew to understand this.  Horses are not so emblematic of war in our day but certainly were in theirs.  And when we think about it, each of these first four seals, no matter what occurs by way of description, have something to do with warfare or battle.

A rider sitting on a horse is wholly emblematic of war (especially in that day) and what is the first going forth to do?  Conquer.  The second is going forth to war with a sword, the third going forth with balances in hand to try the land, and the fourth to go forth with death through all manner of forms.  This is all pretty much associated with war.  The varying colors of each horse are pretty self-explanatory – white is purity, red is blood-shed, black is corruption or pollution and pale or gray is death and ash.  These colors seem to depict the metamorphosis from life, to despair and to death, which again, are all the results of war and perhaps could have been avoided if the white horse was able to conquer through righteous means in the first place.

I am stepping out on somewhat of a limb here in positing, again, that this model of the four horsemen can be seen not only throughout the Bible but also throughout the history of human-kind.  We could look to the Nation of Israel in bondage to Egypt and Moses coming to set the captives free as a White Horse coming forward to conquer wearing a crown and having a  bow in his hand (meaning he is armed). Egypt resists, and the red horse comes in representing battle and warfare – but in the case of Moses the battle is not with swords but with (and against, in the case of the Egyptians) frogs, lice, and fiery hail.  The third horse, black and representing defilement of the land might be seen through the fiery hail which destroyed the crops and drove the cost of living through the roof, and the disease of the livestock, and then darkness and death being represented by the last pale horse.   There are always some manipulations when we try to make such things fit but there seems to be some sort of applicable model here.

In terms of the last days (of that age of the Jew) we might see the white horse as the arrival of the only true Messiah on the scene, riding in to conquer sin and death, with a bow in His hand and a crown on His head.  Perhaps the red horse represents the Roman armies that begin to assail Jerusalem in the early to late 60 AD’s, bringing upon them war and receiving war from the hands of the Jews.  The black horse might represent the defilement of the land (which brought on famine where some of the Jews, according to Josephus, even ate their own young), and of course the pale horse would represent the million plus Jews who were slaughtered in 70 AD by “sword, hunger, death and beasts of the earth.” This appears to be a direct application of the meaning of the four horsemen produced by the opening of the four seals.  Of course, and again, there may be application over the ages, perhaps even in the lives of individuals lives and then relative to nations writ large.  Frankly, anytime Jesus rides in to conquer anything (a nation, a family, and individual soul) we can assume some sort of warfare initiates (with the Red Horse representing blood) followed by the Black horse (representing pollution) and the Pale horse (representing death)?  Something to consider.

Of course there is an Old Testament application to the four horses – and we learn more about them in relation to the Nation of Israel in Zechariah’s vision recorded in chapter 6 where it says:

Zechariah 6:1 And I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came four chariots out from between two mountains; and the mountains were mountains of brass. 2 In the first chariot were red horses; and in the second chariot black horses; 3 And in the third chariot white horses; and in the fourth chariot grisled and bay horses. 4 Then I answered and said unto the angel that talked with me, What are these, my lord? 5 And the angel answered and said unto me, These are the four spirits of the heavens, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth. 6 The black horses which are therein go forth into the north country; and the white go forth after them; and the grisled go forth toward the south country. 7 And the bay went forth, and sought to go that they might walk to and fro through the earth: and he said, Get you hence, walk to and fro through the earth. So they walked to and fro through the earth. 8 Then cried he upon me, and spake unto me, saying, Behold, these that go toward the north country have quieted my spirit in the north country.

Let’s let these passages sink in a bit and allow them to percolate while we continue forward and read about the second seal. 

3 And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, “Come and see.”

So, remember, the first seal only had to do with the White horse coming to conquer and the one who rode upon it wore a crown and bore a bow in his hand.   Now we are reading about the second seal being opened and the horse that came into the scene as a result – a red horse.  John writes, “I heard the second beast say. “Remember, the second beast was like a calf or an ox.  We cannot prove that there is any connection or reason why one beast opens one seal verses another, but I tend to believe there is a connection to it all. The Red horse rider (and the power and sword he possessed) is indicative of war.  To me, war can be seen as “a pushing and a pulling apart” (physically and/or spiritually) and no matter the principles factions involved.  The Ox was the one to open this seal specifically because what the red horse rider represents in warfare is emblematic of the bull that pushes and pulls apart, bringing bloodshed.  And the bull says to John, “Come and see.”  The second seal is broken open, the White horse rider is out to conquer but now warfare has followed in.  (Verse 4)

4 And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.

Jesus, the Prince of Peace, wearing a crown and bearing a bow, went out on a white horse to conquer on the first broken seal and next came a rider on the red horse who was given power to “take peace from the earth.”  Apparently, this power to take peace was based on the ability to foster  unrest in “that they should kill one another . . . and there was given him a great sword.”  We don’t know who the “they” are in that line when it says “that they should kill one another.”   Is could refer to the inhabitants of the earth, the believers and the non-believers or just the non-believers themselves, we cannot say.  All we can say is the rider on the red horse bears a giant sword and comes to “take peace on earth.”

So again, as the white horse denoted prosperity, triumph, and happiness, this horse would denote carnage, discord, bloodshed. Obviously, we are given an insight into time and chronology here cause it says, “after” the white horse arrives the Red Horse comes on the scene.   We are not told who gave the one on the red horse the sword – which is an interesting question that we are not in a position to answer but I am inclined to simply say whenever there is light and good there will follow attempts to destroy the peace – and this is what this is.   Of course, because this plays to the end of things in that age, I think that this is a clear description of the warfare that was about to fall upon Jerusalem.

A sword is universally emblematic of slaughter, bloodshed, and breaking up and dividing, which is illustrated by the red horse and the words spoken by the bull with the horns.  Third Seal (verse 5-6)

5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.

We note that the third beast – the one with the face of a man – is the one who opened the third seal and spoke, saying what the other beasts had said to John, “Come and see.”

Then John writes, “And I beheld a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.”

Based on the content of verse 6, the Black horse here is an emblem of famine and the balances might be symbolic of the fact that in times of famine all people subject to it are under great scrutiny meaning everything is weighed and measured because everything is so scarce and or costly.  Of course it could also refer to the phrase that all life hangs in the balance.   The idea that the black horse is related to famine comes in the next verse (6) where John says:

6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

It’s interesting, but the term for “a pair of balances” all comes from one single Greek word, dzu-gos.  What is also interesting is the term dzu-gos is used six times in the King James and five of those times it is translated, yoke. Why wasn’t it translated yoke here?  I don’t know.  Or why didn’t Jesus say, “my balance is easy, my burden is light?” Of course, a yoke that rests on a beast of burden and a balance have similar properties but one is for weighing and the other is for control.   Because there is a measure of wheat for a penny and three measures of barley (for the same) the translators apparently believed that dzu-gos would better be translated to balances here instead of yoke.  But what if the one on the black horse was bearing a yoke in his hand instead of balances as we are prone to see this?  Would there be meaning here that has otherwise escaped us?  Can’t say?  But there is a whole line of thought we could create under this thought with the yoke representing slavery or the law or something other than famine.  In the end we can’t really say and not feeling inspired to move toward this, let’s move on and just assume that it was a balance in the hand of the one on the black horse. 

6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

The word translated measures is chaenix and it means the measure of dry things.  Most people believe this was the amount one man could consume in a day and in Ancient Rome a denarius – called a penny here – was one day’s average wages for a laborer.  The end thought seems to be that a man could (in that age) work all day and barely buy enough to feed himself.  The price for three measures of barley was the same – a denarius – and this was the value difference between barley and wheat – three to one.  Romans soldiers under punishment were fed barley instead of wheat and so barley was the food of the poor and the three to one ratio seems to be represented here.  In terms of historical application, many believe this famine took place under Roman Emperor Claudius who reigned from 41 AD to 54 AD.   During that reign there was a famine that fell upon Jerusalem which was prophesied by a prophet named Agabas who is mentioned in the book of Acts chapter 11 verse 28.  All of this is entirely possible (as it relates to the fulfillment or Preterist view.  Of course, futurists and idealists and historicists see the black horse as fulfilling other times in history or as describing an event that is coming in the future).  Finally, the last line of verse six contributes to the mystery of the black horse events as it says:

6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

The directions seem to be coming from God, and so while famine will fall upon the land in question, there is the notion that neither wine nor oil will be affected or that wine and oil should not be hurt in the famine though the trees and vines would be, therefore making actual wine and oil a luxury.  I’m not convinced on this take.  Another view is that under the effects of the black horse that the rich (who dined on wine and oils) would not be affected but those who dined on wheat and barley would.  Possible.  But I wonder about the symbolism of wine and oil in scripture and can’t help but also wonder about those who are blessed with the Holy Spirit (oil) and covered in the blood of Jesus (wine) being spared by the effects of the Black horse curse – which is yet another possibility.