The Seven Seals and the Four Horsemen

In this chapter

In this chapter, you’ll:

Read the text: Rev 6 · Rev 8

Key takeaways

• The Lamb, not Satan and not chance, opens the seals. The riders’ power was given — it’s on loan.
• The horsemen — conquest, war, famine, death — are symbols of something real, and Christians differ on whether they picture a final sequence, the pattern of every age, or both.
• The first rider is read two ways: as Christ or the gospel (the oldest reading), or as conquest and false peace (the reading many scholars hold today). I follow the second, and the text allows the first.
• The martyrs are heard. Their answer is “not yet,” and a white robe.
• Heaven’s silence gives way to prayer, and prayer to action. The prayers of God’s people are part of the story.

Reflect & discuss

• Read Revelation 6:1–8 and Ezekiel 14:21. What do the four riders bring, and where does the fourth rider’s list come from? What’s the significance of “one fourth”?
• Only the Lamb is worthy to open the scroll. Why does it matter that history is in his hands and not in chance or chaos?
• The martyrs cry, “How long?” and are told, “not yet.” What does the chapter say the waiting is like, and what does it say about God?
• The seventh seal opens into silence, and then into prayer. What does it mean for you that the prayers of God’s people are part of how he acts?
• (Personal; feel free to pass.) Have you prayed “How long?” — and what were you asking God about?

The last question is personal — no one should be required to answer it.