Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Before we begin we must once again remember the nature of prophetic literature in the Bible, the nature of Apocalyptic literature in the Bible and elsewhere.

First - the imagery in the vision are pictures, snapshots of reality.

They are not intended to be chronological in nature and especially with the 3 series of 7 we see them interwoven with each other in a way to suggest that either the first set paves the way for the other two sets or that they are 3 different perspectives of what will happen until the final judgement.

However many people also interpret them as 3 separate events leading one to another.

More on that in a minute.

We must also remember that this is not a separate vision or letter, this is a continuation of chapters 2-4, John is still writing his letter to the seven churches so this word is first to them and then to all of us, so it must be read in light of what it meant for them and then extended to the rest of us.

Also remember as we begin to read, that the Lamb is opening the seven seals, He is the one with control and sovereignty over all that will take place.

Nothing will be out of his control and remember those that overcome will rule and reign with him after the final judgement.

I want us to see the 3 sets of seven side by side so you can see the formatting of each element of the vision.

You can see here the similarities as well as some differences which we will go through separately as we talk about each section.

The seven seals (6:1–8:5)

The seven trumpets (8:6–11:19)

The seven bowls (15:1–16:21)

1. White horse

1. Earth 1/3 scorched

1. Painful sores

2. Red horse

2. Sea 1/3 to blood

2. Sea to blood

3. Black horse

3. Water 1/3 bitter

3. Rivers to blood

4. Pale horse

4. Sun 1/3 darkened

4. Scorching sun

5.

The martyrs

5.

The locust plague

5. Total darkness

6.

The earthquake

6.

Fiendish cavalry

6. Froglike demons

a. 144,000 sealed

a.

The eaten scroll

a.

The heavenly call

b.

Great multitude

b.

The two witnesses

b.

Gathering for battle

7. The seven trumpets

7. The consummation

7. Earthquake levels Babylon

Go over the chart

Now remember some people view Revelation as purely symbolic of the overall struggle between good and evil

Others view revelation as events that have already occured (with the exception of 19-22) during the time John was writing Revelation.

And yet others view it as starting when Christ was born and will continue until he returns.

Now as I said before there are also several ways of looking at these series of 7.

One view of these series of 7 is that they are entirely symbolic of what happens during the struggle between good and evil when world powers try to conquer the world so none of these are sequencial but rather overall symbols

We do see this in scripture that God frequently uses world governments to judge His people, to judge the earth or to judge other countries

You can see this in the Old Testament and in Romans Chapter 13.

Another view is that this the seven seals pave the way for the seven bowls and seven trumpets so the first column sets up the seven trumpets but then we see those judgements from a different perspective in the seven bowls.

One of the reasons this is considered is because the culmination of the seven trumpets and the seven bowls is a sort of final judgement which we know really only happens once - we will look into this when we go through those sections.

However the seven seals looks as though they are separate from the other two and are much more of a broader view of the universe and time.

Another view is that each of these are in a chronological order and happen in sequence starting with the seals then the trumpets and finally the bowls.

This can be seen because of the differences between the trumpet judgments and the bowl judgements

This is a relatively new view of the book of Revelation.

Another view is that all three are different views of God’s judgement and Kingdom coming on the earth.

The seven seals being a broad view of God judgment the seven trumpets being a different perspective utilizing

We can see this in that the seven trumpets come out of the seventh seal and the seven bowls come out of the seven trumpets and the seals.

Each as we said before culminates in a final judgement.

So let’s begin:

6 I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals.

Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, “Come!” 2 I looked, and there before me was a white horse!

Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.

6 I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals.

Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, “Come!” 2 I looked, and there before me was a white horse!

Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.

3 When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 Then another horse came out, a fiery red one.

Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make people kill each other.

To him was given a large sword.

5 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.

6 Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, “Two pounds of wheat for a day’s wages, and six pounds of barley for a day’s wages, n and do not damage the oil and the wine!”

7 When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” 8 I looked, and there before me was a pale horse!

Its rider was named Death,

The Four horseman - Many people who view these cycles of 7 as chronological will focus on each of these horseman independent of one another and while there are individual characteristics that we should notice that group itself must be taken together.

One big reason is because the 5th seal is in response to what happens at the end of the horseman

White horse - typically Chrito-centric imagery or at leas a hero but here that is not the case because of the outcome as we talked about before.

Therefore this is more of a parody of Christ or Anti-Christ type figure.

We see this in the fact that he is given a crown representing authority that uses force and aggression (the bow) further explained as conqueror bent on conquest.

Most first century believers saw this as the Roman Empire further supported by the next horseman.

The Fiery Red Horse Given the power to make people fight against each other and kill each other and logically he is given a tool for aggression - the sword.

The next horse is black and brings famine.

Don’t get caught up in the specifics in verse 6 just know that it is demonstrating the fact that food was expensive.

The Final horse is pale (actually a gray-green) sickly color representing death which is the ultimate culmination of the work of the first 3 and Hades (hell personified staying within the personification so far) demonstrating judgement for those who have still chosen to not follow God.

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.

Each of these horseman, in my opinion represent every day on the earth - where you have world powers conquering and attacking one another through force and war - this causes war and famine and devastation, culminating in death and for those who are separate from God - those dominated by these horseman will be separated from God.

All of this begs a response which comes from the 5th seal.

9 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.

So because of the work of the horseman we see a tremendous amount of calamity on the earth and the believers are swept up in the consequence of that reality becoming martyrs for their faith.

Notice none of what has happened is judgement - in reality we can say it is everyday that the world exists.

This is important for us to remember.