In his vision of heaven (chapters 4 & 5) John saw a throne with a figure of great majesty sitting upon it, a scroll sealed with seven seals, and a Lamb who appeared to have been slain. The figure on the throne handed the scroll to the Lamb. We read in chapter five that the Lamb alone was worthy to open the scroll. In chapter six he will begin to do so. Six of the seven seals will be broken in chapter six, the seventh not until the beginning of chapter eight.

Chapters six through sixteen make up the middle section of Revelation which is organized around three sets of seven: the seven seals, the seven trumpets, and the seven bowls, with three interludes placed between. As John’s vision unfolds we will see a progressive intensification: the seals affect a quarter of the earth, the trumpets a third, and the bowls the whole earth. What John is recording is not a chronological series of events to be unlocked by 20^th or 21^st century Christians. Rather, each of the three cycles of seven encapsulate the history of the world from Christ’s first advent leading up to his return and the consummation of the age.

The imagery of the four horsemen seems connected to Zechariah’s vision (chapters 1 & 6) where the horsemen are sent out to punish the nations that are oppressing God’s people. Here in Revelation the horsemen likewise bring the judgments that are imposed by the Lord upon the world to punish the wicked and to vindicate his people.^[1]

In Matthew’s gospel Jesus shocked his disciples by announcing that Herod’s temple would be destroyed (24:2). Not surprisingly, the disciples wanted to know when this would happen (vs. 3). They were no doubt disappointed in his refusal to tell them. Rather, he told them of how the world would continue on in its horrifying fallenness. “The disciples’ question ‘When?’ and ‘What will be the sign of your coming?’ are inappropriate attempts to probe off-limits secrets. What Jesus reveals about events to come serves practical purposes: to fortify us to endure (vs. 13), to embolden us to evangelize (vs. 14), and to awaken us for faithful vigilance (vv. 42-51).”^[2]

[1] Greg Beale, Revelation       (                ) p. 372

[2] Dennis Johnson, Triumph of The Lamb (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 2001) p. 116