Revelation 6:1-17

Chapter 6 The Opening of the First Six Seals.

The next stage of John's vision describes the opening of the seals by the Lamb, and it will soon be clear that the result is the outworking of world history. It is the beginning of the end! However we know that it will take two thousand years and more to come to completion. But that was not apparent then. The passage has many parallels with the apocalyptic discourse of Jesus in Mark 13; Matthew 24 and Luke 21, and is mainly based on that discourse except in more vivid style. We will therefore briefly consider those passages.

EXCURSUS: The Apocalyptic Discourse of Jesus (Matthew 24; Mark 13; Luke 21).

The background to this teaching was Jesus' statement, given in reply to the disciples' expressed admiration of Herod's Temple, ‘Do you see these great buildings? There shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down' (Mark 13:2). This leads Peter, James, John and Andrew to ask Him privately, ‘Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign when these things are all about to be accomplished?' (Mark 13:4 compare Luke 21:6).

Now consider the circumstances. They have just been told that the Temple they see before them, huge and magnificent and permanent, will be destroyed totally. No wonder their interest is stirred. Indeed they can hardly believe it could happen. That is what leads to their questions. All three writers mention this. It is apparent from this therefore that the writers saw the following discourse as mainly applying to the destruction of the Temple, which took place in 70 AD. Jesus was explaining His cryptic comment.

It is true that Matthew adds further ‘Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?' (Matthew 24:3). The fact that Mark and Luke did not see fit to include the last phrase is proof positive that their main thought was of the destruction of the Temple. (Enthusiasm for the ‘end times' must not prevent careful exegesis)

So it is clear that in Jesus' reply we will expect to have an indication of when the Temple of Herod will be totally destroyed, as it was in 70 AD. Note the clear distinction between ‘these things' and ‘the sign of your coming and of the end of the age'. The idea of the Temple being destroyed has also taken their minds on to the promised Second Coming of Jesus and the expected ‘end of the age' when God's kingdom would be established, for they know that that will be preceded by momentous events. The distinction is important because Jesus will later state that ‘these things' will occur within the lifetime of that generation (Matthew 24:34; Mark 13:30), while He will also state that He does not at that time know when His second coming will take place (Mark 13:32). Thus ‘these things' does not refer to the second coming.

He then answers their questions by going on to depict a troubled world. False Messiahs will come, there will be wars and rumours of wars. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in many and various places. But these are just the beginning of the Messianic birth pains which will produce the end of the age (Matthew 24:57; Mark 13:5). And it must be stressed that they did all occur regularly in that first century AD, a time of constant warfare and many famines and earthquakes, (although not necessarily more so than in other centuries. The world is a troubled place).

He then describes the vilification that will be heaped on the disciples and their followers. They will be handed over to councils, beaten in synagogues, brought before governors and kings (Mark 13:9). Again all these things did happen, as described, for example, in the book of the Acts of the Apostles. Matthew adds ‘and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake' (Matthew 24:9). Jesus then declares ‘And the good news must first be preached to all nations' (Mark 13:10) (Matthew 24:14 - ‘in the whole world for a testimony unto all nations').

This phrase ‘all nations' is an interesting example of how prophecy can speak in a twofold way. Very few towards the end of the first century would have doubted that the Gospel had reached ‘all nations' and that they had been ‘hated by all nations', for they thought in terms of the surrounding nations and had no world view. Thus Paul could say to the Romans that their faith ‘is proclaimed throughout the whole world' (Romans 1:8), and that their ‘obedience is come abroad to all men' (Revelation 16:19). Compare Acts 11:28 which speaks of a famine ‘over all the inhabited earth' which ‘came about in the reign of Claudius' (see also Acts 19:27; Acts 24:5).

In that sense, which was certainly the sense in which His listeners would understand it, this prophecy was completely fulfilled. But  we  know today that there were many nations outside their purview and that its complete fulfilment awaited our own day and possibly beyond, thus we may see the words as having a deeper meaning, a double entendre.

Jesus goes on to describe further the tribulation that they must face, ‘they will deliver you up into tribulation and will kill you' (Matthew 24:9). They will be delivered up even by their own families, being ‘hated of all men for My name's sake' (Mark 13:11). So the early church will face tribulation, - which of course they did.

Then He describes the fulfilment of the words that began the questioning, the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 AD (Mark 13:14). The ‘abomination of desolation' is a phrase taken from the book of Daniel (Daniel 9:27; Daniel 11:31; Daniel 12:11). ‘Abomination' refers to the ‘abomination' of idolatry. This was fulfilled when the eagles of the Roman legions (to which sacrifices were offered) were brought into the ‘holy city', and inevitably into the Temple itself, as battle raged and the Temple went up in flames, flames which were actually fanned by fanatical Jews in order to prevent further sacrilege.

The Jews looked on the Roman Eagles, often adorned with an image of the emperor, as graven images and idolatrous, and indeed many legionaries did offer sacrifices to their standards. The earlier history of intense resistance to the presence of the Roman Eagles demonstrated how intensely seriously this issue was viewed. Pontius Pilate, for example, ever insensitive, tried to introduce them into Jerusalem by stealth and only withdrew when there were mass protests. Such was the strong feeling that many bared their necks declaring their willingness to die to prevent it.

‘Let him who reads understand' (Mark 13:14). This comment, put in by Mark, clearly indicates that he has the Romans in mind, for it is a hint to those in the know without being too blatant. The reference to ‘fleeing to the mountains' was fulfilled when many Christians in the light of this passage left Jerusalem and took refuge elsewhere. We know that a good number fled to Pella, a Gentile city in Peraea, East of the Jordan, ‘by divine guidance'. (It is true that the divine guidance is said to be through church prophets, but we can reasonably assume that they had these words of Jesus in mind).

‘For those days shall be tribulation (Matthew puts it ‘then shall be great tribulation' (Matthew 24:21)) such as there has not been the like from the beginning of the creation which God created, until now, and never shall be' (Mark 13:19). The incredible story of the final days of the war which led to the destruction of the Temple is one of horrific proportions and, if it had not been recorded would be impossible to believe. Fellow Jews treating each other in abominable ways (for they were so unrestrained, fanatical and divided that they fought each other viciously, as well as the Romans, in a way that is difficult to comprehend, as they followed different ‘inspired' leaders); wholesale crucifixions by the Romans; the ravages of famine during the siege and its consequences; widespread slaughter; all are chronicled by eyewitnesses. But we can be sure that even more dreadful things occurred which have never been revealed. It is an almost unbelievable story of suffering and misery.

Luke confirms this reading of events when he interprets the words of Jesus for his non-Jewish readers (Luke 21:20; Luke 21:24). ‘The abomination of desolation' becomes ‘Jerusalem encompassed with armies'. Then Luke 21:24, based on words of Jesus not recorded by Mark, shows that it is certainly this destruction of the Temple that is in Jesus' mind, for he adds ‘there will be great distress on the land and wrath to this people. And they will fall by the edge of the sword and will be led captive into all nations, and Jerusalem will be trodden down by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled'. Thus their tribulation carries on through history,

‘Unless the Lord had shortened the days, no flesh would have been saved. But for the elect's sake, whom he chose, he shortened the days' (Mark 13:20). Even in the midst of these terrible events God did not overlook His people, and He held a restraining hand on events so that they would not reach beyond a certain point. This is confirmed by the fact that many of His people did survive those dreadful days.

These were all manifestations of human nature, and because both human nature and Nature itself are as they are, history would repeat itself again and again, false ‘Messiahs' would continue to arise, wars would continue to abound, famines would be a regular occurrence, earthquakes would continue to happen and be seen to be messages of divine wrath, but unquestionably by 70 AD the disciples could confidently say ‘all these things have taken place', included, be it noted at least the beginning of the ‘great tribulation' on the Jews. We must not let some theoretical view of ‘the end times' make us ignore this fact.

There are some who, in order to support their theories, try to distinguish what Luke said from the words in Matthew and Mark, as though the latter recorded only words spoken of the end times and Luke recorded different words and ignored the end times, but this is quite frankly incredible. All began by stressing that their questions related to the coming destruction of the Temple which they saw in front of them and which was mentioned by Jesus. Therefore we must see their words as primarily describing that destruction of the Temple. It is merely that Luke (or Jesus) interprets the apocalyptic language for readers who will find it difficult. It really is not possible to believe that both Matthew and Mark ignore the destruction of the Temple when that was a main theme of the opening questions, and that Luke so ignores words about the end times.

‘But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give her light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers that are in the heavens will be shaken' (Mark 13:24), and until all this has happened the Son of Man will not come. This apocalyptic language is typical of the kind of phraseology used in ancient days to describe people's reaction to cataclysmic world events, they began to see natural phenomena as giving signs. This is clear in Luke when he first summarises it ‘there shall be signs in sun and moon and stars' and then explains it, ‘and upon the earth distress of nations in perplexity for the roaring of the sea and the billows, men fainting for fear and for expectation of the things which are coming on the world, for the powers of the heavens shall be shaken' (Luke 21:25).

After the destruction of Jerusalem, during the final mopping up operations of the Roman army and the events that followed this is precisely how things would appear to the people of Judea. Everything was finished. Hope had gone. The world was on the point of collapse. The heavens were falling in. For this apocalyptic language we can compare Acts 2:19 where Peter sees the words of Joel as fulfilled in the death of Jesus and what follows. Otherwise he would have stopped the quotation at Acts 2:18. The disciples had felt indeed as though the world itself was in process of collapse, and such feelings were often helped by eclipses of the sun and moon, meteors and ‘falling stars'. Peter was almost certainly deeply affected by the uncanny darkness at the time of Jesus' crucifixion (Matthew 27:45; Mark 15:33).

We can see a number of examples of this in the Old Testament. In Isaiah 13 the prophet describes the desolation of Babylon. Babylon, that proud nation which desolated Judah and Israel will itself be desolated. For them it will be ‘the day of the Lord' (Isaiah 13:9), the day when God acts in judgment (the phrase is not, be it noted, only used of the end times. Each nation may have its separate ‘day' when God deals with them, although there is certainly a view in the prophets of a final ‘day of the Lord' when God finalises His programme). He describes this further as ‘the stars of heaven and the constellations of it will not give their light, the sun will be darkened in his going forth and the moon will not cause her light to shine'. To the Babylonians, who saw sun, moon and stars as gods and goddesses this was especially relevant. The gods and goddesses will have failed them! Their help has been taken away from them.

Indeed it is apparent that the King of Babylon had been making similar great claims for himself, describing himself as the ‘day star, son of the morning' and claiming divinity and access to the heavens, and even to be like the Most High (Isaiah 14:12 - there are no real grounds, only wishful thinking, for applying these verses to the Devil. We do so love to know about things that God has not been pleased to reveal to us. But these were the sort of claims being made by the King of Babylon, and therefore pagan myth). This is one star that will fall. So this vivid apocalyptic language describes natural events, possibly exacerbated by perceived heavenly signs as the astrologers scoured the heavens.

Yet even as he describes what is to happen to Babylon the prophet finally goes beyond the local event, for, probably unaware of the fact that it will be delayed, but certain that it is inevitable, he describes a future yet to come when Babylon will be totally destroyed like Sodom and Gomorrha, never to be inhabited again. In his heart God has shown him that this total destruction must finally be necessary for Babylon because of its evil past and its grandiose claims. And indeed Babylon is now a mass of ruins.

This movement from the current to the distant future is a feature of prophecy (and is also true to some extent of the apocalyptic discourses), as the prophets recognise that in the end God's judgment must be final. They are not ‘foretelling' events but declaring the inevitability of God's judgment.

Again, when the prophet is announcing God's judgment on Edom and ‘all the nations' in Isaiah 34 he uses similar language. ‘All the nations' means those round about Edom. He would hardly have selected out a small country like Edom if he had meant world powers! Here then he uses similar language to describe the dreadful events they will face. ‘All the host of heaven shall be dissolved and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll, and all their host shall fade away as the leaf fades from the vine, and as a fading leaf from a fig tree' (Isaiah 34:4). In the end ‘the land will become burning pitch, it will not be quenched night or day, the smoke of it will go up for ever, from generation to generation it will lie waste, none shall pass through it for ever and ever'. Yet that this is not to be taken at face value is proved beyond doubt by the fact that it will then be a place for birds and wild beasts of many kinds who could not survive in burning pitch (Isaiah 34:11), which demonstrates that we must not take the language too literally. It is prophetic licence describing devastation.

Again, in Ezekiel 32, Ezekiel describes God's judgment on Egypt at the hands of the Babylonians (Ezekiel 32:11). God says, ‘when I extinguish you I will cover the heaven and make the stars of it dark, I will cover the sun with a cloud and the moon will not give her light, all the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over you and set darkness on your land' (Ezekiel 32:7). The ancients constantly sought in heavenly phenomena the course of life in this world. Thus Ezekiel's message would be doubly effective.

And again, in Joel 2, God's visitation on Zion is described as ‘the earth quakes before them, the heavens tremble, the sun and the moon are darkened and the stars withdraw their shining' (Joel 2:10). So this kind of language is simply and vividly stating that there will be terrible events of one kind or another which will make it seem as though the world is about to end. In His discourse Jesus is thinking especially of the devastation of Galilee, Judea and Jerusalem and their dreadful after effects.

The above descriptions, which  do not all refer to the end times, demonstrate that this kind of language must not be applied too literally. They refer to how men discern things in times of catastrophe (an invading army constantly burning fields and trees in abundance produce smoke in large quantities which itself distorts man's view of the heavens), not to the actual destruction of the heavens. (This can be confirmed from many sources, for it is remarkable, in times of catastrophe, how many heavenly signs are spotted by astrologers. Yet heavenly signs are in fact occurring all the time for those with eyes to see them).

Moving back, then, to the apocalyptic discourse it is of all ‘these things' described above that Jesus says they will happen within a generation. Not until then, an inevitable part of history, would the Son of Man return in His glory. But the timing of that return is deliberately not tied to any events, it occurs ‘after them', for even Jesus, while on earth, did not know when it would be (Mark 13:32).

From a longer term point of view we can agree that 70 AD was not the end of history. What happened between the death of Jesus and 70 AD was a mirror of the future of the world before the second coming of Christ, and as we read His words we recognise that they held meanings deeper than are simply apparent for that period. This, in fact, is what the Book of Revelation will demonstrate.

But we must not put all the emphasis on what we read as happening in ‘the end days', unless like the Apostles we see ‘the end days' as commencing at the resurrection. The disciples believed they were in the end days, and they were right. They were the days that would result in the finalising of God's purposes. But they just did not realise how long they would last.

(End of Excursus).

The Opening of the Seals.