Revelation 6:1. AND I SAW. This word ‘saw' is to be taken
absolutely, as in Revelation 6:2, where it is repeated.
WHEN THE LAMB OPENED ONE OF THE SEVEN SEALS. We have no right to
translate the original word for ‘one' in this and also in the next
clause, by the words ‘the first' At chap. Revelation... [ Continue Reading ]
With the beginning of this chapter we enter upon the fourth or leading
section of the Apocalypse, extending to chap. Revelation 18:24. The
section contains what had been described in chap. Revelation 4:1 as
‘the things which must come to pass.' Chaps. 4 and 5 have been only
preparatory to these ‘thi... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 6:2. All the figures of this verse are those of victory,
the horse and its whiteness, the crown, and the distinct statement at
the close of the verse (comp. chap. Revelation 19:11; Revelation
19:14). The bow expresses the fact that the Conqueror sees and strikes
down His enemies from afar... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 6:3-4. The second horse is red, the colour of blood (comp.
2 Kings 3:22); and he and his rider appear in answer to the second cry
COME. In this seal Jesus comes just as He came in the victory of the
first seal; but He comes in war and with the sword. There are two ways
in which the warfar... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 6:5-6. The third horse is BLACK, the colour of mourning and
of famine (Jeremiah 4:28; Jeremiah 8:21; Jeremiah 14:2; Malachi 3:14,
margin; Revelation 6:12), and he comes forth with his rider in answer
to the same cry as before, Come. Again Jesus comes in this seal just
as He had come in th... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 6:7. The fourth horse is pale in colour, that is, with the
livid paleness of a corpse. He comes forth in circumstances precisely
similar to those already met by us, and he is to be looked at in the
same way. As in them, so also in him and in his rider Jesus comes to
judgment,
The name of... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 6:9. AND WHEN HE OPENED THE FIFTH SEAL, I SAW UNDERNEATH
THE ALTAR THE SOULS OF THEM THAT HAD BEEN SLAUGHTERED BECAUSE OF THE
WORD OF GOD, AND BECAUSE OF THE TESTIMONY WHICH THEY HELD. With the
opening of the fifth seal we pass into scenes of a kind in many
respects distinguished from tho... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 6:10. AND THEY CRIED WITH A GREAT VOICE, SAYING, HOW LONG,
O MASTER, THE HOLY AND TRUE, DOST THOU NOT JUDGE AND AVENGE OUR BLOOD
ON THEM THAT DWELL ON THE EARTH? ‘They' cried (yet not the martyrs
themselves but the blood which represents them) as the blood of Abel
cried (Genesis 4:10). Th... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 6:11. To the cry of these martyred souls an answer is given
both by deed and word. By deed; for A white robe, denoting the purity
of saints perfected in Christ, was bestowed on each of them (comp.
chaps, Revelation 3:5; Revelation 4:4; Revelation 7:9). This robe is
the garment of _all_ wh... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 6:15-17. (4) These verses contain the fourth and last
member of the description. Of the persons on whom the terror of God's
judgments falls prominence seems to be given to the first, the KINGS.
The words of the earth are associated with them, and the other
appellations follow for the purp... [ Continue Reading ]