Lesson 16: The Seven Seals, part 1

Revelation 6:1-17
1 Now I watched when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, “Come!”

The first thing we need to understand as we begin this chapter – the beginning of Jesus’ judgment on the earth – is the character of God. In Genesis 2:16-17 God had told Adam that the consequences of disobeying Him (sin) would be death. Yet, when Adam and Eve sinned, they did not immediately die physically – their spirits died. Our spirit is the only way by which we can communicate with God. Adam and Eve had walked and talked with God in the Garden of Eden before they sinned. Once they sinned, however, they were no longer able to walk and talk with God. He sent them from the Garden so they would not also eat of the Tree of Life and immediately be sealed in their sin forever.

In today’s world we find many, even those who say they believe God and the Bible, who do not believe that God will bring judgment for sin. They believe that God’s love means He will not judge. They are wrong! Love without judgment is weak. It cannot stand against anything that comes against it. Love without judgment loves only those who love them and is therefore of little value. Judgment without love is tyranny and harsh. Judgment without love would have destroyed the entire human race long ago.

The second thing we need to understand is the nature of sin. What is sin? Sin is choosing our way rather than God’s way. What is the punishment for sin? The punishment is always separation from God. Since God is life and truth and love and light and peace and joy and so much more, separation from Him means death and lies and hate and darkness and war and bitterness and so much more.


God’s love provided a way of escape from our death-for-sin sentence. God’s mercy prolongs the time given to people to choose Him and His eternal life. God’s justice gives us the chance to see that He is right in everything He says. God’s judgment will be final – and in the end every creature God made with a choice will acknowledge that His way was the right way. The problem with this last statement is that if this acknowledgment does not come before death, then death seals the last decision made in life. There is no chance in eternity to change your destiny!

God says He will not always struggle with mankind to give them a chance to repent. The first time He said that (Genesis 6:3), He destroyed all humans except for 8 in a world-wide flood. But God is not willing that anyone should perish (2 Peter 3:9), so He keeps giving us another chance to turn to Him, even while our sin is taking us down (Romans 1:18-32). What we see in our world today are the effects of sin as written in the last verses of this Romans passage – and as Jesus will take the scroll as we see in our Revelation 6:1 verse above, the time of His striving with man without His hand of judgment falling on them is about to end.

*What makes you certain that you will not be among the judged when these seals are opened?