Lesson 17: The Seven Seals, part 2

Revelation 6:1-8
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!”
2 And I looked, and behold, a white horse! And its rider had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering, and to conquer.
3 When He opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!”
4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.
5 When He opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” And I looked, and behold, a black horse! And its rider had a pair of scales in his hand.
6 And I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures, saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not harm the oil and wine!”
7 When He opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!”
8 And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth.

In these first 8 verses we see the first four of the 7 seals on the title-document we saw in Chapter 5 being opened. With the opening of the first seal, God’s judgment on the earth begins.

Remember, the Church, the Body of Christ that we as believers are members of today, has been taken to Heaven as we see in Chapter 4 when John was called to “come up here” in verse 1. This will be seen as we continue through the rest of this book – the Church will not be seen again until the end of the book.


The result of the first seal being opened is the arrival of a conqueror coming to rule the world. This is not Jesus. While this leader (riding a white horse) may talk peace, it will not last long. The second seal broken brings out the second rider who takes away the peace in the world so that people, not just armies, begin to kill each other. The third seal broken brings famine as war always does to people. The magnitude of this famine is that a day’s wages will buy enough food for one person to be able to survive! Then the fourth seal is broken and death comes to the world in staggering numbers. Up to a fourth of the earth’s population could die just in the time these four seals are broken in Heaven. With just under 8 billion people on earth today, this would mean that nearly 2 billion people could die in just these first four seals.

*Jesus said sin always leads to death – how have you seen this to be true?