Opening the seals…I’m moving slowly through this chapter and taking time to explore other verses that support the text. Other subjects I’ll be exploring are the rapture of the Church. The following 3 images are my redone models based on those used by Joel Richardson in his excellent teaching on the subject. Since he presented his in a video…and because I wanted a printable version, I recreated them in an art program. These show 3 timelines for the rapture that line up with the word….there are 3 different ones because strong arguments can be made for each one. Moving forward, I don’t anticipate any of the studies I go in to in the word to exclude any of these. Personally, I lean mostly toward the Post-Tribulation Rapture model but with the same seals,trumpet,bowls alignment at the end as Hybrid 1… Joel Richardson leans more toward the Hybrid 2. Whatever one, the plan for serving the Lord faithfully during this time stays the same.

Chapter 6:1-8
¹And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.

² And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.

This is the antichrist riding this white horse with the bow and crown, going forth to conquer the people of earth. Here are some facts, God is giving his permission for this to happen… and when Jesus tears the seal, it begins. This is the beginning of the final plan for God’s righteous judgment to fall on mankind. At this point, mankind has become wicked.
Genesis 6:5
⁵ And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

We know what happened next, after Noah and his family along with the animals were safely in the ark, and it was sealed by God, the floodwaters came and all the wicked people perished in the waters.
Compare with this verse in
Matthew 24: 37&38
³⁷ But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.³⁸ For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,..
The Bible tells us that at the point before judgment begins, mankind will be like they were in the time before Noah entered the ark.
Romans 1:18-31
¹⁸ For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;¹⁹ Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.²⁰ For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:²¹ Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.²² Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,²³ And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.²⁴ Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:²⁵ Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.²⁶ For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:²⁷ And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.²⁸ And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;²⁹ Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,³⁰ Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,³¹ Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:³² Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

The doors of mercy and grace have not closed yet, so at any point man could repent and get saved.

³ And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see.

⁴ And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.

Man has been warring with one another since nearly the beginning, but nothing like what is coming during this time. Now we have weapons that can destroy huge chunks of the population is a flash.

⁵ And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.

⁶ And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

It’s going to cost a day’s wage to buy a couple of slices of bread. The poor working class are going to be starving and struggling…. but the rich will not feel the same impact….and in some cases, they will profit. People have the idea to start prepping for this… but you know, even that won’t work because the scenarios the average prepper is playing out in their head, isn’t what’s going to happen. I like freeze drying food for camping and when we have a garden, to preserve my veggies to eat in the winter as well as for when the next Katrina or Ida wipes out our town again and leaves us without power for a couple of weeks….. so I joined a freeze drying group and noticed a lot of preppers there. I got into a debate with a guy who was preparing for the end… he told me that he had a gas generator that would easily boil his beans. He had it in his mind that dried beans only take about 30 minutes to cook. Anyone who cooks beans know, he isn’t even close… for the beans to be good, with presoaking… you are looking at about 2 hours. Then his plan to use the gas generator was debated. In his mind his generator would work great… then I mentioned that in a crisis, they don’t run the trucks, and they don’t deliver gas… and…. , what if they limit gas… or it becomes so expensive he can’t afford it. Still, he felt he had his basis covered. The truth is, it’s going to take trusting in God… and not your own survival skills. Sure, we should be wise, but all the prepping in the world will not save your soul.

⁷ And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.

⁸ And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.

Dalton Thomas (I think it was him) brought up a good point here and made me think. We think these deaths by the beast of the earth are animal attacks exclusively… and maybe in part that is it, but it’s more likely that people are going to be eating diseased animals that will kill them. So… relying on your excellent ability to hunt the already over hunted woods won’t save you either… we are going to have to trust God