Revelation 6

Revelation 6:9-11

Hitherto the waters of the fealthary have been as thrift in Ezekiel’s vision, only to the ankles, or to the knees, or to the loins at last; but here they begin to be a river that cannot be passed over. The visions which John saw, the apostles to the churches, the songs of praise, in the true foregoing chapters, had some things dark and hard to be understood; and yet they were neither mild for holes, than most for strong men; but none we are to launch into the deep, and our business is not so much to fathom it, as to let down our net to take a draught.

In this chapter six of the seven seals are opened, and the visions attending them are rebuilt; the first seal in ver. 1, 2, the second seal in ver. 3, 4, the third seal in ver. 5, 6, the fourth seal in ver. 7, 8, the fifth seal in ver. 9—11, the sixth seal in ver. 12, 13, &c.

1. AND 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.

v. 1, 2. The six first seals are supposed to contain the events relative to the church under the heathen emperors, till in the reign of Confessione pageurum was utterly deserved, about the year 313.

On the Lamb’s opening the first seal, one of the living creatures, with a voice loud as the thunder, summoned the apostle’s attention, and bid him come and see the vision. When he is a white horse appeared, and one sat thereon, carrying a bow, and a crown on his head; and he went forth conquering and to conquer. This represents the misalteration of the gospel, which brings joy, and peace, and triumph to the soul, of which the white horse is the emblem. The bow of Jesus, like that of Jerusalem, returns not always: the crown of his gospel, through the power of the Spirit, become effectual to subdue the Ennora feast; the crown shrouds his victories and dignity: he must

piceal; and, in spite of all opposition, his gospel shall go on conquering and to conquer; till in the hearts of his redeemed every corruption is subdued; till throughout the world his truth is diffused; and to the latest ages he will continue his conquests, till the kingdoms of the earth shall become the kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ. Hathen, O Lord, that happy day.

⁶ Ibid. iii.

3. And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beaft say, Come, and fee. 4. And there went out another horfe that was red: and power was given to him that fat thereon, to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.

v. 3, 4. The second seal being opened, he hath a summons repeated from the second beaft to come and fee. And behold, another red horfe, and one armed with a sword fat thereon, to whom power was given to take peace from the earth. And this forms to prefigure the bloody wars, which, during the reigns of Trajan and Adrian, consumed innumerable multitudes of Jews and Romans, the common persecutors of Christianity, till about the year 138. Nate, (1.) Persecutors of God’s people shall have blood given them to drink. (2.) The Lord can let his enemies at variance among themselves, and makes often one wicked nation to be the courage of his vengeance upon another.

⁶ Lev. xviii. vii. Lem. vi. viii. Ibid. iv. 18.

5. And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beaft say, Come, and fee. And I behold, and lo, a black horfe; and he that fat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. 6. And I heard a voice on the misfit of the four beafts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and fee thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

v. 5, 6. The third seal opens, and another summons bids him come and fee; when lo, a black horfe, the emblem of famine, appeared, and one with a pair of balances fat on him; when one of the beafts cried, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and fee thou hurt not the oil and the wine. The famine would fall chiefly on the poor, who for the price of a whole day’s labour, could but just procure bread for their subsistence, which happened under the reigns of the two Antonines, between the years 138 and 179. Nate, When one judgment is not effectual to lead sinners to repentance, a second follows at its heels.

⁶ Chap. xv. vi. 14.

7. And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beaft say, Come and fee. 8. And I looked, and behold, a pale horfe; and his name that fat 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 beafts of the earth.

⁶ Ibid. vi. 17. xvi. xi. xxxiii. 17.

v. 7, 8. The fourth seal being opened, the fourth beaft bids him come and fee; when behold, a pale horfe; Death fat thereon, and the grave attended him, to devour the corpses of the fallen; or hell, to receive their souls. By war, by famine, by pestilence, and the beafts of the earth, permission is given them to stay even a fourth part of the earth: and history informs us of the dreadful defolations which walted the Roman empire, from the reign of Maximinos to Diocletian, in righteous vengeance for their bloody persecutions of Christianity. Nate, (1.) Death marches as a conqueror through the earth; and, when attended with hell at his feet, is indeed a king of terrors. (2.) God’s quiver is never exhausted, and when he contends, he must prevail.

⁶ Lev. iv. 7.

9. And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held. 10. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, doft thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? 11. And white robes were given unto every one of them, and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little feason, until their fellow-servants also, and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.

⁶ Ibid. xxiv. 10.

On opening the fifth seal a new scene is disclosed. The souls of the martyrs appear at the foot of the altar of incense, who had been slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held; and they united in their fervent supplications, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, doft thou not display these persecutions, and judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? In answer to their prayer, and in token of their acceptance, while rules, the emblems of righteousness

and honour, were given unto every one of them; and in vain said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little feason, patiently respecting their final triumphs over all their foes, until their fellow-servants also, and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled; and then a period should be put to the bloody persecutions of the pagan emperors, by the accordion of Constantine, about the year 323. Nate, (1.) The blood of martyrs, and the sufferings of the persecuted, cry for vengeance to a holy God, and it will surely come upon the heads of these enemies. (2.) The time for the exercise of faith and patience is a little feason; but the glory which shall follow will be eternal.

12. And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and lo, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; 13. And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a big-tree saithen her untimely figs when she is shaken of a mighty wind: 14. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were removed out of their places: 15. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondsman, and every freeman hid themselves in the dens, and in the rocks of the mountains; 16. And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that stretch on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: 17. For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

Revelation 6:13-17

xxiv. vi. xxixv. 4. Ibid. xxxv. vii. 8. Heg. viii. 11. viii. xxiv. viii. xxv. viii. xix. ii. 17 viii. 1. Ref. 2. 2. ⁶ Pl. 6. 16.

On opening the sixth seal, a dreadful earthquake seemed to threaten universal destruction. The luminaries of heaven grew dark as sackcloth; the stars dropped, extinguished from their spheres, as when the storm shaken down the untimely figs; the heaven itself departed as a scroll; every island and mountain fled affrighted; and universal conflagration feared all ranks and degrees, from the king upon the throne, to the meanest slave, who fought for shelter in dens and caves, and in their horror wished to be for ever covered under the rocks and mountains, from the face of him who sat upon the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for now by would experience they felt his terrible vengeance, which they could neither flee from nor resist.

This vision seems to represent the utter and irrecoverable overthrow of heathenism, when that wonderful revolution was brought about in the empire, and under Constantine idolatry was abolished, the idols of paganism destroyed, and all those who had before been the inveterate enemies of the Christian name, covered with confusion.

And what is here presented in vision, will be most emphatically verified in the great day of the perdition of ungodly men. When trembling before the intolerable wrath of the offended judge, in vain the mountains and rocks will be invoked to fall on the sinner’s guilty head: naked and defenceless he must be exposed to all the furious blasts of vengeance, and sink down into everlasting burnings, under black unfathomable despair! Lord, gather not my soul with sinners!