Daily Thought

Judgement is God’s ‘strange work’, Isa. 28. 21. He really delights to bless His creatures, but, because He is holy, He must judge impenitent sinners who reject His longsuffering grace in the gospel. Therefore, in this chapter John sees Christ reclaiming the earth for God by opening the seven seals of the scroll containing its title deeds. Each opened seal releases a catastrophic judgement on mankind, to encourage their repentance. The first six seal judgements parallel the disasters predicted in Matthew chapter 24 verses 4 to 14, there called ‘the beginning of sorrows’, the first half of the seven-year tribulation, which is the prophesied ‘day of vengeance of our God’, following the present long ‘acceptable year of the Lord’. The church is absent from these scenes of judgement, having been raptured to heaven before they begin when Christ returns as our Deliverer from the coming wrath, 1 Thess. 1. 10. But only believers have this hope.

When the first four seals are opened, John sees four war-horses with riders. The first horse is white and its rider a crowned conqueror. This is not Christ, but His counterfeit, Antichrist, the first beast of chapter 13. He will gain world power by indirect diplomatic means and at first appear to solve mankind’s problems. But the second, red, horse indicates that soon widespread war will break out with consequent bloodshed. The third, black, horse signifies resultant famine and food-rationing. Then the fourth, pale, horse will spell death and Hades for a full quarter of the world’s population by various horrible means.

But the opening of the fifth seal reveals the souls of many martyred believers under the altar calling upon God to avenge their deaths. There will be bitter persecution of all who believe the future gospel of the kingdom during both halves of the tribulation. Faithfulness to God is very costly in every age!

The sixth seal judgement climaxes the series with a great earthquake and cosmic disturbances which will strike terror into the hearts of all unbelievers, great and small, but fail to bring them to repentance. They will ask, ‘Who shall be able to stand?’ before the wrath of the Lamb who died to redeem them, and try to hide from Him. Tomorrow’s reading answers this question.