"Each one of you must turn from sin, return to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins; then you also shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit: (Acts 2: 38 LB)



When John wrote Revelation in A. D. 96, the people were in desperate need of knowing what was going to happen next. The apostles, with the exception of John, all were probably dead; gone was the hope that Christ would return during their lifetime.

The persecutions were well underway, having begun under Nero in 64 A.D. following the great fire of Rome. Though Nero often is pictured as a maniacal emperor who deliberately burned his city to rid it of slum areas, history really does not support this. But rumors spread to that effect. To shift blame from himself, Nero ordered a mass arrest of Christians, who "confessed" to having started the fire. Of course, we have no idea what torture they suffered before confessing. They were thrown to wild dogs, crucified, and burned at the stake to light the city at night.

At any rate, Jesus called John up to Heaven to reveal certain things so that he could record it as God's account of the future. John first beheld the throne of God, with it surrounded by the cherubim and the 24 elders. It was important for future generations to know that God was still on his throne and still in control of the world.

Next Jesus opens the scroll with the seven seals: The breaking of the first four seals reveal the four horseman:

1. White Horse--Probably The Roman Empire during its golden age.

2. The Red Horse--The Civil War that raged in Rome for over 100 years during which over 50 pretenders laid claim to the throne. (200 A.D.-300 A.D.)

3. The Black Horse--Famine: the result of war.

4. The Pale Horse--Death: Result of War and Famine

The Fifth Seal:

5. Persecution of the Church--The martyrs in Heaven are being told that they must wait a little longer for vindication, because there are yet more persecutions to come. In all there were 10 Imperial persecutions beginning with Nero and continuing to Dicoletian, A.D. 305. In addition, the papal persecutions of the Middle Ages actually killed more Christians than the 10 Imperial persecutions.

The Sixth Seal:

6. The Day of Wrath At Hand--It seems like a prediction of 4th century upheavals in the Roman Empire. The Empire ceased its persecution of the church when Emperor Constantine became a Christian in A.D. 312. He made Christianity the religion of his court and in A. D. 325, he issued a general exhortation to all to embrace Christianity. He also moved the capital of the Roman Empire from Rome to Constantinople. His successor actually made Christianity the official religion of the Empire. In A. D. 395 the Empire was divided. Constantinople became the eastern capitol and Rome the western. The was the beginning of the break-up of the mighty world empire that had for 300 years tried so hard to destroy Christianity.

THE BREAK BETWEEN THE SIXTH AND SEVENTH SEALS:

Though some consider this to be a part of the sixth seal, it definitely is an important interruption. In Chapter 7, Verse 3, an angel from the east (believed to be the direction from which Christ will come) called out to the four angels who had been given power to injure earth and sea:

"Wait, don't do anything yet. Hurt neither earth nor sea nor trees--until we have placed the seal of God upon the foreheads of his servants." (LB)

This angel held in his hand the Great Seal of the Living God. Since we already know that the Archangel Michael will accompany Christ when he returns, I believe that is who this is.

What is about to happen? The Era of Christianity is coming to a close. Who are the 144,000 about to receive the seal? Well the Bible tells us very specifically that they are the elect of Israel. The number 144,000 is the square of 12 and is thought symbolically rather than numerically to represent the sum total of the elect of Israel.

Two events are occurring simultaneously, one on earth and one in Heaven. Remember God promised Abraham that from his loins would come a great king to bring peace. This was an earthly kingdom that he promised the Israelites. The kingdom that Jesus promised those who believed that he was the son of God and remained faithful to him unto the end was a heavenly kingdom.

So, just before the four angels are released, he marks the elite of Israel who will survive the Tribulation. At this point, I also believe the followers of Christ, both in the grave and still living, were taken up into Heaven, their bodies transformed.

"The blood-washed throng, safe at last in the Father's Home, as against the Day of Wrath on earth (6:16), is the answer to the Martyrs' cries (6:10)...."

They are spared what is about to happen. Other events will occur before this happens, as we shall see in Chapter Seven.



This is one theory of Revelation. There are others. This is the one that seems to make the most sense to me. We know that the Christians were suffering terribly at the hands of the Roman Empire and anxious to know what was ultimately going to happen to the Empire.