The Seven Seals

REV. 6:1, 2. "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. 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."

Having taken the book, the Lamb proceeds at once to open the seals; and the attention of the apostle is called to the scenes that transpire under each seal. The number seven in the Scriptures is understood as denoting completion and perfection. The seven seals, therefore, embrace the whole of a certain class of events, reaching down to the close of probationary time. Hence to say, as some do, that the seals denote a series of events, reaching down perhaps to the time of Constantine, and the seven trumpets another series from that time further on, cannot be correct. The trumpets denote a series of events which transpire cotemporaneously with the events of the seals, but of an entirely different character. A trumpet is a symbol of war. Hence the trumpets denote great political commotions to take place among the nations in this age. The seals denote events of a religious character, and contain the history of the church from the opening of the Christian era to the coming of Christ.

Commentators have raised a question concerning the manner in which these scenes were represented before the apostle. Was it merely a written description of the events, which was read to him as each successive seal was opened? Or was it a pictorial illustration of the events which the book contained, and which was presented before him as the seals were broken? or was it a scenic representation which passed before him, the different actors coming forth and performing their parts? Barnes decides in favor of calling them pictorial illustrations. For he thinks a merely written description would not answer to the language of the apostle, setting forth what he saw, and a mere scenic representation could have no connection with the opening of the seals. But to this view of Barnes' there are at least two serious objections: 1. The book was said to contain only writing within, not pictorial illustrations; and 2. John saw the characters which made up the various scenes, not fixed and motionless upon canvass, but living and moving, and engaging actively in the parts assigned them. The view which seems most consistent to us, is, that the book contained a record of events which were to transpire; and when the seals were broken and the record was brought to light, the scenes were presented before John not by the description being read, but by a representation of what was described in the book, being made to pass before his mind in living characters, in the place where the reality was to transpire, namely, on the earth.

The first symbol, a white horse, and the rider who bears a bow and to whom a crown is given, and who goes forth conquering and to conquer, is a fit emblem of the triumphs of the gospel in the first centuries of this dispensation; the whiteness of the horse denoting the purity of faith in that age, and the crown which was given to the rider, and his going forth conquering, and to make still further conquests, the zeal and success with which the truth was promulgated by its earliest ministers. To this it is objected that the ministers of Christ and the progress of the gospel, could not be properly represented by such warlike symbols. But we ask, By what symbols could the work of Christianity better be represented when it went forth as an aggressive principal against the huge systems of error with which it had at first to contend? The rider upon this horse went forth. Where? His commission was unlimited. The gospel was to all the world.

Verses 3, 4. "And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see. 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."

Perhaps the first noticeable feature in these symbols, is the contrast in the color of the horses. This is doubtless designed to be significant. If the whiteness of the first horse denoted the purity of the gospel in the period which that symbol covers, the redness of the second horse would denote that in this period that original purity began to be corrupted. The mystery of iniquity already worked in Paul's day; and the professed church of Christ, it would seem, was now so far corrupted by it as to require this change in the color of the symbol. Errors began to arise. Worldliness came in. The ecclesiastical power sought the alliance of the secular. Troubles and commotions were the result. The spirit of this period perhaps reached its climax as we come down to the days of Constantine, the first so-called Christian Emperor, whose conversion to Christianity is dated A. D. 323.

Of this period Dr. Rice remarks: "It represents a secular period or union of church and State. Constantine aided the clergy and put them under obligations to him. He legislated for the church, called the Council of Nice, and was most prominent in that Council. Constantine, not the gospel, had the glory of tearing down the heathen temples. The State had the glory instead of the church. Constantine made decrees against some errors, and was praised, and suffered to go on and introduce many other errors, and oppose some important truths. Controversies arose, and when a new emperor took the throne, there was a rush of the clergy to get him on the side of their peculiar tenets. Mosheim says of this period, "There was continual war and trouble."

This state of things answers well to the declaration of the prophet that power was given to him that sat on the horse "to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another; and there was given unto him a great sword." The Christianity of that time had got into the throne, and bore the emblem of civil power.