Let's Study Revelation (Chapter 6) by E. G. Cook

CHAPTER SIX     We now come to the part of this book of prophecy that deals with the time of the greatest trouble this old world will ever experience. Nothing like it has ever been known in the history of the world. It is called "the time of Jacob's trouble" Jeremiah 30:7, and "a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation" Daniel 12:1. In the New Testament we are told, "Then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no nor ever shall be" Matthew 24:21. These world winning Baptists are going to think they slipped up somewhere along the way when this awful time comes. In this life none of us could enjoy seeing all these terrible things coming upon this evil world, but in that day when we have been raptured, and are seeing all this as God sees it, we will rejoice in it.
    In Chapter Five we saw our Lord taking the seven sealed book from off the hand of the Father because He was the only one who was found worthy to do so. Here in this chapter we see Him as He begins to open these seals. When he opens the first one John hears one of the four living creatures saying in a voice that sounded like thunder "come." Due to the King James translation at this point I once thought this living creature was telling John to come and see. But John is already there seeing what is going on. Then, too, the word "and see" are not in the original. So I have come to see that the living creature is saying "come" to the rider on the white horse. It is now time for him to come on the scene and play his part. There is much speculation among Bible commentators as to who this white horse rider is. Some say he is Christ, but if we keep this whole scene in view and look to our Lord to help us in keeping our feet on firm Scriptural ground we should be able to see that Christ is still in Heaven breaking the seals on this book. The white horse rider is down here on the earth where this terrible tribulation is to take place. Then, too, when Christ does come down to earth on the white horse (Revelation 9:11) there will be no differences of opinion. All guess work will have come to an end. Everyone will know who He is.
    Others say this white horse rider is the anti-Christ, but here, too, we need to keep our feet on firm Scriptural ground. It seems to me that those who say this is the anti-Christ are confusing the two beasts of Revelation 13. There are two of these beasts in chapter 13. The first one John saw rise up out of the sea. Let us bear in mind that these two beasts that John saw are really two men with the nature of ferocious beasts. In Revelation 19:20 these two are cast into hell alive. So let us keep in mind these two beasts are men, and that there are two of them. In Revelation 17:15we learn that water represents "peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues," that is, chaotic conditions in the world. So this first beast is a political figure the head of the ten kingdom revived Roman Empire, who is the product of chaotic conditions in the world. The second beast that John saw rose up out of the earth, or the land, that is, out of the land of Palestine. He will be the false prophet, or anti-Christ.
    In the light of all this we believe this white horse rider to be the first beast of Revelation 13. He is the head of the revived Roman Empire. You notice he has a bow, but there is no arrow so far as we can see. We see this fellow in Daniel 11:21 where he obtains a kingdom by flattery. He makes the people think he will give them peace. In other words he will make them think he will bring in the age of peace without the prince of peace. His being on a white horse fools the people, even some of our great Bible commentators of today, but let us remember that when our Lord does come on the white horse (Revelation 19:11) no one will have to guess as to who He is. This rider in Revelation 6:1 promises the people peace, but in 1 Thessalonians 5:3 we read, "When they shall say, peace and safety then sudden destruction cometh upon them." Our Lord warned of all this in Matthew 24. In verse 4 He says, "Take heed that no man deceive you." Was He not speaking of this very time?
    So when our Lord opens the second seal the second living creature says, "come." When this takes place we see another horse come on the scene. This one is red, a symbol of blood. This speaks of war. The rider of the red horse is given power to take peace from the earth. He is the same person we saw upon the white horse. He who rode to power on the promise of peace and safety now plunges the whole world into war. The great sword that was given him speaks of bloody war. No doubt but that this will be a war between races of people as well as between nations. In Matthew 24:6-7a speaking, I think concerning this terrible time, Jesus says, "Ye shall hear of wars and rumor of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom."
    When the third seal is opened we see a black horse come into view. This black horse speaks of the famine and pestilence that naturally goes with war. Let us remember that by this time Uncle Sam will have played Santa Claus to the rest of the world until he will be unable to feed his own people much less the whole world. So the balances, or scales in the hand of this rider who is still the same fellow we saw on the white and red horses speak of food rationing. We have experienced food rationing to some extent in our day, but we have not seen anything to compare with what we see here. The measure here means about one quart, that is, about enough for one good meal for a man, and the word penny comes from the word DENARIUS which means a man's daily wage. How can a man support a family in a time like this? This before us has to do with the food of the common people whereas the oil and the wine may very well speak of the food of the ruling class. They will eat well so long as there is anything to eat. Our Lord, knowing all this as He did, says in the latter part of verse 7 of Matthew 24, "There shall be famines."
    In view of all this is it any wonder that when the fourth seal is opened a pale horse comes on the scene? This horse is a sickly pale, or better a livid color, the color of death with out the work of the mortician. The rider, though still the same one, is called death. Death is stalking the land and we are told that hades followed after him. "Sheol (hades in the Greek) hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure Isaiah 5:14. We learn here that as a result of all this we have seen, one fourth of the earth's population dies. As our population stands today that would be more than six hundred million people. And this is just the beginning of sorrows. Our Lord said there would be pestilence, and how terrible all this will be, and how near it seems to be to our door, and how frightful to see how few are expecting it.
    It is needful that we lean heavily upon our Father as we approach the Scripture before us. May it please Him to guide us by His Holy Spirit that what we say may be pleasing to Him. It is evident that the saints are not in agreement as to who these under the altar are. But it is also evident that when we differ on anything concerning the precious Word, somebody is wrong. There are those who believe the ones John saw under the altar are the martyrs of the church age. And certainly there have been untold thousands of our Lord's saints martyred during the church age. Others hold that these are tribulation saints, and I am persuaded there will be many of them.
    I find two reasons for believing that these martyrs in verse 9 are tribulation martyrs. First, I must believe that the martyrs of the church age will be resurrected (1 Thessalonians 4:16) before the real tribulation begins here on the earth. I must believe that our Lord will come for His saints (all of them, whether dead or living) before the tribulation begins in order that I may believe that He may come today. If He is to come after any part of the terrible tribulation, I am not able to see how we can look for His imminent coming, and I must believe that He could come before I get up from this typewriter. And since these under the altar here are disembodied, and since the church age saints will be clothed in their glorified bodies when this fifth seal is opened, therefore I am unable to see how these under the altar could possibly be the church age saints. In Revelation 13:15, however, we see another group of martyrs who, as I see it, fits into this picture perfectly. These are the tribulation martyrs. My second reason for believing that these martyrs under the altar are tribulation martyrs is that these under the altar are praying for vengeance upon their enemies on the earth. This is foreign to our Lord's instructions to us in this dispensation. In Matthew 5:44, Luke 6:28 and again in Romans 12:14 we are to pray for - to bless those who persecute us. But in Psalms 143:12 the Psalmist prays, "And of thy mercy cut off mine enemies, and destroy all them that afflict my soul: for I am thy servant". The grace dispensation will end with the rapture of the saints, and again the Jews will be permitted to pray for vengeance on their enemies. So far as I am able to see, these martyrs under the altar can only be the tribulation martyrs.
    In verse 11 these martyrs are comforted and told to rest until the remainder of their brethren who were to be killed had been martyred as they were. Those who die in the Lord are at rest. They are comforted as Lazarus was in Luke 16:25. Another thing we see in this verse is that there is a certain number to be martyred. The quota is to be completed. In Luke 21:24 we see the expression, "until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." This word "fulfilled" is from PLEROO which means to fill, or to complete. So it can mean "until the quota of the Gentiles be brought in." While discussing the terrible times of the tribulation with His Jewish disciples our Lord tells them in Matthew 24:9 that they (the Jewish remnant) would be afflicted and killed for His name's sake. Here we see some of them crying out for vengeance on their enemies.
    Beginning with verse 12 we have given to us the results of the opening of the sixth seal. Some truly great Bible scholars tell us that we should take this literally just as it says. But when I go back to the first verse in this book of Revelation I find that God showed these things to John by signs. Our more modern translations try to, and in fact they do, smooth over this expression. The book of Revelation does not fit in with modern day theology. Therefore it is completely ignored in so many Baptist churches of our day. For them to translate the word SEMAINO here in Revelation 1:1 as signify would make it all the harder for them to make this wonderful book of prophecy (Revelation 1:3, 22:7) just a book of history. But in spite of all their efforts to weaken the prophecy of this book, SEMAINO still means to give a sign. Therefore, are we not doing the book of Revelation an injustice if we fail to look for the signs and symbols?
    We know from other Scriptures such as Isaiah 29:6, Zechariah 14:4-5 and Matthew 24:7 that literal earthquakes will have a prominent part in the judging of this old evil world during the terrible tribulation. He will "shake terribly the earth in that day," Isaiah 2:19. And I am convinced by Matthew 27: 51-54 that the literal earthquakes will cause great fear on the part of God's enemies. This fear will, no doubt, cause these enemies of God to flee to their great religious system for comfort.
    Now, let us look closely to see what is signified (Revelation 1:1) in the Scripture before us. Going back to the first chapter of this book we see our Lord holding seven stars in His right hand, verse 16. These were not literal stars. In verse 20 we are told that these stars are the angels of the seven churches. This word "angels" is from ANGELOS which means messenger, or one who delivers a message. Therefore, these angels of the churches are the pastors who deliver a message. In the case of our Lord's true churches, the pastor delivers a message from God to His people. In the case of old Satan's churches, the pastor naturally delivers a message from his master, old Satan himself, to his people. I believe that in the months immediately following the rapture of the saints old Satan's churches will flourish as never before. People are by nature religious. They are not Christian by nature, but they are religious. The sudden disappearance of God's saints from their midst will cause great fear and anguish to come into the hearts and minds of the enemies of God. This fear coupled with the fear and consternation brought on by the terrible wars, famines, pestilence and literal earthquakes of tribulation days will cause these people to flee to their false refuge, old Satan's churches. But here in verse 13 we see the stars falling. These stars, no doubt, are both literal and symbolic. The falling of literal stars will add to their consternation, and will make them all the more anxious to lean upon their false refuge. But in Revelation 17:16-18 we see the fall and utter destruction of Satan's churches, and of course this will include the pastors of these churches, the stars of Revelation 1:20. They will claim heavenly origin, therefore, they are called the stars of heaven.
    Now that the dread and fear of these enemies of the Lord increases with every coming day and they have seen their false refuge utterly destroyed before their very eyes, they have no where to go but to the dens and rocks of the mountains. So there we leave them (verses 15-17) praying fervently, feverishly and with great anguish of soul, not to God for deliverance from their sins, but to the rocks and mountains that they may be hid from the God of heaven. Fear and sorrow can never bring people to Christ (John 6:44). These things can only bring people to the dens and the rocks.