October 6, 2014 Revelation Chapter 6

Revelation Chapter 6

Originally posted Tuesday December 16, 2014

General Comment: As we approach the reading and interpretation of the opening of the sealed scroll it is important to keep in mind that the scenes of war, pestilence, earthly disasters and death are not meant to be taken literally. This is the metaphorical language of vision. However, this does not lessen John's intent to address the ultimate destruction of the cosmic forces of evil and death which he identifies with Roman hubris, persecution and the Imperial cult. John is not predicting historical events and he is not drawing a blueprint for a transformation of social institutions in some spiritual awakening. For John the idea of judgment is real but the outcome of judgment will not be clear until we have received the full measure of his images of wrath. As we read these un-Christ-like passages - seemingly in contradiction to the image of a loving God and a Christ of love and peace, it is necessary to keep in mind the last part of chapter 5. There we read that "every creature in heaven, on earth and under the earth and in the sea" was heard to sing, 'To the one seated on the throne and to the lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!'" The end of the story, as in Isaiah's image of the worship of God on Mount Zion by all the nations of the world, is universal in scope and salvation.

Revelation, Chapter 6:1-8 Seals 1-4: The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

As the Lamb successively opens the four seals, each of the four horsemen is introduced in turn by one of the four "living creatures" who stand at the four cardinal points of the compass. The horsemen represent the beginning of the eschatological judgment in terms of war, bloody strife, famine and pestilence. The image of the horsemen, with varied colors, is adapted from Zech. 1:7-15, 6:1-8. Various combinations of sword, famine, pestilence and animals as causes of death are found in Jeremiah and Ezekiel. The "living creatures have a single-word introduction to each horseman, usually translated as "come." Contextually the better translation is "go," for the forces of judgment are already and always available to God.

First to appear is a white horse whose rider is an archer carrying a bow. The rider is given a crown and he is summoned to conquer. The crown is used as a sign of conquering as promised to the "victors" in the letters to the seven churches. The image of the white horse is that of the Parthian cavalry, famous for its white horses and bowmen who were known for their ability to fire their arrows backwards with the horses running at a gallop. The Parthian kingdom, at the eastern border of the Roman Empire, originated in and expanded from what is now the northeast part of Iran. Parthia was never conquered by the Roman Army but a major defeat of the Romans by Parthia in the Tigris River valley occurred in 62 CE, an event well known to the readers of Revelation. The raising of the image of the conquering Parthians serves as opening act in the ultimate defeat of Roman rule and establishment of God's rule. It is also meant to create fear and the dispelling of any sense of security.

Second to appear is a bright red horse whose rider carries a "great sword" representing civil strife. (As we will later read, red is the color of the dragon). He is allowed to "take peace from the earth." This introduces total anarchy, an absence of all social and moral inhibitions, resulting in internecine slaughter. It brings about the collapse of the Pax Romana, approximately two centuries of peace in the Empire enforced by the Roman Army. If the rider of the white horse has mustered the forces from outside the Empire this one has brought about the collapse of civil order from within. Such a collapse shows that the seeming stability of Roman rule is but an illusion. It is not the peace that comes from God for it is enforced by the sword.

Third to appear is the black horse whose rider carries a pair of scales for weighing. His appearing is accompanied by a voice from among the four living creatures. Their words refer to weights and costs of the food commodities wheat and barley. A day's pay is one silver denarius. The scene is that of famine. With famine come outrageous prices leading to rampant inflation with prices eight to sixteen times normal and the rationing of food. In such circumstances the rich can not only survive but prosper while the poor are left to their own devices for survival. The word for "scales" is also used for "yoke" Used this way it would refer to the yoke of hunger experienced by the poor, a burden imposed by the rich. They use the labor of the poor to sow and harvest the wheat and barley then charge them exorbitant prices to maintain their own lavish life styles. The voice ends with the cautionary advice not to harm the olive oil and the wine. These words are those of the rich who, while they can take their share of their own food crops, olive oil and wine are processed by others. The rich may not want to have the price of such important items increased. Another interpretation for this advice is that keeping the wine low in cost will induce the poor to drink themselves into a condition in which their hunger is not so difficult to bear thereby escaping their sense of utter poverty.

Fourth and the last of the horsemen to appear is the "sickly pale" horse whose rider is Death followed "with" Hades, the place of the dead. They are a fitting pair having been given authority "over a fourth of the earth," whom they could kill with sword, famine, plague and wild animals. We might note here that the first three disasters can be related to events in history (war, internal strife and famine) while the fourth is truly eschatological. The color of the horse is "other worldly" or supernatural in nature. The rider is Death itself accompanied by the personification of the place of the dead. The death of such a large segment of humanity is beyond the realm of history. 

Revelation, Chapter 6:9-11 The Fifth Seal

After the sending of the four horsemen who bring war, famine, civil strife and pestilence upon the earth our attention is drawn back to the heavenly scene. John's vision turns to the cries of the martyrs of the churches who have been executed by the roman government for their refusal to pay homage to he Emperor Domitian as a god. The company of martyrs would also include Jewish and Christian martyrs slain in the persecution of 64 CE in the aftermath of Nero's burning of a large portion of Rome. The churches first addressed in Revelation have a vested interest in the status of these martyrs, many of whom were known to them. In 1st Thessalonians we first read of this concern for those who had died before the Parousia. The question is one of status. Are these and future martyred Christians and others in Hades, languishing in the place of the dead?" John answers their concerns by reflecting on the Temple sacrifice with which his readers would be familiar. His language of sacrifice will also link these martyrs' deaths with Christ's who is the slaughtered lamb. As Christ was a martyr for his witness to God before the Roman Prefect Pilate, these martyrs have died because of their witness to Christ as their Lord in opposition to the Emperor. As martyrs they have "conquered" the world that has rejected both God and Christ and, as was Christ, they are self-sacrifices offered on the true altar of God (Rom. 12:1).

John sees the "souls," the disembodied essence of these faithful martyrs "under" the heavenly altar. The location sounds odd to us and may call forth images of medieval cathedrals with burial rooms under the main altar. But the readers knew the meaning. The word "soul" is not as we have come to understand it as the immortal soul of Greek philosophy. In Jewish and early Christian understanding the soul was the "self," the life force of a person. This life was in the person's or animal's blood. The entire sacrificial system was based not on just the offering of the flesh of an animal on the altar but also its life by way of the blood. In the Temple sacrifices the blood of the sacrifice was collected and poured at the base of the altar where it drained into the earth beneath the Temple. In this way the souls of the martyrs are under the altar. In John's vision these souls cry out to the "sovereign Lord" in a loud voice, asking God how long it will be before God's judgment will occur and their "blood (lives) is avenged on those who murdered them. This is a cry for God's justice and perhaps an echo of Jesus words on the cross questioning God's seeming abandonment. What they are asking for is vindication for the rightness of their witness and their death resulting from it (Ps. 79:5-10). The use here of "inhabitants of the earth" is inclusive of the entire Roman Empire insofar as its inhabitants subscribe to the Roman political/religious culture.

The answer seems something of a "put off" but it is one of encouragement. They are given a white robe - a symbol of the one who conquers through martyrdom, and told to rest until the "number would be complete." This answer to the cry "how long?" is an exhortation written to the Christians of John's churches. They must be wondering how they should respond to the temptations to accommodate themselves to the Emperor cult in view of the death of their friends and family members. Through the answer in which the dead are given a white robe and told the judgment would be soon, the living are encouraged to persevere in faith and hope. There is no promise of relief or protection through escape. There is no rapture in Revelation to save them from the possibility of martyrdom. But their hope is already vindicated in what John writes: they and still others after them will conquer and receive the heavenly white robe in the presence of God and Christ. There is an interesting parallel in 2 Cor. 5:1-5 to the idea of putting on a robe or tent, as Paul calls it, as part of heavenly exaltation. He writes of longing to be clothed with the heavenly tent or dwelling, not wishing to be found naked (in death). Eternal life is like a garment one puts on - a heavenly clothing in which one stands before God.

Revelation, Chapter 6:12-17 The Sixth Seal

The opening of the sixth seal brings a vision of great disturbances in the cosmos in response to God's coming judgment. As with most writings of this type, the end begins with worldly catastrophes and then moves to the cosmic realm. These latter events are in answer to the cry "how soon?" As John writes in vs. 17, "The great day of [God's] wrath has come" (but it will take another 16 chapters to complete). The phenomena that John sees - earthquake, darkened sun, moon like blood, falling stars, vanishing sky and the movement of mountains and islands, are all images from apocalyptic passages of the Old Testament and other Jewish writings. (Jer., Ezek., Joel, Isa.). They are in part the beginnings of making a new heaven and a new earth.

The people of the earth, great and small, rich and poor, slave and free hide in the caves and among the rocks. They pray that they be covered by the mountains and rocks and be hidden from "the face of [God] and the wrath of the lamb." But there is no escape from judgment for those who have accommodated themselves to the way of Rome and forsaken the way of Christ as Lord. As noted before, the vision is not to be taken literally or as a wiping away of bad social structures inherent in empire, to be replaced by a Christian theocracy which would be no less dangerous to justice and freedom. The vision is a symbol of the end of the world of sin and death as human beings have experienced it, to be replaced by the reign of God. The final question is left for the readers to ponder. "Who can stand?"