Revelation 5:13,14

Throne Section-The Seals

13 It has been suggested that the Syriac version preserves the true reading here. After "blessing" it goes right on and gives every creature to the Lambkin, rather than getting praise from them, thus (combined with Vaticanus 'b'):

And honor and glory and blessing

And every creature which is in heaven

And on the earth and underneath the earth

And on the sea and all [those] in them!"

And I hear all [messengers] saying,

"To Him Who is sitting on the throne-

To the Lambkin-Be blessing and honor and glory and might

For the eons of the eons!"

1 The seals fall into two groups. The first are "the beginning of travail" (Mat_24:8). Then follows "the time of Jacob's trouble" such as has not been from the beginning of creation and never shall be again (Mat_24:21; Mar_13:19).

1 The first four seals correspond with the opening words of our Lord's address on the Mount of Olives (Mt.24-25; Mark.13; Luk_21:5-36).

2 Compare Mat_24:5. The false messiah comes forth on a white horse after the manner of the real Messiah.

2 The horse is prepared against the "day of battle" (Pro_21:31 cf. Job_39:19-25). Its absence denotes peace (Zec_9:10; Zec_10:3). They were not in common use in the land of Israel. The king was forbidden to multiply horses (Deu_17:16). They were used chiefly as cavalry and for drawing chariots.

2 The bow is a symbol of distant warfare. It is probable that these four seals describe the time when the great western nondescript monster (Dan_7:7) tramples upon and devours the three eastern beasts (cf. Rev_13:1). This will provoke wars all over the earth.

3 Compare Mat_24:7. Whole nations will rise against other nations. Universal conscription of manpower and all industries will make war a much more terrible experience than in the past.

5 Compare Mat_24:7, "There shall be famines:" The Greek word zugon was used of two different Hebrew words: ol, a yoke, and maznim,

balances, scales (Lev_19:36; Job_3:16; Dan_5:27; Chaldee). It may mean either a yoke or a pair of balances, according to the context. Here it seems to stand for the weighing of food in time of famine. Thus Ezekiel was given ten ounces of food and a pint or water each day (Eze_4:9-12).

6 A chenix is supposed to be the daily ration for one person. A denarius was the daily wage of a laborer (Mat_20:2-13). Hence a day's labor will barely suffice to buy enough food to exist.

8 The fourth horse is the ghastly greenish tinge of young or sickly vegetation.

8 The Unseen is, literally, the Unperceived, or Imperceptible. It corresponds with the Hebrew sheol (shaul), from shal, to ask. The unseen powers of evil which come before us in this scroll, the dragon and its messengers (Rev_12:3-4), are called "the gates of the unseen" (Mat_16:18) because the rulers of an eastern city sat in its gate.

8 To kill...with death (thanatos). This Greek word stands for two Hebrew words, one of. which is dbr, plague. In the LXX famine and plague are joined nine times (1Ki_8:37; 2Ch_20:9; Jer_21:7; Jer_21:9; Jer_24:10; Jer_44:13; Eze_6:11; Eze_7:15; Eze_7:15), in all of which they translate "plague" by "death". We also speak of the "black death".

9 The soul is the seat of sensation. As the spirit is associated with the breath and the body with the soil, so the soul (not the life) is in the blood (Gen_9:4-5; Lev_17:11; Lev_17:14; Lev_17:14). Christ poured out His soul unto death. It represents the suffering and anguish which He endured. The blood of the sin offering was poured out at the foundation of the altar (Lev_4:7). In Solomon's temple there was a vast pit under the altar to receive the blood of the sacrifices. Able's blood cried from the ground, where it had been poured. So these martyrs are accounted by God as sacrifices on the altar. Their sensations of suffering called for vengeance on those who had sacrificed them because of their testimony. This event marks the middle of Daniel's seventieth heptad.

Compare Mat_24:9. These martyrs are mentioned often (Rev_2:10; Rev_12:10-11; Rev_20:4).

10 We bless those who persecute us (Rom_12:14). In the days of the seals the "acceptable year" will have given place to "the day of vengeance" (Isa_61:2; Luk_4:18-19). The parable of the importunate widow (Luk_18:1-8) is applicable at this time. "For He wIll avenge the blood of His servants, And will return vengeance to His foes" (Deu_32:43).