Fifty Shades of Grace: Fifty Shades of Grace Chapter 20

20--Revelation Made Easy Part 3--The Scrolls and 7 Seals

Remember how I told you that we have to interpret Revelation based on the Old Testament. Well, let me tell you a secret that very few people know. Revelation was actually written in code on purpose. John wrote the book of Revelation in Greek, but he used Hebrew idioms and Hebrew grammatical structures with tons of references to the Old Testament prophets precisely so that the Romans would not understand it. Anybody who had read the Old Testament would recognize the language right away, so Jews and Christians would “get it.” But their enemies would not. That is because Christians were going to be persecuted and the book of Revelation is meant to be a comfort to them as they wait for their enemies to be destroyed.

The Greek word for revelation is apocalypse. So it is right to say that the Old Testament is the key to understanding the apocalypse code--the key to understanding Revelation.

I should warn you that you should read Revelation chapters 4 through 8:5 before you read this, so you know what I am talking about. Then you can read this to understand what all the symbols are.

The scroll in Revelation has its counterpart in the Old Testament book of Ezekiel. Ezekiel also has 4 living creatures who are very similar to the ones described in Revelation. Ezekiel’s vision is about the rebellion of Judah and its subsequent destruction. In Revelation, the scroll is God’s divorce decree against unbelieving Israel. Jerusalem and the unbelieving Jews are about to be destroyed. Jesus predicted the destruction of Jerusalem and in Matthew 8:11-12 he told the people that the sons of the Kingdom would be cast into utter darkness.

The Seven Seals

The first four seals are four horsemen. The Old Testament backdrop for them is in Zechariah where they were commissioned to prepare the land for final judgment. Knowing this, we know that in Revelation we will have the same interpretation.

The first seal—the white horse is not Christ, because Christ is the one opening the seal. Also someone is giving orders to the white horseman and nobody orders Christ around! The horseman probably represents Vespasian, who is the Roman general sent by the emperor Nero to fight against Jerusalem. The color white means he will be the victor. The bow symbolizes that the war is fought from a distance. The crown is a second evidence that victory is assured to the Roman army.

The second seal—the bright red horse and its rider. Red represents blood. Revelation is filled with bloody images—the blood of the slain Lamb, the blood of the saints, and the blood of God’s enemies. It means death and destruction are near. The sword means that now the fighting is closer. The battle is now inside Jerusalem with Jews fighting each other. Both Josephus (Jewish Wars 5.1.5. and 6.2.3.) and Tacitus (another historian) report that while Jerusalem was surrounded, there was civil war going on inside the walls. The horseman takes peace from the earth. The Roman Pax Romana was being destroyed by the Jews who revolted in A.D. 66 requiring the Romans to squelch the revolt.

The third seal—a black horse and its rider.

The color black—and the weighing scales both represent famine. The Jews inside the walls of Jerusalem would starve to death if they didn’t die from the sword. Josephus reports (5.3.4) that John of Damascus and Simon set on fire houses full of corn as if doing it on purpose to serve the Romans. So the Jews were not only killing each other, but they were burning the storehouses where all their grain was kept. They destroyed corn that would have given them enough food to last for several years if they were under siege.

The fourth seal—a pale horse and its rider.

This would have been a greenish death pallor. The Jews were going to be buried by the Romans. However there is a limitation: 1/4 of the people die. The wild beasts—represent a covenant curse (Lev. 26:22). So many Jews were dying inside the city, that there was no place to bury the dead, so they threw the carcasses over the wall and into the valley below. (See also Jeremiah 7 and 19—the Valley of Slaughter). Another covenant curse was cannibalism (Lev. 26:29) and Josephus and others report the cannibalism that was taking place in Jerusalem during the siege.

The fifth seal—souls of the slain.

John now glances up into heaven where he sees the martyred saints crying out for vengeance and vindication. The heavenly altar—The earthly altar (Ex. 29:12) was a place where the blood of sacrifices was spilt. John sees the blood of the saints spilled out on the heavenly altar. They were killed for testifying—“for the witness they had borne.” Notice again the forensic courtroom language. They testified against Israel—that the Jews had killed them.

In verse 10 we see that judgment is on those who “dwell on the land.” (Land means ‘promised land’ or Israel and is sometimes translated “earth” but since John uses words heavily connected to Old Testament we are going to go with “land” since that is how it is stated in the Old Testament. Also Rev. 1:7 clearly states that the judgment is on the tribes who pierced Jesus and they would be located in Jerusalem.)

Jesus also supports this view when he prophesies to the scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 23—32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. 33 You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? 34 Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, 35 so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah,[a] whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. 36 Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

The sixth seal — earthquake, black sun, blood moon, falling stars, sky rolled up like scroll, mountains and islands moved from their places.

This is de-creation language—the Creator is tearing the world apart. The Old Testament uses the same language. (See Isaiah 13, 34:4; Ezekiel 32; Jeremiah 4; Joel 2) The same words are used in these prophets to describe foreign armies and nations and to describe how God will mete out justice.

Significance of heavenly phenomena—God ordained stars and planets to rule day and night. (Gen. 1) Falling stars always represent the fall of rule—in some cases earthly governments, in this case the temple. (Even today stars symbolize rule—our fifty stars on our flag represent state rule.) 6:15 tells us the “kings of earth” (the priests of the land) will hide themselves in caves. Jerusalem was well known for all its caves and tunnels and secret passageways. This is where the priests would have gone to hide. Some of these hiding places were under the temple itself. Notice in verse 16 that they do indeed recognize the Lamb as Christ himself. Remember when Jesus told Caiaphas “you will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds in power and great glory?” Well, the time is here! Peter also makes this connection in Acts 2:16-24 where he quotes Joel and accuses the Jews of crucifying the Son of God.

The first interlude. The four angels are holding back the winds of destruction.

The four winds of the earth refer to the four points of the compass. The angels are being commanded to withhold judgment until God’s elect are marked for protection. Everything is in place for judgment to occur but there are still Christians in Jerusalem. The holding back of the winds is to give them a chance to get out. (Luke 21 and Matt. 24 & Josephus 4.9.1 and 4.10.5) This is accomplished by the suicide of Nero and the failure of Galba to keep the Roman Empire from being destroyed. As a result, Vespasian is recalled to Rome and he takes his army with him. Eusebius records in Ecclesiastical History that the Christians were instructed to go to Pella. Jews from all over the world were making their way back into Jerusalem, thinking that proximity to the temple would save them. But Vespasian sent his son Titus back to finish the job.

The 144,000—were the Jewish core that started the church age. The number is highly symbolic like the rest of Revelation. Ten was a perfect number and ten cubed was thrice perfected. The number one thousand is often used in Scripture to signify the perfect number. (Ps. 50:10; I Peter 3:8) The 12 tribal elders times the 12 apostles make the 12 x 12 which = 144. So the 144,000 are the Jewish Christians who are kept during the tribulation and who will go out and spread the gospel to the world. This had already begun and the world already had the gospel.

Seal on the foreheads: The OT backdrop is Ezekiel 9:3-7. The mark on the forehead is not a literal mark; it stands for the allegiance of belief; it is a worldview. The forehead represents the mind. Those who believe in Christ are marked as His and are under His protection.

The great multitude from every nation in 7:9 now includes all Christians from all time—Jews and Gentiles. This number is not a set number—no one can number them. And they are not from the 12 tribes—they are from every tribe and nation and language. This is in contrast to the 144,000 from the 12 tribes.

Old Testament references in verses 15-17 are mainly from Isaiah and Psalms.

The seventh seal —silence in heaven for about half and hour. An angel with a golden censer fills it with fire and throws it on the land in response to the imprecatory prayers of the saints.

Old Testament backdrop: The plagues mimic the plagues of Egypt, so that the Jews will recognize God’s hand in it. The scene mimics the scene at Mt. Sinai—peals of thunder, flashes of lightning, rumblings. And the 7 trumpets mimic the taking down of Jericho. With all these reminders of how Yahweh dealt with His enemies, there could be no doubt in the minds of the unbelieving Jews that God’s wrath was now directed against them.

Random pics of God's grace in my life: