BEMA 183: Revelation — Seals from Scripture

Transcription Status

24 Mar 24 — Initial public release

15 Jan 24 — Transcript approved for release

Revelation — Seals from Scripture

Brent Billings: This is The BEMA Podcast with Marty Solomon. I’m his co-host, Brent Billings. Today, we examine some of the context behind the seals of the scroll that are opened and what happens when they are. What do we make of all this apocalyptic chaos?

Marty Solomon: I’m confident we can jump right into the sixth chapter. We’re used to this now. We got this down, we know what we’re doing. We’ve learned some more of the common questions to ask. As usual, we’re going to be looking for insight into the culture—first-century Greco-Roman world. We’re going to be looking at the quoted Text. We’re going to be looking for Text in context, the Hebrew Scriptures being placed within the first-century context.

We’re going to look for that within all these teachings. First, let’s take a cursory look at the culture sitting just behind this chapter—but let’s start with some words from the chapter. Give us Revelation 6.

Brent: I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, “Come.” I looked, and there before me was a white horse. Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.

Marty: All this talk about conquest would ring loud and clear on the ears of the early readers. A Roman conquest was built upon the words of Julius Caesar. I’m assuming these are primarily Latin. I don’t really know how to talk Latin, say Latin, speak Latin. Veni, vidi, vici. Think I got that right?

Brent: I believe so.

Marty: Sweet. I came, I saw, I conquered. Later on, there would be a Roman slogan we’d find all over our currency and different things, but Rome had a slogan later in the empire after Julius Caesar, that said—I believe Augustus, his adopted son was the one who brought it on the scene—“Piety, war, victory, peace.” That was the Roman slogan. “Piety, war, victory, peace.”

It was a linear narrative. “You want peace? Well, I’ll tell you what brings peace. First, you need piety. You need to be committed to the faith of our fathers,” Augustus said. You need to go to war. You need to have piety, war,  victory, and that is how you bring peace. That is empire, by the way, the definition in our Tale of Two Kingdoms, of empire.

Brent: It worked for them for a little while.

Marty: Sure did. It sure did. At least by their measuring sticks, it worked, it seemed to them. This narrative of conquest would be known well by the original recipients of John’s letter. Go on, keep reading some more on the chapter.

Brent: When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come.” Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make people kill each other. To him was given a large sword.

Marty: As the lamb, which we already talked about, the lamb in our previous discussion, the prior chapter in Revelation, as the lamb continues to break open the seven seals on this scroll, the situation in the world progresses. The next horse is a red horse representing blood and the slaughter of mankind, one to another. Whether it’s the slaughter of war, it could be the entertainment of the Romans. What kind of entertainment did the Romans have that would be relevant here, Brent?

Brent: The gladiatorial combat.

Marty: Gladiatorial combat. You got to go to Rome, right?

Brent: I did.

Marty: Actually, you hung out with what would become your wife on that trip, is that correct?

Brent: Right, among others.

Marty: Among others, but yes, absolutely. What a fun little story. You got to see the—what was the big—

Brent: I saw the Colosseum.

Marty: The Colosseum, where a lot of this stuff even would take place. The Romans had blood all—not just in war, they had it in their entertainment. The art that surrounds them was filled with that kind of blood. We’re used to this, this is our culture. It’s the same for us. It’s a fitting reference to the culture at large, this red horse. What about the next seal, Brent?

Brent: When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creatures say, “Come.” I looked, and there before me was a black horse. Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures saying “Two pounds of wheat for a day’s wages and six pounds of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine.”

Marty: We discussed that with the letter to Philadelphia. This is a reference that matches exactly the records that we found in biblical Asia and archeology. Building an empire is always done at a cost. Empire is never free. The price of Empire is often steep. The grain shortage felt throughout the Roman empire was staggering. What about our fourth seal, Brent?

Brent: When the lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come.” I looked, and there before me was a pale horse. Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine, and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

Marty: The reign of Rome for people like the original here is Revelation, obviously culminates in death and what appears to be the victory of evil. John mixed the fourth horse out to represent death itself and then tags on the Greek idea of Hades. This belief in the underworld and spawning place of evil would not only be a perfect cultural play, but would also serve as a fitting picture for the empire that bears down on the people who hear John’s message. What about the fifth seal?

Brent: When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers and sisters were killed just as they had been.

Marty: Like we just said, this Roman ideal leads to death, the slaughter of thousands upon thousands of believers. These are people who are unwilling to bend the knee to the emperor’s demands for worship. People who claim to stand for a better gospel. Go and give us one more seal, Brent.

Brent: I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made from goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. The heavens receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.

Marty: I’m just curious, what discussion in the series hasn’t included a mention of the major earthquakes that ravaged the region? It’s been a pretty prominent topic of discussion I would say.

Brent: There were quite a few of them. Everyone was affected in some way or another.

Marty: Absolutely. Go ahead and finish out the chapter here, Brent.

Brent: Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and everyone else, both slave and free, hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains.

They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can withstand it?”

Marty: For the original hearers and readers of this letter, I believe the thing that would’ve stuck out to them about this paragraph is not the theological judgment of God, but the fact that this is reality for all people. Kings, princes, generals, the rich, the mighty, the slave, the free, everyone else. In a world where it seems like judgment is reserved for the oppressed and wielded by the powerful, John writes about a greater truth, a greater judgment that applies to all people no matter who they are. Now, we must look for that second question that we always ask. What is it, Brent?

Brent: The Text.

Marty: The Text. Where is John getting his material? He’s getting it from the text. Without a doubt, and we’re going to ask you again, like we mentioned in the last episode, we’re going to have you do some work if you want to find it, for he who has ears to hear. Without a doubt, the chapter is built upon the image of Zechariah 6, written centuries earlier with horses that matched the same colorful descriptions.

We always talk about the four horses of the apocalypse, Brent. We talked about this all the way back in Session 2, like Zechariah was apocalyptic literature. We already mentioned that Zechariah had a chariot race, four chariots. The four horses of the apocalypse were not originally from Revelation, they were originally from Zechariah.

Brent: Right.

Marty: I’ve already used that text quite a bit in our discussions, but it would serve us well to read about how Zechariah 6 ends, by the way. The message of Zechariah 6 is a stunning reference to followers of Jesus who are wondering if they should give up hope. They would hear a passage written to their ancestors. Ancestors who made it through great persecution and found the rescue and redemption of God.

This is all before we mentioned the obvious implications of Jesus being the branch talked about in Zechariah. Before you even get to Jesus being the branch, just the message of Zechariah 6, without any Jesus connections, already speaks volumes to the people that hear it. When it comes to talk about death, famine, and pestilence, would the readers immediately think of things like Hosea 13:24 10:8? What about Jeremiah 15:2–3 or 24:10. What about Ezekiel 5:17?

It might be fitting if they did, since these references all come from apocalyptic encouragement just like the passage above. When the slain martyrs of Revelation 6 cry out, do the readers think of Psalm 79 or Psalm 114? Psalm 114 is really long. If people go to look that one up, they’re going to be like, “Oh man.” Maybe particularly start looking around verse 84. Although we already gave references with the Sardis discussion, the great earthquake alluded to here in this passage, listeners should also think of Isaiah 29 or Ezekiel 38. See verse 19 specifically. Do the contents of Revelation 6 make so much more sense if we realize and remember that the Jewish listeners had Isaiah 34 memorized? Compare Isaiah 34 with Revelation 6, particularly verses 12–14. Put those two together. My point is this: These people were not baffled by the contents of Revelation. The people there understood the immediate application to their immediate context.

When they hear about the Lamb opening the seals, Brent, and they hear about all these things happening, they’re not baffled by those things. They hit home. That’s normal for them. The Jewish listeners in their midst were equipped to expound on the teaching of John deliberately burying Text in his letter, as a source of encouragement and exhortation. Please understand, the original readers would certainly not have projected these pictures and ideas into the future. These references were about their own brothers and sisters, uncles, cousins. The souls of those who had been slain were people they knew by name.

I believe one of the reasons you and I have a hard time interpreting and understanding Revelation, the reason we immediately project its meaning into the future is because we don’t know what it’s like to be on the true side of persecution. We don’t know what it’s like to sit on the other side of the Roman sword. We don’t know what it’s like to watch the systemic and premeditated pursuit and extermination of our fellowship. It affects our ability to understand an apocalyptic letter written to a group of people who fear for their lives. We don’t know how to hear its message of perseverance and the call to remain vigilant and steadfast, even to the point of death.

There may be some listeners out there I want to know that are exceptions to that. We may have people listening in different corners of the world, in places where you do experience persecution. You are somebody that we ought to listen to more and remember quite readily that you are a part of the body of Christ today. Quite frankly, as a whole, we have spent most of our time at the handle end of the sword of oppression, for most of us listeners. We have fought for our own rights instead of pursuing the self-sacrificial way of Jesus.

We’ve been more concerned with Starbucks cups and bathroom signs and wedding cakes than we have been with anything that would have ever occupied the thoughts of those people who preserve the faith we too often misinterpret. We have mistaken the loss of privilege for persecution. I’ll read that line again. We have mistaken the loss of privilege for persecution.

There is a host of people slain under the altar in the book of Revelation who cry out for us to remember what they signed up for, what they gave their lives for. They didn’t give their lives so that we could live comfortable American dreams and protect our privilege. They laid their lives down because it’s what their rabbi did.

He taught them how to trust in and live out a narrative of self-sacrifice. It’s the story that we are invited to trust too. May we honor their memory. More importantly, may we kiddush haShem. What was that reference, Brent? What did that phrase mean, kiddush haShem?

Brent: To hallow the name.

Marty: May we hallow the name in the way that we live our own lives. Let’s keep moving through Revelation 7. Let’s keep focusing on text as Western readers. Understanding the importance of cultural context comes more easily, but realizing the prevalence and significance of the textual remezim, the remezes, will be much more difficult. It’s easy for us to learn about culture. It is much more difficult for us to learn about text and have that on our mind. Brent, how about you read us the first little bit of chapter 7?

Brent: After this, I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree. Then I saw another angel coming up from the east, having the seal of the living God. He called out in a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the land and the sea, “Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.” Then I heard the number of those who were sealed, 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel. From the tribe of Judah, 12,000 were sealed. From the tribe of Reuben, 12,000. From the tribe of Gad, 12,000. From the tribe of Asher, 12,000. From the tribe of Naphtali, 12,000. From the tribe of Manasseh, 12,000. From the tribe of Simeon, 12,000. From the tribe of Levi, 12,000. From the tribe of Issachar, 12,000. From the tribe of Zebulun, 12,000. From the tribe of Joseph, 12,000. From the tribe of Benjamin 12,000.

Marty: Alright. One quick unavoidable note about the numbers here in John’s reference. If you’ve been following along, you’re going to remember us all the way back at the beginning of Session 1 and all the way throughout our study, we’ve talked about the significance of numbers and their qualitative symbolic properties for Jewish readers and hearers. In that discussion, we noted that 12—what’s that number for, Brent?

Brent: The people of God.

Marty: God’s people. The reference to the 12 tribes of Israel. Each tribe of this passage has 12,000 people. The statement being made here is that there is all of the community. All the community, 12,000 people. All the community. Each tribe is there. 12 times 1,000, or God’s people multiplied by absolute complete community. No one is missing. The group of 144,000 is the exact number John can use to demonstrate that each and every one of God’s people is present. No one is missing and no one is left out. More could be said here, but we’re going to keep moving through the text here. Where is John getting his material? Before we move on to more Revelation.

In order to cinch this uptight, you would have to jump to the end of Revelation as well, but you can begin to see what John is building. Let’s say you were to pull up Ezekiel 45 and go look there, you’re going to see what John is building towards. You’ll really see it at the end of Revelation. John is building toward another apocalyptic vision of a world that is restored. Ezekiel used communal numbers, multiples of 1,000, and speaks of each and every tribe getting their land. He also speaks of a temple just as John will at the end of Revelation, but we’ll spend more time on that when we get there later in the study. How about you give us a few more verses there, Brent?

Brent: After this, I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne and before the lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the lamb.”

Marty: Right. Not only did John just harken to the conclusion of the vision of Ezekiel, but to speak of a great multitude holding palm branches would also bring a fitting conclusion to mind as well. One of the few places where a multitude gathers with palm branches in the Hebrew scriptures is the celebration of Sukkot, the Festival of Tabernacles. If one reads the last chapter to Zachariah, his apocalyptic vision concludes with a picture of all the nations of the world streaming towards Jerusalem to celebrate the great Festival of Tabernacles together. If Zachariah’s vision found its fulfillment, you would have a large multitude holding palm branches and singing Psalms to God, which is exactly what John talks about. Go ahead and keep reading, Brent.

Brent: All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God saying, “Amen. Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God forever and ever. Amen.” Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes, who are they and where did they come from?” I answered, “Sir, you know.” And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb. Therefore, they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple. And he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. Never again will they hunger. Never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat down on them nor any scorching heat, for the lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd. He will lead them to springs of living water and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Marty: The picture of God wiping every tear is not a new one to scripture. A lot of these things are just shocking to find out for the first time. You think those are new pictures, but they’re not. It’s not even close to a new idea. That was a surprise to me many, many years ago. The picture is not that many years ago, many years ago. It wasn’t that long ago.

Brent: The footnotes are helpful for some of these references.

Marty: Sure, absolutely. The picture is put forth in the prophet’s time and time again. This picture as well as the picture of a ransomed people of God gathering for songs of deliverance can be seen all throughout Isaiah 25, 35, 51, 65. These are all pre-painted pictures, centuries old, that serve as the foundation John builds his writing upon. When the original hearers heard these words, they would’ve immediately had an understanding to start building his teaching on, so not some abstract, disconnected idea. They would’ve started with their history and gone backwards to remember the things they had to learn in the past. In this, they would’ve found hope and progress even in their extremely hard circumstances. Ironically, we read Revelation and look forward into the future and find anxiety, faults, pride, and self-righteousness. I don’t want to be a broken record, but I don’t feel like the horse is truly dead yet. Sorry for mixing my metaphors. That was pretty good, wasn’t it?

Brent: I like the idea of you taking the little needle off of your turntable and beating the horse with it.

Marty: [laughs] So morbid. Fitting picture for Revelation, if I do say so myself. I just don’t think we grasp the significance of our Bibles, putting Text-to-context. I fear that if we don’t truly appreciate this fact, we continue to misread, misunderstand, and, most importantly, misapply what the writings of our God-breathed, authoritative pages try to inspire in us. An important lesson in my mind, Mr. Billings.

Brent: Alright. One to think about for the next week, I suppose.

Marty: Yes.

Brent: Alright. That’ll do it for this episode. If you have any questions about the show, you can go to bemadiscipleship.com. You can get in touch with us there. Thanks for joining us on The BEMA Podcast. We’ll talk to you again soon.