Congregational Question: What are the signs of the end of the world in Revelations, and what do they mean?

First let me say that the Gospels tell us that no one knows the day or hour when the Son of Man will return. Any attempt to determine such is a futile venture. On the other hand, for each of us, the end of “our” time on earth can come unexpectedly, like a thief in the night and therefore, we are all called, in the message of Advent, to prepare the way of the Lord in our hearts. The end time views in the book of Revelation point to the world of John of Patmos primarily and are not meant as a vision of what will be the end of time for us. One final note, there has been much speculation as to the identity of the antichrist of Revelation. The title 666 has been twisted to point to most rulers down through the ages and today. In Revelation it is referring to Nero. Seven was considered a holy number, therefore 777 would be the fullness of holiness. In a bit of humor, 666 refers to a holy wannabe, who may make a lot of noise but just doesn’t quite make it. What follows is part of a Bible Study I did on Revelation a few year ago.

The first of the signs of the end times is the opening of the scrolls by the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. One would have expected that the opening of the seals would lead to a disclosure of the scroll’s secret content. But the content is never disclosed. The scroll is the document that transfers to the Lamb the authority to execute God’s end-time plan.
The tribulations raise the question concerning the fate of God’s faithful people on earth. First, the cry of the martyrs for justice receives assurance (6:9-11). Second, the question of who will survive the great day of wrath (6:17) receives its answer in the sealing of the 144,000 or the 12 tribes times 12, the number for wholeness times 1000, the number for multitudes beyond measure (7:1-8). And third, a picture of the redeemed after the day of wrath shows them clothed in the white garments of conquerors, worshipping before the throne and the Lamb with the host of heaven (7:9-17).

The seal visions are meditations about the end-time tribulation based on the apocalyptic discourse of our Synoptic Gospels or there underlying traditions (Mark 13: Matthew 24: Luke 21) omitting all references to the fall of Jerusalem, since that event lay in the past.

John’s apocalypticism raises problems for modern readers who are accustomed to hearing a “gospel” in which tribulations and judgments are not precursors to salvation. The God of wrath finds no place in segments of Protestantism today. The result is that we create a god in our own image and likeness. The God of John’s prophetic-apocalyptic vision is the One who brings about both salvation and disaster, good and evil. This is the God who is active in everything, the “hidden God,” the Deus absconditus, of Luther. And it is God who challenges us to believe that in all tribulations and in all catastrophes that may befall us, God is working out God’s own purpose which is life and salvation. Contrary to our natural feelings, the disasters of the seal visions are not proof of God’s absence, but paradoxically they disclose Gods involvement in human affairs with-in the “short” time before the end.

The Four Horsemen (6:1-8)

The first of the four seals belong together. The opening of a seal is followed by the command to “Come.” The rider is briefly characterized, and he is commissioned to perform a task. The horsemen execute their deeds at Christ’s commission, who opens the seal. In John’s letter the phrase “those who dwell upon the earth” signifies idolaters, opponents of God and the Lamb and of his faithful people. It is the Lamb who opens the seals and set in motion the beginning of the birth pangs of the end time.

The first rider goes out on a white horse, with a bow; and a crown which was given to him, and was commissioned to exercise regal power through conquering. John’s hearers would at once understand that the horseman with the bow refers to the Parthians, Rome’s archenemies who threatened the eastern frontier in Asia Minor. The Parthians inflicted a humiliating defeat on Rome in 53 BC and less than twenty years later in 35 BC, Mark Anthony lost more that one third of his army to 200,000 through Parthian attacks during his retreat through Armenia. In AD 62 the Parthian king Vologeses I defeated the Romans again, and the Parthians continued to threaten the eastern frontier for the next two centuries. The Parthians had also conquered Babylon, and in John’s apocalypse Babylon is Rome. The Antichrist, who represents Roman imperial totalitarianism and emperor worship, will also appear as conquering Parthian and he will destroy Rome. The parody is perceived only when the hearer recognizes that the Antichrist represents both the glory of conquering Rome and a Parthian conqueror who will “devour the flesh” of “the harlot” Rome and “burn her up with fire” (17:16).

The second rider, on a bright red horse, is given the authority to take peace from the earth, so that men should slay one another; and was given a great sword. While the first rider represents triumphant conquest, the second rider represents one aspect of the conquest, which is war, bloodshed and civil strife. Rome was proud of its Pax Romana and its role as a benefactor bringing peace to the nations. Some of those conquered in the name of peace had a different idea. They saw the Romans as imperialists’ robbers having by their universal plunder exhausted the land. John projected the harsh realities of the past and present into the future with the opening of the second seal signaling the end of peace on earth.

The third horseman sitting on a black horse holds a balance in his hand. The balance suggests that food would be rationed. The famine will hit the poor the worst, driving up prices. A denarius was a daily wage for a laborer and normally bought 12 quarts of wheat, now it only buys one quart or enough to feed one person but not a family. The same pricing is true for the barley. Where wheat and barley, imported from Egypt, would be scarce during a famine, wine and oil, produced locally would not be scarce, but a person could not survive on them alone. With the wars from the other two horsemen, imports would slow down and the army would use up the imports that did make it in the country.

The fourth horseman sits on a pale horse, the color of a corpse. Death was the rider and Hades, or the underworld, followed to collect the corpses. This rider reaps the results of the previous three riders.
Here we have the birth pangs of the age to come, not a timeless intrusion of militarism. This time filled with inhumanities, does not show that God is dead, but rather that even this time is under God’s control through the Lamb. Through these turmoils, Christ would lead the world to its destined goal. But then these turmoils would also affect the church in the form of persecution.

The fifth seal is the cry of the consolation of the martyrs. Here John deals with the subject of persecution after the subject of war, famine and pestilence. The martyrs of a church under pressure ask the question, “How Long?” When will God vindicate the faithful for their persecution? God is not only a God of love and forgiveness of enemies, but also a God of judgment. The vindication of the martyrs means that God’s judgment will fall on the oppressors who spilled innocent blood. The martyr’s souls residing in their blood that was spilled reside under the altar in heaven, near to God, but not yet vindicated in the sight of their tormentors. Their question is how long must they wait. The answer is until the number is complete or when all the martyrs have been faithful then God’s judgment will fall on those who persecuted the people of God. In revelation only one martyr is mentioned and here John includes all the martyrs. These would be those blamed and killed by Nero for the fire that destroyed one forth of Rome in 64. They were covered with skins of beasts and torn apart by dogs, nailed to crosses and some were tied to poles and covered in tar and then light on fire to illuminate Nero’s gardens. This would also include the Apostles who were executed and since Rome would be “drunk with the blood of the saints” (17:6) would include those who would be martyred.

The sixth seal brings the great day of wrath, the Day of Judgment. In contrast to the first five seals, these events in the sixth seal are in the future. They indicate the end of history, the end of the world. When the sky is rolled up, then the throne of God appears and his judgment occurs. The reaction is sheer terror on the part of humanity and a futile attempt to hide from the wrath of the one seated on the throne and the Lamb. On that day there will be no distinction, kings, slaves, rich and poor, the idolaters and murders and earth dwellers will all realize their sin and guilt and will all come under judgment for their sins. The question of who can stand has one answer, no one.

In the midst of this vision stands the risen Christ. Left to our own devices, all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God. Yet it is through faith that we are saved through the grace of Christ, not by our works. In the end the thing that saves us and all of humanity is a God who loves us and who has demonstrated that through Christ. Amen.