[Chapter 6-2] The Eras of the Seven Seals (Revelation 6:1-17)
(Revelation 6:1-17)
The theme for each chapter of Revelation can be succinctly summarized as the following:
Chapter 1 – The prologue of the Word of Revelation
Chapters 2-3 – Letters to the seven churches in Asia
Chapter 4 – Jesus who sits on the throne of God
Chapter 5 – Jesus Who Is Enthroned as the Representative of God the Father
Chapter 6 – The seven eras set by God
Chapter 7 – Those who will be saved during the Great Tribulation
Chapter 8 – The trumpets that sound the seven plagues
Chapter 9 – The plagues of the bottomless pit
Chapter 10 – When will the rapture happen?
Chapter 11 – Who are the two olive trees and the two prophets?
Chapter 12 – The Church of God that will face great suffering
Chapter 13 – The emergence of the Antichrist and the martyrdom of the saints
Chapter 14 – The saints’ resurrection and rapture, and their praise of God in the air
Chapter 15-16 – The beginning of the plagues of the seven bowls
Chapter 17 – The judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters
Chapter 18 – The fall of Babylon
Chapter 19 – A Kingdom ruled by the Almighty
Chapter 20 – The Millennial Kingdom
Chapter 21 – The holy city from heaven
Chapter 22 – The New Heaven and Earth, where the water of life flows
Beginning
from the first chapter, each chapter of the Word of Revelation has a
theme, and when unfolded they all connect with each other to the very
last chapter. Just as in Romans, where chapter 1 is introduction,
chapter 2 is God’s Word to the Jews, and chapter 3 is His Word to the
Gentiles, the Book of Revelation also proceeds with a theme for each
chapter.
The
reason why I am explaining Revelation based on the entire Word is
because too many people have discussed Revelation with all kinds of
hypotheses, and if you read Revelation through the focus of these
assumptions, you will not escape from making serious mistakes.
Because
the Bible was written through the people of God inspired by the Holy
Spirit, it has absolutely nothing that needs correction. In contrast,
secular books have errors and require many corrections, no matter how
good and knowledgeable the authors’ writing might be. But the Word of
God has not changed at all, even as it has been passed down for
thousands of years. Despite the many years of its passing, the Word of
God remains faultless, for it was written through the servants of God
whose hearts were inspired by the Holy Spirit.
Because
what God wants to tell us is hidden in the Bible, many of us have
remained rather ignorant of the Scripture. But since the very creation,
the Bible has never changed, not even once. Yet because many people had a
poor understanding of the Word of God and His plan, they started to
interpret the Scripture with their own thoughts.
Since
God does not reveal its secrets to just anyone, those who do not
worship Him and do not believe according to the Word, who only try to
fill their own greed by taking God’s name in vain, can never see the
truth. People who have sin, in other words, can never understand the
Word of Revelation no matter how hard they try. It is because of their
inability to understand the Word that all kinds of mistakes are
made—some end up believing in worthless illusions about the end times,
study them, and even announce the time of the second coming of Jesus,
while others interpret the Bible at their own whim, making all kinds of
Scriptural mistakes in the process.
Representative
of them, among the theologians that we know of, are Abraham Kuyper and
Louis Berkhof, who advocated amillennialism, as well as C. I. Scofield,
who espoused the theory of pre-tribulation rapture. But the hypotheses
advocated by these scholars are all erroneous teachings merely based on
their own thoughts.
First
of all, the doctrine of amillennialism advocated by the conservatives
argues that there is no separate Millennial Kingdom, and that this
Kingdom is instead fulfilled in the hearts of the saints living on this
earth now. Amillennialism denies the actual establishment of the
Millennial Kingdom in the future. This ‘hypothesis’ interprets the
Millennial Kingdom in symbolical terms, treating the period during which
the saints live until the return of Jesus Christ as the period of the
millennial reign. But the interpretation offered by amillennialism, that
the Millennial Kingdom is already actualized in the hearts of the
saints now without the Great Tribulation, is deeply mistaken.
Even
more widespread throughout the world than amillennialism, however, is
the theory of pre-tribulation rapture expounded by Scofield. But this
“dispensationalism” has ended up altering God’s plan itself. God planned
seven eras even before His creation of the universe, and He has
fulfilled everything according to His plan as time has gone by. But
people who are ignorant of God’s plan revealed in Revelation 6 have
produced this faulty theory of pre-tribulation rapture. They argue that
the born-again among the Gentiles will be raptured before the onset of
the Great Tribulation, and that some of the people of Israel will be
saved during the Tribulation’s seven-year period.
This
theory remains as a doctrine that has thrown many people into great
confusion. Were the rapture of the saints to occur before the Great
Tribulation, as claimed by the theory of pre-tribulation rapture, there
would be neither the persecution of the saints nor their martyrdom as
recorded in Revelation 13. Believers in Jesus must therefore get out of
this doctrine of pre-tribulation rapture and prepare their faith by
believing in the fact that their rapture will come in the midst of the
Great Tribulation.
The
Word of Revelation reveals to us how God will lead the world according
to the dispensation of His seven eras. We must see through the focus of
the plan of the seven eras set by God as discussed throughout Revelation
6. People are confused and their faith is shaky because they do not
know the truth of these seven eras of the Scripture. We must, therefore,
believe in what is written in Revelation 6 as it appears. To do so, we
must believe in the secret Word of the seven eras testified by the whole
Bible, rather than thinking of it in partial terms by looking at only
small, disjointed parts of the Scripture.
Just
as the gospel of the water and the Spirit had been hidden from the
people, so have the seven eras of God. Although biblical scholars have
tried to understand the Word of Revelation and proposed many theories by
focusing on their own thoughts, the Word of Revelation still remains
very difficult to comprehend. This is akin to the fact that the gospel
of the water and the Spirit had been hidden until now. But the theories
that the scholars have so far come up with on Christ’s return, the
saint’s rapture, or the Millennial Kingdom have brought no benefit to
those who believe in Jesus.
For
us to understand the Word of Revelation, it is absolutely critical that
we understand chapter 6. This chapter is the key to solve and
understand all of the Word of Revelation. But before we try to
comprehend the whole Word of Revelation, there is one thing that we must
remind ourselves: it is impossible to understand Revelation without
having realized and believed in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
You must realize that the truth of God can be comprehended only when you
first know and believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
It
is “when He opened the seventh seal,” as recorded in Revelation 8, that
the plagues of the seven trumpets will descend upon the world. This
explains the events that will unfold during the fourth era recorded in
Revelation 6, the era of the pale horse. Without first understanding the
seven eras set by God, therefore, you cannot understand the plagues of
the seven trumpets, either. To understand the Word of Revelation in its
entirety, we must first understand and believe in the gospel of the
water and the Spirit that God has given us.
The
Word of God in Revelation 6 provides an outline of the overall design
that God drew when He created mankind. God has divided the beginning and
the end of mankind into seven different eras.
These
are: first, the era of the white horse; second, the era of the red
horse; third, the era of the black horse; fourth, the era of the pale
horse; fifth, the era of the saints’ martyrdom and rapture; sixth, the
era of the destruction of the world; and seventh, the era of the
Millennial Kingdom and the New Heaven and Earth. We believe and obey
that God has thus divided His plan for mankind into these seven eras. At
present, the world is in the era of the black horse, having passed
through the eras of the white and red horses.
The
Scripture tells us that the era in which we are now living is the era
of famine. But the era of the pale horse is near us also. With the
arrival of the era of the pale horse will begin the era of the saints’
martyrdom, entering the seven-year period of the Great Tribulation. This
era of the tribulations and martyrdom is the era of the pale horse.
“When
He opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living
creature saying, ‘Come and see.’ So I looked, and behold, a pale horse.
And the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed with
him. And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill
with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth.”
The passage here, “power was given to them over a fourth of the earth,
to kill… by the beasts of the earth,” indicates that the Antichrist will
emerge during the era of the pale horse and make martyrs out of the
saints.
The
events that will unfold during the era of the pale horse are recorded
in Revelation 8:1-7. As it is written: “When He opened the seventh seal,
there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. And I saw the seven
angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets.
Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar.
He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of
all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And
the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended
before God from the angel’s hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled
it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth. And there were
noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake. So the seven angels
who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. The first angel
sounded: And hail and fire followed, mingled with blood, and they were
thrown to the earth. And a third of the trees were burned up, and all
green grass was burned up.”
The
above discussion of the plagues of the seven trumpets in Revelation 8
provides a detailed reiteration of the truth of the era of the pale
horse recorded in Revelation 6. This Word records in detail the
emergence of the Antichrist and the plagues of the seven trumpets and
the seven bowls that will unfold during the era of the pale horse.
Chapters
4 and 5, on the other hand, tell us that Jesus Christ will reign over
the world and all that are to come as God, and that the Father’s entire
plan will be fulfilled by Jesus Christ as God. We thus discover, through
Revelation 4 and 5, just how powerful and what an Almighty God Jesus
Christ really is.
Revelation
8 tells us: “So the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared
themselves to sound. The first angel sounded: And hail and fire
followed, mingled with blood, and they were thrown to the earth. And a
third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.”
When the era of the pale horse comes, one-third of the world’s forests
will be burnt down, and this disaster will be followed by even more
plagues.
The
plague of the first trumpet is a disaster that will burn down a third
of the trees and all grass. When this disaster strikes the world, the
remaining forests will also be devastated by the smog effects of the
huge fire raging through a third of the world, with its smoke blocking
the sun from the earth. Crops will fail, and the whole world will be
thrown into great famine and starvation.
In
this era of famine, the wage of a day’s work will buy only a quart of
wheat or three quarts of barley. The world is now facing the imminent
arrival of this extraordinary famine and starvation. This world’s famine
will come in both physical and spiritual ways. Spiritual famine already
exists in today’s world.
Today’s
churches are filled with only nominal Christians, incapable of sharing
the spiritual bread and the life of the gospel of the water and the
Spirit with the world. People all around the world, from Europe to Asia
to the American continent, are now all living in the era of their
destruction. Few in today’s Christianity provide the spiritual bread to
feed the hungry souls.
We
describe the era of the pale horse as the era of the Antichrist’s
emergence. During this period, natural disasters will turn bread and
water into scarce commodities, where everyone will barely manage to
survive through the great famine. Although the world will continue with
its scientific progress, the standard of living will nevertheless fall
to extreme poverty, the kind of which it had never seen before. Would
people living in such a world have any desire left in them to continue
on with their lives?
In
this time of the Tribulation, we must all embrace our martyrdom and
glorify God by believing in the Word of the gospel of the water and the
Spirit. The saints who thus believe in the gospel of the water and the
Spirit will give all glory to God with their martyrdom. God, in turn,
will then lift up to heaven those who were martyred to defend their
faith and invite them to the marriage supper of the Lamb.
The
Apostle Paul said that he became His servant for the Kingdom of God.
The apostles preached the gospel of the water and the Spirit so that
many may enter the Millennial Kingdom.
During
the time of the Great Tribulation, there will be people among the
Israelites who will also be martyred and raptured for believing in
Jesus. The saints will thus belong to the period of the Great
Tribulation during the era of the pale horse. When the Great Tribulation
comes, everyone in this world will be looking for someone who can bring
order to the disaster-stricken world. They will yearn for someone who
can solve the problems brought by the catastrophic natural disasters,
and who can resolve the numerous political, economic, and religious
problems that they face. This is when the Antichrist will emerge.
Recently
a Japanese author wrote a series of books entitled The Story of the
Romans, which had nothing but praise for the Roman emperors. The
author’s main argument was that the world would soon need a leader who
can yield absolute power. Many people also agreed with her. During the
Great Tribulation, people will want a powerful ruler who can rule over
the world with an iron fist—not the many rulers, each with his/her own
domain, but a single, powerful ruler of the whole world.
At
present, the world is divided into many nation-states, and each has its
own leader. But in the end times, people will want a charismatic world
leader who can completely resolve all their problems. The world now
awaits this leader, the Antichrist who will reign over the entire world.
The
Bible tells us that when the era of the pale horse arrives, the
Antichrist will emerge with great power and subjugate everyone in the
world under his rule. The Bible also tells us that when this era of the
pale horse comes, fire will rain on the earth and burn down a third of
the world’s forests. And when this era comes, the Antichrist will rule
over the world, and no one will be able to buy or sell anything without
his mark. At this time, the saints will be martyred for refusing to
receive the mark and worship the idol, and then be resurrected and
raptured. When the era of the pale horse thus ends, the era of the
Millennial Kingdom will open.
The
Lord told us that the destruction of this world and the Great
Tribulation would come as a thief. We must now, therefore, prepare the
faith that can overcome all the trials of the Great Tribulation and
destruction. This preparation is possible only by believing in the
gospel of the water and the Spirit. But for those who do not thus
prepare, all the plagues and destruction will fall on those who do not
believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
As
such, we must clearly understand and believe that today’s era is the
era of the black horse. Before that final day arrives, we must believe
in the gospel of the water and the Spirit and prepare for the future.
Those
who now believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit will be
raptured with their martyrdom. Those who are rich will not continue to
live in comfort, nor will those who are poor continue to live in their
poverty. Therefore, we must be neither sad nor boastful over the things
that are happening to us now, for we believe that the era of the pale
horse is imminent, and that all the saints will then be possibly
martyred.
From
time to time, we see some people around us who cause great confusion by
analyzing the timing of Christ’s return on their own, declaring their
own day and hour for the second coming of the Lord, and misleading many
others with such claims. But Christ’s return, according to the Bible,
will not happen until the seventh trumpet sounds. Therefore, we must
never make the mistake of calculating the Word of the Bible and coming
up with our own date for the Lord’s return.
We
must also be wary of those who claim to have seen the date of Christ’s
return in their dreams or visions. Their dreams are no more than just
dreams. But because God tells us when exactly the timing of rapture is
through His Word, we must instead believe in the Word.
When
the era of the pale horse, the fourth era in Revelation 6, arrives,
martyrs will arise with the plagues of the seven trumpets, and the
resurrection and rapture of the saints will come.
It
is important for us to realize that we are now living in the third era
of the seven eras set by God. We must realize that today’s era is the
era of the black horse. When we do so, we can sow the seeds of the
gospel of the water and the Spirit now, and by planting the seeds now we
will be able to harvest when the era of the pale horse comes.
In
the world of nature created by God, there are some plants that can
sprout, flower, and bear fruits in just a week. Like these plants of
desert, when the era of the pale horse arrives, those who are saved by
believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit that we are
preaching now will also be martyred, joining us in our resurrection and
rapture that the Lord has permitted to us. In the era of the
Tribulation, there will be more people who believe in the gospel of the
water and the Spirit than now. There will be more people, in other
words, who will be martyred for their faith in the gospel of the water
and the Spirit.
The
Word of Revelation does not limit its discussion to the salvation of
the people of Israel. If anyone believes that the age of Revelation is
reserved only for the Israelites, he/she is making a serious mistake.
Why? Because when the times of Revelation come, so many Gentiles will be
saved by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit and be
martyred to defend their faith. Whether your knowledge of the Word of
Revelation is correct or not, as such, can make a huge difference in
your faith.
You
must realize, therefore, that it is simply wrong for today’s Christians
to believe in the doctrine of pre-tribulation rapture. The Bible tells
us that the martyrdom of the saints will come at slightly past the
midpoint of the seven-year period of the Great Tribulation, and that
their rapture will happen shortly after this. We must solve the Word of
Revelation as it is written, chapter by chapter and verse by verse, and
within the gospel of the water and the Spirit. By doing so, we can have
the correct knowledge of the Word of Revelation.
Revelation
7 tells us that countless people among the Gentiles will also receive
salvation by their faith and be martyred for their faith. We must
believe the Bible as it is written—not in the theory of pre-tribulation
rapture, nor in post-tribulation rapture, nor in amillennialism, but in
the seven eras set by God.
Chapter
1 of the Word of Revelation is the introduction, chapters 2 and 3
discuss the martyrdom of the saints, and chapter 4 tells us that Jesus
Christ is God and that He sits on the throne of God. Chapter 5 shows us
how Jesus will fulfill all of God the Father’s plan, and chapter 6
provides the overall blueprint of the seven eras planned by God. All
these plans are solved within the Word of Revelation.
As
the Word of Revelation tells us, “Blessed are the dead who die in the
Lord from now on,” from now on, the saints live in the hope of
resurrection and the Millennial Kingdom.
Revelation
8:10-11 describes another plague: “Then the third angel sounded: And a
great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a
third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of the star is
Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from
the water, because it was made bitter.” It says here that at this time a
great star burning like a torch fell on the rivers and the springs.
This great star burning like a torch refers to a comet. As heaven is
shaken, in other words, stars would collide with one another and their
broken pieces would fall on the earth.
Revelation
8:12-13 continues with another plague: “Then the fourth angel sounded:
And a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of
the stars, so that a third of them were darkened. A third of the day did
not shine, and likewise the night. And I looked, and I heard an angel
flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, ‘Woe, woe,
woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the remaining blasts of
the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!’” This tells us
that a third of the world will be darkened as days turn into nights.
When
the plagues of the seven trumpets thus begin, you and I will most
certainly be living in them. But the living saints will soon be
martyred, and they will overcome Satan with their faith.
If
you clearly know the seven eras revealed in Revelation 6, you will also
have a clear knowledge of what you must do and what kind of faith you
need in today’s era. Because those who believe in the gospel of the
water and the Spirit are to be martyred in the era of Revelation, they
must meet this era with their hope for the Kingdom of God. While living
in this world, the saints must prepare for their martyrdom in the end
times with their faith, and they must labor hard to expand the Kingdom
of God by spreading this faith.
Do
you know and believe in the seven eras set by God? Can you discern that
we are now living in the era of the black horse? If you neither know
nor believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit now, you will not
be able to escape from the tribulations that will descend on the earth.
You must therefore prepare right now. To have the faith that can
overcome the tribulations, you must first of all be atoned of all your
sins by believing in the gospel of the water and the Spirit and prepare
to enter and live in the Millennial Kingdom by receiving the Holy Spirit
as your gift.
Prepare
now. If you intend to postpone and believe in the gospel of the water
and the Spirit only when the plagues of the seven trumpets arrive, you
will face many tribulations. It is my hope and prayer that you would
believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit at this very moment,
to be born again and to prepare your future as the people of God.
The seven eras set by God:
1. White horse: The era of the beginning and continuation of the gospel of the water and the Spirit.
2. Red horse: The shattering of peace with the advent of Satan’s era.
3. Black horse: The era of physical and spiritual famine. The present era.
4. Pale horse: The era of the saints’ martyrdom with the emergence of the Antichrist.
5. The era of the saints’ resurrection and rapture, and of the marriage supper of the Lamb.
6. The era of the destruction of the first world.
7. The era of the Millennial Kingdom and the New Heaven and Earth reigned by the Lord and His saints.
These
are the seven eras set by God. Those who know these eras clearly and
believe in the gospel of the water and the Spirit are the ones who have
prepared their faith to live in the end times. I hope and pray that you,
too, will be able to discern these eras of the true faith set by God.
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