PMW 2019-079 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.
In Revelation 6 Christ begins opening the seals. As Robert Thomas, Marvin Pate, and other commentators note, there is a “close parallelism between Jesus’ Olivet Discourse” and the seals of Revelation. And as the preterist reminds them, the contexts of both of these prophecies relate to first century events (cp. Rev. 1:1, 3; Matt. 24:2-3, 34). Interestingly, church father Eusebius (A.D. 260-340) uses Josephus’s history of the Jewish War (A.D. 67-70) to illustrate the fulfilling of the Olivet prophecy (Eccl. Hist. 3:5-9).
The rider on the white horse “bent on conquest” (Rev. 6:2-3) represents the victorious Roman march toward Jerusalem to engage the Jewish War in the Spring of A.D. 67. The rider on the red horse (Rev. 6:4) who takes “the peace from the earth” (Rev. 6:4; cp. Matt. 24:6-7) speaks of the surprising disruption of the famous pax Romana, an enforced peace that prevails throughout the Roman Empire for many years. For example, Epictetus (A.D. 60-140) writes that “Caesar has obtained for us a profound peace. There are neither wars nor battles” (Discourses 3:13:9). The Jewish revolt against Rome temporarily interrupts this famous peace. The red horse especially highlights that civil war occurring in Jerusalem itself (where Jesus utters his prophecy, Matt. 24).
The riders on the black and pale horses represent famine and death issuing from the Jewish War. These tragic factors of the Jewish War are well-documented by Josephus (Wars of the Jews 4-7), the Jewish historian who participates in the war, and by the Roman historians Tacitus (Histories 1) and Suetonius (Vespasian).
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The fifth seal (Rev. 6:9-11) gives a heaven-ward glance once again (cp. Rev. 4), where we hear the martyrs crying for vengeance. God promises to vindicate them, but they must “wait a little longer” (Rev. 6:11; cp. Luke 18:6-8). Martyr vindication is crucial to understanding Israel’s judgment (Matt. 23:34— 24:2). The de-creation language in the sixth seal (Rev. 6:12-17) portrays Israel’s world coming apart under the “wrath of the Lamb” on the “great day of wrath” (Rev. 6:17). Such de-creation language is common prophetic parlance regarding the collapse of God-cursed governments, such as Babylon (Isa. 13:1, 10, 19), Egypt (Ezek. 32:2, 7-8, 16, 18), Idumea (Isa. 34:3-5, and Judah (Jer. 4:14, 23-24). Milton Terry writes of Revelation 6: “the imagery and style of the Old Testament apocalyptists are most appropriately brought into use; sun, moon, and stars, and the heaven itself, are pictured as collapsing, and the crisis of the ages is signaled by voices and thunders and lightnings and earthquake. To insist on literal interpretation of such imagery is to bring prophecy into contempt and ridicule.”
The moving away of “every mountain” may allude to the Roman legions’s construction crews removing mountainous impediments to the progress of the massive army, or to their building banks to the tops of the protective walls surrounding Jewish cities. Josephus notes: “Accordingly [Vespasian] sent both footmen and horsemen to level the road, which was mountainous and rocky, not without difficulty to be traveled over by footmen, but absolutely impracticable for horsemen. Now these workmen accomplished what they were about in four days” (Wars 3:7:3). After describing the mountainous setting of Jotapata and its natural impregnability (Wars 3:7:7), Josephus mentions Vespasian’s decision to “raise a bank against that part of the wall which was practicable” (Wars 3:7:8).
In Revelation 6:15-16 men “hid in caves” and “called to the mountains and rocks, ‘fall on us.’” Josephus frequently mentions that the Jews actually seek refuge underground during the A.D. 67-70 war: “And on this day the Romans slew all the multitude that appeared openly; but on the following days they searched the hiding places, and fell upon those that were underground, and in the caverns” (Wars 3:7:36; see also 3:2:3; 3:7:35; 5:3:1; 6:7:3; 6:9:4; 7:2:1).
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Jesus warns the women watching him carry his cross: “The time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ Then they will say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us!”’ (Luke 23:29-30; cp. Matt. 24:1-2, 19, 34). The fate of the women and children in A.D. 70 is horrible: “Then did the famine widen its progress, and devoured the people by whole houses and families; the upper rooms were full of women and children that were dying by famine; and the lanes of the city were full of the dead bodies of the aged; the children also and the young men wandered about the marketplaces like shadows, all swelled with the famine” (Wars 5:12:3). The relevant fit of first century events with the prophecy of Revelation 6 is so compelling that Marvin Pate admits their connection, though he rejects the preterist conclusions.
Tagged: Seven sealed scroll
Postmillennial Worldview 
Hi Ken ,could i ask why the rider on the white horse in Rev 6 is not Christ riding in judgement and conquest. He is identified in rev 19 as Christ on a white horse. i would have thought it was the same in both chapters 6 and 19.
Note: (1) The “white horse” is the only similarity with the vision of Christ in ch 19. In fact, in 19:15, 21 Christ does not even possess the bow mentioned here, but a sword. And the sword is often associated with him in Rev (1:16; 2:12, 16; 19:15, 21) while the bow never is. Also the horseman is given a victor’s wreath (stephanos translated “crown”), whereas Christ wears many “diadems [diadēmata]” in 19:12. The stephanos sometimes appears on evil beings (9:7) and conquering often applies to them (nikaō) (11:7; 13:7).
(2) Christ’s appearance here would be awkward, even for non-logical apocalyptic imagery. It would be strange for Jesus both to open the scroll and to be its content (6:1–2).
(3) It also would seem inappropriate for an angel (“living creature”) to command him to “come” (6:2).
Dr. Gentry,
The martyrs described in Rev. 6:9-11 are the same group described in Revelation 7:9-17? Are they a reference to the martyrs of Israel? or to the martyrs killed by Rome? The language in the two texts is similar
Those in 7:9ff are all the martyrs that follow in history, beginning with those actually in the great tribulation.
In this way the martyrs of Revelation 6.9-11 are the ones killed in Israel by the Jews as for example the prophets of the Old Testament?
Respectfully, how do you know they are the ones that follow in history? Verse 14 says: “These ( a great crowd, which no man was able to number)
are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb”….. I would read it as the ones who come out of the great tribulation in which Nero was the instigator. No indication in scripture that it applies to all that follow in history.
Yes.
Thanks for your note. This is, of course, difficult to be certain about. But it seems to me that:
This enormous body of people that “no one could number” reminds us of God’s covenant promise to the patriarchs, Abraham (Ge 13:16; 15:5; 16:10; 22:17–18), Isaac (Ge 26:4), and Jacob (Ge 28:14; 32:12). The Scripture even compares Abraham’s offspring to the sands of the sea (Ge 22:17; Isa 10:22; Jer 33:22; Hos 1:10; Ro 9:27) and the stars of the sky (Ge 15:5; 22:17; 26:4; Ex 32:13; Dt 1:10; 10:22; 28:62; 32:12). John seems particularly to allude to the language of Ge 16:10 where the angel of the LORD promises Sarai: “I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be too many to count [LXX: ouk arithmēthēsetai hupo tou plēthous]” (cp. Ge 32:12).
John appears to be informing first century suffering Christians that their labor is not in vain. Flowing from the great tribulation will be the universal church of Jesus Christ. Christianity will not die as a small body in the first-century tribulation, but will flow into the future in enormous numbers. These are actually seen in heaven before God’s throne (7:9).
Thus, as Swete (100) expresses the matter: 7:9ff “anticipates the final condition of redeemed humanity” in heaven above. Indeed, “the thought of the prophet has taken wings and soared on to the very end of the process with which he is dealing; he sees the full number of the Redeemed, gentile as well as Jew” (Carrington 142). Therefore, as Terry (335) puts it, this vision of the uncountable multitude is “designed to furnish a vivid picture of the glory of those that inherit the salvation of God in Christ.” Those enduring the first-century trials and tribulations — including especially “the great tribulation” upon Israel — must know that all is not lost: heaven is their ultimate reward.
It proleptically looks beyond it, visualizing the ultimate outcome of the present (first-century) process. It presents us with the heavenly result of the nascent church’s bravely and faithfully enduring through that great period of trial (Chilton 214). But since this picture of the redeemed in heaven presents “a great multitude which no one could count,” we see that John clearly expects the historical growth of Christianity on earth. After all, for there ultimately to be a great multitude in heaven who flow from the great tribulation, they must have become a great multitude on earth beforehand. Consequently, because the church will persevere, Christianity will remain a living, growing faith that ultimately blossoms to be “a great multitude” from “every nation” (see further discussion at 7:14). So once again: regarding the 144,000 and the great multitude, John does not hold that “the two images depict the same reality” (Bauckham 1993a: 76) and are therefore simply two ways of picturing the same people in 7:4–8. As Beckwith (540) argues, this looks beyond the immediate crisis to show the ultimate outcome as a means of encouraging persecuted Christians. The 144,000 in the previous vision are the first fruits of Christ’s kingdom (cf. 14:4c); the great multitude is the result of the 144,000 faithfully maintaining the faith and promoting it among others.