Revelation 6:1-17 Comments by Stephen Ricker
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Six of Seven Seals Opened
Comments for Study 5

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Memory Verse: 6:8
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Outline
A MAP THE ROMAN PROVINCE CALLED ASIA

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I. The First Two Seals (6:1-4)

Revelation Timeline

>1. As Jesus opened the first seal what was John invited to do? (1)

* Revelation 6:1 "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!"

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>How was the scroll unlike the scrolls of men? (2)

* Revelation 6:2 "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."

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>What does the first rider represent?

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>2. What does the second rider and horse represent?

* Revelation 6:3-4 "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 men slay each other. To him was given a large sword."

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>How has the future two horses hooves' beats been echoing in our time and the past two thousand years?

* Rev. Billy Graham wrote a book called, "Approaching Hoof Beats".

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>What would Jesus allow these two terrible horses to be released?

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II. The Third and Fourth Seal (6:5-8)

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

* The drawing is called "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse". It was in the "September 1522 Luther Bible", the first Bible translated into German. Luther's New Testament was published in September of 1522, with a second edition coming out in December of the same year both adorned with woodcut illustrations by Lucas Cranach.

>3. What does the third rider's scales represent? (5)

* Revelation 6:5 "When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, "Come!" I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand."

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>What will happen to the future world markets? (6)

* Revelation 6:6 "Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, "A quart of wheat for a day's wages, and three quarts of barley for a day's wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!"

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>Why might oil and wine be spared?

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>4. What does the name of the fourth horse's rider reveal about what happens next? (7-8)

* Revelation 6:7-8 "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."

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>How do most people respond to death?

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>5. What is Hades?

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>How do people respond when a large calamity befalls mankind?

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>6. Why might Jesus allow the third and fourth horse be released?

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III. The Fifth and Sixth Seal (6:9-17)

The Martyrs Beneath the Altar

* The drawing is called "The Martyrs Beneath the Altar". It was in the "September 1522 Luther Bible", the first Bible translated into German. Luther's New Testament was published in September of 1522, with a second edition coming out in December of the same year both adorned with woodcut illustrations by Lucas Cranach.

>7. What was revealed when the fifth seal was opened? (9)

* Revelation 6:9 "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."

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>What can we learn about Jesus who keeps these people so close to him?

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>What can we learn about true faith from them?

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>8. What did the saints under the throne call Jesus? (10)

* Revelation 6:10 "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?"

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>What did they ask him?

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>What does this say about them and Jesus?

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>9. What does the gift given them mean? (11)

* Revelation 6:11 "Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed."

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>What does the fact that the exact count of martyrs is known mean?

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>10. What happened when the sixth seal was opened? (12-14)

* Revelation 6:12-14 "I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as late figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. The sky receded like a scroll, rolling up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place."

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>What was the mutual response of people on earth? (15-16)

* Revelation 6:15 "Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man 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!

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>Even though they knew who Jesus how was their response wrong?

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>What is wrath?

* Revelation 6:17 "For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?"

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