The Seal Plagues
Lamb Opens Seals
Important Note: There is an important phrase in the first four seals that seems to bind them together, as though those seals are broken in sequence, but also as a whole. That phrase is "Come and see" in KJV or "Come" in ESV by the four beasts in Revelation 6:1, 6:3, 6:5, 6:7. We will see the same kind of binding in the first four trumpets, but the 1/3 of the earth, sea, waters, and heavenly lights.
Re 6:1, Re 7:1 — Likely, the 4 messengers of 7:1 are the four beasts, and the four winds connected to the four horsemen.
Re 6:1, Re 6:3, Re 6:5, Re 6:7, Re 7:1 — The 4 beasts (subject) calling up the 4 horsemen (object) is the only time we see the pattern of Revelation 7:1's 4 messengers (subject) and 4 winds (objects). Likely, the 4 messengers of 7:1 are the four beasts, and the four winds connected to the four horsemen. In no other place do we see these numbers match up like 6:1-8 and 7:1.
The First Seal: White Horse
Important Note: The identity of this white horse rider is disputed. To claim this as Jesus or even the anti-Christ is an interpretive decision. And, it is unnecessary to reach for such as these horses mirror those in Zechariah 1:8 "I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom; and behind him were there red horses, speckled, and white." and also Zechariah 6:1-8. Thus, they appear to serve as a symbolic link to the prophet's visions rather than to a specific individual.
The Second Seal: Fiery-Red Horse
Re 6:3, Re 6:1, Re 6:5, Re 6:7, Re 7:1 — The 4 beasts (subject) calling up the 4 horsemen (object) is the only time we see the pattern of Revelation 7:1's 4 messengers (subject) and 4 winds (objects). Likely, the 4 messengers of 7:1 are the four beasts, and the four winds connected to the four horsemen. In no other place do we see these numbers match up like 6:1-8 and 7:1.
The Third Seal: Black Horse
Re 6:5, Re 6:1, Re 6:3, Re 6:7, Re 7:1 — The 4 beasts (subject) calling up the 4 horsemen (object) is the only time we see the pattern of Revelation 7:1's 4 messengers (subject) and 4 winds (objects). Likely, the 4 messengers of 7:1 are the four beasts, and the four winds connected to the four horsemen. In no other place do we see these numbers match up like 6:1-8 and 7:1.
The Fourth Seal: Pale Horse
Important Note: Death and Hell will later go into the lake of fire.
Re 6:7, Re 6:1, Re 6:3, Re 6:5, Re 7:1 — The 4 beasts (subject) calling up the 4 horsemen (object) is the only time we see the pattern of Revelation 7:1's 4 messengers (subject) and 4 winds (objects). Likely, the 4 messengers of 7:1 are the four beasts, and the four winds connected to the four horsemen. In no other place do we see these numbers match up like 6:1-8 and 7:1.
Re 1:18, Re 6:8, Re 20:13-14
The Fifth Seal: Mid-Tribulation Martyrs Rest
Re 6:9, Re 20:4 — These are not those on the sea of glass; they are under the altar and should not be confused with the satins of 51:1-2. This group appears to be the group raised at the first resurrection, which comes after all the vials are poured out and the sea beast goes into the lake of fire.
This cry for "Judgement" for God to execute seems to be reflected in the 7th seal with the prayer of the saints in 8:3 and the trumpets that follow the 7th seal. Then this call for judgement appears to be finished after 7th trumpet when the 7th vial messengers pour his vial out. In this way the text seems to communicate the judgement of God spanning from the first trumpet to the last vial. This is also affirmed in the text in 6:17 when it is declared "for the great day of their wrath is come" after the 6th seal is opened.
χρονον - time, period of time, an epoch, era, marked duration. Here translated as "season".
Re 6:11, Re 14:13 — The only time rest (ἀναπαύω) is used in Revelation matches exactly to the time of (p) "Here is THE patience".
Re 6:11, Re 13:10 — The theme of the killing of the saints is linked in these two events: the 5th seal and the time of the sea beasts' authority.
The Sixth Seal: Terror Before That Day of The Lord, Wrath of God and Lamb
Important Note: Here, the wrath is acknowledged. Meaning that the world knows, the great day of wrath has come at this point. We see these events together as the Earth is hurt: an earthquake, the sun turning black, the moon turning to blood, and stars falling from heaven.
Finally, the length of time for this plague is not indefinite nor eternal; we know this because when the trumpet plagues come, the 4th smites the sun and moon and stars, darkening a third of them — thus the sun no longer black at the 4th trumpet. Therefore, the 6th seal plague is a moment in time, minutes or days, we do not know.
Also, the stars falling seem to communicate a large event, but not a total one. It never says "all the stars of heaven," only "the stars," so the number of fallen stars is unknown. And, we see some stars still in place in the trumpet plagues. They are a marker of a pivotal turning point in the outpouring of wrath as marked by "hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb".
As we enter Revelation 7, remember that this earthquake is already harming the earth. So when Revelation 7 says that the earth should not be hurt until the 144,000 are sealed, the passage likely hints that the sealing of the 144,000 happened before the earthquake of the sixth seal, at the latest.
In Revelation 16:20, the mountains are removed entirely, whereas here the mountains are still present and used as places to hide. This shows that the events of Revelation 6:14 and 16:20 are distinct from one another.
We will later learn about the fall of Mystery Babylon, which falls early in Revelation. Revelation 6:15 is not the time of the destruction of Mystery Babylon. Everyone here is focused on themselves, not on Mystery Babylon's fall.
In 6:16 and 12:14, the theme of hiding from a face is mirrored between the Lamb and the red dragon. In Revelation 6, people ask creation to hide them from the face of the Lamb. In Revelation 12:14, the 144,000 are hidden from the face of the dragon by the Creator. This reflects a form of idolatry, appealing to creation for deliverance rather than turning to the Creator.
Re 6:16, Re 6:17
In the KJV, the singular "his" suggests the wrath belongs only to the Lamb, but the ESV—following earlier manuscript evidence—reads "their wrath," indicating both the Father and the Lamb. This reading fits the context more naturally, given the reference to the face of the Father, and it also harmonizes with Revelation 6:16, where the wrath is already explicitly attributed to the Lamb. In Essays on Revelation, 2011 Chapter 8, Stevens argues that Revelation 6:17 originally read "their wrath," noting that both external and internal evidence favor the plural, and suggesting that later scribes likely shifted it to the singular for theological reasons. Finally, if this is "their" wrath, then the reading in 15:1, when we see the 7 plagues were "with them the wrath of God is finished" ones makes more sense, vs the KJV saying the angel's plagues were "in them is filled up the wrath of God". The wrath of God has been a looming event at the very least from seal 6 to the first vial is poured out when it will be finishing.
This is not the end of the tribulation. Rather, it marks a moment of recognition by those on the earth; they understand who is judging them, and they realize that further wrath is still to come.
Re 6:17, Re 16:14 — The phrase “the great day” appears explicitly in Revelation 6:17 and 16:14. In 6:17, it is spoken by the nations in fear as they perceive the onset of divine wrath, "the great day of their wrath is come," whereas in 16:14 John uses it narratively to describe the gathering for its climactic outworking, "to gather them (the kings of the earth) to the war of the great day". This suggests not a mere looming concept in the minds of the nations throughout the book, but a thematic thread that begins with human recognition of impending judgment (6:17) and culminates in the final confrontation orchestrated by God (16:14 onward).
Re 6:16, Re 6:17
Linear Scene 1.2a: All the plagues, seals, trumpets, and vials do not overlap or nest; they go in a linear order forward - seals 1-7, then trumpets 1-7, then vials 1-7. Each of the plague sets ends with "voices, and thunders, and lightnings, and an earthquake" (VTL). Showing the same kind of bookending structures as all parts of the book of Revelation. In fact, we also see in heaven these same "voices, and thunders, and lightnings" without an earthquake in Chapter 4 before these plagues, which further adds symmetry to the writing. So the pattern is: Opening VTL, Seals, VTL, Trumpets, VTL, Vials, final VTL in Revelation 4:5, 8:5, 11:19, 16:18.
Bookends: Forming the story about the 7 years, we see the white horse of conquering, and then in chapter 19, we see the end of the first white horse and its following horsemen with the white horse rider Jesus and his army of horses.