In Revelation 6, the first six seals of the scroll are opened, which we read about in the previous chapter, Revelation 5.
This scroll is you! (check out study of Revelation 5)
And the only one capable of breaking the seals of this scroll is the Lion and the Lamb, Jesus Christ.
He opens your eyes so that you can see that you are God’s beloved son and that NOTHING can separate you from His inexhaustible love!
When Revelation 6 is read with the eyes of the flesh, you only see death and destruction.
You then read that everyone not living up to God’s standards is gruesomely slaughtered.
This, however, is the knowledge of good and evil!
It’s the eyes opened by eating the knowledge of good and evil that see death and destruction in the text of Revelation 6.
When you read Revelation 6 with the eyes of the Spirit, you see, instead, the inexhaustible love of God, from which you can never be separated.
It is stated that Jesus is the only one worthy to open the scroll.
Revelation 5:9a (NKJ)
You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals.
If we’d interpret Revelation 6 as a gruesome slaughter of people on Earth by Jesus breaking the seals, we proclaim a different Jesus (2 Corinthians 11:4).
Can you find anywhere in the Bible that Jesus slaughters someone?
Or that He does anything at all to harm anyone, no matter how small?
Jesus is the image of the invisible God, and God is love!
Colossians 1:15 (NKJ)
He is the image of the invisible God.
1 John 4:8
God is love.
Therefore, Jesus being worthy to open the scroll does not mean He is worthy to have people slaughtered on Earth!
Jesus heals! He makes the blind see, the lame walk, and raises the dead to life.
He allowed Himself to be slaughtered on Earth so that we could finally see the inexhaustible love of God for us!
For He was slaughtered and He purchased us for God by His blood, from every tribe, language, people, and nation!
Everyone! (1 John 2:2)
God Himself says:
Zechariah 4:6 (NKJ)
Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit!
Would He then use might and power after all in Revelation 6 to complete His plan?
That would mean His Spirit is not strong enough…
That’s absurd, isn’t it?!
The new creation does not come about by might and power but by the Spirit of the living God!
And His Spirit resides within you.
1 Corinthians 6:19 (NKJ)
Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you?
Everything written in the book of Revelation happens within you!
All the lies that cover the Truth are destroyed within you so that the Truth becomes more and more visible.
This doesn’t happen by might and power but by the Spirit of God within you!
In verse 16 of Revelation 6, it says:
Revelation 6:16 (NKJ)
Hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!
The wrath of the Lamb…
This Lamb was slaughtered and purchased us for God with His own blood!
And now, this same Lamb is angry and wants to slaughter everyone?
His wrath is not against you!
His wrath is against all the lies that blind you, preventing you from seeing your true identity.
Jesus said:
John 9:39 (NKJ)
“For judgment I have come into this world, (John 12:31, John 16:11)
So that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.
And that is what Jesus does in Revelation 6; one by one, He opens the seals of your heart so you can read what the Spirit of God has written on your heart.
One by one, He destroys the covering of your heart; all the lies covering the Truth.
Because this covering prevents you from seeing who you really are: the son of God, made in His image (Genesis 1:28), a king who reigns in righteousness and love (Genesis 1:28, Revelation 3:21, Revelation 5:10).
In the first verse of Revelation 6, you can already see Jesus’ invitation:
Revelation 6:1 (NKJ)
Come and see!
Jesus invites you to learn from Him so you begin to see.
For He has full insight into His identity as the son of God.
In chapter 5, it says:
Revelation 5:6 (NKJ)
… a Lamb as though it had been slain,
having seven horns and seven eyes.
Seven eyes opened, seeing the Truth.
The fullness of insight.
In chapter 6, the Lamb one by one opens the first six of your seven eyes so that you begin to see the Truth more and more clearly.
He does this not by might or power but by the Spirit of God.
This is depicted in the four horses mentioned in this chapter.
These horses represent the power of the Holy Spirit, with which the lies within you are destroyed.
This is explained in the book of Isaiah.
Isaiah 31:1-3 (NKJ)
Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help,
And rely on horses,
But who do not look to the Holy One of Israel,
Nor seek the Lord!
Yet He is wise and He will bring disaster
(➡️upon everything that keeps you from growing to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ)
And He will not call back His words
(➡️ that you are the image and likeness of God, His son, a king and a priest)
He will arise against the house of evildoers,
and against the help of those who work iniquity.
For the Egyptians are men, and not God
And their horses are flesh, and not Spirit.
The horses that go out when the Lamb breaks the seals ARE Spirit.
The power of this Spirit works within you (Ephesians 3:16).
Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit!
Jesus said:
John 16:7+13 (NKJ)
It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you.
However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth.
Therefore, the Spirit of Truth does within you exactly the same thing that Jesus came to do.
When the Lamb opens the second seal, the Spirit of God again comes into action:
Revelation 6:4 (NLT)
Another horse appeared, a red one.
Its rider was given a mighty sword
and the authority to take peace from the earth.
And there was war and slaughter everywhere.
It is the power of the Spirit that slaughters all that is earthly within you.
Jesus did exactly the same.
He even says so Himself:
Matthew 10:34 (NKJ)
Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth.
I did not come to bring peace but a sword.
A sword in the Bible is always a symbol of the Word ➡️ what someone says.
Here, in Revelation 6 and Matthew 10, it is the Word of God ➡️ what God says.
The Spirit of Truth guides you into all truth of the Word of God.
To show you the full truth, He first destroys all untruths within you.
This is because these untruths cover the truth that was always in you, preventing you from seeing it.
Throughout chapter 6, various images are used to portray the destruction of these lies.
When you have ears to hear, you can see that the meanings of these images are explained in the Bible itself.
We have just seen this with the meaning of the horses.
Another natural image given is that of an earthquake.
Revelation 6:12 (NKJ)
I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake.
With the first four seals, we were invited and encouraged to see.
Come and see!
Revelation 6:1 the first seal: Come and see!
Revelation 6:3 the second seal: Come and see!
Revelation 6:5 the third seal: Come and see!
Revelation 6:7 the fourth seal: Come and see!
At the fifth seal, this is no longer necessary, because you have learned to see with your spiritual eyes, which do not look outward, at other people and what is happening in the world, but eyes that see the kingdom of God (Luke 17:20) and His righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21) ➡️ within you!
Revelation 6:9 (NKJ)
When He opened the fifth seal, I saw…..
And by the time the seventh seal is broken, you will have full insight!
Even at the breaking of the sixth seal, we can see pretty sharp right away.
Revelation 6:12 (NKJ)
I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold…..
What John sees is an earthquake.
The spiritual meaning of this natural image is also explained in the Bible itself.
Where the meaning of the earthquake is most clear is in Hebrews 12.
Hebrews 12:25-27 (NIV)
See to it that you do not refuse Him Who speaks.
At that time His voice shook the earth,
but now He has promised,
“Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.”
The words “once more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken,
that is, created things,
so that what cannot be shaken may remain.
What cannot be shaken is the Truth.
The Truth is unshakeable.
God’s love is unshakeable, the identity He has spoken over you is unshakeable.
What people without insight say is a lie.
This lie changes nothing about the Truth; it only covers the Truth so that it can no longer be seen clearly.
This lie is shaky because it is built on the foundation of the wisdom of men; earthly wisdom (Psalm 82:5).
God shakes your heart so it can be completely renewed.
How does He do that? ➡️ Through speaking!
He gives you insight into the Truth so that your heart is enlightened (2 Corinthians 4:6), and all the lies you have accepted as truth will shake and fall.
This leaves only the unshakeable wisdom of God in your heart.
And
Luke 6:45 (BSB)
Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.
Throughout chapter 6, you read how the old heaven and the old earth are gradually destroyed so that the new creation can come into being.
The first six seals are broken.
Now the last seal can be broken, allowing you, through the power of the Spirit of Truth, to gain full insight into the Truth of what God says.
This makes you…
Ephesians 4:13 (NKJ)
…a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
That is the measure of the stature of the fullness of your true identity.
That is the fullness of insight
Colossians 2:2
The fullness of knowing God
John 17:3
And the fullness of seeing who you really are
Ephesians 4:24
2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV)
Therefore ➡️ if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation!
Old things have passed away ➡️ the lie, by the power of the Spirit; the four horses
Behold ➡️all things have become new.
