Breaking the Seals - #1

Excerpt from Daniel and Revelation by Uriah Smith

Revelation Chapter VI

Breaking the Seals on the Book of Prophecy

Verse 1 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see. 2 And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.

The Lamb takes the book, and proceeds at once to open the seals. The attention of the apostle is called to the scenes that occur under each seal. The number seven has already been noticed as denoting completeness and perfection in the Scriptures. The seven seals represent events of a religious character, and contain the history of the church from the opening of the Christian Era to the second coming of Christ. When the seals are broken, and the record was brought to light, the scenes were presented before John, not by the reading of the description, but by a representation of what was described in the book being made to pass before his view in living characters, and in the place where the reality was to occur, namely, the earth.

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The perfect book, sealed with seven seals.

The only one worthy to open the book and to open the book the seals must be broken, is our Savior, the Lamb slain.

The Lamb opens one of the seals and a GREAT noise is heard, thunder! We've all heard thunder before and in very great storms that thunder can truly be deafening, and earth shaking, we can feel the rumble, the vibration given off by the great noise. John heard a noise but NOT necessarily thunder- he says AS IT WERE the noise of thunder. This noise that is similar to thunder occurs when that first seal was broken.

Right after the thunder like noise one of the four beasts tells John to COME AND SEE. 

Looking into the prophecy revealed under that first broken seal, John is allowed to see -  a white horse.  The white horse has a rider upon him. The rider on the white horse has a bow. The rider on the white horse holding a bow is then given a crown. After the rider of the white horse who is carrying a bow is given a crown he goes forth conquering and to conquer.

John is seeing this revelation and writing it down.

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The First Seal.--

The first symbol is a white horse, bearing a rider who carries a bow. A crown is given to him, and he goes forth conquering and to conquer, a fit emblem of the triumphs of the gospel in the first century of the Christian Era. The whiteness of the horse denotes the purity of faith in that age. The crown which was given to the rider, and his going forth as a conqueror to make still further conquests, signify the zeal and success with which the truth was promulgated by its earliest ministers. By what symbols could the work of Christianity better be represented when it went forth as an aggressive principle against the huge systems of error with which it had at first to contend? The rider upon this horse went forth--

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where? His commission was unlimited. The gospel was to all the world

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Remember the seven churches? Each church represented an era throughout time right down unto the end of the world as we know it and the return of the Savior to take us to heaven. Not only did those churches represent the eras throughout time, they also had messages for all throughout all the eras.  Special messages as well as overall messages.  We know what it means to learn lessons from others mistakes- so to speak. To say that a message for the first Christian era would have no bearing on those living in the last Christian era prior to the return of our Savior, would be to ignore the learning aspect.  Also, to say those living in the first era could learn nothing from prophesized lessons would be to encourage ignorance, spiritual blindness.  We can learn from the truth throughout all time if we trust in our Savior and allow the Holy Spirit to open our eyes to all that truth.

The seven seals on the scroll, seven seals that keep that scroll closed, must be opened and our Savior alone can open them.  The first seal if we liken it to the seven church eras, would represent the first era in Christianity.

As mentioned in the excerpt from Daniel and Revelation by Uriah Smith,  this rider on the white horse is a conquering rider.  And truly, the message of salvation flourished even as it was being attacked. The flames of Christianity were fanned by every persecution only causing it to grow larger and spread further. Nothing could destroy the message of salvation found only through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the Lamb slain.  And while nothing could destroy it, it wasn't for lack of trying. The message spread, the enlightenment grew.  The disciples took that message everywhere!  This is history! This is fact.  While the powers that lived upon the earth did all in their limited ability to kill the message along with the Messenger, they failed. The power of the Word of God was unstoppable.

A thought comes to mind about how so many unbelievers like to say that Christians are fools who believe in fairy tales, yet how do they  explain the undeniable power of this belief living on so steadfastly throughout time, and in many who none could truly consider fools? Oh, I'm sure they'll have their answers, but the truth is greater than their feeble attempts to scoff at something they are blinded to.  Those who are blind will be allowed to remain blind, those who would see will be allowed to see.  None are force fed the truth. People will harden their hearts because it gives them a false sense of power, as if they have control and decide their own path in life. There are a lot of things in life that reveal to us how little control we have, yet people will continue to grasp at every tiny straw that hints at their being in control because they perceive weakness in recognizing they have no true control.  Some go to great evil lengths to try and prove they and no other have control over them, but the more they try to prove this, the more they comprehend after all is said and done, how the control they thought they had was merely a lie, a self-deception. Every evil act committed in their quest to prove self-superiority was another's trial and tribulation that refined their victim in the fire. 

God's word some will claim is all a lie.

Yet, God's word is powerful, truly sharper than any two-edged sword that cuts to the very heart, the very spirit of man.

When blind eyes are opened, the truth is revealed.

The blind that wish to remain blind, will do so, never being given a glimpse of spiritual light, so truly they cannot, and will not, of their own design ever know the truth.

You are not forced to believe.

Christ's message prevailed beyond comprehension.  As people fought to have it destroyed it only grew stronger. Truly the first era of Christianity was an amazingly powerful force, the beginning of something that would never die out.

May God keep us in the truth of the original message of salvation in our Savior, Jesus Christ, now, and forever!

Amen.