Big Idea: As Christ opens the first four seals, God allows human sinfulness to run its course, resulting in warfare, violence, bloodshed, economic hardship, and death.

Understanding the Text

Just as the vision of the glorified Christ in Revelation 1 leads into the messages to the seven churches in chapters 2–3, so the throne-room vision of Revelation 4–5 prepares the way for God’s righteous judgments that commence in chapter 6. Jesus, the worthy one (5:2–5), now begins to open the scroll by breaking the seals. (This initiates three sets of judgments in Revelation 6–16: seals, trumpets, and bowls, with each using a four-three pattern.) When all seven seals have been broken, the scroll opens into the trumpet judgments (8:1).

The first four seal judgments (6:1–8), more famously known as th…