7th Semester / Week 2
As with each study of Revelation, we begin by grounding ourselves in the spirit Christ commanded—marked by love (John 13:34–35), peacefully submitting to governing authorities (Romans 13:1–2), and reserving all vengeance for God alone (Romans 12:19). Only such a posture prepares us to study the solemn movements of history that the Lord Himself has unfolded across the ages.
The Apocalypse opens with a vision of such majesty that every narrative is compelled to acknowledge the enormity of the drama unfolding before John’s eyes. At the heart of this drama stands the Lamb, freshly slain, ascending, vindicated, and receiving in His hands the sealed scroll of divine purpose. With this scroll begins the entire prophetic unfolding of church and empire, of conflict and judgment, of triumph and tribulation, of light and darkness, spanning the long centuries from the close of the apostolic age to the consummation of all things.
The previous study established the setting for this particular moment in the grand prophetic drama by examining the continuity between Daniel’s prophecy and John’s. There, we realize three essential truths. First, Daniel’s Fourth Empire—the Roman Empire—remains the central stage upon which these prophecies unfold. The iron kingdom of Daniel 2 and the terrible fourth beast of Daniel 7 with its devouring power and persecuting horn provided the foundational geopolitical canvas for all later prophecy. Second, Daniel showed this empire moving from its iron phase, strong and unified under the Caesars, into its iron mixed with clay phase—weak, divided, and internally inconsistent—a prediction fulfilled in the fragmentation of Rome’s later centuries. Third, we observed that Revelation does not abandon Daniel’s outline at all, but carries it forward using the same symbols and prophetic time frames. The Seals, Trumpets, and Vials each trace successive movements within the same empire, mapping the transition from pagan Rome to its divided successor states and onward into its ecclesiastical and political transformation.
It is at this point—having identified the empire in which the prophecy moves, the period in which the church begins its outward march, and the continuity between Daniel’s predictions and John’s visions—that the sealed scroll enters the narrative. What is being revealed is not a static document but the very unfolding of history under Christ’s reign. Thus, when the Lamb opens the first Seal, the prophetic narrative of the Christian era begins.
The Scroll and Its Place in Prophetic History
The sealed scroll is the divinely written counterpart to Daniel’s sealed book. Where Daniel was told, “Seal up the words until the time of the end,” John is shown a scroll sealed only until the Lamb appears, ascends, and takes possession of the kingdoms of this world. Joseph Mede, whose work shaped the interpretive framework for centuries of expositors, declared that the scroll represents “the book of the state of the Christian church after Christ’s ascension,” a formulation that harmonizes with both the structure of Revelation and the historic unfolding of the Seals themselves.
The seven Seals open sequentially, and each Seal represents the next historical stage in the progression of the Roman world and the corresponding experience of the church within it. From the first century onward, the church and empire were intertwined; as the empire changed, the church’s circumstances shifted. As judgments fell upon imperial power, the church’s place on earth often altered in response. Thus, as E. B. Elliott observed, the Seals form “a continuous prophetic history,” a panoramic survey of the Roman world from the reign of Trajan (98–117 AD) to the fall of paganism under Constantine and the solemn pause that precedes the Trumpets.
Because Historicists understood that the Seals outline the real, traceable course of Roman history, it’s essential to demonstrate that this sequence is not merely a theological construction. This is where secular testimony becomes invaluable. One of the most significant witnesses is Edward Gibbon, the great historian of Rome’s decline—famously skeptical of Christianity and openly hostile toward Christian doctrine. His monumental “History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire” was banned in several countries for its antagonism toward organized religion. Precisely because Gibbon had no interest in validating prophecy, his meticulous documentation of Rome’s collapse becomes particularly compelling. His account stands entirely independent of prophetic interpretation, yet the progression he describes aligns—often with remarkable precision—with the very sequence unfolded in the Seals.
With both prophetic and secular historian perspectives converging, the stage is set. The Roman world lies before us, and the Lamb begins to open the scroll of history.
The first Seal opens.
**Before proceeding, please prayerfully evaluate each Seal in order, beginning with the First Seal:
• First Seal – The White Horse
• Third Seal – The Black Horse
• Fourth Seal – The Pale Horse
—-—
Our ancestors confidently recognized this reality: Revelation’s Seals were never meant to terrify believers with speculation about the end, but to strengthen them by revealing how Christ governed the earliest ages of His Church. Far from depicting distant end-time horrors, the Four Horsemen and the visions that follow trace the very world in which the early Church lived, suffered, and ultimately prevailed. When understood in their prophetic and historical context, the seals unveil not future catastrophe, but the progressive stages of the Church’s first centuries under the mighty hand of the risen Lamb.
The Seven Seals form a majestic and sweeping portrayal of the first three centuries of Christian and Roman history. They begin with the outward triumph of imperial Rome and conclude with its profound political and religious transformation. From the white horse—Rome’s outward splendor and the Gospel’s steady advance—through the red horse of civil war, the black horse of economic strain, the pale horse of pestilence and death, the cry of the martyrs, and finally the great shaking of the pagan world, each Seal marks another step in the Lamb’s providential governance of history.
Through all of these, the Lamb is central:
He opens the Seals
He governs the rise and fall of empires
He vindicates His saints
He answers prayer with sovereignty
He brings down kingdoms and raises others in their place
The Seals do not end prophecy—they begin it. The Trumpets and Vials will continue the narrative, revealing further judgments and deeper movements in the long drama of redemption and history. But here, in these first visions, the great themes of Revelation are set: the Lamb reigns, the empire trembles, the saints endure, and history unfolds under the eye of God.
And so we conclude where the ancient Church once stood—with confidence. The Four Horsemen are not omens of fear but testimonies of Christ’s rule. The Seals do not hide the future; they unveil God’s faithfulness in the past.
And the history they portray—of Rome shaken, paganism collapsing, and Christianity rising—prepared the way for the elevation of Constantine, the end of official pagan persecution, and the breathtaking transformation of the ancient world.
Revelation, then, is not a book of despair but a book of dominion and hope. It shows that Christ is Lord of history, Lord of nations, and Lord of His Church—yesterday, today, and forever.
“Helping People See Jesus and Exploring All That He Has Fulfilled” 