The Christ in Prophecy Journal

The Mighty Angels of Revelation 5-6

MP3: The Mighty Angels of Revelation 1-6
Hosts: Nathan Jones & Vic Batista

The Unworthy Angels

Vic Batista: We will now look at Revelation 5 and a perplexing scene regarding a scroll.

Nathan Jones: The Apostle John is shown God’s throne-room in Heaven. He may have been given a vision, it is hard to say, or if John was physically there. I believe he was physically taken to Heaven.

John sees a scroll brought out which has seven seals affixed to it. They’re rather like those old fashioned seals where one put hot wax on a letter and then pressed a signet ring into the hot wax so that when the wax cooled the letter couldn’t be opened. To open this particular scroll, someone would have to crack open seven seals!

All of the angels and all of the people, whoever is there, they are wondering, “Who can open these seals?” We find out that nobody can open the seals. Nobody is worthy! Nobody is perfect and sinless, or powerful enough, or have earned the right.

Then we are shown a little lamb that is all bloody. What is that? Well, the slain lamb is the symbol of Jesus Christ. When He first came to earth in the First Coming, Jesus died as a suffering lamb and was the sacrifice for our sins. In doing so, Jesus earned the right to open the seals. We find out that this scroll is in truth the title deed of the earth. The only One who is worthy to own the title deed for the earth is Jesus Christ Himself. The angels and people of Heaven erupt into praise of the Worthy Lamb!

Nathan Jones: The only One who is worthy to own the title deed for the earth is #JesusChrist. Click To Tweet

Jesus Christ came first as a suffering lamb, but He is going to come back as a conquering lion, which we’ll read about in Revelation 19. Jesus came first as the suffering lamb and earned the right to reclaim the earth which Man lost to Satan when we sinned. Jesus is the pure Son of God. He is perfect. He sacrificed Himself to redeem the earth back under His control. Today we are just waiting for Jesus to come back and take His throne.

Vic Batista: I believe that is going to happen very soon.

The Seal Angels

Nathan Jones: In Revelation 6, it is time for the opening of the Seven Seals. Each of the opening of the seals is a judgment of God upon the earth. It is finally time for God to deal with mankind’s sin.

People often wonder when the Lord is going to finally come and deal with all the evil in the world. The rapists, the muggers, ISIS murdering and slaughtering everybody, corrupt officials, and so on and on, are finally going to face God’s wrath.

When will this rundown, terribly corrupt system of human government finally end? God promises that it will indeed end. Jesus will first rapture, or take up, His Church, as 1 Thessalonians 4 tells us, before the coming 21 judgments of God befall the earth.

As we read through Revelation, we learn there are 21 judgments, each divided into sets. So, these seven are called Seal Judgments. Next will be seven Trumpet Judgments. Finally, there will be seven Bowl or Vial Judgments. Here in Revelation 6 these judgments are ushered in by the Four Living Creatures, these four seraphim angels, who stand before the throne of God as each seal is being opened and a judgment crashes upon the earth.

The angels aren’t just messengers, but they also do the will of the Lord, and so the angels are very involved in the pouring out of God’s judgments upon the earth during the Tribulation. We know this time period will last seven years, as Daniel told us, as God’s judgments are pronounced against the earth and its inhabitants.

We read in Revelation 6:1-2 the very First Seal Judgment being opening.

“Now I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals; and I heard one of the four Living Creatures,” one of His angels, “saying with a voice like thunder, ‘Come and see.’ And I looked, and behold, a white horse. He who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.”

We read in Revelation 6:3-4 the Second Seal Judgment being opening.

“When He opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, ‘Come and see.’ Another horse, fiery red, went out. And it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, and that people should kill one another; and there was given to him a great sword.”

We read in Revelation 6:5-6 the Third Seal Judgment being opening.

“When He opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, ‘Come and see.’ So I looked, and behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four Living Creatures saying, ‘A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not harm the oil and the wine.'”

We read in Revelation 6:7-8 the Fourth Seal Judgment being opening.

“When He opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, ‘Come and see.’ So I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed with him. And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth.”

Vic Batista: How amazing! We find here the Four Living Creatures each utter a declaration of judgment as each of the seals are being open. Each one of the angels says, “Come and see” and these strange events begin to unfold. One of the seals reveals a white horse and rider.

Nathan Jones: What we are seeing with the breaking of the seals is Jesus releasing His wrath upon the world in a series of judgments. You kind of have to study up on the other prophetic books of the Bible to better understand what is going on, especially the book of Daniel.

What we learn is that the rider of the First Seal Judgment is released upon the world, and we’ll read more about him in Revelation 13. He is the Antichrist, the one-world leader who will come as a false savior, and all the power of the nations of the world will be given to him to rule over. He comes as a king, but conquers the world with oddly a bow without any arrows. In other words, he will lead by diplomacy. The Antichrist is going to use pure charisma, and the world will just give their power over to this world leader.

The problem with the Antichrist is that he is not as peaceful as he appears, because by the Second Seal Judgment the Antichrist is plunging the world into war. We discover that a fourth of the population of the world will be killed by war, followed by famine which is the Third Seal Judgment, and then death from the Fourth Seal Judgment. Death will come by war, starvation and hunger, wild animals, and various consequences that are the result of war.

Vic Batista: Each one of these declarations of impending judgment comes about as a spectacular event as each seal is being opened. It’s like each Living Creature says, “Come and check this out!”

Nathan Jones: And yet, Jesus is opening each of the seven seals Himself. For those who claim the wrath of God is only near the end of the Tribulation at the Bowl Judgments, I don’t see how they can get past Revelation 6, because it is clearly Jesus opening the seals Himself and pouring out the judgments that the angels are announcing, “Come and see.” Just like you said, the seraphim are announcing, “It is ready!” or “It is here!” or “Here it comes!” Jesus Christ Himself is releasing the wrath of God, therefore the entire Tribulation, not just the last seven Bowl Judgments, are the wrath of God.

Vic Batista: And then when there’s a temporarily false peace, sometimes people mistaken that thinking that Jesus is already here ruling, but that is not the case, right?

Nathan Jones: Correct. It is generally believed that when the Antichrist, possessed by the Father of Lies because Satan is the power behind him, comes he will arrive promising peace and safety. Daniel 9:26-27 says that he will create a peace treaty with Israel and the world will think that it finally has world peace. But, the Antichrist will use that time to start another World War and will conquer the entire world and bring all power to himself.

Even now there are so many calls out from the leadership of the world for a new world order and for global leadership. They say the world needs a governing body that handles all the chaos that is raging. The nations are pushing for that end, and Satan has his man ready in the wings. He’s ready to go. It’s just a matter of making something happening, say a great disaster, or the Rapture of the Church, or an economic collapse that will make the leaders of the world give their power over to the Antichrist.

Those who rebel against the Antichrist’s rule, as we read here in Revelation 6, he will bring war against them. The Antichrist will end up slaughtering sadly a fourth of the world population. That would be in today’s standards is over two billion people!

Vic Batista: These “Come and see!” declarations are pronounced by the angels, and then we read the judgments Christ lets loose. We read how peace is taken from the earth. A dark force with a pair of scales in his hands brings famine, where a quart of wheat costs a denarius, meaning a whole day’s wages, and we read about droughts.

Nathan Jones: Exactly, a denarius was equal to a day’s wage in John’s time. So, what the seraphim is saying is that the people living in that age can buy a loaf of bread, but it’ll cost an entire days work. That is another way of saying famine. Protect the oil and the wine, protect the food, because there will not be much of it. When war comes there is always scarcity, because the people’s money goes towards paying for the war and recovery. When you have that much death and the destruction that follows and the supply lines are destroyed and the farms are destroyed, and so eventually starvation spreads across the whole world.

The Antichrist might come peacefully, but he consolidates his kingdom by war. The world has already seen how bad World War I and II were, but they will appear like a picnic in comparison to what World War III or the Tribulation War, whatever it will be called, will be like.

Vic Batista: It is amazing how the world is lining up with these prophecies.

By the Fourth Seal Judgment in Revelation 6:7-8, the Living Creatures are calling out judgment and we’re introduced to the Rider on the Pale Horse, which is Death itself. Death comes because of all the horrors of war that have taken place prior to his arrival, right?

Nathan Jones: Right, these first four Seal Judgments and their riders are what are commonly known as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Marvel did not invent the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, despite what they next X-Men movie is going to be about.

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are seen in Revelation as symbols. They are not actually guys riding around on real horses. For example, Death is personified, but Death itself isn’t an actual being. There is speculation that these horsemen could also be angelic creatures, but probably not. They are just symbols, and each represents something that will happen to the earth during God’s judgments.

The Antichrist will ride on a white horse, for the white horse symbolizes royalty. War is always symbolized by red and blood. On the black horse rides Famine. Then, finally, we’ve got Death, which is symbolized by a rider on a pale horse, which the word “pale” actually describes a green, sickly color. The Rider on the Pale Horse is Death, such as when you’re dead and you have no color. You are pale with death.

The Guardian Angels

Vic Batista: Does the Bible teach us that God has assigned angels to protect His children?

Nathan Jones: Exactly, yes! God does have angels acting as protectors. It’s great when God uses His own hand to protect us, and the Holy Spirit protects Christians inwardly so that we can be discerning. The Holy Spirit is called the Counselor. He helps us make the right choices.

But, in the spirit realm, the war that is being waged around us that we can’t see, there are angels that are protecting God’s children. Visually they are rarely seen, though they were seen by some people throughout the Bible.

I know my own father was in a terrible car wreck a few years back. He fell out of his wrecked car and dragged himself into a ditch and passed out. A motorcycle pulled up right next to his head, and blearily he thought, “Oh, great, I am going to get run over by a motorcycle on top of it all.” The biker dismounted off his bike and tended and took care of him. As my father was put into an ambulance, he asked the ambulance driver, “What happened to the guy on the motorcycle who was helping me?” The EMT was like, “What guy? We never saw a guy here when we got to you.” My dad didn’t know if it was a motorist who took off real fast as soon as the ambulance arrived, or it was one of God’s angel protecting him. My father loves motorcycles, so for him of course his angel would be riding a motorcycle!

Vic Batista: And I’d bet it wasn’t a Hell’s Angel?

Nathan Jones: No, it was certainly one of Heaven’s angels! Well, whether it was truly and angel or not, my father really believes that this was an actual angel. It’s funny how many stories I’ve heard over the years of people being rescued by what they thought were angels who had come in human form. I believe God is working in the background through His angels. He is protecting His people, and Revelation chapters 2 and 3 show that God is indeed protecting each Church with a guardian angel. Individually we have guardian angels. Our children especially have guardian angels who protect them, and I praise the Lord for God’s provision!

Vic Batista: I am so glad that God sends these heavenly angels to watch out for us. I love Hebrews 13:2 which says, “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels.”

Hebrews 13:2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained #angels. Click To Tweet

Nathan Jones: There was a time early in my life where I was having a real rough time. I was so down. A rainstorm came, and while I was working on a school computer the power went out and I lost my whole term paper. I thought, “Man, what more could happen?” Then this guy walked into the computer lab and sat down right next to me and he said, “Life is difficult, life is hard, but you need to trust the Lord and things will be alright.” Then he got up and left. I remember thinking, “Creepy! How did he know?” It was the Lord’s message to me, whether He had to actually physically tell me it through an angel, or someone who just could read body language and cared.

Vic Batista: Wow, that is so cool! How often we want miraculous things to happen in our lives, and at times God does send His angels to encourage us.

Nathan Jones: Like the Hebrews passage says, most times we don’t even know that these helpers are angels.

In the sixth segment of our series “The Mighty Angels of Revelation,” we’ll look at the Wind Angels found in Revelation 7.

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Dr. Nathan E. Jones

As the Internet Evangelist at Lamb & Lion Ministries, Nathan reaches out to the over 4.5 billion people accessible over the Internet with the Good News of Jesus Christ. He also co-hosts the ministry's television program Christ in Prophecy and podcast The Truth Will Set You Free.

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