Beginning in Revelation, chapter six through chapter nineteen, the Tribulation Period occurs.
The Tribulation Period lasts for seven years and is divided into two parts with each portion lasting 3 ½ years. The first 3 ½ years is called the Tribulation and involves the first four seals. The last 3 ½ years is called the Great Tribulation and involves the last three seals.
The breaking of the first seal by Christ, will begin the Tribulation Period.
During the Tribulation Period, 21 catastrophic judgments, divinely ordered, will be unleashed upon the earth.
The judgments occur one after the other and include: Seven seal judgments; Seven trumpet judgments; Seven bowl judgments.
1a And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, John sees the only one worthy of opening the scrolls, the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, beginning the work of judgment to restore the earth.
1b and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see. Immediately, John hears the noise of thunder, a sign of impending judgment, and a living creature. The voice that summons John to witness the opening of the first seal is Jesus. The words and see are not in the original, just the word Come, a command meaning to Go.
The first four of the seven seals, known as the Four Housemen of the Apocalypse, are characterized by living creatures and living horses.
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 rider on the white horse is the infamous Antichrist, the imitator and counterfeit of Christ.
This rider of deception is not Jesus, who will also ride on a white horse at His Second Coming. (Revelation 19) Jesus breaks the seals. He can t ride and open the seals at the same time. Jesus wears many crowns (diadems) and this rider wears a crown, a stephanos or victor s crown that he earned as a prize. Jesus is not given a crown, He gives crowns. (Revelation 2:10) Jesus carries a sword, and this rider carries a bow.
This rider on the white horse, a symbol of victory, goes forth with a bow without arrows and is victorious without bloodshed or slaughter, because he brings world unity and peace.
The Antichrist will confirm a treaty or covenant of peace with the Jews in their own land. All will be peaceful for three and a half years, and then the rider will go forth as a conqueror and to conquer for the next three and a half years. (Daniel 9: 24 27)
During a weeklong, four-country trip to secure European unity against Russia s aggression toward Ukraine, President Obama interrupted his trip to visit the Vatican on March 27, 2014. Pope Francis and President Obama focused their discussion on two areas: how to help the poor and how to confront conflicts that test the limits of peace in a meeting that lasted almost an hour.
Recently, on April 29, 2014, a nine-month deadline for USsponsored peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority ended with no settlement of the Israel-Palestine conflict. The two sides are now possibly even further apart. John Kerry, the US secretary of state, left, with Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu, whose government includes ministers calling for Israel to set its own borders.
In late May, 2014, Pope Francis is scheduled to visit Israel. The stop includes visits to the Western Wall and Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, a meeting with Netanyahu and a Mass in Bethlehem, a Palestinian stronghold. The trip may possibly be cancelled due to labor strikes that have closed Israel's more than 100 embassies and consulates for the first time. Planned stops in Jordan and the West Bank will not be affected.
3a And when he had opened the second seal,
3b I heard the second beast say, Come and see.
4 And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.
5a And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see.
The peace instituted by the Antichrist seems to be short lived as the rider on the red horse is given power to take peace from the earth.
The rider of the red horse is given a great sword. The word great indicates that there will be widespread warfare. The word sword refers to the short swords carried by Roman soldiers to engage in hand-tohand combat. These were very effective in bringing about a quick death.
War and violence will breakout and rage in every corner of the globe.
It is during this period that Russia and her allies will invade Israel from the North in fulfillment of Ezekiel 38-39. Their army will be defeated by divine intervention, and Israel will burn the weapons of warfare for seven years.
The conflicts will not end here, however, the wars spawned by Antichrist will rage, one after the other, until Jesus, the Prince of Peace returns in power and glory!
5b And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
Famine and inflation usually follow war, caused by the rider of the second seal. The rider on the black horse produces these tragic twin sorrows upon the earth. Food and other basic necessities will be measured or rationed, indicated by the scales held in the rider s hand.
6a And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny;
A biblical measure would be enough food to feed a grown, working man for one day. It would be equivalent to one quart using today s standards. A penny refers to the denarius, which was a day s wages. Ordinarily a denarius would buy from 8 to 12 times this much.
The two grains, wheat and barley, constituting the staff of life or bread, will be rationed and doled out by careful weight and sold at inflated prices.
At the end of the day, a man could take his meager wages and buy a measure of wheat, enough for one meal of good white bread or, he could buy three measures of barley, enough for three meals of much cheaper black bread usually fed to slaves, the very poor, or livestock.
The end result is famine, scarcity, and want.
6b and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine. This statement signifies that the rich will be excluded from this famine. Oil and wine were regarded as luxuries, and were to be found only on the tables of the rich. Though the governing classes will be exempt from the suffering of the poor and working classes, the rich shall not escape much longer.
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8a And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.
The fourth horse is said to be pale in color. The word pale comes from the same Greek word that gives us the English words chlorophyll and chlorine. The word means, Green. It refers to the sickly, yellow-green pallor of a corpse.
8b And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth. Death will claim onequarter of the world s population. That is one out of every four people living during those days. If you take today s population of 7.2 billion people, you are talking about the death of 1.8 billion people in a short period of time!
Under the three previous seals, we note one instrument of judgment under each seal; but here, there are four instruments of judgment used to claim one fourth of the world s population. The methods used are:
This refers to warfare: nuclear, chemical, or biological warfare.
This refers to worldwide starvation.
Other than warfare and famine, death caused by pestilences or diseases that run rampant.
Animal attacks that may also refer to small pests, such as rodents.
9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: These are martyrs for Christ, killed after the Rapture who have sealed their testimony with their blood after the saints have been caught out of this earth into Heaven.
10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
The appeal of these martyrs is to God. They are crying to the sovereign ruler of all creation - the One who has the right and the power to avenge the Blood shed by the enemies of the Lord God. These martyrs are crying out to God to pour out vengeance upon them that dwell upon the earth.
11 And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled. The Lord gave these martyrs a white robe, and stamped His approval upon their request. He did not rebuke or shame them. He gave each a white robe. In this day of Grace, one would have been rebuked, but this is another dispensation. These martyrs are instructed to rest yet for a little season, until another group of fellow servants and brethren should be killed as they were killed.
12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; This great earthquake is the first of three earthquakes mentioned in the book of Revelation. They will all be terrible.
Scientists predict a massive earthquake similar to the 1811 New Madrid Fault Earthquake that could split the United States in half in the near future.
Revelation Chapter Six reveals as one of the signs of the Second Coming, a phenomenon that has unfailingly heralded historic events for the past 2,000 years. The four blood moons or tetrads as they are commonly known are a phenomenon resulting from a lunar eclipse wherein the moon takes on a red or "bloody" appearance.
NASA predicts that a solar eclipse will take place March 20 of 2015 (where the sun will be darkened), followed by a lunar eclipse (blood moon), April 4, 2015. According to biblical prophecy, these signs suggest that the sevenyear tribulation will have already begun.
13 And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. A confirmed polarity shift, a supposed Planet X approaching earth, may cause meteorites and asteroids to shower earth, like the stars.
14 And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
17 For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?