The Seven Seals

As the Lamb opened the first seal, one of the four living creatures thundered, 'Come!' A white horse appeared, its rider holding a bow and wearing a crown, going out conquering and to conquer. The second seal brought a rider on a red horse, taking peace from the earth so that people would slaughter one another. The third seal revealed a black horse, its rider holding scales—famine and economic devastation. The fourth seal loosed a pale horse, its rider named Death, followed by Hades, given authority to kill with sword, famine, pestilence, and wild beasts.

When the fifth seal was opened, John saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the Word of God and their testimony. They cried out with a loud voice, 'O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before You will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?' They were given white robes and told to rest a little longer until the number of their fellow servants and brothers should be complete.

The sixth seal brought cosmic upheaval—a great earthquake, the sun becoming black as sackcloth, the full moon like blood, stars falling from the sky, the sky vanishing like a scroll, and every mountain and island removed from its place. Kings, generals, the rich, the powerful, and everyone else hid in caves and among rocks, crying to the mountains, 'Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?'

But before the next judgment fell, four angels held back the winds of the earth while another angel sealed the servants of God on their foreheads—144,000 from all the tribes of Israel. Then John saw a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing before the throne in white robes with palm branches, crying out, 'Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!'

An elder asked John, 'Who are these?' John replied, 'Sir, you know.' And the elder said, 'These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore they are before the throne of God and serve Him day and night. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes.'

When the seventh seal was opened, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour—the calm before the trumpet judgments. An angel took a golden censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it on the earth. There were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake. The prayers of the saints had ascended before God, and judgment was coming.