The Seven Seals. Revelation 6 by Mrs. M. E. Steward

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · May 22, 1913

The Seven Seals. Revelation 6

By Mrs. M. E. Steward

MRS. M. E. STEWARD

The book and the seven seals.

1. An ancient book was a scroll; part was rolled and sealed, then another part was rolled and sealed. The number seven denoted a complete thing.

2. The “seven seals” deal with prophecy, even as do the “seven churches.”

3. The first three seals covered the same time as the first three churches.

Color of the horses.

1. White signifies purity and truth. Going “forth . . . to conquer” indicates an answer to Christ’s command to preach the gospel to all the world.

2. Deepening color, from white to red, and then to black, denoted an increase of error and corruption, and consequent persecution. The professed church early began to adopt wrong doctrine, superstitions and heathen practises, and worldliness.

3. The oil and the wine represent the graces of the Spirit.

The third seal, from Constantine to 538 A. D.

1. During this time pernicious errors were fostered in the church, symbolized by a sword, a balance, and measures of grain.

2. Constantine united the church and the civil power. The bishop of Rome now first spoke with authority. The first Sunday law was passed by Constantine in 321 A. D.

3. Under this seal the “mystery of iniquity,” which began its work in Paul’s day, grew from babyhood into the full stature of “that man of sin,” and, like a living statue, was ready to be “revealed” to the world. This took place in 538, when the fourth seal opened.

The fourth seal, the supremacy of the Papacy.

1. The Papacy is a close and not a clumsy counterfeit of the true. It has beautiful churches, adorned with exquisite sculpture and paintings by such artists as Michelangelo and Raphael, while its music is entrancing. The ceremonial is imposing, the vestures of those officiating are of purple and scarlet and gold. Everything is calculated to captivate the senses, to awe the credulous and bind them in despotism of body and soul.

2. The spirit of the papal system is self-righteousness and intolerance. True religion is meekness; faith in God, and love.

3. In the Catholic religion manhood is degraded by human confessionals and penances, and life is full of unscriptural fears. In the religion of Christ there is a happy sense of sins forgiven, comfort, and peace.

The fifth seal.

1. A change came. Millions had gone down, and were still going to a death attended with deadly hate, shame, and disgrace. The great Reformation of the sixteenth century dawned, and righteousness by faith began to clear away the heavy mists of error and superstition. As the characters of the martyrs were seen in clearer light, “white robes were given unto every one of them.” Rev. 6:11.

2. Their blood cried from under the altar on which they had suffered, as Abel’s cried from the ground.

3. The “little season.” Many still suffered from Roman cruelty. Doubtless others in the future will feel the hate of the beast and his image.

The sixth seal.

The language of the sixth seal is literal, while that of the preceding seals is symbolic. The reason is that prophecy could not be understood till the sixth seal was opened, and current history verifies prophecy.

Three wonderful signs of Christ’s coming under the sixth seal:—

1. The Lisbon earthquake. Lisbon had one hundred fifty thousand inhabitants; ninety thousand perished in this earthquake of Nov. 1, 1755, crying “Misericordia! the world’s at an end!” Mountains were shaken as if from their foundations.

2. The darkening of the sun and moon. Christ told his disciples that this would take place in the days of papal persecution, after the persecution had ended. Mark 13:24. The days extended to 1798, but their tribulation ended in 1773, with the suppression of the Jesuits in papal countries. This fixes the dates under the sixth seal with mathematical precision.

3. The falling of the stars. A stupendous shower of stars (meteors) fell Nov. 13, 1833. Mark 13:25. All these signs were believed at the time they were witnessed to be precursors of the judgment-day. But their real bearing on the second advent was not perfectly understood until they had all been seen. Christ said, “When ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.” Matt. 24:33, “This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.”