THE BIBLICAL INSTITUTE by Uriah Smith

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Jan 3, 1878

THE BIBLICAL INSTITUTE.

By Uriah Smith

HELD IN OAKLAND, CAL., APRIL 1–17, 1877.

LESSON NINETEEN.

THE SEVEN SEALS.

THE seals are introduced to our notice in the 4th, 5th, and 6th chapters of Revelation. The scenes presented under these seals are brought to view in Rev. 6, and the first verse of Rev. 8. They evidently cover events with which the church is connected from the opening of this dispensation to the coming of Christ.

While the seven churches present the internal history of the church, the seven seals bring to view the great events of its external history.

The first seal, presenting a white horse as described in the second verse of chapter 6, with a rider who went forth with a bow and a crown conquering and to conquer, represents the gospel in its first introduction. The whiteness of the horse denoting the purity of the church; and the success of the rider, the marvelous conquests of the gospel.

The second seal introduces a red horse; and under this seal peace is taken from the earth and events of strife and confusion are introduced, represented by a great sword in the hands of him who sat on this horse. This seal is supposed to cover the time from the days of the apostles, at about the close of the first century, to the days of Constantine the Great. In his day the church had so far apostatized that peace was taken from the earth and religious strife became so intense, that, as Mosheim says, there was continual war.

The third seal brings to view a black horse and he that sat upon him had a pair of balances in his hand. Then a voice was heard saying, “A measure of wheat for a penny and three measures of barley for a penny, and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.” The color of this horse, just the opposite of that of the first horse, denotes the terrible apostasy both in doctrine and practice which had taken place in the church. The reference to the balances, the wheat and the barley, sets forth the worldly spirit which had taken full possession of the professed church. The period covered by this seal was from the time of Constantine A. D. 325 to the setting up of the papacy A. D. 538. This was a period of superstition, of darkness and error, during which the principles of the great papal apostasy were rapidly developed.

The fourth seal introduces a scene stranger still. It was a pale horse and the name of his rider was death, and hell (hades, the grave) followed with him. “And they had power to kill with sword and with hunger and with death and beasts of the earth.” The preceding seal having brought us to the commencement of the papal supremacy, this seal naturally covers that period of its history during which it had in its hands the power of persecution. This was restrained by the Great Reformation of the 16th century, as we shall see under the following seal.

The fifth seal brings to view a scene which we will present in the language of the scripture itself: “I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: 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? 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.”

This passage is supposed to furnish strong proof in behalf of the conscious existence of disembodied souls. But a little thought will show some insuperable objections to this view. These souls are under the altar; and the altar is the altar of sacrifice; for it is where they were slain; but there is no such altar in Heaven. They cried that their blood might be avenged; but the disembodied immortal soul has no blood. If they were in Heaven according to the popular view, they could look over into the vault of hell and behold their persecutors writhing in its inextinguishable flames; for such is their view of the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. Luke 16:19–31. How then could they cry for vengeance upon those who had slain them? Was it not enough to behold them in the flames of hell there to be punished through all eternity?

In view of these difficulties both Adam Clarke and Dr. Barnes give up the idea that this is a literal representation. Clarke says: “The altar was upon the earth,” and Barnes says that we are not to suppose that such a scene literally occurred, but that justice cried to God for vengeance upon those who had slain the martyrs as really as if they cried themselves.

But how could they cry, if they were not conscious? We answer, By a figure of speech, just as Abel’s blood cried, Gen. 4:10, and just as the stone cried out of the wall and the beam out of the timber answered it, Hab. 2:11. The persons here brought to view are those who had fallen under the papal persecutions of the preceding seal. The expression, The souls of them that were slain, being simply a strong expression to denote the persons, with all their capabilities of being, who had been sacrificed by papal fury. Just as Dr. Clarke says that the expressions, “spirits of just men made perfect,” Heb. 12:23, and “Father of spirits,” Heb. 12:9, and “God of the spirits of all flesh,” Num. 16:22; 27:16, “means men not in a disembodied state.” Note on 1 Pet. 3:19. And the fact that they had been slain cried like Abel’s blood to God for vengeance.

The white robes that were given unto them were robes of character. They had gone down into the grave covered with obloquy and reproach. But the Reformation vindicated them in the eyes of all Christendom. It was seen that they were not the vile heretics that they had been represented to be, but the precious of the earth. They were to rest a little season. A few more were to be slain before the day for the final vindication of the people of God.

This seal covers the period from the beginning of the Reformation in the early part of the sixteenth century to the opening of the sixth seal about one hundred and thirty years later.

Under the sixth seal we have brought to view a great earthquake, the darkening of the sun, the turning of the moon to blood, the falling of the stars, the departing of the heavens as a scroll, and events immediately connected with the second coming of Christ.

The earthquake was the great earthquake of Lisbon which occurred Nov. 1, 1755, which affected at least four million square miles of the earth’s surface. The sun was darkened May 19, 1780. The moon refused to give her light the following night; and when it did appear, it bore the appearance of blood as described in this prophecy. The stars of heaven fell Nov. 13, 1833. Other star showers or meteoric displays have been witnessed at different times, but this was the most remarkable and extensive.

Mark speaks of the same signs and locates them at the same time. He says, “In those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened and the moon shall not give her light and the stars of heaven shall fall.” “In those days,” before the 1260 years of papal triumph ended, but “after that tribulation,” after the persecuting power of the papacy was restrained, between that point and 1798 where the 1260 years ended, these scenes were to appear; and right here history locates the most remarkable of these phenomena that have ever been seen.

It will be noticed that in the fulfillment of this prophecy we stand between the 13th and 14th verses of chapter 6. The next thing here before us is the departing of the heavens as a scroll and the scenes of the great day.

The seventh seal is introduced in Rev. 8:1. The only event mentioned is silence in Heaven about the space of half an hour; and the only time brought to view in the Bible when this could be fulfilled, is that described in Matt. 25:31, when Christ appears and “all the holy angels” come with him. Then there can be silence in Heaven; and this event we understand to be the one to which the sixth seal is devoted.

It will be noticed that the language of the first five seals is symbolical, that of the sixth and seventh literal. We can account for this change in the language only by supposing that the events of these seals being located at the time when the prophecy was to be understood and the doctrine of the second coming of Christ proclaimed is for this reason given in literal and not symbolic language.

Taken as a whole we may say that these seals represent the great apostasy in the church. The first seal represents the apostolic church in its purity. The succeeding seals, the church in its apostasy. But the true church occasionally appears this side the first seal. It is the oil and the wine of the third seal, the martyrs of the fourth and fifth seals; and those who will be saved at the coming of Christ to which the last seal brings us. While the apostate church will be among those who will call for the rocks and mountains to fall on them and hide them from his presence in the day of His wrath. U. S.