The Seven Seals Of Revelation

The Seven Seals of Revelation

Eli Kittim

In ancient times, papyrus scrolls with classified information contained several wax seals (Gk. σφραγίς) which ensured that only the appropriate recipient could read the document. Likewise, the Bible uses the term metaphorically to convey apocalyptic information about upcoming events. The seven-sealed scroll reveals seven chronological disclosures that will come in rapid succession. Each seal represents a coming event that will have a major impact on the world. The breaking of the seven seals occurs in Rev. 5–8. The first four seals are known as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

The first seal represents the first coming of Christ, who commences the sequence of end time events (Rev. 6:1-2). He rides a white horse, which is also mentioned in Rev. 19:11 using nearly identical language. In Rev. 6:2 (NJB), the white rider goes “from victory to victory” (Gk. νικῶν καὶ ἵνα νικήσῃ). The biblical term "victory" is intimately associated with Christ's resurrection from the dead, which ultimately results in the conquering of death itself (see 1 Cor. 15:54, 57). The terms νικῶν and νικήσῃ are based on the Greek word νικάω (nikao), which means to “overcome” or to be “victorious.” The word nikao can only refer to an overcomer in Christ and cannot possibly be attributed to an Antichrist figure (see e.g. Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 26; Rev. 3:5, 12, 21). Also, the white horseman wears a stephanos crown, which is worn by believers and victors in Christ (see e.g. Mt. 27:29; Jas. 1:12; 2 Tim. 4:8; 1 Pet. 5:4; Rev. 2:10; 4:4; 14:14). The Stephanos “crown” is therefore a symbol of victory for the believers in Christ. Accordingly, the Antichrist would not wear a stephanos crown. We are also told that the rider of the white horse “was holding a bow” (Gk. toxon), which represents God's covenant with the human race (see Gen. 9:13). The Septuagint (LXX), an early Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, translates the Hebrew word ‎קַשְׁתִּ֕י (qaš·tî), which means “rainbow,” with the Greek word “toxon” (bow) in Gen. 9:13! In Rev. 6:2, the Greek word “toxon” is the same word that is translated in the English Bible versions by the word bow. Therefore, the Antichrist would not be “holding a bow,” representing God's covenant. And there are no counterfeit signs in the Bible. That’s why all references to God, Christ, and to the saints are always couched in white imagery (see e.g. Isa. 1:18; Dan. 7:9; Mt. 28:3; John 20:12; Rev. 1:14; 2:17; Rev. 3:4-5, 18; 4:4; 6:11; Rev. 7:9, 13-14; 14:14; 19:14).

The second seal represents the coming of the Antichrist (Revelation 6:3–4), the red horse. The red horseman represents the last king who comes out of the final world empire, which is represented by the red seven-headed dragon with ten horns. World War 3 commences with the red rider, who was given a huge and mighty sword and granted permission to slaughter mankind.

The third seal represents economic collapse (Revelation 6:5–6). The rider of the Black horse holds “a pair of scales,” which merchants used in order to barter for their goods. In those days, meals will be so expensive that it will cost a whole day's wages just to have one.

The fourth seal (Revelation 6:7–8) introduces the “deathly pale” horse whose “rider was called Death, and Hades followed at its heels.” The fourth horse mainly represents a global food crisis, famines, and pandemics that kill off “a quarter of the earth[‘s]” population, coupled with wars and other devastations.

The fifth seal represents the martyrs of the faith throughout the centuries, but especially those who will be killed during the great tribulation (Revelation 6:9–11). The clue is given in verse 11 where “they were told to be patient a little longer, until the roll was completed of their fellow-servants and brothers who were still to be killed as they had been” (cf. Mt. 24:9). These martyrs include the 144,000 who are mentioned in Revelation chapter seven. Rev. 7:13-14 explains that the 144 thousand are the elect “who have been through the great trial.” However, Rev. 7:4-8 is obviously describing not just the tribulation saints but the entire church as a whole. In fact, Revelation 7:9 gives us the identity of the 144 thousand by stating that they’re “a huge number, impossible for anyone to count,” and that they come from every nation on earth.

The sixth seal represents nuclear war, the resurrection, and the rapture (Revelation 6:12–17). The first part of the sixth seal represents nuclear war, which is described as “a violent earthquake” that causes the sun to turn black and the moon red. This event precedes the day of the Lord, according to Joel 2:31 (italics mine):

“The sun shall be turned to darkness, and

the moon to blood, BEFORE the great and

awesome day of the LORD comes.”

There are other devastations as well, such as massive upheavals of the earth's crust and space debris hurtling back to earth, islands and mountains are moved out of their place, as everything will be shaken to its foundations (cf. Hebrews 12:27). It is right after this event that Christ will appear to rapture the elect. See Matthew 24:29-31 (italics mine):

“Immediately AFTER the distress of those

days the sun will be darkened, the moon will

not give its light, the stars will fall from the

sky and the powers of the heavens will be

shaken. And then the sign of the Son of

man will appear in heaven; … And he will

send his angels with a loud trumpet to

gather his elect from the four winds.”

Similarly, Daniel 12:1-2 indicates that the general resurrection of the dead will occur after the great tribulation, which will be an event “unlike any other from the nation’s beginning up to that time.” In line with these passages, the sixth seal indicates that after the great tribulation “all the kings of the earth, the governors and … the whole population, … hid in caverns and among the rocks of the mountains,” and “they said to the mountains and the rocks, 'Fall on us and hide us away from the One who sits on the throne and from the retribution of the Lamb. For the Great Day of his retribution has come, and who can face it?' “ (Rev. 6:15-17). This pericope is taken from Isaiah 2:19, which describes Yahweh rising from the dead to shake the earth:

“they will go into the caverns of the rocks

and into the fissures of the earth in terror of

Yahweh, at the brilliance of his majesty,

when he arises to make the earth quake.”

We know from 1 Thess. 4:16-17 that the resurrection and the rapture happen simultaneously. Thus, the aforementioned passages coalesce to give us the big picture, namely, that the sixth seal represents the resurrection and the rapture, which will occur right after the Great Tribulation!

The seventh seal represents the Day of the Lord (Rev. 8:1-5). The prelude to the day of the Lord begins with a short respite, as “there was silence in heaven for about half an hour” (verse 1). It represents the lull before the storm. This is the close of the tribulation period (Satan’s wrath) and the beginning of the Day of the Lord (God’s wrath), as the severity of the judgments begin to increase with the coming of the seven trumpets. But before the sounding of the seven trumpets, an “angel took the censer and filled it from the fire of the altar, which he then hurled down onto the earth,” causing massive earthquakes and devastations (verse 5). Thus, the seventh seal represents the commencement of the Day of the Lord!

The Official Website of “The Little Book of Revelation”

From Goodreads Author and Bible teacher Eli Kittim

The Official Website of “The Little Book of Revelation: The First Coming of Jesus at the End of Days”

Το Μικρό Βιβλίο της Αποκάλυψης: Η Πρώτη Παρουσία του Ιησού στο τέλος των Ημερών

Από τον συγγραφέα και Βιβλολόγο ´Ελι Κιττίμ.

Νικητής του βραβείου Θρησκείας και πνευματικότητας 2015 στο Goodreads.

Ένα συναρπαστικό βιβλίο που υποστηρίζει την ελληνική καταγωγή του Ιησού (γραμμένο στα αγγλικά).

To buy this book, click on the link below. ⬇️

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Israelology Versus Replacement Theology: Is the Bible about Israel or Jesus?

Eli Kittim

If Jesus is the Messianic fulfillment of the Hebrew Bible, then the Old Testament is essentially Christocentric (not Jewishcentric) and the New Testament is not talking about two peoples (the Jews & the church) but rather one: the elect (cf. Eph. 2:19-20), which is to say that the overarching theme of the Old Testament is not about a race but about a person: the Messiah!

If in fact there are 2 peoples with 2 different sets of standards (law & grace) by which they’re saved, then that would invalidate Christ’s atonement, as would the rebuilding of the third Jewish temple, which would necessitate the reinstituting of animal sacrifices. However, the Bible is not about ethnicity, racism, or nationalism. In Romans 2:28-29 (NASB), Paul redefines what the term Jew means in scripture:

For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly,

nor is circumcision that which is outward in

the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one

inwardly; and circumcision is of the heart.

In the Bible, there are not two people of God, but only one: those who are in Christ. At the end of the age, Christ will separate “the sheep from the goats” (Mt. 25.32). In other words, there are only two categories: you are either in Christ or out of Christ! The Bible is Christocentric. It is not ethnocentric. It’s not about a race.

Instead of admitting that they view the Bible as being about their race and not about Christ, the Hebrew Roots Movement dresses it up euphemistically as though the controversy was about the Jews versus the church. But that’s a misnomer. The real controversy is this: they don’t believe that the Bible is about Christ. But they hide that from you! Messianic Jews are often far more Judaic than they let on.

Read the letter to the Hebrews, chapter 9. It’s all about how Christ is greater than the temple sacrifices or the Law of Moses. This is a New Covenant. So why are the Jews holding on to the old one? Hebrews 8:13 declares:

When He [God] said, ‘A new covenant,’ He

has made the first obsolete.

Both Galatians and Romans are authentic Pauline letters. In those letters, Paul says categorically & unequivocally that we are saved by Grace, not by the Law. Paul says in Galatians 2:16:

a person is not justified by works

of the Law but through faith in Christ.

In Galatians 2:21, Paul says:

if righteousness comes through the Law, then

Christ died needlessly.

In Galatians 3:11, Paul repeats the justification of faith teaching:

that no one is justified by the Law before

God is evident; for, ‘the righteous one will

live by faith.’

It’s also found in many other places, including Romans 3:20:

by the works of the Law none of mankind

will be justified in His sight.

It doesn’t get any clearer than that. We are not to observe the law. We are saved by faith in Jesus Christ. According to Acts 4:12:

there is salvation in no one else [except

Jesus Christ]; for there is no other name

under heaven that has been given among

mankind by which we must be saved.

Yahweh is never once mentioned in the New Testament. Moreover, Galatians 3:7 says that we are the sons of Abraham by faith (not by race):

recognize that it is those who are of faith

who are sons of Abraham.

Ephesians 2:12-13 says that through “the blood of Christ” the elect are now part of God’s family. There’s only one plan, one family, one salvation, and one Lord, not 2 different salvation plans, or 2 peoples. It’s not that we have replaced Israel but that we have been brought into one family through Jesus’ atonement (the new covenant) which was prophesied in Jeremiah 31.31.

Incidentally, the history of replacement theology doesn’t go back to the dispensationalism of the 1800s, but rather to the early church. In Jer. 3:8, God gave Israel an official certificate of divorce. In Mt. 21:43, Jesus promised that the kingdom of God will be taken away from the Jews and given to another nation. Justin Martyr (100-165 AD) concurred that God’s covenant with Israel was annulled and that the Jews had been replaced by the Gentiles. Origen’s (185-253 AD) view was along the same lines. Irenaeus (ca. 130-202 AD) also proclaimed that God disinherited the Jews from his grace. Tertullian (ca. 155-220 AD) also held that the Jews had been rejected by God. Similarly, Eusebius (ca. 265-339 AD) held that the promises of Scripture were given to the Gentiles because only the Church was the “true Israel.” This was also the view of St. Augustine (354-430 AD). So, this view didn’t start in the 19th century. It was there from the beginning.

The covenant of the seed (in Genesis 12) is a reference to Christ (see Gal. 3:16). Notice that Abraham is the “father of many nations” (Gen. 17:5), not just one. So the covenant with Abraham and his descendants (Gen. 17:8) is with multiple nations, not just one! And all these are part of the covenant through Abraham’s seed, who is Christ! That’s why Isaiah 61:9 explicitly refers to God’s posterity as the people of the Gentiles:

their offspring will be known among the

nations [Gentiles], And their descendants in

the midst of the peoples. All who see them

will recognize them because they are the

offspring whom the Lord has blessed.

“It is not the children of the flesh … but the children of the promise [who] are regarded as descendants [of Israel]” (Rom 9:6-8). Here’s further proof that the language which was once used for Israel is now used to address the church (cf. Gal. 6:16). In contradistinction to those who don’t believe in Christ, 1 Peter 2:9 is addressing the church who does believe in Christ, saying:

But you are a chosen people, a royal

priesthood, a holy nation, a people for

God’s own possession.

In Colossians 1:26, “the mystery which had been hidden from the past ages and generations, but now has been revealed to His saints” is that the Gentiles are co-inheritors with Israel (cf. Gal 3:28). Ephesians 3:6 says:

This mystery is that through the gospel the

Gentiles are heirs together with Israel,

members together of one body, and sharers

together in the promise in Christ Jesus.

The real controversy about replacement theology is this: is the Bible about Judaism or Jesus? Jews argue that the Bible is not about Christ. Their Dual-covenant theology holds that the Old Covenant remains valid for Jews whereas the New Covenant is only applicable to gentiles.

Bottom line, the Bible is not about a nation or a race. It’s about a person: the God-incarnate Messiah. Those who believe in Christ think that the Bible is about Christ. Those who don’t really believe in Christ think that the Bible is about the nation of Israel. It’s that simple.

What is the argument about? It’s really about whether we pledge allegiance to Moses or to Jesus.

Has Christ been divided?

(1 Corinthians 1:13).

Is Mara bar Serapion’s Letter a Forgery?

Eli Kittim

The letter has been claimed to include no

Christian themes.

— Wiki

Mara bar Serapion was a stoic philosopher. He is noted for a lengthy letter that he wrote to his son. The letter was composed in Syriac, written sometime between 73 AD and the 3rd century. Many Christian apologists have suggested that Mara bar Serapion is alluding to Jesus Christ in this letter. But there are several problems with that theory.

First, a nonChristian like Mara bar Serapion would never have referred to Jesus as a “king.” Only dedicated and reborn Christians refer to Jesus as their Lord of lords and kings of Kings, not pagans.

Second, Jesus was not known as a “king.” In fact, according to Bruce Chilton and Craig A. Evans (“Studying the Historical Jesus,” pp. 455–457), “the term ‘king of the Jews’ has never been seen in the Christian literature of antiquity as a title for Jesus.”

Third, Jesus was not known as a “wise king.” The only Jew known to be a “wise king” was King Solomon, who was in fact a *king,* and whose *wisdom* was known throughout the ancient world. What is more, King Solomon is well known for being the author of many books of *wisdom* in the Bible.

Fourth, Mara bar Serapion does not even mention the terms “Jesus” or “Christ.” And when referring to famous heroic philosophers who died, and what happened after their death, he never mentions Jesus’ resurrection. Even if he didn’t believe it, he would have, at least, mentioned the *rumor* of Jesus being raised from the dead. The fact that he doesn’t mention it at all means that he’s not talking about Jesus:

[Robert E.] Van Voorst adds two factors

that indicate Mara was not a Christian, the

first being his failure to mention the terms

Jesus or Christ. The second factor (also

supported by Chilton and Evans) is that

Mara's statement that Jesus lives on based

on the wisdom of his teachings, in contrast

to the Christian concept that Jesus

continues to live through his resurrection,

indicates that he was not a Christian.

— Wiki

Fifth, the language of the document suggests that Mara bar Serapion is referring to an actual king who enacted new laws and established new practices. For example, Jewish tradition ascribes ritual hand washing and eruvin to King Solomon, who also served as a Judge (e.g. the “Judgment of Solomon”). He was also responsible for building the first temple, and for instituting new laws of how the temple services would run:

Nay, Socrates did ‘not’ die, because of

Plato; nor yet Pythagoras, because of the

statue of Hera; nor yet the Wise King,

because of the new laws which he enacted.

— Wiki

Sixth, there’s something very odd about the reference to the Jews in this letter. This is quite a long letter, which is based entirely on Greek philosophy. Scholars are in agreement that Mara bar Serapion was a Stoic philosopher and a pagan. As a rule, Stoic philosophers held Jewish teachings in contempt, and so they would never have placed them on a par with the teachings of Socrates, Plato, and Pythagoras. We know this from the apostle Paul who was scoffed at when preaching to stoic philosophers in Athens (Acts 17:15-34). The addition of the “Jewish” element, therefore, reads like a non sequitur, like a strange interpolation that doesn’t belong there… It sounds as if someone added it at a later time. And it seems as if the author (or editor?) got things wrong. Pythagoras was not burned, and King Solomon was not killed. And the expulsion of the Jews might be a reference to the deportation of the Northern Kingdom in 722 BC, or to that of Judah in 586 BC:

The letter refers to the unjust treatment of

‘three wise men’: the murder of Socrates,

the burning of Pythagoras, and the

execution of ‘the wise king’ of the Jews.

— Wiki

Now that I have offered my critique, let’s actually read that portion of the letter that apologists have employed time after time as evidence for the historicity of Jesus. Do you think that this pericope constitutes strong evidence for the existence of Jesus? Hardly! Not by a long shot:

For what benefit did the Athenians obtain

by putting Socrates to death, seeing that

they received as retribution for it famine and

pestilence?  Or the people of Samos by the

burning of Pythagoras, seeing that in one

hour the whole of their country was covered

with sand?  Or the Jews by the murder of

their Wise King, seeing that from that very

time their kingdom was driven away from

them?  For with justice did God grant a

recompense to the wisdom of all three of

them.  For the Athenians died by famine;

and the people of Samos were covered by

the sea without remedy; and the Jews,

brought to desolation and expelled from

their kingdom, are driven away into every

land.  Nay, Socrates did “not” die, because

of Plato; nor yet Pythagoras, because of the

statue of Hera; nor yet the Wise King,

because of the new laws which he enacted.

— Wiki

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