Although I could write something similar to the one that I am sharing, it would not come close to the work of my friend. He has since passed away, and never got to see my “powers interpretation”. Nevertheless, I know he would have loved my work in this regard. Here is the “types” in the millennial interpretation of the Seven Seals by my friend Robert.
Chapter 6
1And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
2And 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.
3And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see. 4And 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.
5And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
6And 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; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.
7And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. 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.
The Savior opens the seven seals in this chapter. In these verses, he opens the first four seals revealing the famous four horsemen of the apocalypse. These figures have been made famous in movie, drama and books. Most of Christianity believes that these are prophetic symbols of events that are going to occur or that have occurred in our time. There were many WWII stories and movies that used the horsemen as topics. In recent years the same theme has been repeated such as in the Vietnam War movie “Apocalypse Now.”
The first four seals cover the four thousand years before Christ. The first horseman is white meaning he is a good guy. We also know this because he is wearing a golden crown, which indicates he is a great leader. The most exalted person of this period was Enoch and this represents him in his many battles with the wicked of his generation, who tried to destroy him and his people.
The second millennium was characterized by fighting and war. This is the period before the flood and we do not have much information from that time except that the people were very bad.
The symbology of the third and fourth horsemen is easier to understand because these are postdiluvial times and we have better records. The third millennium was the age of Abraham who lived at the beginning of the seal. The great dispersion from the Tower of Babel happened at about this time and it was followed by widespread famine. There were great dust storms and locust plagues. The story of the famine in Egypt in Joseph’s day in about 1720 B.C. is typical of what must have been repeated. People migrated far and wide to find food for themselves and for their cattle.
The third millennium was also the time of the founding of the first great empires. The Egyptians and Greeks formed their great civilizations in this millennium; the Egyptians near the beginning and the Greeks near the end. Many other smaller civilizations sprang up, which continued into the fourth millennium. The children of Israel spent half of this millennium in Egypt and were led out about 1200 B.C.
The fourth millennium was characterized by the warring empires conquering vast areas and peoples, depopulating many lands and causing death on a tremendous scale. The Assyrians rose near the beginning of this millennium and they were followed by the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks and finally by the Romans who closed out the fourth millennium with conquest, slaughter and persecution, which according to John, resulted in the death of one-fourth of the people on the earth.
The kingdom of Israel was formed about 1000 B.C. There was continual warfare during this period and as John tells us, the people died from war, hunger, slavery and plain butchery, and also by natural or other causes such as disease, which he simply calls “by death.” The history of man’s cruelty and inhumanity to each other reached its zenith and it was at this point, the end of the fourth seal, that the Son of God came into the world to offer the supreme sacrifice of the atonement.
9And 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:
10And 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?
11And 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 fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.
The scene depicted at the opening of the fifth seal takes place in the first three centuries A.D. and refers to the many martyrs of the Church. Those who have suffered martyrdom cry out to the Lord for revenge. The Lord answers that the judgment must wait until all those who are to die for the testimony of him have paid the price. It was the calling of the early Christians to seal their testimonies with their blood. The persecution of Christians lasted through the third century A.D. and they were being sent to the arenas and to the stake until then. There were many faithful Christians who had testimonies of the Savior and his mission. They are heirs of eternal life.
When Constantine became the Emperor and accepted Christianity, the persecutions stopped, and a wholesale expansion of Christianity began. During the Middle ages, there were faithful men and women who tried to get back to true Christian principles and the truth. They had testimonies of Christ, perhaps, but they too suffered martyrdom, but this time at the hands of the very Church that claimed to be the apostolic Church the Lord had founded. So these martyrs from the establishment of the Church through the Middle Ages are the ones seen in their white robes.
12And 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;
13And 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.
14And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
15And 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;
16And 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:
17For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?
With the sixth seal we come to our own millennium but the events depicted or mentioned take place at the very end of the sixth seal. John sees an event that occurs at the very end of the sixth seal as the earth begins to be transformed. In verses 12-14, the Lord refers to the earth’s being shaken out of its orbit and of the natural phenomena that occur at that time. But that is not the first event that occurs.
Verse 17 makes clear that the events depicted here are concurrent with the “great day of the Lord” or his coming with wrath to punish the world. All humanity will be filled with fear at this time and though most will not know that it is the Lord doing it, the Christians of the world will recognize that this is the day of the wrath of the Lord.
Those are the millennial types by my friend Robert. He did not include the seventh millennial type, and I presume it was because it is the midpoint in harmony with Chapter Fifteen.
Keep in mind that types are followed by shadows. So the real messages of the types are found in the shadows of the types.
