Revelation 6:7

The Fourth Seal

7 When He opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, "Come!"^{[a] [b]}

Revelation 6:7 Meaning and Commentary

Revelation 6:7

And when he had opened the fourth seal
Of the seven seals of the sealed book; that is, when the Lamb had opened it, or took it off, as in ( Revelation 6:1 ) ;

I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, come and see;
this living creature was that which was like an eagle, and was on the north side of the throne, answerable to the standard of Dan, which was on the north of the camp of Israel, and had the figure of an eagle upon it; and the opening of this seal begins with Maximinus the Roman emperor, who came from Thrace, far north. This living creature was not James, the brother of our Lord, who had been dead long ago, as Grotius imagines; nor Cyprian, as Brightman thinks, though he lived under this seal; but the ministers of the Gospel in general in the times referred to are intended: and it may denote some decline in the Gospel ministry, that they had not the courage and strength of the lion, as the first Gospel preachers; nor the patience and laboriousness of the ox, the next set of ministers; nor the solidity and prudence of the man, the ministers that followed them; and yet they retained some degree of light and knowledge, sagacity and penetration, and contempt of the world, signified by the eagle; these invite John in a visionary way to come and see the following hieroglyphic.

Revelation 6:7 In-Context

5 When He opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, "Come!" And I looked, and there was a black horse. The horseman on it had a balance scale in his hand.

6 Then I heard something like a voice among the four living creatures say, "A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius-but do not harm the olive oil and the wine."

7 When He opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, "Come!"

8 And I looked, and there was a pale green horse. The horseman on it was named Death, and Hades was following after him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill by the sword, by famine, by plague, and by the wild animals of the earth.

9 When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those slaughtered because of God's word and the testimony they had.

Footnotes

• [a]. Other mss add and see
• [b]. Or Go!