Revelation 6:7

7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard a voice of the fourth beast saying, Come thou, and see.

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 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast saying, Come thou, and see [Come, and see]. And lo! a black horse; and he that sat on him had a balance in his hand.

6 And I heard as a voice in the middle of the four beasts, saying, A bilibre of wheat for a penny, and three bilibres of barley for a penny; and hurt thou not wine, nor oil [and hurt thou not wine, and oil].

7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard a voice of the fourth beast saying, Come thou, and see.

8 And lo! a pale horse; and the name was Death to him that sat on him, and hell followed him. And power was given to him on [upon] four parts of the earth, to slay with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with beasts of the earth.

9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of men slain for the word of God, and for the witnessing that they had.