1Ⅲ The first four seals opened by the Lamb-God give us a vision of world history from Christ’s ascension to the end of this age (cf. 4:1-2; 5:1-14); they show us that immediately after His ascension (Mark 16:19-20) there has been a four-horse race continuing through the entire age of the church until Christ’s return:
31 The bow without an arrow signifies that Christ’s fighting for the constitution of the gospel of peace is finished and that the victory is won; a crown signifies that the gospel has been crowned with the glory of Christ—2 Cor. 4:4.
82 To take peace from the earth signifies that war is continuing on the earth; that men should slay one another signifies that people will fight one another—v. 4; Matt. 24:7.
101 A balance, a scale used to weigh precious things, being used here to weigh food signifies the scarcity of food; a quart of wheat, good pay for a day’s labor, and three quarts of barley, also good pay for a day’s labor (Matt. 20:2), signify the high price of food in its scarcity.
112 Do not harm the oil and the wine (oil and wine are for man’s pleasure—Psa. 104:15—and are always in short supply and become precious in famine) signifies the presence of famine.
12D The fourth seal consists of a pale horse and its rider, signifying the spreading of death—Rev. 6:7-8:
131 灰色,表征遭受灾害袭击之人的面色;阴间随着死亡,表征阴间接收并拘留死所杀害的人。
131 Pale signifies the color of the appearance of those stricken with the plague; Hades following Death signifies that Hades receives and retains those whom death has killed.
142 Authority is given to Death and Hades over the fourth part of the earth to kill with the sword, famine, and death and by the beasts of the earth—cf. vv. 9-11; Luke 18:1-2, 7-8.