Day 228

Trying to understand what John saw can be very difficult. He used his language and visual experiences to record what he saw. We use our language and visual experiences to interpret what we read. And these two datasets are very different. Keep this in mind a you read.

To put it another way, perhaps it might be helpful to approach this chapter with the question, “What is his point?”

With each opening of a seal John is told to come. He comes and observes  what happens when the seal is broken. Since it is a scroll with words on both sides you would expect just that, more words revealed. But instead various scenes unfold. It almost seems as if the scroll comes to life and the events of the scroll become the events of that moment in John’s life. The horses arise and invade his space-time envelope. Remember, he used his experience to write about something he had never experienced before, and we read it and try to understand it with our experiences.

Four horses enter with the first four seals. They each interact with John’s world in particular ways. Ruling power, peace, economic forces, and an upending of the created order – it comes unglued. Things we think are so important are removed in an instant. We struggle with these same forces each day, and yet we rarely involve the Lord in these realms. We think we can do it ourselves, that we don’t need Him. And yet when He removes His steadying control it all falls apart.

Then the Martyrs’ longing for justice is heard. They have waited for earth-time to click forward to see the wrong made right. They begin to get justice.

The earth gets the beginning of a makeover. The earth itself is not permanent. God will remove the sky and level the playing field. Every place that a false god might have inhabited is removed.

And when all this happens, John sees the unbelievers filled with fear. They try to hide from God’s coming judgment. They know it is coming for them. They know they deserve it. And they in vain try to hide. Just like Adam and Eve they think they can cover their guilt. But they know they are cooked.