The events that happen when the Lamb shatters the seals one after the other are also serial in nature. While they begin at a certain point in History, they continue in parallel until the end of the age. John sees these happening in his vision. All these occur during John's future. John's future is our past, present and future. The first four set of events happen on the earth. The fifth is a scene in heaven. The sixth is a gist of the culmination of the end-time events on earth. The seventh is when there is silence in heaven for a significant short time. However, this is the shortest timeperiod mentioned in the book. What happens during that time, I do not know. Let us wait.

The triumph of Evangelism

The Lamb opened one of the seals. One of the four living creatures invited John to see what the Lamb has revealed. The voice was loud and promised thunder showers. John saw one sitting on a white horse and holding a bow. He received a crown even before He set out on His assignment. Then, He went forth conquering and to conquer.

The Lord has shattered the power of Satan by crushing his head at the cross. Now, He empowers His believers by shattering for them the strongholds of Satan. When Satan set out to deceive His Chosen ones, the Lord sent His angel to chain Satan and to cast him in prison for a long time. The gates of hell cannot prevail against His Church as stated (in Matt 16:18) by the Builder. However much the evil powers try, the Church will be built amidst the tribulation caused by Satan’s agents on earth (as they did to the Thessaloniki church). The powers of darkness might attack the believers and kill their bodies, (as they did Stephen) but they cannot destroy their souls. Nor can they stop the mission. The world will swallow (believe without questioning) the deception of the devil as per chapter twelve. The Elect will be saved and protected by the Lord all through the time of the gentiles (that began with Cornelius and Paul’s ministry, three and a half years after the Prince of peace signed the New covenant with His people. The time of Daniel’s people the Jews (70 weeks or 490 days=years) came to an end by that year). He has equipped the believers with the armour of God mentioned in the letter to the Ephesians. They can live through the time of tribulation that will go on till his coming. Some will also live through the hour of temptation (sixty years from 1967? = 2027). The Lord does not want the Elect to be deceived. So, for the sake of the Chosen, He will do a short work / shorten this ‘hour of temptation’. Will the end be between AD 2021 and 2023? (See Chapter 5).

The white horse signifies righteousness and purity. Believers are trusting in the Lord's righteousness. They make their journey of sanctification, resting on His holiness. They are already crowned with a crown of righteousness. They set out to conquer the world for their Lord. The Lord has equipped them for the battle with spiritual weapons mighty through God. They have hidden arrows, and their enemies do not know it. (Only a quiver is mentioned, not arrows). The Spirit will supply the words of their testimony when they stand in need of them. They don’t have to prepare what to say when they stand to defend their faith or conquer souls. Paul, Peter and other apostles experienced it in their lifetime when they stood before people of authority.

The evangelists win souls by vanquishing the enemy powers that tend to deceive. They also pave way for the believers-to-be to conquer. The Holy Spirit inspired the Lord's ministers of the early church to write Scriptures. The gospels, history (Acts), epistles and prophecy of the New Testament guide those who follow them. The Lord’s apostles have already laid the foundation of the walls of the city through the doctrines they preached and wrote. Jesus is the sure foundation of the church He is building. The Church does not require more apostles to write doctrine which is available now to us in black and white. (However, the Church still needs Prophets to edify the Church using Scriptures (not their own deceptive and cooked-up stories), Teachers to instruct the believers in Scriptures, Pastors to feed and care for the flock with the Scriptures, and Evangelists to preach the gospel from Scriptures). The word of God has helped the believers over the centuries to win more souls for God. These have also become overcomers and conquerors. The rider and the horse continue their course. The mission that thy have taken up to evangelise the world starting from Jerusalem to the end of the world will continue till the last day.

The tragedy of Bloodshed

The Lamb opened the second seal. Another of the four living creatures called John to see what was in the scroll.

One sat on a red horse. He received power to take peace away from the earth. He set out on his assignment with a sword. People would kill each other.

Earth has lost peace because its inhabitants have rejected the Prince of Peace Jesus Christ.

People of the earth have invented many religions. Each one wants to prove that his religion is superior to the others. It is an irony that religion has unleashed bloody violence instead of establishing peace.
Religious fanatics have shed more blood in the name of religion than any other dubious cause in the world. Islam converted the infidels to their religion by the edge of the sword. There has always been conflict between Jews and Muslims leading to incessant bloodshed. Roman Catholics waged Crusades against Muslims. The Protestants have warred against the Roman Catholics. Hindu and Muslim militants and jihadists have always fought against each other post the partition of India. Gullible Indians, intimidated by the dominating Jewish Aryans (that entered the land from the Middle East crossing the Indus / Sindhu as Hindus), are now turning their focus to Christians too. Today, terrorism in the name of religion is the reason for death of millions. War between sects in a religion is not unknown. Shia, Sunni, Wahhabi, Ahmadi, Yazidi conflicts in Islam, Roman Catholicism and Reformation church wars in Christianity, Mahayana and Hinayana infighting in Buddhism are evidence. Intercaste conflicts among the Indians are commonplace. Tribal wars have wiped out entire tribes worldover. These also lead to massacre even in modern days in the civilized world.

Racism has led to genocide of millions. Apartheid in SA and Antisemitism in Europe have put an end to millions of lives. Even in India, the caste system has contributed to the murder of crores of Dalits. Black lives matter! Not only in the US. (Antisemitism is the murderous hatred the white skinned Jewish Aryans / Europeans hold towards the colour skinned Jews, Asians, Africans and Hispanics. This is wrongly interpreted in history books as a global hatred for the Jews the world over. Hitler himself was an ignorant, white-skinned Jew).

Thousands of tribes in the Americas, Africa, Asia, Australia and the Far East are extinct. European and American imperialism have led to gory bloodshed. Where are the Incas, Mayans and the Aztecs? And can we forget the world wars and the occupation of Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq? These greedy imperialist nations shed innocent blood to fill their coffers.

Politics has also triggered violent bloodshed. Islamists conquered Asia by killing the inhabitants of the land. Mongols did the same in the north-eastern hemisphere. Kings, Dukes, Barons and Nobles (!) massacred millions to hold on to power in Europe. French and Russian revolution are illustrations. And can anyone forget Mao, Pol Pot and Russia’s Stalin’s killing of innocent millions in the name of communism and socialism? Millions died in the two world wars. Freedom, liberation and anti-slavery movements have resulted in massacre of millions.

There is not one day when news of violence and bloodshed is not reported worldwide. Wars, conflicts and mass murders will continue until God brings an end to this corrupt world. God will proactively put an end to all attempts by Satan to launch (and win?) a Third World War. A fourth World War and Armageddon might only be a final war by Satan on the silver screens. Though he might gather an army of unbelieving and ungodly Gog and Magog from the four corners of the world against God and His people, he will not prevail.

Evangelism continues amidst this bloodshed. Missionaries shed their blood for the sake of their faith. Even the established church has turned against believers to murder them in the name of God. Such murderers think that they are doing God a favour by murdering the radically thinking believers who refuse to follow long-held traditions and who question wrongly held beliefs.

The threat of Food crisis

The Lamb opened the third seal. The third living creature summoned John to have a look at the revealed content. John saw a man seated on a black horse with a pair of balances in his hand. John also heard a voice make an announcement. It was about food grains sold at a certain cost. The voice instructed the rider not to hurt oil and wine. (Fuel and medicine including alcohol continue to remain in supply?)
Dark days were ahead for the inhabitants of the earth when peace was taken away. They would face huge transformation in the economy. Agriculture would take a backseat with technology taking the lead to become the most preferred profession. Already farmers are dying in thousands as crop cultivation is not able to sustain them.

Food crisis has hit the people of the world. There is rationing of food. For some, good food is available at a significant cost. Others are settling for less nutritious food. It is available in plenty though at the same cost. There is polarisation in the availability of food. There are people who would pay for the essentials but there are also other gluttons (their stomach is their god!) who can afford to pay for gourmet and four-course meals. People waste tons of food while millions die of hunger elsewhere. While 822 million people suffer from undernourishment, about a third of all food for human consumption is lost or wasted as per July 2021 statistics.

It is a pathetic state of affairs in the spiritual world too. Moral thoughts and motivational content are provided by many so-called spiritual godmen and gurus. Neither do they practice them nor are they practical for the hearers. The wisdom of the world is foolishness according to God. Most servants of God are providing their flock stale food. Healthy spiritual food is becoming scarce. And, people do not want to hear sound doctrine based on the Scriptures anymore.

The terror of Technology

The Lamb opened the fourth seal to reveal the next phase of history. The fourth living creature called John closer again to see what is in store.

John saw a pale horse and Death seated on it. Hell followed Death. God gave them power to destroy one fourth of the earth with war, hunger, deadly things (including Mustard gas) and beasts (including harmful bacteria and viruses like HIV, SARS, Corona/Covid19 (2019), Ebola (1976) of the earth. Viruses are non-living cells with DNA content that can become live when inside a living cell and destroy organs and ultimately life – rightly named beasts of the earth. There is no cure for a viral disease. (Heart & organ failures come under natural causes).

It was difficult for John to identify the colour of the horse. It was neither white nor black. It was pale. It could have been a hue of any colour, even green / chlorophyll, promising life.

Industrial revolution and the modern technology (including Information Technology) that it ushered in are neutral. They can aid constructive activities, but they can also be disruptive and destructive. It is alarming that man uses science and technology for destruction. A quarter of the earth's life is at stake. Technology can wipe out this significant amount of life from the face of the earth in a moment.

Technology has contributed to the discovery of nuclear bombs, ICBMs and chemical and biological weapons (like Anthrax, COVID-19 virus). Beasts of the earth are not only carnivores but also mosquitoes, bugs and microbes that spread and cause deadly diseases. Food devoid of nutrition and bad food habits lead to death of millions. Technology destroys the resources of the world as it spreads its wings wider. Methane, Thorium, Indium and Uranium are mined from agricultural lands. It has resulted in masses dying in hunger. Technology causes death in humongous scale but it has never been able to produce life. (Synthia is fake; Sophia is not human). This is one of the many vital facts that wise people of the world willingly ignore. Gullible public swallow lies that they keep spreading. Big Data, ML, AI are here to destroy!

No, technology will not wipe out all life on earth. Though that wiping out will take place for sure, there is still a little more time before that happens. And, God has a different plan to bring about that end.

The cry of the Martyrs

The Lamb opened the fifth seal. John was not summoned this time to look at the next event. Until the fourth seal, the Lord played out events that will happen on earth for John. This time the event was happening in heaven. As He was up there in the vision, John could see it from where he was.

John saw an altar – the place for sacrifices. Under it were souls of men. They had lost their lives for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. They had presented their bodies as a living sacrifice. They had lost their heads (beheaded!) because they wanted Jesus to be their head.

The Lord has clothed his Saints with His righteousness. But they must suffer for their faith in Him. They must endure persecutions and tribulations. Death killed their bodies. After this death, each of them received a white garment. The white robe is for their resurrected bodies. But their number was not full yet. These believers who are already asleep must rest a little while. They must wait till the last of these is also included in the number.

Lord, I want to be among the number,
when the saints go marching on!

There were more saints on earth that would die for the sake of their faith in their Lord. The final person to die in Christ must die. Satan, through his agents on earth, would kill their bodies. That would be the great tribulation that believers must pass through. (Apostles including Paul and the Thessalonians were going through this tribulation even then). The severity would be greater than what has ever been or will be. However, the Lord will shorten the number of these days (do a short-work) for the sake of the elect and the chosen. If not, even they will not escape this destruction. Many namesake believers (that followed Jesus for temporal things) will fall away during this time. It will be a time of great apostasy. They will turn their backs to God. Loyalty to God will be scarce. It will be difficult to find faith and faithfulness in religious Christians.

The destruction of the sinful earth

The Lamb opened the sixth seal to unveil what would happen next. A catastrophe! It is the day of the wrath of the Lamb¿ The self-same day would also be the day of rapture for His Church. It would be very much like the days of Noah. What was doom for the ungodly was salvation for the God-fearing. It will also be like the days of Lot. Lot and his family were saved the very day Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed. What brings life for the saints would bring death for the mocking sinners.

A great earthquake would displace all mountains and islands. The sun will turn black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon will become as blood. The stars of heaven will fall unto the earth (global meteor shower?). It will be like a fig tree casting her figs at the wrong season. According to the Bible, the fig tree signifies the nation of Israel. The Lord will make use of Israel to spit fire on the earth. There will be a shower of ICBMs that Israel, the fig tree of the bible, would unleash upon the earth (holding USA hand in hand?). This will be the result of Israel's political enemies (and one-time allies) rising against it to shake its military power. It would lead to ultimate destruction of the earth and its atmosphere.
These same events are mentioned when the sixth trumpet and the seventh trumpet that immediately follows this sixth are mentioned in chapter nine and eleven. This is again elaborated in chapter sixteen when the seventh angel pours out his vial of God’s wrath on the earth’s atmosphere. A great earthquake displacing all mountains and islands and a global meteor shower of unheard sizes will bring about the end to all life on earth. Peter writes in his second epistle that it will be the day of the Lord; it will come as a thief in the night – taking the unbelievers of this earth by shock; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. The heavens will be on fire and shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat.

The avalanche would start from one place and continue in one direction to engulf the whole sky. Men of the earth, great and small, would try to hide themselves from this great destruction. No hideout or bunker - natural or manmade would provide them protection. None would escape from this judgement of God. No one would be able to stand this calamity. The details of these series of events are given in the eighth chapter. These are seven set of events that follow seven trumpets blown by seven angels one after the other. But before the end of this calamity that will spell the end of this earth, the Saved would be raptured. Here is what will happen to the believing multitude…