Revelation Chapter 6 

The seals about to be broken by the risen Lord are none other than those affixed to the document seen earlier . . . as held fast, and as kept secret, in the hand of the Almighty One (Rev. 5:1). The initial disclosure of the contents of the scroll pertains to what the future would hold in store for God’s elect; that is, it is the shocking revelation of the then soon-to-come aberrant behavior of the professed Church of Christ during the gospel dispensation. 

The vision of this prophetic scroll¹ clearly indicates (a) the Creator’s foreknowledge of history prior to fulfillment and (b) His intention to assure the faithful that no matter how surprising the developments about to arise, somehow behind all of them an ultimate benefit would accrue. It is important to realize that since these appalling circumstances do not originate with Divinity, they do not involve consequent moral responsibility on the part of Deity. Nonetheless, the subsequent tolerance and unchecked continuance of the evils, about to be unveiled by the Master, can be seen as the providential testing and proving ground for the development of the true Church and its worthiness to share future honors, power, and glory. The revealment of the sealed mystery is observed to occur in seven successive steps. 

The First Seal (A.D. 33–323) 

Verse 1: 

And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see! 

Since in succeeding verses (verses 3, 5, and 7) the remaining three beasts are presented as “the second,” “the third,” and “the fourth,” it seems eminently reasonable to suppose that the statement in verse 1—namely, “one of the four beasts” invited John to “Come and see”—was uttered by the first beast. The classified enumeration of four beasts in Revelation 4:7, denoting the four fundamental attributes of God, indicates the first living creature to be the lion-headed being symbolizing Justice.

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1. This vision should not be confused with the “flying roll” or scroll of Zechariah 5:1–4. The latter is a theocratic indictment against the individual evildoer. It is Jehovah’s indignation and curse directed against the merely nominal people of God—in whatever age. The divine intention is that the deeds of His subjects must square or match moral alignment with the law of His sanctuary; that is, they must abide by the spiritually significant side measurements (20 cubits by 10 cubits) of “the Holy” compartment of the Tabernacle in the wilderness of Sinai.
   
   If these cubits are converted into feet (i.e., 30 x 15 = 450 square feet), a multiple is obtained which corresponds to the peripheral measurement of the Court of the Tabernacle, namely, 300 cubits or 450 feet. This courtyard, described as “the holy place,” is where corrective judgment was rendered to sinners in Israel. The number 450 is also associated with the trial and testing period of the Judges (Acts 13:20).
   
   In other words, the Zechariah scroll vision depicts the ultimate triumph of right over wrong, whereas the apocalyptic portrayal of the breaking of the seals denotes the opposite condition temporarily. The seal openings reveal the temporary permission and prevalence of evil during the Gospel Age.