THE FIRST SEAL:??? DECEPTION
Revelation 6:2?????? I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.
Matthew 24:5????? For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.
THE SECOND SEAL:?? WAR
Revelation 6:3,4 ? ? ? When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” ?Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other. To him was given a large sword.
Matthew 24:6,7a??? You will hear of wars and rumours of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.
THE THIRD SEAL:??? FAMINE
Revelation 6:5 ? ? ? When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. ?Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, “A quart of wheat for a day’s wages, and three quarts of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!”
Matthew 24:7 There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.
THE FOURTH SEAL: ? DEATH
Revelation 6:7,8 ? ? ? When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” ? I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.
Matthew 24:9????? “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.
THE FIFTH SEAL: ?? THE GREAT TRIBULATION
Revelation 6:9-11 ? ? ? When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” ?Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed.
Matthew 24:21,22 ? ? For then there will be great distress, unequalled from the beginning of the world until now–and never to be equalled again. ?If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.
THE SIXTH SEAL:??? THE COSMIC CRISIS (Followed by the Second Coming)
Revelation 6:12-17 ? ? ?I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair, the whole moon turned blood red, and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as late figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. ? The sky receded like a scroll, rolling up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth, the princes, the generals, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and every free man hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. ? They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! ?For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”
Matthew 24:29,30 ? ? “Immediately after the distress of those days “‘ the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’ ? “At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory.
In Matthew 24:31, Jesus goes on to speak about the rapture:
And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.
This is what is described in Revelation chapter seven. The removal of the Church is necessary before the Wrath of God is poured out on the earth, which is takes place after the opening of the SEVENTH SEAL (Revelation 8 and? 9).