Seven seals

[9] The preterist usually views that John was given an accurate vision of a course of events that would occur over the next several centuries to fulfill the prophetic seals.

[17]: 119, 121, 122 Moderate futurists typically interpret the opening of the seals as representing forces in history, however long they last, by which God carries out His redemptive and judicial purposes leading up to “the end”.

Johann Jakob Wettstein (18th century) identified the first Horseman as Artabanus, king of the Parthians who slaughtered the Jews in Babylon.

[13] However, Ernest Renan, a 19th-century modern rationalist preterist, interpreted the First Horseman to be symbolic of the Roman Empire, with Nero as the Antichrist.

Campegius Vitringa (c. 1700), Alexander Keith (1832), and Edward Bishop Elliott (1837) considered this period to have started with the death of Domitian and Nerva’s rise to power in the year 96.

The period involved is from 4000 B. C. to 3000 B. C. "It extends from after the fall of Adam, which according to the Ussher chronology was 4004 B.C., to shortly after the translation of Enoch and his city in 3017 B.C.

believe it was literally lifted up to the sky, which creates interesting parallels to the Vimana or "flying cities" which are found in Hindu texts.

[citation needed] Ernest Renan (19th century) interpreted the Second Horseman to be symbolic of The Great Jewish Revolt and the insurrection of Vindex.

The civil war not only dissipated their stand against Rome, but also divided the Jewish people into factions that eventually dis-unified Jerusalem.

Johann Jakob Wettstein (18th century), identified the Red horse as representing the assassins and robbers of Judea in the days of Antonius Felix and Porcius Festus.

[14] The common historicist view of the Second Seal is associated with the Roman period fraught with civil war between 32 would-be emperors that came and went during that time.

During this period, Wordsworth indicated Ten persecutions: First, Nero; Second, Domitian; Third, Trajan; Fourth, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus; Fifth, Septimius Severus, Sixth, Maximinus; Seventh, Decius; Eighth, Valerian; Ninth, Aurelian; Tenth, Diocletian.

While the Church of Scotland minister, Alexander Keith applied the Second Seal directly to the spread of Mohammedanism, starting in the year 622.

During this time, the wickedness and abominations of Noah's day were so great, that God found all men, save eight, worthy of death by drowning.

[22] "And God saw that the wickedness of men had become great in the earth; and every man was lifted up in the imagination of the thoughts of his heart, being only evil continually.

Need we suppose it was different in Noah's day, when the devil raging in the hearts of men, caused the Lord in his anger to cleanse the vineyard with water?

[14] The famine was so severe that “mothers ate their children to survive”, while Jewish revolt leader, John of Gischala, and his men consumed the oil and wine that were luxury items from the Jerusalem temple.

[21] The English clergyman, Edward Bishop Elliott (1837), also highlighted the significant period of taxation that was imposed under Caracalla’s edict in the year 212.

[13] Alexander Keith (1832) took the opening of the Third Seal directly to the Byzantine Papacy in year 606,[13] following Pope Boniface III as an "Easterner on the papal throne" in 607.

"[26] Later, Joseph's interpretation of pharaoh's dream, and subsequent construction of granaries, saved the Egyptians and the House of Jacob (Israel) from starving to death.

And again, when the people of Israel had escaped bondage in Egypt, God provided them with manna from heaven for 40 years, lest they starve to death in the wilderness.

[14] This rider signifies twenty years of fighting, famine and disease that plagued the reigns of Emperors Decius, Gallus, Aemilianus, Valerian, and Gallienus (248–268).

But God avenged the deaths of the righteous by allowing the Romans to conquer the “holy city” as retaliation for the Jews handing Jesus over to Pilate.

[19] This judgment encompasses Christians who will be martyred for their faith in Christ during the Great Tribulation by not bowing down to the Antichrist and by not submitting to the global economic system that forces all people on the earth to receive the mark of the beast.

Hugo Grotius (17th century) viewed the sixth seal as it relates to the events during the Siege of Jerusalem by Titus in year 70.

[13] Volkmar, a modern rationalist preterist, marked the beginning of the sixth seal to year 68, with Galba assuming emperorship.

[14] Preterists typically view the symbolic language as having been adapted from the Hebrew Bible, to allude to the environmental disturbances that fell upon Jerusalem before its fall.

According to Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet (c. 1704), this was Divine vengeance that first fell upon the Jews[13] for having the Messiah crucified,[19] then subsequently upon the persecuting Roman Empire.

[19] We are now living during the final years of the sixth seal, that thousand-year period which began in 1000 A.D. and will continue through the Saturday night of time and until just before the Sabbatical era when Christ shall reign personally on earth, when all of the blessings of the Great Millennium shall be poured out upon this planet.

"[28]The scriptures also prophesy of earth's final destiny, after the Millennial Kingdom, but these events are beyond the scope of the 7 seals John saw in the Revelation.